Dawn over Cardassia City. Rekel had always loved this time of day, as the stars vanished, the shadows gradually faded, and dawn's light revealed all that night had kept hidden. Strange, she mused, for one in her service to Cardassia, to prefer the coming of day to the darkness of the night. But then, most people still slept at dawn, and those who were awake were on their way to their daily toil, or returning home exhausted from a night shift. No Cardassian would be about unless he had to be, and if he had to be, he would be paying little attention to anyone else. One could move mostly unnoted among such people, at this time of day.

At the crunch of a nearby footstep, Rekel realized she had let her mind wander. She castigated herself for being as wrapped up in her own thoughts as any ordinary Cardassian, and reflexively tensed her muscles to defend herself, if need be, from whoever had approached her, undetected.

"Hello, Rekel," came a murmur from that direction.

Rekel recognized the voice, and turned to the shadows. "Garak."

"I need you to carry a message for me. To the relief team."

"Why not carry it yourself?"

"This message will be better coming from you."

* * * *

Blake threw his phaser down on the desk in frustrated anger. The midnight hunt had been unsuccessful. "How the hell does that ... cave vole keep escaping us like that?" he rumbled, falling into an Cardassian insult for the man they'd sought half the night.

There were shadows under Storie's mahogany-dark eyes. "He's got friends here someone. He's got to. Somebody's telling him when and where we're looking."

"Commander Blake."

The two human security officers glanced up.

"Director Rekel," Blake acknowledged without much invitation.

She was just as terse. "I may have information."

"About what?"

"Mondrig," she replied calmly.

Blake and Storie exchanged glances.

"What's the information?"

"There are rumors that he has been attempting to obtain explosives and weapons."

"Where the hell did you hear that?" Blake demanded.

"I am an internal communications director. Many people think that means I am also the person to come to with rumors and questions. In the last day, four people have come to me, claiming to have heard that Mondrig is still in the city, in hiding and hoarding supplies, and that he has managed to obtain a stock of bilitrium."

"Bilitrium! Where would he get that? And how could he afford it?" the human security officer pondered.

"Mondrig has been known to trade in antiquities, legally obtained and otherwise," Rekel reminded him.

"What else did you hear? Anything about where he might be living at the moment? Who might be sheltering him?"

The director shook her head. "No one seems to know where he is now. Some report hearing where he had been hiding, but always as places he had since left."

"Bilitrium." Blake shook his head. "That's bad. That's very bad." He focused on Rekel again. "Anybody think they know what he would do with bilitrium if he got his hands on some?"

"There is speculation that he might want to attack the relief team camp, or perhaps to destroy a political enemy." She paused a second. "One of the people I spoke with, is convinced that Mondrig means to smuggle it aboard at least one of the medical ships, and either hold it hostage or destroy it."

"Well, if you're gonna spread a rumor, make it a big one."

The Cardassian woman stiffened. "I am merely passing along what I have heard. I do not know if it is true or not. And how you choose to respond is your business."

Blake looked irritated. "All right, all right. Thanks for reporting the information, we'll definitely follow up on it. And if you could give us a list of those places Mondrig may have been living, or seen at, it will give us a starting point for following up, okay?"

"Certainly."

The commander sent security teams to each of the locations Rekel provided. As expected, they were all empty, although one had evidence of having been quickly abandoned. Again, Mondrig remained a step ahead of them.

But, Blake thought with a small sense of satisfaction, it would only be a matter of time. If the Cardassian people were finally starting to give them real tips, turning in one of their own, then it wouldn't be long before he was in custody.

The sooner the better. The thought of a lunatic like Mondrig getting his hands on a dangerous explosive compound like bilitrium was enough to worry anybody.

* * * *

Jake and Vak ran into Lausten on the way to the clinic, walking with a spring in his step and a brighter expression than they'd seen on him in days.

"Trey, back already?" Jake called. "I thought you were going to be gone for the day."

"It was day where I was!" he shot back with a broad smile. "But that work is done. We won't have even the beginning of results for at least a day or two. And in the meantime, the fair Eske has at last consented to share coffee with me. Or a raktajino. Or maybe a glass of citrus juice. Maybe even breakfast."

