by John Peel
“Not me,” said Jake with a sigh. “But I know I’ve seen that earring before.”
“Who cares?” asked Ashley. “I’ve got the pad, so let’s go.”
“It might be important,” said Jake. “I’m sure it wasn’t here earlier, was it?”
“No way,” said Nog. “I’d have seen it if it had been.”
“That’s for sure,” agreed Ashley. “You can spot a speck of gold at fifty miles.”
Nog grinned at the thought. “Yeah. I’m real good at finding treasure.”
“That’s not treasure,” Jake said, finally remembering where he’d seen it before. “That’s Riv’s earring.”
“No, it isn’t,” insisted Nog. “It’s mine. I found it.”
“No, you don’t understand,” Jake said urgently. “It’s the earring that Riv got from his father.”
“So?” Ashley was impatient to go. “He must have dropped it, that’s all. Come on!”
“In a minute,” Jake insisted. “That earring was Riv’s most valuable possession—his only memory of his parents, he said. He wouldn’t just lose it and not search for it. Unless…”
T’Ara grinned, then switched to raising her eyebrow instead. “Unless something else distracted him,” she finished. “Like Kam.”
“Right!” Jake was certain it made sense. “He must have come in here and found her. And we all know how he hates Cardassians….”
Ashley went pale. “You think he attacked her?”
“Yeah.” Jake didn’t like to think of the implications. “And in the struggle his earring fell off. He didn’t notice it right away.”
“Come on,” snapped Ashley. “If he’s kidnapped her, then we’ve really got to get this sample to your father. Who knows what he’ll do to her?”
Jake nodded. “And we know exactly what her father will do to this station if he doesn’t get her back….”
They ran all the way back to the turbolift. There were a few annoyed yells as they pushed through the crowd in the Promenade, but for once Jake was certain he wouldn’t be in trouble over that. The four of them piled into the lift, and Jake yelled, “Ops!” It seemed to crawl up the shaft, and he found himself tapping his foot impatiently on the floor. Then it arrived, and they spilled out into the control room.
“I’ve got the sample,” Ashley announced, holding up her pad.
“Good.” Dax stood up and beckoned to her. “Over here, please.”
They all went over. Dax gave them one of her dazzling smiles, gently taking the pad from Ashley. She took a link line from her control panel and tapped it into the pad. The computer screen on her panel shifted to give new patterns and readings. Dax’s fingers flew over the controls as she set the main computer to getting the information out of Ashley’s pad.
“Got it,” she murmured. She tapped in further commands. Jake, Nog, T’Ara, and Ashley leaned over the screens. On the main viewscreen in the center of the room, the Cardassian flagship was visible—a grim reminder of what awaited them if Dax couldn’t trace Kam. On the small panel they saw a cross section of Deep Space Nine displayed. The computer narrowed down the picture, and then zoomed in to a single spot.
“There she is,” said Dax. “I’ve got a clear reading.”
“Where is she?” Commander Sisko called. He was at the main console, next to Major Kira.
“In the Promenade,” Dax replied. Then she frowned. “No … she’s not in it. She’s above it. She seems to be located just inside the ceiling ducts.”
“Apparently she’s very fond of ceilings,” the commander said.
Jake shook his head. “I don’t think she’s likely to be too fond of this one,” he told his father. “I think Riv’s got her.”
His father frowned. “Riv? What would he want with her?”
The terrible feeling that Jake had been experiencing finally found words. “He hates Cardassians. I think he’s taken her up there to kill her.”
Major Kira looked very worried. “And if he does kill her,” she said, “then he’s killing us as well.” She gestured at the main screen. “Those ships are sure to attack us then.”
CHAPTER 11
Kam swallowed and tried not to look down from her wobbly perch. She tried to fight the giddiness that threatened to make her lose her grip and send her falling to her death below.
Riv grinned at her. The height didn’t seem to bother him. “Scared, huh?” he sneered. “Just like all Cardassians.”
