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

Whole and complete. He wondered if this was how Kira had felt during her now-forbidden communions with Bajor’s enigmatic gods. The volume of the ambient quasi-music rose to an almost cacophonous level, utterly drowning out the sounds of the combadge, but Julian found he didn’t mind it at all.

Some measureless interval later, a coruscating shaft of light enfolded him. And the cathedral splintered around him, breaking into jagged shards like the memory of a dream.

24

Vedek Yevir could scarcely stop himself from blurting out the truth. First Minister Shakaar and Second Minister Asarem stared at him from the Trager’ s main viewscreen. Shakaar seemed almost unable to control his anger as his words hissed through clenched teeth.

“Have you taken complete leave of your senses, Yevir? The reconciliation talks with Cardassia are stalemated, and any maverick action on your part can only result in a great loss of standing for you among both the Vedek Assembly and the Chamber of Ministers.”

When Shakaar paused for breath, Yevir interrupted him. “As I said, First Minister, what I will be presenting today will likely change everything. Forever and for the better. My standing with either chamber of the Bajoran Great Assembly is as nothing compared to that. Please join me on the Promenade in ten minutes.” He punched a button on the Cardassian console, and the viewscreen went blank, cutting off the tirade that was obviously coming.

Yevir smiled to himself. It wasn’t like him to be so abrupt with Shakaar—doing so certainly wasn’t politically advantageous—but the elation that he was feeling far outweighed his concern over any potential consequences. The Prophets are indeed guiding me. They could not have sent a clearer sign.

Immediately after contacting the other vedeks who constituted his inner circle, Yevir rose. He led the way as the group disembarked from the Trager, though Gul Macet and Cleric Ekosha trailed him by only a step or two. Several lower-level Oralian Way functionaries—rectorates—guided four small antigrav sleds through the docking ring passageway.

Vedeks Eran, Scio, Kyli, Bellis, Frelan, and Sinchante all crowded the hall in front of him, their aides and several guards moving behind them. Yevir saw that each of his compatriots’ eyes were bright, their smiles wide. He grinned in response and gestured past them. “I assume we’ll have an audience?” he asked.

“Most definitely, Linjarin,” Frelan said. “Word has spread throughout the station. Everyone is buzzing with anticipation of your announcement.”

Yevir nodded and continued past the others as they parted to allow him a path through the center of the corridor. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder, pleased to note that the others had fallen into procession behind the sled bearers.

As they made their way onto the habitat ring, Yevir saw that Frelan had not exaggerated. The station was already lavishly decorated for the signing ceremony, with Bajoran flags, ornate Old Bajoran tapestries, and UFP banners all suspended from the tall ceiling. But what was most impressive were the large numbers of people crowded onto the Promenade. Representatives of dozens of races, as well as hundreds of Bajorans and humans, milled about. Yevir looked up and saw Shakaar and Asarem on the Promenade’s upper level, glaring down at him from over the railing. Nearby stood Trill Ambassador Seljin Gandres, who was chatting amiably with Bajor’s supreme magistrate, Hegel Ytrin, who looked resplendent in her dark judicial robes.

Yevir mounted a small riser nearby, a prop intended for use during the many Bajoran cultural festivities planned for the evening’s celebrations. He couldn’t see any amplification devices, but the past few years of administering at temple had given him a more than adequately audible public-speaking voice. He reached into the pocket of his robe, touched the cold object within, then withdrew his hand and raised his arms to the assembled throng.

“Greetings to all who have assembled here on this historic day,” he said loudly as the crowd settled down. “Today’s ceremonies will mark the entry of Bajor into a larger realm, a galaxy full of undreamed-of possibilities.

“For many long decades we were a world under siege, and even as we continue the long process of rebuilding our homes and farms and cities, we must also rebuild our hearts and our trust. Nowhere has this trust been more fragile than in our relationship with Cardassia. Once our sworn enemies, they have now petitioned to become our friends.”

Yevir saw that he had the complete attention of everyone on the Promenade. He also noted that Colonel Kira and other members of her staff stood on the upper level, watching him. Vedek Solis, he observed, was beside the colonel.

He continued, “Over the past several months, First Minister Shakaar and Second Minister Asarem have worked with Cardassian Ambassador Natima Lang to draw up a blueprint for a lasting peace between our world’s political leaders and the Ghemor government on Cardassia. Unfortunately, those plans have stalled of late. Without extraordinary efforts by extragovernmental entities—specifically, the clergy of two great civilizations and the ordinary citizens from whom their moral authority flows—Bajor’s joyous Federation Day might also sound the death knell for any chance of an honest, unmediated peace between Bajor and Cardassia. But I have recently learned that the people of Bajor and Cardassia aren’t about to permit that to happen.”

Yevir reached into his pocket, pulled out the jevonite statue, and held it up for all to see. During his speech he’d searched the crowd for Mika and her child, but failed to pick them out; despite the folly of her belief in Ohalu, he regretted that she would not be able to share in this moment.

“Kasidy Yates, the wife of the Emissary, recently gave me this statue, which was unearthed from the ruins of the lost city of B’hala. It is many thousands of years old, made during a time long before any star travel was possible in the sector which encompasses both Bajor and Cardassia. Yet this statue is composed of jevonite, a mineral previously had been