Blood Reign O'er Me

Summary
Kahnrah and K'ahlynn are on the steps of the Museum of Military Triumph and Conquest when they meet with Morglar, a Klingon Captain of a starship, who currently has three months left of his cycle as Overseer of the Museum. Kahnrah tells him of the explosion at Praxis and the decision he is faced with. Morglar comments that he has had experience with Humans before stating "if sinking a blade into Human flesh can be called firsthand, then yes, I'm as much an expert as any Klingon."

He begins to reminisce about when he served as the security officer aboard the Voh'Tahk under Kang seventeen years earlier. They were returning from a bat'leth competition on Munjeb III when they received a distress call from the Blortlh, another competitor at the tournament. When they arrive at the source of the signal, the ship is nowhere to be found and appears to have been destroyed by a Federation starship. As the Klingon vessel prepares to attack the starship, its warp core is breached, obviously the result of an attack. Radiation floods the ship and forty of the four hundred crew members are able to make it to the command pod with its heavier shielding.

Kang ascertains that James T. Kirk is commanding the enemy vessel, stating "I should have known!" He orders Fron'Chak, his transporter chief, to beam them to the planet's surface as his last duty before he dies of radiation exposure. When they arrive on the planet's surface, they confront the crew of the Federation vessel and Kang claims their ship for his own. Unfortunately, when they beam up to the ship, they are beamed up separately from Kirk and his Vulcan first officer, Spock, and easily disarmed. The Humans beamed over the other survivors from the Voh'Tahk before destroying the ship.

Shortly after, Kirk came and punched Kang, accusing him of sabotaging the ship, stranding hundreds of his crew on the planet below. Regular objects about the room were then replaced by swords. Even the phasers of the Enterprise crew were replaced with them. After a brief battle, Kang heads toward the engineering area, while Morglar and two of his security team, Jurva and Woroth explore the rest of the ship. They discover a conservatory where Woroth's arm is bitten by a plant before Jurva slices the plant in two. As they exit the room, they come across several Federation officers. After a brief skirmish, the Federation crew are left dead, but so is Woroth. Now two, Jurva and Morglar continue to seek the armory. As they continue to search, they come across groups of Humans, some seeming familiar, but manage to kill them or drive them off each time.

Suddenly Kirk's voice comes across the intercom, "this is Captain Kirk. A truce is ordered.  The fighting is over.  Lay down your weapons."  Morglar writes it off as lies until Kang's voice follows, "'this is Kang.  Cease hostilities.  Disarm.''

The Klingons and Humans all gather together and share food, drink, and stories. Morglar is surprised to discover Woroth alive and uninjured. Kirk and Kang explain what occurred, as an alien creature was forcing them to fight and feeding off of their hatred of each other. Morglar sees a Human he fought and compliments him on his ability, and the Human responds that he is honored with the compliment.

Morglar finishes his story, telling them that he faced Humans again on several occasions after, and while they were still his enemies, he "no longer hated them blindly", pointing out that it is much easier to hate a race you've never met. He encourages Kahnrah to ask the Humans for help and heads back to work. K'ahlynn expresses surprise that she'd never heard the story before and her grandfather points out that the Klingon High Council chooses which stories are archived, and which are forgotten. With that done, he tells her that he must prepare to go to the council to cast his vote to ask the Humans for help.

Memorable Quotes
"You look well for a man who allowed a Romulan to walk off with his arm!"

"Paah! There were only five of the motherless curs facing me, so to even the odds, I tore off the arm myself and beat them with it!"
 * - Kahnrah and Morglar

"That was the work of the alien creature. It was intent on keeping us alive and fighting, so it could feed on our hate."

"So the alien merely vanished when you stopped the fighting?"

"Indeed, but not at first! We had to coax it on its way with some good spirits, Eh, Kirk?"

"Apparently the sound of a Klingon laughing was enough to drive out even the unknown..."
 * - Kirk, Morglar, and Kang

"I'll say this for you Kirk – You may be small and mealy like a Human, but you just might have the spine of a Klingon! Any Human crazy enough to beam into a pack of Klingon warriors armed only with his tongue and his fists is either foolhardy or brave indeed."
 * - Kang, to Kirk after the hostilities have ceased

"You fought well."

"For a Human?"

"No. You fought well.

"Thank you. Your words honor me."
 * - Morglar and an Enterprise crewman

"It is much easier to hate a race you've never met. But the Humans fought as hard as we did that day.  To save us both, they lowered their weapons and convinced us to do the same.  What's to say that they would not extend a hand now, if only we could have the courage to do so first?"
 * - Morglar, telling Kahnrah to ask for assistance from the Humans

Background Information

 * The framing story is set during the events of, but the main portion of the story is , as told from the Klingon perspective, and set about seventeen years earlier.
 * "Seventeen years" between 2268 and 2293 would suggest a Klingon year is approximately one-and-a-half Earth years, consistent with 's line that 2373 was "Year of Kahless 999", 1,551 Earth years after Kahless's death.


 * As with the other issues in this series, the title of this story is not listed in the issue at all, but was shared by one of the writers in an online forum.
 * The issue sold an estimated 8,966 copies in comic specialty stores in August 2007. These figures do not cover copies sold on the direct market (bookstores, etc.).

Creators

 * Writers:
 * Scott Tipton
 * David Tipton
 * Artists:
 * David Messina (interior and cover art)
 * Elena Casagrande (art assist)
 * Ilaria Traversi (colors)
 * Neil Uyetake (letters)
 * Joe Corroney (alternate cover art)
 * Editors:
 * Dan Taylor
 * Chris Ryall
 * STAR TREK created by Gene Roddenberry
 * Special thanks to Paula Block of CBS Consumer Products for her invaluable assistance.

Characters

 * Kahnrah : Member of the Klingon High Council.
 * K'ahlynn : Granddaughter of Kahnrah.
 * Morglar : Current overseer of the Museum of Military Triumph and Conquest. Lost an arm to the Romulans when he was younger.  Served with Kang on the Voh'Tahk.
 * Kang : Captain of the Voh'Tahk.
 * Mara : Wife of Kang.
 * Fron'Chak : Transporter chief of the Voh'Tahk. Died of radiation poisoning.
 * Tahk : Crewman aboard the Voh'Tahk.
 * Jurva : Female security crewman aboard the Voh'Tahk. Morglar noted her as the "most efficient and brutal warrior in [his] brigade."
 * Woroth : First security lieutenant of the Voh'Tahk, and oldest friend of Morglar.
 * James T. Kirk : Federation captain of the USS Enterprise.
 * Leonard McCoy : Doctor aboard the USS Enterprise.
 * Spock : First officer of the USS Enterprise.