Worst Enemy

written by Kira Bacal

When Sisko stepped onto the deck of Ops that morning, he knew a bad day was in store. Dax addressed him even before he'd had his customary cup of coffee -- a certain sign that something amiss.

"Commander, during a routine maintenance check of the sensors, I found something I think you should see."

Stifling a groan, he turned away from the replicator and retraced his steps to Dax's console. "What is it?"

Her elegant face was creased with concern. "To verify that the sensors were functioning properly, I realigned them so that they scanned the station. I picked up a deposit of irridial."

Sisko stopped casting longing glances at the replicator. "Irridial!" he exclaimed. "That's impossible! What would one of the most powerful explosives in the galaxy be doing here?"

Dax looked apologetic. "That's what I thought -- a sensor glitch. So I switched to internal scans and verified the reading."

"How much?"

"A few kilos. Enough to destroy the station, if it were placed in the right spot. Enough to cripple us if placed anywhere else." She confirmed his worst fears.

"It looks like someone wants to get rid of us," O'Brien commented, coming up alongside Sisko and placing a cup at the commander's elbow. A familiar aroma wafted up to him, and he gave the chief a grateful look. His smile was short-lived though, as he returned to the matter at hand.

"How long could it have been here? Why didn't our security scans pick it up?"

Dax shrugged slightly. "I assume it was transported here in a shielded hold. Irridial isn't something the internal security net routinely scans for so once the ship carrying it was through our preliminary scans, it would be easy to smuggle the explosive off the ship."

Sisko's brows drew together. "Why isn't irridial routinely scanned for? It's one of the substances listed in Star Fleet's standard protocol, and if it can destroy the station -- "

"I'm sorry, sir," O'Brien said quickly. "It was my fault. You see, the Cardassian computer that runs the security net isn't anywhere near Star Fleet specs, so it simply isn't capable of checking everything that a Star Fleet computer would. When we first got here, I made the decision as to what scans to keep and which to discard. Irridial was one I omitted," he added, his broad face puckered in regret and apology.

Sisko's irritation had evaporated within a few sips of his coffee. Now that his brain had begun to function, he recalled what Miles O'Brien had been too polite to say. "I remember you checked the list with me, Chief. I'm sorry I forgot."

"I concurred with the decision too," Dax put in. "It never occurred to any of us that irridial would appear here. It's a terrorist's weapon, and what could be gained from destroying the station?"

"Who says it was necessarily meant for the station?" Major Kira asked, coming off the lift. "That much irridial could have created a lot of problems on Bajor. This might have only been a temporary stop for it."

"I see you've been briefed, Major. The next question would seem to be what do we do with it?"

"Benjamin," Dax put in, "I took the liberty of telling Major Kira about the scan when I first detected it. You were due here within a few minutes, so I didn't bother disturbing you in your quarters."

Kira took up the story. "I felt -- and I assumed you would too -- that irridial was too dangerous to leave lying around, so as soon as Dax and O'Brien determined its exact location, I went down and retrieved it with a few of Odo's staff. I sent them to Bajor with it in the Orinoco. I wanted to get it off the station, and it's too unstable for the transporter."

Sisko nodded assent. "I'm glad we're rid of it. But," he continued, another frown appearing between his eyes, "I want to know who put it there and what, or who, was the intended target?"

"It would be easy to make up a dummy box, that looks just like it," O'Brien offered. "If we put the decoy where we'd found the real thing and set up a security field around it, then if whoever left it there comes back for it, we'll nab them!"

"Do it," Sisko nodded.

"And we've already reconfigured the security net to check for irridial," Dax forestalled his next order with a twinkle in her eye.

"I think we should also try to figure out where the explosive came from," Kira stated flatly. "I bet the Cardassians had a hand in it."

"Do you have any evidence for that claim, Major?" Sisko inquired quietly.

Kira looked at him impatiently. "Who else stands to gain from the station's destruction? Or unrest on Bajor? Who has been behind most of the problems we've had to date? I'm sure Dukat knows a thing or two about the irridial!"

"I agree that the Cardassians are the likeliest suspect, Major, but I can hardly confront Gul Dukat with nothing more than accusations."

Kira subsided rebelliously, but after a glance at her, O'Brien added, "We really have no idea how long the irridial was on the station, but we could increase the power of the external sensors and sweep the ships that are presently docked here. It'd be a long shot, but..."

Kira and Sisko exchanged a glance. "It's worth a try," Sisko decided, to Kira's obvious pleasure.

"I'll give you a hand, Chief," she said, hurrying to her console to lend concrete endorsement to his idea.

"Where is Odo?" Sisko finally noticed the glaring absence at their meeting. "Has he been apprized of the situation?"

"Yes," the Constable's sour tones came from the lift and he stepped off it, continuing down to where Sisko stood. "My staff assisted Kira because I was busy. I have heard all the details, however."

"Anything wrong?" Sisko asked without much hope that the answer would be negative.

"The Promenade is in the midst of a crime wave." Odo's normal testiness was especially pronounced today, and Sisko clutched his mug even tighter.

"Would you care to elaborate?"

Odo made a gesture of irritation which Sisko assumed was not directed at him. "Over the past three days, six stores have been broken into and I've had two dozen reports of Promenade pilfering, pickpocketing, and petty theft!"

"No pandering?" O'Brien put in with an ill-timed burst of humor. The look he received made him retire to his console in a hurry.

"That's incredible!" Sisko didn't have to feign his surprise. It was rare for a criminal to carry off even one successful crime in Odo's territory. No wonder the chief of security was in such a bad mood.

"No one has reported any suspicious looking strangers, but I've doubled patrols on the Promenade. All of the ships that are presently docked seem perfectly legitimate, and I haven't caught any of their passengers or crew sneaking back aboard with stolen goods."

Sisko took another sip of coffee, thinking hard. "I can't imagine that the two events are linked," he finally said. "How could irridial and a shoplifting spree be related?"

"I never said they were," Odo reminded him acerbically. "I'm proceeding on the assumption that the thief -- or thieves -- are uninvolved with the irridial. If your staff can tend to the latter, I'll focus my attention on the former." He strode to the elevator without waiting for Sisko's assent, then paused, clearly struck by an afterthought. "Of course, if you require my assistance for any reason..."

"Thank you, Constable," Sisko said gracefully. "And we'll naturally keep you posted."

"Naturally!" Odo and the lift dropped out of sight.

Sisko stared sadly at his now-cold coffee. What a way to start the day!

******************************************************************

The merchant at the souvenir shop was hopeful. The Klingon couple were clearly interested in the Bajoran fire-crystal, despite its ludicrously high asking price. Their screamed insults had grown frenzied, and he knew from long experience that that meant a sale was likely. "Half-price?" he demanded, clutching his chest in feigned distress. "Do you want my children to starve? Am I speaking with Ferengi?"

As he'd expected, the comment heightened their fury, and they began slamming the counter and fingering their weapons. He was unimpressed. Klingons hated to pay full price for anything, but the fire-crystal was a spectacular piece, and both sides knew it.

Caught up in their bargaining, neither the shopkeeper nor the Klingons noticed the stealthy hand creeping toward the neatly stacked pile of gold-pressed latinum on the far end of the counter. It crept closer, closer, then folded around the bars and lifted them without a whisper of sound.

The latinum was halfway to a hidden pocket when it started to change, and the owner of the hand released it with a start of surprise. To his great consternation, the latinum grabbed him.

The shock wrung a stifled yelp out of the thief, but the money's transformation continued apace until the Constable stood there, looking down in grim triumph at the thief whose wrist he securely held.

"Got you!" he declared in tight satisfaction. "I knew you wouldn't be able to resist so easy a prize."

His captive stared up at him in a mixture of shock and dismay. He was Bajoran, small, underfed, and no more than fourteen years old. "Leggo!" he finally found his voice.

Odo ignored him completely. "Thank you for your cooperation, Jaqril," he said to the shopkeeper. The Klingon couple and the merchant had abandoned their dickering when Odo had begun to shapeshift, and they had watched the events with open mouths.

"Any time," Jaqril said dazedly. "Next time you might even ask first."

Odo sniffed. "I assumed you would be willing to help catch the thief who's been plaguing the Promenade, considering that your shop was one of the first ones hit."

"That's him?" The shopkeeper recovered his wits quickly. "Where's my money, you little wretch? He took nearly a week's earnings, Odo!"

"I've read your complaint. As soon as we recover the stolen goods, they will be returned to the proper owners. I assume you can provide receipts for all those sales from which you say he took the profits?"

Jaqril suddenly looked thoughtful. "You know, as it happens, those numbers may need revision. I was very upset when I filed the report, you know. I may have misremembered a few things."

"Imagine that," Odo commented drily. "I'll expect your updated complaint, with supporting documents, in my office later today."

Throughout this exchange, the young thief had been trying his best to bite, wriggle, twist, and fight free of Odo's grip. The Constable paid no attention, and the steely grasp never wavered.

"About this cracked piece of stickth..." The male Klingon poked Jaqril impatiently. Klingons were not the sort to wait politely.

Present business drove all other thoughts from Jaqril's mind and he returned to the discussion with a scream of outrage. "Cracked? How dare you-- !"

Odo transferred his hold to the scruff of the boy's neck and set off for Ops. The Bajoran had to trot to keep up with Odo's long strides. "Look," he panted, seeing that he had no hope of shaking off Odo's hand, "can't we make a deal? What good will arresting me do? There's plenty of wealth around for both of us."

Odo's only response was to tighten his fingers and the bribe cut off with a squeak.

******************************************************************

"Commander, there's a call for you from Minister Tearas from Bajor."

"I'll take it in my office, Chief."

Tearas' normally genial face was creased with worry and stress. "Have you any idea what you sent us?"

Sisko's eyebrows rose. "Several kilos of irridial. I didn't think you wanted us to hold it on the station."

Tearas shook her head impatiently. "No, no, of course not. But do you know the purity of this shipment? It's nearly 87%! That's unheard of! It indicates a primary source of irridial, and that means there's no telling how much more of this might be coming! The government isn't stable enough to withstand concerted terrorist activity, especially if their armament is of this quality!"

"We don't know that the irridial was meant for Bajor," Sisko said soothingly. "Our investigation is still in the early stages."

