STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
“Choices”
Ñ
An Original DS9 Story
Ó1996 by
Patricia L. Ennis
Jadzia7627@msn.com
April 1996
The characters and locations used in this story are
owned completely and solely by Paramount Pictures Inc. I have borrowed them here in an attempt to
create a fictional episode of the television show “Deep Space Nine”. The story and all elements (other than
characters and locations) of the story belong to Patricia L. Ennis. This story is for private amusement only and
may not be reprinted or uploaded elsewhere without this header intact.
With that small amount of legalese out of the way,
please enjoy the story and let me know what you think. Oh, a word to the hard core fans: I mean no
disrespect whatsoever and do not wish to step on any toes or offend anyone’s
sensibilities. In that regard, be
forewarned that this story does contain a romantic relationship between two
women. I welcome all comments and
criticisms EXCEPT those involving insults in regards to the subject
matter. It is 1996 isn't it?
One last note.
This story does not really have a time period. It is simply an alternate story line kind of
thing. Something that might have
happened. (If everybody was open minded
that is.) ;) (Oh, and,
I know Sisko was promoted.
Personally, I think Commander Sisko sounds better. So, For the sake of my story, please forgive
me.)
***********************************************************************
Major Kira Nerys leaned
against the balcony at Quarks, looking down at the crowd below. “Just the usual,” she said to herself with a sigh. “Businessmen, tourists, smugglers....Morn.”
She
sipped her drink and shook her head. It
was always so boring when Dax left.
“Commander!”
she called out, having caught a glimpse of Sisko through the crowd. He smiled and made his way casually through
the throng. Not that he had to fight his
way over. Crowds always seemed to part
for the Emissary.
“Major,” he grinned, with a nod. “I trust you’re amusing yourself?”
“Here? Not Likely.
It was the only place I could think of that might be little more
interesting. When does her ship get in?”
Sisko
smiled at her eagerness for a friendly face.
“Well, if you mean Dax...”
“Of
course!”
“She
should be here in the next hour. I
didn’t know you were missing her quite so badly.”
“Well,
I will say that things are always more interesting when she's around.” Kira grinned ruefully. “I’m sure Odo doesn’t miss her though.”
Sisko
laughed. “If she moves his furniture one
more time, I think he’s likely to throw her in the brig.”
Kira
grinned. “You know, it took me a long
time to realize that Dax HAD a sense of humor.
I still wonder why she plays with Odo.”
She raised her eyebrows at the Commander. “There are certainly more interesting
targets.”
“Are
you volunteering Major? Because I’m sure
I could put a word in with the old man for you...”
Kira
laughed as O'Briens voice came over the comm.
“Ops
to Sisko.”
“Sisko
here, go ahead.”
“Commander,” Chief O’Briens voice sounded strained. “We need you up here.”
“What’s
wrong?”
“There’s
a problem...it’s the
Kira
touched his sleeve. “That’s Jadzia’s
runabout.”
Sisko
nodded. “What KIND of problem?”
A
sound of frustration came over the line.
“We’ve...we’ve lost her.”
“WHAT?”
“She’s
just gone, Commander. One minute she was
headed in, a bit early I might add, and the next second, she’s off the
screens.”
“We’re
on our way.”
*******************************
“Unbelievable,” O’Brien muttered to himself. “Can’t have one quiet day...”
He
began to punch commands into the console. “C’mon you hunk of junk!” With a hard kick, the computer chirped at him
and began its reading.
“Hardly
a scientific approach.” Sisko remarked
as he and Kira entered Ops. “Will that
work on anything in this station?”
“I’m
sorry, Commander. It’s just so bloody
frustrating.” He ran his hand over his
face. “I was talking to her. Something about a distortion she was reading,
but I couldn’t seem to pick it up.
Then....nothing. I can’t locate
her anywhere in this sector.”
“What
about the wormhole?”
“There
hasn’t been any recent activity,” Kira
stated, watching a monitor a few feet away.
“The last ship through docked over an hour ago.”
Sisko
massaged one temple with his left hand.
“Did she say what kind of a distortion she was reading?”
O’Brien
shook his head. “She mentioned a strange
ionic pattern, did a bit of interesting swearing, and disappeared. I was never able to get any kind of reading
at all. From my end, it was just her and
empty space.”
“Chief!”
O’Brien
turned towards Ensign Brena, a lovely Bajoran female. “What?”
“I
have a ship approaching the docking ring.
