Station Rage

by Diane Carey

  "Quark," Sisko demanded, grabbing the little charmer as he passed, "where'd these people come from? The station is supposed to be evacuated."

  "Oh, it is, Captain," Quark said, "except for one transport ship that got stuck in its docking claw. Security just got them out, and, well, there didn't seem to be any sense in sending them down to Bajor at this point, is there? I mean, they're here—why not take advantage? And I've been in contact with the refugee station on the planet about Odo's centrifuge show! We're already booked up through Wednesday afternoon! Ladies and gentlemen! If you'll follow me, I'll conduct a brief tour of the Operations Center of Deep Space Nine. It's a privilege to be here—as you know, Ops is generally off-limits to anyone, but—"

  "Quark," Sisko snapped. "Not now and not here."

  With false piety Quark crowed, "Of course! I understand completely! Ladies and gentlemen, this way! We're disturbing the heartbeat of the station, the very core of function, the command center—if you'll follow me, I'll lead you to the holosuites, and the first show will begin!"

  Sisko grinned as Quark ushered his tour group around Ops, taking the long, long way back to one of the turbolifts. "Don't worry, Odo," he assured. "It can't last more than a month."

  "I can't even do anything about it," the eternal misfit moaned. "I have to go back to my quarters and rest. If I don't come out for a month … don't come in after me. Good night."

  Gazing at the deck, Odo made a controlled dash for the nearest lift while Quark was still pointing out the ships on the main viewer to his audience.

  "Poor Odo," Sisko uttered. "All right, everyone, back to work. Doctor, deal with the wounded and collect any bodies on the station and conduct appropriate autopsies. Dax, let's begin bringing station residents and visitors back up from the planet in a calm and organized fashion. Priority goes to families with small children and merchants dealing in perishable goods. Chief, you're in charge of repair teams. Let's put this station back together."

  As his crew broke up and headed back to their posts and Quark squeezed every last second of letting his tour group get a gander at Ops, Sisko indulged in a few winces and a telling groan, and for the first time let himself notice how hurt he was. His right leg was numb at the knee, his shoulders ached all the way up to his ears, and breathing was a struggle—that punctured lung. He could feel Bashir's masking medicine wearing off. His wounds were beginning to pound for attention. He'd have to get patched up before he could beam his son back up from Bajor. Couldn't let Jake see him this way.

  As she came to Sisko's side, Kira eyed Quark's tour group, then glanced at the main screen. "The Potemkin went out to gather the communications drones that were blocking the sector. The Hood is securing the immediate area. The whiteout is over."

  "Good. Thank you." Sisko leaned back on the Ops table.

  "Now what?" Kira asked. "How do we report all this? It's going to make a big, ugly, bitter tangle between Cardassia and just about everybody else."

  "First," Sisko said thoughtfully, "we'll dawdle around making repairs and offering shore leave to the crews of those starships. It'll drain the intensity out of the moment. That way we can stall making a report for a week or so, and let the matter fizzle out."

  "Stall? Why?"

  "Because if we make an immediate report, investigation will seem more urgent. The longer we take, the less critical any action will seem. We'll let the diplomats sort out the unwarranted attack on the station. We'll suggest that Gul Fransu was a rogue, not acting under authority of the Cardassian Command. We'll downplay the amount of damage and normalize relations quickly. I respect the High Gul enough for that. He ended his exceptional life rather than provide a reason for Cardassia to rise up in these times, because he knew it couldn't stand up to modern powers out there. I'd be betraying that gesture if I handed over the whole truth with all its colors. So … I think I'll just hang on to it, Major."

  She gazed at him keenly, at first perplexed, then gradually more heartened by his logic. Her dilated passions found their way around what he was trying to say, and Sisko watched as, second by second, the tension went out of her shoulders and she became at ease with what he had decided to do.

  The change in her made him believe he was doing the right thing.

  He was going to do it anyway.

  "What do we report about the High Gul himself?" she asked quietly. "I don't know what I feel about him anymore. At first I hated him, but later …"

  "At first he was just a faceless enemy," Sisko abridged. "Then he got a face. It happens, Major."

