Creek Johnson and Nance Hurt
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Disclaimer: We are but fleas on the elephants' posterior that is Paramount. No infringement on their rights is intended. We hope none is taken.
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"Bring him in?" asked Flato. "Aren't we jumping ahead of ourselves a bit? I mean to say; all we know for sure it that, according to Mr. Blankman at least, he was approached by two members of the Orion Syndicate and that he turned them away. We don't even know if he knows the two men were members of the Orion Syndicate." John Marshall pondered the question for a moment. "You are, of course, correct in your assessment," he said at last. "However, the question still remains, why was he approached by the Orion Syndicate? What made them expect our Mr. Blankman would even be interested in the first place?"
"A lucky guess?"
"Perhaps," agreed Marshall. "Or perhaps it has something to do with the package that Mr. Blankman received from the Cardassian gentleman we saw him with yesterday. We have no idea what the package was, now do we?"
"No, but then again, we didn't ask," Flato reminded him. "I still don't see where you make a connection between Blankman and the murder of Huna Chin."
"I agree that any connection may be merely a matter of coincidence. However, I make a habit of never trusting coincidences. Having gone over the file the Cardassian Authorities were willing to send, there are too many unanswered questions. Questions I doubt we will have answers for even when our people do track down the two gentlemen from the Orion Syndicate."
"Hopefully it won't take them long," replied Flato. "I hate to think what they may be up to with this many people on the Station. If you like, I can call in a another team to help with the search."
"That may not be necessary," replied Marshall. "The suspects, so far, seem to have no indication that we are looking for them, I'd like to keep it that way for the time being, especially as we have so many visitors to the Station. The last thing we need right now is for them to panic."
"And," ventured Flato. "If we are lucky, they might give their game away in the process."
"Indeed."
"Oh what now?" moaned Flato as an alarm sprang to life on the display in front of her.
"I'll leave you to it then," remarked Marshall with a self-satisfied grin. "If you need me, I'll be in Ops, Mr. Landis has asked to be informed of what we have learned."
"You might want to hold off on that," said Flato. "Someone has just attempted to access the Station's computers using an old access code."
"I give you an A for effort, but that hardly qualifies as an emergency."
"I think this does," warned Flato. "The code has been identified as one belonging to Gul Dukat."
"What?"
"And," said Flato flatly. "The attempt was made from the quarters of…"
"Let me guess," commented Marshall. "From the quarters of Mr. Jack Blankman?"
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D McKinley did not believe Quark for an instant. The idea that he would lock himself out of his quarters was patently ridiculous, especially as McKinley knew for a fact that Quark's quarters were on the opposite side of the Station from the location Quark had taken him. The quarters they were standing in front of, McKinley knew from his surveillance, belonged to none other than Jack Blankman. Under ordinary circumstances, he would have refused to assist Quark and would have reported his behavior to Security. Of course, these were not ordinary circumstances. Still smarting from his humiliating failure to secure copies of the pictures Quark had taken of Blankman, McKinley reasoned that this might be close to the next best thing. If he could get a good look around Blankman's quarters, then perhaps, the pictures might not be necessary. Breaking and entering was not exactly in keeping with Starfleet protocol, but sometimes the ends did justify the means.
With a silent reminder that what he was doing, although against the law, may still be in the best interest to the security of the Station, he keyed in his security code and stepped forward as the door slid open. However, before he could enter the living quarters, Quark had slipped in before him and with a muttered apology, allowed the door to close.
"Damn," said McKinley.
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Doru Oia was a large, robust man who looked to Odo as though he would be more at home in the outdoors than locked away behind the walls of a University. Even sitting behind a desk, he seemed to dwarf the small office in exactly the same way his large hands dwarfed the padd Odo had given him. "Does it mean anything to you?" asked Odo.
"Yes," replied Doru his voice seeming to rumble up from his chest. "Where did you find this passage?"
"From a friend."
"Your friend is apparently no scholar," replied Doru punching information onto the padd. "No wonder this made so sense to you. It's in the wrong order and a poor translation on top of that." He nodded in satisfaction and handed the padd back to Odo. On the screen were the following sentences.
Until the heavens are in harmonious agreement, read Odo. The struggle shall continue
The warriors in the shadows will dance the dance of eternal conflict.
Only then must the child of darkness and the child of light complete the circle.