"Where else could it go?" Tearas demanded. "Even if the station were the intended target, that would still be a strike at Bajor! If the station were destroyed, the Cardassians would move in to take over control of the wormhole, and Bajor too!"

"My people are at work on the matter," he assured her. "I'm confident we'll learn something soon."

"Is Major Kira checking all present station personnel against our lists of known and suspected criminals?" Tearas fretted. "The council has already declared a special session to discuss this! Has she used our databanks to verify -- "

An unworthy idea struck Sisko, and after a moment of guilty deliberation, he gave in to it. "Would you like to speak with Kira directly?" he asked sweetly. "I'm sure she'd be able to answer your questions -- and those of the Council -- more easily than I."

Tearas nodded vigorously. "An excellent idea! I think it would be wise for us to keep in close contact over this matter."

"I'll ask her to contact you immediately," Sisko promised smoothly. "DS9 out."

Kira would be less than pleased when he gave her the message, but after all, she was the liaison officer between the station and Bajor. If anyone was going to be forced to listen to the alarmed yammerings of a group of panicked politicians, it would be her. Sisko sneaked a glance out at the Ops deck. O'Brien and Dax were underneath the consoles, struggling to modify the scanners appropriately, and Kira was working at the computer. There would be no better time to give her the news.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of his office. "Major," he began crisply, hoping the tone would forestall an explosion of protests, "Minister Tearas and I -- "

"LEMME GO! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! LEMME GO!" The howls from the turbolift startled everyone, and the entire room turned to watch Odo and his prisoner come onto the deck.

"Odo!" Sisko yelled above the boy's shouts. "What is going on?"

Kira flanked him, looking at the Bajoran boy with concern and puzzlement. "Who is that?"

"This," Odo replied, releasing the child's collar with a fastidious sniff, "is the thief of the Promenade."

The instant he was turned loose, the boy's cries ceased. "No, I'm not," he turned two large, limpid brown eyes onto Sisko. "Honestly, I'm not."

"Odo, he's only a child," Sisko protested. "Are you certain?"

That earned him a frosty glare from his chief of security.

"What's your name?" Kira asked encouragingly. "Are you here with anyone?"

"You're so pretty!" he exclaimed winningly. "Do you run the station?"

Kira blushed, but Odo snorted contemptuously. "Oh, really! To answer your questions, he is not listed on any ship's manifest, so we must assume that he stowed away aboard a ship, then smuggled himself onto the station. There is no evidence that the thefts were committed by anything but a single person, and several of the merchants recall a boy hanging about their shop shortly before the robberies occurred."

"Why were you stealing?" Kira asked gently. "Did someone make you do that? Were you hungry?"

"The stack of gold-pressed latinum he thought he was stealing would have fed him for quite a while," Odo observed sardonically, and the boy shot him a dirty look.

"What's your name?" Kira repeated. "Who are your parents? Where did you come from?"

"The Prophets teach that we all come from the Void," he replied innocently.

"No, no, I mean -- "

"He knows exactly what you mean. He's not an idiot!" Odo exclaimed, running out of patience. Turning to the boy, he demanded, "Your name!"

The boy folded his arms across his chest and glared at him mutinously.

"This is getting us nowhere," Sisko broke in. "Constable, I assume you believe he should be turned over to the Bajoran child welfare authorities?"

Odo glared back at the young man. "What I believe is irrelevant, Commander," he retorted, making it clear that he held very different beliefs indeed. "Bajoran law is adamant on this point; children are to be treated differently from adult offenders."

"I'm not from Bajor," the boy put in suddenly.

"What?" Sisko looked down at him in surprise. The nose, the earring, everything pointed to a Bajoran origin for the boy.

Kira came to the rescue. "He means he isn't from the planet. During the Cardassian occupation, Bajorans were scattered all over this sector. There are still large settlements on several worlds in the Diaspora, and it's certainly possible that he comes from one of them. If that's true," she added, "sending him to Bajor won't help us find his family."

"If we were to take a genetic sample," Dax suggested, "we could send it to all of the Bajoran colonies as well as Bajor itself. If they can locate a match, chances are it would be one of his relatives."

"Excellent. While they're checking, he can remain here, at least for the time being."

Odo glanced from one face to the other, but everyone seemed pleased with the decision. Mentally shrugging his shoulders, he said, "If that is your wish, then I'll be on my way. I still have other duties to attend to."

"Dax, would you take our young visitor to Dr. Bashir? I need to have a word with Kira," Sisko added uneasily, remembering what still lay ahead.

"I can do it, Commander," O'Brien volunteered. "I need to head down that way to adjust one of the sensor arrays."

"Thank you."

"Hullo there," O'Brien said, giving the youngster a friendly smile. "I'm Miles O'Brien; most people call me Chief."

The boy gave him a measuring glance, then silently fell into step alongside him. Sensing that the conversation would be one-sided at best, O'Brien nevertheless did his best to engage the boy. "The Cardies left the station in a bit of a mess when they pulled out, but we've got her running pretty well now. The docking ring accommodates half a dozen ships a week these days, and that number will probably rise as more people head out to the Gamma Quadrant. We -- " The patter fell on deaf ears, but O'Brien persevered.

They were on the upper floor of the Promenade, strolling by the observation windows, when suddenly the boy cried out. "What's that?" he shouted, pointing over O'Brien's left shoulder.

O'Brien spun about, alarmed at the boy's tone. He expected to see a riot or incipient hull breach, but everything looked normal. "Where? I don't -- "

The shove took him completely by surprise and propelled him headlong down the adjacent stairwell. If it hadn't been for the safety rail, which he somehow managed to grab, he'd have tumbled all they way to the lower deck.

"Bloody hell!" He struggled to his feet just in time to see the boy hightail it in the opposite direction. With a muted roar, O'Brien rushed up the stairs and sprinted after him.

"Chief!" Doctor Bashir stared at his colleague in astonishment. O'Brien's usually sunny features were set in a thunderous scowl, and a bruise was purpling on his forehead. The doctor's gaze, however, focused on the small boy whose ear was presently in the chief's ungentle grip. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" he complained shrilly. "Ow!"

O'Brien flung him into a chair well away from the door and glowered at him for a moment before turning to Bashir. "This is the thief who's been raiding the stores of the Promenade. He won't tell us his name or where he's from, and the commander wants a copy of his genetic pattern so that they can try to trace his relatives. Poor sods," he added under his breath.

"What happened to you?" Bashir was already reaching for his equipment, then gently scanning the injury.

O'Brien submitted, but it was clear that the chief was in high dudgeon and not willing to sit still for long. "Bloody kid." He turned to glare at the boy and was met with a horrible grimace. O'Brien, though possessed of a genuinely peaceable nature, surged towards him, but Bashir pressed him back.

"Easy," he cautioned, holding a cellular regenerator to O'Brien's forehead. "There, that should take care of it."

"Thanks," O'Brien said gruffly. "If you'll do the kid, I'll wait for him."

"Wait? Nonsense," Bashir objected. "I'm not in the least busy just now. When I finish, I'll be happy to take the boy around."

"Doctor, I wouldn't -- "

"It's all right," Bashir interrupted, steering O'Brien towards the door. He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "I'm very good with children. I'm sure I'll be able to win his confidence."

O'Brien halted in the doorway. "I really don't think that -- "

"It's all right, Chief," Bashir insisted. "I insist."

Looking into the doctor's positive face, O'Brien shrugged. He was outranked and, to be honest, more than a little intrigued to see what that little hellion would do to Bashir.

"Well, now," once the door had closed on O'Brien, Bashir turned to the boy with a big smile, "I'm sure the two of us will get along splendidly!"

The youngster gave him the same calculating look that he'd turned on O'Brien, then broke into an angelic smile. "Oh, yes sir. I'm sure everything will be just wonderful."

****************************************************************

"Tearas and the other ministers are going crazy!" Kira exclaimed to Sisko. "They're so panicked at the thought of a repeat of what we went through with the Circle that they can't do anything!"

"Is there any evidence that the Circle is behind the irridial?"

Kira sighed. "No. Our intelligence indicates that the Circle is keeping a very low profile these days. It's not completely defunct, but after the fiasco with the Cardassians, they're being very careful to keep all of their dealings aboveboard. That still leaves plenty of other groups though, from Vedek Winn's sect to some truly unbalanced people."

"What can we do to help?" he asked simply

She smiled at him gratefully. "If Dax and O'Brien can find out what ship the irridial came on, that will be the first real lead we've got."

"Commander!" O'Brien's voice was urgent, but there was a strange undercurrent of laughter in his tone.

Sisko and Kira hurried out of the office. "What -- "

Odo marched up to the foot of the stairs, one hand clamped on the Bajoran boy's neck, the other supporting a dazed Bashir. "I believe these two belong to you?" he snapped.

"Doctor, what happened?" Sisko asked, ignoring O'Brien's muffled snickers in the background.

"I -- I'm not quite sure," Bashir replied stumblingly. "We were having quite a nice chat, and then -- "

"The boy knocked him senseless and fled," Odo supplied.

"Senseless?" Kira echoed incredulously. "He's only a child!"

"From the evidence, it appears he clouted the doctor with his own scanner. I caught him when he came tearing out of Medical and thought I'd better have a look inside."

"Are you all right, Doctor?" Sisko asked, shooting a reproving look in O'Brien's direction. If the chief didn't stop laughing like that, pretty soon all of Ops (including Sisko) would join in.

"Yes," Bashir said unsteadily. "I'm fine, thank you."

"I'd better escort him back to Medical," Odo said dourly.

"Thank you, Constable."

"What are we going to do with him?" Kira asked, pointing at the boy who now stood studying them.

"Commander!" O'Brien's shout held none of his earlier levity. "I think we've got something on the scanners!"

Kira bolted to her console, and Sisko shouted after Odo, "Constable, could you take the boy to my cabin? Jake should be home from class by now, and the two of them are about the same age."

"Very well," Odo agreed. "Come along then," he urged the boy.

The Bajoran paused a moment, as thought deciding whether to obey, but he finally decided that it wasn't an opportune time to attempt an escape. He took Bashir's other arm and helped Odo steer him to the lift.

