DISCLAIMER: Paramount owns their characters, I own mine. This concept is one they wouldn't touch with a barge pole, so no worries there. Please do not steal this story or any ideas from it, at least not without asking the author/s first.
NOTE: This story is based in an alternate universe, where the Occupation only lasted for 30 years, not 60 years. If you are interested in adding to this saga by writing a novella to go with this world, feel free to contact me.
Odo added a few centimetres to his height and peered over most of the crowd. So. He'd arrived just in time. The current bidding was at a surprisingly small amount for the both of them. He instantly raised it to a thousand - for all three.
"There are two on the stage, sir," said the auctioneer.
"I was given to understand there were three of them. I want all three or you don't get any of my fortune."
Just as expected, there was a hubbub from others in the audience who realised they might be being gypped. Various cries of 'bring out the other one' filled the air. Odo smiled to himself. Other people's avariciousness could always be used in his favour. Bashir was bought out, also in chains, and the serious selling began. A triumvirate of trained Starfleet Ensigns, one a doctor, could fetch quite a price. Bidding got quite heated for a while, until most of the minor players were out.
"I have ten thousand. Ten thousand once-"
"Ten thousand and one," Odo bid, still smirking to himself. He had a cunning plan.
"Fifteen thousand," bid the Majestrix of Caesiro, a leather clad dominatrix surrounded by some of her more impressive pets.
"Fifteen thousand and one."
The Majestrix glared at him while a Cardassian bid above him to the nearest hundred. It was working. Odo raised his hand and readied his voice, only to be pre-empted by the auctioneer.
"...And one, from the gentleman with the pockets."
"Actually, I was going to bid two, but; yes, that'll do."
Kira was glaring daggers at him, and judging by the scowl on her face, they were Cardassian Torture Knives. He simply smiled and started singing under his breath as the rest of the competition tried to bid him out of the running. All he had to do now was keep it slowed down until an opportunity arose. The increase of bids, as Odo predicted, eventually slowed down to units.
"I have twenty-two thousand, five hundred and fifty-five - fifty six; thank you mister pockets. Seven from the cephalopodan over there. Eight from the Cardassian gentleman. Doesn't anyone want to take this up to thirty? Thank you sir. And one from the gentleman with the pockets..."
That was when he started singing louder. It oscillated from humming to a sort of off-tune caterwauling just loud enough to annoy and distract the others. Odo, of course, actually knew all the words to Dear Green Place, but that didn't stop him purposely seeking to annoy. Instead of singing it in the main language of Bajor, he picked a mountain dialect common to the Dakhur Province.
He knew he had the right district when he saw Kira wincing and subtly mouthing the correct words. She caught on to what he was saying by verse three, and from then on, only pretended to be irritated and furious.
"Sixty-five thousand. At last... And one from the gentleman with the pockets." The auctioneer sighed and looked ready to weep.
"And in this green and gentle place, lies peaceful sleeping, the man to your left, Nerys," Odo sang. "He is the one, who holds fast all your chains; so seek now and be free."
Riker, distracted for the umpty-umpth time by a fascinating display, felt his arm being pulled out of its socket.
"Will..." said Deanna in warning tones. "We're looking for our shipmates, not a night's fun."
"But-- but-- but--" He failed to find an appropriate objection that would appeal to his Imzadii.
"Motor boat impressions won't work, either, Will. Focus. How would you find them?"
"Follow the trail of damage," rumbled Worf.
"Or the screaming," seconded Riker, cocking his head to hear something in the hubbub. "That way."
It was hard work, following the distant sounds of catcalls and whistles; especially since approximately five thousand others had heard and were zooming in to watch the show. Eventually, they were blocked by a solid wall of sentience with bumps on their heads.
"Oh my," Riker's eyes popped. "I didn't know our Ensign Kira was that . . . well built."
"I did," Worf informed. "I am convinced she chooses the most provocative gym clothes to wear during our weekly self-defence classes." He growled faintly in disgust, but it wasn't at Kira. "But it is a woman's right to use all she can to disarm her opponent. Forcing her to dress as they have Dax and Kira shows the Ferengi are a dishonourable race."
Deanna winced. "I feel embarrassment, from the ensigns. They're humiliated by this."
"So does the rest of the crowd, but they love it." Riker stroked his beard thoughtfully and glanced around. "Suggestions on how we're going to rescue them please."
