Jarlath Can't Klingon to Fred

All the magical energy imprisoned in the Necronomicon was freed when it was destroyed. The foundations of Reality shook...

When Fred could see again, he found that he had suceeded in cleaving the book in two, and the halves were dissolving into dust. Jarlath appeared confused, and was alive. Fred was a man again. Everything seemed back to normal.

Then, Fred looked down at his sword. It had changed. It was obviously a weapon, but it didn't look like any weapon Fred had ever seen. It was wickedly curved at both ends, and its handle was on the side. Fred looked at his armor. It too had changed, and didn't look like any armor Fred had seen in his life. Then, he looked at Jarlath. Although still short and wiry, Jarlath now was dark-skinned, and his forehead had strange ridges.

Then, Fred's memories came back to him. He was Fre'drighO, son of Dred, and he was the greatest warrior in the Klingon empire. He had come here, to the planet M'Nestoz to destroy an underground Dominion base which was located in the planet's massive cave network. He had been attacked by a horde of Jem'Hadar, and had run and gotten lost in a maze. When he had heard the voice of a woman screaming, he went to help her, because a true warrior does not pass by those in danger. But it turned out that the voice was his own voice, reflected through time, and that he was trapped and turned into a woman. The person who had done that was his brother, Jarlath, a trained telepath who had become taken over by a Red Orb of the Pah'Wraiths, the enemies of the Bajoran Prophets. Fred had attacked the evil Red Orb with his bat'leh, and it had been destroyed.

Jarlath recovered. He looked deeply shamed. "I'm sorry I did that," he said.

"You should not be. There is no shame in being controlled by an evil power and doing that wich you did not intend to do."

"But the Red Orb was playing on emotions that already existed in my mind. In my heart of hearts, I wanted to do that. I have to make up for my lost honor." He smiled. "I know! I know where the Dominion base is located. I'll help you find it, as I imagine you're hopelessly lost."

Fred agreed to this. Although Jarlath was rather irresponsible, and didn't seem to normally care much for honor, perhaps the shame of what he had done had maybe driven home some of the importance of honor to him, and his help would be very useful to Fred, who was indeed hopelessly lost. "We'll go and destroy the Dominion base," he said.

Aflter about an hour's travel, Fred and Jarlath were still hopelessly lost. They decided to take a break and reorient themselves. They chose a cave that seemed to be away from anywhere and made camp in it. Fred, being a Klingon warrior, was used to sleeping on hard surfaces, so he needed nothing to sleep on other than the cave floor. Fred and Jarlath would take turns taking watch.

But as they entered the cave, Fred and Jarlath saw...

1. A horde of Jem'Hadar!
2. A red-haired woman in the uniform of Federation Starfleet chained to the wall. She was quite beautiful, for one with a smooth forehead.
3. Something else?

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