"I obey," Ubinew said.

With that, Verden sat down in his chair to ponder the situation. Fatal Arrow would destroy both the human and Ferengi ships, making it appear that the two craft had destroyed one another. Verden would have to create evidence to support this, as the Federation would inevitably send a vessel to investigate the loss. He would also have to prepare to deal with a heightened Federation interest in Megara.

That would not be a problem. The plan was almost complete, and the Federation could do little to interfere-their preposterous ethics would keep them from doing anything effective. Verden could have used the Ferengi for a while longer, but he could cope with their loss, and the plan had always called for their elimination. Sacrificing them now would protect the plan.

It is a pity that Chudak will die cleanly in s.p.a.ce, Verden thought. Once the Ferengi had finished building Megara's industries, the plan called for the Megarans to regain control of their world. That would be done in the guise of a revolt; the Carda.s.sian team would have instigated uprisings all over the planet-after beaming a fusion bomb onto Chudak's ship. Verden had been looking forward to the revolt. Its violence would have confirmed the success of the plan, the final transformation of these tribal apes into something resembling warriors ... and he had wanted to see Chudak die at the hands of a mob.

That was not to be. At least Chudak and his Ferengi would all die, which was also important; dead, they could not sell their secrets to the Federation. Verden drew some consolation from the fact that Chudak would never see the billion credits he had been promised for helping to destroy the Enterprise. He hoped Chudak would live long enough to understand that he had been cheated.

Other problems remained. The two human spies had escaped. Sensors indicated that they had neither signaled the Enterprise nor transported back aboard her, but so long as they remained loose their knowledge threatened the plan-and several Federation personnel had beamed down into the city, against Verden's expectations. In addition, all of the Vo Gatyn's guards had returned from their search empty-handed-all but one squad, and their sergeant had been found in the woods, stabbed to death.

The desertion perplexed Verden. Like humans, Ferengi, Vulcans and so many other inferior races, the Megarans had evolved from tribal apes. That heritage gave them a strong, instinctive loyalty to their own groups and leaders. The guards had clearly betrayed that loyalty.

Or had they? Their loyalty was an instinct, but it remained the instinct of intelligent minds. Perhaps the guards had not run off on their own; perhaps they had given their loyalty to someone other than Gatyn-or given it to themselves? Sometimes humanoid groups split into smaller groups after a disagreement. And sometimes they could be subverted by a strong and clever leader-such as a starship captain like Picard- Verden stood up. "Give me a map which charts the path taken by the deserters," he said to Ubinew.

"I obey." Within seconds a sheet of paper materialized in the printer.

Verden took the map and turned toward the exit before training caught up with him. "I believe that the human spies have joined forces with the deserters," he told Ubinew. "I owe you a full explanation of my new plans, but time is short and I must ask you to wait for the explanation."

"You have never betrayed my trust," Ubinew said.

"I thank you for your trust," Verden said. He left the room and went upstairs into the castle. He strode quickly into the Vo Gatyn's audience chamber, where the Vo conferred over a map with her guard captain. Tattered battle pennants hung on the dark stone walls around them.

The powerless ruler of Megara gave her master a bitter look. "You with your Vo an audience crave?" she asked.

Verden ignored her sarcasm. "I believe your missing guards have joined forces with the Federation spies. One of the spies is a ship-leader, and your lost soldiers may have found him too strong a leader to resist. You will send your guards after them and kill them."

"I will?" she asked in disdain.

Verden turned away from her and thought. Gatyn had a pride to match a Carda.s.sian, and that made using her difficult. Although only a figurehead, she demanded that everyone treat her as though she were the true power on Megara.

Verden looked back to her. "My Vo," he said in a formal voice. "It is my sad duty to say that there may be treachery among some of your forces. I believe your missing guards have given their loyalty to your enemies. At least I can tell you where to locate the traitors."

"Tell," Gatyn said.

Verden spread the map on the table. Gatyn and her guard-captain studied the print. "They a hunter's trail follow," the captain said. "My Vo, to follow them my forces you do command?"

"Follow," Gatyn ordered. "But kill them you may not."

