III.

"What do you want?"

"He's altered course several times, and the signal is getting difficult to track." Geordi said.

"He's avoiding major transit routes and staying well out of range of any starships." Anna added as she leaned over the control table. She wiped her sleeve across her forehead in a subtle motion, but Lore saw it. She had not slept in almost two days now. He thought to encourage her to do so, again, but knew it would be pointless. She would only refuse.

Geordi looked up at Lore with a tense expression, "You're sure about this heading?"

Lore nodded, "He keeps changing course, but all of his corrections continue to lead him toward the same heading. He's feigning, but not well enough. I can see where he's going."

Geordi sighed heavily and ran his hand over his close cropped hair roughly, "If he makes it through the wormhole, to the Gamma Quadrant…." Geordi trailed off.

"What?" Lore pressed. Picard had already insinuated something about that, but had thought better than to give Lore the whole statement.

"We can't follow him." Geordi said tersely, "No Starfleet vessels enter the Gamma Quadrant without expressed permission, and only then on research purposes. The Dominion would see it as a provocation to restart the war—."

"I couldn't care less what he Dominion thinks about anything! I'll go myself, with my own ship." Lore allowed himself a quick, satisfied smile, for he had been pretty convincing when he argued with Picard about placing his personal vessel in the now vacant runabout birthing. He hadn't told any lies, for his vessel really was superior and had some tricks on board that might throw even Data. He continued, "Besides, we…we don't even know if the wormhole is his objective."

"Oh, come on!" Geordi said, tossing up his hands, "You think Maddox would be directing them to go to Bajor? Or maybe Deep Space Nine, a Starfleet controlled station? The wormhole is the only thing that makes sense, and it's pretty obvious why the manhunt for Maddox has been unsuccessful. He's been in the Gamma Quadrant."

Lore sneered and looked away, simply because he did not want to believe it. Believing it, and it therefore being true, would only make capturing Data and B-4 all the more difficult. The Gamma Quadrant was an unknown entity, even to him. He had never been there, and he wondered what Picard would do if Data did make it through the wormhole. Would he flout orders and follow, or would that be it?

It sure as hell won't be it.

"We'll be approaching Deep Space Nine any minute." Anna said. She reached across the table and touched Lore's hand, causing him to look up at her. She smiled encouragingly, "The station has a magnetic shield that can keep the wormhole from forming a stable opening. They won't let them through."

He smiled back, but once again that heady sense of doom permeated him. Hadn't Data—or B-4, whatever—taken out the Titan's engines with hardly any effort, and with a runabout no less? That would certainly make it into the Starfleet Academy curriculum! He supposed there was one very lucky aspect if the Gamma Quadrant was their final destination; the wormhole was the only way to get there. It would take a century just to reach the outer edges of the Gamma Quadrant under normal propulsion, and by then Maddox would be long dead.

The ship dropped out of warp, creating a vibration through the deck that only Lore, and probably LaForge, recognized. They would be coming into orbit of Deep Space Nine now, for Picard had taken his advice and decided that cutting B-4 off at the pass was the best option. They were never going to catch him by following weak signals and trying to keep up with his numerous course corrections. They would have to wait for him.

"Picard to Lore. Report to transporter room two."

Lore sighed and smacked the combadge he had only just recently begun wearing, "Why?"

Anna grumbled something and shook her head.

There was a pause, then, "I'm not going to ask you again, Lore. Unless you want to spend the rest of this mission in your quarters, I would suggest you get up here. Now."

Lore muttered something about tyrants and tapped the channel closed. Anna sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Why do you have to do that?" She said, "You may not have a rank yet, but he is your commanding officer, Lore."

Oh, how that realization rubbed him the wrong way! "He is not my commanding officer, and I don't see why I should—. Wait. What?"

"What?" She said, shifting her eyes suddenly.

"I don't have a rank 'yet'? What does that mean?"

Anna mumbled something unintelligible and shook her head just before Geordi came sweeping out of the control room.

"Lore! Get up to the transporter room!" Geordi huffed, "Their waiting for you!"

Lore shot him a nasty glare, but closed out his console nonetheless. If they were going down to the station, he would at least be able to see if their security was up to par. What was 'par' where Data was concerned anyway?

Me.

"Fine." Lore rolled his eyes and passed close to Anna has he headed out. He leaned in and whispered, "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make things difficult for you with Picard."

Anna made an amused kind of smirk and said, "The Captain isn't the sort to spread blame. You're only making things hard for you."

"I'm going to ask you again what you meant." He warned her, "You know I don't forget things."

