"E- cha." "movek." "Okay..." "I see your point." "The mek'leth definitely has its advantages but I still think the bat'leth, with its longer reach is usually the deciding factor." "That is a classic argument." "However, I find using a large and intimidating weapon like the bat'leth often leads to overconfidence." "So you think that I was overconfident." "You were overconfident." "You thought by distracting me with your outfit you would gain an advantage." "My outfit." "Um..." "I thought that..." "I mean, I only assumed that..." "You thought that I wore this for you." "Talk about overconfidence." "Worf..." "E- cha." "movek." "But in my own defense you do try your own tactics of distraction with all that shouting and growling you do." "I'm only vocalizing my..." "Odo to Worf." "Worf here." "Please report to Airlock 5, Commander." "There's an intoxicated Klingon here who's demanding to see you." "I'm on my way." "Computer, exit." "Stay back!" "You miserable koruts!" "Easy!" "None of us koruts is going to hurt you." "Kurn!" "Worf." "I knew you'd come." "He is my brother." "The sons of Mogh reunited for one last time." "Where have you been?" "I have tried to contact you for months." "Well, I'm here now... but not for long." "Soon there will be only one son of Mogh." "I came for Mauk-to'Vor." "What?" "Yes, Brother." "I want you to kill me." "Guard!" "Something for my head!" "Guard!" "You are not in the holding cell." "You're in my quarters." "For your head." "Soft... comfortable... just like the rest of these quarters." "No one would ever suspect a warrior lives here." "It serves me." "Always defending the Federation." "Tell me, Worf, does Starfleet ever make mistakes even in their furniture?" "Kurn, where have you been?" "It has been four months since your last message." "I've been overseeing the end of a once-proud House." "Perhaps you've heard of it." "It was called the House of Mogh." "I know what has happened." "I regret that by opposing Gowron" "I have brought disgrace to our family." "You regret?" "What's next, Worf?" "Do you want to apologize to me?" "Express your sympathy?" "How many human weaknesses will you display?" "I do not apologize for what I have done." "I could not join Gowron in his war with Cardassia or the Federation." "It would've been dishonorable." "Oh, so in avoiding dishonor for yourself you've brought it down on the rest of your family." "What a noble act." "How selfless." "I will not debate this with you, Kurn." "What is done is done." "For you, it's done- you and your comfortable Federation life your glorious Starfleet career- but not for me." "Our family had a seat on the High Council." "We were feared by our enemies respected by our friends." "It was even said that if Gowron died the leadership of the Council might be passed to someone from the House of Mogh." "Then you chose to side with the Federation against the Empire." "Gowron took our ships, our land our seat on the Council, everything." "Kurn, I know this has been difficult for you." "What do you know?" "Did you watch as Gowron's men seized our land and stripped our family of its name?" "Did you have to endure the humiliation of being ejected from the High Council in front of the Emperor himself?" "No." "You chose to stay here safe, comfortable, secure." "You have everything you want and I have nothing, not even my honor but you can give that back to me." "By killing you?" "I'm already dead to our people and so are you, but you don't care." "I have never asked you for anything but you took away my honor and only you can give it back." "So now I am asking you for Mauk-to'Vor." "Is an honorable death too much to ask from my brother?" "Operations Log, Stardate 49556.2." "Major Kira and I are returning to the station after completing our inspection tour of the Bajoran colonies along the Cardassian border." "This is the Federation Runabout Yukon requesting permission to enter Bajoran space." "This is Bajoran control." "Please transmit your identification code and flight plan." "Acknowledged." "Major." "Major!" "Yes?" "What?" "Sorry, Major." "It's just we're almost home." "Oh, thanks." "Almost home?" "How long have I been asleep?" "Seven hours." "I don't get seven hours sleep at the station." "Must be the company." "Bajoran Control to Yukon." "You are cleared to enter the system and proceed to Deep Space 9." "Thank you." "Oh, I am so hungry" "I could even eat Quark's food." "Let's not get crazy." "If you really want some good" "What was that?" "Some kind of high-energy discharge." "It was pretty close." "Only 5,000 kilometers from here." "Just outside Bajoran space." "Elevated tachyon readings, subspace shock waves." "Looks like a cloaked ship exploded." "There's no debris." "No residual warp fields." "Well, something exploded." "Let's take a closer look." "Bring us to 500 meters from those coordinates." "Approaching the coordinates." "I'm not seeing any signs of..." "Wait a minute." "I'm picking up another tachyon surge." "A ship's de-cloaking directly ahead of us." "Federation vessel." "This is the Imperial Klingon Ship Korinar." "We are engaged in military exercises in this area." "You will alter course and return to Bajoran space immediately." "This is Major