Read The Mist for Free Online

Sotugh said, shaking his head in disgust at the memory. "The ship simply vanished from our screens at the exact same moment the ancient distress call stopped. Ships do not vanish in open space."
    "Unless they're cloaked," the bristly alien said.
    "We know how to read the energy signature of a cloaked ship," Sotugh said with less annoyance than Sisko would have expected at such a comment.
    "So you were coming to investigate," the middle-aged man at the bar said.
    "Of course," Sotugh said, his words becoming almost a snarl. "We assumed the Federation was testing a new weapon to be turned against the Empire."
    "If we were," Sisko said, "we wouldn't have done so that near the Klingon border."
    "Your people can be sneaky, Sisko. It might have been a way of warning us."
    "Logical," Cap said, nodding his head.
    "And very Klingon," Sisko said.
    "You would have done the same," Sotugh said.
    Smiling, Sisko raised his ale bottle to Sotugh. "I would have."
    Yellowish light flooded the entryway to the bar.
    Sisko and a few of the others at the large table turned slightly to look. The door had opened, but then closed before he could see who had come inside.
    "Arthur," Cap said. "Make sure everyone who needs a drink gets one. I'll greet our new guest."
    Sisko held up his now almost empty bottle of ale for Arthur to see, then watched as Cap moved down the bar just as a Trill came around the corner from the front entry, his eyes blinking as he fought to adjust to the dim light. He was young, dressed in a thick jacket of unfamiliar design, and looked cold. Sisko found that odd, since the day outside was one of the hottest Sisko could remember in this area of Bajor.
    The Trill had short hair, his neck markings clearly visible. He smiled at the group, but the smile was tired.
    Sisko frowned at him. He had seen the Trill before; he was sure of it. But not that sure. Sisko never forgot a face, and he knew just as clearly as he knew that he'd seen the Trill that he hadn't seen the Trill look quite like this.
    Besides that, what was a Trill doing on Bajor, in a bar? Sisko made a mental note to ask the Trill if he got the chance.
    "Welcome, Captain," Cap said to the Trill. "We have a warm fire and anything you care to drink."
    Sisko watched as the Trill nodded, seemingly relieved to take off his coat and warm up. The silence in the bar was palpable and, of course, the Trill noticed.
    "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to interrupt."
    "Yes," Sotugh said. "Continue your story. There is much drinking to do."
    "And, it seems," the catlike woman said, "much story left to tell."
    "There is, at that," Sisko said. He took the new ale from Arthur, and then, with one more glance at the new arrival, went back to his story of the Mist.

Five
    I WAS TRYING to comprehend all of the information I had just received. The station had sent out calls on all emergency frequencies searching for us; it had also sent ships. The Klingons were coming, in three ships as well. They had not answered the distress call, but they were coming now.
    And this man on the screen in front of me, this Captain Victor, was telling me that we had vanished, that he and his friend, Councillor Näna, had lured us with the distress call as bait, and then reeled us in with the cloud of mist once we arrived.
    I did not like being the fish.
    I made a small motion to Cadet Nog, indicating that I wanted the sound momentarily severed between us and Captain Victor. I turned, as if I were surveying my crew, and said softly, in case Nog had misunderstood the order, "I want you all to check and see if there is anything different about our ship, whether they have cloaked us, or if there is something different on a molecular level. Do so quickly and with no communication."
    Then I signaled Nog to continue the sound as if it had not been cut off. I finished my scan of the bridge and turned back to the screen.
    "Satisfied, Captain?" Victor said to me. "Do you see now that the others believe you are