"They must all die!" Verden snapped.

Gatyn glared at him, then looked to the captain once more. "Living prisoners I wish. Your company I will join, so that live prisoners I may see taken."

"Combat is dangerous," Verden said. "You're too valuable for me to risk."

Her gaze turned haughty. "A tool I am not, for you the costs and risks to measure. Leave."

Verden strode out of the audience chamber. My own training betrayed me here, he thought. Among Carda.s.sians, anyone whose discipline was so weak that he would betray his friends was destroyed. His demand that the traitors be killed had been almost a reflex-and it had made him forget Gatyn's vanity, her wish to feel that she commanded here. She had decided to let the traitors and spies live merely to spite Verden.

Verden closed his eyes as the elevator took him down to the intelligence room. It does not matter if the spies and traitors live or die, he thought. Their capture is the important thing Worf wanted to move, to find his captain, to fight his enemies with phaser in one hand and mace in the other. Waiting was torture, and the answers that Anit had given to his questions did not convince the Klingon that fruitful action was imminent.

Data had not been idle, but neither had he spent the past hour in a useful pursuit. His first act had been to read the half-dozen books that Taygar had kept on a shelf. After he had a.s.similated the texts, Data had described them to Worf as disgustingly violent-a combination of words that disgusted Worf. The android had then drawn Anit into a discussion of pre-Ferengi life on Megara, a display of idle chatter that had further annoyed the Klingon's warrior instincts.

"Traditional Megaran society contained a remarkable division of authority," Data said to Worf, as though sharing an important observation. "Males and females shared economic power. However, diplomacy and warfare were male domains, while females controlled politics and religion."

"This the rateyes have attacked," Anit said angrily. "But the will of the Elder G.o.ds? No evil creature this can change." The look he gave Worf suggested he found all outworlders evil.

The alley door opened, and a young girl looked into the dingy room. She spoke rapidly to Anit, who sighed as he got out of his chair. "Soon I return," he promised Worf and Data, and left.

Worf took the chair, and sat with his back to the brick wall as he faced the door. He did not expect Anit to betray him, but Worf did not discount the possibility. Meanwhile, there was another problem. "We are in a tactical situation, Commander," Worf told Data. "I do not see how your talk with Anit aided us."

"You had already asked Mr. Anit all questions which seem relevant to our position," Data said. "I therefore took the opportunity to fill in other gaps in my knowledge."

Worf grunted. "Do you have any other gaps to fill?"

Data, as always, took his sarcasm literally. "Yes. I would like your comments on Commander Riker's personal behavior."

Worf felt suspicious. "What of it?"

"Although human, he seeks to emulate Klingonese att.i.tudes," Data said. "As a Klingon, would you describe his emulation as a success?"

Worf's temper rose. "Must you ask such a personal question?"

"I must," Data said. "I wish to develop human characteristics in myself, but my efforts have met with minimal success. However, if Commander Riker has adapted himself to Klingon standards, I might study his example and use it to find a way to become more human."

Worf mulled that over as he watched the room's door. As always, Data's wish to become human annoyed him, and at the moment Worf's toleration had dipped to a new low. "I wonder why you seek to become human," he said. "It would seem more logical for an android to copy Vulcans."

Data absorbed the barb as though it had been nothing more than a reasonable suggestion. "I find a certain merit in that concept," he said. "I am a creature of logic, and my creator programmed me so I would not behave in too human a fashion. However, I believe that when Dr. Soong programmed me he felt a subconscious desire to give me human behavior, and my programming mirrors this desire."

"Instinct," Worf said.

Data nodded. "Whether by evolution or by engineering, we are all molded by the forces which created us."

Worf felt stirred by an odd emotion. He had been orphaned after a Romulan attack on the Klingon colony of Khitomer, and he had been adopted by his human rescuers. The Roshenkos had tried to raise him as a true Klingon, but they had not fully succeeded. In consequence Worf had labored to develop Klingon virtues in himself, even though they sometimes felt alien: the indifference to others' pain, the use of treachery, the joy of seeing a friend die in glorious combat. It had been difficult, but by and large he had succeeded. And if that is so. , he thought, it is because I have always had it within me to become fully Klingon-and because I need to do so, to fulfill myself. This need makes Data and myself ... brothers.

