jIHaD: Strike Three
By Ch'tach

PART ONE : Strike Three

  The shuttle rose above the hills just as the first explosion ripped through Toloune, Vedek Ho looked at his monitors and switched them off smiling to himself, just then a memory struck him, something he had heard one of the Starfleet officers say on one of his visits to Deep Space nine, his smile widened and he muttered, "Strike one", then punched in new co-ordinates and the shuttle sped off to the southwest.

  Much had happened to Bajor since the end of the Dominion War, her people were lost and leaderless, the religious comunity had lost it's standing with the fall of Kai Winn and the disappearence of the Emissary, there was talk of civil war, and out of this misery the Pah Wraiths still sowed thier hatred. Many claimed to have seen the Emissary but they were rejected as mad, Starfleet had removed most of it's staff from DS9 and turned the station over to bajoran control, the Defiant still patrolled the area and kept watch on the wormhole. The station was now under the command of Colonel Kira and Captain Sykes commanded the Defiant. As for Bajor's entry into the Federation, well due to the political and religious unrest that was under Council advisment.

  Vedek Ho put the shuttle down several miles south of Chepen, here in the foothills of Tornka province she would'nt be found. He picked up his pack and headed toward the city. Chepen was the main industrial centre for this region, the loss of production would dent Bajor's economic clout and add more to the unrest. He glanced up at the decending sun, still several hours of daylight left, he broke into a trot.

  Dr. Julian Bashir looked down at the line of shrouded dead, so far over a thousand had been recovered from the ruins of Toloune and many more were expected to be found when the search resumed in the morning. He turned to Deputy Zital, head of the Militia in this sector.  " The death toll will be very high, the device went off during peak production time, everyone was at thier workplace."  " So far we have several suspects." Zital talked through gritted teeth. " We used this type of device during the occupation, who would have thought it would now be used against Bajorans. How are the orbital scans coming."  " Of the four shuttles that left around the time of the explosion three have been traced, the third managed to cloak it's trail somehow, it disappeared in the hills around Chepen, Captain Sykes has sent a runabout down from DS9. He says that the Defiant is at your disposal indefinately."

  Vedek Ho stood on an out crop six miles to the north of Chepen, the flames licked high into the night sky, even from this distance he thought he could hear the cries for help. "Strike two." He muttered as he shouldered his pack and headed into the night.

  Captain Sykes looked at the report in his hand. In two days there had been over 2000 deaths caused by terrorist action, Starfleet now considered the situation as serious and had ordered him to take command of the investigation personally. In doing this he knew he would need the backing of Colonel Kira, someone he had never seen eye to eye with.

  The peacefull town of Boarm had only 700 citizens, after the third day, and a visit from Vedek Ho she only had dead, the device was situated in the central square and devestated a ten mile area around the town. This time Ho left a message, on behalf of the Pah Wraiths the federation medlers must go, Bajor will be ruled by Bajorans. From his reclaimed shuttle Ho scanned the devestation, smiled and said "Strike three - your out".

---- End ----

NEXT - PART TWO : WITCH HUNT.

A story by Ch'tach