Tension was mounting among the Starfleet officers. Having cleared the middle of the large storage-area, they stood face to face with twenty or so of their captors. Shrav, the andorian chief engineer of the USS Excelsior, walked over to captain Hikaru Sulu and presented his senior officer with a sheathed rapier.

"Right were you said it would be" Shrav told his captain. "On the wall above your bed."

"Thank you, lieutenant commander" Sulu said as he removed his Starfleet-jacket and handed it to a crewman, before accepting the sword and scabbard from the andorian.

"You're a madman" Eckenwald said as Sulu unsheathed the rapier.

Sulu studied the weapon for a brief moment, its single sharp edge, its narrow point and its beautiful handguard. The rapier perfectly balanced and felt like an extension of his own arm.

"Your confidence in me is a great comfort" Sulu then said, briefly looking at his chief medical officer.

"Damn it man, sparring is one thing. But this?!" Eckenwald hissed and pointed with his thumb at the opposite end of the storage-area. "This will get you killed."

Sulu tossed a glance at what Eckenwald was indicating with his thumb; the klingons stood gathered around their lord and commander, the impressive warrior and physical specimen that was Koloth of House Lasshar. Currently, Koloth was inspecting the curved edge of his bat'leth, standing bare chested to reveal all of his muscles, not to mention every scar he had earned in battle.

"What choice do I have, doctor?" Sulu then asked, aiming the question directly at Eckenwald. "I'm responsible for this crew."

Looking at the imposing creature that the captain intended to face in single combat, Shrav swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm glad it's not my responsibility."

An aging klingon with long gray hair, stepped into the open space between the crew of the Excelsior and the klingon warriors, and hit the floor with the shaft of his ceremonial spear.

"Listen!" he growled in broken English. "This is fight of lords! Interfere and die! The combat continues until one lord dead! Terms are agreed! Lords, step forward!"

Koloth and Sulu left their comrades and walked into the open area, standing face to face with only the aging klingon between them. Leaning against his spear, the gray-haired klingon surveyed both combatants with grim eyes.

"Lords, this is combat. Honor and courage will earn glory. Remember, beasts die, kinsmen die, you too shall die, but one thing that never dies is the glory of the honored dead. qelIS is watching and waits in Suto'vo'qor. For glorious victory or glorious death."

The ancient klingon stepped back and returned to his fellow klingons, leaving Koloth and Sulu on their own in the middle of the room, surrounded by their comrades as witnesses to their duel.

Koloth almost snarled as he spoke. "Qapla'!"

And with that one word, the famed warlord readied himself for battle and took a classic stance with his bat'leth, held close to his shoulder and high, ready to engage his enemy.

"Kapla" Sulu said, his klingon not perfect, and took on a defensive stance with his rapier.

The old klingon struck the floor with his spear, and uttered a single word. "Suvchu'!"

At once, Koloth lunged, swinging his bat'leth and forced Sulu to parry and sidestep. Sulu had no time to regain his posture as Koloth attacked quickly in a fluid motion, making use of the momentum provided by the weight of his weapon to maintain the upper hand. Sulu was on the defensive, ducking and sidestepping one blow after the other, parrying when he could in hopes of disrupting Koloths momentum. But the klingon warrior was experienced, experience hard earned on the fields of battle. When Koloths bat'leth was struck to the side by Sulus rapier, Koloth lashed out with the backhand of his fist or with his elbow, sending the Starfleet captain reeling from the force of impact. Sulu tried to impale his opponent, but Koloth expertly parried the rapier to the side and slammed his ridged forehead into Sulus skull. As Sulu stumbled, Koloth delivered a violent kick to Sulus chest and sent him flying.

Eckenwald and Shrav managed to catch their captain in midflight before he fell over and helped him regain his balance.

"By god!" Eckenwald said as Sulu picked up his rapier from the floor. "Sulu, you're getting yourself killed!"

"Too late to change that now" the captain replied and readied himself for the continuation of the duel.

Eckenwald took a step forward out of frustration. "You can't beat him, damn it!"

The two combatants circled one another with slow steps, weapons held ready to defend or attack, surrounded by fifty Starfleet officers and twenty klingon warriors looking on as the duel unfolded. So far it was clear to everyone that Koloth had the upper hand and would most likely be victorious, unless something extraordinary happened. And soon.

Sulu tossed his weapon to the side, the rapier sliding off to the feet of Eckenwald. Everyone looked on with amazed eyes as Sulu now stood unarmed and raised his chin into the air to reveal his throat.

"What will it be, Koloth?!" Sulu said loud and clear.

Koloth, ignoring his combat-stance and lowering his bat'leth, growled as he watched his now unarmed opponent.

Sulu never took his eyes from Koloths gaze. "Well?!" Sulu demanded.

"You would have me kill an unarmed man?" Koloth eventually said. "Commit murder?"

"The choice is yours" Sulu replied, ever keeping his throat bared.

One of the klingons witnessing the event could not hold his peace. "This bastard dog is dishonoring the challenge! Honor demands that he is killed!"

But Koloth replied with a growl that silenced his fellow klingons. "There is no honor or glory in killing an unarmed enemy, unable to defend himself!"

As the klingons argued the matter between them, the Starfleet officers could only watch as few of them were fluent enough in the klingon language to understand what was being said or argued.

