Chapter Three: Duty, Honour, Service, and Betrayal

 As Klortho sharpened his bat'leth, a low growl escaped his throat.

"Disgusting," he said to no one.

The... decadent plushness of his new home was enough to make his warrior's blood boil. He'd pledged his life to Kahless; to protecting him and the entire Empire, and yet, when he had fulfilled his duty with honour, and sacrificed so much that he should have been given a Warrior's command to earn a Warrior's death?

The Emperor sent him here...

To Starfleet.

Klortho had been on board The Pendragon for less than an hour and he already felt like a caged animal. From the moment he was beamed over from The Pagh, his eye had been overwhelmed by the bright lights and gleaming grey-white of every overly-polished surface. It was enough to cause him to briefly thank Kahless for the fact he no longer had a second eye. The thought made him touch the patch bolted over where his right eye had once been.

They should have let me die, Klortho thought, at least it would have been the result of battle, even if it had been against an honourless Mokai p'tach!

Every night, Klortho, Son of Krug, relived that day...

The Empire had been at war with itself, the Mokai, having re-emerged into society had made moves toward seizing. control of the High Council and eliminating the Great Kahless, insisting he was an abomination and the Torch Bearer was the true return. 

From before the Age of Ascension, Klortho craved the honour of serving the Emperor in his personal Guard. Every waking moment, he trained and studied the histories. He mastered the bat'leth, the mek'leth, even the pain-stick. He had set his mind on this singular goal, proving himself in every tournament, demonstration and challenge until, one day, he succeeded. The honour brought upon his House and family was nearly incalculable.

So when, during the War of the Houses, assassins had come to try to kill The Unforgettable and the high council, it was without hesitation that Klortho stepped in, his blade, his very warrior's soul, fought well. The battle had been glorious, Klortho's blade drinking deeply of the blood of his enemies until one son of a targ managed to gain fortune when his bat'leth glanced off Klortho's own, being deflected straight into his eye. 

Klortho remembered the rage that had fallen over him in that moment. blazing pain in his head for an instant, then drown out by the indignant need to see this Mokai's innards spilled out on display for all.

The battle raged for hours until, finally, his heart now a cannon exploding over and over within his chest, Klortho stood with his fellow guards, victorious. But the cost...

The Imperial Guard was the most honourable post for any Klingon, but it required a warrior to be complete. Loss of limb, or any normal function, required dismissal.

Allowances were made for such injury occurring in combat, of course. A guard so dismissed would be given command of a ship to lead into a desperate battle in the hopes of gaining entry to Sto-vo-kor. This day, however, things were different. 

From pure happenstance,  the Klingon ambassador Worf and Federation ambassador Picard had been meeting with the High Council to try to bring the war to an end when the assassins struck. They had participated in the battle (The fact that a human had shown such a grasp of battle and honour truly shocked Klortho) and, when the bodies were finally starting to cool, the two approached Kahless with an idea. An offer, to which Klortho had no say.

Rather than be given an honor command because of the loss of his eye, Klortho would, instead, participate in an officer "exchange", inducted into Starfleet at the rank of Commander to serve aboard a Federation vessel.

The memory of it all came flooding back to Klortho, drowning out other thoughts, a mental din so intense, the Klingon did not even realize he had let his disgust escape his control...

Viciously murdering the mattress on his bed.

Grunting, Klortho tapped his combadge.

"Klortho to Operations... I... my bed has had a malfunction. Report to my quarters."