“It frightens you?” asked the old man softly.

“Yes.”

Hadlo nodded. “That is a natural reaction, my friend. Great moments of change always carry with them the fear of the unknown.” He gave Bennek’s shoulder a pat. “Have faith in Oralius. She watches over us. She has given us this chance for deliverance.”

The cleric’s words deepened Bennek’s confusion. “Deliverance from what?”

The old man’s voice fell into a hush. “Bennek, you know that I see you as my successor. You alone have the will and the strength of spirit to take the Way forward despite all the hardships we endure. In the face of the hatred and aversion from our fellow Cardassians, you have remained strong, true to Oralius even as those fools in the Detapa Council and the military have fought to expunge us.” He squeezed Bennek’s shoulder, taking on a fatherly tone. “I need your support.”

“You have it,” Bennek replied immediately. “Never feel you need to question that.”

Hadlo smiled. “I know. And for that, I will clear the mist from your eyes, my young friend. I will tell you what I have not said to the other clerics who came with us from the homeworld.” He looked around the chamber. “These Bajorans…They are a gift to us, a blessing from Oralius herself. She has seen that our faith is slowly being eroded from the Cardassian soul, and she knows that we are living on borrowed time.”

Bennek nodded ruefully. The purges and the arrests back home were getting worse as the months went by. More and more branches of the Oralian Way were being forcibly closed under the weakest of pretexts created by the Detapa Council or Central Command, laws were being enacted that made it difficult for church members to find employment or sustenance, and nothing the followers of the Way did had any impact. The future of their faith hung by a thread, and that was why they had been so desperate to take part in the Bajor mission, as a last attempt to show the legitimacy of their church as a valid part of Cardassian culture.

“Meressa spoke of truth,” continued Hadlo, “so let me do the same. The truth is, Central Command has been looking to the Bajor sector with ambition for some time, but they lack the diplomatic prowess to reach these people. But we, Bennek, we do not. We are the common link between Bajor and Cardassia, because we have our faith.”

“What are you saying?”

Hadlo smiled thinly. “You saw Kell and Ico as they attempted to pour honey in the ears of the First Minister and the others, and found only distrust. The Bajorans look at them and see aliens, soldiers! Their first reaction is to suspect them! But we are different!” He tapped his chest, fingers tracing the lines of his robes. “The Bajorans look at us and see kindred spirits. A sister faith. We have a bond that transcends everything else. While Kell’s clumsy overtures were rebuffed, the seeds of friendship we planted tonight fell on fertile ground! We will make ourselves requisite to any future alliance between Cardassia and Bajor, because that relationship will have to be built upon a foundation of faith.”

Despite the warmth of the chamber, Bennek’s skin prickled with a chill. He saw it just as Hadlo described. The Detapa Council and the Central Command needed the Oralians to facilitate this mission, and if that was so, then the Way had suddenly been granted leverage against those who would see it destroyed.

The old cleric saw the light of understanding in his expression. “We cannot preserve the other branches of our faith, but this chance that Oralius has granted us means we may protect our own ministry. We can ensure that the Way will survive. We can preserve it, stop Cardassia from turning into a secular, faithless wasteland!” His eyes flashed. “Do you understand the magnitude of this, Bennek? We may be the very last chance to save our credo from oblivion!”

Bennek was silent for a moment. “What about the Bajorans?” he asked finally. “What part will they play in this?”

Hadlo frowned. “This is about us, not them. What I told the kai was not a lie. I do believe that Oralius and the Prophets may be two facets of the same great truth.”

A bleak thought occurred to the young priest. “The men who perished aboard that ship, the Eleda.Was that really a misadventure?” He thought of the wreckage in the Kornaire’s cargo bay and of the words he had said over the bodies of the dead in the name of Oralius. “Were the dead only a pretext to bring us to Bajor?”

The cleric’s face darkened. “Bennek, listen to me and understand.” He leaned closer. “We are on the edge of annihilation. If we do not take steps now, the Oralian Way will be eradicated and Cardassia will be doomed to a future of hatred and destruction, a path that will lead only to ashes and blood. We must do whatever is necessary to preserve the Way.”

Bennek met the older man’s gaze. “Even if the price is our integrity…our souls?”

There was no doubt, no hesitation in Hadlo’s reply. “Yes. Is that so great a cost to keep the flame burning? What do two men mean when weighed against the future of our entire species?” He nodded to himself. “Oralius asks for a sacrifice, Bennek. We must not turn away from her.”

Bennek searched inside himself for a reply, finding nothing but an echoing hollow.

Lonnic halted Jas as he crossed the anteroom toward his chambers. “Sir,” she began, “you have a visitor. He refused to wait and let himself in.”

“Oh?” Jas said, with an arched eyebrow. He strode forward and pushed open the ornate door to his office and found Kubus Oak seated in one of the deep chairs across the room from his desk. The minister was puffing at a smoking pipe between his teeth.

“Holza, good morning.” Kubus waved the pipe in the air. “You don’t mind, do you? I like to take a draft as an eye-opener—”

“Actually, I do.” Jas went to his desk and opened a window, letting in the sunlight and the cool air. He gave Kubus a level stare, working to take back some authority in the confrontation. The other man had cheerfully set the moment against Jas, putting himself in the superior, relaxed position. That did not sit well.

“Ah. Forgive me.” Kubus used his thick thumb to douse the pungent hiunaleaf. “It’s an old habit.”

Jas rested against the edge of his desk. “I thought you were going to return to Ashalla with the First Minister.”

“It would seem not,” Kubus said languidly. “Verin told me to remain in Korto while the Cardassians are still here. As much as he hates to rely on me for anything, he thinks my presence will keep them at ease until they leave. I’m a known quantity to their kind.”

“Indeed?” Jas kept his manner neutral, but inwardly he was frowning. It was enough that the alien clerics had decided not to go back to their ship with Kell, and that in turn was complicated by the fact that the gul had ordered his executive and a couple of soldiers to remain “as an escort.” Jas had not been prepared for the contingency, and matters of maintaining security were foremost on his mind. Now, would he have to deal with Kubus Oak at the keep as well, the man constantly at his shoulder, second-guessing him? He still wasn’t sure where the other minister’s loyalties lay. To himself, and there alone, more than likely.Jas had yet to get the full measure of the man. Is he a potential ally, or is he a tool of Verin?The latter was the least likely, but then again the old man hadn’t made it to the office of First Minister without making some odd political alliances along the way.

“Last night was interesting,” said Kubus. “I thought it might benefit us both to examine the way it played out.”

“It was a diplomatic function, not a springball match,” Jas retorted, with rather more force than he intended to. He sighed. He had not slept well, spending the night mulling over every word and gesture he had made to the aliens. Verin’s narrow-minded manner had single-handedly derailed any chance at a pact.