The woman sat upright and spoke in a whispery voice. “You are the human who has been caring for Worf?”
Tilting his head to one side, Rozhenko said, “You could say that. I have been spending time with him when I can. He has been teaching me the bat’leth.”He smiled. “Worf does not think I am very good at it.”
Kahlest did not return the smile. “You must listen to me, human. Worf must be taken away. It is not safe for him.”
“What do you mean?”
The nurse looked back and forth, as if expecting there to be spies. Rozhenko had heard stories that Klingons kept their citizenry under constant surveillance, but he had no idea how truthful they were. “Worf’s father was sent to Khitomer to find a spy. I do not know if he found him, but if he did, that person’s family may take vengeance on Worf, as the last survivor.”
Rozhenko’s head started swimming. “I do not understand. Vengeance?”
With an impatience that was of far greater moment than Worf’s annoyance with Rozhenko’s bat’lethskills, Kahlest said, “Do you know nothing,human? If Worf returns to the Empire, he will be a target.”
“Won’t you be, as well?”
“No. I am dead. I will remain dead.”
Remembering some other stories he heard about Klingons, Rozhenko said, “You do not plan to kill yourself?”
Now, Kahlest looked upon him with pity. “You really do know nothing of us, do you?” She grabbed Rozhenko’s arm. “I beg of you, if you want that boy to live to grow into the great warrior I know he can be—do notlet him return to the Empire. If you do, his life will be as forfeit as that of those people on Khitomer.” She let go of his arm, and looked down. “And of me.”
The first thing Sergey Rozhenko did when he returned to his quarters was contact Helena on Gault.
When the face of the most beautiful woman in the galaxy appeared on the viewer in the quarters Sergey shared with another noncom (currently on duty in security), his heart sang. Her smile brightened the darkened room—he hadn’t bothered to turn the lights on, he knew his way around just fine, thanks.
“Sergey!”Then her smile fell. “What is wrong?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I never could keep anything from you.”
Then he told her everything. He told her about the Intrepidresponding to the distress call and Lieutenant Tobias informing him that he’d be on one of the away teams. He told her about the broken, burnt bodies and the two survivors they did find. No details were spared. If he tried to hide something, she’d know. If he tried to downplay how much it affected him, she’d know that, too. She always did. Besides, they took a vow to share their lives—that included the hardships. Helena would never forgive him if he didn’tdivulge it all.
“That poor boy,”she said when he told her about Worf. “He’s the same age as Nikolai?”
Again, he chuckled. “A few years younger, though you would not know it to look at him. He’s twice as big as Nikolai. Doctor Tavares says that Klingons develop faster than humans.” Then he once again became serious. “There is something else.” Slowly, hoping he could convey Kahlest’s trepidation—he couldn’t really call it fear—he shared what she had told him in sickbay.
Helena frowned. “I don’t know, Sergey.”
Knowing it was a weak argument, Sergey said, “We did say that we wanted to have a second child when I came home next month.”
Naturally, Helena plowed right through it. “Yes, a secondbaby ! Who would not come for at least another nine months! Not a Klingon boy that we’d have to take in right away!”
“We have the space in the house.”
“Wonderful. And how will Nikolai react? Instead of having the better part of a year to prepare him we have, what, a few days? And how will we care for this boy? Do you know what he eats? What kind of clothes he wears? Will he be allergic to the furniture? How does he sleep?”
“Lenotchka—” He hesitated.
“What is it?”she asked gently. Sergey rarely used the diminutive except when they were in person.
“The boy has nothing. No home to go to. Just memories of a—a very bad place. I know because I have that memory now, too.” The smell of burnt flesh came back, unbidden, and Sergey’s quarters seemed to darken to the same dimness of that engine room he, Tobias, and the damage-control team had beamed into.
A second passed. Two. Then Helena’s smile came back, and the room lit up all over again. “Then we will give him better memories. Bring him home, Sergey, if he will come.”
“Good.” He smiled. “We will not regret this, Helena.”
She smirked. “I already do. I will see you soon.”
“Not soon enough. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
After Helena’s beautiful face faded from the viewscreen, Sergey decided to return to sickbay. He wanted to speak to his new son.
Chapter 37
Qo’nos
Lorgh stood in the small room on the upper level of his home that overlooked the HoSghaj River. The room’s sole illumination came from a large candle.
He watched the mighty river flow past his estate and toward the ocean into which it emptied.
The mission he had sent Mogh on had not quite been the success Lorgh had hoped. The true identity of the Romulan spy was not known, which meant they did not know who his or her accomplices might have been. Still, he had accounted for that possibility, which was one of the reasons why he had insisted on Kurn remaining behind. Better still, even though Mogh and Kaasin were killed, Worf survived—according to his sources, he had been taken in by the family of one of the humans serving on the Intrepid,the Starfleet vessel that first responded to the distress signal on Khitomer.
General Worf’s line would remain intact. One son of Mogh remained in the Federation, beyond the reach of any vengeful relations of whoever the spy was.
The other son of Mogh would be a son of Lorgh for the nonce. Lorgh had no sons of his own, so that would provide an adequate excuse for this step. And in the long term, the boy would have other uses. Lorgh intended to make sure that Kurn was a powerful warrior, and a force to be reckoned with in the Empire. He also intended to keep an eye on Worf—see how a Klingon raised in the Federation would turn out.
Both sons of Mogh might turn out to be quite useful to him.
And, even if the short-term consequences were devastating, the long-term prognosis was good. The Intrepid’s presence served to drive off the Romulans—and also reveal their responsibility for the attack. K’mpec had been able to ascend to the chancellorship, a move long overdue. The truth—that a Klingon betrayed Khitomer to the Romulans—would remain hidden for now, but there was nothing to be done about that. A pity,Lorgh thought. Proof of that might send us to war with the Romulans.Instead, the members of the High Council whose Houses owed their strength and position to Romulan assistance would continue to do all they could to keep the two powers from coming into conflict. It would be K’mpec’s task to keep those forces at bay—and Lorgh’s to try to expose them—over the course of time.