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Chapter One

Doctor Simon Tarses passed his laser scalpel from one hand to the other with a bored expression on his face. He was locked up in the brig of the USS-Card with the rest of his medical staff.

He was quite annoyed, the bridge never informed him of anything, and he had only known that the ship was being boarded when five armed Klingons burst into sickbay. The same Klingons were now guarding the cells in which the medical staff was being held.

Tarses was getting tired of waiting; he stood up and stepped towards the force field that was keeping them in the cell. He said: "Hey, you." Pointing at one of the Klingons.

The large Klingon turned to look at the doctor.

"Could you at least tell us what's going on?" Tarses asked.

"I do not have the authorization to divulge any information to you." The Klingon said. "Now please sit down, doctor."

"I don't think so...Not until I get some answers."

The Klingon shrugged: "Well then, stand if you really want to."

Tarses blinked, this wasn't an ordinary Klingon: "Is it my imagination or has the Klingon Empire began teaching politeness at school?"

The Klingon glared at the doctor: "Do not attempt to provoke me, doctor. It will lead you nowhere."

"Really? I thought Klingons lived for being provoked."

The Klingon rolled his eyes and began walking away from the force field, but Tarses said: "Hmm...The scientific name for this is: 'The walk of the coward'."

The Klingon stopped in his tracks.

"You heard me, Klingon." Tarses said. "It appears that your race needed to exchange its politeness against something else: its courage."

The Klingon didn't move.

"Well...I suppose I can't blame you..." Tarses said. "Your brains are probably too small to be able to fit politeness and courage in the same place. One had to go."

The Klingon turned; Tarses could see his fury boiling inside.

"Is there something you have to say to me?" Tarses asked.

The Klingon just stared at the doctor.

"Come on, Klingon..." Tarses smiled. "Why don't you come over here and show me if your muscles still work...I'm a physician after all, aren't I?"

* * *

The doors of the cargo bay where the senior staff were being held opened. Captain Kline and the two Klingon Intelligence operatives, Kaytan and Gorik, were escorted in by some Klingon guards who left the bay a moment later.

The three of them moved towards the assembled senior officers at one corner of the cargo bay.

"Glad to see you." Lieutenant Commander Sutter greeted them. "What happened?"

"We met our friendly host, Doksath, the leader of the River of Blood." Kline said.

"And what did he say?" Stevenson asked from where he was sitting on top of a cargo container.

"He says that he wants to bring the Klingon Empire into a 'new era' in which honor will have little meaning." Kline explained. "He's some sort of revolutionary type of Klingon...He doesn't believe in glory, honor or Kahless..."

"He's insane." Gorik spat on the floor and muttered a few more curses in Klingon.

"He's also working with general Rax, the boss of Klingon Intelligence...Somehow he managed to get a whole armada of starships to work for him and his group. He's headed for Qo'Nos and he wants to take control of the planet." Kline said.

"How big is his armada?" Sutter asked.

"Big." Kaytan simply said.

"Great..." Eskina said. "So what do we do now?"

Kline shook his head: "We need to get out of here...If I know Patrickson I think he's already aware of what's been happening. Unfortunately, the Federation can't support the Empire."

"What?" Sutter frowned.

"The River of Blood has proven itself to be more than just another terrorist group. It's a political force...The Federation can't intervene in this manner in the affairs of the Empire, it would mean breaking the Prime Directive."

Eskina sighed deeply: "Always...always...the Prime Directive."

"What do you mean?!" Gorik stepped towards Kline. "You mean that you won't be helping us defeat these cowards?"

"We can't." Kline said. "It's against our laws."

"What about the treaty? The treaty that said that you will help us in times of war." Gorik said.

"This isn't a war," Kline said. "It's a civil war...Or at least the equivalent of one. This has happened before in the Empire and the Federation did the same thing."

"So you will stand here and do nothing?" The Klingon demanded, outraged.

"No." Kline said. "The Federation will not move...Starfleet will not move...But Starfleet Intelligence will move." He gestured to his crew. "We will fight against the River of Blood and we won't let them take the Klingon Empire, I swear to you that we won't."

Gorik studied the captain for a moment, and then suddenly placed a hand on the human's shoulder: "We will fight together, Captain."

Kline smiled.

* * *

"Your pitiful attempts will not be successful." The Klingon guard said through clenched teeth.

"Hmmm..." Tarses stroked his chin. "I'm not sure that you're so sure about that...I can see your face changing color."

The Klingon grunted something.

"What was that?" Tarses smiled. "Ooh...That wasn't very nice, Klingon...I thought you had become polite...Was I wrong?"

"If you do not stop soon you will be dead." The Klingon advanced towards the force field, obviously losing control.

Tarses laughed: "Oh I'm so afraid..."

"If you do not stop speaking you shall be dead by the time I count to ten." The Klingon said.

"I'm not sure you can count up to ten, can you? Wait...I'll help:" Tarses said. "Okay...First comes one, then comes two and then..."

"Be silent!" The Klingon roared, he deactivated the force field and reached for his disruptor.

Tarses was faster...

The laser scalpel that he had hidden from the Klingons had already been in his hand since the beginning of the verbal exchange between him and the guard. In a swift movement he brought the tool up and began slicing the right wrist of the Klingon. The guard howled in pain and the disruptor fell to the ground. One of the medical technicians quickly grabbed the weapon and stunned the fallen Klingon guard.

The stirring had certainly made enough noise so that the guards that were stationed outside the brig entered the room. The technician managed to use the element of surprise to stun the three guards as they entered. Tarses picked up the weapons and passed them to his colleagues, while keeping one for himself. Then the unarmed medics helped themselves to some Starfleet hand phasers in the brig's weapons compartment.

"Okay..." Tarses checked the brig's main console. "There are twenty Klingons on board, five in the cargo bay where some of the crew is being held, and the rest are on the bridge. We need to take back this ship and find out what the hell is going on."

"Where will we go now?" Lieutenant (jg) Sharon Davies asked.

"I think we should get to the other crewmembers in the cargo bay, once we've delivered them we can easily overthrow the fifteen Klingons on the bridge." Tarses said. "Okay...Let's get moving."

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