Demons of Air and Darkness

by Keith R. A. DeCandido

  “Well, it’s been almost an hour since the galaxy was last in danger of destruction.” Vaughn could almost see Ezri’s wry grin. “By the way, the Bajoran Militia has detached the Lamnak fleet to us for the crisis—that’s their ten biggest ships under the command of Colonel Lenaris Holem. I’ve also signed up the East Winds.”

  “The East Winds?”

  “It’s a ship out of Risa. Cassandra—she’s the captain—had some kind of deal going with Quark, but since he’s not here, she’s at loose ends.”

  “So she’s agreed to help?”

  “Yup. She’s, ah, an old friend of Curzon’s.”

  Vaughn decided that he didn’t want to know. “Very well. Carry on, Lieutenant.”

  “Dax out.”

  As Vaughn turned back to the meeting, Ross was saying, “These will be some trying days ahead of us all. I want to keep in constant contact and I’ll be reachable any time you need me. Good luck.”

  Then the room turned back to the default holosuite setting, leaving Vaughn and Kira alone.

  “I’ve called a briefing in ops,” Vaughn said as he followed Kira out of the holosuite.

  “Good.”

  “I love you, too.”Both Vaughn and Kira looked up at that.

  Nog, still standing by at the holosuite control panel in the hallway and now holding a isolinear rod, had heard it, too, through the open door. At the two officers’ questioning glances, he shrugged. “The connections didn’t all break at once. It’s impossible for them to coordinate that perfectly. That was probably a stray transmission.”

  “That sounded like Calhoun’s voice,” Kira said.

  “Well, my understanding is that he and Captain Shelby recently married,” Vaughn said.

  Kira snorted. “Let’s hope she got the message.” Shaking her head, she moved toward the staircase, Vaughn and Nog following. “Two ships. It’s a good thing we heard the entire briefing, otherwise I’d accuse Starfleet of shortchanging us again. Now, though, I’m wondering if they can even spare those two.”

  Vaughn nodded as they went downstairs. As the trio exited Quark’s, Captain Kasidy Yates approached them. The skipper of the civilian cargo vessel Xhosa quickly fell into step with them as they moved across the Promenade.

  Yates, now five months pregnant, was living on Bajor, in the house that had been begun by her husband, Benjamin Sisko, before his disappearance. Vaughn was surprised to see her on the station.

  “How’re you doing, Kas?” Kira asked.

  “Fine. I was up for my monthly prenatal with Dr. Bashir—you’ll be happy to know that everything’s fine—when I heard about Europa Nova. The Xhosa’ s ready to volunteer for evac duty.”

  Nog winced, and looked down at the captain’s belly. “Captain Yates, with all due respect—is that really a good idea in your condition?”

  Yates fixed the young Ferengi with a reproachful glare. “Nog, you say one more condescending word about my ‘condition,’ I swear you will not live to regret it. I’m pregnant. I’m not dying. And I’m still perfectly capable of doing my job.”

  Nog’s eyes went wide and he stammered, “Of—of course, Captain, I didn’t—I didn’t mean—”

  Kira, who had a huge grin on her face, said, “Thanks, Kas. Coordinate with Dax; she’ll fill you in on the details.” Nog looked relieved at the interruption.

  “I’ll be ready, Nerys,” Yates said. Nodding cordially to Vaughn, she said, “Commander,” then gave Nog another withering look before she turned and walked off.

  As they entered the lift, Kira said, “Ops,” then turned to Nog. “Safety tip, Lieutenant: don’t treat pregnant women like they’re made out of glass. I know whereof I speak.”

  “Yes, sir,” Nog said crisply.

  “Besides,” she said more gravely, “we can use all the help we can get.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  The lift arrived at ops, which marked the first time in days that Vaughn had set foot in Deep Space 9’s nerve center. The arrangement of personnel was somewhat different—and more chaotic—than it had been when he was last here. One thing, however, re mained constant: Taran’atar. He stood in the exact same spot in the exact same position on the upper level of ops with the exact same expression on his face. The Jem’Hadar had been sent to the Alpha Quadrant by the Founders of the Dominion as a cultural observer, and it was in precisely that capacity that he maintained his frequent presence in ops. By now, the crew had gotten used to his almost statue-like presence. Sergeant Gan Morr, whose sensor maintenance station was right next to where Taran’atar stood, had been most distressed at first, but now he seemed completely oblivious to the Jem’Hadar’s presence.

