Demons of Air and Darkness

by Keith R. A. DeCandido

  The display showed a report from a Starfleet vessel called the T’Kumbra. Quark remembered that as Captain Solok’s ship— the ones who defeated us in that silly human bays-ball game of Captain Sisko’s. The report was incomplete, but one of the items in it was that there were no gateways at all in the Bajoran sys tem—a twenty-light-year-diameter hole in the gateway lattice, in fact.

  Smiling, Quark said, “Interesting that the Iconians didn’t mention this when they were carrying on about how there were gateways all over the galaxy.”

  “Very interesting. I think it’s worth mentioning at the next session, don’t you?”

  Quark nodded.

  A half an hour later, Quark didn’t even sit down before he said, “You told us that these gateways were in every sector of the galaxy.”

  Frowning, Gaila said, “They are.”

  “Really?” Quark stood next to his chair and looked down at Gaila on the other side. “Then why is it that there isn’t a single gateway within ten light-years of Bajor?”

  Gaila, to his credit, barely missed a beat. “What need is there for one? You have the wormhole, after all.”

  “Which was discovered less than a decade ago.” Quark finally sat down. “Whereas the Iconian gateways were—apparently—built around it long before anyone knew it was there. Seems to me that this should have been mentioned at some point.”

  Gaila leaned back. “We’re under no obligation to explain ourselves to you, Quark.”

  “No, but it does make me wonder what other little facts you’ve managed to leave out.”

  “We’ve left nothing out, Quark.”

  Quark regarded his cousin with what he hoped was a penetrating gaze. “You’ve said that before.”

  “It should be pointed out,” Gaila said, “that the Breen, the Romulan Empire, and the Klingon Empire don’t much care if there aren’t any gateways around Bajor. After all, with the gateways reactivated, the strategic value of the wormhole will plunge to nothing. And they’ve all made very competitive offers.”

  “You forget, cousin, that I’m not here on my behalf, but as a representative of the Orions. They don’t care about Bajor, either—they do care about being lied to in a good-faith negotiation.”

  Smiling, Gaila said, “Quark, you’re always working on your own behalf—one way or the other.”

  Quark swallowed, but said nothing.

  “Hig.”

  “Hig here. What is it, Kam?”

  “There’s a problem.”

  “Another one?”

  “This is serious, Hig.”

  “I’m always serious. What’s the problem?”

  y “There’s apparently some kind of flaw in the gateway network. There aren’t any gateways within ten light-years of System 418—the natives call it Bajor.”“That’s where that stable wormhole is, yes?”

  “Yes. I want you to head over there right away.”“Why?”

  “Two reasons. One, see if you can figure out why there aren’t any gateways there. Two, see if the Bajorans or Starfleet or anyone else is trying to figure out why there aren’t any gateways there.”

  “What if they do find out?”

  “Do whatever’s necessary to stop them. We can’t let anything slow these negotiations down. We’re going to have enough problems as it is—the Orions have already complicated things by bringing a Ferengi of their own in. Those two will likely go at it for days. The longer this takes, the harder it will be to maintain the illusion.”“Fine. I’ll take the gateway to System 429 and head to System 418 from there. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  “Good.”

  5

  THE WORMHOLE

  “NOG, CAN I ask you a question?”

  At Shar’s words, Nog turned to look at the Andorian sitting in the Sungari’ s copilot seat. Shar had waited until they had come to a relative stop near the mouth of the wormhole before posing his query.

  “Sure.”

  Shar was still working his console as he spoke. “Why haven’t you asked me about my zhavey?”

  Nog broke into a smile. Shar’s zhavey — apparently, the Andorian equivalent of a moogie —was a Federation Councillor, a fact that had come to light around the same time as that mess with the Jem’Hadar.

  “To be honest, I’ve gotten so sick of people asking me what my father is like, I didn’t think you’d appreciate being pestered with the same question.”

  “Sensors are calibrated—beginning sweep.” Once that was done, Shar finally looked up at Nog. “ Interesting. So people ask you about your father?”

