Stinson stared straight ahead, his face pallid. “You, sir,” he said, his voice coming out in a whisper.
“I didn’t hear you,” Sisko said.
Stinson swallowed, then said, “Sir, you, sir.”
“Good,” Sisko said. “That’s good.”
“Permission to speak freely so that I might apologize, sir,” Stinson said.
Sisko resisted the impulse to smile. The kid’s got perseverance, he thought. And nerve. “Commander,” he said, pulling his tone back to a flat, professional level, “I don’t need an apology. What I need is for you to conduct yourself as a senior member of my staff. Do you think you can do that?”
“Sir, yes, absolutely, sir.”
“Then we won’t need to talk about this again,” Sisko said. “That being the case, I won’t need to mention this incident in my log.”
Stinson glanced quickly down at Sisko, then resumed his stationary stare directly ahead. “Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome, Commander,” Sisko said. “Dismissed.”
Stinson turned crisply on his heel and exited the ready room. When Sisko had been the lieutenant commander’s age—Stinson would turn twenty-eight the following month—he’d been stationed aboard Okinawa under Captain Leyton, happily ensconced down in engineering. He’d had neither Stinson’s ambitions nor his drive. Sisko saw ability there—Captain Ro must have as well—but the question would be whether Stinson could temper his confidence with humility, his desire with patience, and his instinct with experience. He’ll probably end up as Starfleet commander-in-chief one day, Sisko thought. Either that or as just so much dust floating among the stars.
Sisko reached forward and activated the interface on the desk. He’d been about to order the computer to play some of the messages he’d received from Rebecca while he’d been on his previous mission in the Gamma Quadrant, when he realized that those messages remained aboard Robinson. Just as well. He didn’t need any distractions.
But he did feel distracted. Although he’d passed through Adarak on his way to the Vanadwan Monastery, then back to Jake and Korena’s to grab his duffel and say good-bye, and finally up to Defiant, he hadn’t stopped at the courthouse to file the signed dissolution of marriage documents that Kasidy had given him. He would, it had been what he’d sought for all this time he’d been away from her, but he just hadn’t been able to do it that day.
Sitting back in his chair, Sisko thought about that, about Kasidy and Rebecca, and about all the many things that had happened since he’d first encountered the Prophets. He knew—he could feel—that they had no further use for him, and yet still they held sway over his life. For unless he could figure out some way around their warning, or they released him from it, his life could not be what he wished it to be.
Sisko sat in Defiant’s ready room for a while, trying to think his way around everything. He’d done so many times before, without result, but that didn’t stop him from trying again. Finally, though, his mission interrupted his thoughts.
“Bridge to Captain Sisko,” came Stinson’s voice across the intercom. Sisko heard no undue emotion in his voice.
“Sisko here. Go ahead, Commander.”
“Captain, we are approaching our destination.”
“How many Jem’Hadar vessels in orbit?” Sisko asked. If they protected the planet in large numbers, it could make it difficult for him to do what he’d come to the Dominion to do.
“None, sir.”
“Say again.” Sisko could not believe what he’d heard, but even as Stinson confirmed the absence of any Jem’Hadar vessels in orbit of the planet, the captain realized that the success of his mission had likely been jeopardized—perhaps even been made impossible. “Assume standard orbit,” he said as he stood and headed for the door. “I’ll be right there. Sisko out.”
“Long-range sensors,” Sisko said as soon as he entered the bridge. “There have to be Jem’Hadar ships nearby.”
“Scanning,” Stinson said.
On the main viewscreen, a brown orb hung in space, the gas and dust of the Omarion Nebula a hazy backdrop. The rocky world looked dull and lifeless, as it always had to Sisko—but somehow it looked different too. His concern about his mission increased. He reached the command chair, but did not sit.
“I’m reading at least a dozen Jem’Hadar vessels within the Omarion Nebula,” Stinson said. “There may be more, though. The nebula is disrupting the sensors. None of the Jem’Hadar ships are in the immediate vicinity, though.”
“Can you read any life signs on the planet?” Sisko asked.
