*** Jadzia ***

Jadzia and Laizia had just settled themselves into their new quarters, which were rather spacious by starship standards; the quarters had two bedrooms, and a nice open living/dining/kitchen area.

"Where's vavoy?" Laizia asked as she watched Jadzia unpack.

"On the Bridge," Jadzia said. "He is making sure everything is ready so we can leave soon."

"Where are we going?" Laizia asked.

"Well, we talked about this. We're going to attend some peace talks," Jadzia frowned as she held up one blue top and one red top. "Hmmm, how did this get in here?"

"I like that one better on you than the red," Laizia offered. Jadzia smiled at her daughter.

"You do? So do I," Jadzia answered. "Do you mind putting these in the closet?"

At that moment, the lights went out. Jadzia frowned and tapped her communicator.

"Dax to Worf."

"Worf here."

"What just happened?"

"We lost a fusion generator."

"Already?" Jadzia sighed. Would anything go right on this mission? "Dax out."

Dim emergency lighting had come on, but Jadzia could not resist the impulse to investigate. Taking Laizia's hand, the two of them walked out into the corridor. Everywhere, there were people talking excitedly, trying to resolve the problem. As she passed the transporter room, she was nearly knocked over by a trio of people.

"Oh, we're so sorry, Commander," one of them - Ensign Okal? - apologized. "We didn't see you."

"It's all right," Jadzia said. "What's going on?"

Okal exchanged looks with the other two women - Katja and the latest addition to the crew, Mora Arsinoe.

"Do you have time?" Okal said finally. "This is a long story."

**** Worf had been called back to Deep Space Nine for a last minute meeting with Captain Sisko, so Jadzia decided to handle the intruder situation herself. She deposited Laizia back into the new quarters, now that the lights were on, and then called a meeting in Worf's ready room.

Sitting opposite of Jadzia were a motley group of people: Odo, Nu'Daq, Julian Bashir, Lieutenant Katja, Ensign Mora Arsinoe and Okal Catava.

"Let me get this straight," Jadzia said. "Ensign, you received a message from Quark stating that a package had arrived for you and you asked that it be beamed directly to the ship."

"That's right," Okal looked vaguely discomfited.

"So Dr. Rafko went to pick it up for you and was attacked by," Jadzia looked down at her notes. "Ghanim. Odo, what do we know about this man?"

"Not much, I'm afraid. He was new to Deep Space Nine and he served on the night security detail," Odo replied. "Came from a good family, no prior record that I can recall. He served in the resistance actually just before the Withdrawal."

"And now he is dead," Jadzia said without irony. "Katja, you indicated you thought he might have ingested poison?"

"Yes," Katja nodded. "He was foaming at the mouth."

"And he may have ingested it after you, Arsinoe, attacked him?" Jadzia asked.

"That is most probably correct," Arsinoe answered.

"And then the body was beamed out?" I directed this question at the room in general; Katja responded by nodding.

"And the box was empty when you opened it?" this last question was directed to Okal, who nodded her response.

Jadzia sighed and leaned forward.

"That leaves just a few questions to be answered," she said. "What was in that box and what was Ghanim up to?"

Odo leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest, "You understand I can't allow this ship to leave until this matter is resolved, especially if there is a murder involved."

"Understood," Jadzia said. "Nu'Daq, I expect you to fully cooperate with Odo throughout this investigation."

"Understood," Nu'Daq said in a surly voice. Jadzia sighed. She really was not looking forward to working with Nu'Daq; she needed to talk to Worf about his chief of security.

"Dismissed," Jadzia said finally. "Julian, if you have a moment...?"

The others trooped out and Jadzia looked at her old friend with a mixture of concern and amusement.

"I see you have struck up a relationship with Lieutenant Janor," she said.

"You might call it that," Julian answered.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Jadzia said. "Don't lead her on."

"I wouldn't do that."

"You have broken hearts in the past."

"This isn't like that."

"I should hope so," Jadzia smiled. "I'd hate for anyone to get hurt."

"That's not going to happen."

Julian waited another minute before saying, "Did you have something else, Jadzia?"

"I'm concerned about this crew," Jadzia said finally. "I can't get a reading on them. They are so... different."

"Eventually you will get to know them," Julian said.

"I hope so," Jadzia said. "Julian, be honest with me. Will we be dealing with a murder investigation here?"

Julian took a moment to answer.

"We're lucky she was found when she was," he said. "I believe Dr. Rafko will be fine in a few weeks."

Jadzia let out an audible sigh.

"That's what I needed to know. Thanks."

After Julian was gone, Jadzia returned to her quarters.

"Laizia?" she called.

No answer.

"This is not funny, Lai," Jadzia said. "Come out."