She refused to be baited. While she was waiting for Jake and his friends, this strange Bajoran boy had attacked her and dragged her along with him. She’d tried to fight, but he was much stronger than she was, and it hadn’t done her much good. Riv now had a couple of blood-red gashes across his face where she’d managed to scratch him. She had a dull pain in her side where he’d punched her to force her to stop fighting.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she asked.
This seemed to amuse him. “Whining, eh? Go ahead, beg for your life. You never know, it might get you somewhere.” He shrugged. “Then again, I might push you off anyway.” He made a sudden motion with his hand. Kam squealed and shied away from him, gripping the thin rail beneath her for support. Riv laughed—a nasty, harsh sound.
She took a deep breath and stared back at him. “I won’t beg,” she told him. “If you’re going to kill me, you’ll kill me anyway. I just want to know why you’re doing it. I’ve done nothing to you.”
His face twisted into a dark scowl. “Your people have!” he told her angrily. “They killed both of my parents! I spent all my life in hiding, fighting Cardassians.”
Kam was ashamed for her people. “I’m really sorry about your parents. But why pick on me?”
“Sorry? You?” Riv shook his head. “I don’t believe it. You Cardassians don’t have any honest emotions. You’re just trash. And I’m going to make you all pay—starting with you.”
Kam swallowed again. The urge to look down was almost irresistible, but she knew that if she did she’d lose her balance and fall. “So you’re going to kill me for revenge?” She shrugged. “Well, I can’t say I blame you. If I’d loved my parents the way you must have, I’d probably hate the people who did it.”
“Oh, no,” he said. “You can’t get me thinking you care. It’s just a trick. Anyway, I’m not gonna kill you unless I have to. I heard you tell those other kids that you’re the daughter of a Gul. You’re worth a lot to me alive.”
Kam managed a weak smile back. “Yes? Then this isn’t the best place to keep me. I could fall off any second.”
“If you do, you do.” He didn’t sound bothered. “I’ve been trying to contact the Bajoran underground to join it. I want to fight against the Cardassians, just like my parents did. But so far I haven’t been able to get through to them.”
Puzzled, Kam said, “The war’s over. Bajor’s free. Surely there isn’t any underground now?”
Riv gave a harsh laugh. “That’s what everyone tries to tell me, but it isn’t true. We may have got our planet back, but true Bajorans won’t rest till we’ve wiped every last Cardassian from the face of the universe. There has to be an underground. And if I can offer you to them—the daughter of a Gul as a hostage—then they’re bound to let me join, aren’t they?”
“The war is over,” she told him. “We’re at peace.”
“Peace?” He sounded very bitter. “I’ll never be at peace while there’s one Cardassian still alive. We’re still at war, whatever the Federation or anyone else might say.”
“You’re still at war,” Kam said, realizing this was Riv’s problem. He’d lived filled with hatred and fear and fighting for so long that he didn’t know any other way. He wouldn’t accept that things had changed. “Riv, we don’t have to be enemies. We can be friends.”
He laughed. “The only way to make peace with your enemies is to kill them.”
“Maybe that’s what your parents told you,” Kam said gently, “but it’s not true. There’s another way. You stop being enemie
s and start being friends.”
“Friends?” Riv looked as if he wanted to spit at her. “Cardassians don’t have any friends. You’re animals, that’s all.”
“What if everybody is right,” Kam asked him, “and there isn’t an underground carrying on the war against the Cardassians? What if there really is peace?”
“Then you’d better get ready to die,” he told her. “Because you’re either coming down from here with me to go to the underground, or I’m going to make at least one Cardassian pay for what they’ve done to my people and to me.”
There was the sound of someone clearing his throat. It came from behind Riv. He looked around, and Kam could just see past him. The beam that they were perched on went into the far wall as it curved up to touch the roof. Riv had removed a panel in that wall and forced her through it and out onto the beam. When he’d followed her, he’d left the panel open. Over his shoulder she could see that there were several people standing there, in the small access corridor. One of them was staring down at them through the hole. He was tall and dark-skinned, dressed in a Starfleet uniform. She guessed that he had to be Jake’s father. Behind him were Jake, Nog, and Odo.
