"Gel wasn't a man who understood subtlety, Nerys. And he was given an opportunity. I don't know how many of us, having seen our loved ones die horribly and knowing that everyone we love might suffer the same fate, would let such an opportunity pa.s.s us by."

Kira stood slowly. "You're scaring me, Chamar."

"I scare myself sometimes, Nerys. But I have had years to think on this, and every time I do, I realize that we are not as n.o.ble as we believe."

"I would never kill my own people to get rid of the Carda.s.sians," Kira said.

"I don't think Gel would have either," Chamar said. "Which is why I believe there was an outside agent. Think on it, Nerys. The promise of no Carda.s.sians, a fanatic like Gel, and a weapon. Only what the creator of that weapon doesn't say is that it is a two-p.r.o.nged weapon, which kills both sides." "That's too hideous to contemplate," Kira said.

"Yes, it is," Chamar said. "Which is why I hope you-or someone-finds the creator of this disease."

She nodded. "First we have to stop it. I need to get a message to Kellec Tom on Terok Nor. Do you still have communication equipment?" "In a safe place," he said. "Let me take you there." He got up slowly. Kira watched him. The information she got wasn't much, and yet it felt like a lot. Almost too much. She thought she was used to the lengths people went to, used to the cruelty in the world. And then she was surprised, like this afternoon, when she discovered that someone could go a step further.

Chamar made his way to the door. Kira followed him. She would send the message to Terok Nor, and then she would go back to her own work. Before she joined the fighting, though, she had one more task. She needed to round up the sick and get them closer to the medical areas, to make sure they got treatment when treatment was available. And she knew the treatment would become available. She had to believe Pulaski and Kellec Ton would find a solution. They had to.

She sighed. Why was it so easy to destroy? And so very hard to rebuild?

She didn't know, and she doubted she ever would.

Chapter Twenty-seven

PULASKI STOOD AND FORCED HERSELF to move a little, loosening tight and tired muscles. She was sweating slightly in the heat of the contained room, and her eyes felt strained from far too many hours staring at data. "Got to pace yourself," she said to herself.

She did a few slow stretches, then moved over toward the door. Through the window of the office she could see most of the medical section. Her team had been the only ones still working in the area since Kellec and Narat had left, a few hours before. Pulaski hadn't wanted them to, but they'd both felt it was important to distribute the temporary cure to their people, keeping each side at least going for the short term.

But that left all the research on her. And she had felt the weight of it the moment Kellec left. Ensign Marvig bent over a Bajoran, carefully monitoring the progress of the three prions with a medical tricorder. Her hair was pulled back and Pulaski could see a rip in one leg of her uniform. Marrvig hadn't had time to go back to her quarters in the last thirty-six hours. None of them had. And with the fighting going on around the station, Pulaski doubted they could even make it now.

After getting the information from the Enterprise, it had taken them only a few hours to discover that it was three prions forming the virus that had cause this epidemic, too. Pulaski knew that was too much of a coincidence. More than likely, the same virus designer who had created the Archaria III plague had created this one. Who this designer was had to be solved later, although she wished it could happen now.

Who would do such a thing?

And why?

But she couldn't focus on that. Right now the focus had to be on stopping the virus's formation here and now.

Nurse Ogawa moved from Carda.s.sian patient to Cardasian patient, doing basically what Ensign Marrvig was doing-monitoring the progress of the three prions to see if they formed the virus again. Just twenty minutes ago they had decided to try the same idea Dr. Crusher and the Enterprise crew had come up with at Archaria III. They would know shortly if the Enterprise cure, as they were calling it, was going to work or not. For some reason she didn't think it would this time, since this was the work of the same designer. If she were designing a virus, and she hoped she would never go that crazy, she would make certain it didn't fall prey to the same cure a second time.

Still, she had to try. Maybe this one had been unleashed at the same time, but took longer to incubate.

Or longer to reach Bajor.

Although she doubted it.

Two of the Ferengi were still in the medical area, sitting on a lab table. The older one, named Rom, looked nervous while his young son seemed both defiant and very interested in everything around him. Ensign Governo was monitoring them for the same prion reformation. Somehow, Pulaski knew the answer was with the Ferengi. She just didn't know how they were involved. She knew the Bajorans infected the Carda.s.sians with the prions that caused the virus. But who had infected the Ferengi? And why did it only give them blisters instead of killing them?

She shook her head and then stretched again. Too many unanswered questions.

