Enjoy lunch first

With no immediate signs of danger, you decide to give Dara some leeway. Spock will alert you if there's any trouble, and in the meantime you want to find out all you can about this most unklingon of Klingon colonies.

The dining hall to which Dara leads you offers some tantalizing clues. The room is laid out like a traditional Klingon military mess, though rough-hewn wooden tables and benches replace the utilitarian metal furniture of a Klingon ship or base. There are two large fireplaces on the walls perpendicular to the entrance, though that seems to be a concession to the primitive tech here. On a warm day like today they sit unused. Charcoal sketches of the local plantlife break up the monotony of walls stuccoed with the local clay, presumably as insulation. Most are straightforward representative art, but a few show signs of whimsy.

"Drab, isn't it?" You look back to Dara, who is anything but. She nods at the wall art you'd just been examining. "We haven't figured out how to make decent paint yet. When our weavers are up to it I'm going to ask them to try some tapestries."

You smile. "On the contrary," you reply. "I like the simplicity of it." You point to a couple of particularly nice pieces. "I'd particularly like to congratulate the artist who did those flowers."

"She thanks you."

"Your work?" you say. "Brains, beauty and an artistic soul. An impressive combination."

"You're a shameless flatterer, Captain," she replies, but she can't help smiling and blushing as she says it.

There's definitely a spark between you, but before you can pursue the conversation any further several villagers bring out the food. It's a simple meal of bread, vegitables, and what looks like a cross between dolmades and sushi -- shellfish and grain wrapped in some sort of leaf. The Klingons are washing it down with liberal ammounts of home-brewed beer, though your officers (even Chekhov) are drinking sparingly. You notice Lt. Tranh seems absorbed by the pottery. The serving pots, cups and dishes aren't a matched set -- they seem to be a mix of rather crude plain pieces, fairly well-made ones with more of the floral motifs, and pieces of intermediate quality with geometric designs and more conventional Klingon imagery.

"You seem to have done well for yourselves here," you say to Dara.

"Well enough under the circumstances," she replies, stiffening slightly. It appears you've touched a nerve.

"Since you have done so well I have to ask again: Why do you need our help? And why us, rather than your own people?"

"There will be no help from Qo'nos," she replies. "No Klingon would offer aid and comfort to a pack of criminals like us."