Dax studied the object in Bashir's hands. "How do you know about all this?"
"During my internship, I pulled a brief tour of duty in rehab clinic for Starfleet personnel who had been prisoners of war." His fist closed around the instrument's knotted handle "This . . . thing is only used in one system. It has a primitive effectiveness that makes it of particular appeal to the Cardassians." Bashir tossed it back onto the bench. "Now we know where the CI modules came from."
CHAPTER 9
She went to the commander's office on Ops, straight from docking the Mekong. As soon as she entered and the door closed behind her, she could discern that this meeting was not going to go well. The expression on the commander's face was as ominous as banks of storm clouds gathering at the horizon.
"Have a seat, Major." Sisko pointed to the chair in front of his desk. "There's a lot we need to talk about."
"I expect so." Kira sat down, feeling the bone-weariness from the journey seep through her body. After everything that had happened this last time on Bajor, she would have been even more grateful to have gone to her quarters and dropped the bed for several hours' sleep. But now the situation had gone from imminent crisis to actual emergency; there never seemed to be time for mere physical—and mental—recuperation.
"We've already been apprised of the latest developments the Bajoran government." Sisko leaned back in his own chair, forming a cage out of his fingertips. "Or perhaps I should say the late Bajoran government. It now looks as if we'll be dealing with the Severalty Front on a much more formal basis than we had anticipated would be the case."
She nodded. "You're right about that, Commander. I'll be preparing a full report on the coup d'etat—"
"That won't be necessary, Major. I've instructed Odo to put me in touch with his primary intelligence sources on Bajor." The commander's voice was stiffly formal. "All pertinent data will be routed through an analysis team that I've assembled here aboard the station. As of now, and until further notice, you're relieved of your liaison duties."
"What?" Kira stared at him in disbelief. "Are you joking? There's no one aboard DS9 with the kind of expertise I have in Bajoran political affairs—"
Sisko's expression remained grim. "That may well be, Major. But there aren't other personnel with the same suspicions attached to them, either."
"Suspicions?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing; her incredulity cut through the fatigue she had felt only a moment before. "With all due respect, Commander, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Rest assured that I'm handling this entirely on an informal basis, Major. Nothing's gone on your record—yet."
"Oh? I presume that's because, whatever 'suspicions' you might have, nothing's been proven." There was no preventing the sarcasm from sharpening her words. "Yet."
He gave a single nod of his head. "That is in fact the case. And I'm certainly committed to the principle of accepting your innocence until such time as any degree of guilt might be established. But at the same time, I can't allow the possibility of disloyalty to the mission of Deep Space Nine to adversely affect our operations at this critical time—"
Kira gripped the arms of the chair, to keep herself rising up like a barely contained explosion. "Are you making an accusation against me, Commander?"
"As I said, not at this moment." Sisko carefully kept his voice level. "I don't have the time right now to decide upon an interpretation of your recent actions. It may well be that you are responsible for nothing more than some severe lapses in judgment. That would be bad enough, but it would also be a great deal more excusable."
She held her silence for a moment, restraining the outburst of anger that swelled at the base of her throat. "What exact actions are you referring to?"
"You piloted a runabout to the surface of Bajor without filing a flight plan or making notification to me or any other DS9 officer—"
"Is that all? Commander . . ." Kira shook her head in disbelief. "I am second-in-command here—or at least I was. I believe I'm not only within my right, but within my duties, to take such courses of action as I might deem necessary, without an overly strict observance of regulations. I recall you describing some of these rules as petty formalities."
"That's not all, Major. While in the Bajoran capital, you were observed meeting with key members of the Severalty Front. Including General Aur. Almost immediately thereafter, the first stages of the coup were launched by the Front."
"And you think I had something to do with that?"
Sisko's expression remained unchanged. "Quite frankly, I don't think so—that's why I'm not making any formal charges against you or initiating any official investigative procedure. No one would be happier than I, or less surprised, find out that you were not part of any conspiracy against the long-standing Bajoran provisional government. But at this point, I can't take the risk of being wrong on that count. Given what we know about the Severalty Front's stated policies and intentions, I have to be prepared for the worst-case scenario regarding our mission here. My duty is to represent the interests of the Federation; if things go as badly for us as General Aur and the others in the Front apparently desire them to, and Starfleet's administration of DS9 is terminated, there will undoubtedly be a high-level review board convened to investigate the matter. All the officers that served here will be placed under oath, and the station's log and all other records will be turned over. I've dealt with these boards before and I can assure you that they're very thorough."
"I have nothing to hide from them."
"Good. Because one of the first things they'd inquire about would be this journey of yours to Bajor just before the coup took place. And then they'd look into whatever actions I took once it had come to my attention. If it were to come out that I left you on full duty—and didn't begin an immediate investigation of my own—then the interpretation of that sequence of events would be severe."
"I see." Kira could still feel the anger simmering inside her. "So who exactly are you protecting? Yourself?"
"There would be a lot better ways to accomplish that, if it were all I was interested in, Major. I could have you restricted to your living quarters until after an internal investigation had taken place; in fact, if I wanted to play this situation entirely by the book, I could have Odo place you under arrest and lock you up in one of the security office's holding cells."
"You certainly could do that, Commander. And then I'd know how I'm to be repaid for all the loyalty I've demonstrated, and all the efforts I've made on behalf of DS9's mission." She rubbed a tightly clenched fist against the arm of the chair. "And all those like General Aur, who always maintained that non-Bajorans couldn't be trusted—then I would have to rethink my attitude toward them."