She had been right. It was hotter here. The heat felt old and oppressive, as if it had been acc.u.mulating for days instead of hours. Javi sat cross-legged near his portable computer system the heart and soul of each resistance cell, Shakaar had once called those things. Javi was thinner than he had been the last time Kira saw him. His skin had the look of malnutrition, but his eyes were still bright.

Near him sat Corda, his second in command. She was taller than Kira and too thin as well. But on her it looked tough, as if the dry air and the heat and the lack of food had hardened her skin and made her more resilient.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Nerys." Javi spoke slowly, as he always had. He had been part of Shakaar's cell for a brief time, and he had always irritated Kira with his cautious consideration of each decision. Apparently he had annoyed Shakaar too, because one day Kira heard that Javi had left with some of his own people to form a new cell. They were on speaking terms, though, and still had the same goals, unlike some of the resistance cells Kira had come into contact with. There were some that frightened even her, with their talk of n.o.ble suicide and total destruction.

"If I had known what it was like in here, Javi," Kira said, "I would have insisted you keep me waiting longer."

Javi shrugged. "You get used to the heat."

"Maybe you can get used to this heat. I certainly couldn't."

"Don't start, Kira," Corda said. "You're not here to criticize us."

"And it's a good thing, too, because I think your campsite is too exposed you're putting your entire cell in jeopardy."

"But you're not here to tell us that," Corda said sarcastically.

"No," Kira said, "I'm not. I'm here because I'm supposed to confirm some rumors." "About the plague," Javi said.

Kira went cold despite the heat. "They're calling it a plague now?"

"Hundreds dead, Nerys." Javi's voice was solemn. "Everyone who comes in contact with this thing gets ill."

"Everyone?" Kira asked.

"In time," Corda said.

"How have you gotten your information?"

"Do you mean were we exposed?" Corda asked. "No. We've been getting it the same as you have, in messages sent through sanitary computers."

Kira had never liked Corda. And the heat wasn't improving Kira's mood. "I'm not here to talk to you."

"You get to talk to me whether you like it or not,"

Corda said. "I'm the one who has been following this thing and reporting to Javi."

Kira glared at her for a moment. Corda glared back, not at all intimidated.

"This isn't helping us," Javi said. "We need to work together. Nerys has come to us for information, the kind, I believe, that isn't easily sent."

"But Corda just said that you haven't heard anything that we haven't heard," Kira said.

"I did not," Corda said. "We've gotten that, and we've gotten reports from other sources."

"Others?"

"Non-Bajorans. Some of the relief teams not tied to the Federation. They seem to be unaffected."

The relief teams were from charitable organizations that went to planets they considered not as developed to help with basics: food, medicine, clothing. Sometimes Kira appreciated their presence, sometimes she resented them more than she could say. What she wanted was Federation intervention, to stop this occupation by the Carda.s.sians. But the Federation had rules and regulations, things she had never bothered to understand, and those rules and regulations didn't seem to apply to Bajor, although some people were telling her to be cautious with her tongue, that some day the Federation might come through.

She would believe that when she saw Bajorans move around unfettered on their own planet.

"What are they doing to stop this thing?" Kira asked.

"What they can," Corda said.

"Most of them are volunteers, Nerys, with no more medical training than we have." Javi sounded tired. Kira wondered how much power he had ceded in this cell to Corda, and how long it would be before she took the group too far. "They provide comfort where they can, but they can't do much."

"They are sure it's a disease, then?" Kira asked. "Shakaar wasn't. He thought maybe it was a Carda.s.sian trick to get us focused in the wrong direction."

"It's a disease, all right," Javi said. "But it might also be a Carda.s.sian trick."

Kira frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The disease is too virulent." Javi's words hung between them.

Kira's chill grew deeper. She wiped sweat off her forehead. "Not even the Carda.s.sians would do something this monstrous," she said.

"Do you actually believe that?" Corda asked.

