5 The Rigel System: Outer Worlds
VII
Quark landed his spacecraft less than ten metres from the one already nestling amongst the long grass. The green plain stretched out in all directions. Most people would have found the scenery beautiful, and tranquil. Quark saw only waste of good cropland. This could have been making money, but instead had been left derelict.
The other spacecraft was the Pandora, Maxill's ship. It had taken Quark an entire day to track it down. Just in time. Kira had contacted him and told him that she was on her way. He wouldn't have wanted to have had to explain to her in person why he hadn't yet found anything. He'd also contacted his cousin Gaila, just to keep him happy too.
It took Quark only a few minutes to break into the Pandora. Even as he began searching he felt that he would not find the Orb there. He was right. Even after an hour of looking, during which he'd looked behind every panel and every ventilation grille, he hadn't found any Orb. He was just about to give up, and get back to his ship, when he heard a voice from behind him. He backed out from underneath the storage cupboards where he'd become distracted looking through some of Maxill's more unsavoury possessions, and turned round.
Maxill was pointing a phaser rifle at him.
"Any good reason why I shouldn't just shoot you now?" he asked.
Quark thought for a moment.
"You might want to keep me around for a while, just to humiliate me and subject me to painful interrogation."
"Good point," Maxill replied and motioned Quark to leave by pointing his phaser rifle towards the door of the spaceship. At the door Maxill told Quark to wait. He rejoined Quark at the exit after a few moments.
"Move," he ordered.
"Where are we going?" Quark asked.
"Shut up and walk," was Maxill's only explanation.
There should be a rule of acquisition covering situations like this, Quark observed as they trudged through the grassland, about trying to extricate yourself from trouble and ending up in more of it. He occupied himself during the walk trying to invent one.
"How much do you trust this Quark?" Anthas asked Kira. Kira thought for a moment, looking out at the grassland around them. Quark had given them the co-ordinates to Maxill's ship and they had found Quark's next to it. Both were unoccupied. They also checked both ships for the Orb. It was not on either of them.
"A good question," Kira replied. "I don't really know. I've known him two-and-a-half years and I still really haven't worked him out. He's unscrupulous, thieving, lascivious, well – he's a Ferengi – but sometimes he can surprise you by doing something decent."
"And now?" Anthas asked.
"He might exploit us, if there were latinum to be made, or even steal from us, but I don't think he'd deliberately lead us into danger." Kira considered the landscape. "What do you know of Rigel VII?"
The human, Cochrane, answered. "Up until the last century it was a fairly primitive planet, run by a warrior caste called the Kaylars. In this century, though, there's been an influx of more technologically advanced people from the rest of the system. About ten years ago there was a world-wide computer systems crash which devastated the planet economically. It hasn't really recovered."
"Is it safe?" Kira cut to the essentials.
Jonah shrugged. "As far as I know."
"So maybe we should contact that settlement we saw nearby and see if they can help us track down Maxill and Quark," Anthas suggested.
Their attempts at contacting the settlement were answered quickly. The communications device on the runabout picked up a clear strong signal from the Rigellians. The spokesperson for the settlement offered them a hospitable welcome. However, when Kira offered to fly to the settlement he was less enthusiastic.
"I'm afraid we have a no-fly policy in operation, Major," he informed them. "No-one may fly within ten kilometres of the fortress. Inconvenient, I'm afraid, but we are very security-conscious. However, we could send a land transport to collect you."
Kira accepted the offer, and signed off. Within minutes they heard the roar of engines, which signalled the arrival of the ground transport. The three stepped out of the Anduin, and were greeted by a row of men with phaser rifles.
Kira looked at Jonah.
"'As far as you know', Jonah? And how far was that?" she said accusingly.
The land transport sped them towards a large fortress. It had been magnificent but was now ruined, the once sturdy walls and soaring towers now partly collapsed and inexpertly shored up. A portcullis lifted as they approached and the transport stopped in the courtyard, next to another ground transport. The three disembarked, still at gunpoint, and were led past the second car, which Anthas recognised as Lewty's. What was he doing here? she wondered. A large container, roughly two metres by one metre by one metre was being unloaded from Lewty's car. Anthas didn't recognise it, so guessed that Lewty must have recently acquired it. When the men had finished moving the container, which they simply dumped next to the ground car, they re-entered the car. Anthas stopped to take a look at what they were doing. They then seemed to be looking for something, taking the interior of the car apart. One of the men behind her pushed her roughly to make her start walking again. She rejoined the other two prisoners.
Anthas, Kira and Jonah were ordered down a flight of stone steps to a heavy wooden door. One of the Rigellians opened it and motioned them inside. Evidently this was to be their prison. The room was dark and damp. But in the darkness Anthas could make out two figures. One was Lewty, the other was Yaana.
"Lewty! Thanks for running out on us back on Two, you pahtk," Anthas snarled.
Kira looked across at Anthas. "Was this the person you were with on Rigel II? The one you said may have stolen the Orb?"
Anthas nodded.
"So did you?" Kira took a step towards Lewty and gripped his shirt. "Did you take it?"
Lewty pushed the Major away.
"Get off me," he growled, and backed away.
"So what's he doing here?" Kira asked Anthas. The Andorian woman shrugged. It was Yaana who answered.
"Buying drugs, what else would someone want to come here for?"
The other four looked up at her astounded. They had never heard her speak before, in fact she had given the impression that she only vaguely understood what was being said to her.
Yaana continued, making the most of the impact that she knew the sudden dropping of her role had made.
"I'd guess that the Rigellians are looking for the Orb too. According to Gaila's records these people and he are accomplices. He supplies them with arms, they supply him with drugs. That's how I found these people, they were in Gaila's database. By coincidence they must have been the same people Lewty was dealing with. He had just loaded that container full of narcotics onto his car when the Rigellians were alerted that Lewty had stolen something from Gaila." Yaana looked at Lewty with contempt. "Someone working for Gaila must have traced Lewty here and then contacted Gaila. I'm just not sure who."
Kira and Jonah looked at each other. The person who had contacted Gaila must have been Quark. They wondered where he was now.
After a couple of hours of walking Quark and Maxill neared the settlement. Quark had recognised some of the plants that they walked past – tobacco, marijuana, the orchids from which communion was derived – which confirmed his suspicion about the nature of the business Maxill's acquaintances were involved in. As they approached the entrance to the fortress a dozen humans exited. They all carried phaser rifles. They barred the way then remained motionless, watching the two approaching with expressionless faces.
"Hey, it's me," Maxill called to them. "I've just been back to my ship. I caught this Ferengi snooping around."
The two came to a stop a few metres in front of the cartel people. Maxill stood beside Quark and motioned him towards the fortress, waving his rifle menacingly. Quark didn't move.
"Come on, Ferengi," Maxill ordered. "Move it."
Quark indicated with his eyes that Maxill should look ahead towards the cartel people. "Ah, hu-man, there's something you should know," was all he said.
