A few hours earlier, Ro and Ariel had been in the meeting room of a small complex of dwellings. "You are in danger," they told the people gathered there. "Come with us to the beam-up site. Don't wait."

One elderly woman had looked at the graying head of her uncovered husband when they said that. Obviously, this dwelling group was composed of some of the liberal-minded. The man had not been afraid to come out of his own quarters without his caftan. But to walk the streets without it was a different matter.

"My husband will need to go put on his clothes," the woman finally told Ariel.

The Mistress gritted her teeth. "Persella, there isn't time. If Aliana isn't going to arrest you for listening to the Enterprise crew about the asteroid, she certainly isn't going to arrest Markus for not wearing his caftan."

The woman, Persella, thought about it for a moment and then slowly nodded. Markus, her husband, took a step closer to her for support. He was doing his best not to tremble.

Ro stepped up next to Ariel. "Are we all ready to go, then?" She drew her phaser, but let the arm carrying it relax by her side, as she led the group out of the room. This would be the fourth large group she and Ariel had brought back to the transport site. According to Ariel, there were only a few more dwelling groups in the capital. Then they would begin with the outlying areas.

She pushed open the outer door that led to the street, and stopped in her tracks.

Ariel, right behind her, bumped into her back, but, still, Ro didn't move.

"What…?" Ariel began, but then she saw…

The door was surrounded by a semi-circle of policewomen… their guns all trained on Ro's chest. She didn't dare raise her phaser, (not that she would have stood much of a chance with it against 20 policewomen, anyway) or even tap her communicator.

The cold voice of Mistress Aliana spoke from behind the line of policewomen. "What do we have here? Traitors, perhaps?" She pushed her way through the line of guards to stand in front of Ro and held her hand out. Ro jutted her chin out, but offered her phaser, with the barrel pointed at the Mistress.

She stiffened her back and looked Aliana straight in the eye. She wasn't going to let this woman make her feel like a helpless child again. Aliana twisted her mouth, and took the surrendered phaser.

Ariel pushed her way out in front of Ro. "Actually, Aliana. I was thinking the word 'patriots' suited us better."

Aliana turned her icy gaze on the Mistress. "My dear Ariel. It has been a long time… I thought you'd be dead by now."

Ariel smirked. "Living in the desert these past four years has only made me stronger. I can see you've changed too, but I never did trust you to guard me."

Aliana slapped Ariel so hard she stumbled.

Somewhere, back inside, Ro heard Markus start to whimper. The ones behind the doorway were trapped too. This was the only way out to their dwellings.

Ro started to inch her left hand up her side, hopefully slowly enough no one noticed. If only she could get to her communicator… If she opened a channel, the bridge would be able to hear what was going on and beam them all up on the spot… she hoped.

Aliana was still watching Ariel with satisfaction, as the whole side of her face turned red and she looked up at The Elected One with daggers in her eyes. Ro's hand was above her waist… only a few more inches to go…

Aliana whirled suddenly and ripped the communicator off her chest. "How stupid do you think I am, Starfleet?" she taunted. "Didn't you think I would notice what you were doing?" She threw the communicator to the ground. "Now, all of you will see what happens to traitors on Angel One!"

She nodded to the policewomen. One of them came and roughly grabbed Ro by the arm. Another dragged Ariel with her. The rest rounded up the residents huddled in the doorway.

Out of the group of women and caftaned men, Markus stood out like a Cardassian in the Vedek Assembly, Ro thought to herself.

Sure enough, one of the policewomen dragged him in front of Aliana as soon as she saw him. The old man began sobbing as he dropped to his knees.

"Where is your caretaker, you whore?" The Elected One demanded. Her head remained unbent as she spoke, as if she might catch something from the very sight of him.

Persella stepped forward. "Please, Mistress… we were only going from our dwelling to here and back. He is an old man… Please, Mistress… I did not think…"

"Liar," Aliana spat. "You know the law. It is disgusting to allow a man to parade about wearing almost nothing at all. You know wearing the garment is as much for his protection as anything."

Markus raised his head. "No," he said.

"What did you say?" Aliana said, looking at him. Her voice was becoming very dangerous now.

"No," Markus repeated, discovering his backbone for the first time in his 75 years. "I can't see anything when I'm wearing my garment. It's hot and it's uncomfortable. How can it be for my benefit?"

"Markus!" Tear began streaming down Persella's face… knowing what was probably coming after such a statement.

Aliana brought her knee up into Markus' jaw, knocking him backwards onto the pavement. At the same moment, Ro stomped on her captor's foot and twirled away. She made a desperate leap for her communicator… but Aliana kicked it away again, just as it was almost within her reach. The policewoman, recovered, grabbed her again, making sure to twist her arm this time.

Persella ran to her husband's side. He was unmoving. Blood ran from the back of his head.

