Chapter Text
- The Incident
The loci of the explosion was the brig but the fast snaking fuse that raced through the station was lit in, of all places, a promenade shop.
Before that, there was the command office. The station was going to host – or be subjected to – the brief presence of a man Julian had every reason to hate. But as he’d told Sisko when being informed of this fact, “I don’t hate him. Honestly, I just don’t. Don’t get me wrong, I hate what he did, to me and to all of you. But a being who would do that to another person? How empty life must be for someone who treats other people like husks to inhabit.”
Julian had given an involuntary shudder at the thought. With this, Captain Sisko had seen enough to trust he had the measure of how Julian would react to knowing the Dominion agent who’d impersonated him for over a month would be returning as part of the team conducting a prisoner exchange under Odo’s supervision.
Still, with the recent bombshell about the doctor’s genetic background now out in the open, Sisko had to be certain. “Are you sure about this, Doctor? To run into a hated enemy in other circumstances is a very real hazard in any war, even more so in peace. For most of my officers, after what you experienced, a thrown punch might not even make it as far as an incident report. But with the information about your background having so recently come out…”
Julian took in the Captain’s consideration and smiled at the thoughtfulness of it. “You mean, Starfleet is afraid my genetically enhanced temper will get the better of me and I’ll start a war?”
Sisko allowed a slight smile. “It sounds ridiculous, mostly because it is. But they come by those twitchy nerves honestly.”
Julian nodded. Fair point. “I understand that, Captain.”
“However, you have your own battle-won reactions to contend with, especially in response to this so-called man.” Julian enjoyed the flare of emotions Sisko visibly tramped down at the thought of referring to his dopple as any kind of ‘man.’ It reminded him of the mood O’Brian called ‘getting his Irish up.’ “And your experiences are far more recent than theirs are with the genetics wars. So say the word, and I will tell them they can conduct their precious prisoner exchange out in the vast expanse of open space, as far as we’re concerned.”
“Wouldn’t that kill our prisoners, too?” Julian asked, grinning that Sisko would float such a wild breach of protocol – not to mention, duty – even as a comforting joke.
“Oh, I have every faith in our ability to grab people from mid-air with the transporters.”
“Or mid-lack-of-air,” Julian offered.
“Exactly.” Sisko tossed his baseball up in the air and snatched it back again with an easy, practiced catch.
Comforting as all this was, the charade had gone on long enough. “The thought is appreciated, Captain. But I joined Starfleet with my eyes open. I knew there might be days we made peace with former enemies. I always thought I’d be the kind of man to buy a former enemy a drink after peace is declared but perhaps, in the case of this particular one, I’ll just treat him to my keeping my head down in the infirmary, this afternoon.”
Sisko nodded. “Probably for the best. Your special orders for the rest of the day are to keep as busy or as idle as you deem necessary to help the time pass as quickly as possible.” The captain put the baseball back in its cradle and stepped with Julian toward the door. “And keep a few treatments for dermal abrasions handy.” Off Julian’s quizzical expression, he added “You’re not the only one who might like to take a swing at him.”
Julian accepted this comfort as well as a warm pat on the shoulder as he left to go back to the infirmary. He’d been replaying the conversation in his mind, savoring the pride Captain Sisko took in his reaction and the protective way he’d jokingly offered to tell The Dominion to host their prisoner exchange out in the merciless vacuum of space when he found his feet taking him to Garak’s shop.
It was an indulgence, of course. Julian knew he should be getting back to the infirmary. But there was nothing urgent at the moment, so the work there could wait, and wasn’t he under orders to distract himself? Besides, he reasoned, it might be good to give Garak a head’s up as to the station’s current guest of dishonor. If those two ran into each other in the replimat, I can’t imagine any hypospray could contain the fallout.
Of course, there had been some distance between Julian and his friend lately. But that was hardly unusual, Julian reminded himself, given all that had happened to Garak in so short a time. Being kidnapped, experiencing his father’s death while imprisoned, the extreme claustrophobia he’d had to repeatedly subject himself to in order to get them out… Of all the things that had happened, Julian found his mind going back to the moment Garak had spotted him in the camp. Julian knew a number of Garak’s masks now. Somehow the thought of the one he wore when he’d realized the Julian on the station was an imposter always sent a chill down Julian’s spine.