Worf let out another low growl. "I think someone else has already decided to rescue them." He pointed to a nondescript figure near the front of the crowd, close to a wall, and wearing a coat with lots of pockets.
"The ambassador certainly gets around." Troi smiled slightly as she saw Odo. "He feels confident that his plan will work, whatever it is." She turned to the commander. "I think we should wait an see what he has planned and help him then."
"Agreed." Worf's support took the others by surprise. "He is a shapeshifter after all," the Klingon explained, "No doubt he will use that to assist in their escape."
"I agree, we'll wait and see what happens." Riker turned back to the stage as the bidding got underway.
After it was all over, and the doctors had finished patching up the guards, one or two of them did manage to piece together what happened that day. But the majority of them had only vague memories of pain and a feeling that the people they'd been guarding had wrought far much more mayhem and destruction than they were worth.
It had started when the Bajoran slave had suddenly leapt towards her guard and delivered a pile-driving knockout blow to his head . . ..
Kira immediately discovered that the one thing worse than an alive guard, was an unconscious one who became so-much 'dead-weight' at the end of her chains. Gritting her teeth, she struggled to continue the battle, aware that Dax and Bashir would be having the same problem, when a bolt of golden light shot under her nose. A snapping noise came a second later, and she stumbled backwards at the sudden release from the weight, as Odo broke the chain links like twigs.
"I can't leave you alone for a moment, can I Kira?" Odo thoughtfully tapped a passing Orion guard on the chin and smiled briefly as the man dropped like a sack of java.
"Don't blame me, blame Picard!" Kira ducked as another Orion guard hefted a club and charged at her, swinging it wildly. After he'd raced passed and missed, she punched him in the backs of the knees, her own knee to his head finishing off the job. "He's the one who sent us on the mission." She spared him a glare. "Anyway, what the hell were you doing back there?"
"Putting everyone to sleep, of course. It takes time." Odo wasn't even pretending to fight now, since he'd freed Dax and Bashir as well, and he was now merely leaning against the back wall, making sure no-one crept up on the three officers from behind.
"Especially with your voice." Kira wondered why the slavers were taking so long to reinforce their now-very depleted guard force. A quick glance at the door showed that Odo had locked a tendril of himself onto the door-latch and was holding it closed, while closing the other one by leaning against it.
"My voice? From the woman who can't even manage 'show me the way to go home'?" Odo snorted and applauded quietly as Bashir tripped up a slaver off the platform and into the crowd, who let the pirate thud to the floor.
"I do pretty well considering it's a foreign song." Kira gave a mock pout, and spun on her heel, fist at the ready, to find Dax turning to face her, in the same position. She grinned at the fellow officer. "Enjoying the party?" The Trill merely ginned and turned back to take on a Hypurian who'd gotten to close.
"It's sung in monotone." Odo saw a large group of determined-looking slavers heading their way and decided it was time to leave. Nodding to Riker's small group, he pointed towards the small alley off to the right, near where he was standing.
"Will you two shut up and fight?" Jadzia had also noticed the group heading towards them, and had no desire to end up in their tender care again.
"Preferably with some of the enemy." Bashir staggered over to them and collapsed against the wall. Combat was all well and good, but it started to get exhausting after a while against larger and heavier opponents. It got worse when you realised that your companions weren't even out of breath.
"Forget the enemy, let's get out of here while we can." Kira leapt off the stage and headed towards the alley, to be confronted by the Majestrix, who smiled laviciously.
"Are you sure you have to leave? I can off you all a life you've never dreamed of." She glanced at Odo appraisingly. "Especially you."
"I'm sure." Kira backed away firmly. "Very sure."
Dax grinned at the Bajoran as they shouldered their way through the crowd. "Nerys, it's not like you to turn down a good party." She ignored the glare in return, and almost crashed into Worf, who'd managed to charge through the crowd and lead the others to them. "Commander, we seem to encountering a little trouble. Maybe we could go elsewhere?"
"How did she know her guard was asleep?" Riker's eyes watered as he watched Kira dispatch her guard and turn to place her knee in anothers groin.
"Three guesses," said Worf, nodding to a golden beam of light shooting onto the stage, "and the first two don't count."
The crowd oohed in sympathetic pain. "...eeeee..." Riker managed around his own rictus. "I guess that was the true meaning of Ro-Sha-M'Bo." He winced again as Dax's latest victim fell down like a sack of potatoes. "...oooh-ohhh..."
