Day of Honor 01_ Ancient Blood - Diane Carey [59]
“Yes!” Grant gasped, spittle flying from the corner of his mouth.
Trying not to lean on Grant, Worf squinted through the blur. “How do you know?”
“The doctors notified us.”
Grant pointed back at the Rogues. “They’re gonna kill us to cover it up!”
Ugulan shot out an accusing finger. “They’re spies, infiltrating the governor’s mansion! You cannot keep us from our rightful revenge! We are Klingons!”
Worf took a faltering step toward him. “How would you know what it is to be Klingon!” he shouted in Klingon. He could no longer hold back. “What is it,” he shouted at Ugulan, “that makes you cower like a beaten slave before that woman? That you obey her orders no matter how much shame you bring to yourself, to the Empire, to all Klingons?”
Ugulan stepped close, so only Worf could hear him. “She has our oath,” he said quietly, sadness replacing his fury. “She has our Oath of Sto-vo-kor. It was the only way she would grant us sanctuary on this world.”
Worf had been prepared for any answer except that. Sto-vo-kor was the Klingon Valhalla, the place all warriors went when they died. The Oath of Sto-vo-kor was no mere oath of allegiance. It gave a commander the power to decide a warrior’s fate after death. These Rogue Klingons feared for their very souls, which, at a word from Khanty, would have been sent to oblivion.
Worf’s anger flowed out of him. He faced Ugulan proudly. “I pity you,” Worf said.
As he spoke, three policemen held him back. And it took all three of them.
“Quiet, quiet,” Stoner said. “Everybody just hold your lunch,” he said evenly. “We’ll sort it all out. You’re all under arrest until we do. Your ‘rightful revenge’ will have to wait.”
“You can’t hold us!” Grant protested. “They’ll get to us if you do!”
Stoner looked at him, then looked at Ugulan. “Mmm, yeah,” he uttered.
Incredible—he understood! A flicker of hope shot up through Worf’s pain as he watched the police lieutenant’s amicable face. The shock that he wasn’t alone anymore struck him with the power of a phaser stun.
“They cannot circumvent the law!” Ugulan protested. “They have to be held!”
“I said, quiet, and I asked nicely, didn’t I?” Stoner told him. “You Rogues think you run the whole planet. Nobody’s going to get to anybody. We’ll put all of you in custody until we know what’s going on. Okay, boys, take the Rogues away. Medium security till we figure out who to charge.”
“This is criminal!” Mortash argued.
“We’ll see,” Stoner said, unimpressed. “Bye. Those Rogues, they’re just so noble, you know?”
“Oh, man …” Grant sagged against the police officer who was holding him up.
Stoner watched the Rogues until they disappeared, flanked by other officers, through the gate and down the street toward the City Police Central Station.
“Okay, gentlemen,” Stoner said with a sigh. “What’s your story?”
“He’s a Starfleet officer,” Grant said. “I’m a Federation agent, and we’re investigating certain shipments of contraband through open spacelanes.”
“Hmm … well, I’m sorry your welcome to Sindikash couldn’t be any better, but I don’t have any more reason to believe you than to believe them. Do I? Are you carrying any I.D.?”
“Obviously not,” Worf grumbled.
“But …” Stoner pushed back his maroon police hat. “But the doctors did contact me and tell me you were in trouble, so somebody believes you, so … I’ll confine you to quarters under guard until I can sort out your identity. Can you give me a contact code or something I can use to verify who you are?”
“Yes,” Worf snarled. “You can contact my ship.”
“What’s your ship?”
“The Enterprise.”
“Wow …” Stoner’s blue eyes widened. “Wait’ll I tell my kids. My son built models of the first two Enterprises for a school project, with individual hull plates.”
“I shall arrange a tour of the real thing,” Worf offered, “assuming we survive.”
“Yeah,” Stoner uttered sympathetically. He kept his voice down from the curious crowd that had gathered near the gates. “I know what you mean. Let’s get you guys some treatment. Then I have to confine you till I clear this up.