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TOO MUCH OF A RISK

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            Following the tedium of many days spent sitting around a campfire not far from their hopelessly wrecked ship, marooned on a deserted, nameless planet close to the Federation border, the four Cardassian castaways finally had a break in the endless boredom. It was not the rescue of a ship of their Empire that they were awaiting, but after so many uneventful days, any diversion was welcome. The sound was unmistakably that of a female, and she was crying. Dukat, Damar, Garak, and Tain followed the sound to its source.

            She was the picture of helplessness: sprawled on the ground, not attempting in the least to conceal her tears. She looked up at them through watery eyes, and made no effort to rise, or even move. Oddly, she did not seem surprised at their presence.

            “Who are you?” demanded Tain suspiciously.

            “Leanna Oxbridge, sir.”

            “Human, apparently.”

            “Yes, sir. From Earth.”

            “How long have you been here?” asked Dukat.

            “Days! Too many of them! I’m stranded.”

            “You don’t seem surprised to see us,” remarked Damar. “Why is that?”

            She responded carefully. “I’m not. I’ve known for a while that you were stuck here, too. I heard your voices, and saw you at your campsite.”

            Garak frowned. “Why didn’t you reveal yourself promptly?”

            Fear unmistakable, she said, “Please forgive me. But I felt that I had to observe you for a while, to figure out if I could dare to approach you, and ask for your help, or if I should just start running in the opposite direction, and never stop.”

            Dukat quirked a grin. “What sort of help do you need?”

            “Just to be permitted to stay with you. This is apparently not a horribly dangerous planet, but it is wild and unexplored, and any one individual alone is at great risk. But I had to be sure that admitting my presence to you-all would not be an even greater risk.” Constant involuntary trembling underlined her spoken concerns.

            Damar raised one brow ridge at her. “Do we seem exceptionally vicious, to you?”

            Eyes lowering in shame and discomfort, Leanna said, “Again, please forgive me. But your species has a rough reputation.”

            The men exchanged semi-amused, rueful glances.

            “That we do,” Dukat admitted amiably. “Is that why you were crying like that? From fear of us? But you had to know that we would likely hear you.”

            Slightly sheepish, somewhat embarrassed, she confessed, “I intended for you to hear me. It was my way of getting your attention. And it worked.”

            Frowning deeply, Tain asked, “If you’d decided to contact us, why didn’t you simply walk into our campsite and greet us? Why lure us to you?”

            “I was afraid to just pop up at you. If any one of you had a quick trigger finger, I could’ve been shot before I could explain. It seemed safest to let you find me. And I felt that you’d be least likely to shoot me if you were alerted to my presence before you could shoot, and then if I were lying here obviously harmlessly, rather than standing.”

            “We’re certainly thoroughly aware of you by now; why haven’t you even moved yet? Are you injured?” inquired Damar.

            She shook her head. “I didn’t want to give you cause to wonder if I were armed.”

            Both of his brow ridges rose.

            “I’m not,” she added hastily. “But I knew that sudden motion could be misinterpreted. In fact, if I were armed, I would’ve placed the weapon some distance from me before attracting your attention, so that you would see it immediately, and realize that I had no intention of trying to use it against you.”

            “Cautious, aren’t you?” said Garak in some amusement. “And it sounds as if you’ve been planning this contact in detail for some time.”

            She was nodding. “I am, and I have. That’s the way we cowards do things.” Her tone was matter-of-fact, without rancor.

            Four pairs of ridges rose.

            “You insult yourself?” Tain seemed skeptical at her unusually open behavior.

            “Not at all. To me, cowardliness is not a derogatory term or a negative trait. I’m simply honest.”

            “Most people would not admit to cowardice, true or not,” remarked Dukat.

            “To hide or deny the truth would be illogical.”

            Garak gave her a wry look. “Funny, you don’t look Vulcan.”

            Tain reminded him, “Humans have plenty of contact with Vulcans, and tend to admire them greatly.”

            “Well, there’s no accounting for taste.”

            Slightly nonplussed, but holding herself under strict control, Leanna said evenly, “All right. Not only would it be illogical to lie, but also dangerous. She who misrepresents herself can too easily be caught at it, and then forever mistrusted, and there might even be nasty consequences.” She quirked a sardonic, humorless half-grin. “And I’m too much of a coward to risk facing those consequences.”

            The four were clearly amused by her openness.

