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For a moment, the gul seemed inclined to say more. Then he gestured and the Cardassians behind us prodded us with the barrels of their weapons. It appeared the show was over.

Madigoor

“HAH,” SAID ROBINSON, grinning broadly in his beard. “so Red Abby wasn’t at all what she seemed to be.”

“Not at all,” Picard confirmed.

“People seldom are,” the Captain of the Kalliope observed.

“Not so,” Bo’tex countered. “I am exactly what I seem to be.”

“More’s the pity,” Dravvin said under his breath, eliciting a belly laugh from Hompaq.

Bo’tex looked at the Rythrian. “Excuse me?”

Dravvin dismissed the remark with a wave of his hand. “Nothing. Really.” Then he turned to Picard. “I’ve had a couple of run-ins with the Cardassians myself. The second time, I nearly lost my life to them.”

“And you’ll regale us with that story in due time,” said Robinson. “But right now, it’s our friend Picard who’s spinning the yarn.”

The Rythrian regarded Robinson for a moment. Then he inclined his head slightly, causing his ears to flap.

“Of course,” Dravvin said flatly. He turned to Picard. “My apologies. Spin away, Captain.”

Picard leaned back in his chair and resumed his tale. “As I was saying, the show was over …”

The Tale

WE WERE HERDED back down the corridor under the careful eyes of our captors and returned to our cargo bay. The rest of Red Abby’s crew awaited us there. Or rather, the portion that had survived.

At that point, our guards left, closed the doors behind them, and activated the forcefield. It didn’t appear we would be going anywhere.

“What happened?” one of the crewmen wanted to know.

“Where did they take you?” asked Assad.

“They destroyed the Daring,” Red Abby replied evenly.

The news of their ship’s demise made the crewmen’s eyes grow round with dread. After all, without a vessel in which to escape, what kind of future could they expect? A life of hard labor in some Cardassian prison camp, ended only by death?

“They wanted us to watch,” Red Abby went on. “Me, in particular.”

“What for?” someone wondered.

The captain shrugged. “Out of spite, I think, as much as anything else. They are Cardassians, remember.”

Corbis glared at Red Abby. “I can see them showing you you’re the captain.” He jerked his head to indicate me and Worf. “But why him? And this other one?”

“Because they were working the bridge,” Astellanax explained. “At least, that’s what our friend the gul told us.” He frowned. “They identified us by the sensor readings they took of our bridge.”

Corbis turned to me. If looks could have killed, I would have been stricken dead on the spot.

“It’s your fault we’re here,” he snarled.

“My fault? And how do you come to that conclusion?” I asked.

The Pandrilite pointed a meaty blue finger at me. “You were at the helm when the Cardassians showed up, weren’t you?” He glared at Worf. “And unless I’m mistaken, the Klingon was at tactical.”

My lieutenant raised his chin. “What of it?”

I stepped in front of Worf, coming between him and Corbis. “We did our best,” I said. “I can’t help it if we were overmatched.”

The Pandrilite grunted. “Couldn’t you?” He looked around at the others. “I’ve never seen this Hill character before and I’ve been on a lot of voyages to a lot of different places. How do we know he wasn’t in the Cardies’ pay? How do we know he didn’t hand the ship to them on a platter?”

There was a rumble of assent mostly from the Oord and the Thelurian. But a few others had been swayed by the Pandrilite’s speech as well.

“You’re insane,” I said, refusing to yield an inch. “I was the one who discovered the Cardassians.”

“Did you?” Corbis sneered. “Or did you just make it look that way so you could go on spying for them?”

“I’m not a spy,” I told him. “Not any more than you are.”

The Pandrilite smiled a nasty smile. “And all we’ve got to go on is your word, eh? Well, I’ll tell you what I think, human. I think it’s you we’ve got to thank for where we are.” He cast a glance at Worf. “You and your cowardly cur of a Klingon.”

That settled it.

It was no small thing to question