When the world is plunged into absolute night, the child that truly knows his father shall be the key.
And the non-believer shall seize upon that which must be known only by the One.
"The child of darkness?" asked Odo. "Not children?"
"Child," replied Doru. "Singular. The legend of the Shadow Warriors, as originally told, tells that the child of each brother must work together to end the eternal conflict. A classic case of the sins of the fathers being visited upon their children."
"Complete the circle. But how?"
"Well, no one knows exactly," said Doru with a laugh. "It's a fable after all, a parable of life itself. Each circle has a beginning and an end - the trick is trying to determine where the circle starts. To determine the alpha, one must also know the omega."
"In other words the beginning is the ending," said Odo. "And the reverse would also apply; that the ending is also the beginning?"
"Exactly."
"This last line," continued Odo. "The line about the non-believer, it is not part of the passage I was given."
"No," agreed Doru. "But it is the last line of the passage."
"The non-believer shall seize upon that which must be known only by the One? Who in the tale of the Shadow Warriors is the non-believer?"
"Who knows?" replied Doru spreading his hands in a gesture of resignation. "You might as well ask who is the One? In terms of the legend, it is believed the One is the person who breaks the Shadow Warriors free. The non-believer is supposed to represent the skeptic in us all, the person who can see beyond mere belief to see the truth. If you accept the legend as a cautionary tale, then one assumes it is the child that truly knows his father who is the key."
"So," ventured Odo. "The children of the two Warriors must somehow complete the circle of the story and in so doing one child, who sees the truth…"
"Or both children," conceded Doru. "But only one is the key."
"The key, yes. But according to the passage only one child will unlock what? That which is known only by the One?"
"You learn quickly," said Doru. "It's too bad I never had you as a student."
"But," continued Odo brushing aside the compliment. "The passage strikes me as being about balance - harmonious agreement, darkness and light. What if one child is the believer and the other child the non-believer?"
"Yes," replied Doru. "I've thought as much myself. The child who truly knows his father, or more correctly the child who sees the truth, would be the believer. But it's the child who does not truly know his father, or the child who does not see the truth, who will become the possessor of that which is known only by the One."
"Or, could it be the child who sees but does not believe?" asked Odo. "And what if that which is known only by the One is, in fact, the truth?"
"Graduate level thinking, Mr. Odo," barked Doru his voice echoing off the walls of the small office. "Excellent! Of course, there's always the possibility the non-believer is a secondary character to the whole drama. Who knows? It's only literature, it's not as though this has any bearing on real life."
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"Damn," said Tosko Fudan. He punched the controls on the computer interface once more for good measure. He knew it would do no good, but it did make him feel a bit better. "Sorry little girl," he muttered. "But it looks like Starfleet had enough sense to deactivate all the old Cardassian codes. We're going to be stuck here for awhile." The child merely stared at him with sad eyes, before slowly turning toward the door. Puzzled, Fudan glanced at the far wall and saw nothing. "What?" he asked.
By way of response, she squealed in delight and clapped her hands. At almost the exact same moment, the door slid open. Fudan saw a tall, dark man in a Starfleet uniform appear in the open doorway for an instant before he was pushed aside by a Ferengi. The Ferengi blocked the path of the other man and quickly stepped into the room as the door slid shut. As the Ferengi turned, Fudan recognized him as the owner of the bar. What was his name again? Quark?
"Sorry to disturb you," began Quark taking a confident step into the room. "But it's come to my attention that you, and your beautiful daughter, are in a bit of trouble and that I may be in a position to help."
"Trouble?" asked Fudan wondering how they managed to override the force field. Starfleet, of course, a Starfleet officer with a sufficiently high enough security clearance could do so without any trouble. So, there was at least one corrupt officer on the Station. Good.
"Do you really want me to spell it out for you?" asked Quark thinking this Cardassian was dumber than he looked.
"Yes. As a matter of fact, I do." Fudan wondered exactly what the Ferengi was up to with his oily manner and rather arch attitude.
"Let's just say," replied Quark. "Two of your friends stopped by the bar last night and they were very interested in locating you."
"Friends?" asked Fudan even more suspicious than before. "What friends?"
"A rather short Terran who looks remarkably like a vole and his Cardassian companion." Let's see how he likes that, thought Quark.
