Honour Demands Truth

Posted on Fri May 15th, 2026 @ 10:27pm by Captain Mikoto Misaka & Lieutenant Commander Lurath, Son of Grogori & Commander Eila Juutilainen 'Illu'

2,301 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Preparations
Location: Caotains Ready Room

"Commander Lurath, Commander Juutilainen. Report to my ready room." Misaka's voice called simply.

The timing of Misaka's call was not lost on Eila. Immediately, the questions began swirling in her head: Was Eila's office bugged? A device that still recorded even under secure office conditions? Had her communications been tapped? Though the probability of those questions being true was unlikely, Eila couldn't rule out the possibilities entirely. For now, the best course of action was for Eila to play dumb, and hope whatever this meeting was about wouldn't steer her towards guilt.

"Understood, I'm on my way." Eila tapped her combadge. "Juutilainen out."

Lurath sat up from his bed, taking a moment to hold his head as he braced himself as a headache hit, before tapping his combadge. "Of course, Captain. I'll be there shortly." He said with some slight strain in his voice, before tapping the combadge again. With a groan, he took a moment to ease himself, as the headache subsided. The Half Klingon took a moment to look around, to try to piece together what happened. Last thing he remembered was sitting in the Dahar Master's quarters, celebrating with his fellow students. Laughing and joking with them. Telling stories and singing songs. Lurath couldn't have drank that much to have blacked the rest of it out.

He took a moment to looked around and stretched, taking a moment to rub his eyes while letting out a hearty yawn, just before clearing his throat. Lurath looked around his quarters and recognized it was his. Nothing seemed out of place, until his eyes locked on to the body on the other side of his bed, rolled away from him. He was tempted to see who it was, but the call from the Captain seemed far more important. Eventually he stood up to get dressed and perhaps grab himself a strong Raktajino

[Ready Room]

Mikoto had moved over to the replicator when the chime rung. "Enter," she called simply as the whirring sound of the replicator finished and a hot cup of coffee appeared in the hatch.

Lurath entered, finally in uniform and carrying a Raktajino glass in hand. He gave the Captain a nod, before looking around to greet the XO, but not finding her. He was sure she would be there before him, but he must have gone gotten his uniform on much faster than he thought. The half Klingon stood there calmly, taking a sip from his glass mug, before asking softly. "You called for me, Captain?"

Eila entered right behind Lurath, thoughts on every way her recent activity might have potentially been compromised still swirling, but the troubling thoughts did not affect the First Officer's complexion. She would not allow them to unless the conversation started to drift in that direction.

Mikoto took a seat behind her desk. She raised the cup of coffee to her lips and took a sip. "I've been going over the computer logs at the time of the incident." She explained. She swivelled the desk terminal around to face them. "I found that the shields around the cargo bays were lowered. However, it seems that whoever did it attempted to erase the evidence." She told them.

"So, I had the computer reconstruct the missing data." Mikoto said as she took another sip of her coffee. "I have checked six times that these readings are correct." She looked directly at Lurath. "Deck Seven, Section twenty six. Quarters twenty two..."

Lurath had raised his glass mug of Raktajino, in order to drink from it, but immediately stopped once he heard the quarters she was referring to. It was quarters he knew all too well. In fact, he just came from it.

"I do believe those are your quarters are they not Commander?" Mikoto asked her eyes looking directly at Lurath. Before he could say anything she continued. "Also, your personal access codes were used to over-ride the shield control settings from your quarters. Now, do you care to explain yourself?"

"I can't, Captain." Lurath replied, lowering the glass mug, placing it on his lap. He looked directly into her eyes and added. "Of course, if you believed I was responsible, you wouldn't have called me here with just the two of you and no Security." He looked down for a moment, taking in a deep breath, before raising his drink again. "I don't remember anything about the night the weapons were taken. Only that I was with the Dahar Master and my fellow students, sharing laughs and singing songs. I went back to my quarters wit-" He stopped mid-sentence, hesitating to add more to that sentence, before just deciding on. "I went back to my quarters at some point and that's it."

"I know you are a man of honour Lurath. I didn't need security here." Mikoto told him simply. "Could anyone have accessed your computer console with your codes and done this?" She asked. "If you were not alone in your quarters, I need to know."

"Yeah, I thought I heard you start to say you were with someone." Eila added, her counselor's ear picking up Lurath's mid-sentence course correction, as if covering something up. "And if that's true, would it at all be possible that they slid you some sort of drug strong enough to render you unconscious?"

Lurath immediately looked between the Captain and First Officer, a slight offended look on his face at the accusation that the person he was with would have been involved. He let out a scoff at the idea, but couldn't help but consider it for a brief second, but that consideration quickly faded. "Never..." He said firmly, looking away from them, his eyes focused on his drink. "She comes from an honored house, her father fought in many battles with the Cardassians. So, there is no way Tahlova-" he stopped, looking up at the two briefly. "Tahlova would never lower herself and taint her families name by aligning herself with some who would pull such a dishonorable tactic."

"Tahlova is a student of yours?" Eila asked, a smirk spreading on her face. "Or something more?"

"No." Lurath replied softly. "Of Dahar Master Rorek. She and I, along with other students, are trying to achieve the last level at becoming Skilled Mok'bara Warriors. Maybe even becoming Dahar Masters if we ever decide to travel that course. We've been studying since we were young and hopeful warriors."

Mikoto placed both her hands together and leant forward, leaning on her desk as she listened.