A faint explosion lightly shook the floor, and Marvig glanced up, a look of fear in her eyes. Pulaski nodded at her in a rea.s.suring way and Marvig half smiled and went back to work. Too bad it wasn't that easy with all these patients.

She just hoped Kellec was all right. She had no idea how bad it was out there, but at the moment, as long as the fighting didn't come in here, she didn't care. None of it was going to matter unless she found the cure for this virus.

Nurse Ogawa glanced over at her and shook her head no.

Pulaski moved out into the patient area. "Not working?"

"Virus is forming. The Enterprise cure isn't stopping it or even slowing it down."

"I'm afraid it's the same with the Bajorans," Marrvig said.

"And the Ferengi," Governo said. But he didn't take his eyes off his medical tricorder.

"You mean we're still sick?" the older Ferengi asked, clearly panicked. He put his hand to his ears, as if he could protect them from the infection. The younger Ferengi put a hand on his father's leg to calm him down.

"I'm afraid so," Governo said, still studying the tricorder intently. "But just stay put and don't worry. We'll find the cure."

Pulaski wished she could be as sure as Governo sounded.

"Dr. Pulaski," Governo said, his voice sounding unsure, "this is really odd." "What is?"

She was about to step toward Governo and the Ferengi when Narat stumbled through the door of the medical area, another Carda.s.sian slumped over his shoulder.

Narat looked faintly green and very weak. And it took her a moment to understand who the other greenish-tinted Carda.s.sian was. Gul Dukat.

Acting like a well-trained trauma unit, her crew sprang into motion. She and Governo went to help Narat and Dukat while Marrvig and Ogawa helped two Carda.s.sians who were not as sick off the biobeds.

She took Dukat and levered him over and onto his back on the bed. He tried to help, but was clearly so weak his effort almost made it more difficult. Carda.s.sians were heavy enough.

Governo grabbed Dukat's legs and lifted them onto the bed as Pulaski started the scan. The virus was throughout his system, extremely far advanced.

"Why didn't you come in here earlier?" she asked.

The look of terror in Dukat's eyes surprised her, but he said nothing.

"Have you been injected with any of this cure before?"

He shook his head no, then closed his eyes for a moment at the effort.

She upped the dosage slightly and injected him. "Now stay still and try to rest."

His hand came up and grabbed her sleeve. "The permanent cure?"

"I'11 find it if you let go of my sleeve," she said. "Now rest. And that's an order."

For a moment she thought he was going to get angry, then he nodded, let go of her, and closed his eyes.

On the bed beside Dukat, Narat had just gotten his injection of the temporary cure from Nurse Ogawa. He looked up at Pulaski. "Anything?" She shook her head. He sighed. "I was hoping." Then he closed his eyes. She stared at the two Carda.s.sians for a moment, then turned to Ogawa. "Monitor them closely. I want to know the moment the virus is clear from their systems." "Understood," Ogawa said. "Crystal, you continue monitoring the Bajorans." "Yes, Doctor," Marvig said.

Pulaski did a quick medical scan of Dukat. The temporary cure was already attacking the virus. In fifteen minutes he'd be back to his normal, overbearing self. But that gave her fifteen minutes of time in which to work.

She turned to Governo. "Okay, what were you going to show me with the Ferengi?"

On the lab table, the older Ferengi actually flinched,

Chapter Twenty-eight

PULASKI WATCHED THE MEDICAL MONITOR as if it might blow up at any moment. The Ferengi named Rom squirmed on the biobed, even though no one was actually touching him. She was instead looking at what was happening in his body. Governo had noticed an odd reaction just before Dukat had come in. But with the disruption of the now sleeping Dukat, they had missed the timing on whatever Governo had seen.

So they got the quivering Ferengi's permission to reinfect him and then heal him again. It had taken both the younger Ferengi and Governo a good twenty minutes to convince him it would be safe. It wasn't until the boy Ferengi offered to do it that the older one caved in. "Dukat's starting to come around," Ogawa said. "Give him a light sedative," Pulaski said. "I want him resting for at least another thirty minutes." Plus she wanted that long until she had to deal with him again.

"See it?" Governo said, his voice excited. He too was monitoring the ongoing prion activity in the Ferengi body.

"I did," Pulaski said. But she wasn't sure exactly what she had seen. It had happened so fast. But this time it was recorded, visual and all other data.

