BEN SISKO was not enjoying this session of the trade negotiations. He had only reluctantly agreed to serve as a mediator. This, after a memorable meeting with Ambassador Hnada and other distraught representatives of the provisional Bajoran government, who had flown up to the station for the purpose of insisting that he do something to convince the Klystron and Orion ambassadors to change their minds about supporting Bajoran membership in the Federation.
Sisko pointed out, repeatedly, that these negotiations were intended to work out trade agreements, not Federation membership for Bajor, but he could hardly deny that some Federation governments seemed to regard the current sessions as a kind of preliminary step in the process. He declined to raise the point that the Bajoran government hadn't even decided whether to apply for membership yet.
"This is all the Cardassians' fault!" Hnada had charged passionately. "Cardassian subversion! Why aren't you doing something to stop it?"
Although it was painfully obvious to all parties that Cardassian influence had been involved in the decisions of some worlds to withdraw from the negotiations, Sisko had to insist that under present circumstances there was nothing he could do. The Federation was no longer actively at war with the Cardassians, and they had the same diplomatic rights as the Bajorans. He couldn't stop them from talking with the representatives or even trying to bribe them, if that was in fact what was going on. And he certainly couldn't order them off the station, just for that.
But nothing he could say had been able to satisfy the Bajorans, owing partly to the fact that the Bajorans themselves weren't sure what they wanted to do about the situation. A few intemperate voices had been raised to suggest an attack on the Swift Striker or Cardassian personnel, and at that, tempers had erupted completely, with delegates accusing each other of terrorism and appeasement, respectively.
At the moment, Sisko wasn't quite sure whether he was supposed to be mediating between the Bajorans and the other worlds, or between the Bajoran factions themselves. He shifted restlessly in his seat.
On the floor, a Qismilian representative was protesting the presence of the wormhole creators. "Our religion states clearly: 'Thou shalt not listen to foreign gods.' Now, these wormhole beings are the gods of the Bajorans, are they not? I demand that they be enjoined from contacting our ships as they pass through to the Gamma Quadrant."
"You speak disrespectfully of the Prophets!" several Bajorans shouted, and a minor theological dispute broke out in the far corner of the room.
The Z'ood ambassador rose so quickly that it forgot its height and scraped its horns against the ceiling. The Qismilian shrieked, "Unfair! I protest! The thirty-third article states clearly: 'No being shall speak from a higher stature than any other'!"
When the general security alert came through on his communicator, Sisko jumped to his feet with profound relief. He would much rather deal with Gul Marak than the ambassadors. At least there was only one of Marak.
"Excuse me, Ambassadors, Excellencies. An emergency on the station. Please, continue without me."
The Cardassian deck patrol had deployed onto the Promenade in groups of three and four. They were careful to maintain a casual appearance, and if their expressions looked particularly grim, most of the passersby would have told themselves that these were, after all, Cardassians and not some other, more lighthearted species.
Even Constable Odo found nothing in particular to rouse his suspicions as he saw them emerging onto the Promenade deck. They weren't visibly carrying arms, and liberty parties from the Swift Striker's crew had been coming onto the station for some time with even less than the usual level of trouble. Although Odo loved law and order for its own sake, he was wise enough to recognize that there was a certain inevitable level of disorder on a station that served spacers from a multitude of races.
There was, of course, the problem of the Cardassian deserter, which was a matter of no little concern to the constable: not just the presence of a reputed murderer on his station but the fact that he was apparently capable of disabling his security array. And besides the fugitive, there were the military police who'd been strolling the decks obviously watching for him. But they were unarmed and officially on liberty, the same as the rest of the crew. As long as they didn't cause trouble, Commander Sisko was letting the situation stand. Odo even supposed that the presence of the deck patrol accounted for the better-than-normal behavior of the rest of the ship's crew, which was a kind of unlooked-for benefit.
