Star Trek: Theurgy

Day 28 [1700 hrs.] Right of Vengeance

March 12, 2020, 03:23:19 PM

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RIGHT OF VENGEANCE

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STARDATE: 57627.24
APRIL 7th, 2381
1700 HRS.


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[ Captain Ives | Conference Lounge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ]
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The shimmering light next to Captain Ives announced the arrival of Thea, but Jien - in his male form - didn't look away from the two new Klingon ships outside the panoramic viewport. It was the Vor'Nak and the ChunDab, having travelled all the way from the Azure Nebula, or what was left of it. The ChunDab had taken a detour to Deep Space K-7 in order to pick up recruits for the Theurgy, and Jien expected the reports of arriving Starfleet officers to come in over the course of the evening. New blood, all briefed and trusted by their inside man in Starfleet Headquarters.

"Captain," Thea said, her hands folded behind her back as she addressed him, with her chameleon bodysuit being it's usual black colour. "High Chancellor Martok and General Chu'vok have delayed the meeting in favour of some event at the Ha'batlh arena."

Frowning, Jien turned to look at her. He knew of this place in the shipyards, but he'd never visited it. Why had Martok decided to postpone the meeting and go there instead of planning the next step in their alliance against the aliens that had infested Starfleet Command? In terms of import, was there anything more pressing to address? "Did they leave a message?"

"Yes, Martok informed - through Liaison Zyrao Natauna - that given the events at Sector 46, and General Chu'vok's intervention, Chancellor Martok has no choice but to address the slight against his House, and the death of his son. He simply said that there will be no execution, as promised, but he has claimed a Right of Vengeance against Bekk Hi'Jak. He further added that... aside from the import to hold the Empire together, a Klingon who denies himself the Right of Vengeance is no Klingon at all."

Hearing this, Jien turned fully to Thea, his jaw clenching. "When will the duel be held? Now?"

"I think so, my sensors indicate how all available Klingon crew from the Vor'Nak and the ChunDab are gathering at the Ha'batlh," she said, looking as concerned as Jien felt. "Even the barracks here at the shipyards are emptying for this event."

"Inform all Senior Staff members..." he said, thinking if he should ask them to accompany him to the arena, but decided that it might seem too hostile, instead opting for something that mightn't ruin their standing with their most important ally, "...that they will be summoned once Martok and Chu'vok are available, but please ask Doctor Kobol  to rendezvous with me there, and see if Commander Ducote can come as well."

"Aye, Captain. At once. Do you wish me to transport you there?"

"Yes, please," he said, and Thea nodded. "Energise."

[ Ha'batlh | "The Ring of Honour" | Klingon Recreation Complex | Aldea Prime Shipyards ]

Once he materialised, Jien found himself on a terrace that overlooked the bustling crowd, which was still clamouring through the gates. Despite the ruckus and the movement, it was clear that everyone's attention was diverted towards the walled arena on the lowest level. There, Jien could see the High Chancellor, standing there with bat'leth in hand, looking quite grim. His remaining eye was locked on two figures that were walking out towards him. Jien recognised one of them, but he assumed the woman in his company was his handler in Imperial Intelligence.

Former Lieutenant and Science Officer Hi'Jak had no means of escape, forced to meet his inevitable end with his head held high. In terms of the death of Martok's last remaining son, Hi'Jak was essentially innocent - unknowing as he had been of the defence system on the Coreless Moon. Nonetheless, the perceived blame laid on his head, for his instructions had drawn Captain Drex, son of Martok, to SuD Lang, and the entire crew of the IKS Hakkarl had been lost. Of course Jien had issues with Hi'Jak's actions at the Coreless Moon, in how the traitor's defiance against his explicit orders to contact Martok had set in motion events that led to the battle between the IKS Negh'Var and the Sword. Many souls had been lost there at the heart of the Azure Nebula, all because Hi'Jak had invoked Martok's wrath instead of establishing an alliance. Still, Jien couldn't just accept a former member of his crew being handed over for execution. Martok's promise had been to spare Hi'Jak from that kind of fate.

