Klingon Talk

Posted on Wed Apr 3rd, 2013 @ 2:03pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant JG Nessa Jenarian

Mission: Klingons on the Starboard Bow
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: Immediately After "Klingon Interlopers"

As soon as the doors closed behind Ben and Nessa the captain started speaking. "I want you to try and find out everything you can about this Klingon House," he said, the slightly increased speed of his speech and the sense of motivation in his tone indicating that he was in full work mode, focusing his whole attention to the situation at hand. "They're not a House that I'm familiar with, but then it has been quite some time before I needed to know the names of all of the families on the High Council. We also need to see if the reports of conflicts in the region between the Klingons or the Gorn mention any other Houses. If they do, then they either go against the flow of Klingon society more than we currently know - to encroach upon another House's region of action - of they might be working in conjunction with one or more other Houses, which is quite disconcerting considering how Martok has insisted that he has given no orders for military action in this region."

"Yes, Sir," Nessa responded, a look of focus crossing her features as she tried to remember anything else she might have heard of this particular house and coming up blank. "If what Martok says is true, we can still contact the Council. After all, I doubt they'd be happy if one of their houses has gone rogue and who knows, they might send some extra muscle... so to speak," she added, already thinking of database sources she'd need to access to get additional information. "What about the Gorn, sir? While they tend to be xenophobic, they might be willing to talk with us if we show that we mean them no harm and have no intentions of encroaching their space, they might have some information that could prove helpful in resolving the conflict."

"It's a good point," Benjamin agreed. "But I'd rather not try contacting the Gorn from here in case our dear friend out there takes liberties and assumes we're on the Gorn's side. It may be best to have the Catalunya contact them; they're assigned to a patrol route that will take them along the Gorn border first." The two ships were essentially on the same course, but travelling in opposite directions; the Endeavour would first travel along the Klingon border whilst the Catalunya travelled the Gorn border, and then the two ships would pass as they looped around to trace their way back towards Federation space, with the Endeavour following a course down by the Gorn border. The Jesop was the only other ship officially assigned to the region, and their course was more free roaming; travelling up the centre of the disputed space before turning around and coming back down again, the exact details of their route weren't defined by the edges of borders.

"Sounds like a plan, Sir," she said softly, giving a quick nod. "Any additional information we can get on this will definitely be helpful," Nessa added, moving to lean against the wall next to the door, her fingers rising to rub at her temples as she rummaged through her mind for anything important she might be forgetting, but coming up blank. "I might need a bit longer to research matters further, but in the mean-time... I say we find out what the away team has discovered. Perhaps they might shed some extra light upon the situation."

"Sophie's working on that," Ben responded, nodding at the suggestion. The comm. unit on his desk chimed interrupting the conversation.

"Captain, I have Qo'Nos for you," came the report over the room's speakers.

"Understood," he answered, and then indicated silently to Nessa that he wanted her to take a seat in the room where she could listen to the exchange whilst remaining out of sight of the other side of the channel. "Put it through," he ordered, as he moved to take his own chair behind his desk.

Nessa gave a curt nod and moved over to one of the chairs on the other side of the desk, sitting down and making herself a bit more comfortable before tilting her head a little to the side before mouthing the words, "Well, this should be interesting," to the captain.

The image on the screen resolved into the face of a klingon, but one that didn't appear familiar to the captain, indicating a lower-level dignitary, but obviously not a member of the klingon High Command. "Captain Byrne," the klingon stated in their usual loud manner, bowing his head momentarily before continuing, "It is my understanding that you have questions related to klingon activity in the area near the Gorn Hegemony? While not authorized to speak for the High Council, I have taken a keen interest in the events in that particular area. On that account, I am likely to be able to answer any and all questions you might come up with." Strangely, unlike the way most klingons would act when meeting with someone for the first time, this one neglected to mention his name.

"That's right," Byrne responded, making sure to look the man he was speaking to directly in the virtual eyes. "May I ask with whom am I speaking?"

With a bit of a grin that could almost be considered sheepish, the klingon answered, "Of course, Captain, I am Thopok, son of Tanang. You'll have to excuse my temporary distraction as I thought you'd have been briefed on who would be contacting you. Either way, I trust you would have specific questions to direct to me?"

"I do, Thopok," Byrne answered, though not failing to miss the fact that the Klingon hadn't actually told him what position he held. "I am sending you some coordinates. I need to know if the Klingon Empire has any officially recognised claim to the region." He tapped a few controls to transmit the coordinates, though they were only of the region the system was included within, rather than the specific location of the planet and ship.

The Klingon leaned forward slightly, lifting a hand to rub at his chin, a gesture likely adopted from too much contact with humans. "There is no official support from the council for any conflicts in that region, Captain," he said after examining the data, then rolling his shoulders in a shrug. "They are aware of a conflict happening in that area, but they have assured us that it is not on their behalf."

The Klingon's choice of words began to give Benjamin a bit of an insight into the position he held - setting himself aside from the Empire in that way indicated that he formed part of the Ambassadorial staff in the Federation Embassy - something he would get Nessa to confirm for him when the conversation was over. Try as he might however,he realised that since Ambassador Worf's resignation from the post some years ago to return to Starfleet he didn't know who the Federation's current ambassador to Qo'Nos was. "That was what I understood as well," he said aloud. "Is there anything that you can tell me about the House of Kutar?"

"They're a house with high aspirations, Captain. From what I know, they've fallen in disfavour with the council and are trying to regain their standing by picking on the Gorn. It's a risky move, but one that can potentially come up with very good results if it were to succeed. If they manage to annex a system in the name of the Empire, the council won't care too much that they acted without authorization. Still, I believe that their resources are stretched kind of thin, so they'll be wary of direct confrontation that might cost them more than they would end up gaining. Honour is not on the top of their priorities either," Thopok answered, barely pausing for breath before shrugging his shoulders. "That's all I can think of, Captain. Although there are some rumors that the house of Kutar has also begun hiring themselves out as mercenaries in an attempt to fund a bigger fleet."

"Thank you for the information, Thopok, son of Tanang," Byrne said, not wanting to go into any more details about their situation over a comm channel to Qo'Nos which could quite easily be being monitored. "I shall contact you again if I require your services once again. Endeavour out." With the comm line cut, Byrne turned towards his contact specialist.

"Any idea who our current ambassador to Qo'Nos is?" he asked. "Or if no Thopok, what position he might hold in the embassy?"

Nessa paused to consider for a moment, then nodded slowly. "If memory serves, the ambassador that was chosen to replace Worf was his son, Alexander Rozhenko. As to our contact, I'm almost tempted to say that it is someone performing minor clerical duties. At least that's the impression I get from his attitude. Of course, I could be wrong, but it almost looks like they couldn't be bothered to get us in contact with someone who knows more, or... were perhaps even unwilling to do so."

Byrne nodded. "Well, at least we know one thing. That Bird-of-Prey we ran into has no standing to order us out of the system, which means that they're working to the goals of someone other than the High Command." He stood from behind his desk and went to move towards the door back onto the bridge. "See what you can dig up about them. In the meantime, I need to speak with Commander Ra-Xialli."

She stood up from her seat and gave a quick, short nod. "I'll get right on that, Sir. I'll try and see if I can get in touch with someone higher up in the embassy, at the least, and probably check and see if any of the other scientists I worked with during my absence has more information on the matter."