"Try to persuade you to wait, learn the truth, and report that to Starfleet. Which you cannot do with the shuttle's subs.p.a.ce radio, by the way-Sdan has been trying to pierce the jamming all morning. If he can't do it, it can't be done."

"All I have to do," said Yar, "is take the shuttle into orbit, beyond Nalavia's jamming."

"And from there just keep going," he replied, "forcing me to abandon my work here before a Starfleet Security squad arrive. No, Tasha, I cannot allow you to take the shuttle."

"I can't abandon Data," she protested.

"An expensive piece of equipment, but replaceable."

"As I told you before," she said, exasperated, "a friend and colleague, no more expendable than any other member of an away team. And definitely not replaceable. If we ever do recover the technology to create androids like Data, each will have a unique personality, born of individual life experience. Just like a human being, Dare. Data is more human than a good many flesh-and-blood people I've met."

She saw that controlled anger in his eyes as he said, "There are some things flesh and blood can do that no machine will ever learn." He leaned forward, took her by the upper arms to pull her toward him, and kissed her.

It was not a pleasant kiss, more a demonstration of power than a gesture of affection. Yar did not fight, but she did not respond, either. When Dare let her go, she deliberately wiped her mouth and said fiercely, "Don't bet on it!"

His lips parted in astonishment-an expression only Dare and Data, of all the men she knew, shared in common. Then his mouth curled into a sneer such as Data would never attempt, and he said scornfully, "I might have known. I don't suppose any man will ever be good enough for you."

"At least Data would never do what you just did. There was a time, Dare, when you protected me against unwanted attention."

He went dead pale ... and then said, "I'm sorry." For one moment he was the man she had known, anguished to discover an unwelcome side of the man he had become. But Adrian Dareau could not expose any form of vulnerability. The mask closed down once more. "I still cannot let you take the shuttle."

"You could come with me, to make certain I return."

"No. Nalavia's defenses will be primed for this vehicle, Tasha. It would be dangerous enough just to use it as a flyer-but if you try to orbit, she'll shoot it down."

"You may be right," she conceded. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"

"It might be possible to escape on a straight liftoff. In orbit you're a sitting target."

"Then ... how can I send a message? If Data and I don't report, in a few days Starfleet will start an investigation. They may send another shuttle, or possibly a ship. But if Captain Picard is satisfied that we can handle things here he won't send in the cavalry."

"We're playing for time then," said Dare. "One way or another, Starfleet will send more personnel to Treva. The best I can hope for is to do what I came for and be gone before they arrive. Very well, Tasha. If you can calculate the location of the Enterprise when the signal reaches it, we will send your message by non-Starfleet frequencies. Nalavia's own communications channels are clear."

"Data can calculate it," Yar said. "I can't."

"You could ask Sdan."

"Give him cla.s.sified information about the route of a Starfleet vessel? Really, Dare."

He grinned. "I'm good, but I'm not that good! Not even the Silver Paladin could take a Galaxy-cla.s.s starship using only nine people and four ships, the best of which can manage warp 3.7 on a good day. Besides, the Enterprise is far too conspicuous a vessel for my purposes."

Not if you took the battle bridge and abandoned the saucer, Yar couldn't help her warrior's instincts from reminding her-but after staying so carefully out of Starfleet's way all these years she doubted Dare would risk setting the dogs on himself with such a rash move. Besides, if what he had just said was true-"Nine people? There are only nine of you?" She had a.s.sumed he had an army of several hundred from everything he had supposedly accomplished.

"If the local people aren't willing to do their own fighting, I don't take the job," he replied. "What I provide is leadership, planning, technology, and technique."

"Has anyone else in your gang had Starfleet training?"

"Barb-but she left the Academy after two years because she's a fighter, not a student. She's the one who got me started in this business. She happened to be in a bar on Nornius Beta when some thugs decided I looked an easy mark. When I left them draped over the chandeliers, she invited me to join her in rescuing a kidnap victim. I had nothing better to do ... and the rest is history."

"Dare ... everything I've ever heard about the Silver Paladin's work has been positive. If I'd known it was you, I'd have been following more closely-"

"To apprehend me?"

"I'm a Starfleet officer, not a bounty hunter. I have no call to go in search of wanted criminals." She looked into his eyes. "Would you allow me to send a message to the Enterprise, if your man can figure out where to send it?"

"Yes-provided I monitor what you transmit."

"You don't trust me not to tell them you're here."

"It would be your duty to do so if you saw the opportunity."

He knew her only too well ... perhaps better now than before. "Then I will give you the flight plan. You were in Starfleet long enough to know that it's a rare thing for a starship to stay on its filed plan for more than a few days. We may just beam a message into limbo."

