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They want me alive.

Why do they want me alive?

She got up and went back to the aft compartment to get a phaser.

As she did, her mouth almost fell open from the shock. “How did I—?”

Then she grinned. She had control of her movements and her voice. She could still feel Malkus’s presence in her mind, but it was not as strong. Maybe he’s got limits. Maybe I’m out of his range. Or maybe I’m just better than him.

“Whatever,” she said aloud, reveling in her ability to do so once again. “There’s no way I’m letting him take me back.”

The next step was expected. She felt a transporter beam start to envelop her. It was neither the raw pins-and-needles sensation of Deep Space 9’s Cardassian transporter nor the gentle vibration of a Federation transporter. In fact, it didn’t feel like much of anything.

A moment later, she was standing in a darkened room full of Klingons, all pointing weapons at her. She counted five aiming at her, with another one behind the transporter console. She didn’t recognize any of them, but the one time the Gorkon had been to DS9, Kira had met only the ship’s captain.

Kira pointed her own phaser at the tall one who moved toward her as she materialized. “You’re not taking me back to Narendra.”

This seemed to confuse the Klingon, whose hair was waist length and in a series of intricately tied braids. “You have been to Narendra recently?” The Klingon had a surprisingly pleasant voice.

This did confuse Kira. “You didn’t follow me from there?”

“I’ve never even been there, Colonel. Now lower your weapon, or I will order my people to open fire on you. Disruptors do have a setting that leaves the victim alive, but it is not nearly as—bloodless as your Federation’s ‘stun’ setting. I do not recommend it.”

Kira hesitated. It could be a trick, she thought. But then, what possible reason would this Klingon have to trick her?

She lowered her weapon. “How did you find me?” she asked, noting that, though the lead Klingon did likewise, the other four did not.

“The captain can explain that.” He touched the communicator on his wrist. “Lokor to bridge. We have the Bajoran.”

“Bring her to the wardroom,” came a deep male voice that Kira recognized as Klag’s.

Lokor nodded to the quartet of warriors, who finally lowered their weapons. Then he turned to Kira. “Come with me.”

Klag sat in the wardroom and listened to Kira Nerys’s tale. With him were Tereth and Toq and, on the viewscreen, Picard, Riker, and Data. Upon learning that Kira had come from Narendra III, Klag had immediately had Vralk set a course for that planet. Once the St. Lawrence was taken on board and placed in the Gorkon’ s shuttlebay, they proceeded at warp nine-point-eight, with instructions to Commander Kurak to attempt a greater speed.

The Enterprise was, of course, alerted, and they too had changed course. Indeed, they had only been twenty minutes away when Klag had contacted them. “Told you our chief engineer was a wiz,” Riker had said with one of his human grins.

“One last thing,” Kira said after telling her story. “Malkus couldn’t control the entire planet, and the ships in orbit, so he had a large chunk of the population imprison themselves somewhere. Once Captain DeSoto started putting the artifacts together, Malkus gave the prisoners the disease that the first artifact gave off. If we don’t get back to Narendra soon, those prisoners will die.”

There was a pause. Finally, Picard said, “You did well, Colonel.”

“Thank you, Captain, but it wasn’t easy. If you don’t mind my asking, how’d you find me?”

“The St. Lawrence was listed as officially missing,” Tereth said. “You were sighted by a Starfleet ship that couldn’t stop to investigate. When we arrived we found a Bajoran in a runabout last known to have a Klingon, two humans, and a Vulcan/human hybrid.”

Riker smiled. “Needless to say, that set an alarm bell or two off.”

“I can—” Kira hesitated, then shook her head. “Dammit. I think Malkus is starting to reassert himself.”

Toq