*****************************************************************

Many hours later, Sisko walked wearily to his quarters. The Orion captain had denied all knowledge of the irridial in his hold, right up until Dax had dug the manifest out of his computer. Even then, when the charade was finally over, he maintained that the explosive had never been intended for Bajor or DS9. "I know it's illegal to transport it in Federation space, but I didn't plan to be here," he had argued stridently. "If my warp coil hadn't been damaged by the solar storms of Helfredi, I would never have stopped here for repairs. Yes, I kept it quiet, but only because I didn't want to have any trouble. It's destined for Chordian miners, I swear."

"Chordian miners do use irridial to blast new tunnels," Dax had admitted. "Nothing else works on their planetary crust because it's so high in titanium alloy."

"That's also why Chordians are the perfect excuse to any terrorist or arms dealer smuggling irridial!" Kira remained unimpressed. "And if you're so innocent, how did several kilos of your cargo end up on the station?"

The Orion was either the best actor Sisko had ever seen, or there was more to the puzzle than they knew. The commander was convinced the Orion's amazement had been genuine.

Kira, of course, had dismissed it with a sneer and continued to grill the now-sweating captain, but Sisko was unsurprised when no further revelations were forthcoming. Now it was simply a question of tracing the cargo's origin and contacting the Chordians to check the captain's story. Not that that would necessarily settle the matter; alibis were easily bought.

He was nearly at his door, when Jake came barreling down the hall, holding his nose and using words Sisko would have sworn he didn't know.

"Jake!" he exclaimed in concern. "What happened?" He caught his son by the arm and tilted up his chin so that he could see the damage.

"It's nothing!" Jake snapped angrily, pulling free. "Just a bloody nose."

Even knowing his son's fury was not directed at him didn't make it less unpleasant. Sisko fought to restrain his own impatience. Keeping his voice calm and level, he asked, "Are you all right? What happened?"

"I banged it, okay? Are you satisfied?" Jake wasn't usually an obnoxious teenager, but he had his moments.

"I want you to have Dr. Bashir take a look at it."

"What? Dad! It's only a bloody nose! I don't need the doctor!"

"I heard you, but I want you to go have it checked." Sisko let a note of steel enter his tone. He privately agreed with Jake that it was probably unnecessary, but Sisko would take no chances where his son was concerned.

That son was wholly unimpressed by both Sisko's paternal devotion and his professional authority. "Dad! That's ridiculous! I don't -- "

"Jake." Sisko had had a long day and he was too tired to argue. "Just do it."

For the first time, Jake took a close look at his father, and he was clearly taken aback by what he saw. "Are you okay?"

"Go to -- "

"Okay, okay," Jake said hurriedly. "I'm going."

Sisko watched him trot down the corridor and spared a moment wondering where his son got all his energy. The thought made him feel old and served to depress him further. "I need a cup of coffee," he thought. "Or a vacation. Or both."

Hoping at least for the former, he entered their quarters only to be met with a yell of angry scorn. "So he went running straight to you?" the Bajoran boy demanded, rising up from his seat on the couch. "What a crybaby! Anyway, so what? What are you going to do just because I hit him?"

"You hit Jake?" Sisko repeated, eyebrows raised. "Is that what caused his bloody nose?"

The boy shut up, nonplused. "You mean he didn't tell you?"

"No. What seems to be the problem?" Sisko regretfully abandoned his plans for a quiet evening at home.

The boy shrugged. "He's a twink."

"That's all? You didn't like him so you hit him?" Sisko tried very hard to sound patient and non-threatening. "There must be more to it than that."

The boy grinned suddenly. "No. I said something he didn't like, and he swung at me. That's when I hit him."

Sisko was thunderstruck. "Jake swung first?"

"Yeah," the boy was relaxed now, enjoying himself. "Ask him yourself."

"What did you say?"

He shrugged. "We were talking about families."

Sisko's attention was diverted from Jake's unusual attempt at fisticuffs. Maybe the Bajoran boy would finally say something about his relatives! "You told him about your parents?"

The boy snorted, sounding remarkably like Odo. "I told him my parents were dead."

"Both of them? Are you sure?"

"That's what just Jake said. I told him that I saw my mother's body after the Cardassians were through with her."

"But your father -- "

"There's no way that he would have let her be killed unless he was dead himself!" the boy declared hotly. "Or she him! If one was dead, then both were!"

Sisko selected his words with care. This was obviously a topic on which the boy felt strongly. "Under conditions like that, all sorts of things happen," he said delicately. "You can't assume that your father is dead. Jake lost his mother, but I'm still here."

"That's because you didn't try hard enough to save her! My father would have if he'd been alive!"

Even five years after Jen's death, the guilt wasn't gone, and the charge hurled by this angry child hurt more than Sisko cared to admit. This was unquestionably the point at which Jake had lost his temper. Sisko held onto his with difficulty. "That's not necessarily true."

The boy flushed, clenching his fists. "It is! It is! Just because you're a coward doesn't mean my father was!"

"It's not a question of cowardice -- " Sisko began, but the Bajoran had heard all he would. Snatching up the first thing he saw, a baseball Jake had neglected to put away, he threw it at Sisko as hard as he could.

Sisko ducked just in the nick of time, and the ball continued past him to smash against the shelves behind him. He turned to find the framed picture of Jen lying on the floor, its glass shattered.

The boy was as stunned at the destruction as was Sisko, and his anger dissipated with the damage. Sisko faced him, and he involuntarily backed up several paces. "I -- I didn't mean to," he stuttered, then abruptly cut off the apology as though realizing it was inappropriate to the image he meant to convey.

"All right," he added, as Sisko's stare unnerved him, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Sisko was looking at him, but he wasn't seeing the boy. He was busy counting to ten in each of the five languages he knew. "That's it," he finally felt calm enough to say. There were some things which Star Fleet simply could not expect him to do.

*****************************************************************

Keiko O'Brien was surprised when her door chimed. "Miles? Is that you?" she asked, opening the door with Molly in her arms. "Commander! How are you? Won't you come in?" she invited.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. O'Brien," he apologized with the courtliness he'd always shown her. "I see I've interrupted you, and I'm afraid I came to ask you a favor."

"Oh, not at all," she quickly forestalled his apologies. "I was just putting Molly to bed, but she's delighted by any delay. Please come in."

For the first time, she noticed that Sisko had a young Bajoran by the arm, and she smiled at him. "Hello! I don't think we've met."

"Hi," he said briefly, but his shy smile won her heart.

"What's your name? I'm Mrs. O'Brien."

Sisko's grip tightened, and after an alarmed glance at the commander, the boy decided not to push his luck any further. "Ryton Tellur."

"Well, Ryton, would you like a cookie? I just finished making some for class tomorrow."

"Mrs. O'Brien is the schoolteacher here," Sisko explained.

"Thank you." It was clear that Ryton was on his best behavior.

"Why don't you come with me? Commander, please have a seat. I'll be right back."

Having settled Ryton with a plate of cookies and glass of milk, Keiko set Molly down with a book and rejoined Sisko in the social room. "You mentioned something about a favor?" she prompted.

"I'm embarrassed to ask," he said with a chuckle. "You've done so much for this station already, but..."

"Don't be silly," she protested, flattered and pleased. "I've been in and around Star Fleet for years now. I'm glad to help whenever and however I can."

"I don't know if Chief O'Brien has mentioned Ryton to you -- "

"No," she shook her head blankly. "He hasn't come home yet. He did call to say that he'd be working late, something about making progress on a project." In point of fact, O'Brien's message had been much more explicit about the current status of the irridial investigation, but Keiko didn't want Sisko to think that her husband was indiscreet.

"No?" Sisko brightened. "Ryton is an orphan who seems to have sneaked aboard the station several days ago. We're looking for his family, of course, but it may take a few days to find any leads. I was wondering, since you were so good with Rugle... Do you think you could take Ryton in for a few days?" He gave a self-deprecatory laugh. "I sent him to my quarters at first, but I'm afraid he and Jake didn't hit it off, and so I thought of you. It's really very presumptuous of me," he added, laying it on thick.

"Not at all!" Keiko declared stoutly. She truly liked children, and her heart went out to the lonely orphan. Besides, it couldn't hurt to accommodate Miles' C.O.

"Thank you!" Sisko's gratitude was heartfelt.

"I'll try to have him enroll in the school," Keiko added, showing Sisko out.

"Good idea!" he said, leaving with slightly more haste than was required.

*****************************************************************

When O'Brien finally came home a few hours later, Keiko was waiting up for him, reading. "Hello, sweetheart," she said, walking into his arms and embracing him. "You must be exhausted."

"Completely," he murmured into her hair. "How was your day? School go all right? How's Molly?"

"Busy, fine, and sleeping, in that order," she smiled up at him. "Would you like something to eat?"

"I hope you didn't wait on me," he exclaimed in concern.

"No," she grinned. "I'm full. But it's easy enough to dial something up for you."

He shook his head. "I grabbed a snack at work, and I'm more tired than hungry now. Maybe just a cuppa?"

She was already turning, the teapot in her hands. Within a few minutes, they were snuggled on the couch, sipping tea and unwinding from the stresses of the day.

"This is what I live for," O'Brien breathed, working the tension out of his shoulders.

"The tea or me?" Keiko teased.

"Hmm." O'Brien pretended to think it over for a moment, but quickly leaned forward to kiss her. "Ahhhhh. How long has it been since I told you I love you?"

"Much too long. Oh, that reminds me: Commander Sisko stopped by."

"Why does that remind you of Sisko?" O'Brien squawked.

Keiko batted at his hand. "Don't be silly. I was just thinking about how doing a favor for the commander will -- "

"A favor? What favor?" O'Brien sipped his tea and regarded her quizzically.

"Oh, it's nothing really, and I'd have been happy to do it anyway. He just asked us to put up a young Bajoran boy named Ryton -- "

O'Brien banged the teacup down with such force that Keiko exclaimed in concern. "Miles! You'll break it!"

"That Bajoran imp? Where is he?"

"Miles, I don't know what you're so upset over!" Keiko said reprovingly. "He's been a perfect lamb ever since he arrived. He's very polite, and he went straight to bed. I haven't heard a sound out of him in hours."

