Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

'The Sport of Kings' Series

Book One : Masquerade

by Matt E.
Started November 1998.

******

Disclaimer: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the property of Paramount, 
and it's use here is for entertainment only. 

Plot: The arrival of a new security officer aboard DS9 begins to 
causes problems for the senior staff, especially when aims begin to 
conflict, and other agendas are introduced.

Codes: K & m

Rating: PG-13, probably.

Feedback: Please!!!! Give me feedback. I'd really like to know what 
people think. This is my first piece of fanfic - be kind :)

I can be contacted on (insert fanfare): 

matt@edw.nildram.co.uk

Thanks to: 	 Melanie for betaing this - more than once, and for 
providing much of the inspiration.
		Valerie, Paula and Gabrielle for help on tricky questions 
and discussions on THAT organisation. I couldn't have written it 
without your help. Thanks.
		Fliss, for help with Kira in particular (and an offer to 
post this that was completely unexpected - and welcome.) 
		Mary, for tips on everything this side of the galaxy.
	
Thanks to you all, for all the encouragement, patience and comments, 
once again.

Now on with the story. Hope you like it!

******

'Happy the man, and happy he alone, 
He, who can call to-day his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
To-morrow do thy worst, for I have lived to-day.'

-Translation of Horace, Bk. III. xxix


"Last of all Hurin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and
wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the 
black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered, and each 
time that he slew Hurin cried: 'Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!'
 
Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive, 
by the command of Morgoth, for the Orcs grappled him with their 
hands, which clung to him still though he hewed off their arms; and 
ever their numbers were renewed, until at last he fell buried beneth 
them. Then Gothmog bound him and dragged him to Angband with 
mockery."

-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
Account of the ending of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
(The Battle of Un-numbered Tears.)

******

Book One: Masquerade

******

Prologue

******

Elsewhere....

Three Years Ago....

******

The phaser and disruptor firing stopped. Silence descended, and the 
dust and smoke slowly cleared. Inside the cave, covered in shadows, 
movement and sound slowly resumed. A figure limped painfully from the 
front of the cave deeper inward. 

"Have you managed to contact the Vigilance, Mike? Please give me good 
news."

A small sigh of resignation and frustration arose from the man 
sitting at a communications unit, its innards of circuits and 
components exposed. He shook his head.

"Sorry boss; that last attack knocked out our power supply and 
transmission. They said their ETA was about an hour. They've passed 
the transport's last position. At the beginning of that assault they 
said that the Patriot wasn't even in our sector. 

"After that I managed to hack into a few Romulan military 
frequencies. They're putting more ships into the area. Vigilance is 
going to have to come in slowly. It'll be at least another hour or so
on top of their ETA."

The figure slowly nodded, but his forehead slightly creased in 
confusion. "So where the hell is Patriot? If 'Stuffy' fouled up 
again... Okay, do an ammo count and let me know what we've got left." 

"Will do." 

The man who had been sitting at the now useless communication unit 
arose and went to the front of the cave. The person addressed as 
'boss' sat down heavily next to the unit, and in the shadows it was 
obvious he was hurt. A sling covered his left arm, tying it to his 
body, and there was a bandage around his right leg. It was stained 
dark red. As with Mike, numerous small cuts were evident on the 
exposed parts of his body. His combat uniform was covered with dirt, 
and ripped in places. 

A soldier with a medic's bag came over. 

"Can I do anything for you Cap'n?"

"Yes, 'Doctor', you can give me twenty security detachments and the 
firepower of a Galaxy-Class Starship. But if you can't do that I 
could use something for this leg and the arm - I jarred them in that 
last assault." 

The medic nodded, "It's been long enough since your last shot." 

The medic raised a hypospray to the man's neck and injected the 
contents. 

"Thanks, Doc. Have you got the rest of the water?"

"Yeah, I collected it all together. We've only got two canteens left, 
and I'm having to use them for cleaning wounds. We're out of anti-
septics. I've nearly run out of anaesthetic. The power to most of the 
instruments is out. Damn it, we were meant to be picked up six days 
ago. We didn't plan for being in a firefight for five days. We're 
even running low on bandages."

He gestured to where one of the few remaining personnel was ripping 
parts of a jacket into shreds, and then using them to make rough 
padding and bandages. A shout came from the front of the cave. 

"Captain, there's something going on out here that you should see." 

The man who had been working on the communications unit, came running 
back to where the Captain was sitting on the ground. 

"Help me up." 

The man known as Mike and the medic helped their Captain to his feet. 
With a swift nod, the medic went back to where a pile of figures 
covered in blankets could be seen, and drew another blanket over the 
figure of a woman lying on a stretcher. From beside the stretcher the 
medic could be heard saying words, 

"May your soul rest in peace, and walk the land of your ancestors."

After a brief period in which the two men stood with their heads 
bowed, they then turned and slowly walked towards the front of the 
cave.

"What's our status Mike?"

"Ammo wise, Fraser and T'Skar are down to their last cell. No photon-
grenades left. The rest of the troops have one cell left, though in 
many cases its not fully charged. I'm out, so I've got a cell off 
Andy, and I'll use Cat's rifle - she bought it in that last hit. 
Medic wise, well, there's only six of us who can still fight. Andy's 
getting his arm treated now, and T'Skar is tying up Ed's leg. The 
rest, well..." He gestured towards the rear of the cave where the 
Medic was now treating the arm on another soldier, next to the row of 
bodies. "As he said, we'll have used up all our supplies within the 
first twenty minutes of the next attack."

The Captain nodded, wearily, "What was it you wanted to me to see?" 

They had reached a separation in the cave, and as they crouched and 
moved forward Mike replied. 

"There's a white flag been waved down there. It seems they want a 
parley. It could be a trap."

"Yes, but seeming how they'll probably overrun us on the next assault 
unless Vigilance gets here, we're not much better off up here. Well, 
I'd best go and see what our dear opponent wants. Wave a white 
bandage above the barricade. I'll see you in a tick." 

After a few moments of waving the bandage, the Captain pulled himself 
slowly over the barricade, and limped cautiously down the rise, pain 
dulled by drugs. Halfway down he saw a Romulan climb up from behind 
one of the many rocks and walk towards him. They stopped a meter from 
each other. The Romulan, clothed in combat gear, saluted, as 
the Captain came to a halt. With difficulty, the soldier who was 
dressed in Federation battle fatigues, with the noticeable lack of 
rank and unit insignia, returned the salute.

The Federation Captain nodded slowly in recognition as he saw who his 
opponent was. He then spoke. "Riov Rivak tr'Illialhlae. I expected it 
would be you."

The Romulan nodded, and gave a small respectful, if restrained, 
smile. He replied. 

"Knowing you, I don't suppose you would consider surrendering?" At 
the lack of response from his counterpart he continued, "No, I didn't 
think so, and I can't blame you. I just wanted to see who it was that 
has been giving our security forces such a hard time over the last 
six days. I will admit I am impressed with what you have done. I am 
not sure I could have done better myself."

Moving slowly, so as to avoid the mistake of appearing hostile - he 
knew what that would lead to with the two of them being in so close 
proximity - two dead officers - the Romulan reached down his leg and 
drew a knife, flipped it in his hand, and offered it to the Captain 
hilt first. 

"Here, as a honourable opponent." 

The Federation Officer raised his right hand, covered with a black 
glove, took the knife and studied it.

"Good balance." Placing the Romulan knife in his belt the Federation 
Officer awkwardly drew his own knife and offered it to the Romulan 
Captain, who accepted it. Looking at it the Romulan commented:

"I presume that this is the knife you....?" 

The slight nod given by the Federation Special Forces officer ended 
the discussion. 

"Well, Riov Rivak, ten minutes then we begin? And end."

With a raised eyebrow, Riov Rivak nodded, thoughtfully. 

"It is a shame it must end this way. In another life we could have 
been on the same side. That would have been interesting. Jolan Tru."

So saying the Romulan drew to attention and saluted his counterpart. 
The salute was returned, and the Federation Captain turned and slowly 
limped back up the muddy track to the cave where the few remaining 
members of his team were waiting. Reaching the barricade the Captain 
pulled himself over it with his good arm, and was helped to the other 
side by his team.

He spoke to them. 

"They attack in seven minutes. Don't be taken alive. You know what 
the Tal Shiar will do." 

It wasn't a question. 

Nods came back, and a resigned air seemed to fill the cave. They'd 
all expected it, but had been hoping against hope that something....

"It's been an honour. Stand to. Stand to."

With this the Captain went and retrieved his own rifle, checked it 
over, gave a small sigh, and lay down awkwardly at a firing hole in 
the barricade. From his right a voice could be heard, receiting the 
23rd Psalm.

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; 
He maketh me lie down in green pastures.
He leadeth me beside the still waters; He restoreth my soul.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Darkness,
I shall fear no ill; for Thou art with me, Lord; 
Thy rod and Thy staff comfort me.

Thou preparest a table for me in the presence of mine enemies;
Thou anoinest my head with oil, my cup runneth-over.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for evermore." 

"Amen." The Captain said quietly. "Good luck people. I'll see you on 
the other side."

The next moment the firing began again.

******

The Present: 2372, just prior to the events chronicled in ST:DSN
'The Way of the Warrior.'

******

Chapter One

******

Deep Space Nine, the Bajoran Sector. Edge of Federation Space.

******

The space station known as Deep Space Nine slowly orbited the Bajoran 
system, hovering at the entrance to the Wormhole. Docked at the 
station were several ships, and the Cardassian grey exterior of the 
station was split by Starfleet white, transport tan and cargo brown. 

In the Ops the day was going slowly. There had been few requests to 
dock or depart, and Captain Sisko had retreated to his office early 
in the morning claiming that he had reports to work on. The past few 
days had been frantic with activity, following the aborted mission to 
Tzenkethi and the discovery of a Changeling aboard the USS Defiant. 
Now it seemed as though there was a period of pause, while the 
Admirals at Starfleet Command caught up with everything and decided 
how to proceed. Thus for the moment at least few things were 
happening.

This was, to one member of the crew anyway, a god-send. Chief of 
Operations Miles O'Brien had been run off his feet in the last days 
attempting to repair the damage to the Defiant, and check her for any 
further sabotage. Now, with the respite, he continued with the other 
major task at hand - the upgrading of the defensive systems. While 
tweaking the power relays under one of the minor consoles in Ops, 
the Chief was interrupted from his task by the voice Lieutenant 
Commander Jadzia Dax. 

"Ops to Sisko, we've got an incoming message from Vice-Admiral 
Necheyev. It's on a secure channel."

Sisko's disembodied voice came back over the communications system. 

"Put her through to my office, Old Man."

Dax transferred the message through, and, after a minute, looked up 
to see the Chief looking at her, curiously. 

"I wonder what that's about?"

The Chief shrugged. "I dare say we'll find out soon enough. On second 
thoughts we may be just about to." 

He finished with a meaningful glance at the doors of the old 
Cardassian Prefect's office on the higher floor of Ops. Quickly 
turning back to his console, the Chief heard the doors slide open, 
and then Sisko's voice, sounding carefully controlled and neutral. 

"Dax, schedule a senior staff meeting for 1500 hours." At her 
questioning glance, he added "I'll explain then."

******

In the middle of the afternoon, in the security office off the 
Promenade, the Head of Station Security, Constable Odo was engaging 
in one of his favourite pastimes (though he'd be loath to admit it.) 
Anyone walking past would have heard a protesting, whining voice:

"You've got no proof. It's all mere conjecture and wild speculation. 
You can't accuse me of anything!!!"

A gravelly voice replied: "Really?"

"You can't blame me for..."

Odo's voice interrupted that of the person sitting in the chair 
opposite him: 

"For what, Quark? The fact that Morn ended up in the Infirmary with a 
severe case of food poisoning in his upper stomach?"

"It's not my fault." The Ferengi protested. "It's my brother's - he's 
meant to keep the replicators up to scratch. Not that there's 
anything wrong with them." 

Odo's look clearly conveyed his disbelief. Any further questioning 
was prevented however, by the computer prompting Odo that the time 
was 1455 hours, and that as such there was a Senior Staff meeting in 
the Ward Room in five minutes.

******

At 1500 Captain Sisko called the staff meeting to order. All the 
senior staff were present; Doctor Bashir sat across from Dax, with 
Odo across from Major Kira Nerys. Chief O'Brien occupied the seat to 
Bashir's left, and Lt. Commander Michael Eddington, still not 
O'Brien's favourite person following the incident when he sabotaged 
the Defiant, the one opposite to him. The buzz of conversation in the 
room died down as Sisko began to address the group.

"Earlier today I had a conversation with Vice-Admiral Necheyev. 
Starfleet feels that due to our position at the mouth of the wormhole 
and our experiences on the trip to Tzenkethi we would benefit from an 
increase in the numbers of security personnel available to us." Odo 
began to bristle and exchanged a glance with Eddington. A look of 
disbelief came over the features of the senior staff, and they 
clearly thought Starfleet was trying to replace Odo again. Sisko 
continued; "Don't worry, Constable, you'll still in charge of the 
security force, Starfleet is just sending us more people."

Hearing this the senior staff relaxed. This changed very quickly when 
Sisko said: 

"The reason for this meeting is that they'll be arriving on the USS 
Tobruk tomorrow morning, and we need to sort out accommodation for 
them, as the Tobruk has to leave to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone 
immediately. I know we're pretty full at the moment, but we have got 
to find room for at least another twenty security personnel, and 
equipment." 

A look of disbelief shot onto the face of Major Kira and Lt. 
Commander Dax. Sisko, however, continued "Doctor, their records will 
be arriving at 1600; you know what has to be done."

Bashir nodded and proceeded to mull over how his plans for that 
evening with Leeta had just been thrown out of the airlock as he had 
to do paperwork and check on the medical histories of twenty or so 
new personnel. He had the strong suspicion he wouldn't enjoy the 
evening one tenth as much. No, make that one-twentieth as much.

The Captain concluded: "If there are no questions? Well, we've got a 
lot to do, so let's get going, people. Constable, Commander could you 
wait behind for a moment." So saying the senior staff except Odo and 
Eddington exited the room. 

"I know that you have a lot of work to do, trying to reschedule 
duties and so on, but I thought that I'd better talk to you about the 
personnel issue now. There was something else I didn't bring up. One 
of the personnel that is being assigned to us is a Lt. Kevin Brown." 
At the look of shocked recognition on Eddington's face, Sisko nodded. 

"Yes, the same." To Odo, Sisko said: 

"Lt. Kevin Brown has a...reputation in Starfleet. He is known as 
something of a maverick, very little regard for authority. This is a 
copy of his records." 

Sisko passed a padd to each of the officers and as they sat in 
silence reading the padd Sisko regarded his security officers. They 
had come a long way in the past year from the rather stormy 
beginning. His musing was interrupted by Odo's question:

"It just says censured and disciplined for insubordination here. What 
was the actual reason?"

Sisko looked slightly uncomfortable at that. 

"It was insubordination. At the ceremony in which he was awarded his 
Star Cross, Lt., well the then Lieutenant-Commander Brown, had to be 
pulled off an admiral after he tried to congratulate him on his 
award. No knows why he did it, but the fact that the admiral was in 
the StarBase's medical bay for two weeks in a coma, with, aside from 
other things, a broken jaw, nose, and a fractured skull, meant that 
Brown was severely disciplined. The incident was infamous as it 
was actually recorded live by the Federation News Service which was 
covering the event. It was a multiple award ceremony for many 
people." Sisko explained. "At his trial neither the Admiral or Lt. 
Cmdr. Brown would explain the incident. He was busted down to Lt. 
(j.g.) They couldn't very well discharge him after just having 
awarded him the Star Cross. Also there have been other less serious 
incidents...."

Odo interrupted "And this is the man we are being sent? Isn't there 
anyone else?"

Sisko replied, 

"According to Necheyev, Brown may have a problem with authority, but 
normally it is only with those he doesn't respect. Apparently he 
won't tolerate fools. Aside from that he is a very good security 
officer. He was the one who smashed the Orion Syndicate in the 
Celnius and D'Vat sectors." 

Odo nodded. "Well if there is nothing else Captain, Commander 
Eddington and I have a lot of work to get done." 

The Captain nodded and the security officers left the room. Sisko 
remained sitting in his chair for a while, thinking over the new 
personnel that would be arriving, and wondering if his gut feeling 
that more trouble may be arriving would be proven right. He hoped it 
wouldn't.

******

Chapter Two

******

Major Kira Nerys of the Bajoran Militia was not having a good day. 
This had been established an hour or so beforehand, soon after the 
start of the shift, when despite managing to solve the problems 
regarding the quartering of the additional security personnel the day 
before, she had just found out about various administrative tasks 
that the bureaucrats at Starfleet and the Provisional Government had 
decided she was the perfect person to solve. 

After running into another uncooperative clerk - a typical 
bureaucrat, she thought, - at the Office of Financial Affairs, her 
legendary temper finally erupted.

"Don't tell me that you can't tell me that!!! You get that 
information packet to me NOW!!!! Or I will make sure that you spend 
your next assignment in Waste Processing and Recycling!!!" 

Kira vented her anger at the small screen, slamming her hand down on 
the close channel panel as she did so. There was silence in Ops. 
Slowly, and very quietly, several ensigns moved towards the top level 
of Ops out of a sense of self-preservation. Lieutenant Commander Dax 
however, having lived for some 300 years, didn't share their same 
fear. 

"Something wrong, Kira?" she questioned. 

