Chapter Seventeen

GowRON LED THE WAY into the hall. A disrupter blast almost caught him, missing his right ear by a very small distance. He rolled to the left against the corridor wall and came up firing. His shot took down the one guard without problem.

“He should have learned to fire more accurately,” Gowron said, standing over the body.

uQvam laughed, but kept the hall behind Gowron under surveillance.

“We go to the bridge,” Gowron said. He took the guard’s gun and gave it to Rocla, who shifted the admiral on his shoulder slightly and tucked the gun in his belt.

Gowron turned and headed off toward the lift. Over his shoulder he said to Rocla, “Along the way I know where we can stash some baggage.”

“That would be helpful,” Rocla said, shifting the weight of the admiral again slightly on his shoulder.

Admiral Jellico only grunted.

They left the admiral in a large storage closet with the warningthat he should remain very quiet. He nodded his understanding before Gowron shut the closet door on him.

Then, as they moved the final distance to the turbo lift, Gowron said softly to his guards. “I have hdd a desire to do that to him. All week.”

This time both guards laughed.

A few moments later they crouched on the lift as it neared the bridge level. Gowron could see a faint haze of smoke and the alert lights blinking. He knew the crew were frantically working to get their ship working. And were guarding against an attack from the outside. He doubted they had been alerted to their escape. They would never expect an attftck from within.

With a nod, Gowron and his two guards stood. “Surrender!” he called out in a loud, solid voice. They stepped off the lift onto the bridge. “Or die.”

Three of the Klingons at their stations went for weapons, but Gowron and his men already had their disrupters drawn. The others never fired even one shot.

The navigator and the captain both raised their hands in surrender.

Gowron walked up to the captain. He knew the man. cha’Dlch, son of hiJaK. Gowron personally had given him his command on this very ship.

“You dishonor yourself, cha’DIch,” Gowron said. “Working for the House of Duras. And against the Empire.”

The man said nothing.

“Your weapon,” Gowron said, holding out his hand.

The captain’s hand went slowly to his side, then quickly drew out his disrupter.

Gowron cut him down before the disrupter even got above his belt.

The man fell to the floor, and Gowron used his foot to turn him over to make sure he was dead. Then to the man’s face he said, “Stupidity does not make up for a lack of honor.”

He turned to his guards. “Can you bring up the screens?”

One guard moved quickly to a console and a moment later the front screen showed the Starship Enterprise at close range.

“Picard,” Gowron said to himself “You should have been born a Klingon. You would have given us much honor.”

Lursa stared at the scene in front of her. The Botka seemed to be heavily damaged. The Federation ship Enterprise hung near it. They had also taken some damage, but not as bad as the Botka. Smoke filled the bridge and made her choke slightly. But she refrained from coughing.

Gowron’s ship stayed close to hers as they slowly drifted away from the Botka and the Enterprise.

“We will have warp power again momentarily,” B’Etor said. “And the cloaking device still works.”

“Good news,” Lursa said. “But play dead for the moment. Just keep the shields up.”

“Understood,” her navigator said.

B’Etor moved up to her side. “Sister. What are you thinking.?”

“I am thinking,” Lursa said, “that the Cardassian ship had planted a device on the Botka that allowed them to track us. Possibly with Gowron’s party.”

“Since Gowron is there, and we are here . .

B’Etor said.

She did not need to say any more. Lursa turned to her engineer. “Can you give me warp three? Under cloak.”

He glanced at his instruments, then nodded. “Yes. But we will need repairs shortly.”

Lursa nodded. “On my command,” she said.

The Botka is hailing the Enterprise, ” B’Etor said.

“Now!” Lursa said. “nom!”

“Sir,” Data said. “We are being hailed.”

Before Picard could answer, Worf said, “Sir. The other ship has again jumped to warp and cloaked.”

Picard glanced up at the screen. Gowron’s ship was not following it. And neither was Gul Dukat’s. It seemed that whatever Dukat could track had been on the ship that was hailing them. He just hoped Gowron and the admiral were on this ship.

“Nothing we can do now about that one,” Picard said. “On screen.”

Gowron’s smiling face lit up the screen. Behind him Picard could see his two guards at the consoles. And two bodies were in sight on the floor. Picard had no doubt that other bodies were close by.

“Thank you, Captain,” Gowron said. “For your help.”

Picard nodded. “It is good to see you well, my friend. And the admiral?”

Gowron smiled. “He bumped his head and is resting below.”

Picard decided at that moment it was better to not ask. He had a hunch he would find out the entire story later.

“Your ship is approaching,” Picard said.

Gowron glanced at his screen and then nodded. “I will return to the station shortly. It seems we have more than one story to finish this evening.”

Picard laughed. “It would seem that way. Picard out.”