Title: After the Rescue

Part: NEW 47/73

Author: Karmen Ghia, karmen_ghia@yahoo.com

Series: TOS

Romance Code: S/Mc and then some.

Rating: NC-17

Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html

Legend: * * * separates events in time; ~ separates events that are more or less simultaneous.

See part one for disclaimers, etc.

"Do these apartments suit you, Hraja?" Kmordri asked

"As well as anything here." Hraja was not in a great mood. Kmordri had not allowed him to attend Maja I's coronation and Hraja was bright enough to realize that this was how private and domestic his existence in the Imperial household would be. If he was even allowed to stay near his father and Amanda. The new apartments Kmordri referred to were huge, lavish and in another wing - Kmordri's wing - of the palace.

"And does the studio contain everything you require?" Kmordri ventured.

"Yes. Except one thing."

"Name it. You shall have it."

"The Gozshedrefreingin Commune."

Kmordri actually gave a few seconds of thought as to whether something like that could be arranged before he decided to laugh it off: "Oh, no, my beauty. Even if it still existed..."

"WHAT!" Hraja leapt to his feet.

"As I've said." Kmordri rose to his feet just in case the MageQuad attacked him. "The Commune no longer exists. It was exiled by the SRL."

"The what?"

"The Supreme Religious Leader."

"But they live....?"

"The last I was informed, they have fled the Empire." Kmordri watched Hraja sink back into his chair. "There is, however, a price on their heads." He sat himself. "They cannot elude justice forever," he added, turning his thoughts to the pleasures he anticipated this evening.

"But they live," Hraja said quietly, thinking: 'And you will never catch them.' He turned to find the Klingon admiring him with an undisguised proprietorial air.

"You must learn to enjoy your new life, Hraja." Kmordri said gently. "I will do all I am able to please you in it. I will, however, expect you to please me in return."

Hraja blandly returned the Klingon's gaze while weighing the relative merits of living in lavish disgrace and being dead. He lowered his eyes in his best imitation of submission. 'Well,' he thought. 'At least when you live there is always a plan B.' From beneath lowered jet lashes he watched Kmordri rise.

"Come to bed," the Klingon husked. "I long for you."

* * *

/have you given any thought to our lasssst dissscussssion, MageCheq?/

/yes, quite a lot/

/and/

/I am not ready to transcend this body or this reality/

/why not?/

/I have more lessons and I love too many here to leave it/

"Maja." Hobie broke into his brother's communication with Yrit and Gvo; it made him nervous.

"Yesssss, NoloHobie?" Maja sighed. He could feel the hunters smile in their minds.

"Nothing. Qwuushi and Oza-Tol will stay with the ships while we go in. You, with Yrit, Neria-Tza and Mizat. Me, with Gvo, Ashon and Jir." He turned to the hunters: "Are you sure you've got them?" He referred to the unpleasant scene of the hunters mauling MajaKhat's cloak and Hraja's sketchbook. Hobie had further demanded that they find an object in the Commune with residual emanations, which they did with ease. He wanted to be one hundred and ten percent sure of them before they went into Romulan space.

"Yessss. Bring usss to the northern end of thisss building," Yrit sighed, pointing to the palace on the viewscreen.

"We're lucky. No moon tonight," Jir said.

"Yesssss. Lucky," Gvo sighed at him. Jir, unnerved, moved to the other side of the small bridge area.

Hobie maneuvered himself between the hunters and his brothers. 'Why bother for Maja,' he thought sourly. 'He likes these ghouls now.'

The two little cloaked ships moved silently out of the stratosphere and down toward the surface. Yrit and Gvo had left their ship in orbit. If they succeeded, they would have a new ship from Talljet Shipyards Ltd. and no longer need it. If they failed, their bodies would be destroyed and they would no longer need a space ship at all.

The ships glided through the moonless night and passed unobserved by the Romulan monitoring devices. Hobie had improved on a sensor jamming device he'd 'borrowed' from the Oviriccins that deflected the beam so subtly around the object that it was unobserved in the field. They were counting on that, and the wild improbability of anyone being insane enough to kidnap the Emperor out of his own palace, to lull the guards into a false sense of security and let them pass by unnoticed. And luck, dear god, weren't they all counting on their Talljet luck.

They let a ramp down onto a deserted balcony on the level Yrit and Gvo indicated. Gvo led his party east and Yrit led his west.

Hobie, Jir and Ashon could move like shadows but they felt like amateurs compared to Gvo. They followed in awe of his fleet silent progress. He paused when they encountered a guard and waited for him to pass them by. This happened several times before they reached MajaKhat's heavily guarded door.