The look she received from the Major answered the question. 'If looks 
could kill...'Jadzia thought. Further questions (and inevitable short
tempered responses) were interrupted by the sound of a hail. Dax 
quickly opened the channel. It was the USS Tobruk, who informed her 
that they were some ten minutes out from the station and that they 
had to dock quickly and drop the personnel off, and them leave. They 
were directed to Upper Pylon Three.

Entering Sisko's office Dax said, 

"The Tobruk just signalled. They'll be arriving in 10 minutes - just 
long enough to drop off the personnel. Captain Bahens compliments. He 
asked me to convey his apologies for not being able to stay longer. 
I've directed them to Upper Pylon Three." 

Sisko nodded, and then said:

"Why don't you and the Major join Odo and Eddington greeting them. 
I'm sure you could use a break for a while." With a small smile on 
his face he continued, "I know the Major can." 

Dax grinned and nodded. Smile fading he continued, 

"I would like to 'talk' to Lt. Brown as soon as he has stowed his 
kit, Old Man. Can make sure he finds his way up here?" 

Dax nodded again and stepped out of the office and went to stand next 
to Kira. Deciding how to best open the conversation with the still 
fuming Bajoran Dax said:

"Um, Kira, the Captain thinks it would be a good idea if we went to 
greet the new personnel from the Tobruk." Noticing Kira drawing 
breath to open her mouth and protest, Dax quickly continued, "I 
don't think he was suggesting it." 

Kira closed her mouth and gave a sharp nod nod, looking less then 
pleased. Turning, she walked up to the turbolift, Dax following in 
her wake, breathing a sigh of relief.

******

About five minutes later the Ambassador-Class Starship, the USS 
Tobruk, named after the World War Two battles at the place of that 
name in North Africa, dropped out of warp inside the Bajoran system. 

Going to impulse engines then thrusters it quickly docked at DS9, the 
manoeuvre being conducted with a kind of smooth elegance. 

******

At Upper Pylon Three, Kira and Dax had just joined Odo and Eddington, 
and informed them of Captain Sisko's wishes, when the hatch rolled 
open and the first of the security personnel stepped out. 

"Welcome to DS9," Kira opened. "I'm Major Kira Nerys, the First 
Officer, this is Lieutenant-Commander Dax, our science officer, 
Security Chief Odo and Lt. Cmdr. Eddington, also security." 

She halted her introductions. 

"Well, so that the Tobruk can leave we'll show you to your quarters. 
Please follow Lt. Cmdr.'s Dax and Eddington please." Her tone 
indicated that it wasn't a request.

Odo so far hadn't said a word. He was watching the personnel walk 
out of the docking hatch, kit on their backs, and was looking for one 
face that had become very familiar to him with over the last day.  He 
saw the person coming last out of the hatch. 

******

Lieutenant Kevin Brown walked out of the hatch last in the line. 
Dressed in security yellow and carrying a Starfleet Security issue 
Rucsac on his back, he glanced at the officers who waited to greet 
them. Pausing in his glance, he looked intently at the Security Chief 
as he stepped off the hatch. 

Odo returned the look equally, each of them already testing the 
other. Odo studied Lt. Brown. What he saw was a human male, of medium 
build and height, about 5'11", with short dark hair. Like most 
people, however, this was not what caught Odo's attention. The scar 
that ran down the left hand-side of his face from the cheekbone to 
the jaw seemed to throw down a gauntlet. 

After a moment the changeling spoke:

"Well, Lt. Brown, welcome abroad. I've heard all about you." A small, 
sardonic, lopsided smile appeared on the man's face opposite him. 
"After you've put your kit in your room, Captain Sisko would like to 
see you. I don't suggest you keep him waiting." 

Odo informed him, then turned away and walked after the retreating 
figures of the rest of the security contingent. Lt. Kevin Brown 
looked after him, with the same small smile still on his face. After 
a moment he turned back to find Major Kira studying him intently.

"So you're Lieutenant Brown."

The Lieutenant gave a slight nod. 

"Indeed. Is something the matter, Major?" 

His accent reminded her immediately of Dr. Bashir's.

"I was just wondering how long it will be before you end up in the 
brig for one thing or another." 

At this the smile on Lt. Brown's face grew wider, and he responded:

"Why, what the pool betting so far, Major? What are the odds?"

This wasn't the correct response to placate a Bajoran Major who had 
had a very frustrating morning. The temperature in the corridor 
seemed to drop to freezing, as Kira replied:

"Let's get one thing straight, Lt. You be insubordinate on this 
station and I will take great pleasure in making sure that your feet 
never touch ground again. Clear?" 

The Lieutenant inclined his head, and Kira had a hard time working 
out whether it was mockingly or respectfully. 

"Well, Major, we wouldn't want to keep the Captain waiting would we? 
Please, after you." 

So saying he gestured with his hand, in a 'you-go-first' motion and 
Kira noticed immediately was that his hand was encased in a black 
glove. Trying not to stare Kira walked quickly off down the corridor, 
towards the Habitat Ring. With a wry smile, Lt. Brown followed.

******

About twenty minutes later Lt. Brown entered Ops, following Major 
Kira and Constable Odo. They went straight to the Captain's office 
and signalled to enter. The doors slid open and they entered. Inside 
the office Sisko sat behind his desk, looking at the man who had 
recently been assigned to his station. He noticed that upon entering 
Lt. Brown's eyes had seen to flicker around every bit of the room, 
surveying it. 'What was that for?' Sisko wondered. 

Standing at attention Lt. Brown said;

"Lt. Brown reporting as ordered, Sir." 

He pronounced it 'Leftenant.'

Silence then resumed as Sisko regarded the Lieutenant, and the 
Lieutenant stared out of the window behind Sisko. Meanwhile Kira and 
Odo had moved to the side of Sisko's desk. 

"At ease." Sisko eventually said. 

Lt. Brown shifted into the universal military 'at ease' posture, and 
his eyes moved to look at Sisko. 

"When Admiral Necheyev told me that you were to be stationed here, I 
protested on the grounds of your disciplinary record. She overruled 
me. She seems to think that you will be useful here. I will only say 
this once, so I would recommend that you take it in. I will not 
tolerate any insubordination aboard my station. Are we clear, 
Lieutenant?"

"As crystal, sir," came the response. "The Major has already made it 
clear what I can expect." 

Sisko shot Kira a glance. 

"Good," said the Captain. "Having seen your record I know you can do 
your job. Make sure you do. Now, this as you know is Constable Odo, 
our Security Chief. You will be working under him. Are there any 
problems with that?"

"Not if he's competent, sir."

Kira almost exploded at this perceived questioning of her friend's 
ability, but a raised hand from Sisko stopped her. 

Before Sisko could say anything Odo interrupted, in his gravelly 
voice,

"May I Captain?" At Sisko's nod, he continued, "Do you mind 
explaining that statement Lt.?"

Lt. Brown turned to face him, and his eyes seemed to bore into Odo. 
"Permission to speak freely?" 

Odo nodded. 

"I don't have a problem working under you because you're a 
Changeling, or because you worked for the Cardassians, or because 
you're not 'Fleet. As long as you're competent I won't have a 
problem. Sir."

The two continued to look at each other, each sizing up the other. At 
Sisko's small cough they returned their attention to the Captain. 

"Lieutenant, I believe that there is a general security briefing 
tomorrow morning, first thing. You will be given your duty assignment 
then. Dismissed."

Lt. Brown came to attention, about turned and exited the office. 

Odo looked at the door as it closed behind him. He observed, dryly,

"I can see how his record ended up in the state it is in." 

Sisko nodded.

"Any incidents of insubordination from him, and I want to know about 
them immediately, Constable."

Odo inclined his head, and he and Kira left the office.

******

In his quarters, Lt. Kevin Brown unpacked his rucsac. After placing 
standard security clothing in his closet, he reached into his rucsac 
and took out another item of clothing. This he hung next to the 
security clothing, where the yellow band at the top of the security 
contrasted to the complete black of the jacket. 

Reaching back into his bag he took hold of an item of equipment and 
he used it to scan the quarters, nodding to himself. Setting another 
piece of equipment, about half the size of a combadge in a corner of 
the room, he activated it. A shrill whine filled the room for a 
instant, and then disappeared. Going over to the computer he entered 
a series of commands, and then spoke.

"Computer, recognise Brown, Kevin, clearance level 18, code Alpha 
Zero Two. Go." 

The computer responded:

"Access enabled. Please verify authorisation."

"Codename Mamba, Section Alpha. Go."

"Authorisation enabled."

Entering a series of co-ordinates Lt. Brown said, 

"Send a message containing the following to these co-ordinates. 
Message reads: 'Phase one complete. Proceeding to next phase.' Send, 
and then close access."

The computer chirped in acknowledgement as the message was sent, and 
access closed.

******

In the Operations Centre the communications board showed no activity what-so-ever.

******

Chapter Three

******

Later, that evening, Quark's bar was in full swing. At a table on the 
upper level Jadzia Dax sat and talked to her friend, Kira Nerys. Dax 
was trying to get her friend to relax, and so far was only have a 
moderate amount of success. The conversation shifted, as Dax had 
thought it inevitably would, to the new security personnel. 

"He had the gall to actually question Odo's competence! He's just so 
arrogant and...and..."

"Insubordinate?"

"Insubordinate." Kira sipped her drink. "He just seems to have no 
respect for authority at all. I mean you've seen his record. Numerous 
disciplinary counts, and yet Starfleet sends him here."

Dax was silent for a moment and then said, 

"Maybe he does have a problem with authority, but despite that he is 
very good at his job. Starfleet doesn't award the Star Cross for 
nothing. I looked up his record, and before his censuring he was in 
line for promotion to Commander." Pausing for a moment she glanced 
down to the lower level of Quarks. "Speak of the devil." 

She said. Kira followed her look and just walking through the 
entrance to Quarks was Lt. Brown.

Kira frowned. "Something wrong?" Dax asked.

Kira didn't respond, and then shook her head. 

"I don't know, I just seem to feel as though I know him from 
somewhere. He seems familiar." She ended. "I don't know, maybe I'm 
being a bit hard on him. I mean my disciplinary record isn't that 
good when you look at it." Dax gave a smile at this. "Anyway when are 
you going to be up for your next game of springball?"

******

On the lower level of Quarks the object of the previous conversation, 
was at the bar. With eyes that were well practised in the art of 
seeing new commerce, Quark saw a new customer, and headed over to 
him.

"Good Evening, a new face around here. First drink is on the house. A 
terrible human custom. What'll it be?"

After a moment of thinking Brown decided. 

"Have you got any vodka?"

Quark shook his head. Brown grimaced. "Pint of bitter, then."

After returning with the drink, Quark said to the Lieutenant. 

"Well, Lt., it seems that as you're new here, a few introductions are 
in order. I'm Quark, the owner of this establishment. I've heard a 
lot about you." 

The response immediately came back: "Why am I not surprised?"

Quark smiled. 

"Rule of Acquisition number 194 'It's always good business to know 
about new customers..."

"...Before they walk in your door. Yes, I know." The Lieutenant
interrupted.

Quark looked at him, reappraising him. 

"You know the rules? I must admit I'm surprised, not many humans can 
learn them, or understand them. 

The Lieutenant gave a small smile.

"All 285 rules, and many of the commentaries on them."

The Ferengi nodded.

"Is there anything I can do for you, at all? To make the transition 
easier."

Brown thought for a moment. 

"Yes, you can set me up a line of credit, that I'll pay at the end of 
each month."

Quark beamed. 'It appears he hasn't taken anything in from the rules. 
This human will be so easy to con, let's see interest at 30% a 
month...' His musings were interrupted by Brown.

"Interest set at base rates, not Ferengi, on overdue sums after one 
month, credit limited to 5 bars of latinum a month, and payment to 
be transferred in the bar, by me, and not by you accessing my 
account. Is that okay?"

Quark's grin changed to a small scowl. Thinking about it he realised, 
however, that he could still make a profit, be it much, much smaller. 
He nodded. 

"That's fine, I'll set it up. What do you need it for anyway?"

The tone of the response chilled Quark. 

"Rule of Acquisition number 208, Quark. 'Sometimes the only thing 
more dangerous than a question is the answer.'" After staring hard at
Quark for a long moment, Brown continued, "Now I have some of my own 
holosuite programmes. I presume that they will work with your 
holosuite?"

Quark recovered and rushed to reassure him,

"Certainly, my holosuites are state of the art. If you want to share 
your programmes with me, depending on the type, I could..."

He was cut off. 

"They're private, and not for sale."

Quark nodded, "Well think about it. Do you want to reserve a 
holosuite?" 

Brown nodded. 

"Yes, I'll reserve one for tomorrow evening, at 1800 hours for one 
hour."

Quark nodded and noted something down on his padd. 

"I'll see you then." 

Brown nodded, picked up his drink and moved away from the bar. He 
looked around, saw a crowd gathered at the Dabo table, saw a crowd of 
the new security personnel laughing over drinks, and then he looked 
up to the top levels. Seeing that there were no free tables up there, 
he went further into the back of Quarks and sat down at a table in 
the shadows.

To himself Brown thought about the days event's. 'Not a bad day all 
in all. Just have to do the job, and then...' His thoughts were 
interrupted by a shadow falling over his table. He looked up and saw 
Lieutenant-Commander Eddington standing over his table. 

"Can I help you, Sir?" Brown asked, sitting back in his chair.

"Do you mind if I join you, Lieutenant?" Eddington answered with a 
question.

Brown gestured with his hand at the chair. "What can I do for you?"

Eddington replied: 

"I always try and have a chat with new officers as soon as I can. It 
helps I find in alleviating any...tension. I'll get to the point. I 
know your disciplinary record..."

"Gor blimey. Doesn't everyone?" came the comment under the breath of 
Brown. 

Eddington ignored Brown's muttered comment and continued,

"...but I was looking at your security record. Quite impressive. You 
seem to have quite a gift for it."

"I find it a challenge," came the non-committal response.

Eddington paused. 

"You are sworn to uphold Starfleet principles and yet you break them? 
Why? It's not doing you any good. No offence, Lt., but look to your 
career."

Brown smiled. 

"I know the system too. Bismarck once said 'To retain respect for 
sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making'." Downing 
the rest of his drink in one gulp, Brown said, "If there's nothing 
else Commander I should get an early night. Wouldn't want to be late 
tomorrow, would I?" 

Brown said the last with a small smile. 

Eddington shook his head slightly "Go on." 

After Brown left, Eddington remained at the table thinking to 
himself. 'What a waste of a career, but if he keeps his record up 
here...What would he do if he was thrown out of the 'Fleet? I 
wonder...How did he get that scar?'

******

Chapter Four

******

The security meeting the next day began on time. Lt. Brown had 
entered the cargo room where the briefing was being held just on 
time, so as not to be considered late. Odo began. 

"Welcome to DS9. I'm Security Chief Odo, head of Station Security. 
You all work for me. Our aim is simple. To maintain order on the 
station. Lt. Cmdr. Eddington has your duty assignments. If nobody has 
any questions? Good, then lets get to work."

Working his way through the crowd, Brown eventually reached Eddington 
and with a slight nod was given his duty assignment. He looked at 
Eddington. 

"Yes, you're with Odo. I wouldn't keep him waiting" he finished, 
pointedly. 

Brown nodded, and walked over to where Odo stood, as he watched the 
Bajoran and Starfleet security exit the cargo bay to their duty 
assignments. 

When he reached Odo, Lt. Brown stopped and said: 

"I understand that I'm with you today, sir."

Odo looked at him and replied:

"Yes, I thought that it would be best if I kept an eye on you 
initially. We wouldn't want any incidents, would we?" His tone was 
mildly sarcastic. "Let's go, we've got several ships that I want to 
check on today." As they walked out of the cargo bay, Odo continued: 
"A couple of them I suspect have been smuggling and may have 
contraband aboard."

"Would these ships include 'The Cheetah' by any chance?"

Odo shot him a look. "Yes, how did you know that?"

Brown smiled as they walked along the corridor to the docking ring 
where 'The Cheetah' was due to arrive in a few minutes. 

"I'm not just a pretty face...or a not so pretty face," he observed 
with a wry smile. "No, but the truth is that I had a run in with 
their captain a while ago. I don't think I'm his favourite person at 
the moment."

"Oh?" was the response that came from Odo.

Lieutenant Brown, though, refused to expand upon this. As they 
reached the door to the Docking bay where 'The Cheetah' was due to 
arrive, Brown said, 

"I'm sure you'll be able to find out about it, if the captain doesn't 
tell you himself when we walk in there." His voice took on a serious 
note. "Watch your back in there. He's not the most calm or 
trustworthy of people."

Odo's return was stopped by the computer announcing that the Cheetah 
had just docked. "Come on," was all he said. 

Entering the docking bay they saw that the hatch had not yet rolled 
open. As they walked along Lt. Brown slid his hand down his right 
trouser leg, and, unknown to Odo, separated two layers of the fabric, 
so that he could easily reach inside. When they reached the Docking 
Bay hatch it rolled open and a number of people stepped out. 

Odo recognised the Captain immediately. A human who easy passed 7', 
was not hard to miss. As the freighter captain walked out of the 
hatch he glanced up, and stopped dead, as he saw Kevin Brown standing 
there, a small smile, designed to irritate, on his face.

The captain walked until he was face to face with Brown. 

"I ought to kill you now," he said in a lisping voice, "For what you 
did to me." 

Brown said nothing and just looked the man in the eye. Odo 
interrupted their confrontation. 

"We'd like to take a look at your cargo, if you don't mind." 

His tone clearly indicated that even if the captain did mind it 
wouldn't do him a bit of good. 

After twenty minutes of having a look around the cargo that the 
Cheetah was unloading, and still had in her storage bay, they had 
been unable to find anything. As they prepared to leave the ship, Lt. 
Brown turned to the tall captain,

"You wouldn't be able to tell me what this does, would you old boy?"