Yes, he should be warned, Julian decided. After all he fought through to get us home, we owe him that.
Julian felt relief as he crossed over the familiar shop entrance. It felt good to see Garak smile at him from behind a display he was adjusting. It was a wane smile but with grief and recent trauma compounding on each other, Julian assumed returning to his usual insouciance would simply take time.
“My dear doctor, what brings you to my humble shop so early in the day? I’d have thought you’d be at work now.” Garak’s eyes never seemed to meet Julian’s for more than a second. “Vaccines to fill out, reports to hypospray into arms, the usual.”
“You, my dear Garak.” Out of an abundance of caution, Julian shut the door behind him. “I’m here for you. I just received word that the prisoner exchange today is being conducted by…Well, not exactly an old friend. More like an old enemy. I thought you should know.”
“Oh?” replied the tailor without breaking away from his efforts for even a moment. “And which enemy would that be? Don’t tell me it’s Gul Dukat or I’ll close the shop and make popcorn for the inevitable moment Major Kira hears of it.”
“No,” Julian offered. “Though that would be funny. It’s the shifter who took my place on the station.”
Here is where Julian expected a repeat of Sisko’s talk. A thoughtful, light review of Julian’s very mature and, of course, highly evolved take on the matter. Let bygones be bygones for the sake of peace, acknowledge that while causes may be righteous – on occasion – soldiers rarely are. What wouldn’t any of us do for our homeworlds? Etc...
In the split second before his world was divided into before and after, Julian even wondered if Garak would respond to his attitude with some extra kindness, the way the captain had. He felt fully justified in assuming he would soon be rewarded with a little Garak time, a bit of a chat or maybe even a flirt to thaw the strange chill that had settled between them ever since…
The silence hit Julian’s senses first. Garak had just had a bombshell of news dropped on him. But instead of offering any number of sly commentaries on it, there was silence. He wasn’t saying anything.
Garak wasn’t saying anything for an unusually long time.
At first, Julian’s mind couldn’t wrap itself around what it was or wasn’t hearing. The silence was deep, like snow drifts, all the more treacherous for appearing strong enough to support you on the surface. It lasted only a few seconds before Julian fell under, succumbing to the depths, but in those seconds the silence spilled out over the counters and floors, seeping into the blood of all it touched.
“Oh?”
Garak’s attempt at a casual tone was noble but came far too late. Not helped at all by the slightest quiver in his usually steady hand.
In that moment, Julian’s subconscious did the math that his conscious brain shut down in an effort to rebel against. He felt his body mirror Garak’s, his own hands starting to tremble as a cold sweat came over them, blood draining from his face as if death itself stepped between the men. Unaware of this change or of anything else that existed in that moment, Julian’s eyes narrowed like a hawk’s as it dived for the kill.
“No….”
It wasn’t possible. But when Garak caught his tone and finally lifted his head to look Julian in the eyes - exposing a level of vulnerability and apprehension Julian had never seen there before - he knew. It was five or six layers deep, perhaps undetectable to anyone who hadn’t made a study of Garak’s every mood and mask, who couldn’t detect every blown pupil or racing pulse point, but it was there.
Registering this was the last purely conscious thought Julian would experience until he came to in the brig, woken from his numb state by the smell of burning flesh.
**************************************
Garak recovered control with practiced speed, born of the sort of experience that allowed him to process several pieces of information at once despite the shock of the news: 1. Fast as his recovery was, he hadn’t been fast enough. 2. Julian had seen through him. 3. Matters were about to explode.
For a split second, he thought he could get around the display and to Julian before the younger man could recover – or at least before he could get his athletic and damnably enhanced body to re-open the door to the shop and bolt from the scene.
Unfortunately, that was not the case.
Inwardly cursing himself for not lying faster or just being in better shape, Garak raced after Julian into the promenade with a speed that few would’ve credited to him but which still wasn’t enough to match the younger man, much less catch up from behind. Frantic, he spilled out an array of options and outcomes in his mind until he found a viable idea – though hardly a good one.
