Walls of fire on one side
rivers of lava on the other.
We snaked our way through the hot, smoldering canyon
our skin so parched and blistered
it was, it was as thick as armor.
Kang and Koloth and I had set out with 40 legions
and now only we three remained to take on T'nag's army.
Chanting a battle cry...
You know what I like
about Klingon stories, Commander?
...his eyes bulging...
Nothing.
Lots of people die
and nobody makes any profit.
...his bat'leth in the other
I saw him kill two dozen men.
Do you believe a word of this?
Snaking along rivers of lava, past walls of fire...
not very likely.
Three against an army?
Even more unlikely.
Yeah, but who cares? He tells it well.
Kang took the high ground
and keeping the three suns to his back
he forced the enemy to fight him against the blinding light.
When Kang told the story, you took the high ground.
Who gets the credit is of no importance.
What matters is this:
In the end, the mountainside was covered with dead, so that not
one square meter of ground could be seen.
We found T'nag's body...
by the river, its waters red with blood.
Which of us had slain him...
no one could say for certain, so...
we cut out his heart
and all three of us...
feasted on it together.
Big heart.
You need more bloodwine.
Oh, thanks, but I've had enough for a year.
What I need is tea.
Mr. Worf, I didn't see you come in.
I was just about to leave.
Join us. I'll introduce you to Kor.
No!
It might make the Dahar Master uncomfortable.
I am considered an outcast by most Klingons.
Kor isn't like most Klingons.
-Kor. -Hmm?
I have someone I'd like you to meet.
Oh?
I'd like you to meet
our Strategic Operations Officer, Commander Worf.
Oh, Worf, the traitor.
The pariah.
The lowest of the low.
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Any enemy of Gowron
and the High Council is a friend of mine.
This is a great honor.
Oh, no doubt.
Worf is a great admirer of yours.
Ah.
Yes, please.
Oh.
I have heard stories about you since I was a child.
Your confrontation with Kirk on Organia
your attack on Romulus
your defense of the Korma Pass...
Everything I have done pales in comparison
to what I am about to achieve.
I am on a quest--
a quest for the most revered icon
in Klingon history.
Kor...
An icon that predates the Klingon Empire.
An icon more sacred than the Torch of G'boj...
Kor...
more revered
than Sabak's armor, and more coveted
than the Emperor's crown.
The Sword of Kahless.
Ah....
You told me not to tell anybody.
He guessed.
I know where the Sword rests.
Think of the glory, the honor of finding the bat'leth
of the first warrior king.
Lost for a millennium.
Its return would change Klingon history.
If you know where it is
we must bring it back to the Emperor.
"We"?
It would be an honor to accompany you
if you will have me.
We could use another strong arm.
And a stout heart.
Besides, it will annoy Gowron.
To return the Sword to our people.
I would give my life for that chance.
Children will sing our names for a thousand years.
They'll erect statues of us in the hall of heroes.
Before you decide on a pose for that statue
we need to find the Sword.
What makes you so sure you know where it is?
This.
Now, you see?
See what?
The imprint on the cloth.
Yes, yes...
this held the Sword of Kahless.
Don't be so sure.
You could carpet this station
with all the "authentic" Shrouds of the Sword
that people have tried to peddle.
No one tried to peddle this.
It was given to me.
By whom?
I'll tell you everything later.
Now I need you to confirm its authenticity.
I'll look it over in the lab first thing in the morning.
Why not right now?
Right now, my head is swimming in bloodwine
and I'm going to bed and so should you.
Oh, absolutely.
As soon as I finish what's left in my cup.
Maj ram, blood brother.
Maj ram.
Imagine the look on Gowron's face
when we present the Sword to the Emperor.
Kor...
Open your mind.
Oh, what?
Hmm?
Couldn't find the bed?
Damn that Ferengi and his replicated bloodwine.
Worf looked a little bleary-eyed in Ops this morning.
How late did you keep him up?
Until that toad-faced Ferengi threw us out of his bar.
And then where did you go?
Worf's quarters, l-l think.
