"What's in it for you?" asked Riker.

She grinned. "I'm sure we can work something out. Don't go away. I won't be long."

They watched her move through the crowd. "You're not going to trust that cybrid b.i.t.c.h?' said Dorn.

"Only to look after her own interests," replied Riker. "And in this case, her interests might turn out to be ours, as well."

"Just so long as she keeps her hands where I can see them," said La Forge, uneasily. "That lady makes me very nervous."

"She's no lady," Dorn said.

"So far, she's the best lead we've got," said Riker.

"What do you think she's going to do?" asked La Forge.

"Try to broker a connection and collect from both ends," Riker replied.

"Yeah, but what kind of connection?" asked La Forge.

"We'll just have to wait and see," said Riker. "My guess is she's got an in to the local black market. Those drugs she loads into her built-in hyposprays are not easily available. Laboratory-grade morphetomine is a black-market pharmaceutical, and it wouldn't come cheap."

"You'd be surprised at what you can pick up in the Zone," said Dorn.

"Maybe," Riker said, "but you don't pick up exotic drugs like cerebrocain and ambrocide just anywhere. To manufacture those would require a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical laboratory. And something like that would be a little tough to hide."

"Unless you had a government that looked the other way," La Forge said.

"Or maybe a cloaking device," said Dorn.

"You mean Blaze's ship?" said La Forge.

"Think about it," Dorn said. "If J'drahn or T'grayn were allowing illegal drug manufacture on D'rahl or one of the other K'tralli worlds, they'd still have to worry about the problem of distribution. They'd have to ship the drugs from the plant to some distributing point, and from there, ship them off-planet."

"They could cut deals with crooked merchant fleet captains, or maybe small-time independents," said La Forge.

"Maybe," Dorn said, "but it would be risky. If anyone got caught, they could blow the whistle on the entire operation. On the other hand, if you subsidized a plant that was operating aboard a ship, then even if something went wrong, you wouldn't get caught with an illegal plant in your own backyard. And if you were charged with being an accessory, it would be difficult to prove. You'd have plausible deniability."

"You've got a very devious mind, Lieutenant," said La Forge.

"You hang around here long enough, you'll have one, too," she replied dryly.

"I suppose it's possible," said Riker, thoughtfully. "On a Constellation-cla.s.s ship, he could get by with a smaller crew and fewer amenities, which would leave him s.p.a.ce to convert crew quarters to laboratories. And he could trade hijacked cargo for the raw materials he'd need."

"And what better place to hide an illegal drug-manufacturing plant than aboard a cloaked ship?" asked La Forge.

"We may be reaching here," said Riker. "But either way, Katana's got to be getting her supplies from somewhere. And whoever her supplier is, he's not small-time. I think we may be on to something."

"How do you want to play it?" Dorn asked.

"We'll have to follow her lead," said Riker. "You can bet that whoever she's calling is going to have us checked out first."

"And what they'll find in the official records will back up everything we've said," La Forge replied. "We'll look like three crooked s.p.a.cers who got caught and have flat run out of options." He grimaced. "I'm almost starting to believe it, myself."

"If we're going to pull this off, you'll have to believe it," Riker said. "We're moving into dangerous territory. We can't afford any slips."

A few moments later, Katana returned. "You may be in luck," she said. "It's just possible that my contact might have something for you."

"What are we talking about, exactly?" Riker asked.

"It's too early to talk about the details," she replied evasively. "I don't really know what my contact has in mind, but it sounded like he might have something that could interest you."

"What I'm interested in right now is knowing what I might be getting into," Riker said.

"Have a little patience, Stryker," she replied. "These things don't happen right away. Calls and arrangements have to be made. As soon as I hear from my contact, we'll set up a meeting and you'll get all the details then."

"Suppose I don't like the details?" Riker asked. "Then it goes no further," said Katana. "But it's not as if you have a lot of options, is it?"

"No," Riker said, "I guess it's not. Okay. What do we do in the meantime?"

"Keep yourselves available," she said. "You can get a room upstairs. It's liable to be a little noisy, but it's cheap, if you don't mind sharing. I can talk to the manager and have him move in a couple of extra cots. And you can get food from the kitchen. It isn't bad."