Kira was too far away. She’d seen Julian take off in one direction and soldier instincts had kicked in. She raced with him. Whatever monster he was running to or from, she was with him – taking her communicator with her. Dammit.
Eyes wild but mind still under nominal control, Garak spotted Jadzia in Kira’s wake.
“Garak, what’s-”
But Garak was already grabbing her com. “Odo! Transport the changeling to the brig RIGHT NOW.”
“Garak?” Odo replied – demonstrating in only two syllables that he had every intention of treating the conversation as if lives weren’t in danger. “I don’t know how you got this comm link, but no matter how distasteful-”
Only a low, involuntary growl escaping Garak allowed Odo to get out as many words as he did. “GET HIM IN PROTECTIVE CUSTODY NOW!”
Elsewhere on the station, deep in Odo’s domain, Odo and a fellow shifter who knew his face far better than Odo knew the other man’s shared a look of surprise.
It was then Odo heard the pounding footfalls barreling toward them.
The other man looked to Odo, bemused at the bond he assumed Odo wouldn’t break between them. “You wouldn’t-”
“Security emergency transport, one to brig!”
The other changeling’s face fell in annoyance as he dematerialized from where he stood and reappeared a few steps away behind a secure energy field. But any banal disappointment vanished as a creature who only vaguely resembled the station’s doctor raced past the security team in the hall and ran into the energy barrier like it was no more than a spider web.
The force field disagreed with this assessment and held. But only just.
“JULIAN!” Kira was the first to find her voice and the first of the hallway witnesses to catch up to their destination. She grabbed for his arm before he could throw himself into the barrier again but despite her strength, he flung her aside like a discarded shirt and jumped shoulder-first into another part of the barrier, snarling. The smell of gabardine fabric and skin burning against the force field filled the room like there’d been a volley of phaser fire.
When Julian’s third try wasn’t enough to overpower the barrier, the changeling on the other side smirked. The smirk faded as Julian pushed his face directly against the barrier itself, burns be damned, and spoke in a low growl that iced the room as if his rage just bore a breach into the hull.
“Listen to me, you spineless wretch. I’m going to dry you out until your desiccated husk disintegrates into a thousand dust flakes. I’m going to deposit each one on the surface of a different star. YOU WILL BURN FOR ETERNITY. Then I’m going to dedicate the rest of my life to wipe out every reference to your name that was ever uttered. I WILL UN-EXIST YOU!”
This was the last threat uttered before Odo grabbed his badge again. “Emergency security transport to brig number 2.”
A very young voice from the transporter team responded, “But didn’t you just-”
“Do it!”
…And this transport might’ve been as uneventful as the first if their changeling guest didn’t use that moment to recreate his image after Julian’s – right down to the uniform – and blow his dopple a kiss from the other side of the barrier’s protection.
“Julian!” Kira’s voice went unheeded as Julian reacted on primal instincts, throwing himself into another section of the barrier.
The sound of the transporter glitched in and out of the room as Julian evaporated. Everyone looked to the empty second brig.
Kira spun around, phaser out, prepared for anything to happen next. “Where is he?”
“I’m sorry, sir,” the transporter engineer’s voice picked up again in the room. “The pattern’s mixed in with the energy from the brig’s force field. I’ve never had to pull someone out of an energy barrier before. Attempting to compensate-”
“Don’t attempt it,” Odo snapped. “DO IT!”
“Get him back, Ensign!” Kira called before Odo had the chance to snap again.
After an endless few seconds and a few more halting scratches, Julian materialized inside the second brig, wounded and drained. The second-degree burns from the energy field had started to blister around his face and arms. He stumbled back, collapsing onto the cot and against the wall behind it.
Julian blinked a few times, no longer looking at his smirking twin in the brig opposite. Instead, his mind’s eye watched a mountain of dominoes fall in every conceivable direction. His friends, stunned, only stared at him in shock. And trepidation.
Unseen behind them all, Garak watched Julian numbly attempt to glimpse even a fraction of the newfound ramifications. Like Julian, only the presence of a nearby wall kept him upright.
**************************************
Captain Sisko sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. How did this go so wrong? “I agree that if the matter is as it seems, steps will need to be taken.”
