"First Officer's Personal Log, Stardate 71026.3. I'm quite impressed with the Gavran. What she lacks in strength and shielding, she makes up for with speed. We're warping towards the Ytrem system at a factor of 9.4. The journey should take only a few more minutes, but Gul Narat assures me that this speed is 'more than sustainable'. He claims this ship can sustain Warp 9.9 for days, even weeks. I don't know of any Starfleet ship that's half as versatile.

"As for the crew, I have no complaints. I've spend the morning with Glinn Ledrec, getting a quick introduction to the departments. These Cardassians are extraordinarily focused; you can see the attention that goes into every tiny detail of their work. Everything is just so. The way things are run here, you get your orders and you carry them out. There's absolutely no argument, no discussion unless your superior asks a question. It seems we're expected to blindly trust what we're told. I can't say I like it, but it seems to work. Aside from Gul Narat's directions, it looks like I'll be running half the ship myself. It's like being back on the Orion, only having her crew replaced by the computer. It's somewhat unnerving, but I can't deny its efficiency."

Lakahn stopped to collect his thoughts. The morning had gone by in a whirr. According to Ledrec, he was responsible for the scientific, medical and engineering departments, which together made up about half the ship. Ledrec oversaw the tactical and security departments, the duty watch rotations, as well as the weaponry, apparently a separate department here. Lakahn had met with each of his Gils, department heads, and found the experience dizzying. The chain of command, Ledrec had explained, was very rigid here; the Gils would expect his orders to be both precise and accurate. They would be carried out unquestioningly, and if he, Lakahn, gave any faulty orders it would be on his head.

It was Testing Day at the Academy all over again.

Suppressing a shudder, Lakahn continued: "I'm told Keltok Nor used to be a mining station, built just before the Fifty Years' War. It was taken over by Klingons, and taken back sometime before the Apartheid. But it's still on the edge of Klingon space, and the government doesn't have a lot of influence there. Glinn Ledrec says just under half of the inhabitants of the station are Klingon, and you'll find all sorts of races there. The Cardassians are actually a minority, it seems. They use the station as a penal colony. I -"

Lakahn broke off, suddenly aware that the door had opened. Glinn Ledrec stood in the doorway. It was barely wide or tall enough to accompany his frame. There was a few seconds' silence. Ledrec waited, as if expecting Lakahn to do something obvious only to him.

"Yes?" Lakahn asked.

"You're wanted on the bridge," the hulking Cardassian informed him.

Again Lakahn followed Ledrec through the many passages of the Gavran. This time the latter walked even more quickly than before, and Lakahn had to jog to keep up. Combine the exercise and the oppressive heat, and he was sweating heavily by the time they reached the bridge. It showed as a dark trail down the front of his shirt and as beads on his forehead.

As Ledrec took his position and Lakahn remained where he was, unsure of what exactly his orders were, he realised that Gul Narat was looking at his sweat in distaste. "If the temperature bothers you, Commander, I suggest you go to the medical bay for a frigazine injection."

Initially developed to allow Starfleet crews to operate in desert conditions, frigazine was now outmoded and rarely used. Lakahn had to ask himself how, where, and why Gul Narat had obtained it, but dismissed the issue. He remained where he was, silent.

Gul Narat sighed in annoyance. "Is something the matter, Commander?"

"Permission to speak freely?"

Irritably, the small Cardassian tapped his fingers on his console. "Commander, we arrive at Keltok Nor in less than two minutes, and the only word I've had is that there has been no word from the station. I expect us to be in a very dangerous situation, very soon: this is not a good time."

"I'll be quick," Lakahn promised.

There was a silence while Gul Narat considered, but then he nodded. "Very well." His voice had a sudden icy chill to it. Lakahn shivered but continued:

"With all due respect, I'm not one of your men. I have no idea what you want me to do most of the time. Would it be so difficult to ask me to come to the bridge?"

"Why else would I send Glinn Ledrec-?"

"I don't know!" In his frustration, Lakahn interrupted Gul Narat before realising that it might not be wise. The Cardassian had barely shown himself all morning, but he'd shown himself to be quite far removed from the charming man he'd made himself out to be. And the crew was terrified of him. Still, Lakahn didn't stop his tirade: "There might be hundreds of reasons! But that's beside the point. The point is this: I can't perform my duties if I don't know what they are. I'm not questioning your orders, sir," he said. Ledrec had made it very clear that one didn't question Gul Narat's orders, period. "I'd more more than happy to follow your orders if you'd give me orders I can follow."

"Commander," Gul Narat said in asperity, "this is a very bad time. For now, your orders are to stand at your post and tell me if anything important happens. Do you think you can handle that?" he asked sarcastically.

Lakahn scowled, but dipped his head in the Cardassian manner. "Aye, sir."

Gul Narat nodded, turned around, then stopped. He turned back. "And, Commander?"

"Yes, sir?" Lakahn asked.

"We will continue this discussion later. Make no mistake about that."

Ledrec glanced over at Lakahn in something that might have been sympathy, but said nothing. Lakahn took his station and scanned the information on his screens. Nothing 'important'. As with all the screens Lakahn had used that morning, this one showed Federation Standard translations of what he assumed was the original Cardassian. Most of screens he hadn't had to use were covered in Cardassian characters; he could only assume that either Gul Narat or Glinn Ledrec had ordered all the screens he'd be likely to use translated.

A second passed.

Two.

Then the Gavran dropped out of warp, and they beheld the station.

"By all the Prophets," Lakahn whispered, stunned. He was unable to tear his eyes away from the spectacle in front of him, only dimly aware of the other two. As if in a trance, Gul Narat rose to his feet. Ledrec simply looked on, eyes and mouth wide, in horrified silence.

Keltok Nor was torn in half. One section was motionless in position, giant plates of the hull simply torn off. Fragments of the station floated through space. The other section was torn into pieces, as methodically dissected as a Keltarian frog in a biology class. A Cardassian ship hung nearby, at the edge of the debris field, but it wasn't that which drew the three men's attention.

It was a cube. A giant cube floating in space.