            “It would be supremely foolish for me to pretend to have any courage. Sooner or later, you would want me to prove it, and I wouldn’t be able to do so. Then, you would label me a liar, and feel unknown amount of hostility toward me.”

            “Is that why you still haven’t even moved a millimeter? Cowardice?” Damar’s amusement was good-natured, not unkind.

            She nodded slightly. “I’m also waiting to see whether or not you wish to search me for weapons, rather than to take my word for it, before I dare to budge.” She was clearly not looking forward to the procedure, but just as clearly aware that the men might deem it necessary.

            Ridges again rising, exchanging quick glances with his companions, Damar evidently agreed that it would indeed be wise. As he knelt by her to do so, all of the Cardassians could see that Leanna closed her eyes in fright, and held herself rigidly immobile, as still as any statue except for unavoidable tremors, carefully doing nothing to alarm any potential attacker. They had never seen anyone so exaggeratedly careful, nor so disinterested in concealing her own fear.

            Damar nodded briefly to the others that she was indeed unarmed, rose, and extended a hand to help her up from the ground. She accepted, and obediently rose as well, but she watched the Cardassians in wide-eyed trepidation, more nervously than ever as she did so, and Damar commented, “You’re shaking.”

            “I’m terrified of all of you.” Her voice was indeed tremulous.

            Tain was clearly marveling at her. “I’ve never before known anyone to so blatantly put all of his cards on the table, instead of holding some in reserve. Most people tend to conceal weaknesses. You, on the other hand, seem almost eager to reveal them.”

            “I believe that it’s my best chance at surviving this encounter, and at remaining intact.” She shivered graphically. “Only fools let their pride get in the way of their own survival.”

            “Perhaps so.” Tain was pensive.

            “Well, shall we continue this conversation at our campsite?” Garak offered amiably.

            Leanna nodded graciously, but obviously still fearfully; she noticeably did not yet consider herself safe with them.

            Once there, she sat visibly tensely on one of the log “benches” that the Cardassians had long since assembled around the fire. Considerately, none of the men sat too close to her; there was plenty of room for comfortable dispersal, and they granted it.

            Dukat said, “Well! We’re long overdue to introduce ourselves.”

            “Not necessary, Gul Dukat, sir. I know who all of you are.”

            Startled stares all around were the response.

            Instantly apologetic for having surprised them, she hastened, “Please pardon me! I didn’t mean to startle you in any way! Perhaps you didn’t realize how famous all four of you are, in the Federation. Your faces and voices are on vidscreens frequently.”

            “Interesting.” Dukat, at least, was noticeably pleased. After a moment, Damar appeared to decide that the fact was flattering and harmless. Garak and Tain, however, clearly had at least some reservations, although it didn’t look as if they blamed her for the unexpected revelation, she was clearly thankful to see.

            Damar said, “Well, since you’re so anxious to expose all of your weaknesses to us, is there anything else that you’d like to confess?”

            “Yes.” Leanna had obviously been awaiting the question, and visibly steeled herself. “First, please let me anticipate a concern that I’m sure you’ll have. While I did, as I said, observe you for a bit before I dared to risk contact, I was not close enough to hear your discussions. I was not spying, in other words. I only got close enough to gauge, from your vocal tones, and your visible behavior, whether you seemed relatively calm, sane, sober, and peaceful toward each other.”

            Amusement returned in all of their eyes.

            “In fact, I would go out of my way to actively avoid spying on you, because I can imagine your reaction to that impropriety. Whenever you wish to converse in confidence, you have only to tell me to go take a walk, and I’ll hastily obey. I don’t want to hear your secrets. They’re none of my business, and they would put me in too perilous a position.”

            Dukat grinned. “You’ve been rehearsing this speech for as long as you’ve been watching us, haven’t you?”

            This time, her brows rose. “Very perceptive.”

            Damar also smiled. “Aren’t you afraid that one of this planet’s dangers might get you, if you went out walking alone?”

            She shrugged. “I was alone out there for days and days. If I’m allowed to stay with you most of the time, I’ll still feel a lot safer than if I were alone all of the time, as well as safer than I’d be if I overheard something that you didn’t want me to hear. I don’t even want to think about that danger.” She shuddered again, automatically.

            “Next confession?” Garak invited, with a gentle smile.

            Despite his kindness, she tensed worse than ever. “Just one more thing that I’ve been able to anticipate.”

