Star Trek: ALL - Seven Deadly Sins (30 page)

“Which of us will be in command?” Kor asked. He didn’t know the other two captains—though Koloth’s name was familiar—what their records of battle were, nor if they were
QuchHa
’ or
HemQuch.

“Kang is the seniormost officer.”

Kor hesitated, as that did not actually answer the question. When the pause went on for several seconds, the captain finally said, “Very well, General. We will change course immediately.”

The general made a grunting noise.
“Your task, Kor, will be of great importance. While Koloth supervises repairs of all the damage done to the operation, and Kang supplements the security, your task will be to find the ringleaders of these malcontents. I expect a preliminary report the day after your arrival, and daily reports thereafter. Out.”

Kor contacted the bridge and told Kohlar to set course for Beta Thoridar at maximum speed.

Then he called up Kang and Koloth’s records of battle.

They were both indeed
QuchHa’.
From what Korrd had said, most of the problems on Beta Thoridar were related to Kor’s fellow
sufferers. He smiled, realizing that they probably just needed to be reminded that they were still Klingons and should behave honorably.

Koloth’s record revealed why his name was familiar. He had lost his previous command, the
Gr’oth.
It had to be scuttled following a trip to the Earth Space Station K-7, when the ship was infested. His current command had also been so infested, but this time Koloth was able to take care of it himself.

Kang’s record was more impressive. The
Voh’tahk
had won a few border skirmishes with Starfleet before the formal declaration of war—the same war that was stopped by the Organians.

Scowling at the memory, Kor switched the screen off. He hated being reminded of Organia, of having his governorship taken away by those smiling all-powerful simpletons, of having the Empire’s just war aborted.

He gulped down the rest of his ale, then went to the bridge.

The asteroid belt of the Beta Thoridar system didn’t look like much.

The
Klothos
had been the first of the three vessels to arrive, though Kohlar reported to Kor that the
Devisor
and the
Voh’tahk
would be in-system within the hour.

The larger asteroids were thousands of
qelI’qam
s apart at least, with smaller fragments tumbling lazily through the void at irregular intervals. Kor’s science officer gave a report that this was likely a planetoid that had suffered some kind of cataclysmic collision that shattered it. It was heavy enough in dilithium, the officer said, that it was probably already unstable even before the collision.

The three largest asteroids had atmospheric domes on them—one, in fact, had several. This was the primary headquarters of the mining operation.

“Pilot,” Kor said, “magnify the northernmost dome.”

The pilot did so, and Kor saw the crack that had been created, rendering whatever was beneath it useless to sentient life.

Turning to his first officer, Kor said, “Kohlar, you are to investigate the workers—ferret out this
malvaq bortaS
group. Determine who their leaders are and bring them to me for interrogation.”

“Yes, Captain.”

From behind him, the operations officer said, “Two D7 battle
cruisers coming out of warp. Transponder code confirms it is the
I.K.S. Devisor
and the
I.K.S. Voh’tahk.”

Kor nodded. “Open a channel to both ships—put them both on-screen.”

Moments later, two faces appeared, which matched those on file. Kang had a dark, brooding face and seemed to permanently scowl. Koloth was paler and more pleasant—though his smile seemed to hide the
d’k tahg
he was about to stab you with.

Koloth spoke first.
“You must be Captain Kor.”

“Indeed. I have not yet contacted Supervisor Kobyk.”

His smile widening, Koloth said,
“I imagine your presence has made him apprehensive.”

Kang’s scowl deepened.
“If so, then he is an even bigger fool than General Korrd indicated. The three of us shall transport to his office immediately.”

Koloth frowned.
“Should we not communicate our impending arrival?”

“The general told him we were coming,” Kor said with a small smile. “That should be communication enough.”

“Precisely,”
Kang said with a nod.

Kor materialized in the supervisor’s office to find himself at gunpoint.

Koloth and Kang had beamed down next to him, and Kang barked, “Holster your weapon immediately!”

The one holding the weapon was a short
HemQuch
who wore thick-soled heeled boots, no doubt in an attempt to increase his height. He was standing next to the desk and aiming a disruptor pistol at the three of them. According to the records, this was Sorkav, the chief of security for the mine, and the brother of the supervisor.

