"As you wish," said Ambassador S'taass. "I am sure his majesty will be content with just the general's hide."
"Stupidity," J'mpok hissed. "At last we have an alliance with Starfleet against the Undine, and now these idiots are trying to ruin it! How many more are there? How many fools think their personal ambitions, their settling of scores, more important than the security of the Empire?" He glared. "Do I have room on my walls for all their heads?"
"Ssurt's motives," said the Gorn Ambassador, "appear to have been purely mercenary, rather than based on a personal vendetta. It is the nature of his employers which concerns us most deeply now."
"His employers?" J'mpok's scowl deepened.
"He was hired to capture one Vice Admiral Veronika Grau... by the Siohonin."
"The Siohonin? What would those rebels want with a Starfleet officer?" The Chancellor left off his angry pacing around the office, and turned to stare at S'taass.
"Unknown. It is one of several questions that must be answered. The most pressing one, I believe, relates to the current whereabouts of Vice Admiral Grau."
"She has not yet been found?" J'mpok shook his head.
"She has not. The assumption at present is that the Siohonin succeeded in taking her, perhaps hiring someone less obtrusive and more competent than General Ssurt. But it is only an assumption. Her colleagues from Starfleet have petitioned to enter Klingon space to carry out a search."
"Let them," J'mpok grunted. "We are allies now... though it seems a forlorn hope at best." He snarled. "These Siohonin... this situation worries me."
"There is no progress on that front?"
J'mpok sighed. "They have taken seven border systems. Taken them. They are militarily and technologically our inferiors, but we have - as yet - no effective counters for their exotic weapons systems. And resistance on the planets they have conquered is - disorganized, inadequate, speedily crushed. There is something at work here, some other factor...."
"You suspect Undine or Iconian involvement?"
"The Siohonin are getting help from somewhere. For the moment, the only message I have from Intelligence is that they conquer in the name of their god, Sebreac Tharr." J'mpok snorted. "They should have killed their gods by now."
"It is possible," said S'taass, "that this god is the pseudonym of some other, more advanced, power."
"It is not only possible, it is most probable. But until we discover what that power may be, we are at a disadvantage." J'mpok sat down behind his desk and stared moodily at the datapads scattered over it. "I do not need these distractions."
"Leave the recovery of Grau to Starfleet," S'taass suggested.
J'mpok grunted. "It sounds reasonable... but if this Grau is involved with the Siohonin, somehow.... I have heard that name before, too, I am sure. Who is Veronika Grau?"
"Involved in the Bercera IV affair," said S'taass. "And, subsequently, at Tiaza Zephora."
"I thought that was Shohl?" said J'mpok.
"It was both. They seem, both, to have risen to senior rank by a policy of being where the fires are hottest. It is a sound policy, except when it is fatal."
"I approve," said J'mpok. "Shohl is involved now, then?"
"She leads the hunt for Grau, with a Vulcan scientist for assistance."
J'mpok's back stiffened. "Then I have reached my decision," he said. "Shohl may hunt in Klingon space, so long as she reports any findings of use to our agents. Let us arrange for her to have KDF support. Up to a point... our ships are largely committed already, to the fight against the Undine, and the new events in the Delta Quadrant... and, now, to fighting the Siohonin. So many wars...." He shook his head. "I never believed that I would grow tired of war."
"It is possible," S'taass remarked dryly, "to have too much of a good thing. You will attend to General Ssurt through KDF discipline, then?"
"Unless King Slathis wants him. Does he want him?"
"Not especially. You do not need distractions; we do not need embarrassments."
"He knew he was dealing with the Siohonin, yes?" J'mpok sighed heavily. "Well, I can only execute him once...." A buzzer sounded from his desk communicator. J'mpok hit the device with his fist. "What is it?"
"Chancellor," a voice said from the communicator, "there has been a development on the Siohonin front."
"Bad, I expect," muttered J'mpok gloomily.
"The star system of Kalur Aranga has fallen to Siohonin attack. Their ground troops have landed on the only habitable planet, and our forces' resistance is being steadily overwhelmed. A digest of the ship losses and material damage is available. However -"
"What?"
"There has been a further attack. The Siohonin have assaulted and, we believe, taken the mining colony at Torhallis."
"I do not know that system," J'mpok growled.
"It is not a part of the Empire, Chancellor. It is a Reman colony world, on the border with Republic space."
"They grow bold," S'taass murmured.
"To challenge the Republic as well as the Empire? They grow reckless," J'mpok growled. The corners of his mouth twitched into a brief, reluctant smile. "Recklessness is a quality I like, in an enemy. We will contact the Republic's ambassador, then, and let us see -" the smile stayed, and even broadened "- if our allies can be persuaded to make common cause with us, here."
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