  As Kira, Vaughn, and Nog proceeded to the table on the lower level, Dax, Bowers, and ch’Thane did likewise from their stations. Bashir was already sitting on the edge of one of the chairs, portable medikit over his shoulder, poised as if ready to leave at a moment’s notice. “As you know,” Kira said once everyone had settled, “the planet of Europa Nova is suffering a global catastrophe. What appears to be antimatter industrial waste is appearing in increasing quantities in orbit around the planet and the level of theta radiation is rising steadily. We don’t know where it’s coming from, and right now that’s a secondary concern to evacuating the planet. There are three million people on Europa Nova, and they’re all in danger of lethal exposure to the radiation within fifty-two hours.” She turned to Dax. “Lieutenant, what’s the status of our convoy?”

  Dax consulted a padd. “We’ve got the Defiant, the Intrepid, the Euphrates, and the Rio Grande from Starfleet, with the Gryphon meeting us at Europa Nova. We’ve also got four civilian ships: the East Winds —”

  “Cassandra’s ship?” Kira asked, and Vaughn noted the distaste in Kira’s tone.

  Grinning, Dax said, “Yup.”

  “You did say we can use all the help we can get,” Vaughn deadpanned, which earned him a glare from Kira.

  “Fine,” she said with a nod to Dax, “go on.”

  “The other civilian ships are the Ng, the Goldblatt’s Folly, and the Halloran.” She looked up and smiled. “I convinced Captain Monaghan that it was the least she could do after we rescued her.”

  “Add the Xhosa, ” Kira said. “We bumped into Kasidy on the Promenade.”

  “Okay,” Dax said, making notes on her padd. “We can leave here as soon as the Intrepid arrives in two hours. The Lamnak fleet—that’s ten Bajoran Militia ships—will rendezvous with us at Bajor on the way.”

  “So that leaves us with twenty ships?” Kira asked.

  Dax nodded. “A lot of them are cargo ships, or at least ones with plenty of space. I also talked with Minister Lipin and Vedek Eran about arranging for emergency housing for the majority of the refugees on Bajor, and Ensign Ling has started working with Ro’s people to get temporary accomodations set up here.”

  “Good work.” Kira said. “Let’s hope it’s enough ships to get three million people off within fifty-two hours.”

  Bashir leaned forward. “It might well be. Assuming the reports we have on the number of ships available on Europa Nova itself are accurate, and based on the capacity of each of the ships in the convoy, and assuming the current rate of radiation increase, it’s mathematically possible for us to complete the evacuation before we reach fatal exposure.”

  From anyone else, the statement would have been arrogant and presumptuous, but Vaughn was sure that Bashir’s genetically enhanced brain was more than capable of making all the calculations necessary to back the claim up. Turning his gaze on the doctor, Vaughn said, “The problem with mathematical predictions is that they involve variables. And this particular equation is littered with them.” Before Bashir could reply to that, Vaughn added, “Speaking of fatal exposure, Doctor, what’s our medical status?”

  Taking only an instant to switch mental tracks, Bashir said, “I’ve had the lab replicating arithrazine nonstop since we first received the distress call. The Defiant’ s dispensary is already full, and I should hav
e enough for the Intrepid by the time they arrive.”

  Bowers frowned. “I thought hyronalin was the standard for radiation.”

  “Usually, yes, but arithrazine specifically deals with the peculiar side effects of theta radiation. Hyronalin will do in a crunch, but in a case like this, arithrazine is preferred.”

  “Colonel,” ch’Thane said, “I’m not familiar with Europa Nova. They’re not a Federation world?”

  Shaking her head, Kira said, “No, but it’s a human colony. They settled there about a hundred years ago, but never joined the Federation. They actually managed to repel a Breen attack during the war.”

  Several eyes widened at that bit of information.

  “I’m surprised,” Vaughn said, “that you’re not fa miliar with the world, Ensign. Andor has several trade agreements with Europa Nova.”