So saying, he reached out and took the padd the human was holding 
from his hand. The Captain, barely controlling his temper, shook his 
head. The Lieutenant gave a small, dryly-amused smile and, with his 
accent becoming even more pronounced, said,

"Really?"

Glancing at the padd in his hand, Lt. Brown entered a command, then
looked back to the Captain. Watching the human, he pressed the button 
to execute the command. 

The captain looked as though he was about to explode, and when three 
hatches open in the wall next to them a moment later, he threw 
himself at Brown. In one swift, fluid movement, Brown threw the 
captain over his head. As the human landed next to the freighter 
wall, he turned and reached to his side for his disruptor. At this 
moment Odo began to move towards the freighter captain, but before he 
got there, a knife flew and caught the human's hand that was reaching 
for the disruptor, throwing the arm back and pinning the hand to the 
wall.

Odo stopped and looked at Lt. Brown, whose arm remained in the 
position after the knife had been cast. The sound of the freighter 
captain interrupted Odo's thoughts. Odo slapped his communicator.

"Medical Team and Security to Docking Bay Two." 

While he was doing this Lt. Brown walked over to the captain and 
reaching out, took hold of the knife and pulled it from his hand. 
Wiping the knife he returned it to its place in his trouser leg. The 
next moment the medical team entered with the security team, and 
controlled chaos descended. 

******

In his office Odo was sitting, thoughtfully contemplating a padd. The 
freighter captain was his only client at the moment, charged on 
counts of smuggling and assault, and this gave him time to think. He 
was interrupted by the doors opening and the form of Major Kira 
entering. 

"Are you all right? I heard about a incident in one of the Docking 
Bays'." 

Odo nodded,

"Yes, thank you, Major, I'm fine. I was just thinking about what to 
do with our Lieutenant."

"Brown?"

"Yes. He was in the cargo bay, and was involved in the fight with the 
captain. I've never seen anyone move like that." He finished, 
quietly.

Kira was confused. "Move like what?"

"During the short fight, the freighter captain tried to reach for his 
disruptor, but before his hand had even got halfway Brown had thrown 
a knife which pinned his hand to the wall. The knife must have been 
specifically designed for it to do that. Apart from the fact that he 
shouldn't be carrying a knife, though technically he can get around 
that, he was so accurate and fast. Then there was the knife itself."

"The knife? What about it?"

"It was Romulan."

******

That evening at Quark's Kira was sitting thinking over what Odo had 
said to her in his office that morning. 'A Romulan knife? Why has he 
got one of those?' Looking up as she thought she saw Lt. Brown talk 
to Quark, and then saw him following Quark's arm. She saw Brown nod, 
and then turn up and head to the holosuites. 'I wonder what he going 
to use them for? Damn it, who is it he reminds me of?' Her thoughts 
were interrupted by Dax who joined her at the table. 

"What, or should I say who, are you looking at?"

Kira indicated with her head to where the figure of Lt. Brown was 
heading into one of the holosuites carrying a bag. 

"Did you hear about the incident today?" she asked.

Dax nodded. "Julian told me about it at lunch today."

Kira replied, "I can't understand it. He seems to be an excellent 
security officer, yet he has a problem with authority." She kept 
quiet about the knife.

Dax said, "Well come on, snap out of it. I've booked us the holosuite 
at 1900, so what do you want to do? Game of springball seeming as the 
courts are out at the moment, a visit to King Arthur's court or a 
trip to Bajor for a while?" Kira smiled. 

"Okay then, lets have a game of springball. I need to keep my
practice in."

******

In the holosuites at that moment Kevin Brown, completely dressed in 
black, was involved in a series of throws and locks with a 
holographic partner. The movement was so fast and intense that he 
didn't notice the time passing.

'Block, grapple, go, grapple, opening.' At this final thought Kevin 
flipped and threw the holographic partner over his shoulder. Landing 
with the hologram still in an armlock he broke the arm, and finished 
the movement with a savage chop to the throat, crushing the windpipe. 
The hologram disappeared, only to reappear two metres away, already 
moving. Kevin barely had time to regain his feet before the two began 
to grapple again.

******

At 1900 hours Kira and Dax were waiting outside the holosuite. Kira 
was growing impatient. 

"Come on, Dax, he should have been out of there by now. I mean he's 
probably using one of Quark's 'pleasure' programmes or sight seeing 
on Vulcan or Andor or something." 

Dax nodded. Lt. Brown was running over his time limit. 

"Okay let's go in. he's over his limit so he can't complain if we 
interrupt anything." 

Dax initiated the override and they entered the holosuite, only to 
stop dead. The door slid close behind them. Kira was surprised. 
Instead of a walk through Andor's mountains or an erotic encounter 
with the pleasure goddess of Rix, what they saw stopped them dead. In 
the middle of a large mat on the floor they saw two forms struggling. 
>From where they were standing they could see that a black dressed Lt. 
Brown had the hologram in a choke hold, but that the hologram was 
also choking Brown. For seconds nobody moved as the two combatants 
slowly turned red through the lack of oxygen. Kira thought 'We're 
going to have to end it - it's going to kill him. No, the safety's 
are on. Aren't they?' 

Just as Kira was about to call for the programme to end, however, the 
hologram appeared to loose consciousness and relaxed its grip on 
Brown's neck. The intake of breath was audible, even where Kira and 
Dax were standing. The next moment Brown snapped the neck of the 
hologram, and it disappeared. Before they could say anything another 
hologram had appeared and proceeded to circle the black figure, who 
was just returning to his feet by a backwards role, albeit slightly 
unsteadily.

"Computer, Halt Programme." Dax called out. 

Kevin Brown spun around, a knife already in his hand. His posture 
relaxed as he saw who had interrupted him. He slid the knife into a 
fold in his clothing, as he walked over to the Major and Lt. Cmdr. 

"Major, Commander, can I help you with something?" he questioned, his 
voice slightly hoarse. 

"Sorry for interrupting, Lt., but you were over your time limit." 
Dax said. "If we had known that you were involved in combat practice 
we'd have just hailed you."

Brown nodded. "My apologies. I guess I lost track of time during that 
last bout. Well, if you give me a minute, I'll leave you so you can 
do...whatever. Major, Commander." 

With a nod to them he walked over to his bag which was to the side, 
and took his gi top off and pulled a T-shirt on over his head. Any 
comment by Kira was stopped when she saw his back. It had two deep 
scars running down it, parallel to each other, from the shoulder 
blades to the kidneys. 

Placing his gi-top in his bag, the Lt. reached into his bag and 
lifting it up pulled out two items. One, his communicator which he 
attached to his T-shirt, walking towards the exit the other item he 
place on the fourth finger of his left hand. It was a ring. It seemed 
to Kira that the movement was a very well practised one. Dax, 
programming their activity, didn't see any of this. The next moment 
both their thoughts and actions were interrupted by Lt. Brown's 
voice. 

"Computer end programme, and re-engage safeties." 

At this last instruction Dax shot Kira a surprised look. Before they 
could say anything, however, the doors had opened, and Lt. Brown 
walked out.

******

Late next day Kira was walking along the upper levels of the 
Promenade when she saw a figure standing on one of the crossovers, 
watching the lower level. Dressed in Starfleet yellow, she saw it was 
Lt. Brown as he turned and changed sides, looking at the other side 
of the crossover. 'I could try and talk to him now, see if I can work 
out where I've seen him before' she thought, as she walked up to the 
Lt. and stopped next to him. 

"Major," he greeted her, even though she was sure that he hadn't 
turned his head to be able to see her. 

"Lt.," she replied. "How are you finding security at the moment?"

She saw a small smile appear on his face. "I don't know - I haven't 
been put in the brig yet. What's that three days so far? Must be a 
record. Aside from that, no, security's fine."

The Major smiled at this. 

"When you walked out of the holosuite last night I saw that you put a 
ring on." She glanced down and saw that it was still on his finger. 
She saw it had some scratches, or writing on the curving of it. "Your 
record's don't indicate that you're married; you don't have a next of 
kin mentioned - it's just some Admiral," she finished. "Are those 
records incorrect, because if so, they should be updated."

Looking at Kevin, she saw that the smile that had been on his face 
had vanished, and looking at his face side on, she saw a completely 
blank face, devoid of expression. 

"No, Major, I'm not married." He said very quietly, "Not anymore."

This reply stopped whatever Kira was going to say. Before she could 
recover, the Lt. moved away and walked down the steps to the lower 
levels. Kira remained standing there for a long moment, wondering 
over his last words.

******

Ten minutes later Lt. Brown was in his quarters. The shift 
had just ended. 

"Computer, recognise Brown, Kevin security clearance level 18, code 
Alpha Zero Two. Go" The computer chirped and said, 

"Access enabled, please verify authorisation."

"Codename Mamba, Section Alpha. Go."

"Authorisation enabled."

Typing a series of commands, Lt. Brown said, "Place this in the 
central memory core of the Defiant and DS9 and encrypt with a level 1 
initialisation." The computer responded

"Programme in place. Do you wish to execute?"

"Negative. Access database files. Display latest Cardassian 
intelligence reports summary."

The computer brought up the requested files. Brown sat in silence as 
he scanned the files. 'Very interesting. Dissident movement taken 
over Cardassia. Five leading gul's assassinated. Asp's working 
overtime. Detapa Consulate infiltrated. Good. Klingon invasion 
imminent.'

"Computer close file, and open Maquis intelligence report, Operative
Alpha Zero Six. Summarise. Audio."

"Executive Selection Operative Alpha Zero Six reports that Maquis 
will probably use Cardassian weakness, when it becomes apparent, to 
regain colonies in the DMZ. Also reports that Maquis are looking at 
the possibility of gaining industrial replicators. Feelers have gone 
out to undercover Maquis as per possibility of gaining replicators. 
Report ends."

"Computer close access." The computer chirped. "Send a message to 
Captain Histon on the USS Indomitable. Message as follows: 'Lt. Kevin 
Brown to Capt. Michael Histon. Greetings. Hope everything is going 
well. I've just been assigned to DS9. Next time you're in the area, 
drop by and have a chat. How are Patricia and the boys? Giving you 
any more trouble? Anyway, must dash. Hope to hear from you soon. 
Kev.' Send."

The computer responded that the message had been sent and that it had 
been logged. 'Good, link in place.'

"Computer, off."

******

The next morning in Ops Lt. Cmdr. Dax was working at communications, 
when she received a signal. "Captain Sisko to Ops." She called out. A 
moment later Sisko walked out of his office. 

"What is it, Old Man?"

"Sir, we've received a signal from the USS Indomitable. Captain 
Histon's compliments. He's asking to speak with you."

"Put him on, Commander."

The oval screen at the front of Ops. Sprang to life. The screen 
cleared of the Federation logo and they could see a Starfleet captain 
sitting at his desk. He looked tired, but otherwise healthy. Sisko, 
having never met him before, judged him to be in his early thirties, 
despite thinning black hair. 

"Ah, Captain Sisko, I'm Captain Histon of the Indomitable, as you 
already know" he said with a quirk of his head. "My ship will be 
passing through the Bajoran sector tomorrow and I was wondering if it 
would be possible for us to dock and stop off for 48-hours worth of 
shore leave. The crew could use a rest - we've just been on a patrol 
of Beta Quadrant for the last four months."

Sisko smiled. "Certainly, the station's facilities are at your 
disposal. What time will you be arriving?" 

"We'll be getting the DS9 at about 0900 hours tomorrow."

"Excellent, well I'll hope to meet you then."

Captain Histon nodded. "Thank you. Indomitable out."

Sisko looked to Dax. "Looks like we'll be having a dinner tomorrow."

Sisko heard a comment O'Brien made under his breath; 

"Damn, I've got to get into that bloody dress uniform again." 

Apparently Sisko wasn't the only one to overhear, as Dax chuckled 
lightly to his right.

******

Chapter Five

******

While Captain Sisko was busy talking to the Indomitable, Kira was 
speaking with Odo in the security office. "Odo, what do you know 
about Lt. Brown?"

Odo looked at her. "Not much aside from his record. As we both know 
he does seem to be an expert at self-defence-" 

'That's putting it mildly,' thought Kira. 

"-And he does have a good record apart from his tendency to be 
insubordinate. There is one interesting thing though. Some of his 
record is classified. I can't access it." 

This caused Kira's ears to prick up.

"Which bits?"

"Much of the time directly before the awarding of the Star Cross and 
his court-martial. It's not that unusual, I suppose. Most security 
officers at some time in their careers do things that are 
classified." Kira visibly deflated at this. "Why are you interested?"

"I don't know. Peace of mind? He just seems to remind me of someone 
that I've met and I can't remember whom. It's bugging me."

"Well if I find or hear anything I'll let you know." 

"Thanks Odo." Kira rose from the chair and walked towards the exit. 

"Kira." 

Kira stopped.

"Be careful." Turning back to his work, Odo sensed rather than saw 
the surprised look that Kira gave him, before she exited the security 
office.

******

When the news of the Indomitable's arrival spread around the station, 
it was greeted in a number of ways. Quark gleefully rubbed his hands 
with the prospect of lots of Starfleet officers coming on the 
station; Odo thought about the extra security needed; and the 
Starfleet senior officers cursed the designers of the formal dress 
uniforms. The voles in the lower levels of the station ignored the 
hustle and bustle, and just continued their habititual chewing of the 
station's power supply. The day, however, proceeded normally.

******

"Lt. Brown, please report to the infirmary," Doctor Bashir's voice 
called over the communication system. 

In one of the cargo bays the man in question was occupied with an 
inventory of the bay. Passing his padd to one of his Bajoran 
colleagues he tapped his combadge and acknowledged the signal. 

"Sorry to leave you guys with this enthralling task but I'm 
needed in the Infirmary. Life's a bitch, isn't it?" This was 
greeted with a barrage of comments from the rest of the 
detachment.

Walking into the infirmary minutes later Kevin was greeted 
by Doctor Bashir.

"Ah, Lt. Brown. Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

The Lieutenant gave the Doctor an appraising look.

"Charmed, I'm sure."

Bashir glanced up, at the man standing inside the entrance to the
infirmary.

"Please have a seat. I've just got to check these records to make 
sure that everything fits and that they are correct. If you don't 
mind me asking how did you get that scar?" He gestured to the scar on 
Brown's face, who gave a small smile.

"Oh, I got into a bar fight. I kept it to remind me never to do so 
again."

Bashir winced at this. "Well let's give you a physical and then..."

"Doctor, much as I love to be poked and prodded, I have to work to do 
and my last physical was only a few weeks ago. Can't you just get 
those records? It'll save us a lot of time. I mean with the 
Indomitable arriving tomorrow I do have quite a bit of stuff to get 
done," 'Not that you'll know anything about it.'

Doctor Bashir nodded. "Okay, we'll leave the full physical, but I do 
have to give you a  scan according to regulations."

"Fair enough."

After running over Kevin with a tricoder, Bashir found that there was 
nothing wrong with him. Bashir asked, "So how are you finding things 
at the moment?"

"Listen, Doctor, I was serious when I said that I had work to do. I 
don't have time for this, so if you'll excuse me?" getting up Brown 
began to walk out.

"Sit down, Lieutenant. We're not finished." Bashir's voice had a tone 
in it that indicated he was becoming annoyed. Brown stopped at the 
door, and then slowly turned around, and walked back. "Now. Your 
records are incomplete. They don't give a cause for the reason as to 
why you had to have your right hand replaced."

Brown stilled, and then said in a very, cold, quiet voice. 

"Classified. And personal. I suggest you drop it Doctor. With all due 
respect, it's none of your concern. Good day." 

He walked out of the infirmary, ignoring Bashir's angry call of 
"Lieutenant."

******

Odo was looking over the manifest of one of the transport ships that 
had just arrived at the station, when the doors of the security 
office opened to admit a rather annoyed Dr. Bashir. The normally easy 
going CMO ground his teeth in an effort to keep from exploding at 
Odo. The Changeling looked at him, vaguely amused.

"Something I can do for you, Doctor?"

Bashir looked at him. 

"I've just had a very interesting...discussion with your new 
Lieutenant. He tried to walk out of the Infirmary in the middle of a 
medical exam. You know I have to do them on all new crew? I asked him 
something about his hand, and he just walked out of the Infirmary. 
Now out of respect for the fact that you are his superior officer, I 
would like you to impress upon him that I have a job to do, and that 
job involves a medical examination."

Odo nodded.

"I'll take it up with the Lieutenant. Speak of the devil."

The doors opened then to admit Lieutenant Brown as he walked into the 
office. He stopped when he saw the Doctor and Odo talking.

"Am I interrupting something?"

Bashir glanced at Odo.

"No I was just leaving."

The Doctor walked out of the Infirmary after giving the Lieutenant a 
dark look.  Kevin just looked at Odo, who regarded him, expression 
inscrutable. After a moment the Changeling spoke.

"Sit down."

Kevin took the seat opposite to Odo.

"As you probably already gathered or guessed, Dr. Bashir was here 
to...complain about that little scene in the Infirmary. Now, I just 
want to know 'why'? You've been warned about been insubordinate on 
this station, and believe Captain Sisko will carry out what he said 
he would. I believe that you are an officer with potential, 
obviously, otherwise Starfleet would have thrown you out after your 
little...altercation. So why are you throwing it away?"

Kevin looked at him.

"For the Infirmary, two reasons. One, I didn't have time for a 
medical with the Indomitable arriving tomorrow, and secondly, the 
good Doctor, whom, incidentally, I do respect as a good Doctor, was 
prying into things that he had no business prying into."