Anna's smirk became even more pronounced now, "Oh, yes you do. You may not actually forget, but things do slip your mind."

He frowned and narrowed his eyes, but she merely shrugged and looked back to her work. Lore leaned forward, forcing his face in front of hers. He smiled, "Such as?"

"Lore! The transporter room!" Geordi practically snarled. After months and months, Geordi was probably getting tired of having to answer for Lore's general surliness and disobedience, for it wasn't as if anyone had asked Geordi's opinion when Lore became a kind of default member of the engineering crew.

Anna smirked again and said, "Yes, Lore. The transporter room. Now!"

"This isn't oooover…." He said in a sing-song voice as he made his way toward the exit. In the midst of everything, he found himself smiling. While he was on his way to a space station to make some attempt to save his brothers' lives, he was actually smiling. It was just one of the many reasons why he loved Anna Hall. Still, it did not take long for the reality of the situation to once again take hold, and by the time he reached the transporter room his face was a stone mask.

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Lore was familiar with stations like Deep Space Nine, for he had actually visited several Cardassian stations in his previous life. Previous life being a kind euphemism that had become a sort of established phrase within Anna's family, since her sister Amy had made it up one evening. Asking Lore about his past was a minefield, but the Halls seemed unable to resist. So, in his previous life, he had had dealing aboard such places. He knew the layout well enough, though he suspected Starfleet and the Bajorans had made substantial alterations.

"Where do you house the magnetic field generator for destabilizing the wormhole?" Lore demanded as he began scanning the room. They had just exited the turbo life onto the command deck of the station.

An athletic Bajoran woman with short red hair and narrowed eyes stepped down from the upper platform. She wore a Starfleet uniform and sported the rank of Commander on her collar. She gave Lore an irritated look before turning to Picard.

"Captain Picard, I got your emergency message a few hours ago. Let me assure you that we have everything under control. The last scheduled ships made their entry less than an hour ago, and I've already shut down all traffic. Worf." She made a professional nod in the Klingon's direction, "It's good to see you again."

"You as well, Commander." Worf replied.

"Thank you, Commander Kira." Picard offered, "I've ordered the Enterprise to set up position near the mouth of the wormhole. As I explained in my message, Commander Data is not to be underestimated. If there is any way to get through that wormhole, he'll find it."

Kira shot a quick glance in Lore's direction, frowned, and said, "I take it that's why he's here? To give you some insight into what Commander Data is capable of, right?"

Lore rolled his eyes, "I am here to keep my brother from going to his death. Now, where is the control room for the field generator?"

Kira folded her arms across her chest and shook her head, "I'm sorry. That's classified information."

"What!" Lore narrowed his eyes angrily.

Kira turned to Captain Picard, "Captain, I'm sorry, but this station is under dual control with the Bajoran government and information like this is heavily restricted. We couldn't allow such information to become public for security reasons."

Lore laughed bitterly, "It's going to become public all right when Data gets here and goes straight to disable your field generator. I might be able to stop him if I can wait for him there."

Kira's eyes widened, "That shield generator is so well hidden it took a team of Starfleet security experts six hours to find it, and then it took them another three hours just to get in the room."

Lore waved a dismissive hand in her direction and turned toward the turbo lift.

"Where are you going?" Picard demanded.

"I'm going to find the field generator and gain access to it." Lore replied, "In less than six hours, believe me."

"Do that and I'll have you arrested!" Kira declared, once again folding her arms and shaking her head, as if Lore was the greatest idiot she had ever met.

Lore smirked, "Great. Then you'll be able to see how useless your security personnel will be against Data too." He backed into the turbo lift.

Kira glanced at Picard and Worf, no doubt wondering if they were going to say anything. Finally, Picard sighed and said, "Lore, if Commander Kira issues an arrest warrant for you, I will be obligated to help her carry it out."

Lore's eyes widened for a just a moment, and he was absolutely certain he saw the hint of guilty delight in Picard's eyes. It was very subtle, for that was Picard. Subtle. The delight in Worf's eyes, however, was about as subtle as a plasma fire. He couldn't help himself, and he said, "You would do that?"

"Absolutely." Worf replied.

Picard raised his hands, "Data is not going to get past that field."

Lore hesitated, shifting his weight. Damned if he didn't want to tell each of them, individually and in his own special way, to go to hell, but the last thing he needed was to be locked in a holding cell when Data and B-4 did finally show up. And they would show up. Of that, he had no doubt. Why was it that everywhere he seemed to go he was threatened with arrest? This was getting boring.

"I'm not going back to the Enterprise." He said through clenched teeth, "Once they discover the field, they will try to disable it, and I'm going to be here when they try."