Nothing. Jadzia searched in the closet and in both bedrooms. No Laizia. She was starting to panic.

"Computer, locate Laizia Rozhenko."

"Laizia Roshenko is in transporter room two."

Transporter room two where all of these odd events had so recently transpired. Jadzia tore out of the quarters.

**** Nu'Daq ****

Nu'Daq was standing anxiously in the sickbay. Xenia's condition was better, but she was still not awake. He hadn't been to happy about having to leave her there during the meeting with Commander Dax, Odo and his crew mates. And he was especially not happy about it being Bashir, who had come to help Xenia and heal her wound. But Xenia's life was more important to him than his pride. So he swallowed his dislike for Bashir and let him treat Xenia.

After the meeting Nu'Daq had rushed back to the sickbay, but she was still sleeping. He sat by her side, holding her hand. He could feel her heartbeat, it was calm and steady.

"Incoming letter for Lt. Nu'Daq". The computer voice was cold but familiar. Nu'Daq got up and went to the nearest computer. He gave the poor ensign in sickbay an angry look, and he disappeared into the next room.

Nu'Daq read the message with interest. Before the staff meeting he had sent some inquiries to some of his "friends" back on Qo'noS. First the package and then Ghanim's body had been transported to a cloaked ship, possibly Klingon. So Nu'Daq had asked some of his contacts, if it were possible, that some on the Klingon Homeworld could be involved (the name Sirella sprung to mind). But according to the message this was not the case. And it would fit Sirella bad, she had failed once to destroy the Valjean, she wouldn't dishonor herself by trying again. So the evidence pointed towards another possibility: Romulans.

"But why?", Nu'Daq wondered. Well probably the Romulans wanted to gain an advantage in the negotiations with the Dominion. If they could start the peace talks before the Federation-Klingon Alliance arrived, it would give them a significant tactical advantage. "Okay, the evidence is circumstancial, but I'd better write a report to the captain."

Nu'Daq took a padd from the drawer and started writing his report to Captain Worf. It didn't take him long, before it was written and send off to the captain.

Nu'Daq sat down by Xenia's side again. Even now she looked as beautiful as a delicate rose. He put her hand in his. She was warm, as always. He could feel her hand moving slightly, it made his heart beat faster. He looked at her, her eyes started to open. And he once more looked into her beautiful eyes, who seemed prettier now than ever.

"Nu'Daq?!", she whispered, a smile forming on her lips.

"Hush, my dear. Don't speak", Nu'Daq answered. "I am happy to see you well. Ghanim is dead, he won't hurt you again."

Nu'Daq believed he could see a small sigh of relief on her. He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips.

"Just lie still and rest, I'll explain everything".

And Nu'Daq started to bring her up to speed on the recent events.

**** Rafko ****

I hadn't hurt this bad since the ambush at Kapadia Prime three years ago; at that time, I had felt lucky to get away with phaser burns and a couple of broken bones.

But this was different. This wasn't war and it wasn't the Maquis; hell, we were on our way to peace talks and I felt like my entire insides had been rearranged.

I remembered a bit about what had happened, but nothing concrete. Something about a box and that man, that Bajoran security guard...

"How do you feel?" Bashir was hovering over me.

"I've been better," I said hoarsely. "How long...?"

"Just four hours," he said. "Nu'Daq found you and brought you here immediately. Your assistant CMO hasn't arrived yet, so they called me. There was no one else qualified to do the surgery."

"I appreciate it," I told Bashir. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

I tried to sit up but it hurt even to move.

"Nu'Daq was here earlier," I said. "Where did he go?"

"He went to move your things?"

"Move my things?"

"Yes," Bashir said. "Apparently, there was a mix-up in quarters. Some poor enlisted officer is getting booted out of senior staff quarters and moving down to the lower decks. You get her old quarters."

"Poor thing," I said, but secretly, I was pleased to be moving to larger, more comfortable quarters. At the same time, I found it odd that someone was taking care of me - it had been so long and I had grown used to fending for myself.

"There's a full-scale security investigation going on," Bashir said. "I heard Nu'Daq telling you about it earlier."

"Did he?" I frowned. I remembered him talking but my brain was not able to really process the information I was given.

"He was concerned about you, Xenia," Bashir said. "You're very lucky."

I wasn't quite sure what Bashir was referring to but I mumbled out, "Yes."

Bashir moved around me so quickly that it made my head spin.

"When can I go?" I asked.

"Go?"

"Back to my quarters, back to work."

"I want you to stay off of your feet for at least the next three days. No strenuous activities, no sports or anything like that for at least a month."

"Three days? That's a long time, Julian."

I heard the sickbay doors open and Julian turned away.

