KIRA AND ODO materialized into a scene that was all too familiar to someone who had grown up in the midst of wars and refugee camps: people screaming, running blindly, the sound of alarms blaring, the unmistakable scents of smoke and fire. A child was crying in terror and pain, bleeding from a cut on her arm. Kira picked her up, looking around for help. Her first reaction had been Cardassian attack, but now her anger found a different target: terrorists! Another Prophet-cursed bomb! And this time on the crowded Promenade, with civilians present, with children.
She spotted a medic, handed over the child. There were other, more serious casualties. She could see the medical team working over them on the deck. Dr. Bashir was working on—Kira almost stopped and drew her phaser for an instant before she recognized the Cardassian, Garak, who ran the clothing shop. Another innocent civilian, she reminded herself. It was too easy to forget that Cardassians could be innocent, too.
Garak seemed to be in shock. His face was bloody from what looked like a dozen tiny sharp fragments. He kept saying, "I only stepped out for a minute. Just one minute. I was going right back inside. Just one minute. I would have been in there."
"It'll be all right." Bashir tried to quiet him. "Just hold still."
Kira looked past them to the door of Garak's shop—to where the door of his shop had been. Nothing there now but shards and wreckage and smoke still slowly billowing out.
"I want this area cordoned off!" Odo shouted, striding quickly toward the scene. "No one touches a thing until we go through this mess!"
From what Kira could tell, the explosion had been directed inward, containing the evidence in a reasonable area instead of blowing it halfway across the Promenade. Oh, she hoped this time they'd manage to nail whoever was doing this!
"I want the names of everyone who was in this area! Every possible witness," Odo was ordering the security forces as the converged on the disaster scene.
A familiar voice broke in. "What's happened here?"
Kira looked up to see Sisko. His rage was obviously under tight control. She told him, "It looks like another bomb. Planted at Garak's. We're having the place cordoned off till we can sort out all the evidence. Whether or not it's the same type as the last one, we can't tell yet until we do a forensics test."
Bashir was coming toward them now. The front of his uniform was smeared with blood. "No fatalities," he reported. "Six injury cases, primarily from flying shards from the window. The most serious case could lose the sight in one eye." Then he was off toward the infirmary, following in the wake of the stretcher cases being carried there by volunteers.
"Major," said sisko tighly, "I want whoever's responsible for this."
"Major, Commander, you'd better came over here and take a look." It was Odo, calling them from the side wall of Garak's shop, where security forces were setting up a barrier.
Kira felt broken shards crack under her feet as she followed behind Sisko's longer strides. There was a paper stuck to the wall—a crudely made poster. The words had been written in obvious haste:
DIE, CARDASSIANS!
And it was signed, Kohn Ma.
Kira swore: "May their souls wander in the darkness until the end of the last eternity!" For a Bajoran, this was almost an unthinkable curse, and some of the onlookers gathered on the other side of the barrier made signs for averting it, but others nodded in angry agreement. Children had been hurt here, Bajoran children. They could have been killed.
Now, adding to the confusion, a group of monks was approaching from the direction of the temple, intoning chants in the traditional Bajoran mode. "We're going to need to get all these people out of here," Sisko said. "To close down this section of the Promenade so we can investigate. We can't really do much here now."
"I'm getting the names of witnesses now," Odo told him.
Kira looked dubiously at the approaching procession. She knew it wouldn't be easy to get the monks to leave, and the crowd might not like the idea of interrupting the chant. There were times when she wondered about her own people.
Then, among the monks, she caught sight of one familiar face. "Excuse me, There's someone I need to question right away."
She touched Leiris on the sleeve of his robe. "Old friend, I need to talk to you. Now. Is it possible?"
"Of course, Nerys." He brushed her earlobe with his fingertips. "I can see that you're disturbed."
Kira let him lead her back into the temple, to the side of the reflecting pool where they had talked before. The contrast of this peace and serenity with the chaos outside almost made her feel as if she had entered another plane of existence. It was strange—no matter how long it had been since she'd been inside the temple, the minute she set foot in it again, she couldn't understand why she'd stayed away for so long. It was, she supposed, just part of being Bajoran.
"Now, tell me what troubles you. It has to do with these bombings, doesn't it?"
"This is Bajoran territory they're attacking.
Bajoran civilians, children …" Her eyes went to a stain on her sleeve. "Bajoran blood—the blood of Bajoran children. There's been too much of it spilled. I'm going to find them, Leiris. I'm going to stop them. I've sworn a vow. No matter what they are. No matter who they are. No matter if I have to—"
"Betray a former comrade?"
She looked down at her hands. "If that's what it comes to, yes."
"I see. This is a grave burden on your soul, Nerys. You have knowledge that many others do not, knowledge imparted to you in confidence."
She nodded. "I know names, I know methods. These are people I fought next to, side by side. We suffered together, we bled together. For the same cause."
"You know who they are, then? You have … evidence?"
"Not yet. But I will. Sooner or later. Because they're not going to stop. after today, I'm sure of it."
"I see. And you suspect some particular group?"
She shook her head. "Not yet. So far, we don't have much evidence to go on. Only today, there was a note left near the scene. It said, 'Die, Cardassians.' And it was signed, Kohn Ma. That's why I need to talk to you. Do you have any possible leads to whoever could have done this thing?"
"You believe it was Kohn Ma?"
She shook her head. "I don't know. It could have been. But the Kohn Ma has always tended to the more …extreme solutions. I am sure these bombings are politically motivated, but they don't seem to be meant to kill Cardassians or destroy the station."
"What would be their purpose, then?"
Kira ran her hand back through her hair. "They could want anything. To provoke the Cardassians. To disrupt the trade negotiations. To keep Bajor out of the Federation. And they've never hesitated at violence. But this—is terrorism directed against Bajorans!
"That's why I have to ask you, with your connections—do you know? Is there anything you can tell me?"
"I'm sorry, Nerys." Leiris put his hands together in a posture of meditation. "You know, long ago, when we were both young and fought together for the freedom of our world, they called us terrorists, too. And sometimes, yes, innocents were harmed. Even our own people."
"This isn't the same!" Kira said passionately.
"There are those who might say otherwise. That we've only replaced the Cardassians with the Federation. These terrorists you've vowed to apprehend— are they any different from what we were?"
"Yes!" she cried passionately. "You tell me to let the past die. But this is about the future. Bajor's future. Right now, docked at pylon six is a Cardassian warship. There's only one thing that keeps them from attacking, and that's the presence of Starfleet personnel. I admit I don't like it, I'd rather see Bajor capable of defending itself, but we're not, Leiris! The Federation is the only thing standing between us and the Cardassians or any other power that wants to take over the wormhole. It's the isolationists like the Kohn Ma who'd leave us in the hands of our enemies. I can't let past loyalties tie my hands. For Bajor's sake, I can't."
"I see. Yes, this is your path, Nerys. But I think it will be a hard one."
"They'll,think I've betrayed them. I know."
"But you must follow your path. Away from your past. Yes. Let us meditate together, Nerys. Let us look forward down the paths we must take."
But she shook her head, regretfully pushed his hand away. She couldn't afford right now to slip away into the no-time, no-place state of meditative peace, assuming she could manage to achieve it. "I don't have time, not now. I have to get back there."
"I will pray for you, Nerys."
"Thank you." She hurried away, out of the temple and back to the scene of disaster.