Maxill looked at his business associates. Their rifles were pointing at him.
The six captives in the dungeon had been sitting in silence for hours. There had been a brief but heated argument between Maxill and Yaana when he had been pushed into the room with them. Jonah had made a few brief attempts at making conversation with the young Orion, but when he was met with no response from her, and a glowering look from Maxill he gave up. Instead he began to think about Lewty's connection to the drug growers. The only place Lewty could get enough money to pay for them must be from Alexander. Jonah wondered how much of Alexander's wealth was based on supplying drugs. If that container were full – how much would that much cocaine, communion, Venus or tobacco be worth on the black market? He had no idea. A sizeable fortune, he'd guess. Maybe the whole trip was just a cover for this one purchase. Lewty would return to the Zeus, the drugs would be hidden amongst all the other purchases, and who would search one of Alexander's ships anyway, unless they had a very strong case for suspecting him? No-one would take the chance of making such a powerful enemy.
Also what were Maxill and Yaana doing here – probably the same thing. They had been looking for someone to supply them with drugs, but had made the mistake of choosing the group of suppliers who were partners of Gaila. They hadn't counted on Quark following them and exposing them as the people who were suspected of stealing the Orb.
The darkness of the room was unchanging. However his prosthetic arm had an in-built timepiece, which he took to watching morosely. It marked the time as 17:00 local when the door opened and Quark entered. He pointed at Kira.
"This one," he said to the guard standing behind him.
"What about the two we brought in with her?" the guard asked.
Quark considered for a moment. "Bring them too."
The three were led back up the steps, and then further up the staircase. They were climbing one of the towers of the fortress. At the top Quark and the guard stopped.
"In here," Quark ordered. The three prisoners stepped inside. The guard moved to follow. "Not you," Quark told him. "Gaila wants me to question them in private."
"But …" the guard objected.
"I'll take the phaser rifle for protection," Quark held out his hand for it. "I'll be quite safe."
The guard handed the rifle over reluctantly, and Quark entered the room.
"Quark," Kira advanced on him. Quark waved the rifle defensively.
"Major – it wasn't my fault. I had nothing to do with you being captured."
"And what are you going to do to get us out of here?"
"I'm working on something. Just give me time."
Anthas was standing at the window, looking down at the courtyard below. Some activity had started. Three large ground cars arrived, and the people from the settlement began unloading containers from them. They were assisted by the people who had driven the ground cars. While Kira and Quark argued, Anthas continued to watch what was happening below. She counted six visitors in all, who seemed to be in earnest negotiation with the settlement people. Anthas beckoned Jonah over to her and pointed out of the window.
"Who are these new lot, Joe?" she asked.
"They look like traders from Rigel V. See the cloaks and the fur-lined boots? They look a lot like Vulcans – pointed ears and everything." Jonah turned to Quark. "Any idea why traders from Rigel V would be here?" he asked him.
Quark shrugged; "The people here need supplies, just like anyone else. This lot signalled a few hours ago and asked if they could come here and trade. They're bringing replicators and a power supply, I think."
Jonah and Anthas watched as the machinery was unloaded. One of the female traders caught Jonah's eye in particular. He pointed her out to Anthas.
"An, that Rigellian trader there?" Anthas looked down to the courtyard. "Recognise her?"
"It's T'Pris!" Anthas exclaimed. "What's she doing here?"
Jonah called Quark and Kira over to the window. The next time T'Pris appeared he pointed her out to the other two.
"See the woman there? Black Vulcan, quite petite. She's just pulled her hood down," Jonah said excitedly. The figure below had removed her hood. She looked up, seemingly directly at them. It was unmistakably T'Pris. "We know her from the Enterprise." Jonah looked at Quark. "You've got to get word to her. Tell her that we're here."
Kira was unsure. "Are you certain? If the people here find out you're with the Federation they'll have you killed."
Anthas grinned. "Oh, we're certain it's her. We were … very close."
Quark looked at Kira questioningly. She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. There was a knock at the door.
"I'll get the guard to take you back to the dungeon and then contact this … T'Pris," Quark promised, thinking once more of the new Rule of Acquisition he had decided to invent.
T'Pris watched the Ferengi warily as he approached the tents that she and her colleagues were constructing in the courtyard. Although she had been training with Starfleet Intelligence for several months this was her first assignment in the field, and she had decided it would be logical to practice extreme caution. S.I. wanted to recruit a team of Vulcans for this mission, they needed people who could pose as traders from Rigel V, and since most of the Enterprise crew were on sabbatical, they had begun by recruiting Vulcans from that ship.
T'Pris had done well in her Intelligence training, and had been made 2-i-c on the mission, but that still hadn't prepared her for the constant watchfulness that was required to maintain her cover, nor the constant threat of exposure. As her immediate subordinate she had selected Taurik, another Vulcan ensign who had served on board the Enterprise. Although no more than acquaintances before enlisting with S.I., the two had tended to gravitate towards each other during their time in Starfleet Intelligence, partly because of their shared background on the Enterprise, but also because shortly before starting their Intelligence training both had lost someone close to them. Both T'Pris's favourite uncle and Taurik's twin brother had been serving on the U.S.S. Voyager when it had gone missing in the Badlands near the Cardassian border. Their loss had hit both of them harder than they could admit to, being Vulcans.
The group of Vulcans had been placed on standby for the last weeks in the asteroid belt between Rigel VI and VII, the belt that divided the Rigel System into two halves. They were waiting for a signal from a Starfleet Intelligence operative who had been working in the field for nearly three years, trying to trace the drug supply routes within the system. The operative was near to making a breakthrough, but had requested an extraction team to get him out. T'Pris, Taurik and their comrades weren't sure from which half of the system the call would come, but they were ready to respond at a moment's notice.
They had picked up Commander Roberts's homing beacon only 3.7 hours before, and had made good time in finding his ship. Now, though, they were unable to locate him. This being the nearest settlement made it the most logical place to begin a search. They had visited the settlement and carried out their trade transactions, but had observed nothing suspicious throughout all of this. The settlement people appeared to be nothing other than a rural community and allowed them to set up camp in their grounds. Rather than begin the search for Roberts that night they had decided to wait until morning and were settling down to sleep when Quark walked over to their campsite.
Taurik was on duty with T'Pris and he stopped the Ferengi before he reached the group. The Ferengi side-stepped Taurik and approached T'Pris.
"I need to speak to you, in private," he looked warily from side-to-side and spoke low so as not to be overheard.
T'Pris hesitated. What could the Ferengi want? Could this be a trap? The Ferengi became impatient. He leant forward and whispered in her ear: "T'Pris."
T'Pris required all of her Starfleet Intelligence training, and her arie'mnu training, to avoid panicking. Her cover had been blown. How did this man know her name? She followed him as he beckoned her out of the campsite. Taurik watched them move away.
"Who are you?" T'Pris demanded.
