by Olivia Woods
“Trakor’s prophecy, of course,” her double said, speaking to Kira as if she were a small child. “Not to mention a dozen other visions about the coming of the Emissary, all of which cite the same three criteria by which all Bajor would know its deliverer: the one called by the Prophets; the who opens the Temple Gates; and the one to whom the Prophets will give back her life.”
“And exactly how does killing the Kira Nerys of one universe after another fit into your getting your life back?”
If Iliana was taken aback by Kira’s knowledge of her broader plan, she gave no sign of it. “I don’t fault you for not seeing the big picture, Captain. After what was done to me, it took me a while to understand what I needed to do so that I could be whole again. But when I meet the Prophets, they’ll see inside me, just as they did with your Emissary. They’ll understand what I need to get my life back. And I’ll use the Soul Key”—she raised the Shard again—“to find every other Kira that has laid claim to a piece of my soul.”
“And what about Iliana Ghemor’s soul?” Kira asked.
Iliana said nothing at first, then abruptly broke eye contact with Kira for the first time since she had begun speaking.
“You don’t understand. I’m going to be whole. For the first time in my life I’ll finally be whole!”
“Are you trying to convince me of that…or yourself?”
Iliana suddenly grabbed Kira by the hair and slammed her head back against the wall. The impact sent a sharp pain into Kira’s eyes. “Don’t push me, Captain. There are others here I could make suffer along with you.”
“Yeah, you could,” Kira said. “You could do the same to everyone I care about, and extend that cruelty to every Kira in creation. But it won’t make you whole, Iliana. It’ll never make you whole. You’re chasing a sick, twisted idea of who you’re supposed to be. And in the end, you’re going to crash and burn.”
Iliana smiled. “Bravely spoken. But a lot has happened since you were captured, Captain. You see, after I retook Terok Nor, I decided to borrow a page from your own book, and I coerced Smiley into doing the very thing you commanded of your O’Brien, on the day that your wormhole was discovered: propel the station toward the Denorios Belt. It has a pleasant symmetry, don’t you think? And if my calculations are correct, we should arrive at the Temple Gates within the hour. So you see, I’m already well on my way to becoming whole again.”
With an almost carefree stride, Iliana exited Kira’s cell. At once one of the two Klingon guards activated the force field barrier that sealed the tiny room.
“But don’t worry,” Iliana finished as she left the holding area. “I’ll be sure to give the Prophets your warmest regards.”
18
“We have arrived,” Kurn announced.
Iliana turned away from the starfield displayed on the ops holoframe and smiled. “All stop,” she commanded. “Hold this position, and have your men bring Winn and Jaro to operations immediately.”
From where he stood at the situation table, Kurn issued the orders, then returned to the task of checking the readings that were coming in. In a displeased tone he told Iliana, “There is little out here but charged plasma and cometary ice.”
“Open your mind, General,” Iliana said, grinning as she gestured toward the starry expanse displayed on the holoframe. “Some of the greatest treasures of the universe are those we can’t even see.”
“An enlightened perspective, I’m sure, Intendant,” Kurn mocked, showing her the points of his filed teeth. “But I prefer the tangible. You assured me that the effort of moving this space station would be worthwhile.”
“It will be,” Iliana assured him. “Come, Kurn. We’ve come this far together. Surely you wouldn’t turn back now, this close to the prize?”
“Very well,” said Kurn, the expression on his face leaving no doubt that his patience was nearing its end. “How do you wish to proceed?”
“The next part is for me alone,” Iliana said. “Is the River of Blood ready?”
“My personal craft was transferred from the Negh’Var before we broke orbit, as you requested,” the general said. “It is standing by at shuttle pad three.”
“Good. It’ll be necessary to conduct the final phase of the search by ship, since the stresses created by the wormhole will rip the station apart if we venture too close.”
