BOTV Episode 04

*"I'm a commander because I fought my way to this position, not because I plotted and planned for it. I sometimes fear that I am out of my depth."*
—**B'emir**

## **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.*

### **Pre-Break**

One week since the events of the previous episode, and the crew of the *IKS* Borqu' is getting antsy. B'emir gets a message from General Kargan, telling her Mendak has returned to the Romulan Star Empire and sided with the senate against Sela. Since their mission is no more, he calls them back to Narendra, with authorization for maximum warp.

B'emir calls the crew together, and everyone is suspicious of what Kargan intends to do with them, since their mission was essentially a failure. e'Daj asks B'emir if she can contact any other vessel captains, but before she can contact Tagal he calls the Borqu'.

Tagal was apparently monitoring the call between the Borqu' and Narendra, and warns B'emir not to return, because Kargan cannot be trusted. He has reason to believe Kargan has been secretly shipping contraband through the Shackleton Expanse, and that the Borqu' and the *IKS* Qu'Vat were stationed away from the shipping lane. Kargan also knows about the Borqu's trip to the Romulan processing plant.

Tagal asks B'emir what their ship had been doing, and Qotar quickly signals to her to lie; she says they were sent on a wild goose chase by a Ferengi, and they discovered nothing. After B'emir puts the call on mute, Qotar points out how suspicious it is that Tagal was monitoring their communications, and that even if he's not lying the log of this call would be suspicious.

e'Daj suggests they pretend something's wrong with their ship, as an excuse for why they're not heading straight back to Narendra. B'emir unmutes Tagal and tells him they will no longer being listening to Kargan's orders, as he is without honor. Tagal urges her to reconsider, not wanting her to betray the empire. He says there is a small window of time during which she can prove Kargan's character before he has her arrested or killed. B'emir considers this, and the call ends.

Qotar tells B'emir to be cautious of anyone who presents problems with no solutions. B'emir tells everyone she is not actually planning on betraying the empire; she said that to Tagal to see his reaction. If he is indeed trying to gain favor with Kargan then her comments should make it back to him, and if Kargan or the empire says anything about that, they'll know where Tagal's loyalties lie.

The group discusses ways to manufacture a fault with the ship, and e'Daj suggests hosting an event to get the engine crew out of the engine room. They eventually decide on a drinking tournament; Qotar is displeased, as being half-Vulcan means he cannot get drunk. They decide that the reward for the tournament will be the opportunity to work temporarily on the bridge with senior staff, and a steward title in the House of Ke'vek.

Blood wine is replicated, and the crew begins to prepare for the tournament. R'yeq suggests a secondary competition - whoever can make Qotar double over with a single punch will win a prize. Qotar begrudgingly accepts, and afterward e'Daj teases R'yeq for liking Qotar. Ra'amyan spends his prep time looking into both Kargan's and Tagal's houses; all he finds is that Kargan's house has connections to the House of Duras.

R'yeq begins to sabotage the engine room, staging an elaborate disagreement between herself and e'Daj as a cover. While she's busy, the tournament begins with the entire crew in celebration. In the fighting pit, a group of four bekks attempt to take down Qotar all at once, and fail.

At the end of the tournament, one of the bekks, B'Qrat, on board wins the drinking competition by a narrow margin. Afterward, B'emir finds Qotar on the bridge, staring out into space. She tells him he doesn't need to debase himself for the crew's entertainment, and he tells her he wouldn't go along if he didn't want to. He asks her what she thinks of their current situation, and she tells him she's a warrior, not a politician; she hates scheming and plotting. Qotar tells her he trusts her ability to make the right decision, and B'emir says she values his loyalty highly.

During their conversation, e'Daj suddenly enters and challenges Qotar to wrestle. She attempts to punch him, clearly drunk, and he doesn't even feel it.

### **Post-Break**

The next day the crew is recovering. R'yeq says her sabotage will be discovered later that day, though she's worried the engine crew will realize she did it, and try to report her to high command. e'Daj is hopeful that crew morale is high enough they will understand, or ignore it.

A chirp at the door reveals a member of the security staff, dragging a younger Klingon into the room. T'onak, the younger, has blood in his mouth. Votkar, the security officer, says T'onak was talking last night, apparently about the House of Duras being about to rise to power in the next year, and that T'onak has secretly been sharing everything the Borqu' has been doing with General Kargan.