He stared at the top of his glass much, tapping it softly, as he continued. "She is a committed warrior, full of grace and courage. I once saw her take on a Mok'bara student, much bigger than her, in a tournament and come out victorious." He paused slightly and smiled a bit. "Even still, she showed poise and grace. Humility and elegance like I have never seen. Some warriors would stand above their opponent and spit harsh fire from their tongue, dressing them down to humiliate them in front of everyone who was there to witness it. Not Tahlova. She offered her fallen foe a relaxed smile, followed by a nod of her head, before walking away as if she exhausted no energy bringing him them."

Lurath looked up, as if embarrassed by his comments and words, before clearing his throat. "I do not believe she would have even had an opportunity to gain access to my codes, Captain." He looked to Eila. "Commander." He continued, trying to remember everything that happened that night, but it was still a blur. "As you know, computer access to visitors, even VIPs, is limited. Nothing in my personnel file would have given her a hint of what my codes were." He looked back and forth between the Captain and XO again, adding firmly. "Even if, for some reason, I revealed such a thing to Tahlova, she would never betray my trust by using it. We've known each other for many of years. Our families have sided with each other in feuds since we were children. Tahlova was-" He stopped again. Hesitant to speak further, but at this point, it made no difference. "Tahlova... was... my first kiss. For a young warrior, its an important moment in their journey. For someone like me, a Klingon Half breed in between two worlds who was never considered a pure blood warrior, it meant more than most. Maybe even more than it should."

"You never forget your first time..." Eila said, remembering where she and Sanya were when they shared their first kiss.

"Regardless." Mikoto said. "Unfortunately it is a fact that your codes were used and seemingly from your quarters to over ride the shields at a crucial moment." She explained as she continued to keep eye contact with Lurath. "Whether that was you, Tahlova, or someone else is yet to be seen." she looked up at Commander Juutilalinen. "I intend to find out how your codes were used and whom is responsible. Commander Juutilainen, I want you to start a full investigation into this matter immediately."

She turned her gaze to Lurath. "Unfortunately, due to this being an open investigation. You will understand that I am going to have to confine you to your quarters. Due to the seriousness of this breach in security, it is protocol that you have nothing to do with the investigation." she explained.

Lurath nodded his head, his eyes focusing down to the rest of his glass, his face a mixture of shame and disappointment. This was done on his watch. More importantly, it was done with his codes and in his quarters. Could it have been Tahlova? His gut was telling him it couldn't be. Lurath knew the type of person she was. He knew the beat of her heart and what drove it, but for that very reason he needed to leave this to the others to figure out. To give them a chance to see for themselves she wasn't involved.

"If you are going to question Tahlova, you must do so in a way that doesn't tarnish her honor and family name. She is a Klingon Warrior and, to be accused of a crime like this, may cause ripples that could affect her career moving forward, it would be best to allow a high tanking Klingon to serve as her Cha'DIch. Her advocate while being questioned. Since we are away from Klingon space, it would only be fitting to allow her to choose the Dahar Master or one of the students." He looked up from his glass, his eyes moving from Captain Misaka and Commander Juutilainen. "Without one, you risk stirring up an incident with the Klingon High Council for accusing one of their warriors are being a traitor and schemer. The High Council does not take accusations like that lightly."

"I will take that under advisement." Mikoto said in response. She turned her attention to her first officer. "Start the investigation into this. As much as I highly doubt that Lurath would let Tahlova access our systems, we still need to conduct a thorough investigation."

"Right away, Captain." Eila nodded, turning to Lurath. "And to assuage any concerns you may have, I will do everything I can to maintain Tahlova's honor and family name throughout the questioning process."

She then looked back at Lurath. "I will keep you informed. There will be a couple of security personnel stationed outside your door whilst you are confined. And strictly no visitors without my permission." Finally she looked at them each in turn. "Dismissed."

Lurath stood slowly, gripping onto the Raktajino mug, as he kept his eyes locked onto the ground. He no longer felt the desire to finish his beverage, due to the shame he felt with being in this situation and having pulled Tahlova and their private relationship to light. His Betazoid senses could pick up on the Captain's slight hesitation, but still, it wasn't enough to bring him at ease.

As he made his way out, Lurath stopped at the doorway, as the doors slide opened. He could have walked away, but he turned to look back at the Captain. Shame in his eyes as he spoke in a soft tone. "If this investigation, Captain, leads to my codes being used because of something I did, I will willingly give myself up to Security. I will step down as Second Officer and Chief of Security, as well as, allow myself to be punished by the full extent of Starfleet and the Federations laws. You will receive no trouble from me, Captain." He nodded his head to both of them, before walking out to head to his quarters.

With her dismissal, the weight on Eila's shoulders over her contacting of Captain Bluegarden was lifted for now. Of course, it would all likely come back crashing back down the moment the Little Rock showed up at the Argus Array. But for right now, Captain Misaka was none the wiser.

Of course, the more pressing issue at hand was how Lurath's codes might have gotten used from his quarters. Eila could tell that Lurath felt greatly for Tahlova by his mannerisms throughout the meeting, and Eila empathized. She would probably feel the same way if her codes getting used from her and Sanya's quarters had led to Sanya landing in the hot seat. So, it was just as important, if not more so, to find Tahlova innocent. If not to prevent the erosion of relations with the Klingon Empire, at the very least to show that Eila understood Lurath's relationship...

Posting by:

Captain Mikoto Misaka
Conmanding Officer
USS Ermiana

Commander Eila Juutilainen 'Illu'
Executive Officer
USS Ermiana

Lieutenant Commander Lurath, Son of Grogori
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Ermiana

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