Four of Odo's security guards arrived, panting a bit
from sprinting, and Odo drew them aside, getting into
position to cover the hatch unobtrusively. Hopefully
it wouldn't be necessary, Sisko thought. Were the
Valtusians ever coming out? How long would it take
them to discuss the matter of being tested?
Sisko glanced at a chronometer. Only three minutes
had passed, he told himself. That wasn't long to wait.
He had to be patient--diplomats moved at their own
pace, after all, and he didn't want to get off on the
wrong foot by pushing too hard.
Suddenly the hatch rolled back and the three Valtu-
sians emerged single file once more. Sisko frowned.
What was that faint clicking sound? Ambassador
Zhoshmat least Sisko thought it was Ambassador
Zhosh--addressed him again.
"We have discussed the matter," Zhosh said, "and
we will allow your device to touch us. It may analyze
our feet, which are among the least sacred parts of our
body."
Zhosh pulled up the hem of his flowing green robe,
revealing a long, narrow green foot that ended in three
clawed toes. A fourth and much broader claw jutted
from its heel. The Valtusians walked balanced on the
tips of the claws, Sisko realized, which explained the
faint clicking he heard when they moved.
"That will do nicely," Dr. Bashir said.
He activated his DNA scanner and set it on the
floor in front of Ambassador Zhosh. Sisko watched
with interest as the Valtusian gave a birdlike hop
forward and placed the flat middle part of its foot
upon the box.
"Reading," the scanner said. It paused for a long
time--longer than it had with Worf, Dr. Bashir, or
Odo. Sisko took a deep breath... had it broken
down again? If so, Bashir would have a lot of explain-
ing to do.
But then the lights on its side flashed twice, and it
said, "Subject DNA passed. Subject is Valtusian."
Sisko smiled to hide his relief, thinking of the time
on Earth when he'd mistaken his own father for a
changeling. His father had refused to take a blood test
being administered to the families of all Federation
officials due to plain old-fashioned stubbornness,
nothing more, and Sisko had learned a lesson that day
about paranoia. You had to have limits. Life wasn't
worth living if you couldn't trust anyone around you.
He nodded a bit. No, there weren't any changelings
here--just the private mysteries of an alien race. Dr.
Bashir wouldn't have these body-taboo problems with
the humans or Cardassians attending the conference,
at least.
"When are the other representatives scheduled to
arrive?" Ambassador Zhosh asked, as Bashir ran the
other two Valtusians through the test.
"The Cardassian delegation should be here in a few
hours," Sisko said. "The Maquis and the Federation
ambassadors are scheduled to arrive tomorrow."
"I have an itinerary prepared. We will begin in two
days, at the ninth bell."
"The ninth bell?" Sisko repeated.
"That would be approximately eight-fifteen in the
morning," Dr. Bashir said. The second ambassador
passed the test. "The altusian calendar is quite
interesting," he went on. "Their clocks use musical
tones to indicate the time."
Sisko felt his eyes starting to glaze over as Dr.
Bashir began one of his endless lectures, this one on
Valtusian clockwork mechanisms. He really shouM
have gone into teaching, Sisko thought. The way he
l ikes to talk, he wouM have made an excellent instruc-
tor at the Academy. Then he reminded himself that
he'd be losing one of the best doctors in Starfleet. He
can always retire to teaching, he told himself.
"Quite correct." Zhosh gazed at Bashir with one
eye. "Have you visited altusia, Doctor?"
"No, but my mother owns one of your clocks."
The third Valtusian also passed the test. Odo's
suspicions had proved unfounded, for once. No
changelings here.
"Ah." Ambassador Zhosh faced Sisko again. "If we
could be shown to our quarters now?"
"Certainly," he began, and then his badge chirped.
"One second," he told Zhosh. He tapped his badge.
"Sisko here."
"I have a priority one transmission for you from
Admiral Dulev," Dax said.
"Thank you," Sisko said. "I'll be right there." He
turned back to Ambassador Zhosh. "Constable Odo
will have to show you to the habitat ring," he said. "If
you need anything, don't hesitate to let him know."
All three Valtusians bowed low to him. He returned
the gesture, then hurried toward the turbolift.
"This way," Odo said behind him, sounding faintly
irritated that they hadn't turned out to be change-
ling spies after all. "Right now we are in the third
docking pylon," he said, beginning the standard tour
of the station. "Your quarters will be in the habitat
ring . . ."
"Ops," Sisko said to the computer as he entered the
turbolift. It whisked him down rapidly. Another
transmission from Admiral Dulev... what could she
want?
CHAPTER
4
"ADMIRAL DULEV," SISKO said as her stern face ap-
peared on his monitor. He couldn't recall ever seeing
her smile.
