THIRTY-ONE

Stardate 9017.3 (Early 2290)

U.S.S. Excelsior

Back in San Francisco, the city where he was born, it was 4:17 A.M. But Hikaru Sulu wasn’t at all certain what time it was in the corridors of power on Qo’noS. Moments ago, Janice Rand had called him urgently from the bridge, interrupting his fitful slumber. Now Sulu was hurriedly pulling on his uniform jacket, hoping to make himself relatively presentable to his VIP caller.

Sulu sat behind his desk and keyed the bridge intercom button. “Put him through now, Janice,” he said.

A moment after Rand acknowledged his order, the screen on Sulu’s desk flickered to life, first displaying the laurel-leaf-framed-starmap symbol of the Federation, followed by the red-black-and-gold trefoil of the Klingon Empire, which was quickly replaced by the scowling visage of an elderly but extraordinarily tough-looking, ridge-headed Klingon.

“Commander Sulu, I presume?” the Klingon asked, an undercurrent of something akin to annoyance clearly evident in his tone.

“Yes, Chancellor Kesh,” Sulu responded. “I appreciate your taking the time to contact me.”

Kesh raised an eyebrow. “I might not have done so, Commander. But you appear to have friends possessed of enough influence to make it unwise for me to simply ignore you altogether.”

Sulu tried to conceal his surprise at this revelation. Who had intervened on his behalf, and with the highest official of one of the Federation’s oldest adversary nations? Maybe one of Ambassador Kamarag’s political attachés down in sickbay has recovered enough to start pulling some very special strings, he thought. Or maybe Sarek has more pull with the Klingons than anybody ever realized.

“I wanted to be certain that the members of the Klingon High Council—and you, in particular—had gotten all of the news about the Korvat bombing and everything that’s happened since,” Sulu said. “And while KDF captains Kor, Koloth, and Kang are preoccupied with tracking down the man responsible for the attack, I wished to make sure that you were kept apprised of everything my people have been doing to assist with the search effort.”

“Commendable,” Kesh said, nodding and stroking his beard, which was knotted in a trio of braids. “So, Commander—inform me.”

For the next twelve minutes, Sulu spelled out as many details about the attack on Korvat, its aftermath, and the albino saboteur—whom he now knew was named Qagh, thanks to Curzon Dax’s periodic reports—as he could. Although he knew he was verging on breaking protocol, he stepped right to the edge in providing details that might be considered proprietary or classified. If we don’t start trusting them with the truth, then what was this whole Korvat peace conference for? he thought, though he had little doubt that certain Starfleet brass wouldn’t see it that way.

“Sto-Vo-Kor will no doubt shake to its foundations when the crew of the Gal’tagh arrives at its gates,” the chancellor said in a wistful yet martial tone once Sulu had finished. “So, the Klothos and the QaD will continue the hunt for this…Qagh?”

“Yes, Chancellor,” Sulu said. “As soon as they complete whatever repairs they can make to the QaD on the fly. But their sensors cannot track the fugitive’s ship as easily as Excelsior’s can.”

“If, indeed, the pirate can be tracked at all. He does seem to have eluded every pursuer for decades now,” Kesh said, revealing what sounded like a sneaking admiration for the bloodthirsty outlaw. “And what about this cloaked shuttle that was launched from the freebooter’s ship?”

“Nobody has any idea why it was launched, Chancellor,” Sulu said. “Or what its target might be. According to Ambassador Dax’s report, the albino seemed as surprised as the Klingon captains were when it happened. But I have to point out that Qagh’s reaction could have been just a ruse. The shuttle could be carrying one of the albino’s genetically engineered bioweapons straight toward some Klingon or Federation world even as we speak. It could even be targeting Qo’noS itself.”

Kesh’s dark eyes narrowed in apparent contemplation of Sulu’s words. After half a minute or so of thoughtful silence, the Klingon chancellor finally spoke again. “It would seem, Commander, that your purpose in telling me all of this is not solely to aid the Klingon Empire. You obviously have a personal stake in this matter. Qagh killed your captain, as well as other members of your crew. Doubtless you want revenge, and you further wish to save face for your Federation in response to the attack against the Korvat conference.”

“I won’t deny—” Sulu started to protest, only to be interrupted.

“You don’t need to deny anything, Commander,” Kesh said. “Honor, along with its defense and maintenance, are concepts as ingrained into the Klingon psyche as breathing and mating, either of which are arguably of less importance than honor. I fully understand and support your position. However…” The chancellor paused, apparently gathering his thoughts.

Here’s where the politics get in the way of simply doing the right thing, Sulu thought, trying not to allow his face to reveal his immediately crestfallen spirit.

“However,” Kesh resumed, “I will not allow Excelsior to advance into Klingon space any further than the Korvat system. At least not before the matter can be put to a full vote of the High Council, and that has not yet occurred. And the High Council will first wish to decide whether or not to allow the interrupted Korvat talks to continue.”

“I understand your position, Chancellor,” Sulu said. “But consider everything that this one man has destroyed over the past few days. And if he really is using that cloaked shuttle to attack the worlds beyond Korvat, then think of how much more damage and destruction he could cause. Respectfully, Chancellor, no one on the High Council would want to allow that to happen. Please at least let me help look for the shuttle, to prevent that.”

Kesh nodded soberly, his eyes narrowing as if to warn Sulu not to continue. “I will press the Council to speed up its timetable for a vote, Commander,” he said, his tone making clear that he would brook no further discussion on the matter. “But that’s the best I can do, especially with so many Council members currently away from the First City celebrating the Festival of Qu’batlh. In the meantime, the Klingon Defense Force will be put on full alert status. I am certain that it will prove more than able to protect any significant target within the Empire’s boundaries.”

Kesh’s face softened slightly for a moment. “Thank you for your candor in this matter, Commander. It will not be forgotten. But for now, however, you will have to continue to wait.”

A moment later the monitor went black, a heartbeat or two before the blue-and-white emblem of the UFP returned.

Sulu let out a low growl of frustration. I’m no better off than I was before, he thought, feeling no small amount of bitterness at the failure of his gambit. And I let out information that might come back to haunt me someday.

Although he had little to do now other than wait through the remainder of the long night, Sulu knew that sleep would be a long time coming.