Kira wasn't sure. "If we're talking about a disease that infects everyone who comes in contact with it-"

"We are," Corda said.

"-then we're talking genocide." Kira swallowed. "The Carda.s.sians have always made it plain that they see us as a lesser species, as people who 'benefit' from their rule, as slaves to work in their various mines and processing plants. But not as creatures to be wiped out of existence."

"They've always wanted Bajor," Corda said.

"Yes-but with its Bajoran population." Kira wiped the sweat off her face.

"Get her something to drink," Javi said to Corda.

"But-"

"Now," Javi said.

Corda sighed and got up, sliding past Kira.

"I'm sorry, Nerys," Javi said. "I know you don't much like Corda. But you must listen to her. She has run this cell, for the most part, since last fall."

Kira glanced over her shoulder. Corda was out of the tent. "I'm just worried, Javi," Kira said. "She didn't always understand the complexities of the Occupation."

Javi smiled. "Once I could have said that about you."

Kira looked at him. "Why is she running everything, Javi? What's going on?"

"The Carda.s.sians had me for a while, Nerys. We're just beginning to bring me back to health. The tents are here not because Corda thinks it's a good spot, but because my body can hardly tolerate thin air at the higher elevations. Even this valley is difficult for me. We should really move on, now that the creek is dry, but the cell has opted to stay with me. I've tried to order them to leave, but they won't."

Kira threaded her hands together.

"Corda loves me," he said.

"And is making the wrong decisions for the cell because of it," Kira said.

Javi nodded. "We agree on that. But they're not life-threatening. Not yet, anyway. And I'm nearly mobile-I think we can get out of here soon. But do me a favor, Nerys. Listen to her. And don't fight her. This Carda.s.sian threat is too great for us to be fighting amongst ourselves."

Kira let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Javi was right, of course, and she knew it. But she had disliked Corda for a very long time. It was hard to set aside that kind of antipathy, even now.

"All right," Kira said.

"Good." Javi placed his hands on the ground behind him and rested his weight on them. "I hope she brings me something as well. You're giving me an appet.i.te again, Nerys. That's a good thing." Kira laughed. "I've been accused of worse, I guess." "What's he accusing you of?" Corda asked as she came in. She was carrying a tray with three mugs. She handed one to Kira. It was moba fruit juice, and somehow they had found a way to keep it cool in all this heat.

Kira took a sip, and relished the bittersweet coldness. Corda handed Javi his mug, and he sat forward, taking it in both hands as if it weighed too much for him. Kira wondered if his prediction was wrong, if he wasn't getting better at all.

"He's been yelling at me to listen to you," Kira said. "He says you've changed."

Corda glanced at Javi as if he had betrayed a confidence. He was looking at the mug he was drinking from and didn't seem to notice.

"Whether I've changed or not shouldn't matter," Corda said. "What does matter is what's happening. You don't believe the Carda.s.sians can commit genocide. I do."

"I didn't say that," Kira said. "I said it's not in their best interest to kill us all."

Corda sat down, cradling her own mug in one hand. "But what if it is now? What if they no longer need us for all those jobs Carda.s.sians refuse to do? What if they've finally found a way to automate the most dangerous tasks?"

Kira stared at her. It was possible. It was even probable.

"Now tell her the rest," Javi said.

Corda set her mug down. "We don't know for certain."

"Tell her," Javi said. "If you're going to do this right, tell her all you know. In every case."

Maybe Corda hadn't changed after all. Maybe Javi only believed she had. Maybe he had no other choice. Kira waited for whatever "the rest" was.

"We've heard," Corda said, "through less reputable sources, that Carda.s.sians are dying of this also."