Oh, that's right.
He had a bottle of Yridian brandy
he was saving for a special occasion.
Like meeting you.
Well, he was honored to join our quest.
That is, if there's going to be a quest.
What did you find?
I found both Klingon and Hur'q DNA on the cloth
and traces of metallic compounds
that could only have been left by a Klingon bat'leth.
A bat'leth...
1400 years old.
The time of Kahless!
Ah! I never doubted it.
Oh, when do we leave?
After I talk to Captain Sisko
and after you answer a few questions.
Now where did you get this?
The Gamma Quadrant?
A Vulcan geological survey team
was mining bakrinium on an uncharted planet
when they accidentally unearthed some ancient ruins.
They brought back several artifacts to study
including the cloth.
Kor was the Klingon ambassador to Vulcan.
When he saw the cloth, Kor recognized the markings
and got them to give it to him as a gift.
They didn't realize it, but the markings were Hur'q.
Hur'q...
that's the Klingon word for outsiders, isn't it?
Yes. The Hur'q invaded our homeworld
over 1,000 years ago.
Whatever they could not pillage, they destroyed.
They took the Sword
and my people have been searching for it ever since.
It is said its return will bring back
a new era of glory for the Klingon Empire.
With the Sword, the Emperor will be able
to unite my people once again.
And if two Starfleet officers
were involved in recovering the Sword
that might go a long way
toward patching things up between the Klingons and us.
That is my hope as well, Captain.
What about you, old man?
You want to go along for the adventure.
Hard to pass up a good quest.
I suppose you'll want a runabout.
The, uh, Rio Grande is available.
Try to bring it back in one piece.
We'll do our best.
Benjamin, thanks.
Mr. Worf, lay in a course for the wormhole.
Course laid in.
Ahead half...
Wait.
Let this moment be remembered.
For on this day, we three
Kor, Dahar Master of the Klingons
Jadzia Dax, a joined Trill
of seven lives, and Worf, son of Mogh
and thorn in Gowron's side...
together stepped forth into the eye of destiny.
Now?
Now.
Ahead half thrusters.
Glorious.
Hey.
Forgive me, Commander.
It's a little crowded in here.
I would have used the aft quarters for my exercise
but the Dahar Master is resting.
I know, I heard him snoring through the bulkhead.
Commander.
I wish to thank you for introducing me to Kor.
It is an honor to be here.
And I'm glad he invited you
even if it does make things a little crowded.
Oh, I slept like an Alvanian cave sloth.
Oh, but I had the most magnificent dream.
I dreamt the three of us were in the Hall of Heroes
presenting the bat'leth to the Emperor.
We stood near the statues of Kang and Koloth
and as the crowd sang out our names...
the most astonishing thing happened.
Their statues came to life.
Kang and Koloth were flesh and blood again
and we held the Sword high!
Kang, Koloth and Kor...
together again.
We have assumed a standard orbit.
I'm reading a series
of interconnected structures and tunnels
several kilometers beneath the surface.
And that is all that remains of the Hur'q
the great plunderers of the galaxy.
And now it is time for us to reclaim what is ours.
Assuming we can find where to look.
It's a big planet.
The Vulcan survey team was meticulous.
They mapped the entire area during their mining operation.
Now, the Sword should be in the chamber
that once was the Central Museum
along with all the other great treasures looted by the Hur'q.
It's the structure furthest north.
There is a force field around that chamber.
The Vulcans told me they couldn't get through it.
We'll be the first inside.
Why didn't you mention this force field before?
Oh, it's not important.
I'll know you'll get past it.
We should be just outside the force field.
The main chamber must be back there.
Let's get to work.
First we need to modulate the field destabilizers
to create an interference pattern.
It's not working.
Try reversing the polarity.
That helped.
Now, if we can just increase the amplitude
of the interference field.
Well done, my friends.
The air.
Foul, isn't it?
This place has been undisturbed
for hundreds of years.
Come!
It's been ransacked.
The Vulcans may not have gotten in here
but someone did.
Whoever did this has taken everything.
