Free Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Soul Key by Olivia Woods Page B

ahead of the system’s more elaborate security measures, until…
    There.
    First Minister Li’s most recent intelligence briefing, a long and tedious litany of issues great and small to eat up the workday of this world’s supreme political leader, plus a contact list of important offworld Bajorans. Kira Nerys was at the top of the list, followed by her current location aboard the Klingon vessel Negh’Var and a secret protocol for reaching her.
    Armed with that information, Shing-kur could begin the next phase of Iliana’s plan.
    It was a thing of beauty to watch. The Kressari had a surprising gift for manipulation, one that she deftly employed to ensnare the Intendant with the promise of what she coveted most: power. Shing-kur offered the alternate Kira access to a different quadrant of the galaxy, and the means to rally the most formidable army she might ever encounter—the Jem’Hadar of the alternate universe—with which the Intendant would be able to conquer the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. Shing-kur sweetened the deal further, claiming that the rewards of their partnership were not limited to the universe of the Alliance, but that Kira would have access, without restriction, to the considerable resources of Deep Space 9’s continuum…and, if she wished, to other realities as well.
    Best of all, Kira was made to believe that she had been talking to Taran’atar himself the entire time. It had required only one of the many Jem’Hadar corpses still in stasis on Grennokar, some controlled lighting and carefully managed static, and a voice distorter to convince the Intendant—being the vain and venal creature she was—that she had been contacted by a disillusioned soldier in search of a leader more worthy of what he had to offer.
    Now everything had come down to waiting while the Intendant completed the preparations that “Taran’atar” had told her would be necessary to begin their enterprise—preparations that would actually pave the way to her own downfall.
     
    Iliana’s inner circle was growing impatient. She had been keeping them at arm’s length for too long, telling them only what she wanted them to know about her plans, which they still believed extended no further than expanding their criminal organization and eventually using her pet Jem’Hadar to inflict some cruel retribution against the commander of Deep Space 9. But it was obvious to them that Iliana was holding back, and her increasing detachment from their operations wasencouraging doubt to flower where once there had been only faith.
    Iliana tried to ease those doubts, to offer Mazagalanthi and Fellen and Telal the reassurance they so clearly craved, even though their partnership was nearing the end of its usefulness to her. The bonds they had forged during their escape from Letau and since were not irrelevant, but they were becoming as far removed from Iliana’s sense of her own destiny as her artistic pursuits had become after she had learned that Ataan would never be returning from Bajor.
    Her inner circle would never understand those changes, she knew. And with Shing-kur’s willing help, Iliana made sure that none of them would ever survive an attempt to turn against her. A brief search of the arsenal of clandestine equipment in Grennokar’s old storage compartments yielded enough essential components to enable Iliana and Shing-kur to fabricate neurotoxin-filled implants, tiny subcutaneous poison-delivery devices capable of releasing their lethal payloads upon receipt of a specific and individualized remote command. Once the devices were completed, filled, and sealed, Shing-kur used a silent hypospray to inject the devices into the bodies of each of the others, one by one, while they slept.
    Afterward, while standing before Iliana, Shing-kur made the ultimate gesture of supreme fealty, willingly giving herself a shot as well.
    It was as if her friend already knew that even she would not be able to follow Iliana down the Path that her