"I'm not normal," Quark's voice rose. "My head is the size of a Dabo wheel."
"That sounds normal to me," Odo muttered. "Ube, come here. See if you can tell where this relay is."
Jake got out of the way as Ube came closer. He crouched beside Odo. "Jake's right," Ube said. "Could be anywhere."
"Excuse me." Rom peeked his head in the room.
"You come back here!" Quark yelled. "I'm going to fall. Nog, help me or I'll fall. I'll fall!"
"Then fall and be quiet about it," Odo said.
"Excuse me," Rom said again. He came into the room.
"I'm falling!"
"I'm not going to take him to the infirmary, Rom," Odo said. "You do it. We've got more important matters here."
"I'm really falling!"
"No, you're not, Uncle," Nog said in as loud a voice as Quark had been using. "I have you."
"I know where that relay is," Rom said.
Ube and Odo both turned. Jake watched, a half smile on his face. Nog came to the door, Quark abandoned.
"Hey!" Quark yelled. "Hasn't anyone noticed that I'm injured?"
"Where?" Odo asked.
"Docking bay five," Rom said. "On the left-hand side of the bay as you enter. See? That black spot is from phaser fire, and over there is the remains of a Cardassian insignia, the only one still even partially visible in the station."
"I don't care about any dumb relay!" Quark shouted. "I'm going to die out here!"
"Thank you, Rom," Odo said. He spoke carefully, respecting Rom's dignity in a way that he never did with Quark. Jake was amazed. He always thought that Odo treated all Ferengi the same. Apparently his gruff attitude only applied to Quark. Then Odo tapped his comm badge.
The tiny Kira pacing the conference room looked up.
"Major," Odo said, "we have located the relay, and we are heading there now."
"Tell her I'm dying and you won't get me help!" Quark yelled.
"Make it quick, Odo," Kira said. Jake could see her small form talking while the three others in the room talked. She apparently didn't hear Quark's comment.
Odo turned to Imba and Ube. "I want you two to remain here in this room—"
"They should take me to the infirmary."
"—and when I give you the signal, I want you to destroy this elaborate spy system and trace all the links to the hidden cameras." Then he glanced at Jake. "Come along," he said. "We don't have time to waste."
They left the room together.
Nog was holding Quark upright. Quark still had one hand against his bruised head. Odo looked at it. "You might want to have a doctor examine that, Quark," he said.
"I've been saying that."
"And I would do so quickly. I'm sure that the Grand Nagus will want to speak to you when the red alert ends."
"The nagus?" Quark sputtered. "He's here? How'd he get here so fast?"
"The spy system, Brother," Rom said.
"I know about the spy system now," Quark said. "I just thought …"
But by the time he finished his thought, Odo and Jake were already hurrying through the tunnels. Jake only caught a quick glimpse of Odo's face, but he swore the edges of Odo's mouth were turned up in a teeny, tiny smile.
The meeting in the conference room was over. They at least had a few plans laid out, working only on what-ifs, but at least talking had made Kira feel better, more like the situation wasn't so out of control.
Kira hurried to Ops, the captains behind her, so that she could be ready. When Odo let her know the spy system was down, she would cancel the red alert and beam the captains back to their ships. And then she expected all hell to break loose.
She felt self-conscious as she stepped into Ops. As she had reminded Captain Kiser, she was not Starfleet, and she had three of the better captains in the fleet watching her every move.
Her every nontrained, nonregulation move.
And then she cursed herself under her breath. She had probably commanded more dangerous missions than the three of them combined. So what if she didn't follow their all important procedure. She knew some effective procedures of her own.
"Major," Tappan said as she moved toward her post, "we've been having trouble with the nagus. He's demanding to speak to Quark. And I can't find Quark anywhere."
"What else is happening?" Kira asked.
"Everything else is exactly as you left it," Tappan said. "We haven't heard from the Jibetians, and the Cardassians remain near the station."