“We should not have left our fleet in orbit of Bajor,” Kurn grumbled. “They might have been able to pinpoint exactly where—”
“Your fleet was left in orbit to provide needed assistance while Bajor recovers from the destruction of Ashalla,” Iliana reminded him. “Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the value of such goodwill. The Bajorans will remember who helped them during this time of crisis.”
“Bajor will remember who is responsible for that crisis, Intendant!” a voice shouted across ops.
Iliana greeted Winn Adami and her husband with a smile as two guards escorted them off the turbolift. “And well they should, Winn. But when I return to Bajor, I promise you the rebels will know justice for the massacre they committed.”
Winn and Jaro both glared at her in undisguised contempt as the Klingon guards brought them before her.
“We know who was really responsible for Ashalla, Intendant,” the doctor said. “Just as we know who you really are.”
Iliana scoffed. She showed them the Paghvaram. “Do you also know what this is? And what I’m about to do with it?”
Anger blazed in Winn’s eyes. “Yes,” she grated.
“Then I’m certain you both must realize why I’ve brought you here now. The hour for which your movement has waited all these years is finally upon you. You’ll be Bajor’s witnesses to the opening of the Temple Gates. And you’ll both affirm the coming of the Emissary. ”
“You will never be the Emissary,” Winn said.
“There’s no one left to block my Path, Winn,” Iliana said.
“General!” the officer manning sciences called out. “I’m picking up unusually high proton concentrations, as well as a localized presence of verteron particles.”
Iliana’s head snapped toward to the holoframe. So soon? But we shouldn’t be close enough to trigger—
And suddenly there it was, flowering before her eyes as if it sensed she was near; the cerulean bloom that had been the object of her quest opened to her, its petals of shimmering brilliance spiraling rapturously outward, beautiful and beckoning—
Yes! Yes, I’ve done it! I’VE DONE IT!
—and something came out of the maelstrom’s glowing center.
“Sensor contact, dead ahead!” Kurn shouted. “Intendant—it’s Defiant!”
And as the first salvo of pulse phasers slammed against Terok Nor’s shields, Iliana screamed in outraged surprise.
“Attack Pattern Delta! Give it all you’ve got, Prynn!” Ezri Dax shouted as she leaned forward in the command chair. “Sam, target their shield emitters! Fire at will!”
Behind her at tactical, Sam Bowers let fly with continuous salvos of pulse-phaser fire while Tenmei maneuvered Defiant for its close-quarters attack upon Terok Nor.
Dax quickly tapped her right-hand command console. “We’re in the thick of it now, Nog. Make sure your team keeps up.”
“Understood, Captain. We’ll keep her together.”
“I’m counting on it, Nog. Bridge out. Sam, what’s the word on the hostiles?”
Defiant was jolted by a disruptor strike. “Other than the station? I read a dozen Klingon ships in orbit of Bajor, too far away to be a problem any time soon, but it looks as if they’ve already started to break orbit. ETA two hours.”
Their ship shook again. “Keep up the attack,” Dax ordered. “We need to get those shields down!”
“Their shield strength is down to sixty-eight percent,” Bowers reported. “A few more minutes and—”
“Not fast enough,” Dax said. “Arm a quantum torpedo. Target the zenith of their shield envelope, above the upper pylons. It’s our best chanc
e of punching a hole with minimal risk to the station.”
“Right…. Torpedo armed…. Target acquired.”
“Fire!”
Her eyes locked on the viewscreen, Ezri brought up her hand to shield her eyes as Terok Nor’s invisible shell of force flared to near-blinding brightness before blowing out.
“Their shields are down,” Bowers said, unable to hide his own astonishment.
“I’m in the room, Sam.” Dax said. “Try not to sound so surprised.” The ship buckled beneath her as it took another hit.
“Readings coming in from the station,” Ensign Tariq Rahim reported from sciences. “Approximately seven hundred distinct life signs, mostly human and Klingon, with a small percentage of other species present as well. The Klingons seem to be the only ones with any degree of mobility, and are scattered throughout the station. The rest are confined to the Docking Ring.”
“Prisoners?” Dax asked.