"Can't we do something to help them?" begged Deanna.
"I'd say these slavers are getting everything they deserve." Riker winced again at another spectacular kick. "In spades."
"Nevertheless," Worf shouldered his way forward, "Starfleet regulations dictate we must supply aid to our crewmates."
Deanna followed Riker, who followed the implacable bulk of Worf. "Are you sure there'll be enough left for us to 'help' them with?"
"We do have to try, Deanna," Riker smirked, as Worf changed course and headed on an intercept course to a small alley off to one side, while the ensigns and Odo battled their way through the crowd, to meet them moments later.
Worf glared at the growing throng being held off by the combined efforts of Kira and Ambassador Odo They'd picked a good place for their defence, a narrow point in the alleyway that could probably be defended by his blind grandmother. Unfortunately, there was more than one way into the street, and soon the enemy would realise that.
"This is a 'little' trouble, Ensign?" Riker boggled at her.
Meanwhile, Kira and Odo were arguing again.
"Are you nuts? We can't leave you behind!"
"You can and you will, Ensign," Odo retorted. "Think about it for a minute. I'm the only one who can really hide."
"They'll flakking kill you!"
"Disappointed that you won't get the chance?" He asked sardonically. "Or sorry you might miss me?"
"In your twisted dreams," She shrieked. "I'm not going to fill out a fifty-page report on why I lost an Ambassador!"
"Get out of here!" He ordered. "I can look after myself."
"Says the man who hid behind my skirts for a fortnight!"
"GO!" There was no denying that look in his face, or the determination in his voice. Nor, for that matter, was there any arguing with the fact that he was morphing into a beast from the darker edge of someone's nightmares.
All the same, she had to be dragged away from the terrible chimera Odo had become. It took the combined strength of Dax, Bashir, Worf and Troi to do it.
"Riker to Enterprise-" he paused, adrenaline-addled as he did a brief head-count. "Six to beam up. Now!"
She was still fighting to get out and help the shapeshifter when they all materialised in someone else's sickbay. They let her break loose, and vent her fury on some helpless walls, while they explored the confines of their new environment.
"Hello?" Dax risked.
"Where's Doctor Crusher?"
As if in answer to Bashir's question, a genial-looking man shimmered into existence. "Doctor Crusher is not available. I am the Emergency Medical Hologram, beta test version; designed to handle primarily quarantine cases where the rest of the ship cannot be endangered." He smiled in an annoyingly perky way. "You are currently held in a triple-sealed holographic environment designed for your every comfort."
"What?"
"Doctor Crusher is not available," the EMH reiterated. "I am the Emergency-"
"We heard you," Riker clarified. "It's just that I don't believe it. What could we have possibly been exposed to?"
"Our information suggests that Orion slave traders purposely infect their cargo with a bio-engineered virus that requires constant administration of a certain drug to keep it under check - as a method to prevent escape," The EMH continued to be perky and chipper. "Once freed of constraints, it is highly infectious and must be contained to all those in the known risk zone."
"Which means us," Kira translated his last statement. "So are we all stuck in this one room with you for a month or so?"
"Oh, no, of course not," the EMH seemed only slightly offended. "You each have holoquarters, entertainment facilities and communications equipment available to you; and the quarantine period is actually one week."
"Rrrr."
"While you're here, perhaps you'd like to fill in these evaluation forms, and remember," the EMH admonished with a perkily perky finger. "Be honest!"
"Rrrr!"
Picard loomed over the readout like an avenging vulture, but that didn't change a word of it.
Ambassador Odo was gone
There was no sign of his comm signal on the planet, no glimmer of hope that someone Starfleet was going to hold him accountable for was anywhere or, for that matter, still alive. Which meant that he, Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the Enterprise, was in very, very, deep, hot water. Unfortunately, his usual sense for composing reports had left him, and all that was left was a pathetic, We turned around for five seconds and he was nowhere in sight.
No. That would just not do. Ambassadors didn't vanish.
"I want a full sensor sweep of-"
"Odo to Enterprise…" The Ambassador seemed slightly upset, out of breath and distressingly weak.
Picard clicked a finger as he pointed at Worf's replacement at Communications. "Trace that!" He turned to the screen, empty, save for a few stars and a fraction of a planet. "Ambassador, can you give us a location?"