"But you have to try," he said. "I understand. I will allow you to do it-on two conditions."

"I won't mention you," she said. "What is the other?"

"I want your word that you will not try to escape again."

"Dare-"

"Nalavia can't stall your android much longer. Once it knows you're gone, it'll come looking for you. If it finds this place-"

"He will."

"- we'll let it ... him in."

"And have two hostages. But you won't take Data as easily as you did me. He has some built-in electronic sensors; you can't take it all away from him with his tricorder."

"Useful information," said Dare. "Thank you. Now, your word. Tasha, I promise, if what you see here does not persuade you that Rikan and not Nalavia represents what is best for Treva, we'll let you go."

"It is not Starfleet's business to decide who is right and who is wrong on Treva. The Prime Directive-"

"- ceased to apply when Nalavia called for help. Starfleet can refuse to provide it, though."

"Leaving the field clear for you to aid Rikan."

"Yes," he said, the cynicism gone from his voice. "Rikan represents what is best for Treva. You may say I have no right to judge, but that is what Nalavia is asking you to do. Please promise to stay long enough to compare Rikan's people to Nalavia's."

He seemed so open and honest at that moment that she almost forgot the crimes he was convicted of. As his prisoner, she could hardly arrest him. If she had escaped, she would also have escaped that duty. The longer she remained with Dare, the greater the possibility that the time would come when she would be forced to apprehend him.

She didn't want to. Each time she got a glimpse through his armor of the man she had once known and loved, her dread of that duty grew stronger.

If she gave him her word, she would have to keep it. If she didn't, he would have no choice but to lock her up again. If she gave her word, she would be allowed to send a message to the Enterprise. Her duty- "I give you my word," she said, stifling the pain in her heart.

He smiled-a very small, quiet smile, but it brought back for the first time the handsomeness lurking beneath the stern lines of his face. Then he pulled her combadge from his pocket. "It still won't transmit on Starfleet channels, but if you decide to work with us we'll adjust it to the frequencies we use. Now let's find Sdan, and see if he can calculate the position of the Enterprise."

In the strategy room, Sdan had opened one of the cupboards to reveal a computer terminal far more modern than anything Yar had seen in Nalavia's castle. Like the ones aboard ship, it had no b.u.t.tons or switches, but responded to either voice or touch control.

Sdan might claim to be no scholar, but he certainly knew the mathematics of s.p.a.ce-time, calculating the probabilities of the ship's location along the continuum, and comparing them with the beam of the subs.p.a.ce radio traveling at a constant speed. The Enterprise would routinely monitor all messages on Starfleet frequencies, but the computer would ignore other frequencies unless there was something unusual about a message-such as its being beamed directly at the ship.

Dare left Sdan to his calculations, and showed Yar around the strategy room. It was all computerized, including a complete schematic of the castle with the position of every person in it. Yar felt her mouth thin as she realized, "You could trace my every move without leaving this room."

"Actually," said Dare, "Sdan watched the screens, Barb followed you, Poet was on the cliff side, and I made my way to the shuttle by the shortest route-which we had been careful not to show you earlier." He pointed out on the map that if she had gone back upstairs there was a corridor directly to the courtyard. As it was, she had dipped down to kitchen level, then climbed the winding ramp, reaching the courtyard well behind Dare even though he had started more than a minute after her.

Suddenly she realized, "I forgot to ask how badly I hurt you!"

"You did exactly what you intended. I blacked out-but Sdan was here to revive me, so I was on my way to the shuttle faster than you counted on."

"You took a stimulant? After a blow to the head? Dare-"

"No-just a painkiller. It's nothing, Tasha-all in a day's work in our profession."

She managed to bite back the automatic response that they were no longer in the same profession.

They joined Rikan again for a light luncheon, after which Aurora took Yar back to the strategy room. There she showed her what they knew of Nalavia's activities, the positions of her standing army, her armament and deployment systems.

Sdan was back at his console, calling up probabilities and swearing softly when they did not say what he wanted them to.

The two women worked at one of the large viewscreens, Yar becoming fascinated, appreciating Aurora's skills and forgetting for the moment that this woman had apparently taken her place with Dare. No longer my place, she reminded herself when it did occur to her. I retired from the field years ago. Caught up in strategy as if it were a game, Yar suggested positions for the troops Rikan could muster, if they wanted to take Nalavia's palace.

"Take the queen," said Aurora, "and the game is ours."

"It appears so," Yar agreed. "Nalavia does seem to be a one-person operation. Both the most dangerous kind of tyrant, and the most vulnerable."

"You are right," said Aurora. "She has not created in her people any vested interest in keeping her in power, only in the things which they a.s.sociate with her. The council, though, is another matter."