  “All the time. Well, mostly asking how he’s changed. See, that’s the thing, Father lived on the station for ten years before he became Grand Nagus, so everyone knew him.”

  “Interesting,” Shar repeated. Then he looked back down at his readouts. “I’ve done a full scan of the wormhole. Everything’s within established norms. So far I’m not detecting anything that would explain the lack of gateways in this sector.”

  “So it’s probably something natural to the wormhole?”

  Shar’s antennae quivered. “We don’t even know for sure that the wormhole is connected—it’s a vague hypothesis based on circumstantial evidence. I’ve read the data from Starfleet on the Iconian technology and programmed the Sungari computer to compare that to what we receive from these scans to see if there’s any correlation. So far, there’s nothing showing up on sensors that would prevent the gateways from functioning.”

  Nog shot Shar a look. “You went over all the data?”

  “No, I read all the data. Twice. Commander Vaughn did ask us to be familiar with it.”

  Nog blinked. “You read fast.”

  Shar shrugged.

  Nog tried not to let his frustration show. He’d barely had time to look at the data, what with replicating and installing the Shelliak shield modulators, though the latter, at least, he had been able to delegate to other engineers on his staff. Of course, Ezri had to remind him that he had a staff to delegate it to. I’m still thinking like a cadet. . . .

  “With your permission, Nog, I’d like to try a few more specialized scans,” Shar said.

  It took Nog a second to remember that he needed to actually give the order. “Okay,” he said. That didn’t sound like an officer, so he quickly added, “Ensign.”

  Yup, definitely still thinking like a cadet.

  After a few moments, Nog asked, “Actually, I do have a question. What’s it like?”

  “My zhavey, you mean?”

  “Not exactly. What’s it like for you?” When Shar hesitated, Nog added, “It’s just that, all my life, Father’s just been a regular Ferengi—not even that, really. Now he’s the most important Ferengi in the galaxy. It’s kind of—well, daunting.”

  “That is a very good word for it,” Shar said. “The magnetron scan is negative. Trying a positron scan now.”

  “Okay,” Nog said. “It’s funny, but part of the reason I joined Starfleet was so I wouldn’t turn out like my father.”

  That got Shar’s attention. “How so?”

  “Well, at the time, my father was working for Uncle Quark. He was the assistant manager of policy and clientele.”

  Shar looked as befuddled as everyone else did whenever they heard that particular title. “What does that mean, exactly?”

  Chuckling, Nog said, “In practical terms, it meant that Father did whatever Uncle Quark told him to do.” He turned and looked at Shar. “My father is an engineering genius. And he was trapped under my uncle—I didn’t want to be like that. I knew I could do better.”

  “So you did. In fact, I’d say you probably did better than your father.”

  Nog frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sorry, sir, I spoke out of turn.” Shar turned back to his console.

  “It’s okay, Shar, please—tell me what you meant.”

  Shar hesitated. “I’ve seen what your father accomplished once he joined the engineering staff on the station. Those self-replicating mi
nes of his that they put in front of the wormhole probably kept the war from ending badly two years sooner. I just don’t see why he would abandon that to go into politics.”

  Nog adjusted the runabout’s position as it started to drift away from the wormhole. “My father has a chance to change the face of Ferengi culture!”

  Shar looked back up. “Really?”

  “Yes. My father was entrusted with the nagushood and a mandate from former Grand Nagus Zek to bring about major reforms in Ferengi business practices.”

  At that, Nog thought he saw Shar’s antennae move back slightly. Nog wondered if it was an expression of surprise. Shar said, “Well, my zhavey was elected to the position of Councillor with a mandate from the Andorian people to improve our trading positions with non-Federation worlds. It hasn’t happened yet, and she was elected eight years ago. May your father have better luck.” And then Shar smiled.

  “I hope so,” Nog said in all seriousness. “I think he has the potential to make our society even greater.”

  “How so?”

