“I’m not sure,” Darrah admitted, “but when we last spoke she was agitated by something. She told me that she could make a difference if she went with them.”
The priest frowned. “Well. I’ll say a prayer in her name, then.” He sighed. “It makes me sad to say it, but Vedek Arin was one of those who supported Kubus’s petition for the fleet’s mission. I find some very unpleasant commonalities in the interests of those two men.”
Darrah patted his friend on the shoulder and leaned in. “There are more who agree with Kubus than those who don’t, especially here in Korto.” He kept his voice low so that it wouldn’t carry far. “All the events of recent days, the Cemba incident and the deaths. I can’t shake the feeling that something more is going on. Something hidden from us.”
Gar’s eyes widened. “I will admit…I too have had some concerns of late. But is there any evidence? You’re a lawman, Mace. You know what’s needed.”
He nodded again. “You’re not saying anything that hasn’t occurred to me already, believe me.” Darrah’s chrono pinged suddenly and he shot a glance at it; the alarm was warning him that he had a staff meeting back at the precinct. “I have to go. Look, we’ll talk some more about this later. In the meantime, just…keep your eyes and ears open, eh?”
Gar nodded once. “A priest always listens. It’s one of the things we do best.”
Gar watched his friend go before following the rest of the group toward the flyer bays. He drew into himself, thinking on Darrah’s words. Mace was always a suspicious soul, that had been true for his entire life, and in his line of work, it fulfilled a function that did the community good. For Gar, it did not come so easily. He had joined the priesthood because he believed in the fundamental good in people, but what good could there be in those who had caused such a horror as the bombing of the Lhemor?The Oralians were a decent, honest group of souls who came with genuine reverence and honor for the Bajoran faith. Since that night in the library of the Naghai Keep, he had learned much of their Way and of the parallels it shared with the worship of the Celestial Temple. It made him feel sick inside to contemplate that serpents with hate in their hearts might lurk among them.
“Brother Gar!” He turned at the sound of his name and halted in surprise. In his pastel robes, the Cardassian cleric Pasir was crossing the landing pad toward him.
He bobbed his head in greeting. The Oralian priest’s usual open smile was absent. Pasir seemed muted, and he kept glancing around as if he were afraid of being seen by someone.
“Gar,” he said, coming close. “I am so pleased I found you. I’ve been looking for you for days, but I heard you were offplanet.”
“I was on Derna.”
Pasir nodded. “Yes, I know. I had nowhere else to turn. I did not want to chance speaking to anyone else.”
The Cardassian was afraid. Gar scanned the alleys between the hangars for any sign that Darrah could still be around, but he saw none. One of the prylars from the shuttle threw him a look from the hatch of the skimmer that was to take them back to Kendra. Gar glanced back at Pasir and saw the pleading on his face. “Go on ahead without me,” he called out. “I’ll get a flyer and follow you.” The prylar nodded and shut the hatch behind him. The skimmer took off, leaving Gar and Pasir alone.
“Thank you, Ranjen, thank you.” Pasir gripped Gar’s arm. “You have no idea how important this is.”
Gar studied the alien, thinking of his parting words to Mace. The Cardassian wanted him to listen, and he found he wanted to know what the Oralian had to tell him.
“There’s something I have to show to you,” said Pasir.
“Something terrible, something that threatens both our faiths.” His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “I am being coerced, brother. Men with huge and frightening plans hold sway over me, and I cannot let it go on any longer. I must confess.” The alien’s eyes were filled with desperation. “Will you help me?”
“Pasir,” Gar began. “If you are afraid for your life, I can see you safe. Inspector Darrah Mace of the City Watch is a close personal friend, and I—”
“No! No one else!” hissed the cleric. “You’re the only one I can trust, Osen. The only one I know that is untouched by the stain of the Obsidian Order. Spies and liars, all of them. They caused the Lhemorto be destroyed. They are the root of the danger.” His fingers tightened on Gar’s arm. “Please, just come with me.”
At last Gar gave a slow nod. “All right. Lead the way, and I will listen.”
The door to Kell’s private office closed behind Dukat with a faint thud of magnetic bolts, and at the edge of his hearing he picked up the whine of a broad-spectrum jamming array. Even here, in the heart of the Union embassy, the jagul was taking no chances that his security would be compromised.
Dukat felt ambivalent with an empty holster at his side; the guard at the turbolift had taken the dal’s weapon and placed it in safekeeping. Although he still had a push-dagger secreted in the sleeve of his uniform, something about having the capacity to disintegrate Danig Kell where he stood always made Dukat feel more comfortable in the man’s presence.
Kell made a steeple of his fingers across the top of his desk. “Don’t stand there like a trainee before the commandant, Dukat,” he snapped. “Get over here.”
Dukat didn’t move. Instead, he gave the woman seated before Kell a level stare. “Your summons indicated that this was a meeting of senior officers only. There’s a civilian in the room.”
Rhan Ico arched an eyebrow. “Really, Dalin Dukat, there’s no need for such formality. The jagul and I have been engaging in a very entertaining discussion.”
Ico’s words confirmed what he suspected: Kell’s “meeting” had started much earlier—it was only now that Dukat was being allowed to join them. His lips thinned in a sneer. He was reaching the end of his patience with Kell and the situation on Bajor. He had come to Dahkur seeking a resolution, and in that moment he decided that he would have it. Returning to Cardassia with nothing to show would only serve to reinforce his already ill-starred status with Central Command.
Kell’s face was heavy with anger, and for the first time Dukat guessed that it wasn’t directed at him. As he crossed the room, Dukat saw that the power of the confrontation taking place here did not lay with the jagul; it lay in the hands of the woman. What must she have said to him before I entered?Dukat had a reasonable idea what it might have been.
“I’ve received several intercepts from officers on ships stationed in Bajor orbit,” Kell was terse. “It seems that the Kashaihas been conducting sensor sweeps of the orbital debris zone around the Cemba Station without consent from this embassy. This was done on your orders, Dukat.”
“I don’t deny it,” the dal replied. “I offered the service of my ship and crew to the squadron commander involved in recovery of the Lhemorwreckage. He refused, despite the fact that the Kashaihas a full complement of technical staff currently standing idle.” He paused. “I decided to act on my own authority.”
Ico made a small noise of amusement, but Kell found his words anything but entertaining. “And that, Dal, is why you have so few friends at Command. You show too much temerity. A Cardassian officer follows orders.”
“A Cardassian officer serves his Union,” Dukat retorted.
“How does waiting dead in space do that?” He folded his arms. “It was your intention to marginalize me from the moment I arrived, and now, even in the face of this…this incident,you continue to do so.”
“The tragic circumstances that led to the loss of the Lhemorand the deaths on Cemba Station are under investigation,” Ico added. “They are not your concern, Dal.”