Star Trek - DS9 - Heart Of The Warrior - Book 17

by John Gregory Betancourt

  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.