"Bed, eh?" O'Brien snorted. Hurrying to the door of the bedroom, he looked in. Molly slumbered peacefully in her bed, but there was no sign of Ryton in the spare cot. "He's gone."

"Gone?" Keiko gasped, pushing past him to stare at the empty bed. "But when -- "

"O'Brien to Odo." O'Brien wasn't wasting any time.

"Odo here."

"We've lost the Bajoran kid again, Odo. Sorry. Oh, by the way, his name is Ryton."

"Charming," came the acerbic reply. "Shall I catch him again or would you suggest I not bother?"

O'Brien exchanged a glance with his wife. "I said we're sorry."

"When I find him, where shall I deliver him?" Odo ignored the apology.

"To Commander Sisko," O'Brien said, gazing at Keiko. She looked upset, but made no protest. Comforting stray children was one thing, but Sisko shouldn't have expected her to be a jailer!

*****************************************************************

The next morning, Kira confronted Sisko in his office. "We've got problems."

"New ones?" he asked, a marked lack of enthusiasm in his voice.

She nodded. "I just spoke with Minister Tearas. The Cardassians just got through talking to her. They heard about the irridial somehow, and they're charging that we plan to arm anti-Cardassian terrorists with it. And by 'we', I mean Bajor and the Federation."

"That's ludicrous!" Sisko exclaimed.

She threw up her hands. "Of course it is! They're only saying to make us think that they're not behind it all. As if we'd fall for such an old gambit," she sniffed.

Sisko stared out the window for a moment. "What if they're correct?"

"Correct? Since when does Star Fleet give irridial to terrorists?" she scoffed.

"Not that part of it," he said impatiently. "But what if it was delivered here so that Cardassians could be harmed?"

"I don't understand. Bajor is too busy rebuilding to think of revenge, and besides, everyone knows that any such violence would simply give the Cardassians the excuse they're looking for to come back to Bajor. Their military still thinks it was a bad idea to withdraw."

"But the Cardassians have plenty of other enemies," he pointed out. "Even if they wouldn't take part in terrorist activities, would Bajor be willing to turn a blind eye to the activities of groups who do, so long as the Cardassians were the target of the violence?"

Kira looked troubled. "I don't think so... If they found out, the Cardassians wouldn't distinguish between the two. Do you have anyone in mind?"

"The Rigelian border disputes are growing acrimonious," Sisko reminded her. "Rigelians wouldn't be sorry to see harm befall the Cardassians."

"And they'd be delighted if something were to happen on Bajor to distract the Cardassians from their sector of space!" Kira cried. "Isn't there a Rigelian ship scheduled to dock in the next few days?"

Sisko nodded. "I think we'd better keep an eye on that crew."

"And O'Brien's dummy irridial! I need to report these suspicions to the Council," she added unenthusiastically. "Their special session starts later today. They want me to be there."

"Take the Rio Grande, " Sisko offered quickly.

She gave him a look. "Thanks so much."

"Better you than me," he commented honestly. His grin finally wrung a smile from her.

"I don't suppose I could talk anyone else into going," Kira sighed.

"You might try Odo," Sisko commented, nodding past her to where the Constable had just appeared in Ops. "He's spent the night searching for Ryton without success. He might be ready for a change."

"That reminds me!" Kira exclaimed, surprised at her own lapse. "About Ryton, I mentioned his name to Tearas, to ask her to expedite matters with the Bureau of Records. She in turn passed the name on to the Cardassians. Their records during the Occupation years are much more complete than our own, and they tend to assist us on -- " her smile twisted " -- 'humanitarian' cases, so long as it's politically beneficial to them."

"Yes?"

"They know him. Not his origins, but he apparently was on Cardassia for a time."

"What?" Sisko exploded. "Cardassia itself?"

She nodded admiringly. "No wonder he's such a tough little guy. They assume he stowed away aboard a ship that was bound for Cardassia from Bajor. He drove them crazy for about six months before abruptly vanishing several months ago." She chuckled. "For all our great aspirations, none of the Underground made it to Cardassia. It took a Bajoran child to do that!"

"What happened?"

"According to what the Cardassians told Tearas, they think he was one of the many Bajoran children orphaned during the Occupation." For a moment, Kira's smile drooped and bitter memories haunted her eyes. Then she shook herself free and continued, "After wandering through the system, stowing away on one ship after another, he ended up on Cardassia. He made a nuisance of himself in all sorts of inventive ways, and they could never quite catch him. Then he disappeared. Presumably on another ship."

"That would certainly explain his talents at escaping," Sisko commented, waving Odo into his office.

"I haven't found him yet," Odo declared belligerently, obviously furious with both himself and Ryton.

"Don't be too critical of your staff," Sisko told him. "Kira?"

Kira filled him in on what they had learned of Ryton's background, but Odo was not mollified. "He's only a child. I'll find him."

"Security to Odo! A disturbance has been reported at Quark's."

"What now?" he grumbled, striding out the door without a farewell.

Sisko and Kira exchanged a glance. "If anyone can catch him..."

"It's Odo," Kira agreed. "But when he does, you can expect the Cardassians to demand his extradition."

"Are they serious?"

She nodded disgustedly. "They say he's guilty of everything from malicious mischief to acts of treason. Naturally the Council has no intention of turning him, or anyone, over to the Cardassians; Tearas thinks the Cardassians are hoping to use it as a ploy in negotiations over the irridial. Still, it's probably just as well that he's staying here for the next few days, under Federation custody, rather than Bajoran."

Sisko wanted another cup of coffee. "See what else you can find out about irridial and potential terrorist groups at the Council meeting. Maybe someone on Bajor knows something that will be helpful."

She nodded. "And I'll do a little digging into Ryton's background too. I may be gone a few days -- the special session is supposed to last a week, and Tearas wants me there the entire time."

"I believe that, with luck, we'll be able to carry on without you," Sisko said gravely. When she spun, outraged, to face him, the twinkle in his eye told her that she was being very gently teased.

"Don't forget about the Rigelian ship," she admonished as she turned to leave.

He sighed, sounding rather like Jake. "Yes, Major."

She paused at the doorway and gave him a genuine smile. "Goodbye, Commander."

"Goodbye, Major."

*****************************************************************

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!" If the crash of breaking glass hadn't been enough to attract a crowd, Rom's screams would have. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! You criminal! You -- aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!" he ducked as another bottle whizzed at his head.

He ranted and spluttered, rushing forward then hurriedly backpedaling as the slight figure behind the bar held him at bay with well-placed missiles taken from the counter behind him.

"Thief! Robber! Miscreant!" Rom ventured forward, but the bottle of Saurian brandy grazed his lobes and he beat a hasty retreat.

"Get him! Get him!" he appealed to the bar's patrons for assistance, but they were enjoying the show too much to intervene.

Ryton yawned. This was almost too easy. Granted, it had been sloppy of him to be caught, and with his route to the door blocked no less. Still, the stupidity of this Ferengi had allowed him to salvage an otherwise disastrous situation.

Ferengi were not kind to thieves. A race who regarded the art of the deal and legal thievery as the ultimate goal of life did not approve of those who sought to circumvent the system for their own means.

"Nononono!" Rom screamed in terror as Ryton selected a small flask of emerald liquid. "Not that one! It's worth 50 bars of gold-pressed latinum!"

Ryton paused and regarded the bottle thoughtfully. "Really? Then what will you offer for its safe return?"

"Huh?" The question was too much for Rom.

"Ransom," Ryton spelled it out. "What will you give me not to smash it?"

Rom furrowed his brow. "Ransom? Er... what do you want?"

"How much cash is there in the safe?"

"No, no!" Stupid Rom might be, but he was a Ferengi, and he was not going to fall for that old trick. "You tell me how much you want!"

"Are you too dumb to remember how much you put in the safe last night?" Ryton hooted, and the audience burst into laughter.

"I am not!" Rom denied the charge vigorously. "I saw my brother put in at least thirty bars of -- uh oh."

"Thirty bars?" Ryton hefted the flask. "That's not a bad price for a vial worth fifty. Even for a Ferengi that's a good deal."

"It is?" Rom was confused.

"Of course it is!" Ryton explained patiently. "You yourself said the bottle is worth fifty, right? And I'm offering it to you for only thirty."

"That is a good deal," Rom admitted, although he still felt something was wrong.

"All you need to do now is open the safe, pay me the money, and it's yours."

"Well..." Whether Rom was actually stupid enough to do it remained moot, for at that moment a new shriek was heard.

"My bar! My beautiful bar!" Quark rushed up to his cowering brother. "I can't spend ten minutes in the holosuites without you reducing this place to rubble! What are you doing?"

"But, Brother," Rom whimpered, "I have just made an excellent deal with this young Bajoran. He is going to sell me that bottle for a mere thirty bars of gold pressed -- "

"He's going to sell you my own merchandise?" Quark screeched. "You idiot!"

Ryton took one look at Quark's maddened face and realized that this was no fool. Deciding to forego the thirty bars, he tossed the bottle at the Ferengi and streaked for the door.

The distraction he'd hoped for was only half-successful. Rom leapt to catch the flask, but Quark dove straight for him. The Ferengi was only half a pace behind him when Ryton banged into a tall, rigid chest.

"Busy?" Odo cooed sarcastically.

"Um.." Ryton stared up at the Constable, his mind churning frantically to formulate a plan of escape.

"Aha!" Quark's hand caught him roughly by the ear, and he yelped in fear, grabbing onto Odo. He'd heard tales of what Ferengi did to thieves.

"Turn him loose, Quark," Odo ordered.

"He tried to rob us," Rom put in, over Quark's shoulder. "I caught him with his hand in the till."

Odo glanced down at Ryton, mildly surprised. "He caught you?"

Ryton blushed. "I was in a hurry."

"Look what he did to my bar!" Quark was undeterred. "I claim my rights! The 53rd rule of acquisition says -- "

"This is not within the Ferengi domain," Odo interrupted. "You cannot claim blood penalty."

"But look what he did!" Quark threw out his arm, narrowly missing Rom. "And he nearly made off with my money! I demand satisfaction!"

"It's true," Ryton said suddenly, looking at Quark oddly. "I did go into his money drawer."

"You see?" Quark demanded triumphantly. "He even admits it!"