“Hello, Riv,” the commander said quietly. “Hello, Kam. Don’t be alarmed.”
Riv shook his head. “I’m not alarmed,” he said. “You should be, though. I want to talk to Major Kira.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Commander Sisko replied. “Major Kira is in Ops. We have a bit of a problem on our hands right now.”
“Yeah,” Riv agreed. “Me.”
The commander sighed. “You are part of it, yes. Now, please—I don’t know why you’re out there, but come back in. Let Kam come back in.”
“No,” said Riv firmly. “You’ve got two choices. Bring Major Kira here, or I push this Cardassian off the beam. Make up your mind—now!” He lunged out, and his hand closed over Kam’s shoulder. She fought to stop herself screaming and to stay on the thin beam.
Jake gasped as he saw Riv get ready to push Kam from the beam. They were so high up out there that she would certainly be killed if she fell. “Don’t do it, Riv!” he yelled. He looked at his father. “Maybe I can talk sense to him,” he suggested.
His father thought for a moment, then nodded. “Though I doubt anyone can talk sense to that boy,” he muttered.
Slipping past his father in the narrow confines of the access tunnel, Jake peered out of the hole. The beam looked even thinner from here, and he could see it was bending visibly under the weight of Riv and Kam. It was meant to carry decorations and banners for festivals, not to support people.
Behind him he heard his father ask Odo in a quiet voice that Riv wouldn’t be able to hear, “Could you change shape and go out there, Odo? As a mouse or something?”
“I’m afraid not,” Odo replied. “I may be able to take on the shape and size of a mouse, but I’d still have the weight of a man. Riv’s picked his place very carefully. If I go out there, the beam will probably break. One of the youngsters might be able to go out, but no adult.”
“I don’t think he’d sit and watch anyone crawl out there,” Jake’s father said with a sigh.
Nog cleared his throat. “What about using the transporter to beam them in here?” he suggested brightly.
“A good idea,” Commander Sisko replied. Nog beamed, but his face fell when the commander added, “If we weren’t having sensor problems. We’re going to have to rely on talking him into giving up.”
That was Jake’s cue, he knew. “Hi, Riv,” he said, hoping for some inspiration. “Aren’t you going a bit far this time?”
“Nice joke, jerk,” Riv answered. “I am out pretty far, aren’t I?”
Jake could see the fear on Kam’s face and in her eyes. He guessed from the tense way she gripped the beam that she was probably afraid of heights. “Why don’t you let her go?” he asked.
“No way,” Riv said. “She’s my ticket out of here.”
“I thought you were supposed to be brave,” Jake sneered.
“I’m braver than you!” Riv yelled back, annoyed and red in the face.
“Yeah?” asked Jake. “Then why are you putting her through this?”
“She’s a Cardassian!” yelled Riv.
“And you’re just a coward!” Jake howled back.
For a moment Jake thought he’d annoyed Riv enough for the Bajoran to come inside just to beat his brains out. Riv’s fists clenched and unclenched. But then he shook his head. “It won’t work,” he said. “I’ll kill her if I have to. I promise you.”
“Then you’ll kill us all,” Jake told him.
Riv stared at him suspiciously, obviously expecting a trick. “What are you talking about?”
“You know she’s Gul Gavron’s daughter?” asked Jake.
“Yeah.” Riv grinned again. “A pretty neat hostage.”
“Well, he’s here and he wants her back.”
“What?” Both Kam and Riv said this at the same time. It was hard for Jake to decide who looked more surprised.
“He’s in space just off the station,” Jake explained. “With eight warships. He wants Kam back, and he says if he doesn’t get her, he’ll blow up Deep Space Nine.”
Kam gasped, but Riv just gave a short barklike laugh. “He’s not crazy enough to do that!”
“You don’t know my father,” Kam said with real anger and hatred in her voice. “If he’s mad enough, he’ll do anything.”
Riv thought about that for a minute. “This station has Federation people on it,” he said. “If the admiral blows it up, wouldn’t the Federation declare war on Cardassia?”
