Blood Reckoning – End of level Baddy
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Sogh Marla Varquis

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Post Details

Title   End of level Baddy
Mission   Blood Reckoning
Author(s)   HoD Ro' Matlh & Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Sogh Thor'nan Mal'Kor & Soghla' HIchop Matlh & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope & Soghla' Jared & Sogh Marla Varquis
Posted   Tue May 31, 2011 @ 2:18am
Location   Corridor in TorvaD's house
Timeline   After the assault
TorvaD and Marla faced each other in the otherwise deserted corridor. Marla brandished her D'k tagh.

"TorvaD, I challenge you to a fight to gain back the honour lost when you murdered my father."

TorvaD considered his options. His bodyguards were gone. His escape route was destroyed. He had to accept the challenge. Not that filth like a half breed had any right to claim the right of vengeance allowed to a true Klingon.

With a smile he drew his qhonDoq and signalled for Marla to proceed.

Marla's first thrust was just to test TorvaD. She had size, weight and skill on her side. However, her father had all those advantages and he had died. She would test him first to find out what his skills were.

They were few and small. He tended to feint and dodge rather than match blades or strike. Marla knew this would be a short fight.

However Marla decided to see what he was going to do. In order to get him to fight, she decided to get him angry.

"You are a dishonourable Klingon. There is no honour in poisoning a Klingon in order to win a fight. Are you just too scared to take on a man who was always a much better warrior than you ever could be?"

TorvaD gave a bark laugh, "Ha! You would lecture me on what it means to be a Klingon? You are not fit to say the word. This is no Right of Vengeance. Only a true Klingon Warrior may claim such a right, and you are none, no more than Jare was."

Marla lashed out, forcing TorvaD back again, but as she did so he slashed at her arm. The blade clipped of the armour on her elbow and shoulder, but cut through the thin fabric over the bicep. Marla swung again and TorvaD had to back away hurriedly. Now he hung back out of her reach watching.

The gash stung. It felt hot. In fact her entire arm was beginning to feel strangely hot. She made a quick step towards TorvaD who danced back, but Marla staggered. She felt giddy. TorvaD stepped in to try a swipe and Marla barely reacted in time to fend the blow off.

She was finding it difficult to focus now. She aware that TorvaD was there, but she felt like she was moving through treacle. Her knees buckled under her.

Poison! How could she not think that he would use that against her, the same thing that got her father had now gotten her. She felt stupid. Her Klingon brain had not worked for her, and then again, neither had her human one. She needed to get him somehow. He needed to die for what he had done.

TorvaD stood over her, gloating. "Pathetic. You think your strength is so great, yet even a little poison in your veins reduces you to a blubbering mess. You should be thanking me. This is the same poison I used on your father when I killed him. He soiled himself towards the end, and I just stood and laughed. I assured him I would do the same to you, and now I have."

Marla tried to lunge forward but she just fell to the floor. She was aware of TorvaD speaking in her ear, "I have killed you, like your father. Now I will stick your corpse, like I did his. Everyone will think I won the Rite and award me all of House Jare's goods without me having to spend anything. You even made sure there would be no witnesses."

A soft voice sounded in the corridor, "Oh, but there are witnesses."

TorvaD looked up to see Jared stepping from the shadows, "Sometimes Marla gets a little emotional and doesn't think things like this through. Ro' and I have some experience in this sort of thing, though. Always have witnesses."

TorvaD snarled and got to his feet, "I'll kill you as easily as I did her, Old One."

Jared looked sceptical.

"Ummm... actually I don't think you will. Perhaps you should have listened a little closer. I did say witness-ES. Plural."

At that point a large Klingon stepped out from the shadows as well.

"Administrator Gar'kin!" TorvaD almost squeaked.

"I've seen enough," the Administrator growled. "From this moment all the properties and rights of House TorvaD are surrendered for his disgraceful acts. They will be added to the properties of house Jare, his victims, in their disposal. TorvaD, you are to be detained till it pleases the Court to hear your case. If you are lucky it will be some years before you are sent to Rura Pente!"

TorvaD dropped his blade with a clatter and sagged to his knees. Gar'kin turned and strode out of the courtyard, passing the two remaining Klingon combatants. May'bel and Thor'nan realised when he passed that something significant must have happened and both ran up the stairs to the corridor.

When they got there they found HIchop treating Marla with an antidote his Federation toys had manage to create from the sample he had taken from Jare. Ro' was standing guard over a broken TorvaD. A moment later Tell and Marie arrived, having abandoned the front gate as the Administrator left.

