KIRA YELPED AS portions of the shattered wall fell across her. Dust and smoke filled her lungs. Coughing and spluttering, she fought her way out of the debris, wiping at her tearing eyes and cursing every ache. She'd been very fortunate. The bloody mess that had been one of the security guards showed her that not everyone had been so lucky.
Gasping for breath, Tork surfaced among the wreckage beside her. Seeing he was alive, Kira glanced back at the control room.
The shock wave from the blast had sent the others reeling further back but they appeared unharmed for the most part. One of the technicians seemed to have a broken arm, and Bree had a large cut across her forehead. She was ignoring it and struggling back toward the navigation computer.
Odo formed from nowhere beside Kira. "We were fortunate," he told her. "The shutters absorbed some of that blast."
Glancing at her phaser, still clutched spasmodically in her hand, Kira grimaced. Might as well throw stones at that armored drone. She slapped her communicator. "Kira to Sisko. We need help, now!"
Sisko banked the Defiant, heading back toward the control deck. Laser fire splashed harmlessly against the shields. The Hive didn't dare deploy too much firepower inside itself for fear of structural damage. "We're on our way," he informed Kira.
"Powering up phasers," O'Brien reported from the weapons console. "According to the sensors, someone's opened fire on the control deck. They must be stark, raving mad. If they damage the instruments there, who knows what will happen?"
"I don't think Dron is thinking too clearly right now," Sisko informed him. "He's losing his grip on power, and is just trying to stop Tork at all costs. We don't dare take any chances on that drone opening fire again. Take it out on the first shot, Chief, and don't worry about casualties."
"Aye, Captain." O'Brien bent to the task. "Coming in range … now!"
Kira saw the Defiant hurtle into view, narrowly missing a collision with one of the towers. As it banked, the phasers lit up, and she looked away.
Twin beams lanced from the sky and onto the drone. For a second, she saw it silhouetted in a blinding light, and then it and three Hive dwellers who were tumbling from it vanished into nothingness.
She staggered to her feet, surveying the wreckage in the plaza through the gaping hole that had been the front wall of the control deck. It certainly looked as though a war had been fought here.
"Dron is dead," said Tork with some satisfaction. "He was one of those killed in the blast that saved us. Raldar was another. I did not recognize the third."
"Couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow,"' Kira muttered. She turned her attention back to Sahna, Bree, and the others. How's it going there?"
"The transfer of data is complete," Sahna replied. "The program has been activated and is running. As soon as we reach Darane Three, the program should begin."
Bree looked nervous. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?" she asked, "I know it is the will of the First Hive, but … If Dron was telling the truth, then we are committing our race to life on a planet again. They will not be prepared for this. Perhaps we should wait? The urgency is past, after all."
"No," Tork answered, firmly. "If we wait, the remaining Hivemasters may begin a new assault. And if we ask the Hive whether to proceed with the real Great Design, I suspect that there will be a great deal of discussion. Many may favor returning to Dron's plan. We must act, and act now, however severe the consequences." Tork laid a gentle hand on Kira's arm. "Now might be a good moment for you all to leave," he suggested. "This is our destiny. We must face it alone."
"Understood." Kira holstered her phaser. "Good luck." She tapped her communicator as Odo and Dax joined her. "You're a sight," Kira informed her smoke smudged friend. "Speak for yourself," Dax said with dignity. "Unless you're planning on making blood your new uniform color."
Realizing she had been injured in the blast, Kira grimaced. "Another new uniform requisition," she sighed. "I hate filling out those forms." She tapped her communicator. "Kira to Sisko. Three to beam up. I think it's time we left."
Dax held the Defiant in synchronous orbit several planetary diameters out from the rocky surface of Darane III. She smiled back at Sisko. "Ringside seat," she announced.
Sisko smiled back. "Thanks, old man." He glanced around the bridge. Kira had just returned, a bandage across her left shoulder and a patch on her forehead. "How do you feel?"
"Lousy," Kira replied, grinning. "But I'm not going to miss this. Anything happen yet?"
"No." Sisko turned his attention back to the main screen.
The Hive was slowly crawling toward the waiting planet.
The wings were bent again in the position that they had been when it had drained Darane IV. The huge mechanical construction hovered in space above the globe, now cradled in the space between the wings.
Nobody spoke. Sisko saw that O'Brien was feverishly activating every spare sensor and camera to record whatever was about to happen.
Then it began.
The strange blue fire began to play across the lower surface of the Hive, like lightning zipping back and forth. It started slowly, building in intensity, the light moving from blue into blinding white. It seethed and rolled in the gap, and then the first lance of fire leaped down to touch the surface of the planet. The first bolt was followed by several more, and then a barrage of fire rained from the Hive onto the dead surface of Darane III. In moments, the entire planet was glowing with the blue-white incandescence.
