Chapter 23

Bridge, USS Endeavour

Early hours, Tuesday 4th March 2375

When the message arrived at a stupidly late hour that was the middle of the night for both Endeavour and Hegh'Ta, Kehlan initially took little notice. Casualty lists and reports of the progress (or lack of) of the ongoing fight against the Dominion. A brief glance would suffice for now; the details could wait for the captain's attention in the morning. Her main focus was on staying awake and alert during the long hours of the night shift until she was relieved of duty and could go and get some much-needed sleep. She did not need to read more bad news to know the war was not going well.

Stifling a yawn, she downloaded the data onto her padd and opened the file, skimming quickly through the text. It was very much as she'd expected, and she was about to skip to the end when one word jumped out at her tired eyes. Frontera.

Wait… what? Backtracking a page or two, she read that section again, properly this time, and then a third time. Pale with shock, she stood up and made her way into the captain's ready room. This could not wait until morning.

"Kehlan to Captain Mackenzie."

Several moments went by before he answered, his voice blurred and roughened by sleep. "NuqneH? What do you want, Kehlan? Is it morning already?"

"Can you… can you come to the ready room, Captain?"

"Give me five minutes. I'm on my way."

He was as good as his word. Stopping only to pull on the uniform he'd laid out neatly ready for the morning, and shove his feet into his boots, he reached the ready room after only four minutes and a handful of seconds.

She was standing at the window, with her back to the door, staring out into space, and when she turned to face him, he could see streak marks on her cheeks.

"Kehan?" He was worried now. She'd sounded upset when she'd called him, and it looked as if she'd been crying. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

Quietly she handed him the padd, already set to the appropriate part of the report, and waited as he read it.

Captain Mackenzie read the message carefully, already knowing it would be bad news. Despite her inexperience in the role, his first officer was competent, and she would not have roused him if it were not necessary. But this was far worse than he could have imagined. For what seemed like a very long time. he remained silent, digesting its contents.

That Dominion forces had managed to get so far into Federation space and destroy a starbase, wiping out almost the entire population of Frontera City, was just unbelievable. He knew of the planet of course. Endeavour had docked occasionally at the great Ournal-class starbase that was located there. He had never been planetside; there had never been time for that, but from what he'd been told, it was a nice place with a lot of farmland and unspoilt wilderness.

He frowned. His mind was still slightly fogged by sleep, and he was aware that he was missing something obvious. The base was of tactical importance to the Federation, and it went without saying that its destruction was a great coup for the enemy. Kehlan's distress was something more, though; it was obviously personal. Then it hit him.

"Frontera. Starbase 24. Kehlan, isn't that where Captain Krang comes from?"

At Kehlan's nod, he asked, "Are there any casualty lists yet?"

The lump in Kehlan's throat made it hard to speak. She took the padd back from him and scrolled through the report until she found the right page. Handing it back, she wordlessly pointed to a group of names about a third of the way down the list.

'INIGAN – HOUSE OF:

Christa Rose Martinez,

Antonio Ignacio,

Maria-Josefina Fernanda

Kara Jasmine,

Kehlan Jacinta

Meren David.'

Inigan. Thanks to her teasing about the bloodwine, Mackenzie knew the significance of that name. He looked at her enquiringly, knowing what she would say, yet hoping, praying he was wrong.

Seeing the unspoken question, she answered dully, "Captain Krang's wife and children."

Suddenly shaking, Kehlan turned her back on the captain. Staring unseeingly out of the window in an effort to hide her grief, she covered her face with her hands in a vain attempt to stop the tears. "Chrissie was my friend, and I am godmother to her youngest children. Her little girl was named for me."

He stepped towards Kehlan, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, not knowing what to say. Grateful for his strength, she leaned back against him. Turning her to face him, he wrapped his arms around her and held her for a moment, letting her grieve before gently releasing her. With a visible effort, Kehlan pulled herself together. "I should tell Krang."

"I'll do it," the captain said immediately. "You should go and get some rest. I will take the rest of the shift. That's an order!"

