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He frowned and wished he'd taken Dax up on her offer. He'd forgotten how cloyingly sweet the Kai owld be when she wanted someone's help. Biting his lip, he considered all she'd told him. "So this plague," he said out loud, filling his office with his voice, "began with a bunch of replicators?" "That's the information I've just received," Winn replied calmly. "Mind you, these replicators were not distributed by the government. They were obtained tbrough the most illegal of channels." "1n any case, you're saying that the disease has spread," the captain continued. "Apparently through the water supply, when some of the dying animals polluted it." She nodded. "Apparently, yes." "And the whole population is threatened," he concluded. "That's correct," the Kai replied. "Our immunologists tell us we could face annihilation in a matter of weeks." She might as well have been talking about the weather in the capital the day before. However, Sisko sensed an urgency in her that she didn't normally display. The average Bajoran might not have noticed it, but he did. The captain stroked his goatee. "I'm sorry, of course, that this has happened. We'll help in any way we can." Winn smiled politely. "Good. I knew the Emissary would come to our aid. Otherwise, why would the Prophets have singled you out?" Sisko shifted in his chair. He'd never been comfortable with the religious identity bestowed on him by the Bajorans. By all accounts, he'd been the first to communicate with the beings they called the Prophets--the creators of the quadrant's first stable wormhole--and certainly he'd made an interesting first contact. But by his reckoning, he was still just a man. "Exactly what would you like us to do?" he asked. The Kai heaved a sigh. "There is so much that needs to be done, I hardly know where to start. Of course, our main goal is to identify the virus and devise a cure. No doubt, your Dr. Bashir has more expertise in such matters than our simple Bajoran scientists." "Dr. Bashir is a brilliant man," the captain agreed. "Nonetheless, what you're asking for is a tall order, Kai Winn--especially within the time frame you've described." Winn shrugged. "If it was easy, Emissary, we would have accomplished it ourselves." Sisko grunted. "Yes, I suppose you would have. Very well, I'll get Bashir working on it. And Dax as well." "I am grateful," the Kai remarked. "And I am also relieved, because I know you will not fail me." He looked at her. "The Prophets told you this?" She returned the look. "Do you have any doubt of it?" The captain didn't answer her question. He simply said: "We'll do our best. Can I escort you back to your vessel?" "That won't be necessary," Winn told him. "I know the way." And with that, she got up from her chair and exited his office. As he watched her go, he felt himself shiver. It was the way he always reacted when he brushed up against something slimy. Sisko tapped his communications badge, establishing a link with all the other badges on the station. "Major Kira, I need to see you. And bring Odo with you." "Is there a problem?" asked his first officer. The captain bit his lip again. "I'm afraid there is," he told her. "I'll fill you in when I see you." A pause. "We'll be right there," Kira replied. Sisko shook his head. He wasn't looking forward to telling the major that her whole race was in danger of extinction. The Bajorans had fought so hard--and endured much-to throw off the yoke of Cardassian rule. It would be a terrible and ironic shame if they were succumb to a vicious little bug.
Copyright © 1997 by Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, and Robert Greenberger