"They?" Kira said with a frown. Picard gave her a shake of his head, indicating that he would explain later. Kira sighed heavily and said, "Fine. By all means. The promenade is at your disposal."

Lore connected eyes with Commander Kira and could not help but think of Buel Kala, the Bajoran woman who had helped Narok Reed to kidnap Anna and almost murder her. Of course, in the end he owed his life and Anna's to her and her last minute change of heart. Kira struck him, for some reason, as being just as hard, and he wondered what he had done in his previous life to piss this one off too. Maybe nothing. Maybe she was just like this with everyone.

"The promenade?" Lore spat. "You expect me to wait in a bar?"

Kira shrugged her shoulders, "You're a civilian. You don't even have clearance to be up here. It's the promenade or nothing." She faced Picard, "I'm sorry, Captain, but I don't get much leeway around here with personnel access. If he had a field commission or something I could—."

Lore actually burst out laughing and backed into the turbo lift. "Don't hold your breath, Commander. Just take this advice. Don't post security personnel at the access point to the field generator. They won't be able to stop Data anyway, and I have no idea if he will hesitate in killing them."

Picard's eyes widened before he frowned angrily, "That is a ridiculous proposition."

"Is it?" Lore said, suddenly serious. "The only other person to use this homing device was my father, and he had sound ethics and morality. He no doubt issued basic ethical guidelines along with the objective of arriving at the final destination. Do you think Maddox would have done the same thing?"

Picard closed his eyes for just a moment, for the possibility had truly not occurred to him. It presented other, horrible possibilities. If Lore was right, and Data and B-4 had no ethical limits hindering them, they might try to hurt or kill someone, which might leave Picard with a very difficult choice.

Lore stepped fully back into the turbo lift and folded his arms across his chest, "It's not so pretty now, is it? I'll be on the promenade, Picard, not drawing attention to myself and causing a general disturbance."

Kira balked.

"Oh, what?" Lore said sarcastically, "You didn't think that was going to happen?"

"Lore, damnit—!" Picard began.

"Relax, Captain. I'll be good. When am I not?" He smirked one last time as he pressed the panel and sent the lift cascading down. Truthfully, he was in no mood for this game. He had no interest in causing a seen or doing any of the other diversions that brought him so much amusement, but the other option was to stew angrily until he broke the rules and wound up in a holding cell. Anna was right. He had no rank, but he still had to do things he didn't want to do if he wanted to remain about the Enterprise with her. If Picard ever ejected him, he knew Anna would give up her career to be with him, and he wasn't prepared to let her do something like that.

For now, it was the rules. The stupid, human-controlled, bullshit rules.

Great.

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"This feels a little ridiculous." Anna muttered as she peered out into the promenade and through the large viewports facing the wormhole. There was no vessel traffic outside at the moment, since the wormhole had been shut down for several hours.

"What does?" Lore asked, though he suspected her answer.

She sighed, "This. We're waiting for Data and Bee to show up and do God-knows-what to get through that wormhole and we're…sitting in a bar? I feel like we should be doing something."

"I know, but the station commander won't let me anywhere near her precious field generator, and other than that there isn't much to do." He said, "I considered returning to the Enterprise but the shield generator could interfere with transporting back if necessary. I have to be here when he arrives."

Anna nodded. She knew, and despite the fact that they were indeed sitting on high-chairs next to a bar, there was nothing casual about what was going on. They were waiting for what could possibly be one of the worst moments of their lives, or at least Lore's. Anna glanced at him and could see the worry he was trying to keep from his face, and it was well founded. He had told her about the possibility that Data and Bee might not have any moral restraints to killing anyone, and the Deep Space Nine crew would be less reticent about firing first if it came to that. Anna didn't want to think about what might happen if the worst came to pass. How would Lore react? What would be do?

She shuddered and picked up the synthehol drink she had been nursing for nearly a half hour. The ice had melted and the drink had gone flat and waterlogged.

"Allow me." Said the bartender, who slid a fresh drink in Anna's direction.

Lore looked at the Quark, the Ferengi proprietor of the establishment, with a lightly veiled suspicion. The man had been overly attentive since their arrival, and Lore was rather certain he had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Oh, no thank you." Anna said, sliding the glass back, "I only brought a few slips of latinum with me."

"Bah!" Quark waved a hand, "It's on the house."

Now Lore knew the man was eavesdropping. A Ferengi was more likely to cut off his own finger than give something away for free. And then he would try to sell the severed finger.

"What do you want?" Lore said flatly as he leaned back in his chair.

Anna glanced at Lore before returning her gaze to Quark. She gave him the same suspicious look.