"You've killed him!" she shouted at Aliana. "He was my husband for 50 years and you've killed him after making his last few years a living hell."

Aliana seemed unconcerned. She merely nodded to the guard next to Persella. The policewoman nodded back and raised her gun to the back of the old woman's head. She fired a single shot, and Persella's body fell across Markus' chest.

The shot echoed through the small canyon of buildings and pavement. No one else made a sound. Aliana's captives stood in shock, looking at the bodies of the elderly couple. Only Ro and Ariel dared meet The Elected One's eye.

Aliana folded her arms across her chest. "Now, you see a small part of the fate we have in store for you, Traitors." She whirled around and led the way back to the council chambers.

Aliana led them to the back part of the chambers, where Ro saw a device she recognized from the old away team logs. It looked harmless enough, almost like a piece of sculpture… two black pillars tilted inward… their tops were about shoulder length apart.

The Elected One clapped her hands once and Ro saw a caftaned figure she recognized as Trent, bring in a crystal ball. According to the reports, condemned prisoners stood between the pillars with their hands on them and were vaporized when the crystal ball was touched. Mistress Beata had claimed it was a quick and painless death, Ro had read.

Ariel, to her right, was facing the device for the second time in her life. She sucked in her breath when she saw the ball Trent brought in. "She's modified it," she whispered to Ro. "She's upped the setting."

"Let me guess," Ro whispered back. "Slow and painful."

Ariel didn't even need to answer that.

The two of them, were kneeling in front of Aliana's perch with two policewomen guarding them. The rest of the Mistresses were gathered in their spot by the wall. The group Ro and Ariel had been leading was crouched in front of the Mistresses. It was clear Aliana wanted witnesses for what she was about to do.

"Mistress Ariel," she said in a sugary tone in opposition to her stone cold face. "I want you to be the first to try my new toy." She turned to face the others, "Perhaps later, all of you can play with it… but I want Dear Mistress Ariel to be the first." She held out her left hand, and Trent placed the crystal ball in it.

The two guards dragged Ariel to the device. She started what would be her last words. "No matter what you do to me, Aliana, you've already lost and you know it. Most of your people have already left this planet and when the asteroid hits, you'll be destroyed."

"Perhaps," Aliana said… bringing her right hand slowly down over the ball. The device began to emit a high-pitched noise the closer her hand came to making contact.

On the bridge of the Enterprise, Riker and Troi sat flanking Picard. Riker was stroking his beard. "Data, anything?"

The android was busy tapping on the control panel at his station. He did not answer at first. Then he shouted, "Mister O'Brien… Bajoran lifesigns… I am transferring the coordinates to you."

As Aliana's hand reached the crystal ball, Ariel disappeared.

Aliana blinked, and looked back. The device never worked that quickly. It should have taken a full minute for Ariel's body to painfully tear apart, atom-by-atom.

She handed the crystal ball to Trent and went over to investigate. It wasn't until she, herself, was standing in between the pillars that she realized Ro and the others were gone too.

Trent lowered his right hand onto the ball. Aliana's screams filled his ears until he too was enveloped by the blue and white lights of the Enterprise transporter beam.

Captains Log, Stardate 45482.1 – The Enterprise and three other science vessels have just witnessed the asteroids collision with the planet of Angel One. Although we will be studying the data from this experience for years, our priority right now is to get the people of Angel One back home as soon as possible. Terraformers from the science vessels will be staying for the next several months to get the planet back to normal.

We, however, must leave this system and transfer our passengers to the other vessels.

Ariel stood on the transporter pad with her baby once again in her arms. "We owe our lives to you several times over, Captain," she said.

Ramsey put his arm around her before taking his place on the pad behind hers. "I'm very glad you were able to find those lifesigns when you did, Captain. Otherwise…" he shuddered.

Ariel smiled across the room at Ro. "Thank you," she said, "For everything."

The corners of Ro's mouth turned up and she nodded, shyly.

Picard looked at O'Brien. "Energize," he said. As Ariel and Ramsey's family disintegrated into the transporter beam, he turned to Ro. "I have a feeling things will never be quite the same on Angel One."

"That may not be a bad thing, Captain," Ro said, hands clasp behind her back.

"No," Picard said, walking towards the door. "I'll be sure to tell that to Starfleet Command in my report."

Inwardly, Ro groaned. That was Picard's quiet way of telling her he knew the away team hadn't followed The Prime Directive to the letter. But then she noticed he was smiling. He approved, then.

"In fact, I also thought I'd mention to Command that I may have an officer to recommend to them for Advanced Tactical Training."

"Me sir? Ro Laren? Isn't that normally a course for security officers?"

"Normally," the captain nodded. "But I think you'd be up for the challenge. Am I right?"

The very idea set Ro back, but the more she thought about it, the better she liked the sound of it. "Maybe someday sir…" She said.

And the two of them walked around the corner.