Qang

Posted on Sat Aug 3rd, 2019 @ 1:17am by Captain Wilkan Targaryen
Edited on on Thu Jan 2nd, 2020 @ 5:50pm

1,919 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Atlantis
Location: Klingon High Council Chamber
Timeline: 2429-04-19

Klingon High Council Chamber, Qo’Nos}

Ambassador William Teagarden watched as the fighting raged in the center of the Klingon High Council Chamber between Generals Akero and Brotak. Around him the sounds of Klingons cheering on their champion were deafening as more and more brutal blows and strikes tore into the bitter rivals. In a few minutes the entire future of the galaxy would change, and maybe not for the better. 

“You’ll have to do better than that!” Brotak said with a gurgled belly laugh as he parried an impact from the Leader of the House of Duras’ sword. 

She shifted her weight and swung again, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” 

The posturing was annoying, but the Klingon crowd was eating it up. The cheers sounded like thunder in the stone chamber. Ceremonial staffs slammed into the ground as the flames atop them flickered. It was an eerie thought to see such a barbaric practice from such an advanced culture as the Klingons, but they were little more than barbarians in most senses. 

Akero slammed her sword into the center of Brotak’s replica of the Sword of Kahless with such force that the doppelganger split in two pieces. Brotak adapted quickly, making the pieces of his sword into deadly daggers. The Leader of the House of Duras slammed her sword toward Lord Brotak, the elder Klingon blocking the impact with the piece of his sword in his left hand. None of them were prepared for what came next.  The Leader of the House of Koloth spun and slammed the other piece of shrapnel into the Lady Akero’s neck. 

The Chamber fell silent as the blood sprayed from the neck wound. The crowd stared in shock as the realization that Lord Brotak had sliced the Lady Akero’s artery in two. The Klingon woman slumped to her knees as the life drained from her, her eyes staring upward at General Brotak as the energy trained from her body. 

“You will not win this day,” she said as blood came from her mouth. She tried to swing her sword a final time but it fell from her grip and clattered across the floor. She slumped forward as the last bit of energy fled her body and crashed into the ground. 

William couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched Akero die before him. The Head of the House of Duras had been a thorn in his side for years now and had even cost him his wife. He felt the bile grow in him, the anger, the hatred. She was dead and he should be happy, but all he could feel was hatred. Hatred for the one who had stolen his vengeance. 

“Lord Brotak,” General K’Toshak called as he walked toward the slain woman and the victor, “Son of Koloth, your enemies have been destroyed and you stand alone. Do you wish to claim leadership of the Klingon High Council?”

Brotak himself looked shocked by the announcement. He was broken, almost beaten himself, but he wouldn’t let this moment slip through his fingers. He looked to Ambassador Teagarden, who was holding the ceremonial cloak of the Klingon Chancellor, then back to General K’Toshak, “I do.”

The room was silent as the Arbiter approached the victor. William looked carefully at Brotak, the anger welling inside him. It was time. 

“Are there any other challengers?” The Klingon General asked.

Teagarden stood holding the robe, “Indeed.”

The crowd roared in defiance of the announcement. Brotak looked stunned by the announcement, “You had said there were none but myself and Akero!”

“A new challenger has emerged,” Teagarden informed dropping the ceremonial robe. “I claim the Klingon Rite of Vengeance against you Brotak.”

“I have done nothing to wrong you, Starfleet,” the way he said the final line wasn’t the insult that Brotak had meant it to be. “You have no right to challenge me.”

“I do,” Teagarden said standing close. “General Akero has slain my wife in combat. You, as he whom has slain her, has robbed me of my privilege to challenge her. As all that was hers is now yours, Chancellor, so to are the burden of being responsible for her crimes.”

Brotak looked at General K’Toshak, “Does he have the right to do this? He is not a Klingon!”

“He does, Chancellor,” K’Toshak answered. “When he was named Arbiter of Succession he was granted temporary citizenship within the Empire to fulfill his duties. K’Toshak looked at the Federation Official, “Ambassador William Teagarden, do you formally challenge Chancellor Brotak, Son of Koloth, in the Rite of Vengeance challenge?”

“I do,” he mocked the Klingon Chancellor’s earlier response.

“Do you accept the challenge, Chancellor?” The General asked Brotak with a curious look. It would be interesting to see what happened. If the Chancellor failed to answer the challenge then his first act as Chancellor would be a grave dishonor. If he took the challenge and failed then he would be dishonored and most likely challenged. If we won then it would be looked upon that he defeated a weaker opponent and again would be dishonored. In the end this was a grave challenge to Chancellor Brotak’s reign. 

Through gritted teeth he answered, “I accept. We will meet the challenge this time tomorrow.”

“No! We will meet the challenge now or you further dishonor me and my family!” William challenged. “Or are you too afraid of what a worthless Federation citizen can do?”