It just appeared out of no where.
“On
Screen!” Sisko and Kira barked at
once.
The
Ensign tapped her console and the ship appeared on the monitor.
There
was something very wrong.
Sisko
studied it for a moment. It was not
flying so much as floating. It hung
outside the docking ring, listing slightly to one side. “Lock on to life form and beam directly to
sick bay-”
“Commander!” Kira grabbed him by the arm. “Brena said the life form was faint. You know transporting her in a weakened
condition may harm the Symbiont.”
“Do
you have another suggestion, Major?”
“Beam
me to the ship. I can pilot it in.”
Sisko
looked at her briefly, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he nodded and turned to the Ensign. “Is the life sign stable?”
“Yes,
faint, but stable for the moment.
However, I would suggest that whatever you are going to do, you do it
fast.”
Kira
hurried to the transporter ring. “Now,
Chief.”
***********************
As
soon as she materialized, Kira drew her phaser and cautiously looked around. The runabout seemed none the worse for
wear. Nothing was thrown about, nothing
charred, or melted. Nothing to indicate
what may have happened. Moving slowly in
the dark, she felt her way along, sliding her feet across the floor until they
rested up against something soft. As she
swung her light downwards, the beam cut across Dax, laying on her back in the
middle of the runabout. Kira noted
absently that it looked as though she had been arranged in a comfortable
position by someone else. Kneeling beside
her, she pulled out her tricorder and swept it over Jadzia’s inert body. The lifesigns were reading stronger, but they
were still rather faint.
“Dax,” She gently touched her shoulder. “Dax, it’s Kira...Can you hear me?”
Groaning
slightly, Dax opened her eyes. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Kira smiled.
“Are you strong enough to beam out?”
Jadzia
looked confused for a second, her hands slowly running down her abdomen. “I think you’d better beam me out, Kira. Now.”
Her face went slack as she passed out.
Kira
stood quickly and thumped on her comm badge.
“Kira to Ops, Two to beam directly to sick bay, and make it quick
Chief.”
*************************
Dr.
Julian Bashir sat at his console, humming along with the classical music
emanating from hidden speakers. He
smiled as the music ended and whispered, “Bravo. Now THAT was music.”
He
started slightly as O’Briens voice came over the communicator. “Julian, we’re beaming two directly to
you. It’s Dax. Major Kira is with her."
“Dax?” Bashir frowned. “What’s happened?”
“We’re
not sure yet. Major Kira found her
unconscious on the
“I
will Chief. Beam them in.”
Kira
and Dax materialized before him. Dax was
lying on her back, her head cradled in Kira’s lap. The Major looked up and Bashir saw something
very close to tears in her eyes.
“What
happened?” He knelt beside them and
lifted her off the floor. Carrying her
over to an examination table, he gently laid her on its surface and began
scanning her body from her head down. As
he passed the medical tricorder over her abdomen, he stopped, a puzzled look on
his face.
“I
don’t know.” Kira shook her head. “Apparently, she ran into some kind of
spacial distortion and her runabout disappeared. It reappeared about 20 minutes later, but it
was dead in the water and Jadzia was like this.”
Bashir
massaged the side of his neck and muttered. “This isn’t right. I’m getting some strange readings.”
“What
kind of readings?”
He
looked at her and frowned. “If they’re
accurate, then the Dax symbiont...is gone.”
Kira’s
jaw dropped. “What do you mean,
gone? How can it be gone? She wasn’t missing long enough for a
procedure like that.” She swallowed
hard. “Is that why she’s not waking
up? I know the host can’t survive
without the symbiont once they’ve been joined.
Julian.....are we going to lose her?”
“No,
no, you’re not understanding me,” The corners of his lips turned up in a smile
of amazement. “The symbiont wasn’t just
removed. It’s as though it was never
even there.” His smile broadened at
Kira’s shocked look. “It seems as though
we are going to get to meet the true Jadzia.”
“That’s....unbelievable. When will she regain consciousness?”
“Well,
as near as I can tell, she is in some kind of regenerative state. Kind of like a healing stasis. It could be two hours, it could be two
days. There’s just no way to be
sure.” Glancing up, he caught her
rubbing her eyes. “Why don’t you get
some sleep, Major. It will give me a
little time to come up with some more precise answers.” He put up his hand to stop her
objections. “I promise to call you if
anything changes.”
Kira
gave him a slightly mistrustful look, but nodded her agreement. “All right.
