“You must be Commander Raynor.” Odo said as Raynor entered the security office.
“That I am.” He said back as he looked around the small office quickly. “I was told you are keeping some of my boys in here. I’m here to bail them out.” He said with a smile, hiding the fact that he was pissed that he had to come here at all.
“Captain Sisko said you were coming.” Odo said as he stood up sharply. “Come along, I'll take you to the offenders.”
“Might I know what they did to end up here?”
“You might want to ask Quark. Apparently they were cheating at Dabo and when Quark went over to ask them to leave one of them lashed out at him.” Odo laughs to himself dryly as he walks over to the cell with the marine and the ghost. “I don’t particularly mind Quark getting cheated for once but I can not abide by thuggerry.”
“Well boys, what do you have to say for yourselves.” Raynor said, looking at a downtrodden marine and an otherwise unfazed ghost.
“I’m sorry sir, we might have gotten a bit ahead of ourselves is all.” The marine said back, highly apologetic. Raynor glances over at the ghost who just sat there and said nothing back.
Raynor sighed to himself as he looked back at Odo.
“What are they being charged with?”
“Assault for one. Theft, conspiracy to commit crime, and being a public nuisance.”
“They throw you in the slammer for that around here?” Raynor asked, confused why the last one was a charge.
“Considering Mr. Paul Witiker here was yelling at the top of his lungs about something or another as he threw glasses of Tarkalian Ale around. I'd say so, yes.
“Leo over there took part in that too?” Raynor said in disbelief as he looked at the otherwise stoic ghost.
“Well I wasn’t there when it happened so I can’t say for certain, but the officers on the scene found them acting together so I just threw him in here too. He’s at least implicit in the conspiracy, Commander.” Odo said as he looked over a Padd in his hands.
“Well what happens now? Is there a way we can free my boys? I’d hate for them to be locked up here when we manage to find a way back.” Raynor said now concerned they may get trapped in another universe with no way home.
“Quark fully intends to press charges, no doubt to make back some of the money he lost to much of your crew.” Odo said as he scrolled the Padd down to look for more information.
“However Captain Sisko is working on that right now, so long as Quark doesn’t press charges I have no reason to hold them here.” Odo said, looking up from his Padd to Raynor now. He paused as he saw the concern on Raynor’s face.
“Look Commander, you and these men have my sympathies for what you are going through being away from home and all. But we can’t have disorderly conduct on the station simply because your men are homesick.” Odo said sternly, more to the men locked up than to Raynor.
“I’ll keep that in mind, constable.” Raynor said as he began to walk away followed closely behind by Odo. As Raynor was about to leave the office Odo spoke up.
“Oh and Commander.” Raynor turned back around to look at Odo when he spoke. “It might be best if these men were to steer clear of Quark’s bar for a while when they get out. When the Captain finishes speaking to him, Quark is sure to be in a bad mood and while I’d love nothing more than to arrest him, I doubt he’d give me a reason to.” Raynor just nods back at Odo in acknowledgement as he leaves, more unhappy now that he knows some of his men were causing a nuisance aboard the station.
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“Alright, move it up point 3 microns and left just 2 microns.” Dax said as she looked at her Padd whilst standing on the Bridge of the Spear of Adun alongside Karax.
“Based on the analysis of the last wave passing 2 microns might overshoot it, it might be better to reduce the movement to only 1.5 microns for the time being.” Karax responded as he began to make changes to the test firing mechanism.
“No, anything less than a 1.83 micron change might make us lose our elusive wave again. I think it's better to overshoot and then work backwards rather than slowly dialing it up.” She said as she made an edit on the Padd she was holding.
“Hmm.” Karax ponders. “Perhaps you are right, Jadzia. I shall make the appropriate change.” There was a short pause until Karax finished the adjustments and walked over to Dax.
“I suppose for now all we can do is wait and hope we hit the wave this time.” Dax said as she finally looked up from her Padd to stretch. “Anyway I got to say, this is quite an impressive ship, Karax.” Dax spent a moment admiring just the section of the ship they were on as she finally had a moment to think about something other than work.
“I do appreciate the compliment, Jadzia, but I was not the one who built this ship. It is an old relic from long ago. In fact it is hard enough to power this ship in our own universe let alone here, Solarite is quite a rare substance as I’ve mentioned.”