Odo gestured at Kevin.

"Your hand?"

Kevin's entire body seemed to freeze at this. After a few seconds he 
gave a small nod, the restraint of which indicated his feelings.

"My hand." The Lieutenant was silent for a moment, then said,"Let's 
just say there are some unpleasant memories that go with this hand, 
and I'd like to leave it at that."

Odo inclined his head slightly. 

"I can appreciate that. However, that still doesn't answer the 
question of what are we going to do with you? I can't have someone on 
this station working for me, who can't get along with other officers 
because he's too insubordinate."

Kevin sighed, and gave a small nod, conceding the point.

"Okay, okay. Point taken. I'll make a deal with you. I will try and 
be less...argumentative, if you'll just be me some space and 
time...Agreed?"

The constable studied the face of the human in front of him, and 
slowly dipped his head.

"All right. We'll try it. But if you step out of line once more, it 
will go straight to Captain Sisko. Understood?"

Kevin acknowledged this.

"Fair enough."

Odo straightened slightly.

"Now for the rest of today, you're assigned to inventory in the cargo 
bays. I understand the Chief needs most of the engineering staff on 
other duties, but he needs all the bays done by the end of today. 
However, I'm having to pull some security off their inventory duties 
for training, so I'm afraid you'll be working mainly on your own. Can 
you make sure all the bays are done by the end of today, please? 
Dismissed."

Kevin gave a small nod, and with a completely humourless smile on his 
face, turned and left the office. Odo remained sitting, watching the 
figure head away from the security office. 'Well, I think that was 
fairly appropriate. He'll be at it all day. Inventory. I imagine the 
Chief will probably want to buy me a drink for getting him out of it. 
They all hate it.' 

******

That evening Kira was sitting in Quark's, sipping a raktajino, when 
she heard a voice at the bar. 

"Give me a synthale. And no, I don't want to talk." 

She looked up to see Quark scurrying to get the order that Lt. Brown 
had just given him. The look on Brown's face convinced Kira that she 
needed to talk. Before she said anything she heard Brown mutter 

"Damn, I wish he had some vodka." 

She stopped as a memory from her past hit her.

**It was a cold night in the Dakhur province, in the last days of the 
occupation. The Shakaar were rendezvousing with the Avarn resistance 
cell for an attack on a Cardassian outpost. They met up early in the 
morning. Kira Nerys wished that the Prophets, in their wisdom, had 
chosen to make mornings just a bit warmer - say so there wasn't any 
ice around. The rendezvous took place and the two groups proceeded to 
the outpost. After setting up an ambush group, the two resistance 
cells decided to attack at four in the morning.

Kira found that she was lying next to a Bajoran on the south side of 
the outpost. A scar ran down the side of his face. 

"You okay?" she heard the question, and she nodded. 

"It should be a nice day, dammed if it isn't cold though. I wish I 
had some vodka." 

Kira was about to ask him what vodka was, when an explosion lit up 
the sky. "Let's go" she heard from the man, and along with the other 
members of the resistance they dashed into the blazing outpost. After 
the initial rush she lost contact with the man she had been with. She 
found out later the man had been the chief intelligence co-ordinator 
for the resistance in the Dakhur and surrounding provinces; he had 
been killed in the attack when an ammunition supply exploded.**

After the memory of that day released her, she sat perfectly still 
looking at Lt. Brown. 'It's impossible, he's human, not Bajoran, 
but...that scar and the vodka. I...how...who...' her thoughts 
continued. She quickly left the bar, but not before taking one last 
look at Brown. Recognition shot across her face. 'How?' was her main 
thought.

******

Unknown to Kira, the look she had given Brown had not gone 
unobserved. 'Damn it. I didn't think she'd remember. Shit.' Leaving 
his drink on the bar he dashed out of the establishment to see the 
Major walking along the promenade towards the turbolift. 

"Major" he called out, and walked along towards her. Hearing his 
shout, she turned, and stopped. 

"We should talk," he said as he walked up to her. 

She nodded and entered the turbolift. 

"Lower Pylon Two." Brown said. Kira opened her mouth to speak, but a 
raised hand stopped her. She remained silent until the turbolift 
reached the lower pylon. Walking out after Lt. Brown she saw him 
scanning the area. With a nod he replaced the tricoder on his belt, 
and then turned to her. 

"Okay we can talk here."

She looked at him. He seemed calm, but she sensed some tension. 

"Who are you?" she said opening the questioning. "How could you be in 
the Resistance and then in Starfleet?"

Kevin sighed. "This conversation stays with us, okay?"

She nodded. "Between us."

He indicated that she should sit on the step of the hatch. She did so 
and Kevin sat down next to her.  

"Yes, that was me in the mountains on that day when we hit the 
outpost, and, yes, I was the intelligence officer for the Dakhur and 
surrounding districts."

"But how?"

Kevin was silent for a long moment. To Kira it appeared as it he were 
weighing something up in his mind. 

"Major, the Bajorans weren't the only people with an interest in 
fighting the Cardassians. The Federation was too. If you remember for 
some of the occupation, especially the later years, the Federation 
was at war with the Cardassians. It was, forgive me for being blunt, 
in the Federation's interest to make sure that the Bajoran resistance 
was successful. Obviously we couldn't get officially involved, Prime 
Directive et al., but we were there behind the scenes.  I replaced a 
man who was killed in a Cardassian attack. It was all off the record; 
it never happened."

Kira was dumfounded by this. 

"But the Federation never did anything to help us!"

"Oh, please, come on, Major; how do you think you got most of your 
intelligence, and 'lucky' cache finds of weapons? Starfleet 
intelligence had several operatives on Bajor. I was one of them."

"Are you still Starfleet Intelligence now? If so..."

"Not really. Kira, I shouldn't tell you any of this, and I haven't. 
Okay?"

At her nod, he relaxed. 

"I was on Bajor for four years. Why do you think I asked to be 
transferred here when I knew a post was coming up? I still have a few 
friends in Command."

"Necheyev." Kira said.

"Yes, she's one. She's a damned good officer, but don't get on her 
wrong side. Kira, I know what the Bajorans went through. I went 
through it as well. I was there when Gallitep was liberated, though 
you wouldn't have seen me. That was bad, not the worst I've seen, but 
bad. I didn't think that you'd remember one person from one 
incident."

"Kevin," she said, using his first name, "I would remember. You were 
the principal intelligence operative for the Dakhur province. 
Everyone thought it was a major loss when you died in that attack."

"Kira, as far as anyone knows, I did die in that attack. That is a 
fact, and it will remain that way."

"Okay."

Kevin rose, suddenly looking tired. "Look, can we finish this at 
another time? I've got an early shift tomorrow, what with the 
Indomitable docking."

Kira nodded. 

Brown turned away. 

As he reached the turbolift and entered he heard Kira speak quietly 
behind him. 

"Kevin, thank you." 

He nodded to the side and entered the lift. Kira remained standing at 
the empty entrance to the docking ring, looking at the stars, 
thinking over how wrong her initial perceptions of the Federation and 
Lt. Kevin Brown had turned out to be.

******

At breakfast the next morning Kira was joined by Lt. Cmdr. Dax, who 
had barely sat down before she asked, 

"So what's this I hear about you and Lt. Brown?" She grinned at the 
surprised look from her friend. "Come on Nerys, you can't go to one 
of the Pylon's for a private conversation without telling me that 
nothing is going on," 'or letting half the station know about it.' 
Dax made sure she only thought the last comment.

Kira put her fork down. 

"Look, Jadzia, nothing is going on. We were just talking. We don't 
have a relationship or anything. I wouldn't even call him a friend. 
We were just talking about things."

"Such as?" Dax was relentless.

"His job. I thought that if I talked to him less formally I could 
understand why he seems intent on throwing his career away" 'Okay, so 
it's not the truth but it is a good lie. She can't doubt that.'

"Right." 

Dax was clearly not convinced, but was interrupted in her 
interrogation by the sound of Capt. Sisko's voice coming over the 
communication's system. 

"All Senior Staff report to Upper Pylon Three. The Indomitable will 
be arriving in five minutes."

******

After they had greeted the captain of the Indomitable, and the senior 
staff had found out that they had the pleasure of a formal dinner the 
next evening, the DS9 senior staff went to get on with their jobs. 
Kira found relief from Dax in a lot of paperwork that needed doing, 
while Dax was occupied with giving the XO and senior staff a tour of 
the station. The day proceeded normally until about 1800 hours when 
Lt. Brown's shift ended. He returned to his room. Less than a minute 
after entering the entry chimes sounded at the door.

Sitting on a couch reading a padd, Lt. Brown reached under a cushion 
to grasp the phaser that was there. "Enter," he called out. He 
relaxed once he saw who it was. 

"Evening, Mike," he said, standing up without the phaser. He offered 
his hand, which Mike shook. It was the handshake of old friends.

"Good to see you again. It's been too long. How are things?"

"Pretty good thanks, Kev. Business first though, you're message did 
say it was urgent. What can I do for you, boss?"

Kevin smiled. 

"Relax, and take a seat. I need you to get a message to S. at Base 
Alpha. Ask her to stop the SI reports for the next few days or so 
regarding the Klingon/Cardassian situation. Delay them somehow."

"Why do you need me to do that? You've got enough authority to do it 
yourself. Hell, with your authority you could do almost anything."

Kevin nodded.

"Yes, maybe, but I need you to do this. DS9's communications aren't 
as secure as I'd like. I'm working on it, but it'll take a few weeks 
to patch the system. We need to stop Starfleet learning about the 
Klingon invasion until it's too late to do anything. The Klingon 
Fleet should be arriving here in three days time. I'll try and take 
care of things this end." Mike nodded. 

"The Maquis job?"

Kevin responded "Yes. Though I'll have to deal with that later on. At 
the moment a Klingon invasion of Cardassia will help us more than if 
it's prevented." 

"Firyon 2 plan?" Kevin gave a small nod.

"Okay, I'll get on it. S. will be able to get the reports held up 
easily."

Kevin replied: 

"That's not all. Deploy the USS Midnight to the Orias System. When 
the Klingon attack starts, they're to destroy the remnants of the 
Obsidian Order/Tal Shiar Base there. Also send the USS Twilight to 
the primary communications/ weapons research centre on Mirval V. Same 
instructions. After they're both done, pull them back to the Romulan 
Z, and have then continue patrol there. Okay?"

Mike nodded. 

"There shouldn't be any problems. The Midnight just received the 
update to its cloak, so it'll get through easily. Besides you know 
their motto 'Boldness be my friend! Arm me, audacity!'"

"Hmm. Shakespeare, Cymbeline, Act One Scene Six."

"You got it. Damn, one of these days I find one you don't know." 

"Good luck, my friend." 

They both chuckled - it was an ongoing challenge, begun many years 
before.

"Anyway, how long are you going to stay here for? S. wants you back 
at Base Alpha to take over as DDG."

Kevin sighed. "Yes I know - sad thing is I'd be very good at Deputy 
DG. I'll deal with it. Next time you see Asp tell her good work from 
me. She did well due in the Cardassian Revolt."

Mike responded, agreeing with him. "Have you heard about the 
'Bastogne'? Went into trials last month. It'll probably be seconded 
to Alpha as soon as it's ready. Not bad timing really - it was only 
on the drawing board about three years ago."

"Well, hopefully they get the next one out, soon. Wonder what they're 
going to call that? I think it's going to be the 'Rorke's Drift'. We 
need it. Anyway, Mike, before we start talking about things, can you 
get those messages off?"

"Sure, boss. I'll get those messages to S. ASAP. Now, 'Lt. Brown', I 
would be grateful if you would meet me in the bar in twenty minutes. 
I heard a lot about it. I'll go and do the messages now." 

Kevin made to move. 

"Come on, Lieutenant. Move it, move it, move it. Blimey, Lieutenant's 
so slow these days." 

Both Kevin and Mike chuckled as they exited his quarters and Kevin 
responded,

"One of these days..."

******

About half an hour later, they entered Quark's and went to the bar. 
Getting their drinks they went to a table on the upper level. The
topic of converstation was entirely different to that which they had 
had earlier. The subject varied and changed, eventually reaching the 
soccer championships on Earth. 

After two hours in Quarks, the conversation had reached the stage 
where rational debate had disappeared, and the cheerful derogatory 
insulting of the other's team had begun. Their argument was 
interrupted by Captain Sisko walking up to them. Lt. Brown stood, but 
was waved back down by Sisko.

"Good evening Captain. I hope that you are enjoying the stay on the 
station."

Mike nodded. 

"Yes, thank you, Captain. Will you join us?" 

Sisko said he'd be delighted and pulled up a chair. 

"I can only stay for a few minutes - I've got a holosuite reserved 
for a game of baseball with my son." 

A look of pain flashed very briefly through Kevin's eyes at this, and 
he sobered up immediately. Mike, being familiar with Kevin noticed 
this, but Sisko, oblivious, turned to Captain Histon.

"I wasn't aware that you and the Lt. knew each other." Mike and Kevin 
glanced at each other, grins forming on both their faces.

"We went through the Academy together, Captain, did our first tours 
together on the Trafalgar. Then we shifted as Kevin, here, went into 
security and I stayed in Command, transfering to the Zhukov. But our 
paths have crossed fairly often since then. Hell, if Kevin here 
hadn't lost his rag with Admiral Stuffon, he'd probably be my 
Executive Officer by now, or me his."

His commentary was interrupted by Kevin who responded with an "Ohhhh, 
thanks, bein generous today, aren't we?" as the two of them cracked 
up into laughter. Sisko watched them with a bemused expression on his face. 

"I don't mean to pry, but why did you lose it with Admiral Stuffon 
into a coma? I've never been able to find out."

At this question the laughter stopped. The two friends glanced at 
each other. Kevin gave a slight, almost imperceptible, shake of his 
head. Mike said: 

"Sorry, Captain, we're unable tell you. Classified." 

Sisko nodded, disappointed. 

"Suffice it to say that there was a reason behind it, but, well, you 
know the drill with clearance." 

After the Captains chatting for a few more minutes about the upcoming 
mission of the Indomitable, Sisko rose and excused himself, as his 
son entered and went towards the holosuite. 

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll see you tomorrow. Captain,
Lieutenant."

After Sisko had walked away from the table the friends sat in silence 
for a while. It was broken by Mike. 

"It's still there isn't it? Her death."

Kevin looked at him, and nodded quietly.

"Yes, it's there, but it's better. That 'talk' you gave me helped. 
Well, maybe the talk, but not went with it." 

He smiled. Both their minds flickered back to an occasion years 
before, in another bar, at one the section's bases, after a number of 
quite potent drinks;

**"It still hurts you doesn't it, even after all these years? You've 
never been able to fully let her go."

Kevin was silent, looking at the ring on his finger. He felt it, 
sliding it around his finger. He nodded. 

"Yeah, it hurts. Always will."

Mike sat sadly looking at his friend. 

"There wasn't anything that you could have done, Kev. It wasn't your 
fault."

Kevin looked up, the pain for a moment clear in his eyes. 

"I was there when she died. I told her I'd take care of her. And I 
failed. Of course it bloody hurts like hell. And I can't let it go. 
Maybe one day I will. But not yet. That's why I still wear this; to 
remind me of how much I screwed up."

Mike shook his head. 

"For the love of Christ. It wasn't your bloody fault. It was bad 
luck. It happens. For gods sake the pair of you were being 
extracted."

Kevin looked up, his eyes bloodshot. 

"You weren't there when that bastard shot her! So don't tell me it 
wasn't my fault. She was my wife and I got her killed!"

Mike took a deep breath. 'I've got to get this out of him, or we're 
going to lose him, and what with him off to Bajor soon...' 

"Look. You were being extracted. It was bad luck that you ran into a 
Tal-Shiar team. You couldn't have know that they were going to be 
there. Analyse it. It was night. And you nearly made it to the 
shuttle. One bad-luck shot hit her five meters from the shuttle. 
Despite being under fire, you got her into the shuttle, you kept her 
alive until you were picked up. The doctors were amazed that you were 
able to."

Kevin was beginning to get angry. 

"So what! She died because I didn't plan security properly, and I had 
to watch her as she died, knowing that there was nothing that I 
could do. Watching her as her body shut down, her - our - agony 
knowing that our baby wouldn't survive long enough to be taken out of 
the womb. For God's sakes, I loved her." 

He ended almost breaking down.

"Kevin, I know you did. It wasn't your fault though. The Tal-Shiar 
had got one of the underground barely two hours before you left. He 
broke, and they found out. You couldn't have know. I know that the 
two of you were in love, and maybe I don't know what it's like to 
have to watch someone you love die, but you've got to get over it."

"Did you know it would have been a boy? We hadn't even decided what 
to call him. Never will. He was so small, so tiny. You could see the 
little points on his ears, the beginnings of the ridge...but oh
Gods...." 

With this last, Kevin finally collapsed into tears.** 

Kevin smiled slightly. "I paid for that the next morning."

Mike looked at him in pretend outrage. 

"YOU paid for it? YOU didn't have a meeting with the Boss. I did. And 
I was as hung over as..."

Kevin looked at him innocently "...as...?"

Mike laughed. 

"One of these days. What was that I heard about you and Asp anyway?"

Kevin coloured slightly. 

"Mutual tension reliever. We both knew there was nothing in it. But 
we needed someone at the time. Stop worrying though. I'm over it."

Mike nodded, but then said, 

"Why are you still wearing that ring then?"

Kevin glanced at it. "Don't know. Habit." 

