“You did a terrific job,” Ezri told Gerda. The ensign had also fallen back in her chair, looking as tired as Ezri felt. They had parked the shuttle above the planet, a comfortable distance off Defiant’s port bow as the ship completed the destruction of the last fragment. Chaffeehad similarly settled into station-keeping on the starboard side of the ship.

“Thank you,” Gerda said, smiling. “You too.”

Ezri smiled back, and then exhaled a long, loud breath. Though successful, the mission had not gone flawlessly. Twice, Chaffeeand Saganhad been called in to assist Defiantwhen larger fragments had broken up under the ship’s assault. Chaffeehad also been clipped by one of the smaller rock masses, which had caused a plasma leak in one of its subscale warp engines. Since they had not been using the warp drive, it had not been a problem; Candlewood and Prynn had isolated the leak and thereby stopped it, but it would have to be patched later.

Ezri felt not only pleasure and relief that the threat to the planet had been neutralized, but also a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment for the role she had played in making that happen. She had directed the coordinated operations of the shuttles with a surety and skill she had not been fully aware that she possessed. Some of her thoughts and actions had been driven by the ingrained experiences of Dax’s former hosts, she knew, but she also felt that she had brought some of her own qualities to bear. Commander Vaughn had so far been an excellent mentor to her, schooling her not so much in the details of command as in the attitude and mindset required to lead effectively. She felt fortunate to have so adept and willing an instructor.

Ezri glanced over at Gerda and noticed the bruise on her forehead. “By the way,” she said, “I’m so glad that you weren’t hurt down on the planet.”

Gerda peered over at her with a devilish grin. “Oh, you’re just saying that since I successfully navigated us through all those space rocks.”

“Well,” Ezri said playfully, “that didn’t hurt.” The two chuckled, a welcome moment of relief after the last, tense hours. “Really, though, how are you feeling?”

“Actually, I’ve got a bit of a headache,” Gerda said. “Dr. Bashir told me I had a mild concussion, and that I shouldn’t go to sleep for a few hours.” She laughed again. “I guess that wasn’t much of a problem, was it?”

“I guess not,” Ezri agreed, laughing herself. Gerda’s sense of humor was one of the things she really enjoyed about the young woman.

“You know what I’m going to do when we get back to the ship?” Gerda asked.

“Sleep for two days?” Ezri suggested. The constant, low-level hum of the shuttle seemed restful now, uninterrupted by the sounds of the engines and the phasers. Ezri thought that if she closed her eyes, she would not wake up again until somebody pulled her bodily out of the shuttle back aboard Defiant.

“That too,” Gerda said. “But right now, I’ve got a taste for a big, fat jumjastick.”

“Really?” Ezri said. “How can you eat those things? They’re so sweet.”

“They’re good,” Gerda protested. “It’s a natural sweetness.”

Ezri wrinkled her nose and shook her head, lightheartedly exaggerating her dislike of the Bajoran confection. Before Gerda could respond, a flash of light caught Ezri’s attention. She sat back up and gazed out the forward windows.

“What is it?” Gerda asked, also sitting back up in her chair.

“I think that the—” Another spark flickered above the planet. “The light show’s just beginning for the Vahni.” The leading edge of the debris field had reached the planet, the remaining, smaller fragments burning up as they plunged through the middle atmosphere. Ezri felt tremendously gratified that the Vahni would be able to look up to the sky right now in wonder rather than in fear. Even in the daylight, they would be able to see the meteors as they blazed out of existence, the rock masses done in by friction with the atmosphere as they fell from space.

They watched for long, silent minutes as the lunar fragments disintegrated in magnificent, fiery bursts scores of kilometers above the planet’s surface. Then something flared off to starboard. Ezri looked in that direction and saw only Defiantoff in the distance. She reached up to her console and started to work the sensors. “Did you see that?” she asked Gerda.

“I thought I saw something,” she answered. “I’m not sure—”

“Defiant to Sagan,”came Commander Vaughn’s voice over a com channel.

Ezri touched a control on her panel. “Dax here. Go ahead, Captain,” she said. She continued operating the sensors.

“Lieutenant, the fragment we were trying to destroy just broke into three pieces,” Vaughn said. “The phasers may have ignited some volatile material inside it.” Ezri found two of the pieces with the sensors, then finally located the third, farther away from Defiantthan she had expected. She scanned the masses of rock, and saw that the readings did indicate the residue of an explosion. “Defiantcan still handle the two pieces nearest us,” Vaughn continued, “but we’re not going to have time to destroy the third.” Ezri saw the problem detailed on her readouts: the third fragment had been accelerated by the explosion ahead of the other two—and, she noted, into a dense area of the debris field. Even though the remaining fragments were small, it would be a tricky journey for the shuttle to maneuver through them.

“We’ve got it, Captain,” Ezri said. Considering the damage Chaffeehad sustained from its collision with one of the fragments, Saganwas obviously the better choice for this task. “Dax out.”

Gerda worked at her controls, and Saganbegan to pulse with energy as the engines came back up to full readiness from standby mode. “What about a tractor beam?” she asked.

“It’s traveling too fast,” Ezri said. She quickly plotted a course through the debris field and laid it into the navigational computer. “Do you have the course?” she asked.

“Laid in,” Gerda said. “Bringing us about.”

The shuttle surged forward and then to port, toward the planet. Ezri looked up, through the forward viewport, and saw sparks of light below, the lunar fragments dying in flames as they rushed down. Suddenly, a rock mass soared past the shuttle off to starboard. Ezri consulted the sensors and saw that they had entered the debris field, hundreds of fragments ahead of them, and thousands approaching rapidly from behind. She picked out the one they were after.

“Targeting,” Ezri said, waiting for the computer to acquire a lock. The indicator on her panel flashed green. “Phasers locked.” She reached to fire, but Saganlurched to starboard as Gerda screamed a warning, but too late. Ezri flew from her chair and slammed into the bulkhead. Pain seared through her right shoulder as she felt it give way. She cried out, the sounds of her pain swallowed by the increased thrum of the engines.

“Are you all right?” Gerda yelled, not taking her eyes from her console.

“Yes,” Ezri yelled back, not caring about the truth of her response. She tasted blood, and thought that she must have bitten her tongue or the inside of her cheek. She struggled back up and into her chair as Gerda righted the shuttle, the pulse of the engines quieting.

“We were about to get hit by one of the fragments,” Gerda explained. Knowing what had been coming, she had obviously been able to brace herself as she had maneuvered the shuttle out of danger.

Ezri found that she could not raise her right arm up to her console, so she grabbed her arm with her left hand and lifted it there. Still able to move all her fingers, she worked the sensors, searching again for their target. She found it as it entered the planet’s upper atmosphere, but their evasive maneuvering had taken them away from it. “We need to get back on course,” she said.