But seeing what was unfolding now that the High Chancellor had arrived, Jien couldn't help wondering if Martok had planned to claim the Right of Vengeance right from the start... long before the events at Sector 46. Either way, there was no way of stopping this duel without endangering the alliance with Klingons, for Jien knew what had prompted the choice of this very public display. As if reading his thoughts, General Chu'vok - the commander of the Klingon Defence Force in the Epsilon Mynos System - approached Jien's side, speaking up in his gravely voice.

"Consider it the cost of me having to liberate your pilots, Captain," he said without preamble, both of them knowing what had happened not far from Telea. Sector 46 was supposed to have been restricted space for the Lone Wolves, but instead, the secret station there had been compromised whilst on a mission to investigate a signal. In Jien's opinion, and the General's silent agreement of the assessment, the signal had been sent specifically to lure the Lone Wolves there. Only the secret research station hadn't been directly under Chu'vok's purview, but a political opponent of the House of Martok. The Lone Wolves that had been captured had been released only when the General had threatened this opponent - a certain Klingon named Gorka - with the imminent arrival of the Chancellor.

Consequently, however, Gorka had left the Epsilon Mynos System just prior to Martok's arrival, along with all the ships and crews directly reporting to him, and made a public challenge against the High Chancellor decision to side with the USS Theurgy against the Federation and the whole of Starfleet. It wasn't unlikely that the word of Martok's alliance with the Theurgy had reached beyond the Klingon Defence Force already, and the Klingon High Council's word on the matter had yet to been heard. To say that Martok's hold over the Empire was at risk certainly wasn't an understatement - his position just having been challenged in such a fashion. Jien couldn't help but think that Gorka had planned this all along, with the signal and the capture of the Lone Wolves forcing General Chu'vok's hand, and in turn, making the duel below them a public event.

Indeed, Jien's feelings about the duel that was about to take place down there in the sand were mixed, since while Hi'Jak had been an infiltrator from Imperial Intelligence well before the hybrid's Academy years, the officer had not only helped discover the Omega Device, but he'd helped reclaim it from the Savi as well. Without it, the Borg invasion couldn't have been halted. The Savi loosing it had come up in the talks with the Voice on the Erudite as well, of course, but it hadn't hindered the installation of the quantum slipstream drive on the Theurgy, thankfully.

"I understand that," Jien said, and as he turned his head to the General... she had assumed her female form. Her oaken eyes were just as sharp, even though her tone of voice had turned into silk-coated steel. "Yet that doesn't mean it's right. Gorka led the wolves astray, and Hi'Jak never meant to have Drex die at the Coreless Moon. He couldn't have known about the ruins below SuD Lang."

"Your righteousness is admirable, Captain," said the old General, shaking his head, "but this is the Klingon way. Martok needs to display the strength of his diminished House before Gorka's grandfather sways the High Council. The whelp down there understands that. He will consider it an honour to die at the hands of a warrior such as Martok. I dare say he even welcomes it. Since he came here, he has been caught between two worlds - both rejecting him."

Somewhere out there in the roaring crowd, Zyrao Natuna would likely be attending, and while she had betrayed the Klingon Empire for sake of the Theurgy's mission, not a single Klingon soul knew that. Besides Hi'Jak. All the other witnesses had died along with Drex, or were loyal members of the Theurgy crew. While the shimmer of a site-to-site transport lit her face - it likely being either Doctor Kobol  or Commander Ducote - Jien couldn't help but wonder what Zyrao was thinking, seeing Hi'Jak about to die.

Hopefully, however, that might not be the case...

With Thea's and Kobol 's help, and some luck, Jien might still save someone who were once a member of her crew.

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OOC: This is a starter for a thread that illustrates Martok's arrival to Aldea! Optional for @Top Hat and @BZ to post with Ducote and Zyrao respectively, but if I could ask for your help with two short posts, @TWilkins , this thread will be over very soon. The subsequent Senior Staff meeting will be handled off-screen, the initial planning stage of the mission's next phase dealt with OOC instead. Hope you enjoy! I will also be illustrating more of the Savi Alliance.