Kira Nerys." "We're investigating an explosion which happened at these coordinates" "You have been given a warning according to interstellar agreements." "You will not receive another." "They've locked their disruptors onto us, Major." "Take us home, Chief." "But keep scanning the coordinates of that explosion." "There's a lot more going on out here than just military exercises." "Quark, have you seen Worf?" "He was supposed to meet me in the holosuite five minutes ago." "As if you're never late." "Worf is never late." "In fact, he grumbles at me if I'm two minutes behind schedule." "Well, I haven't seen him since this morning and if he can't at least be civil" "I don't care to see him in my bar again." "It's just his way." "It's nothing personal, Quark." "No." "This was more than his standard rudeness." "He came in here, ordered some Klingon incense and nearly threw me across the bar, when I tried to give him some replicated incense." "What kind of Klingon incense?" "Something called adanji." "What would he want with adanji?" "Why?" "Is there something special about adanji?" "That does it." "I'm going to stop talking to the customers." "You have been wronged in this life." "There is nothing left here for you." "No honor... no future." "Mmm..." "I wish to reclaim my honor in the next life." "I am ready to cross the River of Blood and enter Sto-Vo-Kor." "Commander." "Odo, yesterday you called Worf to the airlock to see some Klingon." "That's right." "Who was it?" "His name is Kurn." "It turns out he's Worf's brother." "Worf's brother." "Oh, my god." "Dax to Worf." "Computer, locate Commander Worf." "Commander Worf is in his quarters." "Is he alone?" "Negative." "Captain Kurn is with him." "Come on." "May this blade speed you on your journey." "Good-bye, my brother." "Good... bye." "Dax to Ops." "Emergency transport." "Two to the Infirmary." "This is not your concern!" "It is a private matter!" "I doubt Captain Sisko would agree." "You'd better hope he lives, Commander." "If not, you'll be charged with murder." "Kurn's going to make it." "Julian said he'll be up on his feet by tomorrow morning." "Good." "Mr. Worf, I want you to tell me why I shouldn't put you on the next transport out of here." "You are well within your right to do so." "I'm not talking about my rights." "Answer my question." "Captain, I do not have an answer." "Sir, I realize my actions were in violation of Starfleet regulations" "Regulations?" "We're not talking about some obscure technicality, Mr. Worf." "You tried to commit premeditated murder." "Benjamin, it wasn't murder." "Worf and Kurn were performing a Mauk-to'Vor ritual." "It's part of Klingon belief that when" "At the moment, I don't give a damn about Klingon beliefs, rituals, or custom!" "Now, I have given you both a lot of leeway when it comes to following Klingon traditions but in case you haven't noticed, this is not a Klingon station and those are not Klingon uniforms you're wearing." "There is a limit to how far I'll go to accommodate cultural diversity among my officers and you've just reached it!" "When your brother is released from the Infirmary you better find another way to settle your family problems." "Is that clear?" "!" "Captain, it may not be possible" "Uh, it's clear." "There are definitely other possibilities for Kurn." "This will never happen again." "You're damned right it won't!" "Now, both of you- get out!" "What do you make of it, Chief?" "From these magnetic flux readings the energy discharge we detected could have been caused by the destruction of a cloaked target drone." "Which would support the story about conducting military maneuvers." "On the other hand this type of explosion could also have been caused by an accidental warp nacelle inversion." "Or a blown plasma conduit or a dozen other things." "The bottom line is there's no way to be certain from these readings." "The larger question is:" "What are these Klingons up to?" "Whatever it is, they're doing it awfully close to Bajoran space." "And they're very touchy about it." "One thing I've had enough of is tiptoeing around the Klingons." "Take the Defiant and run a sensor sweep of those coordinates." "And if I run into the Klingons?" "Tell them that the ship is conducting military exercises according to interstellar agreements." "Understood." "Should I take Worf?" "I don't want Worf anywhere near other Klingons right now." "Keep him informed of what's going on but under no circumstances is he to accompany you." "Is that clear?" "Yes, sir." "Sir..." "Don't say it, Chief." "I've already got one officer defending Worf." "I don't need two." "He's stabilized." "I can revive him any time." "Wake him." "I'll be just outside if you need me." "I... am... alive?" "Yes." "Commander Dax realized what we were doing and she had you beamed to the Infirmary." "I was looking forward to being in Sto-Vo-Kor." "I was hoping to see Father there." "He still awaits you but it is not yet time for you to join him." "And I suppose you will decide when that time has come." "It is not for me to make that choice." "Why not?" "You chose not to complete the Mauk-to'Vor ritual." "It was not my decision." "It was Dax and Odo that prevented..." "Did you fight them?" "Did