“Probably,” agreed Jake. “But that wouldn’t exactly help us. We’d all be dead.”
“It would help me,” Riv said. There was a very odd look in his eye. “I’m not afraid to die. And if the Gul blows up Deep Space Nine, then the Federation would go to war with the Cardassians. The Federation’s bound to win and wipe the stinking scum out.” He laughed. “It sounds like a pretty good deal to me.”
“What?” Kam looked furious now, not as scared as she had been. “Is that all you can think about? Killing Cardassians? Well, you can kill me if you like, but I’m not gonna let you kill the other people on the station. They’re good people—Jake and Ashley and T’Ara and Nog and all the rest. They don’t deserve to die, just so you can start a stupid war! I won’t let you kill them!” With a growl she lunged at Riv.
Jake was terrified. Kam was mad enough to send both herself and Riv plunging to their deaths. “Stop it!” he yelled, scared of what might happen. “Kam, don’t do it!”
She hesitated, on her feet now, balancing on the beam. She seemed to have forgotten about her fear of heights, she was so mad with Riv. The Bajoran boy was just as changed as she was. He stared at her, obviously puzzled and shocked. “You want to save their lives?” he said, his voice with an odd catch to it.
“They’re my friends,” she growled. “And I won’t let you get them killed.”
“But … you’re a Cardassian,” he said, struggling with the idea. “Cardassians hate everybody.”
“Well, I don’t!” she yelled. “Right now there are only two people I hate. One’s my father, and the other is you.”
Jake could see that Riv was finally starting to see how wrong he’d been. “Riv,” he said gently. “It’s true. She means it. She is our friend. I don’t care if she’s a Cardassian or whatever. She’s a neat person. And she’s a whole lot nicer than you are.”
Riv turned on the beam. Jake could see that the Bajoran boy’s face was twisted and twitching.
“Come on, Riv,” Nog called over Jake’s shoulder. “Come on inside. Let Kam come in.” He winced, then added, “Please!”
As Riv stood there, struggling with himself, Kam gave a sharp laugh. “Yeah. If you really want to hurt me, let me go in. I’ll have to go back to my father. He’s probably going to kill me for running away.”
Jake watched, hardly daring to breathe. He could
feel his father, Nog, and Odo standing behind him, watching as well. Would Riv agree? Would he come in?
Ashley stared across the Ops room in awe. She’d always wanted to be up here, checking out some of the terrifically neat machinery. Now she wished she were somewhere else. On a nice, safe planet for example.
Major Kira was standing in front of the main viewer. Gul Gavron’s huge figure was staring back from the projection at her. “We’re doing our best,” the major said, trying to smile. “It’s just taking a little bit longer than we thought to find your daughter.”
“Then your best is obviously not good enough!” Gul Gavron roared. He was hissing, and his face was twitching. Ashley could see he was definitely mad. “So I’ll give you a little incentive.” Turning to one of his officers offscreen, he yelled, “Fire a warning shot at the station!”
“At once, sir,” a voice replied.
Major Kira whirled around. “Raise shields! Full! Battle stations! We’re under attack!”
CHAPTER 12
Jake stared at Riv, who was still standing on the beam. The young Bajoran was clearly fighting a battle with his beliefs. Quietly Jake asked his father, “Do you think he’s going to let her go?”
“I think so,” his father whispered back. “He only has to accept the truth that his hatred was wrong. He’s been fighting a war all his life, and he’s been a prisoner of a peace he doesn’t understand or accept. He’s grown up hating all Cardassians. But he’s discovered that at least one of them is a good person. It’s hard to keep your hatred going when the person you’re trying to hate has a face—and a good heart.”
It made sense to Jake; he only hoped it was the same conclusion that Riv would reach.
Finally the Bajoran boy nodded. “Okay,” he said. “We’re coming in. She’s not a bad person, is she?”
“Great!” Jake gave him a big smile. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
Riv started to turn. As he did so, the alarms began to sound. Major Kira’s voice came over the public address system. “Red alert! We’re under attack!”