As the Cardassian party split up, one group headed toward Quark's Place, another to a nearby importer who specialized in exotic luxury goods, another to a warehouse/storage operation. In the security office, Odo paused to watch the Cardassians on the monitors, saw nothing to indicate incipient trouble, then moved on to scan the rest of the Promenade.
The luxury importer was a Bajoran merchant who stiffened in reflexive fear as he saw three Cardassians come into his shop. A subofficer stepped up to him, uncomfortably close. "We're here to search these premises for an escaped criminal. Cooperate, and we won't give you any trouble." He turned to one of the others. "Show the Bajoran what kind of trouble we won't give him."
Grinning, the other patrolman tipped over a shelf of harmonic fronds, which shattered on the floor with a discordant jangle of sound.
As the merchant moved reflexively to save his goods, the Cardassian noncom struck him across the side of the face with a hand encased in a mail glove. The Bajoran fell against another counter, but the deck patrolman pulled him back up. "All right. We know he's been spotted around here somewhere." To his men: "Start searching in the back. Be real careful not to overlook anything." And to the merchant again: "Are you sure you don't have anything to say?"
"I don't know!" gasped the bleeding Bajoran. "I don't know anything!"
"Sure you don't. Your kind never do. Not until after a little persuation." He grabbed the man's elbow and twisted until he cried out in pain.
Elsewhere on the Promenade there were similar scenes as the search got underway. But in Quark's Place, the customers were less inclined to submit to the invasion.
A table of asteroid miners from Port Horrtha ignored the Cardassian Glin's profane order to get "On your feet, you scum! Hands on your heads and get over against the wall!"
Nostrils flaring at this display of defiance, the Glin stepped closer and repeated his demand. This time, the miners raised their eyes to take a hard look at what had interrupted their dedicated gambling. Then the closest one swept up a chair and brought it down across the officer's head.
Taking his cue from the miner, Quark's huge B'kaazi henchman, Jas-qal, lifted up an entire Dabo table and flung it in the direction of two Cardassians next to the bar. As the table exploded into splinters, other customers whooped with pleasure and seized the nearest pieces of furniture, ready to do battle.
But the furious Glin pulled out his concealed phaser and fired a burst that felled Jas-qal in midroar. As the Cardassian staggered back to his feet, bleeding, his men pulled their own weapons, and the heart went out of the other combatants. Sullenly, they lined up against the far wall of the casino.
Quark took quick note of the invaders' firepower. "What is this?" he demanded with a genuine tremor of indignation in his voice. "This is a respectable establishment! We don't harbor criminals here! I'll have you know that Gul Marak himself is a patron of mine. A very special patron. I'd like to know what he'll say when he learns his men have come barging in here this way, making a disturbance, disruping my business, roughing up my customers!"
But at the same time, he was pressing a button hidden behind the bar, summoning DS-Nine security. Although Quark had a dim view of security officers in general, particularly when they tended to interfere in his private business dealings, he had no objection to taking advantage of their protection when it seemed necessary. As it certainly did at the moment.
Odo's monitor in the security office flashed, and he switched to the scene: armed Cardassians holding phasers on the occupants of the gambling hall. Immediately, he recalled the rest of the crewmen in the apparent liberty party, splitting up into groups, and he upgraded the status of the alert to the highest priority before running out onto the main corridor of the Promenade.
Kira's communicator shrilled: "All available security to the Promenade! Armed Cardassian intruders on level eleven!"
A red rage washed over her, and she was instantly running toward the nearest transporter unit, phaser already drawn, imagining the very worst possibilities: a takeover of the station, a new invasion of Bajor, another war.
Although one corner of her mind was relieved that at least this time the alert wasn't for another terrorist bombing.
What she encountered was less than total war, but it was close enough to many other scenes she'd witnessed during the occupation of her homeworld. Kira pushed through the crowd surrounding an import office to find an implacable Constable Odo, backed up by a pair of station security officers, facing a pack of armed Cardassian military police. Broken merchandise littered the floor, and the Bajoran businessman who owned the shop stood slightly behind Odo, holding a red-stained cloth to the side of his head.