"Yes," Ryton insisted, still staring at Quark. "I got a good look inside."

Quark abruptly stopped shouting and looked sharply at Ryton. "Eh, what was that?"

"I saw everything that was in the drawer," Ryton continued, edging closer to Odo. "I had it in my hands."

Now Odo was watching the two of them. "Perhaps you'd better open this drawer, Quark, so that we can see whether or not he made off with anything."

"No, no!" Quark exclaimed suddenly. "That won't be necessary. I believe him when he says that he didn't take anything. It's all right."

All of Odo's instincts were aquiver. "But if you want to press charges, I'll have to make an inspection."

"Never mind," Quark released Ryton hastily. "Now that I think about it, I don't believe any harm was done." He went so far as to pat Ryton's head, but the boy ducked behind Odo.

"Hmf." Odo would have liked to get a look in that drawer, but without a complaint, he had no legal excuse to do so. He glanced around the bar, taking some comfort in the shambles to which the bar had been reduced.

"But, Brother," Rom whined, "it was all his fault!" Whatever unspoken conversation had passed between Quark and Ryton, had missed Rom completely.

"Shut up!" Quark snarled, spinning on his brother with all the frustration and repressed fury within him. Rom bleated in alarm and retreated to the far end of the bar.

"Apologize to Quark for all the trouble you caused," Odo instructed Ryton.

"I'm sorry, Quark," the boy obliged immediately.

"It's nothing," Quark replied between clenched teeth.

Odo's nimble mind had thought of something. "Tell Quark you'll be happy to work in the bar to help pay for the damage."

"What?" both yelped in shock, staring at him.

He permitted himself a small smile. If the boy behaved as usual, his sticky fingers would soon resume their wandering, and if Rom, rather than Quark, was present when they did, Odo just might gain access to the safe after all.

Ryton was gazing at him in alarm, while Quark viewed him with deep suspicion. It wasn't like Odo to be helpful, and the Ferengi's initial impulse was to refuse the offer just to be safe.

"He'll start tomorrow," Odo informed them before further protests could be mustered. "And, Quark, you're not to lay a finger on him." With that, he took Ryton by the scruff of the neck and trotted him off.

"What did you do that for?" Ryton complained. He was loping alongside Odo without difficulty. It was almost a practiced motion by now.

"While you're here, you might as well occupy your time," Odo retorted.

The boy subsided, and the rest of the trip to Ops passed in silence.

"Here he is again," Odo deposited his catch in front of Sisko. "Now what?"

Sisko looked hopefully towards O'Brien who instantly grabbed a tool and vanished beneath the console. The commander sighed. "Benjamin," Dax's quiet voice said in his ear, "it seems as though you've run out of foster families. Whoever takes the boy in, he always ends up with Odo."

An idea flared to life, and Sisko began to smile. "You know, that's exactly right. He always seems to end up with Odo." He stressed the last two words.

Dax caught on and mirrored his seraphic smile. "That suggests something, doesn't it?"

Odo looked from one to the other uncomprehendingly. "Excuse me?"

Sisko put a friendly hand about his shoulders and steered him and Ryton towards the lift. "You strike me as being lonely in that office of yours, Odo. I bet you'd like nothing better than to have some company for a few days."

"You're mistaken," Odo replied stiffly. "I am perfectly content -- "

"And since Ryton needs a place to stay," Sisko continued without pause, "I'm sure the two of you will be very happy together."

"What?" Odo cried, letting go of Ryton. He stopped dead and turned to confront Sisko. "You cannot be serious! My duties do not include nursemaiding Bajoran delinquents! Why don't you send him to Bajor? I'm not responsible for -- "

"It just simplifies things, Constable. You're the one who keeps having to hunt him down; this simply makes it easier for you to keep track of him." Sisko pointed to the departed lift. "And it looks like he's gone again."

"This is absurd!" Odo exploded, but he couldn't stay to argue the point lest Ryton get clean away.

Sisko looked after him with a deep feeling of satisfaction. That was one crisis solved at last.

"Nicely done," Dax praised him. Behind her, O'Brien cautiously surfaced.

"It's safe, Chief. He's gone," Sisko told him, and O'Brien had the grace to turn red.

****************************************************************

Odo caught up with Ryton within two decks and dragged him back to the Security office. "Sit down," he ordered, slamming Ryton into a chair with more than the minimum required force.

"Ow." Ryton looked up at him in surprise. "Are you really keeping me here?"

"It doesn't appear I have any choice."

Ryton glanced about agreeably. "Who are they?" he asked, noticing the mug shots on Odo's wall and getting up to take a closer look.

"Stay in the chair!"

Ryton speedily reseated himself before Odo could lend a hand. "I can't stay in the chair forever!' he protested.

Odo ignored him, taking the chair behind the desk and busying himself with some paperwork.

"Odo-o," Ryton whined. "Can't I just walk around the office?"

"You sound like Rom," Odo informed him chillingly, and Ryton paused, disconcerted.

"You can't keep me here," he tried another tack.

"Oh?" Odo didn't even look up.

"I was on Cardassia for over two years and they never caught me."

"I did."

"Well, yes," Ryton was forced to give Odo that point, "but there's a difference between being caught and staying caught."

Odo set his databoard down and looked at Ryton skeptically. "You eluded the Cardassians for two years? I find that hard to believe."

Ryton looked sheepish. "Well, it was actually only the last six months or so that they knew to look for me."

"And before that?"

"I was hidden by an old woman." For some reason, Ryton himself confiding in Odo. "When I first got off the ship and realized where I was, I thought I was as good as dead. I headed for the forest, thinking that I'd have the best chance of avoiding Cardassians there. An old woman, Medol, found me a week later. I was almost dead of hunger." Ryton drew his knees up to his chin and paused, remembering. "She told me later that I reminded her of her son. He'd died when he was little. She took care of me until she died. She would hide me from the patrols that sometimes came by."

"What did you do after her death?"

Ryton glanced over at him. "I decided I was old enough to fight against the Cardassians, so I did. When they were closing in on my hiding place, I climbed aboard a transport and got off-planet. So you see, Odo," he finished, "I'm very good at getting away from people. You might as well let me go now."

"What are you doing here? Trying to get back to your home on Bajor?"

Ryton snorted scornfully. "Bajor? What for? There's nothing there for me."

"Then what? What are you stealing the money for?"

Ryton suddenly looked elaborately innocent. "I don't know. I couldn't think of anything else to do, I guess."

Odo wasn't fooled, but he had conducted enough interrogations to know when to drop the matter. "You'll sleep in one of the cells," he told Ryton. "If you want to move around, you can do it back there."

Ryton sighed and headed for the holding room. "You're just making it harder on both of us," he told Odo, yawning

"Why don't you get some sleep?" Odo suggested hopefully. "You were up all night running away from me."

"Okay." Ryton was sensible enough to recognize good advice when he heard it.

When he next awoke, all was quiet. He slid off the bunk (which was surprisingly comfortable) and made his way to the front office. He'd been surprised that Odo had neglected to lock him into the cell while he slept, but he was flabbergasted to find the front office deserted. With only a moment's pause to thank the Prophets for his good fortune, he ran through the door.

The forcefield caught him at the threshold, bruising his hand and nose. "Odo!" he exclaimed indignantly. "That's not fair! I didn't even know you could set a forcefield on this door!"

He was familiar enough with Federation technology to know that trying to deactivate the screen was hopeless, and he returned to his bunk for the rest of the night.

In the morning, the game began.

Odo was kept busy with the duties of a security chief, and every time he turned his back, Ryton disappeared. The Constable quickly realized that this was a war of attrition, and after delegating as much of his work as he could, he laid a few plans of his own.

On his next escape, Ryton made it as far as the access tunnels of the docking ring before the handle of his flashlight shivered and morphed into Odo. "Lost?" the constable inquired before taking Ryton's collar in an all-too-familiar grip and dragging him back to the office.

The next time, he was the rat sniffing Ryton's shoe in the cargo bay, then a coin in Ryton's pocket, the map of the station he was consulting, and then Ryton's shirt itself. After that last attempt, Ryton seriously wondered if he'd have to make all future escapes stark naked.

When he worked at Quark's, as Odo had insisted, the Ferengi kept too sharp an eye on him for an escape to be remotely possible. Quark was scrupulous about not striking the boy, although his verbal harangues could be almost deafening. Ryton was a quick study though, and soon Quark's tirades were, as usual, exclusively directed at Rom. Quark even began to warm to Ryton, as the boy showed none of the normal Bajoran haughtiness towards the Ferengi or their business dealings.

"Good boy!" he praised him late the second afternoon. "Did you see that, Rom? He never forgets to charge a service fee when exchanging currency!"

Rom glowered at Ryton, who smiled back smugly. "Oh, Quark," the boy said, as though recalling something, "I forgot. Odo wants me to leave early today. Is that all right?"

"Of course, of course," Quark replied, already busy with a new customer at the bar.

Ryton pushed his tray at Rom, ignoring his teeth gnashing, and hurried out. The Security office was just a few doors down to the right, so Ryton turned left. Odo didn't expect him back for another half-hour, and by then... "Going somewhere?" a voice purred in his ear while a steely hand seized his shirt.

"Odo!" Ryton groaned, turning to find Odo half-morphed from the wall on which he'd been hanging. The Constable separated himself completely and escorted Ryton back to the office.

"Don't you have anything else to do?" Ryton groused. "Aren't you getting tired of this?"

"On the contrary," Odo replied loftily. "This has become very diverting."

Ryton subsided into a sulk. He sat in the chair into which Odo always deposited him, and glared at the Constable. Odo was wholly oblivious.

Ryton's plan wasn't working. He'd hoped to make Odo so sick of chasing him that he would give Ryton the opportunity he needed to collect his hidden cache of loot and sneak onto an outbound ship. He'd never wanted to entertain Odo!

Even more maddening was Odo's inhuman (and unBajoran) calm! He never got angry, never shouted at Ryton, never punished him for his escape attempts. Except for marching him back to the office and thumping him into the chair, he never touched him. Ryton growled in frustration. Even a beating would have indicated that Odo was beginning to crack! This patient tolerance was driving Ryton crazy. Worse, Odo's constantly being one step ahead of him was bruising his ego. Ryton would have much preferred a bruised body.