you threaten to kill them both if they interfered?" "And are you standing here now with the mevak dagger ready to slit my throat and bring me the death I deserve?" "No." "For a moment, in your quarters during the ritual... you were Klingon." "But your Federation life has claimed you again and now it is claiming me as well." "I have no life." "I have no death." "Whatever is to become of me is up to you." "Enter." "What can I do for you, Commander?" "I wanted to apologize." "I interfered in a family matter and if I caused you and your brother any further dishonor, I'm sorry." "You were following your conscience." "That is an honorable motive." "Not from a Klingon point of view." "You are not Klingon." "Is there anything I can do to help?" "No." "Okay." "Commander." "There is the question of what to do next." "Right." "Do you have any ideas?" "None." "Well, in the short term, there's no reason why your brother can't stay here on the station." "If Kurn is to remain on the station he will need tasks to perform." "A job." "What about security?" "It worked for one Klingon officer I know." "Yes, but I doubt Kurn would be interested in joining Starfleet." "Well, there is another security force on the station." "Well, your brother's had an interesting career with the Klingon Defense Forces, Mr. Worf." "I have just one question:" "Does he know how to use the stun setting on a disruptor?" "Nonlethal skills are not valued in the Empire." "They are among my deputies." "And if your brother is going to be a member of my detachment he's going to have to make some adjustments in his thinking." "He will." "You're certain of that?" "I would not be asking you to consider him if I were not." "I can appreciate how difficult it must be for you to be asking for a favor, especially from me." "Very well." "Have Kurn report here tomorrow morning." "I am indebted to you." "Yes, you are." "And Mr. Worf?" "You'll find I'm a man who collects on his debts." "This container is not on your manifest." "It must be a clerical error." "I apologize." "Open it." "This is a message from Starfleet Command requesting an update on our defense systems." "I'd say your brother's doing well, Commander." "He's been on the job six hours he's only killed four Boslics so far." "Hmm." "Kira's right." "You do need a sense of humor." "He's quite good, actually." "A little stern, but he never steps over the line." "I'm finding him to be a pleasant surprise." "I am..." "gratified to hear that." "I'm sure you are." "Well, thanks for the report, Commander." "I'll give it my immediate attention." "Brother." "Kurn." "I hate this uniform." "I understand." "The transition will probably be difficult for some time." "No, that's not what I mean." "I have accepted the transition." "I am a Bajoran security officer." "The uniform is simply uncomfortable." "I see." "But I will get used to it." "You need not concern yourself with me, Brother." "I won't disgrace you." "I never doubted it." "Carry on." "The same thing, Major." "High concentrations of tachyons subspace distortions, and magneton traces." "Some cloaked ships definitely passed through this area in the last 24 hours." "They're getting close to violating Bajoran space but they're never crossing the line." "I've never known Klingons to be this fastidious when it comes to respecting borders." "Especially when they're cloaked." "Something's wrong here." "That's a Vor'cha-class cruiser." "Stand by shields and phasers." "They've been damaged." "There's a massive hull breach in their port quarter." "Main power's failing." "Casualties?" "It's hard to tell through all this radiation." "Open a channel." "Channel open." "This is Major Kira Nerys on the USS Defiant to unidentified Klingon vessel." "Do you require assistance?" "This is IKS Drovana to USS Defiant." "We do not require assistance at this time." "Do not approach us." "Understood, Drovana." "Defiant out." "They're losing emergency power." "Why aren't the other Klingon ships helping them?" "Maybe they don't want to give away their positions." "Maybe they're busy doing something that can't be interrupted." "Something that blew a hole the size of a house in a Vor'cha-class cruiser." "Incoming transmission." "Drovana to Defiant." "We need access to your medical facilities." "Our medical facilities are extremely limited." "If you wish, we can tow you to Deep Space 9." "Stand by." "Defiant, your offer is accepted." "Odo to Worf." "Worf here." "We need you in the Infirmary, Commander." "Your brother's been seriously injured." "On my way." "What happened?" "Kurn found a container of contraband in the lower hold of the Boslic ship." "When he confronted their Captain the man pulled out a disruptor pistol and then Kurn let himself get shot." "Let himself?" "Kurn is a trained Klingon warrior." "He could have disarmed the Boslic without breaking a sweat, but he just stood there let the man pull out his weapon, aim and fire." "The only thing that saved him was the man was so frightened his hand was shaking." "He'll be all right... again." "Good." "A man with a death wish is a danger not only to himself but to the rest of his team." "Kurn's days as a security officer are over." "Would you like to see him?" "Yes." "Thank