"What's going on?" she demanded furiously.
The Cardassian subofficer turned from Odo to Kira with a slight alteration of his sneer. "We're searching these premises for an escaped criminal. I'm warning you, Bajoran, don't interfere."
The hand holding her phaser twitched slightly as she restrained the almost irresistible impulse to blast him with the weapon's full power, to wipe all the features off that arrogant face. But then Odo also answered her question. "These Cardassians are under arrest. They've brought unauthorized arms onto the Promenade. They're also charged with destruction of property and aggravated bodily assault."
The Bajoran merchant took the cloth away from his head to display his wounds. "Three of them came bursting in here, knocked over that shelf of fronds, then they said they were going to search the back rooms. When I tried to stop them—"
Other voices shouted to be heard:
"They came into my place, too!"
"They kicked out all my customers!"
"I want compensation for this!"
The Cardassian noncom laughed scornfully. "You have to be joking! Arrest us? I don't surrender to Bajorans! Or"—glancing at Odo—"whatever that is!"
Kira's jaw tightened. "This station is sovereign Bajoran territory. Hand over your weapons or face further charges of resisting lawful authority."
The Cardassian grinned unpleasantly as he raised his phaser. "Authority? Lawful? Get out of my way, Bajoran!"
Odo's hand moved with a speed too quick for merely human eyes to catch, his arm stretching half again its usual length, and his hand closed around his target's wrist. As the Cardassian gasped in pained surprise, Kira pressed her own phaser against the side of his head. To the rest of them, she said, "Drop the weapons! Now!"
Slowly, they lowered their phasers to the deck as the station's security moved in to pick them up and place the men under arrest. "Lock them up," Kira ordered. "And charge this motherless spawn with resisting arrest!"
When security had led them out, she turned to Odo. "Are there any more?"
"I think this accounts for all of them. There were a dozen who came onto the station. We didn't have much trouble with the bunch in Quark's Place. As soon as our security team showed up, the customers jumped on them. In fact, I think their Glin will need medical attention."
Kira nodded. When the miners were on station, a brawl was almost part of the regular entertainment at the casino. If Quark thought about it, he might even decide to charge them for the privilege. As the crowd parted reluctantly to let someone through, both Kira and Odo looked around to see Commander Sisko. "What's happened here?" he demanded, looking from Kira to Odo. "I just passed Quark's Place, and it was a wreck!"
"Cardassian patrolmen searching for that deserter. They were armed," Odo said with grim disapproval. "They're in detention, charged with bringing weapons onto the station, assault, endangerment, property destruction, and resisting arrest."
Kira added, "These other people are demanding compensation for property damage and physical injuries."
Sisko's face reminded her of a thundercloud. "They can get their compensation from Gul Marak!" "Then his frown turned on Odo. "Constable, I want to see you in my office as soon as possible!"
As he strode away, Kira started to clear the crowd. "All right, it's over now, everyone go home. Anyone with a claim can file it in the station's legal office tomorrow." She paused to summon medical aid for the injured merchant, then told Odo, "As soon as this place is cleared, I'll go down to detention and help book the prisoners."
That was a job she was going to enjoy. A lot more than having to face Sisko when he was in one of those moods. She was glad she wasn't in Odo's position right now.
As soon as Sisko had checked out the damage to the station and was back in his office, he called up the Cardassian ship. "Marak! What in hell are you doing—sending armed men onto this station?"
The Gul's face appeared immediately on the screen. He'd clearly been expecting this call. "I told you, Sisko! I warned you! I mean to have that deserter back, one way or the other!"
"And I warned you, Marak. A stowaway on DS-Nine is a matter for DS-Nine security. I thought I'd made that clear! Instead, your deck patrolmen smuggle weapons onto the station and terrorize innocent civilians!"
