Snorting, Shabalala said, An excellent point.
Seriously, they need to pull all the old factions in. If Bajors going to get back on its feet, it needs all of Bajoreven the anarchists. They cant afford another internal squabble like that mess earlier this year.
The Circle? Shabalala remembered reading about the Alliance for Global Unityor, simply, the Circlethat had attempted a coup dtat, leading to Starfleet temporarily abandoning Bajor and Deep Space 9. Sisko and his crew had exposed the Circle as being supplied by Cardassiasomething even the Circle themselves did not knowand the coup died aborning. But that kind of unrest was not uncommon on Bajor even now, and Shabalala saw the wisdom in the provisional government attempting to unify the factions in order to avoid another such civil conflict.
Well keep you apprised of our progress, Commander, Shabalala said as they entered the transporter room.
Nodding as he stepped onto the platform, Sisko said, Energize.
It had all been going too smoothlyOrta knew that now. Not a single military ship had even come close, despite their going through one of the more densely populated shipping lines, and when they landed on the planetoid, they had met no resistance until they reached the rendezvous in the caves.
Cardassians loved their theatrical trials, after all, and it would be a much better show if they had footage of Orta actually purchasing the weapons from the Yridian.
Once the transaction was completed, it was as if the Cardassian soldiers grew out of the rock. It was ironic, since Orta himself had been the one to insist on meeting in the caves. Orta had always preferred dark spaces far underground. Sensors didnt work as well underground, and the darkness was better for Ortas guerilla tactics than Central Commands more overt ones.
But this time they used that predilection against him. They got the Yridian to make the deal, and made the weaponsstolen Starfleet phaser riflesimpossible for Orta to resist. It was the perfect setup, and Orta fell for it.
They brought him to Bajor, of course. It was the first time hed set foot on his homeworld since he stowed away in the cargo hold of a Ferengi trader at the age of ten. His foster parentsOrta had been orphaned as an infanthad just died. They were collaborators who had made the mistake of betraying the Cardassians to help a group of Bajoran refugees. They tried to play both ends, and wound up disintegrated for their trouble.
Orta had no great love for his foster parents, but he had less for the Cardassians who rewarded their compassion with death. He swore he would show them death.
He showed them plenty. For twenty years, Ortawent from being the name of a forgotten runaway orphan to that of the scourge of the Cardassians. He made dozens of strikes against Bajors oppressors, gaining a deserved reputation for brutality. It got to the point where every off-Bajor terrorist act was credited to Orta whether he was involved or not.
And now they had captured him. He had brought only one compatriot to the rendezvous, and she had died in the firefight. Central Command knew he had dozens of followers. The trial would be much more effective if it ended with a score of executions instead of one. But Orta would not yield, not to the glinn who ruined his face on the transport, nor to the Obsidian Order agent who carved out his vocal cords on Bajor.
When even the vaunted Obsidian Order proved unable to pry the information out of Orta, theyin a rare show of cooperation with Central Commandagreed to transfer Orta to a gul named Madred. Orta knew of many who had been sent to Madred. None returned unbroken.
That was when he struck back.
The Cardassiansmistake was in thinking that burning off half his face and allowing him to speak only through the benefit of an electronic vocoder attached to his neck had softened him up, with Madred prepared to deliver the killing blow.
It only increased his determination.
Orta never found out the name of the Obsidian Order agent who ruined his larynx. But as Orta carved the man to pieces with the very kitchen knife the agent had used to cut his food while eating in front of a starving Orta for days on end, the Bajoran pretended that it was his foster mother he was killing, that it was his foster father who screamed in agony, that it was the Cardassian whod killed them who begged for his life.
His people rescued him at great risk to themselves. A team of fifteen had mounted the rescue mission, and only four of themcounting Orta himselfmade it back to the Valo system.
Within an hour of his return, he had already planned an assault on Central Commands listening post at Chintoka.
Each Cardassian he killed was that Obsidian Order agent, that glinn, Madred, his foster parentsit didnt matter. None of it mattered, as long as Cardassians continued to die. It would never end.
