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Red Abby’s eyes narrowed. “I should have known.”

“Well,” the gul replied amiably, “you know now.”

Briefly, I considered denying my identity telling Ecor I didn’t know what he was talking about. However, this was no wild guess he had made. He obviously knew whereof he spoke.

As I riffled through my options, seeking a way out of my narrowing straits, I realized how the Cardassians had made the identification. I didn’t have to wait long before Ecor confirmed it for me.

“In case you were wondering,” the gul explained, “every Cardassian warship carries a record of recent encounters with the Federation in its computer. When one of my bridge officers decided you looked familiar, he accessed those records and came up with a positive match.”

It was just as I had suspected. “How enterprising of him,” I told Ecor. “No pun intended.”

The gul chuckled, obviously savoring his confrontation with me. After all, I had had my share of run-ins with the Cardassians. It would have been a coup for Ecor to bring me back to Cardassia Prime with him.

But he still had a greater coup in mind the same one Red Abby had set her sights on. For the time being, at least, a trip to Cardassia was hardly at the top of our agenda.

Ecor pressed his palms together. “I must admit,” he said, “I believed this was a private expedition at first. A grab for treasure. I see now it was a Starfleet effort all along.”

His conclusion couldn’t have been further from the truth. However, I wasn’t about to mention that. The less he knew, I thought, the better.

“Now, then,” the gul declared, turning to Red Abby, “I would very much like to know the coordinates of the Hoard of Dujonian.”

The woman remained silent. She didn’t deny that she had what Ecor wanted. She just wasn’t going to give it to him.

After all, Richard Brant’s life hung in the balance. Whatever Red Abby’s relationship to him might have been, she obviously didn’t want to place the fellow in jeopardy.

Though the Cardassian continued to smile, his eyes took on a decidedly harder cast. “Come now, Captain Brant. I can save you a lot of pain if you divulge the information on your own. That is, without my having to … extract it from you.”

Red Abby had to be scared out of her wits, but somehow she managed not to show it. “I have nothing to say,” she replied, her voice remarkably unwavering under the circumstances.

The muscles rippled in Ecor’s jaw. Clearly, he wasn’t pleased with her response. As a result, he turned to me again.

“What about you, Captain Picard? Will you prove a bit wiser than your colleague and share the coordinates with me?”

“I don’t know them,” I answered truthfully. “Though if I did,” I went on just as truthfully, “I don’t know that I’d be inclined to share them.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Red Abby glance at me. She seemed surprised. And perhaps, I think, a bit more impressed with me though it hadn’t been my intention to impress her.

Having found a couple of strong links in the chain, Gul Ecor eyed the rest of the crew. He had to have known that Worf, a Klingon, wouldn’t crack under his threats. But to his mind, no doubt, there were a great many others who might have.

The Cardassian scanned them, making the same kind of threats he had made to Red Abby and myself. Thadoc seemed unmoved. Astellanax muttered a curse and received a rifle butt in the ribs for it. But in the end, Gul Ecor found his weak link.

It was Sturgis, the navigator. “All right,” he said, his complexion pale and waxy with fear. “I’ll tell.”

Red Abby glared at him and shook her head. “Don’t do it,” she said.

Sturgis looked at her apologetically. “I can’t help it, Captain.” He tried to smile and failed badly. “The prospect of torture has never held much appeal for me.”

“And what is your destination?” Ecor asked him.

Sturgis hesitated for a moment, knowing there would be no turning back once he revealed the information no returning to Red Abby’s fold. He took the plunge anyway.

“Strange as it may seem,” he told the gul, “the Daring was on its way to Hel’s Gate.”

At first, I thought I had misheard the