Loyalties

Posted on 13 Sep 2023 @ 4:21pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander (La) Kuran & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen

3,881 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo, IKS Praxis
Timeline: MD 12, 1425 hrs

[ON]

It was almost mid-afternoon aboard the Nova-class starship as it traveled at warp speed through the Pleiades Cluster on its journey back to Regula I. Almost a full day had passed since the vessel recovered its away team personnel from the secretive cold station facility. While the culmination of the cold station's investigation presented several problems of its own, a more pressing matter now occupied the thoughts of Commander Morgan Tarin.

Ensign Mimi had assaulted the Klingon captain, KehG, during a diplomatic dinner almost two days prior, then the captain had been found dead later that evening; murdered in Galileo's sickbay while he supposedly slept in recovery. Mimi was currently being held in the brig on suspicion of murder but the recent investigation into the Klingon captain's death had produced more intriguing evidence. Evidence which required further exploration.

The conference room on deck 1 was currently empty aside from the presence of Commanders Tarin and Blake. The two senior Galileo officers were reviewing their security officer's findings on their PADDs while also preparing to contact IKS Praxis, the robust Klingon warship escorting their science vessel back to its home port. Tarin looked up from her PADD to Blake with firm hazel eyes. "Ready, Number One? I don't think Commander Kuran will take this news well..."

"Let's get it over with," Blake replied firmly, the choice of words betraying that she agreed with her assessment. The evidence was there, but it didn't mean they were going to accept it. She would bet money on the word 'tampering' making an appearance somewhere. In all honesty, she was most concerned about Aria in the short term. Stuck over there with no back up to deal with the fallout.

The acting captain touched the commbadge on her chest which chirped. "Tarin to Ops, open a secure channel to Praxis and route it to the conference room. Visual and audio."

"Yes Captain," Vansen's voice came over the commbadge, clearly with some surprise in his voice.

The large wall-mounted LCARS monitor within the conference room blinked then suddenly replaced its bright Federation emblem with a new image: the face of a familiar woman, Aria Rice.

Aria Rice, in her Klingon uniform, watched the faces of Blake and Tarin with some dispassion of all things. She recognised at once it wasn't the bridge. "Now this is a surprise," she said, sitting in the Captain's chair. After all, she had the bridge right now and no one had given her looks when she had taken the chair. "Is there anything else the Praxis can assist with, Captain Tarin?"

As much as Tarin attempted to suppress her sudden surprise at Rice's new warrior dress and bridge surroundings, she let slip a slight double-take upon actually seeing it with her own eyes. The security chief looked...very Klingon. She predicted a certain degree of assimilation but perhaps not so quickly. "Lieutenant," she greeted after an awkward silence. "Commander Blake and I need to speak to Commander Kuran. And you. In private, if that's possible."

Aria looked at her for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Transfer to ready room, anyone eavesdropping will have to answer to me," she said and look over to the side. "You have the bridge," she told Etisa, before she left the chair.

Blake sat back in her chair as she watched the hold screen, her breath tight in her chest. The clothes and demeanour of her friend hadn't surprised her so much as the scar that marred her delicate features. She glanced sharply across to Tarin in the silence as they waited, a flash of anger coursing through her at Aria having been put into that position...alone.

The look from her first officer was recognized in Tarin's peripheral vision. She, too, had noticed the scarred feature on the security chief's face and could only wonder what had occurred. She averted Blake's stare while she waited for the communication channel to re-establish.

The large LCARS monitor blinked again, this time portraying the Klingon commander Kuran in his full close-up glory. His long flowing dark-brown locks and fu manchu adorned his head and complimented his decorative warrior sash which now seemed to have more emblems pinned to it. His body posture and facial features radiated an aura of confidence which put most other warriors to shame. He smiled from his mouth at the two Starfleet officers across the screen. "Commander Tarin, Commander Blake. It has been too long since our last...encounter. To what do I owe the pleasure of your audience?" From off-screen, he gestured to his new first officer to join him. "Lieutenant Rice is becoming one of us - a true warrior! I hope you don't intend to recall her so soon."

Aria stepped closer, so she also came into view. She didn't speak, but watched Blake and Tarin closely. Wondering what they wanted. They were still on course to Regula I and neither ship had reported any problems as far as she knew. So. It would have to be either something like her being recalled to the Galileo or...Captain KehG's condition had changed.

The Klingon commander's friendly greeting sent tingles through Tarin's body. In her experience, their kind were never this outgoing or diplomatic in their communications with Starfleet personnel. She couldn't be sure of his intentions so therefore got straight to the point. "Captain KehG is dead. He was murdered in our sickbay in the following hours after your cadre departed our starship."