“If it’s as it seems? Captain-”
“Admiral, I spoke with Dr. Bashir not minutes before the incident. He was sanguine about the Changeling’s arrival. His responses were perfectly in-line with Starfleet protocols. He agreed to stay in the infirmary, as a precaution, but bore no significant ill-will that I could see.”
“Then you didn’t look hard enough.”
Ben stared down at the camera relaying his side of the call. “I looked very hard. Which is why I won’t support any disciplinary action until I get more information from the witnesses.”
Admiral Ross shook his head. “The Dominion already submitted a pretty thorough accounting of the event.”
“Really?” Sisko replied, relishing at least one moment of having the upper hand. “So they told you the Changeling transformed back into Julian and blew him a kiss, did they?”
No matter how much the admiral may have wanted to appear in charge of this talk, Sisko was gratified to see his eyes go wide at that little revelation. When he found his voice, it was less righteous than it had been a few seconds before. “No, they left that out.”
“A minor error made in the heat of the moment, I’m sure,” Sisko offered. “But it’s on the surveillance video, if you’d care to see for yourself.”
As if a switch had been flipped, the Admiral went from dressing down a subordinate to shaking his head with a work colleague. “Christ, Ben. These Changelings will be the death of us, won’t they?”
Sisko nearly smiled at the change in tone but held his response in check. “Perhaps. But seeing as not one hair was mussed on this shifter’s head – so to speak – I see no reason why they should prove to be the death of anyone today.” When the admiral didn’t agree, he pushed on. “It was a lapse in judgement-”
“A damned lapse in judgement!”
“I completely agree, and the doctor can and will be punished accordingly. But you’ve known me to throw a few choice words in the wrong ear, from time to time, Admiral. I’d like to think Starfleet still considers me worth keeping around.”
The admiral’s next words sent a chill down Sisko’s spine. “The difference is we like you.”
Still, Ben forced a smile. “That’s very gratifying, Admiral. Despite it all, I like you, too. Most days.”
With that, Sisko finally coaxed a laugh from the Admiral. “Fair enough! Just see to it that doctor of yours in punished. None of us have time for another war, least of all with Changelings or the enhanced. Though it might be fun to watch them fight each other!” The admiral laughed again at that.
Sisko could feel a sour taste seep into his grin at the admiral’s flippant attitude. “I hope I haven’t taken up too much of your time.”
“Not at all. But the Dominion liaison will want to dress you down personally. Expect their call.”
After a move of his head that could be either a nod or a shake, Sisko responded. “Looking forward to it.”
“And just promise me I’ll be able to live a long life without ever again hearing the name Julian Bashir.”
With a small flinch, Sisko bit back the urge to correct him with the words Doctor Julian Bashir. “Of course, Sisko out.”
Odo stepped into the room as the call ended. “We’ve taken in the Federations POWs and moved them to temporary quarters. The Dominion-allied prisoners have boarded their transport.”
“All but one, I’m assuming.”
“I’m moving him personally. So? Do we still have a doctor on board?”
That question brought out a sigh the captain had only been dimly aware he’d been holding back. “For now. Honestly, I was going to ask you the same question.”
“Me?”
“Not to put too fine a point on it, but has he returned to himself?”
Odo paced slightly. Sisko reflected that his security chief wasn’t as blasé about delivering bad news as his reputation made him out to be. “Someone from medical saw to his burns, or tried to.”
“Tried to?”
“Bashir’s only movements since it happened were to take the dermal regenerator being used on him and change the settings.”
In the back of his mind, Sisko had an idea where this was going. It was the same place this whole day was going: Hell on a sled, as his grandfather used to say. Still, the duties of command required at least leaning toward optimism. “If anyone knows the correct settings for that equipment, it would be Julian.”
Odo shook his head. “He dialed it down. His hands and face are repaired but he’ll be left with some nasty scarring on his arms until someone completes the treatment. So far, that’s been the only change. He’s still... unresponsive.”
With a nod, Sisko got up to stretch his legs. He didn’t like the sight of Odo pacing. It never boded well. “I wish I understood what happened. One moment, he was sitting in this room, no farther from me than you are now. The next…”
“And you saw nothing in him to indicate he was capable of this?”