"Currently? Drifting off your starboard bow. It's amazing what you can do…in a pinch. I'll need a tow into a shuttle bay."
"Scanners," Picard ordered, "What's out there?"
"Not wishing to hurry you or anything, Captain, but I really don't wish to find out how long I can go without oxygen, thank you."
"An unknown vessel. Or a life form," Data turned to his captain. "It is completely unlike anything in our records."
"We need to get into shuttle bay one now, and send a full security team to make sure we aren't under risk."
He was there; with the rest of them, behind a top-level shield, when the ship settled onto the deck of shuttle bay one. It was, just as advertised, like nothing ever seen before. Part fish, part bird, part bio-pod, and all enigma. Where the hell had Odo found it, and where was the Ambassador inside that thing anyway? It looked too small to house a dog.
They got their answers when it unfolded and resolved itself into a stretching Ambassador. It was difficult, sometimes, to remember that Odo was a shapeshifter, until he rubbed it in your face.
Odo stretched and smiled - beatifically. "That," he said at length, "was astonishing. You have no idea what you're missing, with a viewport between yourself and the stars… Not that I'm ungrateful, mind. It was - unique."
Picard cleared his throat. "Mister Ambassador, I'm afraid for your own safety, and the safety of this ship, you will have to be confined inside a special facility. You may have been exposed to a highly dangerous virus, and I can't let the risk of infection endanger my crew."
"I never catch, or carry, anything," Odo told him, "but I understand. You don't want a thresigan Tavo on your hands."
"I'm sorry?"
"Ah. I believe the Earth phrase is Typhoid Mary." He smirked as he vanished in the transporter beam.
At least this time Picard didn't have to suffer the Ambassador's little games personally.
Odo was not happy.
He didn't like doctor's at the best of times, and this was clearly not one of them. Being scanned, poked and prodded was not his best idea of a good time, and it became even worse when the attending physician was happy about it all.
"Here comes Mr.Electrophorytic Probe, now just sit still and relax. It won't hurt a bit."
"Hah," Odo purposely squirmed out of the way. "Of course it will. And being patronising does not help."
"If you sit still and relax, it will go by much quicker. I'll set it on 'low. You'll feel a teeny little prick."
"That's what they all say."
"Now, now," admonished the EMH. "If you keep this up, you won't get a wowwipop."
"Really."
"Bad news," said Odo as he passed Kira at the door. "He's in a good mood."
Kira hit the wall with her head and a soft thunk. "Is he anything else?"
"This time, he's giving out wowwipops," Odo flourished a purple one at her.
"Oh, Prophets..."
Further down the queue, Riker was clearly puzzled. "What is it with Bajorans? It has to be something in the water..."
"Will, Ambassador Odo doesn't drink water." Deanna gave it another thought. "And he's not strictly Bajoran either."
"He had to come in contact with some sometime, when he was on Bajor. Maybe some landed on him."
"Will..." warned Deanna.
Riker ignored her. "Ambassador? Did you ever go swimming on Bajor?"
"Yes, why?"
"I told you so," said Riker. "Something in the water."
Odo snorted, rolled his eyes, and muttered "Humans," under his breath.
Kira snarled under her breath. The last thing she needed, on top of everything else, is to be searching for a missing ambassador. Especially while trapped in quarantine with Herbert the Happy Hologram. She punched in the door opening code, longing for the days of breaking down doors, and marched straight into -
- the endless gulf of space.
She screamed before realising that she had air to scream with. All she knew was that she was falling away from anything resembling safety, and that she may die any second.
By her second breath, she figured out that she wasn't going to die.
By her third, she knew that the shapeshifter was going to, instead. "ODO!"
Something akin to a fish appeared in the distance, if a fish were ever born without anything resembling a head, and fins that resembled flatworms. The way it swam though the air was almost ballet and very much breathtakingly graceful. It undulated right up to her before changing back into the Odo she knew and loathed. "What's a nice ensign like you doing in a simulation like this?"
"I thought this was going to be your quarters! What the flakk have you been doing?"
"Redecorating. I've been experimenting with my space form, and it's quite fascinating. Want to go on a flight?"
"NO! I came here to get you to that flakking hologram. He wants us to do group bonding exercises."
Odo rolled his eyes. "Prophets, what next?"
