ACT FOUR

FADE IN:

29 EXT. SPACE

The runabout sits stationary against the backdrop of a nice pink-purple swirly nebula.

30 INT. RUNABOUT - COCKPIT

Kira, Ro, Cenn and Pif are all tense. Jem’Hadar.

RO
We detected a Jem’Hadar patrol
at the limits of the Nile’s sensor
horizon. I’m pretty sure I got us
into the edge of the nebula before
they spotted us, but it was close.

KIRA
We can’t let the Dominion find us
here. Laas was very clear that he
doesn’t want any contact with
Starfleet... and especially with
me. But we can’t hide inside the
Omarion Nebula either.

RO
No, we never made it to Omarion.
This is the Chamra Vortex.

KIRA
Chamra?! That’s barely ten light-
years from the wormhole.
(sag)
We can’t give up already. I owe
Raiq more than that.

CENN
One good thing - the vortex should
hide us long enough to come up
with another solution.

RO
In theory.

KIRA
Alright, take us deeper into the
nebula. But watch out for those
gas pockets.

Once again, Kira has slipped naturally into the role of commander, and the others go along with it. Cenn moves the ship deeper into the pink-purple wisps of the nebula.

KIRA
Kira to Raiq - can you come in
here, please?

After a few moments, the rear door opens and Raiq enters.

The moment she does, Pif’s hackles raise and he stifles a growl in his throat. She walks past him unheeding - he turns and leaves the room, returning to the rear cabin.

Cenn watched the silent exchange. He’s worried for Pif.

CENN
If you’ll excuse me, Commander,
I’ll take a break while I can.

RO
Sure. Go ahead, Major.

Cenn gets up, excuse-me’s past Raiq, and heads aft.

31 INT. RUNABOUT - REAR CABIN

Cenn enters to see Pif curled up on one of the bunks, clearly not happy. Cenn approaches and sits nearby.

CENN
Pif? Are you okay? You haven’t
been your usual happy self since
we left Bajor.

PIF
Just having... her... on board.

He means Raiq. Cenn sympathises.

CENN
I know how you feel. It’s tough to
deal with one face-to-face. But
you knew that was why we left
the station. To get her.

PIF
Commander Ro needed me. It was
a chance to walk on a planet and
breathe fresh air for a moment.
But... they killed so many people.
They attacked the Even Odds, put
my family at risk. I had to stand
there and watch one of them blow
up an entire star system. Just a
mouthful of survivors, all their
children gone. Because of her.

CENN
But we stopped them from being
able to do it again.

PIF
No we didn’t. It could start all
over again if we’re not careful.

CENN
I don’t think it will. Not that I
trust her, or the other guy. But
you can trust me. We’ll keep it
under control.

Pif nods, not entirely convinced. Cenn slumps in his chair.

CENN
To be honest, it’s not been a bag
of laughs for me, either.

PIF
Why not?

CENN
It sounds facile next to exploding
star systems, but it’s... it’s more
changes. On Bajor, I was just a
simple soldier. Now my superior
in the Militia is an Ohalavar, my
superior on DS-Nine is an atheist,
we’ve got Oralians worshipping in
the shrine, and here we are on
the hunt for yet another variation.
It’s dizzying. I’m not sure how to
handle it all.

PIF
Why do you need to “handle” it?

CENN
What do you mean?

PIF
I mean, why are you worrying
about it? It’s all stuff that’s going
to happen anyway.

CENN
(wry)
Don’t you believe in the power of
one man to change the universe?

PIF
To change his own universe, maybe.
There’s only so many things you
have influence over, Major. Your
friends, your family, your job...
the rest, you just have to let it
go. Do what your conscience
asks of you, and let the rest of
the universe figure itself out.

CENN
(chuckle)
Is that what you’re doing,
hiding in here?

PIF
Hey, I didn’t say you couldn’t
wallow for a while. It’ll pass.
I’ll be back to “my usual happy
self” in no time, just you see.

CENN
Well, while we’re stuck here in
this nebula hiding from Jem’Hadar,
why don’t you put your supposed
Gamma Quadrant expert skills to
use and come up with some ideas?

Grinning, Pif sits back up, his spines erect. A job to do.

32 INT. RUNABOUT - COCKPIT

Raiq, Kira and Ro are all on their feet. Kira and Ro are defensive, Raiq on the attack.

RAIQ
I was right about you all along.
You tell me there is another, you
bring me all this way, then you
refuse to take me any further.

RO
No, that’s not what we’re saying.
We’re not refusing to take you.
We’re just hiding until the bad
guys go away.

RAIQ
(sneer)
The metamorphs and their animals?
I fear no “bad guys”. I was the
chosen of the Fire. Let them try
to stop us. I will burn them all.

