Tereth said, "Captain Huss's ships are entering range. I suggest waiting-train weapons at 185 mark 9. She's likely to attempt a bIng manuever-it was a favorite of hers when I served with her."

Kira realized that one of her disruptors fell into that range. She immediately trained her number-three disruptor on that area-currently bereft of any ships.

Toq said, "Nukmay, Khich, and Jor changing course!" A pause. "A perfect bIng maneuver."

All three ships came right into Kira's sights, just as predicted.

"Fire!" Klag bellowed.

Kira trained her array on the wing of the Nukmay, the lead ship. It, combined with the disruptors fired by Rodek, slammed through the bird-of-prey's shields and tore a hole through the wing. That sent the ship into a spin that caused it to collide with the Khich. The latter ship's shields were disrupted into oblivion, though there was no hull damage.

A cheer went up from around the bridge, and the gunner closest to Kira-a bekk named Klorga-said, "Well done for a first shot, Bajoran."

"You ain't seen nothin' yet," Kira muttered. There was still the Jor, which fired its dirsuptors at the Gorkon. Looks like they're aiming for the engines, Kira thought.

"Shields down to eighty percent," Toq said.

Kira fired on the Jor, taking the ship's shields out with three shots before it left the range of her disruptors.

"We're being hailed by the Enterprise," said the ensign at the communications console.

"On audio," Klag said.

"Klag, we need you to draw off some of these ships," Picard said. "We can't use the deflector modification without lowering shields."

Kira stole a glance at the tactical display on the main viewer. The Enterprise was more than holding its own against the other four ships-the Sovereign-cla.s.s vessel had only suffered minor shield damage, whereas two of the Klingon ships were in pretty bad shape and the other two were on their way to more of the same. But that wouldn't last forever, especially since the Enterprise and Gorkon were doing their best to minimize casualties and their foes were working under no such constraint.

"Vralk, change course toward the Enterprise," Klag said.

Tereth added, "Rodek, give us covering fire on the birds-of-prey."

That instruction, Kira knew, would be pa.s.sed on to the two at the aft disruptor arrays.

A part of Kira liked the simplicity of it-all she was responsible for was three small three-hundred-and-sixty-degree fields of fire. No more, no less. Given the awesome responsibilities she had as the commanding officer of one of the more strategically important starbases in the quadrant, accountability for so little came as a relief.

But a part of her hated it for the same reason she hated what Malkus did to her. It was Klag who directed the battle, Tereth who commanded the troops, Rodek who carried out those commands, and only then did Kira get involved if those commands happened to relate to her tiny area of control.

And Kira Nerys never liked having limited control.

It had taken Aidulac two days to work her way across Narendra III.

With the aid of the component she'd found from the third Instrument, she had been able to trace the final Instrument to this planet, but frustratingly, not to where on this planet. She had to wait until someone unearthed the Instrument before she would be able to locate it more precisely.

So she settled on a remote island, converted the Sun to a shelter, and used its resources to survive. Her ability to influence men's minds was sufficient to keep prying eyes away from her-especially given the location she'd chosen in the middle of Narendra III's largest ocean-and she waited.

She'd waited ninety thousand years. She was prepared to wait another ninety thousand.

As it happened, she only had to wait for five years. A major war was fought in the interim, though the fighting never actually reached Narendra despite its position near both the Romulan and Federation borders.

Aidulac continued to wait.

Then, finally, the Instrument was exposed.

Naturally, it was on the other side of the planet.

From here on, Aidulac had to be careful. She could not afford to use the Sun, as it would be detected. Besides, Malkus's consciousness had, as she had feared, been imprisoned within the Instrument. Now he planned to rebuild his empire.

The fools. The unmitigated fools. The thought was directed at the well-meaning rebels who had overthrown Malkus. They should have just killed him and had done with it. But no, they had to teach him a lesson, to imprison him, to make him suffer.

They don't understand him. No one ever did. Not even me.

Especially not me. If I had, I would have just killed myself when he came to me.