"Lieutenant, I was just telling Xenia to stay off of her feet for the next three days and not to participate in any strenuous activities for the next month."

"Julian, that's unacceptable," I struggled to sit up, breathing heavily with exertion. Nu'Daq eyed me with concern.

"For once, I agree with Dr. Bashir," he said. "You will rest."

"I've been in worse situations-" I began but then stopped. No need to share how after the Maquis' defeat at Kapadia Prime, injured as I was, I had still stumbled to my feet and joined the rest of the Maquis at another front. "Can I at least go to my quarters? Please? I can take care of myself."

Julian considered and then nodded. "Lieutenant, I imagine you'll see her there?"

My new quarters were on deck five, several down from Nu'Daq's. Our progress was slow because I had to stop often.

Inside, Nu'Daq had arranged my few belongings nicely within the two large rooms and bathroom assigned to me.

"Thanks for doing this," I told him.

"You're welcome," he said, putting his hands around my waist. I immediately stiffened, remembering Ghamin and his hands. "Did I hurt you?"

"No," I said, swallowing hard. "It's all right."

Nu'Daq pulled back the covers on the bed,

"Rest. I'll come back in a few hours."

I slept soundly, a sleep hastened by painkillers. Sometime in the middle of the night, I felt a burning sensation in my stomach and I got out of bed. I found the hypospray and injected it into my neck. Breathing with difficulty, I wondered if there was something Julian had neglected to tell me. Standing in front of the mirror, I unbuttoned my top and for the first time saw the raw edges of the wound that stretched from my right side nearly to the middle of my abdomen.

The door chimed.

"Who is it?" I called out.

"It's me."

Nu'Daq. I gave permission for him to enter and the doors slid open.

"What are you doing awake?" he asked. "You must rest. Get into bed."

"You can't order me. I outrank you," I reminded him. I turned my back to him as I resumed buttoning my top.

"Are you all right?"

I felt sorry for snapping at him; he was really trying and I needed to be more understanding. I turned back to face him.

"Yes," I said. "Don't worry."

And then, looking at him carefully, I saw that he was worried, extremely worried.

"What happened?" I asked anxiously. Nu'Daq took my arm and led me to the bed.

"I didn't want to tell you," he said. "But something terrible has happened."

**** Nu'Daq ****

Nu'Daq was reluctant. He didn't want to tell her, but somehow Xenia had always been able to read his face. He never could keep a secret from her, except for.... He shook the thought away.

"Laizia Rozhenko, she is missing." Xenia stared in astonishment at him. "You've got to be kidding. What happened?"

"Noone knows for sure, she was last seen in transporter room 2. We just had another staff meeting, while you were sleeping. The commander informed us. Currently we are doing a shipwide search, but so far without result."

"How is this connected to Ghanim and Okal's package?", Xenia asked.

"As I told you, I suspect Romulans to be involved. Ghanim's dead body was beamed off he ship, probably unto a cloaked vessel. I believe the Romulans are trying to prevent us from getting to the peace talks on time."

"Romulans?", Xenia exclamated. She felt a jab of pain in her side, as she turned to sit up.

"Easy, my love, don't over-exert yourself." Nu'Daq put his hands kindly but firmly on her shoulders and pushed her down onto the bed again. "You still need rest, your wound was deep".

"I am sorry, I just feel the need to do something, to help."

"Don't. We can manage, even without the help of the magnificent Dr. Rafko", Nu'Daq said with a smile. Xenia decided he was right and resumed a relaxing position in the bed.

"The romulans, you say?" Nu'Daq nodded. "Although I think the captain and Commander Dax first suspected you and I of having kidnapped her - again", Nu'Daq continued. Xenia smiled, a smile that warmed his heart.

"I have to go now, I'm supposed to be on duty."

Xenia looked at him and said: "It's not like you to miss out on your duty".

Nu'Daq looked back at her. "No, but you are more important to me than anything". He bowed down and gave her a kiss. "Rest now, I'll be back later." He rose and left, leaving Xenia to get some more sleep.

As he returned to the bridge, it was humming with activity. All the crew members were on board now, and everyone was involved in searching for Laizia, since the defective fusion generator already had been repaired by Lt Lan and her efficient crew of engineers. Nu'Daq resumed his position at tactical and initiated sensor sweeps of the sector.

One of the other lieutenants came up to him. Nu'Daq recognized her as Lt. Doran. "Lieutenant, you have an incoming transmission, security level 1". Nu'Daq nodded and went into the observation lounge.

"Computer, display transmission, authorization Nu'Daq Theta-8-Omega." The transmission came onto the screen. It contained top secret tactical information on Romulan and Klingon cloaking shields. Nu'Daq had called in a lot of favours to acquire this information. But after the latest brushes with Captain Worf, he felt it would be prudent. Perhaps this would put him in a better light with the captain.