"And you get a kickback for renting us the room, right?" Riker said.

She shrugged. "Everybody's got to make a living. Of course, if you don't like the deal, you can always go someplace else. But it'll cost you more."

"And while we sit around and wait and spend our money, you just disappear, right?" said Dorn.

"I could," Katana agreed, "but then I'd lose out on what I'd get for making the connection. And that wouldn't be good business, would it?"

"How long will we have to wait?" asked La Forge. She shrugged. "I'd say till tomorrow, or the next day, at the latest. But if my contact says he's got something, then he's got something. If you don't like the deal, then at most you're out two days' room rent. You'd have had to pay that anyway, unless you don't plan on sleeping while you're here."

Riker nodded. "Okay, we'll take the room. But until I hear something more specific, that's all we're going to take."

"Fair enough," Katana said. "I'll go set it up. You can hang out here and get some food, or go upstairs. But don't go wandering off. If I get the word, things will move fast and I'll want you where I can find you."

She left the table once again to get a room for them.

"How do we know she's not going to set us up to get rolled?" asked Dorn.

"She could've done that outside," Riker reminded her. "Anyway, we're not going to get anywhere by playing it safe. What we do is try to minimize the risks. We make sure there's no one waiting for us in that room when we go in, then we check it out carefully and sleep in shifts, one of us awake at all times."

"I sure would feel better with a phaser," said La Forge.

"So would I," said Riker, "but if we're searched -and we can probably count on that to happen at some point-it would be hard to explain where we happened to come up with phasers." He glanced at Dorn. "You don't have any more surprises like that baton, do you? If you do, I want to know about it now."

"I'm not packing anything else," she replied.

"If I find out you are, I'll have you brought up on charges of insubordination," Riker said.

"I said, I'm not packing anything else, sir," she said.

"That wasn't smart, Lieutenant," Riker said. "You jeopardized the safety of this mission."

"She bought my explanation of how I got it," Dorn said, defensively.

"That's not the point and you know it," said Riker. "I don't have any tolerance for mavericks, Lieutenant. Especially on a mission like this. You understand me?"

"Yes, sir."

"She's coming back," said La Forge, spotting Katana returning to their table.

"Okay, it's all set," she said as she came up. "I got you a room on the fourth floor, so it shouldn't be too noisy. It's got a bed and a couple of extra cots. It's not exactly a luxury suite, but like I said, it's cheap."

"All right, let's go check it out," said Riker, getting up.

"No hurry. Stay and finish your drinks."

"We'll go now," said Riker.

Katana smiled. "What's the matter, you don't trust me?"

Riker smiled back. "Frankly, no," he said. "Lead the way."

They had to go through a door at the back, walk down a short corridor, and climb the stairs to get to the fourth floor. There was no lift. The stairwells were dimly illuminated and not very clean. On their way up, they pa.s.sed one of the dancers coming back down, counting money as she went. She glanced at them and raised her eyebrows, but made no comment. Riker didn't have to guess what most of the rooms upstairs were used for.

When they came to the fourth floor, Katana led them down a hallway a short distance and stopped before a door about halfway down. "This is it," she said. She gave Riker the key.

He opened the door with it, then stood aside. "After you."

She glanced at him, no expression in those unsettling, artificial eyes. "Whatever you say." She turned to walk through the door and Riker shoved her through, then came in fast after her, knife drawn. There was no one in the room.

"Satisfied?" Katana said, wryly.

Riker looked around, noting that there were no connecting doors. He sheathed his blade, then signaled the others, and they gave the room a quick but thorough examination. "I guess it'll do," he said when they were finished.

"You don't take many chances, do you, Stryker?" said Katana, with a smile.

"Not if I can help it."

She nodded. "I think you'll do."

"I'll do for what?"

She smiled and came up to him. "You'll find out."

Two men suddenly appeared in the doorway behind her. Riker quickly reached for his knife, but she moved even faster. Her hand came up to his cheek and there was a soft, chuffing sound as she injected him with one of her built-in hyposprays. As La Forge and Dorn reached for their weapons, the men in the doorway fired stunners. La Forge and Dorn both collapsed to the floor.