Re: Day 28 [1700 hrs.] Right of Vengeance

Reply #1 – March 16, 2020, 06:50:50 PM

[ Lieutenant Elro Kobol | Ha'batlh | Klingon Recreation Complex | Aldea Prime Shipyards ] @Auctor Lucan @Top Hat @BZ

Elro materialised with a somewhat distasteful notch to his brow, the overwhelming turmoil of Klingon emotion buffeting him like a raft in a hurricane. Yet, even taking such immediate measures to dampen the sensitivity of his paracortex, did little to offer any comfort to the Betazoid. The dulling of the emotional volatility of the crowd around him, was only matched the dinful onslaught of battle-thirsty Klingons clamoring for a better view of the stage below…

It was a concept that puzzled Elro greatly; how such a volatile and combative species had survived and developed to the same extent as his own… Whether he found it a testament to the versatility and hardiness of the Klingon species, or a demoralising example of the fickleness of evolution, he couldn’t say...

The Doctor took a short moment to glance a view to the much sought-after stage at the centre of the crucible, an arena occupied by three individuals, one grimly armed with the Klingon blade that Elro could never quite remember the pronunciation of, the other pair walking defiantly towards them. From the briefing he’d received en-route to the transporter, one of the pair was Hi’Jak, a crewman from their own vessel suffering under somewhat dubious circumstances.

The Betazoid was not entirely up-to-date on the internal affairs of the Theurgy crew, but the briefing he had received from Thea was enough to make him uncomfortable with the scenario at large. In typical Klingon fashion, they were settling a grievance with blood sport, a duel to the death known as ‘the Right of Vengeance' a rather formal name for such wanton brutality. Given the medkit clutched tight to his torso, concealed partially beneath the pristine white of his medical jacket, it didn’t take much to establish that Captain Ives wasn’t quite so keen on the prospect of the event either...

“Captain.” Elro politely affirmed, delivering a tight nod and attempting to keep his face veiled in neutrality, as opposed to allowing it to be overcome with the distaste he held for the bloodsport he was about to witness. “Kobol  to sickbay,” Elro spoke surprisingly softly for a man of his stature, as he lightly tapped upon his combadge. “Please have a team standby for a medical emergency.” He requested, making deliberate efforts to speak slowly, as to not raise attention, and tapping off as soon as a confirmation was received. He didn’t understand the full extent of the diplomatic complexities at play, so he decided that caution was the better part of valour.

He shared a glance of unease with the Captain however; he’d tended wounds from Klingon close-combat during his time aboard the USS Artemis, weapons that turned people to chunks of butchered meat. He wasn’t overly comfortable with the idea of witnessing the event in the first place, however, he understood the necessity of his presence in the stands.

Elro’s face slipped enough to bring a subtle grimace upon his eyes and mouth, and the Betazoid failed to adjust it as he reluctantly looked out towards the pit below.

The Doctor truly failed to see any honour in a species that behaved like cattle to get a glimpse at their countrymen slaughtering one-another to settle some perceived slight.

Re: Day 28 [1700 hrs.] Right of Vengeance

Reply #2 – March 20, 2020, 10:13:13 PM

[Zyrao Natauna | Secret Keeper | The Battle Forthcoming | Traitors Watching Traitors | To the End]
@Auctor Lucan @Top Hat @TWilkins




The crowds in the arena were hungry.  She didn't need to be an empath to realize this was the case.  All she needed was her vast people watching skills and the hundreds of years under her belt.  Add those to the fact that she had been living with the Klingon for such a long time and she had a good feel for the room without any needed abilities.  She had come, alone, not just because the man knew that she too had betrayed Martok and his family.  But, also because she did not witness to her survey of the whole organization.  Zyrao had been a fighter, true and honestly, since she was young.  Her love for tactics, battlefields, and fights had always been heavy.  Now here, with the Klingon ready to do their own sense of justice she stood just in the crowd surrounded by many other of her 'kind' so to speak.  She had purposefully chosen her spot, the most tactically advantageous and the least seen.  She was standing behind two large, boisterous, and angry Klingon.  But her view was mostly unhindered as she could see from over their shoulders, and yet it hid her enough from sight she doubted that Hi'Jak would be able to see her. 

