BOTV Episode 07

*"Blue, THE MOST DISGRACEFUL COLOR!"*
—**e'Daj**

## **Plot Synopsis**

*CONTENT WARNING:* Blood of the Void *is a game about Klingons. Episodes contain acts of violence and other adult content. Unlike other areas of the website, individual sections of this article will not be tagged with content warnings.*
### **Brief Overview**

After two months of travel, the crew is getting restless. D'Wa suggests they have some of the crew fight. e'Daj decides to make it a hunting contest among the senior officers. Whoever wins will be the new executive officer. During the discussions, Qotar dares anyone to cut a lock of his hair. D'Wa mentally accepts the challenge.

Each of the senior officers develops a strategy. D'Wa climbs into the maintenance tunnels. Qotar and Ra'amyan both set up decoys with some of the *bekks*. Omeq constructs a suit to camouflage him against the bulkheads.

During the fight, Ra'amyan convinces D'Wa and Omeq to team up against Qotar. They head to his location. D'Wa drops out of the ceiling and cuts off a lock of Qotar's hair. They then offer themselves and Qotar cuts them, taking them out of the competition. Omeq falls prey to a simple trap. Ra'amyan takes out himself and Qotar at the same time.

e'Daj, frustrated at the lack of direct battle and having no clear winner, declares that there will be no executive officer. She is privately proud of them all for their skills.

A few weeks later, the ship is getting close to Qo'noS. Qotar can feel his *pon farr* beginning.

### **Pre-Break**

The episode opens two months into the six month journey to Qo'noS. The crew of IKS *Borqu'* is getting restless. The senior crew are gathered around the dinner table. CDR e'Daj waxes poetic about spelunking in their youth (always with a partner or two). LT Omeq shares his own story of *targ* hunting in caves. LT Qotar talks about doing 'shrooms in caves. e'Daj tries to get D'Wa to share an exploit of their own. D'Wa speaks of fording rivers, literally. e'Daj complains loudly of the lack of death and battle on the ship.

D'Wa suggests pressing some of the crew into fighting for entertainment and glory. e'Daj comes up with a plan. The senior staff will hunt each other for the next two days. Whoever is left standing will be her new executive officer. At that moment, the ship's cook, A'Qul walks up. He delivers a large tray of raw fish (a special treat). Qotar admires A'Qul's dreadlocks. He asks who does his hair. A'Qul replies that his name is Go'oth, and he is wonderful. LT Ra'amyan taunts Qotar's love of his hair as a weakness, and suggests cutting it might be a valid tactic to fight him. Qotar dares anyone on the ship to try. D'Wa mentally accepts the challenge.

e'Daj declares that the hunt will start the next morning at 0800. She has the crew make buckets of blue paint for the crew to mark each other. Drawing blood and marking with paint will take someone out of the hunt. e'Daj withdraws herself from the competition. The crew immediately start making plans. Omeq tries to get the crew drunk and sloppy, but the others aren't food. Omeq then tries to mark the others with some raw fish oil (so he can smell them), but they don't fall for that either. Qotar, Ra'amyan, and D'Wa leave the table. After they are left alone, e'Daj criticizes Omeq for taking such obvious plans.

Qotar heads to his security department. He orders them all to acquire fake wigs from Go'oth and to dress like him. He proceeds to Go'oth's quarters, and he demands that he make the wigs. Go'oth makes some damn fine wigs. Qotar has them construct a room full of angled mirrors in one of the security spaces. He climbs into the overhead of the mirror room to meditate for the evening.

Meanwhile, Ra'amyan proceeds to his quarters. He queries the computer for all the non-security department *bekks* which match his build. He finds seven matches. He "requests" that they all attend a surprise *mek'leth* training session in the cargo bay. Ra'amyan replicates some masks and heads to meet them. He makes them all shave their heads and wear the masks.

Omeq enlists some of his *bekks* in the science department to help him make a suit of metal which will camouflage him against the bulkheads of the ship. He climbs into the overhead in the neck of IKS Borqu to spend the night in waiting.

D'Wa simply heads to main engineering to get back to work. They check on a few things and turn over to their second-in-command. They head to their quarters for a peaceful sleep. In the morning, they plan to crawl into one of the maintenance access tunnels in the ship. No one knows this ship better than them.

In the morning, e'Daj sets up a series of screens in her quarters so she can monitor all of the action. Ra'amyan dons a mask identical to his *bekks*, and puts on the uniform of a *bekk* as well. He also sends a private message to Omeq, pointing out that only Qotar will have Vulcan life-sings on a tricorder. Qotar, after a night of meditation, distributes his *bekks* throughout the ship, and designates one as a runner to help coordinate.

At 0800, e'Daj sends a ship-wide communication to announce the hunting contest for executive officer. She invites the crew members to back and assist their favorites. The crew is very excited and start trading bets and barbs. e'Daj dons a wig, mustache, and beard and heads down to one of the drinking halls for the *bekks*. The crew easily recognize her, but they all play along. They construct a makeshift betting board and a series of screens to watch the action.

D'Wa climbs into a maintenance tunnel. They start doing actual repair work, and are quickly distracted by it all. Omeq drops from his hiding spot and heads to a replicator. He programs it to make hundreds of inanimate tribbles, and climbs back into the overhead. Klingons hate tribbles, and he hopes to start a panic. Ra'amyan orders his *bekks* to travel in pairs. He heads to the bridge with one of them. On the way, he tries to convince Omeq into making a move on Qotar. Omeq agrees to an alliance with Ra'amyan against Qotar. From inside the tunnels, D'Wa hears Omeq's side of the converation. They are reminded of the game, and head for Omeq's location. They pop out of the tunnels behind a door near to Omeq. Omeq detects them hiding behind the door as they prepare to strike.