She sighed. She had wished for a diversion from the nagus. He was impossible under the best circumstances. But, as she had known from the moment Sisko called her to Security, today had not been her day.
"Hail the nagus then," she said.
Tappan did so. Within a second, the nagus's wrinkled face appeared on the screen. At twice life size, the hair sticking out of his ears looked like it hadn't been washed in years.
Kira resisted the urge to grimace in disgust. "Nagus," she said. "Forgive me for taking so long to get back to you. I only now heard that you were here."
"I actually didn't want to talk to you, little lady. I was hoping to speak to your captain or to that rascal Quark. He's not responding to any of my messages." The nagus sounded petulant.
Kira choked back her initial response to "little lady." "I'm sorry, Nagus. Quark is working on a special project for us right now and isn't available—"
"You sent him to the Nibix??? Girl, that's like sending a woman to count the profits." Then the nagus blinked, realizing he had made an error. "If you know what I mean."
Kira put her hands behind her back and clenched her fists. "We're in the middle of some sensitive negotiations, Nagus, and we don't have much time for chat. Is there something we can help you with?"
"I need the directions to the Nibix."
"The Nibix?" Kira asked. Captain Higginbotham was standing directly below her, struggling to keep a smile off his face. Kiser had his eyes closed and was shaking his head. And Mouce was showing the outrage Kira felt at the nagus's cavalier treatment. "Really, Nagus, I don't have the time at the moment to discuss lost treasure ships."
"I know you know where the Nibix is. I demand to know as well. You can't deny me just because I'm a Ferengi. We've been looking for this ship as long as anyone. There's a profit to be made here, lass, and I intend—"
"If I had the directions to the Nibix," Kira said, "I would happily give them to you. But no one has known where that ship is for centuries. That is, I believe, why they call it a lost ship." She couldn't take this any longer. Quark was bad enough—and he was a liberal Ferengi. "Now if you'll forgive me, my station is under red alert and needs my care. When Quark returns from his mission, I'll have him contact you."
"But—"
Kira signed off and the nagus's face disappeared off the screen. She immediately relaxed her stance and let out a huge sigh.
"You said you had no diplomatic skills, Major," Mouce said. "You managed that one admirably."
"I've dealt with him before," Kira said. "Yelling at him only encourages him."
"Major?" Tappan's voice was tight.
She didn't like the caution in his voice. "Mr. Tappan?"
"My screen shows ten more ships heading toward Deep Space Nine."
"Ten more?" Kira shook her head. Her earring rattled. She must have done something to displease the gods. "Are they together?"
"I doubt it," Tappan said. "Three more Ferengi ships are converging from very different directions. There are three Andorian trading ships and a Federation cargo ship. And the scavenger ship Soltaires."
"Jepson's ship?" Kira asked.
"The same."
"Jepson?" Kiser asked.
"Only one of the worst mercenaries in the sector," Kira said. "Who else?"
"I can't identify the other ships yet," Tappan said. Then he frowned. "Add two more."
"Track and identify each one as they come within range," she said. "Ensign Jones, help him."
She stalked to her own post at the controls. When this wa
s over, she was going to resign her commission. No one, not even Benjamin Sisko, not even her beloved Bajor, demanded that she deal with Jepson, the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi, and Gul Dukat all in one day.
Alone.
"Major," Ensign Tappan said, this time not even turning from his board, "Gul Dukat has asked to talk to you."
"He would," she snarled.
Kiser grinned at her. He apparently felt the same way about Cardassians.
"Would you like to conduct this conversation?" she asked him, not pleased at his expression.
"It's your station," he said and bowed slightly.
"Very funny," Kira said. "Mr. Tappan, put Gul Dukat on screen."
She went back to her position before Sisko's office. She liked to imagine that it irritated Gul Dukat to see a Bajoran standing in the position of power on Deep Space Nine.
Gul Dukat appeared on the screen. He was at a slight distance from his monitor. She could see his head and his upper torso. The Cardassian silver uniform was chillingly familiar.
"Haven't you gone home yet?" she asked.