Her grey eyes searched the crowd and she could see the light of a transporter as Ives beamed hirself in and then another as the Doctor also beamed himself in.  She had no idea who would all be here, but she had a feeling that Ives had a plan up hir sleeves.  The Captain was quite clever and though Ives also knew about Zyrao it was not something that would probably come up today.  If anyone talked about her betrayal to the Klingon it would be Hi'Jak.  However, if he figured out that she had turned on her own kind in favor of saving the Federation officers, the liaison and alliance they had would end.  It wasn't something that the Theurgy could afford right now.  Especially so close to taking off.  She had not wished to spurn the house of Martok, however, she had seen an opportunity to ally herself with someone else that was stronger, and could take her places she had not yet gone. 

There were days she regretted her choice.  The lack of acceptance on the Theurgy was a harsh reality and one that she wished she didn't need to live.  The Klingon had accepted her readily and allowed her to work her way up to her old position.  She had proven herself from the get-go and time and time again.  Despite working hard for the Theurgy as a strategist, a tactician, and a Klingon Liaison she found that she felt no more trusted now than before.  Well, outside of Thomas, Dewitt, Sera, and Ducote.

She wasn't even sure where her future lay with the Theurgy at the moment.  Ducote had ensured that he would find a position for her, it seemed that he was apt to keep her on board, and she hoped that was a good sign.  Martok stepped into the ring and the crowd around her erupted in cheers, this was his chance to put everyone back in their place.  He consistently had to fight to retain his position, everyone Klingon did, there was always someone that wanted to come in and usurp the whole area.  But, it didn't matter at this moment, right now, it was all about proving that he would do what needed to be done.  Prove that he had the gumption to make right the wrongs done against him.  Now, was the time to show his dominance. 

His Klingon voice began to call out for all to settle down.  “Traitors have no place among an honorable and prideful race as we.”  he called out and again, the crowed erupted.  They were banging on walls, stopping their feet, brandishing weapons all too ready to join in the fight if the call came to do so.  It was loud, impossibly so because it almost was a competition to see who could be the loudest.  Finally, lungs extinguished of air, the arena quieted again, the occasional call for blood, death, and evisceration called out here and there to the amusement of others.  “Tonight, this night, we call for the life of the traitor.  To reset the balance.  To show all the fellow Klingon, you will not betray me!”

Again, the eruption of cheers, Zyrao stood there at ease watching the two Klingon.  Of course, things were going to get bloody, but the fight honestly would be over soon.  She doubted Hi'Jak had kept up with all his fighting skills over the course of the Theurgy and Martok was a grissled warrior.  For a moment, she wondered what would occur in the off chance that Martok lost.  But, she doubted that was the case.  Hi'Jak had already defeated himself it was in his very demeanor despite coming out here to do this publicly and to die a death of honor.  Martok and Hi'Jak circled each other, neither of them rushing in for that moment.  She could hear if Hi'Jak said anything at all to Martok despite his lips moving.  Though, he could have said anything and she didn't see Martok scan the crowd for her.  Perhaps Hi'Jak knew it was best to continue to help the Theurgy so that he, himself, could be helped as well.

It was Martok that moved first, which did not surprise the El-Aurian a single moment.  No, in fact, she expected that it would be the case.  If he had allowed Hi'Jak to do it then he would have allowed for the man to start the battle he intended to finish.  Instead, he was going to start and end it on his own.  The clash of Bat'leth was loud and it seemed to sing through the arena as Hi'Jak began to parry the blows.  Hi'Jak may know what his fate beheld but he was not going to stand there and die quietly.  No Klingon with an ounce of honor would. 

Hi'Jak swung quickly, his arm straight out with the bat'leth turned to take the head of Martok to the ground.  The older Chancellor dodged down at the very last moment.  A tuft of hair, and a small sliver of his ear top came off with the extremely sharp blade.  Blood splattered the bat'leth, the crowd erupted in taunts, jeers, and screams of outrage that the first blood had not been Hi'Jak's.  Yet it seemed to be what Martok needed as the blood lust that filled his eyes a moment later as the pain receptors in his brain began to pump adrenaline through his body started working over time.