Having no strength to argue, she just nodded. "Yes, sir."

He watched as Kehlan left the ready room and as the doors slid closed behind her, he activated the communications system and hailed the Hegh'Ta.

Captain's quarters, IKC Hegh'Ta

"Captain, there is an urgent call for you from Captain Mackenzie of the Endeavour."

"Are we under attack?" The shrill whistle of the communications panel on the wall having pulled him from a deep sleep, in which he'd been enjoying a very pleasant dream of his wife, Krang's query was understandably grumpy.

"No, sir."

"Then it can wait until morning."

To Krang's surprise, his first officer did not back down, but insisted, "Captain, I really think you should take this call. Shall I route it down to you?

Not at all pleased at being disturbed, but accepting Kargan's judgement, Krang almost agreed to that but changed his mind at the last minute. "No, I will come up to the bridge." Kargan was not saying much but he obviously had some understanding of what was going on and had deemed Mackenzie's call important enough to wake him. If it was as urgent as it seemed, he would be better placed on the bridge to respond and quickly issue orders.

Dressing quickly, Krang made his way to Hegh'Ta's command centre. As the bridge doors opened, he could see on the viewscreen the image of Captain Mackenzie, waiting patiently for him. The other captain looked dishevelled and had obviously been recently aroused from sleep himself. It did not bode well for the news being good, and Krang braced himself for whatever was to come.

"NuqneH?" Krang asked brusquely, unknowingly asking exactly the same question the Terran captain had asked only a few minutes previously. "What do you want, James?

"I'm sorry to wake you, Krang," Mackenzie said gravely. "But I'm afraid this can't wait." He hesitated. "There's no easy way to tell you this, but…"

"But what? What's happened?" Krang exploded, suddenly very worried. The words 'sorry…', 'I'm afraid…', 'no easy way…' echoed ominously in his ears. It was not like Captain Mackenzie to beat around the bush – something had to be seriously wrong. "In Kahless' name, James, whatever it is, just tell me!"

The Terran captain took a deep breath before answering, "There has been a major Jem'Hadar incursion. A fleet got through our defences and attacked Frontera. We've lost a lot of lives."

Krang's face whitened and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. "My family live in Frontera City! Do you know if…" He was unable to finish.

Captain Mackenzie nodded. "Krang my friend, I'm so sorry."

"Dead?" Krang shook his head in shock and disbelief. "All of them? Chrissie? The children?" Looking at the other man, Krang could see the stark truth in his eyes. His family, his entire family were gone. They were dead, all of them and he was not. He had been off fighting battles and enjoying himself; he had left his wife and children alone and without protection, and they had paid the price. Unable to bear the sympathy of the Federation Captain, the Klingon swore and cut the connection.

For long minutes, he stood motionless, unable to think or function, just staring unseeingly at the blank viewscreen. It was a mistake. It had to be a mistake. He knew it with absolute certainty. They were fine. The starbase that had become his home over the last few years… his colleagues, the people he worked with, his friends. Lieutenant Star who had gone out of his way to ensure his wife got her Valentine's gift. That was friendship, wasn't it? What about Star's wife? What about Simka? Kerry, who had just gone on maternity leave? Joe, who was due to retire after fifty years of service and was looking forward to buying a patch of land and settling down to farm it?

"Lieutenant Ch'vok, open a channel to Starbase 24. "I need…"

Ch'vok shook his head regretfully. He'd taken the initiative as soon as he'd heard the news but had been unable to connect the call. "I have already tried, sir. There is no reply. I have sent a Priority-One query to High Command, and they confirm the attack.

"But…" It was all too much to bear, and Krang's mind could not quite process what he was hearing. "There must be more information than that."

"HoSghaj is on the scene," Ch'vok said. "Their captain reports that whilst the situation is under control and relief efforts are ongoing…"

The rest of whatever message Captain Kantogh had sent remained unheard. Roaring his anger in a manner that was both an expression of his grief, and at the same time a demand for Sto-vo-kor to open its gates, Krang turned and banged his gauntleted fists down on the console nearest to him, striking it again and again, until the console cracked under the force of it and violet blood dripped from his bruised, damaged hands.

