Free The Mist by Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch Page B

gather information first."
    "It makes you seem weak," Sotugh said, craning his head for Arthur. There was still no sign of the heart of targ. Sisko wondered how long it would take before Sotugh got really upset.
    "It makes you seem overly cautious," said the alien who had recently detached himself from the wall.
    "It prevents costly mistakes," Sisko said, speaking around another beef-and-cheese-covered chip. He had gotten some guacamole this time, too, and it was fresh and extremely well made.
    "I suppose we will have to wait for you to finish eating now before you continue the story," the Quilli said. It had freed itself from the table during the last bit of the story. It was sitting a little farther away from the Trill now.
    "It is considered rude among humans to talk with their mouths full," the Trill said.
    The Quilli shot him a nasty look. "It is not considered rude among Quilli."
    "Well, then," Sisko said, pulling a large chip from the center, "I shall talk and eat. Unless there are other objections?"
    "Please continue," someone said.
    "Who cares about human customs?" someone else asked.
    "It is rude for Klingons not to talk and eat at the same time," Sotugh said.
    Sisko smiled and reached for the pile of napkins that Cap had set on his table. "I continued to ask Captain Victor for information," Sisko said, as he tried to pry yet another chip out of the middle of the nacho pile. "It seemed to me that if he were telling the truth, he was in as much trouble as I was."
    "How is that?" the woman drinking tea at the bar asked.
    "The Mist colonists would be using Deep Space Nine against him and his faction," Sisko said. "Victor had been, in his own way, proposing that we become allies. I was willing to accept that in the information exchange, but I was also listening closely, keeping an eye on him, and trying to make certain that what he told me matched what I saw."

    "Your first officer's actions might buy us some time," Captain Victor said to me.
    I hoped for more than time. I hoped that Kira would be able to subdue the invaders, and then we would be able to take the station back to our own space.
    "What is your defense plan?" I asked.
    Victor glanced at Näna. The councillor had moved away, and all I could see of his face was one large unblinking eye, set in his gray lifeless skin. "Our ships are not set up for fighting," Victor said. "We outnumber the colonist ships, but we would stand no chance against that station of yours."
    "If you are not set up to fight," Worf said, "then what does it matter if you outnumber the colonists' ships?"
    I had been about to ask that question myself, but it sounded better coming from Worf. Victor seemed startled by the question.
    "I we can fight. Sort of," he said.
    I resisted the urge to shoot a triumphant glance at Worf. "Sort of," I repeated. "What are you leaving out, Captain?"
    Victor glanced in Näna's direction, but the councillor had moved completely out of our visual range. I could see only Victor's half of their interaction. He seemed worried.
    "Captain," I said, my voice deep and filled with warning.
    He turned back to me, his skin darkened by a flush. "The Mist are not a fighting people," he said. "For centuries, they have avoided conflict by simply not taking part in what they observed going on in the normal space around them."
    "They hid," I said, feeling contempt mixed with a deep anger. I had a hunch I knew where this was going.
    "Actually, yes," Captain Victor said. "And now they're faced with a conflict of their own making and most Mist simply won't fight."
    "But humans will," I said, "which explains why you captain a Mist ship."
    He nodded. "Contacting you was my idea. I felt that if we were going to win, we needed the help of those who knew how to fight."
    "The Federation does not usually get involved in internal disputes," I said. "And when we do, we do so as a mediator. We do not take sides."
    Unless forced to when one of our space stations was captured. But I did not