“Yeah, I’ve analyzed your Solarite processing station and the material is unlike anything I’ve seen before, its atomic structure is so volatile I’d assume it would be something that existed only in theory if I hadn’t seen it first hand.” Dax said with a smile. “If we are able to find naturally occurring Solarite deposit we could replace our dependence on Dilithium forever.”
“Perhaps, but it was rare in my universe so it is unlikely that if you, someone so well versed in astrophysics, had never seen it before, it may not exist in your universe.” Karax responded doubtfully.
“Perhaps.” Dax said back whimsically. “But that’s the fun with exploration, you never know what you’ll turn up.”
“I have a question of my own, Jadzia.” Karax said, changing the subject suddenly.
“You are more than welcome to ask anything you want, Karax. So long as I reserve the right to not answer.”
“I certainly hope you choose to answer, I find our discussions most enlightening.” Karax said, completely missing the sarcasm Jadzia used. “Well in our discussion of transporter technology, I was pondering the intricacies of how you digitize a person and move them to the desired location. I’ve come to the conclusion that it may be similar to our own methods of troop transport where we do something similar. But what confuses me is that it still is separate from your warp technology.”
“Well that's because we can’t create a stable warp bubble around a person.” Jadzia said as she ran her hand over one of the parts of the ship. “Even if we could there would be no way of either maintaining or dispelling said bubble, the person would be trapped going warp speed until they hit something.”
“I’m surprised your people haven’t figured out how to put a non space faring object into a warp bubble but that aside, in order to stop them at a desired destination we set up power fields. In fact when the power field was first created that was its intended purpose, of course back then it was not called a power field.”
“Wait.” Jadzia said far more interest now than before. “You are saying that the power field acts as a coordinate designator for everyone you transport?”
“Yes.” Karax said, almost confused, that Jadzia was surprised about this. “In fact it is not impossible to warp troops and materials to any location on a planet but without a stable powerfield there is no way to confirm if they will end up inside the ground or hundreds of meters above it.”
“I wonder if the same could be applied to our technology?” Jadzia wondered aloud.
“I’m not sure, without taking a look at how your transporters work I can not tell you.”
“I suppose the same can be said that I can’t take a look at your warp tech either. I suppose it is always scientists like us that get caught up in our government’s desire to keep state secrets secret.” She said as she leaned back against a control board.
“I suppose it is a great shame that I am not allowed to admire your technology up close. Artanis has also forbid me from sending probes to do the work in my place.”
“Probably for the best.” Jadzia said as she stood back up and grabbed the Padd again. “I doubt Benjamin would be pleased with a probe snooping around our transporter pads.”
“I suppose you are right, Jadzia.”
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Stolen story; please report.
Odo stepped carefully and slowly through the fleshy halls of the Leviathan. Everything he saw in here was so new to him. He had barely made it out of the entranceway but he could not hold back his curiosity of how such a being managed to live. He was enamored by the very creature he walked through but also the drone, a dog sized batlike crab creature that roamed around the floors carrying minerals and other small bits of things he could not identify. He could barely contain his excitement at the moment. However if asked he would no doubt deny such claims. So despite his curiosity about everything around him he kept up a calm demeanor, he refused to let his professional exterior be broken by something as childish as… wonder.
Of course he did take a small bit of pride knowing that it was he, not starfleet, that was allowed on board the Leviathan first. All because he had heard mention of Changelings being aboard as well. Of course he had no illusions about these creatures being his people, but he still could not help but want to see them. No, more than that. His very own nature as a changeling called him to this place. Everything in here was so different… so alien to him he wanted to know what it was like to be them.
He could rarely confide in others about his desire to become other things… other beings in order to understand them. Of course he had been practicing his shapeshifting in his own room in his spare time, and that was no secret, but his desire to become... to be something other than a humanoid all day long was hard to explain to anyone even if he wanted to, which he certainly did not.
Regardless he made it to the section of the Leviathan where he would meet up with his guide. Zagara.
“Ah it seems you have arrived.” Zagarra said as she watched patiently as Odo walked down the hall to her, hand running along the fleshy wall the entire time.
