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The situation could have been much worse, I thought. It seemed I had a chance of salvaging it if I worked quickly.

“All right,” I said reasonably. “You’ve got us. But it’s no big deal. We were Maquis operatives for a while until we had a run-in with some of our comrades in the movement.”

“A run-in,” she echoed.

“That’s right. It was purely a philosophical rift no treachery involved on either part. Still, the Maquis know we could give them away. They’d sleep better at night if they could do away with us.”

Red Abby weighed my “confession.” Then, without warning, she pulled out her phaser, took a step forward, and pressed its barrel to my forehead.

For a moment, I thought she would activate it. At that range, almost any setting would be a kill setting. I could see Worf out of the corner of my eye, restraining himself as best he could.

Then Red Abby lowered her weapon. A moment later, she signaled for her officers to do the same.

“Get out of my quarters,” she told us. “And if I find out either of you has lied to me again about this or anything else I’ll kill you just as quickly as the Maquis would.”

I assured her she wouldn’t have occasion to do that. And taking Worf by the sleeve, I escorted him out of the captain’s quarters.

It had been a close call for us. Nor would it be the only one we would have to endure.

Madigoor

BO’TEX CHUCKLED. “AND what would you have done if this Red Abby of yours had sniffed out the truth?”

Picard shrugged. “At that point, I suppose, there wouldn’t be much I could do except, perhaps, accept my fate.”

“And what would that have been?” asked Dravvin.

“Yes,” said Flenarrh, “what indeed? Would Red Abby have shot you in the brain, as she threatened?”

Hompaq looked at him disdainfully. “You heard Worf’s assessment of her. The woman had the heart of a warrior. How could she have done otherwise?”

Robinson eyed Picard with a sly grin. “Well, Captain? Care to resolve the matter for us? Would she have shot you or not?”

Picard smiled back at him. “You asked for a proper story, did you not? As I recall, that requires me to reveal everything in good time and nothing before that time.”

Robinson laughed. “Touché, my friend. By all means, proceed, and rest assured we’ll vex you no more.”

Picard accepted the promise in the spirit it was offered a rather ironic one, he thought and moved on.

“For a time,” he related, “the Daring proceeded through the void without obstacle or incident. However, Red Abby continued to keep the details of our destination to herself.”

“No doubt, a frustrating situation,” Bo’tex commented.

“As you say,” said Picard. “However, Worf and I trusted we would soon have the information we required. All we would have to do is play our parts and the pieces would fall into place.”

Robinson harrumphed. “The best-laid plans of mice and men.”

Dravvin looked at him. “I beg your pardon?”

“They oft go astray,” Robinson explained, completing the saying.

“How right you are,” Picard told his fellow human.

“And what made them go astray on the Daring?” asked the Captain of the Kalliope.

Picard smiled a tight smile. “A Galor-class warship.”

“Galor-class?” Hompaq repeated. Her eyes narrowed beneath her brow ridge. “You ran into the Cardassians?”

Picard grunted. “Much to our chagrin.”

The Tale

THE DAY AFTER Red Abby’s reprimand, I took charge of the helm again despite whatever suspicions our captain may still have harbored about me. Perhaps she just wanted me where she could see me.

In any case, the first task I set myself was to conduct a long-range sensor sweep. Mind you, I never thought it would turn up a Cardassian warship. I only wanted to see if Jaiya and his pirates were still on our trail.

Imagine my surprise when I saw something bigger and a lot more dangerous than Jaiya. The vessel was at a considerable distance, but it was clearly keeping pace with us.

“Cardassians,” I announced. “One ship. Galor-class.”

Sturgis switched to long-range sensor capability and studied his monitor. “Hill’s right,” he confirmed.

Red Abby straightened in the captain