Cathedral by Michael Mangels (ebook reader color screen txt) 📕

who was shifting his weight anxiously from his old foot to his new one. He was clearly not enjoying the discussion, and seemed to be avoiding looking directly at either Ezri or Bashir.

Vaughn turned back to Shar. “Maybe those quantum signature readings show that something else is going on. Instead of being sent to some parallel world, maybe everyone affected is gradually transforming into some alternate self. For instance, a Julian Bashir whose genes were never resequenced.” To Nog he said, “Like the one from the alternate universe that your father and uncle visited last year.”

Ezri was nodding. “Or an Ezri Tigan who never joined with Dax.”

“Or a Nog who listened to his uncle and went to business school instead of Starfleet Academy,” Nog said, regarding his left leg with a wistful expression.

Shar pursed his lips as he considered the idea. “I’ll grant that it’s possible. But given the increasing flux in the quantum resonance readings, I can’t rule out any sudden, permanent disappearances.”

Vaughn sighed. “Lovely.” Approaching Sacagawea again, he said, “How do we…realign these ‘worldlines’?”

“Ingress to the cathedral/anathema,” Sacagawea said. “Only inside may the four afflicted ones be resolved/restored. Only the four may enter. Others will be misaligned, ending badly.”

Four?

“Hold it,” Nog said, obviously having noticed the same discrepancy that had caught Vaughn’s attention. “There were only three people aboard the Sagan.”

Vaughn saw that Ezri was quietly shaking her head. She raised her hand and pointed across the room toward a gurney. On the gurney, the Dax symbiont’s nutrient tank sat, evidently in preparation for a medical examination.

Four afflicted ones, Vaughn thought, understanding.

“Oh,” Nog said.

“The four afflicted ones need/require ingress to cathedral/anathema,” Sacagawea said. “While time persists/endures/lasts.”

“Before it’s too late,” Vaughn whispered. Though he had nothing to go on other than the D’Naali’s words and his own growing conviction, he felt more certain than ever that the key to everything lay somewhere within the artifact’s enigmatic depths.

It’s either there or nowhere.

“Okay,” Ezri said. “Now we just have to get around that blockade.”

“Option nonexistent,” Sacagawea agreed, “to battle/ weapons discharge.”

He’s saying we have no alternative other than to fight. Vaughn was beginning to feel boxed in by circumstances. But he remained determined. A viable win-win scenario had to exist. He simply hadn’t found it yet.

“Fighting’s not our best option,” he said at length. “Not with so many Nyazen tubes aimed right down our throats.”

“Even if we could fight our way through the blockade,” Ezri said, “what right would we have to do it? The Nyazen seem to be claiming the artifact, and they’ve already, ah, asked us to leave in no uncertain terms.”

“That’s not precisely how I see it, Lieutenant,” Vaughn said, gently brushing her objection aside. “The jurisdictional issues seem to be in dispute here, at least from the D’Naali perspective. And since both the D’Naali and the Nyazen are spacefaring species, the Prime Directive doesn’t apply.”

Which means it falls to me to cut the Gordian knot.

“So what are you going to do?” Ezri said.

Vaughn knew without looking that everyone’s eyes were upon him. He chose his words with great care before beginning to speak. “If I have to, I’ll fight my way out of this and sort it all out with Starfleet later. But only after I’ve tried every other alternative.”

Ezri and Ensign Richter both appeared relieved. Sacagawea was, as usual, unreadable, though Vaughn assumed that the alien was listening with a great deal more attentiveness than was apparent. Bashir merely looked bewildered, though he was clearly trying to appear brave—perhaps for Ezri’s benefit.

Nog seemed fairly beside himself with the need to say something.

“I am not eager to belabor this point, Captain,” Shar said, his features drawn and solemn. “But our alternatives are fairly limited. Fighting may become inevitable.”

A brilliant, snaggle-toothed grin spread across Nog’s face then. “Why fight over the front door,” he said, “when you can just…sneak in through the back?”

Vaughn returned the grin as all heads, including Sacagawea’s, turned expectantly toward the chief engineer.

16

Solis Tendren noticed right away that many of the vedeks were missing from this regularly scheduled meeting. The Vedek Assembly chamber was barely half full, and some of those in the room were ranjens, not vedeks. Most of the others had already departed for Deep Space 9 to witness the signing ceremony; many of the ministers were now on their way there as well.

Vedek Yevir, however, was conspicuous by his absence from either location. Bellis Nerani had a holonotarized document from Yevir, giving the vedek the right to act as the would-be kai’s proxy during the Assembly’s votes. Solis found it interesting that all of the other members of Yevir’s inner circle were present; he knew that Bellis, Eran Dal, Frelan Syla, Scio Marses, Kyli Shon, and Sinchante Jin all sided with Yevir in virtually everything. They always voted the same way, a steadfast conservative bloc whose unified voice unwaveringly supported the strictest of orthodox positions.

This presented an unusual challenge to Solis. Each member of Yevir’s cabal was a high-ranking vedek; frail Frelan was one of the oldest members of the Assembly, and she was fond of reminding the younger members that she had been a fixture in the clerical leadership hierarchy while they were still toddlers. Scio seemed malleable, willing to follow the prevailing beliefs of his fellows. Kyli was a thoughtful woman of middle years, who was willing at least to appear to consider divergent opinions, while Sinchante—also a middle-aged woman—was both pious and something of a zealot. Solis found Bellis to be noxious, a man with whom it was difficult to converse for any length of time, much less to debate on the Assembly floor. Shiny-pated Vedek Eran seemed the most open-minded of the lot, though Solis suspected that he had higher political ambitions than he let on.

Despite the lack of attendees—or perhaps because of it—the meeting had run longer than usual. Eran chaired the Assembly today, a role he had been taking on more and more often