Turning to the helm officer, he snarled, "Turn the ship around!"

"Sir?" Thoroughly nervous now, Ensign Krell hesitated. A very junior officer, he did not want to argue with the grief-stricken captain, but the ship was under orders to return to Qo'noS, and he was unsure what to do.

"I said, turn the ship around!" Krang shouted, taking a threatening step towards the helmsman.

Kargan intervened then, stepping between them and distracting his captain from the luckless junior officer. Krang swung with his d'k tahg at the first officer who deftly avoided the blow.

"If killing me will make you feel better, then do it," Kargan invited him, careful to keep his voice firm yet calm and reassuring. "But my death won't bring your family back – and it won't avenge them."

As the first officer's words penetrated through the thick fog of pain and grief, the blood rage slowly drained from Krang, and he stared in surprise at the knife in his hand as though he had never seen it before.

"Turn the ship around!" Krang repeated for the second time.

"We have orders to return to Qo'noS," Kargan stated, keeping his tone calm and reasonable.

Krang gestured towards the rear of the ship. "The enemy is that way. One way or another, I'm going after them." He paused. "Are you with me?"

Seeing the enquiring look the helm officer was giving him, and aware of the importance of the decision he was about to make, Kargan stared appraisingly at the captain for a moment. Honour, Duty, Loyalty. Those were the words by which he lived, and there was no choice to be made. "Our captain has given us an order and we will obey it. Turn the ship around. Today we go hunting!"

Krang returned to the captain's chair and sat down. "Send a message to the Endeavour," he ordered. "Tell them what we are doing and order them to return to Federation space." The message sent, the bird-of-prey began to turn around, its crew ready and eager to hunt Jem'Hadar.

Moments later a return message came from the captain of the Endeavour. "nIteb Qob qwaD jup 'e' chaw'be' SuvwI – A warrior does not let a friend face danger alone!"

Bridge, USS Endeavour

"Captain, we are ordered to Qo'noS." There was no judgement in Speares' voice as, unknowingly echoing Kargan's words to Krang, he responded to the orders Mackenzie had just issued. Rather, it was a simple statement of fact and an unspoken query as to whether he had heard correctly.

"My decision is made," Mackenzie said, outwardly calm although inside he was in turmoil. "You may enter a protest in the ship's log, or you may relieve me of duty if you feel it necessary, because I will not back down on this."

As first officer, Kehlan realised, it was for her to answer. She bared her teeth in what might have been a grin had there been any humour in it. "I've been a first officer for less than a month, and I'm not ready to be a captain just yet. Besides, I am Klingon, and my first order would be to follow Hegh'Ta." She turned to the second officer. "So it's up to you, Philip. Will you put me in the brig with our captain?"

Speares shook his head, his mind already made up. He'd served with Mackenzie for a while now and trusted his judgement. The marines' motto summed up his thoughts on the subject very neatly. Semper Fi! "You said it yourself, sir. It's not honourable to let a friend go into battle alone. If you want to fight, then I'm going with you. "Besides…" he added flippantly, in an attempt to lighten the moment, "who knows what trouble you two would get up to in the brig. You're going to need a chaperone. So… who's next?"

Seated at the helm, Lieutenant Palin turned in his seat to face them. "That would be me. But since I've already laid in a course, and it's going to be a bit crowded in the brig for four or more of us, maybe we can just agree that we're all in this together and they can court-martial all of us when we get home again."

Kehlan raised an eyebrow. "Hegh'Ta is getting away from us. We should probably get moving if we want to catch up. Will you give the word, Captain?"

Mackenzie surveyed his crew, all too aware that underneath the joking, they were deadly serious. Touched by their unconditional support and the trust they placed in him, he nodded. "Very well. Hegh'Ta will not hunt alone. Let's do it."