>From the upper levels of Quark's Bar, he looked down to the lower 
level. Just walking into the bar was Lieutenant-Commander Dax and 
Major Kira. They separated, and Dax went to a table while Kira went 
to get the drinks. Kevin's voice trailed off as he watched the 
Bajoran red head at the bar. 

Mike glanced up and looked at his friend. Following his gaze he saw 
who the senior officer was looking at. He smiled to himself. Kevin 
might not recognise it but he was over his wife's death. 

"Ahem." 

Mike coughed, clearing his throat. Kevin dragged his gaze away, and 
looked at him. He gave a slight smile. 

"Come on. Let's change the topic. How's Patricia doing with the 
kids?"

******

On the lower levels of Quark's bar, the two senior females of the 
station sat at one of the tables sharing a drink. Kira was talking 
over the days events. 

"So what do you think of Captain Histon? Have you worked with him 
before?"

Dax shook her head. 

"No I haven't. He's meant to be a good captain though. Very good 
tactical officer. He apparently plays very loose with regulations, 
but has won enough to keep people off his back. Quite a guy. I was 
talking with a few of the people from the Indomitable, and it seems 
as though they'd walk through hell, backwards, naked, and listening 
to a recital of Bolian poetry for him. Isn't that him up there?" 

Dax gestured with her head to the upper levels of the bar. Kira 
looked and saw Histon and Brown sitting up there, talking. 

Kira frowned. 

"I wonder what he's talking to Lt. Brown for?"

Dax shrugged. 

"Don't know. They might have served together at one time. Might have 
been at the Academy together. They are about the same age, and they 
seem pretty relaxed. I don't know how he can do it though."

Kira looked puzzled at this apparent non-sequiter. 

"How who can do what?"

Dax explained. 

"How Lt. Brown can stand it. Until his 'incident' he was in line for 
a captaincy. Now, he's what? About 35 and a Lieutenant, junior grade. 
He'll never be promoted beyond Lt. Commander, and even that's a long 
shot. And he has to see his friends moving up the ranks. It must 
hurt."

Kira nodded; it did seem to make a sense of sort. 

"Why are you so interested in him?" she asked.

Dax laughed. 

"Oh I don't know, he's attractive, in a rugged sort of way, and 
single. Why shouldn't I be?"

Kira didn't share the laugh. "This goes no further Dax. He was 
married once, apparently." 

Dax eyes widened at this. 

"But his records..."

Nodding Kira said: 

"I know. They don't say anything. You wouldn't have noticed but he 
wears a ring. I noticed that he put it on when we interrupted him in 
the holosuite. You were programming at the time."

"Oh well, if I need a date I can always ask Morn. Besides I thought 
that you're interested in him." 

Dax kept a straight face at this last bit, and Kira sipping her 
drink, didn't see her eyes twinkling with mischief, obviously baiting 
her.

Kira managed to put her drink down without spluttering that in her 
mouth over the table. 

"Look I've told you there's nothing between us. If there ever is, 
I'll let you know, okay? Now can we please talk about something 
else?" 

Dax nodded, still far from convinced. Being 300 years old meant that 
you had a sense of when people were meant for each other, and 
something had been ringing about Lt. Brown. 'Still it could be 
something else,' she thought...

******

The day after next the Indomitable left, and the Klingons arrived, 
supposedly to help protect DS9 from a Dominion Invasion. Tension's 
rose.

******

Chapter Six

******

As was usual on Deep Space Nine if anything was to occur, outside of 
Ops, it was a safe bet (and Quark did have a book on this) that it 
would happen in Quark's Bar. A military presence always made the 
inhabitants of the station nervous and having a massive Klingon fleet 
by the station did not make for a relaxed atmosphere, especially 
after the Klingons began to come aboard the station for 'recreation 
activities.' 

Due to the inability to find out what was going on, for a variety of 
reasons, Lt. Cmdr. Worf had been assigned to the station. The other 
tab that Quark was running at the time, was when Lt. Brown would be 
thrown into the brig, and various adaptations of this: what 
infringement it would be for, where it would be committed, who it 
would be against. Morn, who had made a bet of 'within the next week; 
in Quarks; for fighting; against Klingons' at odds of 45-1 was a very 
happy person (as far as one could tell with Morn) after the events of 
the next week.

******

It was two days after the Klingons arrived, and Lt. Brown was not in 
the best of moods. This had been caused by having to inventory the 
cargo bays all day, and then finding that the holosuites were all 
reserved all evening. Not to be deterred the Lt. decided upon a game 
of racketball, only to find that the courts were out of service due 
to maintenance. By now, his plans for the evening ruined, Lt. Brown 
was not the most happy person on the station. In order to calm down 
he decided to go to Quarks to have a quiet drink.

Kevin walked along the promenade later that evening. He entered 
Quarks, still wearing his Starfleet security uniform, and went to the 
bar to order his drink. While waiting at the bar Kevin studied the 
Klingons. 'They really are nervous about this invasion; it's not half 
as loud as it should be.' This, in all truth, was not true for 
everyone. While most of the Klingons were quiet and watching the 
room, as if expecting an attack ('Good habit for them cultivate; it's 
kept you alive enough times' part of Kevin's mind told him) there 
were a few groups that were acting as one might expect, either due to 
frustration or drink, or both. 

Turning back to the bar, Kevin signalled to Quark. 

"Ah Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"

Kevin answered: 

"Just a pint of beer for me. Put it on the tab. Thanks." 

Quark nodded, and turned away, thinking, once again how disgusting 
this human drink was. Handing the pint to Kevin, Quark turned and 
went to take the order of some Klingons. 

'As if he couldn't guess what it will be; Bloodwine. Euch.' thought 
Kevin. After standing at the bar for a moment, Kevin turned and 
walked along towards the back of the bar, near the darts board, where 
he could see a table. Suddenly one of the Klingons at the bar turned 
with the bloodwine he had just ordered and smashed into Kevin. The 
drinks went over both of them, soaking the front of Kevins uniform, 
and covering the Klingon in bloodwine. Both Kevin's glass and the 
Klingon's goblet hit the ground.

Rounding on the shorter human the Klingon shouted at Kevin: 

"Ha'Dlbah! You clumsy p'tak." 

So saying, he hit Kevin hard across the face. The blow snapped 
Kevin's head to one side, and a trail of blood emerged from the side 
of his mouth. Following this, the Klingon spat in Kevin's face. 
Silence enveloped the bar, and a comment from the back of the bar 
summed up everyone's thoughts.

"Oh shit."
 
Kevin wiped the side of his face and mouth with the back of his left 
hand, and wiped it on his trouser leg. He responded to the Klingon 
with one phrase, eloquent in its simplicity. 

"Screw you!" 

Quark, being the experienced bar tender he was, could sense when a 
brawl was about to begin, and was already moving towards the 
communications unit, with the intention of calling security. His 
action was proved correct when, the next second, the Klingon launched 
a fist at Kevin. 

Ducking to the right side of the fist, Kevin blocked it and with a 
swift upper-cut caught the Klingon on the jaw, while using his right 
leg pushed through and swept the legs out from under the Klingon. 
Pushing him back the Klingon fell to the floor. By this time however, 
the crew-mates who were in the Klingon's drinking party were moving. 
Two of them made straight at Kevin to grab him so they could use 
their superior strength to pulverise him, while the other two, more 
sedately ('If that word could be used for a Klingon' a separate part 
of Kevin's brain observed) placed their drinks on the bar, and helped 
their captain up. Kevin had to block one of their blows immediately, 
and pulling the Klingon through smashed him into the bar, and then 
threw him over it. 

The other of the pair meanwhile threw a blow which caught Kevin on 
the side of the head, pushing him off balance. Stumbling slightly, 
the second Klingon rushed him. With a shout Kevin lashed out with his 
right foot and caught the Klingon hard on the kneecap. This stopped 
the Klingon's headlong rush, as a crack announced to all and sundry 
that the bone had just broken. The movement (and the participation of 
that Klingon in the fight) was finished as Kevin's foot continued up 
to the Klingon's head and caught him in the face knocking him 
unconscious. This fact was made doubly sure on the way down as he 
caught his head on the bar.

Kevin knew that his situation was not brilliant especially as the 
three remaining Klingons (in front of the bar) rushed him. Kevin 
managed to catch one of the Klingons with a blow to the groin, which 
caught him up, but in doing so laid himself open to attack from the 
other two. This was confirmed when one of the Klingon's fists caught 
him on the ribs, and Kevin felt two break. 'Shit, that's going to 
hurt later on' was his first thought. The next was how the impact of 
a blow could change your sense of balance. 

Fortunately, the last blow to the head, besides making him dizzy had 
moved him along the bar. As one of the Klingons moved in to try and 
follow up his attack, he was stopped by Kevin, who blocking the blow, 
spun and threw the Klingon. Unfortunately for the Klingon, the 
movement was stopped half way by one of his colleagues. This meant 
that instead on landing on the floor, the Klingon actually flew off 
Kevin and went over the first bar top and crashed into Quarks stock 
of drinks above the replicator. Falling to the floor, this Klingon 
was rendered senseless by the contents of ten shelves landing on him.

While this reduced the odds against Kevin, he also knew that the 
three remaining Klingons (two in front, one behind the bar) would 
be rather annoyed. Before he could move however, the Klingon behind 
the bar had grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back onto the bar 
hard, slamming his spine into it. Pain erupted all along Kevin's back 
and his eyes widened as a cry threatened to emerge from his lips. It 
didn't. Wrenching around he backhanded the Klingon, and then smashed 
his head onto the bar, denting it. Before he could even think about 
turning, another Klingon fist caught him on the side of the head 
knocking him to one knee. Another blow, and he felt his nose crack, 
and blood begin to flow out. 

Dizzily Kevin tried to regain his feet, and was helped in this by one 
of the two remaining Klingons who pulled him up. This was a mistake. 
Kevin's knee caught the Klingon in the groin, and as he doubled over 
his other knee caught him in the face. This snapped the Klingon's 
head back, and a sweep of the leg brought the Klingon to the ground. 
Very conscious that the final Klingon was about to grab him, and 
aware that the Klingon on the ground was conscious, Kevin remedied 
this fact by kicking the Klingon as hard as he could given the 
limited space available on the temple. The Klingon descended into 
welcome oblivion - well, welcome for Kevin, anyway. 

Quark meanwhile was not having the best of days. While trying to get 
to his comm unit he had been caught in the fight by the body of one 
irate Klingon flying into him. Extracting himself from that, he 
turned to run out of the bar to get security, when he saw his brother 
already on the move. 'Finally did something sensible' was Quark's 
thought, before another flying Klingon made him duck. 

Odo had been walking along the Promenade when the sound of breaking 
glass in Quarks and what sounded like a roar of rage, made him 
quicken his pace to a run. This increased to a sprint with another 
crash, a cry from what sounded like a Ferengi, and the sight of Rom 
dashing out of Quarks. Odo entered just in time to see the end to the 
fight. From Odo's point of view, the final part of the fight 
consisted of a battered Lt. Brown being hauled by a slightly less 
battered Klingon, over the bar (though Odo did notice, absently, the 
wrecked behind of Quarks, Klingon's lying infront of the bar, and one 
(or was it two? he couldn't tell from where he was) behind the bar.) 

Odo began to move, trying to get through the crowd, as he saw the 
Klingon draw his d'k tahg and begin to bring it down on Kevin with 
the obvious intention of gutting him. Kevin, for some strange reason, 
had a curious objection to seeing the insides of his stomach used to 
re-decorate the bar, and using his free right hand swept along the 
side of his right leg. Ripping open the compartment he had there, 
drew his own knife, and in a continuation of the movement (and with 
considerable accuracy) caught the Klingon in the side of his wrist as 
his blow descended. 

Half-deliberately for Kevin this pushed the Klingon's stroke away 
from him, and the Klingon's blade missed the bar altogether, and, as 
the Klingon roared in pain, Kevin spun on his hip and his leg caught 
the Klingon on the back and as the Klingon was stooped and off 
balance this had the effect of catapulting him into the bar. His 
movement was stopped by the collision of his head with the bar. As he 
fell backwards Kevin swung his leg backwards and caught the Klingon 
with his heal in the face, smashing him to the ground. 

By this time Odo had pushed his way through the crowd, and reached 
the bar where Kevin was pushing himself up. Seeing Odo, he remarked, 
cheerfully: 

"Well, you took bloody long enough." 

Leaning against the bar he saw that by this time Odo had called 
security to clear the bar. 

Meanwhile Rom, having run through the Promenade, had alerted Dr. 
Bashir that his services may be needed in the bar. Entering, after 
security had started to clear the crowds away, he quickly made his 
way to the bar. Julian's professional eye ran over the devastation 
behind the bar and, he began to check on the patients. Suddenly he 
heard an "Oh kripes. I'm really not in the mood for this" from Kevin. 

Glancing up he saw that Captain Sisko, Lt. Cmdr. Worf and Major Kira 
had just entered the bar.

******

An hour later Captain Sisko was fuming. And that was to understate 
it. After Bashir had treated the wounded, and they had been confined 
in sickbay or the brig depending upon their medical status, he had 
received an irate General Martok, who had just returned from a 
military exercise, demanding to know what had happened. Sisko told 
him that as far as he knew it had been a bar brawl and that he would 
take action against the Starfleet person involved. 

Martok scowled and said he would do likewise against the Klingon's. 
Martok then demanded that the Klingon's be released into his custody. 
After a 'conversation' this was agreed upon, and the three Klingon's 
under supervision in the infirmary were transferred to Martok's 
flagship. He then went to the security office where he found Major 
Kira in conversation with Odo, trying to find out what had happened. 

As Martok entered they straightened. 1

"I'm here for my men. Captain Sisko has said they can be released 
into my custody." 

Odo inclined his head and asked the General to follow him. 

"Is the human in here?" Martok asked. 

Odo shot him a glance.

"Yes, Lt. Brown is in here. He was released from the infirmary and 
confined here immediately."

Martok nodded. "Good. I want to see him." 

So saying the entered the detention area to find the two Klingons 
pacing angrily in their cells, while Kevin lay, seemingly unconcerned 
on his bunk, absently whistling a tune, annoyingly off key. He didn't 
look up as the officers entered. The Klingon's stopped their pacing 
and stood still as Martok walked over to the cell where Kevin lay. 
Standing next to the energy field he looked at the human who had 
managed to disable five of his troops in hand to hand combat. After a 
moment, Kevin stopped whistling and looked at Martok.

"What do you want? Whatever it is make it quick, I'm really busy at 
the moment," he finished sarcastically.

"Are you trying to be insolent?" the General asked him.

Kevin gave a small smile, and replied1,

"Oh no, General. I'm sure I would succeed if I tried."

A chuckle came from Martok at that reply.

"You must have Klingon blood in you. To fight and defeat five of my 
men, and then speak to me like that," Martok spoke to Kevin.

A slight smile emerged on Kevin's face. 

"None that I'll admit to, I'm afraid. Now unless I'm mistaken that 
sounds like Captain Sisko, so..."

Before he could say anything Captain Sisko entered and headed 
straight for him. Kevin only rose to a sitting position. With a nod 
at Sisko, Martok headed over to his men and Odo opened the cell. 
Martok said one sentence in Klingon to his men, who followed him as 
he exited the detention area. 

Kevin chuckled. 

Sisko stared at him, fury in his eyes. "Care to explain the joke Lt. 
Brown?"

Still smiling, and seemingly oblivious to Sisko's mounting rage Kevin 
replied, 

"Oh just what the General said to his men. 'You're in shit.' I love 
Klingonese - such a direct language." Chuckling lightly he finally 
turned to look at Sisko. 

The Captain replied,

"Well let me tell you, Lieutenant, they are not the only one's in 
shit. According to witnesses you could have backed down and stopped 
the fight, but..."

"Would you have?" Sisko was interrupted by Brown. 

Kira shared a glance with Odo, at this. They both were secretly 
amused by Brown's ability to court danger, and by his refusal to 
apologise. They both also knew that at the moment they would rather 
be standing next to a warp core that was due to breach in five 
seconds, than be in this detention area.

Sisko didn't reply; he was all but shaking with rage. 

Brown continued; 

"No, you wouldn't have. And I'm sure that I could justify my actions 
by saying that the Klingon's now respect us more, or that I was 
provoked, which I was, but the simple reason was that I couldn't back 
down because Klingon's don't back down from those situations. They 
will fight, no matter what, whether you do or not. So I fought back 
because I have no desire to see my bones and innards used to 
redecorate Quarks in a new colour - trace of flesh, with just a hint 
of brain. "

Having calmed down slightly, Sisko heard Odo behind him say, wryly. 
"That does seem consistent with Klingons." 

Sisko looked at the Lt. who was sitting in the cell, looking bored 
and twiddling his thumbs. Literally.

"You don't seem very concerned, Lieutenant. You are in a lot of 
trouble over this. Assault, damage to property."

"Have the Klingon's pressed charges?" At the lack of response he 
continued "No, they won't because they consider the issue closed. So 
the real issue here should be my disregard for regulations, which 
seems to be an ongoing problem. Therefore, Captain, what's it to be? 
Confinement to quarters? Restriction on duties? Term in this lovely 
brig?"

Sisko shook his head, esasperated. 

"I haven't decided yet, so I'll let you know. Until tomorrow you're 
confined to your quarters. Report to duty at the normaltime. Major, 
please escort the Lt. to his quarters."

So saying Sisko turned on his heel and exited. 

Kira looked at Odo who lowered the forcefield and Kevin walked out. 

"Shall we?" 

He said gesturing with his arm towards the exit. Kira, shaking her 
head, walked out. 

Kevin followed, after saying to Odo, "You know that is one of the 
most impressive brigs I have ever been in. Can you make sure I get my 
knife back, please? " 

Odo inclined his head. 

