for the second time a sheet of colored light rippled
over her body. She stood out like a burning torch, she
realized. Suddenly it failed altogether, and she found
herself standing completely exposed.
The two Jem'Hadar fired just as she dived to the
side, and their energy bolts sizzled past, just missing
her. She ducked around the nearest ship, tucked down
her head, and sprinted toward the buildings. Maybe
she could lose them there, she thought.
She risked a glance back. The two Jem'Hadar
sprinted after her, about twenty yards behind. Gradu-
ally they began to close the gap. It would be close,
Kira thought, but she'd beat them.
She rounded the first low building, spotted a stack
of wooden crates, and skidded behind them without a
second's hesitation. The two Jem'Hadar pounded
past. One of them glanced her way but didn't spot her
in the shadows.
For once, her luck was holding, Kira thought. As
soon as they passed by, she got up and took a closer
look at the shed. The door lay on the other side, she
saw, but there were a few high windows for ventila-
tion on this side. It would be a tight fit, but she
thought she could get through.
Climbing onto the crates, she opened the window
and glanced inside. It seemed to be a storage depot for
heavy cleaning equipment of some kind, she thought.
Grunting a little, she pulled herself in, then lowered
herself to the floor.
She heard the patrol returning, more slowly this
time. She eased back farther into the darkness. A
heartbeat later, a face appeared at the ventilation
window she'd climbed through. The Jem'Hadar
peered this way and that, but didn't spot her. He tried
'squeezing inside himself, but rapidly gave up. With
his muscles, he'd never fit.
Someone outside shouted something, and he pulled
back.
Kira drifted forward like a ghost. Standing on
tiptoe, she could just see out the window. More
Jem'Hadar had appeared, including two of the cars on
antigrav skids, and they began to mill about outside,
talking among themselves.
Kira sighed and slumped to the floor, her back to
the wall.
It looked like it was going to be a long night, she
thought.
Forty minutes later, the Jem'Hadar still hadn't left.
They kept wandering by in little groups, as if hoping
she'd magically reappear. Perhaps they were waiting
for daylight to track her, she thought.
Then she spotted a group of Iffalians walking
toward the storage sheds on foot. They looked a lot
like Snoct Sneyd, she thought, only they wore drab
gray uniforms. She hesitated. Was it worth trying to
get them to help her?
They opened the doors of the storage shed next to
hers and began wheeling out equipment. They were
only twenty meters away. But they were in the open,
and if that patrol spotted her, she wouldn't have a
prayer of escape.
There had to be some way to attract the Iffalians'
attention, she finally decided. She looked around the
shed, but in the semidarkness nothing stood out
among the large hulking machines. She didn't see a
single thing she could use to attract their attention.
She felt her own pockets and also came up empty--
just her phaser and the personal ctoaker.
Well, valuable or not, she needed to use it. Since it
wasn't working, she took the cloaker off, opened up its
control panel, and started breaking off little pieces of
delicate circuitry. She began stacking them on the
floor in front of her.
When she had a little pile of them, she slowly
pushed open the ventilation window and threw the
first piece toward the Iffalians as hard as she could. It
fell a little short; they didn't even look up. Taking a
deep breath, she threw the second piece. This one
traveled a little farther and came to rest a few meters
to the left of one of the workers. He didn't look up,
either, though.
"What do I have to do," Kira muttered to herself,
"hit you in the head?"
She threw the third piece, and this time her aim
came closer. It fell short by a few meters, but skittered
forward and tapped one of the workers' boots.
He glanced down, saw the piece of rubbish, and
bent to pick it up curiously. Kira didn't wait, but
threw two more pieces in quick succession. She didn't
want to lose him now that she had his interest.
The other pieces must have caught his eye. He
turned and stared toward her shed. Come on, she
thought, just a little bit closer...
He didn't take so much as a step in her direction.
, "Psst!" Kira said as loudly as she dared. "Psst!
Come over here, quick!"
The alien muttered something to his companions,
then picked up a broom and dustpan. He pretended to
sweep up bits of rubbish and quickly worked his way
over to Kira.
"Who are you?" he demanded in a whisper, not
looking in her direction.
"A friend," Kira said. "Do you know Snoct
Sneyd?"
