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“It is not the loss of my craft that concerns me, General, but the loss of my chief physician, not to mention a Federation dignitary.” Klag did not mention the fact that their current assignment was hardly a priority. Kinshayan pirates had been raiding the border for centuries, and Defense Force ships had been putting them down for just as long. It mattered little whether the Gorkon or some other ship performed this duty.

“Ah yes,” Talak said with a snort, “your ‘surgeon.’The one who put that—that thing on your right shoulder.”

Talak paused, perhaps hoping Klag would rise to the bait, but there was nothing to be gained by antagonizing the general, and quite a bit to lose.

Realizing that his gambit was fruitless, Talak went on. “As I said, there is more to this. For one, that Federation dignitary.”

Klag smiled. “I imagine Ambassador Worf has expressed his concerns with the disappearance of a Starfleet admiral?” Klag would have expected no less from Worf. The Gorkon had escorted the Federation ambassador to his first mission, on the planet taD, and the ambassador had earned Klag’s respect during that mission—a coin Klag did not part with easily.

To Klag’s surprise, Talak said, “No, he hasn’t—because he has disappeared as well. He was on his way to that summit meeting on Khitomer along with Ambassador Spock. Their runabout has also disappeared—at approximately the same time as your shuttle, from what we can tell.”

Klag leaned back in his chair and rubbed his bearded chin with his left hand. Spock was a legend, of course, for his pivotal roles in both the Organian Peace Treaty and the Khitomer Accords, though the rumors about the Vulcan’s undercover work on Romulus led Klag to think the old ambassador had lost his sanity.

“There is more,” Talak said. “A Bajoran colonel named Kira Nerys and a Starfleet captain named Robert DeSoto have also disappeared—as have a trio of artifacts from the human homeworld. These are powerful devices from the Zalkat Union—and Ambassador Spock, Colonel Kira, Admiral McCoy, and Captain DeSoto all have had interaction with these artifacts.”

Though he’d heard of the Zalkat Union, he knew nothing of the artifacts Talak spoke of. “What are my orders?”

“It has been decided,” and Talak’s phrasing made it sound as if the decision was made over the general’s head and against the general’s better judgment, which pleased Klag no end, “to cooperate with the Federation on this matter. Therefore you are to rendezvous with a Starfleet ship and begin an investigation. The High Council will not lament the loss of a tedious lecture on pointless medical procedures, but it says little for the Empire if we cannot guarantee the safety of three dignitaries of an allied power within our borders. This entire business has also thrown the Khitomer conference into disarray.”

“I’m surprised the Romulans haven’t insisted on sending a ship of their own.”

“The Romulans are just as happy to be rid of the Vulcan and your friend Worf,” Talak snapped. “They have no interest in pursuing this.”

Klag thought it interesting that Talak referred to Worf—a member of the House of Martok, after all—in such a way. Martok was a very popular chancellor. To go against him at this stage was tantamount to suicide, and disparaging Worf publicly was an invitation to incur the chancellor’s wrath.

“The coordinates of the rendezvous and all the details about these missing artifacts are being transferred to you now. Command out.”

Talak’s face faded from the screen. Klag leaned forward and activated the intercom. “Bridge.”

“Tereth.”

“Commander, we should be receiving information on our new assignment, as well as coordinates for a rendezvous with Starfleet.”

“Coming in now, sir.” A pause. “We’re to meet with the Enterprise at Terra Galan in three hours.”

Klag blinked. He had expected the rendezvous to be somewhere closer. Terra Galan was a useless lump of rock, with no real significance beyond its proximity to the Federation/Klingon border. Neither government had even bothered