Nu'Daq let his eyes wander through the letter. And he soon found what he was looking for. He deleted the message and returned to the bridge. He started a deep level tachyon scan of the sector at the sub space frequencies mentioned in the letter. And it didn't take him long to find a trace of a cloaked ship. Judging from the phase variance of the Heisenberg wavefunctions of the remaining tachyons it was obvious, that a cloaked ship - most likely Romulan - had left orbit around DS9 less than an hour ago. And the course was set directly for the location of the upcoming peace talks. Nu'Daq went over to the captains ready room and knocked.

He heard a firm voice saying "Enter", and the doors slid open.

Inside Commander Dax and Captain Worf were sitting. Worry was painted in both their faces, and Nu'Daq believed he could see some mistrust and dismay as well, as they realized it was him.

"What do you want?", Worf said to him.

"Captain, I believe I have important information regarding your daughter". Dax and Worf looked at him. "Report!", they said as one.

"I have located a sub space trace, which possibly indicates the presence of a cloaked, probably Romulan, ship around DS9. It seems to have left less than an hour ago, heading for the peace talks, sir."

"Are you sure?" Worf looked at him with a serious look on his face. This was no time to start pointless rescue missions.

"Yes, sir!". For a moment Nu'Daq wasn't sure the captain trusted him. Dax looked at Worf but said nothing. Worf pondered for a moment.

"Then there is only one course of action. If Laizia is onboard the Valjean we will find her, even if we are in space. If she is on DS9, they will find her. And since no ships have left DS9 since this morning, she must be either in one of those places or onboard your romulan vessel, Lieutenant." Nu'Daq nodded. "I agree, sir!".

Worf rose from his seat. "Can you track this ship, lieutenant?"

Nu'Daq confirmed.

"Very well. I say it is time to get this ship on the way. Resume your post, lieutenant."

Nu'Daq saluted and left the room. As he reached his station, Worf and Dax came on the bridge. Worf activated the ship wide communication system.

"All hands, this is the captain. We leave DS9 in 5 minutes. Man your stations and get ready for departure. Captain out."

Dax and Worf assumed their seats. Dax gave the word: "Yellow Alert", and the whole ship went on yellow alert status.

The 5 minutes seemed to go by faster than the wink of an eye.

"All hands report ready for departure", Nu'Daq reported.

"Very well. Helm, release docking clamps, take us away from the station."

"Aye sir", Lt. Utena replied and let her hands dance across the helm. The ship started moving slowly away from the station, and even in light of the grim situation, everyone felt happy. They were finally moving.

"We have cleared the station", Utena reported.

"Good job, lieutenant", Dax said. "Set a course for the peace talks, warp 7"

Utena's fingers tapped in the direction and speed. "Ready, ma'am".

And finally the clear voice of Commander Dax said the words everyone had been waiting for: "Engage"

**** Laizia *****

Laizia had carefully unpacked her little carryon bag, arranging everything in the smaller bedroom that was hers with great care. Lesson padds in the top drawer of the little table next to her bed, the two books on padd she and her mother were reading (a Terran science fiction tale called "Star Ka'at" and a mystery called "The Egypt Game") on the nightstand beside the built in lamp, her few holophotos in frames next to the books on padd, and lastly her stuffed targ that she had had for as long as she could remember perched on her pillow.

She then wandered around the quarters for a few minutes and spent another few looking out the viewport as the wormhole opened and closed a couple times for outgoing ships. "I'm getting bored," she mumbled to herself.

Then her combadge chirped. "Dax to Laizia. Come to transporter room two," her mother's voice replied. It sounded a little distorted but Laizia knew that could be attributed to the power glitch that had occurred a few minutes ago.

"Okay, Lam're." Laizia perked up. There was nothing she liked better than an adventure with her mother.

She knew the way to transporter room two already, when Vavoy had taken her around the ship two weeks ago for "a look around". No one was in the corridors, but she knew they were leaving soon.

Transporter room two was dark when the doors opened before her. Laizia frowned. *That's funny, the lights should be on unless it's night cycle time.* "Lam're?"

Her voice echoed slightly in the silence. Laizia stepped inside and the doors slid closed behind her, cloaking her in the dimness.

"Lam're?"

Her keen ears eventually adjusted to the silence and picked up a faint sound. Breathing....belonging to someone other than herself.

"Lam're, is that--" She didn't get to finish before she was grabbed from behind. Laizia shrieked and started to fight the person who had a hold of her.