  “I haven’t been home for some time, Commander,” ch’Thane said quietly.

  Vaughn filed the fact away for future reference. Now wasn’t the time or place to pursue this, but there was significant weight to the ensign’s statement, especially given who his mother was.

  “What about the Sungari?” Bowers asked. “I mean, I realize that runabouts won’t be all that helpful in evacuation compared to the others . . .”

  “No, they won’t,” Kira said. “In fact, the main purpose of the runabouts will be to try to figure out where the radiation is coming from.”

  “And,” Vaughn added, “how it might relate to the gateways.”

  “Gateways?” Bashir and Dax both asked simultaneously.

  Vaughn very quickly summarized the salient portions of the meeting with Admiral Ross, concluding with: “Lieutenant Nog, you and Ensign ch’Thane are to take the Sungari to the wormhole and investigate this phenomenon. There are two encounters with gateways on record: the Enterprise and the Yamato in the Romulan Neutral Zone on Stardate 42609; and the Defiant’ s mission to Vandros IV on Stardate 49904. A third, on Alexandra’s Planet on Stardate 44765, has been partially declassified for this mission. There are also extensive research notes taken by a Professor Chi Namthot at Memory Alpha. You should both become as familiar with those records as time will allow. Your task is to try to figure out why there are no gateways within ten light-years of Bajor and determine if that reason is something we can harness for practical use. At the moment, we have no control over the gateways, and it’s resulted in no small amount of chaos throughout known space.”

  “Those odd reports,” Shar said, nodding. “The presence of Iconian-type gateways would explain most of them—if not all of them, including Europa Nova.”

  “Exactly. If your mission succeeds, we may be able to get some control of our own.”

  “Uh, Colonel?” Nog said tentatively.

  “Yes, Nog?” Kira said.

  Nog held up an isolinear rod he’d been carrying. Vaughn peered at the markings, and saw that it contained a replicator pattern. “I, ah, have something that might help. It’s a shield modulator that I—acquired from the Shelliak.”

  Everyone whirled and stared at Nog. Dax’s mouth was hanging open.

  Bashir asked, “Aren’t the Shelliak among the most xenophobic species in the galaxy?”

  “Xenophobic’s the wrong word,” Dax said. “More like xeno-disdainful. They don’t really fear other species, they just don’t think all that much of them.”

  “How the hell did you manage to make a deal with them?” Bowers asked.

  Nog smiled. “A good Ferengi never reveals his methods.”

  “What does this modulator do?” Kira asked, yanking the discussion back on track.

  “It strengthens shields against the effects of radiation.”

  “That’s handy,” Dax said.

  Nog continued, “The problem with it—and it’s one of the reasons why it isn’t used much—is that it weakens shields’ effectiveness against weapons fire.”

  Bashir said, “That’s not so handy.”

  “Still, in this case,” Kira said, “we need protection from radiation a lot more than we need protection from phasers. Good work, Nog.”

  Beaming, the young Ferengi said, “Thank you, Colonel. We were lucky. I’ve been working on this deal for four months now. I figured this type of modulation might be useful for navigation in the Badlands. It finally arrived while we were in the Gamma Quadrant.”

  A pity Dr. Bashir didn’t have use of it on his mission to Sindorin, Vaughn thought, and he could see by the pensive look on the doctor’s face that he was thinking much the same thing.

  Nog continued. “I can have the modulators replicated and installed on the Defiant and its shuttles, the Euphrates, and the Rio Grande by the time the Intrepid gets here, and their chief engineer should also be able to install one with no problem.”

  “All right, get to work on that, then report to the Sungari.”

  “Yes, sir,” Nog said, and he moved toward the lift. Then he stopped and turned back to Kira. Vaughn noticed that the young Ferengi now had a rather pained expression on his face. “Colonel? If we’re committing all these ships—does this mean we’ve given up searching for Jake?”

  That pained expression flew around the table, particularly to Dax and Bashir. Kira looked like she’d been gut-punched. Where the room previously had the crackling tension of a group of trained professionals about to embark on a complex mission, now ops felt almost like a mausoleum.