  She nodded, still mystified. "But he was here, the events did happen, and now he's not here. What are you going to tell Starfleet about how he died?"

  Sisko drew a long breath and let out a sigh. "Let's just say he immolated himself on the bodies of both our wives."

  He pushed off the Ops table, found his center of balance, and limped toward the turbolift.

  "You have the conn, Major," he grumbled on his way out.

  Kira watched him go. "Will you be in the infirmary, sir?"

  "For a while." He cast a glance over his bare, bloody shoulder. "Then I'm gonna go watch the Odo Show. Quark! What's the ticket price?"

  In the Sundial Visitors' Lodge, Spock rose to his feet, walked to the doorway, and peered into the darkness. If he were a human, he might be accused of pacing nervously, so he tried to think of a logical reason to leave the bridge and check on Teska. He had heard some childlike shouts, but he wasn't sure if they came from outside or from one of the back rooms. Suddenly, the forty-six minutes they had to spend on Rigel V seemed like a very long time.

  Behind him, McCoy laughed at the antics of Oblek, who had proven to be an adroit juggler as well as a jovial host. Kirk and Spock were nursing their first glasses of ale, and Kirk glanced sympathetically at him. Spock remembered that his friend had been a parent, even if he had never watched his son grow up. If unwarranted concern was part of being a parent, he was glad that he had been spared such unpleasantness.

  Oblek noticed that he was losing his audience, and he dropped the four sacks of seed he had been juggling. They hit the floor and spilled open.

  "Hey!" the proprietor cried. "We don't pay you to make a mess around here, Oblek."

  "Sorry," said the prefect, looking crestfallen.

  Kirk slapped his hands on his thighs and stood up. "I think it is time to be going. We can beam up from here. Spock, you are the only one with any money."

  "This is all I have," said Spock, handing a stack of coins to the proprietor. "Will that be sufficient?"

  "Oh, my, yes!" said the man with a big grin on his face. "Half of that would be enough."

  As he returned a few coins to the Vulcan, the man's face dissolved into shock, and he stared past Spock. The Vulcan whirled around at the same time the others did, to see the cause of his alarm.

  Standing in the doorway was little Teska, with a vacant look on her face and covered in blood.

  Kirk rushed to the girl's side. "What happened to you?"

  McCoy was right behind Kirk, and he opened a small medical pouch on his belt and took out a diagnostic instrument. Despite the blood all over her clothes, she didn't appear injured.

  "She's suffered some kind of trauma," said McCoy. "Alert sickbay, Jim, and tell them we're on our way."

  "No!" said Teska forcefully, as if snapping out of a trance. "I am not hurt. But Ambassador Denker's dead."

  Prefect Oblek gasped and sank down into one of the seedy chairs, "Denker is dead?"

  "Murdered." The girl looked up at Spock. "I did not intend to do it, but he was dying."

  "Do what?" asked Kirk. "What did you do?"

  Spock's jaw tightened. "You performed a mind-meld."

  The girl nodded. "I saw it all. They argued, and Denker walked off. Vitra sent Mondral after him, and they fought. Mondral stuck a knife in his throat."

  "You saw this?" asked Oblek, amazed.

  "Yes."

  "No," said Spock. "She did not actually witness the m
urder. But she did a mind-meld with Denker, and she shared his vision of it. Is that right, Teska?"

  The girl nodded vacantly.

  Oblek shook his head, confused. "What is a mind-meld?"

  Kirk looked at Spock and sighed. If anybody was going to have to explain the Vulcan mind-meld, it would be Spock.

  "Wait a minute," said McCoy, "maybe Teska is mistaken. Maybe the man is still alive." He was headed out the door when they heard shouts and running footsteps coming closer.

  The girl suddenly jerked her head and looked outside, as if reminded of something. "I know why he did it, too. So Denker could not tell the Assembly about Vitra's illegal activities. Denker refused to falsify his report."

  "Let me note the time," said Oblek, fumbling in his pocket for a timepiece.