you, Doctor." "How do you feel?" "Like a man who is tired of waking up and seeing a human doctor's face." "I thought we had agreed that you would try to make..." "Worf..." "I don't want to talk anymore." "It's not Klingon." "You're the elder brother." "You tell me what to do and I'll do it." "My life is in your hands." "Well, so far, there's nothing unusual about any of their casualties." "I've treated 15 cases of severe radiation burns seven thoracic perforation traumas caused by shrapnel and 23 decompression-related injuries." "All just what you'd expect following an explosion on a starship." "Do you have any idea what caused the explosion?" "Well, the radiation burns were the result of exposure to gamma rays." "My guess is they were hit by a photon torpedo." "A torpedo?" "From the fracture pattern of the damage" "I'd say something exploded about ten kilometers off their port quarter." "But torpedoes leave ion trails, and the Defiant didn't pick up any in the vicinity." "And the Drovana was cloaked." "Even Klingon torpedoes can't track vessels operating under cloak." "Mines." "They hit a mine." "That's why there weren't any ion trails." "And cloaked mines can't be detected by any known sensor array." "But there have been at least a dozen ships moving in and out of that system since the explosion." "Why haven't they struck any mines?" "Well, the type of mine currently used by the Klingons remains dormant until it is armed by a coded subspace signal." "So, the mine that damaged the Drovana must have malfunctioned or been set off prematurely." "If we're right, there could be thousands of mines out there right now, and we'd have no way of knowing it." "Mining a star system is an act of war." "I didn't think the Klingons were ready for that." "At the moment, we can't even prove these mines exist, but if war comes the Klingons would be able to cut off Deep Space 9 and the entire Bajoran system." "How do we find these mines?" "Unless we know their coordinates there's no way to find them until we run into one." "Then we better get those coordinates." "The place to get them is docked at Upper Pylon 3 right now." "The only question is how." "I have an idea." "You want me to turn against my own people?" "Will my dishonor never end?" "It is their actions that are dishonorable." "Secretly mining star systems is not the act of warriors." "They behave like..." "like Romulan cowards." "Is that how you rationalize this- by calling your people cowards so you can be a hero?" "Kurn, let me ask you this." "Do you agree with what has happened between the Empire and the Federation?" "It is not my place to criticize" "Answer the question!" "No." "I opposed the decision to break the treaty but I was overruled in Council." "Why did you oppose the decision?" "Because Gowron underestimates the Federation." "He thinks they're soft, weak, but he is wrong." "Sooner or later, there will be war." "A war the Empire may lose." "Yes." "You know that mining this system is just the beginning." "If we do nothing, it will only encourage Gowron to continue thinking of the Federation as weak." "Eventually, he will attack, and that will be the end of the Empire." "That is why you must join me on this mission." "Not for my honor, and not for the Federation but to prevent the Empire from being destroyed in a war they cannot win." "Our people have turned their backs on us but we have not turned our backs on them." "Let it be the sons of Mogh, side by side, saving our people." "Do this with me." "There." "Very ugly." "Well, uglier, that is." "Joke." "I got it." "Well, this will temporarily alter your DNA signature to match one of our friends over there." "Should be good enough to pass a cursory test." "How long will it last?" "About four hours." "That should be sufficient." "Kurn." "Kurn?" "Yes, Doctor?" "Please take a seat." "The deployment plan for the mines should be in the defense system database." "I have found the main file directory." "No, no." "Ignore it." "It's a security procedure the High Council instituted three months ago." "False directories, files entire databases of disinformation designed for spies to steal." "Here's the real database." "Can you access the deployment plan?" "My security codes have been changed but not all of them." "Yes." "You two..." "what are you doing?" "We're running a diagnostic of the computer core." "There have been power fluctuations in the navigational control system." "I've not been informed of any computer problems." "Perhaps you have not been tending to your duties." "I do not know you." "What is your name?" "I am Commander Sorval son of M'tokra." "How long have you been aboard, Commander?" "I will not be questioned by a Lieutenant who should be cleaning my quarters." "Leave us, or I shall have you stripped of rank and sent home in a transport." "My words were ill-chosen, Commander." "Perhaps I can help you with your investigation." "That will not be necessary." "All we require..." "You did not have to do that." "He was backing down." "He was going to kill you." "We must hurry." "The disruptor blast will alert the security sensors." "He was a warrior doing his duty, defending the Empire and I killed him." "My dishonor is