I’ll be in my quarters. Make sure
you notify me immediately if anything happens, or you will have one very angry
Bajoran female looking for you.”
Bashir
threw up his hands in playful defense.
“Don’t worry Major. There is
nothing I fear more than that.”
Kira
smiled slightly and walked from the room.
Once
she had left, and the door had slid shut behind her, Dr. Bashir turned and
stared at the lovely Trill gracing his examination table. He reached out and softly caressed her
cheek. “My god,” he whispered. “You are so beautiful.”
"Is
that your professional opinion, Doctor?"
Julian
turned to find Sisko standing by the door.
"I, uhm.." Julian
stammered. "I was not expecting you
this soon."
"Obviously,
" The Commander gave Bashir an odd
little grin, and waved his hand in a sign of dismissal. "And how is our patient, Doctor
Bashir?"
Julian
became all business as he read his findings to Sisko, who merely nodded calmly
to everything he said.
"So
you're saying that she is fine?"
"Health
wise? Yes, I would say that she is as
healthy as she has ever been. But her symbiont is gone. I cannot even imagine what that may do to her
mentally."
"When
will she wake up?"
Julian
laid a blanket on her. "If my
readings are correct, she should awaken sometime in the next two days. Maybe even as early as tomorrow."
"Good." Sisko placed his hands together, the first
fingers of each hand against his chin.
"In that case, Doctor, maybe I should make something clear to
you."
Julian
turned to look him in the face.
"When
Dax wakes up, she is going to be in a very fragile state of mind. And while the man I knew as Dax is gone, I
have developed quite a liking for our young Jadzia." He stepped closer. "And, I would be quite put out if anyone
was to take advantage of her current condition.
Understood?"
Julian
nodded quickly. "Understood."
"Good,
notify me if her condition changes."
With that, Sisko turned and left sickbay.
Julian
sighed heavily and turned to Jadzia.
"Talk about having friends in high places."
With
that, he set Jadzia's computer to notify him if she awakened, and stretched out
on a biobed well away from her.
***************************************
It
was dark. Really dark.
Jadzia
groaned quietly and cracked one eye open.
Correction, it was really late.
She noticed an indicator flashing above her head and switched it off.
"Lights," she sat up and immediately regretted it as
the room tilted dangerously to one side.
She was in the process of passing out again when a strong hand took her arm
and steadied her. She looked up and
recognized a face through the receding haze.
"Julian? I'm in
sickbay?"
"Yes," Julian grabbed a tricorder and quickly
scanned the length of her body.
"The regeneration is complete.
Everything looks good. How do you
feel?"
"Odd." Jadzia shook her head, as if to clear
it. She slowly set her hands on her
abdomen. A look of infinite sadness
crossed her face.
"Jadzia," Bashir began.
"It's
okay, Julian. You don't need to tell
me. I already know. I'm alone." She looked up at him through tears. "All I want to know now, is how it
happened." A determined look
replaced the tears. "And how we are
going to get Dax back."
Bashir
squeezed her shoulder. "We'll find
out. I promise, I will do everything
within my power to bring Dax back to you.
But, for right now, I need to notify a couple of people that you're
awake. If I want to live that
is." He smiled and tapped his
commbadge. "Bashir to Major
Kira...."
***************************************
"Are
you sure you're all right?" Kira
asked with concern.
"I
feel fine." Jadzia gave her a small
smile. "Just....lonely."
"Don't
worry, old man," Sisko nodded at
her reassuringly. "O'Brien, Bashir,
and I are going to go over the
"Thank
you, Benjamin." She looked very
tired. "I'd like to go to my
quarters now."
Sisko
glanced at Bashir.
"She
should be okay, but someone should really watch her. I'd be more than happy to-" Julian began, but Sisko cut him off.
"Major
Kira, " He turned to her. "I would like for you to look after her
for the next couple of days." He moved in closer and said in a low tone. "Take her to your quarters. I don't think being in hers will do her any
good right now."
"Understood." She turned to Jadzia and said softly. "C'mon, come to my place. I've got a great replicator program for Bajoran
breakfast cakes."
Jadzia
smiled and took her offered hand.
Leaning heavily against her, they walked out of sickbay. What an odd couple they must make, she
thought. A six foot Trill being
supported by a woman much smaller and slighter than her.
Sisko
watched them go then turned to Bashir.
"Well Doctor, I hope you got a little bit of sleep. Our day starts now. Contact the Chief and have him meet us on the
Bashir
stifled a yawn and called for O'Brien.