" 'Fair Eske'? Not 'hard-hearted Eske' any more? Not 'distant Eske'? You finally wore her down, huh?" Jake shot back with a grin.

Lausten laughed and kept moving. "Perseverance, Jake! What separates the men from the boys!"

The jovial moment passed as the two young men entered the clinic. A miasma of despair seemed to hang over the wards. Several biobeds that had been occupied the day before were now empty. The night shift was shuffling out to catch a meal and some sleep, with whatever else they could find to buoy up their sinking spirits.

"Glinn sighting, thirty degrees," Vak suddenly muttered, sotto voce.

Jake groaned at the sight of Glinn Melleen coming their way, several of his soldiers in step behind him.

The glinn essentially ignored the two young men, flicking one contemptuous glance their way, then passing them without comment.

"Who does he think he is?" Vak whispered.

Jake wasn't sure what was more insulting -- more comments like Melleen had delivered yesterday, or being ignored like today.

"Well, it's his planet," Jake muttered back, then continued dramatically. "And he's one of the heroes from Cardassia IV, a valiant survivor of the Dominion's treachery--"

"Fine, let the Cardassians worship him. I think he's an arrogant--"

Vak's voice was rising. Jake elbowed him in the ribs.

"Oof!"

"You may not care if he hears you, but I don't want him coming back."

"True. He outnumbers us. Probably all by himself," Vak quipped, watching the erect backs of the five Cardassian soldiers as they vanished into the morning outside the clinic.

Jake chortled. "Yeah. Let's get to work. See what Dr. Ptacek needs today."

They found Ptacek at her station, yawning as she charted the night's progress for the patients in that ward. Her expression was dispirited.

"We're here, Dr. Ptacek."

The Andorian looked up from the console. "Oh, good, good." She stretched, her long slender fingers spreading like separate entities, then shook herself. "I am so tired.... All right, Vak, M'at's already checked in, I've sent him to start rounds with Glarne. We plan to start dispensing Aya's--"

Vak's eyes widened as something caught his attention beyond them. "You shouldn't be out of bed!" he interrupted.

The trio looked to see a Cardassian coming slowly out of the side ward -- one of the quarantined chambers for the Dominion plague victims.

"Parmak!" Ptacek called in consternation.

"Ptacek...." The Cardassian swayed as though against a heavy breeze, clinging to the doorframe. "There's something ... I must ... tell you...."

* * * *

Julian rubbed his neck. There was something in the latest batch of daily test results that kept nagging at him. Something familiar? Something new? If he could just focus, he told himself, he would figure it out. Instead, his concentration kept wandering back to the discovery that somebody among the relief team had sunk so low as to turn to Moset's obscenity.

He checked his wrist chronometer. He needed to talk to Eske as soon as she appeared for her shift that morning.

"Julian!"

"Ndali," he acknowledged.

The Andorian woman's eye were wide, dilated, and a deep, deep blue.

"What is it?"

"It's Parmak!"

Another dead? Julian steeled himself for confirmation that his Cardassian counterpart had lost his battle with the plague.

"He's back on his feet!"

The human blinked. "He's what?"

"He's feeling stronger this morning. He was hungry! His readings.... I think ... I think he's recovering!"

It took a long minute for the miracle to settle into his brain.

* * * *

"Hey, Aya!"

The young woman looked up at the whisper. "Hi, Jake," she replied in a normal tone.

Jake looked around the pharmacy carefully before asking, "So what was on Julian's mind?"

"Julian? Oh, before.... He just ... had a question about some research."

Jake's expression was disbelieving. "Really?"

"Really."

"He seemed kinda ... upset."

She looked down at her inventory PADD. "He's just tired. We all are."

"I don't know.... I've seen Julian in a lot of moods over the past seven years -- and I've never seen him act the way he is now. He's on edge. I'm ... worried about him."

She found a little smile. "I'm a little worried about him too. But--"

Her combadge chirped. "Lieutenant Kato, report to the briefing room."

