The Mist (9 page)

"They hid," I said, feeling contempt mixed with a deep anger. I had a hunch I knew where this was going.

"Actually, yes," Captain Victor said. "And now they're faced with a conflict of their own making and most Mist simply won't fight."

"But humans will," I said, "which explains why you captain a Mist ship."

He nodded. "Contacting you was my idea. I felt that if we were going to win, we needed the help of those who knew how to fight."

"The Federation does not usually get involved in internal disputes," I said. "And when we do, we do so as a mediator. We do not take sides."

Unless forced to when one of our space stations was captured. But I did not say that to him. Not yet.

Victor's flush deepened. "But most Mist on the homeworlds simply want to let the colonists take over," he said, his voice rising in a forceful tone.

"Then perhaps that is what should be done," I said.

"No," Victor said. "You don't understand."

"Apparently not," I said.

He ran a hand through his tufted hair. "The colonists," he said, "don't share the goal of keeping the Mist reality and the normal space reality separate."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Worf asked.

But I knew already. I was beginning to understand. And so was Dax.

"It means that they have no qualms about phasing into our space and stealing a space station," she said to Worf.

"Exactly," Victor said. "That act of aggression against your station is only the beginning. Imagine the advantage a warlike group with the ability to shift anything, at any time, into this form of space would have."

"We'd have to develop whole new weapons to fight them," O'Brien said.

"We'd never see them coming," Bashir said.

"They could control this sector before we even knew what hit us," Dax said.

Captain Victor only nodded.

I didn't like Captain Victor and liked the message he carried even less.

"This is where you made your mistake," Sotugh said, shaking a goo-covered finger at Sisko. The heart of targ had been served while Sisko was talking, and Sotugh had eaten it quickly, scooping it with his fingers like a human child who hadn't been taught how to eat properly.

"And how is that?" the man at the bar asked.

Sotugh didn't even look to the questioner, but only at Sisko. "If you had become allies with the other faction, we would have that technology now. Imagine using it against the Dominion. Imagine going into the Delta Quadrant, phasing the Jem'Hadar into one area of space, and the Founders into another. They would never be able to find one another, and we would be free of them forever."

"Or we would have destroyed each other by now," Sisko said. "No one could keep secrets, since no one would know if a shifted person was nearby. For all we know, a Mist might be listening to this conversation right now."

"It would have to be a Mist captain," the Trill said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Provided Cap knew he was here," Prrghh said, and everyone chuckled.

"I am serious," Sotugh said. "It was a missed opportunity."

"At the time," Sisko said. "I did not recognize that the opportunity was there. I was concerned with Deep Space Nine. And what it meant that it was missing from normal space."

"Captain," I said to Victor, "are the colonist ships as unarmed as yours?"

"More or less," he said. "Over the last few years they have managed to install some weapons, but it was only a short time ago that we learned of their entire intent."

I stroked my chin as I thought. It was clear that we were going to need help. There were at least twenty colonist ships near the station. And if Kira hadn't gotten the station completely disabled, then the Defiant wouldn't be a match. Either way, we needed help.

And I still did not have enough information to formulate a plan.

I moved my hand from my chin, and let it fall at my side. I was standing at attention and I didn't even realize it.

"Captain," I said, "let me get this straight. You used your ship to bring us here, right?"

"Yes," Victor said.

"Can all Mist ships do that?"

"If they have the right technology," Victor said.

I nodded. I didn't like how this was shaping up. In any fight between ships from our space and the Mist, the Mist would win. All they had to do was use their technology to send us back to our own space. End of fight.

"So," I said, thinking of the shift that had just occurred with Deep Space Nine, "all the colony ships have the same technology, then, too."

Victor seemed to understand where I was going. "No," he said.

"No? But they kidnapped Deep Space Nine. Some of the ships had to have the correct technology."

"Some," Victor said. "Actually two."

"How do you know that?" Worf asked.

Victor smiled. "The secret of the technology is very closely guarded by the High Council. Trust me. Only two colony ships have the ability to shift objects."