Worf could not express that aloud. "Do you think you can become human?" he asked gruffly.

"I believe I have the capacity to grow into humanity," Data said. "And I seek to make this transition in the least possible time."

"Unfortunate," Worf said. "Why would you wish to hasten this change?"

Data puzzled over that statement. "Because ... I find delay ... undesirable."

"You are impatient," Worf said. "Impatience is a human failing."

The android looked intrigued. "Fascinating. Although I cannot correctly describe this as a feeling, it seems I may have developed a human trait without realizing it. I must investigate this when the opportunity arises. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"My pleasure," Worf said sarcastically-but, to his surprise, he did feel pleasure.

"Riker to Worf," Riker's voice said. "Lieutenant, we may have some information on the captain's location. We're downloading a map projection into your tricorder."

Worf activated his tricorder. The display showed a map of the region north of the castle, including several local cities. There was a wavy line that made a broad arc from the castle. It looped around this city and ended in the woods. The scale said the line was some thirty kilometers long. "Do you have more precise information?" Worf asked.

"No. This is the best Ensign Shrev and Cadet Crusher could do. The captain is probably hidden somewhere along the marked route. Our best guess is that somebody down there is playing a double game."

"Excellent," Worf said, almost purring. There was nothing like a little betrayal to enliven the day. It also pleased him to learn that Crusher had not gone into a sulk after being ordered to return to the ship. By doing his duty the youth helped to earn his way out of the disgrace he had brought upon himself after the disaster at the Academy. It was a pity he lacked a warrior's training; this mission would have given him the perfect chance to earn honor.

Anit returned a moment later, accompanied by two men. "More soon will arrive," he told Worf. "Two handfuls, as promised."

Worf grunted in approval. He a.s.sumed that referred to the six-fingered Megaran hand, which would mean twelve more men. A total of eighteen soldiers, counting himself, Data, Anit and his sergeant. That should make a respectable force for this mission. The new men wore gray coveralls, but carried short swords and daggers belted to their waists. They looked at Worf with the expressions of soldiers, and he knew they were sizing him up, either as a potential enemy or a potential leader. Respectable, indeed.

Worf returned their looks, then showed his tricorder map to Anit. "Let us discuss how we will find my captain," he said.

After a few hours Picard would have given a great deal for a Universal Translator. Even so, he and Offenhouse had made progress with Odovil Pardi. The Megaran woman was intelligent and eager to communicate, which aided the process of learning her language.

"It also helps that I know what she wants to talk about," Offenhouse said, when Pardi stepped out of the stone hut for a moment. "Business. Profits. She's a woman after my own heart."

"With a scalpel," Picard said.

Offenhouse grinned. "She is a sharp operator, isn't she?"

"I'd call her ruthless," Picard said. "She arranged our abduction-"

"-and her henchman killed his leader," Offenhouse finished. "I know. We can still use her here, once we give the Ferengi the heave-ho."

Odovil reentered the stone hut. She was accompanied by a gust of wind, and the forest odors only heightened Picard's awareness of the hut's fetid air. "More talk," she said. She stayed close to the door, and her nervous eyes gave Picard the impression that she thought the humans might attack her. "Ral'feh, some factories a thing make, I what not know."

"Describe thing," the amba.s.sador said in his pidgin Megaran.

Odovil gestured with her hands. "A metal box it is, more big than this hut. Inside the box, many coils of cable, strange rock, comp'ter, pipes like this-" Her hands made a zigzag pattern in the air.

Picard found something familiar in that description. "This strange rock," he said. "When it touch-" His hands mimed a lightning strike while he imitated the sound of thunder.

"Lightning," Odovil said, and nodded. "When lightning the strange rock hits, it goes-" She flung her arms wide. "Whoomp!"; "Dilithium," Picard said. "Mr. Amba.s.sador, she's describing an antimatter generator."

Offenhouse nodded. "Chudak said they were making things like that for him. I wonder-" He switched to his Megaran pidgin. "Odovil, how many factory this box make?"

