I.I. Headquarters, First City, Qo'noS
Early morning, Sunday 2nd March 2375
Located not too far from the Council Hall of the First City on Qo'noS, was a tall imposing building that dominated the city skyline. The insignia carved into the side of the building marked it as the headquarters of Klingon Imperial Intelligence. Somewhere, high on one of the upper floors, a man stood looking out of the great hexagonal window of his office. His name was Moragh sutai Khamran, and the pins adorning the collar of his black uniform proclaimed him to be a security captain, one of the most senior officers of the organisation. The office faced east, and at this time of day the sun was just beginning to rise, casting a beautiful orange glow across the frost- covered city. It was a spectacular view that almost but not quite made up for having to be at work at such a stupidly early hour.
He turned as the door chimed and his aide hurried in without waiting for permission.
"What is it, Traig?" he demanded, annoyed by the unsolicited and unauthorised intrusion. "I am not officially on duty for another couple of hours and I distinctly remember telling you that I did not want to be disturbed."
The newcomer came very close to growling but remembered just in time to whom he was speaking. "Sir, we've picked up unauthorised activity in the computer system. Someone's got into the classified files, and whatever codes they're using, we can't lock them out."
"WHAT?" Moragh exploded. "How is that even possible? Have you traced the intrusion?"
Traig shook his head, understandably nervous at his senior's fury, even if it was not really directed at him. Being that close to an angry security captain was never a good thing and he did not particularly want to die today. The Terran expression 'don't shoot the messenger' came to mind but he did not say it out loud, instead focusing on the problem at hand – which was conveying the necessary and very urgent information without getting himself killed. "Not yet, sir, we are working on it."
Muttering something very rude in Klingonaase, and then deciding that language was not offensive enough and repeating it in tlhIngan Hol, Moragh moved to his desk and began to work. Realising that his assistant was still waiting for instructions, he looked up again. "I will take it from here, Colonel. Dismissed."
Already engrossed in the problem before him, he didn't even notice as his aide quietly left, shutting the door behind him. His hands flew over the computer console, quickly and efficiently entering commands, but whoever the infiltrator was, he knew his way around the system as well as Moragh did, and it was proving incredibly difficult to shut him out. He succeeded eventually, but only by virtue of carrying out an emergency shutdown and reboot of the entire I.I. computer network as per the contingency procedures that had been put in place by a previous security captain far too many years ago, but until now had never been needed.
Several hours later, with the computers up and running again – on a limited basis at least, Moragh turned his attention to identifying the intruder, a task that with the current restrictions on the computer system, was easier said than done. It was with a lot of effort and another couple of hours work, that he eventually obtained at least part of the answer.
The intrusion had originated off planet, Moragh learned, and appeared to have come from one of the Defence Force's ships, the experimental Hunter class IKC Hegh'Ta.
Tiredly, the security captain opened a comm link to his aide. "Traig, do we have an agent on the Hegh'Ta?"
There was a pause as the colonel pulled up the required information. "We did, sir," Traig responded warily. "Unfortunately he was listed as killed in battle about two weeks ago."
Displeased, Moragh scowled. That was not the most helpful of answers. Fighting the urge to kill Traig for being the bearer of even more bad news, and knowing he was being unfair on the man because this was not his fault, he sighed and began to pull up information about the Hegh'Ta, its mission and crew. None of this made any sense. Even if someone had found the dead agent's transceiver, which was unlikely, the agent had been a relatively junior one and his clearance codes would not have allowed access this deep into classified files. There should be no one on board the IKC Hegh'Ta with the skills necessary to get that far.
Seeing that the bird-of-prey was travelling with a Federation ship, the USS Endeavour, Moragh pulled up the crew manifest for that ship as well. The intruder was unlikely to be a non-Klingon, but it was worth checking. Some Vulcans were known to have almost uncanny computer skills. But there was nothing abnormal about either ship. Other than the Hegh'Ta's new captain, the only unknown factor was the newly promoted Commander Kehlan. All the other officers checked out, but the Endeavour's new first officer was Houseless and that meant there were no guarantees of her loyalty. The very fact that she had taken a promotion onto a Federation ship was enough reason for him to question that loyalty, although career-wise, Moragh had to admit it had been a good move – rightly or wrongly (with the emphasis on wrongly as far as he was concerned), the Empire did not allow the Houseless to reach high rank.
Interested now, he opened her file and began to read. She had spent two years in the Federation as a student, he noted, one of those years on Earth, the other on Vulcan. Who knew what influences she had come under during that time? He noted also that it was after coming into contact with Hegh'Ta's new captain and his family, that she had unexpectedly given up a promising career in the biosciences to join the Defence Force as a junior officer and he wondered what had prompted her to make that decision. Still, her area of expertise was biology not computers, so he doubted that she was the intruder he was hunting. So who did that leave?
Moragh had already noted Hegh'Ta's recent change of command, and now he pulled up the new captain's personnel file and cross checked it against the intelligence database. A Klingon serving in Starfleet and now in command of a Defence Force ship? There was a case of mixed loyalty if ever he had seen one. There was almost no information available about Krang epetai Inigan – although the name and honorific were, in themselves, enough for him to raise an eyebrow – and Moragh was surprised to find that what little there was, went back only seven years.
Digging deeper into the records, however, proved fruitless, and when he found evidence of hidden files but the computer steadfastly refused him access, he swore in frustration, calling down curses on whichever Kahless-forsaken individual had decided it was too classified for a security captain. Really, he groused, almost nothing should be that classified! With another curse for good measure, this time insulting the unknown person's parentage, he gave up and placed a call to the Operations Master, the ultimate head of Klingon Imperial Intelligence.