Not wishing to raise an alarm, they quietly slipped forward and dispatched the two Romulan guards. It was quieter for Jir and Ashon to slit their throats and have Hobie and Gvo ease them to the floor behind some pillars. Gvo preferred not to send telepathic energy to subdue the guards because the Roms were telepaths themselves and might send up an alarm before they could stop them with more direct methods. Besides, the hunt was to find MajaKhat, not kill Rom guards. That he could leave to the Talljets and their friends. His job was to receive energy, not send it.

"How long before the guard changes?" Hobie whispered to Gvo.

"They had jusssst come here," Gvo sighed, referring to the last thoughts of the dead guards.

"Good." Hobie pushed the big doors open and they slipped inside.

w

~~

Neria-Tza and Mizat were impressed and horrified by how well Maja and Yrit worked together. They moved in tandem, each seeming to read the other's thoughts and be exactly where they were needed. It was creepy but necessary because the area Hraja was in was heavily guarded by Klingons. They had already left a trail of dead Klingons hidden behind them and they were not even half way there.

They arrived at Hraja's apartments as the guard was changing. There were ten Klingon warriors guarding the door: four for Hraja and another six for Kmordri, who had decided to spend most of the night there.

Yrit motioned them back down the hallway and onto a terrace. He leaned over and looked up and down the walls.

"Up one level," he sighed and they followed him down the corridor and up the staircase. They came to a door that opened into a parlor. They moved through the rooms until they reached the bedroom, which was unoccupied, and onto the balcony.

Mizat leaned over the railing and wished they'd brought some rope or something. Neria-Tza wished he wasn't afraid of heights; flying was all right but up here, in the open was bad, very bad.

Maja came out of the bedroom tying the bed curtains together: "C'mon you sluggards, I know you can tie knots, help me make a rope. Yrit, go lock the door. Hopefully the owner of these rooms won't be back for a while."

They let the rope over the balcony and dropped silently down onto Hraja's. It was a warm night and the doors were open. The quartet moved around the bed and looked down at the sleepers, Maja by his son, and Mizat and Yrit by Kmordri, should he wake and need to be subdued. Neria-Tza took up a position by the doors, in case they had company.

Yirt and Maja exchanged looks. Yrit placed his hand on Kmordri's brow so he would not wake and Maja placed his hand over Hraja's mouth so he would not cry out.

Hraja woke with a start and threw himself into Maja's arms: "I knew you'd come," he whispered.

"Get up and get dressed," Maja whispered coldly. "Who's your 'friend'?" He jerked his chin at Kmordri, still under Yrit's fingers.

"He's not my friend," Hraja said, pulling on his clothes.

"Oh?" Maja pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to Hraja, who took it and looked at it for a moment.

Mizat stepped out of his way as Hraja moved around the side of the bed. Hraja looked at Yrit, who did not move, and estimated he could cut Kmordri's throat from that angle. He raised the knife to strike.

"Wait," Yrit breathed and everybody froze. "Not yet, not yet, for him."

Hraja struck but Yrit was faster and stayed the MageQuad's hand, the blade millimeters from Kmordri's throat. Hraja turned to shake the hunter off but one look into Yrit's eyes took all the fight out of the youngster. Yrit moved Hraja's hand away from Kmordri and shook the knife out of it and onto the bed beside the peacefully sleeping Klingon.

Maja moved to his son's side and gently pulled him out of Yrit's grasp: "We go," he hissed.

They turned to see a panel open in the wall and Kmordri's valet stepped into the room. He might have raised an alarm except Neria-Tza glided up behind him and broke his neck before he could.

"Let's go," Neria-Tza suggested.

"Not yet." Malira was standing in the passageway holding a sidearm blaster.

"Malira! How nice to see you again," Maja whispered, trying to think of how they could kill her without the blaster going off and deciding they couldn't.

"What are you doing here, Gozine?"

"Getting my son."

"Leave him. I need him to keep Kmordri in line."

"Oh, so that's General KmordriYhet. I thought he'd be taller," Maja mused, impressed nonetheless by Hraja's former bedmate. "My son is no good for keeping Klingons in line. Too much heart, not enough steel. Why are you here right now?"

"I followed the valet as I do every night. When Kmordri leaves, Hraja and I have a long talk about him, don't we, child?"

Hraja was silent.

"Do you always bring a blaster?" Maja was impatient to be gone.

"I'm always armed now that I live in civilization again," she said.