“Indeterminate,” Stinson said. “There’s a significant ionization effect in the upper atmosphere.”
“Caused by what?” Sisko asked.
Stinson worked his controls. “Unknown, sir. I’ve never seen readings quite like these.”
“Will that have any effect on the transporter?” Sisko wanted to know.
“It wouldn’t be safe to beam down, sir,” Stinson said.
“Then prepare a shuttlecraft for launch,” Sisko ordered. He saw Stinson point to Lieutenant Aleco, who set to work at his station, presumably contacting the shuttlebay. “Lieutenant Tenmei, you’re with me. Commander Stinson, you have the bridge.” As Tenmei secured her station, Sisko waited for his first officer to approach him. “Commander, will communications be possible from the surface?”
“Possibly,” Stinson said. “It’ll be problematic.”
“All right,” Sisko said. “I intend to be back aboard ship within the hour, two at the outside, but just in case that doesn’t happen: Under no circumstances are you to engage in battle with the Jem’Hadar. You can stay cloaked, you can run, but you cannot fire your weapons. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
“If for some reason I don’t make it back to the ship, you are to head back to the Alpha Quadrant, contact Starfleet Command, and inform them of what happened,” Sisko said. “If you are captured by the Jem’Hadar or encounter a Vorta, explain who you are and ask to speak with a Founder. If you meet a Founder, explain our presence in Dominion space and try to find out about their recent contact with the Typhon Pact. Whatever information you learn, take it back to Starfleet.”
“Yes, sir.”
As Ensign th’Shant took over at the conn, Sisko headed for the door, Lieutenant Tenmei falling in behind him. The captain believed in Stinson’s abilities, in his raw potential, but he hoped that those abilities would not be put to the test by the Dominion.
Sisko stood outside Sagan, where the shuttlecraft sat on a high patch of ground that overlooked the Great Link.
Except that there was no Great Link.
As Lieutenant Tenmei had piloted Sagan down through the planet’s atmosphere, Sisko had seen through the forward viewports the barren orb that the Founders had left behind. Beneath the ionization effect, the shuttle’s sensors functioned, confirming the complete dearth of life on the surface. Sisko and Tenmei circled the globe, but they found nothing.
The captain had ordered the lieutenant to land the shuttle anyway. Because when a Changeling takes the form of something else, Sisko told himself, sensors no longer detect it as a Changeling. If the entire Great Link had formed themselves into a layer of rock on the planet’s surface, scans would identify the rock, but not the Founders.
Sisko stood beside Sagan, cupped his hands to his mouth, and called out: “Odo!” The single word echoed across the land. He waited, then tried again. And again. Nobody answered.
Sisko knew that the Founders had gone. They had done so once before, he remembered, abandoning their world for another just before the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar had attempted to wipe them out. Instead, the Founders had destroyed the entire force of twenty Cardassian and Romulan starships.
The captain wondered what had triggered the Founders’ latest relocation. Perhaps another attack. The ionization in the upper atmosphere could have been an artifact of weapons fire leveled at the planet.
It occurred to Sisko
that such an attack could actually have eradicated the Great Link. Or perhaps the morphogenic virus that Section 31 had infected them with during the war had recurred. But if the entire population of Founders had been destroyed or had died out, how would the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar have reacted? Might they have forged an alliance with the Typhon Pact, intending to wreak vengeance upon the Federation?
Sisko needed more information. He had to learn what had become of the Founders, and if they lived, he had to find them. If not, it would become vital to determine who controlled the Dominion, and whether or not they had negotiated with the Pact.
The captain tapped his combadge. “Sisko to Defiant.” He had tried to contact the ship several times from the shuttle, without result. “Sisko to—”
The hum of a transporter filled the air—but not the hum of a Federation transporter. Dominion technology evidently had no trouble negotiating the ionization of the planet’s upper atmosphere.
Sisko turned to see multicolored streaks of light coalescing. He didn’t even bother to draw his phaser. Three Jem’Hadar soldiers materialized in a triangular formation, two in front, one behind. All of them held phased polaron rifles trained in his direction.