The Son of Koloth was surprised by this. His entire challenge, his entire plan, it had all blown up in his face. They had prepared the Ambassador a little too well for his role and now he had become a grave threat to the future of the Klingon Empire. Brotak grunted to one of his aides who quickly rushed a Bat’leth to him. 

William looked toward another aide who escorted him to a large cluster of weapons. He knew exactly which one would be the most threatening, which would be the most damning to the Chancellor. Pulling from the wall the Torchbearer’s Bat’leth the Ambassador grinned wickedly as he looked at Brotak. The challenge was a bold one, and he would not back down. 

Stepping into the center of the Klingon arena, William twisted the weapon between his hands. He stood opposite the Chancellor who held the replica of the Sword of Kahless once more in his hands. This fight was already different than the one he had with Akero. This was something far more dangerous, far more deadly already. 

“Don’t fret, Ambassador, I will not hold your treachery against the Federation,” Brotak taunted, but both knew it was a lie. 

“And I hope that your death won’t be held against me, Chancellor,” Teagarden said with a grin. 

K’Toshak slammed the metal sphere, “Begin!”

With an incredible swing, surprisingly stronger than any thought he could muster after such a brutal fight only moments earlier, the sword of Brotak slammed into the Torchbearer’s sword. William shifted his weight effortlessly, deflecting the impact away and striking his own blow. The Ambassador struck back, his bat’leth striking against the Sword of Kahless. The impact was more probing as they studied one another. The next movement was calculated as the former Admiral swung low, allowing the deflection to occur. 

The Chancellor taunted, “You fight like a bureaucrat.”

“You’ll find I’m full of surprises,” Teagarden answered as he pushed things up a notch. Pushing every ounce of training he had ever had into the fight, William became fiercer with the fight. Light flashed from the metal of the weapons as they clashed into each other. Getting closer, their weapons locked together, as they glared and snarled at the other. 

Inside his mind his tactical training kicked in and the Ambassador was immediately given the edge he needed. Knowing that the Chancellor was already weakened, Teagarden knew what to do. William slammed his head forward into the Klingon Chancellor’s, blood coming down both of their heads as they were momentarily stunned. William recouped quickly, his body acting on instinct as he dropped to the ground and did a sweeping kick that knocked the Chancellor to the ground. 

William spun the Torchbearer’s bat’leth in his hand with incredible speed. The General looked up at the Ambassador with a look of shock on his face as William plunged the long, serrated edge of the weapon into the Klingon leader’s chest. It pierced through the armor, purple blood erupting the same as it had moments earlier from the Chancellor’s opponent. Teagarden grabbed the weapon with his other hand and pushed every bit of energy left in his body into the weapon as he plunged it straight through the Klingon’s chest to the other side. 

While the Klingon’s had cheered earlier, this time only jeers escaped their mouths as the Chancellor died before them. William stepped back and just stared down at the dead man. He had been sent here to restore the Federation’s relationship with the Klingon Empire. Now he had just doomed it. The Klingons hurled insults and challenges from their seats as General K’Toshak came upon the scene. Even he had seemed surprised by what had happened. 

Teagarden fell to his knees next to the body of the dead Klingon Chancellor. He leaned down and placed his fingers atop the closed eyes of the former General. Pulling them open, William screamed at the top of his lungs as he looked up at the sky to honor the fallen warrior. The Klingons in the chamber did the same. 

“You are the victor of the Rite of Vengeance challenge, Ambassador,” K’Toshak summarized. “All that was in possession of Chancellor Brotak is now yours.”

“What about the Chancellorship?” One screamed from the crowd.

Another added, “I will never follow a pitiful Federation lap dog!”

“Kill the interloper!” 

William lifted his hands, “Hear me!” He stepped to the center of the chamber and lifted the Chancellor’s robes that had been discarded on the floor. He held it carefully, feeling the weight of what he had done. There was only one option left, one person who could correct this all. 

“I am a citizen of the Empire, the Arbiter of Succession for the great Klingon Empire! I have been a student of this Empire, of your people, and I have nothing but respect for who you are and what you have accomplished throughout the generations. But, through these studies, I have learned much about your Empire and it must change if it is to continue to grow. You are a warrior culture that holds centuries-old traditions of honor and integrity most dear, but corruption runs rampant throughout these borders. For many of you in this Chamber you have been asked to help cover up horrific crimes because it was for the glory of the Empire, but if we tolerate dishonor what hope is there for the Empire of the future?”

He turned to General K’Toshak, “I am not the right man to usher in the future of the Empire, but this man is. General K’Toshak is a loyal soldier of the Empire, a descendant of the House of Mogh, and a leader second to none. I can think of no one better to lead the Empire to an honorable future!” 

“All hail Chancellor K’Toshak, Son of Worf!”

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