Maja had a flash of insight: "Give it up, Malira, it's all over. You must realize this sham Klong-Rom empire can't last much longer. You know what will happen to MajaKhat and Hraja when it falls. They're dead. You're dead. You engineered this didn't you? And then you handed it to the Yhets, who could care less about you, your son and your grandson."

"That's why I need Hraja for Kmordri."

"And when the Klingon Regent, Admiral KzaxreaYhet, recalls Kmordri to Klingon because he's under your thumb, what then?"

Malira was silent, loathing to hear what she had already concluded herself and not willing to let go yet.

"Look, Malira, you've still got Maja I going. Just let me take my son home and you can do whatever you like," Maja ventured.

Malira narrowed her eyes at them: "You'd never come for just one, Gozine. I know you, you've come for MajaKhat and his girl as well."

"But I'll settle for Hraja and go in peace," Maja lied.

Malira considered this for a moment.

"Listen, Malira, it's all over." Maja insisted. "Come with us. You can build a new civilization somewhere and be armed all the time there, too. Whatever you want, but let's go, now."

They started at the sound of an outer door opening and footsteps coming closer. Malira moved to the door and opened it a crack before the caller could knock.

"You've got heavy boots, Klingon," she snarled in that language. "What do you want?"

"General Kmordri asked to be wakened at this time, your highness."

"He is in the shower and will be with you very soon."

"Very good, ma'am." He turned and left.

Malira turned back to her audience: "Damn you, Gozine, I had all the answers an hour ago. Come, this way to MajaKhat, I used to play in these passages when I was a girl."

~~

Leaving Ashon to guard the outer doors, Hobie and Jir glided across the outer rooms following Gvo's unerring progress to MajaKhat. They slipped into the dark bedroom and looked down at the sleeping figures in the bed: Maja I and his imperial concubine, Amanda.

Hobie clamped a hand over MajaKhat's mouth and shook him awake.

"Oh thank the merciful mind of god," MajaKhat whispered, seeing it was Hraja's uncles. "We've got to get my son."

"Maja is seeing to it; get dressed." Hobie pulled a stiletto out of his boot and looked at Amanda, who'd just woken.

"Hobie, what are you...?" MajaKhat began.

"She'll only slow us down," Hobie said quietly, leaning forward.

"Fuck you, Hobie," Jir cut in. "I'll carry her." He pulled Amanda out of the bed and onto his back. He picked up a robe at the end of the bed and tossed it to her.

"That's good thinking, Jir. Hobie, come on!" MajaKhat wanted to be gone before an argument started.

"Wait," Gvo breathed.

"Let's go," Hobie snarled in an undertone.

"Wait," Gvo repeated.

"Let's go." Ashon stuck his head in, wondering what the hell was holding everything up. He leapt sideways when the panel next to him began to open.

"Hold." Gvo ordered and everybody took their hands off their weapons. "This way." He led them past Neria-Tza, holding the panel open, and into the passageway.

They found their co-rescuers, Hraja and Malira waiting for them and they flew silently through the walls of the palace to their ships.

Jir, Amanda, MajaKhat, Mizat, Neria-Tza and Gvo flung themselves into Oza-Tol's ship and Maja, Hobie, Hraja, Ashon, Malira and Yrit boarded the one piloted by Qwuushi. They moved silently and swiftly away from the palace, listening intently for alarms that never sounded.

Hobie heaved a huge sigh of relief and pulled Hraja into his arms: "You all right, little one?"

"I am now."

Hobie kissed his nephew's cheek and moved forward to help Qwuushi, who didn't need any help, steer. Malira and Ashon settled into seats in the back. Yrit stood quietly in the shadows, studying Hraja.

Maja gave his son a hard look: "Why was KmordriYhet in your bed, Hraja?"

Hobie looked back at them.

"He forced me..." Hraja began.

"He raped you?"

Hraja nodded.

"Rapists don't usually fall asleep beside their victims, child."

"I..."

"Maja, leave him alone," Hobie broke in. "There are all kinds of rape, whether you can appreciate that or not."

"I see," Maja said icily.

"No, you don't, Noli. It's never happened to you, thanks to the mercy of god," Hobie said coldly.

Maja backed off: "All right, let's leave it then." He turned to Ashon. "This will be the easiest money you've made in a long time, DrossiCheq."

"You can tell me that when I've spent it, MageCheq." Ashon informed him dryly.

Maja sat next to Malira: "Nice try, Malira. You might have made it work with anyone but the Yhets."

"Like you, the Hierophant and the Haats?"

"Maybe."

"It is futile to speculate on what might have been, Gozine," Malira pronounced majestically. "As to the future, where are you dropping me off?"