"My name's Quark. I'm working with Major Kira Nerys of the Bajoran Militia." The man didn't appear to be lying, thought T'Pris, but … the Bajoran Militia? What would they be doing here?
"I was told by two of your colleagues from the Enterprise, Jonah and Anthas, to contact you," Quark continued. T'Pris again struggled to retain her equilibrium. Joe and An, here! She thought she'd not see them again for months, if ever.
"Come with me," T'Pris commanded Quark. "We have to see Lieutenant-Commander Sevrek.
Sevrek listened to T'Pris attentively as she introduced the Ferengi, and explained why he was there.
"Fascinating," was his only response at first. "The Bajoran Militia and Starfleet here. I wonder if it's a coincidence." He looked at T'Pris. "You're sure we can trust this person?" he asked.
"I don't know, but if my friends are being held prisoner then I must try and help them," she replied.
"Your loyalty is commendable – if perhaps emotionally expressed." Sevrek appeared to come to a decision. "Very well then Quark. Take us to where they are being held."
"I'll show you the way," Quark answered, "but as far as the rescue itself is concerned, you're on your own."
"Of course," Sevrek nodded. "You will want to preserve your cover, so you can stay in the field even after the rescue."
Quark looked bewildered momentarily, then recovered. "Oh, yes, maintain my cover. Of course."
Surreptitiously, so as not to arouse the suspicion of any potential observers, Sevrek informed the other Vulcans of what was being planned. He then indicated to Quark that he should return to the dungeon. as he did so the rest followed.
Maxill heard phaser fire from outside the door to the cell. He motioned to Yaana to cover the door just as it burst open. The Rigel Fivean traders had invaded the Rigel Sevenian's dungeon. His mind began to race – attempting to work out what was happening. Then he saw Sevrek and he relaxed. It was his extraction team. They must have responded to the homing beacon he had set in the Pandora, although how they had managed to track him to this place was something he didn't understand. Now at last he could drop the Maxill cover and become Commander Roberts again. Sevrek looked around at the prisoners then headed towards him.
"Sevrek!" Roberts exclaimed. "How did you find me?"
Sevrek, staying true to his Vulcan demeanour did not give in to surprise. "Hello Commander Roberts. I must say we were not expecting to find you here."
"Then what are you doing here?" Roberts was confused.
"We had information that Starfleet personnel were here," Sevrek continued. Roberts looked around uneasily, trying to identify which people Sevrek meant. It wasn't difficult. The other Vulcans in Sevrek's team were now following him into the room and one of them ran and embraced the human and Andorian in a most non-Vulcan manner. "The Ferengi told us," Sevrek continued. "He's working for the Bajoran militia." Roberts took another look at the Bajoran major, who was now being introduced to the Vulcan woman. His sense of unease increased. There seemed to be things going on here that he didn't understand; connections that shouldn't be possible. Was there some group that had infiltrated not only Hephaestus Holdings, but also Sevrek's team and Gaila's family? And what was their connection with the Bajorans? Roberts's mind turned round all the possibilities. Normally adept at playing these games of subterfuge, he began to feel himself outclassed. A knot began to form in his stomach. Which began to tighten as he watched Yaana join the group and be introduced to the young Vulcan woman.
Jonah was similarly confused. He had been surprised to see T'Pris in the courtyard below, and wondered what she was doing here. He had just finished introducing T'Pris to Major Kira when T'Pris noticed Yaana watching them.
"Lieutenant Yaana?" T'Pris enquired. The Orion girl came over to them.
"Lieutenant Yaana?" Jonah asked.
"Hi," Yaana greeted the Vulcan woman. "Yes, I'm Yaana," she pointed to Maxill, "and Commander Roberts is that man over there. Your team is very efficient. We weren't sure you'd be able to find us here." She looked curiously at Anthas and Jonah. "You know these two?"
"Of course," T'Pris answered. "They're with Starfleet. They're both close friends - in fact, I've roomed with both of them on the Enterprise."
"Small galaxy," Anthas commented ruefully. "I wonder who else we'll run into here."
Jonah looked from Anthas to T'Pris to Yaana. A weird feeling of déjà vu hit him, seeing the three of them together – like the four of them meeting, even in such an out-of-the-way place as a room of a dungeon in a fortress on Rigel VII had some significance he couldn't quite place. It wasn't his imagination – he could tell from the look of puzzlement on the three women's faces that they had experienced something similar.
The sound of phase fire from outside the room drew their attention. It was time to leave. One of the Vulcans entered the room, Jonah recognised him from the Enterprise, although he couldn't remember the man's name. He spoke urgently to the Vulcan who had been talking with Maxill, no, Roberts. Roberts beckoned to Lewty who had been quietly observing the interactions around him. "O.K. this is it, Lewty, we're leaving."
They encountered only two settlement people on their way to the courtyard, evidently the alarm had not yet been raised. The Vulcans' ground cars were waiting, anti-grav already on-line. The two vehicles hovered, rear doors open ready for boarding, but Lewty and Roberts headed to Lewty's car. The two men began reloading the large container that had been dumped from the car. Neither of them wanted to leave the drugs behind. Sevrek yelled a warning to Roberts.
"Commander, the Rigellians."
Jonah looked round. Now the alarm had been raised. People were pouring from all of the buildings around them, but Lewty and Roberts still struggled with the container.
"This comes with us," Roberts barked back at Sevrek, and the three men between them lifted the container onto the back of the car.
Meanwhile Jonah, T'Pris, Yaana and Anthas had climbed into the back of the nearer car, which pulled away. Behind them Kira and the other Vulcans were climbing into the other car. Phaser fire exploded around them. From the rear of the car, Jonah could see Lewty's vehicle finally pull away. The three cars headed through the fortress gates and into the fields beyond.
The rescue attempt had gone smoothly, with no casualties. The three ground vehicles escaped across the open fields, leaving no trail that the Rigellians could follow at night. The rendezvous point that they had arranged with their shuttle was at the foot of a mountain range to the east of the settlement, and they made good time in the dark.
However, at the rendezvous things did not go so well. The shuttle was there, but it had been damaged. Phaser burns had opened up one side of the shuttle, and the port nacelle was nearly sheared completely away.
"What's happened here?" Sevrek demanded of the flight crew. The pilot began to explain.
The shuttle had originally landed at the designated landing field for the settlement, to the south-west of the fortress. The landing field was situated there so that visitors to the settlement would only pass through fields of ordinary crops, which was how the Rigellians concealed their real activity from most people. The landing field was guarded, which was why Sevrek had not chosen that as the rendezvous point. However, in flying from the landing site to the rendezvous point the pilot had flown too close to the settlement and come under phaser fire. The damage could be repaired, but could take until morning. Most of the Vulcan team, those with engineering experience, set about making repairs. Sevrek, Lewty and Roberts disappeared away from the shuttle to discuss what they would do next. Roberts's demeanour had changed now that he was around Sevrek and the other Vulcans. He was polite, caring and soft-spoken. He seemed a completely different person
Kira took a thermal blanket and found an area away from the rest. She sat looking up at the huge circle of the moon as it rose over the mountain top.