That supervisor was sitting behind the desk, holding a mug of what smelled like
warnog
in his right hand. Kobyk shared a crest with Sorkav, and they had the same wide green eyes.

Sorkav was still pointing the disruptor. “Who are you to give me orders,
QuchHa’?
”

“I am Kang.” The captain accentuated the point by stepping forward, looming over the security chief. “And I am not accustomed to giving orders twice!”

“Sorkav, do as he says!” Kobyk said. “My apologies, Captains, but these have been difficult times. If you had warned us of your arrival—”

Kang waved him off and started to pace back and forth across the office. “From now on, all shuttle activity in this asteroid field is restricted. Any shuttle launches must be escorted by one of our three ships. Any shuttle traveling unescorted will be fired upon.”

Kobyk’s mouth opened, then closed. “Captain, I—”

“Furthermore,” Kang continued as if Kobyk had not spoken, “you will transmit the specifications of the damaged dome to the chief engineer of the
Devisor
and you will allow the officers of the
Klothos
free access to your personnel.” Kang turned to Sorkav. “As for you, send all your duty rosters to QaS
DevwI’
Morglar aboard the
Voh’tahk.
Your forces will be supplemented with security teams from my vessel. Am I understood?”

Kor watched both brothers as Kang spoke. Kobyk seemed to deflate, sinking lower and lower into the comfortable-looking
klongat
-skin chair. But Sorkav smoldered. Kor had seen that expression before many times in his life. Sorkav and the man from the House of Yorgh had used the word
QuchHa’
as if it were the worst epithet they could utter.

In response to Kang’s query, Kobyk replied, “Captain, I believe that this is a bit extreme.”

“I asked a question, Supervisor,” Kang said. “It requires a simple yes or no.”

Squirming in his chair, Kobyk started: “We are perfectly capable—”

Kor decided to speak. “You are hardly
that,
Supervisor, or the three of us would not need to be here.”

“General Korrd asked for a preliminary report,” Koloth said. “I would hate to have to tell him that you obstructed us from the moment of our arrival.”

Kang stepped forward and leaned over, his fists resting on Kobyk’s desk. “Am I understood, Supervisor? Or must I relieve you of your post?”

“This is
our
mine!” Sorkav bellowed, his hand moving to his disruptor, but not actually unholstering it. “We will not be ordered about by the likes of you!”

“Sorkav, be
silent
!” Kobyk cried. Then he looked back up at Kang. “You are understood, Captain Kang. Your instructions will be carried out immediately.”

Then Kobyk looked back at his brother. Sorkav snarled and moved toward the exit.

“I did not give you leave to depart, Sorkav,” Kang said without turning around.

Sorkav stopped and turned to face Kang. “I accept that you are here to restore order to this mine, Captain. But I am
not
one of your crew, and I do
not
require your permission to move freely about.”

With that, he departed.

Kor and Koloth exchanged glances, and Kor knew that their reports to the general were not going to reflect favorably upon Sorkav.

“You must forgive my brother, Captain,” Kobyk said. “As I said on your arrival, these have been difficult times.”

“No,” Kang said, straightening up. “For as long as we are assigned here, Supervisor, you are in no position to tell any of us what we ’must’ do.”

Kobyk nodded. “Of course, Captain.”

But Kor thought that the nod, while masked as a gesture of respect, was to avoid making eye contact with Kang, so the captain would not see Kobyk’s disgust.

Bekk
Jurva had been assigned by
QaS DevwI’
Morglar to supplement the security forces at one of the shuttlebay checkpoints.

“The hand scanners they use were ancient when I was a trainee,” Morglar had told her. “I would prefer to trust readings from
our
scanners.”

Jurva had served well for several turns, and she knew Morglar well enough to question his orders without worry for the consequences. So she asked, “Why am I being assigned to this detail? Surely there is—”

“Battle?” Morglar laughed. “These are miners, Jurva, not Starfleet or Kinshaya. There will be no battle here.”

