The Art of the Impossible

Gri

The girl was confused. “We were unhappy?”

“Not for very long,” Grandfather said in a reassuring tone. “Because we arestrong. We are, in fact, the strongest people in the galaxy. All that stands against us now are the many inferior species around us—humans, Bajorans, Klingons, Trills, Romulans, Vulcans, Andorians, Ferengi, Lissepians—but the Cardassian Union will always triumph. It is our destiny to spread our greatness throughout the cosmos.”

Grandfather leaned forward again. “Once, we found a world called Raknal V. It was ours for the taking, of course, but Klingon treachery tried to take it away from us. They made a fraudulent claim on the world, and the gullible fools of the Federation took their side. A senile old Trill tried to trick us into accepting a ridiculous competition, to make us fight for what was rightfully ours. In the end, of course, we triumphed. The Klingons gave us the world and the Trill let them. No amount of trickery, no amount of butchery, no amount of posturing could keep us from our destiny—nor will it ever.”

“Now then,” Mother said, “you should finish your hevrit.It’s time to get some sleep.”

Even as her siblings complained that they weren’t tired, the girl wolfed down the rest of her fish, then prepared her bedroll. After a long day of fishing, she was tired. Besides, she was an obedient child. She knew that if she remained obedient, she too would be strong, as a Cardassian should be.

As she lay down to sleep, she turned to her parents. “Mother? Father?”

“Yes?” they said in unison.

“Some day, I will grow up and join the military and be the finest soldier in the Union and I will find more new worlds that will bring glory to Cardassia!”

Mother, Father, and Grandfather all laughed. Father said, “Of that, my darling child, I have no doubt at all. But for now, go to sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll go home and tell your grandmother about the first fish you caught.”

Content with the day’s accomplishments, the girl drifted off to sleep. Her rest was peaceful and undisturbed, because she knew that she slept under the protection of the Cardassian Union…

Acknowledgments

The thanks must commence with editor Marco Palmieri, who conceived The Lost Eraand has shepherded it into existence. Marco is expert at taking the seed of many of the best stories (“Wouldn’t it be cool if…?”) and nurturing it into the most beautiful flower—or, in this case, a six-rose nosegay. (Hey, c’mon, people say my prose needs to be more florid…) I also must thank Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe, who wrote the Star Trek: Deep Space Nineepisode “The Way of the Warrior,” thus providing me with the basis for this novel in a conversation between Bashir and Garak about the eighteen-year Betreka Nebula incident between Cardassia and the Klingons.

My fellow Lost Eraauthors, Michael A. Martin, Andy Mangels, Jeff Mariotte, Margaret Wander Bona

Also of tremendous use were various Star Trekreference tools, particularly The Star Trek Encyclopediaby Michael and Denise Okuda, with Debbie Mirek; Star Trek Chronologyalso by the Okudas; The Klingon Dictionaryby Marc Okrand; and especially Star Chartsby Geoffrey Mandel.

The Lost Erabooks in general and this book in particular had to weave stories from little dribs and drabs of information that the various TV shows and movies provided at many different stages. In addition to all those onscreen references (far too numerous to list here), I need to acknowledge the contributions of several works of written fiction that provided useful background material for some of the political, social, and physical forces at work in the Federation, the Cardassian Union, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Star Empire during this period: the comic book Enter the Wolveswritten by A.C. Crispin and Howard Weinstein; Peter David’s young adult book Worf’s First Adventure; the Dark Matterstrilogy by Christie Golden; the two-part Martok biographical novel The Left Hand of Destinyby J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Lang; the Garak biographical novel A Stitch in Timeby Andrew J. Robinson; Josepha Sherman and Susan Shwartz’s Vulcan’s Heart; and Lesser Evilby Robert Simpson.

I make a habit of thanking the actors who play the characters I portray in the text, which is a bit more of a challenge than usual in The Art of the Impossible, since so many of the folks herein are either of my own creation, or never appeared on-screen, or did so but briefly. However, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the contributions in providing voices, faces, and ma

I’ve always had a great fondness for the Romantic poets of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and one of my favorites is William Blake. It is from his America: A Prophecythat I took the titles of this book’s sections.

The continued support of the online community has been especially heartening, and I must thank all the good folks at the Star TrekBooks Bulletin Board at PsiPhi.org, the TrekLiterature Board at TrekBBS.com, Simon & Schuster’s discussion board at StarTrekBooks.com, the Star TrekBooks and Deep Space Nine AvatarYahoo! Groups at groups.yahoo.com, and the Federation Library at StarTrek-Now.com.

The usual gangs of idiots: the Malibu crowd, the Geek Patrol, the Forebearance (in particular GraceA

Last, but never least, heaping dollops of thanks to the love of my life, Terri Osborne, as well as our cats, Mittens and Marcus, all three of whom were always there to provide love, affection, and a desire to be scritched. (Okay, maybe I’m sharing too much here…)

About the Author

One of Keith R.A. DeCandido’s earliest TV memories is being scared to death by the salt vampire from the Star Trekepisode “The Man Trap.” He grew up to overcome these childhood nightmares and make several contributions to the world of Star Trekliterature, including the novels Diplomatic Implausibilityand Demons of Air and Darkness;the two-book series The Brave and the Bold;several short stories; the comic book miniseries Perchance to Dream(collected in the trade paperback Enemy Unseen); and many eBooks in the monthly Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineersseries that he codeveloped with John J. Or-dover (some collected in the books Have Tech, Will Travel; Miracle Workers;and Some Assembly Required). Coming soon are the first two books in the Star Trek: I.K.S. Gorkonseries, chronicling the adventures of Captain Klag and his intrepid crew of Klingon warriors, the first time Pocket has published an adventure that exclusively highlights Star Trek’s most popular aliens. Keith is the editor of the forthcoming Tales of the Dominion Waranthology and is presently working on a two-book series that focuses on Ambassador Worf in the days leading up to Star Trek Nemesis.