I didn't trust him, but I said nothing.

"But why couldn't the colonists take the equipment apart, learn how it works, and just make more?" O'Brien asked.

"Because," Captain Victor said, "simply tampering with the shift device on board a starship causes the device to destroy itself. As I said, the High Council has guarded the secret carefully, and successfully, for thousands of years."

So my vision of a fight in which the ships from our space lost was not a correct one after all. "Well then," I said, "it seems we can safely go for help."

"For help?" Dax said. She looked at me as if she did not understand.

"You are thinking of going to the Klingons?" Worf asked.

I smiled at him.

"The Klingons are a very warlike race," Captain Victor said. "I'm not sure that would be a good idea."

I shrugged. "You need all the help you can get, and there's only one Federation starship close enough to do us any good."

"But I do not want to trade one problem for a worse one."

"Oh, you won't," I said. "As long as you can shift the Klingons and us back to normal space when this is under control. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire."

Captain Victor nodded. "But I would prefer to not get burned."

Sotugh hit the platter of nachos with one hand and sent it clattering off the table. It landed on the floor, scattering nachos in every direction, and shattering the platter.

"You!" he shouted. "You set this up? You dragged us into your problem? Do you know what you did?"

"Denied myself some nachos," Sisko said, looking at the ruined meal longingly.

"This is not a joke, Sisko," Sotugh said.

The other patrons had backed away. Sisko hadn't moved.

"But it is long over," Cap said. He put a hand on Sotugh's shoulder. Sotugh threw him off, but to Sisko's surprise, Cap did not fall back. "Let the man finish his story."

"He is without honor. He does not deserve to tell stories!" Sotugh said.

"Oh, shut up," Prrghh said. "Let him finish. You might learn something. You can kill him when he's done." She smiled at Sisko, revealing small pointed teeth. "Tomorrow might be a better day to die."

"You mock me, Prrghh," Sotugh said.

"It's just that you're getting so tiresome, Sotugh," she said. "Can't you?"

Sotugh jerked forward and let out a large groan of pain. He turned and pulled a bristle out of his buttocks. He held it up and shook it at the Quilli.

"I warned you, warthog"

"No," the Quilli said. "I warned you. I want to hear the rest of this story."

"No one will hear the rest of it, if things don't settle down right now," Cap said.

"Oh, what can you do to us?" Prrghh said.

"Close the bar," Cap said.

"Close the bar?" Prrghh asked. "You've never closed the bar."

"I will, rather than have a fight between a Klingon and a Quilli on the premises. Or a Klingon and a human." Cap looked meaningfully at Sisko and Sotugh.

Sisko leaned back in his chair. "I don't want you to close," he said. "Now that my nachos are gone, I'd like to try your jambalaya." Then he smiled. "And please put them on Sotugh's tab."

"You are pushing things, Sisko," Sotugh said.

"And you'd better clean that wound," the Trill said, "before the poison sets in."

"Poison?" Sotugh said, frowning at the Quilli. "Have you a med kit?" he asked Cap.

"In the bathroom," Cap said.

Sotugh shot a glance at the Quilli. "You and I will have business when we leave here."

"I'm willing to let it go if you allow Sisko to finish his story," the Quilli said.

"I'm not," Sotugh said, and stalked off to the rest room.

"Poison?" the middle-aged woman at the bar asked the Trill. "I'd never heard that Quilli bristles are poisonous."

The Trill grinned. "They're not. But that got him to shut up." He nodded to Sisko. "You can continue now."

The gecko climbed back up into Sotugh's temporarily vacant chair.

Nine

"ALL RIGHT," CAPTAIN Victor said. "we shall bring the Klingons here." He turned to his crew.

I took a step closer to my screen. "Wait!" I said. I had a sudden image of the Klingons being brought into the Mist reality with no warning at all. They would have attacked first and asked questions later. "I need to warn them. You can't just bring them across."

"Captain, really," Victor said. "We brought you across with no warning, and you were fine."

He raised a hand.

