Stardate 44246.3: Ambassador K'Ehleyr beams aboard with disturbing news: Klingon Chancellor K'mpec is about to die of continuous poisoning. To Worf's surprise she is accompanied by Alexander, their common son. K'mpec wants Picard to act as the Arbiter of Succession and nominate the new leader, since he suspects that one of the two contenders poisoned him, and there is no one in the High Council he can trust. K'mpec dies briefly after. One contender is Duras, whose father once betrayed his people for which the blame was put on Worf's father Mogh; the other one is Gowron, who has few supporters in the High Council. The sonchi ceremony, in which the two confirm K'mpec's death, is disrupted by the explosion of a bomb. In order to gain time, Picard switches to an old and complicated form of the Rite of Succession, the ja'chuq. When K'Ehleyr finds evidence about what really happened on Khitomer, Duras kills her. Worf, in turn, kills Duras. In the meantime evidence has been found that it was indeed one of Duras's men who carried the bomb that was of Romulan origin. Gowron is named chancellor, and Worf decides to let the Rozhenkos raise his son Alexander.

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