I'm sorry, Kor.
Don't be sorry for me.
Be sorry for the Empire.
If we could find out who did this
we might be able to track them down.
For all we know
the Sword is halfway across the galaxy by now.
Sounds like a worthy quest.
For you and Worf, perhaps, but not for me.
My last chance for glory dies here.
Commander, take a look at this.
The dust... it does not reach the wall.
Something must be repelling it.
I'm getting a faint electrostatic charge
along this section.
Another force field?
Masked by a holographic projection.
Are you saying there may be another chamber behind it?
If there is, I don't know how we can get into it.
This shield has completely different harmonics
than the one in the entrance.
This... this is a sensor focused on the area
directly in front of the force field.
It must be keyed to read life signs.
Why?
So only the Hur'q can enter?
If you're right, we're going to need a Hur'q tour guide
to get us through.
We may be able to fool the sensor into thinking
that we are Hur'q.
We can reconfigure the tricorder to emit Hur'q life signs.
Exactly.
I still have the DNA readings we got from the cloth.
I feel like a Hur'q already.
I cannot believe it.
For a thousand years
our people have dreamed of this moment.
The age, the composition, the design--
everything's right.
How can you doubt it?
Look at it!
It's more beautiful than I imagined.
You should be the first to hold it.
How does it feel?
Good.
Very, very good.
To think, Kahless himself once held this bat'leth.
With this he slew Molor
conquered the Fek'lhri
and forged the First Empire.
And now, I hold it in my hands.
We should go.
The field destabilizers won't hold for long.
Stop where you are!
Well, Kor, seems you were right.
You did find the Sword.
Who are you?
Ask your friend.
This is Toral from the House of Duras.
It is good to see you, too, Worf.
Seems you were too drunk to remember me
or the tavern on Torna IV?
You held us all spellbound with a tale of a Hur'q cloth
and how it was going to lead you to the Sword.
I was so intrigued that I sent my friend here
to see what else you knew.
What do you want?
What we all want.
The Sword.
The Sword is for the Emperor.
Who will be so grateful he'll give Kor his statue
and perhaps even forgive your dishonor?
I'm afraid I have different plans for the Sword.
You think that if you give the Emperor the Sword
he will restore your family's seat on the High Council.
I'm not giving the Emperor anything.
With the Sword in my hand, I'll be leading the Empire.
I can see from your face, Worf
that you regret having spared my life.
Now give it to me.
No.
Then I'm afraid we'll have to take it.
If he wants it...
give it to him.
Let's go!
We need to stop the bleeding.
We better get you up to the ship.
Dax to Rio Grande.
That is a Klingon jamming signal.
Can we override it?
Maybe from the surface.
Kor, go make sure no one's following us.
Did you see the look on the face of that Klingon that I killed?
It was as if he understood the honor bestowed upon him.
The first man in a thousand years
to be killed by the Sword of Kahless.
I'm sure he was very proud.
We should keep moving.
Toral will find a way past the force field.
Why did Toral say that you had spared his life?
When it was discovered that the House of Duras
had conspired to destroy my father's honor
Gowron offered me Toral's life.
Under the Right of Vengeance.
I declined.
Why?
He was a boy.
He had done nothing.
That's beside the point.
It was a matter of honor.
It was Worf's right to decline.
It was a mistake.
Perhaps what they say about you is true.
You've been around humans too long.
Kor!
If he hadn't spared Toral's life
we'd be on the way to Kronos.
And if you had not been drunk
and told a tavern full of people what you were planning
Toral would not have followed us here in the first place.
I told them nothing of consequence.
How could I know that Toral was going send a Lethean
to steal my thoughts?
You should have been more discreet.
And you should have been more of a Klingon.
Kor, what was that all about?
Hmm?
Worf admires you.
You have no idea how much it meant
for him to be invited on this journey.
Tell me, Dax, how well do you know him?
Well enough. Why?
I'm beginning to think
I was too lenient in my judgment of him.
Any Klingon who denies himself the Right of Vengeance
is no Klingon at all.