"Bring your sense of humor,"
He added. "It’s going to be
a long day."
***************************************
Kira
sat on the side of her bed, thinking Jadzia looked very young as she slept,
tucked under the covers. She shook her
head. Tucked under the covers?? Where the hell had that come from? She stood and walked away from the sleeping
area.
She
requested tea and sat at her computer console.
She punched up the docking bay where Sisko and his crew were going over
the
She
checked over all of the reports that had been pieced together so far. Aside from some fair sized scratches under
each of the nacelles, there was nothing odd about the ship. She magnified the scratches and was staring
at them intently when she sensed someone behind her. "How do you feel?" She asked, turning around.
"Better." Jadzia stretched, putting her arms over her
head and arching gracefully.
Kira
was momentarily flustered. She attributed it to seeing Jadzia do something she
had never seen Dax do. She was beginning
to notice what Bashir had commented on, about meeting the true Jadzia. There was definitely something different
about her, something softer, yet stronger as well. It was going to take some getting used to.
"I
was just about to wake you up. Are you
hungry?"
She
thought about it for a few minutes and then smiled. "I think so.....it's so strange."
"What
is?"
"I
don't know if I can explain. It’s like
everything is new....almost. I've never
had the opportunity to see the station this way." She looked hopefully at
Kira.
"Oh,
I don't know." Kira hedged. "You've just been through something
pretty major. I think Sisko wanted you
to rest."
"And
how often have you put what Benjamin wanted first?" She had a perfectly charming smile on her
face that Kira had never seen before. It
seemed to be infectious. "Come on,
Nerys. You know you want to do this for
me."
Kira
did a double take. Dax had never called
her that before. Then again, Dax had
never looked as irresistibly young before.
"Okay," she shook her head even as she was agreeing. "Sisko's going to kill me, but, what the
hell. After you eat, I'll take you
anywhere on the station you want to go."
Jadzia
smiled again and the Major couldn't help but smile back. "Do I remember you saying something
about Bajoran breakfast cakes?"
Kira
strode over to the replicator and came back with a plate filled with small
steaming cakes. They smelled of honey
and cinnamon. Jadzia's mouth began to
water. She set the plate in front of
her, along with a cup of tea. As she did
so, she noticed that the night shirt she had lent Jadzia was more than a little
short on her. "I'll run to your
quarters if you'd like me too. I can
grab some stuff you'll need over the next few days."
Jadzia
looked at her for a long moment and then grinned. "I didn't realize for a moment what you
were referring too. Wouldn't Julian love
to see this shirt?"
"HE
wouldn't be the only one." Kira
muttered under her breath.
"Really?" She licked some syrup off of her
fingers. "These are really good,
Nerys. I've never had them before."
She wiped off her hands and stood.
"I think I'd like to go with you to get my stuff."
Kira
gave her a concerned look.
"I
have to go eventually. I know what
you're worried about. But I am going to
have to face this situation and I would rather do it now than later."
"Okay,
okay. Get dressed." Kira watched her disappear into the
bedroom. "Sisko is going to kill
me."
***************************************
"So," Sisko sipped his fourth cup of coffee. "What do we have so far?"
O'Brien
looked at Bashir and sighed. He knew
he'd end up being the mouth piece.
"Well, so far, not very much.
The biggest clues we've found are those scratches on the nacelles. If I were to hazard an opinion, I would say
they are definitely clamp marks of some kind."
The
Commander stroked his beard.
"You're saying someone or something tractored the runabout and
physically held it immobile?"
"That
would explain the engine shut down. An
overload is the only reason it would go off line like that." He scratched his head. "At this point, it's the only reasonable
answer."
"Why
don't we just take the next logical step?"
Bashir finally cut in.
"Let's follow the flight computer back along its original
course."
"There's
no guarantee that the individual responsible will still be in the same
area." Sisko punched a few buttons
on his PADD. "Maybe...."
"Maybe
what?"
"Maybe
she did something to attract attention.
O'Brien, you said she was running a scan on a strange ionic pattern,
correct?"
"That's
right."
"Well,
what if we did the same thing. If we
follow her flight course and scan for the last ionic pattern in the computer,
we have a good chance at picking up a trail!"
O'Brien
checked the console. "The pattern
is still there, Sir. I think that just
might work."
Sisko
smiled. "You have one hour
gentleman. Get cleaned up and meet me
back here. We're going hunting."