"Is something going wrong?" asked Odo.
"I don't know," Sisko admitted. "Just watch."
The globe was starting to writhe beneath the falling blasts of energy It seemed to be seething, in preparation to explode. Just as it seemed to Sisko that the tortured world could endure no more, the light changed. A golden glow seeped down the blasts, crawling across the battered surface. The world was glowing still, but the light changed, shading into a deeper gold, and then umber.
The Hive shifted. A ripple spread across the gigantic wings, as if it were a cloaking device about to fade the vessel into invisibility. The stability returned briefly, and then the Hive started to fade slowly, becoming slightly transparent.
"My God," muttered O'Brien. "It's an inversion field … but the power of it …" His voice faded into a whisper of awe.
The Hive itself was fading. The glow about the planet increased, getting slowly brighter as a vast transfer of energy took place. The Hive was looking less and less real, the fires burning brighter and more gloriously. Then came a blinding explosion of light—
—and the Hive was gone.
Only the interplay of color from the glow remained. It whirled about the planet like a cloud of luminescence, touching everything. Fingers of splendid aura stroked the world, caressing it.
As the glow started to die down, Sisko could make out blurred images on the once-barren surface. There was water, he was sure of that! Vast oceans, smaller rivers, barely visible from space. The gray, dust colored rocks that had once been the surface of Darane III were gone. In their place he could make out greenery.
"Close up," he ordered. "As close as you can manage."
Dax complied, and the screen shimmered and then refocused. They were looking down on vast expanses of trees—forests and jungles, growing on the once dead world. Clouds were staring to form above them.
"O'Brien?" he called, not tearing his eyes from the screen for a second. "What do you read down there?"
'What don't I read!" exclaimed the chief, stunned and happy. "There's a viable atmosphere, plants, animals … and I'm getting the readings for several cities, all clustered on the southern continent," he added. "Millions of life signs. I'd say that the Hive dwellers made it safely."
Tork gasped as he straightened up. It had felt so strange to be in the grip of the forces that they had unleashed. For several moments, he was terrified that the powers he had set free would destroy them all, but a vast peace had settled upon him as the Hive had started to break apart.
Now he stood on the surface of their new world. Before him lay the city he knew so well from the Hive, transferred somehow intact to the surface of their new planet. Around him, other people were forming. He saw Sahna, and rushed to her in delight. Then Bree, and Dimas, and the rest of the Hive dwellers appeared on the surface of a planet.
A million Hive dwellers looked up and saw the open sky above their heads for the first time in their lives. They screamed, and whirled into catatonic balls of shell, retreating from the reality they couldn't face.
Tork stared around at his traumatized fellows, sadness in his hearts. "It is hard for them," he said.
"They will learn to adapt," Sahna assured him. "It is possible. "You have proven that."
"Yes," he agreed. "Yes. I have."
Kira snorted good-naturedly. "It looks like it's all turned out okay after all," she commented.
Dax nodded. "They're certainly in for an adventure. I wonder how they'll do?"
"If they're all anything like Tork and Sahna," Sisko commented, "I wouldn't be too worried about them. Mind you, they're going to need a lot of help and advice, I suspect. Living on a planet is very different from living in space."
Kira gave a crooked grin. "Maybe there are a few thousand refugees from Darane Four who would appreciate a new home," she suggested. "If they can forgive the innocent Hive dwellers, maybe they could teach each other a few things."
Sisko smiled. "That sounds good to me. Do you think you could make it sound good to Shakaar?"
"You can bet on it," Kira replied. "In fact, Quark could bet on it." She snapped her good fingers. "Hadn't we better call Shakaar and tell him that Bajor's out of danger?"
'Yes," Sisko agreed. "I imagine he'll be most interested. And he's probably dying to tell Jaro just where to go about now." He gave the screen one last look. The new world looked beautiful as it started to cloud over. "They've got a fascinating adventure ahead of them," he said softly. "I almost envy them."
Dax smiled at him. "Only almost?" she teased.
"Yes." Sisko nodded at the screen. "I'll bet there's plenty of space for baseball diamonds down there, old man. Now, set course for Deep Space Nine. We've got a lot of work to catch up on."
As Dax started to follow his orders, Sisko sat back in his chair. It had been a close call, but once again he had somehow come through. Maybe he was better than he'd once believed. Maybe he was simply luckier than he'd once believe.
Or, just maybe, Yarka was right: It was the will of the Prophets. . . .