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Trials and Temptations

Solarii Field Notes, Main Island: Father Matan's Record: Tuesday, May 29, 2407, night, 10 o'clock:

We all have...[grunt]...trials and temptations. They are...they are sent to test us, to prove our resolve. This whole planet is a test...a great crucible with only one way out...one way to survive. I...[gasp]...I will survive. I will not fail you my Queen. I will recover the Chosen One, and I will use the information from the research base to uncover the Chamber of the Sun. The Ritual will be completed after so many years, and you will be released! I will free you, and you will free us all from this planet, from this mortal coil...we will be transformed.

In the face of that, my injury, my slow death, does not matter. I will remain steadfast through this final test!

"Put me down, now!" Matan demanded, shaking off the helping hands of the Solarii. His men would die for him, he knew that. Many already had this very night. But he also knew well the strength of the predatory instincts he'd honed within them. They could not abide weakness, and he would not allow them to see him weak. And I cannot beweak: not now, not when I am so close!

He got to his feet and tore strips from his robe and bound them tight against his wounded side. The bandage was secure, and it would soak up the blood well enough, but he knew it was good for little more than appearance. The male Outsider, the Trill, had shot him with a Jem'Hadar rifle. The wound was little more than a graze, but it was enough.

He had seen what those weapons did to the people they left alive, witnessed it long before he started giving the old weapons caches to the Solarii. Over thirty years ago he had seen the results first hand and set down the details and casualty lists in the meticulous records for which his people were famed. Once he had reveled in the invincible cruelty of the Jem'Hadar and their weapons...before She found him on that night when darkness and death shattered his illusions and forever changed his allegiance. It had taken him a long time to understand Her nature and Her power, to build up the Solarii to serve Her when the time came. Ironic that now at the end of all things his first idol should prove his final trial.

"One of the Outsiders is a doctor," said Brother Goblegdegog, a Packled who was sometimes - but not always - as dumb as he looked. "We could get the doctor, and make him fix you!"

"I'll be just fine!" Matan lied, knowing very well that he was beyond any medical aid already. I must complete my task! "Find the Chosen One. Tear the forest apart branch by branch if you have to!" he ordered.

"We could send out your dogs," suggested an Acamarian brother.

"They're wolves!" corrected Brother Rodok, the Antican who'd been capturing and attempting to train the native wolves of this island for the past few months. "Besides, they'll rip the Chosen One apart!"

Matan did not believe the Sun Queen would allow her Chosen One to be so easily killed, but he was not about to take the chance either. "Find her on foot and bring her to safety - unharmed. After that, release the wolves and kill them all." His gaze locked with each of theirs in turn, assuring them that failure was not an option. "Go!" he commanded. "Return to me at the research outpost by morning!" They and the other Solarii scrambled from his presence into the night, leaving him alone with a short, timid, Ferengi.

"You're...you're going to be alright, aren't you?" said Mor. "I mean, you said of course...but what I meant was...you're feeling just fine, right?"

"Good enough to kill you if you don't cooperate," Matan promised.

The Ferengi raised his hands. "Nope! No, that will absolutely not be necessary. I am the very soul of compliance!"

As long as there's life and wealth to be won from it, I'm sure, Matan thought to himself. Another time, another place, and such shameless self-interest might have disgusted him, but now it was only another tool to be used. He pushed off the rock and pulled a torch from the pockets of his robes, lighting it expertly with his phaser. "Come, we must get to the research base before morning," he said. "The Outsiders will be heading there as well. No doubt they've realized there's more to this island than their pathetic sensors can detect. They will come for answers, and we must find our own answers before they do." He paused. "Do you have your research?"

"Right here," said Mor, tapping his satchel, which was weighed down by a number of Ferengi PADDs. "I...um...would like to copy some of the data we find at the research base, if you don't mind...you know, for posterity's sake!"

Matan wondered idly how many bars of gold-pressed latinum were entailed in posterity's sake. He would venture a great deal, but it hardly mattered. He would sweeten the deal even further to ensure the Ferengi's loyalty. "You can have as much of the data as you want," he promised. "But there is something more I need from you."

"Uh...of course," said Mor, hesitating. "What is it?"

He looked Mor in the eye, and mixed a little truth into his lies. "I couldn't tell my men this," he said. "But I am dying." He lifted the bandage and showed the wound to Mor, still oozing fresh brown blood, though it was well over an hour old. "The Jem'Hadar poleron burst that hit me was laced with anticoagulants. Once hit, death is just a matter of time. I have a day, maybe two at the most, but eventually I will bleed to death and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it."

"That's..." Mor swallowed audibly. "That's too bad...I mean terrible, really, really terrible."

Matan could see the mental calculations behind his insincere sympathies, though. Mor knew well that Matan was the only reason the Solarii hadn't killed him already, and he had to know his chances of survival weren't much better with the Outsiders right now either. The desperation would make him vulnerable. Time to tip the scales in my favor. "When I die, the Solarii will need a new leader, someone who understands this place, who knows its secrets, and who is familiar with the legends of our Sun Queen," he said, lying in earnest now. "My men are all brutes. None of them have what it takes to lead the Solarii...but you do."

"Me?!"

"Yes," said Matan. "I want you to lead the Solarii after I'm gone. Have them do whatever seems best to you. You know better than any of them."

"I always thought they were a fascinating culture, but to actually be a part of them, to guide them..." A smile crept onto the Ferengi's face, but he suppressed it quickly. "But how would I do it? I mean, you just say the word and I'm their new leader?"

"It's not as simple as that," said Matan. "You'll need to earn their respect."

"I...uh, hope you don't mean some kind of ritual combat or something like that," said Mor. "Not that I couldn't handle it of course, I just would hate to see someone get hurt!"

Matan smiled. "Oh, it is much, much easier," he said. "You see, my men are out searching the woods for the Chosen One, but the forest is big and the Outsiders are clever and resourceful. They will evade my men, of this I am sure." Actually, he wasn't, but he had to admit they had a pretty good chance of it, given how easily they'd defeated every group he'd sent up against them before. "When they do, they will come to the research base, and they will have the Chosen One with them. Capture her, and bring her back. Then you will be a hero to the Solarii. They will beg you to lead them after I am gone."

"A hero...," said Mor, turning the word over in his mind. He began to smile, then stopped again. "But they've got some pretty tough fighters in their group. Things might get...messy."

"Don't worry, I have a plan," said Matan. "Here's what I want you to do..."

Author's Note: The Pakled, again, are from the TNG episode "Samaritan Snare" and while they sound stupid, they really are quite devious. Acamarians are from TNG: "The Vengeance Factor" and Anticans are the dog-like aliens first seen in TNG: "Lonely Among Us." I thought it would be pretty funny to have an Antican as a dog - err, wolf - trainer. And before you ask, the Solarii do have trained wolves in one of the levels in Tomb Raider. It's a stealth level, and if you mess it up they pull out the wolves and machine guns and pretty much kill you no matter how you try to fight back.

The anticoagulant factor in Jem'Hadar rifle shots can be seen in DS9 "The Ship"and "Change of Heart." The color of Cardassian blood is established in a number of episodes, including the excellent "Our Man Bashir."

Matan's backstory is hinted at here, it is not the same as that of Father Matthias in the game. More will be revealed later.