Chapter 26: Terror
September 2413
Green blood trailed along the floor of the dimly-lit KDF starbase. It marked the path taken by a Klingon guard as he lazily dragged an unconscious Romulan woman by her ankles. He moved past the crew quarters, then past the medical bay, then even past the brig, all without stopping. His destination was the armory, where he deposited his prisoner inside an empty targ cage.
“HA!” the armory officer laughed as the guard locked the cage, “Who did she offend this time?”
“Captain Ch’Bargh again. She refused to keep her mouth shut. I don’t know why the General doesn’t just kill her and be done with it.”
“K’Vok said the General was honor-bound to keep her alive,” he armory officer replied again, “But if you ask me, I think she amuses him.” The guard snorted, before taking his leave.
Some hours later, Kirina slowly roused to a low rumbling noise. She was sprawled out awkwardly on the bottom of the cage, and covered in dried blood from a deep wound on her left cheek - clearly inflicted by a Klingon dagger. She blinked and squinted and looked around as she slowly pulled her limbs in towards her core.
The Romulan’s disorientation broke abruptly as her vision focused on the growling targ poking his snout through the cage’s bars. She gasped abruptly and scrambled backward, only to find herself in the corner of the enclosure. The Klingon targ handler’s bellowing laugh at her reaction could probably be heard from decks away.
“I’m sorry, petaQ, did I interrupt your beauty sleep?” He laughed again, presumably at his own ‘joke’, before reaching forwards to unlatch the cage. As the door swung open, Kirina crawled towards the exit, only to be stopped by the targ lurching forward at her. Before she could back way, she received a nasty bite to the upper arm. The yelp of pain she let out was overshadowed by yet another few moments of howling laughter from the large Klingon.
“You would do well to learn from him, petaQ, he has the instincts of a warrior! Now come! The General summons you.” Kirina remained still, curled up in the corner of the cage, now holding pressure on her fresh wound. She was tired and terrified, and she probably had a concussion. Her thinking was slow, and she was uncertain what she wanted to do in this situation.
The Klingon didn’t give her a chance to figure it out. He reached in to grab Kirina by the wrist, yanking her out onto the floor. The targ jumped forwards for another bite, sending the woman diving for cover. A well-placed foot-stomp from the handler stopped the creature from pursuing, thankfully. The Romulan struggled to catch her breath as he proceeded to pull her up to her feet.