Black Talon Unsheathed

[KVorlag 0]

K’Vorlag paced the cramped bridge of the small bird of prey, scowling. The IKS Kij’Pah (Black Talon) was under cloak, four hours out from Camelot Station. Their mission: slip into Dominion territory to learn more about the eradication of several cloning facilities. At last, they were nearing the border. Kij’Pah was a small B’Rel-class ship, carrying the latest cloaking innovations. The crossing should be easy to conceal. But the Dominion had always shown an irritating tendency to surprise them with new technological tricks. They were so like the Federation that way.

 

K’Vorlag folded his arms. Only two hours ago, they had passed up an easier opportunity to see the destruction at T-Rogora firsthand. It irked him that N’Kedre had been so fearful of detection. She’d insisted that they avoid the system, saying the Tal Shiar presence made it a dangerous incursion. The Klingon frowned. In his experience, Romulan intelligence were worthy rivals, masters of deception and intrigue, but their overconfidence left them unprepared to cover up blunders. He was sure the small bird of prey could have slipped in, taken a quick look around, and left without incident.

 

But he’d sacrificed the opportunity as a token to interstellar cooperation.

 

The Kij’Pah was on its way to one of the Dominion cloning facilities known to be intact. The covert exercise had been the suggestion of the Romulan ambassador herself, keen on learning how the Hundred had overpowered such defenses.

 

K’Vorlag, however, didn’t expect to find an armada with turncoat Vorta and Jem’Hadar at the lead. What he could not tell his allies was that Klingon scouts, under cloak since before their arrival in the Gamma Quadrant, had been fanning out for months seeking the Hundred. But there had been no signs the rebellious Founders had amassed a fleet of any significant size.

 

If the Hundred were at work, they would use methods far more sinister. It was far more likely they would quietly infiltrate the sites, manipulating events to their advantage – just like the Founders had done to his own Empire. From inside his own military, a single Founder had orchestrated Gowron into an invasion of Cardassian space, suspending the Khitomer Accords, and starting a brief war with the Federation over Archanis IV. They’d almost engineered the assassination of the chancellor himself by Starfleet operatives. K'Vorlag felt his scowl deepen. The fact that they now knew the Hundred was making its own clones seemed to confirm his suspicions.

 

From behind him, the captain of the Kij’Pah spoke. “Governor, we’ve reached the border.”

 

K’Vorlag stopped pacing, looking over the shoulder of the Starfleet officer at the sensor console.

 

Commander Blair, sensing the presence, leaned back. “If you must know,” he offered indulgently, “my scans show a number of active cloak detection protocols, but your current countermeasures should be enough.”

 

K’Vorlag didn’t think he could scowl any deeper. Even if they crossed successfully, it could be because the Dominion didn’t want to reveal an improved ability to detect cloaked crossings. The Kij’Pah could be tracked, ambushed, and disappear without a trace, leaving no clue as to how they were discovered. It was always a series of feints and countermoves in the finest traditions of komerex zha.

 

His scowl eased into a thin smile.

 

Blair looked more disturbed by the later expression.

 

“Stay on course,” he ordered. “Alert me at the first sign of Jam’Hadar patrols. Koval, I return your bridge to you.” He whirled with a flourish of his ambassadorial drapings and strided out, toward the private mess.

Edited October 15, 2005 by KVorlag