“We’ll have a high-security cell ready when you get back. Are you sure you don’t want the Defiant as backup, Captain?” Kira asked from the da Vinci’s main viewscreen. “You’re not exactly a fighting vessel, and the Defiant’s got far more Gamma Quadrant experience.”

David Gold leaned back in his chair. “Thanks, Captain, but if what the ambassador told us is true, that would be like taking a howitzer into Casablanca. If you could keep her on standby in case I’m wrong, though…”

Corsi could see the confusion in Captain Kira’s eyes. The Bajoran opened her mouth to ask, but seemed to think better of it. “You’ve got it, Captain. I’ll have Commander Vaughn take care of it.”

Gold gave her a curt nod. “Thanks. We’ll see you when we get back.”

“Course laid in, sir,” Songmin Wong said, turning from his seat at conn.

The viewscreen image changed to the slowly receding docking ring of Deep Space 9. “Wong,” Gold began, “take us in.”

The ship sailed around the station, and made a bank toward an empty area of space. While Corsi watched, the swirling maelstrom of blue and white energy bursts that comprised the wormhole’s mouth flashed into existence, and the ship was dragged inside.

Corded strands of blue-white energy filled the viewscreen, slowly oscillating in time with the shaking the ship was experiencing. I don’t even want to think about a ride like this in Dad’s ship. The cargo would be liquefied by the time he got to the other side.

When the wormhole finally deposited them in the Gamma Quadrant, she allowed her hands to let go of the railing beside the tactical console. “How long before we reach the Kar-telos System?” she asked.

“Couple of days, Commander,” Wong replied.

Gold turned his chair toward Corsi. “Did the captain send us the Wadi DNA sample?”

Corsi nodded. “Lense is trying to see how it compares to the other trace she couldn’t identify.”

“Keep on it.”

Elizabeth Lense didn’t look happy. That could only have meant one thing.

“What did you find?” Corsi asked, fighting the urge to yawn. It had been twenty-eight hours since the discovery that enhanced sonic bullets had killed Caitano and Deverick, and Corsi hadn’t had a wink of sleep. It was as though her body’s clock had turned somersaults. When she was off duty, her brain wouldn’t shut down. It would keep trying to go over every little nuance of the evidence, flailing to see the answer to one question: Why? When Lense had contacted her in the security office, Corsi had been dangerously close to falling asleep at her desk.

“Well,” Lense began, pointing toward a display in her lab, “the Wadi DNA came up positive. It wasn’t the same person that gave the sample, but it was consistent. I’ve also managed to figure out what species the other DNA trace on Caitano’s padd might be from.”

Corsi closed her eyes, a well of dread forming in her stomach. “What?”

“Whoever did this masked themselves very well. I only got a partial trace, but there were chromosomes present consistent with Vorta DNA.”

That was a word Corsi had hoped never to hear again. “Vorta?”

Lense nodded. “I can’t tell you which Vorta it is, but there are a couple of specific nucleotide sequences that we’ve only found in their DNA.”

“Okay,” Corsi began, “there aren’t any Vorta in the Alpha Quadrant that we can’t account for. Since the file that the nanites were attached to is supposedly a Gamma Quadrant bestseller, then could it be from anywhere else?”

Lense shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Then where is the little Vorta hiding, and does he have any Jem’Hadar still loyal to him?” Corsi hit her combadge. “Computer, secure channel. Corsi to Captain Gold.”

After a few moments’ silence, presumably while he got to a private location to take the comm, Gold replied, “Yes, Commander?”

Corsi’s mind scrambled to try to think of a good way to put what she had to say. “Captain, we have a lead.”

“Good work, Corsi,” Gold replied. “Who?”

“Not quite, sir,” Lense said. “More like a ‘which species.’ I found masked traces of Vorta DNA on the padd.”

“Vorta?” Gold’s voice tightened. “I’ll inform Starfleet Command. If this is the first wave of a new Dominion attack—”

“Captain,” Lense said, “please make sure they’re aware that every species in the Federation is vulnerable. All this thing needs is a bodily orifice to allow the waves to enter. The Strata might be safe, but I’m not sure anyone else will be.”