"Sorry," replied Fudan sitting with exaggerated casualness on the couch. "Don't know them. Now, if you don't mind, we'd like for you to leave."
"I'm sure you would," replied Quark taking a step further into the room. "As a matter of fact, if I were in your shoes, leaving would be first and foremost on my mind."
"Then go."
"If you think that the Orion Syndicate is just going to let you walk off this Station, you have more nerve than I gave you credit for," continued Quark with a suggestive gesture. This was a cool customer, he thought. He'd have to be a little more on guard than he had originally assumed.
"Orion Syndicate?" scoffed Fudan. So that was his game, he thought. "You're crazy. The Orions don't even know I exist."
"Ah, but they do," Quark assured him. "And they are looking for you even a we speak."
Hast Spraga, thought Fudan. So, that's what the old devil was up to these days - he should have known. "And if they are?" asked Fudan. "What does this have to do with you?"
"I can arrange a way for you to leave the station undetected," replied Quark. "For a price."
Of course, thought Fudan. And turn me over to your criminal associates in the process when they offer you more money. "How much?" he asked cautiously.
"How much have you got?" asked Quark. Not as dumb as he had assumed that was for sure, he thought, but that did not mean this Cardassian couldn't be financially taken advantage of just the same.
"With me?" mused Fudan. "Not much, but I have access to other funds. Would, say 25 bars of gold pressed latinum be enough?"
"It's a start," replied Quark, wondering where a Cardassian could come up with that kind of money. He had to be on the run from the Orions. It was most likely their money after all and Quark was fairly certain that this Cardassian had most likely taken it from the Orions, which would explain why they were looking for him. "You can pay me the rest once I've moved you to a safer location."
Move me to another prison, thought Fudan. Well, fine. Move us then, and see the look on Spraga's minion's faces when they realize this vole wouldn't take to being trapped that easily. "You have a deal," he said.
"Excellent," replied Quark briefly wondering how much the two thugs from the Orion Syndicate would pay to know where their quarry had disappeared to.
"Right." Fudan was amused at how eager this Ferengi was to take the bait. He'd be off the Station before this greedy bastard even realized he'd been double-crossed. "We can go now if you like?"
"One thing troubles me - what about Blankman?" asked Quark. "What's he going to do when he realizes you're missing?"
"Who cares?" replied Fudan thinking the human had served his purpose. It was best to move away now before Blankman could poke his nose any further in Fudan's business. "The Terran is even more stupid than he looks. He only agreed to help me because I appealed to his…humanity."
"That's a human for you," sneered Quark. "But I don't think now is the time to make a move. Let me make sure the human and your friends from the Orion Syndicate are out of the way first and then I'll move you somewhere safer. And there's the little matter of payment. Say, half now and half when I come back?"
"Very well," said Fudan standing and walking around the far side of the couch. "I'll need to retrieve it. Watch the child for me for a moment will you?"
"Certainly," replied Quark walking over to the table where the child stood on a chair steadying herself against the backrest. The transaction went even easier than he had thought it would, which worried him a little, but first things first. "What a pretty little girl," he cooed. "And a good thing for you, your daddy has money…."
Quark never saw exactly what hit him. One moment he was looking at what had to be one of the ugliest children he had ever seen and the next he was on the floor before the world went black.
"That, little girl," instructed Fudan. "Is how we decline an offer of assistance."
He took a moment to search Quarks pockets for anything that might be of use before dropping a fond kiss on the child's forehead. "Sorry," he said. "But if the Ferengi is right and the Orion Syndicate is after me, you are much safer staying here."
The child merely shook her head and hung on to his arm, her eyes wide with alarm.
"Sorry," repeated Fudan shaking her off. He cursed himself for turning into an old fool, but he couldn't take her with him. "But that's life," he said harshly. "You might as well get used to it. I'm not the first person to leave you, and I damn sure I won't be the last." Without a word more, he raced to the door and was just about to leave before he realized his path was blocked not by the man he had seen earlier in the Starfleet uniform, but by two men he had never seen before. One was a small human that looked remarkably like a vole and the other was a Cardassian.
