“But then I saw you in action during the Europani evac, and I knew that I was the one who was too provincial. I allowed myself to believe that because you didn’t come up through the Academy, any leadership qualities you possessed, any of the experiences or abilities that brought you to where you are, had to be less than those of a Starfleet captain. I realize now those beliefs were unworthy of you, and unworthy of me.”
Kira shrugged as she continued working on the lock. “Captain, I really don’t understand what the point of all this is.”
Mello grabbed her by the arm, forcing Kira to look at her. “Just this: Starfleet would be damn lucky if you decided to put on its uniform again. But if you don’t, if the worst happens and Bajor and the Federation go their separate ways, then I think the loss to both sides will be incalculable. If I’ve learned nothing else during the last four months, it’s that together we add up to something far greater than we’ll ever be apart.”
Kira made no reply, but she held Mello’s gaze for a moment before returning her attention to the lock. “Think I’ve got it,” she said. “Get ready. On three. One…two…three.” The Jefferies tube portal opened to darkness.
Mello was checking her tricorder.
“Anything?” Kira asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mello said. “I think he may have set up a jamming field.”
“Great,” Kira said. “Let me go first. You can continue scanning as you follow.”
“Colonel—”
“Captain, I know this is your ship, and I know you feel you have a personal stake in taking the lead here, but you have to let me take point now,” Kira insisted. “I’ve spent my entire life fighting in dark tunnels.”
Mello hesitated, but even feeling the way she did at that moment, she had to know Kira was the best choice to go first. “Very well, Colonel. Lead on.”
They began to crawl. Ten minutes into the tube, Mello reported she was picking up a life-sign dead ahead. And something else. An energy signature. “Colonel, get down!”Mello shouted.
Phaser fire lit up the Jefferies tube, narrowly missing Kira. She hit the deck, hoping Mello had done the same. The orange beams continued to flash over her head in the darkness, the sound of the discharges reverberating through the tube like thunder.
Suddenly the phaser fire stopped. Kira heard the distant sound of a hatch unsealing and immediately returned fire, hoping to tag their foe before he escaped. The echo of the hatch slamming shut testified to her failure. “Dammit!”
There was a soft moan behind her and Kira went cold.
Turning her body around, her wristlight found Mello, a blackened hole smoldering in the middle of the captain’s chest. She was still conscious, staring back at Kira blankly, as if surprised.
“Kira to bridge! Captain Mello’s been hit! Beam her directly to the bridge!”
“Transporters are still down!”the reply came.
“Then send down Dr. Xiang,” Kira barked. “We’re in port Jefferies tube 14A. Move it!”
“Belay that, Spillane,” Mello said. Her breath came in short labored gasps. “You’ll only expose Xiang to danger. Besides…even if Mei gets through…I’ll be dead by the time she arrives.”
“You’re not giving up, Captain!” Kira snapped. “Xiang, get down here now!”
“No…” Mello insisted.
“Stop talking,” Kira told her. “Save your strength—”
“Bridge,” Mello pressed on, “I need you to bear witness…to what I’m about to do…. Stand by….”
“We’re standing by, Captain,”Spillane said quietly, as if she knew what was about to follow.
“Computer,” Mello began. “This is Captain Elaine Mello…commanding officer, U.S.S. Gryphon….Transfer all command codes…to Commander Kira Nerys—”
“Captain, no—” Kira protested.
“Authorization…Mello…Beta…Seven-two-line…execute.”
“Transfer executed,”the computer confirmed. “U.S.S. Gryphon now under command of Commander Kira Nerys.”
“Elaine…” Kira whispered.
Mello groped for her Starfleet combadge. She pulled it off her uniform and placed it in Kira’s hand. “Stop him, Nerys,” she said through teeth clenched against the agony in her chest. “And take care of my ship.” Kira’s eyes dropped to Mello’s combadge. The silver arrowhead felt strangely heavy in her hand. She looked up again, but Mello’s eyes were already blank and lifeless.
Kira sat in silence for a moment on the floor of the Jefferies tube. Finally she reached out and closed Mello’s eyelids, slipped the captain’s hand phaser into her boot, then placed the Starfleet combadge over her left breast.
“Kira to bridge.”
“Yes, Col—yes, Commander?”
“Captain Mello is dead. I’m resuming pursuit of Montenegro.” Checking the charge on her phaser rifle, Kira continued down the Jefferies tube.
20
Judith had to hand it to Miles—he’d figured out exactly which buttons to push to draw Dad out of his isolation. She knew he wasn’t past his grief, but to see him in his kitchen again—once more conducting his unique symphony of pots and pans, food and fire—Judith was filled with hope for the first time since Ben had disappeared.
Dad had made jambalaya—a Sisko Family specialty—and from the first forkful, the O’Briens looked as if they’d died and gone to heaven. Of course, Dad always put too much cayenne pepper in his jambalaya, but Judith wasn’t about to start that old debate now. Seated around the table, they talked about life in San Francisco. Keiko was working with a team of botanists at a civilian agricultural lab, where they were innovating new varieties of fast-growing food crops for those planets hit hardest during the war. It was rewarding work, she said, but she missed not being able to see her innovations put into practice.
Miles spoke at length about teaching starship engineering to Academy freshmen, how much more sane it was than spending his days and nights trying to keep Deep Space 9 from coming apart, or trying to stay ahead of battle damage aboard his old ship, the Defiant.Keiko leaned over and told Judith sotto vocethat for all his protests to the contrary, Miles secretly enjoyed the chaos of the old days. Judith laughed, which made Miles wonder self-consciously what the two women were whispering about.
She noted that Dad seemed to take a sadistic joy in teasing poor Chief O’Brien—“You call yourself an engineer? You can barely boil water!”—and Miles played the role of the bumbling, replicator-dependent Starfleet engineer to the tee. He had correctly realized that Dad needed someone to blow off steam at, something he could never do in the same way with Judith or Kasidy, or even his loyal staff. But Miles was another matter. By lumbering his way into Dad’s life, he’d given her father something to get mad about that he could fix.
And then there were the kids, who were having precisely the effect Kasidy had hoped they would. They filled the house with laughter again. And though they must have reminded Dad about the children he’d lost, Kasidy and Judith’s hope had been that they would also make him think hard about the child still to come. Dad entertained them with yet another in a long list of tall—and contradictory—tales about the fake alligator suspended from the restaurant ceiling. The kids just ate it up.
“So what do you do in San Francisco, Molly?” Dad asked. “Lotta playing outdoors with your friends, I’ll bet. Riding your bike down those amazing hills?”