The grin on Martok's face said it all.  He didn't dare touch the wound even as it dripped blood onto the shoulder of his garments.  No, instead, he almost acted as though it did not exist to him what so ever.  With a cry of honor on his lips he lunged at Hi'Jak who just barely jumped away from Martok impaling him with the Bat'leth right through the heart.  The goal was to end the man's life if possible, he didn't want any loose ends and the traitor would do the same again, it was their nature.  Martok didn't stop with his lunge instead he turned it into a roll chasing after Hi'Jak as he did so.  The traitor raised his Bat'leth over his head and stabbed down towards the older chancellor and only just missed thanks to the quick block Martok managed as he popped up off the ground behind Hi'Jak still recovering from the parry.   

Martok moved to slice the traitor across the midsection but Hi'Jak moved just one second too quick and only earned himself a deep gash.  The blood began to pool in his clothing and run down his side and back as he did so.  Hi'Jak grunted out in pain and shook his head.  Martok grinned, knowing that the wound there would only slow him down over time.  It wouldn't be instant, if he was a good fighter, but it would happen.  The blood loss, the pain, it would get to him.  Hi'Jak took his opportunity to slash at Martok, but the older man was ready and quickly parried.  Their bat'leth locked against one another as Martok pushed the man back quickly.  With the pain of his side it was hard for Hi'Jak to keep moving and he stumbled and fell.  Losing the tension on his bat'leth, Martok jolted forward slightly but caught himself so he didn't fall. 

Hi'Jak now on the ground looking up at Martok.  “Rise.” Martok demanded of Hi'Jak.  The man was breathing heavily through the pain, and now, the blood flow was increased as he stuck his bat'leth in the ground and used it to hoist himself up with a great deal of effort.  Fresh blood gushed out of the cut and down his already soaked pants.  His breath was coming more harsh by the moment and sweat had broken out on his ridged brow as he surveyed Martok waiting until Hi'Jak stood upright.  That was all the man needed, he lunged forward with a cry of triumph as his weapon entered the traitor at the shoulder and nearly rendered the man in two.  Sliding down through the double hearts and lungs, through the intestines and getting stuck on the pelvic bone. Hi'Jak's knees went out on him and as he fell it freed Martok's bat'leth from his internal organs.  He turned his back on the now dying Hi'Jak and rose his bloody bat'leth to the crowd who erupted in cheers of elation.

The traitor was dead. 

Zyrao turned and took her leave, she needed to see no more.  It was time to get back to work.

Re: Day 28 [1700 hrs.] Right of Vengeance

Reply #3 – April 21, 2020, 01:17:35 PM

[ Captain Ives | Ha'batlh | "The Ring of Honour" | Klingon Recreation Complex | Aldea Prime Shipyards ] @TWilkins @BZ @Masorin
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Having listened to General Chu'vok, Ives was failry sure there was naught more to be said in the matter of the duel. So, when Doctor Kobol  appeared next to her, Jien inclined her head to him, and gestured for the Betazoid to follow her.

"The man down there used to be one of the crew, and for all his faults and errors, I will not condone this thinly veiled execution," she said quietly to Kobol  while she made her way down the stairs of the arena. She had already heard the CMO's order to sickbay, and appreciated that the man had the right idea despite being bereft of a briefing in the current matters. "I will ask Thea to help us beam him to sickbay once this charade of a duel is over, and hopefully, you and your team will be able to keep him alive."

They reached the bottom level, able to see over the railing as the two combatants fought in the sand. Jien folded her arms underneath her chest and frowned as the duel was going as expected. "The problem is that Martok's honour is on the line, and the crowd expects bloodshed to restore it. Our mission is dependent on our alliance with the Empire, so we can't just beam Bekk Hi'Jak out of the arena while the Klingons are still here. Unless..."

