"I expected you to be more upset over this, Kira."

"The thought crossed my mind," Kira Nerys stated then gave a small shrug. She regarded Admiral Ross from her desk, the desk that used to be Benjamin's, and stood up to begin pacing. "But to tell you the truth, I'm not sure that I mind it being under the paranoid care of the Romulans." She explained and, not for the first time in the conversation, habitually rubbed her neck.

Nothing was ever easy with Romulans, but the Romulan Star Empire had finally agreed to return the strange, new orb to Bajor—though not without two Romulan ships delivering it. At first Kira was upset about this as it would've been easy enough to have a Federation ship meet them. However, without knowing anything about it, other than the fact that it was coincidentally on a ship whose crew was found dead, it seemed like the more security and fewer civilians was the better option.

Pacing back and forth across the office, Kira didn't notice Admiral Ross' inquisitive expression until he spoke. "I thought you'd be more uncomfortable with having an artifact of Bajoran religion in the hands of anyone other than Bajorans, much less Romulans?" Kira shook her head, not taking offense at his phrasing of 'artifact', and sat down again.

"I'm not entirely sure that it IS Bajoran." Kira admitted to him before elaborating. "I've never heard of this before, and while I would gladly accept another gift from the Prophets…this doesn't feel right." She explained and frowned. Before Ross could reply, the communicator pinned to Kira's chest chirped.

"Kira here,"

"We're receiving a distress signal from the Romulan warbird Chu'tara."

"I want it on the viewer," With quick strides, Kira walked out of her office and nodded towards the ensign who had reported it to her. Kira noticed Vorak, the Vulcan who was often Lesedi's instigator, standing at one of the stations with Lesedi beside him. Filing away a discussion for later with her, Kira turned her attention to the eye shaped viewer as the bridge of the Chu'tara filled it.

Apprehension was present on the middle-aged, male captain's face as distress lines, made by (Kira only assumed) failing equipment on their end of the communication, waved over the screen.

"Major Kira," Recognition and relief registered on the Romulan's face. "We are going to be delayed in reaching Deep Space 9. We are encountering…difficulties aboard ship."

"I can see that," Kira replied, her brows coming together.

"Similar occurrences have been happening to what was reported on the last ship carrying this orb. We are trying to compensate by placing infected individuals under guard,"

Kira's attention shifted from the Romulan speaking to the one coming up behind him. She walked upright, each step choppy as if she wasn't consciously aware that she was walking. Her hair was somewhat out of place, something odd for a Romulan, and her eyes were focused and intense on her captain, as if she were trying to bore two holes in the back of his head. Kira opened her mouth but before the words escaped, she saw the woman's green clad arm lift, a glint of silver, and then forcibly the woman threw all her weight into her violent attack.

"YOU ARE A DISHONOR!"

Out of her peripheral vision, Kira vaguely noticed the ensign closest to her visibly flinch and move back as the woman's shrill voice, filled with fury, mixed with the gruesome scene on the viewer. The captain was flat on his stomach in front of his chair, the woman predatorily over him as she repeatedly plunged the knife into his back. Even now Kira could never get used to the way blood behaved when it was so violently disturbed and released from the body.

The bridge crew, what was left of them, jumped into action and one tackled her to the ground, but before the eerily silent Ops could do more, the transmission was cut, replaced instead by a view of the serene stars outside.

"Ensign Pak," Kira reached out and touched the ensign's forearm. The younger woman stirred and looked to Kira, her mouth slightly open before she shook her head, cleared her throat, and composed herself. "Contact the other ship. Find out if they saw that, if they cut the transmission, and what they are going to do."

While Pak had buckled under seeing the horrific murder aboard the Romulan ship, Kira was impressed with her ability to get information out of the Chu'tara's sister ship. They were responsible for cutting the ship's transmission, something Kira was actually grateful for, and was currently flooding the ship with a gas that would render Romulans unconscious.

"Inform them that our medical bay would be happy to assist with the survivors," Kira paused "as a matter of fact, insist on it."

An hour later Kira, Admiral Ross, Vorak and Lesedi all stood in front of Doctor Bashir, whose attention was on the datapadd in front of him as well as the people watching him expectantly.

"Physically, there's nothing that would cause this psychosis." He began and paused, his eyes going from face to face, before he looked back down at his datapadd. "However each of them are behaving as if they've lived through a traumatic event that they cannot cope with." Julian explained to them before leading the small group to one of the bio-beds in the corner.

A guard stood near the wall; however, the Romulan officer, the officer who killed the captain, had pressed herself in the corner with her back against the wall and legs drawn up against her. Distrustful dark eyes flickered, watching as they got to the end of the bio-bed and looked at her. Her eyes fixed on Vorak and narrowed, but the woman herself didn't move and the rest of her face remained hidden by her arm.

"As soon as she stirred, she got in the corner and hasn't moved since. She's just been rocking and muttering something." Julian hesitated and shook his head. "The translators are at a loss and I don't quite know that I am hearing her correctly." His brows drew together briefly before he looked up at the group of four whose interest was currently caught by the patient. Vorak looked at him.

"What has she been repeating?" Vorak questioned the doctor evenly, though his usual stoic face did bare a slight frown. The Vulcan took two tentative steps forward and the woman pressed even further into the corner. Immediately Vorak stopped and turned his head, looking to Bashir.

Breathing in deeply, Bashir looked to his datapadd, confirming that the word was correct, and looked back to the tan Vulcan who made the silent inquiry. "She's saying, as far as I can tell, ll-air." Julian told him and looked back to the poor woman. Vorak's attention also shifted back to her and, while the shift in his mood was subtle, his body language stiffened and he fully filled his lungs before saying anything else.

"Llaihr. It is an old Rihannsu word." He began to slowly explain after he stepped away again and turned to the group. "It doesn't translate into English simply. It is death, death by chaos, by unnatural means and senseless."

"Nerys," Kira looked to Admiral Ross after the small group left the Romulan patients. "I have to go clean this up." Giving him a nod that she understood, Kira watched him leave. Vorak followed as did Lesedi after a murmured promise to get together later.

Nerys didn't even turn when they filed out. Though, after several moments, she looked at Bashir. "Can we talk?" Giving her a brief nod, Bashir left his datapadd with a nurse and started to his office. Life once again resumed in the infirmary as nurses checked on the unconscious forms. A member of security worked on extracting the mentally unstable woman from the corner while Lesedi and Vorak quietly left.

"Can you do anything for her?" Kira asked once she was in the Julian's office and sat down. She regarded the tan skinned doctor as a frown etched in his face and he too sat in his chair across his desk.

"I'm afraid not. There's nothing medicine can do alone, only therapy—a lot of therapy and close doctor supervision." The frown deepened and he shook his head. "The Romulans are already planning to transport the patients over, I don't know what will happen then." Kira was silent for several long moments, deep in thought and oblivious to Bashir's gaze.

"I don't like this," Kira confessed and looked at the human sitting across from her. "This could be really bad for Bajor if everyone thinks an orb did that."