Chapter 3
Battles

The blade of the Bat'leth shined under the dim light of Sowl's quarters. She polished and sharpened it in preparation of the match against Lunos. Sitting on her bed, she held her weapon with one hand while she ran a finger on the flat side of the blade. She was nervous about the upcoming fight and that didn't happen often. Facing an opponent would raise her adrenaline in anticipation, it would ignite her bloodlust and the pride of the warrior she was, but she had not felt apprehension since the first days when she learned how to wield a Bat'leth.

Whilst looking at her blade her mind saw the eyes of her First Officer rather than her own, as her thoughts travelled back to the night before. It was almost as if she could still sense her. Sowl squeezed her eyes shut, covering them with her palm. The two Klingon women knew each other for years and had never got that close before. Neither were dominant over the other, aside for when rank mattered. However, their tactical discussions as of late seemed to be more personal each time. She wasn't sure how seriously to take the night before; Lunos might have just wanted to repay Sowl's tease in the mess hall.

In combat Lunos was cold and precise, a silent predator. Many had fallen at her hands, yet that wasn't the cause of Sowl's nervous sentiment. She didn't fear her. She was honoured to fight alongside, and in this case against, such a warrior. The Captain was confident in her ability to wield a Bat'leth however and that might have been just the problem. What if she hurt her long-time friend and comrade? That worry was new to her yet she was well aware that Lunos could take care of herself.

Sowl inhaled deeply and stood up: It was time for that Bat'leth match. She walked to the exit of her room but, as the doors closed, a strong jolt shook the whole ship and the Captain was almost thrown against the bulkhead. The red alert sounded and Sowl quickly pressed her comm badge fastened to her wrist, "Bridge what's going on?"

"An ambush! Two Breen ships just came out of nowhere Captain!" responded Kabor.

"I'm on my way!" Sowl quickly made her way to the bridge with her Bat'leth in her hands.

"Shields at 40%," alerted Kabor.

"Transfer power to those shields, quickly," ordered Lunos, "But make sure we keep full power to our Disruptors," she finished while looking at Kless.

The Chief Engineer acknowledged with her head and quickly tapped her console with the intent to divert power from somewhere. The ship was in jeopardy, the torpedoes from two Breen ships were too much to take for her shields. The K'Mis was shaking under heavy fire.

"What's going on with those shields?" Sowl urged.

"Just a few more seconds, I have almost..." The Engineer was interrupted by a violent jolt followed by a brief power outage.

"We have a hull breach!" screamed Kabor, "Our shields are down!"

"We are being hailed," Lunos said quickly.

"On screen," growled Sowl.

"So that's the might of the Warriors of the Empire?" A masked man in a war suit resembling those of mountain climbers appeared on screen, his metallic voice resounded through the Bridge. "Prepare to be boarded."

"We will not surrender to you dogs!" Sowl spat angrily. "I don't want to hear them anymore," she yelled, "Cut the comm link and prepare for hand-to-hand combat!"

With the K'Mis's shields disabled it wasn't long before the whine of an incoming transport could be heard through the din, a Breen boarding party materialising on the Bridge. One of the aliens appeared behind Lunos who was standing near the tactical console. Without pause he immediate struck out at the Kingon's kidney landing a punishing blow that bounced the dazed First Officer off the console and onto the metal grating.

Sowl readied her Bat'leth, but was unable to run to Lunos as another Breen had engaged her in combat. She skillfully swirled her blade, using it as an extension of her arm. The Breen kept stepping back trying avoid the weapon, but it was clear that he didn't have the upper hand, seemingly realising that trying to engage this Klingon Captain in melee combat wasn't a bright idea.

Kabor, Kless and other Bridge crew were exchanging fire with the rest of the boarding party, while Lunos was still alone with the Breen that attacked her from behind. She skillfully lept back on her feet despite the pain at her kidney and drew two tajtiq from her boots. She blocked what would have been a damaging blow from the butt of her opponent's rifle with her daggers and delivered a kick to his knee, forcing his leg to bend and throwing him off balance. The First Officer finished him off with a leg sweep that caused the Breen to land on his back and slit his throat with her blades.

"Lunos!" Kless's voice came from her left and she quickly turned in response. A shot from a Breen's rifle struck the First Officer right on her temple and she collapsed unconscious.

Sowl witnessed the scene and in a burst of rage she dealt a deadly blow to her opponent with the Bat'leth. He fell on the floor, lifeless, his blood tainting the Captain's blade. The Breen weren't doing too well with their boarding party and only two were left standing.

One of them tapped his comm badge, "We need more over here!"

"Yes sir, transpo..." the voice from the Breen's comm badge was interrupted by an explosion. Instinctively, all people on the Bridge looked at the view screen to see what was happening. A Vesta Class Federation vessel had appeared and fired on one of the two Breen ships, disabling it. The two Breen that were left on the bridge were transported away.

"Fire on the disabled ship!" Sowl yelled.

Kabor quickly ran to the tactical console and fired the Disruptors with all the energy they had available. With their shields down the Breen ship exploded. The other hostile ship warped away quickly.

The Captain immediately ran to her First Officer and tapped her comm badge on her wrist. "Pathlat, medical emergency on the bridge. Lunos is down." She knelt beside the prone warrior but didn't move her in case something was broken. She lightly ran her thumb over her lip, while she cupped her cheek with the rest of her hand.

