Qo'noS

[Hunter Matheson 0]

Qo’noS

 

Orders were clear: rendezvous with a support fleet of ten, make for Starbase 180 on the Klingon border, make for their home world. Just what every gropo, swickie, or otherwise SPECOPS dreams of: being in semi-hostile territory far from home. But hell, that’s what they do.

 

So….

 

Kal stretched with an audible sigh as the starfield zipped by on the forward screen.

 

Qo’noS. Hell of a place to be, but it could be worse. We could've been there when Praxis decided it'd had enough Klingons gouging out its innards and vomited everything at the perps, making the Klingon homeworld in danger of losing its ozone layer. Yeah, over mining and ignoring safety precautions will do that to a moon.

 

When that went down and Kal drew the short straw for evac/SAR, the evac brief called the explosion “titanic.” Interesting comparison, he thought. All they needed was the iceberg, and they would've had that if the polar icecap hadn’t already melted.

 

A vector change interrupted Kal’s thoughts. Couple taps, few course adjustments from Reed, and they were in the green with Kal's thoughts zipping back to his first visit a couple years ago.

 

That first visit to Qo’noS never happened. Officially. SF R&D got new toys, went hyper, and put a perfectly good Excelsior on steroids. They named it Specter, figuring it’d sneak around all ghost-like, slip right into Klingon space for a clandestine look-see, and slip back out again. Piece 'o cake.

 

Yeah, the lab rats liked to dream, big time. But dreams can flip to nightmares at the speed of 3150 fps or more. Kal leaned back at helm, watching the starscape whiz by. He could think of a few missions that just might make their dreams come true... and maybe think twice before ruining a perfectly good starship.

 

Anyway, bulked up starship or not, they didn't quite think the whole thing through. Sure its latest and greatest wasn’t detected - it slipped right in - but everything deployed became a classic SNAFU. The team got out (barely), Specter’s skipper took the fall (they called it early retirement) and R&D went back to the drawing board to dream up another stunt.

 

But the last time Kal entered Klingon space was more like this one. They deployed on SAR from USS Kitty Hawk just after Chancellor Gorkon “made peace” with the Federation after Praxis. Seems like the Empire spent too much on their military. Their funds were depleted so he turned to the Federation. Nothin' like an exploding moon to make your enemy your friend, right? It was a hell of a way to make peace, but hey... peace is peace, right? Anyway, someone in the head shed thought it might be a good deal.

 

Protesters on both sides had their way - in the Federation and on Qo’noS. Opposition groups held contests to see whose protest was bigger and badder. True to their MO, the Klingons won by taking out Chancellor Gorkon. But then his daughter, Azetbur, took over. Strange thing about that? Chancellor Azetbur had the same “peaceful” leanings, so what did she have that he didn’t…?

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Kal replied at Captain Granger’s request, “ETA to rendezvous 4 hours. Course is green.”