Jien gave the conundrum some thought. She watched how the circling steps of the two men in the middle of the arena raised clouds of dust around them... and then she tapped her combadge.

"Thea, do you still have Junior Lieutenant Hi'Jak's medical journal, with the specifications of V-Nine's cybernetic augmentations?"

[Aye, Captain.]

"Access the journal's holo image and stand by for emergency medical transport," she said while her oaken eyes followed the progress of the duel, "I hope you mobile emitter is charged, for I need you to switch places with the patient on my mark. Adjust your projection to match that of Hi'Jak's. I also need you to replicate any injuries you detect in the transporter buffer as you beam him directly to sickbay. Doctor Kobol 's team is standing by, while I need you to play dead for this crowd."

[Acknowledged. Transporter lock made. Awaiting your command. Won't the Klingons detect the switch?]

"With some luck, I hope not," she said, seeing how the dust lay rather thick around the duellists at that point. No more had she said it until she detected how Martok told Hi'Jak to rise to his feet, the hybrid having suffered a deep cut already. She anticipated the ending... and hissed through her teeth when she saw the manner in which Martok cut the man down. The gushing blood and pieces of armour that were strewn across the sands suggested that she might endanger the alliance for naught if she gave the order... but once Hi'Jak toppled forward, she heard herself give it nonetheless. "Energise."

The cloud of dust around the fallen combatant had yet to settle when Thea executed her plan, and while Jien knew what to look for, she hoped the brief shimmer of light went by undetected. With baited breath, she watched Martok and the crowd around her without making it too obvious, hoping none of the onlookers had detected the shift, and if they had seen something, they would have thought it being the dust catching the light.

"I'll stay here, Doctor. For appearances sake. We need some kind of substitute to replace Thea as soon as possible," she told Kobol , the unsaid being - of course - that the CMO would likely want to request a site-to-site transport to sickbay as well.

At the best possible opportunity, a replica of Hi'Jak's body would have to be readied for a second switch. Meanwhile, Thea laid there in the sand, her prone projection bearing the guise of Hi'Jak, and Jien could just hope that the mobile emitter was charged enough to keep the peace between herself and Martok.

Re: Day 28 [1700 hrs.] Right of Vengeance

Reply #4 – April 28, 2020, 02:57:41 PM

[ Lieutenant Elro Kobol | Ha'batlh | Klingon Recreation Complex | Aldea Prime Shipyards ] @Auctor Lucan @BZ @Masorin

A ‘charade’, the Captain called it. A ‘thinly veiled’ execution. Elro did disagree with the statement, but only in the sense that he didn’t believe that any veil could disguise the motive of the duel he was forced to bare witness to. It seemed that their crewman had no chances of survival now that he was condemned to the sands, and that death was all but certain, no matter the outcome of the duel. But the Betazoid could easily knowledge that his understanding of the intentions of Klingon blood sports leaved something to be desired. The Doctor would have hardly been surprised if Lieutenant Hi’Jak emerged victorious and was decorated in the honours befitting a war hero.

It perplexed the Doctor, but unfortunately, barbaracy and rituals born of little logic, tended to be the most comfortable area for Klingon culture to inhabit.

But the Captain seemed to have put a plan into motion as they watched the 'duel' unfold before them, smoke and mirrors to ensure that all parties remained comfortable in their parting… It was daring, if not dependent on a dire lack of diligence on the Klingons' part. Replacing Lieutenant Hi’Jak’s corpse with a holographic replica, until such time as a more permanent fabrication could be obtained. Certainly an interesting play, one that would definitely be fruitless if the species they were attempting to trick were anything but Klingons.

But alas, their quarry were indeed Klingons, and Elro knew no other race less likely to perform an autopsy on a corpse.

His mind contemplated such ideas as a way to distract himself from the match he was forced to endure, watching both men battle and watching one steadily lose. It wasn't like fencing, where both parties bowed, obeyed a set list of rules, behaved courteously and respected one another, and of course, didn't kill one another... This match was carnal and unrestrained, dust kicking up with each failed swing, each thundering step that was nothing like the graceful dance of two fencers... It was brutal, and it was brief.