"Apparently, we get jellies for playing well with others."
"I just had to ask..." He glanced sideways at Kira as they walked towards the others. "But isn't your family motto ..."
"Does NOT play well with others," they chorused and grinned at each other.
The bonding exercise was fairly simple in its instructions. They were to sit in a circle on the holographic grass and describe to each other what they would be if they were an animal, and why. While this is a time-honoured method of wasting time for group activities and providing hours of amusement for the other participants, it does prove difficult to play with a changeling who can become anything he wants, whenever he wants. And was quite happy to give demonstrations.
The doctor abandoned the game after five minutes and decided something else might be asked for. "Now, I've had the computer set up a small obstacle course for you all to attempt." He punched at his data padd, and the holosuite swirled to reform with a field of neat wooden bars, shiny metal railings, and what appeared to be soft green grass. "Now, if you'd all like to take your places behind the line," he indicated a pristine white line marked out on the grass, "we'll take this at a nice jogging pace and all stay together."
Kira glared at the course and folded her arms. "That," she stated, "Is not an obstacle course. It's a walk in the park with a few minor inconveniences."
The EMH's face fell, and he began to look like a child who's been told they can't go to the party. "This is the Starfleet standard course for convalescence and fitness retention. I --"
Kira patted him on the shoulder. "Oh, I don't mind doing an obstacle course," she smirked at the others, "I'd just like it to be a little more difficult, that's all."
"Very well." The EMH spoke stiffly, obviously put out. "Why don't you see what you can come up with then."
Kira grinned. "I thought you'd never ask.
Ten minutes later, the EMH look in horror out over his previously gentle course. Instead of the lush green grass, there was now chopped up mud and puddles of sludge. The clean wooden railings were covered in moss and slime, and the polished metal bars seemed to be covered in grease.
To the group, the the course had gone from a potential stroll in the park, to a death trap.
The EMH turned to Kira in disbelief. "This? This is what you think an obstacle course should look like?"
"Not entirely." She seemed a little disappointed. "I couldn't get the computer to turn the safety off, so there's no real threat of injury." She grimaced and jogged gently on the spot. "That takes some of the edge off it, but it should be interesting anyway." An after thought seemed to occur to her. "Oh, there's a six-foot-deep puddle under the bars, and the canyon rope is over water as well. So when we fall off it'll be a nice gentle landing."
Worf surprisingly came in on Kira's side, rolling up his sleeves and looking at the course with interest. "I agree with the Ensign. A warrior should always test themselves and their abilities."
"But this . . ." the EMH looked fit to cry.
Kira smirked and tugged at Odo, Dax, and Bashir's shirts, pulling them to one side of the course. "Sometimes you can have too much 'nice' in your life." She turned to Riker. "Two teams, with Academy tag rules, sir?"
Riker had a sinking feeling he was about to be thrashed in his own game. "Agreed. But with Odo as referee."
He was right.
Team Kira had won, of course, by cheating the whole course through. Kira had her years of militia training and Bashir and Dax their natural youthfull flexibility while the rest of the command crew floundered in the muck. Of course, after the end result, bickering, arguments and at least one knockdown, drag-out mud fight, the holodoctor had given up on team building exercises entirely.
This had boosted morale one hundred percent.
At least until Dax had made a side remark that turned Kira's mood upside down. "Come on, Nerys," the Trill had said over a little apéritif at lunchtime. "You owe the Ambassador."
"Why should I owe him anything?"
"He was willing to pay Fourteen thousand, seven hundred and twenty- eight strips of gold pressed Latinum for us. That works out at Four thousand, Nine hundred and nine, and a third strips each. If he was thinking fairly."
"Meaning?"
"Maybe he was paying more for some of us, and less for others."
Over the next few hours, Kira gradually stewed herself into a towering fury. How dare that shapeshifting sonofabitch think he was paying less for her than anyone else? She was worth all of Starfleet put together. How dare he even bid for her anyway? She found him relaxing in one of the many media lounges, listening to music that was outrageously opposite her current mood.
"Were you actually thinking of buying me?" Kira demanded.
"Hell, no," said Odo, shocked. "I was just bidding to slow everything down and give you a chance to escape."
"Well you can just take your--" Kira realised what he'd just said. "Oh." She deflated. "I-- thanks."
"I take it the effervescent Ensign Dax said something that made you think?"