complete." "Since we now have the detonation codes for each mine we can set them off individually or all at once." "Thank you, Commander." "Major?" "We'll take care of it." "Congratulations, Mr. Worf." "You did an excellent job." "That goes for your brother, too." "Thank you, sir." "You don't seem very pleased." "I am still troubled by the death of that Klingon officer." "Your report said it was self-defense." "That is not the point." "I should have seen what he was going to do." "What do you mean?" "From the way you described it, he was standing so close to you you couldn't have seen the knife in his hand." "He decided to kill me while I was looking him right in the eyes and I never saw it." "But Kurn did, and he was three meters away." "Worf, I don't think you can tell someone's going to kill you by looking at them." "A Klingon can." "It is an instinct." "The ability to look someone in the eyes and see the decision to kill." "An instinct I no longer have." "Kurn was right." "I have lived with humans so long" "I no longer think like a Klingon." "For a long time, I have tried to walk the line between the Empire and the Federation." "I told myself I could live in either world that it was my choice." "But the truth is, I cannot go back to the Empire." "Do you want to go back?" "I had always hoped that one day the House of Mogh would reclaim its rightful place and that I would return." "But now I know that even if I did" "I have no place there." "This is all I have." "Is that enough?" "It will have to be." "But my brother does not even have this." "For him, there is no future without the Empire- no life." "It sounds like you're thinking of carrying out the Mauk-to'Vor ritual again." "No." "I was able to do it once by telling myself it was an honorable Klingon ritual but now I cannot help but think of it as humans do... as murder." "What if there was a way for you to kill your brother... without killing him?" "We're ready, Major." "Open a channel." "This is the USS Defiant to all Klingon vessels near the Bajoran system." "We are preparing to destroy your minefield." "I suggest you leave immediately." "This is your only warning." "Anything?" "Nothing." "If they're out there, they're keeping quiet." "Well, they're out there all right and I think we'll be seeing them fairly soon." "Prepare to detonate the mine in grid 21 alpha." "Ready, sir." "Send out the code." "Still nothing, Major." "Well, we can't say we didn't warn them." "Detonate all the mines in grids 22 alpha through 47 gamma." "Aye, sir." "Just like flushing quail." "They're setting course... 327 mark 215." "Back to the Klingon Empire." "Let's see how many other birds we can flush out of here." "Why is it that suicide is considered a dishonorable death, Worf?" "Shouldn't a warrior have the right to decide when his time has come?" "If you die by your own hand you will not travel across the River of Blood and enter Sto-Vo-Kor." "Even if I got cast down into the Underworld at least I'd be with other Klingons even though they are the dishonored dead." "Put down the disruptor." "Do you know what my one regret is, Worf?" "That we weren't raised together." "In the Empire, on Earth- it wouldn't have mattered but the sons of Mogh should have never been separated." "On that... we both agree." "But that is the past and a warrior should look to the future." "And in the future you should not be burdened by my dishonor." "You are not a burden." "I have never understood you, Worf." "But I do know this." "In your own way... you are an honorable man." "And you will be an honorable man again... but not as my brother." "How long will the procedure take?" "Well, wiping his memory will be relatively simple- say, an hour- but changing his genetic coding combined with surgically altering his features will take at least another five hours." "What will he remember?" "He'll know he's a Klingon and how to speak the language and virtually everything he needs to know in order to survive- except who he is." "And that's the first question he'll ask." ""Who am I?"" "Do you have an answer?" "There is a man named Noggra a friend of our father's." "He will be arriving in a few hours." "He has agreed to provide Kurn with a new identity and a new family." "He will supply Kurn with all the answers he needs." "Are you absolutely certain about this, Worf?" "Once I've erased his memory engrams it'll be almost impossible to restore them." "He won't remember you or anything about his real life." "It is the only way." "You may begin." "Prep him for surgery." "Rodek." "Can you hear me?" "Rodek!" "Where..?" "Where am I?" "On a Federation space station." "Our shuttle was damaged." "You were hit by a plasma discharge." "I don't remember being... on a shuttle." "In fact, I don't remember anything." "The plasma discharge damaged your hippocampus." "You're suffering from a severe form of amnesia." "I'm afraid you may never regain all of your memory." "Who am I?" "Your name is Rodek." "You are my son." "You're part of the House of Noggra a small but proud family." "So don't worry." "I will teach you all that you have forgotten when we get home." "I understand, Father." "Who are you?" "I am Worf." "Are you part of my family?" "I have no family."