  "I want to see the body," insisted McCoy. Before he could get out the door, two Rigelians ran up to the doorway, shouting, "Prefect! Prefect! There's been a murder!"

  "Yes, I know," grumbled the pudgy bureaucrat. "Ambassador Denker."

  The Rigelians looked at each other in amazement. "That's right. But we just found his body."

  "Are you sure he's dead?" asked McCoy.

  "I think so," said one of them. Then his eyes trailed down to the blood-covered girl, and he gasped. "Was it her?"

  The prefect muscled past Spock and Kirk and headed for the door, with McCoy in pursuit. "Don't anybody jump to conclusions. We have a witness, I think. I'm not really sure."

  "Prefect, we can appreciate your difficulty, but we must return," said Kirk.

  "She cannot leave!" growled the prefect. "Not until there's an inquest." He turned to the proprietor. "Give them all beds for the night, at city expense. And don't let that little girl out of your sight."

  As Oblek and McCoy rushed off with the others to examine the body, the proprietor crossed his arms and stared at his unexpected guests. He didn't look very happy, and neither did Captain Kirk.

  Spock picked up a cloth napkin and began to dab the blood from Teska's face. "Do you have some clean clothes that would fit her?"

  "Yes," admitted the man. He turned to the woman standing motionless in the curtained doorway. "Clothes for the child," he ordered. She rushed off, sending the beads clattering.

  Kirk bent down and whispered to Spock, "We can't stay here. We'll miss our rendezvous on Vulcan."

  "I know," replied Spock, still cleaning Teska. "But we cannot ignore the laws of a member world of the Federation."

  The proprietor moved closer to them. "What are you two talking about?"

  "We understand the need for Teska to testify," said Kirk, "but the Enterprise is on a mission. How soon will the inquest be?"

  "Can't be until tomorrow at the earliest," answered the man. "We need a balance of twenty-six men and twenty-six women to hear her testimony. And we have to have numerologists examine the body."

  Spock said nothing. It was important to bring a murderer to justice, but his main concern was Teska. Frowning, he gazed into her eyes. "Are you in any discomfort?"

  She paused as if taking inventory, then shook her head. "I am well. I was taken aback at first—there was a knife in his throat. I called for help, but no one came. He was dying, and he wanted so badly to speak to me. Did I do wrong, Uncle?"

  "No, you behaved logically. However, if we are delayed, your koon-ut-la will be delayed. The ramifications of that are unknown."

  Teska swallowed hard and looked down at the floor. "I was not thinking clearly."

  The Rigelian woman returned from the back of the lodge with a stack of black clothes. She handed them to Teska and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Come with me. I'll take you to a room where you can change."

  "Don't let her out of your sight," warned the proprietor.

  As the two females filed out of the room, Kirk slumped into a chair and drained his glass of ale. "What are we going to do, Spock?"

  The Vulcan cocked his head. "It would appear that we will spend the night on Rigel V."

  A moment later, McCoy shuffled back into the lodge, shaking his head. "He's dead, Jim."

  "Any evidence that would help to back up Teska's story?" asked Kirk.

  "Well, the knife is very crude—homemade with a wooden handle—but it did the job. The only way Denker was going to communicate with anyone was through a mind-meld. I can't speak for the Rigelians, but Teska's story certainly sounds plausible to me."

  "Several times he mentioned a report he was working on," said Spock. "Has anyone found those documents?"

  "The prefect is looking for his luggage now, and he's also trying to round up Vitra and Mondral. Apparently, the three of them were staying at a different visitors' lodge, farther up the hill. No other witnesses have come forward, other than Teska."

  "Who is not really a witness," muttered Kirk. He jumped to his feet, looking anxious to take some sort of action. "I've got to report this to Sarek. Bones, let's go back to the ship."

  "Oh, no," said the anxious proprietor, "you're not allowed to leave!"

  "No, the girl is not allowed to leave. I have a job to do." The captain activated his wrist communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise. Two to beam up."

  The Rigelian proprietor was still sputtering in anger as McCoy and Kirk disappeared. He put his hands on his hips. "Does he always do exactly what he wants to do?"