"The one who was trapped in the Jem'Hadar ship?"
"Yes. Can you get him for me? I need his help."
"Why?"
"Because I'm trapped here, the Jem'Hadar are
looking for me, and he said he owed me a favor. I got
him off that ship and saved his life, after all."
"That was you?" The Iffalian looked up at her, an
expression of awe and wonder on his face.
"Yes," Kira said. "Can you help me?"
"Wait here."
He worked his way back to the others and con-
versed briefly with them. Kira watched expectantly,
but they did nothing to acknowledge her presence.
Instead, they quickly finished unloading their clean-
ing equipment and rolled it away.
She sat back. Was that a good sign? Had they
decided to turn her in, in case there was a reward? She
didn't know. If only Snoct Sneyd had been there, she
thought, things would have been much simpler.
She gazed out the window again, straining to see
both left and right. There was no sign of the patrol.
Perhaps she should make a break for it, she thought,
and try to steal a ship on her own. If the Jem'Hadar
surrounded her shed, she knew she wouldn't have a
chance of escaping.
She had just about decided to strike out again on
her own when she spotted the maintenance crew
returning, this time with a vehicle. The little transport
had a square storage compartment mounted over the
rear antigrav skids, she saw. And there were more
Iffalians this time. And was that Snoct Sneyd...?
Yes, she thought. Itk him. Relief flooded through her.
He'd come to help.
They opened the doors to her shed and backed the
transport up. Snoct darted inside. "Major Kira!" he said.
"Thanks for coming," she said. "T
hey took our
shipm"
"I know," he said. "The Founders ordered it. We're
cleaning it for them now."
"Can you take me there?"
"Of course!" he said. He crossed to the storage
compartment on the transport and opened the cover.
"Climb in!"
"First we need to get Worf and the others," she
said.
Snoct Sneyd drove the transport back to where
she'd left Worf, Odo, and Orvor. Fortunately, the
Jem'Hadar hadn't found them yet. Kira realized she'd
probably served as a distraction. They'd concentrated
all their efforts on trying to find her.
After a brief reunion, Snoct hustled everyone into
the storage bin and drove across the landing field. It
was a tight fit, but nobody complained. Odo trans-
formed himself into a cushion to take up less room.
They all sat on him.
Kira weathered the bumpy ride in silence, as did
the others. She didn't tell them how close she'd come
to being captured, or that her personal cloaker had
failed at a crucial moment, when it should have lasted
another thirty seconds. She'd have something to say
about that to Lieutenant Colfax when they got back to
DS9.
Finally the ride ended. She felt the transport swing
around, then back up. A second later the motor shut
off.
Snoct opened the cargo bin. They'd pulled up by
the hatch of the ship they'd taken to get here, Kira
saw, exactly as he'd promised. She could have kissed
him.
"It's ready to go!" Snoct said.
Odo and Worf hustled Orvor aboard.
"Thank you," Kira said. "I won't forget this, Snoct.
If you ever make it to the Alpha Quadrant--"
"No, no!" he piped. "I will never leave Daborat V
again!"
She laughed, then turned and dashed up the ramp.
They'd spent too long here, she thought. She wanted
to get home. Although the mission hadn't been a
complete success, at least they'd rescued Orvor. That
had to count for something. As they said during the
Bajoran Resistance, any mission you came back from
was a success.
She slid into the pilot's seat and powered up the
engines. When Worf closed the hatch, she lifted off
smoothly. The ship handled as well as ever, she found.
They could be home in two days.
Suddenly the communicator gave a series of beeps.
Ground control was hailing them. "Odo!" she called.
"Right here," he said, appearing beside her. He
activated the monitor.
"You are not cleared for takeoff," a Jem'Hadar
warrior said.
"I'm leaving," Odo said. "Do nothing to stop me."
The Jem'Hadar opened his mouth, but nothing
came out. He seemed to be struggling with an inner
conflict. Probably the orders another changeling gave
him, Kira realized with a grin. By the time he got it all
sorted out, they'd be long gone.
She cleared the atmosphere and laid in a course for
the wormhole. Forty-one hours, she thought, going to
warp, and she'd be safe in her own bed.