"Testy, testy, Major. And here I thought this was old home week."
She would have none of his snakelike charm. "I told you to leave hours ago."
Dukat smiled. "And maybe I should have. Space around the station is getting limited."
"It would be a lot less limited if there were fewer Cardassian ships surrounding it."
His smile grew. "Of course. You need to make room for the additional visitors who will be here shortly. Apparently you have something everyone wants, Major."
"If I did, Dukat," she said, "I'd give it to them so that they'd all leave."
"Really? I never thought giving in was the Bajoran way."
"Being left alone is the Bajoran way, but Cardassians never learned that one."
"I would say that if you truly wanted to be alone, you wouldn't have all that Federation company."
So he knew that the captains had beamed aboard. How could he have missed it? He was so close to the station she could smell him. "We needed assistance with repairs."
He blinked and his eyes widened—the high-ranking Cardassian version of surprise. Once, just once, she wished their skin and blood vessel structure allowed them to blush. "Really, Major?" he asked a beat too late. "An excessive flow of information, perhaps. Can't you put a stop to it?"
"We can do that, Dukat," Kira said. "We just can't make Cardassians live up to their agreements."
"Indeed, Major? And what agreements are those?"
"The ones that guarantee they'll leave us alone."
"Now, Major. Your commander is away. I would think that you'd be happy for our assistance," Gul Dukat said.
"Then assist me," Kira said. "Go home." She waved her hand, indicating that the communication was at an end. Mr. Tappan severed their connection.
"Perhaps I was a bit premature in complimenting you on your diplomatic skills," Mouce said.
"I've known Dukat forever," Kira said. "He would think I was up to something if I didn't argue with him."
"I hope you're right," Mouce said.
Kira whirled. All afternoon she had been worried about what the captains thought, and when she finally got an inkling, she was past caring. "Listen," she said. "I don't care what you think of my skills as a leader or a diplomat. Just don't second-guess me in front of my crew unless you intend to command this space station."
Mouce held up her hands in the universal sign of truce. "I didn't mean to question you, Major. We're all quite tense right now. Something is going to have to ease."
"I don't think anything is going to ease," Kira said. She glanced at the screen before her, at the blips hurrying toward the station. They'd arrive, then others would arrive, and it would continue. Until Sisko got back.
She couldn't even imagine what would happen after that.
CHAPTER
20
SISKO STARED AT the Nibix a full minute longer than he should have as it came into position beside the Defiant. His historian's brain told him he was seeing a sight he would never see again in his lifetime, the flight of a ship considered long dead. And one that should have remained buried.
The rest of the bridge crew watched as well. All those young faces turned toward the screen, the awe on them reflecting the feeling in Sisko's chest.
He was the one who had to break the moment. He wished he didn't.
He tapped his comm badge. "Sisko to O'Brien."
"O'Brien here." O'Brien's voice sounded amazingly close.
"How's she holding up, Chief?"
"Beautifully, sir."
"Is she doing well enough to hold together at warp two with the tractor beams around her?"
"It shouldn't even strain her," O'Brien said. "I haven't seen starships with this much durability, and that's saying something, sir. I think, if I have enough time, I might even be able to start some of her smaller engines."
"Be careful," Sisko said. "We don't—"
"—want to disturb anything else. I know. Dax has been reminding me of that every five seconds."
"Stay vigilant, Chief."
"Rest assured, Commander."
Rest. Sisko signed off. He wondered if he would ever rest again. "Ensign Kathé, what's the situation at Deep Space Nine?"
She wrested her gaze from the Nibix on the viewscreen and looked at her scanner. "I count ten Jibetian ships, five Cardassian warships, three Federation starships, and one Ferengi vessel plus at least eleven more ships approaching fast."
Sisko nodded, returning to his post. They had to find that leak as soon as he got back. Instead of closing down the information on the station, it seemed as if the news had been broadcast all over the galaxy.
He tapped his comm badge again. "Doctor, how's our patient?"