  "Under most circumstances," answered Spock.

  The Rigelian woman entered through the curtain and approached Spock. "After she put on the clothes, she lay down on the bed and went to sleep instantly."

  "That is to be expected," said Spock. "Do not wake her."

  "And you?" asked the proprietor. "Do you want a room?"

  "No," said the Vulcan, sitting in one of the decrepit chairs. "This will be sufficient."

  "Suit yourself. It's going to be a long night."

  Of that, Spock had no doubt.

  Spock was awakened from a light sleep by a chirp on his wrist communicator. He sat up, feeling twinges of stiffness in his back, and activated the device. "Spock here."

  "Kirk here," said the captain's voice. "Any new developments?"

  Spock looked around the dreary foyer, which was even drearier now that several lights in the doorway had been extinguished. From the silence, darkness, and the coolness of the breeze that wafted through the open door, he judged it to be the middle of the night on Rigel V.

  "No developments," he answered. "But then, I haven't spoken to anyone recently."

  "Well," said the captain, "we may have gotten a break, along with a tragedy. Can I speak freely?"

  "I am alone."

  Kirk went on. "I've spoken to Sarek, and the Romulans have had their share of problems, too. The boy's father was killed when his shuttlecraft was destroyed by a Romulan border patrol."

  "Is the boy safe?" asked Spock.

  "Yes. This apparently happened after the boy's father turned him over to Pardek. The boy doesn't even know his father is dead. And now Pardek is afraid to venture very far into Federation space in a Romulan scout ship, and I can't say I blame him. They're hiding out in the Duperre Asteroid Belt, and they've requested that we escort them to Vulcan."

  Spock lifted an eyebrow. "I see. Then a delay of a few days will not be fatal to our mission."

  "No," said Kirk. "In fact, I can probably go get them and be back for you by the time the inquest is over. I have a feeling the Rigelians are not very efficient about such things."

  "Are you leaving now?" asked Spock.

  "I hate to leave you and Teska down there all alone, but we don't have much choice."

  "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

  "I figured you would say that," answered Kirk. "Keep your communicator on you, and I'll see you in a few days. Kirk out."

  Look for STAR TREK fiction from Pocket Books

  Star Trek®: The Original Series

  Enterprise: The First Adventure • Vonda N. McIntyre

  Final Frontier • Diane Carey

  Strangers From the Sky • Mar
garet Wander Bonanno

  Spock's World • Diane Duane

  The Lost Years • J.M. Dillard

  Probe • Margaret Wander Bonanno

  Prime Directive • Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  Best Destiny • Diane Carey

  Shadows on the Sun • Michael Jan Friedman

  Sarek • A.C. Crispin

  Federation • Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  Vulcan's Forge • Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz

  Mission to Horatius • Mack Reynolds

  Vulcan's Heart • Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz

  Novelizations

  Star Trek: The Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry

  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. McIntyre

  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock • Vonda N. McIntyre

  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home • Vonda N. McIntyre

  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier • J.M. Dillard

  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country • J.M. Dillard

  Star Trek Generations • J.M. Dillard

  Starfleet Academy • Diane Carey

  Star Trek books by William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  The Ashes of Eden

  The Return

  Avenger

  Star Trek: Odyssey (contains The Ashes of Eden, The Return, and Avenger)

  Spectre

  Dark Victory

  Preserver

  #1 • Star Trek: The Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry

  #2 • The Entropy Effect • Vonda N. McIntyre

  #3 • The Klingon Gambit • Robert E. Vardeman

  #4 • The Covenant of the Crown • Howard Weinstein

  #5 • The Prometheus Design • Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath

  #6 • The Abode of Life • Lee Correy

  #7 • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. McIntyre

  #8 • Black Fire • Sonni Cooper

  #9 • Triangle • Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath

  #10 • Web of the Romulans • M.S. Murdock

  #11 • Yesterday's Son • A.C. Crispin

  #12 • Mutiny on the Enterprise • Robert E. Vardeman

  #13 • The Wounded Sky • Diane Duane