"Hold still, you half-breed brat!" snarled an unfamiliar voice. A hand covered her mouth but Laizia, acting on instinct, bit. A angry yelp of pain was heard before she was struck hard on the side of her head. It hurt and made her dizzy. She tried to hit her combadge. "Laizia to Dax--" Another blow upside the head cut her off and sent her spiraling down into a dark oblivion.

**** Rafko ****

After Nu'Daq left, I tried to get some sleep, but the throbbing in my side and the worry over where little Laizia Rozhenko had disappeared to nagged at me. I got out of bed, and staggered to my closet.

Nu'Daq had kindly arranged all of my clothes, from my two evening gowns to the unvarying array of Starfleet uniforms. I dressed slowly, taking slow breaths. I felt light-headed but could not face the possibility of getting back into that bed.

I filled my hypo with painkiller and gave myself a healthy dose; I probably could make it to Earth and back with no problems on this medication. But just for good measure, I filled it again and hooked it into one of my belt loops where a phaser would usually be attached. I found my medical tricorder in one of the drawers and then I was on my way.

Out in the corridors, there was general disorder as people rushed by me. Thankfully, I hadn't had a chance to get to know my fellow officers, so they passed me without a second glance.

I leaned against a wall to catch my breath and also to run some scans on the general vicinity. Nu'Daq believed Laizia had been taken by Romulans, but I couldn't see how the child had been beamed off the ship in the first place.

At that moment, the ship lurched and I fell over. It had been some time - 18 months to be exact - since I had last been on a starship and I needed to get my "space legs" back. I pulled myself back to my feet, trying not to wince. I looked at my tricorder and saw that my white blood cell count was elevated - a sure sign of infection.

I pulled myself into an empty corridor and readjusted my tricorder to pick up Klingon-Trill lifesigns. Nothing came up so it was time to move on to another part of the ship.

"What are you doing?" an unfamiliar voice asked me. I looked up to see an ensign staring down at me, dressed in a yellow uniform. Either engineering or security. And she probably wasn't used to seeing an officer sitting in the corridor.

"Running some scans," I explained. "New ship. Need to monitor radiation levels."

"Radiation levels?" she asked suspiciously. "Here? We just pulled out of space dock."

"My mistake," I smiled at her. "Mind giving me a hand?"

She held out her hand and I took it gratefully; I was never going to get back to my feet on my own strength.

"So we finally left Deep Space Nine?" I asked, leaning against the wall.

The ensign looked at me as if I was crazy.

"Yes," she said. "We're going after the Romulans."

"The Romulans?"

The ensign did not look pleased with this statement. She peered at me a bit closely.

"Are you all right?" she asked. She moved to tap her communicator but I caught her hand.

"Do not call security," I told her. I had images of Nu'Daq coming down here and forcibly removing me to my quarters and the last thing I wanted was to be in bed.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to," she said apologetically.

"Listen," I leaned forward as best as I could. "I'm looking for the Captain's daughter. If you tell anyone I'm here, it could ruin the rescue effort."

I doubted she bought my story and she looked as if she still wanted to call security. I caught her wrist in my hand.

"I order you not to call security," I told her.

"I don't even know if you belong on this ship."

Good point. Somehow, in all the excitement, we had missed the "get to know you" buffet.

"I'm Dr. Rafko," I told her. "Chief Medical Officer. And you are?"

"Mora Arsinoe, security," she said with pride.

"Nice to meet you. Now, I'm sure, with all this excitement, you have something to do, don't you?"

She nodded but still looked unsure.

"Go on," I indicated the hall. "And remember, don't say anything to anyone."

I had no doubt that the minute she turned the corner, she would page security. I removed my comm badge and left it there in the hall; at least, it would throw anyone looking for me off track for a while.

My head ached and the stabbing in my side was growing gradually worse as the painkillers began to wear off. I gave myself another dose and then headed towards sickbay. I could use the scanners there to look for Laizia. Unless Nu'Daq was correct and the captain's daughter was no longer on the ship.

**** Katja ****

Katja was sitting in her office, trying to get her things into some semblance of order, when someone walked in. She looked up to see an ensign. She looked familiar. Arsinoe, that was it.

"Hi, how can I help you?"

Arsinoe looked nervous. "Well, she told me not to tell anyone, but I think she mostly meant security, so..."

"What is it?" Katja asked.

"Dr. Rafko. She was walking around in the halls, looking for Laizia." Arsione looked uncomfortable. "Was it okay to tell you? Should I have told security?"

"Probably. But the head of security tends to... overreact when it comes to Rafko." Katja grinned. "Maybe she'll find something the rest of us missed."

"Aren't you going to tell someone?"

"Just a minute." Katja tapped her commbadge. "Katja to Okal."

"Yes?"