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Kira Nerys paced around the small kitchen torn between a deepening sense of anxiety and a rising sense of anticipation. She clearly acknowledged to herself that the sense of anticipation was due to her, and Odo's, belief that time was growing short, that whatever action lay behind the kidnapping of Sarah Sisko it would all come to fruition in the remaining hours of the day. If pressed for an explanation of her sense of anxiety, she would have been hard pressed to come up with an answer. She recognized, in part it had to do with a fervent desire that no harm come to Sarah, but, even deeper was a sense that no matter how the events of the day resolved themselves, the world, her world, would never be the same again. She thought back to her parting words to Odo as he left for Kendra University and was left with an inexplicable feeling of regret. "Nerys," said Jake looking up from the stovetop. "The vegetables?"
"Sorry," she apologized. "Here. What are you cooking anyway?"
"It's called a stir fry," explained Jake. "Haven't you heard a word I've said?"
"Sorry."
The vegetables sizzled as Jake added them to the other ingredients. "It shouldn't be long now," he remarked casually.
"That's what's bothering me," muttered Kira setting two places at the table. She admired Jake's ability to remain serene while she was painfully aware of each second that passed. What's wrong with me, she thought, I haven't been this nervous in years? She nearly jumped at the sound of the door chime.
"That's probably Odo now," remarked Jake. "Do you mind getting the door? I can't leave this unattended."
Kira had to stop herself from racing to the door and fought a sense of disappointment when the door opened to reveal not Odo, but Tobin Io.
"Colonel," said Tobin as Kira stood aside to allow her in. "There's news. Is Mr. Sisko available?"
"In the kitchen," replied Kira leading the way. "What news?"
"We've just received word that a couple who live in the Southwest Peninsula have been seen recently with a child," explained Tobin. "According to their neighbors, the couple claim the child belongs to a relative, only neither the husband nor the wife have any close relatives of childbearing age."
"Do you think its Sarah?" asked Jake, turning the heat off and placing the pan on a cool surface.
"We don't know for sure," replied Tobin. "But we have been able to make a connection of sorts. It turns out that the wife is a distant relation to Silur Ang."
"That's close enough of a connection for me," replied Kira. "Do you have troops on hand in the Southwest Peninsula?"
"Already on the alert," confirmed Tobin. "Captain Dhek wants me to escort you there immediately."
"Right," agreed Kira relieved to finally have something to do. "Let's go."
"But," protested Jake grabbing his coat nonetheless. "What about Odo?"
"Don't worry," Tobin assured him. "He'll know soon enough."
They were out the door and on their way long before the communications panel on the household computer began to chime.
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"Where to now, sir?" Odo stood on the steps outside the Ancient Studies building on the campus of Kendra University and blinked in the sunlight, his mind still working furiously on the passage about the Shadow Warriors. He barely noticed the escort assigned to him by the local branch of the militia.
If Sarah Sisko represented one of the children in the legend, he wondered, then who was the other? If what I-ko Nye had told him tied in with the situation in any way, then the other would have to be Winn Adami. But Winn Adami had no children, at least, none that anyone knew of. He should return to Military Headquarters and see if Dhek could find out if any other children had gone missing in the last three days. But a search like that could take days, and if the legend were correct, they only had a matter of hours…before what?
Complete the circle. He heard in his mind the words echo off empty space spoken by a voice that came from nowhere and everywhere at the same time. What could it possibly mean?
"The child who truly knows his father shall be the key," he muttered out loud.
"Sir?" asked the escort.
"The child who truly knows his father," repeated Odo. Of course! He felt a chill run through him that had nothing to do with the snow. Jake! He slapped the comm. badge on his chest and ordered it to connect him with the Sisko home. There was no reply.
"Is there a problem?" asked the escort, his voice betraying his concern.
"Yes," Odo replied curtly. "We have to return to the Sisko home now."
"Yes, sir." The escort snapped to attention. "Anything else?"
"Yes," said Odo flatly. "Just pray we aren't too late."
