Chapter Three

COMMANDER RIKER MOTIONED for Dax to wait for him a moment, then watched until Picard, Sisko, Barclay, Gowron, and Jellico were at the entrance to Quark’s.

“I thought they’d never leave,” he said, turning I, to face Dax. “I was hoping we could have a _mtcap.” He indicated the now empty table littered with glasses and mugs.

She laughed. “With pleasure, Commander.”

Riker felt his heart race slightly. He’d been hoping for years for some opportunity to spend time with Dax. It looked as if these long talks with the Klingons just might give him the opportunity, if Dax was willing. And so far she seemed to return his interest.

Riker scooted a chair out for her and then motioned for Rom to bring two glasses of wine. “I hope

Quark’s best wine will do,” he said as he sat down beside her.

“Very much so, Commander,” she said, smiling at him. “What’s the occasion?”

“Good company always requires good drink,” he said.

Shelaughed.

“Didn’t buy that, huh?” he asked, laughing with her. He really enjoyed her laugh and was glad she used it freely.

“Not for a moment.”

Rom delivered the two glasses of wine and Riker waited until he had left before he held his up in a toast. “To a successful meeting.”

Dax raised an eyebrow and smiled. “To success.”

They both drank, then Riker turned to face her. “So what did you honestly think of the meeting today?”

He watched her sip her wine and seem to ponder. He needed her opinion, because at this point he didn’t completely trust his own.

“It didn’t go weIL” she said, putting down her o’ and facing him. “I think Gowron is intent on impit ing relations with the Federation, but I don’t know how long that will last. And I think Admiral Jellico was the worst person the Federation could have sent to head these meetings.”

“,”(I why’s that?”

She laughed. “Oh, come on. He hates Klingons.

That much is clear from his every action.”

Riker nodded. He’d felt the same way after today’s meeting. And so had Captain Picard. But at the

moment there didn’t seem to be anything anyone could do about the admiral.

“I’m afraid I agree,” Riker said. “But with the problems along the Federation/Klingon border heating up, and the Cardassians playing both sides of the fence, we need this meeting to work.”

“Actually,” Dax said, twisting her wineglass in her hand. “I don’t think that’s what is driving Gowron.”

“So what is?”

Dax glanced around, then leaned in closer to Riker. “Gowron is barely holding on to power inside the Empire. There are many Klingons who wish the Empire had never stopped their conquering ways and they want to return to those old methods.”

Riker shook his head. “They’d never stand a chance against the Federation. Not now.”

“‘We know that,” Dax said. “And so does Gowron.”

Riker nodded. “So he needs the conference to help make relations with the Federation stronger so that if he needs to go to war against, say, the Cardassians, we might come in on his side. Or at least stay neutral.”

Dax nodded. “But there are those on both sides who don’t want this conference to work in any fashion at all. In fact, the very existence of the conference, whether anything comes of it or not, is bad for many.”’ This time it was Riket’s turn to lean in closer to Dax. He liked her soft smell and wished he was leaning in at that moment for a different reason. “We have information,” he said, “that there will be a Klingon disruption of the conference. Possibly an attempt on Gowron’s life.”

Dax looked him in the eye, not totally surprised but obviously taken aback nonetheless. “If Gowron is killed here, it might be taken as a dishonor by the Federation against the Klingon Empire.”

“Afraid so,” Riker said.

“Have Odo and Commander Sisko been informed?”

Riker nodded. “And security is everywhere. See the two drunks at the bar?”

Dax turned around to stare at the backs of two humanoids dressed in raglike clothing, sitting at Quark’s bar. They looked like miners right out of the Conway mines. At the moment Quark was making a face at one of them, as the humanoid seemed to be passing out in his drink.

She turned back to Riker. “You’re kidding.?”

He shook his head. “We’ve got every area we can think of covered.”

She glanced back at the two drunk miners and shook her head. “Amazing.”

As she downed the last of her wine Riker asked, “You ready for another?”

She shook her head no. “But dinner tomorrow after the meeting would sound good.”

Riker could feel the smile straining his face. “I’d love it. Another chance to talk.”

She stood. “Until tomorrow, then?”

He stood with her. “Tomorrow.”

Then he watched her as she left the bar.

“She’s a hard one to not stare at, huh, Commander?” Quark said as he bent over beside Riker and started clearing the empty glasses from the table.

Riker laughed. “Yeah, you could say that.” He finished the last of his wine, put the glass on Quark’s

tray, and headed for a good night’s sleep.

With the meeting, followed by dinner tomorrow, he

might need it.

Commander Sisko watched as Chancellor Gowron beamed back to his ship and Captain Picard beamed back to the Enterprise. Then Sisko turned to face Ops.

The current shift seemed to be going normally, considering the extra staff on duty. With two Klingon Birds of Prey and the Enterprise stationed off the station, all shifts needed extra help. And by the time the five days of this conference were finished, it would strain his people to the limit. And him, too. Today’s meetings had exhausted him.

Major Kira Nerys seemed to be the only staff member out of place, since she wasn’t scheduled for this shift. She sat at the security console, staring ahead. He excused the detail that had accompanied them to Ops, and moved her way. She didn’t hear him as he approached.

“Sleep might be a good idea,” he said.

She started, then glanced up and smiled. “Just making a few last-minute checks on station security.”

Sisko nodded. He had the same worries she had. There was more than one rumor about an assassination attempt. And he didn’t want it happening on his station.

“Any changes?” he asked.

Kira turned and indicated the board in front of her. It showed the positions of the thirty security personnel currently on duty. That didn’t count Odo, who Sisko figured would be working every minute he could over the next few days.

“All seems normal,” she said.

“But-?” Sisko said.

She glanced up and smiled again.

“I could hear it in your voice,” he said. “Do you have anything?”

She shook her head and stared at the panel. “Nothing concrete. Just a feeling. A very bad feeling.”

“So do I, Major,” he said. “So do l.”

And for the next half hour the two of them went over the tightest security measures ever placed on Deep Space Nine.