Sisko wasn’t fond of the sharp tone Odo employed. What’s worse, he couldn’t say it was misplaced. “Nothing. This was minutes – practically seconds – before the attack.”
“Maybe he’s as dangerous as the Federation high command worried he was?”
With a shake of his head, Sisko brushed the question aside. “Even if that were true, what are the odds this was set off by nothing? Can you say you’d feel your report was complete, listing the cause for a change this sudden as ‘unknown?’”
Odo shook his head. “No, I can’t say I would.”
“Then get me an explanation I can work with, preferably before-”
The sound of an incoming call beeped from Sisko’s screen. He threw a mild, put-upon look to his chief of security. “That’ll be the Dominion.”
With a nod, Odo retreated to the door. “Tell them their spy is on his way home, unharmed. Again. I’ll see what I can do about the rest.”
“Thank you.” With his game face already in place, Captain Sisko braced himself in his chair before answering the call. He had a feeling it was going to be a long one.
**************************************
Kira sat facing backward on a chair, watching Julian. But for breathing and blinking his eyes, he seemed lost to the world – or at least to his fellow officers.
Thankfully, he also seemed lost to his companion in being brig’ed. The changeling formerly known as Julian paced impatiently behind his force field, throwing out barbs and insults for his own amusement.
“In all my years of experience, your life was an especially pathetic one, if you were wondering. All those books! I even tried one of your holosuite fantasies. PA-THE-TIC!”
Julian didn’t so much as quirk his head in response, same as he hadn’t for any of the other insults lobbed his way for the past half-hour. Good for you, Kira thought. I don’t know where you are right now but don’t let him in there. Let him rant ‘til his life force runs out.
“Honestly, I thought they were insane – IN-SANE – for sending me in as you. Give me a science officer, or a Bajoran, something I can sink my teeth into! Even reading your personal logs was a nightmare!”
I know something Bajoran you can sink your teeth into, Kira thought. It’d be the last moment your jaw was attached to your skull, but I’d be happy to take a bite for the team. It was a facile thought considering the shifter’s abilities, but she found it comforting, all the same.
Jadzia entered the room behind Kira. “No change?”
Kira only shook her head.
Still, the droning voice droned on. “I thought at least your so-called tailor would pose a problem.”
…And with that, Julian’s face reacted in a distinct blink.
Kira raised an eyebrow but kept her reactions in check. Don’t feed the attention monster, don’t do it… Whether she was mentally talking to herself or Julian she couldn’t say.
But the Attention Monster, as Kira decided to call him, carried on all the same. “That was the only time the role at least passed for something interesting. Imagine the stories they’ll sing about me! The spy who fooled one of Cardassia’s most notorious Obsidian Order agents! The hand-picked protégé of Enabran Tain! I was actually intimidated by that prospect, at first. Until I realized why they picked you in the first place.”
The knuckles on Julian’s hands started to pale….
Just a few more minutes, Julian. Don’t let him get to you. He’s not worth it….
But behind Kira, unaware of the tactics of the mental war being fought in front of her, Jadzia’s reactions were anything but in check. She turned and stared at the changeling in evident curiosity.
“Oh, the power you wield, little pawn. I never thought I’d live to see the day! The Obsidian Order’s most fearsome agent, broken like a puppy on a leash.”
Kira watched in alarm as a pulse point began to throb on Julian’s forehead.
“Such a tight leash, you keep him on, too! You think you’re safe here between your Cardassian systems and your Federation tactics. You’ve no idea… The greatest security asset you could hope to use, so starved, so thoroughly broken, all I had to do was take the leash off.” He giggled here, Julian’s discomfort beginning to show even from the shifter’s distant vantage point. “It really was the most rudimentary ploy. Every good burglar knows, if you want the family jewels, sometimes you have to throw the guard dog a bone. How the little bitch enjoyed it!”
Kira felt her eyes widen as Jadzia gripped her arm. Suddenly, the pieces fell together with far too much clarity. “Prophets,” she muttered. No wonder Julian snapped!
“The amorous declarations were a bit arch, if you want my review. But he really makes the most delightful faces, don’t you know? No, of course, you don’t. That’s the only reason this entire gambit worked in the first place! Here, would you like a preview?”
