Jora didn't feel quite as brave without Carmen or the commander close by. But this corner of wilderness was as familiar to her as an old friend. She knew well the emerald green leaves of the jubba plants, the colorful bursts of kooska lilies, and the gnarled tops of talmus roots. The jungle was a sacred place, her own cathedral. She didn't like these strangers traipsing through it, following her every move. Especially the one with the weapon.

"What is this? Is this mustelle moss?" Dr. Gardener asked, squatting above a rock with a cushion of orange and yellow moss.

"No, that's uh...just moss," she lied. "Mustelle moss is...brown. It's brown."

"Brown?" He raised a skeptical eyebrow. Her heart started to beat faster. She was a terrible liar, especially under pressure. A fact her brothers often exploited. "It grows near water," she added hastily, knowing that the river was good and far. Riker had instructed her to lead the doctor as far away as possible. Deep in the jungle, they would be safe until Carmen and the commander could escape and join up with them later.

But Gardener was growing impatient. "The river? I thought you told Commander Riker that it wasn't far."

"I...I guess I was mistaken."

The doctor paused. She noticed him exchange a suspicious glance with the guard behind her. Then she heard a sound-a dear and wonderful sound that might as well have been music to her ears. But to her captor's ears, it sounded much more menacing.

"It's that thing again!" the guard cried. "The creature that attacked Orreth!"

"Here, boy!" Jora shouted, throwing all caution to the wind as she answered his incessant barks. "I'm over here!"

Something silver streaked through the jubba leaves. The guard yelled in terror, lifting his weapon. But the dog was already upon him. He crashed to the ground beneath an avalanche of fur and fangs.

The terrible sound of his demise filled the jungle around them now. "Come on, Dr. Gardener!" Jora urged, pulling on his shirt. "Now's our chance!"

"You fool!" he cried, swatting her away. "Call that thing off! Don't you know what Kotar will do to us? To you?"

"You don't have to be afraid of him anymore," she said resolutely. "Mr. Will is going to save us!"

"Mr. Will? Mr. Will?" he shrieked. "You think that man can save us? He has given you false hope, child! False hope!" He darted forward, snatching the guard's gun from the ground.

Jora backed away from the old man, who looked like a different person all of a sudden. Rain plastered his thin, gray hair to his scalp. His skin, spotted with age, sagged beneath his eyes and his chin.

"Now listen," he said, and his voice grated like stones in the river. "You're going to come with me and-"

She bolted before he could finish his sentence. Into the jungle, into her cathedral, where she sought sanctuary from these strange men and their strange weapons. Deftly she dodged rocks that jutted into her path and roots that twisted through the mud like the gnarled fingers of a giant hand.

A fiery blaze blasted the tree to her right. Jora shrieked in fear, ducking as chunks of bark flew past her head. "Stop right there," Gardener warned. His voice came from forty, maybe fifty paces behind her. But clearly, the distance was no issue for his weapon.

Jora cowered in place, afraid to move a muscle. She could hear smoldering cinders in the tree above her. As raindrops hit the charred edges of a hole, they hissed and became wisps of steam.

Gardener's wheezy breaths grew louder, closer. "You must return with me," he said. "You must explain to Kotar that none of this was my idea."

Jora gulped, glancing about wildly. Maybe Silver would catch up to her. Or Carmen, or Mr. Will. But all she saw was more jubba plants and kooska lilies. Beautiful things that belied the fear in her gut. She thought of home, and how it lay somewhere beyond the treetops. Her warm bed, her mother's vegetable stew, her annoying little brothers. Everything she once scorned for being so ordinary.

"I said come on!" Gardener snapped. He waved the gun impatiently. "Let's get back to camp!"

"Not yet," someone interjected. Jora whipped around, holding a hopeful breath in her chest. Elion emerged from between two trees, a sleek weapon in his hand that looked just like the one Riker had surrendered. He nodded towards the girl without looking at her. "Walk back towards me, Jora. It's alright now."

Her heart skipped a beat. She had never been overly fond of the agent, but now, he meant safety. He meant rescue. He meant hope. She rushed to his side and clutched to his tunic as if it were the edge of a lifeboat.

