NEW: Kail's Story 5/5 [PG] DS9
Carolann Potee
Author: Carolann Potee
Contact: cpo...@towson.edu
Series: DS9, season 5-ish
Part: 5/5
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Star Trek and all entities relating to it belong to
Paramount.
I just like to write stories about it, so please don't sue me.
Archive: ASC only, but link to
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/9166
Summary:
Kail is a lonely changeling living on Bajor and he falls for a young
woman
who knows him better than he thinks. When they detour to Bajor, will he
be found out? Find out now!
*****************************************************
But he hasn't taken a sample from me yet! Kail thought to
himself, confused.
A frightening smile crossed O'Brien's features, and he
suddenly morphed to escape through the vent that he had come
through to plant the bomb. Captain Sisko had promptly ordered
security to lock down every force field in the area, but some of
them were still non-operational. All the non-essential personnel
would have to be sealed in their quarters and tested, including
Connie; but Kail, with his engineering experience, was asked if he
would stay to help finish the repairs, so it was possible for Kail to
avoid being tested a while longer. Connie seemed to realize the
fact that Kail may not be staying with her when she was told by a
security officer to go back to her quarters.
"Will you wait just a moment?" Connie asked the security
officer sternly, and then she turned back to Kail as he sullenly
returned to his repair work. "Kail why don't you come with me? I
personally would rather not be alone, and I'm sure you could use
some friendly company as well."
"I... I can't, Connie," Kail said, continuing to do repairs.
"They need my help."
"I'm sure they can do without you!" Connie exclaimed,
becoming concerned again, and the security officer was becoming
impatient. "Won't you stay with me? Please?"
Kail turned to face Connie with a sad look on his face.
"Connie, I can't... There are just things you don't know about me.
These people will need more than just assistance repairing the
damage; I must stay and help. I can't hide from it any longer."
Sisko and Bashir, who had been chatting behind them
amongst themselves for a few moments after O'Brien's
disappearance, couldn't help but overhear his statement. "Hide
from what?" they both said in unison.
Kail grimaced with anxiety as they all looked at him
expectantly. He hesitated for a long moment, refusing to meet their
eyes in shame and said, "I... am a Changeling."
"What??" Sisko said with surprise. Dr. Bashir stared with
shock, a look of horror etched on his face. Connie's expression had
not changed, however, but she looked at him as if awaiting an
explanation.
"I'm not supposed to be here," Kail implored, his eyes fixed
on the floor. "I was content living by myself on Bajor; no one
knew I was a Changeling, so I was accepted when I moved to the
village. I never wanted to come here because I knew I would
probably be caught and found out. I assure you, I am not a violent
person, and I did not set that bomb. I only wanted to live in peace."
Seeing that Kail had admitted himself and had not tried to
run away, Sisko and Bashir relaxed a little. Since the other
Changeling had already shown himself to be the most likely
culprit, the last thing Sisko wanted was to have to worry about
Kail.
"I'm sorry, Connie," Kail said sadly. "I never wanted to hurt
you. I suppose I can't really expect things to be the name now, can
I."
"I don't see why not," Connie said almost happily. "I
already knew about it, Kail."
His head snapped up. This time, it was Kail's turn to stare.
"Do you remember when I asked you what made you think
I didn't already know all your secrets?" she continued. "I've known
since before we started hiking."
"You... You did?" Kail was at a loss for words.
She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Yes, Kail, I did. It
doesn't matter to me that you're a Changeling. I'll admit, when I
first saw it, I was a bit cautious; but I see you for who you really
are: the man I've fallen in love with."
With that, she pressed her lips against his and pulled him
closer in their embrace. Kail was so happy that she didn't hate him
that he almost felt as if he would literally melt in her arms. He
returned her kiss deeply and wrapped his own arms around her.
When they finally parted, both were smiling happily and Connie
was left slightly breathless.
"Excuse me, Sir, but I still have to take her back to her
quarters," the security officer said, who had been momentarily
forgotten.
"No, Kail, please come with me!" Connie pleaded, taking
his hand. "I don't want to see anything happen to you."
"It's all right, Connie," Kail reassured her, giving her hand
a squeeze. "I'll be fine; I just have to help Captain Sisko find Chief
O'Brien and the other Changeling. After that, we can do anything
you want. For now, please go. You'll be safer if you go back to
your quarters and wait."
The security officer took her arm and pulled her back
towards the turbo lift to the habitat ring down the corridor and she
did not resist. Kail watched her go as Captain Sisko and Doctor
Bashir approached him.
"How can I assist in your search, Captain?" Kail asked as
he turned to face them.
"I've contacted Constable Odo and he's on his way," Sisko
answered. "I'd like you to help Odo and Dr. Bashir find the chief
while I lead five other teams to find the Changeling. What's your
full name, Kail?"
"Tescar Kail, Sir," Kail said as an alien-looking man with a
very smooth, and relatively featureless, mask-like face turned the
corner to join them. The only part of him that seemed to hold any
expression was his eyes; other than that, he seemed downright
professional.
"Excuse me for asking, but I don't think I'm familiar with
your species," Kail said politely.
"Yes, you are," Sisko said. "He's a Changeling too."
