1

Ro Laren stretched out on the cot and studied the ceiling.

She used to be Ensign Ro Laren, Starfleet officer.

Now she was Ro Laren, member of the Maquis cell on Celin 9.

Idly, her mind flitted over the history of Celin.

It had been a colony founded by Terrans and members of a Bajoren refugee camp who dreamed of a better home.

Together they had thought they could make a world where they could live in peace, free from the fear of invasion.

Then Starfleet created the Demilitarized Zone and all the people who had been living under Federation protection suddenly found themselves on their own and prey to the Cardassians.

The people of Celin had tried to make peace with the Cardassians but that had failed, so against their desires for peace they had welcomed the creation of a Maquis cell in one of their villages.

And that was why Ro was in the small village of Shakin on the northwest continent.

In the few weeks she had been a Maquis, she had quickly risen to a trusted position and tomorrow was her proving ground.

A group of Cardassian soldiers had been searching the near-by towns for a rumored Maquis cell and they were quickly encroaching on Shakin.

But Maquis spies had been following them and they had found out that the Cardassians had been attacked and several of their numbers had been injured.

Also they had pinpointed the location where the Cardassians would be stopped for a few days to tend to their wounded and regroup.

And so a plan had been hatched.

Tomorrow at dawn Ro would lead a group of ten Maquis to the site.

After taking out the sentries several concussion grenades would be thrown into the camp, knocking out all organic material.

The Maquis would then move in, steal all useable supplies and blow up the camp.

Ro grimaced in the dark, it was a good plan but still she was nervous.

With a disgusted sigh she sat back up and swung her feet off the cot.

Carefully stepping between the other rows of cots she made it to the door and walked down into the village, intent on finding an available replicator.

Once she found one she stared at it for a minute before pressing several buttons.

With a soft hum the plate materialized and she picked it up before sitting down at an empty table.

However her solitude was broken by the sound of someone flopping down in the chair across from her.

"Hey Laren!"

Ro glanced up from her meal and saw Pat Beckett in front of her, an infuriating grin covering her face.

Pat was young for a human and had only recently joined the Maquis ranks.

Since the first time she had met Ro, she had admired the older Bajoren woman almost to the point of hero-worship.

Ro's best attempts to discourage her had failed and Ro was quickly finding out that Pat was an earnest girl with a good heart.

To good to be a Maquis, Ro feared.

"What are you eating?" Pat asked suddenly.

"If you must know, it's hasperat."

Pat wrinkled her nose, "Yuck, that stuff is too bland for me."

Ro actually stopped eating, "Hasperat is too bland for you?"

Pat ran a hand through her short brown hair and shrugged, "If you want to try something really spicy, try Red Savina chili. My mom used to make it when we visited Earth. The first bite is usually enough to send someone into a coughing fit. One time my dad was eating it and he accidentally bit into a cluster of seeds. He drained three glasses of water in almost a minute."

She laughed at the memory but Ro could see the barely disguised grief hiding behind her cheery exterior.

Both her parents had been scientists in Starfleet and they had both been killed a few months ago when a Cardassian warship attacked the science vessel they were on.

Ro smiled a little at the story, "Actually my dad taught me how to make hasperat before he died."

Ro stopped speaking as she saw the sympathy in the other girl's eyes and braced herself for the string of condolences that where about to be showered upon her.

Pat quickly shoved the sympathy aside and instead changed the topic, "I should probably get some sleep if I'm going to be anything resembling functional by dawn."

"I should too, it won't make much of an impression if the leader for this raid fell asleep mid-mission," Ro joked as she placed her plate in the replicator to be recycled.

Pat was already asleep by the time Ro reached to barracks.

Silently she picked her way back to her cot and stretched out again.

This time she was asleep almost before she closed her eyes.