She couldn't wait.
CHAPTER
28
As THEY EMERGED into the Alpha Quadrant through
the wormhole, Major Kira saw that DS9 looked much
the same as when she'd left. It hung before them,
spinning slowly, its docking ring packed with ships.
The Excalibur sat half a kilometer off from the sta-
tion... probably waiting to take Orvor aboard, she
thought. The Federation would doubtless be disap-
pointed when they learned he hadn't managed to
escape with the retrovirus, but she knew they'd get
whatever he could remember from him. Perhaps it
would provide a clue toward defeatingthe
Jem'Hadar.
"Ten minutes," she called back.
Orvor grinned. "Thank you, Major."
In the two days since his rescue, he'd made an
almost miraculous recovery, she thought. His burns
had almost entirely healed, his yellow fur had taken
on a rich luster, and his snout had turned a healthy
pink. He didn't look like the same pathetic prisoner
they'd rescued.
"DS9 to unidentified ship," Kira heard a familiar
voice say over the subspace radio, "please identify
yourself."
"This is Major Kira, Dax," she said. "We're coming
home) Clear a berth for us."
"Docking Pylon three," Dax said. "Welcome home,
Nerys)"
"Thanks," Kira said.
Sisko studied Kira and Worf, who both stood at
attention before him.
All told, it had been quite a week, Sisko thought. An
hour after Kira docked, Orvor had been bundled off
aboard the Excalibur for a reunion with his mate. The
Excalibur then put the captured Jem'Hadar ship in a
tractor beam and towed it off for further study.
Admiral Dulev would be a little disappointed about
the retrovirus, but still, things could have gone much
worse. The Excalibur had already taken the Valtusian
ship aboard one of its docking bays. Although the
changelings hadn't made many modifications to the
ship beside adding tissue culture banks in which they
had grown Valtusian skin--the same skin they'd used
to fool Bashir's DNA scanner--Starfleet scientists
would go over every inch of it. You never knew what
might prove useful.
"Sir," Worf said, offering his report. Sisko accepted
it, then took Kira's.
'Tll read them tomorrow," he promised. "Now, I
think I'd like to buy you both drinks. From what I
hear, you deserve them."
"If you don't mind my saying so," Kira said, "so do
you. I hear you make quite an impressive Speaker,
Captain."
"Well..." Sisko made a deprecating gesture. "One
does what one must."
Grinning, he led the way out into Ops. Dax was just
coming off her shift, he saw, so he invited her to join
them, and she gladly accepted.
By the time they reached Quark's, their party had
swelled to include Dr. Bashir, O'Brien, and Odo.
Hopefully they'd find a table, Sisko thought, noting
the time.
When he led the way inside, though, he found
business decidedly slow. Half a dozen people sat at
the Dabo tables, and only Morn sat at the bar nursing
a drink. Other than that, the place was deserted.
Quark wandered over, looking a bit sour.
"What's wrong?" Sisko asked, looking around.
"Where is everybody?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Quark grumbled.
"You have one brawl, one terrorist attack, and one
rumor of contaminated Bajoran spice ale--" Sisko
noted the dark look Quark shot at Bashir, who shifted
uneasily and didn't meet the Ferengi's gaze. There
had to be a story there, Sisko thought. They'd worm it
out of Bashir after he'd had a few drinks. "--and all
of a sudden nobody wants to drink here anymore."
"They'll be back," Bashir said.
"They'd
better," Quark said. "And don't think
Vedek Werron isn't getting the bill for my lost busi-
Bess!"
"We need a table," Sisko said.
"Here," Quark said, leading them to a large one by
the door. "Maybe people will notice you sitting here
and come in."
Everyone began calling their orders. Quark hurried
to fill them.
Yes, Sisko thought, it had been quite a week. A
changeling plot had been foiled. An innocent Cardas-
sian had been saved. And best of all, a Federation
informant had been rescued, though Sisko had no
idea if Orvor's information would prove useful. But
best of all, his friends were alive and well and with
him now.
"Drinks," he announced, "are on me."
He grinned. All in all, it had been a very good week,
he thought.
Star Trek - DS9 - Heart Of The Warrior - Book 17 Page 23