"How did you know?"
"Dax is good at that. And gossiping."
"Yes." Kira inspected her fingernails. "She said that if you were intending to buy us, maybe you were paying more for some and less for others."
"Hah. Not likely. I'd never have enough latinum to pay for you, let alone the rest of them. Besides, I hate the very idea of slavery."
"Ah. Thanks." She'd run out of words to say. What could she say, given that someone who seemed determined to torture her was, for once, on her side? It was numbing her senses.
"It's the walls," Odo told her. "Knowing you can't get out tends to make people crazy."
"So what could you do about it?"
"Take you away from all this." Odo snapped his fingers and suddenly she was staring down on Bajor.
It was a variant of his space exercise program, where he regularly floated around in that bizarre fish/bird form of his. It was one thing to be floating around between the stars, but looking down on her home...
"You made this for me?"
"Do you like it?"
"Of course," she whispered into the eternal night. "It's home."
"It's the only home I've ever known," Odo confessed, somehow maintaining his professional pose in zero G. "We can go down, you know. The program's designed to ignore gravity until you turn it on. It's fun."
"How?"
"You swim, of course. Come on. Fly with me."
An involuntary blush was forgotten at the look in Odo's face. His usually dour face was twisted into a rather genial smile.
Of course, part of her realised. He wants someone to play with. She mentally pulled herself back together and swam towards the slowly rotating planet, Odo alongside her. She stopped suddenly, staring at the surface of the planet. "Look," she whispered and pointed down, "there's Dakhur, just coming up now."
Odo placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Rakantha will be coming up soon, and Kendra as well." He smiled faintly in the dim light. "My first memories of the outside world are of the stars outside the lab window in Kendra province."
Kira's face was ashen grey as she turned towards him. "How can you even stand to be in the same room as me, Odo? After all Bajor did to you, you should hate me."
Odo's smile widened. "Bajor didn't do anything to me; Mora did it, and the Cardassians did it, but not Bajor." His voice dropped to a whisper. "And certainly not you."
There was something in the mans eyes that Kira recognised. More than compassion, and greater than just friendship. She flicked a glance back at Bajor. "Look, there's two moons over the provinces." She realised her voice was hoarse and her hands were trembling. For Prophets sake, she didn't need to feel like this now!
"I always wanted to sit in the stars with a beautiful woman." Odo was sternly telling parts of himself to stay exactly where they were. The problem was, he had the feeling they were going to start ignoring him all too soon.
"Nerys?" Dax's voice broke the spell in the room as she opened the door. "Kira, Odo, where are you?"
"Right--" She cleared her throat and tried again. "Right here 'Zia." An after thought occurred and she stood. "Computer, end program."
Bajor and it's troublesome moons winked out of existence leaving the bare walls and Dax slowly entering the room. "Sorry to interrupt, but apparently we're free to return to duty." The Trill smiled happily. "The EMH and Doctor Crusher have given us a clean bill of health."
"In that case, I should leave for Gorn as soon as I can arrange transport." Odo strode towards the door, ignoring a stunned Kira. "Ladies," He sketched a bow with his usual smile, "It's been a pleasure."
Dax traded glances between Odo's retreating back and Kira's shocked face. "Nerys, what's going on?"
Kira shrugged. "I... I wish I knew 'Zia, I really do."
Nerys nursed a tumbler of scotch and tuned out the noise from the surrounding activity in the bar. She was grateful that Dax, very unlike her normal self, hadn't pressed her for details after Odo had hurried from the holosuite but had simply suggested they celebrate their freedom with a drink and quick game of cards in 10-Forward. The drinks and cards had been extended long into the night as other crew members wanted to know what the new holographic doctor was like. Kira had left most of the talking to Dax and Bashir, who'd been more than willing to give detailed accounts of the new electronic crew member, while she sat and thought about what had happened with Odo - or more to the point, what hadn't happened.
The woman wasn't a stranger to the ways of romance, she'd had her fair share of 'moon-mates', as the Bajoran phrase went, partners that came and went by the light of the moonbeams but never stayed for long. A military career didn't make for great relationships, especially when you were posted to the frontier, and the best you could hope for was a good time in the face of possible death. She'd assumed, quiet correctly as it had seemed, that a Starfleet career would be just as difficult on relationships.
