“Yes, sir,” Ben Sisko remarked by reflex. At the time he’d had his head inside a reflux manifold making an adjustment. It was cramped and hot and airless, and he was feeling light-headed and not a little claustrophobic. “Whatever that means, sir.”

“It means, among other things, that you can drop the ‘sir,’ ” Dax said dryly. “This is us, Benjamin. There’s no one else down here but you and me. No one’s listening.”

“Sorry…” Sisko made the final adjustment and eased his head out, dusting off his hands, sliding the manifold back into place, activating it, and securing his tools in his belt kit. Everyone else had gone ashore, but he’d volunteered to take a tour in engineering during the layover. “…Old Man. It’s great to see you again, and I appreciate your putting in a recommendation for me, but whatever this is about, I’d really rather not. The yard crew’s going to be crawling all over this ship at 0800 sharp tomorrow. I promised the chief I’d supervise while he spends some time with his family. And there’s Jake’s first day of kindergarten…”

Just then Dax had touched his shoulder, Sisko thought, to brush some of the dust from the filters off his uniform. There was something askew in Okinawa’s environmental controls that created static and caused some of the filters to collect an inordinate amount of dust; Sisko had been puzzling over it for weeks but hadn’t solved it yet. It was one of the things he intended to work on during the refit. He was about to make some comment about the dust when he realized Dax was tapping his Starfleet insignia lightly.

“What’s this, Benjamin? Just some scraps of metal? Or do they mean something to you?”

“Oh, come on, Old Man! Don’t go all Duty and Discipline on me! Yes, I’m a Starfleet officer. A Starfleet officer assigned to this ship. And if I’m assigned to another ship, or to a starbase, I’ll go. That’s what I signed on for. And I will bring my family with me. But being recruited by Intelligence and put on standby for a ‘special assignment’ while Okinawasails without me? I didn’t sign on for that.”

“You don’t know that’s what this is about,” Dax suggested.

“Oh, yes, I do. Admiral Uhura keeps a file on everyone who ever took her communications class who showed what she calls ‘exceptional skills.’ She’s not above drafting people from those files for special missions. And you recommended me. That’s exactly what this is about.”

“And if you know that, you also know you can refuse,” Dax said quietly. “But I think you need to at least find out what it’s about first. Then talk it over with Jennifer, and—”

“Talk what over with Jennifer? How much can the admiral tell me if I don’t agree to sign on?”

Dax gave him a thoughtful look. “You’ve already got your back up, Benjamin, without knowing anything. You owe it to yourself as much as to Starfleet to keep an open mind here.”

That had given Sisko pause.

“What does that mean? Have you been reading tea leaves again, Dax? I didn’t know Trills could foretell the future. Wait, where are you going?”

Dax had turned on his heel and started to walk away. “Planetside,” he said over his shoulder. “Thought I’d do a tour of some of Earth’s wildlife preserves. I hear the bird sanctuaries are extraordinary. I’m especially interested in parrots. Expect I might have a more intelligent conversation with one of them than I’m having here.”

Sisko loped down the corridor after him. He towered over the deceptively frail-looking Trill. “Old Man, listen. Captain Leyton’s ordered me to speak with Admiral Uhura. He told me you spoke to him on her behalf. You’ve as good as seen to it that if I do refuse, it won’t sit well with Captain Leyton.”

“Benjamin—”

“Let me finish. If Admiral Uhura wants me for some special communications project on Earth or aboard ship while we’re on layover here, fine. But if it’s something that’s going to take me off the ship and away from Jake and Jennifer…”

Curzon had given him a look then that Benjamin Sisko would remember for the rest of his life. “I don’t read tea leaves, Benjamin. Why don’t you wait until you know what the assignment is? Then discuss as much as you can with Jennifer. She’s a lot more sensible than you are.”

“I always do that anyway,” Sisko said to Curzon’s departing back.

“Benjamin Sisko loves three things, in reverse order of magnitude,” Curzon warned Uhura now as he decanted the Izarian aperitif, pouring it into two balloon snifters, waiting for its inner glow to change from iridescent blue to a deep ruby-red before he placed one in her hands. “Good food, his work, and his family. You’re proposing to take him away from all three. Don’t expect that to go down easily.”

“Curzon, he’s a Starfleet officer,” Uhura said quietly, but not without a bit of steel. “He’ll go where he’s ordered. But one of my weaknesses, and unfortunately one that I’m known for among the younger generation, is my inability to force a junior officer to accept a commission he doesn’t want. I’ve found out the hard way that an unwilling agent makes a careless agent. And careless agents cost unnecessary loss of life.”

Curzon made himself comfortable on the deeply cushioned divan beside her and waited for her to taste the Izarian nectar.

“Curzon, this is exquisite!” she said, smiling for the first time since she’d arrived. She sipped again and settled back among the cushions, the sleeves of her flowing kikoy,with its red-brown-black pattern known as Footsteps of Fire, arranged like the folded wings of some exotic butterfly.

“So are you,” Curzon replied.

As if on cue, the Hamalki string music began its appearance on the small holopad built into the low table between them, filling the air with sounds and visuals that dopplered softly off the walls and wrapped around the two listeners in innumerable pastels and sprightly sparkles, guaranteed to soothe the soul and stimulate conversation and, perhaps, other things. Curzon touched the rim of Uhura’s glass with his own.

“To Benjamin Sisko’s greater enlightenment,” he suggested. “And to no unnecessary loss of life.”

Earlier that day, Uhura had kept Lieutenant Sisko waiting while she pretended to peruse his service record, aware of the impatience all but oozing out of his pores as he sat at attention on the other side of her desk.

Yes, sitting at attention was the only way to describe what he was doing, because when he’d first arrived and she’d told him to take a seat he’d said he preferred to stand. When she advised him he might be here longer than he’d want to be standing he’d sat, but reluctantly and on the edge of his seat, as if ready at the slightest provocation to spring out of it.

It’s all about communication!Uhura reminded herself. She’d been about to start communicating when Lieutenant Sisko jumped the gun on her.

“Permission to speak candidly, sir?” he said in that soft, almost musical voice.

“That’s why you’re here, Lieutenant,” Uhura said, closing the file she’d had memorized before he stepped through the door and folding her hands on her desk expectantly.

“Admiral, I’m assuming you asked me here to take part in a special assignment.”

“And why would you assume that?”

“Because I know you keep a file on each of your students who show exceptional ability, and I know I was one of them.”

Uhura suppressed a smile. “Humility doesn’t seem to be one of your problems, Mr. Sisko. And your communications skills will be an asset to this mission. But it’s your all-around ability to handle multiple stations and situations that I’m more interested in.”

“So you intend to commandeer me from Okinawaand assign me—temporarily—to another ship?” Sisko said quietly. “May I ask where?”

“You may not. If I decide to use you, once you’re sworn in, you’ll have sealed orders fed into your vessel’s conn. Essentially the ship will tell you where to go.”