"Thanks."

******

When they reached Kevin's quarters, he entered his code and they went 
inside. Kira had a look around while Kevin walked into the bedroom 
and took his uniform top off. He came back out in a polo neck. 

"Something I can help you with, Major?" he said seeing that she was 
still there. 

"I'm just trying to work you out," she replied.

"Good luck," came the glib response. 

After Kira showed no signs of moving, Kevin sighed. "Make yourself at 
home." He said indicating the soft chairs that were around a low 
table. "Can I get you anything?" he said walking over to the 
replicator. 

"No thanks, I'm okay for the moment."

Kevin nodded. "Tea, with milk, please," he said addressing the 
computer. The replicator whirred and produced the drink. Kevin 
returned to the table and sat in the chair opposite Kira. 

"What is it Major?"

Kira looked at him. 

"Why is it that you have such a problem with authority? You were 
deliberately gloading Sisko in there. You are in a lot of trouble."

Kevin sighed, sadly. "Kira, I've been in trouble, and I can tell you 
this is nothing like it. Maybe that's why I have such a problem with 
authority." He said, thoughtfully, almost to himself. "I've seen 
hell, and now nothing fazes me. Well, almost nothing."

Kira looked at him, questioningly. "What happened?"

"You remember that I was on Bajor? Kira, I was on Bajor for four 
years and I saw one form of hell. You know that I was lead 
intelligence officer for the Dakhur and surrounding districts? Once I 
was captured by the Cardassians."

Kira's mouth opened slightly at this.

"They'd been tipped off by a collaborator, cum traitor, cum bastard 
in my cell. They got me on an intelligence gathering mission." 

Kira interrupted.

"Who betrayed you?"

Kevin gave a wry, humourless, smile. "It doesn't matter now. He's 
dead." He continued, "The 3rd Order was under Gul Garhen at the time, 
but they knew who I was, well who they thought I was, and they passed 
me along to the Obsidian Order." At this Kira gasped. "Quite, they 
interrogated me for two weeks."

"What did they do to you?"

"You don't want to know. Trust me, you don't want to know. I 
sometimes wake up in a cold sweat because of it. I wouldn't put that 
on anyone else," he said forestalling any comment she had. "That's 
probably why I don't respond as a typical officer would. I've been to 
hell, and most people can't comprehend that. You can; that's one 
reason why I've never challenged your authority, aside from the fact 
you're a good officer, and that's probably the only reason I'm 
telling you this. You think I antagonise Sisko? You should see what I 
do to people I really can't stand."

Kira smiled slightly at this last. 

"You really don't give a damn, do you?"

"I just do my job, Kira. I do give a damn about some things." Silence 
followed this last remark. Kevin sipped his drink, and Kira sat 
contemplating him. Finally she nodded. 

"Okay, Kevin, have it your way. Could you please try and not 
antagonise everyone though?" she asked the last with a slight laugh 
in her tone.

Kevin smiled and gave a small nod. "I'll try but don't expect any 
miracles. Okay?"

Kira responded: "Thank you." So saying she stood up and walked 
towards the exit. 

"Kira." At the sound of her name she stopped, and turned back towards 
Kevin. "Thanks for listening. I will try. I promise. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Kevin." Saying this she stepped into the corridor. As the 
door closed behind her, Kira paused then slowly walked away from 
Kevin's quarters. She barely noticed the passing of personnel, her 
thoughts were far away.

******

The next morning Kevin reported for duty, but was asked to remain 
behind by Odo. Reaching into a compartment behind his desk, he took 
out an object which was very familiar to Kevin. Flipping the knife in 
his hand he passed it over the desk to the waiting Lieutenant, who 
slipped it into his trousers' compartment. 

"You know that really you shouldn't be carrying that, don't you?"

Kevin gave Odo a look that displayed incredulity, and then said: 

"According to Starfleet Regulations, security officers are allowed to 
take measures to ensure their safety. I interpreted the rules in this 
way. Is there anything else or may I be dismissed? Constable." He 
tossed the last on as an afterthought.

Odo looked at him, and nodded. 

"Perhaps you could explain one thing though. How is it that you came 
to be in possession of a Romulan knife?"

"Oh, I brought it in a sale on Rigel. They had an extra batch that 
the military no longer wanted, and they were offering them at knock 
down prices. Quite a bargain really," Kevin responded.

Odo clearly didn't believe him, but turned to the next issue.

"Following your little altercation with the Klingon's yesterday, I 
had a long talk with Captain Sisko. You may not know it, but he was 
all for throwing you in the brig until you could be transferred 
somewhere else. I think his exact words were 'somewhere at the other 
end of the Quadrant.' 

"The only reason you're not in that much trouble is because General 
Martok, while we were talking, came in, and said that he wasn't going 
to be pressing charges, and that he'd appreciate it if the Captain 
let you off lightly, because he was impressed with your ability. That 
is the only reason you're here and not in there." He indicated the 
door to the holding room. "In short, Lieutenant, you're off this, but 
you are still on very thin ice. I suggest you remember that. 
Dismissed." 

******

Later that day, while Kevin was on his lunch break he overheard Odo 
talking to Kira while they were sitting at the replimat. From this 
discussion Kevin gathered that Worf had been set to find out about 
the Klingon Plans. 'It's been several days, the second fleet will be 
in position and the Midnight and Twilight should be at their targets. 
Okay, it doesn't matter what Starfleet does, the Invasion will 
proceed. Good.'

That evening the Klingon fleet left for Cardassia.

******

Chapter Seven

******

Later that afternoon Kevin was walking along the Promenade when he 
heard a signal come through the opened doors of Garak's tailor shop. 
"Mr Garak, report to the Ward Room. Bring your tailors kit," came 
Sisko disembodied voice. With a sense that happens to all people once 
in a while, Kevin knew that something was going to occur. Stepping 
into a turbolift he said: "Habitat Ring" to the computer, and asked, 
"Computer who is in the Ward Room?" 

The computer's response didn't surprise him.

"The wardroom is occupied by the senior staff."

Kevin's forehead frowned in response. When the turbolift stopped he 
got out and dashed to his quarters. Fortunately no one saw him. 
Entering he called out: "Computer, procedure 20." A forcefield 
crackled into life around the door and all access ports, such as the 
ones linking onto Jefferies tubes. Sitting at the console Kevin said;

"Computer recognise Brown, Kevin, security clearance level 18, code 
Alpha Two Zero. Go"

"Access enabled, verify authorisation."

"Codename Mamba, Section Alpha. Go."

"Authorisation enabled."

Rapidly Kevin typed a series of commands into the computer, and then 
said, 

"Initiate security bypass. Show scene in Ward Room, with audio."

On the monitor at the desk the scene in the wardroom came up. Kevin 
was just in time to see Garak walk over to Capt. Sisko and start 
measuring him. He heard the senior officers discuss the Klingon 
Invasion and then, Sisko all but ask Garak if he needed any more 
information. With a barely controlled rush Garak left the room, 
saying he had all he needed. Sisko smiled, almost smugly. Kevin 
nodded. 'Okay, Garak will warn them. But they're already almost 
there. It should be okay.' To the computer he said "Close monitor on 
Ward Room. Location of Garak."

The computer's response came back. "Mr. Garak is in turbolift three."

"Destination."

"Habitat Ring." 

'He's going to his quarters.' Kevin realised. 'I could stop him 
easily, but, no I'll let him send this. It doesn't matter what the 
Cardassians do. The outlying colonies will be overrun. That's all 
that matters. Their fleet will be hit. Still, I should warn Garak not 
to put in nose into our affairs. A polite little note should 
suffice.' This all flashed through his mind in a second. 

"Computer show me the security monitor in Garak's quarters." The 
monitor, which had been installed when the station was re-built 
following the Cardassian withdrawal, sprung into life. 

"Compose a message, and prepare to send to the terminal at Mr. 
Garak's desk. Use de-tracer level 2." 'That will be enough' "Message 
as follows; Text only. 

'Be very careful, Mr. Garak. Be very careful. Remember Ter Verok.' 

End." 

On the monitor he watched as Garak sat at his desk and used override 
protocols to open a channel to Cardassia. 'Not bad encryption' Kevin 
thought. He watched as Garak managed to get through to Dukat and then 
as they sparred. Finally Garak grew tired of the sparring and gave 
Dukat one last warning and then turned off the channel. He sat back 
in his chair, with a small smile on his face. 'This should wipe the 
smile off his face.' Kevin opened his mouth and said to the computer: 

"Send message." The computer acknowledged.

On the screen, Kevin watched as Garak's console chirped. 

"You have an incoming message." Garak sat up, a look of mild surprise 
on his face. 

"Where is it from?" he asked. 

"Unknown," came the response. 

"Who is the author?"

"Unknown," came the answer again.

A frown creased Garak's forehead as he said. 

"Display message."

As the text of the message that Kevin had just sent appeared on 
Garak's monitor, Kevin watched Garak's reaction. The Cardassian had 
grown still, and gone slightly pale. When he reached out for the off 
control on his monitor, Kevin could see that his hand shook a little. 
Kevin gave a small snort of amusement. 'Yes, that's got you worried 
hasn't it?' After a moment Kevin closed the access on the computer, 
lowered the forcefield around the door and access points, and walked 
out of his room.

******

Garak, meanwhile, was still sitting at his terminal, shocked by the 
message. He re-read it. Memories of his time in the Order came back
to him, especially of Ter Verok. 

'Operation Ter Verok. We'd collated rumours of a new force in the 
quadrant. It wasn't the Tal Shiar or Starfleet Intelligence. But it
was there. In the shadows, but never able to see the clear shape. And we tried to infilrate it. We never even found out who it was, in the 
end. Just a name. Section 31. But they were effective.

'Ten agents lost in the Federation, eliminated. All members of the 
Order involved in the operation, except Tain and I, removed. All simultaneously. It had been a high level operation. Tain had 
instructed much of it himself. We heard the result, and he listened, 
then spoke to me.

'"Elim, never play kotra with an opponent, whose strategy you don't 
know."'

Slowly Garak stood up and walked over to a cupboard. Opening he 
poured himself a glass of canar, and then sat down at a table and 
sipped it to calm his nerves. 

'And now I'm being told to be careful.' 

With this final thought in his mind, Garak gulped his canar down, and 
poured himself another glass.

******

Later Kevin heard on the grapevine that the Defiant was to make a run 
to rendezvous with Dukat's ship which was carrying the members of the 
Detapa Consulate. He thought briefly about assigning a ship to 
intercept the Cardassians, but then dismissed it. 'If we get the 
consulate they might be more amenable to the Federation; if we don't 
it doesn't matter; they'll be dead, but at least we tried. If we can 
also stop the Klingon invasion soon. Cardassian power has been cut 
enough.' The Defiant left the station to make its run, and Kevin was 
back on duty preparing the station for possible action.

While patrolling the promenade, Kevin received a signal over his 
communicator from Odo, who was asking him to attend a full security 
briefing in ten minutes. When Kevin arrived in the Cargo bay people 
were still entering. When Odo entered everyone became quiet as he 
began to speak. 

"There's the possibility that we may have to fight a boarding action 
on the station soon. Chief O'Brien is finishing the defensive 
upgrades as we speak, and we have to prepare for action. Everyone arm 
yourselves, start patrolling the station. Work in pairs or trio's 
minimum, otherwise normal teams. Any questions?"

A Bajoran security officer raised his hand and asked, 

"What limits have we got regarding force?"

Odo shook his head. 

"Whatever's necessary. Just try not to ruin the promenade if you get 
into a fire fight."

Kevin chuckled slightly at this, earning himself a look from Odo. The 
Lt. winked at him. Odo looked exasperated, but continued,

"Okay everyone, get your weapons and start the patrolling. Your areas 
can be accessed by the padds." 

He indicated a pile next to him. Everyone began to leave the Cargo 
bay. Kevin accessed a padd, and scrolled down to where he had been 
assigned. He read 'At own discretion.' He looked at Odo, and said

"Thanks, that'll be the best for me." 

Odo looked at him, and said

"I've assigned Ensign O'Donnell to work with you." 

Kevin shook his head.

"No. I'll be more effective alone." 

Odo looked as though he was going to argue and then saw something in 
Kevin's eyes that made it clear that he wasn't going to work in a 
pair. 

"Agreed. Now get moving."

Kevin nodded, and jogged out of the cargo bay. He headed for his 
quarters. Entering them he went to his cupboard and entering a code 
on the box at the base took out a number of items. One was 
recognisable as a rifle, albeit one that was shorter than standard 
Starfleet issue. He laid this on the ground. Sitting down he took his 
clean boots off, and put on a pair of well-worn, matt black boots. 

Clipping a phaser onto his belt, he opened a pocket in his left 
trouser leg and slid five rectangular items onto the cloth clips 
there. Checking each as he put it in, Kevin made sure that the 
grenade's fuses were set at five seconds. 

'Good. Now rifle' he thought. Picking up the rifle, Kevin checked 
that it was clear and that the energy cell was fully charged. Then 
taking up a small magazine he checked the top rounds, pushed it into 
an opening on the base of the rifle and then cocked the rifle. Having 
done this he left his room and headed to the Promenade.

******

In Ops there was frantic activity as Chief O'Brien tried to get the 
upgrades on line. Designed to protect the station from a Dominion 
invasion, the Klingon's were the last people he had expected to have 
to use them on. 

Major Kira, on the other hand, was overseeing the evacuation of the 
civilians to the sheltered area, and co-ordinating this from Ops. 
While she was doing her task she was thinking over the events of the 
last few days. She thought about what Dax had said to her, and 
chuckled under her breath. 'I don't know where she gets her ideas 
from. I wonder if he will try to fit in, or whether he'll just ruin 
his career. What am I doing? Why is he on my mind so much? Arrgh.' 

With a swift movement she pushed herself away from the lower table 
and headed up to check on O'Brien's progress.

******

The security arrangements were in place, when a few hours later, the 
Defiant dropped out of warp and headed to the Docking Ring. From his 
position on the promenade Kevin saw the large Klingon fleet. With the 
station at Red Alert all non-essential personnel were in safe-havens 
and, so the promenade was deserted except for security personnel. 
Quietly Kevin murmured, almost absently to himself, 

"Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; 
Or close the wall up with our English dead..."

******

In Ops Major Kira watched as Gowron rejected Sisko's plea, and 
warnings. 'Damn it, we can do without having to fight the Klingons. 
This is stupid.' When Gowron clicked the screen off, everyone looked 
to Worf for a translation. In a rumble he translated.

"He said: 'Today is a good day to die.'"

On the tactical display the first Klingon fighter wing peeled away 
from the main fleet and headed towards the station.

******

Back on the Promenade, Kevin braced himself as the Klingons opened 
fire. The station shook but the shields held. A couple of the younger 
ensigns were looking nervous and Kevin walked over to them.

"You okay?" 

They looked at him. 

"Hey, don't worry about it. Chief O'Brien has to worry about the 
shields. It's his problem, not yours. Concentrate on your job. It 
will come back to you. Now go on." 

With a inclination of his head the two ensigns continued along the 
upper level of the promenade. Standing next to one of the windows 
Kevin saw the stations defences open fire. Photon torpedoes and 
phasers hurtled from the station to impact with the incoming Klingon 
fleet. 'Time to find a better position.'

Walking down to the lower level of the promenade Kevin nodded to Odo, 
who was just walking to the front of the temple. Kevin headed over, 
as the station shook again. 

"Well, looks like we're going to have fun soon." 

Odo nodded, slowly. 

Kevin said: "Good luck," then headed on to the entrance of one of the 
shops on the promenade, where he took up position in the corner of 
the door. Unslinging his rifle he put it into his shoulder and 
crouched down onto one knee, aiming towards the end of the promenade.

The station shook, very hard.

******

In Ops the fight was not progressing to the defenders liking. The 
Klingons had just hit the shield generators. Before the Chief could 
get them back on line Ops was boarded and the flight was on. The 
first wave of Klingons was cut down as they materialised but the next 
wave, charged into the waiting defenders. Smashing into them, 
Klingons still fell from phaser shots but the Klingon preference for 
hand to hand combat came to the fore as bat'leths swung. Avoiding a 
blow that would have severed her neck, Kira dropped one of the 
Klingons with a shot and then parried with another Klingon.

On the top level chief O'Brien glanced at one of the security 
officers who took a disruptor shot in the chest, and then shot the 
Klingon who had fired the disruptor. Worf was holding his own with 
his mek'leth, as was Dax who had managed to get her hands on a bat'leth.... 

******

On the promenade the fight had also begun. From his position at the 
shop door, Kevin watched as the first Klingons materialised. Quickly 
aiming he snapped off two shots that caught the Klingons in the 
chest. The rest of the first boarding party scattered, and then a 
second and third wave beamed aboard. Aiming quickly Kevin shot 
another Klingon and then dived to his right as a Klingon took aim at 
his with a disruptor. Avoiding the blast, Kevin rolled and shot the 
Klingon as he regained his knee. Seeing a Klingon take aim at a 
security officer Kevin shot him in the side of the chest and then, 
moved back to the wall. Snapping off a series of shots at the 
Klingons who were charging down the promenade Kevin saw a security 
man fall as a disruptor shot hit him. 'Damn' he thought, and then 
with a rapid series of shots took three Klingon's down. 

Glancing behind him he saw that several of the Klingons had started 
to engage in hand to hand. 'Idiots' he thought as another shot took 
out a Klingon. On the upper level he watched as the two ensigns he 
had talked to earlier were hit by Klingon fire. Moving out from the 
door where he was he hit the open button. The door slid open. Good. 
Setting his rifle onto automatic fire he sprayed fire at a squad of 
five Klingons and then dived into the shop. The Klingons followed. 