"With the Commune, if you don't mind. You'll have to pass yourself off as a Xochian or something."

"Will it require me to fart, spit and participate in lewd acts?"

"Only if you wish, Malira. You can, however, keep your name. Just stick to Klingonese or Patois and you'll be fine."

Feeling Yrit's eyes on him, Hraja looked up at him and then away, finding the PholCheq's gaze too intense.

"Why did you stop me?" Hraja asked quietly.

"It wasss not needed. You have never killed anything in your life. He did not damage you. You would have regretted it."

"How do you know?"

"I know."

"He did damage me," Hraja said stubbornly, turning away.

"Not enough to kill him." Yrit reached out to caress a blond curl. /You are not made to kill a sleeping man, Hraja, it is not in your nature. You were wise not to fight him, to wait for rescue. All is well, all is well. Sleep now, you are safe here./

Hraja felt a gentle peace descending and he relaxed for the first time in weeks. He looked around the cabin, at Maja and Hobie, and felt safe again, that he didn't have to dread the next day anymore. Sleepily, he curled up in a chair and dozed off under Yrit's watchful eye.

~~

"Was he going to kill me, Jir?" Amanda asked.

"Oh, I don't know, Amanda, maybe," Jir prevaricated. "Hobie's having a bad day, you know?"

"Thank you for stopping him."

"Thank him for allowing me to stop him. By the way, Amanda, you make a smashing brunette. I hope you keep your hair that way." Jir strolled to the front to flirt with his old friend, Neria-Tza.

MajaKhat put his arm around Amanda and told her not to worry about it.

"Like Jir says, he's having a bad day. I'm sure he wasn't going to use that knife he pulled," he soothed.

"If you say so," Amanda sighed. "I'm just glad to be out of there."

"Yes." MajaKhat turned to Jir. "Where're we bound, Jir?"

"The Commune."

"Surely not!"

"Well, a few things have changed since you were last there, MajaKhat." Jir proceeded to explain the new circumstances to the horrified former Klingon Master.

~

The two ships flew on to rendezvous with the Dancer, which was to convey MajaKhat, Amanda and Hraja to the Commune on Dhrgestera.

Mr. Yrit and Mr. Gvo were conducted to Povarb where a brand new, top of the line, long distance, deep space ship awaited them. Their twenty percent wholesale Vitisi tonne in crystals was paid to the usual account by Ling.

Ashon, with Amanda, contacted T'Pau on Vulcan and assured her of Amanda's well-being and intention to remain with the Commune. Ashon was paid his fee, which was matched by Ling in Federation credits.

Hobie, Jir and Maja Talljet divided the Tossarian pirate forces between them and spread out in the quadrant to attempt to restore their authority again. The ensuing war and turmoil in the Romulan and Klingon Empires, formerly the Klong-Rom Empire, after the collapse of that monarchy, was creating chaos in non-aligned space. The Talljets had some success reestablishing the boundaries of their space, the Tossarian Autonomous Zone, but their efforts were thwarted by the hostilities spilling over the Klingon and Romulan borders. The brothers were also up to their necks fighting the Tziviian pirates, whose incursions were bolder and bolder. The Talljets evacuated their shipbuilding communities on Povarb and Drovilla to the safety of Dhrgestera, where they set up those same operations to supply the fight. Hobie, Jir, Maja and their ships found themselves forced farther and farther back toward the border with Federation space. They found themselves defending a very thin strip of space between Dhrgestera and all hell.

Ling put Qhoshi, with Smig as her second in command, in charge of the move to Vulcan. Everybody not directly involved in ship and weapons building were packed up and sent off. He put himself in command of what was left of the Talljet/Tossarian fortunes in non-aligned space and sailed off at the head of a fleet to reestablish order in the Ertig system. This would free up Jir's ships in the zone between that system and the Brishrji system. It would give them some breathing space if they could restore a line of docile planets between these two systems. They could then consolidate their holdings and wait for the Klingon Romulan war to burn itself out. Ling could do nothing to help Hobie and Maja in their struggles in the Mvovlris system. Besides, except for dodging Klingon warships driven into the neutral zone, Hobie and Maja were winning their battles with the pirates and rebel planets there. They were in the thinnest area of non-aligned space between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. All would have been well there except that the Romulans were sending forays through non-aligned space to strike at the Klingon's underdefended backside.

All this turmoil in their backyard finally got the Federation's attention and Star Fleet put every ship with any kind of weaponry on a line in defense of their outer border.

* * *

end of part 47

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Appendices: http://members.tripod.com/karmen_ghia/atrappendices.html