“What?”

“Finding your mother,” Vaughn said. “You’re right to think that the odds were remote. They were beyond remote. There was no way anyone could know what really happened to her, whether or not she survived, or where she’d end up if she did.”

Prynn shrugged. “So I got lucky. I don’t need to question it.”

Vaughn sat down next to her on the bunk and looked at her intently. “Maybe you should. Think about it, Prynn. Your search for your mother succeeded only because of Defiant’s mission to explore the Gamma Quadrant. That mission happened only because I proposed it when I decided to transfer to Deep Space 9. And I made that decision only because of my encounter with that Bajoran Orb.”

She stared at him. “You’re trying to tell me that this all happened because of the wormhole aliens?”

“I really don’t know,” Vaughn told her honestly. “But I think something beyond my understanding, or yours, put me on this path I’m following. It’s the path that made me change my life. The same path that led me back to you. The same path that led us, together, to this place, at this time. I know it sounds crazy. You know me, Prynn. I’ve never been a believer in much of anything. But look at everything that’s happened. Against all probability and all reason, I have a chance to save your mother, to make up for what I did to her.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Dad,” Prynn whispered. “When are you going to stop blaming yourself?”

He tilted his head. “You’ve been blaming me for seven years.”

“I was wrong. I realized that when we encountered the Inamuri,” Prynn said. “Dad, why are you doing this? What does it matter why this happened? You said it yourself, we can save Mom.”

“It matters because my decision to try to save your mother is based on my belief that I’m meant to. I’ve been letting that belief override my duty to this ship, its crew, and the Federation. It makes me a bad captain, and that should scare the hell out of you.”

“Well, it doesn’t,” Prynn said. “Look, I can’t pretend I understand what happened to you in the Badlands, or that I can take seriously this idea that we’re caught up in some ‘destiny’ you seem to think you’re fulfilling. But if the last three months have taught me anything, it’s that you’re not a bad captain. You’re not even a bad father, really.”

“How can you say that?” Vaughn asked. “I was never there.”

“But, Dad, that’s just it—you were always there,” Prynn said. She felt no anger now, no resentment. Just the need for her father to understand what he meant to her. “Whether we could be together or not, I never once doubted how much you loved us.”

Hesitantly Vaughn reached out and put his arms around his daughter, pulling her close. “Oh, God,” he whispered, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice. “You are so screwed up.”

Holding her father tightly, Prynn echoed the laugh. “Chip off the old block, that’s me.”

They held each other in silence for several minutes and then Vaughn said, “Would you like to see her?”

She pulled away and looked up at him. “You’ll let me?”

“If you really want to. But I have to warn you, she’s in bad shape. Bashir thinks she’s in a coma, and he still isn’t sure he can bring her out of it, or even if there’s anything left of her to revive.”

“I don’t care,” Prynn said, rising to her feet. “I want to be with her, Dad.” She took his hand. “I want us both to be with her.”

With some help from Bashir’s artifical stimulation of her brain activity, Ruriko’s human physiology had begun to reassert itself. Respiration, circulation, immune system, cell growth—all were beginning to respond favorably. Even her color had improved. She still hadn’t awakened, but for the first time since this whole thing started, Bashir looked optimistic, albeit guardedly so.

Prynn stood close to Ruriko and wept silently as she stared into her mother’s mutilated face. Still hairless and marred by scars and Borg implants, Ruriko continued to stand motionless in her alcove, one entirely cybernetic arm and shoulder already gone, along with several segments of body armor that had covered her earlier.

Then, very softly, Prynn started to hum. Gradually the humming became words, until she was singing a lullaby to her mother. Vaughn recognized the tune immediately: Calaiah vel D’naiby Rowatu, Ruriko’s favorite, a song she listened to whenever she was sad. And as Prynn sang, Vaughn realized he’d never heard his daughter sing before, never known how beautiful her voice was, never realized how much it sounded like Ruriko’s.

Suddenly the singing stopped, replaced by Prynn’s sharp intake of breath. Vaughn was jolted out of his stupor and looked at her mother, scarcely daring to believe what he saw.

Ruriko’s eyes had opened.

She was staring at Prynn. And more than that, her mouth was moving—fishlike motions that seemed meaningless. Vaughn called to Bashir, who came running. He looked stunned when he saw Ruriko, then turned to study medical monitors set up beside the alcove and nodded excitedly. “Keep it up, Prynn. Don’t stop.”

Tears streaming from her eyes, Prynn resumed her song. Ruriko continued staring at her, lips opening and closing, until, finally, she found her voice. It was barely a whisper, but it was unmistakable.

“Puh…puh…prrreeeeeeeeeeen…”

17

Ten hours away from Trill, Dr. Xiang looked up and said, “I can’t believe what you’re suggesting.”

The three of them—Kira, Montenegro, and Xiang—were gathered in the dining area of Montenegro’s quarters. The doctor and the first officer were seated at the table, arguing back and forth. Kira paced the floor restlessly.

“I can’t believe it, either,” Montenegro agreed. “But it’s true, Mei. It all fits. Admiral Akaar’s message to Colonel Kira, the file she obtained from Gryphon’s own computers—what else do you need to convince you?”

“Proof!” Xiang said. “So far all I’ve heard is a lot of guesswork based on circumstantial evidence. What proof do you have that it’s the captain?”

This is taking too damn long.Kira turned and slammed an isolinear chip down on the table.

Startled, the doctor’s eyes darted to the chip, then back to Kira. “And what exactly is that?”

“The program that the parasite used to fake the cloaking-device reading. It was uploaded from the captain’s quarters. Commander Montenegro found it after I told him about my suspicions.”

The doctor looked at Montenengro.

“It’s true,” he said. “She created a fake datastream, uploaded it to the sensor arrays, and waited for the bridge crew to detect it. I took the report to her myself, and she contacted Admiral Akaar to suggest that Gryphonpursue it. She needed an excuse to head for Trill at high warp without revealing herself.”

“But why? What’s on Trill?”

“Revenge,” Kira said. “These parasites, whatever they are, have some connection to Trill. It was a Trill who killed First Minister Shakaar, and Shakaar was the host to one of these life-forms. Akaar thinks the thing inside Mello could be using Gryphonto launch a retaliatory strike.”

“This crew would never carry out an order to attack a Federation planet,” Xiang insisted.