Quark twisted the towel in his hands and looked around for a moment, which was not exactly the most subtle motion in the world. Finally, he leaned over the bar with shifty eyes, "Tell me what's going on. Colonel Kira hasn't said a word about why the wormhole is shut down, and I've got customers who are starting to get nervous. There's talk of the Dominion building up a fleet on the other side."

Lore rolled his eyes and made some kind of exasperated groan. Anna shook her head quickly, "No, it's nothing like that. We're trying to stop someone from entering the wormhole at this end."

"Is it classified?" Quark went on. He was now leaning so far over the bar that Anna drew back, taking her drink along with her, "Who is it? Some kind of fugitive?"

Anna shook her head and was about to issue another vague correction, when Lore touched her arm meaningfully. She glanced at him as he leaned toward Quark and grinned.

"A fugitive? Absolutely. In fact, the most dangerous fugitive you could possibly imagine. I've been trying to warn your station commander, but she doesn't want to listen. He'll be here soon and he will do what he has to do to shut down the station's disruption field so that he can reach the Gamma Quadrant."

Quark's jaw fell open and he looked swiftly from side to side, as if trying to see if anyone else had overheard. The man's eyes virtually twinkled with the elicit information.

Anna leaned close to Lore, her brow wrinkled up in confusion. She whispered, "What are you doing?"

"Causing trouble." He whispered playfully.

"Lore…." Anna groaned.

"Don't worry. There's a point to this." He assured her. He faced Quark again, "Do you know what a Soong type android is?"

Quark scoffed and began cleaning out Anna's first glass with his towel, "Of course I do, I'm not an idiot. That's you, right? Data's the name? Starfleet made you a Commander or something. The…Enterprise, if I remember correctly."

It just keeps getting better…. Lore had to resist the urge to laugh, and Anna actually lowered her face into her hands to stop from laughing. It wasn't everyday they encountered someone so terribly misinformed.

"Not…exactly." Lore replied, "But the person coming here is very much like me, and this station's security personnel have no idea what they're up against. I might be able to stop him, though, if I knew where the disruptor field generator was located."

"What are you doing?" Anna muttered into her glass, covering it with a short sip. One of the benefits of Lore's advanced sense of hearing was that she could hold one way conversations with him without barely breathing a word, despite the fact that they were mere feet away from the ears of a Ferengi.

Quark's beady eyes narrowed and he folded his arms across the flamboyant open collar of his suit, "If you don't know, it's because they didn't tell you. But…." He scrunched up his face in confusion, "Why wouldn't they tell a Starfleet Commander?"

"Because he isn't a Starfleet Commander."

Lore spun around to find the object of his newest irritation, and encountered a tall, rather slightly built, man with ashy brown hair. He stood with hands held behind his back and looked Lore over like he was examining a fascinating statue.

"You must be Lore." The man said, smiling and extending his hand, "This is fascinating! I met Data years ago, but was only able to spend a few hours with him."

"And who are you?" Lore demanded. He had gotten out of the habit of being unnecessarily rude to strangers, but when it came to someone who had just ruined one of his schemes, he most certainly found it necessary.

"Oh, sorry. Julian Bashir. I'm the chief medical officer on the station." He continued to stare directly at Lore, shaking his head with fascination, "You look almost exactly like Data looked when I met him. I understand he has an aging program of some kind, but I haven't seen him in years. Are you younger? No, wait. I remember reading that you're the older one—."

"I surpass Data in many things, including vanity." Lore retorted. "If you're very unlucky, you'll meet Data again soon. He's on his way here, and not to chat about his aging program."

Bashir frowned and nodded, "Yes, I know. Commander Kira briefed us."

"Wait a minute! So you're the other one?" Quark declared. Oddly enough, he seemed more outraged than worried, "Well that's just great…."

Lore ignored the Ferengi and returned his attention to Dr. Bashir. Just before he uttered another word, he and Anna's commbadges chirped.

"Lore," Came the voice of Commander Madden, "be advised that we've detected the runabout. It's entering the system at high warp now."

Lore hopped down from his seat and down the few steps leading away from Quark's bar. He made a straight line for the tall viewports at the far side of the promenade. They faced the blank stretch of starscape where the wormhole would usually appear.

Anna was at his side in an instant, but like him she felt helpless. Data would have to board the station. Until then, it was up to the Enterprise to try to capture the runabout.

Lore turned to Anna suddenly, his face very serious, "Anna, listen to me. I don't want you to come with me if I have to follow Data, if he boards the station."

"What?" She objected immediately, "You might need help if he tries to set up any force fields or—."