"You ..." Riker grabbed Katana by the throat, but she took his hand and effortlessly pried it away. He sank to his knees.

"Don't fight it, hotshot," she said. "If I give you a stronger dose, it'll only make you sick."

"d.a.m.n you ..." Riker said, thickly, and then the room started spinning violently. His eyes rolled up and he fell to the floor.

Chapter Five.

"I DON'T LIKE THIS, JEAN-LUC," Gruzinov said. "You're taking too much of a chance."

"Taking chances is what we're here for, Ivan," Picard replied, as they entered the transporter room. "Besides, I believe you are overestimating the potential risk involved."

"That may be, but I still don't like it," Gruzinov insisted. "You've got two landing parties down on D'rahl, including your XO, your chief weapons and security officer, your ship's counselor, and your chief engineer. If anything goes wrong, all your senior personnel are absent from the ship."

"Not so. I think you will find that Mr. Data is quite capable," Picard replied, "and Dr. Crusher has experience serving on the bridge, as well. Besides, the crew is more than qualified to deal with any emergency that may arise in my brief absence."

"d.a.m.n it, Jean-Luc, that's not the point, and you know it!" Gruzinov persisted. "You have no business absenting yourself from your ship under these circ.u.mstances! And you especially have no business beaming down alone! It's contrary to regulations!"

"Captain Gruzinov does have a point, sir," Data said. "Starfleet regulations clearly specify that-"

"I am well aware of the regulations, Mr. Data," said Picard, interrupting him. "But they do not happen to apply in these particular circ.u.mstances. I am not leaving the ship without an officer qualified to command in my absence. Captain Gruzinov will be in command while I am gone. And I am not beaming down into hostile territory. The risk factors in this situation are minimal."

"You are merely taking refuge in a technicality," Gruzinov said. "I command a starbase. I have never commanded my own ship. It has been years since I have even served aboard one."

"And you were an excellent officer, as I recall," Picard said, "more than qualified to man any bridge station, from weapons to navigation. I do not believe you could have forgotten all that."

"Perhaps not," Gruzinov said, "but it has been a long time. And I was repeatedly pa.s.sed over for command."

"Ivan, I would not leave the Enterprise in your hands if I were not fully confident of your abilities," Picard replied. "In my opinion, the fact that you were not offered command of your own ship was merely an accident of opportunity and timing. Had you not accepted command of Starbase 37, you might have been offered the Enterprise instead of me."

"I labor under no such illusions, Jean-Luc," Gruzinov replied. "Quite aside from that, what you are proposing to do could create a serious diplomatic incident. Z'gral's residence is guarded. Essentially, he is under house arrest. If your visit were exposed, J'drahn would have grounds to accuse you of interference with-"

"J'drahn would be in a very poor position to accuse me of anything," Picard replied. "He has publicly stated, to us as well as to his own people, that Colonel Z'gral is in poor health and has gone into voluntary retirement. If he were to make an official protest, then I would be able to refute those claims publicly."

"Unless they're true," Gruzinov said.

"You have a.s.sured me they are not," Picard replied.

"Well, I don't believe they are," said Gruzinov, "but Z'gral is an old man and it's been a while since he's been seen by anyone outside his residence. He might well have become sick. He might even be dead, for all we know."

"Then why keep up the pretense that he is still alive?" Picard asked. "J'drahn would have nothing to gain from that. Besides, when we spoke to T'grayn and he told us that Colonel Z'gral was in poor health, Counselor Troi received the distinct impression he was lying. I have never known her to state anything for a fact if she was in any doubt concerning the accuracy of her empathic impressions."

"All right, then let me go instead," Gruzinov said.

"No, Ivan, that would not be wise," Picard said. "If, for any reason, something were to go wrong, I would need to depend upon your knowledge of K'tralli law and politics. Conceivably, if I am caught, I could be placed under arrest, and then you would be the most qualified to keep J'drahn from doing something foolish. You know the situation here far better than anyone else. And if Colonel Z'gral is being held against his will, as we believe, then I intend to bring him back with me under the provisions of political asylum. Under the circ.u.mstances, it would be much better if I were to bear the brunt of the responsibility for that decision rather than you."