Taurik approached her. "Excuse me, errm, Major," he announced deferentially.
"Yes?" Kira responded brusquely.
"I …" the Vulcan seemed ill at ease. "You're Bajoran aren't you?"
"What of it?" Kira was annoyed at the intrusion, but also wondered what the young Vulcan wanted. Taurik almost moved away, but he felt compelled to continue.
"Nothing, I just …" Kira had only met Vulcans once or twice, but from what she knew Vulcans were not this unsure of themselves. "I had a friend once, on the Enterprise. She was Bajoran. You just … remind me of her in some way."
Kira was intrigued.
"'Was' Bajoran? What happened to her?"
"She was killed by Cardassians while on a mission."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Kira suddenly felt a great deal of sympathy for the young Vulcan. He obviously missed his friend deeply, yet did not understand the emotions he was feeling. Why else would he come to a complete stranger for comfort, simply because she was of the same race as his dead friend?
"My name's Kira. Kira Nerys," she introduced herself.
"Taurik," Taurik responded.
"And what was your friend's name?"
"Sito. Sito Jaxa."
"Tell me about her," Kira offered. Taurik sat down next to her.
Further away from the shuttle, Anthas, T'Pris and Jonah were catching up on the time they had missed. They found a spot that was sheltered, where their thermal generator would be hidden from any I.R. detector on the plain below, and had formed a circle around it. On discovering that Roberts was too preoccupied to want her assistance, Yaana drifted over to the three friends and stood close to them, listening to their gossip, enjoying the sound of their easy conversation and feeling drawn to it. They were talking about how different T'Pris seemed to them.
"You know, hugging us when you saw us, that almost seemed like an emotional display," Jonah commented. "Not that I'm criticising it."
Yaana saw the silhouette of T'Pris shrug.
"I have spent a lot of time around other Vulcans, over the past few months. It made me realise more how much I welcomed the emotionality of your behaviour. I looked back at the time I shared with you on the Enterprise and thought that perhaps that was more true to who I was than the completely emotionless person Vulcan society says I should be."
Jonah was about to respond when he noticed Yaana standing at the edge of the circle of dull red light cast by the thermal generator.
"Hi, Yaana," he said. "Come and join us." He shifted, opening up the circle to make room for her. Yaana sat with the other three. They were quiet for a moment. Jonah tried to start the conversation off again.
"T'Pris was telling us she's been promoted to lieutenant. I'd never have guessed that you were a lieutenant too."
"Why? Because I'm Orionese?" she felt offended by the insinuation.
"No, no," Jonah was concerned that he may have insulted her. "No – because you carried off your cover persona so effectively."
"Good recovery," Anthas murmured.
"I guess the whole thing was an act, you, Roberts, the slavery bit," Jonah realised that he was fishing for information, but he needed to know that Yaana wasn't being abused. He remembered the bruises on Yaana's arm. That was some role play.
"Not really," Yaana paused. Then it all flooded out. This was the first chance she'd had to speak to people for so long, the first time she'd felt so comfortable around people, and there was so much she wanted to talk about.
With only a few promptings from Jonah and one or two from Anthas she told them the whole story. About how she'd grown up on a federation starbase with her mother, hearing about the slavery of her people, and wanting to do something about it. Joining the Academy at 17, then Starfleet Intelligence at 21. Taking on as much as possible, as young as possible, in order to find the slavers and free the women of her race. She had been made a Lieutenant at the age of 22 in recognition of the dangerous assignments she had taken. She had met Roberts during Intelligence training, he had been one of her instructors, and they had become lovers within a short space of time. He had been very caring and understanding then. They soon went into the field together, he taking on the role of her master, she his slave. And then he had begun to change. At first it was simply a role, he would pretend to beat her, only demean her in public to keep up the pretence. But the role resonated with something inside him, he began to get enjoy it, and gradually began to need it. The master persona took him over, and to a certain extent, the slave persona took her over. Before long it was who they really were. And now they couldn't escape it. She had tried to suggest they stop, go back to civilian life, or at least leave the Orion Sector, but each time she suggested it he became even more violent. He threatened to follow her and even kill her if she tried to leave. She believed him. He had contacts and influence, both within the Orion Syndicate and within Starfleet Intelligence. No-one would believe her if she told them what Roberts was really doing to her, there was nowhere for her to go.
Yaana fell quiet then. Anthas, who was sitting to her left, took her hand.
"It's O.K., it's O.K." she repeated.
Yaana looked at her and smiled. "No – it's not really, is it?"
Anthas put her arm around her. "No, I guess it isn't," she conceded. Anthas looked up at something behind Jonah. Jonah turned. It was Roberts.
"Lieutenant Yaana, Lieutenant T'Pris, time to leave," he informed them. Yaana and T'Pris stood up in response to the order. Jonah and Anthas followed them more grudgingly, and began to walk towards the shuttle.
Roberts stood in their way.
"No, you stay here," he ordered Anthas and Jonah.
"What?" Jonah demanded.
"I don't know you. I don't know who you work for. In my opinion you threaten the security of my mission. We're leaving you here," Roberts told him.
"We'll see about that," T'Pris responded and walked off towards Sevrek. Roberts walked away, heading to the shuttle. Yaana looked from Anthas to Jonah, she hesitated a moment, then turned and ran after Roberts. All around them the Vulcans were preparing to leave. A cargo bay door had opened in the shuttle and the three ground cars were driven on board. They could hear T'Pris arguing with someone, probably Sevrek. She actually sounded angry. The last of the Vulcans had entered the shuttle when T'Pris returned.
"It's no use. Roberts is the senior officer here, so what he says goes. If I don't get on board now, then they'll leave me here too," she informed them. "I'm sorry, I … I have to go."
T'Pris ran to the shuttle door, where Sevrek was waiting for her. He took one look at them, then the door was closed.
"Better move back," a voice came out of the dark. It was Major Kira. It seemed that Roberts had objected to her presence too.
They did as she suggested, joining her, then watched forlornly as the shuttle took off and disappeared into the night sky.
Jonah had been watching the moon move through the sky of Rigel VII for most of the night. He knew every feature of its face. It seemed to fill the sky. When he had first started living in the Rigel system, being outdoors had unnerved him. Having spent the first twelve years of his life on a small freighter made him quite agoraphobic for quite a while. He had rarely left the populated areas on those planets, even after he had become used to open spaces.