"Well, this shows you what I think of your security! That traitor is hiding on your station! He's been spotted near the Promenade! I have witnesses! And your security does nothing! Nothing! I have a right to arrest that man, Sisko! He's mine!"
"The only people under arrest right now are your thugs, Marak. They're being processed in station detention this minute."
The pupils of the Gul's eyes expanded rapidly. His nostrils flared. "You've dared arrest my patrolmen? When they were doing their duty?"
"Your deck patrolmen have no jurisdiction on DS-Nine. They're facing serious charges. A citizen was injured."
"A citizen? A Bajoran? You've thrown my patrolmen in jail for roughing up a Bajoran?"
"And several more merchants are demanding compensation for the damages they caused."
Gul Marak leaned forward toward the screen with his white-knuckled hands clenched over the edge of his desk. "Now you're showing your true colors, aren't you, Sisko? Bajoran-lover! You and your Bajoran friends are openly harboring a known traitor to the Cardassian state. A man who's committed the most despicable crimes: murder, mutiny, sabotage. Berat is running free on your station and you arrest my military police, who were only following legitimate orders to apprehend this criminal!"
The Cardassian had to stop to take a breath. Then, in a lower, threatening tone, "I want them released, Sisko. I want them back now, unless you want to see this station reduced to something even the waste reclamators wouldn't bother with!"
Sisko's brows lowered. "I don't think so, Gul. Oh, I don't believe you'd hesitate to fire on a few hundred unarmed civilians. I know Cardassians too well to think you'd worry about something like the loss of innocent lives. But you wouldn't want to fire on your own men, too?
"Or maybe you would. But you'd also be endangering the ambassadors. I doubt if your government would be happy to hear that you'd started a war with the Klingons and the Andorians at the same time."
Marak's expression was murderous. "You'll regret this, Sisko."
"That may be. But at the moment, it's your deck patrolmen regretting things. I suggest, if you want to see them again sometime before the next ten years are up, that you pay close attention to the claims for compensation you ought to be receiving tomorrow. In the meantime, this station is off-limits to all Cardassian personnel."
"You can't do this, Sisko! I'm warning you!"
Sisko cut the contact, feeling no little satisfaction at the outcome. It was almost as good as the time he'd decked that insufferable, interfering Q.
"Commander? You wanted to see me?"
Sisko sobered as Constable Odo entered the office. "Ah, yes, Constable."
In his years with Starfleet, Ben Sisko had served with a number of different nonhuman species, but he was always slightly off-base in dealing with the station's shape-shifter security chief. The constable was indefinably different, somehow. Possibly because even Odo didn't know what he was.
"I want to commend you for the way you dealt with the Cardassian deck patrol. However …" Sisko paused, took a breath, then continued. "However, we still have the problem of this deserter that Gul Marak claims to be on the station. Is there any doubt at all about this? Marak claims he has witnesses who've spotted the man near the Promenade."
Odo didn't look happy. "Commander, I'd like to say that if there were a fugitive hiding on my station, I'd know about it. But … I'm just not sure. Something is going on. Someone did tamper with the security systems, someone who knew what they were doing. A Cardassian technician, Chief O'Brien thinks. But is he a deserter? Or one of Gul Marak's agents? And is he connected to the terrorist attacks? That, I just don't know."
Sisko's brows drew together. "What about these witnesses, then?"
"Or alleged witnesses? We know that Gul Marak has offered a reward for information. It wouldn't surprise me if someone had tried to collect it."
Sisko sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, "The fact remains, Constable, I did assure the Gul that our security would take charge of finding this fugitive. If we had him in custody by now, none of this could have happened. On the other hand, if all this is just some Cardassian hoax, then what is it leading to? Why would Marak send armed men onto the station?
"I need to get to the bottom of this. You've got to find this damnable deserter, Constable. Or whatever he is. And if he's connected to our bomber, I'll send him back to Marak in pieces."