***************************************
Kira
and Jadzia stopped outside of Dax's quarters.
Kira looked at her expectantly.
"I
think I should go in by myself, Kira. I
know you want to be there for me, but, this is something I really need to do by
myself."
Kira
nodded and Jadzia keyed the door. She
walked inside and waited for the door to close behind her. "Lights."
The
room was illuminated and Jadzia could not help but feel that she was
trespassing somehow. It wasn't that she
didn't remember her things. She knew
exactly what everything was, she just couldn't remember why she had kept
them. Her glance fell to a gleaming
Bat'telh hanging on one wall. She walked
over to it and ran her palm down the blade.
There was nothing. Nothing except
a deep feeling of loss, a shadow of a memory.
Nothing more.
One
tear rolled silently down her cheek as she realized that she hadn't kept very
many things that were truly her own.
Whether she had decided that there would be plenty of time later, or she
had let her feelings of inadequacy stop her from collecting her own memories,
she could not remember.
She
quickly grabbed some leisure clothes, slammed them into a bag and headed out
the door. In the hallway, Kira stood
waiting for her with a smile that quickly turned down when she saw Jadzia. Placing an arm around her, she led her away.
They
walked all around the station, watching the wormhole out of the ports, and as
they did, Jadzia's mood lightened. When
the finally ended up at Quarks, they were both laughing and enjoying
themselves.
"Ladies,"
Quark said ingratiatingly. "I had a
feeling you might be dropping by, so I saved you the best table in the
house."
"You
mean you heard we were heading this way.
I know you Quark." Jadzia's
tone was harsh, but her smile was playful.
"C'mon Quack. Lead the
way."
"The
name is QUARK Lieutenant." He
scratched his lobe. "I must say I
have never seen you in this good of a mood.
It suits you."
"You
know something, Quark," Kira had a
strange look on her face that melted into a lovely smile. "I never thought I would say this, but I
agree with you."
Her
commbadge beeped. "Sisko to Major
Kira."
"Kira
here, go ahead."
"We've
decided to take the runabout out for a spin, Major. I think we may have found some answers, but
we want to do some more checking before we jump to any conclusions. How is Jadzia?"
"I'm
fine, Benjamin." Jadzia called over
Kira's shoulder.
"And
more obnoxious than ever." Quark
commented.
"Major," Sisko's voice had dropped a couple of
octaves. "Where are you?"
Kira
made an 'I told you so' gesture to Jadzia and cleared her throat. "We're at Quarks, Commander."
"That
wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I asked you to look after her."
"It
was my idea, Benjamin." Jadzia cut
in. "I didn't really give her any
choice."
"And
how are you feeling, old man?"
"I
feel fine. I'll feel better when you have some answers.
"We're
working on it, and we'll keep working on it until we have an answer."
"Thank
you, Benjamin."
"No
problem. We'll notify you when we get
back. Sisko out."
"Quark,
a bottle of Bajoran spring wine and two glasses." Kira began to walk away and then stopped
smiling wickedly. "And clear out
holosuite one." She took Jadzia by
the arm. "I have a program I want
to share with a friend."
Quark
sighed and went to do as she had asked, mumbling something under his breath
about Rule of Acquisition #94. If it
were anybody but the Major, he would have laughed in their face. Somehow, Kira never seemed to get that kind
of response from him.
***************************************
"So,
what are we doing?" Jadzia
asked. She was sitting in the middle of
the holosuite floor with a basket full of items Quark had 'donated'.
"Wait," Kira pressed a finger to her
lips. "Watch."
Jadzia
glanced around her as Kira called out, "Computer, run program
Kira-4B."
As
she watched, a soft wind came up and caressed her body. Jadzia sighed at its pleasant touch, then
gasped as the sun began to peek out over the tops of Bajoran mountains. To the left was a lake, small, but clear and
beautiful. She could smell the water on
the breeze and heard the sounds of small animals waking to the morning light.
"Kira,"
she breathed. "This is
gorgeous. Where are we?"
"At
"It's
beautiful." She glanced at
Kira. "Just like its
namesake."
The
Major felt her face begin to flush and turned away. It had been a long time since someone had
told her she was beautiful, that's all, she told herself. She stretched out next to Jadzia on the
blanket that had come with the program and opened the basket. Inside were two bottles of spring wine (Leave
it to Quark to try to suck up.) two stemmed glasses, a plate of has'brak, and
another one of gagh. She immediately set
the latter as far away from her as possible.