They both continued to monitor the forming of the virus until it was at its full stage, then she said, "Let's watch this on the screen in the office." "Um," the Ferengi said.

Pulaski turned to him. She had learned in the last few moments that Rom was not very a.s.sertive. "Um, would you mind curing me first?" he asked. "Of course not," Pulaski said.

She nodded toward Governo, who hyposprayed the Ferengi. "There," he said when he was done. "ALL better."

The Ferengi's hands immediately went to his ears. His grin was wide enough to split his face. "Thanks."

Pulaski glanced at Narat. He was standing beside Dukat, monitoring his sleeping commander. Narat's color had returned to its normal healthy gray, just as Dukat's had. But Narat's stage of the infection had been nowhere near as advanced as Dukat's. With the gul, she was going to be safe.

"Narat, are you up to seeing something?"

"I think I should remain here," he said.

"All right." She was a bit relieved that he wasn't coming. She had kept so much from him in this research that she didn't want to blurt it out at the last minute. Still, she had to offer.

She followed Governo into the office. Right now Pulaski wished that Kellec were here. This was just the kind of thing she could use his knowledge on. But at the moment she was going to have to go it alone.

She quickly set the screen to start right before the strange event in the Ferengi virus formation, then started it slowly forward. Nothing seemed different. Three different and harmless prions were drawn together, just as in the other two races.

"Coming up right about now," Governo said.

As the prions started to join and alter their DNA, something different suddenly happened. The virus was formed, but also a fourth prion was formed and quickly expelled.

She froze the image on that prion, quickly isolated it and ran a computer diagnostic. The moment the data appeared, she glanced out the office window at the Carda.s.sian doctor. Thank heavens he hadn't accepted her invitation.

"Amazing," Governo said, staring at the data. "That means what I think it means, doesn't it?"

She nodded. "That prion is the key prion in the Bajoran virus, which then mutates into the Carda.s.sian virus."

"The Ferengi are carrying the catalyst priori that restores viral functioning even after it's cured." Governo said.

"Don't say that too loud," she said, glancing at where the nervous Ferengi and his calm son sat on the biobed, then at where Dukat still slept, with Narat standing beside him.

"Sorry," Governo said, his face white at what she was suggesting by the warning.

She stared at the data again. Her hunch had been right about the Ferengi being critical elements in this. But that still didn't answer the question of how to stop the prions from forming the virus.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Dukat starting to stir.

"Ensign," she said to Governo, "I want you to remain in here going over this data again and again. We need to find a way to stop those prions from coming together in the first place. No one else is to see this unless I give permission. Understand?"

"Yes," he said.

She headed out toward Dukat, who was now sitting up. "Are we going to live or not?" the Ferengi asked.

"You're going to be fine," she said. "Just stay there and keep calm."

Then she turned to Dukat. "And how are you feeling, Gul?"

"I've been better," he said. His voice was raspy and his eyes were bloodshot. Some of his scales were still flaking, but he didn't seem to notice. "How's the research going?"

"We're making progress, but we haven't found a final cure yet."

He dropped down off the biobed and stood up straight, towering over her. For a moment he tested his own balance, then took a deep breath and nodded. Finally he looked at her. "Doctor, I need to talk with you for a moment. Alone."

She nodded and indicated the door of the medical area leading out into the wide hallway beyond. Normally she'd have escorted him into the office, but Governo was working in there, and she didn't want to disturb the ensign.

Dukat glanced at Narat, then turned toward the main door, leaving the Carda.s.sian doctor looking puzzled.

Pulaski followed Dukat, watching his steps gain confidence with each stride.

In the corridor he turned to face her. Then with a quick glance around to make sure no one was close by, he said, "Doctor, I'm not sure how much longer I can contain this situation."

"I'm not sure I follow you," Pulaski said.

"Before I fell ill I managed to hold off the Carda.s.sian fleet, saying we were on the verge of a final cure. They are expecting it soon."

"And if we can't come up with it we die," Pulaski said.

"I'm afraid so, Doctor," he said. "All of us. And more than likely all of Bajor."

For an instant the corridor seemed to spin. She took a deep breath and it stopped. "I had better get back to work and you had better try to buy me a little more time."

He nodded and without another word turned and headed off down the corridor, his stride long and sure.

She watched him for a moment, doing her best to keep her entire body from shaking. She had known coming here that she and her team might not get back alive. She had accepted that. But she had never expected also to have to save an entire planet.