*****************************************************************

Meanwhile, the Council meeting had ground to a halt. "I don't know what to report," Kira told Sisko helplessly. "There's so much paranoia here that I can't tell what's a genuine threat."

Sisko's eyebrows rose. If Kira called it paranoia, the situation must be serious indeed.

"The Cardassians are still muttering threats, but I think it's mostly for show. They just don't want to be blamed for mining the station."

"The Orion captain's story checked out in all respects," Sisko told her. We heard from the Chordians today, and they have a computer-dated bill of sale on file with the Orion's shipping line."

Kira threw her hands up. "So? Even if the majority of the cargo was intended for them, it would have been easy to arrange a drop at the station with another buyer. The Chordians wouldn't notice a few kilos from a cargo of several gigagrams. We need to find out who put the irridial on DS9! If it was the Orion, we need to learn who was supposed to pick it up!"

Dax joined the conversation. "The Rigellians docked a few hours ago. We're keeping an eye on the chief's decoy, but so far they haven't made a move towards it."

"That's just great!" Kira exclaimed in frustration.

Sisko changed the subject. "Anything on Ryton's family?"

She shook her head, looking exhausted. "No, and I've about run out of places to check. Between that search and the Council, I don't know which way to turn."

"It sounds to me like you need to take some quiet time, just to think," Dax said abruptly.

Kira laughed disbelievingly. "Around this bunch? You must be joking!"

"I didn't say there," Dax replied, a mischievous smile playing around her lips. "But surely you can think of a peaceful place, somewhere you can meditateon things."

Sisko glanced from one to the other, bemused. What was Dax driving at?

From Kira's expression, she was as bewildered as he. Finally, with a look of exasperation, Dax rubbed the bridge of her nose hard.

"Wh-- ohhhh!" Kira's brow cleared and a completely different expression came over her countenance. "I understand," she smiled at Dax.

Dax grinned back, eyes twinkling. "I thought you might."

"Kira out."

"Now what was that all about, old man?" Sisko turned to Dax, still mystified.

Dax drew herself up, looking very prim and proper. "I don't know what you mean."

"Yes, you do," he pressed. "Come on; tell me."

She turned her laughing eyes on him. "Now, Benjamin, would you expect me to explain to Kira everything we hold in common?"

"Kirzon would have told me," he argued, teasing her.

"Well, I'm Jadzia," she retorted. "Besides, Benjamin, you should be able to figure it out yourself. Really, you men!"

He burst into laughter and, chuckling, she left his office.

****************************************************************

This time Ryton was taking no chances. He had dialled up new clothes on the replicator; he had emptied his pockets before leaving the security office; he carried no map or flashlight, and he stayed well away from any walls that might contain a shapeshifter. He ducked into the service tunnels as soon as he could, and carefully peered down every intersection for anything remotely out of place. When he was certain he was alone, he went to collect his money.

He had just lifted it out of its hiding place in a little used corner of the docking ring when he felt something slide down his shoulder. He turned around frantically and sure enough, there was Odo, coalescing into his familiar shape. "But how -- " Ryton cut off the question as his exploring fingers found the answer. "My earring!"

Odo actually smiled. He was proud of that bit of fakery.

"Odo!" Ryton stamped his foot in frustration. "That isn't fair! You can't impersonate my earring! It's -- it's not proper. It's a religious thing!"

"I had no idea you were so devout. What do the Prophets have to say about theft, trespass, disobedience..." Odo inquired drily, hefting the sack containing Ryton's loot.

Ryton sighed in defeat. As usual, Odo had the final word. All he'd accomplished was to lose his earring, the last possession which had linked him to his parents. "All right, let's go," he muttered, proffering the scruff of his neck.

To his surprise, Odo paused. "This is yours," he grumbled uncomfortably, holding out Ryton's actual earring.

Ryton stared at him in astonishment and delight. "You kept it?"

"You're the thief, not me," Odo said acidly. "Put it on."

"Thanks, Odo!" Ryton hastily obeyed.

"You're welcome. Now come along." Odo's voice was gruff, but the hand he clamped to Ryton's neck was unusually gentle.

Ryton was spared watching Odo distribute his ill-gotten gains to their rightful owners as he was late for work at Quark's. No sooner had Ryton's seat thudded into the chair in Odo's office than Rom appeared at the door. "Quark sent me to fetch you," he said sullenly.

"Odo? Can I go?"

"Hmm? Yes, go ahead," the Constable muttered distractedly, busy reviewing the original theft reports. "Oh, Rom!" he called after them as an unpleasant thought struck him. "Make sure he arrives there," he ordered, directing a menacing glower at the Ferengi.

Rom cringed and hurried away. Odo was less worried by the possibility of Ryton's escaping from the Ferengi than by Rom's doing something unpleasant to the boy. He knew from past experience that Rom was very possessive of his brother, and it was clear that he loathed Quark's growing friendliness towards Ryton.

Odo had inventoried Ryton's stolen goods, compared them to the loss reports, discounted the normal 25% from Quark's claim, and sent the money back to the owners. He'd just finished writing his report when a thought that had been nagging at him finally pushed itself to the fore. Why was Quark so eager for Ryton's presence?

Suspicions afire, Odo stalked towards the bar.

Ryton had just finished serving a table of Dozi when he nearly walked into Odo. "What is it?" he asked in surprise. "I didn't try to run."

Odo glared down at him. "Put it back."

Ryton's eyes grew clear and guileless. "Put what back, Odo? I didn't do anything."

Odo didn't move. "Put it back."

By then Quark had hurried up. "What seems to be the trouble here?"

"I didn't take anything," Ryton protested. "Honestly!"

Quark glanced quickly from one to the other. He was much more skilled at deceiving Odo than was Ryton, and he saw immediately that this was a lost cause. "Of course you did!" He turned on the boy. "And what's more, we all saw you! Now take it back at once!"

Ryton's jaw dropped. "But you said -- "

"None of your excuses!" Quark hastily interrupted, cuffing him on the head and thrusting him towards the Dozi. "Do as you're told! Heh, heh, kids," he offered lamely to Odo.

Surrendering to the inevitable, Ryton obeyed. "Excuse me, sir, is this yours?" Ryton showed one of the Dozi a small silver obelisk.

"Huh!" The Dozi grunted in surprise, grabbed at his pocket, and finding whatever he sought was missing, snatched the object from Ryton.

"Wait!" he called abruptly as the boy turned away, and Ryton gulped. The Dozi were very physical in expressing displeasure.

"Yes, sir?" he squeaked, slowly returning to the table. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Odo start towards them.

"Here." The Dozi held out a Dabo chip.

Incredulous, but nevertheless astute, Ryton pocketed the tip. "Thank you, sir!" Odo relaxed with an ironic glance at Ryton.

He trotted back to Odo and Quark. "I just thought he'd dropped it, Odo," he offered ingenuously. "I wouldn't have kept it or anything."

"Of course not!" Quark was quick to agree. "And the instant the trinket was reported lost, I would have returned the item to its proper owner."

Odo turned a look of such distaste on Quark that he subsided without another murmur. "Ryton will no longer be working here."

"What?" Again both regarded him with dismay, and Odo experienced a sensation of deja vu.

"But he hasn't paid for all the damage he caused!" Quark argued.

"I like it here!" Ryton protested.

"I must have been insane to turn him over to you," Odo snapped at Quark. "Instead of teaching him not to steal, you taught him new ways to do it!"

Quark was highly insulted. "I never steal! I do business!"

"Ferengi business!"

"Yes," Quark admitted complacently. "Excellent Ferengi business."

Odo snorted in exasperation and yanked Ryton away. The boy managed to turn his head just far enough to wave at Quark, who waved back sadly. "Such promise..." he sighed mournfully.

Odo's hearing was excellent, and he jerked Ryton's head around with such force that the boy yipped in protest.

"If I don't work at Quark's, what am I going to do all day?" he protested.

"School."

"School?" Ryton repeated in horror. "With kids?"

"Yes." By then they were at the schoolroom and Ryton had no choice but to enter.

Keiko looked up in some apprehension as she saw Odo enter the room, and her expression didn't lighten when she caught sight of Ryton. "Good afternoon, Odo."

"Mrs.O'Brien. I wondered if you might enroll Ryton in your school."

"Well -- " Keiko darted a nervous glance at the boy, who was presently exchanging glares with Jake. "I doubt Ryton is very interested in our curriculum. It might be difficult to -- er -- encourage his participation."

Odo understood what she was too kind to say. "He won't leave."

"Well, in that case..." Keiko spread her hands. "Ryton, why don't you sit next to -- oh, no, that won't work," she belatedly saw the naked antipathy between Jake and Ryton. "Right next to Nog," she suggested. "He can show you how to use your terminal."

Ryton went obediently to the indicated chair and nodded to Nog, whom he knew from working at the bar. Odo took a seat at the back of the room, and after another moment of confusion, Keiko mentally threw up her hands and returned to the lesson.

The next day, Odo was conspicuously absent, and Keiko was certain her newest pupil would shortly follow suit. And in fact, during arts period, when the rest of the class was busy at the front of the room with Aldebaran light-sculpture, Ryton casually drifted towards the back, where the door was situated.

He was nearly there when the chair next to him shivered. He stopped dead. "Odo?" he whispered. The arm of the chair morphed into a humanoid hand and pointed commandingly towards the others. Ryton slunk back to work.

Next they had Comparative Cultures and the day's topic was Delos III. "Now, the Delosians are a very interesting race," Keiko began. "Can anyone tell me anything about them?"

The class was guiltily silent.

Keiko sighed. "Didn't anyone do the reading I assigned?" In a class of twelve, the lapse wasn't quite as unexpected as it might have been.

"There was a null-grav chainball game last night at the gym," Jake explained sheepishly.

"Can't someone tell me one fact about Delos?"

Ryton glanced around the room, then diffidently stuck up his hand.

"Ryton?" Keiko said encouragingly.

"What do you want to know?" he asked. At the class' giggles, he colored and explained defensively, "I've been to the planet. What do you want to know? Just ask me and I'll tell you."

"What's their favorite food?" Jake asked sarcastically.