The changeling started to turn… but nothing happened. He closed his eyes and focused for a few seconds but he remained in his humanoid state. Shocked, he whirled around in fear. “What is this? What have you done to me?”
Odo stepped from the doorway into the room, holding an unusual light box, like a campfire lamp. “Neat little toy isn’t it? Courtesy of Enabran Tain. If you see him where you’re going, do give him my regards.”
With that, Odo lowered the force field. The changeling found himself flanked on all sides by security, two officers grabbing his arms.
Kira stood and faced him. “He means the Fire Caves. What you might call Hell… or wherever it is creatures like you go when this plane of existence has had enough of you. Just in case that wasn’t clear.”
Squirming but to no effect, the changeling stared at Odo in horror. “You’d do this to one of your own kind?”
“After what you just confessed to? There’s nothing ‘kind’ about you.” Satisfied with the arrangements, Odo handed Kira the change-inhibitor. “Kira will get you back to your ship. I trust her entirely.”
As she was not yet aware of any treaty or law that prohibited smiling, she offered their guest a very devious one. Let him squirm. By the time he’s back on his ship, he’ll have tortured himself for me.
The security team marched out the door, the shifter yelling about an outrage and ‘people will hear of this’ all the way. Before following, Kira turned to Jadzia and Odo.
“You’re not coming?” she asked Odo.
“I have to get an urgent message to the commander, and comms won’t do for this one.”
Jadzia spoke up before Kira could look to her. “Go,” she offered. “I’ll stay with Julian.”
With that, all three of them turned one last time to the only remaining prisoner in the room.
The numb anguish had returned to Julian’s face. Wherever he’d briefly surfaced from, he was back there again. If anything, looking more lost to them than before.
**************************************
“If you think for one moment, we’re going to let you investigate your own officer-”
Sisko kept to his usual professional demeanor but the call, the entire day, was beginning to weigh on him more than he cared to admit. “Of course, I assumed that wouldn’t satisfy you. Which is why my chief of security is in charge of the matter. I trust you’re familiar with him?”
The angry shifter yelling down the line from the Dominion grinned at the idea. “Yes, we know of Odo. If you think one of our own is going to carry your Federation line of bull for one second, you’ll have another thing coming. If Odo swears to us his investigation is complete, we will be happy to accept his word for it.”
“Then you have it,” Odo announced his entrance from the door before he could even be seen on screen. He moved to stand behind Sisko. “I’ve sent a detailed incident report, complete with video footage, along with your former POWs – unharmed – on the transport.”
Stunned, the representative sat back from his screen. “Video and audio?” he asked with naked suspicion.
At this, Odo shook his head slightly. “Unfortunately, we’ve been having trouble with the audio all week. I’ve had to transcribe the audio from memory for you.”
Sisko could feel his eyes shoot toward the head of security at the unusual lie but quickly covered it. “And you’re sure your report is complete?” he asked, quirking his head slightly to imply his meaning.
Odo nodded to his superior and the Dominion representative. “Quite complete, I think you’ll find. This was a simple matter of an unfortunate run-in between two men who should’ve been kept apart until all our war wounds had a chance to heal. Nothing more.” The look Odo turned to give Sisko held its own deeper meaning and Sisko knew he didn’t need to be an empath to understand it. Go with this. Trust me.
Sisko turned to the representative and gave every impression of considering the matter settled. “As you can see, you’ve heard it from the man himself. Prisoner exchanges have always been a tricky business. I’d say we’re fortunate this only resulted in a few crossed words.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No,” Odo spoke up before Sisko could ask him to. “I expect you to believe me.”
With that, Sisko wound down the conversation quickly. He could feel anxiety radiating off his chief of security and was eager to know if it was limited to the unusual-for-him lie he just told or if there was something more going on here.
Before the last words of farewell were uttered, Odo’s hands were reaching to shut the comm link.
“Now,” Sisko began. “Can you please tell me how a simple prisoner exchange nearly started another war with-”
“Garak was raped.” Odo spit the words out fast, as if holding them had been a burden.
“Oh.” The word was out before Sisko had time to process what he’d heard. As he processed, the word only grew more fitting and more urgent. Oh. Oh.
Followed at last by one thought.
My God… We’re lucky the station’s still in one piece.