"You chose to come," he said. "It was a bad decision." Then he gave her a compassionate look. "If you stay in the Bajoran section, you'll be all right." "And if I choose not to?" "I can't vouch for what happens to you." "Why should I care what happens to me?" she asked. "From what you say, I'm dead anyway." He sighed. "I have hope," he said, although his tone belied his words, "that someone will find a way to end this thing." "You don't seem like an optimistic man." He inclined his head toward her as a sort of acknowledgement. "I'm usually not. But your friend has brought his ex-wife aboard, and it took some doing. I have to believe she has the skills to help with all of us." Kellec Ton's ex-wife? What had Kira heard about her? Not much, except-she was Starfleet. The Federation. That had to take some doing. "What makes you think one person will make a difference?" Kira asked. "I'm looking at it from a practical standpoint," he said. "She's not Bajoran or Cardassian." "And so has no stake in developing the disease further?" "Actually, no," he said.