Although Rigel was a supergiant star around 50,000 times more luminous than Earth's sun, Rigel VII orbited it at a distance of just over 200 A.U., which meant that the climate was that of a typical M-class world. And although that part of the planet was around half-way through its decades-long spring phase, the nights could still be on the cold side. Jonah lay next to the thermal generator, huddled against Anthas, hearing the sounds of the wildlife of Seven, and grateful for the reassuring presence of Kira, a few metres away, wrapped in a thermal blanket, attentive to the sounds around them. She had volunteered to take the first watch. Jonah saw her suddenly tense at movement in the grass beyond the clearing, then relaxed on hearing the call of some animal.
Jonah had been on Seven many times before, but only in the towns. He guessed Kira had never been to the Rigel system before, but still he was confident in her ability to get them through this. There were dangerous animals in the wilds of Rigel VII, although most had been driven to near extinction, and each animal cry he heard made his hair stand on end. However, he trusted Kira's judgement about which noises were to be worried about and which weren't.
He tried to remember the nursery rhyme the children of Rigel used to sing about the moon. The tune, he knew, came from a Terran song, Fréré Jacques. He dragged it from his childhood memories:
"The Moon over Rigel VII,
Shines so clear, shines so bright.
Bringing light to darkness, bringing light to darkness.
Shadows at night, shadows at night."
Jonah repeated it to himself as a kind of mantra. He knew that it was traditional to sing it round campfires in just such a situation, but nothing he knew could have induced him to make a sound in the darkness, with who knew what listening.
Kira had suggested they stay there for the night, then get their bearings after dawn, and try and work their way back to the Anduin, avoiding any patrols that might be out. It had seemed like a good idea, although the security of the ship seemed a long way away now.
Anthas had curled up in Jonah's arms, he guessed because of the cold. The temperature wasn't that low, but both he and Anthas were used to the homeostatic environments of a starship, and so neither could adapt very well to changes in temperature. Although Anthas and Jonah had become very good friends since their time on Veridian, that was all they were, and yet fate had now pushed them into close physical proximity twice on this trip, once at Madam Majj's and now here. Anthas's complete lack of discomfort about being so physically close to him was a strong indication that she didn't feel anything more for him than friendship. Jonah's feelings weren't quite so platonic. He tried to think calm, dispassionate thoughts as he held her. He had survived lying next to her in bed at Majj's, with only a few centimetres (that had felt like parsecs at the time) between them. This would be far easier, he hoped.
Anthas stirred in his arms, trying to find a more comfortable position on the hard ground. Her right antenna brushed gently against his face as she did so. Jonah sighed. It was going to be a long night.
On a Rigellian freighter, in orbit around Rigel VII, T'Pris renewed her argument with Lieutenant-Commander Sevrek.
"Sir," she demanded. "They are Starfleet personnel. We can't abandon them."
Sevrek was uncertain. On the one hand Roberts was in command of the mission and he had given direct instructions to leave the three people on the planet below. But Sevrek was beginning to doubt Roberts's decision-making. Roberts had insisted that the shuttle take him and Lewty to where their spaceships had landed, although it would have been more logical to abandon them. The ships had, of course, been guarded by the people from the settlement. Roberts had instructed them to lay down covering phaser fire, then land. Roberts had sent four of the team out to collect the ships. Luckily there were no casualties amongst them, but Sevrek couldn't say the same about the people from the settlement. Roberts seemed to have completely ignored Starfleet policy to avoid conflict wherever possible,
And then when they had rendezvoused with the freighter in orbit, Roberts's behaviour had continued to bother him. The consignment of drugs that Lewty had acquired had been loaded aboard the Hermes, which was then made ready to return to the Zeus. Roberts had then ordered the Pandora to be made ready for his own departure. Roberts's briefing to his team before he left had only gone some way to explaining his actions.
"Well done," he had congratulated them, "this is the biggest breakthrough in this case we've ever had. Not only have we identified the producers – the first step in the chain – we now, thanks to this man here," he had indicated Lewty, "have a chance of following the network through to the next link in that chain." Roberts had then dismissed everyone else from the briefing room, since the rest of the briefing had been for Sevrek only. Lewty left too, to return to the Zeus before they became too suspicious about his delay.
"The plan is for Lewty to appear to return his part of the consignment to the Zeus," Roberts had explained to Sevrek. "He will then make his excuses to the crew of the Zeus and leave for Rigel X on the Hermes. I want you to follow the Zeus to its next stop, which is Rigel XII. Once the consignment is unloaded, you are to move in and arrest both the crew on board the Zeus and the colonists on Twelve. That way we'll have enough evidence to convict both groups. We won't have anything on Alexander himself, but I think he's untouchable at the moment. Meanwhile Lewty and I are planning a bust of our own. Lewty has removed one cylinder from the case he's handing over to the Zeus. We've made contact with an operative from the Orion Syndicate named Draim. We've told him that we're going to steal some of the narcotics from Alexander and will sell them on. Draim will meet us on Ten to purchase the drugs, at which point we'll move in on him and arrest him. Providing everything goes to plan we'll close down two major supply channels in this sector."
Roberts had left the briefing room, heading towards the shuttle bay of the freighter. He had bumped into T'Pris, who had been waiting outside, scowled at her, then continued. T'Pris had then immediately entered the briefing room and had begun demanding that Sevrek allow her to return to Rigel VII.
"Sir," T'Pris repeated. "We can't abandon them."
Sevrek hesitated, still thinking through the alternatives.
"Roberts has explained his plan to me. It is ingenious, and highly logical. This makes acceding to your request very difficult. I do not want to go against someone who is capable of such meticulous thinking."
T'Pris tried another line of argument. "Sir, is it logical to leave them there? What does it accomplish?"
"I must admit, I cannot see a rational motive for leaving Starfleet personnel on the surface, since they cannot reasonably have any influence on the outcome of events." Sevrek paused for a few moments, balancing the validity of the alternatives. "Lieutenant, I cannot authorise you to go to the surface. However, I will not oppose you if you do. Rescue the major and the others, if you wish, but if Starfleet investigates, I will tell them that you did so without my permission. Is that clear?"
T'Pris nodded. It was perfectly clear. She would take all the risks, and yet Sevrek's conscience would be eased.
"You have exactly one hour before we leave orbit," Sevrek informed her.
She headed towards the shuttle bay, and was met by Taurik.
"You're going to the surface aren't you? To pick up your friends?" he asked. T'Pris nodded. "I'm coming too," he told her.
The temperature had dropped still further on the part of the surface of Rigel VII where Kira, Jonah and Anthas were waiting for daylight. Dawn was now only an hour or so away. The three had slept fitfully, taking turns at keeping watch. It was Anthas's turn now. She looked out at the darkness surrounding them, although her antennae could detect far more than her eyes could. Molecules drifted on the air, detectable over the familiar traces of the man asleep with his head resting on her lap, the woman curled up on the other side of the thermal generator, but not in significant enough amounts to indicate that there were any animals nearby, and there was nothing to indicate that there were any Rigellians in the vicinity.
