Demons of Air and Darkness
The galaxy's most relentless predator clashes with its deadliest soldier!

Demons of Air and Darkness is a Pocket DS9 novel – the fourth novel in the , and the fourth in the Gateways series – written by Keith R.A. DeCandido. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .

Summary 
From the book jacket
Scattered throughout the galaxy are Gateways which link star systems across unfathomable distances. The technology that built them has been lost for tens of millennia… but that doesn't mean that it can't be found again. Once they moved from world to world in a single step, through innumerable transdimensional gateways that spanned the galaxy. They were masters of space, and to those that feared them, they were demons of air and darkness. But long ago they left their empire and their miraculous technology behind. Now the key has been rediscovered, and all the doors have been flung open. Open for exploration… or open for invasion. On a world near space station Deep Space Nine, Colonel Kira Nerys, her crew, and some unexpected allies fight to avert destruction on a planetary scale. Meanwhile Lieutenant Nog and Ensign Thirishar ch'Thane search for a way to shut down the portals forever; and behind the scenes Quark plays a dangerous game that could determine, once and for all, who wins control of the Gateways…

Two weeks after the events told in Abyss…

When the Iconian gateways open all over the galaxy, chaos breaks out – including aboard DS9. The crew is assigned to evacuate the inhabitants of a planet that is threatened to be contaminated by radiation, because an alien species from the Delta Quadrant keeps throwing antimatter waste through one of the gateways that leads directly into the orbit of that planet; the crew is also tasked to find out why there are no gateways within the area of Bajor and DS9.

While the evacuation goes on and Julian Bashir does his best to treat the local people against radiation, Nog and Shar come up with a possibility on shutting down the gateways – a possibility that ultimately works, but only for about ten minutes, until the gateways have rebooted. The Starfleet and Bajoran personnel in charge get unexpected help from Gul Macet, who tries to build bridges between the Cardassians and the rest of the quadrant.

Kira and Taran'atar are forced to fly through the gateway, leading them into the Delta Quadrant, because of a massive amount of antimatter waste; they successfully manage to hold the waste from flooding through the gateway, but are attacked by some Hirogen; Kira beams on a very dry and hot planet, while Taran'atar fights the Hirogen. He manages to kill them and, severely injured, escape in a small pod back to the Alpha Quadrant. Kira, in the meantime, almost dying from radiation and heat, discovers another gateway – one that leads her directly to the Prophets. Assuming that she will die anyway, she steps through it.

Behind the scenes, Quark has been engaged by the Orion Syndicate; the Iconians want to sell the gateways to the highest bidder, and the Syndicate is in the game. However, negotiating for the Iconians is no other but Quark's cousin, . As the situation escalates, the dabo girl accompanying Quark is revealed to be Ro Laren; they manage to escape, but not without taking an Orion slave girl, Treir, hostage (and later release her on DS9, where she will start to work for Quark). They also manage to rescue Gaila, while they reveal the so-called Iconians to be a race called the Petraw.

Shar, in the meantime, tries to cope with the arrival of his mother, Charivretha zh'Thane, which does not go well. Also, a "business associate" of Quark's on Cardassia is discovered doing illegal business and gets visited by Elim Garak – Ro apparently helped Quark, because she could do some damage to the Orion Syndicate, but she still delivered some of the information she got about the Ferengi to Cardassian authorities.

Background information 
 Kira's story is concluded in the What Lay Beyond short story "Horn and Ivory".
 This novel is collected in the Twist of Faith omnibus, along with "Horn and Ivory".

Characters

Regular and recurring characters 
  Colonel, commander of DS9
  Starfleet commander
  Jem'Hadar ambassador aboard DS9
  Engineer aboard DS9
  Starfleet ensign assigned as science officer of DS9 following the Dominion War
This novel marks the first time Shar appears on a cover.
  Barkeeper
  Security chief on DS9
  Cardassian gul; commander of the Trager; Dukat's cousin; during the Dominion war, he was in Damar's resistance.
  Captain of the 
  Engineer genius
  Admiral
  Andorian member of the Federation Council, zhavey (mother) of Thirishar
  Ferengi, Quark's cousin
  Orion slave girl

Other characters 
Hawkins  Captain of the Ng
  Captain of the East Winds
Monaghan  Captain of the Halloran
  Captain of USS Gryphon
  Captain of

References 
  Malon supertanker
  Risan ship of Captain Cassandra
  DS9 runabout
Goldblatt's Folly  Civilian ship
   ship of Captain Elaine Mello
  Mars freighter of Captain Monaghan
Hirogen The Hirogen and the Jem'Hadar encountered each other centuries ago.

Iconians
  Captain Walter Emick
  Romulan ship
  civilian ship of Captain Hawkins
Pathfinder Project
  Deep Space 9 runabout, destroyed
  Klingon ship
Trager  Cardassian  warship of Gul Macet

  Old Bajoran ship

External link 
 

cs:Demons of Air and Darkness
de:Dämonen der Luft und Finsternis
Novels