"Please, just do this for me!" He whispered harshly, "Don't go anywhere near Bee. Please." He hoped the seriously in his expression told her everything else, for if a moment came where he would have to choose between protecting her and killing Data he knew which choice he would make. He also knew Anna would blame herself forever.

Anna opened her mouth, but whether it was to object or agree he would never know. At that moment the runabout appeared. It dropped out of warp in a stretch of light so close to the station that the decks rumbled. Dropping out of warp so close to an object was a feat of flight control skill that most pilots wouldn't risk. It was just one more indication that Data and B-4's reasoning skills were completely beyond their control.

Lore watched in useless suspense at the Enterprise moved it and immediately grabbed the runabout in a tractor beam. Although they could not see it, he also knew that LaForge would be attempting to extend the ship's shields around the runabout in a further attempt to control the craft. Lore had already outlined the potential methods Data would utilize in getting out of that trap, and he could only hope they heeded his warnings with enough speed.

Bystanders on the promenade had taken notice of the action outside and were now gawking toward the viewports as well. The runabout began to move toward the Enterprise, but not fast enough. It was clear that the runabout was fighting the pull with a substantial amount of energy. In fact, it was fighting too much. Lore moved closer to the viewport as he saw the runabout engines flare up and down, fighting the tremendous pull of the tractor beam. His eyes widened, for he knew that if the runabout pulled too hard, it would cause….

"No, no…." He muttered, clenching his fists at his sides.

The runabout shook so violently that it was visible to the naked eyes. The entire assembly of bystanders gasped, and some actually moved away from the viewports in fear.

Lore tapped his combadge, "LaForge! He's trying to overload the tractor beam! Release him and—."

In a violent flash, the Enterprise lost the connection of the tractor beam, sending both craft wielding away from one another. The Enterprise was far more massive and shifted only a little, but the runabout suddenly flew backward, as if it had been pulling against a rope that had finally severed. The craft toppled end over end for a few seconds, but it was clear that control as completely gone. Lore ran to the viewport and pressed his hands against the cold glass, trying desperately to see beyond the curve of the view, just as the runabout slammed into the upper most portion of one of the station's docking pylons. The station barely vibrated as the runabout split like a broken toy and disintegrated into a ball of flames.

"No!" Lore cried. He clutched at the sides of his head as the station alarms began to sound. Bystanders on the promenade fled in all directions. Anna rushed to Lore and tried to put her hands on his cheeks as he seemed to collapse against the viewport.

"Lore! Look at me! We don't know yet." Her voice was strained and desperate as she tried to pull his attention toward her, "Listen to me. We don't know."

Lore shook his head and turned his eyes back toward the viewport. There was nothing left. Scraps. The runabout had been completely destroyed.

Anna tapped her badge, "Hall to LaForge! Sir, were the Enterprise shields over the runabout when it broke loose?"

There was a long pause, too long, and Anna could feel Lore's composure breaking down into nothing. Finally, a beep, and LaForge replied, "No. We weren't able to extend them because he was emitting some kind of disruption field. We're making scans now. Stand by."

Lore's eyes shot open, for they had been clenched shut like a vice. Data had disrupted the shields, and doing that effectively would have required some previous preparations. A tiny fragment of hope entered his thoughts, but it was enough to make his gasp and laugh like a lunatic.

"Oh! Very smart, Data!" Lore cried, still laughing madly.

"What? What is it?" Anna said.

"He planned it. The clever bastard planned it!" Lore ran his hands over his face again, "I have to get to the command deck. He's here. Somewhere."

Lore fled in the direction of the turbo lift, leaving Anna near the viewport. She made to follow, but hesitated. After a moment, she turned and headed in the direction of the transporter room to return to the Enterprise.

NOTE**I've gotten some questions with regards to the DS9 characters, so I'll just give a really quick setup here:

The story at this point is happening more than five years after the last episode of DS9,which would have been in 2375. After the Dominion War ended, many of the DS9 crew left the station or moved on. At this point, the only DS9 characters still remaining aboard the station are Commander (Colonel) Kira, Dr. Bashir, Ezri Dax, Quark.

Miles O'Brien moved to Earth to teach at Starfleet Academy.

Odo returned to the Founder's homework and rejoined the Great Link.

Captain Sisko vanished (something to do with the Prophets in the wormhole).

Worf is, obviously, back aboard the Enterprise.

Rom became a Starfleet officer and serves on a ship somewhere.

Nog and his wife moved, I think, to Ferenginar.

So, this was the general canon setup put forth in the last DS9 epsiode, "What We Leave Behind".

Cheers! =)