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He had no doubt that if he refused Jarquin permission to board, there would be a Quirinian warship up his tailpipe within minutes, and Albatross, he reminded himself, was unarmed.

I’ll never see Jake or Jennifer again, he thought.

“Your loyalty is commendable, Captain Jacobs,” Citizen Jarquin was saying. “But in Quirinian space, my orders supersede Leval’s. Put him onscreen. Now.”

Zetha watched the lab modules slip silently into place. Would Sisko be angry that she’d pilfered the control mechanism from his pocket while he argued with Citizen Jarquin? She’d deal with that later. For now, she contented herself with checking to make sure nothing had been left lying around the cargo bay that might reveal its true nature. Then it occurred to her to police the sleeping quarters as well. All the while she kept one ear on the conversation in the control cabin.

How much longer could he keep this going? Sisko wondered, wiping his sweating hands on his trousers, then realizing that the familiar shape of the module control mechanism was no longer in his pocket. He hadn’t even felt Zetha take it. Never mind that now! he told himself. Think of something, anything, that’ll make Jarquin go away, at least until you can get a lock on Tuvok!

“Citizen Jarquin…” Sisko hesitated, using his nervousness to his advantage. “I shouldn’t tell you this… it’s a direct invasion of Leval’s privacy and it’ll probably mean my job. Hell, strong as your people are, it could mean my life. He’ll take my head off for telling you this, but after they came back from Sawar, Leval and his wife-well, how do I put it delicately? They retired early, ordered that I not disturb them. He has a favorite collection of Jandran string music, and I’ve learned whenever that’s playing…”

“That they’re having a little romantic interlude?” Jarquin finished for him. “Very touching, Captain. But if he’s a true Romulan, he’ll understand that official business supersedes the arts of love. Hail him, knock on his door, do whatever you have to do, or allow me to spare you the embarrassment and knock on his door myself. My aide will give you our coordinates. Beam us up at once.”

“But, sir-” Sisko started to say when Tuvok’s hail from the surface, on discrete in the small earpiece in his ear, interrupted him.

“Message received, Mr. Sisko. One to beam back.”

“One moment, Citizen Jarquin,” Sisko said distractedly, activating the transporter, then realizing he could hardly beam Tuvok aboard with the Quirinians watching. “Message breaking up. Some kind of interference. I’ll have to-“

He terminated the transmission clumsily. Oh, as if that’s going to fool them! he thought frantically, as Tuvok materialized and waited on the transporter pad for the decontamination beam. The specially shielded case containing the specimens he’d gathered, another Heisenberg design, would protect them from decontamination. Without a word, Tuvok handed it off to Zetha, who had once again materialized from nowhere and disappeared in the direction of the lab.

“Where’s Selar?” Sisko demanded. An incoming message from Jarquin blinked angrily beneath his hand, near where another telltale told him they were decoding the transporter lock as fast as he could recode it. If he didn’t answer them, Jarquin and his guards would override and beam themselves aboard.

“No doubt making her way to the rendezvous point,” Tuvok said mildly, stripping off his parka and the hazmat suit and stuffing them into a disposal on his way to the living quarters. “I will attempt to distract Citizen Jarquin while you locate Selar.”

“But what if he wants to talk to both of you?” Sisko demanded of his retreating back. “And how the hell am I supposed to beam Selar aboard while he and his guards are here?”

Realizing he was talking to himself, Sisko located Selar just as someone from the surface overrode the transporter lock, and Citizen Jarquin and his two guards materialized before his eyes.

“You will bring Leval to me, or I will go to him,” Jarquin