“Then I will report to”—she stared at the data slate Morglar had handed her—“Section Chief Targ.” Her eyes widened, and she looked up at Morglar. “Surely, that isn’t his name?”

“It’s a family name, apparently.” Morglar reached over to the controls of the data slate and called up the man’s record.

Peering at the display, Jurva saw that his full name was Targ, son of Targ. He was also from the Kingral Hills of Mempa VIII, a backward, rural area. Jurva had served on the Defense Force base on Mempa VIII before being transferred to the
Voh’tahk,
and she had always found the country folk from Kingral Hills to be tiresome.

“Very well. I shall support the son of Targ with my hand scanner,” Jurva said with a salute to her
QaS DevwI’.

“See that you do. And remember, Jurva, we are here to
improve
the efficiency of the mine. Try not to kill
everyone
who annoys you.”

Jurva bared her teeth with amusement at her supervisor’s teasing. “I will try my best, sir.”

She beamed from the
Voh’tahk
to the transporter station for Site
wej,
where she was greeted by three guards—one
QuchHa’,
the others
HemQuch—
all armed with painstiks.

“I am
Bekk
Jurva, daughter of Pit’ton, and I have been assigned to aid Section Chief Targ.”

One of the
HemQuch
said, “I am Gonn, this is Goroth.” He shook his head, then indicated the
QuchHa’.
“Oh, and, er, that’s Korya. We’ll take you to the section chief now, but—”

To Jurva’s shock, Gonn hesitated. It was not an action a Klingon warrior performed readily, and she had assumed Sorkav’s security people to be warriors. She wondered if she should have revised that estimate.

Gonn finally continued: “Please, call him ’Section Chief.’ He doesn’t like being called by his name.”

“I can hardly blame him,” Jurva said honestly. “Take me to him.”

“Of course.”

As Jurva followed the three guards, Goroth spoke for the first time. “Is that a disruptor?”

Her hand instinctively moving to her sidearm, Jurva said, “Of course. All Defense Force personnel are issued disruptors.”

Korya muttered, “Defense Force personnel are lucky.”

Gonn shot Korya an annoyed look, then said, “We’re only armed with painstiks. A few of the supervisors got disruptors once this whole
malvaq bortaS
idiocy began, but they don’t even work all the time.”

They walked down several corridors that were carved out of the asteroid’s rock and filled with atmosphere before reaching an enclosure that looked out onto space. Jurva saw four large shuttlecraft that were obviously used to transport the miners.

At the entryway was a table and a large force-field generator, currently off.

“I am
Bekk
Jurva,” she said to the section chief, a short, broadshouldered
HemQuch
with a slight gut and short hair that was starting
to show gray. His beard was untrimmed and he wore a giant nose ring—both typical for the shack dwellers of Kingral.

“I am your section chief, woman.”

“No, actually, you aren’t,” Jurva said quickly. “I report to
QaS DevwI’
Morglar, and he reports to Captain Kang. I am here to aid you, not be subject to your command. And you will address me as
Bekk
or by my name.”

Targ looked at his subordinates. “Do you hear
that,
boys? The
QuchHa’
bitch wants us to treat her with respect!” He laughed, as did Gonn and Goroth. Korya, she noted, stayed silent.

Only Morglar’s final words to her kept Jurva from killing the section chief right there. Instead she simply stared at him.

When his laughter had finally died down, Targ said, “All right, then,
be’H,
this is where you will be stationed. When the miners’ shift ends, they come to this shuttlebay to be taken back to Site
wa’.
”

Jurva tensed, but said nothing. The term
be’H
was a normal Kingral diminutive of
be’Hom,
which meant
girl.
The Kingral dialect tended to meld the sharp sound at the end of her rank with the more guttural consonant at the center of
be’Hom,
so it was possible that that was simply the way Targ pronounced
bekk.

Or he was deliberately insulting her. Again, taking heed of Morglar’s instructions, she let it pass.

“Each person who wishes to pass through must be scanned. Any contraband is confiscated. Once they are cleared, they are permitted to walk through the force field, which is made semipermeable by a control that I hold.”

For a brief instant, Jurva considered ordering Targ to give her that control, but decided not to push things.