Sisko raised his empty hands, palms out. “I’m not here to fight.” It surprised him that he remained both alive and conscious long enough to utter those words. He glanced up at the forward ports in the shuttle and saw that three Jem’Hadar surrounded Lieutenant Tenmei.
The Jem’Hadar stood there and said nothing. Then the soldier in the rear of the triad moved to one side, revealing a fourth member of the group. She stepped forward, between the front two Jem’Hadar, and up to Sisko. A rawboned Vorta, she had a pale complexion and vivid indigo eyes. Dark hair fell past her shoulders and framed her face, her long, ridged ears just visible among the strands. “Starfleet,” she said. “I recognize the uniform.”
“I’m Captain Benjamin Sisko. And you are?”
“I am Vannis,” the woman said. “So if you’re not here to fight, Captain Benjamin Sisko, then why have you come?”
“To speak with the Founders.”
Vannis’s eyes darted for a moment, but the captain didn’t know why. He knew that the Vorta both revered and feared the Founders—the Founders had bred the Vorta that way—but Sisko thought he saw something other than that in the woman’s fleeting expression. Has something happened to the Great Link?
“The Dominion’s borders are closed,” Vannis said. “The Founders do not wish to speak with you or anybody else from beyond our territory.”
“So you are speaking for them?” Sisko asked.
“I carry out the will of the Founders,” Vannis said. “You have violated our borders and are trespassing in Dominion space. I will see to it that you and whatever ship brought you here are escorted away. If you return, you will be killed.”
Sisko understood that the Vorta’s reference to the ship meant that Defiant had not been captured, though Vannis clearly distinguished Sagan as an auxiliary craft. He also recognized that, despite shrouding their society in a veil of isolationism, the Dominion did not have a standing policy of slaughtering intruders. Perhaps Odo had managed to influence his people.
Or maybe the Founders have been killed, Sisko thought again, and so the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar aren’t executing trespassers because they aren’t sure what they should do.
“Actually, I came here to talk to the Founders because somebody else violated the Dominion’s borders,” Sisko said. “I want to find out what happened when they did, and I want to help the Founders ensure that it doesn’t happen again.”
Vannis offered Sisko a smile devoid of warmth and humor. Sisko had seen the same oily expression many times on the faces of the Weyoun clones. “I thank you for your obviously genuine desire to aid the Founders, but that is the purpose for which They created the Vorta and the Jem’Hadar. As you can plainly see—” She waved her arms about to include everybody present in and around the shuttle. “—we are perfectly capable of dealing with trespassers.”
“I’m sure you are,” Sisko said. “But I must speak with a Founder. The safety of my people, and of the Dominion itself, may be at stake.” He allowed himself the prevarication on the basis that if the Founders did ally with the Typhon Pact, any war that followed would be devastating to all sides.
“The Founders are perfectly capable of protecting Themselves, and as I told you, They have no wish to speak with outsiders,” Vannis said. “I do not question Their will; I carry it out. If you are disinclined to permit me and the Jem’Hadar to accompany you out of Dominion space, I’m afraid that we will have to kill you.” She paused expectantly, as though awaiting a response to a most reasonable proposition. Holding her hands together in front of her, she added, “I leave it to you, Captain Sisko.”
Sisko knew he didn’t have much time to make a decision. He also realized that, dead, he would be unable to speak to the Founders. He didn’t know if Vannis truly intended to allow him and his crew safe passage out of the Dominion, or if she just wanted to unmask Defiant so that she could order the Jem’Hadar to destroy it. At the moment, though, Sisko needed more time to convince the Vorta of his intentions. “I guess we’ll leave.”
Vannis smiled again. “Excellent,” she said. “Now that wasn’t terribly difficult or painful, was it?” She motioned toward the shuttle. “Shall we take your vessel into orbit and to the ship that must surely be orbiting there? Then you and your entire crew can leave together.”
