Hell's Heart Read Free

that imagery, having lost an Enterprise himself. He was more concerned with Kruge, a man whose deeds had made him one of the great villains of history, from the Federation’s point of view.
    A man Picard now had orders to honor.
    â€œHe struck from the shadows,” Commander Worf said, scowling across Picard’s desk at the now-stilled image of Kruge. “A Klingon who kills without showing his face is no Klingon at all.”
    â€œOne would expect that would be the majority view,” Picard said. The strange thing was that it wasn’t. Not really. The captain sipped his tea and thought about how the Klingons saw their own history.
    Modern Klingons uniformly condemned another dead renegade from Kirk’s era, General Chang. Having engineered a conspiracy to murder Chancellor Gorkon decades earlier, Chang was dishonored. But Worf’s revulsion at Kruge’s actions wasn’t the norm. “Why the ambivalence toward Kruge?” Picard asked. “Did people think his actions were justified?”
    â€œIt is complicated,” Worf said, searching for the right words. “In his day, Genesis was seen as a provocation by those who wanted to sow distrust of the Federation.”
    Picard nodded. “Had Kruge lived, would he have been ­punished—or celebrated?”
    â€œI am unsure. But one reason some admire him today has to do with his earlier deeds. Many people live on planets Kruge added to the Empire. His successes meant he had many allies in the military.”
    â€œFriends?”
    â€œI would not use that word. Kruge ended many careers, some with a knife. But his battles made others’ reputations, and those officers were loyal to him.” Worf paused. “He also had a large extended family.”
    â€œIt’s a battle between Kruge’s colleagues and his family that we’re expected to help the Klingons commemorate.” Picard touched a control, and the image of Kruge vanished from his screen to be replaced by text providing minimal details of his assignment. Enterprise had been called back from its explorations for a diplomatic mission—but for a change, the stakes weren’t war and peace. Rather, the conflict had ended long ago. “The Battle of Gamaral—what do you know of it?”
    â€œIt is celebrated by the House of Kruge as the moment when the house was saved. Heirs battling for succession joined forces when Kruge’s officers sought to seize his holdings for themselves. It was a galvanizing event, and the moment when the succession battles ended.”
    â€œCold comfort to those they defeated,” Picard said. “I didn’t see in the records: Who commanded the losing side?”
    â€œI do not know.” Worf paused. “His name is not spoken,” he said in lower tones.
    Picard nodded. Where Klingon honor was concerned, he had a good idea what that meant. “The heirs settled on a successor?”
    Worf shook his head. “That was not possible. But following Gamaral they reached an agreement unique in the Empire; they retained their assets without surrendering their claims to the house as a whole.”
    â€œA power-sharing agreement? It doesn’t sound like a Kling­­on idea.”
    â€œIt is better to say they chose to defer battle, in respect oftheir common victory together.” Worf thought for a moment before continuing. “There is an old concept, may’qochvan , in which rivals who ally in battle for a time pause in celebration after a successful joint action—a kind of truce, in respect of the blood they spilled together, before returning to hostilities. The House of Kruge has survived in part because the heirs chose to act as though the may’qochvan never ended.”
    It made sense now. In a way, the celebration after the Battle of Gamaral was still going on—resulting in a century of peace for one of the Empire’s great houses. The upcoming