  Shar seemed genuinely curious, so Nog checked the Sungari ’s position, and then began to go into a lengthy explanation of the reforms that Grandmother Ishka and Zek had devised and that Father was supposed to put into action.

  They spent the better part of the day working and talking about it, interrupted by the occasional monitoring of short-range sensors and Shar’s reports of his scans—none of which were of any help regarding the gateways. They paused for lunch—Nog convinced Shar to try a tube grub, which the Andorian didn’t like any more than Prynn Tenmei had—and Shar asked more questions about the reforms.

  “So women are allowed to wear clothes now?”

  “Allowed, yes,” Nog said as he washed a tube grub down with a swig of root beer. “Not all of them do, particularly once you get out of the capital city. But more and more are. If nothing else, it’s cut down on illnesses—which has the doctors in an uproar.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Nog smiled. “Ferenginar in general and the capital city in particular have a very damp climate. Women got all kinds of bronchial infections and things regularly when they’d go out. With more women wearing clothes, they don’t get sick as often, so the doctors do less business.”

  Shar took a bite of his jumja stick. The Andorian had made a point of trying other worlds’ cuisines— which was why he’d been willing to sample the tube grub—and he had developed a particular taste for jumja, much to Nog’s abject confusion. “I have to confess, I never would have thought of the economic implications of women wearing clothes on the medical profession.”

  Laughing, Nog said, “Unfortunately, Father has to. According to his last letter, he’s had to sign off on all kinds of concessions to the medical association.”

  Once they finished eating, they went through the wormhole and ran a few more scans inside, then the same ones on the Gamma Quadrant side. The end result was more of the same.

  It took a while for Nog to notice that Shar had never actually answered his question. That’s the second time he’s danced around it, Nog thought. He considered trying again, then decided that, if his friend didn’t want to talk about it, Nog would respect that.

  As Nog piloted the runabout back into the wormhole, Shar said, “Wait a moment. Computer, is the Kar-telos system within ten light-years of the Gamma Quadrant mouth of the wormhole?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “We are fools. All of us. It cannot be the wormhole that is causing that gap. The Halloran fell through a gateway in the Kar-telos system.”Nog blinked. “You’re right. It’s got to be something else. Well, wait a minute, it could be an unscientific reason.” As Nog spoke, the Sungari came out the Alpha Quadrant side.

  Shar looked at the Ferengi. “What do you mean?”

  “We don’t know what this area of space was like when the Iconians were around. For all we know, there was some kind of treaty with the people who lived here to keep out any gateways.”

  Shar nodded. “Good point. Still, I hope they’re not putting too much hope in this. The chance that we’ll find the one thing—”

  “It’s not our place to assume anything, Ensign,” Nog said sharply. “We just do what we’re told.”

  “I know, and we’re doing it. But it’s getting us nowhere. I’ve done every scan the Sungari is capable of.”

  Nog couldn’t help but agree. They’d spent too long at this as it was. “I’m setting course back to DS9. We can look at the data just as easily there—this way we’ll free up the runabout for Europa Nova if we need it.”

  “Wait.”

  Frowning, Nog said, “What?”

  Shar was touching his left antenna. “The Denorios Belt. It’s full of tachyon eddies, isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “That might be it, then.” Shar called up a record on the viewscreen. It was a Starfleet data record—with, Nog noticed, some information removed. “This is the declassified portion of Commander Vaughn’s mission to Alexandra’s Planet. Tricorder readings showed that for a fraction of a second, there was a disruptive effect on the gateway right around the time they were trying to detect a cloaked Romulan ship.”

  Nog put it together. “Tachyon bursts are used to detect cloaked ships.”

  “Exactly. And it makes sense. The wormhole is a local phenomenon. At its absolute worst, it never has any impact on the space around it outside the range of the Denorios Belt.”

  Picking up the ball, Nog said, “But tachyons move faster than light.” He snapped his fingers, a sudden gesture that made Shar jump. “Sorry, but I just re membered something. A couple of years ago, Captain Sisko re-created a Bajoran solar sailing ship.”