As she was opening one of the bottles, she noticed Jadzia nibbling on
the gagh.
"Guess
you didn't lose your taste for that...stuff." She muttered.
"Hmm...no,
I guess not." She took a glass from
the Major and sipped it. It was sweet
and full. A light red wine, it reminded
her of a type of fruit that Benjamin had given her once, but she could not
remember the name of it. "Mmm, very
nice. Looks like I've just developed
another taste."
They
drank both of the bottles of wine and ate all of the has'brak. They watched the day pass, and slept. When they woke, they swam in the lake and lay
out in the sun once again to dry off.
They left the holosuite 5 hours after they entered it. They were both happy and relaxed.
Quark, however, was livid. He literally had to bite his tongue as they
were walking out. He didn't even want to
think about how much money he had lost.
The only up side was the favor that the Major now owed him. All he had to do was convince her she owed
him one.
***************************************
Kira
and Jadzia were silent as they walked back to the Majors quarters. It was a very comfortable silence that
carried with it a new warmth between them.
When they reached her door, Kira turned to her. "I need to check on the station. I was having such a lovely time that I forgot
I was supposed to meet Odo 15 minutes ago.
Will you be okay until I get back?"
Jadzia's
smile was slow and intimate. "I'll
be fine Nerys. Do you want me to come
with you?"
"No,
you look a little tired. Why don't you
get some rest." Kira looked at the
floor. "Would you like to have
dinner tonight?"
This
time, Jadzia's smile lit up her eyes as well.
"I would like that very much."
"Great,
I'll be back in about an hour and a half.
Feel free to use anything you want."
Kira
showed her the door code and left as the door slid shut. She felt glorious.
***************************************
Sisko
sat in silence on the
O'Brien
immediately placed a hand in the air to still Bashir, who had been going on and
on at the moment about his newest set of darts.
He moved to the runabouts main console.
"Well, Commander, it looks as though we've found something. The ionic pattern she was scanning has
intensified 274 percent in the last 12 minutes.
Our engines are off-line...I can't raise them. Shields are not responding....actually,
nothing is responding." He glanced
at Sisko. "We're dead in the water."
Bashir
cocked his head to one side.
"Listen," he whispered.
"Do you hear that?"
Both
of them fell silent and listened as a faint hum became more pronounced. It sounded like a ships engine running at
half impulse. From the sound, Sisko
judged that it should be in visual range.
Moving to the window, he looked out and his heart stopped for a
moment. Directly outside of the window
was a ship. At least, he thought it was
a ship. It had the sheen of an unknown
metal and was glowing a faint pink. He
watched as two clamps extended from its hull and grasped the runabout with a
solid 'thud'. A beam flashed from the
ship and scanned across all three of them.
Apparently satisfied, the scan shut off and a transporter beam lit up
the runabout. When it faded, a woman
stood where it had been.
"Is
there assistance you require?" Her
voice was rich and deep.
"Yes,"
Sisko moved forward a step and bowed slightly.
"I am Commander Benjamin Sisko.
These are my companions Dr. Julian Bashir and Chief Miles O'Brien. We are here because of assistance that you
have already given to another member of my staff."
"Oh?" The woman's features shifted and Dax stood
before them. "This creature is the
one of whom you speak?"
"Yes!"
"The
creature from which I removed the parasite."
"Correct,
well, somewhat correct." Bashir
interjected. "The creature you
removed was not a parasite."
"Not
a parasite?" Dax flickered back
into the woman who had first appeared.
"Explain."
Bashir
looked at her suspiciously. "Did
Dax not tell you anything when you first asked her if she required assistance?"
The
woman looked sad for a moment. "I'm afraid she could not have answered me
if I had asked. She had expired before I
boarded this ship."
"Expired? How?"
"The
fault was mine. I answered her scan with
one of my own. I was unfamiliar with
your humanoid type species. It
terminated her." The woman placed
her hands behind her back. "This
was not acceptable, so I have reversed that termination. In the process, I discovered the organism
within her. I removed it."
"That
organism was half of a joined species."
Sisko informed her. "And the
remaining half wants him back, badly."
She
looked confused for a moment and then nodded.
"I do not begin to understand her want of the parasite, but if what
you say is true, I will re-implant the organism within her. But there is something you should know,
Commander."
"And
what is that?" Sisko asked, a bad
feeling had taken root in his chest.