“And where do you stand on the question?”

Lenaris met his gaze. “I’m a soldier, Admiral. I stand with the people I took an oath to protect. Always.”

“But do you not see? This is what the assassin wanted: to divide us. We must work together to right this situation, General, or Bajor and the Federation will both lose.”

“That may be,” Lenaris conceded. “But only the first minister can make that decision, and I suspect she will very soon. We’re to meet her in the wardroom in twenty-five minutes, together with Councillor zh’Thane, Colonel Kira, and Lieutenant Ro.”

As if on cue, the door opened again and Ro walked in. A glance at the viewscreen showed Gandres was no longer in the interrogation room.

“He claims to know nothing substantive about Gard or the assassination,” Ro said immediately, “other than what we all saw in the meeting hall. I believe him. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that this is the rogue action he seems to think it is.”

“What do you mean?” Lenaris asked.

“Gard might have acted alone, for reasons of his own,” Ro conceded. “But a couple of things the ambassador said make me think there’s more to it. First and foremost, Gandres didn’t select him to be on his staff. According to the ambassador, Gard was assigned to him from the Trill Diplomatic Corps out of the blue, specifically for the Bajor assignment.”

“That proves nothing, Lieutenant,” Akaar said.

“Not by itself, no,” Ro admitted. “But, Admiral…Gard was a joined Trill. That was something I hadn’t really considered until Gandres reminded me. During my own association with Gard, he implied he’d had many past lives.”

“I do not see—”

“Admiral, have you ever heard of a joined Trill committing any violent crime? Much less a cold, calculated murder? I confess I’m not entirely familiar with how it works, but my understanding is that the screening process they employ is designed to match hosts and symbionts in such a way that joined Trills are invariably stable personalities. I know from Lieutenant Dax that anomalies do occur from time to time, but unless Gard is one of those rare mismatched Trills, then the murder of First Minister Shakaar couldn’t have been simply the rogue action of a madman. It had to have a purpose.” Akaar seemed to ponder that for a moment, and then Ro added, “This is still all guesswork, though. To be certain, I need access to Gard’s official and personal files from Trill.”

“Councillor zh’Thane is seeing to that,” Akaar said, then switched tacks. “Have the station’s sensors revealed anything about the transporter beam Gard used to escape?”

Ro shook her head. “My people are still working on it, but Gard somehow managed to scramble the sensors just before he beamed out.”

Akaar muttered a Capellan curse. “I’ve apprised Captain Mello of the situation. The Gryphonis conducting its own sensor sweep of the Bajoran system even as we speak.” The admiral looked at Lenaris. “We should locate Colonel Kira and join Councillor zh’Thane to await the first minister.”

Lenaris nodded and the two men started out. Ro said, “Wait, where are you going?”

The general looked at her grimly. “To face the music, Lieutenant. And you’re invited, too.”

*  *  *

First Minister Asarem entered the wardroom under guard. To Kira’s eye, she looked considerably better than she had when she’d been evacuated from the meeting hall. Everyone rose to their feet as she entered, their eyes following her as she immediately took her place at the head of the meeting table. Kira and the other attendees sat down only when Asarem did, and maintained a respectful silence until the first minister spoke.

Asarem surveyed the table, meeting the eyes of each person with an impenetrable and unflinching calm. Good,Kira thought as the minister’s eyes fell on her. Make sure no one has any doubt who’s in charge here. Every Bajoran will look to you for strength now. And everyone else will judge Bajor by the kind of leader you are.

“In forty minutes,” Asarem began, “I am boarding the Li Nalasand departing Deep Space 9 for Bajor to address an emergency session of the Chamber of Ministers. I will thereafter address the Bajoran people.”

“What will you say, First Minister?” Kira asked.

Asarem looked directly at Councillor zh’Thane and Admiral Akaar when she answered. “I’ll tell them the truth. That after the assassination of First Minister Shakaar by a member of the Federation diplomatic delegation, Bajor cannot, in good conscience, accept the Federation’s invitation to become a member at this time. I will order a full investigation into the murder of Shakaar, and I will ask the chamber to pass a resolution to reevaluate the need for Starfleet’s continued presence on Deep Space 9.”

Silence descended on the wardroom. Even Kira was stunned. “First Minister, please,” zh’Thane began, “don’t do this.”

“What would you have me do instead, Ambassador?” Asarem asked pragmatically. “Is it really the position of the Federation Council that Bajor can still move forward with the Federation now? That the Bajoran people will accept the heinous assassination of its lawfully elected leader as a trivial inconvenience? Is that yourposition, Councillor?”

“My position,” zh’Thane answered, “is that the Federation is not Bajor’s enemy, First Minister. We are its friends. It is a friendship both parties have cultivated for over seven years. A friendship that during that time has endured one crisis after another, one threat after another, and always emerged stronger. It is a friendship that has never, and mustnever, falter in the darkest times, when friendships are most sorely tested. And as a friend, I pledge to you that the Federation will not falter in its commitment to Bajor now. We share the grief of the Bajoran people. We are saddened and outraged by the assassination of First Minister Shakaar. But we must not allow this act of evil to poison our resolve to join together. Shakaar was murdered in the act of committing to that union. Will you now render his last great labor—and the labors of Captain Sisko—meaningless?”

For a moment Asarem’s eyes sought out Kira’s. No doubt she, like Nerys, wondered how Shakaar’s “last great labor” and the secret manner in which he had pursued it, played into his death. But whether Shakaar had been duplicitous or not, Kira had come to believe Asarem had too much integrity to malign his memory, however justified it might be. And the councillor wasn’t stupid: she had to know what evoking the name of the Emissary would mean in this context, and counted on it.

But Asarem clearly wasn’t going to be swayed that easily. “And how precisely will the Federation demonstrate its commitment, Councillor? What will it do?”

It was Akaar who answered. “What we have always done. Remain true to Bajor. We will support and cooperate fully with your investigation, First Minister. Like you, we also want the truth.”

“And yet, the truth has so far proven elusive, hasn’t it, Admiral? The assassin, himself a Federation representative sent here by his government, has escaped.”

“Maybe not,” Ro said.

All eyes looked at her. “Ro?” Kira said.

“Forgive me, Colonel, but the more I think about the circumstances surrounding the murder, the less certain I am that everything transpired as most of us seem to be assuming.”

“Are you about to suggest that First Minister Shakaar isn’t truly dead, Lieutenant?” Asarem asked, almost with a tinge of amusement.

“First Minister, no. That isn’t what I mean. What I mean is that there are limits to what his killer could have accomplished on his own. And so far, there’s no evidence to suggest Gard acted with accomplices here on the station.”

“Meaning what?” Lenaris asked.

“Meaning that when he beamed away, where could he have gone?”

“Our assumption has been that he had a cloaked ship standing by in order to escape,” Akaar said, and to Asarem he added, “The Gryphonis looking into that possibility right now.”