  “Yes, I remember reading about that,” Shar said. “What of it?”

  “That ship got caught in one of those tachyon eddies and wound up in the Cardassian solar system. Later, the Cardassians admitted that the ship the captain based his design on did the same thing centuries ago.”

  Shar’s antennae pulled back again. “Cardassia is within ten light-years of Bajor. Nog, I believe we have a workable theory.”

  “Now we just need to test it,” Nog said. “And it makes a lot more sense than the wormhole. The belt has always been a navigation hazard. That’s why it took so long for anyone to discover the wormhole in the first place.” He smiled and added, “Just don’t tell Colonel Kira I said that.”

  Shar frowned. “Why not?”

  “Adjusting position for best scanning vector,” Nog said, then turned back to the Andorian. “As far as the Bajorans are concerned, the Celestial Temple went undiscovered until seven years ago because the Prophets were waiting for the Emissary.”

  Shar seemed to consider that. “That’s actually a perfectly valid interpretation of the facts. In fact, you could even argue that the Prophets made the Denorios Belt such a navigation hazard in order to keep the temple hidden until the right moment.”

  Nog grinned. “Do you believe that?”

  “Well, I’m not a Bajoran, and I wasn’t raised in that religious tradition, so no, but it’s an interesting hypothesis.”

  “So there’s no way I’m going to convince you that you need to live a profitable life so you can go to the Divine Treasury when you die?”

  Shar said in all seriousness, “Probably not, no. The Andorian afterlife is a bit more—complicated than that, I’m afraid.” He turned to his console. “ Computer, do a detailed scan of the Denorios Belt and then run program ch’Thane Gateway One using that data.”

  “Acknowledged,” said the pleasant, mechanical voice.

  “Sungari to Deep Space 9,” Nog said, opening a channel to ops.

  “Dax here. Go ahead, Nog.”

  “Lieutenant, Ensign ch’Thane and I have developed a working theory for the lack of gateways in this sector. He’s running tests now to confirm it, but we’re pretty sure it has something to do with the tachyon eddies in the Denorios Belt, not the wormhole.”

  “Good work, Nog. I’ll
let Commander Vaughn know.”

  “Thanks, Lieutenant. How’s the rescue mission going?”

  “Slowly but surely. The first contingent of refugees are expected within the hour.”

  “Great. I don’t think we’ll be at this more than another hour, so the Sungari should be available if they need it.”

  “I’ll let Commander Vaughn know that, too,” Dax said. Nog could almost see her smile.

  Sighing, he thought, Dr. Bashir is a lucky man. Aloud, he simply said, “Sungari out.”

  “I think I have something, Nog,” Shar said, looking over a readout on his console. “Based on the records from Alexandra’s Planet, and also some of Professor Namthot’s notes, a compressed tachyon burst should disrupt the gateways, if combined with certain noble gases.” With a smile, he turned to Nog. “All those gases are present in the Denorios Belt. We just need to figure out some way to harness them and combine it with the burst. I’m not sure how we could do that, but—”

  Nog peered at the readout. “Oh, that’s easy. Rig the Bussard collectors on the Defiant —or some other starship—for those gases, modify an intermix chamber to infuse the tachyon burst with them, and then run it through the phaser banks—oh, wait.” He took a closer look at Shar’s display. “No, something like this, we’ll need to run it through the deflector array—the phaser banks would burn out after two seconds.”

  Shar stared at Nog. “If you say so,” he said slowly.

  “One question, though—you said ‘disrupt.’ Disrupt, how?”

  Sighing, Shar said, “I wish I could answer that. We just don’t know enough about how the gateways really work. All of this is pure theory, but at least it’s consistent with the available data. The problem is the unavailable data. That could easily come along and slice off our antennae.”

  “So for all we know, this tachyon burst will make the gateways belch fire or something?”

  Shar’s antennae quivered. “Let’s not be silly. Still, it’s a concern.”

  “Yes, but it’s not our concern. That’s Colonel Kira and Commander Vaughn’s problem. Are you done here?”