The gravity of the words produced a long silence on both sides of the comm screens. Kuran's eyes shifted from side to side as if to process the gravity of the situation. His wrinkled brown creased and his lips snarled. "...You allowed my captain to be killed aboard your vessel?! After taking him into your medical care??" His voice was loud and forceful, but somehow lacked true Klingon emotion at the revelation. "It must have been your own officer, the felinoid ensign who assaulted him in the first place! I demand you turn her over to us!"

Aria glanced at Kuran, her features neutral. She had seen him in many moods since she had come here. This was...there was something she couldn't put her finger on. Her mind then went to the fight and she looked back on the screen. Mimi had been seriously injured but she wasn't a doctor. "I take it that a complete investigation has happened?" she said, her voice firm. She was still surviving here and for Aria it meant she had adopted a certain tone.

"Yes, and we found there to be Klingon involvement," Blake replied with equal bluntness, not impressed at the richness of Kuran's protestation having seen the state of Aria's face. "Our security feed clearly shows Brin't'a accessing our computer and leaving a backdoor in our system to enable remote access at a later time. This was used by a cloaked individual who beamed into our Sickbay and murdered your Captain. Our transporter logged no transports at that time, so it wasn't ours. Further more, the weapon was poisoned with Thallium, and tests showed it to be from the Klingon sector." She stopped there, just letting the silence envelope them as she watched Kuran, clearly making no move to speak any further, no matter how long the silence stretched.

Aria listened with disbelief, shaking her head. "That..." she paused, trying to think of a good way to say it. There wasn't. "That's assassination, nothing with honour. Sounds far more Romulan than Klingon. Why would Brin't'a even have been part of it?" she said aloud before she frowned. But she believed Blake. And she trusted Stark to do a good investigation, meaning this was truth. "Dishonourable, that is what she was."

A displeased sneer spread across Kuran's face after he listened to the supposed 'evidence' from the Starfleet first officer. "So...you have no true proof of our involvement. Only speculation," he retorted to Blake. "You suggest someone from my vessel transported to your sickbay - conveniently cloaked - then," he recalled Rice's term, "assassinated our own captain? And you also believe thallium compounds cannot be procured from anywhere else in the galaxy except the Qo'noS system? This is not evidence, this is an unfounded accusation!"

"I'm not going to sit here and argue with you about it," Blake replied firmly as she watched him with cold features and an arched eyebrow. "I'm *telling* you that's what happened. We're going to send you the report so you can see for yourself. The fact is, her unsanctioned interference in our systems allowed the cloaked murderer to beam aboard and kill him, and then destroyed digital evidence to obscure the truth. So that leaves two options. Either Brin't'a was working alone, or she was setting it up for someone else to carry out the murder. But no matter who made the killing blow, we would call her an accessory to murder. I think we could even push for outright murder if it's decided that all members of a conspiracy are equally culpable of a murder charge regardless of who wielded the weapon..." she paused to watch his face, tilting her head as she shrugged lightly. "So I would say that it's in everyone's interest here for you to start telling us what you know."

Tarin held up a slight hand to indicate for her first officer to pause. "I think I have a better idea, Commander Kuran -- one which might answer important questions for all of us. We'd like to speak to Lieutenant Commander Brin't'a directly. Right now, in fact. If she's an honorable officer then she should have no problem explaining her actions aboard my ship that evening." Rather than listen to Kuran bloviate for the next fifteen minutes, speaking directly to the Klingon woman might yield a more productive discussion.

Kuran tilted his chin up, his dark brown eyes strangely bright in his dimly-lit surroundings. He didn't appear to be angry or outraged at the request. "That won't be possible," he matter-of-factly stated.

Biting her bottom lip, Tarin tightened her brow then took a small step closer to the large LCARS screen. "And why not? Is she too cowardly to answer for her actions?" firmly goaded Galileo's captain.

The Klingon commander appeared unphased by the insult and instead smirked back at his fellow commanding officer. "It is not possible because she is dead," he revealed.

The news took Tarin by surprise and she fell silent. Her first instinct was to not believe this claim and she eventually shook her head. "When? How?"

Aria looked at Tarin for a moment, her features cold. "She challenged me," she said, her voice matter of fact. Which I'd be shocked if you hadn't realised when you sent me to a Klingon ship, she thought yet her face didn't betray anything. Aria was getting good at that, the blank face and scowl.