"Domestic or imported?" Ryton shot back. "They love Delosian fruitstew, especially if it's accompanied by nectar from Vega."

Jake blinked. His attempt to humiliate Ryton had backfired, and Keiko quickly seized the opportunity. "That's a great idea, Jake. Let's all ask Ryton questions. I've never been there, you see," she explained to Ryton, "so I'm sure you know more than I do. Anything Ryton can't answer, we'll all look up tonight."

Ryton proved quite an authority on the Delosians, and the class' homework was commensurately light. Even Jake regarded him with grudging respect by the end of the day. "That was excellent," Keiko praised Ryton lavishly. "I'm so glad you were here to study with us."

He turned pink. Success at school was not what he'd expected.

"Hey, Ryton, have you ever been to Helfredi?" Nog asked, pulling on his arm. "Jake and I have to do a report on it tomorrow. We could sure use your help."

"Yeah," Ryton admitted slowly. "I went through the system not too long ago. But, do you really want my help?" He looked at Jake.

Jake wrestled with himself for a minute, but his father's teaching as well as his own good nature won out. "Yeah, we do."

Keiko looked on, beaming. Strictly speaking, Jake and Nog should do the work on their own, but some things were important enough to bend the rules.

Much to his own astonishment, Ryton quickly grew to like school even more than working in Quark's bar. And because of classes, homework, and activities with the other kids, his daily escape attempts decreased in number. One day, after almost a week of school, he realized with a start that it had been a day and a half since his last attempt. The rest of the class was busy working on a diorama of the first Vulcan-Human meeting, and it was easy to slip out of the door unobserved. Outside the classroom he paused, waiting for Odo's hand to descend.

Nothing happened. "Odo?" he called softly. "Hey, Odo."

Nothing.

He paused a moment longer, thinking. Then, with a shrug, he retraced his steps and reentered the classroom. When the door had shut, Odo detatched himself from the wall and strolled away, looking almost cheerful.

****************************************************************

He went to Ops where the mood was anything but.

"Major," Sisko sounded aggrieved, "you said you'd be gone a few days. That was over a week ago! There is work waiting for you here."

"What can I do, Commander?" she replied with a helpless shrug. "The Council keeps changing its mind and endlessly debating the same motions, and they insist I remain until they recess."

"The Rigellian ship departed this morning," Dax told her. "They never went near the decoy, and Odo got on board to make sure they weren't carrying any irridial of their own. They weren't."

Kira's brows knit in confusion. "Well then, who was the irridial for?"

"We have no idea." Sisko was blunt. "But it looks as though we're in for a long wait before finding out. Is the Council planning to meet until then?"

Kira smothered a grin at his waspishness. In truth she found it rather flattering. She briefly considered reminding him that he had said they could get along without her, but decided against it. He looked cranky. "I took the liberty of telling Tearas that a situation had arisen on the station that demanded my personal attention. She promised that I could leave tomorrow, even if the Council hasn't adjourned."

"Oh." Sisko found himself with relatively little to complain about, and Kira grinned at his pensive expression.

"It's not really a fabrication," she added, sobering. "I have some bad news about Ryton; the searches came back negative. Either all of his close relatives were killed by the Cardassians -- which is certainly possible -- or they simply aren't in the databanks. The last reply, from Cardassia, came to Minister Tearas today."

"The Cardassians assisted you? Don't they still want his extradition?"

Kira rolled her eyes. "I can't keep up with all the machinations. No, now they are 'only too happy to help reunite him with his long lost family'." She looked as though she wanted to spit. "They were very apologetic when they didn't have the data for us. Tearas must have made some sort of deal."

Sisko returned to the important issue. "Then you'll return tomorrow? Definitely?"

Kira nodded. "And I may have a passenger," she added. "Someone to help Ryton."

"Excellent. Station out." Sisko was in a much better mood. He'd grown tired of having no one with whom he could argue. O'Brien was too polite, and Dax always won their disagreements. He'd gone so far as to try and engage Bashir in conversation, and had quickly learned why Kira and O'Brien avoided him so diligently. He missed Kira's unorthodox, impulsive outbursts.

"Well, Constable? Has our lamb strayed again?" he inquired. "It sounds as though you'll soon be shut of him."

"He's all right. No longer a problem. Quite well-behaved actually," Odo said gruffly. "What about this irridial?"

O'Brien was staring at Odo in shock -- Ryton well-behaved?? -- so Dax answered his question. "As you heard, not much progress has been made. Our best guess is that the Orionite ship brought it here, and either her captain -- or some unknown person -- brought it onto the station."

Sisko took up the tale. "We still don't know whether the station was the target or only a delivery drop. We'll simply have to monitor the decoy and see who arrives to collect it."

"Commander, a Cardassian ship is approaching. They request permission to dock just long enough to drop off a passenger."

Sisko frowned. "Gul Dukat?"

O'Brien grinned. "No, sir. Garek, the humble 'tailor', back from his vacation."

"They're hardly bothering to keep up the pretense, are they?" Sisko commented.

"It is a civilian ship," O'Brien said, striving to be fair.

Sisko just looked at him, and O'Brien chuckled. "I know, I know. I assume we have no objection?"

"No; go ahead and clear them, Chief."

*****************************************************************

Ryton was walking home from school with Jake and Nog when he suddenly stopped dead.

"What is it, Ryton?" Jake asked nervously. "You're not going to run away, are you? Odo would kill me."

"Who's that?" Ryton demanded, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Jake and Nog followed his gaze. "That's Garek, the tailor. He's been back on Cardassia for the last couple of weeks. They had some sort of holiday."

"Remembrance of the Ancestors," Ryton supplied absently, still staring at Garek.

"Tailor, huh!" Nog scoffed. "Everyone knows he's a spy!"

"I've got to go." Ryton abruptly came out of his trance.

"Go? Where?" Jake demanded, alarmed.

Ryton smiled at him. "Don't worry, Jake. I just remembered something I have to do at the security office. If you don't believe me, you can walk me there."

"Okay," Jake agreed, still suspicious. "We will."

It wasn't until they had actually seen Ryton settled in his "room" that Jake relaxed. Nog, on the other hand, was highly unsettled whenever he was this close to a cell. "Can't we leave?" he urged Jake.

"You're really okay?" Jake asked one last time.

"Fine. Go on," Ryton agreed, waving them away. Jake departed, followed by a relieved Nog.

*****************************************************************

Odo was still talking to Sisko and O'Brien about how best to establish long-term surveillance on the decoy irridial when a high-pitched beeping attracted O'Brien's attention to his board.

"Odo, take a look at this!" he exclaimed after a single glance. "Someone's broken into the security arms locker."

Odo didn't waste time checking O'Brien's statement. He was already sprinting for the lift, Sisko at his heels.

O'Brien ran a security sweep of the Promenade and guided them to the stolen weapon over their comm links. They raced up to Garek's shop to find a silent crowd outside, watching as Garek desperately pleaded for his life. The phaser pointed straight at him never wavered, nor did the look of determination on Ryton's face.

"Ryton, what are you doing?" Sisko asked softly, pushing to the front of the crowd. Behind him, Odo had disappeared.

The boy ignored him. "Tell me, Cardassian, how many Bajorans did your people kill?"

Garek licked his lips and tried to smile. "Well, those figures have a way of being inflated, my boy."

The phaser bolt just missed his left ear, and a wall of his shop was vaporized. The crowd shrieked and scattered, leaving Sisko alone with Garek and Ryton. And the phaser, now aimed right back at Garek's heart.

"Ten million!" Garek shouted. "That's the number you Bajorans embrace!"

"And you ask me to spare your life? Where was your mercy, Cardassian?"

"I'm a simple tailor! Killing me won't -- "

"But it will, you see." Ryton told him, his mouth tightening. "It will be a start."

A mouse suddenly scampered across the floor, stopping in front of Garek's foot. Sisko spoke, anything to distract Ryton's attention during the morphing. "Start for what, Ryton? What do you hope to do next?"

This time Ryton heard him, and he turned his head very slightly towards Sisko, a look of concern flitting across his face. "Commander, tell Jake it wasn't his fault. I don't want him to think he could have stopped me."

"I'll tell him, Ryton." By then Odo's transformation was complete, and Ryton let out a cry of frustration as he realized that he had lost his clear shot at the Cardassian.

"Odo! Get out of the way! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Don't you realize that at that setting, the phaser will just vaporize both of us?" Garek hissed in Odo's ear. "You're not protecting me! You should have attacked the boy!"

Odo disregarded the Cardassian's complaint. "You're going to have to kill me to get to Garek," he said flatly. "So if you are going to do it, go ahead."

Now the phaser was dipping and moving as Ryton sought for an angle that would afford him a direct shot. "Odo, this has nothing to do with you!"

"It's on my Promenade!" Odo exclaimed indignantly. "And you took the phaser from my office!"

Ryton shifted his weight, and Sisko was encouraged. The boy's glacial calm had made him very, very nervous.. "Well, yes, all right," Ryton said, a hint of a whine entering his tone. "But I needed it. You know what they were like to us, Odo!"

"The war is over," Sisko said quietly.

"Not my war," Ryton said fiercely. "I never declared a truce."

"You can't fight the entire Cardassian empire alone, you silly child!" Garek snapped unwisely.

"I can, one Cardassian at a time," he retorted.

Sisko took a moment to report the events back to O'Brien and Dax at Ops. While he did that, Odo fixed Ryton with a piercing gaze. "I'm getting impatient, Ryton. Either shoot or put down the phaser."

"I don't want to hurt you!" Ryton said, angry tears beginning to well up. "This was going to be so easy! Then you had to get in the way!"

"You decided to do it on my Promenade. No one gets killed on my Promenade, unless I do the killing," Odo informed him loftily.

"Odo, please," Ryton begged. "Just step out of the way. He's a Cardassian. He killed my parents."

"I did not!" Garek objected, frenzied. "I never killed anyone! I never held a military position in my life!"

"It doesn't matter! You're a Cardassian! You're all the same!"

"So you intend to kill all Cardassians?" Odo said.

Ryton's chin came up. "All I can! And it would have been clean and simple, if you hadn't come along."