"We seem to have a certain injured doctor wandering around the ship. Want to help me keep her from getting into trouble?"

Katja could hear Okal's groan over the comm link. "Did we really expect her to stay in bed? Did you tell Nu'Daq?"

"Of course not! As counselor, I've determined it would be detrimental to his medical health."

Okal laughed. "Okay. Do you know where she is?"

"No, I doubt she's wearing her commbadge. Any ideas?"

"My guess would be sickbay. It's where she'd be most comfortable."

Katja nodded. "Okay, I'll meet you there."

Katja turned to Arsione. "Come on. If we can't keep our doctor in bed, at least we can keep her from injuring herself. And maybe we can even find Laizia. The poor little girl's been kidnapped enough times already."

Arsinoe looked confused. Katja grinned. Sooner or later, someone would have to tell her about the little... adventure that most of the senior staff had participated in.

**** Arsinoe ****

"So...uh, that all happened since you've been on the station?" Arsinoe asked incredulously.

"Poisoning, kidnapping, all of it," Katja replied with a laugh as the two walked towards sickbay to head off their less-than-healthy doctor. "I'm not sure if it bodes well for our future missions."

Arsinoe shook her head with a grin, then stopped suddenly. "Katja," she

asked slowly, as she went back over the day's events and Katja's story, "Laizia, she isn't the particularly rebellious type, is she? Doesn't really wander off without her mother, do dangerous things?"

"I don't think so," Katja replied, "Though if she spends too much time around all of us she might become so."

"So why did she go to the transporter room, or even out of her quarters on her own?" Arsinoe wondered aloud as they continued again towards the sickbay. "We know that no one broke into their quarters to take her, so she must have gone on her own. Why would she do that?"

Katja was about to speak when they rounded the corner to sickbay and came upon Okal trying futilely to convince the stubborn doctor, who had ended up back at sickbay, to lie down.

Rafko groaned as she saw Arsinoe and Katja enter, though Okal hurried over to them muttering something about Klingon stubbornness rubbing off. "It's no use," Okal sighed, "She can barely sit up straight but she's convinced she's okay. Do you want to give it a try?" she said, motioning toward Katja.

"I'll do my best," Katja replied and headed towards Rafko, while Okal gave Arsinoe a Do-I-remember-you? look.

"Mora... Arsinoe..." Okal said finally. "It's been a long day."

"That's okay," Arsinoe said with a faux pained expression, "You miss one

little kidnapping of the captain's daughter and suddenly you are barely remembered." She laughed, "I just heard about all of that, and really, it's okay, but," she gave a sprite-like grin, "you're going to need to do me a favor to make up for it."

Okal grinned, "Trust me, kidnapping the captain's daughter has not been a highlight of this trip so far... and what's the favor?"

"It's about her actually, Laizia that is," Arsinoe explained, as she led

Okal past Katja and Rafko, who didn't seem to be solving anything. "I want to know if she received any messages while she was in the quarters that might have made her go out into the hallway, or to the transporter room.

For some reason, I don't think anyone has checked yet, and I don't think I could wrestle much information from the computer on my own. Think you could help?"

"Of course," Okal replied, and immediately went into engineer-mode as she went to a terminal to access the computer's logs. "Umm.. yes, here it is! She received a message right before she went out, probably telling her what to do. It was from Dax!" Okal exclaimed. "That's odd. Let me dig a little deeper here."

Arsinoe nodded eagerly, "Could you check that message you got from the guy with the box too? Call it a hunch."

"Quark," Okal laughed. "Sure, I'll check that one in a second." She bit her lip in concentration for a moment. "Ah ha! The message to Laizia didn't come from Dax, which I figured, it came from a hallway terminal on one of the lower decks of the Valjean, though I don't know who from. And the message from Quark," her fingers worked rapidly for a second as Arsinoe watched numbers and symbols fly over the screen at a dizzying speed.

"Yes, this one seems to be from Quark as well on the surface, but ... it

came from the Valjean too. But why would someone want to fake a message

from Quark? About a box?" Okal asked with confusion. "It doesn't make any sense at all."

"Not really," Arsinoe agreed, "but I had a feeling. Um, could you find out who was on the ship at the time of the transmissions, so maybe we could figure out who made them? Ghanim maybe?"

"Sure," Okal replied and worked the computer again for a moment, "I ran a check of everyone who was on board during the times of both of the transmissions," she said turning to Arsinoe grimly, "There was no one unauthorized aboard the ship at either time, only crew members of the Valjean, and Ghanim isn't one of them."

"Which means," Arsinoe finished, "that whoever else is helping to set this up is still onboard, and is a member of the crew."

**** Rafko ****

"What do you think you're doing?" Katja was standing over me. For a rather diminutive woman, she does have quite a commanding presence.