"The people with the real power," said Yar. "It's an ancient strategy, but it always works. They vote for what Nalavia wants, and she provides them with wealth and power."

"Such people have no real loyalty," said Aurora. "We've considered infiltrating the council somehow, persuading a councilor or two that he really ought to be President or at least not trust the present one."

"Good idea, but how do you implement it?" Yar asked.

"It's not easy in such a closed society. I tried setting up as a wealthy free trader and applying a bit of discreet flirtation. Unfortunately, since that is Nalavia's own stock in trade, she immediately created restrictions that made it impossible for me to trade profitably on Treva. I was forced to retreat to preserve my cover."

Yar frowned. "Dare let you-?"

"Oh, it wasn't particularly dangerous. But he refuses to do what would work."

"And what is that?" Yar asked.

"Go in himself. He can be incredibly s.e.xy when he-" She broke off. Then, "Of course, you know that," she said softly. "But he won't use that power, cynical as he may be about everything else."

"Aurora," said Yar, "are you telling me that you suggested Dare-?"

"That he go in undercover, as it were, use his charms on Nalavia and the two most powerful women on the council ... and then let the three of them find out about one another-after Dare was safely off-planet, of course. Considering the kind of person Nalavia is, the catfight would have been heard all the way to Earth! Divide and conquer among Nalavia's allies, and make Madame President look more than a little ridiculous. But you know Dare."

Do I? Do I know him at all anymore? Yar stared at Aurora. "I don't understand. How could you suggest such a thing when you and Dare ... ?"

"Dare and I?" Aurora laughed. "Oh, no, Tasha-I can't take the moody, brooding type! I love Dare as a friend and colleague, but his idea of romantic love is far too solemn and serious for me. I'll take Poet any day-he knows how to make me laugh."

"Oh," Yar said, trying to hide her surprise. Her memories of loving Darryl Adin were all spun 'round with joy and laughter.

Finally Sdan reported, "If the Enterprise remained on the course you gave us, it should be approaching its destination just as a message sent thirty-seven minutes from now would intercept its path. How long will they orbit Brentis VI?"

"Probably at least a day."

"Then I suggest that we record your message now and transmit it every two hours for the next day."

"Nalavia will monitor the transmission," Aurora reminded them.

"Without my tricorder," said Yar, "I can't scramble it."

"Wouldn't matter," said Sdan. "Scrambled or plain, a message beamed subs.p.a.ce from here means that's where you have to be."

"Even so, if I could code it somehow, Nalavia wouldn't know exactly what I sent." She thought a moment, and suddenly recalled something that she could use. "Sdan-can you have the computer translate the message into binary code?"

"Well ... sure, but that's easy enough to read with any computer."

"If you know what it is. Captain Picard and Commander Riker will recognize it at once-they recently had reason to learn quite memorably how it sounds."

"Ah," said Sdan, "we'll send it at top speed. Chances are Nalavia's never heard anything like it. We can hope her cipher experts take a while to deduce what it is."

So Yar composed her message: "Arrived Treva. Nalavia's reports unreliable. Standard subs.p.a.ce frequencies jammed. a.s.sessing situation. Further reports will follow. Yar."

"Aren't you going to ask for help?" Aurora asked.

"You don't divert a starship unless you are certain it's needed," Yar replied. "Possibly Data and I can settle matters here and rendezvous with the Enterprise as originally planned."

"For an experienced Security officer," said Aurora, "you are unexpectedly optimistic." But Yar saw understanding in the woman's eyes, and realized shamefully that in her heart she sheltered the hope that they could, indeed, resolve things here and still allow Dare to escape.

Before dinner, Aurora took Yar to her quarters, and lent her some clothes. Like the men, Aurora wore her garments loose; as she was also taller than Yar, everything was too big. However, a bit of tucking and belting, and Yar began to look less like a child in her mother's clothes, and more like a disturbingly glamorous woman.

But when she wore the gold dress to dinner, and saw appreciation in Dare's eyes, she felt a dangerous warmth inside. I must not let my feelings affect my judgment, she reminded herself. I am still Dare's prisoner, even if I did agree not to run.

Nevertheless dinner was excellent, the conversation was fascinating, and afterward Dare and Yar joined Rikan in one of the salons.

Only to have alarms sound almost at once.

Dare tapped his combadge. "What's happening?"

"Flyer approaching, no recognition signal," came Barb's voice. "Cleared the outer defenses without triggerin' 'em."

"Data," said Yar. "It has to be."

Dare grinned wolfishly at her, then said into his combadge, "It's the android. Shut off electronic surveillance and follow the procedures we discussed this afternoon."

"Right!"