She'd had a relatively quiet romantic life while at the Academy, her studies taking precedence over her personal life, aside from occasionally breaking out at the Launch Pad. Even her almost legendary status as a drinker was more a case of good publicity rather than actual truth, stemming from her days as a frontier pilot where the daily threat of combat was eased with hard drinking at night. This simply meant that she had developed a high tolerance to alcohol, and when it was put up against teenagers and younger students at the Academy, she withstood drinking sessions better than they did.
But while she had enjoyed the occasional night out with the rest of her class, she hadn't felt any inclination to get involved with any of them. In fact, as she thought about it, she realised that it had been over a year since she had last invited a man to her bed. She'd almost forgotten how those warm feelings felt, when she was with someone she cared about. She hadn't had them since she was a teenager herself and the world all seemed much simpler.
"So, has the world stopped revolving yet?" Jadzia eased herself into a chair opposite her friend, stunning Kira out of her reverie, to see that the bar was almost empty. "You've been over here by yourself for hours. Now, are you going to tell me what's wrong or do I have to force it out of you?"
Nerys considered holding out on Dax, but decided the result wouldn't be worth the effort. "When Odo and I were in that holosuite together, just before you came and told us we could leave, we..." she shifted uneasily, and Dax's interest cranked itself up some more. "He showed me a holoprogram he has, of Bajor."
"And?" Jadzia frowned slightly. "Is that an insult you haven't told me about?"
"No, not at all." Kira wriggled again, feeling as unsure as if she were once again sixteen with a schoolgirl crush on the local Vedek. "When we were talking about Bajor, I think he . . . we . . . I think he's in love with me." It sounded lame to her, that such an intense feeling could be caused by such simple words.
"Oh." Dax smiled into her drink. "I can't tell; Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"
"It's . . . different." Now she'd said the words, she was committed to examine the cause behind them. "I haven't . . . been involved with a non-Bajoran before, I don't know what to do."
"So, you want to do something about this then?"
"I don't know, maybe." She shrugged. "It could be interesting."
"Interesting?" Dax smirked openly. "He's a shapeshifter, Nerys! The possibilities are endless!" The smirk became a grin as she watched Kira's cheeks flush. "Nerys, I never knew you would embarrass that easily."
"I don't, I'm just . . . " She grinned herself. "I've just been trying not to think about the physical side of it, that's all, or I'll never be able to concentrate on anything." The women shared a chuckle. "Anyway, he leaves tomorrow, so I won't have to worry about it after that."
"At least until the next time you meet him." Jadzia couldn't resist a final jibe.
"Well ambassador, Starfleet thanks you for all your help." Picard was relieved, and with good reason. He'd not only escaped having to write death and missing in action reports, but had managed to shutdown the illegal Ferengi mining operation and severally inconvenienced the Orion syndicate and their slave operations. And all without a single loss of Starfleet life. Extending his hand, the Captain smiled genially. "I hope we'll see you again soon, and if the Enterprise can ever assist you in any way, please don't hesitate to contact me."
Odo nodded gravely, his face devoid of all expression. "Thank you Captain, I'm glad I could help rescue the ensigns before they were placed into any more danger." He turned towards the trio in question and sketched a bow. "I'm glad you are all all right and weren't hurt during your ordeal."
Kira was glad that diplomatic protocol demanded she and her companions stand rigidly at attention; it meant she couldn't show the turmoil inside. Dax elected herself spokesman for the group and stepped forward. "We thank you for your assistance, and apologise for interrupting your trade conference."
Odo smiled and the bow went a trifle lower this time. "No apology neccessary, ensign. I'm glad I could help." He turned to Nerys, who prayed no-one else would notice her ears getting red, and dropped into fluent mountain Bajoran. "Prevah ngath'esal Bajor, yvadol maven olth Kira Nerys."
He waited until Kira's jaw dropped, before stepping backwards onto the transporter pad and vanishing in it's golden hue. Out of the gathered crowd, Dax was the only one who charged in where angels dared not tread. "So . . . what did he say?"
Kira shook her head sharply. "He's given me a present, that holoprogram he has of Bajor." She stomped out of the room, as Bashir, very confused, stood beside Dax.
"Did I miss something?" His handsome face had a confused expression.
"I'd tell you, but she'd kill me." Jadzia grinned and she and Bashir wandered after their friend, leaving a confused command crew to wonder what they'd missed.
END OF BOOK EIGHT