He dishonors the Sword with his presence.
I don't trust him.
I should have let him stay on that space station
where he belongs.
Worf.
HoH!
What is it?
Lunch.
Delicious, isn't it?
A hunt builds the appetite.
It's disgusting.
Ah, but it'll make a good part of the story--
how we slew the beast? Remember?
It attacked us from the dark, five meters long.
Oh, ten at least.
Eyes ablaze, fangs like daggers.
Breathing great plumes of fire.
Oh, it seems the son of Mogh is not amused.
A true warrior has no need to exaggerate his feats.
You'd better hope that I exaggerate
or else when they start singing songs about this quest
and come to your verse, it will be "and Worf came along."
This is the Sword of Kahless.
It is not something to shovel food into your mouth.
It must be treated with honor.
Hmm, hmm, hmm, look at him.
He's like the Hur'q.
He thinks it's a museum piece.
Why, Kahless himself used it to skin the serpent of Xol
to harvest his father's field
to carve a statue of his own beloved.
It's a sword!
But Worf doesn't know what to do with it
except bow before it
and then hand it over to his precious Emperor.
And when we do, you will get your precious statue
and after they have sung songs about you
and you have passed out from too much drink
the Emperor will use the Sword to unite our people.
If Gowron allows him.
The Emperor is merely his puppet.
The Emperor is no one's puppet.
He condemned Gowron's invasion of Cardassia.
And the invasion went ahead despite his objection.
That is why the Emperor needs the Sword.
It will allow him to unify the Houses against Gowron.
The Emperor is a pretender, a clone of the original Kahless
cooked up in a vat by ambitious clerics.
And if you hadn't supported him, he'd be right back in that vat
where he came from.
I supported him because we need him.
He can unite us.
The Sword will unite us
if it's held by a true Klingon
not a politician like Gowron
or some toothless figurehead like the Emperor.
The Sword must rest in the hands of someone
who has been hardened by battle
pure of heart
who understands loyalty
and honor.
A warrior like Kang and Koloth.
Someone like you?
The Empire could do far worse.
We should get moving.
Are you saying it is your intention
to lead the Empire?
Ah...
I'm saying it's my intention to lead us to the surface.
We have to change your bandage.
No. We must keep moving.
You're hemorrhaging.
We have to stop the bleeding.
That cave-rat was all bones.
I need another one.
Find a nice fat one.
We all could use something to eat.
He never answered my question about his plans for the Sword.
I noticed.
He is a hero to many.
If he brings it back with him to Kronos
and decides to seize power, many will follow him.
But you wouldn't?
He is not all I thought he was.
Maybe not.
Sorry.
But I've known him a long time
and his heart's in the right place.
He drinks too much.
He exaggerates his feats.
He blames others for his own mistakes
but he could be right about one thing.
The Emperor may be too weak to stand against Gowron
even with the Sword.
I thought you believed in the Emperor.
I do not know what I believe anymore.
All I know is when Kor asked me to help him
find the Sword, I knew we would succeed.
I knew we would find it.
I can't say I felt the same way.
I had no doubt.
I felt as if my life was finally coming into focus.
What do you mean?
For as long as I can remember, I have always been an outsider.
I was raised by humans
but I was too Klingon to be one of them.
I did not belong.
I begged my foster parents
to allow me to visit the Klingon Homeworld.
They arranged for me to stay with my cousin's family.
When I first set eyes on the Great Domes of Kronos
I felt that I had finally come home.
But my own cousins wanted nothing to do with me.
You were too human to be one of them.
I ran away into the mountains.
I was without food or water for three days.
But there, in the caves of No'Mat
Kahless appeared to me in a vision and told me
I would do something no other Klingon had ever done.
After I returned to Earth
I pondered the meaning of his words
and wondered what lay ahead for me.
When I was old enough, I joined Starfleet.
Something no Klingon had ever done.
For a time
I thought that I had fulfilled my destiny
but now I see Kahless had something else in mind for me.
Something... something greater.
That is why I had to endure so much pain.
