Hands grabbed his arms and pulled at his sleeves. He looked up and saw the young man. “You have to run!” he cried; there was no sign in his eyes of an understanding that it was his moment of insanity that had started this madness. “For Fate’s sake, you have to go!” The young man thrust a leather bag into his hands, and Bennek felt familiar shapes through the soft hide. “Keep them safe! But go, just go!”

The youth propelled him to his feet, out toward the far edge of the camp. Some animal reaction was triggered, and Bennek ran into the wilderness, heedless and out of control, clutching the bag to his chest.

The Bajoran politician attempted to conceal his discomfort at the two armored glinns who escorted him into the room, but he made a poor job of it. Ico inclined her head, and the soldiers gave her a curt nod and retreated from the chamber, sealing the security door behind them. She smiled. “It’s so good of you to come at this early hour. I know it’s a long trip to Dahkur.”

Kubus Oak recovered a little of his poise and nodded. “Nonsense. It’s never an unpleasant task to be in your company, Rhan.”

Ico studied him as Kubus tried to hide the fact that he was glancing around the woman’s office like a trapped animal searching for an exit. Does he think I brought him here to terminate him, perhaps? How amusing.The man’s false front of cool affability was slipping around the edges. Ico had made sure that Qui’al was isolated from some of the more incendiary activities she had set in motion today, but still the city-state’s leader could not have been ignorant of what was going on elsewhere on his homeworld. She decided not to speak, and steepled her fingers over her desk instead, watching him steadily.

After a few moments of silence, Kubus couldn’t resist his natural compulsion to fill the silence and gestured toward the animated situation map on the wallscreen. “That word…” He peered at a disk of Cardassian characters. “Terok.I’ve seen it several times on your documentation. What does it mean?”

“Your grasp of our language is improving, Oak. Well done.” She gave him an indolent nod, a teacher praising her student. “I suppose it will harm nothing to tell you.” Ico stood and rounded the desk. “It is a unique designation for your world. The Central Command generates one for every planet that joins the Union as a colony, client, or…associate. In our classified documentation, we refer to Bajor as Planetary Ident: Terok.” She smiled again. “Do you see how much I trust you? If any other Bajoran knew that information, I would be forced to sanction them.” That she made the comment so casually was enough to make the man pale slightly. Ico moved to hover next to him, in front of the moving play of her great game.

“I…am flattered,” he managed. “If I might ask, why did you demand my presence?”

“I don’t make demands, Oak,” she said lightly. “I only requestor suggest.Demands are made by those who have left themselves with no other options.”

He looked at her, and this close to him, she could make out the thin sheen of sweat on his face. Finally, the questions that must have been boiling up inside him since the moment he left Qui’al bubbled to the surface. “Rhan, what is going on?” He pointed at the map. “Civil unrest and reports of violence in a dozen cities. People going missing. Confusion and disorder.”

Her manner grew colder. “Perhaps I didn’t make it clear enough to you. You were told that certain conditions would need to be brought into being, correct?”

Kubus nodded woodenly. “And I’ve helped you establish some of them. But this…” He sighed. “There’s much more going on than I was aware of.”

She laughed. “Of course there is.” Ico saw the momentary look of betrayal on his face. “Oh, dear Oak. Are you upset that you were not given the full dimensions of our strategy? Please understand, it was not an attempt to slight you.” She wandered away. “I was keeping you focused. Safe, in a way.”

His lip trembled; he was as disturbed as she had ever seen him. “Safe?” Kubus replied, his voice rising slightly. “Safe from the knowledge that you would burn churches or land legions of troops under cover of darkness?”

“Are those things important?” she asked him. “The operation moves forward, and it will benefit Bajor as much as it does Cardassia in the long run. You know that.” Ico sighed. “But never forget that we move at Cardassian behest, not Bajoran. We all have parts to play.”

“I would have preferred to be better informed,” he said tightly.

“As would we all.” Ico’s reply was airy. She shook her head. “I don’t understand your reticence. There was none of this a decade ago when I first came to you with the offer of partnership. And before that, in your many dealings with Cardassia on a trade footing, you never once showed this level of reserve.”

“Things change,” he managed.

“They do,” she agreed, “and I always work to ensure that they change in ways that benefit me.” Ico crossed back to him and ran a gray hand over his cheek. The Bajoran’s skin was pleasantly warm. “Haven’t we always told you that your role would be one of the most important in shaping Bajor’s future? And this day’s work is a necessary step toward it.”

She sensed the change in him; all Kubus had needed was a little stroking to keep him centered.

“Lale has shown some recalcitrant behavior in recent weeks,” he noted. “I don’t think he wants to leave the First Ministry.”

“What Lale Usbor wants is of little interest to Cardassia,” Ico said, with more bluntness than she intended. Covering her tiny lapse, she spoke on. “But this is a delicate time, Oak. We enter the final act, but it has become complicated by some outside interference.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

A nod. “And that is why I brought you here today, so that you will know.” She inclined her head. “Those fools in the United Federation of Planets are taking an undue interest. Rest assured that the Union has gambits in place to retard their meddling, but it is important that in the next few days your fellow members of the Chamber of Ministers—the ones of weaker character, that is—do not panic and run to the Federation.”

Kubus nodded slowly. “That would be a mistake.”

She released another smile. “It pleases me to see that you and I are still so close in our intentions.”

“I’ll keep the other ministers in line.” The man’s confidence returned at full force now that he was back on more familiar ground.

“You’ve done well to date,” Ico noted, “although I have had some concerns regarding your control over the actions of Jas Holza.”

“Holza?” Kubus mocked. “He’s a spent force, too weak to defy me. He’ll tow the line or else run to Valo with Keeve Falor and the rest of the exiles. Either way, he’s not an issue.” He bowed slightly and stepped back. “I’ll…take my leave, then?”

Ico came close to him and touched him again. “No,” she husked, “I think not. Perhaps, Oak, perhaps I will make a demand of you.”

She relished the moment of fear in his eyes as her hands strayed to the buttons on his shirt. Today will be a busy one,Ico told herself. I can justify myself this one little diversion before I return to it.

Darrah Mace sipped the cup of water and swallowed hard, trying to keep the fluid in his gullet. The echoing resonance of the phaser stun would be lingering for a good while yet. By rights, he should have taken some time to lie down, to let his body relax and gather itself; the Cardassians had other ideas, however. They woke him using harsh chemical stimulants and held him for an hour in the hangar, recording everything he said about the escaped fugitives.

At one point, one of the alien soldiers asked him if he was trembling because of a delayed reaction to the stun blast. He lied and said yes. He couldn’t bring himself to tell them it was rage that had wound him so tightly that he wanted to rip the throats out of every one of them. Everything the blond woman said was there at the front of his thoughts, hard as diamond. It took every bit of Darrah’s self-control to say nothing, to play dumb.