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  Talissin's chin rose sharply. "An unbeliever can not possibly attend the Nekor adequately. I ask you for the privilege of exchanging our assigned times of work in the infirmary. It is the keenest desire of my heart to spend as much time as possible in service to the child while she is still among us."

  "Far be it from me to deny you your heart's desire." Gis shrugged. "Especially since I am not all that fond of night duty." He touched Cedra's shoulder. "You should also be in bed, child. Much awaits you tomorrow."

  Cedra nodded and headed for the cubicle where Dejana was at last sleeping untroubled by further coughing spells. Still, the child could not resist pausing before the smug-faced Talissin and remarking, "Dejana's asleep; she's not going to know if it was you or Brother Gis looking after her tonight."

  Talissin huffed. "The Nekor will remember her servant," he said sententiously. Cedra had to dash into the sheet-hung cubicle, fist in mouth to hold back the laughter.

  The night passed with little sleep. Dejana's cough returned. Cedra was worried and wakeful, but feigned sleep whenever Ensign Kahrimanis or Brother Talissin peered in.

  The new day came heralded not by the dawn's light, but by a rising murmur of excitement from the camp. Word of the runabout's approach and landing slipped into the infirmary well before the sunlight penetrated that gloomy building. The place was astir as those patients well enough to venture out all swarmed from their beds to greet the marvel setting itself down on the outskirts of the camp.

  Cedra stayed put, unwilling to leave Dejana's side. Through half-closed eyes the child observed Talissin trailing after the outrushing crowd as far as the infirmary doorway. Ensign Kahrimanis remained on duty, just across the aisle, caring for a child still too weak to rise from her pallet. "Some servant," Cedra muttered scornfully in the monk's direction.

  And then, too fast for the child to react, a pair of work-worn hands pounced on Dejana, yanking the girl from her bed. Her cry of surprise and alarm shattered into renewed coughing.

  Everything seemed to happen at once, and yet in Cedra's memory it all replayed itself in slow motion: Ensign Kahrimanis's shout, the flash of Remis Jobar's knife at Dejana's throat, the Bajoran's harsh command for Kahrimanis to throw down his phaser or see the girl die—all these memories spun themselves out like a bad dream.

  Cedra remained frozen, too scared by what was happening to move. Dejana was small for her age. It was not difficult for Remis Jobar to hold her to him with the same arm controlling the knife while he used his other hand to grab Kahrimanis's discarded phaser and jam it into his belt. His walking staff, propped against one sheeted wall of the cubicle, fell to the ground, but he recovered it in an instant.

  "Move," he commanded, gesturing with the staff for Kahrimanis to walk ahead of him. The man obeyed—he had no choice; the knife had not wavered an inch from Dejana's flesh. The girl moaned with terror.

  Cedra watched them go, heard Talissin's momentary protest cut off by a sharp crack so loud that the child winced and murmured a prayer that the dour monk's devotion to Dejana had not ended in death.

  "—and that was when you trailed them here?" Major Kira asked. Cedra nodded. "Smart boy. So he's got two hostages and a phaser." She weighed the situation. "A phaser he might not know how to use." She considered the risks of making that assumption. At last she stood up. "I think we'll do better if we talk to Remis Jobar."

  "You're not gonna blast him?" Cedra sounded disappointed.

  "Maybe later." One corner of her mouth twitched up as she patted him on the shoulder. "If you're good. Wait here."

  Major Kira holstered her phaser, then proceeded to approach the hut cautiously. Since she had chosen parley over direct attack, she wanted to be in plain view when she hailed Remis Jobar. It wouldn't do to startle him. There was no telling how he would react. Even if he didn't know how to use a phaser, he was handy enough with knife and staff to do real damage to his hostages. She sidled her way down the slope until she could see the hut. It was an open-faced lean-to built into the side of the hill, but dug in deep enough so that the people inside were part of the darkness.

  Kira cupped her hands to her mouth. "Remis Jobar!"

  There was silence from the hut. Then: "Who's there?"

  "I'm Major Kira Nerys. I've come for Talis Dejana and Ensign Kahrimanis. Let them go."

  A wild cackle of laughter answered her demand. "Like that, eh? Give 'em up so I can be handed over to the Temple for killing a monk? Oh, yes! Straightaway!"