Turning to look upon Sulu, Koloth thought out loud in his own language for all klingons to hear. "There he stands, the great Hikaru of Akira. He defies me… By dishonoring the duel, he mocks me. Yet, killing him now, how would history remember me? How will the tale be retold of the death of Hikaru, son of Akira? Struck down to his death, unarmed and defiant of Koloths blade. Hikaru will be remembered for defying me, and I will be remembered for murdering him." A growl bubbled in Koloths throat as he gathered his thoughts, and then he spoke in English, directly at Sulu. "The day is yours, Hikaru, son of Akira. You stand victorious. I release your crew and return to you, your ship."

Sulu, along with his entire crew, let out of heavy sigh of relief. Many of the Starfleet officers embraced, some even clapped their hands, and before long, many began to cheer, pumping their fists in the air and jumping around out of joy and excitement of simply surviving.

The elderly klingon, furious, walked over to Koloth and snarled in his face. "Honor demands satisfaction! This is an outrage!"

Koloth freed his dagger and rammed it into the old klingons neck, violently ripping open the elders throat with a powerful display of brute strength. As the aging klingon fell to the floor, drowning in his own blood, Koloth pushed his way through the other klingons and left the storage-area; the other klingons following him in his footsteps. Before the doors shut behind the klingon warriors, Koloth turned around and addressed the Starfleet captain.

"Until next time, Hikaru of Akira. I look forward to facing you in battle, once again."

As Koloth and the klingons left, allowing the door to slide shut, Eckenwald and Shrav rushed over to their captain, barely believing what had just taken place right in front of them.

"You crazy son of a bitch!" Eckenwald said as he grabbed Sulu by the shoulder. "I can't believe you just pulled that off! That was the most insane thing I have ever seen! Ever!"

"That was a proper gamble, captain" Shrav said, shaking his head with a smile.

"It was my last option" Sulu admitted. "Going on, Koloth would have killed me. But being a man of honor, I hoped he would be unable to kill an unarmed opponent in a fair fight."

Eckenwald grinned and shook his head. "Using klingon honor against a klingon to get out of a fight alive? Sulu… If that's not beating the Kobayashi Maru test, I don't know what is."

Sulu took a quick look around at his crew. "Let's get the saucer-section functional and restore what power we can. We need to contact Starfleet right away."

Shrav offered his captain a salute, along with a big, wide smile. "Yes, sir!"

XXX XXX

"Cardassian freighter has disengaged warp-drive."

"Take us out of warp!" Kor ordered and his ship returned to normal space.

Having overshot their target by several light-minutes, both the Klothos and the HaH'vat circled around and aligned themselves for an intercept-course.

"One ship is hovering next to the Grelkat" a klingon officer informed the others. "A ferengi cruiser."

"The ferengi are involved after all" Kor growled.

"Curious" Tuvok said. "I find it hard to believe it is by mere chance a ferengi salvage-barge just happens to be in an uninhabited system where the Tal Shiar decided to take refuge. That ferengi vessel is here for a reason, a reason designed by the romulans we are after. Most likely a decoy to make us focus our efforts and sensors on that ship, instead of our surroundings."

"Not to worry, vulcan" Kor said and pushed a couple of buttons. Before long, Kang appeared on the main viewer. "Kang!" Kor growled. "That ferengi ship, it is a romulan decoy. The honor is yours to remove it from our scanners."

"Follow me in" Kang said. "We see no romulan, or human, bio-signatures on either the cardassian ship or the ferengi vessel."

"They have already beamed off" Dax concluded as he heard of Kangs sensors-readings.

Tuvok nodded. "Without a doubt, they are already safely onboard a cloaked romulan cruiser."

"We will find them" Kor smiled with confidence. "Kang" he then said and turned to the main viewer, "Reroute power to your forward shields as you go after the ferengi. I will follow you, cloaked, and ready to attack."

"Smile of the Bat'leth?" Kang said with a growl as he thought upon the tactic suggested by Kor. "Very well, it is agreed."

Kor burst out laughing before he cut transmission, but not before offering a final word to his fellow noble lord. "Qapla'!" Kor then left his captains chair and walked over to the pilots seat at the fore of the bridge, almost pushing the pilot from his station before settling down behind the controls himself. "Initiate cloak!" he commanded.

As Kors first officer engaged the ships cloaking-field, Kor steered the Bird-of-Prey to take up position a couple of light-seconds directly behind and below the much larger IKs HaH'vat.

"Disruptors fully charged" the Weapons Master informed Kor. "Torpedo ready to fire."

"Good" Kor chuckled and grinned so that his fangs were clearly visible. "Now, the hunt is truly on."

Tuvok quirked an eyebrow as he studied the warlord steering the warship. "It is a highly illogical practice to have a ships commander not only taking the helm, but also being in control of the ships weapons. It leaves him unable to focus on incoming reports from his fellow officers and severely reduces his ability to base his decisions on facts provided by his officers and the ships sensors."

"Nonsense!" Kor said with laughter. "Now I am in complete control! No orders are needed, I simply steer my ship and shoot my enemies! This, my vulcan friend, is what true command is all about."

Dax walked on over to Tuvok as the vulcan was about to lecture the klingon warlord.

"Trust me, ensign" Curzon said, placing a hand on Tuvoks shoulder, "as far as klingons go, Kor is one of the more sensible ones."

Tuvok eyed the trill, then Kor, then the trill once more. "Your expert opinion on this matter is noted, ambassador."

Kor adjusted a couple of dials and levers around him at the pilots station, as ever smiling wide in anticipation of the fight to come.