“I’m beginning to feel that we are finally making progress.

“We’ve been so busy, I hadn’t realized it’s been three weeks since I last made an entry, the day the Ferengi slavers left. Let’s see, what’s all happened....

“The medical teams have been successful with most of our challenges. The wounded have been treated, those that survived long enough to reach us. We’re dispensing antibiotics that have most of the minor infections and illnesses under control.

“I’m concerned about the new strains of several diseases that have appeared. We’ve got minor outbreaks in half a dozen cities. If we don’t get the diseases under control, we’ll be seeing pandemics within a few weeks, I fear. I’ve been working with Ptacek and Aya, trying to isolate the germs or viruses or bacteria or contaminants that are causing them, in the hope that we can find ways of treating the illnesses or perhaps inoculating against them, but so far, we’re not having much luck.

“But at least we’ve got malnutrition mostly under control, in the urban areas. There are replicator stations in every major city now, although we still aren’t reaching the outer areas. Fortunately, the rural areas were generally less of a target when the Founders ordered their all-out attack on Cardassia; at least the crops there are mostly intact, and harvesting has begun in the northern hemisphere. We’re still organizing transportation to get the food from the fields to the people who need it. But in a few weeks, many areas will no longer have to be completely dependent on our supplies.

“Of course, there are agricultural areas that were deliberately targeted to poison the soil. Tejral has begun dispensing soil reclamators, the same kind that are being used so successfully on Bajor, and teaching the farmers in their use. We know they work, but it’ll take time. Hopefully the Cardassians won’t give up before they can see the impact.

“Technologically, the power grid is working again, and the computer network is almost completely back online, thanks primarily to the efforts of Lt. Commander Hart. She is also putting the Ferengi interference devices to good use in the new communications array; I think we’ve found all of them by now.

“Hart continues to be clear that she does not like me very much, but I accepted that when I convinced her to come along in spite of her feelings. Much as I would like to, I doubt there is anything I can do or say at this point that would earn her approval and respect.

“Now if only there were something we could use for the dust! The Dominion bombs at the end blew chemicals high into the stratosphere around Cardassia, and it’s not precipitating out. Trey is becoming concerned about some of the weather patterns — hell, he’s been concerned for weeks. He’s continuing to work on figuring out how to settle the fallout.

“The people are used to us here, but there are outer areas that have never seen a Federation relief team — who, for all I know, may believe the war continues and that we are invaders responsible for their current woes. I would like to believe we are showing them the Federation need not be their enemies, but the Cardassian people seem as unsettled as their environment. Between the Directorate, the Reunion Project, and all the other political factions, it’s impossible to tell which way this planet will go. One side tells the people to work with us to rebuild, either as friends or because we are convenient to be used and then cast out. Another group tells the people that we are the cause of their ills and if the Federation would just leave, now, they could rebuild on their own. Yet another side states that this is the inevitable last chapter of their history, and they should be resigned to their end, and fade away as the Hebitians did. While still another camp preaches that these pangs are the crucible that will be the rebirth of a stronger, purer Cardassia. I’ve heard more philosophies in the last month than I studied in all my years at the Academy — and my old Cardassian friend Elim Garak seems capable of arguing any and all of them, at a moment’s notice.