  "Talissin is still alive!" Kira shouted. "You haven't killed anyone." Not yet, she thought. "You have nothing to fear from the Temple!"

  "I'll say not!" came the defiant reply. The shadows inside the hut shifted. "Let them be scared of me for a change! I've got their miracle girl here. If they want her, they can come see me about it."

  Kira took a deep breath. She knew the next step well enough: "What do you want, Remis Jobar?"

  "I want out of this place, that's what! I want my own farm again, land that's mine! Here or elsewhere, I don't care. I want those fat old birds in the capitol to stop twiddling their thumbs long enough to remember that I'm here. Damn them all, if they'd done something for us early on, there wouldn't be these cursed camps. But they were living easy, and it made 'em squirm to think of folk like me and Cathlys, stuck away like old logs, so they 'forgot' we was there!" The dispossessed farmer took a step into the sunlight and shook his fist. "I'll give 'em lessons in memory now."

  "I agree with you," Kira called. "You're right, you and the others have been overlooked too long. But why does the child have to suffer for it? Hasn't she gone through enough? Let her go!"

  "The blazes I will!" He took another step into the light. "All the fuss over that girl's nothing; nothing, you hear me? Old mealy-mouth Talissin going on and on about how the Prophets meant for her to live through the fever—bah! She's alive this day because my sister died nursing her. Now she's going to be took off somewhere to live her days in comfort, and Cathlys left cold in the grave without a marker to say she ever lived at all. I won't have it! They'll pay me plenty if they want their precious Nekor, and they'll do right by honoring Cathlys for how she gave her life to save that brat's. Either that, or they can look for their Nekor in the same grave that holds my sister."

  Major Kira heard him out, but her attention was split. While she listened to Remis Jobar recite his list of grievances, her mind was making its own calculations. He must have them tied up in there, she reasoned, or he wouldn't turn his back on them. Unless. . .

  "Listen to me, Remis!" she called. "I don't represent the Temple or the provisional government, so I can't speak for them. I'm the Bajoran liaison officer from Deep Space Nine and you've got one of our crewmen in there. The Federation can be your ally in this, but not if you've harmed Ensign Kahrimanis."

  Remis Jober spat. "I ain't harmed no one, not him nor the girl. But that can change."

  "Prove it! Let me hear them tell me they're all right."

  "Hah! The girl I can carry out of the hut for you to see, but the other? You expect me to tote that big lump of a man?"

  "Can't he walk for himself?"

  "He walked far enough. I ain't untying him for you, that's sure. He might try something stupid and then I'd have to kill him … and her."

  "You wouldn't do that," Kira said, no longer shouting. "You're not a child-killer, Remis."

  "I don't want to be! If I do—do what I've got to—it'll be on account of you and the rest pushed me to it. Don't try me, I warn you!"

  "Let me talk to them, Remis," Kira persisted, still calm. "You don't need to drag Ensign Kahrimanis out of the hut. Do you see this insignia I'm wearing?" She pointed to her comm badge. "There's one almost like it on his uniform. You turn it on with a touch. If you've got his hands tied, you'll have to activate it for him. You'll hear my voice come from it, calling his name; that's when you turn it on. Understood?"

  "I got it." The Bajoran retreated into the shelter of the hut, casting more than one wary look back at Maj
or Kira.

  Kira touched her comm badge. "Kira to Kahrimanis."

  There was a pause that lengthened uncomfortably, then finally the response: "Kahrimanis here. He's got me and the kid tied up, Major, but we're all right."

  "That's all I wanted to know. Kira out." She broke the connection and wondered whether Remis Jobar had done the same. "Remis!" she called.

  The farmer's grizzled head poked out of the hut. "Proof enough for you?" he snarled. "Now you go back and tell 'em what I want. And you get your folks to bring one of them flyers to take me to my new land. Soon as I've got the soil under my feet, I'll let you have these two back—not before."

  "Be reasonable, Remis," Major Kira said. "The longer you hold out, the worse you make it for yourself. Release them now and I'll plead your case myself. I know what it's like to have nothing, no one."

  "I want my land," the farmer said stubbornly. "They want their Nekor. Even swap or nothing. You tell 'em that, back in the capitol. Not such a hard message to remember, eh?"