First she took a boat to the mainland. Then she needed to find a groundcar to take her to where the memorial was being built. That had proven difficult, but not impossible. Her own immunity and invisibility to Malkus's telepathic control enabled her to move freely, but avoiding visual detection was a lot harder. Her own talents for persuasion were helpful, but not always reliable.

Now, though, she was less than an hour away on foot from the memorial site where he'd been uncovered.

Then, she thought, this will all finally be over.

Vralk maneuvered the Gorkon into position, hoping to draw fire away from the Enterprise so they could use their device to neutralize Malkus.

It doesn't surprise me, Vralk thought with disdain. Klag would leave the glory to the weaklings of the Federation, even though it was we who learned the secret for defeating this Malkus thing. He turned to glance at the secondary gunner positions, specifically the one where the Bajoran woman sat. He even lets inferiors serve on his bridge. He is so unworthy of this vessel, it makes me ill.

"Bring us around," Tereth shouted, "187 mark 9. Now, Lieutenant!"

Vralk changed course to 187 mark 9 and restrained himself from telling Commander Tereth to stop blathering at him. As Rodek had said, she was the first officer, even if she didn't deserve it-after all, as Lokor had said, he would find no allies for his cause on this ship.

"Hard to port," Tereth said. "Try to get the Rikmok off the Enterprise' s saucer."

"Shields failing," Toq said. "The birds-of-prey are continuing to fire!"

"Covering fire," Klag said. "Drive them off with the rear weapons, but try not to destroy them."

Vralk could not help himself. "We show weakness before the enemy?"

Klag turned angrily on Vralk. "They are not our enemy. When a Klingon truly takes up arms against me, then I will kill him or die without hesitation, but I will not destroy mind-controlled slaves unless I have to. And I do not have to-yet."

Disruptor blasts and torpedoes continued to slam into the Gorkon' s shields. Vralk found he could not avoid all of them, especially now that they were close to the Enterprise-some of the Defense Force ships simply fired on both targets. While the Enterprise and Gorkon were far more powerful, they were also larger and less maneuverable than their eight foes.

"The QaS DevwI' have all reported in," the ensign at communications said. "All ground troops are standing by."

"Good," Tereth said.

Again, Vralk found he could not help himself. He turned to Tereth, who was standing between the com console and Vralk's own helm control. "The QaS DevwI' will not be able to lead the troops into battle if we are blown up before they can be deployed!"

Another impact. Several consoles went down.

"Shields have failed!" Toq cried.

"You are a fool to continue this!" Vralk said, getting up and walking toward Tereth. "We must-"

Tereth suddenly leapt at Vralk, tackling him.

As Vralk fell to the deck his heart sang out with joy. At last, the fool woman has tipped her hand! She feels the need to silence me in public! Now I can truly challenge her and show everyone that she is unworthy!

He clambered to an upright position, unsheathing his d'k tahg.

Tereth remained on the deck, with a very large chunk of what was once a piece of the ceiling bulkhead now embedded in her back.

She had not been challenging him, she had saved his life at the cost of her own.

He dropped his d'k tahg to the deck.

Had he remained at his post, the shrapnel would not have hit him or Tereth. But because he abandoned his post in a conflict, a superior was dead.

What have I done?

"Vralk, you're relieved," Klag said. "I will kill you later. Koxx, take the helm! Bring us around, 241 mark 6. Rodek-full weapons!"

Turning toward the turbolift, his d'k tahg still on the deck, Vralk thought, I suppose now he has to use deadly force. If he had done it sooner, Tereth might not be dead now.

And if I had not been such a fool, she would not be dead, either.

Aidulac checked the readings on her scanner. She had less than an hour's walk to where Malkus was keeping himself. And then-one way or another-it would all be over.

This was parkland now. Aidulac had never been to this world when it was part of the Zalkat Union, nor in the millennia since, so she had no idea what it might have been like then. Probably some backwater-otherwise, why hide the Instrument away here?

She hadn't expected to be tackled by a crazed Klingon in military garb.

The Klingon knocked her to the ground, knelt down on her chest, then swiped at her face with some kind of edged weapon. Aidulac raised her arm to defend herself, and the blade sank into her forearm. She cried out in pain as the Klingon yanked the blade out and started to take another swipe.