Pathlat materialised next to the two with a medical kit. He scanned the First Officer with a tricorder. "Sir... she is in a coma. I need to operate on her but..." he started.

"But what?" The response of the blonde Klingon was filled with anger and impatience.

"When we were boarded by the Breen they also transported away our medical supplies," the Nausicaan concluded.

Sowl's eyes opened wide. She stared at the battle medic for a few seconds, then she turned to Lunos once more.

"That is not the only thing they stole." Kabor added, "We have reports of missing weaponry and food. It seems they needed to refill their supplies."

Sowl regained composure―as much as one can deem a raging Klingon "composed"―"Hail the Federation vessel."

"They are hailing us" responded Kabor "I am putting it on screen."

A brunette with Klingon features appeared in the view screen. Her ridges were not very pronounced, like those of other Klingons, but they were still visible.

"Klingon vessel, I am Captain Kero Elan, of the Federation Starship Troi. Can we be of assistance?" Said the woman.

"I would have never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad to see you, Federation." Began Sowl, "We have wounded, but our medical supplies have been robbed by the Breen", The blonde didn't even try to hide the rage from her voice.

Kero glanced at the Klingon on the floor, "I see. They were a raiding party then. We can supply you with medicine and help you with the wounded if you let us transport aboard."

"No! They are just going to try to seize our vessel while our defenses are down!" Objected one of Sowl's bridge crew.

"Enough, Rakat!" Responded another, who menacingly leapt towards the dissenter, "Let our Captain handle this."

"Let it be, Terak." Said Sowl. Rakat grumbled and walked back to his console, while Terak acknowledged the order and went back to his post.

Sowl's eyes passed over at the two crewmen and then to Lunos, eventually resting on the viewscreen again. "Fine. Kabor make sure our guests are not alone." She ordered reluctantly.

"Very well," Kero nodded and the transmission was ended.

"I guess now we see how good an idea it was to put an ex-Federation p'TaQ in charge..." Rakat complained.

"Say that again." Sowl looked at the rebel with piercing eyes.

"We don't need the Federation dogs. We are warriors and we die in battle. You are proving to be a weak leader, accepting help from a hybrid Klingon who doesn't even have the honour to side with her Empire." He continued.

"If you want to die, then fight me to the death!" Sowl swung her Bat'leth at the other Klingon and he responded by parrying the first attack with his knives. The two danced around each other in a whirlwind of flashing blades, but it wasn't long before the Captain's weapon found its way to a deadly blow. The male Klingon grunted in pain and sagged further onto her blade. His lifeless body slid off the Bat'leth and hit the floor.

The turbolift's door hissed open depositing a group of people wearing Federation uniforms onto the Bridge. Among them was Kero. She looked at the wounded and ordered her team with a gesture of her hand to tend to them, including Rakat, unaware of what had just happened. Terak stepped in front of one the Federation doctors, preventing him from advancing further.

"There's nothing you can do for him," he said in a growl.

The doctor glanced at Kero, confused, who nodded to indicate acceptance of what Terak had said. The Federation Captain's gaze lingered on Terak for a while before turning to Sowl.

The blonde indicated Lunos with a motion of her head. Kero removed the scanner from her medical tricorder and knelt, passing the device over the unmoving Klingon as she focused on the readings.

"She's in a coma," asserted Pathlat, "But our sickbay equipment is damaged..."

"Indeed she is. We will need to beam her aboard our ship to operate on her, or the blood will form a clot in her brain. We can't wait for the repair crew to fix your sickbay." Kero looked at Sowl for permission.

"I won't allow her to go to your ship alone," said the Klingon Captain, "I'll go as well."

"I'll stay here as a guarantee..." responded Kero, "I will supervise the medical efforts." The Federation Captain ventured a glance towards Terak again before ordering the transport of the two Klingon women directly to the Troi's sickbay.

Once Kero finished to give out assignments to her away team and took care of the most urgent injuries she went to the mess hall and sat at a table, accompanied by Kabor and a security detachment, to have a very short break. A muscular male Klingon with grayish hair approached the woman at her table.

"May I sit here?" asked Terak.

Kero raised her gaze and followed him while he sat down, "Of course..." The suspicion in her voice was evident.

"Do you not recognise me?" Was that a hint of teasing in his voice?

"Should I?" she replied cautiously.

"I am Terak of House Elan."

It was late and Lunos's operation had ended. She had to stay in observation in the Troi's sickbay at least for the night while the K'Mis was being repaired. It was clear that these Federation people did not intend to attack the Klingons, although Sowl wasn't really surprised. She had been in Starfleet for years after all.

She was seated next to Lunos's bio-bed and had not slept at all. She was holding her hand in between hers and caressing her cheek every now and then. The Chief Medical Officer of the Troi had successfully stopped the internal haemorrhaging, and according to her, Lunos was out of the coma but still too weak to regain consciousness. Her condition wasn't stable yet and she was still at risk of dying.

Sowl's eyes rested on those violet lips that had kissed her just the night before. Whether those lips would grace her again it was unknown. And that was if the night had meant anything anyway. The future, more so now than ever, was uncertain. She always took for granted that battle could divide them one day, yet it never was so real to her as it was now in that room, next to that bio-bed. A million Bat'leth's wounds didn't hurt as much as seeing Lunos in that condition. Especially not after the desire and fire the night before had ignited in Sowl's heart.

The Klingon Captain was severely lacking sleep. Accompanied only by the thoughts of loss, she collapsed next to her First Officer and sunk in a restless sleep.