"You said so yourself," I said quickly. "The Klingons are a warlike race. They won't respond as we did."

Victor's hand came down. He turned to me. "What do you suggest?"

"Send me back. Let me talk to them. I'll hail the Federation starship Madison as well."

Victor grimaced. "All right," he said. "But make it short. I do not know how long it will take for the colonists to take control of your station."

Probably longer than you expect, I thought. But I did not say so. "We will return to these coordinates after I have spoken to them," I said.

Victor nodded. He was ready, and so was I.

Sotugh was standing near the bar. He had returned from the rest room during Sisko's last part of the story. "You were right," he said. "We would have attacked first, and then you would have had no hope of getting your station back. This is the first smart thing you have said all day, Sisko."

Sisko didn't know if he should thank Sotugh or ignore him. So he ignored him.

The line of Mist swept over the Defiant, and Captain Victor's ship instantly disappeared, along with the Mist homeworlds. Deep Space Nine and the Mist colony ships around it also vanished off our sensors as we returned to the normal universe.

I did not like this form of shifting, and I could tell that my crew did not either. Dax shook her head slightly as she looked at the console. Worf gripped the edges of his, as if steadying himself. Dr. Bashir actually rubbed his eyes as if he could make the images change.

"Captain," Nog said, "we are being hailed by the Starship Madison, sir."

"They are within range," Worf said. "I will be able to get them on screen shortly."

"And Captain," Nog said. "The Daqchov is demanding that you talk to them."

"I will speak to both of them at once, Cadet," I said. "Open a secure channel, and put both captains on screen."

I clasped my hands behind my back and waited as Nog completed my orders. I was secretly pleased that the Madison was the nearest starship. Captain Paul Higginbotham was an old friend of mine, and I knew how he would respond in battle. Captain Higginbotham was a judicious man who weighed all his options carefully and always seemed to make the proper choice.

"And what is your opinion of Captain Sotugh?" Prrghh asked, leaning near Sisko. "Aren't you going to summarize him for us as well?"

Sotugh frowned.

Sisko leaned back, closer to Prrghh, and said, "I don't think I have to. You all know Captain Sotugh. He is in battle much as he is here, opinionated and aggressive. Those are good traits for a warrior."

Sotugh lifted his mug of blood wine. "Well said, Sisko."

"And diplomatically, too," Prrghh whispered in his ear.

Sisko smiled at her, and then continued.

Captain Higginbotham was a tall slender man who perched in his commander's chair like a judge, hands templed before him as he contemplated me through the screen. Nog had split the images so that next to Captain Higginbotham, Captain Sotugh looked as if he might slash right through the screen at me.

"Captains," I said, holding up my hand to stop both of them before they could even speak. "We're in a situation that threatens both the Federation and the Empire and we have very little time to act, so if you'd wait until I've explained what has happened before you ask questions, it would help."

"It's your game, Ben," Higginbotham said.

"Your analysis had better be correct," Sotugh said, looking even more disgusted.

It took me less than two minutes to explain the situation with the Mist, the Mist colonies, and the reason Deep Space Nine had disappeared. I finished by explaining that the Mist colonists wouldn't stop with just taking over their own homeworld. The entire sector was in danger.

"Understand," I said, "that the information I have is through Captain Victor, and to be honest, I don't trust him. But I see no other choice."

"Had it been any other Starfleet captain telling me such a pack of wild tales, I would not have believed them," Sotugh said.

"Nonsense," Prrghh said. "I've heard that you once worked with Picard."

"Picard." Sotugh waved a hand in disgust. "Picard never explains anything to me. He simply expects me to follow him."

"Have you?"

"Followed him? No! We worked together at my direction," Sotugh said.

"That sounds like a story for another time," Cap said.

"Perhaps when we finish this one," the Quilli said, rubbing its front paws together.

"I won't tell a story so that you can sell it," Sotugh said. He crossed his arms. "Unlike Sisko here."

Sisko grinned. "May I continue?" he asked.

"Certainly," Sotugh said. "Go on. You are being surprisingly accurate at this time."