Before he could, a hand gripped the Klingon's shoulder, and he fell to the ground, unconscious.

Another Klingon, this one wearing a floor-length coat that, from what Aidulac knew of Klingon traditions, meant he held some kind of high office, rolled Aidulac's attacker off her. "Thank you," she said. "I wasn't aware of any Klingons who knew the Vulcan nerve pinch."

"It is a long story," he said. "I am Worf, son of Mogh. You do not appear to be in Malkus's thrall."

"No," she said, putting pressure on her wound. "I am Aidulac, and I'm here to stop Malkus."

Worf's eyebrow rose-another Vulcan gesture. "Fascinating. How do you intend to accomplish this?"

Before she could answer, a Vulcan approached, wearing once-elegant robes that had not weathered travel through this forest particularly well-the black cloth was spattered with dirt and gra.s.s stains. Bloodstains were present as well, but they were not green, so they did not belong to him. His movements were also odd, for a Vulcan-and he was carrying a Klingon weapon.

"Two of our foes-" the Vulcan started, then noticed the other one on the ground. "Three of our foes have been defeated. We must hurry, before the others catch up." He looked at Aidulac and then spoke irritably. "Who is this?"

"I am Aidulac. I am here to stop Malkus-forever. I've waited ninety thousand years for this day." She frowned. "You two have mind-melded?"

"Yes," Worf said. "It was the logical way to resist Malkus's control."

"Very wise."

"I am Spock," the Vulcan said. "We don't have much time. The mind-meld will start to fade soon, and both Amba.s.sador Worf and I will be helpless if that should happen. Do you have a method of neutralizing Malkus?"

Aidulac nodded. "I believe so. I have had many millennia to construct the device, but no way to ever test it. My attempts to do so with the previous artifacts met with resistance."

Spock raised his eyebrow in the exact same manner that Worf had done a moment ago. "I do recall a report of a woman named Aidulac attempting to land on Alpha Proxima II when the first artifact was found there. Are you the same woman?"

"Yes."

"Fascinating," both Worf and Spock said simultaneously.

Worf continued, "But not relevant at this time. We must press forward before Malkus's thralls catch up to us-or he sends more."

"We don't have far to go," Aidulac said. Keeping the pressure on her wound, she started walking.

After a moment, the Vulcan and the Klingon followed.

Within a few minutes, they had arrived. They took up position behind a large tree that overlooked the hill. Aidulac saw two humans-a younger one in a Starfleet uniform, and an older one in a variation of the same-standing near a table on which sat all four Instruments.

Three of them, Aidulac noted, were connected. The fourth was separate. She smiled. "I see he tried to construct the Great Rectangle."

Worf turned to her. "We have received no resistance since we met you. Why is that?"

"I am invisible to Malkus thanks to this." She removed the component from the third Instrument from her belt.

"That is the missing component from the third artifact," Spock said.

Aidulac nodded. "I found it five years ago. Then I waited here for the final Instrument to be unearthed."

Just then, two humans and three Klingons approached Malkus from the other side of the clearing.

"You were right," Worf said to Spock. "He did enslave our fellow prisoners."

"It seemed a reasonable hypothesis," Spock said. "How close do you need to be to the artifacts in order for your device to work?"

"Closer than this," Aidulac said ruefully. "We shall have to go out into the open."

"Wait," Worf said. "Look."

The humans and Klingons all left-including one of the two Starfleet officers who had already been present-leaving only the elderly human to guard Malkus.

"They've probably gone to keep searching for you two."

"Indeed," Worf said. "Leaving only Dr. McCoy-and as the admiral himself might say, he is a doctor, not a fighter."

Worf unsheathed a disruptor pistol, and Spock hefted the Klingon blade. They exchanged a nod, and then charged, Aidulac behind them.

Unsurprisingly, by the time they reached the Instruments, some of the thralls had returned. Worf, however, took two of them out with his disruptor, and the one that charged in at close quarters was dealt with by Spock. They covered her approach to Malkus quite well.