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Worf remained dubious. “All through a wormhole that they have kept secret from the entire galaxy?”

“Like I said, the Denorios Belt’s a navigation hazard. No one goes near there.”

The Ferengi said, “You’re wasting your breath, Kira. These idiots don’t believe you. Which is too bad. Why do you think the Ferengi Alliance became part of Cardassia? The Detapa Council paid off the Grand Nagus to retire and cede Ferenginar to the Union in order to keep the wormhole secret. They paid me off, too. Had enough to buy my own moon-where I was perfectly happy until she turned up,” he added with a glower at Kira.

“Then why did you help her?” Worf asked.

The Ferengi looked back at the Klingon, and Worf saw genuine fear in his eyes. “It needed to be done,” he said lamely.

That answer told Worf a great deal.

Troi looked at Worf. “Commander, I need to speak to you and Lieutenant Ro in private.”

Nodding, Worf rose, as did Ro. They moved into the corridor.

“I can’t read Quark,” Troi said, “but Kira’s telling the truth. Or at least what she believes is the truth.”

“So is the Ferengi,” Worf said.

Ro stared at him. “How do you know?”

“He is afraid. He is also the owner of a moon, which makes him a…well-heeeled member of Ferengi society.”

“Cardassian society now,” Ro muttered.

“He jeopardized that to aid the Bajoran woman. No Ferengi would do so without cause. Normally for a Ferengi, that would be profit, but she does not appear to have anything that would be of value to him.” He looked back at the door. “Except fear. I could smell the fear on the Ferengi.”

“But he could be afraid of Kira,” Troi said. “She could be threatening him in some way, forcing him to go along with her delusion.”

“The problem is,” Ro said, “everything she said? It makes perfect sense. The tactics of this war have been a disaster on all sides. Look at the way things have been going-look at how Khitomer was botched. I have no trouble believing that someone’s trying to sabotage this war.”

“I do not believe in conspiracy theories,” Worf said. “And just because their claims happen to fit the evidence does not mean they are true.”

“Yeah, I know,” Ro said, “I took the same security courses at the academy you did. But still-”

The door whooshed open, and one of the guards was on the other side. “Commander, Lieutenant? The Bajoran woman says she has something else to say. She says it’s proof.”

Worf looked at Troi and Ro, then at the guard. Without a word, he entered.

Kira was standing now. As soon as the foursome came inside, she said, “The items I had on me when we transported aboard-where are they?”

“They have been impounded and are in the security office,” Worf said. “Why?”

“You obviously won’t take my word-but I do have the word of someone you might believe more. I need one item in particular.”

Worf mulled it over, then looked at Ro. “Bring the items.”

Ro nodded to the guard, who departed.

A few minutes later, he returned with Kira’s satchel. He handed it to the woman, who rummaged through it, pulling out something that looked to Worf like a kind of containment unit.

“This is a…well, container, for lack of a better word,” Kira said. “When I deactivate it, the contents will be exposed. It’s not anything dangerous.”

Ro tapped her combadge. “Computer. Security protocol nine, this location. Secure the podium area.”

A forcefield encased the area where Quark and Kira were. “What’s going on?” Quark asked.

“If that contains a weapon of any kind,” Ro said, “it’ll only affect the two of you.”

Kira glared at Ro. “If I wanted to kill myself, I’d have stayed on Bajor.”

“If you were in my position, Kira, wouldn’t you take every precaution?”

Sighing, Kira said, “Fine.”

She touched a control. Worf watched as the green lights on the unit switched to red.

Then an amber substance started to ooze out of it. Worf was starting to believe that it was a weapon-a biological one. Tapping his combadge, he said, “Computer, security alert. Clear this deck.”

But even as he spoke, the