KIRA
Raiq, just stop. Not every situation
calls for a burning. We’re just going
to wait here until they’ve gone, and
then we’ll be on our way. Which, by
the way, we still don’t know where it is.

RAIQ
Because you keep Axno’s vessel
from me. With it I could find the
Hearth in an instant. But no, you
must keep me under your control.

RO
Well, how do you expect to us to
react? Why would we give you what
you want when every word out of
your mouth is a threat?
(stops, chuckles)
There’s that voice again. Look,
we’re not going to do this. We’re
not going to fight. We’re going
to talk. We can figure this out
together, if we talk.

Raiq calms down a bit. Maybe talking would be better. But it doesn’t come naturally. They come down from the tension.

The rear door opens again and Cenn and Pif enter. Pif is definitely livelier now.

PIF
Commander!

RO
Pif, hi. What’s up?

PIF
When you repaired the Even Odds,
did you happen to download the
ship’s databanks?

RO
Probably. If Dez gave us access,
Nog would have kept a record.

PIF
And can you access them here?

RO
Yeah, should be able to. Why?

PIF
The Even was a retrieval ship. We
followed legends and stories all
around the quadrant.

CENN
Hoping to make money off them.

PIF
Of course. Now, I wasn’t much for
planning. I left that to Dez and
Facity. They’d just tell me to run,
and I ran. But all those legends,
they must be recorded in those
data banks somewhere.

KIRA
(getting it)
And there might be a clue there
to finding the Hearth.

RO
It’s worth a shot. Computer, create
subspace link with Deep Space
Nine and access full data banks
on freighter vessel Even Odds.
Download to this station.

COMPUTER
Working.

Kira smiles to Raiq, as if to say, “See? All good.”

CROSS-FADE INTO...

33 MONTAGE

-- Cenn sits at one of the front stations, going through page after page of data, reading and reading. Ro is at the station beside him, doing the same.

-- Kira brings a bowl from the replicator, places it onto a console for Pif. He looks up at her gratefully, she ruffles his fur affectionately, and then he goes back to tapping through pages of data, in between nibbles from the bowl.

-- Raiq stands at a side panel, trying to make sense of the data on it. This is not how she’s used to doing things. She swipes her hand across the surface, expecting it to respond like an Ascendant ship. She hisses in frustration.

-- Cenn is still going through records. He frowns, either not understanding or actively disliking something he reads.

-- Ro slumps against the station next to him, reading and reading. She’s been doing it for hours, her eyes are tired.

-- The rear cabin is dark, and Raiq stands at the window, gazing out at the wisps of the nebula. She reaches out to touch the window, reaching for her home. Behind, unnoticed in the doorway, Kira stands watching her in sympathy.

34 INT. RUNABOUT - COCKPIT

At his panel, Pif suddenly BARKS in victorious excitement. Making Ro jerk awake and slide off her panel with a bump.

RO
(slurry)
What, what’s going on? Is it the
Jem’Hadar?

PIF
I think this could be it!

Ro rouses herself, and she, Cenn and Kira all gather around Pif’s console. Raiq is still in the other room.

PIF
I always knew I remembered Dez
talking about the legends of the
Ascendants. We told Jake all about
it one time. About the mythical
crusaders who destroyed entire
planets for sacrilege.

CENN
Not so mythical, as it turns out.

PIF
No. But here, this is something
I’d forgotten till now. “The Black
World” - that was all we knew to
call it. Kind of a trader ship’s
boogeyman, the place you never
go if you plan on living a long life.

RO
What was so bad about it?

PIF
Every hundred years or so, it
caught fire.

KIRA
(thinking)
Raiq said that they returned to
the Hearth every hundred years.

RO
And we know how Ascendants love
their fire.

CENN
So maybe the planet catching fire
was just a metaphor - for lots of
Ascendants showing up there?

KIRA
Is there anything about where
this place is?

PIF
That’s the thing about legends.
Everybody told you never to go
there, but nobody could ever say
exactly where you weren’t supposed
to go. But, as always with these
things, somebody did once decide
to do what nobody else dared.

RO
Not Dez...

PIF
Ha! No, he was never that brave.
But there was a story that one man
was. It was said he went to the far
side of the Preetala sector, and
was never heard from again.

KIRA
Do you know where that is?
(Pif nods)
Then it’s the best shot we’ve got.
Major, any sign of the Jem’Hadar?

CENN
(off panels)
Not in sensor range. But that’s
limited from inside the nebula.

KIRA
Think we can make a run for it?

RO
We can’t stay here forever.

KIRA
Okay. You work on that. I’ll go
and tell Raiq we’re on our way.

Kira leaves to go to the rear cabin.

CENN
So we’re going to the planet that
catches fire, where people are
never heard from again, to find
somebody who wants to kill us all?

RO
Fun, right?

No. No it’s not. Cenn gets the ship underway...

FADE OUT:

END OF ACT FOUR