* * * *

Finally, things were going right for Korbath Mondrig.

He held the forcefield container carefully in his cupped hands. It contained three milligrams of raw bilitrium ore. Not quite the refined explosive component he'd been hoping for, or the quantity he would have liked, but enough to make a statement.

Enough to prove to Sudari Rekel that he had the power and the intellect to be worthy of her attention and affection.

He caressed the container with his fingers.

It was worth the price, even if he'd actually had to pay for it.

A pity he wouldn't be able to use the contact again. But then, there'd been no choice but to kill the Flaxian. He wasn't worried about Federation security getting their hands on him -- the Flaxian wouldn't have talked. But if Parn had located him, all would have been revealed. And this way, Mondrig was able to keep the stolen Hebitian artifacts that had been the negotiated price for the valuable explosive.

He had everything he needed now. All he had to do was choose the time.

He smiled, a dark expression on his pinched face. The sooner he made his statement, the sooner he would reveal himself to Cardassia. And the sooner he was revealed, Cardassia, the real Cardassia, would recognize him and sweep him into power. And the taint of the Federation presence would be washed away in that inescapable flood.

* * * *

The excitement that afternoon couldn't be contained. It rippled out through the clinic despite Bashir's stern instructions that nothing be said to the population until the medical team knew exactly what had happened, and why. Confused and hopeful patients stared at their doctors and nurses as they passed. The night shift, awakened from sleep by whispers from friends, dressed hastily and came to the clinic early.

Running a self-ordered errand at the clinic, Rekel thoughtfully considered everything she overheard.

"Is there good news?" she asked one of the medics, almost planting herself in front of him to get his attention as he strode through the entry chamber.

"Sorry," the man replied, "I don't know. Nothing I can tell you. The doctors don't want ... uh, they haven't said there's ... if there's anything to report."

Rekel nodded and watched the young man hurry away, whispering to another of the relief team, with animated gestures.

Someone had set a PADD down on the console. She paused, her gaze sliding sideways to read what she could, without being spotted handling the device.

Then she quietly left.

* * * *

"That's four. Four! Just today."

Each member of the medical team stared at their own PADD, each instrument displaying the same information, from their own facility and from the others.

Bashir nodded at Ptacek's amazed remark. "Our associate Dr. Parmak, two brothers from Laemit City, and a woman from rural Lakaria Province."

"For no reason, that we had anything to do with," Vak marveled. One blue finger traced the surface of the PADD as if that would help make it clear to him.

"None." Julian shook his head. "Four apparently spontaneous cures of the plague."

"We're absolutely sure it's not just a temporary remission?" Ptacek looked like she wasn't sure she really wanted an answer.

"Aya's running a third full comparative blood chemistry and virology scan, but so far, no. They're recovering. Their bodies have somehow beaten off the plague."

"So we might have a cure....?"

Julian continued to study his information, his cheek sunk into the palm of one hand. "I don't see how."

"Then what--?"

"Physiology. It's got be physiological," he muttered aloud. "We've got to find the connection between these four people, and what differentiates them from all the others...."

"Two of them were brothers -- there could be a genetic component," Ptacek noted.

Bashir nodded thoughtfully. "I wouldn't be surprised." He glanced at Vak. "Follow up on that. Ask Kisch if there's any information on family members of the brothers -- if anyone else from the family contracted the disease, or is ill from it now."

"Right."

"The woman from Lakaria Province, too, if there's any information available. I know Parmak has no surviving family...." The human doctor leaned back, exhaling sharply. "No cure, yet. But we have survivors, we may have a solid lead on a vaccine. At least that's something," he finished introspectively. "At least that's something...."

"How long until Parmak and the others are fully recovered?"

"It'll be a couple days, I'm sure, before Parmak is really able to be up and around for any period of time. The disease was quite debilitating; it nearly killed him." As it killed so many others, was the unspoken completion. "The information from Laemit City and the Lakaria med team suggests the same for the other three."

Ptacek nodded her head, still scarcely able to believe it. "It's something," she repeated. "It's a start."