The tall red-collared captain blinked several times after the Nova-class' security chief spoke. Her thoughts turned into a whirlwind trying to decipher the coded meaning of the young woman's words; to find any possible reason that what she might be suggesting was somehow getting lost in translation. "Lieutenant Rice...what are you saying...?"

Aria watched her before she looked over at Blake for a moment. "Brin't'a challenged me to single combat," she said to make it clear. "To the death. I won." She paused and glanced at Kuran. "I believe Captain Tarin and Commander Blake. They'll have evidence of her involvement. She most likely didn't act on her own, as Chief Security she didn't stand to gain command by herself. She'll have another dishonourable accomplice, most likely on the Praxis. Chances are, you would be their next target."

The Klingon captain inhaled deeply then let out a strong breath before turning to his Human first officer and shifting closer to her in consolidation. "You are most likely correct. Brin't'a was not satisfied serving under KehG. This was no secret. I am...grateful I have you to protect me from any future assassination attempts," he candidly acknowledged to Rice. Then he looked back across the viewscreen to the Federation delegation with a private, semi-unscrupulous smile.

"So you see, Captain Tarin and Commander Blake...even if Brin't'a was this assassin or involved in my captain's death as you claim, she is already dead. Killed by your own officer witnessed by many of my officers. If Brin't'a was guilty of your alleged crimes, then she will be judged in the flames of Gre'thor by Fek'lhr himself! And if she was innocent...then she will have her place in Sto-vo-kor alongside all other true warriors. Either way, it is not for you to judge anymore."

"Well, you're mistaken on that much," Blake replied lightly as she watched him steadily. She had been frustrated at the way Tarin had dismissed her question to Kuran earlier and stopped him from answering it. It would have been far more useful to hear what Kuran had to say without giving him time to prepare his answers, to understand the level of involvement of his ship. Now, he'd clearly formulated a plan during the last few questions and they'd lost the element of panic. In the space of a few questions, he'd already moved from 'how dare you blame any of us' to 'it was all my dead officer, end of story'. "Dead or alive, we still have a duty to report this to Starfleet for a full investigation by specialist personnel. Perhaps...it would be wise for you to investigate your own ship and crew to uncover any further involvement, in preparation."

Kuran waved a flippant hand to Blake. "Go ahead. File your 'report' with your government. If Federation law is as fair and judicious as your people claim, then even you know it will not change anything out here in this sector so far away from our homeworlds." He then paused to consider the last proposal from the Human woman. The tall commander glanced over to Rice, back to Blake, then back to Rice. "I think your idea of an internal investigation is warranted...in fact, it will be an investigation into YOUR investigation!" His eyes narrowed then he gestured to his new first officer. "Sogh Rice will conduct it with my full support. I demand you return my captain's body immediately so we may begin. Along with all of your supposed evidence and supporting computer logs."

Aria looked at Kuran for a moment, studying him. She pressed a button to silence the channel, putting the Klingon logo up on Blake and Tarin's screens. In the room, she turned to face Kuran. She was finding his attitude somewhat at odds with what she had seen before, he had not been that harsh even with her when they had first met. But maybe this was unsettling news, or he really didn't like Tarin and Blake. "If they've followed Starfleet protocols, the evidence they have is solid," she said to Kuran, her voice firm. "Now while it is concerning that anyone got murdered on a Starfleet vessel, I am more concerned on the idea of individual cloaking technology as well as Brin't'a assassinating the Captain. We have some choices in how to handling it. I suggest that for now, we keep it quiet on the Praxis. I'll investigate here, try and find out what happened. Your crew thinks that KeGh is near death anyway...only those who worked with Brin't'a will know he is dead. We can work with that. I want to make sure that you are not next on the list for assassination." And herself, because truthfully that would be less than ideal. She liked being alive.

Kuran grunted his semi-approval at her concerns and proposals. He hadn't known her long - less than 48 hours - yet she appeared to have ambition and expertise within security matters. Much the same as Brin't'a once possessed. "I do not trust Starfleet and have no reason to. None of us do," he swept his long arm around the room to gesticulate to the Klingon battlecruiser and by extension, the greater Empire. "I would be a fool to accept any Starfleet evidence as the truth without first confirming it myself. Specifically when it involves the death of our captain." Rice appeared to be advocating for Galileo's crew yet her implicit bias was obvious to any of Praxis' warriors, for she herself was a Starfleet officer.

He analyzed her other suggestions then quickly came to a series of decisions. "I am the captain now and I will not suppress information from my crew. They must know that Captain KehG was killed aboard your Federation starship. If these 'assassins' are aboard Praxis, that news will draw them out like a glob fly to a targ corpse and we will lay a trap for them. If I am the next to be eliminated, I will be prepared."