Orta woke up suddenly. He did not screamhe could not even if he felt the urge to. His vocoder lay on the ground next to his pallet. Without it, he could not utter any sounds. With it, he spoke clearly and eloquently, albeit with a slight artificial timbre. With the damage done to his face, his mouth could not properly form words in any case. In many ways, the Obsidian Order agent had done him a favor. Had he left his vocal cords intact, Ortas speaking voice would have been slurred, distorted, foolish. Forced to rely on technology, he could still rally his people to his cause with the same eloquence hed had before his temporary capture.
At least for a while. After a time, the terrorists equipment started breaking down. Weapons ceased to function, warp drives went inert, and Ortas reputation had grown to such epic proportions that everyone was scared to even do business with him. The Cardassians made it clear that anyone caught dealing with Orta would receive the strictest punishment possible. His activities became curtailed, limited to strikes on the border at the Valo system. It got to the point that the Cardassians attempt to frame Orta for the attack on the Federation colony at Solarion IV failed because the terrorists own resources had dwindled to the point that such an attack was no longer physically possible for him to achieve.
Two years ago came the final insult the cause no longer existed. The Cardassians had withdrawn from Bajor. His homeworld was free. Orta had thought it too good to be truea trick to lull the refugees, the terrorists, the freedom fighters out of hiding and then have them all killed.
Instead, he soon realized, the Cardassians had played the ultimate joke on Bajor they now had to govern them-selves. They proved as inept as Orta had feared. A provisional government formed. At the first opportunity, they begged the cowards of the Federation for help; they fell victim to internecine politics and attempted coups. The only leader on the planet worth a damn was Kai Opaka, and she died within months of the withdrawal.
Bajor was still helpless. Orta had been helpless twice in his life. He saw no good reason to repeat the experience.
So he had resisted all attempts to bring him home. The caves of Valo IX were more of a home than Bajor ever would be, as long as Bajorans remained weak and foolish.
But his followers grew restless. The Cardassians had gone, and they were left with nothing. Without the Cardassians to rally against, they lost their fire, their motivation. In truth, so had Orta. True, he would always desire vengeance against the people who had destroyed his homeworld, destroyed his family, destroyed himbut that could only go so far with the others.
Then he found the prophecy.
Ortas gift had always been the ability to form plans in an instant. He had not been in Valo five minutes after being rescued from weeks of torture before he had come up with the scheme to destroy the base at Chintoka. Likewise, as soon as he came across the prophecy in a derelict civilian vessel that his people had salvaged after it drifted into Valo, a new plan formed. He just needed to wait for the right momenta moment that came when the provisional government came to him with an offer to go to Bajors second moon.
Ready to go through with it?
Orta looked up to see Tova Syed, his most loyal lieutenant. They had first met as children on the refugee camp at Valo II. They had grown up together, suffered together, fought together. She had been the one to spearhead his rescue
from the Cardassians, and she was one of the other three who survived the mission. However, in the last two years, she had also been the one urging him most strongly to return to Bajor. Like Orta, she did not trust Bajors provisional government, nor the Federationbut she did believe that the time for violence was over. When the enemy was Cardassia, they had to fight. This war, though, needed to be fought in other, more peaceful ways.
But she also always deferred to Orta in the end.
After affixing the vocoder to his neck, Orta said, No, Im not ready. I dont think Ill ever truly be ready to become a farmer.
Oh, I dont know, she said with a smirk that made the scar over her nose ridge curve in an odd manner. I think after twenty years of destruction, working to create something will be a nice change. In any case, the Odyssey 'shere to take us to the moon.
How wonderful. Orta had been disappointed in Starfleets choice of escort. He had no love for the Federation, but he had liked Jean-Luc Picardmainly because the Enterprise captain had made his Federation superiors look like the fools they were for falling for the Cardassians frame of Ortaand had been looking forward to seeing him again.
Turns out that the Odyssey is of the same class as the Enterprise.