Reaching down to his left pocket he took out one of the rectangular 
grenades. Standing back to the wall in the darkened shop, next to the 
door, Kevin saw the Klingon's shadows in the light of the door as 
they charged into the room. Pulling the fuse, Kevin counted 'One 
thousand and one, One thousand and two.' On this he threw the grenade 
into the middle of the floor and stepped out of the shop, hitting the 
close button as he went past. The Klingon's hearing the door close 
turned, firing. The shots ineffectually hit the door. One of the 
Klingon's opened his mouth to say something. 

He never got any further, as the grenade exploded. 

>From outside the door, Kevin heard and felt the explosion, and gave a 
savage smile. Putting his rifle back in his shoulder he moved down 
the promenade, towards where the main hand to hand battle was 
occurring outside the Bajoran Temple.

******

In Ops Kira had just downed a Klingon when she felt a sharp pain in 
her side as a Klingon rammed a d'k tahg into her side. A cry of pain 
almost escaped her lips as she grabbed the Klingons hand and pulled 
out the knife smashing him across the face. She them lowered herself 
to the ground trying to stop the blood flowing from her side. From 
where she lay she saw Dax dispose of another Klingon, and Worf 
cut one down. 'Damn it, this hurts. Wonder how they're doing on the 
promenade, or at the consuls quarters. Shit, this hurts.' With that 
thought she tripped a Klingon who went past.

The Klingon stumbled and then died as a security officer shot him. 
Kira looked up to see that the fight was going well. Sisko was just 
finishing a Klingon off, and Dax swept the legs from another. Sisko 
checked on  Kira, after he had dealt with the Klingon. 

"Major?" he voice was full of concern.

She gave a small smile. 

"I'll be okay it's not as bad as it looks."

Sisko then helped the chief up, and then contacted Odo. 

"Constable, report."

******

On the promenade Odo responded, 

"We've got them contained. I can't tell you how long they'll remain 
that way." 

Behind him a Klingon patrol ran along the upper level. From his 
position on the lower level Kevin had already thrown a grenade to 
catch them. It landed perfectly in front of them and exploded about 
half a second later.

In Ops everyone looked up as a loud explosion came over the commline. 

"Constable?" Sisko asked.

The response came back. "It's all right Captain. That's just Lt. 
Brown."

Despite her injury, Kira smiled at this, and Dax gave a small 
chuckle. 

"Odo out." 

Back on the promenade Kevin jogged to where Odo was standing. 

"You all right?"

"I'm fine. Go down to the consulate's quarters and check on team 
there."

Kevin nodded. 

"Okay, I'm...Down." 

He swung his rifle up. As Odo ducked he heard a shot fly over his 
head and then a cry and a thud as a Klingon fell from the upper 
levels. Kevin offered Odo his hand, and helped him up. With a nod, 
Kevin ran to a turbolift and headed down to the Habitat Ring. 

Odo returned to the fight.

******

Down in the habitat ring even while they were fighting Dukat and 
Garak were arguing. As Kevin exited the turbolift he heard

"I suppose you prefer an interrogation chamber."

"Well you have to admit, it's much more civilised."

With a grin Kevin saw a squad of Klingon's preparing to charge the 
defenders. He brought his rifle up and opened fire on automatic. The 
four Klingons never even knew he was there, as they were cut down, by 
orange energy bolts. Kevin called out 

"Check fire, Check fire." 

Silence came from around the corridor. Putting his rifle in his 
shoulder, he called out, "I'm coming round." 

Stepping slowly around the corner, he found himself facing a bloodied 
Garak and Dukat. 

"Gentlemen." He relaxed and walked towards them. "I see you've been 
getting some exercise."

******

In Ops Sisko had just finished speaking with Gowron, and a cease-fire 
was worked out. A calm descended over Ops. 

"Sisko to Bashir. I need someone up here - we've got injured." 

Bashir's voice came back. "I'll send a team."

Slowly reports came in that the Klingon's were ceasing fire, and 
being transported off. The battle was over. 

For now.

******

Chapter Eight

******

The next few days were devoted to repairing the station. At the 
replimat two days after the fight, Kevin, who had just finished his 
shift, ordered a cup of coffee and turned to find a place to sit. 
Seeing that the only spare place was opposite to Major Kira he went 
over, and said,

"Do you mind if I sit here?" 

Kira looked up from her meal, and shook her head. Kevin sat down, and 
expelled a breath. He took a long sip of his coffee. 

"I needed that." Kira smiled.

"Yes, it has been quite an explosive couple of days." 

She said it with just a bit of emphasis on the 'explosive.' Kevin 
looked at her, a look of exaggerated innocence on his face.

"Major?"

She looked back at him. 

"We all know about your little explosive grenades. Captain Sisko was 
talking to Odo when one of them went off."

"Oh." Kevin smiled down into his drink. "Well, if it works..."

Kira shook her head, and chuckled. 

"Do you know how much paperwork had to go through because you 
destroyed one of the shops on the promenade?"

Kevin chuckled back. 

"Why do I get the feeling you're not that bothered? Maybe because you 
know that the owner was planning to leave in a month and now the 
insurance pay out has made her a very rich lady." 

Kira chuckled louder at this.

"Partly that. You didn't see Dax in Ops though, when we heard it was 
you. She was almost in hysterics." 

She looked at Kevin who smiled at this, when suddenly his forehead 
creased as he frowned. Standing up, the smile now gone from his face, 
his expression carefully neutral, he then downed the  rest of his 
drink. 

"Well, I have to dash. If you'll excuse me, Major." So saying he 
left. Kira watched him walk off down the Promenade. She was 
interrupted by Dax who sat down and gave her a look with a raised 
eyebrow.

"Oh, don't you start" was the Major's only comment.

******

Kevin headed back to his quarters. 'What do they want? They only ever 
use the Device for contact if it's an emergency.' With this thought 
in his head he entered his quarters and sealed the door. 

"Computer, recognise Brown, Kevin security clearance level 18, code 
Alpha Zero Two. Go" The computer chirped and responded,

"Access enabled, please verify authorisation."

"Codename Mamba, Section Alpha. Go."

"Authorisation enabled."

"Open a Channel to S. at Base Alpha, encryption level one."

The next moment the logo of the Federation's secret security service, 
known only to a few as Section 31, appeared on the screen. The screen 
changed to a security recognition screen. Only highest level 
clearance could enter this level of the organisation. After entering 
his clearance, the logo reappeared and Kevin waited. Suddenly the 
screen cleared to reveal a human female sitting at a desk. She was 
wearing a completely black uniform. The four golden ranks pips on the 
front left of her uniform were framed by a gold box. She seemed about 
sixty with greying hair. She looked up as the channel opened.

"Sir. You requested that I contact you."

She gave a slight smile to him. 

"It's good to see you again Kevin. It's been too long. And don't call 
me 'Sir': how many times do I have to tell you that?"

Kevin returned her smile. 

"Okay, Sarah, I won't call you sir. What was it you wanted though, 
seriously?"

"The Midnight and the Twilight completed their assignments. You 
already knew that, though, didn't you?" Kevin gave a slight smile. 
"Yes, you did. I've pulled them back to Base Zulu, for minor work. We 
don't need them at the moment. They'll be out for about two weeks. 
Also the 'Rorke's Drift' and 'Arnhem' are being sped up. That will 
mean that you won't be able to task them for a while. We are building 
up the force."

"With all due respect, Sarah, you didn't send me an priority contact 
signal to update me on the status of ships."

Sarah's smile vanished. 

"No I didn't. I've got some bad news Kevin. Asp... Nina was killed on 
Cardassia yesterday. I'm sorry. I know that the two of you were 
close." 

Silence followed.

On DS9, Kevin sat back slightly in his chair. However, he recovered 
almost immediately. 

"How did she die?"

"She was caught in a riot. Bad timing. We've recovered her body. Her 
funeral will be on Friday."

Kevin nodded. "I'll be there. Is it at Base Alpha?"

Sarah nodded. "Yes, it'll be here. Would you like to say something?"

Kevin seemed to be looking inward, then he roused himself. 

"Yes, I'll say a few words. Thanks you for letting me know, Sarah."

She looked at him sadly. 

"I'm sorry Kevin, I'll see you when you get here. I'll send a request 
for you to return to Earth for a few days for a conference or 
something. I'll put it under security. I'm sorry, Kevin. Base Alpha 
out." 

Her face was replaced by the Section 31 logo. Kevin sat back in his 
chair. Absently he touched the control to close access on the 
computer. His mind was elsewhere.

**It was a bright day. At the front of the building which was the 
entrance to Starfleet Academy a new batch of cadets were being 
dropped off by parents and loved ones. One young women was standing 
to one side with a rucsac on her back, watching the goings on. The T-
shirt she wore had a small snake emblem on it. No family were there 
to see her off. She turned as she felt someone brush past her. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to catch you." A young man apologised to her.

"It's okay." 

The man didn't move on, but unslung his own rucsac, and put it 
upright on the ground then sat on it, his back next to the wall, and 
leaned back.

"Oh, sorry, I'm being rude. Kevin Brown." He offered his 
hand.

She took it in her own. "Nice to meet you. I'm Nina Annin." 

"Russian?" came the response

She nodded. 

"Straswictze. You'll have to help me on my accent sometime."

She looked surprised. "You speak it?"

"Yes, though, as I said, my accent is bloody awful." He chuckled, 
then looked up, as a shadow fell across them. "I recognise you." He 
said this to the man whose shadow had fallen over them.

"Yes, we were on the same introductory tour. Mind if I join you?" 

"No pull up your rucsac. Well, introductions. I'm Kevin Brown."

"Nina Annin."

"Mike Histon." The newcomer then asked: "Well, what are you 
specialising in?"

The normal introductory conversation continued for ten minutes. By 
this time the rucsacs were lying on the ground, and their owners 
were using them as headrests, lying in the sun. An officer exited the 
building, and said in a loud voice,

"Welcome to Starfleet Academy. If you'll follow me we'll get you 
through administration." 

He turned to leave.

Under his breath Kevin, as he stood, remarked to the other two: 

"Getting so comfortable I hate to leave." The officer stopped and 
turned to face the trio.

"If you're all quite ready?" he asked, very pointedly. The three 
exchanged a look, and headed into the building.**

The memory finally ended, and Kevin shook himself. 'Damn it, I'll 
need to fake orders for transport. Oh hell, I need to get out of 
here.' So saying he left for the holosuite.

******

Kira had adjourned with Dax to Quark's. They were talking about work, 
and the reconstruction work, when Dax stopped and waved to Dr. Bashir 
and the Chief who had just entered the bar. Julian waved back, and 
after getting their drinks they headed over to where the ladies were 
seated. 

"And how are you on this fine day?"

The Chief shot Dax a look. "Is it just me or is it everytime we get 
this damn station running someone comes along and has to take a load 
of shots at it, and blow it up?"

The other three thought about this and then nodded, agreeing with 
him. It did seem to be a characteristic of life on Deep Space Nine. 

"So how are things in Ops? I'm still finishing the reorganising of 
the infirmary," Bashir asked Dax.

"Oh, it's fine. We're almost done as well. I feel sorry for the teams 
working on the Promenade."

Bashir raised an eyebrow at this.

"They're having to repair a section of the upper walkway. Lt. Brown's 
explosives almost destroyed the upper section." 

O'Brien scowled at this. 

"Yes, and guess whose job it is to fix the blasted thing."

The other three smiled into their drinks. Kira was about to ask Dax 
about the scheduling for Ops tomorrow, when they were interrupted by 
the sound of a shout from Quark. 

"Wait, you can't go in there!!!" 

They turned and saw Quark come around the bar and run after the 
figure of Lt. Brown who was starting to climb the steps up to the 
higher level of the bar.

"The holosuite is reserved for someone."

Quark grabbed Kevin's arm, who stopped and turned, looking straight 
at the Ferengi bar-owner. 

"Let go of my arm."

Quark, sensing that this was the only request Kevin would give him, 
before taking other...measures, did as he was told. Quickly. Kevin 
then spoke again.

"Tell your customers that it's taken." 

Without another word Kevin turned and headed up to the holosuites. 
The door swished open and he entered. Quark spluttered and then 
headed over to the four officers.

"I demand that you do something about that man! He walks into my 
holosuites, despite the fact that they're reserved, and he threatens me!" 

Bashir, whose back was to Quark, gave a slightly amused smile. Dax 
caught it, and had to bite back one of her own. 

"Well what are you going to do? Major?" 

Quark almost shouted at Kira. Kira shot him a look, and then said:

"I'll deal with it." 

She stood up and headed up to the holosuite, Dax looking after her 
with a small smile on her face.

******

Inside the holosuite Kevin was sitting on a beach, the waters of the 
ocean lapping just away from his feet, his arms around his knees. He 
didn't look around as he heard the doors open. When Kira walked up to 
him he didn't turn. Kira stood behind him. 

"Lieutenant, you can't just barge in and throw people who have 
reserved the holosuite out." She didn't get a response. 

"Lieutenant? Are you listening to me?" Still no response. She walked 
around to the front of where Kevin was sitting and crouched down and 
looked at him. His face had no expression on it, but his eyes did not 
seem to be focused on her. She reached out and shook him. She 
immediately discovered that that was not a good thing to do.

The next moment she found that she had flown over Kevin's head, and 
was on her front, in the sand, with her arms pinned behind her by 
powerful hands, immobilised.

"What the hell are you doing!!!" she shouted. The grip relaxed, and 
then let go. She heard the sound of someone move away from above her. 
She turned over, and saw Kevin standing there. He offered her a hand. 

She took it and he helped her up.

"My apologies, Major. You startled me." 

That was all he said as he turned and sat back down. Kira almost 
exploded, but controlled herself enough to say:

"That's it? You threaten Quark, barge in here, and assault me and 
that's it!!! You better have a damned good reason mister, or I'll see 
you in security. Well?" 

Silence followed this. Just as she opened her mouth to speak she 
heard Kevin say,

"I'm sorry, and I'll apologise to Quark. I just needed to think. I 
got some bad news today, and I was a bit on edge. That's all. I'll go 
and think somewhere else." 

So saying he walked past her, and out of the exit, before Kira could 
say anything.

On the lower level of Quarks, Dax looked up as Kevin walked down the 
stairs. As he passed the bar he flipped something to Quark who caught 
it, and then looked after Kevin, a small smile on his Ferengi 
features. He had just made his largest profit of the evening. Dax 
looked as Kevin exited the bar. 'I wonder what that was all about?' 
he musing was stopped as Kira came down the steps, and sat at the 
table. 

"Well, what was all that about?"

Kira shook her head. "I'm not sure," was all she said. 'What is he? 
Half the time you can't tell what he's thinking, and the other half 
of the time I'm not sure if I want to know what he's thinking.'

******

Kevin stood on the upper level of the Promenade looking out at the 
stars for a long time, lost in thought and memories.

******

The next morning Kevin was summoned into the Captain's office. 
Entering he stood at attention. The Captain looked up. 

"I've received a communication from Starfleet Security. They want you 
to attend a conference on Earth this Thursday through Saturday. 
You'll be leaving immediately on the next transport. Any questions?"

Kevin shook his head. "No, sir."

"Good, we'll see you in a few days. Dismissed."

Heading back to the promenade, Kevin ran into Major Kira as she 
waited for the turbolift. They entered. As Kevin told the computer he 
wanted to go to the Habitat Ring, he turned to Kira and said:

"Kira, I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean for that to happen."

She nodded. "Okay, if you need to talk?"

He shook his head. "I'll be off the station for the next few days, 
but if I need to talk when I get back, I'll remember your offer. 
Thanks." 

The doors opened and he got off.

******

Chapter Nine

******

The transport to Earth was quick. Using one of the Section's courier 
shuttles kept in cloaked orbit on Earth it was a easy trip to the 
Section 31 base known as Base Alpha. 

******

Back on Deep Space Nine, Kira was occupied with the daily tasks of 
being the First Officer. After the day's work she was relaxing in 
Quark's, when Dax joined her. "Hi, hard day?" the Trill asked.

"Just a bit" came the tired response. 

Dax then said: 

"I've just found out that Worf has his own martial arts programmes. 
He pretty good actually. I'll have to see if we can set Lt. Brown up 
against him. It shouldn't be too hard to do."

Kira response was a grunt, but a small smile formed on her face. 

Unknown to them a certain Ferengi's very sharp ears had over-heard 
the conversation and had already started thinking of betting odds on 
who would win. 'Now just how to phrase the tag-line....'

******

When Kevin arrived at the system where Base Alpha was located he 
dropped out of warp, though he remained cloaked. Sure enough there 
was no traffic in the system, cloaked or otherwise. Heading towards 
the moon orbiting the only planet in the system he piloted the 
shuttle into a crater on the surface. Heading straight at the base of 
the crater, anyone who could observe him would have thought that the 
pilot was suicidal. There was no explosion as he hit the ground. 
Instead he passed through a holographic shield and entered into a 
huge cavern, hollowed out from the inside of the moon.

On the inside were a number of ships, none of which had ever been 
seen by anyone not in Section 31. The inside of the cavern was a huge
docking bay. Docking at one of the ports, Kevin powered down the 
shuttle and entered Base Alpha.

Having changed into his true uniform, Kevin looked at himself in the 
reflection of the docking bay's black, glass-like, doors. The 
reflection showed a man at home in his uniform. The pips on his left 
hand side of his black uniform indicated his rank. Of the four pips 
two were enclosed by a golden box. They were all on a white 
background, which squared the box. Entering through the docking bay, 
after the computer confirmed his DNA, retina scan and access codes, 
Kevin walked into the corridor and headed for a turbolift. 

