by Ted Pedersen
KIDNAPPED!
The Fjori star trader Orak is strictly off-limits as it docks at the repair bay on Deep Space Nine. But Jake and Nog can’t resist the challenge to steal a look at the Fjori star maps and find the secret Fjori home planet, Eden. It’s an adventure—until they’re caught.
Suddenly they’re trapped in the starship, hurtling through uncharted space. Not even Jake’s father, Commander Sisko, can help now! Once they set foot on the forbidden planet, they must remain forever. Their only hope is Vija, a Fjorian girl who asks the Council of Elders to give Jake and Nog the chance to undertake the dangerous three-day Rite of Passage and win the right to leave. But first they must cross the burning desert, scale razor-edge mountains and steal a feather from the monster Graf—while six chasers follow, determined to destroy them on Eden’s toxic turf….
Cover art by Alan Gutierrez
Interior Illustrations by Todd Cameron Hamilton
Trapped!
They had taken less than a dozen steps into the cave when Nog’s foot crunched on something. He stopped to pick it up.
“What is it?” Jake asked
“I don’t think you want to know,” Nog replied as he held the object up so that it caught the wan light streaming through the cave entrance.
Jake took it from Nog’s hand. The Ferengi was right. He didn’t want to know what it was.
What Jake held in his hand was a piece of bone that something had obviously feasted upon. And the moistness told Jake that it had not been very long ago…
He heard it again. The sound that had awoken him.
It was coming from deeper in the cave. A kind of soft padding. Something was in the cave with them—and it was coming in their direction!
Star Trek: The Next Generation
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The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher has received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A MINSTREL PAPERBACK Original
A Minstrel Book published by
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
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Copyright © 1996 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
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First Minstrel Books printing February 1996
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Cover art by Alan Gutierrez
Printed in the U.S.A.
For David Alexander, good friend
and fellow Trekker
STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Cast of Characters
JAKE SISKO—Jake is a young teenager and the only human boy permanently on board Deep Space Nine. Jake’s mother died when he was very young. He came to the space station with his father but found very few kids his own age. He doesn’t remember life on Earth, but he loves baseball and candy bars, and he hates homework. His father doesn’t approve of his friendship with Nog.
NOG—He is a Ferengi boy whose primary goal in life—like all Ferengi—is to make money. His father, Rom, is frequently away on business, which is fine with Nog. His uncle, Quark, keeps an eye on him. Nog thinks humans are odd with their notions of trust and favors and friendship. He doesn’t always understand Jake, but since his father forbids him to hang out with the human boy, Nog and Jake are best friends. Nog loves to play tricks on people, but he tries to avoid Odo whenever possible.
COMMANDER BENJAMIN SISKO—Jake’s father has been appointed by Starfleet Command to oversee the operations of the space station and act as a liaison between the Federation and Bajor. His wife was killed in a Borg attack, and he is raising Jake by himself. He is a very busy man who always tries to make time for his son.
ODO—The security officer was found by Bajoran scientists years ago, but Odo has no idea where he originally came from. He is a shape-shifter, and thus can assume any shape for a period of time. He normally maintains a vaguely human appearance but every sixteen hours he must revert to his natural liquid state. He has no patience for lawbreakers and less for Ferengi.
MAJOR KIRA NERYS—Kira was a freedom fighter in the Bajoran underground during the Cardassian occupation of Bajor. She now represents Bajoran interests aboard the station and is Sisko’s first officer. Her temper is legendary.
LIEUTENANT JADZIA DAX—An old friend of Commander Sisko’s, the science officer Dax is actually two joined entities known as the Trill. There is a separate consciousness—a symbiont—in the young female host’s body. Sisko knew the symbiont Dax in a previous host, which was a “he.”
DR. JULIAN BASHIR—Eager for adventure, Doctor Bashir graduated at the top of his class and requested a deep-space posting. His enthusiasm sometimes gets him into trouble.
MILES O’BRIEN—Formerly the Transporter Chief aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, O’Brien is now Chief of Operations on Deep Space Nine.
KEIKO O’BRIEN—Keiko was a botanist on the Enterprise, but she moved to the station with her husband and her young daughter, Molly. Since there is little use for her botany skills on the station, she is the teacher for all of the permanent and traveling students.
QUARK—Nog’s uncle and a Ferengi businessman by trade, Quark runs his own combination restaurant/casino/holosuite venue on the Promenade, the central meeting place for much of the activity on the station. Quark has his hand in every deal on board and usually manages to stay just one step ahead of the law—usually in the shape of Odo.