Orta made what would have been a snort when his larynx worked. As if that mattered. It was Picard I wanted, not a ship that happens to look like his. He sighed, the one sound he could still make on his own. Is everything in readiness?
Tova nodded.
Then let us prepare to depart.
He got up and headed toward the entryway to the alcove that Orta had taken over as his bedroom. As he passed Tova, she put a hand on his shoulder. Orta stopped and looked down at her battle-scarred faceand battle-weary eyes. Orta wondered if his own eyes would ever look like that, and was not at all disappointed to realize that they wouldnt. Full of battle, yes, but never weary of it.
This is the right thing to do, she said.
I wouldnt have agreed to it if I did not think so, Syed.
You would if you had some other plan in mind. And you always have a plan. You have ever since we salvaged that derelict.
My plan is to bring about peace, Syed. That has always been the plan.
Tova regarded Orta for several seconds before finally taking the hand off his shoulder. I hope so, she finally said.
Then they went together to the beam-out sight.
It was time to leave Valo behind.
It was time to go home.
Chapter Nine
E NTERING B AJORAN SYSTEM .
Declan Keogh nodded at his first officer after that report from the conn. Shabalala returned the nod and said, Go to impulse and set course for the second moon.
Aye, sir.
The pickup had gone well enough, Keogh mused. He had been worried that Orta and his people would cause a scene, butthough they could hardly have been described as docilethey came on board with a minimum of fuss. They had spent their time in their quarters, with some of them venturing to Ten-Forward. The latter groupwhich did not include Ortatook to sitting in a corner, not mixing in with the rest of the crew. Hardly an auspicious omen for a group thats supposed to be involved in a cooperative effort, Keogh thought disdainfully. He knew this mission was going to end badly.
Commander, take a look at this, said the second officer, Maritza Gonzalez, from the ops position.
In reply, Shabalala went over to the ops console and peered at the readouts therein. What am I looking at? he asked.
Bajors moons, Gonzalez said. I just compared their orbital pathsin a few days, almost all of them will be perfectly aligned for about half an hour. The funny thing is, the only one that wont be is the second one.
Put it on screen, Lieutenant.
Keogh looked at the displayto the naked eye, the moons seemed scattered in various orbits as usual, but when Gonzalez overlaid indications of their orbital pathways, he saw that all but the second would indeed line up soon. Fascinating, Keogh said with a nod. Then he frowned as he looked at the fifth moon. Lieutenant Gonzalez, the fifth moonthat is Jeraddo, isnt it?
Yes, sir.
As displayed now, Jeraddo was a fiery red, looking about as uninhabitable as a ball of flame, when Keogh was sure that it was supposed to be Class-M. So what in blazes happened to it?
Gonzalez turned, gazing upon her captain with almond eyes. Sir, Jeraddos core is being tapped as part of an energy-retrieval project begun by the Bajoran government a year and a half ago.
Keogh nodded. Very well. Thank you, Lieutenant. Silently, the captain chastised himself. He had tried to familiarize himself with all aspects of this mission, but that particular fact had eluded him.
Sir, Shabalala said, another ship is coming into orbit of the second moon.
Its a Danube -class runabout, Gonzalez added. Registry reads as the Rio Grande.
From behind him at the tactical station, Lieutenant Talltree said, Were being hailed by a Major Kira Nerys on the runabout.
Shabalala moved back to the command section and took his seat next to Keogh while saying, On screen, Mr. Talltree.
The display of Bajoran moons was replaced with the image of a Bajoran woman in a red uniform of that planets Militia. Next to her was a Trill in a blue Starfleet uniform.
This is Captain Keogh of the Odyssey, he said. You must be Major Kira.
Yes, she said simply. Welcome back, Captain. This is DS9s science officer, Lieutenant Dax.
Keogh blinked. It had been one thing to be told that Curzon Dax was now a woman named Jadzia, but being confronted with the rather attractive reality was still jarring. He recovered quickly, however, and said, A pleasure, Lieutenant. Its been a long time.