  For the past two weeks, Deep Space 9 had been coordinating a sector-wide search for Jake Sisko, the son of the former station commander and also, Vaughn knew, a close friend of Nog. Young Mr. Sisko had last been known to be on his way to Earth to visit his grandfather. But when Captain Yates had contacted Earth, Joseph Sisko had professed no knowledge of any visit from his grandson.

  However, as continued searches had turned up negative, the efforts, of necessity, had diminished. The Defiant was needed to set up the communications array, and Nog—who had been at the forefront of the rescue attempts—was needed to assist Shar in the engineering thereof.

  “We haven’t given up anything, Nog. But we’ve done everything that we can do to look for him. We still have an open call to all ships to look out for him, and Ro’s people have been questioning everyone who comes on-station. The authorities on Earth are looking, too. We’ll find him. But right now, we have to give priority to the three million people on Europa Nova.” As she spoke, Kira’s face hardened up again, and by the time she reached the words “Europa Nova” she was back to her firm, commanding self.

  Kira’s words—and, more important, her tone—had an effect. Nog, Dax, Bowers, and Bashir still looked concerned, but the crackling tension of the immediate crisis had returned.

  Turning to Dax, the colonel said, “Lieutenant, you’ll be in charge of the station while we’re gone. Keep coordinating with Lipin and Eran—we’ll need housing set up for the refugees within the next twelve hours or so.”

  Dax nodded.

  “Commander Vaughn, you’ll take the Defiant. I’ll take Ling and the Euphrates. Bowers, you’ll go in the Rio Grande with Roness.” She looked around the table. “Let’s get to work, people. Dismissed.”

  Good thing we haven’t reopened the wormhole for business yet, Vaughn thought. If that had been the case, the station would probably be full to bursting with ships bound for the Gamma Quadrant. Not that they weren’t dealing with considerable traffic as it was, especially with all the relief ships going to and from Cardassia, but all things considered, their position could be much more difficult.

  As the meeting broke, everyone headed for their stations or the lifts. Vaughn followed Kira up the stairs toward her office. They were intercepted by Taran’atar. “Colonel, request permission to join the mission.”

  Kira seemed to size up the Jem’Hadar. “Any particular reason?”

  “I may be of some use.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. Nor did I know how I might be of use on Dr. Bashir’s mission to Sindorin, yet you yourself said that the mission would
have failed without me. For that matter, I’ve yet to comprehend how I may be of use on this station at all, yet Odo said that I would be. It seems reasonable that I continue seeking ways to make myself useful. Your mission to Europa Nova seems like such an opportunity.”

  I guess he’s getting bored standing around ops, Vaughn though bemusedly. But he makes an interesting point. And it might do him some good to see a Federation rescue mission.

  Kira turned to Vaughn with a questioning glance. Vaughn looked in the colonel’s eyes, and saw that Kira had already made up her mind. She wasn’t looking for his approval, just wanting to know if he had any objection. He shook his head slightly.

  “Fine, you’ll come with me on the Euphrates. Commander, see to it that Lieutenant Bowers knows that Ensign Ling is to remain on the station.”

  Vaughn nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  Taran’atar inclined his head. “With your permission, then, Colonel, I will report to runabout pad A and prepare the Euphrates for our journey.”

  4

  FARIUS PRIME

  “THIS IS SO EXCITING!”

  Quark tried to ignore the bleating of the blond, scantily-clad Bajoran woman walking alongside him down the corridor of the Orion starship. Why did I ever think taking a dabo girl along for show would be a good idea?

  Then he looked at their two escorts, a pair of tall, burly, green-skinned Orion men who kept their eyes primarily focused on the outfit his companion wasn’t wearing, so to speak, and thought, Oh, right—that’s why. The next time he saw Garak he had to once again thank the Promenade’s erstwhile tailor for his amazing work on the dabo girl outfits—every one a masterpiece of textile engineering, they managed to show everything yet reveal nothing.

  Especially useful when you’re dealing with Orions—after all, they appreciate sexy women.

  The only parts of the outfit he thought were a little much were the four large, round tassels that dangled from the waistband of the pants—two on either hip. Those pants had slits on both sides of each leg, showing a generous display of flesh, with the waistband just below the pelvic bone. To Quark’s mind, the tassels detracted from the effect. Still, I suppose they serve a purpose.