"Contemplating a life"
 by Lieutenant T'Kang
 Chief Tactical Officer - USS Tempest
 http://come.to/tkang


T'Kang had grown quiet after his violent rage earlier.  He 
knelt peacefully before a small statuette of Kahless and a 
single white meditation candle that burnt brightly, casting a 
fiery glow on the bronze statue of the mighty warrior-god.

The Klingon Lieutenant's quarters was in complete disarray.  
Items had been thrown about and broken, furniture over 
turned.  Paintings and wall decorations torn and thrown.  The 
saying "a bull in a china shop" definitely applied to the way 
T'Kang's quarters looked.

Honor had always seemed to elude the proud warrior.  Even 
from his youngest age of dissension, when just prior, his 
family's house of Crass fell, and his family was forced into 
servitude and poverty.  His family had cast him away, sent 
him out of the Empire to avoid the shame and disgrace of his 
family's failure to seek refuge in the Federation.

T'Kang tried to concentrate on the calming flame, but was 
unable to keep his warrior's ridges from narrowing into a 
scowl as he remembered Starfleet Academy.  There, always 
treated as the outsider.  Tormented and ridiculed because 
he was different or didn't comprehend the Terran way or 
culture.  There were times when the Academy instructors 
seemed consigned to keeping the brash Klingon out of their 
Starfleet, having taken T'Kang three separate application 
attempts to gain admittance.   Once he'd succeeded, the 
Klingon found that a warrior's discipline, that the patience his 
father had taught him during the hunt, applied well to his 
studies.

The flame continued to burn.   T'Kang remembered how he 
was first assigned to the Akula, and how angry he became 
when he learned of the SSS nature of that forced 
conscription, black Ops vessel.  At the Chief Helm position of 
that vessel, "The Barbarian" as he had been dubbed, got 
along with virtually no one and hated his assignment.

Next came T'Kang's transfer to the USS Intrepid as an 
Assistant Engineer and later as her Chief Engineer under 
Lieutenant Commander Celchu.  The Intrepid was a fine 
vessel, more sophisticated than the Tempest was, but 
having served originally under Fleet Captain Evelyn Hawke, 
the starship was not the same when Celchu took charge.

T'Kang nodded.  It seemed to be a vicious cycle.  One he 
was reliving again on board the USS Tempest.  The 
Klingon's transfer to the older, refitted Excelsior class 
starship had began under the Command of the experienced 
Commodore Taddy Jonathan Mitchell.  A veteran of the fleet.  
T'Kang was proud to serve under such a man, and would 
likely follow him into the gates of hell.  But now. . . now the 
Tempest was commanded by an inexperienced Lieutenant 
Commander Lee in Mitchell's absence.  And already the 
Klingon Warrior could sense the dissention rising through the 
ranks.   Lee's first orders of significance; to disobey orders 
from Starfleet Command and join forces with the declared 
and self proclaimed "renegades" of the quadrant to uphold 
the "oath" they took and over throw the governmental 
leaders and very CinC in question.  Oh yes, things had 
definitely taken a course to reaffirm the Klingon's belief that 
the universe was conspiring against him.

Finally T'Kang gave a resolute nod.  He realized what he 
must do.  Reaching with a steady, purposeful hand, the 
warrior pinched off the flame of the candle, plunging the 
room into darkness.   He then rose to his feet, turned and 
walked towards the exit to his quarters.

"Computer.  State location of Lieutenant Cowan." T'Kang 
paused.

"Lieutenant Cowan is on the Bridge." the computer intoned.

"And Lieutenant Commander Lee?" the boisterous Klingon 
demanded of the machine.

"Lieutenant Commander Lee is on Starbase 202 Arcadia." 
the computer replied in an even monotone.

With a nod, T'Kang began his trek out into the Tempest's 
corridors and headed for the bridge.