Dax frowned. Excuse me?
We, ah, met on the Lexington about twenty-five years ago.
Im sorry, Captain, Im afraidoh, wait, she added, her face brightening. Deco Keogh?
Shifting uncomfortably in his chair, Keogh said in a hard voice, Its been quite some time since anyone called me that, Lieutenant.
Of course, Captain. I just didnt recognize you with so much less hair. My apologies. Its good to see you again, too.
Damn the woman, he thought angrily, she has that same smile Curzon had whenever he said something guaranteed to embarrass you.
To Keoghs relief, neither Shabalala nor Gonzalez nor Talltree visibly reacted to Daxs comment. He did notice Ensign Doyle at conn was trying to hide a snicker, and he was quite sure that the other junior personnel at the aft stations were doing likewise. Ill deal with that later, he thought angrily. Were preparing the required modifications to our phasers, and we have a full team standing by to help set the colony up on the surface, along with your farmers from the Valo system.
So Orta did come, Kira said with a nod. I wasnt sure he would.
Honestly, Major, neither was I. I still doubt his intentions. But hes here, as are his followers.
Good. Next to her, the Trill started manipulating controls. Lieutenant Dax is transmitting beam-down coordinates for both Ortas people and your team.
Excellent. Well meet you there, Major. Odyssey out. As the screen went blank, Keogh stood up, Shabalala doing likewise next to him. Mr. Talltree, have Orta and his people gather in Transporter Room 3 and have them beamed to the majors first set of coordinates. Have the scientific team meet Mr. Shabalala and myself in Transporter Room 1.
Yes, sir, the large security chief said from the tactical station.
You have the conn, Lieutenant, he said to Gonzalez, who nodded and moved to the command chair.
Shabalala let Keogh enter the turbolift first, then followed him in and said, Transporter Room 1.
Keogh nodded to his first officer. He liked Shabalala. After the string of incompetents that Starfleet had saddled him with over the years, he was grateful to have someone who properly served as an interface between him and his crew, and who kept his ship operating at peak efficiencyin other words, what a first officer was supposed to do.
As soon as the doors closed, Shabalala said, Deco,
sir?
Commander, let me be perfectly clear I dont ever expect hear that word again.
Of course, Captain, Shabalala said with an emphatic nod.
And I want Ensign Doyle reprimanded for her behavior.
Naturally, sir.
Keogh nodded, confident that this would truly be the end of it. Shabalala had served under Captain Simon on the Fearless a good commander whom Keogh had been sorry to see lost, especially under such horrendous circumstances. Simon and Shabalala both were the kind who understood the need to run a tight ship.
Within minutes, they had beamed down to the moon, along with a team of both science and engineering personnel led by Keoghs chief engineer, Commander Rodzinski.
Keogh was not encouraged by what he saw. The moon was a dark, desolate place. Long stretches of barren ground to his left were broken only by small markers. In the distance was a single mountainwhich, he recalled from his reading of Kiras proposal, was an inactive volcano, one of several on the moon
The moon also had an underground network of rivers. One of the teams from the Odyssey had been assigned to set up the irrigation system that would tap those rivers. Meantime, those markers were placeholders for the Starfleet-issue prefabricated housing structures that would serve as the farmers homes.
To Keoghs right was a large expanse of equally barren land, but without the markers. Most of this would be the actual farmland, once the Odyssey 'ssoon-to-be-modified phasers did their work to turn the rock into arable soil.
Worse, it was cold. Part of that was because the sun had set. For approximately six months of the yeara period that would end in a months timethe sun was up only four of every fourteen hours. That was why this was the optimum time to start this projectby the time the seeds they planted were ready to sprout in a months time, the moons rotation would take it out of the shadow of the third moon, and the sun would be up for twelve of those fourteen hours.
The sound of a Starfleet transporter beam heralded the arrival of Kira and Dax.
Kira smiled as she looked at Keogh. Doesnt look like much, does it?
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