I looked up at her; I was really quite comfortable, reclining in my chair. Put my feet up and it would be like a day off.

"Trying to find Laizia," I answered calmly.

"Are you crazy? The entire ship is already looking for her; you don't need to be."

"I've been called crazy before," I said, as I leaned forward to adjust the scanners. "Hmmm... that's interesting."

"Craziness isn't an excuse for anything," Katja said.

"Look, I have all the time in the world to rest later," I said. I nodded towards the hyposprays I had assembled, just within an arm's reach. "I know how to take care of myself, Lieutenant; you don't need to worry about that. Right now, Laizia is who is important."

"Yes, but why do you have to find her?"

I sighed.

"She disappeared from transporter room two, right?" I asked. "Well, that was where I was attacked. I just feel if I was more alert, this might not have happened."

"You can't second guess yourself," Katja said.

"I know," I told her. "But I can't sit still either."

At that moment, Arsinoe and Okal came over, both looking rather excited.

"Laizia responded to a message from Dax," Okal said. "That's why she went to transporter room 2."

"Do we know who sent the message?" Katja asked.

"No, but it's fair to say that that individual is still on board," Arsinoe responded.

My sensors started beeping rapidly. I leaned forward.

"I'm picking something up in transporter room two," I said. "Genetic traces. Laizia, most probably. Give me a second and let me see if it's a match in the database... yes, it's a match."

"We already know she was in transporter room two," Arsinoe said patiently as if she was talking to a small child.

"But do we know if she ever left transporter room two?" I asked.

Okal's eyes widened.

"She wasn't there..." my friend muttered. "But..."

Okal dashed across the room to work on one of the computers. Katja and Arsinoe looked slightly confused. To pacify Katja, who kept giving me dirty looks, I scanned myself with a tricorder; I didn't feel very well, but I wasn't going to let them know that. I wanted to know what was going on here first.

"Why would anyone want to kidnap Laizia in the first place?" I asked.

"My theory is that someone is trying to delay the peace talks," Arsinoe said. "Think about it. Everything that has happened in the last three days has delayed the departure of the Valjean. If we are delayed much longer, we will miss the talks entirely."

Okal came back, her face absolutely ashen.

"There was no transport out of transporter room two," Okal said. "No record of one. Either we're dealing with a damn fine engineer or both Laizia and our spy are still on the ship!"

**** Nu'Daq *****

Nu'Daq was standing at his post, monitoring the search efforts, when his comm bagde chirped. "Arsinoe to Nu'Daq".

Arsinoe, oh yes, that new ensign. Nu'Daq hadn't had time to look through her career records. He would have to do that. "Report, ensign!"

"I thought you wanted to know, that I found Lt. Com. Rafko wandering around the ship. We have escorted her to sickbay. Furthermore I have some information regarding Laizia I would like to show you".

"I'm on my way. Nu'Daq out". Nu'Daq headed off to the sickbay rather annoyed. He expected people to do as he said, even Xenia. Especially in her present condition.

After a few minutes he came to the sickbay. Arsinoe and Okal were standing at a computer terminal. He ordered them to wait there and headed straight into the sickbay. He heard Katja and Xenia talking.

"...you to stay in bed. You are not well." "No, I want to help. We are close to finding her. With the four of us working together..." "We can manage, even without you. And what if Nu'Daq finds out? What will he say, when he hears you've been wandering around the ship in your condition?" "He wont if you don't tell.... oh, hi Nu'Daq". Xenia and Katja stopped their conversation and looked at the angered Klingon.

Nu'Daq gave Katja the "leave us alone or I will kill you"-look, which made her go out into the main sickbay to Okal and Arsinoe immediatly. Nu'Daq turned to Xenia, who looked at him with a defiant look, a look he knew so well. They looked at eachother for a moment. Xenia was the first the break the silence.

"I know what you are going to say."

"Enlighten me", Nu'Daq answered bisterly.

"I am ill, I should be in bed. I am in no condition to wander around the ship. And you can do it just as well without me. Katja already gave me the speech".

"But you forgot one thing: I love you, you are more important to me than the captain's daughter. And I couldn't live with the notion of being the one to blame, if you should become even more ill than you are now."

Xenia looked at him. "What are you talking about? It was no fault of yours, that I got hurt."

"But it was. I am the Chief of Security. I should have known, that Ghanim was a spy."

"You couldn't have. No one knew". Xenia was surprised and touched, that Nu'Daq blamed himself, even if it was for no reason at all.

"That is no excuse. I should have known. But let that rest now. Stay here for a moment, I have to talk to ensign Arsinoe. I will be right back."