When he got there he waited for a moment and looked back along the 
corridor. The corridor had few people walking along it, likewise all 
dressed in the black uniform that had more resemblance to those of 
the last decades of the 23rd century than those of the current usage 
in Starfleet. All doors had security clearances checks on them.

The turbolift opened and Kevin entered. 

"Destination." The computer said.

"Level One," replied Kevin. The lift began to move, and after a 
moment opened its doors. Kevin stepped out into an office. An
adjutant sat at the desk. He stood up when he saw Kevin. 

"Director, we didn't know that you'd be here so soon. The DG left 
instructions for you to go in as soon as you arrived."

Kevin nodded and went over to the door which led into the inner 
office. A security officers stood either side of the door. He pushed 
the chimes, and hearing "Enter," did so.

******

On DS9, Captain Sisko was in his office when a call from Major Kira 
called him out into Ops. 

"Captain, we've received a signal that Kai Winn will be arriving on 
the station the day after tomorrow." 

Kira's face clearly conveyed what she thought about the Spiritual 
Leader of Bajor, who she still blamed for the death of Vedek Bareil. 

Sisko nodded, pretended to ignore the comment he heard from Chief 
O'Brien. Worf not having met Winn before remained inscrutable. 

"Well I supposed we'd better role out the red carpet. Schedule a 
formal dinner for the senior staff that night. If there's nothing 
else, Major, then I will be in the office. A packet should be 
arriving from Starfleet Command for me in the next hour. When it gets 
here transfer it to my office please."

So saying Sisko headed back into his office. Kira meanwhile thought 
about what the upcoming meeting would mean, and all the bad (and 
good) memories it brought back. 'Well, at least Shakaar can keep her 
in check now.' Her mind wandered as she thought about all the things 
that could go wrong with the upcoming visit. A signal from the comm. 
board brought her back to reality. It was the packet for Sisko. 
Quickly she transferred it through to the office. She looked at Dax, 
who shrugged. She didn't know what it was either. 

******

The funeral was attended by few people. Kevin and Mike were both 
there, as were some other people who had worked with Asp, or as her 
true name was Nina Annin. The military aspect of the funeral 
conducted itself perfectly. The honour guard performed their duties
admirably. Soon though the military aspect was dropped, and it became 
a time for more personal remembrances. As the honour guard left, 
only those who knew Nina personally were left.

One of the pieces of music that was played was doubly appropriate, 
Kevin thought. Mussorgsky's 'Night on Bald Mountain', always conveyed 
the struggle between light and darkness to him, appropriate for their 
work in Section 31. The fact that it was a Russian composer made it 
even more suitable. 

Nina's body was cremated and the ashes were lain to rest in the small 
Place of Remembrance that the Section had on the moon. After the 
service finished Kevin and Mike were left alone looking out into the 
garden habitat. No words were said. None needed to be said. 

After standing in silence for a long time, Kevin spoke.

"Da sveedanya, Nina."

They both turned and walked out of the exit. They headed for the 
Section's bar, where years before Mike had got Kevin just slightly 
inebriated. Sitting at one of the tables they ordered their drinks. 
When a waiter came to serve them, Kevin ordered a double vodka. At 
Mike's sad smile, he nodded: 

"Yes, she would appreciate it. She always did love vodka."

With their drinks they quietly toasted the memory of a good friend. 
Mike asked Kevin how he was; he'd heard about the battle. Kevin told 
him what had happened. Mike then asked: 

"So what's happening between you and that red-headed Bajoran Major?"

Kevin smiled. 

"Nothing. We chat occasionally. She's one of the few people I know, 
aside from you, who can understand what I've been through. Don't 
worry, I know about clearance. I am a Director for the love of God." 

Mike looked at his friend and seemed to be studying him.

"I've known you for what? 17 years, ever since we got into de-merits 
on the first day at the Academy. Gawd, the look that officer gave 
us. And the hell he gave us for the next four years." They both 
smiled at this. "And I know you. You're attracted to her aren't you?"

"I don't go in for meaningless flings, you know that."

"I know. But you are attracted to her."

Kevin nodded slowly, the smile falling from his face. 

"I could be. I think I could very easily fall in love with her. But 
we both know that I can't afford to."

Mike interrupted him here. 

"Oh, come on Kev. I know that you've got a lot on your plate, but 
live, please. I know that you still hurt, but if you think you could 
love her, go for it. Come on if it goes pear-shaped you can always 
classify it 'Eyes Only'" he joked. 

At this Kevin chuckled. 

"You know despite the pain, I wouldn't change having had my 
relationship with Ariennye. What's the old saying? 'It is better to 
have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.' I don't know if 
anything will happen between Kira and me. If it does you'll be the 
second to know." 

Mike looked up at this. 

"The first will be a Lt. Cmdr. Dax on DS9 - she's the rumour centre." 
Mike nodded and this and laughed.

"So how did your meeting with the DG go?"

******

The next day Kevin returned to DS9. When he arrived he was greeted by 

the senior staff waiting at the airlock. Kevin turned to Sisko. 

"Captain, you really shouldn't have gone to all this trouble." 
Clasping a hand to his heart he said, "I'm touched."

Dax and Julian both suddenly had a fit of coughing, while O'Brien 
found the floor very interesting. Kira bit her lip to prevent herself 
laughing, while Sisko smiled at the, now, Lt. He replied in the same 
amused, slightly sarcastic, tone:

"Much as we are honoured by your return to us Lt., we are in fact 
waiting to greet..."

He stopped as he saw Kevin nodding. 

"I know, Sir. I'll report to security after unloading my bags. 
Goodday." He nodded towards Major Kira. "Major." Then he went down 
the passage way. 

Dax managed to shoot Kira a look before the comm. system announced 
that the Kai's transport was docking.

******

Despite the Kai being on the station, this did not prevent Dax 
finding time to set up the challenge she had spoken about. She soon 
baited Worf into agreeing to a challenge (she had to use the Klingon 
honour grounds to get him to agree, but hey, she thought, if it 
works...) She then set about the harder part of the task. Convincing 
Lt. Brown.

She found him in Quarks working on a padd. Standing at his table she 
asked him if she could join him. Kevin glanced up, and nodded. 

"What can I do for you Commander?" 

Dax didn't reply, but sipped her drink.

She then said:

"I just wanted to see how you were getting on. How did the conference 
go?"

Kevin answered without a bit of hesitation. 

"Oh, quite well. About normal for a security conference though. By 
the way, I understand that you have a martial arts programme. Would 
it be possible for me to use it sometime?"

Dax almost laughed at this introduction to the topic she had been 
racking her brains to get around to. 

"Yes, sure, though it is quite difficult" she said. "I only know a 
few people who can do it - on this station only myself and Lt. Cmdr. 
Worf can manage it, so, no offence, but it might be too difficult."

Kevin raised his eyebrows at this. 

"Commander, with all respect, I'll be able to do it." 

Dax didn't looked convinced. 'Now for the kill' she thought. 

"Well I don't know. I'd have to see how good you are. If you can spar 
with Worf I might feel happier about letting you use the programme." 
She smiled to herself, as Kevin nodded. 

"Okay, when do you want me to fight with Worf?"

Dax looked thoughtful. "I'll have to check with him, but I think, 
he's off duty tomorrow evening." 'He'd better be because that's when 
he told me he'd be free to fight.'

"Tomorrow evening then." 

So saying, Kevin got up and left the table. Dax thought to herself 
'Men, they're so easy to manipulate, just challenge their bravery or 
honour, or manhood, and they'll do anything.' Her thoughts were 
interrupted, by Kevin saying quietly, into her ear,

"By the way, Commander, if you wanted me to fight with Worf so that 
you could settle the bet that you got into with Kira, you could have 
just asked me. Personally I think that Quark's odds are too long at 
the moment. I'd have said that 6-1 would have been fairer."  With 
this Kevin left the bar. 

When Kira walked up to Dax five minutes later, she found her looking 
out of the exit.

"Are you all right Dax?"

Dax shook her head and chuckled. 

"I just realised that man has the annoying knack of knowing exactly 
what is going on around here." Kira looked puzzled, and Dax told her 
what had just happened. The Bajoran chuckled to herself. 'Look's like 
Dax has got a challenge in the rumour field. Thanks goodness. It 
should get a bit more interesting around here now. Wonder if we'll 
get a turf war?' She laughed out loud at this last thought, as the 
various ideas of how a rumour ring turf war could be fought entered 
into her mind.

******

The next day the station was all a-buzz with rumours and anticipation 
regarding the fight. Despite Dax's efforts to keep knowledge limited 
to a few, it had, inevitably, leaked out. Quark was loving the 
business that was coming through. The book on Kevin and Worf was 
growing, but the favourite was Worf. At lunch Kevin was eating a 
sandwich when he heard a voice ask if the seat opposite him was 
occupied. Kevin looked up and saw Kira standing there. 

"Please, take it." 

She sat down, and then asked,

"You nervous?" 

Kevin shook his head, then shrugged.

"Not really. I'll get a bit worried just before the start, but then 
you forget about it. I hear Quark's planning to put the fight on the 
screens. Have you made a bet yet? I know most of the senior staff 
have."

"I thought Quark didn't tell people who placed bets on whom."

"Oh, he doesn't. Hasn't. However, I know that the Chief has 2 bars of 
latinum on Worf, Dax has 3 on Worf, Bashir has 1 one me, Sisko 
refuses to bet as he has to be impartial, Odo doesn't bet full stop, 
and Eddington has 2 on Worf. What about you?"

She smiled. "I'm not sure. I've seen you fight, but I've seen Worf 
fight. He is good. What odds is Quark giving?"

"To win the fight? Worf 4-1, me 8-1. There are also various 
combinations, pinnings, knock outs, rounds and so on. If you're going 
to bet, bet on a sure thing."

Kira nodded. "Okay, I'll see you later." Standing up she walked past 
Kevin. As she passed him she said quietly "Good luck."

She headed into Quarks. Kevin remained at the table a small smile on 
his face until it was time to return to work.

******

That evening the preparations for what Quark was calling 'The 
Challenge of the Century and the Quadrant' were underway. In 
holosuite one Kevin was preparing. As the fight was to be hand to 
hand he was wearing the clothes he practised the most in. When Kira 
came into check on him, at Quark's urging, as 'we wouldn't want to 
have the fight delayed' she found him dressed in black, as she had 
seen him the last time. 

This time however, his head was covered with a black scarf of cloth, 
which tied his hair back, and more importantly, prevented sweat 
dripping from his forehead. He was kneeling in the centre of the 
floor, head bowed looking at his hands, which were crossed in his 
lap.

"You all right?" she asked. He looked up, and smiled. 

"Yes, thanks. I suppose I should go. Is Worf ready?"

Kira nodded. "Yes." 

As Kevin was about to exit she said: 

"Kevin. I put four bars on you. Good luck." As Kevin was facing away 
from her she didn't see the smile on his face at this, but she did 
hear the quiet:

"Thank you, Nerys."

Kevin then exited the holosuite. Entering the adjacent one he found 
Worf waiting. Dax stood to one side, with Bashir there, in case 
anything went wrong. Kira then entered. Kevin rubbed his left hand, 
and felt that his ring was still on. With a muttered "Damn" he walked 
over to Kira and said: 

"Can you look after this?" She nodded and he gave her the ring, and a 
small smile.

Kevin and Worf then went and stood on the mat that dominated the 
room. Over the speakers they heard Quark announce the competitors. 
Then Dax went and stood in the centre of the mat. Quark fell silent. 
Dax looked at Worf who nodded, then at Kevin who did the same. She 
walked back to the side of the mat and said "Begin." The two fighters 
began to circle.

Kevin watched Worf's movements taking in his foot and hand movements. 
Both of them had their guards up. Kevin knew that Worf had the 
greater strength but that he was probably more manoeuvrable. Still he 
wouldn't like to risk it. Worf soon tired of circling and moved 
towards his opponent. The first flurry of blows and blocks passed and 
the two each fell back. 'Damn, he's fast' was Kevin's thought. 

They both angled towards each other. In the next pass Kevin managed 
to get a blow to Worf's knee which staggered the Klingon, but before 
he could do anything Worf had spun out with a blow which caught Kevin 
on the ribs. While he managed to deflect most of the blow Kevin still 
knew that there would be a bruise there tomorrow.

They both spun away. Worf was limping slightly and Kevin was 
breathing heavily. Kevin feinted toward the left and Worf responded. 
They clashed and began to grapple. Kevin managed to sweep one of 
Worf's legs and they crashed to the mat, as Worf pulled Kevin with 
him. With each of them trying to block the other it became a case of 
brute strength and Kevin knew that he would be at major disadvantage. 
With a knee towards Worf's groin, which as Kevin suspected was easily 
blocked, he managed to break Worf's grip, and rolled backwards and up 
onto his feet. They faced each other again as Worf also made his 
feet.

This type of fighting proceeded for several minutes with neither of 
the opponents able to get an advantage. During the last flurry though 
one of Worf's fists had been deflected by Kevin but had still managed 
to hit him with sufficient force to start a nose bleed. Wiping his 
nose with his glove Kevin knew that he had to finish it soon. He 
moved in to attack Worf. Instead of pulling back after the series of 
blows Kevin persisted and managed to block Worf so that Kevin 
momentarily faced Worf's side. 

Kevin struck out and hit Worf in his kidneys and the Klingon grunted 
in pain. Before Worf could fully turn Kevin gave another kick which 
slammed into Worf's weak knee. The leg buckled and Worf went down. 
Kevin dived on Worf's back and managed to get an arm around his neck. 
Worf bucked and Kevin slid to one side, as Worf's arm slid over his 
neck as well. With the two of them immobilised it was now a case of 
who could hold the breath the longest, as the two choke holds 
tightened.

The last thing that Kevin consciously remembered was his grip 
tightening even more around Worf's neck. When he regain awareness, he 
saw Dr. Bashir and Kira standing over him. He shook his head and sat 
up. "Where's Worf?" was his first question.

Kira answered. "They're bringing him around now. Dax declared the 
fight a draw, as you both lost consciousness. How do you feel?"

Kevin chuckled through a sore throat. 

"I've been better," he said hoarsely, "but I've been worse." Getting 
to his feet he walked over to Worf, who was standing. "Good fight, 
Sir." 

After shaking Worf's hand, he headed out of the holosuite. 

******

Later on after the hype had died down Kevin was sitting in his 
quarters when the door rang. 

"Enter," he called out.

Kira entered his quarters. "Ah, Major, what can I do for you?"

She held up his ring. "I just thought I'd give you this back. I 
wanted to say congratulations. That was a very good match." Kevin 
smiled. 

"Thanks for showing some faith in me, Kira. I appreciate it."

Kira nodded. "Well, I supposed I'd best get going. I've got to work 
tomorrow." 

Kevin took a breath.

"Nerys, I was wondering would you care to get some dinner, at the 
replimat, or Quarks or something" he finished. To himself he thought 
'gawd, how lame did that sound?' 

Kira looked back at him, then smiled and nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you in Quarks tomorrow evening." She nodded at him 
and left the room.

Kevin smiled at the door, clenching the ring in the closed palm of 
his hand. After a few moments his smile faded, as he turned back to 
the room. There was a job to be done.

******

Elsewhere....

Tal Shiar Headquarters on ch'Rihan (known as Romulus.)....

******

"Dhat."

"Rekkhai?"

The dark haired Romulan responded, a hint of confusion in his tone. 
Instantly, he straightened, and then spoke again, the confusion 
replaced by a concilatory, apologetic, tone.

"Mhe idhoi, Enriov."

"Ie...ie."

The senior Admiral waved his hand, brushing the apology away. He 
would have reacted the same way. He thought for a moment, then spoke 
again, pointing at the computer console screen, which displayed the 
map of a sector of space.

"Chon, Enarrain. Areuy Kll'inghann chon, ler Khitomer."

The first Romulan spoke again, understanding his superior's idea. It 
could work, and even if it did not, it wouldn't matter. This was only 
one aim, and the game would not be decided upon one aim. That was 
their strength.

Still, it would be a shame, even if he'd never admit it, even to 
himself. He could not. It would have been interesting to see him 
again, even if he would not see him. Too much time had passed, or had 
it? Briefly thinking about it, he thought not. 

Mnhei'sahe - the Ruling Passion - had always governed their actions, 
even if the man who now entered the room did not think so. 

Giving the Romulan who passed him a small, respectful nod, he did not 
react to the scaring on the side of the man's face. He had seen 
worse. Few knew how one of the most respected members of the Tal 
Shiar had come to have such injuries, even if some of it was covered 
by his hair. He did, and mnhei'sahe had certainly been in evidence in 
their actions. 

And mnhei'sahe would demand them again.

******

Calvera - 'What I don't understand is why a man like you took the job 
		in the first place, hum? Why, heh?
Chris   - 'I wonder myself.'
Clavera - 'No, come on, tell me why.'
Vin     - 'It's like this fellow I knew in El Paso. One day, he just 
		took all his clothes off and jumped into a mess of 
		cactus, and I asked him the same question, "Why?"'
Calvera - 'And?'
Vin     - 'He said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."'

		- 'The Magnificent Seven' (1960)

******

Good Morning, Good Afternoon or Good Evening. Or whatever.

So what did you think? Liked it? Loathed it? Please let me know. I'm 
at matt@edw.nildram.co.uk. 

There will more parts coming out. Just a question of when. My fingers 
did feel a bit numb after typing great chunks of that out. 

Cheers

Matt