"Don't be ridiculous," Odo snapped. "You've lived long enough and hard enough to know that nothing is 'clean and simple'. You've heard Garek say he never killed Bajorans, yet you're willing to kill him. Is that 'clean'?"

"He's a Cardassian," Ryton gulped. "They're all guilty, morally at least."

"Should all humans be held accountable for the atrocities in their Eugenics Wars? Should all Klingons be exterminated for the massacre of the Terrans at Bondia IV? How far back should this collective guilt go? Should all Vulcans be killed because of the savagery in their distant past?"

"Stop trying to confuse me!" Ryton yelled. "I don't know about those others! I just know that the Cardassians killed my parents, and they're going to pay for it!"

"Ryton, there comes a time when people have to agree that the violence has gone on long enough," Sisko reentered the conversation. "Bajor and the Cardassians reached that point."

"I haven't!"

"So you'll kill every Cardassian you can?" Odo sneered. "That's not justice; that's indiscriminate slaughter!"

"They killed Bajorans that way!"

"We did not!" Garek protested. Odo shot an elbow backwards and silenced him.

"Are all Cardassians interchangeable to you?" Odo demanded. "What of Medol? If they're all the same, why didn't you kill her? Surely in all that time you had the chance."

Ryton's tears began to spill over. "That's not fair!"

"If you kill him, it might destroy the truce that has been worked out. The Cardassians could use this as an excuse to retaliate and subjugate Bajor all over again. Is that what you want?" Sisko demanded.

"I may be young, but I'm not an idiot!" Ryton snapped. "One death isn't going to launch a war!"

"You have no idea how fragile this peace is," Sisko protested, sweating. He didn't see Ryton's resolve weakening.

"This is ridiculous!" Odo snapped. "Come along, Ryton. Make a decision! Either kill me or give me the phaser!"

Ryton's hand started to shake, and Sisko wondered whether Odo could morph around the phaser beam. Even as the thought crossed his mind, he knew it was useless. Odo would never save himself when the person he was protecting would die.

"Odo, I have to do this." Ryton struggled to explain, to obtain Odo's understanding, if not his approval. "It's for my parents."

Odo snorted. "They're dead," he said with the brutal honesty Ryton had come to expect. "This isn't going to help them. It's going to make you feel better, by assuaging your guilt."

The phaser was shaking so badly now that Sisko was amazed it hadn't yet gone off. If Odo wasn't careful, he'd goad the boy into a collapse that would kill both of them.

"Your parents are gone," Odo repeated, but his voice was a little softer. "And you were too young to prevent their deaths. That is what you must accept; this ridiculous idea of a one-man war only allows you to evade the real issue."

"But the Cardassians can't get away with it," Ryton was gulping air and hiccuping. "I can't let them just -- just walk away from killing my parents."

"If you're interested in justice, you might as well give up now," Odo told him crisply. "You'll never find the people who killed your parents. And if you're driven by revenge, then you'd better stop citing your parents as the reason why. No Bajoran I know would wish this sort of life on their child."

"R-revenge -- "

"This is a very amateur form of revenge, Ryton," Odo snapped. "Frankly, I would have expected better from you. The whole point of revenge is to destroy your enemies while escaping scot-free. Anything less is not only self-defeating, it's also inept."

Ryton's shoulders drooped. "But Odo, what else can I do?"

"For one thing, you can give me the phaser!" Odo held out his hand commandingly.

Sisko held his breath. Would he? Sisko had begun mentally writing the request for a replacement Security Chief when Ryton sniffled and let out a deep sigh. "Okay. He can go."

Garek didn't wait to be urged. He streaked away from Odo and dodged around the nearest bulkhead.

"Very good," Odo said cautiously, watching Ryton closely. "Now give me the phaser."

Ryton shook his head. "There's no point, Odo."

A horrible new possibility chilled Sisko's spine. "Ryton, what are you going to do with the phaser? Give it to Odo."

Ryton ignored him. He turned the phaser over in his hands, toying with the lethal instrument. "Revenge is all I've thought of ever since I can remember. What else is there?"

Odo stared at him, for once at a loss. Then a quiet, carrying voice from behind Sisko said, "Maybe I can answer that."

Sisko turned to look, just as Ryton's jaw dropped. "Vedek!"

Kira, her eyes filled with worry, stood beside Vedek Bariel at the entrance to Garek's shop.

No wonder Kira's looked so relaxed these last few days, Sisko thought to himself, then guiltily brushed the stray thought from his mind.

Bariel stepped forward, shadowed by Kira who kept her eyes fastened on Ryton's phaser. The tenseness of her body told Sisko that she would tackle Bariel at the first sign of phaser fire. "Your question is one that confounds many of our people," Bariel told Ryton gently. "Won't you come and explore the answers with me?"

The boy glanced from Odo to the Vedek, then down to the phaser still in his hands. "It's so hard..."

"Too many of our children have died already," Bariel said softly. "Put your trust in the Prophets. This is not the destiny they have chosen for you."

"Are you sure?" Ryton asked, then blushed. Who was he, to ask such a thing of a Vedek?

Bariel smiled, and the warmth of it touched them all. "Yes."

"You have many talents to share, Ryton," Kira added, her voice more gentle than Sisko had ever heard it. "Don't waste them."

"Anyone who can outwit the Cardassians and Star Fleet has a bright future ahead of him," Odo put in.

The trace of a smile flitted across Ryton's face. "But I couldn't outwit you, Odo."

"Everyone has limitations," the shapeshifter retorted, the ghost of a twinkle gracing that stern countenance.

"Bajor needs people like you," Kira said. She and Bariel were now almost as close to Ryton as Odo was, and Sisko could see how tautly she moved. She was walking on eggshells lest Bariel be hurt! Sisko realized with a start just how close his two friends had grown, and he wondered why he, like Dax, hadn't realized it sooner.

"Ryton..." Bariel looked at him expectantly, and he nodded obediently.

"Yes, Vedek." But it was Odo to whom he gave the phaser, and Odo against whom he sagged.

A very startled and uncomfortable Odo enfolded him in a rough hug. "Yes, well, there, there." Sisko hadn't seen the Constable so unnerved since Lwaxana Troi's last visit.

"I'm sorry, Odo," Ryton said penitently, his head buried against the Constable's chest. "Really. This time I mean it."

Odo tilted the boy's chin up until he reluctantly raised his eyes. "Don't do it again."

The others exploded in the noisy, giddy laughter that accompanies huge relief, and even Ryton grinned. "Okay."

Odo turned to Bariel. "Normally at this time, I escort Ryton to my office, but I will place him in your custody if you prefer."

The Vedek nodded gravely. "Thank you. I believe I can guarantee his behavior."

"I hope so. Sir." Odo added the honorific after Kira's outraged gasp. Bariel himself seemed delighted and amused, and Ryton stepped to his side.

Now that he was safely in the fold of Bariel's arm, Ryton felt secure enough to tell Odo one last thing. "Odo?" His tentative voice halted the Constable's exit.

"Yes?"

Ryton moved a little closer to the Vedek's sheltering presence. "There's one other thing I should tell you about."

Odo looked impatient. "Yes?"

"It's something I took off the ship that brought me here. I was going to take it back to Cardassia with me, but," he glanced up at Bariel, "since I'm not going to go there now, maybe you should do something with it."

Odo got it first. He took two huge steps towards Ryton, who retreated with a squeak of alarm. "Which ship did you come on?"

Now Kira, Sisko, and even the Vedek were staring at him with the oddest expressions. Ryton was taken aback. He'd expected Odo to be annoyed, even though this theft had preceded all the others, but why was Sisko looking so irate?

"The Orion one!" Sisko answered before Ryton could. "Sisko to O'Brien, about the irridial -- "

"Yes," Ryton nodded, bewildered. "I think it's some kind of explosive. I heard two of the crew talking about it in the hold, so I took some with me when I left the ship."

Sisko and Odo were glaring at him so fiercely that Ryton was very glad Bariel was there to shield him.

Kira took it surprisingly well. She was the first to speak, after a moment of stunned silence. "I'll alert the Council, and tell them to release the Orion captain from jail," she said philosophically. "I suppose this might teach the Council not to be so convinced that an enemy is hiding in every shadow."

Sisko tried very hard to modulate his tone. "Do you have any idea," he asked Ryton, "how many man-hours of work and energy and worry you caused?"

The Vedek was actually chuckling. "Now Commander, please. It's not fair to blame the boy for nearly precipitating a governmental crisis. The politicians bear a share in this as well. And as Nerys -- Major Kira -- says, perhaps they will learn something from this."

"Did I really cause a crisis?" Ryton asked, awed.

"YES!" Sisko shouted, his control slipping.

Bariel raised a hand in a calming gesture, but Ryton could feel the laughter that still shook his body. "Commander, the Teachings of the Prophets specifically forbid -- "

"Ryton," Odo addressed him, and the others stopped talking.

"Yes, Odo?" he said timidly.

"Is there anything else you need to tell me?"

"No, Odo."

"Then I will say goodbye. I hear Chief O'Brien's footsteps approaching, and I believe I need to intervene before he gets any closer."

Bariel glanced at Kira. "We should be going."

She nodded immediately. "I'm sorry, Commander. This trip really should be short."

"Can I say goodbye to Jake and Nog and Mrs. O'Brien?" Ryton asked as they turned to walk to the runabout pad.

Kira threw a glance over her shoulder to where she could just make out a furious O'Brien expostulating with Odo. "No, Ryton. But you can come up and visit them whenever you want."

Only the Vedek's presence stilled Sisko's tongue.

"What's Bajor like? It's been so long since I've been home."

"It's beautiful," Kira told him, falling into step alongside him and Bariel. "And the monastery, where you'll be staying, is full of flowers and trees and..."

"Commander," Dax's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Gul Dukat is calling. He wants to speak to you about the 'unprovoked attack on a Cardassian citizen'."

Sisko turned to look after Ryton. If the boy could cause this much havoc when he was even younger than Jake, what would he do as an adult? "Dax, what are the odds that we'll still be here in ten years?" he asked, still watching Ryton's receding back.

"Not very high," she replied, startled. "Star Fleet usually rotates its personnel more frequently than that."

"Good," he sighed with relief. Then he shook himself back to the present. "Tell Dukat I'm on my way." There was enough to do right now!

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