Two moons orbited around the Cardassian colony; however, the Federation runabout that was also their companion did not pay any attention to them. Its focus was on one apartment and its sole inhabitant. Relnak was his name. Saavik and Ba'el had immediately studied him, a notorious geneticist from a prestigious Cardassian university, an academician who seemed to spend his days learning and teaching. In a society were engineering and sciences were almost exclusively women's fields, he had earned a notable place, dismissing the deeply ingrained ideas of men being naturally unsuited for the job.

He did not seem the one to get himself involved in intergalactic plots. Garak had connected him with Ajeja's disappearance, though, and his cryptic way of speaking had insinuated to them that he would know some of their answers, and even if Garak could be very well lying to them, they had no better clue. Finding him hadn't been difficult, and entering his home was not harder. Security at Relnak's apartment was lax, just as it was in most people's houses. Both trained Federation officers could have no difficulty in disabling its alarms and transporting inside. They had scanned the small apartment first, and had as expected read the presence of a Cardassian inside, but their precise instruments had revealed something more. The Cardassian being at the apartment was, according to the sensors, dead. And that revelation had stunned both officers.

Saavik stayed on the ship; Ba'el had insisted it was safest this way and she had reluctantly agreed. The younger woman was now inside Relnak's house, in what was presumably his bedroom. The temperature was too high for her liking, and so was the humidity, and she found herself sweating the moment she was materialized. The room was dark, but an open window let the lights from the lamps outside dimly illuminate the place. She could make out the forms of the alien furniture, the bed and the still man lying on it. The tricorder over him gave her back the same grim result: the man was dead, and his DNA matched the one from Relnak. He had died from a heart attack and the tricorder read negative in all known toxins. No signs of violence, yet some of stress; nothing that could be considered abnormal. However, Ba'el tensed and drew the phaser she kept hidden under her civilian clothes. Relnak had died only twenty-four minutes ago. Quickly, she scanned all the apartment again with her tricorder: nothing; she entered Relnak's security system: no breach but theirs; she entered his computer, recorded all the data: nothing unexpected, really. There was nothing there that could help them.

Ba'el went back to the runabout. Ironically, she was feeling sick. She had never trusted Garak, and hadn't believed he would willingly help them; she had expected Relnak's link to be a dead end. This was a dead end indeed, but a quite disturbing one. Even if she had no reason to believe Garak's words now, she felt he was right: Relnak had known about Ajeya and now he was dead. With her tricorder and all its useless information still on her hands, she looked up to Saavik; she didn't need words for her to understand.

Saavik leaned her head to the side in a way Ba'el knew meant she was reflecting. Saavik considered all the possibilities, and still came to the same conclusion: Garak had cooperated with them too quickly; she remembered very well that his help to Starfleet was always given reluctantly. She considered that very probably he was deliberately misleading them. Besides, why would Ajeya be so interested in some Cardassian scientists? No matter how hard she tried, she could not make any sense of it. Saavik narrowed her eyes and locked them on Ba'el's. "We are visiting Garak again," she determinedly said.