Damar was waiting in Ops when Kira came out of Vaughn's office. "They won't let you anywhere near the Orb of Time," she said. "Not by yourself."

"I'm not surprised." Damar shrugged, leaning against the central console. Its display was blinking sporadically, as were the lights. Central power was still not restored. Aside from a couple of technicians, there was no one else in Ops. He and Kira had agreed that him being part of Vedek Ungtae's welcoming committee wouldn't go over well, so he had gone to Ops to wait.

Honestly, what he had found more surprising than the Vedek's refusal was that Kira had made the request in the first place. But then again, she had surprised him a lot in the past twelve hours.

"I guess I'll be the one to do it," said Kira.

"Do you really think you can handle Section 31 on your own?" came Bashir's voice from the turbolift. Damar's stomach sank when he saw that the doctor was accompanied by Garak. Garak had, on occasion, recounted with relish tales of holosuite esponiage adventures he had shared with the doctor. The former Obsidian Order spy was almost salivating as he sidled up to Damar.

"I'm sorry I missed your rendezvous with our Section 31 operative. I hear it was rather exciting."

Damar put a hand on his ribs, still sore. "Too exciting for my taste." Hearing Kira sigh in frustration, he turned toward her and Bashir.

"Doctor, I think I can handle it just fine on my own," Kira snapped.

"There's no reason you should have to," Bashir replied. "After all, it was used to take the entire Defiant back in time once. Theoretically it could take us all back."

"I don't know how to make it do that," Kira replied.

"Maybe if you ask nicely," Garak replied, a smile playing at the corner of his lips. Damar wanted to smack him.

"I believe the Kai would say, 'Trust the Prophets,'" Bashir said, with an encouraging smile.

Kira's expression soured. "I don't particularly care what Kai Winn would have said. She betrayed the Prophets."

"That's beside the point," Damar replied. "Bashir is right. We don't have any other option."

"But do you really think the good Vedek will let two Cardassians use the Orb?" Garak asked.

"He doesn't need to know," Bashir replied. "When the Defiant went back in time, only one man needed to use the Orb to take all of us back in time. We only need Kira to use the Orb to take us back."

"And when we do go back, what's the plan, exactly?" Kira asked defiantly. "How do we sneak two Cardassians into Starfleet Intelligence?"

"Who said that was where we were going?" Garak replied, clearly over-pleased that he had a juicy piece of information no one else had. "Taris Vale was stationed at Starfleet Headquarters, to be sure, but I've been looking into her recent history. It seems Section 31 often sent her on missions all over the Alpha Quadrant… most significantly, the Obsidian Order spotted her in the Demilitarized Zone on a number of occasions."

"Working for or against the Maquis?" Damar asked.

"Oh, both, I should imagine," Bashir replied. "Whatever served Section 31 best at the time."

"So if we catch her on one of those missions, we can stop her," Damar said.

"Easier than waltzing into the heart of Starfleet, wouldn't you say?" Garak replied.

Kira nodded, taking a deep breath. "Okay. I guess it's settled, then. I'll get the Vedek's permission to use the Orb, then I guess we're all going back." As if to punctuate her sentence, the station shook severely. The tremors were getting more and more frequent. "Get ready; we're running out of time," said Kira.

"Don't worry about us," replied Damar. "We'll be ready. Just get to that Orb."