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

fine.
    "Imagine having twenty ships suddenly appear out of nowhere around your station."
    "The station would be able to defend against twenty ships," Worf said.
    "Maybe," Victor said, "but not as well with hundreds of men with weapons beaming in beside every member of your crew, before they had time to even react."
    "Just as you beamed in here with our shields still up?"
    "Exactly," Captain Victor said.

    "They beam through shields?" Prrghh asked. "I hadn't understood that before."
    "You should have been listening more carefully," Sotugh said, and belched loudly. He got up without excusing himself, moved around the end of the bar, and disappeared through the doorway leading to the bathroom.
    "The captain mentioned it," the middle-aged woman at the bar said, "when Victor beamed in."
    "I know," Prrghh said. "It's just the juxtaposition of details ..." Then she smiled and held up the tiny glass of blue liquid she had been sipping from. "... or perhaps it is the nectar of Honeybirds." And then she laughed, a warm throaty sound.
    Sisko smiled at her. He didn't feel as if he'd had too much Jibetian ale, although he could do with more than fruitnuts. "Do you have a kitchen?" he asked Cap.
    "We serve some things," Cap said. "What would you like?"
    "Let's see your bar menu," Sisko said.
    "What about the story?" the bristly creature asked, lifting his snout off his chair.
    "He was waiting for me," Sotugh said, adjusting his clothing as he walked. He was not walking quite straight.
    "I am hungry," Sisko said.
    "But the story"
    "I'm still thinking about beaming through shields," Prrghh said. "Can you do that, Sotugh?"
    "Do you think I'd tell you if I could?" he asked and sat down heavily.
    "What about your station?" the Trill asked. The question sounded more like a prompt than a need to know. "Did they take it over?"
    "That's what we were trying to find out," Sisko said.

    My crew, except for Dr. Bashir, were huddled over their stations, trying to discover exactly what was happening on Deep Space Nine.
    "Captain," Dax said, her voice showing the worry she felt, "two Mist ships are shoving a large asteroid directly at the station."
    "An asteroid?" I asked. I had not expected that. "How long until impact?"
    "Two minutes and ten seconds," Dax said.
    "Cadet, send a warning on all channels. See if you can send something slightly out of phase, if you can send a message from our reality to theirs."
    "Captain, communications aren't really my"
    "Do it, Cadet. Dax, help him." I knew it was a long shot, but I wanted to try everything. "Chief, see if you can shift us back. We need to warn them. I will not just sit here while someone tries to destroy my station."
    "Don't worry, Captain," Victor said in a voice that was much too smarmy for my liking. "The asteroid has been shifted into this reality. Its only function is to pass through the station."
    "To disorient everyone," Worf said.
    "Exactly," Captain Victor said. "After the asteroid passes through the station, they will shift the station and then beam in and take it over."
    "Continue sending messages, Cadet. Chief"
    "I am, sir."
    "I know," O'Brien said, huddled over his console.
    "So," I said to Victor, "as far as any of the ships guarding the station, and the wormhole, are concerned, the station will suddenly disappear."
    Captain Victor nodded.
    I faced the Mist captain. "And just what do they plan to do with my station?"
    Captain Victor shifted his gaze for a moment back to the viewscreen, then looked me right in the eye and said, "They plan on using it to conquer the Mist homeworld."

Seven
    "YOU HAVE NACHOS?" Sisko asked, interrupting himself as he stared at Cap's bar menu. "Chicago-style pepperoni pizza? Jambalaya? And dirty rice?" The selection was simply amazing. He was shocked.
    The patrons around him groaned. "Captain, please, continue," the bristly alien said.
    "And you have heart of targ," Sotugh said, leaning over Sisko's shoulder. The smell of blood wine mixed with bregit lung was