"This many." She held up both hands and wiggled her fingers five times. "To full production already they go."

"Sixty factories," Picard said. "There aren't that many on Earth. Chudak couldn't possibly hope to sell so many generators."

"I know," Offenhouse said. "And I don't see how his employers could use that many, either. So who could?"

Picard tried to think. Back in the castle-twelve hours ago?-she had described the enormous amounts of tritanium produced by her foundries. "Odovil," he said. "Factory on Megara is, make-" He struggled to describe a phaser coil. Odovil agreed that many factories were producing such items, although she was at a loss to describe their purpose.

Picard knew their purpose. "Odovil, is one place, all make-things bring together?" he asked.

The woman pursed her lips. "Tritanium to five places we send," she said. "And ... to these places also other things are sent."

Picard nodded. "Up to ship, do Ferengi take things?"

"No," she said. "Things in large buildings are kept, why I do not know."

Things fell into place. "Starships," Picard said. "They're going to build starships here."

"A whole thundering lot of them," Offenhouse said. "And with all those phaser coils-Picard, somebody is arming for war."

I can't put it off forever, Riker thought. "Hail the Ferengi ship," he said.

"Aye, sir." Ensign Anna Novotny, one of Worf's subordinates, stood at the Klingon's usual post. The tall, muscular woman-A human designed to Klingon specifications, Riker thought in admiration-opened a channel, and the Daimon Chudak appeared on the bridge's main viewer. To Riker's surprise, the man did not look annoyed to see him.

"All right," Riker began. "Where are Captain Picard and the amba.s.sador?"

"I don't know," Chudak said, "I haven't seen them since last night, at the castle. But let's deal, Riker. Several of my crew members are missing. Maybe they were grabbed by the same people, and if that's true, we have a common enemy."

"You have nothing but enemies," Riker said. "What do you propose to do about this?"

"I propose that we join forces," Chudak said. "Share information, discuss ideas, search the planet."

Riker snorted. "What's your price?"

"No price," the Ferengi said. "My profit is what I get out of this arrangement. That's your profit, too. Let's trust one another."

h.e.l.l will freeze first, Riker thought. "Close channel."

Seated at his side, Deanna Troi touched his elbow as a starfield replaced Chudak's image on the screen. "He didn't actually lie about anything, but he's hiding something," she said. "It's obvious."

Riker nodded. Deanna couldn't sense Ferengi minds, but she was still a shrewd judge of character. "He acted wrong," he said. "Every Daimon I've seen has been either arrogant or fawning, depending on the situation."

"He tried to appear cooperative," Deanna agreed. "But I'd say he's stalling for time."

Shrev and Wesley Crusher were seated at the helm stations. Now Shrev turned in her seat and faced Riker, her head bowed to focus her antennae on him. "Commander Riker," she said, raising her voice to a near-normal level, "if I interpret the neutrino detector's readings correctly, a starship is entering the Megaran system at bearing seventeen-mark-eight."

Novotny was busy with her own instruments. "I don't have anything, sir," she said. "Weber Five-Twelve is at that bearing. The radiation is saturating the sensors."

"I see," Riker said. That sort of maneuver was practically a Carda.s.sian trademark. He stroked his beard as though he could extract an idea or two from it. This is like that silly movie I showed Worf, he reflected. We face more and more enemies at every turn. Too bad I'm not laughing. "Counselor, do you suppose Chudak is stalling until this ship arrives?" he asked.

"That seems likely," Deanna said. "I suggest that you press him as hard as you can."

"I will," Riker said. "Novotny, sound red alert. Lock all weapons on the Ferengi ship, then open a channel."

"I didn't mean to press Chudak that hard," Deanna said.

Riker smiled tightly. "This gives me a reason to put the Enterprise on alert without alarming that Carda.s.sian ship. Chudak!"

The Daimon was back on the viewer. "What is going on?" he demanded. "Why have you-"

"Here's my proposition," Riker said. He slipped into the arrogant, commanding slouch of a Klingon captain. "You are going to answer all of my questions, now."