Natima did not know whether to believe him, but considering Veja’s condition it suddenly seemed unimportant. She put the weapon in the waistband of her skirt and began hauling the rubble away from Veja’s body. Veja had started to pant, taking in short gulps of air, her eyes shining with fear and pain.

“Don’t worry,” Natima said, digging, babbling at her friend. “You’ll be fine, we’ll get you to a doctor soon, everything will be fine.”

The Bajoran continued to pull at the rocks, but his expression was grim as he looked over Natima’s shoulder, back toward the main conduit they’d left behind. He saw her looking and nodded in the direction of the tunnel.

Natima turned to look, felt her heart sink at what was illuminated by the dim glow of the light. Where the opening had been, now there was only a wall of crumbled rock and clay that continued to spill its gritty contents into the tunnel. They were trapped.

Gul Dukat finally looked up from his computer screen. “Balon? Are you certain she said balon, Damar?”

“I’m not certain of anything, Gul.” Damar could feel each second tick by. “Except that they need help. We need to send someone to Tilar right away.”

“Yes, certainly, but the part about balon…I received word, just about a week or two ago, that a Bajoran man was apprehended either on or near Derna. If I’m remembering correctly, traces of balon were found in the area after more extensive scans were performed. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but…

“He may have had something to do with the Bajoran who is holding the women captive,” Damar said quickly. “But we must find them if we are ever to know for sure.”

“Indeed, Damar, you have my authorization to take a shuttle to Tilar.”

Damar was taken aback. He had expected Dukat to let him go, but not alone. “I will need backup, sir. There’s no telling how many there are.”

“I thought you said there was only one.”

“Yes, sir, but…But perhaps more are involved. You know how the cells work.”

Dukat nodded. “Very well, take Garresh Trach with you, I can’t spare anyone else while we’re installing the new security features. I’ll inform the nearest ground division; they’ll provide whatever else you need. Report back to me as soon as you find out anything more about the balon. Meanwhile, I’ll try and see what I can glean from the Bajoran with the shuttle. I seem to recall that he was taken to Pullock V…”

“Thank you, sir.” Damar promptly left Dukat’s office and could scarcely keep himself from running to the lift, anxious to get to Veja, though he was still disappointed that Dukat would only appoint a single enlisted man to accompany him. He pressed his comcuff and raised it to his mouth.

“Garresh Trach, this is Gil Damar. Please meet me at shuttle pad 3. We’re going to Bajor. I will brief you en route.”

Natima and and the Bajoran had finally managed to clear the rocks and broken chunks of clay pipe from Veja’s body, and now the man simply sat, speechless, watching Natima as she stroked Veja’s hair and squeezed her hand. Veja had drifted in and out of consciousness, crying in pain during her moments of lucidity. A wet, seeping patch of darkness stained the front of her dress. Natima had found only superficial wounds to account for the blood, but had no doubt that there had been internal damage—how much, she did not know. Veja had finally swooned into a kind of sleep, for which Natima was grateful.

She sat back on her heels, trying to think. Damar would be looking for life signs in the vineyards, not wherever they’d ended up. By the time he widened his scan, Veja might be dead. She would have to find the little communication badge, tell Damar what had happened.

The Bajoran watched Veja, his expression strange. He seemed unhappy that she had been injured, as if he’d somehow forgotten that this was all his fault. Yet she didn’t feel hatred for him, perhaps because she didn’t feel it coming from him. His intentions, unclear before, were obscured even further. He’d been quick to help Veja—of course, Natima had been holding his weapon by then, so it seemed likely that he was only trying to prove himself useful to avoid being killed.

“Should we try to dig ourselves out of here?” she finally asked.

“We disturb that pile of rubble, we’re going to invite another cave-in,” he said. He didn’t seem angry or crazed, only tired.

Natima looked down the dark passageway in front of her, and pointed into the blackness. “What if we try to go that way?”

“I don’t know. The tunnel ends in another pile of rocks. It’s a dead end.”

“We could at least check,” Natima said. She stood up, looked around her feet for the communication device by the thin light of the palm beacon, lying on the floor by Veja. With the mounds of dirt and rock that had come down, she’d never find it, but unless there was some obvious way out, she’d have to look. It might be their only chance.

The Bajoran also stood, and Natima took a step back, hand on the weapon tucked in her skirt—and heard a synthetic crunch beneath her heel.

She forgot about the Bajoran, dropped to pick up the communicator. She tapped it, but it only squawked strangely in response.

“It’s broken,” she said, crestfallen.

“Give it to me,” the Bajoran demanded, and Natima instinctively pulled it away.

“No.”

“I might be able to fix it. I’m an engineer.”

“You’ve never even seen anything like this before.”

“I’ve fixed plenty of things that I had never seen before,” he informed her drily. “I can do it. Just give it to me.”

Natima hesitated. He might be able to alter the signal somehow, to contact his cell. She knew full well that Bajorans could be frighteningly resourceful when they wanted to be. On the other hand, at least someone would dig them out. She handed it over.

Seefa popped the badge open with his fingernails, examined it closely with the palm beacon. “I think I might be able to fix it,” he murmured. “But,” he said, looking up at her, “if I do, your friends are just going to put me under arrest, send me to a work camp—or execute me.”

“I won’t let them,” Natima said quickly, though she knew it was no use. Bajorans were suspicious by nature, and she had no doubt that Damar would not stand to see him live, after what had happened to Veja.

He put the badge in his pocket. “Let’s have a look at the other exit,” he said. “We’ll have to consider all our options.”

Natima looked down at Veja. She did not look well, her eyelids shiny and her breathing shallow. She did not like to leave her friend here alone, even if it was only for a little while, but she saw no other choice. She was not about to let the Bajoran out of her sight if she could help it.

Dalin Kruva of the Hideki-class Cardassian patrol vessel Drakamairwas just returning to Pullock V from patroling the edge of the system when he received the systems-wide alert. Such transmissions from Terok Nor were not unusual, but they rarely concerned patrol ships that were this far from the Bajoran system. Open calls were usually for troops to go down to the surface of Bajor, with the very occasional bulletin in regard to a Tzenkethi or Federation vessel. The transmission was audio only, but Kruva recognized the prefect’s unmistakable tone and cadence.

“Patrol vessels, this is Gul Dukat. I have been alerted that there may be a handful of Bajoran insurgents who have begun using balon-based fuel sources in order to avoid detection of their spacecraft. I am issuing an alert status in the following sectors…”

Kruva was surprised at the Bajorans’ resourcefulness, though he supposed he shouldn’t have been. They weren’t as primitive as they seemed. Not that he was concerned; the insurgents wouldn’t come near him, not in balon-powered ships. It would take a balon vessel a week to get out of the Bajoran system, at best, and by then it would be out of fuel.