"That's not possible," Kira said. "They've always 1orded their superior physiology over us, saying they're not vulnerable to Bajoran diseases. How could that change?" "Do you believe all Carda.s.sian lies?" Corda asked. "That one I do," Kira said. "I've seen Bajorans die of horrible diseases, and never once have I seen a Carda.s.sian get sick like that." "Maybe they don't allow their people to get sick." "And maybe it's the truth," Kira said. "If they got sick, we would have seen it. I've been in places where I know I would have seen it." She set her mug down as well, although she was reluctant to give up the last of the juice. "Maybe you're the one who is believing the lie. Maybe the Carda.s.sians are the ones spreading the rumors that Carda.s.sians are getting sick. That would make this illness look like an innocent virus instead of something the Obsidian Order dreamed up."

Javi smiled slightly. He was still the only one drinking. "See why we needed to hear from Kira?" he asked Corda. "Neither of us thought of that."

Corda's lips thinned. "We can't operate on supposition." "I agree," Kira said.

"What we have heard is that a few Carda.s.sians here have gotten ill, but they've been spirited away so fast that no one can confirm that it's the same disease. A few of the rumors say it's not. The Carda.s.sians turn green and their scales flake off-or so they say. And Bajoran victims look even healthier than they did before they got sick, so maybe it's not related at all." "But we don't know," Kira said.

"That's right," Corda said. "We don't know. And I have no idea how we could find out."

"Where were the Carda.s.sians taken ill?" Kira asked.

"In the same regions where the Bajorans were sick," Corda said. "And a Ferengi said that he saw some green Carda.s.sians on Terok Nor."

"Ferengi can't be trusted," Kira said. "They can be paid to give false information."

Corda nodded. "The problem is that, if my sources on Bajor are right, the sick Carda.s.sians here have already been sent away."

"To Carda.s.sia Prime?"

"I don't think so. But it doesn't matter. We have no idea where they've gone."

Kira frowned. "Just before I came here, I'd heard that Gul Dukat just gave an order that no outside ships were to arrive on or leave Terok Nor."

Corda's gaze met hers. Javi set down his mug. "Now we're getting somewhere."

"I didn't think much of it, until you mentioned the station."

"Dukat wouldn't care about his Bajoran prisoners," Corda said. "But he would care if Carda.s.sians were getting ill."

"And even if he didn't, Central Command would order him to shut down operations if the Carda.s.sians had a disease that spreads the way you described."

They stared at each other.

"What if it's a different disease?" Corda asked.

"What if it's not?" Javi asked.

"It doesn't matter," Kira said. "I'd been thinking of going to Terok Nor anyway."

"What? Nerys, what are you talking about?"

She turned to him and took his hand. It was cold from the mug, but the skin was dry and his bones felt thin beneath her fingers. He had lied to her. She had seen starvation victims before-the ones who survived but were never really healthy again. He wouldn't live long, and it wouldn't take a designer virus to kill him. A simple cold would do it.

"I've been to Terok Nor before, Javi," she said. "Just last year, I was there getting information for the resistance. It's dangerous, but it's possible to get around."

"Why would you go?"

"I was planning to go for a completely different reason," she said. "If the rumors of the disease among the Bajorans proved to be true, and now after talking with you I believe they are, I was going to Terok Nor to bring Dr. Kellec Ton home."

"What's Ton doing there?" Corda asked.

Kira glanced at her. She hadn't expected Corda to be familiar with Kellec Ton.

"Apparently, Gul Dukat sent for him a month ago. Dukat claimed his precious workers needed better health care, which I think is unlikely. Dukat has never cared for anyone. His production must have been down or something."

"Or perhaps this disease started on Terok Nor," Javi said, "and that's why he sent for Kellec."

"Maybe," Kira said. "But it didn't sound like that. I talked to Kellec before he went. He was going to see what he could do to further the resistance on Terok Nor. He was also going to use his free time to find weaknesses in the station, maybe a way for the resistance to get the Bajoran workers out of there." "We don't have the ships for that," Corda said.

Kira shook her head. "You need to choose someone else to lead this cell after you, Javi."