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If the Cardassians who had built Deep Space Nine had the foresight to install security cameras in the turbo lifts, they would have seen things that would have boggled the imagination, for people get up to all sorts of things when they think no one is watching. On this particular day, aside from countless pictures of people of various species adjusting articles of clothing, excavating various bodily cavities, or engaging in frantic acts of passion, anyone watching would have noticed a solitary Bolian enter a turbolift on the lower level of the Promenade and twenty-four decks later, the turbolift without stopping, would allow a completely average human to exit. Jack Blankman stepped out of the turbolift and headed in the direction away from his quarters. Better safe than sorry, he thought. He had waited in his office for as long as he felt necessary and once satisfied that the sadly predictable Mr. Jones and Arat were not planning to immediately return and continue their discussion, he entered one of the back offices and transformed into a Bolian. Exiting the offices, he took a stroll around the Promenade just to be certain he was not being followed, before finally entering a lift. He thought it odd that he did not see anyone lurking about the entrance to the Centurion Corporation, not even Quark, odder still was the larger than usual presence of Station Security. Well, he thought, what ever was going on, it had nothing to do with him.
Still satisfied he was not being followed; he doubled back along a secondary corridor and headed straight for his quarters. It was time Mr. Fudan was made to tell the truth. Leaving out the little detail about the woman he claimed to be his wife not really being a Cardassian was one thing, casually not mentioning he was wanted by the Orion Syndicate was quite another. He was just working up a convincible expression of righteous indignation as he approached the doorway to his quarters, when he reached the access panel and realized the force field was no longer in place. Damn, he thought. Fudan was smarter than he gave him credit for. He quickly keyed in his access code and entered to find his quarters not occupied by Tosko Fudan and his child, but by John Marshall and a handful of deputies instead.
"Why Mr. Blankman," said Marshall. "Do come in."
"May I ask what is the meaning of this?" asked Jack. He looked at the condition of the living room and did not fail to notice the over turned furniture, the broken odds and ends, and even more disturbing the small pool of blood on the carpet.
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," replied Marshall.
"Me? I don't understand. I've been in my office all morning."
"Then perhaps you can explain to us," continued Marshall, reading off a padd handed to him by one of the deputies. "Who exactly is Tosko Fudan and why was he staying in your quarters? Who attempted to access the Stations computer using an old access code belonging to Gul Dukat? Why is there Ferengi blood on your carpet…?" Marshall's voice trailed off as he continued to read.
"Now look here," protested Jack. "Yes, I allowed Fudan to stay in my quarters, he had nowhere else to stay. In case you haven't noticed the Station is pretty full right now, and he is a client, but I have no knowledge of any of the rest of this…"
Marshall was only half listening. On the padd was a list of evidence gathered so far by his deputies and among the items left behind were two puzzling items – one was a much abused orange maintenance jumpsuit belonging to the Cardassian Interplanetary Transportation Terminal and the other was what appeared to be the remains of a child's diaper. Huna Chin, thought Marshall. What did Huna Chin possess that her attackers thought was of sufficient importance to kill her for? The one thing, he had reasoned, that she did not have in her possession at the time of her death…her child! Of course!
"…You can't prove…you can't believe that I had anything to do with this," continued Jack.
"Take him in," said Marshall to his deputies. "And I want this area scanned for any traces of Bajoran DNA."
"What?" demanded Jack. "Take me in for what?"
"For the time being," replied Marshall. "We propose to hold you on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. If the evidence supports it, and I think it shall, we further plan on filing charges against you for kidnapping as well."
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Odo nearly raced up the steps leading to the Sisko house, dimly aware of his escort panting to keep up with him. He had begun to be alarmed when upon arrival they had found no trace of the guards left on duty around the perimeter of the house. His rising sense of panic subsided a bit when he saw movement through the large windows on the front of the house and realized the occupants wore Militia uniforms. Without bothering to ring the chime, he nearly burst through the door and into the living quarters to find, not Jake and Kira, but Captain Dhek and a number of her men. "Where's Jake?" he demanded.
"That's what we'd like to ask you," replied Dhek.
"What do you mean?" asked Odo looking around the room. Everything seemed to be in order. "Where's Colonel Kira?"
"As long as we're asking questions," countered Dhek. "Would you mind explaining exactly what the Centurion Corporation is and what exactly is your relationship to one Mr. Jack Blankman? And while you are at it would you mind explaining what you have to do with the kidnapping of Sarah Sisko?"
"Me?" protested Odo. "I've been in the company of one of your people almost from the moment this business has begun. You can't believe that I have anything to do with this…"
"Place him in custody," commanded Dhek.
"In custody? For what?"
"For a start," replied Dhek. "How about murder and conspiracy to commit murder. And if the evidence supports it, and I think it will, for the kidnapping of Sarah Sisko and her half brother Jake Sisko."