However, there was something, a slight pressure increase, like a shock wave through the air, coming closer. Anthas looked up but couldn't see anything. Then she noticed stars being occluded as if by something black and silent passing in front of them. She shook Jonah awake, then called to Kira.
"Something's coming – look!" she pointed to the sky above. Kira turned off the thermal generator and the three ran to an outcropping of rock to shelter from whatever was approaching them.
They heard the ship fly above their heads. As It came nearer they saw it was a Rigellian shuttle. The one that the others had left on earlier that night. It landed and the door opened. Silhouetted in the light from inside was T'Pris.
The three hurried on board, as grateful for the escape from the cold as for reaching the security of the vessel.
"Where now?" Taurik asked from the pilot's seat.
"Rigel X, I guess," T'Pris answered him. She looked at Jonah and Anthas. "I assume you want to get Yaana back.
Kira had other ideas. "No, I still want the Orb. It must be on the Zeus – that's the only place no-one looked for it." However, she didn't like the idea either of leaving the young Lieutenant in the possession of Roberts. She turned to Taurik. "Take us to my ship, the Anduin. With any luck it won't be guarded. The Rigellians will have assumed we've all left long ago."
Kira was right. The U.S.S. Anduin lay on the plain unguarded; the squat grey shape of the Danube-class runabout incongruous amongst the long grass. Taurik landed the shuttle next to it. No-one moved.
"Who's taking the runabout, then?" Anthas asked.
"I have to get the shuttle back to the freighter," Taurik explained. "We have to reach it before it leaves orbit to follow the Zeus."
"Then I'd better go with you," Kira decided. She turned to Anthas. "You take the Anduin – I'll give you the access codes."
"Of course," Anthas hugged the major with excitement. "You'll get it back. Promise. And if we can ever do anything to help you …" She broke off as she suddenly realised that Kira was not really the kind of person one hugged.
"Take care of it," Kira warned her. "I want it back in one piece."
As Anthas and Jonah left the shuttle, they were joined, to their surprise, by T'Pris.
"I think me and Starfleet Intelligence are through," she said by way of explanation. "Besides, I've missed An's piloting skills."
The sarcasm was wasted on Anthas. She was already running ahead to the Anduin.
X
"Roberts said he was planning a sting operation," T'Pris explained to Anthas and Jonah. The three of them were in the cockpit of the Anduin in orbit around Rigel X. The Pandora and the Hermes were already on the surface, but deciding their next move was proving difficult. "That's what he told Lieutenant-Commander Sevrek. Apparently someone from the Orion Syndicate called Draim will be meeting Roberts on Rigel X, to buy drugs. Roberts will then arrest him," T'Pris paused, seeing Jonah's questioning look. "I listened in on their meeting," she confessed.
Jonah considered this. "That must have been what the three of them were planning back at Gaila's. And if we know Roberts, then he's actually going to sell the drugs that Lewty got from Rigel VII, not bust Draim."
"You don't know that," T'Pris argued. "You don't even know that Lewty has stolen the drugs he was buying on Seven and is in league with Roberts. You're just assuming Roberts is a crook because of the way he treats Yaana."
"Don't the two go together?"
"No, not at all. He could be committed to the law, and yet have an abusive relationship with his partner."
"That's kind of double standards isn't it? Work towards freeing the Galaxy, yet enslave the person closest to you."
"Yes, it's double standards," T'Pris concurred, "but still possible. One's very abstract, and the other's very personal. It's quite possible for Roberts to want to save people in general, but hurt someone specifically." T'Pris was obviously uncomfortable about going against the chain of command to this extent. She had been working with Starfleet Intelligence for several months, and had learned to respect the people with whom she'd been working. "He's already identified the drugs run to Rigel XII, and implicated Hephaestus Holdings in the smuggling. Isn't that proof that he's on the side of the law?"
"Hhmm, he probably did that just to cover his tracks. With the crew of the Zeus busted there'd be no way for them to find out that Lewty had stolen from him." Jonah looked at Anthas. "What do you think?"
Anthas thought for a moment.
"I'm with Jonah. I don't know if Roberts is crooked or not. I just want Yaana to be free of him."
"O.K. two-to-one we get the bastard," Jonah concluded, but T'Pris shook her head.
"No. I'm with you. Yaana should be with us, not him."
"Excellent," Anthas rejoiced. "'All for one, and one for all." Jonah and T'Pris looked at her blankly. She shrugged.
Their first problem was keeping Roberts and Lewty on the planet below. That was solved by intercepting Draim. With the Anduin's sensors at maximum it was an easy task to detect his ship as it approached. They hailed it. After a few moments, they got a response. Arissa appeared on the viewscreen. She seemed surprised to recognise the person hailing her.
"Aren't you the guy from Rigel IV? The one in Gaila's study?" she looked to one side, making sure Draim wasn't in the cabin.
"That's right. Arissa, isn't it?"
"Is this a Federation ship? Your transponder reading says U.S.S. Anduin."
"We're, uh, borrowing it," which was the truth, but Jonah said it with an intonation that implied something underhand. "Arissa, that information you got me was very useful. Time to repay the favour." Jonah took a breath. This was his last chance to change his mind about selling out Roberts, and possibly Starfleet. "Tell Draim that the person he was to meet on Rigel X is in Starfleet Intelligence. Tell him not to contact anyone, just get out of here. Will you do that?" The screen went dead. Then flicked back on. It was Draim.
"I don't know who you are, or what you're talking about. I think you've made a mistake," he said. The screen went dead again. T'Pris was monitoring the sensors.
"Draim's just changed course," she informed them. "Heading back out of the System. What's next?"
"We call Alexander."
It took a few calls. Alexander was a difficult man to reach. Every secretary Jonah spoke to asked if they could take a message. Jonah assured them that Alexander would not want his message passed on to anyone else. Eventually Alexander appeared on the viewscreen. Jonah took a deep breath. Alexander's image was far more imposing over a viewscreen, where his being only a metre tall was not apparent.
"Jonah! I've just heard some terrible news. Apparently the crew on board the Zeus were smuggling drugs! They've just been picked up by Starfleet Intelligence on Rigel XII." Alexander appeared shocked by the news. "You will inform Starfleet that I had nothing to do with it, won't you?"
Jonah got the picture – Alexander had only employed Jonah and Anthas as an alibi. He could keep them around, but hide the truth from them, and then claim that he must be innocent, or why else would he have employed two Starfleet people? And if they didn't back him up, he could implicate them, there was that threat implicit too. And what could be more convincing than the testimony of two members of Starfleet? Setting Starfleet against Starfleet. Well, two could play that game.
"Alexander, I know who told Starfleet about the drugs on the Zeus," Jonah informed him.
Alexander was surprised. "You do?"
Jonah nodded. "Lewty."
"Now why would he do something like that?"
Jonah shrugged non-commitally. Lewty's only reason was to hide his theft of Alexander's drugs, there was no way Jonah was going to accuse Alexander of drug smuggling.