“That would be my guess, Captain. I’m also picking up Captain Kira and Commander Vaughn’s combadges.”
They’re on the station? That makes things a little less complicated, Dax thought. “Can you confirm their location?”
“Operations. The station commander’s office. But there are no human or Bajoran life signs in close proximity to the combadges.”
Dax cursed. So either they’re dead, or their badges were removed and they’re somewhere else. “Any luck pinpointing a Jem’Hadar life sign?”
“Negative,” Rahim said.
“Keep trying.” She tapped her combadge. “Dax to Bashir.”
“Go ahead,” came the reply from sickbay.
“How’s our guest doing, Julian?”
“She’s with Chief Chao, and ready to go when you give word.”
“Stand by. Prynn, we need a window of time to lower our shields and beam over Ghemor. Recommendations?”
Tenmei didn’t hesitate. “Our best option is to make a run at the station from the ventral side, move up toward the fusion core, and slip between the Habitat Ring and the Docking Ring. We’ll be most vulnerable as we pass the defense sails on that arc of the Habitat Ring, but we may be able to knock them out on approach.”
Dax managed not to laugh. “You up for that, Prynn?”
“Hell, yes,” Tenmei said.
“Sam?”
“You’re not serious.”
Dax was knocked back against her chair as Defiant took another hit. “If you have a better suggestion, now’s the time to make it.”
“You don’t pick the easy ones, do you?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Dax asked. “Can you do it?”
“Take out the defense sails? Maybe the lower one. The upper one could be a problem, since it’ll be partially obscured by the Habitat Ring during our approach. But if Prynn can manage a straight pass, there’s at least a chance I could hit both of them.”
“No promises,” Tenmei said.
“All right, enough chatter,” Dax snapped. “Tariq, where’s Taran’atar?”
“Still no confirmed biosigns,” Rahim said, shaking his head. “And I can’t get a reliable reading on any quantum resonance signatures.”
Ezri cursed. “Dax to Chao.”
“Go ahead.”
“We can’t locate Taran’atar, Jeanette. We need to move on to Plan B. But stay on your toes. It’s likely to be a bumpy ride.”
“Understood.”
“Iliana, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
“I just wanted to say…good luck.”
“To you as well.”
Dax got up from her chair and moved to stand behind Tenmei’s seat at the conn station. “Let’s do this, then. Prynn, commence run.”
The roughly spherical shape of Terok Nor seemed to rotate as they swept beneath it. The station’s spiral wave disruptors tracked with them, hammering their shields as the ship moved from one cone of fire to another until she was looking directly up at the fusion core. Completing its arc, Defiant swiftly straightened out and shot forward.
“Bowers, drop shields and fire at will!” Dax ordered. “Chao, you’re on! Energize!”
Subjectively, Defiant’s passage seemed to take forever. In actuality, it took precious few seconds for Tenmei to execute her run as Dax fought panic at the sight of the station’s glowing red fusion core rushing toward her. It veered away at the last moment, replaced by a near miss with a crossover bridge while the first approaching defense sail lashed out at her with disruptor fire. Bolts of energy from Defiant’s pulse phasers rained on the weapons array, finding their mark as the clawlike tower tore free of the Habitat Ring in a cloud of tumbling debris.
The phasers missed the upper sail.
Struck point-blank by spiral-wave disruptors, the entire vessel seemed to scream with the impact as unshielded ablative armor vaporized on Defiant’s ventral side, exposing the naked hull beneath as she continued forward, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of the upper pylons.
Then there was only black space and stars on the viewer, and Defiant was clear of the station.
“Raise shields!” Dax ordered. “Damage reports!”
The news wasn’t terrible. Despite the beating she’d taken, Defiant was still in prime fighting shape. Terok Nor was a wounded giant; it still had teeth, but it couldn’t pursue them.
“Dax to Chao. Report.”
“Transport successful. Package is away.”