Why I was forced to choose between the Federation
and my own people.
I was being tested.
Prepared for some... some greater purpose.
Like finding the Sword.
More than that.
When I held the Sword in my hand
I felt the spirit of Kahless himself had guided me to it.
Don't you see?
He wants me to have it.
He wants me to lead his people!
You sound like Kor.
Kor is an old man.
His greatest days are behind him
and mine are still ahead.
Then we have a bit of a problem.
There's only one Sword, and you both want it.
How much further?
The way these caves wind around, this could take forever.
Or longer.
We can't get across.
We'll go back and find another way up.
Wait.
There.
Kor, there's a ledge right below you.
I don't see it.
It is less than one meter down.
Let go and you'll land on it.
Dax, can you see it?
I can't see anything.
I can't hold you.
You'll have to let go!
There is no ledge!
It is there!
Then you let go.
No.
We cannot risk losing the Sword.
Let go!
I'll take the Sword to my grave
before I give it to you.
Just hold on.
We'll pull you up.
You call that a ledge?
It would have been sufficient.
For a Degebian mountain goat
not a Klingon warrior.
You were going to let me fall.
You wanted me to die.
So you can keep the Sword for yourself.
And you were willing
to take the Sword to your death and rob our people
of their future.
Give it to me!
That's enough, both of you!
I will not give him the Sword.
Then give it to me.
I'll carry it.
Kor, put away your dagger.
Are you siding with him?
Put away your dagger, so he can give me the bat'leth.
You see? I was right.
He's not to be trusted.
His mind has been poisoned
with bloodwine and age.
He was right about one thing.
You wanted him to fall.
That ledge would have never supported him
and you knew it.
I did not force him off that cliff.
He is old and clumsy.
If he'd have fallen
it would have been his own fault.
I'm exhausted.
Commander...
we can rest in here for a few hours.
I'm so tired
I think I might be able to sleep.
I will take the first watch.
How generous of you.
And we'll just curl up like trusting children
under your vigilant gaze.
Sleep or do not sleep.
It makes no difference to me.
You're wounded. I should take the first watch.
You get some rest.
You close your eyes.
I am not tired.
Hmm...
I understand.
It's hard to sleep in the presence
of something so magnificent.
Someone might try to steal it.
You reveal your own intentions.
Enough.
I have the Sword, and it's not going anywhere.
What was that?
I heard nothing.
A voice.
I hear it again.
It's the spirit of Kahless.
He's talking to you, Worf.
He's telling you to bide your time.
Let them sleep
and then slit their throats and claim your destiny.
I have had enough of your drunken ramblings, old man.
And I have had enough of both of you.
I don't care if you sleep or not.
But I'm going to.
So be quiet.
Go ahead and sleep, Dax.
I'll keep an eye on him.
I have had enough!
What!
His eyes.
He has been staring at me for three hours.
And what have you seen reflected in my eyes?
Your own guilt gnawing at you.
All right.
If you're not going to sleep, then let's walk.
I'm not going anywhere with this traitorous p'tak.
This ends here.
Agreed.
I am not going to stand here...
You stay out of this.
This is between us.
We'll settle it in our own way.
We've got to get out of here!
MaH Hlv DaH!
He's going to get himself killed.
No, no, he has the Sword.
Hlv DaH!
It's mine!
Kor!
Commander!
Worf!
Stop!
Dax, I knew in the end you'd choose me.
We're blood brothers.
Be quiet!
Now, about that jamming device
you're using to block our communications.
Are you sure of this, Worf?
Yes.
Yes, it is the only way.
Do we have the right?
This Sword belongs to all Klingons.
But are we ready for it?
This Sword turned you and me against each other.
Imagine how it would divide the Empire.
Just let me hold it one last time...
The Sword is not meant for us.
It was never our destiny to find it.
You're wrong. It was our destiny to find it.
It just wasn't our destiny...
to keep it.
It is done.
Good. It's for the best.
I hope you're right.
It could be lost for another thousand years.
When it is destined to be found...
it will be.

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