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Gardener sneered. "It is not like your weapons. It is not like this one, even," he said, wagging the guard's gun. "One shot from this, and-"

A strange beam of light flew towards the doctor. His entire body went rigid and he fell to the ground, stiff as a dead tree. "Oh," Elion said, turning the device in his hand over gingerly. "I guess that's how it works."

"Did you just-? Is he-?" Jora buried her face in the folds of his tunic, afraid to look over at the doctor. She had seen enough blood for one day.

"No, he's only stunned." Gently, Elion pried her away from his side and held her by the shoulders. "What about you? Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I think so. But Carmen is pretty hurt. That big man...Kotar...he wouldn't stop. And he made Mr. Will answer these strange questions. Something about a ship and orbit and-Silver!"

The big dog appeared, following his faithful nose. He trotted over and wedged himself between the two, licking Jora's tears as his tail swept back and forth. With a laugh that sounded like a sob, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him as tight as she could.

Elion knelt down, rumpling the dog's ears. "He helped lead me to you," the agent explained. "But how did you escape? Where are the others?"

Jora took a deep breath. Then she explained everything that had happened, from their imprisonment on Shadow Ridge to their failed escape attempt that led to Carmen's beating. As she was explaining the current plan, a groan drifted up behind them. Gardener was stirring back to consciousness.

Quickly, Elion dashed over and picked up the old man's weapon. Gardener scowled contemptuously, but lifted his hands in surrender. "What now then?" he taunted. "Back to your government, your crude and ignorant High Court?"

"No," Elion replied. "We're going back to camp, just like you said. But we're dropping Jora off with a friend first."

"You left her in a tree?!" Jora exclaimed. They hiked up a muddy slope, where a rotting tree leaned on its side like an animal waiting to die. Gardener marched in front of them, throwing a glare over his shoulder every once in awhile at Elion's phaser.

"What was I supposed to do?" Elion retorted. "Not like there's an inn or anything out here. Although rumor has it there's a good one across the river."

Weary as the girl was, she flashed him a grin. "The best one from here to Kitadara!"

Elion started to laugh, but as they neared the tree, the smile fell from his face. "Oh no…"

"What is it?" Jora's smile fled just as fast.

"Deanna...she was right here."

"Where?"

"Right here," he insisted, staring in disbelief at the empty hollow and the sprigs that littered the ground. Panic started to rise in his chest. "Where could she be?"

"Dad!" Carmen screamed.

Riker grasped Kotar's hand to keep him from wrenching the knife any deeper. He trembled with the effort, beads of sweat rolling down his face with the rain. A spot of red bloomed on his tunic, slowly spreading outward. Carmen tried to scream again, but it came out as a gulping cry instead, a sound of mourning and terror that only a child could make.

With one quick jerk, Kotar withdrew the knife. Riker staggered back, sinking to one knee. He fought for breath that would not come. Carmen's breath would no longer come, either. She could only watch, utterly helpless, as Kotar pressed the bloody blade to her father's throat.

"You were right," the Romulan sneered. "It is over. But not for me. And not for them." His gaze flicked menacingly towards where Carmen and Toleel huddled against the cave wall. "Not until I say so."

"No…" Riker gasped.

Carmen's whole world was falling to pieces around her. How could this have happened? I should have known better, better than to desert my walls... There wasn't enough time now, to rebuild. No time to brace for the red-hot pain. She stood motionless, her heart wide open, waiting for it to be ripped from her chest.

Then something strange happened. Kotar dropped the knife. It fell to the ground, landing against the stone with a metallic clang. His eyes glazed over. A ghastly grimace twisted his lips. His knees crumpled and he fell back, disappearing over the ledge. He was dead before he even hit the ground.

Carmen's feet finally budged. She stumbled to her father's side, heedless of the rain that soaked her skin and peeled the blue paste from her still-bleeding wounds. Riker hunched over his knees, clutching his stomach with one hand. "Dad...dad, I'm here," she said, choking on tears. "What can I do? Please tell me there's something I can do." Gingerly, she touched his shoulder. He sank onto his side with a groan, clenching his teeth against the pain.

His answer was only two words. "Choose...courage…"

Toleel ventured forward as well. He crouched cautiously near the edge, peering down as the rain formed a curtain around his face. He found a woman looking back at him from the bottom of the ravine. Leaves clung to her sodden clothes, to her long, dark hair. Black splotches covered her body. And from her hand hung Kotar's fallen disruptor, freshly fired.