Dax allowed herself a small sigh of relief, thinking that the only problems that remained now were subduing Taran’atar, capturing Ghemor’s counterpart, ascertaining whether or not her commanding officers were alive, and safely returning home…all before those Klingon ships on their way from Bajor arrived in less than two hours.
“Easy-peasy,” she muttered to herself.
19
“We’ve lost shields!” Kurn shouted. “Intendant, what are your orders?”
Iliana stood frozen as Terok Nor quaked around her. This can’t be happening. My Path leads here. I’m fated to be the—
“Fire reported in Upper Pylon Two, near the emergency oxygen tanks,” one of the Klingons called out. “Suppression system offline.”
“Blow the emergency ports,” Kurn ordered. “Vent the pylon, before those tanks explode!”
“General, we have personnel inside the—”
“Do as I command!” Kurn roared. “Weapons, target that ship and fire at will!”
Another jolt shook the station. Beside her, the Klingon at engineering struck his head against a bulkhead and fell to the deck, either unconscious or dead. The station sustained still another resounding strike, which flung Iliana hard against the engineering console; she grunted as she fought to prevent herself from toppling over it.
Engineering. Thruster controls. Navigation.
“Lower Defense Sail one has been destroyed,” someone reported behind her. “Turbolifts are offline stationwide. Habitat Ring has sustained heavy damage to Sections Four through Nine, Levels Five and Six. Several compartments have opened to space.”
The Habitat Ring. No. Oh, no…
“General, thrusters have fired—the station is moving again!”
“What? On whose authority—?” Kurn shouted. He turned toward the engineering station, where he saw Iliana hunched over the console. “What are you doing?”
“They aren’t going to stop us,” she vowed. “We’re too close now for that.”
“General, she’s put us on a course for the wormhole!” the weapons officer said.
Kurn moved up the steps toward her. “Are you insane?”
“Keep your place, General!”
“No,” Kurn said, drawing his d’k tahg. “I’ve had enough of your madness. No more. This farce ends now.”
Iliana’s eyes narrowed. She backed away, forcing Kurn to follow, allowing his large frame to eclipse her view of the other five Klingons in the ops center. Then she stopped and gave him an opening.
He took the bait, thrusting his knife as she broug
ht up her hand and captured his wrist. Kurn continued to grin, pushing his blade toward her neck as if he were only toying with her. With her other hand she reached for her disruptor, and of course he caught her arm with his free hand and kept her weapon angled well away from him.
Of course, that meant he now had both hands full, and she had armed herself.
Kurn leaned in, clearly savoring the slow, incremental progress his knife was making toward Iliana’s skin. His grinning face was aligned alongside the hilt of his d’k tahg—and, not coincidentally, right beside Iliana’s gripping hand.
A subtle motion of her wrist was all it took. The spring-mounted blade hidden in her sleeve deployed, biting deep into Kurn’s neck. The general’s eyes went wide as her blade abruptly sliced through artery and bone and spinal cord as though they were made of paper. The general’s dying, twitching body slumped heavily against her much smaller frame.
Using Kurn’s body as a shield, Iliana raised her disruptor and fired on the remaining Klingons in ops. Three of them got off shots of their own before they fell; two of those were rendered harmless by Kurn’s broad back, which now sizzled under the thermal onslaught, while the third shot missed her entirely.
A few heartbeats later, she was the last one standing in ops—or at least the last one standing under her own power.
Her nose twitching in disgust, Iliana shoved Kurn’s partly roasted corpse away from her. It landed with a moist thud on the steps that led to the engineering station and rolled to a halt on the deck. Panting at the exertion, she took a moment to recover her wind.
I’m running out of time, she realized as she glanced at her chronometer. She touched her communicator patch and spoke breathlessly into it. “Kira to Taran’atar.”
No answer came back.
“Taran’atar, this is the Intendant. Come in.”
Still nothing. Damn him, where is he?
“Taran’atar, this is a direct command,” Iliana said as she recovered a couple of extra disruptors from the nearest fallen Klingons. “Go immediately to Airlock One, on the Docking Ring. Wait for me there.”