"Captain Sisko," she said, as usual cutting through
all formalities, "you are to delay the mission to the
Gamma Quadrant until the Excalibur gets there."
"If I may ask," Sisko said, "why?"
"My aide, Lieutenant Colfax, will be aboard the
Excalibur. He will brief you and your people fully
upon his arrival."
"Very well," Sisko said, puzzled. "When is the
Excalibur due?"
"Thirty-two hours. If you have any questions,
please address them to Lieutenant Colfax. Dulev
out," she said, and the screen went blank.
Sisko steepled his fingers thoughtfully. Thirty-two
hours. Starbase 201, where he'd met with the admiral
and Colfax, lay sixteen hours away which meant the
Excalibur either hadn't arrived yet or had another
stop to make before coming to DS9. At least the extra
time would give them a chance to better prepare for
the mission into the Gamma Quadrant. The peace
conference should already be underway by then. Per-
haps it would be less of a juggling act than he thought.
He could certainly use the extra help Odo would
provide when the Cardassian delegation arrived.
Cardassians on the station always meant trouble, he
knew... not that they themselves posed a threat to
DS9's security. If anything, they tended toward model
behavior while visiting. The problems always came
from Bajorans, with their endless protests and picket-
ing and threats of violence against any and all Cardas-
sians they deemed war criminals.
He felt a slight headache beginning, and he for
ced
himself to stretch and focus his eyes on the far wall.
Too much work, too much stress--he'd better not let
Dr. Bashir find out, or he'd find himself in a holosuite
on forced R and R despite the importance of every-
thing going on around him.
He picked up the baseball he kept on his desk and
gripped it in his strong right hand. The tension of
dealing with two high-priority missions simultane-
ously was starting to get to him, he thought. He
needed to unwind. Perhaps a half hour game of catch
with his son Jake, or in a holosuite with the 2106
Brooklyn Dodgers... a scenario he'd been working
on for some weeks now. The Cardassians weren't due
yet, the Valtusians were safely in their quarters, and
the Excalibur wouldn't arrive for thirty-two hours.
He'd have enough time, wouldn't he?
The door to his office chirped. Sighing, he put the
baseball back on its little stand. No rest for a weary
captain, he thought. "Come," he called.
Lieutenant Jadzia Dax stepped in. Behind her he
could see Major Kira and Chief O'Brien. "Benja-
min," Dax said, "if you have a minute..."
"Of course," he said, leaning back in his chair.
"What is it, Dax? A problem with Quark's ship?"
"Have you been looking over my shoulder?" she
asked with a faint smile.
"I expected it, actually," Sisko said. "What do you
think, Chief?. Will it do?"
"It's a death trap," O'Brien said.
"That doesn't sound very promising." But probably
what I shouM have expected, he mentally added. They
might have to use a runabout after all.
"It gets better," Dax said. "Quark has already
billed us for two hundred and fifty bars of gold-
pressed latinum."
"Outrageous," Sisko agreed, shaking his head. Still,
what could he expect from a Ferengi?
"But here's the thing, sir," O'Brien said, leaning
forward. "It's a Delphi-class ship, just like the one the
pilgrims from Arvanus Six abandoned on the seventh
Bajoran moon. The pilgrims' ship has already been
claimed for salvage by a Bajoran company, but they
haven't picked it up yet."
"I've made a few inquiries of my own," Kira added.
"We can have the pilgrim ship's hull for twenty-
two bars of latinum. All it needs are new warp en-
gines..."
"And Quark's ship has those," O'Brien finished.
Sisko looked at Dax. "What do you think?" he
asked her.
She shook her head a fraction. "I think it's risky.
We have one day to put together a working starship.
That would be hard under the best of circumstances.
But I don't see a better alternative."
"I have good news on that front," Sisko said.
"Admiral Dulev wants the mission delayed until the
Excalibur gets here. That gives us at least thirty-two
hours."
"Is the Excalibur coming with us?" Kira asked.
"The admiral wasn't clear on that point," Sisko
said. "I would assume not, though. So, what do you
think, Chief? Can you put together a working ship for
us in thirty-two hours?"
"Oh, we can do it." O'Brien nodded. "For once,
I've got every system on DS9 functioning within
acceptable parameters. It's taken me three years, but
it's finally happened. I can put every man I have on
refitting the warp engines. Delphi-class ships are
completely modular in design, so it shouldn't be too
hard. My original estimate was six hours, and I still
think it can be done that quickly. The extra time will
give us a chance to make a few shakedown flights and
run full diagnostics."
"Excellent." Sisko considered the options. If
O'Brien said he could make a working ship out of the
two, Sisko knew he could rely on him to deliver. Their
three years here together had proved his chief engi-
neer's competence time and again. Still, putting to-
gether a fix-up ship had its own risks. You never knew
quite what you were getting with a used starship...
let alone two of them. Systems might fail suddenly, or
there might be slight design variations between them
if they were built in different years.
Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much
choice. They needed a civilian ship, and there just
weren't any available through regular channels on
such short notice. He began to nod. It seemed Admir-
al Dulev's delay was in fact a godsend.
"Very well," he said, "get on it... as soon as I
finish with Quark."
"Two hundred and fifty bars of gold-pressed
latinum is an outrageous price for a ship in that
condition," Dax said.
"What's fair?" Sisko asked, looking at O'Brien. He
would know, if anyone did aboard DS9, because he
kept close tabs on the used equipment market. "A
hundred?"
"I'd say fifty," O'Brien said, "if that. It needs a lot
of work."
Kira said, "Security has been keeping Quark under
surveillance. Why don't you ask Odo what Quark
paid for it?"
"An excellent suggestion, Major," Sisko said. I
must be slipping, he thought. I shouM have thought of
that myself He activated the communications console
on his desk, and a second later Odo's smooth, nearly
featureless face appeared on the viewscreen.
"Yes, Captain?" Odo asked, sounding faintly an-
noyed. Sisko hid his smile. Everything seemed to
faintly annoy Odo.
"Did you get the Valtusian ambassadors settled
into their suite?" he asked.
"Yes." He sounded more annoyed than ever. "Was
there anyhing else?"
"By any chance, can you tell me what Quark paid
for that ship he just bought?"
"The Galactic Queen--if you can call that mess a
ship?" Odo gave a snort. "He didn't pay anything for
it. Two Andorians paid him to take it off their hands.
Repairs would cost more that it's worth, and the
owners couldn't even afford the station's docking fees.
Quark promised to handle everything for them, in-
cluding the disposal of their ship, for two bars of gold-
pressed latinurn."
Sisko had to laugh. "Leave it to Quark to try to
make a profit on every side of a deal," he said.
"I don't find that particularly amusing," Odo said.
"Am I missing something, sir?"
"Not really. Thank you, Constable. Keep up the
good work." He shut off the viewscreen. "Well," he
said to Dax and the others, "that certainly gives us a
lot of bargaining room."
Kira folded her arms. "I say we let him keep the
ship. We can still take a runabout."
"I wouldn't object if you weren't going to a planet
with a Jem'Hadar base," Sisko said. "Taking a Feder-
ation vessel is simply too risky. Besides, I think
Quark's ship will work out, as soon as negotiations
are over."
He turned again to his communications console.
"Quark," he said, and
a second later an image ap-
peared on the viewscreen before him Quark in his
bar, the babble of happy crowds creating a pleasant
background noise. Cheers came from one of the
gambling tables, followed by cr ies of "Dabo!"
"Captain Sisko!" Quark said. He was wiping a glass
clean. "This is an unexpected surprise. I take it Chief
O'Brien has relayed the good news about the ship I
found?"
"It is unacceptable," Sisko said, clipping his words
to emphasize how seriously he took the matter. "We
have had to make other arrangements, Quark. I'm
very disappointed in you."
"What!" The shock was apparent on Quark's face.
Sisko felt a sudden pang of sympathy, but forced it
down. You had to play hardball with Ferengis during
negotiations, as the old saying went. They'd walk all
over you if you didn't.
"I'm sorry things didn't work out," he went on. "rll
let you know if we have any more needs." He discon-
nected, and Quark's face disappeared.
Smiling, Sisko leaned back in his seat and looked at
his officers. "Bets?" he asked, taking a glance at the
chronometer.
"Ten seconds," O'Brien said instantly.
"Ten? You're crazy," Kira said. "Eight."
"It'll take him that long just to stop shaking," Dax
said. "Twelve, at least."
"I'll take fifteen," Sisko said.
The seconds ticked away. Eight... ten... and at
twelve seconds exactly the communicator chirped.
"I believe you three owe me dinner," Dax said
triumphantly.
Before Sisko could touch the controls, Quark's face
appeared on the viewscreen. Sisko frowned, a trifle
annoyed. The security devices in Ops and his private
office shouldn't let calls through to him like that.
Quark must have a security key. He made a mental
note to have Odo confiscate it.
"Quark," Sisko said, trying to keep his tone even
and pleasant. "What can I do for you?" "About this ship--"
"It won't do. I thought we settled that."
"If it's a matter of price, I am open to reasonable
counteroffers."
Sisko shook his head. "As I told you, time is of the
essence here. Chief O'Brien informs me that it will
take all of his people two days working around the
clock to get that ship put back into working order. I
simply cannot spare him at this time, with the peace
conference coming up, so I have been forced to make
other arrangements. Luckily I managed to find an
alternate ship through an old friend of mine. It will
Star Trek - DS9 - Heart Of The Warrior - Book 17 Page 4