"Not that I knew anything about the drugs anyway," Alexander automatically defended himself. "But what would Lewty do with those drugs once he'd stolen them? How could anyone smuggle drugs past Starfleet?" Any individual, Jonah amended to himself. Anyone without the backing of an organisation like Hephaestus Holdings to frighten off any investigation.
"He's got an accomplice, working inside Starfleet Intelligence, who can get them past the random stop and searches."
"This is all very interesting," Alexander was still evasive. "How do you know all this?"
"We've been following him, watching him. Would you like to know where he is now?" Jonah asked.
"Hhhmm, yes, quite," Alexander concealed his interest very poorly. "I am wondering what's in it for you, however."
"Your gratitude, Alexander," Jonah replied. "Nothing more."
"A wise choice, Jonah," Alexander was pleased. "My gratitude can prove very lucrative." The genial face became hard suddenly. "Now Jonah, where is he?"
"Rigel X. We're in standard orbit above him as we speak."
"I'll have an operative out to you within the hour." The viewscreen blinked out.
Jonah let out a very shaky breath. This could all go very horribly wrong, but he was committed now, no backing out. Anthas looked at him.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Joe," she said, the fear creeping into her voice.
"Not really," he admitted.
Alexander's operative arrived a short time later. The three on the Anduin had wondered how someone would be able to get there so soon. As the shuttle dropped out of warp, they realised how. From the readings their sensors were getting the small ship was a type-12 Federation shuttlecraft. None of the three had ever heard of one being privately owned. Being an "operative" must be a profitable profession. By an odd coincidence, the name of the shuttlecraft was "Cochrane".
The shuttlecraft hailed them. The face that appeared on the viewscreen was human, and pale and gaunt. Jonah felt the face was uncomfortably familiar, but couldn't quite place where he'd seen it before.
"Burn," was all he said. For a moment Jonah thought the man was making some sort of threat. Then it clicked. This was Burn. This was the man who had murdered his parents. He felt sick. Then another realisation struck him. If Burn worked for Alexander, then it must have been Alexander who had ordered his parents killed. The man whose life he had saved – twice – only a few months before was the man he had been looking for. He'd even lost an arm saving him. If only he had let those assassins on Veridian III do their job – then Alexander would already have encountered the justice he deserved. But now there was no way he could touch Alexander.
But he was faced with the opportunity to kill one of the men responsible for his parents' deaths - Burn. The shuttlecraft wasn't shielded, and the Anduin had enough fire-power to destroy it. He could just press the button, and Burn would be no more.
But that would mean that there'd be no-one to rescue Yaana. The three of them couldn't do it. That kind of operation required skills they lacked. They couldn't be sure that Roberts wouldn't be able to defend himself, even against three people. Besides, Starfleet might investigate the death, and trace it back to them. Jonah didn't want to do time in a penal colony somewhere. He needed Burn alive.
"Joe!" Anthas hissed. "Say something."
Jonah came out of his reverie. He noticed Burn was looking at him with an odd expression. Maybe it was recognition. Could they have met somewhere?
"Jonah Cochrane," he introduced himself. "Has Alexander told you what he wants?"
"Sure, two guys ripping him off. He wants them taken out."
"Right. Also – there's a woman down there – an Orion slave – she's a present for Alexander. She's not to be harmed. Just bring her back here."
Burn nodded, and the viewscreen blinked out.
Jonah sat back. He felt uneasy about the whole thing. Then he stood up and headed for the transporter.
"Beam me down," he asked Anthas. "I want to make sure Yaana's safe."
"You're sure?" Anthas asked.
"No," he answered, he just knew he couldn't just sit and wait.
Anthas had beamed Jonah down to one of the domes on the surface of Rigel X. Ten was a Class K planet - airless and inhospitable. It had a single outpost, long since abandoned, which was the only structure on the planet. Six interconnected domes stood among the rocky landscape, fringed with frozen methane. The domes were part of a geological survey; the computers located in the domes monitored thousands of remotes which bored through the planet. The remotes analysed every ore they encountered and reported back. If they discovered something of particular importance, such as illium 629 (a decay product of dilithium), then the automatic systems would raise an alarm and bring in geologists from the mining corporation that ran Rigel XII. Otherwise every six months a team landed, checked that everything was working, and disappeared again. Since the dilithium mines on Twelve had run dry forty years before, the chief hope was that more crystals would be found on the planet. A few hundred kilos would mean renewed economic prosperity for the entire system. So far nothing worth mining had been found. The domes, however, were kept in constant readiness should any of the remotes discover anything of value.
Anthas and T'Pris had wanted to come with him, but he'd insisted that it wouldn't help. One person would be more likely to go undetected than three. All he had to do was find Yaana and bring her back. Now he was beginning to regret leaving Anthas and T'Pris behind as he walked through the deserted corridors of the geology station.
The base was built in a concentric circle pattern. The control room was at the centre of the dome. Jonah guessed that Lewty and Roberts would be there. Maybe Yaana would be with them.
The doors to the control room were open. Jonah peered round the open doorway and saw Lewty and Roberts sitting at a table at the centre, laughing and drinking. A large metal container stood on the table, similar to the one Lewty had picked up from the people on Rigel VII. Jonah couldn't see Yaana at first, then saw her half-hidden under one of the consoles at the edge of the control room. She was naked, curled into a foetal ball, and appeared to be crying. Her face was turned away from him, hidden in the corner between console and floor, her long green hair spread out across the metal floor.
Jonah realised that he could reach her without being seen if he crawled behind the inner ring of consoles since they would hide him from the two sitting at the table. He could reach her, take her away and beam her to safety before Burn arrived and the shooting started.
Jonah entered the room on all fours, inching slowly across the floor, trying not to make a sound. He reached Yaana and sat next to her. Gently he touched her shoulder. Her skin was cold. She shivered as he touched her, and then without any further movement she began screaming.
Jonah backed away, not sure what to do. He turned getting ready to get to his feet and run, and was confronted by Lewty and Roberts.
Roberts had a phaser in his hand. He pointed it at Jonah and fired.
The beam hit Jonah and, as he fell, he felt his muscles stiffen. It was on its lowest setting. Jonah was still conscious, but was paralysed. He felt tingling over his skin, but his legs refused to move.
"Did you stun him?" Lewty asked.
"No," Roberts replied. "He's not stunned. He's going to feel everything." He bent down to lean over Jonah. "I told you to stay away from her, didn't I? Now I'm going to show you why you should do what I say." From his boot he removed a knife. He held it up to Jonah's face. "I am going to slice you up so bad …" Roberts face split into a malicious grin. Then kept on splitting.
Jonah had enough motor control to close his eyes. He heard a loud thud as Roberts's body hit the floor, and then Lewty screaming over and over. The screaming stopped. Jonah realised he was holding his breath. He let it out slowly and opened his eyes. He was looking into the face of Burn.