CHAPTER 1
Jake stared at the man. He knew that it was rude, but he couldn’t help it. He had never seen a Fjori before. The Fjori was big and possessed a heavy beard. His face was tanned and scarred from the burning rays of a hundred suns and the winds of a thousand worlds. His clothes were loose-fitting, yet he wore them with the same pride that Jake’s father wore his Starfleet dress uniform.
Commander Benjamin Sisko nudged his son, and Jake quickly averted his eyes as the man approached. Sisko offered his hand in a greeting. “Welcome to Deep Space Nine, Captain Vardk. I’m Commander Sisko. This is my son
, Jake.”
Captain Jrl Vardk of the star trader Orak accepted Sisko’s handshake with a firm grip. He nodded at Jake. “I appreciate your allowing us the use of your repair facilities, Commander.”
“Deep Space Nine is here to accommodate any ship traveling through the Bajoran Wormhole.”
“Even a Fjori ship?”
Sisko smiled. “My own ancestors suffered centuries of prejudice on Old Earth. We have that in common.”
Vardk nodded, then added, “But you, at least, no longer have to endure the wrath of your fellows.”
“As long as the Fjori choose to remain outside the system, there will be those who distrust you.”
“You are right, of course, but the people of the Orak, like the Gypsies of your own planet, are destined to be nomads. To forever wander the starways.”
“If that is your choice.”
“That is how it has been since the beginning of our history. It cannot be otherwise.” Vardk spoke as though it were an undisputed truth.
With that, the captain of the Orak turned and walked away. He was almost to the airlock when he stopped, turned and looked back at Sisko. “I suggest that for your peace of mind as well as my own, you put this docking bay off limits while we are here.”
“I’ve already ordered that,” Sisko replied. “You have my word that you will not be disturbed while you and your family are guests on Deep Space Nine.”
Jake watched Captain Vardk disappear around a corner, then he turned to his father. “Does that mean we can’t visit the Fjori ship?”
“I’m afraid it does, Jake. The Fjori are a very private people, and I want to honor their wishes. Docking bay seven is offlimits to everyone while they are here.” He gave Jake a sharp look. “That applies to you and your friend Nog.”
Even though it was the weekend, as soon as Jake left his father, he headed for the space station’s school.
Actually, to call it a “school” was charitable. Keiko O’Brien had converted an empty shop into a classroom, complete with personal computers for the half-dozen station children who were her students.
Jake had initially complained to his father that putting the “little kids” in the same class as the teenagers like Nog and himself was not really proper. But Benjamin Sisko had explained that “one-room schoolhouses” had been the norm in the frontier days on Earth. And Deep Space Nine was definitely the frontier in the 24th century.
Like most things his father told him, Jake accepted it—then went on to research the subject on his own. Usually he found that his father was right.
At the moment what Jake was interested in researching was the Fjori. He set his computer to the task and waited for the results.
He did not have to wait long.
“Search complete,” the feminine voice of the computer proclaimed. Jake had once asked his father why most computer voices were female. His father thought about it a moment, then replied that it might be because the voice of a woman seemed less threatening than that of a man. Since computers, in their early years, were strange and even frightening to many people, perhaps they were given the more comforting voice of a woman.
It made sense to Jake. Even now when he remembered the soft voice of his mother, bad times were easier to endure.
“Display results,” Jake commanded the computer.
A holographic starmap materialized in the front of the room. Jake recognized it as Gamma Quadrant. He expected to see colored dots of light superimposed over the map to represent the Fjord starships in the quadrant. But there were no dots. “Where are the Fjori ships?” he asked.
“The number of Fjori in the charted universe is not known, since only a few have passed through the wormhole in the two years of its operation,” the computer reported. “There is insufficient statistical records in the data files upon which to make a reliable estimate.”
“Why is that?” Jake asked.
“Fjori are nomadic. No record exists of their colonizing a planet, owning a territory, forming a government, or fighting a war. No official records exist because the Fjord themselves have never submitted to a census,”
“In other words,” Jake summed up, “they don’t talk about themselves.”
“Correct,” the computer confirmed. “There is no reliable data on the Fjori in the files.”
“There must be something.”
The starmap changed to focus on a cluster of stars, and on a particular star near the outer edge of the galactic cluster.
“Is that the Fjori home world?” he asked.
“It is a simulation based on legends and folk tales,” replied the computer. “There is no verified record of the location of their home planet. It is not certain that it still exists.