            “And whatever it is, it frightens you the most of all,” Garak intuited.

            Leanna nodded spasmodically, and they could hear that her breathing had instantly become unsteady. Again sounding rehearsed, she recited, “I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of Starfleet, or of Federation government, in any capacity. Cowards do not join such organizations, nor would they be accepted if they were foolish enough to apply. I cannot imagine that anything that I would know could possibly be of any use to you. But, if you decide that there is something, I will eagerly answer fully any questions that you might have. You will not need to…threaten me.”

            To varying degrees, the four smothered smiles, astutely realizing that she was too afraid to even say the dreaded word, torture, particularly in front of them.

            “But if you do ask such questions, my most ferocious worry will be that I might not know the answer to something. How would I convince you to believe me?? How would I prove that I wasn’t just holding something back from you??? Please, please, believe me; I wouldn’t dare! With any question that I can answer to your complete satisfaction, I promise you that I’ll be far more thrilled about it than you!! It’ll keep me safe from harm for at least another moment!!” Leanna had long since begun to lean forward desperately, urgent in her need to convince them of her sincerity, and tears had again begun to form in her eyes.

            Insightfully, Garak, his eyes traveling back and forth steadily, had shrewdly noted that Leanna’s attention had mostly become focused on him and Tain during this, her most nerve-wracking topic. She hardly even glanced at Dukat and Damar now. The girl did indeed know who all of them were.

            Tain studied her through narrowed eyes. Unable to completely fathom his intentions, Leanna’s own eyes dropped miserably to her lap, as did her teardrops. She evidently suspected that she might somehow have doomed herself, after all.

            “Look at me,” Tain commanded.

            She obeyed, but clearly in terror. Garak obviously had to make an effort to conceal his pity for her.

            “I do have questions. And you will answer them right now.”

            “Oh my god!” she sobbed softly, but then nodded nearly violently, to emphatically guarantee obedience.

            “What are your deepest fears?” Tain demanded.

            Eyes steadily widening to almost impossible extreme, Leanna begged, “Why, sir?!! Are you going to…???”

            “Answer the question,” he ordered rigidly.

            She sobbed louder, evidently having trouble controlling her panic well enough to speak. Urgently fighting for control, so that she wouldn’t worsen whatever was already wrong, she stammered, “Yes, …sir. As you wish. Acrophobia….”

            “Fear of heights,” Tain interpreted.

            She nodded tightly in confirmation. “Arachnophobia….” Her voice shook even harder; clearly she would especially hate to have that particular fear used against her.

            Her interrogator said, “Fear of spiders.”

            Momentarily looking frantic, she confessed, “I don’t know the technical term for fear of snakes!”

            He was of course unbothered by that. “No matter, I got it. Continue,” Tain commanded.

            She cast about, at a loss. “And, I guess, any animal that might attack with teeth and claws, whatever it might be!”

            “Anything further?” he prompted.

            Her eyes rapidly filling and spilling, she blubbered, “Just one, I think! Your species!” Leanna dissolved into loud sobs, and buried her face in her hands.

            “Cardassaphobia,” Dukat joked, not unkindly, and Damar smiled at him, also without meanness.

            Baffled at his apparent inexplicable hostility, she sobbed, “Please, Mr. Tain, sir! How have I offended you??? And which one of my fears are you going to…???” She still couldn’t even say the word.

            Instead, he smiled mildly at her. “Congratulations. You passed.”

            “What???” The human was completely confused.

            “Do you think that you’re the first to express concern over whether or not you’ll be believed, in the event that you genuinely don’t know an answer? I just tested you. You passed my test. You’ll be believed.”

            Brain function obviously impaired by numbing fear, she remained bewildered.

            “I find that the question that subjects are most afraid to answer are those concerning their own phobias. They assume, just as you did, that I’ll use the information against them in further interrogation. So, many of them refuse to answer. In doing so, they prove to me that they were being dishonest in their guarantee to ‘tell me anything.’ You are one of the few who answered anyway, more fearful of refusing my request than of revealing your deepest exploitable fears. Therefore, I conclude that your promise was indeed sincere and absolute, and so we will believe you. You will not need to be tortured.” Tain watched her as he said the word that she couldn’t even say, and saw her dramatic flinch.

            Soundlessly, she collapsed into a dead faint at their feet.