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“Captain, we’ve reacquired the emissions from the Malkus Artifact.” Now DeSoto was glad he’d muted Evek. The use of the word “reacquired” would not have jibed with the cover story they’d given the Cardassians. “It’s in motion, heading for the Slaybis system.”

DeSoto turned to Nechayev’s image with a questioning look. “Why do I know that name?”

“There are two Class-M planets in that system. One is a Cardassian colony. The other is a human colony.” Nechayev hesitated.

“Slaybis IV,” DeSoto said, finally putting it together with a Starfleet Intelligence dispatch that he and Voyskunsky had read as part of their briefing prior to being posted to the Cardassian border. For that matter, they had shared the contents of that briefing with Tuvok prior to his departure. “SI has an operative there, doesn’t it?”

Nechayev nodded. “Obviously, this information should not be shared with Gul Evek.”

“Yeah, but the artifact going to Slaybis should. This might be just what we need to give him a kick in the tail.” He brought Evek back up on the screen. “Gul, that was my bridge. They’ve detected a signal that matches the records of the Malkus Artifact—and it’s heading for the Slaybis system. I believe there’s a Cardassian colony on the second planet?”

Evek spoke with a sarcastic disdain. “After a fashion. The colonists on Slaybis are a group of fanatics, Captain. Cultists who think that technology has ruined their lives. They flew to Slaybis in a spaceship that they proceeded to dismantle and now live a peaceful, agrarian lifestyle unsullied by the evils of replicators and other such equipment.” Evek hesitated. “Captain, do you mean to tell me that those murderers of yours are headed for Slaybis II?”

“We don’t know where they’re headed, just that they’re on course for that star system.”

“They’re not even a formal part of the Cardassian Union! They’ve rejected any form of aid from the government—it’s funded by a few rich eccentrics.” Evek spoke in a tone of voice that told exactly what he thought of oddball projects funded by wealthy civilians.

“That makes it less likely to be a target, if there’s no military value,” DeSoto said. “Of course, there’s a human colony there, too.”

“I think we can safely rule out a Maquis attack on a human colony, Captain. If the Maquis are targeting a completely unmilitary—one might even say anti military—target, then—”

DeSoto saw an opening. “Then, Gul Evek, we need to go in now. We can’t afford to wait three days for you to finish your evac. Let the Hood go to Slaybis—we can be there within twenty-four hours.”

Until this moment, DeSoto had never seen a Cardassian grit his teeth. It was not a pretty sight. “Captain, the term ‘demilitarized zone’ means a zone with no military. The treaty—”

“—can be flexible up to a point,” Nechayev said.

“We cannot allow a Starfleet presence in the zone without an equivalent Central Command presence.” Evek’s words were sure, but his tone was weakening. DeSoto tried not to smile. His white pieces were surrounding Evek’s black ones oh so slowly but surely.

“What if we promise to share all intelligence we gather on the Maquis?” Nechayev said.

Evek leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “What assurances do I have that you’ll share all your data gathered?”

Nechayev’s lips moved only infinitesmally, but it definitely qualified as a smile. “I never said we’d share all our data, Gul, only that we’d share our intelligence on the Maquis. You won’t have unexpurgated access to Captain DeSoto’s logs, but you will be provided with useful intelligence. And all we ask in return is for one ship to go unescorted into the DMZ just long enough to save a planetful of Cardassian cultists.”

Unfolding his arms, Evek glared at the screen. DeSoto once again had to keep himself from smiling. The gul was making a show of thinking about it, but DeSoto knew when the other player was ready to resign. And, as little as Evek might have thought of the people who formed the colony on Slaybis II, it would be politically unwise to condemn them to death