Marie took one look at the lack of colour in Marla's face and knew immediately what had happened. She walked up to TorvaD, cleared her throat noisily then spat full in his face. "Rura Pente is too good for you."

"I'll feed him to the FHew's engine instead she'll digest anything." replied Tell "Within reason but she isn't fussy.!

Ro' looked around, "All here? ToH!"

He pulled a Communicator from his belt, "Beam HIchop and Marla to the infirmary!"

A red glow surrounded the pair and they vanished. "Tell, Marie and Jared, next. Then May'bel and I."

Thor'nan sighed. " It looks like I'll be looking for employment," he said. "I failed to protect my employer, even from himself. Not many Klingons would hire a human to protect them, even one raised by Klingons. But at least I have one thing. I held my own against a trained warrior. My father did well. "

"Your father did well," Marie repeated for all to hear. "You might not have been born a Klingon but you are the only one here who has acted with honour. You fought for the p'taq and made every effort to save his worthless skin. When I joined the decrepit rust bucket known as the FHew I was appalled by what I saw. It was a disjointed, ill-disciplined crew which was more at odds with itself than with its supposed enemies. Has anything changed? Probably not.... But I will say this Thor'nan, I would give..... I was about to say I'd give my life to this crew. Maybe I won't go quite that far but this is a crew to respect. They work for each other and – and I think this is very important – they work for the people around them. Maybe May'bel couldn't have killed you but what he did do was remove you from the main fight. He did that to preserve your honour. You did not have to make a choice whether to fight for TorvaD or not."

"Perhaps one day we can answer which of us is better." Thor'nan said to May'bel.

"Oh, that reminds me," May'Bel replied. "Hold a moment, Captain!"

Ro' raised an eyebrow at the younger Klingon, but kept his finger off the Comm.

May'Bel stepped forward and passed Thor'nan's Mek'leth back to him with a bow of the head. Then he grabbed his two dropped Tajtiqs from the floor of the corridor, and slid them back into their sheaths. He returned to Ro's side.

"He loaned it to me when we fought and he'd disarmed me," he told Ro by way of explanation. "He seemed to feel it was the honourable thing." He raised an eyebrow at the older Klingon.

Marie continued, "Thor'nan, as far as I am concerned, you have acquitted yourself well."

"Thank you, " said Thor'nan.

"Oh, and before you go getting a big head over Marie St. Helene actually giving a compliment; I'm happy to reserve judgement against you stuffing up later."

Ro' grabbed up May'bel's arm where the blood was seeping through. He levelled a look at the Human warrior. "You did this?"

"I did." said Thor'nan.

"Can you cook?"

"I leave the cooking to my mate," said Thor'nan.

Tell mumbled something. That told everyone what she thought about the main food supply on the ship.

"Pity," Ro' grumbled, "We haven't had a cook since HoS lost to the four auto-sentries."

He stepped forward suddenly and looked hard at the man, "I am Ro' of House Matlh, Captain of the IKC FHew. Who are you?"

"I am Thor'nan of the House of Mal'kor." said Thor'nan.

"Mal'Kor? That's a Klingon name."

"My adopted father found me in the wreckage of a crashed ship on the edge of Klingon space. He raised me as one of his own," said Thor'nan.

"I knew Mal'kor's grandfather, Neg'betlh. He thrashed me to within an inch of my life on my first tour. He was a great leader."

Ro' looked back at the remaining crew, "May'bel here has fought through a half dozen warriors in a single battle, and you are unhurt. You have ripped a kind word out of the mouth of St. Helene, which I have not thought possible. You are from a good house and know our ways."

He looked at May'bel, "But I already have a Tactical officer. What I need is someone to lead the assault Marines."

May'Bel laughed.

"Bah! I'll lead the warriors! I've already done my time behind a console. I've always preferred a hilt in my hand to buttons under my fingers anyway!"

"ToH!" Ro' said with a half smile, "It seems you have already earned a place with the crew. Two of my officers honour you, so you may start as Sogh Thor'nan. You sleep in the Hold until you can find someone to give up their bed. May'bel, teach him what he needs to know."

They were interrupted by a sudden vomiting. Ro' looked at Tell's green colour and his smile broadened, "Ah, they are ripening. Back to the Ship everyone. Time for a victory feast and a celebration for Jare in true Klingon style!"

"The hell you will" replied Tell "No one... no one is going to feast off me ... end of." Before she got to the end of the sentence she was already retching again.