Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [46]
Kira knew exactly what had happened, remembering her experience channeling the Prophets during the Reckoning, and now knew precisely when she was. Some thirty thousand years before she was born, the Prophets banished the Pah-wraiths to the caves, sealing them in there forever. Only their leader, Kosst Amojan, was imprisoned elsewhere, on a site that would one day be the city of B’hala. The others remained in the fire caves, until Winn Adami and Skrain Dukat attempted to free them only a few months ago, subjective time. Only the sacrifice of the Emissary Benjamin Sisko had thwarted the scheme.
Or, rather, will thwart it. I hate time travel. We need new tenses…
Until now, though, it never occurred to Kira that the Prophets’ actions at the caves might have had harmful consequences for the people near the site.
“We’ve got to help those people. There may be”
“Sit down, Ashla,” Torrna said, which was when Kira realized that she’d stood up. As she sat back down, Torrna continued. “This happened over two weeks ago. There’s very little we can do.”
Right. Of course. There is no instant communication here. Kira nodded in acknowledgment.
“However, this does mean that we’re going to see a significant increase in traffic in the port. Without Yvrig, we’re the only viable port on the southern part of the continent.”
Kira nodded. “Traffic’s going to increase.”
“That’s an understatement.” Torrna broke into a grin.
Yet another parallel, she thought. The discovery of the wormhole transformed Deep Space 9 from a minor outpost to a major port of call. This wasn’t quite on the same scale as that, but Kira did remember one important thing from those early days on DS9.
Torrna continued speaking. “We’ll need to work on expanding the marina to be able to accommodate more ships. Maybe now Marta won’t close her tavern down the way she’s been threatening to. For that matter, we’ll probably need a new inn. Plus”
“We’ll need more ships from Endtree or we’ll have to start building some of our own.”
Frowning, Torrna said, “What for? I mean, we’ll need more people for the Dock Patrol, obviously the number of drunken louts on the docks will increase dramatically but I don’t think we’ll need”
“We’re going to need more ships to hold off the pirates and the Lerrit Navy.”
Torrna snorted again. “The Lerrit Navy is barely worth giving the title.”
“Don’t be so sure of that. We just got another report from Moloki.” Moloki was one of the spies that the Perikian Free Army had observing the goings-on in Lerrit. In fact, the PFA had many such operatives, more than even Torrna or Kira knew definitively about. “He says that they’ve employed shipbuilders from Jerad Province to completely rebuild their navy from scratch. Within the year, they may well be a legitimate naval power or at least legitimate enough for us to worry about. And with this change in the geography, they’re going to be more interested in taking us back, not less.”
Torrna frowned. “Isn’t Jerad part of the Bajora?”
Kira nodded.
He shook his head. “Wonderful. We don’t join their little theocracy, so they help Lerrit take us back.”
“You can’t blame them for taking on a lucrative contract like that,” Kira said, trying not to examine how much that sounded like Quark.
“I can damn well blame them for anything I want!” Torrna stood up and drained his drink. “Damn it all, I was actually enjoying the good news.”
“I’m sorry, but”
Torrna waved her off. “No, that’s all right. That’s why I keep you around, Ashla. You have the knack for dragging me back to reality when I need it most.” He turned to stare at the view from his window.
“There is a great deal of work that will need to be done.”
Kira got up and walked to Torrna. “Then we’d better get up off our butts and do it, shouldn’t we?”
“Definitely.” Torrna smiled. “What else did Moloki have to report?”
“Nothing different from his last few. The official word is that the Queen is dying, but she keeps showing up at official functions. She hardly ever says anything, but she’s there and smiling