"Uncommunicative and stable, sir, but then we like them like that." For all his humor, Bashir sounded a bit strained. Sisko probably would, too, if he were sitting alone in a room with a bunch of corpses and an eight-hundred-year-old sleeping man.
"Good," Sisko said. "Meet me in the control room of your ship immediately."
"And our patient, sir?"
"If his condition is unchanged, then it's safe to leave him, isn't it, Doctor? Your call."
"I suppose, sir, but I don't want to leave him unattended too long."
"This won't take very long," Sisko said. He stepped away from his command chair. "Ensign Kathé, you have the command. Keep a transporter lock on me at all times, and let me know if anything changes."
"Yes, sir," she said, glancing at the screen.
"And, Ensign," he said.
"Yes?"
"I know the Nibix is a beautiful sight. Just don't let it distract you."
Her face flushed in embarrassment. "I won't, sir," she said.
By the time Sisko beamed onto the Nibix, Dr. Bashir was also arriving in the control room. He looked cold; his cheeks were ruddy and his lips were pale. By contrast, the control room itself was warm. It had changed drastically from a few hours before. The place was brightly lit. The dark corners that had so fascinated Sisko were illuminated, showing some dirt and debris, eight hundred years' worth. The dome was still spectacular. Its view of space made him feel as if he were traveling without a craft. Above the dome, the Defiant flew, proud and strong and familiar. It lacked the elegance of the Nibix, but the Defiant was his ship, his baby, and he loved her a lot more.
O'Brien was standing near the oblong control panel.
"What have you done?" Bashir asked as he walked toward the Starfleet regulation heater. Sisko hurried beside him. The room was light, but it was still cold.
"We just turned on a few lights," O'Brien said, "and got a few power supplies going."
Dax crawled out from under a panel and brushed herself off. She still had dark smudges of dirt on her face, and her hair was coming undone. She looked radiant as she grinned at Sisko. "We should have heat any moment now," she said.
Something clanged behind Sisko. The three men t
urned.
"That's the heater," Dax said.
"Clanging?" Bashir asked.
She shrugged. "The machinery's old."
The smell of burning dust filled the area, a smell Sisko associated with the old homes of his childhood instead of ships in the depth of space. He smiled. He could almost feel what the Nibix had been like in her prime.
He turned to O'Brien. "Were you serious about being able to get one of the engines of this ship running again?"
"I don't think we can get the main drives to go," O'Brien said. "I'd be afraid to try that. But this lady has some pretty solid steering thrusters that would be easy and fairly safe to fire."
"Fairly safe?" Sisko asked.
O'Brien shrugged. "That's as much of a guarantee as I can give you, Commander. At worst, though, we shut them down, no harm done."
"And at best, the Nibix flies herself?" Bashir asked.
"Wouldn't that be spectacular?" Sisko murmured. He gazed up at the Defiant and the stars beyond. Somewhere out there, the station and all its problems loomed. But for the moment, he was on the Nibix, and she was flying.
"Now," Sisko said, "all we need is communication. We can still use our comm badges, but I would prefer to have ship-to-ship communications. Is that possible, Chief?"
O'Brien nodded. "We can do it in less than an hour."
"Good." Sisko turned to Bashir. "Doctor, can you beam the Supreme Ruler directly to the infirmary when we get close to the station?"
Bashir thought for a moment. "It would take me a good half hour to be ready for him. We need to move him to something that would approximate his cold-sleep chamber. I have the equipment for that. If I can set that up, we would be able to beam him across without damaging his chances."
Sisko could sense Bashir's hesitation. He knew that part of it was due to the unusual circumstance. Much of it, though, was simple timing. Somehow, he would have to give the doctor at least a half an hour near the station. He glanced at Dax.
"How good is your salvage law, old man?"
"You're the one who worked at Utopia Planetia," she said, "but I don't do badly on any aspect of Federation law."
That was Jadzia speaking. The brilliant young Trill. It amazed him that he was beginning to tell her apart from the other parts of herself.
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