"Okay, my love. I wont be going anywhere." They exchanged smiles, and Nu'Daq left the office. Outside in the main sickbay Katja, Okal and Arsinoe were waiting for him. They brought him up to speed about the fake transmissions sent to Okal and Laizia. "Very interesting. We are dealing with a clever individual."

"There is more". Okal and Arsinoe were eager to tell him. "There is no sign of any transport out of transporter room 2. We believe the spy and Laizia are still on board".

"That sounds plausible. When we got the primary systems online, they wouldn't risk a transport - we would have stopped and re-directed it. But if the scanners aren't picking up Laizia, her life signs are being masked somehow. The spy is using some sophisticated technology.... Thank you, ensigns. Carry on!"

"Aye aye sir", they said with one voice and left. Nu'Daq looked at Katja, who was still standing there, looking at him with those counsellor eyes of her. "You are worried about Xenia, aren't you? She means a lot to you?!" Nu'Daq was dismayed: "That is of no concern to you"

"What now? I mean about finding Laizia?" Katja thought it best to change the subject.

"We will increase our search efforts, while we try to locate the romulan ship, which was here some time ago. Both ships are headed for the peace talks, so if no more delays occur, we will still be there on time. But you'll have to excuse me, lieutenant, I have a personal matter to attend to."

Nu'Daq went back into the office. Xenia was still there, he thought to himself, halfway expecting her biobed to be empty and her on her way into a Jeffries tube. "Okay, my dear, let me get you to your quarters." She sat up, and Nu'Daq lend her a shoulder to lean on. Slowly they made their way to Xenia's quarters.

Inside Nu'Daq freshened her bed and sat her down. "Promise me, you'll stay in bed this time", Nu'Daq said.

Xenia looked innocently into his eyes. "I promise".

They kissed, and Nu'Daq got up and left her to rest. Once outside the door he halted.

"Computer, make a personal trace on the lifesigns of Lieutenant Commander Xenia Rafko, authorization Nu'Daq 1-6-alpha. Notify me, when she leaves her personal quarters or if there is any deterioration in her vital signs". The computer aknowledged, and with a more safe feeling Nu'Daq went back to the bridge to inform the captain.

**** Laizia ****

It was dark. Dark and cold. Laizia didn't mind the dark so much--but being half-Klingon, she hated the cold. Hours had passed since she had been tricked to transporter room two, knocked out and then brought down--somewhere, she wasn't sure where. But it was obviously somewhere in the bottom of the ship--the sound of the warp engines was much easier to hear.

Once she had awoken to find herself alone, bound and gagged, she had attempted to fight free of the cuffs on her feet and scream through the gag. But neither had worked.

Defeated, she had then cried for awhile. She was both upset and scared....the first time she'd been kidnapped was an accident, really....even if Dr. Rafko, the Klingon, and the pretty girl with them had gone against regulations and upset Lam're and Vavoy. But this time, someone was serious. Now, Laizia lay on her side in the darkness, exhausted, scared and shivering. Her arms hurt from being held behind her in the cuffs for so long but she couldn't get her wrists free.

If only she could get out.... The faint sound of a door opening over the rhythm of the Valjean's engines perked Laizia up briefly. Someone had found her! But the person who was illuminated by a faint light did not look like a rescuer. She was Bajoran, with reddish hair.

For a moment, Laizia almost thought it was Nerys. But this Bajoran wore a Starfleet uniform and her brown eyes were cold and unfriendly, filled with loathing that made Laizia shrink back as she approached. "I see we've been crying," the Bajoran, an ensign according to her one pip, sneered.

"Poor little spoiled brat miss her mommy?"

Laizia glared and tried to say something but the gag prevented her response.

"Right, whatever," snorted the ensign as she knelt down, hypospray in hand. Pressing it to Laizia's neck, she pressed the release. For one fearful moment, Laizia thought the hypo contained a drug that would kill her but when some of her fatigue began to lessen, she realized it was apparently something of the opposite.

"I suppose you're wondering how I got this," the ensign snickered. "Whoever your daddy assigned for security apparently doesn't keep an eye on the sickbay supplies. I was able to snatch this and a few other things I needed too. Of course, with a nitwit like Xenia Rafko in charge, let's hope that this ship doesn't meet any rebels who don't agree with the peace treaty."

"Mmf," Laizia retorted.

"Prophets, don't you ever shut up?" the ensign snorted. She checked the gag and tightened it, just to be sure, then slapped Laizia. "Now stay quiet, you little brat. If anyone does happen to think of searching this far, you don't need to be heard."

With that, the ensign left, leaving Laizia alone again. She didn't want to cry again but ended up doing so briefly once more before she curled up as best she could to try and not become any colder. *Kahless, please let someone find me....*

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