When prompted to say more by Ra'amyan, T'onak spits on the floor, but Qotar and B'emir intimidate him into confirming what Votkar has said. He told Kargan about their trip to the Romulan processing plant, and as far as he knows he's the only spy on their ship.

The crew decide to keep T'onak alive, and have him send false messages to Kargan. Also, as punishment, for every time he said the name 'Duras' he has to spend a week as Qotar's sparring partner.

Omeq scans their system, and determines that T'onak - and by extension Kargan - had access to all transmissions to and from the Borqu'. Ra'amyan suggests they set up a private channel, and keep all regular communications on the monitored channel, so nothing appears to have changed. The crew discusses what to do, and eventually they have T'onak send a message saying the Borqu' is in possession of a lot of Trillium D, and they're looking into people who might be buying or selling in the Shackleton expanse so they can sell it off.

An hour later, Kargan calls the Borqu'. B'emir tells him their engines are offline, and they'll return as soon as they can, but Kargan obviously doesn't believe her. He says he's sending someone to help repair their ship, and cuts transmission.

B'emir calls up Tagal on their new encrypted channel, and it takes a while for him to accept the strange call. When he finally does, he tells her that despite monitoring their transmissions he didn't see them get a message from Kargan - however, *he* just got an order from Kargan, to go 'relieve' B'emir of command of her ship (read: kill her).

Tagal wants to help them but doesn't have any ideas on what to do. He mentions that Ambassador Jahl might be willing to help, and e'Daj suggests pretending the Borqu' has been destroyed, and that the Qu'Vat has to tractor is back to the station, as a way to buy time.

After Tagal hangs up, B'emir calls Ambassador Jahl. She tells him everything they know, and asks for help, but Jahl cannot act without evidence. However, he mentions the USS Ross will be returning to Narendra Station soon, and they have an ambassador on board who might be able to get a favor from the Romulan ambassador. B'emir tells Jahl they'll be pretending to be destroyed in the meantime, and they'll try to give the Ross as much time as possible.

## **Cast**

* Eric Campbell - Game Master
* Aliza Pearl - B'emir
* Jade Law - E'Daj
* Phillip Jeanmarie - Omeq
* Quincy Surasmith - Ra'amyan
* Christopher Eddins - Qotar

## **Non-Player Characters**

* R'yeq
* Tagal
* Kargan
* Jahl
* Votkar
* T'onak
* B'Qrat

## **Notable Lines**

*"Captain, I say trust no man who presents problems without solutions."*
—**Qotar** to B'emir

*"All we have to do is reverse the polarity of the IRL. By reversing that polarity we'll be able to be non-traceable and turn the multi-dimensional phaser into a sustaining function."*
*"I was just gonna suggest killing one of the lower level people, but your way works, too."*
—**Omeq** and **Qotar**

*"I know this ship the way I know my own heart."*
—**R'yeq**

*"Oh, he's too young for me, but I can still admire."*
—**R'yeq** about Qotar

*"Okay, okay. I don't think you all fully understand this situation. My name, and hear it now, is Qotar Ayhan, son of Dagor, son of Risos. On my second pon farr, I killed three bagh'taghs [sp] who dared called my mother out for being Vulcan with my bare hands. Have at it."*
—**Qotar**

*"I was born to fight. I studied the Art of War just from a dog-eared dusty copy that my mother gave me as a child, but I am no master politician. I'm a commander because I fought my way to this position, not because I plotted and planned for it. I sometimes fear that I am out of my depth."*
—**B'emir**

*"Hey, Qotar, you want to do some wrestling 101?"*
*"Is that a euphemism for something or do you mean actual wrestling? I did it in school."*
*"Whatever it turns out to be. I'm ready for a fight; or whatever."*
—**e'Daj** and **Qotar**

*"Your orders are to your Captain, boy!"*
—**Qotar** to B'Qrat

*"You can still have a future. Just don't be terrible."*
—**e'Daj** to B'Qrat

*"I am reminded of the Klingon epic, "Ham'lIT"."*
—**Ra'amyan**

*"Who guards the guardsman, when the guardsman is worth five of us combined?"*
—**Ra'amyan** about Qotar going berserk