“Yes…” Odo said, a bit mystified, not looking at Zagara but still marveling at the creature he was inside.. “I was told to come find you to meet the other… the changelings.” He said, still a bit out of it but now looking at Zagara.
“My queen has allowed you to observe the swarm, though she warns you not to wander off on your own.” Zagara said as she turned around to lead the way. Odo just nodded to Zagara as he followed closely behind.
It took some time to arrive at a massive chamber with hundreds of overlords, bug-like creatures with massive centers in the shape of an orb, with enormous mandibles, huge front claws and several legs sprouting from the side of the ball shape, all floating around.
“The changelings are on standby in this chamber until they are needed.” Zagara said simply as she walked over to one of the overseers. A creature very similar to the overlord but with a darker hue and less legs as well as possibly 30 eyes on its massive round body. “However the changelings do not live long after they’re birthed so you will only be able to interact with one for a short time.” She said before looking up at the overseer to instruct it to produce a changeling.
What came out resembled a bulbous man-sized tumor on the ground with the same fleshy growths as many of the zerg have. However from the tumor was a long skinny creature whose upper torso loosely resembled a biped with only two long arms to presumably pull itself along. Odo was not the least bit phased as he walked up to the changeling and put his hand on it. He immediately tried to form a link with the creature and was met with an interesting result.
The first thing that happened was practically nothing, he felt no connection with the creature, nothing more than any other solid on the station would react. However after several moments of trying something did happen. The changeling began to melt. No, it began to turn gelatinous, much like he was when he reverted to his natural state. It was then that the link began.
It was not at all like the link he was used to though, rather than becoming one it was more akin to a sharing of thoughts, a shallow interpretation of a link but something similar. However it was what he heard that surprised him most.
Millions, if not billions of voices all talking at once. Of course “talking” was not the best way to describe it, but he could tell for certain they were communicating. Somehow by linking with this changeling he had, unknowingly, become one with the swarm. However even if it only seemed like a second for Odo, the creature could no longer maintain its life and it quickly fell apart, dead, ripping Odo out of the link with the swarm.
“That was… well I’m not sure how to describe that.” Odo said just as confused as Zagara looked. However before she could open her mouth to speak Kerrigan spoke to her first.
“Zegarra, bring our… guest to me. I think we have some things to discuss.” She said, having also felt the connection with Odo, if only for a moment.
“It seems my Queen would like to have a word with you.” Zegara said, now significantly more interested in this one that called himself Odo.
“Yes, I think I’d like a word with her as well…” He said still in shock with what he just experienced.
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“Nurse, I need 30 ccs of tranquilizer stat.” Bashir said as he rushed over to a Terran that was lying on his medical bed at the moment.
“Understood Doctor.” The nurse said as she ran out of the room to grab the requested medicine. Bashir used all of his strength to continue to hold down the man to prevent him from hurting himself but found it much harder than he expected. But while the nurse was out of the room he had a moment to collect his thoughts.
He was completely taken aback by the recent turn of events, one minute he had a Terran come into his office asking for something to relieve his fatigue and the next he was seizing violently. His eye dilation and profuse sweating led him to believe that the man was suffering from an acute form of withdrawal. However, he had just taken the blood sample, and while he had no time to thoroughly check to see if his blood did indeed have some sort of narcotic in it, he could tell at a glance that it was unlikely.
However that was the least of his worries at the moment. If he did not stabilize the Terran’s condition he could suffer catastrophic nerve damage and possibly kill himself before Bashir had time to diagnose his condition. But just as Bashir was beginning to struggle to hold the man down the nurse ran back into the room.
“Doctor.” She said to Bashir as she handed him the hypospray. Without missing a beat Bahir let go of one of the arms and quickly stuck the hypospray into the man’s neck. It took a few moments for the Terran to calm down but after a bit he stopped seizing and passed out.
“Thank you Dotlan,” Bashir said with a nod to his nurse as he breathed heavily to himself. The worst was passed, assuming the man did not go into shock due to his body’s rejection of the tranquilizers he should be fine when he woke up. Aside from a minor amount of muscle fatigue hopefully. But there was something wrong about this whole scenario. In fact this was the 12th case of “fatigue” he had treated since the Terrans came to the station. Every single time a Terran entered his office complaining of fatigue, he would look them over and they would seem to be suffering from much more than fatigue. However even when he pressed the issue the Terrans seemed uncomfortable sharing more of their condition with him so he was forced to give them help and send them on their way. But this… this was much worse. He had to know why this man had reacted so strongly, what gave him the seizures.
