Not that he deserves it,she thought. Thill hadn’t been trying to help the Union, turning in a plotting terrorist; it was all some petty revenge, over hurt feelings and ridiculous cultural tenets. Still, she’d get nothing further from him by sharing her thoughts on the matter.

“It’s…commendable, that you chose to see Mesto Drade brought to justice,” Natima said, glancing down at her notes. “His name has been on a list of people with possible ties to the terrorists for some time, but his priority status was low. As I said, your decision undoubtedly saved lives…”

She waited for him to pick up, to detail his story, but he only stared at her, his lined, hard face as still as stone. She resisted looking at her chrono, aware that the first meeting of the Rakantha base commanders would soon begin, if it hadn’t already. It was being held in the base’s main building, behind the barracks. Her feature on “helpful” Bajorans wasn’t due for another week, but she’d be up late tonight, filtering footage from the conference. There would be material for the civilian net on Cardassia, sound bites for the propaganda channels, other strings that would be sent to high-ranking members of Central Command; best she be there to record it.

Wrap this up, then. She’d get no help from Thill, but she had more than enough footage of Kubus Oak, droning on about brotherhood between the races. She’d cobble something together from the other interviews.

“Well. I appreciate your agreeing to meet with me, Mr. Thill…”

There was a sudden, heavy rumbling sound, stilling her words. Natima recognized the sound instantly; she’d spent long hours watching feeds of terrorist attacks. An instant later, they heard shouts, heard the keening whine of phaser fire. The garresh who’d taken her to meet Thill had snapped to attention, was talking low and fast into his comm. Natima and Thill both stood, the Bajoran’s long face and darting gaze giving his fear away.

The conference. The base had been attacked, was perhaps still under attack. The explosion had come from behind the barracks, she was sure of it. Natima scooped up her recorder, turned to the door. She was too excited to be afraid, thinking of the footage she might be able to capture. The garresh stepped in front of her, physically blocking her way.

“We’ll stay here until we get the all clear,” he said sharply.

“I’m a reporter and qualified filter for the CIS,” Natima said, meeting his tone. “And I’m aware of the risks. I could—”

“You could die,Miss,” he said. “I’m assigned to keep you from harm, and my orders stand. You’re not going anywhere.”

“What if they come for me?” Thill said, his voice high, his eyes moving, moving.

The garresh sneered at him. “Then we’ll let them have you, Bajoran.”

Thill sat down again with a low moan of terror. Natima glared at the soldier, frustrated, aware that if she’d been a man, he would have let her go.

If I were a man, I wouldn’t have an escort in the first place.

The garresh’s face was set. Outside there were more shouts, but no further explosions, no more weapons fire. A hit-and-run, probably, like most of the terrorist attacks on Bajor. The rebels were cowards, they were fools with firepower, randomly attacking anyone and anything Cardassian. Natima hoped that no one in the settlement had been injured. There were families there, wives and children of soldiers, civilian scientists…

They don’t care who they hurt,she thought, sitting back down, and finally felt a whisper of fear for herself. In another few moments, she, too, would have been at the conference.

Thill had his head in his hands, was mumbling to himself, repeating something over and over. She leaned in, caught his plaintive whisper.

“I don’t want to die, please the Prophets, please don’t let me die, I’m sorry I did it, I’m sorry about what I did, please don’t let me die…”

Natima leaned away from him, unable to hide her own sneer. Praying to gods that didn’t exist, to absolve him for turning in a terrorist…so that he might be saved from another terrorist, one of his own kind. And outside, soldiers had surely been injured, perhaps killed. She’d tried to keep an open mind since coming to Bajor, but what a miserable, self-serving people she found them to be, never content, reckless and violent and primitive.

She held her recorder tightly, waiting to be told it was safe.

2

Gil Damar watched Gul Dukat as the prefect surveyed the operations center from the upper ring that extended beyond the prefect’s office, overlooking the soldiers at work. Damar thought the gul looked pleased, and he thought of the great responsibility that went into commanding such a large and impressive facility. Dukat caught Damar’s eye then, and he ambled down the short staircase into the lower level, where Damar was filling out shift-end reports.

“What do you think? Is your new assignment to your liking, Gil?”

Damar nodded. “Yes, very much, sir. The station is…it’s not what I expected.”

Dukat smiled and gazed around appreciatively. “Yes, the Nor-class is really quite breathtaking when you first see it in person. Seldom have elegance and power been fused together so effectively.”

Damar worked quickly to finish up his reports, with the Gul standing nearby. It seemed to Damar that Dukat wanted to continue his conversation, and he wondered if it would be better to abandon his duties to speak to him, or to continue at his task. He could feel Dukat’s gaze on him as he worked.

“Most of the shops already have leases pending,” he offered, continuing to file. “I believe the Promenade businesses will be a striking success.”

Dukat broke into a smile. “I’m pleased to hear you say that. I admit, I had my doubts about the Bajoran merchants’ readiness to move their business to an orbital venue. But most seem to understand what a truly great opportunity this will be for Bajoran trade relations with other worlds. For those Bajorans smart enough to open businesses here, there is a lot of latinum to be made.”

Dukat began to walk, and Damar hesitated at his station before the gul beckoned for him to follow. “Let’s have a look around the Promenade, shall we?”

“I…Yes, sir.”

The two left ops, heading for the station’s center of commerce. It was a number of levels below operations, part of Terok Nor’s upper core. As the lift began its descent, Gil Damar marveled at the construction techniques that had gone into assembling this station in such a short time. A third of the materials had come light-years to be assembled here, much of the components prefabricated elsewhere and systematically fastened into place.

The Promenade was a tri-level ring of commercial spaces and observation decks, which also housed security and the station’s infirmary. Several shopkeepers were already beginning to set up their wares to offer to the Cardassian soldiers and to the vast numbers of Bajorans who would soon be coming to work at the ore processors.

“Just think, Damar. Soon this station will be full of happily working Bajorans.”

Damar looked around, envisioning it. The Bajorans would be quartered in community housing near ore processing, given a place of their own, although there would be those who earned private quarters, in the station’s inner habitat ring. Dukat had spoken of plans to turn one of the Promenade spaces into a Bajoran shrine, to make them feel more welcome; it was a revolutionary idea, and a brilliant one. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to show the Bajorans how they can profit by partnering with us.”

He could see that his answer pleased the prefect. Dukat nodded firmly. “Yes, Damar, exactly! Someday we’ll be providing work for all idle Bajorans, here and on the surface. We will eliminate the food ration centers, and help them to become self-sufficient instead of relying on Cardassian charity. I commend the efforts of those who have conspired to provide welfare to our hosts, but I fear that the newer generations are learning only helplessness and a sense of entitlement from our repeated handouts. They have no gratitude, as they have come to expect us to feed them.”