"You O.K.?" Burn asked, then to himself said, "of course he is. You were, so he is." Burn reached out a hand towards Jonah. It was prosthetic like Jonah's. "You know, I've waited seventeen years to do that," he said. Burn took Jonah's left arm and began moving it, forcing off the paralysis. Next he started on Jonah's legs. Slowly Jonah began to regain some feeling. Burn helped Jonah to his feet. Jonah swayed unsteadily and leant against the nearest console. Behind Burn he could make out Roberts's headless corpse. Further away was an oily mess that was probably once Lewty.
"Better?" asked Burn. Jonah nodded mutely. Burn looked at him intently. "You'd better contact Anthas. Tell her to land and pick you up."
Jonah mumbled. "No, no. Beam out."
"I don't think so, you'll want to take these," Burn was walking over to the table where the container still stood. "And the filters on the transporter won't accept them. Call An, O.K.?"
Jonah was still woozy from the phaser hit. The impossibility of this hitman knowing Anthas, of giving him the narcotics he should be collecting for Alexander, of looking like an older version of himself, wasn't properly sinking in. Later he'd kick himself for not asking any questions of Burn, but at that moment his only thoughts were to sit down before he fell down.
"I'll see you later, Joe," Burn said. "Give my love to T'Pris." He dissolved in a transporter beam.
A loud cry brought Jonah to his full senses. Turning carefully he saw Yaana kneeling over the corpse of Roberts, her hair cascading over his body. She began rocking backwards and forwards, wailing uncontrollably.
Jonah watched Anthas return to the bridge and begin running a diagnostic check on the systems.
"How's Yaana?" Jonah asked.
"I don't know, she seemed really messed up when we first picked you up," Anthas replied. That had been only an hour earlier. The Anduin had landed on one of the landing rings of the geology base once Jonah had told them he wouldn't be beaming up. Anthas had been surprised to see Jonah pushing the container full of narcotics along the docking airlock corridor, but had forgotten any questions she might have had when she saw Yaana following behind. The woman had seemed so distraught that she was not aware of anything around her, dazedly following Jonah, her head lowered. While Jonah had stowed the container, she and T'Pris had led Yaana to the living quarters in the aft section, where they had already prepared a cabin for her. As soon as Anthas had piloted the Anduin back to orbit above Rigel X she had gone back to see how Yaana was getting on. Yaana was now surprised at the change. "She seems fine. Either she's very resilient, or she's suppressing a lot. God knows what that pahtk had done to her."
"Maybe. Or maybe it was seeing him murdered."
"Joe, don't blame yourself," Anthas told him. "O.K. you set Alexander on to him, but it wasn't you that killed Roberts and Lewty."
Jonah was silent. He hadn't told any of them that he had a strong suspicion that it was him who'd killed them, but a different, older version of himself.
"But do you think I did the right thing, An?" Joe asked.
Anthas paused before answering, occupying herself with the diagnostic. "I don't know," she finally answered. "I mean, we still really have no evidence that Roberts wasn't actually carrying out a sting operation to catch Draim and Lewty."
"No, we don't. It's ironic, but Roberts was right to leave us stranded on Seven. He said we'd jeopardise his mission and we did."
"So we could be directly responsible for the death of a Starfleet Agent carrying out his duty. And for Draim still being at large," Anthas pursued her argument.
"Draim's going to have the Intelligence services of half-a-dozen systems after him. He'll end up on a penal colony before too long."
"And Roberts?"
"It was the only way to protect Yaana from him. You heard what she said. He'd never leave her alone. We had no choice," Jonah knew he was rationalising his actions, but saying it wasn't improving the way he felt.
"'It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it,'" Anthas quoted, gently mocking him.
"What?" Jonah was confused.
"Never mind," Anthas looked at him – with a mixture of amusement and affection. She had to admit he'd impressed her. He could be ruthless when it meant protecting people he cared about and she liked that. She tapped a course into the helm of the ship, her ship, for the time being, listening to T'Pris and Yaana conversing earnestly in one of the cabins, the sounds of the engines humming. The sounds of home. Jonah was looking through the ship's library on one of the viewers.
"Want some music?" he asked. "Got any preference?"
Anthas leant back in her chair, looking out at the starscape on the viewscreen. The galaxy that the four of them would explore together.
"Anything," she said. "Surprise me."
XII
"It's not here!" Kira screamed.
She had torn the Zeus apart, practically with her bare hands, trying to find the Orb. She couldn't understand it. There were only three people who could have taken it from Gaila; Roberts, Draim or Lewty. Gaila had searched Draim's ship, Quark had searched the Pandora on Rigel VII. She had searched the Hermes herself, on Two. The Rigellians on Seven had searched Lewty's ground car. That only left the Zeus. There was nowhere else it could be, nowhere where it could have been dropped off. She sat and thought. Unless Lewty had left it with someone on Rigel II after escaping her at Madam Majj's. But that meant it could be anywhere now.
She sat in the corner of two bulkheads and let her head sink into her hands. It was so frustrating. She had come so close to retrieving the Orb. After 6000 years of reverence it had been ferried from one cesspool to another and then ultimately lost. It was probably being used as a paperweight in the dressing room of some chorus line dancer for all she knew.
She groaned and tugged at her hair.
At least the team from Starfleet Intelligence was happy. Well, at least the non-Vulcan part of the team were happy. They'd followed the Zeus to Rigel XII and waited until the hand-over was complete, then moved in. The drugs that the Zeus crew had picked up from Rigel VII were found in various places within the mining colony. It was obviously being used as a distribution centre, far enough away from the heavily populated planets not to be noticed, and with a local population so impoverished by the failure of the 'lithium crystal mines that they were prepared to do anything. Now all of the Zeus's crew, and a large proportion of the colonists, were under arrest.
Taurik approached her, quietly. Something about the ensign comforted her. She knew Vulcans were supposed to be emotionless, yet she'd learnt something of the pain he still carried over the death of his friend. They'd both endured the loss of loved ones at the hands of the Cardassians, and both survived. She wasn't going to let the loss of an object, even one as important as an Orb of the Prophets, bring her to despair. She smiled at the young Vulcan and stood up.
"I'm returning to Bajor. There's nothing for me here. Would you like to come with me? You could meet the Sito family and pay your respects at the family burial grounds. I'm sure that they would be very pleased to meet you."
Taurik lowered his head, Kira guessed to hide any emotions that may have appeared on his face. At that moment Quark entered.
"I'm finished with the Rigel System. And finished with that damn Gaila. I followed you here to tell you that if you want a lift back to Bajor, I can take you. If you like."
"Yes. Thank you Quark," Kira replied, grateful, for once, to see the Ferengi. "We'll have one guest with us on the trip." Together Kira, Taurik and Quark left the Zeus and headed towards the Ferengi's ship. Around the spaceport dome lay the barren methane icescape of XII, and above them shone Rigel, the distant sun reduced to a cold speck of light.