### **Post-Break**

The episode resumes with e'Daj in the *bekk* drinking hall having a *piz'za* party. She replicates a round of durians for them all to eat.

Qotar sends six of his *bekks* to the bridge; he orders them to attack anyone they see. The group successfully secures the bridge. On the way, they don't run into any of Ra'amyan's *bekks*.

Meanwhile, Omeq (fully aware of D'Wa) awaits their attack. He hides against the bulkhead, perfectly matching it, but D'Wa notices the Klingon-shaped bulge. Ra'amyan approaches Omeq's position. He sees the Klingon-shaped bulge in the bulkhead, and he also notices D'Wa hiding behind the door. He suggests to both of them that they form an alliance against Qotar. D'Wa cautiously engages in the conversation. Ra'amyan successfully convinces them both. D'Wa gets back into the tunnels.

Qotar broadcasts a message to the entire ship, challenging the three others to come to him. Omeq and Ra'amyan converge outside of the mirror room, and they see Qotar's security forces. Omeq tosses a tribble at them as a distraction, and he tries to take two of them down, but he fails. Ra'amyan convinces them to stand down. Qotar's runner, BaH'or informs him that they are going to let Ra'amyan and Omeq through.

Meanwhile, D'Wa has crawled into the tunnel above the mirror room. They pop off a panel and drop down on top of Qotar. On the way, they slice off a lock of his hair with a *d'k tahg*. In the *bekk* drinking hall, e'Daj and the crowd go crazy. Qotar swivels around to face D'Wa. D'Wa drops their weapons and opens their arms. Qotar offers them a gesture of respect, and then cuts them (taking them out of the competition). D'Wa climbs back into the maintenance tunnels.

Qotar rigs a rudimentary trap above the door to the mirror room. He sets up a bucket of blue paint full of razor blades connected to a tripwire. Omeq calls out to Qotar and steps into the room, setting off the trap, and taking himself out of the competition. He is ashamed of himself, and slinks off to sickbay. e'Daj chides him for being so obvious

Ra'amyan enters the room. He makes a speech to Qotar, suggesting they both lose at the same time. Then, there will be no executive officer, and e'Daj will respect all of their opinions. During the speech, he stealthily picks up the bucket of remaining paint and razor blades. At the last moment, he tosses the contents into the air, taking both himself and Qotar out at the same time.

e'Daj is exasperated, disappointed, and annoyed. She heads to sickbay. She declares that there will be no executive officer on the ship. Head Nurse Mur'el is there. She tells e'Daj that the entire senior staff acted worthy of the role of executive officer. e'Daj curses her wisdom and contemplates her words. D'Wa pops out of the wall. e'Daj says that she will take all of their words into consideration. She encourages them all to think about how they complement each other.

The scene shifts to a few weeks later. The crew have worked out the power sharing arrangement among the senior staff. Omeq bronzes one of the locks of Qotar's hair that D'Wa claimed, and he gives it to them as a gift. D'Wa thanks him, and declares that it's nice to have a friend on the ship.

Ra'amyan requests Qotar train him to be better at combat. He recommends the *bekks* that he trained for the hunt as security officers. Ra'amyan also spends the time checking in on the politics of Qo'noS. Qa'rol is getting a little worked up about recalling IKS Borqu'. She genuinely wants to see if they are worthy of the House of Ke'vek's only ship. There are some on Qo'noS who are angry about the rise of Houses Ke'vek's stature. Some of the higher up houses are taking notice of them.

e'Daj does one-on-one reviews of the tapes of the hunt with each of the senior staff. She offers them all sage advice. Maintenance for D'Wa; makeup for Omeq; stabbing vs talking for Ra'amyan; mirrors on his armor for Qotar. e'Daj is full of nervous energy; her first love is on Qo'noS.

The final scene is Qotar in his quarters. He finishes up a call with his mother and sits down on his bed. He feels rage and desire building up within his gut...

*Pon farr* is coming.

## **Cast**

* Aliza Pearl - Game Master
* Jade Law - E'Daj
* Phillip Jeanmarie - Omeq
* Quincy Surasmith - Ra'amyan
* Christopher Eddins - Qotar
* Aki - D'Wa

## **Non-Player Characters**

* A'Qul
* Go'oth
* BaH'or
* Mur'el

## **Notable Lines**

*"If I was a human, I would be blushing."*
—**Qotar**

*"Try hunting targ on shrooms."*
—**Omeq**

*"Competition is about equality. Psych! It's not, because I'm going to win."*
—**Qotar**

*"Yes, A'Qul, Go'oth also gives me my perm. My **power perm**."*
—**e'Daj**

*"I'm feeling a little attacked because I have luxurious locks."*
—**Qotar**

*"Blue, THE MOST DISGRACEFUL COLOR!"*
—**e'Daj**

*"You will serve as distractions for these fools, that think that (I'm talking specifically about Ra'amyan, they are better tactitions than me! Not only am I the greatest warrior in this, I am the GREATEST! I AM ARES AND ATHENA! YOU SHALL SEE MY POWER!"*
—**Qotar** preparing his security officers for the competition

*"They do smell like agricultural chaos."*
—**Ra'amyan** about tribbles

*"Did you not see my metal suit? I was a wall!"*
—**Omeq** to e'Daj

*"Damn you, Mur'el. BAHH Your words of wisdom and intelligence!"*
—**e'Daj**

*"I'm afraid I got a little bit of blood on the wires."*
—**D'Wa**

*"I'm not entirely sure why people say you have no social skills ... you're better at interacting with other people than you think ... it's nice to have a friend on the ship."*
—**D'Wa** to Omeq

## **Notes and Trivia**

* [Out of character information from the cast (from Campbell livestreams, Q&As, Twitter, etc.)]