| The Next Generation | |
| 149 | |
| Rightful Heir | |
| 46852.2 | |
Wakey, wakey, rise and shine. It's time for another happy day at Camp Enterprise. Instructor Riker is here. Instructor Data is here. Instructor Worf... is not here. Oh where, oh where can our little Worf be? In his quarters and not responding to a polite wake up call. "Something's wrong" cries Laughing Boy, "he's never late!" To cope with any possible emergency, he grabs a couple of security goons and rushes down to see him. Oh no, has Worf become a hippy? His quarters are filled with smoke and candles, and he's chanting maniacally!
Picard comes to see him. Captain Conciliatory to the rescue... or maybe not. He gives Worf the harshest dressing down we've ever seen. "You have crossed that line" he yells. It's explanation time... A simple thing really, Worf feels spiritually empty. He was trying to summon a vision of Kahless as he has lost his faith in the hereafter. "Why didn't you say so?" beams Picard, "You are now on leave, go explore your spirituality!" Blarrgh! I knew that assertive attitude couldn't last.
Welcome to Borath, religious centre for the Klingon race. Please be sure to visit the extensive lava caves, and don't miss out on our impressive displays of smoke, fire and chanting...
Despite ten days of chanting, fasting, and breathing smoke, Worf still hasn't had a genuine vision, while several others have! It must be like looking at the MagicEye™ pictures - either you can do it or you can't. Despondent and ready to quit, the clerics tell him to open his heart to Kahless. I've heard that somewhere before. Now try again, and this time with spirit... He did it! Yay! But wait, you want more, you got it - it's not just a vision, it's real! "I am Kahless and I have returned."
But is he real, or just a Klingon Jim Baker asking for millions or the Lord will call him back? He knows the sacred legends of how the batlekh was forged - a story passed down orally from cleric to cleric, and he certainly looks like Kahless, but looks can be deceiving. Worf is unconvinced. His tricorder shows that Kahless really is a Klingon, and not a shapeshifter or a holograph, and he really wants to believe...
Quick someone call a taxi, this deity needs to get back to the homeworld as fast as he can! Couldn't he just spirit himself back there in a particularly supernatural fashion? Perhaps not, and in any case the Enterprise is nearby with nothing to do. Having only one Klingon leader onboard would be boring though, so Gowron drops in for a cup of tea... and a lynching of the imposter!
He's also brought a secret weapon - a sacred dagger soaked in the real Kahless' blood! Rather than stick it in the supposed imposter and recoat the blade, he has Dr Crusher do a genetic comparison of the blood stain and Kahless. The results are in - they are identical! How can this be? Gowron insists that it is just a ploy for the Guardians to seize power, and he asks Worf for his support. Too late - Brother Worf has been born again!
Kahless shuns Gowron, and tells him not to stand in the way. Angered, and in true Klingon fashion Gowron pulls out a knife and challenges "the greatest warrior of them all". You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you pull your dagger out and you smash him in the snout... Gowron wins! Only Worf stops him from sinking the blade.
Worf is now un-born again, and this time he's mad too. "You should die" he screams at Kahless, "and if you don't explain I will kill you right here!" I like Klingons, they have such a simple philosophy. The truth is finally revealed - it is Kahless, technically. The guardians cloned him from a sample of the original, and then imprinted specific memories. Not a bad trick. This just seems to confuse Kahless.
Gowron is victorious! He plans to kill Kahless and the clerics for heresy, but once again Worf stops him. While he can kill the body, he can't kill the idea of Kahless' return, and that could still plunge the empire into civil war. Worf the diplomat proposes an alternate solution - install Kahless as the Klingon emperor. That way he will be the spiritual leader, and the real power will remain with Gowron and the council. "It is acceptable" says Kahless, as Gowron finally kneels before him.