Aria looked at him, considering his words for a moment before she nodded. She would follow his orders, because that was her job. "I will review the evidence and present it to you." It was part of what she had done for years, a part of her job she knew inside and out. She considered something for a moment, a slight frown coming to her. "Captain, while I am on the Praxis, the Galileo is my former ship. Not my current and I have no ownership of her." A way to say that she would appreciate if he would stop saying your Federation starship. She was either part of the crew, or not.

Tilting his chin up with narrowing dark eyes, Kuran regarded the petite Human with an evaluative gaze. "I have not known you long yet you possess the heart of a warrior. That is undeniable." He grunted to himself in an attempt to reconcile her position aboard his battlecruiser alongside her ultimate allegiance. "I do not mean to challenge your loyalty. But you must find it complicated...to choose one vessel over the other...to serve a Klingon captain instead of a Starfleet one...?"

Aria held his eyes at the words, taking a deeper breath. "It adds complication, yes," she admitted, because it was the truth. It added complication. "But while I am assigned to this ship, you are my Captain and this is my ship. There are social rules that I am learning, the different customs. And there are things that I find harder than your Klingon warriors would. It won't make me shrink from my duty. I made a vow to Starfleet, and I've made one to this ship as her First Officer. Those two aren't mutually exclusive. Your crew is my crew."

"While you are here, you are a warrior aboard a Klingon battlecruiser. The first officer," he pointedly agreed before leaning forward to firmly clasp her shoulder armor. "Never forget that, because none of my crew will." Kuran released his grip then nodded once to himself. "You have my trust and support for as long as you serve here. In return, I expect you to defend us against anyone who might seek to command this warship and ignite conflict between our people...as has already occurred."

"I do not think that the Galileo is a threat," Aria said, giving a shake of her head. "The evidence they have will have been well gathered. Stark would have done it, and to me I trust him like my own blood. But I will validate the information and we can look at it. For now, can I suggest we keep civil with Captain Tarin and Commander Blake. It gives us more leeway to ask questions, because I suspect you have many. If we overplay our hand, Tarin will just shut the communication down."

Kuran presented scornful displeasure then softened his features after he realized Rice meant no personal disrespect. "My hands are strong and so are my crew! But...perhaps it is best to engage in further diplomacy even in the face of these accusations." He reluctantly grunted approval for her proposal. "Proceed."

Aria nodded and pressed the button, seeing the faces of Blake and Tarin reappear. "We will need all the evidence gathered in the investigation sent to the Praxis," she said, bluntly. "And Captain KehG's body."

Blake gave a short, sharp nod, leaning forward to the screen as she watched her friend. Her features remained neutral, able to mask her concern for Aria caught in the middle of this web. "We've already taken full scans from him, of course we will release him back to his people. I can send you our full dossier as soon as we finish here," she assured. They had nothing to hide, and no right to hold their Captain's body any longer than necessary.

Aria nodded in acceptance, glancing at Kuran for a moment. "Then we have nothing else to discuss for now, unless there is something you want?" an opening in case there was any other business. It made sense to try and keep it short, but if there was something else as well it was best to get it out.

Stepping forward toward the monitor within the Klingon warship, Captain Kuran extended a finger to the two Nova-class commanders. "I hope for your sake you have not desecrated his body with your invasive Starfleet medical procedures. Such an act would disturb his journey to Sto-vo-kor which I would deem as nothing less than a hostile action..."

Back within Galileo's conference room, Commander Tarin replied with a firm shake of her head. "We've taken every precaution to protect Captain KehG's remains. Any scans obtained were non-intrusive. You have my word." She wasn't happy with the way in which Kuran had managed to turn the conversation on its head; he had a rare aptitude for warrior diplomacy which she hadn't expected.

"Good!" he barked in reply. "Then we have nothing more to discuss right now. Kuran out." The visual feed of Kuran and Rice quickly blinked and was replaced by the standard blue and white United Federation of Planets' crest.

Blake sat back heavily in her chair, letting out a long, tired sigh as she stared at the holding image in an awkward silence for a moment. "Well...both of our ships are still in one piece," she finally commented drily. Because it well and truly could have been worse.

"I think next time..." Tarin bit her bottom lip as she usually did when frustrated, "I'll let you handle the negotiations with Kuran." It was a recognition that, just maybe, deferring to and trusting her first officer from time to time was a prudent future strategy.

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

CMDR Kuran
Commanding Officer
IKS Praxis
[PNPC Saalm]

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Aria Rice
First Officer
IKS Praxis

PO3 Constantin Vansen
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

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