While the Terran rested on the medical bed behind him, Bashir went to work reading through the blood diagnostic results as well as doing a few other tests on the unconscious man. However the more and more he tested, the more a worst case scenario began to unfold before him.
“It is not a virus.” Bashir said to Sisko in his office after several more hours of painstaking work.
“Excuse me?” Sisko said, confused as to why Bashir, who suddenly burst into his office, was suddenly talking about a not-virus.
“The affliction from your vision, it is not a virus like we first thought.” Bashir said as walked over to Sisko and put a Padd down on his desk. He knew that most of what was on there was results of his diagnosis that Sisko wouldn’t read but as they were an integral part of his conclusion he included them in the report.
Sisko became immediately invested as soon as Bashir mentioned his vision, leaning in closer to show his newfound attentiveness.
“What we are seeing here sir is something that can be likened to taking a fish out of water.” Bashir says a bit exasperated.
“Wait.” Sisko said, more confused now than before. “You are saying that they can’t breathe?”
“Close but not quite, sir.” Bashir said as he walked over to the small screen in the office and pulled up the medical database to show a cell taken from the Terran in the medbay. “All of these people from the other universe. Their bodies contain an energy called Psionics.”
“I have heard mention of the psionic abilities that many of them possess but I admit I have not yet read up on it.” Sisko said, folding his arms.
“Their psionic abilities are far more versatile but can be likened to the Lisepians ability to produce electricity or a Betazoid’s ability to read minds. However it runs far deeper than that.” Bashir said as he clicked a button on the monitor and the display put a purple web around the cell on screen.
“Every person from their universe has some level of psionic ability. Even those without the talent for making use of it still contain the energy within them, albeit in much smaller quantities.” Bashir said as he brought up some RNA and DNA charts as well as a few cell samples on the side to prove his point.
“It is a natural part of their body that they slowly let off this psionic energy from their bodies as a means to prevent themselves from becoming too overburdened.” Bashir then shows the web slowly being shaved off.
“Now, since this is a natural part of their state of being, this shedding process is unharmful and unnoticable. Normally, and I’m guessing here, the psionic web that surrounds their cells is supposed to be replenished from the outside.”
“From the outside?” Sisko said finally chiming back in.
“Yes sir. They do not produce the psionic web from within their bodies; instead their bodies have adapted to take in psionic energies from around them.” Bashir paused as he turned back to Sisko. “If I were to guess their universe is probably saturated with psionic energies, so much so that no matter how much they expunge more can take its place. Similar to how we breathe an oxygen-nitrogen mixture and exhale carbon dioxide.” Bashir turned back to the monitor and pressed another button and the web slowly crumbled away until it disappeared.
“However our universe doesn’t have any psionic energy, or at least no amount that can be measured. And since they have no energy to replace the amount they are shedding…” Bashir was stopped when Sisko spoke up.
“They are struggling to breathe like fish out of water.” He finished.
“Yes sir.” Bashir nodded in affirmation. “I would assume that since our universe lacks any notable psionic energy that it is straining their bodies more than normal, in effect they are losing the energy even faster due to the vacuum that exists here. To put it bluntly sir, if they were to stay here they would all die.” There is a somber moment of silence as both men look horrified.
“Is there anything we can do for them?” Sisko said after a moment.
“I’m not sure sir, I’ve confirmed with Selendis that there is no viable way to transfer the psionic energies one has. Even if they could all it would do is transfer from one to another it wouldn’t stop people from being affected. And that's not the worst of it sir.” Bashir said as he pulled up another identical cell next to the one on the screen.
“The process seems to be speeding up, there seems to be no bearing on how much energy their body can hold versus how quickly they shed the energy, some will fall faster than others but the longer they stay here the more quickly this will affect them.”
There is another pause from Sisko as he wrapped his head around this.
“Alright Doctor, I want you to inform the captains of all three ships of your findings, and coordinate with anyone that you can to find a way to stop this “psionic bleed” as quickly as possible. If we can’t stop this before it gets worse, forget about getting them home, we’d be looking at a mass genocide.”