Sisko didn’t argue. He headed for Sagan and boarded it, and Vannis followed. When she saw the close quarters within—the shuttle had a normal crew capacity of four—she dismissed the Jem’Hadar outside, who transported away. Keeping Sisko at the back of the shuttle, the Vorta told him to instruct his pilot to return to their ship in orbit, with weapons and shields powered down. The captain did so, and he specifically instructed Tenmei not to attempt either to overpower their captors or to flee.
“We don’t want to fight,” he told the lieutenant. “Remember that we came here to talk.” He peered at Vannis. “If you will just contact the Founders and ask them—”
Vannis nodded to one of the Jem’Hadar soldiers, who jammed the butt of his rifle into Sisko’s gut. The captain doubled over, then dropped to his knees, pain searing through his midsection. One idea after another for escaping occurred to him, but the captain knew that he had to avoid violence at any cost.
“You may have come here to talk, Captain,” Vannis said, “but I’m not in a chatty mood.”
Even through his pain, Sisko thought, Just my luck: I run across the only Vorta in the universe not in love with the sound of her own voice.
Tenmei took the shuttle back into orbit. As Sagan cleared the atmosphere, Sisko saw a trio of Jem’Hadar fighters hovering above the planet. He didn’t know if Tenmei had brought the shuttle into space near Defiant, but if she did, the ship remained cloaked.
“Contact your vessel, Captain,” Vannis ordered. “Tell your crew to show themselves.”
Still on his knees, Sisko reached up and activated his combadge. “Sisko to Defiant.” He received no response.
“Try again,” Vannis said. “Your lives, and those of your crew, depend on it.”
“Then I’m going to tell them our situation,” Sisko said, “if that’s acceptable.”
“Go ahead.”
The captain climbed to his feet. “Sisko to Defiant. Commander Stinson, I need you to decloak the ship. Lieutenant Tenmei and I are carrying three Jem’Hadar soldiers and a Vorta aboard the Sagan. They wish to escort us safely out of Dominion space.”
Defiant did not appear.
The captain didn’t blame Stinson. In his place, deep in Dominion territory, with three Jem’Hadar ships in close proximity, Sisko doubted if he would have trusted orders issued by a captive commanding officer. Stinson had his orders, and so Sisko expected him to take the ship back to the Federation and report what had taken place.
“Captain, if your crew don’t sho
w themselves,” said Vannis, “the Jem’Hadar are going to shoot your pilot. If your ship doesn’t appear at that point, they are going to kill you. Once that’s done, I will call in every Jem’Hadar fighter near the Omarion Nebula and have them blanket the space around this planet with polaron fire. Without your help, we will find your crew, and they will die. With your help, we will find your crew, and they will live.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” Sisko asked, still playing for time, still trying to figure out what to say to convince Vannis to allow him to speak with a Founder.
“I didn’t claim to be telling the truth,” Vannis said. “But what does it matter? If I’m lying, you will die anyway. Your only opportunity for survival is to help me and hope that I’m being honest.”
Under most circumstances, Sisko would never have considered risking the lives of the forty men and women aboard Defiant. But Akaar’s orders had been clear: He considered the ship and crew expendable in the interests of keeping the peace. Fighting their way out was not an option.
The captain tapped his combadge again. “Sisko to Defiant.” He hesitated, but then realized something: He actually did believe Vannis. If her orders had been to kill trespassers on sight, she already would have done so, and then she would have ordered the Jem’Hadar to search for Defiant. “Stand by,” he said into his combadge.
“Captain—” the Vorta started.
“Vannis, I know that you find meaning in your life by serving the Founders,” Sisko said. “But if you kill me, if you murder my crew, you will upset a Founder, you will offend him.”
“My orders are from the Founders.”
“But I am friends with one of them,” Sisko said. “Have you heard of Odo?”
“Odo,” Vannis said. All of the Jem’Hadar turned toward Sisko at the mention of the name.
“Yes,” Sisko said. “Do you know him?”
“Yes,” Vannis said. “Of course I know Odo.”
Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Raise the Dawn (Star Trek, the Next Generation) Page 22