He knew the wound had been inflicted before his eyes saw it, but as the dust cleared, he grimly began to triage the wound Lieutenant’s torso was cleaved in two, major organs rend and blood hitting the sand in a combination of spurts and drops, their shipmate toppling forwards unceremoniously as a bloodthirsty roar of excitement rippled through the stands surrounding them.

"Doctor Kobol  to sickbay." He muttered quietly to his combadge. "Klingon, adult male, deep laceration to the chest, severe organ damage and blood loss. Prepare respiratory support and a blood transfusion, ready the surgical bay. Patient will most likely go into severe shock, treat with Lectrazine and Alkysine to stabalise him and protect his neurological functions. No head trauma to note, be prepared with Trioxin if he is not breathing on arrival..."

The Betazoid did have more information to inform his team before the Captain's plan took effect, but before he'd even managed to take a breath, his combadge chirped a soft reply.

[We’ve received the patient Doctor, beginning stabilisation in preparation for surgery…]

Elro nodded absentmindedly, mentally confirming how much time a man with such extensive damage would survive, the Captain breaking the silence with an unspoken confirmation that it was time for the Betazoid to return to sickbay. Elro agreed, and whilst it was certainly against protocol to leave the Captain unattended in a potentially volatile situation, he was well aware that it wasn’t his place to question that decision. If the Captain decided to remain for a little longer, for appearances sake, Elro had no intention to stop him.

“Affirmative." Elro confirmed as he offered the Captain a controlled nod. "But I must say, I doubt that we have much time to get a replica body in place…” Elro muttered lowly, in response to the mention of a further step to create a false corpse to take the place of their Lieutenant. “Whilst I doubt the Klingons will have any interest in performing an autopsy, holographic blood might not be enough to fool them.” The Betazoid paused, taking a small step away from the Captain.

“Be careful.” The Betazoid offered, before tapping lightly upon his chest. “One to beam up, directly to sickbay.”

Re: Day 28 [1700 hrs.] Right of Vengeance

Reply #5 – May 04, 2020, 02:28:07 PM

[ Captain Ives | Ha'batlh | "The Ring of Honour" | Klingon Recreation Complex | Aldea Prime Shipyards ] @TWilkins @BZ @Masorin
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Fortunately enough, the switch went by undetected.

Two hours later, with another hour to spare in the power cell of Thea's mobile emitter, a replication of Hi'Jak's body had been produced and Thea got to return aboard herself. Jien had yet to speak to Martok after the farce had ended, but it appeared the display had the proper effect of rallying the present KDF forces to Martok. The meeting between the Senior Staff of the Theurgy and the High Chancellor was delayed until the next day, allowing for the Klingons of the Vor'nak and Chun'Dab to commisserate with General Chu'vok's posted officers in the shipyards.

As for Hi'Jak, while his life had been saved in the nick of time, his condition was unstable enough to merit the decision of putting him into a cryogenic stasis chamber. As it were, that served a dual purpose, in how sickbay could prepare for a new attempt to restore him to health, but also keep him hidden away from any Klingon eyes. The contingency plan for when, and how, the hybrid might be resuscitated was left in limbo for the time being.

Obviously, Martok had to be told what had really happened lest the alliance might be undermined by deception, but Jien had served Martok's interests in letting the public event take place. She had to have faith in Martok accepting how she couldn't have let her former crewmember die, and remind him of the promise he'd made to her. It might be that the former Starfleet officer would have to assume a new identity to keep the peace, but fortunately enough, by the time the Theurgy left the Epsilon Mynos System, the Klingons that Hi'Jak had served with would stay behind at Aldea, and those from the Vor'nak and Chun'Dab had merely seen him from afar - being cut down in the sands of the arena.

This was not even taking into account the continuity plan of him returning to the living aboard the Theurgy. As a traitor to the crew, and his actions indirectly leading to Martok attacking the ship in the Azure Nebula - costing them many lives - what were the prospects of his continued service aboard?

Even after his 'death', it seemed the damnable man remained a bloody inconvenience.

- FIN