He was lucky. Despite his horrendously bad mood after the events of the day, Lorgh had complete faith in his security captains, and as soon as Moragh had explained the problem, he released the files to him. He also grumpily suggested that Moragh would do well to contact Krang and give him whatever help was needed. Such a suggestion from the Operations Master was not to be taken lightly, it was in fact a thinly veiled order.
Half an hour later, having settled down to read the highly classified document that the Operations Master had given him, Moragh sat staring at it in stunned disbelief. Initially he had not comprehended his superior officer's attitude but reading the information in the hidden file, the order began to make sense. He also understood why the file was wrapped in so many layers of classification and why its contents could never be made public.
Some strange twist of time and fate had decreed that there were seven security captains, not six as he had always believed, the seventh being the man named Krang epetai Inigan. At first, Moragh had not understood how that was possible. He'd been in the service for nigh on thirty years and a security captain for the last ten. If this Krang had been in the service during that time, he would know him. Then he'd seen the year. 2268, accused of treason. 2268. Almost exactly one hundred and seven years ago to the day. Klingons lived a long time, but not that long! It had to be a typo, surely.
Going back to the beginning he started to read the document again, more carefully this time. It was a complicated and convoluted story that was almost unbelievable, and had anyone but the Operations Master given him the file, he would have thought this was some elaborate and very inappropriate prank.
Krang had been fifteen when he joined Imperial Intelligence. He had risen quickly through the ranks, but his career had been ended by a mission gone bad – and yes, it had involved time travel, incredible as that seemed. Charges of treason had followed, causing the defection to the Federation of what the Operations Master of the time, described as one of the best officers Imperial Intelligence had ever had.
Interestingly, despite the charge of treason and the death sentence that had been passed in Krang's absence, his rank and security clearances had never actually been revoked, although whether that was an oversight or a deliberate choice on the part of those in charge at the time, Moragh did not know. For someone so high in Imperial Intelligence to have betrayed the Empire was unthinkable to Moragh, yet according to the files, there was no question that Krang was guilty of the charges.
Despite that, seven years ago Gowron had not only pardoned him, but declared him a 'Hero of the Empire' for his actions and now that he knew the whole story, or at least however much of it was recorded here, Moragh found that he could not disagree with the chancellor's assessment of the situation. Had Krang acted differently then it was very possible that the Klingon Empire might not now exist.
It was immediately evident that Krang was indeed the intruder in the computer system. He not only had the skills and clearance, but he had been the person who had put all the protocols and systems in place to begin with. There had been several updates since then, but unbelievable as it might seem, over a hundred years later, the current systems were still based on his work. Just another example of the 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it' attitude that was far too pervasive in Imperial Intelligence.
Now Moragh had to find out what the ex-security captain was looking for in the computer system and the easiest way to do that was to do as Lorgh had suggested and ask. Shutting down the file, he activated the comm system and placed a call to the IKC Hegh'Ta.
Captain's office, IKC Hegh'Ta
Sunday evening, 2nd March 2375
Having become completely engrossed in the task at hand, Krang had worked throughout the night and was tiredly reading through the data he had recovered when his comm chirped.
It was Ch'vok. "Captain, there's a private transmission from the homeworld for you. It's on a maximum-security frequency."
"Who is it from?" Krang queried, although he had a good idea that it would be from Imperial Intelligence. He would have been very surprised, and a little disappointed in them if they had not picked up his activity in their computer system. Even an operative as experienced as he was should not have been able to get in unnoticed.
Ch'vok hesitated as he checked the identification on the message. "It's marked from Security Captain Moragh sutai Khamran" he said finally, wondering what a top ranking I.I. officer wanted with Captain Krang. He had heard Captain Kay'vin addressing his friend as Security Captain but had put it down to his strange sense of humour. Now he wasn't so sure.
"Very well, Ch'vok," Krang said, satisfied. "Put it through to my office."
There was a bleep as Ch'vok signed off and transferred the message across to the captain. A moment later, the computer screen was filled with the image of a Klingon, a little younger than Krang but with the same air of authority, wearing the insignia that denoted his rank in Imperial Intelligence. It was a badge that Krang had once been proud to wear.
"NuqneH?" Krang said before introducing himself. "I am Captain Krang. What can I do for you?"
"I suspect it's more what I can do for you," Moragh said dryly. "You've been digging around for information in my computer network. If you wanted something you only had to ask, you know."
Krang nodded in acceptance of the rebuke. The other officer was right; he should have asked. But it had been a long time since he had been entitled to the cooperation of I.I. and he had not expected to receive it, so he had simply gone in and taken what he needed. "I apologise," he said ruefully, "The truth is, Moragh, it never occurred to me to just ask."
"My orders are to give you every assistance," Moragh told him seriously, "So if you tell me what you're looking for, I'll do my best to help you."
"Actually, I just need some information from one of your agents," Krang told him. Quickly he explained the situation, telling the other Klingon about the attack on the Orinoco and how he had come to believe that there was a traitor on Starbase 62.
A skilled and very experienced operative, Moragh had not risen to his current rank for nothing, and he immediately grasped the seriousness of the problem. The presence of a traitor high up in Starfleet had ramifications for the Klingons as well as the Federation and he would do everything possible to help, despite his initial unhappiness with the Operations Master's order to cooperate with the renegade officer. He considered for a moment before saying finally, "Leave it with me for a while. I'll see what I can find out. Moragh out."