  "What if they refuse? I don't believe you'd hurt a child, Remis Jobar."

  "Believe what you want. What have I got to lose?"

  "Say they give you a farm," Kira persisted. "Do you think you'll be allowed to work it in peace?

  "I don't care!" Remis Jobar's voice rose hysterically. "I just want what I lost! I want what they took from me!"

  "It was the Cardassians who took it from you, not the Temple or the government."

  "Then why won't they give me my own land back, now the Cardassians are gone?" He emerged from the hut, leaning on his staff, a bent and limping figure against the naked fields. "Dammit, not even the Cardassians kept us prisoner like this, tied to land that can hardly feed us! Our own folk left us here, out of sight, out of mind, shoved us into the dark like it was our grave! Look at me! You see me?" He threw his arms open wide.

  "I see you," Major Kira replied evenly.

  "Then you're the only Bajoran outside this valley who can. We're invisible. We're not there. But so long as I've got that girl, they've got to see me. They can't pretend we're—"

  A phaser beam whined through the air, blasting Remis Jobar from his feet. The impact hit him squarely in the back, flinging him forward, face in the dirt. Major Kira drew her own phaser and crouched, ready. The blast had come from just over the hill where she'd left Cedra.

  "Hold your fire, Major Kira" A tall, stocky Bajoran dressed in somber robes stepped into sight and presented a clear target on the hilltop above the hut. He raised his hands to show he carried no weapon, but Major Kira saw the phaser nestled in his sash. "I am Kejan Ulli. I represent the Dessin-ka."

  "As what? A hired assassin?" Kira shouted without thinking. She kept her phaser trained on him.

  "I assure you, I am nothing of the sort. I was informed of the situation here and came to see if I could render any assistance."

  "Informed how? By who?"

  He glossed over the questions. "Our ambitious friend there is only stunned. He will see the error of his ways when he awakens. It has been written that the Nekor brings a sword, but I have always interpreted that to mean that she shall claim ultimate victory over those who doubt her powers. I did not feel it was necessary to serve her with unnecessary bloodshed."

  Major Kira was on guard. Every mistrustful instinct in her was on full alarm when she looked at Kejan Ulli. He was too smooth, too plausible, his responses were too pat and answered nothing. Keeping an eye on him, she moved quickly to check the fallen Remis Jobar for signs of life. Her fingers found a pulse, and his breath warmed her hand.

  "You see?" Kejan Ulli sounded as proud as if he had dragged the distraught farmer back from the brink of death instead of having nearly shoved him over. "Now, let us free the Nekor and—"

  A small, lithe shape skidded down the slope under the startled eyes of Kejan Ulli and vanished into the hut. A breath later, Ensign Kahrimanis emerged, rubbing his wrists and blinking his eyes in the sunlight. He was followed by Talis Cedra, who carried a weeping Dejana on his back. When the ensign attempted to help the boy with his burden, Cedra pulled away, scowling. Clearly he was not about to let anyone else get near his sister.

  Major Kira tossed Kahrimanis his phaser, taken from Remis Jobar's body. She glanced up at the hilltop. Kejan Ulli was on his knees, gazing raptly at Dejana.

  Does he want to worship her or devour her? Major Kira touched her comm badge and hailed the runabout. "Kira to Munson. There's been a change. Assume low orbit immediately, three to beam up from these coordinates, myself and two children."

  "Aye, sir." Munson was too good a crewman to question orders.

  "Contact the station. Inform Commander Sisko that I'm bringing the Nekor and her brother aboard; I'll explain everything when I get there. You'll have to return for Ensign Kahrimanis; he's taking care of an injured man."

  "I'm on my way," Munson responded crisply.

  "Good. Kira out." She saw Kejan Ulli rise to his feet and start down the slope toward them, but she knew she could rely on Munson to act quickly. Her trust was not misplaced.

  A cry of protest escaped Kejan Ulli's lips as Major Kira, Talis Cedra, and Talis Dejana shimmered from sight just as he was about to reach them.

  CHAPTER 10

  LIEUTENANT DAX was the last to enter Commander Sisko's office, under the eyes of Kira, Odo, and O'Brien. "Sorry I'm late, sir. I've just come from the infirmary."