“It is believed that after centuries of wandering across their planet, with the advent of the starship they migrated to the remote regions of space. Here they continued their nomadic ways. They became traders, traveling from world to world—venturing out to the farthest regions of the universe. Their starships—like their wagons of previous centuries—are their only real homes.”
“Computer. Shut up.”
The computer obeyed and the starmap vanished. Jake turned to face the interruption—his Ferengi friend, Nog.
“Why’d you do that?” Jake wanted to know.
“’Cause if you want to know all about Fjori, you’re not going to find it in some musty database.”
“Oh. So you’re an expert on the subject?”
“I am.” Nog flashed a broad smile, the way he did when he was particularly pleased with himself. “In fact, I know quite a bit about the Fjori that isn’t even in the computer.”
Jake had learned to take Nog’s boasts with more than a grain of salt. “Such as?” he challenged.
Nog stepped close and put his arm around Jake’s shoulder, the way he had seen his uncle Quark do when he was about to sell some unsuspecting spacer a share in a Durellian mine in the Lost Quadrant. “I know the way to the secret Fjord home world.”
There was a long pause. Jake broke the silence. “Well. Are you going to tell me?”
There was another pause before Nog smiled. “For a price.”
CHAPTER 2
It was crowded on the Promenade. Seven ships were in port besides the Orak, and the shops were busy. And no place was busier than Quark’s.
Jake and Nog weren’t allowed inside, of course, but they could observe most of the action from one of the kiosks, the small open booths that overlooked the main concourse.
“I’ve never heard of the Fjori world,” Jake said as he munched on his jumja—otherwise referred to by the locals as “glop on a stick.”
“Are you naive or are you naive,” Nog commented. He had already finished his own snack, the “price” he had demanded for his information. For a moment he contemplated trying for a second “glop,” but thought better of it. Jake was an easy mark, but he was also just about the only real friend that Nog had. “The Fjori world is the secret planet where Fjori go once every five years for their Gathering.”
“If it’s a secret,” Jake wondered, “how do you know where it is?”
Nog leaned over and whispered. “I don’t actually know exactly where it is—but I know how to find out.”
“How?”
“The Fjori starmaps.”
“Oh. You’re just going to walk up to Captain Vardk and ask him to show you their maps?”
“Well … not exactly. There is another way.”
Jake knew what that was. “You’re not going to try and steal them?”
Nog feigned shock at such a notion. “Steal? No. Just sneak a quick look.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Jake cautioned. “My dad’s put the Fjori docking bay offlimits.”
Nog leaned back in his chair and said nothing.
Jake knew perfectly well that his Ferengi friend was plotting to get into Docking Bay seven. And he was determined not to get involved in another of Nog’s schemes.
Nog saw the situati
on somewhat differently. As a people, Ferengi were not normally bound by rules. In fact, they generally considered the only reason to have a rule was so that a Ferengi could break it. On the other hand, even his uncle Quark found it unwise to go against Benjamin Sisko.
The station commander was a fair man—unless his rules were violated. Then his wrath was terrible enough to intimidate even a Klingon. On the other hand, Nog knew that his status in the eyes of his uncle and the other Ferengis would soar if he acquired those Fjori starmaps. And he knew there would be an opportunity.Nog only hoped he had the brains to see it and the courage to grasp it.
For the moment, Nog turned his attention to the evening’s activity on the Promenade … where the opportunity the young Ferengi wanted was about to happen.
That opportunity wore the olive-skinned looks and the colorful tunic of a Fjori trader. His name, as they would learn, was Kala, and he was only a few years older than Jake or Nog. He was trying to grow a beard, as did most male Fjori, but so far the attempt had not been particularly successful.
It was doubtful that he was old enough to be in Quark’s, but the enterprising Ferengi barkeeper was never one to ask questions when it might cost him a paying customer.
Kala took a stool at the end of the bar next to a heavyset Bulgani miner. That was his first mistake. He tried to start a conversation with the Bulgani. That was his second mistake. Bulganis are not known as a social race. You would not invite a Bulgani to a formal dinner party, Jake thought. He would be very unhappy, and you would be even unhappier.
Jake and Nog were watching all this from the kiosk. They couldn’t hear what the Fjori was saying, but Nog whispered to Jake that he knew what the Fjori was trying to do. Nog added, with a smile, that he had tried to do it himself more than once.
If there is one thing about the Fjori that earns them a grudging respect from the Ferengi, it is their ability to pull a con. Unfortunately, as Nog was about to observe, this particular Fjori, though full of youthful enthusiasm, lacked the professionalism of a true master of the art.