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

You are committing a criminal act, and if you do not leave voluntarily, we will take you into custody. Please, gather up your earrings and walk out of the temple. This has been your final warning.”

Her words did indeed produce a reaction, but only among the regular worshipers, many of whom seemed to be calming down. Some of the faithful appeared content to allow Ro and her people to handle matters, while others continued shouting their demands that the Ohalavaru depart.

Ro sighed. The protesters had left her only one option. “You leave us no choice but to take you into custody. Deputies?” Ro nodded to the ocher-uniformed men and women who began reaching toward the protesters.

But as each officer laid hands on his respective Bajoran sectarian, the Ohalavaru abruptly began chanting. “For Kira Nerys, the Truthgiver,” they said as one, though none of them offered any resistance to the deputies who restrained them. “For Kira Nerys, the Truthgiver.”

“That’s enough!”

Ro recognized the voice instantly, though she had never before heard it raised to such a stentorian volume. She turned toward the speaker, who stood silhouetted in the shrine’s Promenade doorway.

Kira Nerys. Being Attainted, the colonel was obviously taking great care not to cross the shrine’s threshold.

“That’s enough,” Kira repeated, once it became clear that she had succeeded in gaining the attention of everyone in the room. The chanting had stopped. “You Ohalavaru have made your point. I’m asking you to exit the shrine now with our security staff. I ask that you all move in a quiet and orderly fashion.”

Several of the Ohalavaru looked toward a dark-haired woman who held a squirming toddler in her arms. The woman nodded her assent, and the Ohalavaru responded by scooping up their earrings and filing toward the exit. Unbidden, the security officers followed, keeping a safe distance from the protesters, but staying close enough to protect them should any of the frustrated orthodox Bajorans follow and lash out.

As each of the Ohalavaru passed Kira, Shakaar, and Asarem, they reached out to touch the colonel—no doubt to thank her for exposing them to Ohalu’s prophecies—but she remained impassive, neither acknowledging nor flinching from them. Ro also saw that Kira still had not set a foot within the boundaries of the shrine. She’s still obeying those pompous-ass vedeks who Attainted her.

Ro turned and in a low voice apologized to Vedek Capril for the intrusion. He brusquely accepted her words, then glared across the room toward Kira. Ro knew that Capril had been on pleasant terms with Nerys in the past; had her Attainder changed that, or had the Ohalavaru demonstration merely rattled him?

Following the last of her officers out of the shrine, Ro strode over to First Minister Shakaar. “I’ll leave a detachment of guards posted nearby in case of any further disturbances, Minister,” she said.

He nodded, one eyebrow cocked as he watched the officers herding the Ohalavaru through the Promenade toward the security office and the adjacent holding cells. “I hope that this will be the only trouble they’ll make here in the coming days.”

“Perhaps if they weren’t aboard the same station as their leader,” said Vedek Bellis, his baleful gaze cast upon Kira.

“I don’t believe that Colonel Kira has either endorsed or allied herself with the Ohalavaru, Vedek Bellis,” Shakaar said. He put a hand on the rotund man’s shoulder, half turning him back toward the temple interior, and beckoned to Asarem. “Come, let’s renew our devotion to the Prophets and Their Word.”

Ro couldn’t help but wonder if Shakaar had just gone out of his way to remind Kira that she wasn’t permitted inside.

Asarem nodded almost imperceptibly. Apparently avoiding eye contact with either Kira or Ro, she turned back toward the temple to join Shakaar and Bellis. Ro saw Kira hesitate for a moment, then spin on her heel and walk briskly away from the shrine entrance. Ro could see that Kira’s jaw was clenched so tightly that she could have bitten through hull metal without any trouble.

Deputy Etana approached Ro with a padd. “All sixteen of the Ohalavaru have been taken into custody, Lieutenant. We kept the mother and her child together. They’re all cooperating fully with us. From the way they’re acting now, you’d never guess they did anything wrong.”

“In their minds, they didn’t,” Ro said, looking over the names on the padd. More information was being added remotely, from the officers working at the security office, and it continuously scrolled onto the tiny display. None of the names belonged to known felons, though one of them seemed familiar: Cerin Mika. Pointing to the name, she gave the padd back to Etana. “Pull any files we have on all of these people, but I want you to pay particular attention to hers. Then send them on their way unless their files give us any further reason to hold them.”

Catching the attention of the nearby Sergeant Shul, Ro pointed back to the shrine. “Shul, I want you and three others to take the first shift watching the temple. Tomorrow is going to be complicated enough without more surprises around here.”

After Shul acknowledged her order and peeled away, Ro turned back to Etana and put her hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I need to go and…brief the colonel on a few things, Kol,” she said, using Etana’s familiar name. “You’re in charge here.” Ro looked at her chronometer and saw that one day had segued into the next just ten minutes ago. She sighed profusely. “Not a very auspicious beginning for this eve of peace, is it?”

Etana smiled warmly and patted Ro’s hand. “We’ll get through it, Laren. Go take care of the colonel.”

I’ve got to tell her, Ro thought as she approached the sliding doors to Kira’s office. As the doors whisked open, she saw Kira sitting with most of the illumination off, the distant stars shining brilliantly through the office window. Kira appeared to be meditating, or perhaps praying. Good for her. The damned vedeks can’t do anything about that.

“Colonel,” Ro said