  "How is the girl?" Sisko asked.

  "A little cough and a few sniffles. She's more upset than ill."

  "Can you blame her, after what she's been through, poor thing?" O'Brien commented.

  "There is one problem," Dax went on.

  "Yes?" Sisko did not look as if he was in the mood for any more problems.

  "Her brother, Cedra; he won't leave."

  "I'll see what I can do about that after this meeting," the commander said. He clasped his hands on the desktop. "I've called you here to brief you on a situation of some delicacy. You're all no doubt aware that Major Kira returned to us accompanied by two Bajoran children. Although I initially promised Vedek Torin complete secrecy, circumstances have changed. You need to know who these children are and what they mean to the stability of Bajor if we are to accomplish our mission effectively."

  "And what is our mission?" Odo asked stiffly.

  "To protect them and to see that they are delivered to the Temple on Bajor as soon as possible."

  "With respect, sir," the shapeshifter said, "if that is all we must do, why don't we simply put them back aboard the runabout and send them on their way?"

  "Two reasons: First, the girl is sick. I realize it's only a mild cold, but in view of what's awaiting her, I'd feel better myself if the child were in top health before she begins her new life. Second, there has already been one attempted kidnapping. As long as she's under our protection, the chances for another are slim." His tone as good as added: They had better be impossible.

  "Kidnapping!" O'Brien exclaimed. "Who is this child?"

  "She's the Nekor, according to the Dessin-ka," Major Kira provided, and went on to explain the whole matter of the Kai Opaka's last message and all it meant. "And they're expecting to see her presented in the Temple at the Berajin harvest festival," she concluded.

  "Berajin . . ." O'Brien scratched his head.

  "It's still a week and a half away," Dax said. "Before, when I was searching for her, I thought that was hardly enough time. Now it seems like far too much."

  "Don't worry, Lieutenant," Odo said. "I'll oversee the child's security personally. I'll be sure to put my best people on the case at times when I am … indisposed." It was a nice way of saying that the shapeshifter had to spend part of each day in his naturally formless state. Indisposed sounded better than in a bucket.

  "I have no doubt that Talis Dejana is in good hands with you, Constable," Sisko said. "However, while we are making sure that the security surrounding her is airtight, we must not lose sight of the fact that she is only eight years old. She's spent all
her life on rural Bajor, and most of that in a refugee camp. She may be terrified by her new surroundings."

  "Sir?" O'Brien spoke up.

  "Yes, Chief?"

  "Maybe Keiko could come by the infirmary and visit with her, bring Molly, you know, something like that. And after she's over her sniffles, she could come to the school and see the other kids."

  Sisko turned to Odo. "Would that be a security risk, Constable?"

  "Nothing I couldn't handle," the shapeshifter replied. "I believe your young ones are happiest in the company of their agemates. A happy child is more accommodating, and I can do my job best when the person I'm supposed to protect cooperates."

  "For a moment there I was afraid Odo'd got a soft side," O'Brien whispered to Kira.

  "Sir, after she's feeling better, where is she to stay?" Dax asked. "She can't live in the infirmary. As you said, she's only a child. She needs to know where she belongs."

  "She could bunk with me, sir," Major Kira volunteered.

  "She might feel more at home if she came to live with my family," O'Brien said. "Keiko wouldn't mind."

  Sisko looked at Odo again, but before he could speak, the security chief said, "Yes, I can handle that situation, too, sir" He glanced at O'Brien and added, "Provided that your wife won't object to armed guards in the home."

  "In it?" O'Brien objected.

  "Cheek by jowl, if you prefer. I should think you'd welcome the protection. In view of what Major Kira has told us, this child is the target of every Bajoran with an ideological ax to grind. By taking her into your home, you'll be placing your family between those people and what they're after. It has been my experience that such persons are none too picky about how they deal with obstacles."

  O'Brien was crestfallen. "Then I can't do it. I can't put Keiko and Molly in jeopardy. I'm sorry; I did want to help the child. . . ."

  "We can settle the matter of where Talis Dejana will stay later," Sisko said. "Twenty-four hours in the infirmary won't do her any harm, particularly if your wife and daughter can pay her that visit, Chief."