"You are?" said Kail, surprised, and Odo nodded once in
confirmation. "Forgive me, but why does your face look
different?"
"Well," Odo began in his low, almost scratchy voice, "it's
one thing to copy the face of another person, but I chose to attempt
to create my own. I am a shape-shifter."
"I see," Kail said understandingly.
"Wait a minute," Odo said, suddenly remembering the
captain's last sentence. "What did he mean, 'too?' Are you a
Changeling as well?"
"Yes, but don't worry," Kail assured him. "I'm not the one
who set that bomb. There is yet another Changeling aboard who
did."
Now it was Odo's turn to look at Kail strangely. "How did
you manage to get your face to look so Bajoran?"
"It's not really a unique face that I created myself," Kail
explained. "This was my father's face when he was younger, long
before he died. Of course, I couldn't copy his face exactly, but after
some practice, I created this reasonable facsimile."
"Your father...?" Odo said questioningly.
"Well, he was the man who found me and taught me
everything I needed to know about being Bajoran," Kail continued
explaining. "He'd told me after I learned to speak that I was like a
son to him, so I called him my father. He was very good to me, and
when he died, I was lost until I found my place in my home village
in the Lerrena Valley."
"Gentlemen," Captain Sisko interrupted. "I'm sure this is a
fascinating conversation, but we need to find the chief as soon as
possible. He may be hurt."
"Yes, of course, Captain," Odo said.
"Oh, and Odo?" Sisko added.
"Yes sir?"
"See if you can help Dr. Bashir keep his mind on his work
instead of his new girlfriend, huh?" the captain said with a teasing
smile.
"I'll try, Captain," Odo said with a little smile of his own,
making Julian blush beet red at the realization that he'd been
caught kissing Kelsee in the infirmary while he was on duty.
They were soon on their way, searching the corridors on
the way to Chief O'Brien's quarters for the missing engineer as
Captain Sisko had ordered. Dr. Bashir walked fearfully between
Odo and Kail, wary of a possible attack by the enemy Changeling.
Level by level, they searched through research labs and other work
areas, as well as maintenance lockers, storage lockers, and down
every adjoining jefferies tube they could pry the hatch off of.
When they finally reached level five, the level that
O'Brien's quarters were located on, they stopped to begin searching
a nearby group of maintenance lockers. Suddenly, a barely audible
THUMP emanated from a group of lockers on their right, and Dr.
Bashir jumped back and away in surprise. The gray steel lockers
were old but well built, and so would not open without the proper
authorization code for the lock, which Odo knew from being chief
of Security.
The locks popped open one by one and the locker doors
slip open. As Odo approached the fourth locker from the right, the
loud THUMP repeated itself. They could immediately tell that,
whatever it was, it was in that locker. The locker door slipped open
as all three of them jumped into defensive positions to reveal a
semi-conscious Chief O'Brien who, being suddenly released from
his prison, fell to the floor.
Dr. Bashir let out a sigh of relief at finding his friend alive,
and after examining him found that the chief suffered from a mild
concussion and a nasty gash on his forehead where it appeared that
he'd been hit several times, as the blood that still oozed from the
wound had caked itself to a large portion of the right side of his
face.
Dr. Bashir rushed to remove his equipment from his
medical kit. After cleaning off most of the dried blood from his
face, he took out a dermal regenerator and started healing the
chief's wounds. Odo and Kail stood over them, watching
protectively.
"Attention security personnel," Sisko's voice shouted
through the station-wide com-system. "The changeling was spotted
in section twelve on level six, heading upward. Proceed with
extreme caution."
Chief O'Brien started regaining consciousness and saw Dr.
Bashir almost drop the dermal regenerator at the announcement.
That was the level and section just below and ahead of them. Odo
and Kail had realized the same thing and were looking around
nervously.
The sound of a piece of metal clattering on the floor echoed
down the corridor from ahead of them right where Captain Sisko
said the Changeling was moving. Walking just far enough down
the corridor to see him, Kail and Odo were close enough to witness
the Changeling burst out through a weak deck plate in the floor. He
somehow knew they were there and immediately leapt up towards
the ceiling and broke through to escape.
Kail and Odo were not about to give up and let him go, so
they both leapt up after him to follow through the gaping hole in
the ceiling. Dr. Bashir tried to follow them, but could not pull
himself up through the hole and was forced to abandon his pursuit
to tend to the semi-conscious O'Brien and warn the Captain of
what they had witnessed over his com-badge.
Odo had been the closest behind the enemy Changeling and
so tried to follow from behind as closely as possible while Kail
attempted to cross a junction in a ventilation conduit to cut him off.
Their strategy worked and soon the Changeling was forced to slip
in between the bulkheads of the corridors to escape, a place where
he could easily be cornered.
Sitting next to the chief and attempting to aid him in his
struggle for complete consciousness, Julian Bashir could hear the
ceiling plates above him creaking eerily as Odo and Kail pursued
the Changeling over his head inside the ceiling. When the noises
stopped after a few moments, a flicker of relief went through
Julian's thoughts and he assumed that Kail and Odo had finally
managed to corner the intruder. He was about to gather up the
chief to take him safely to the infirmary when the bulkhead behind
him virtually exploded and an amber-colored, gelatinous liquid
poured out onto him angrily.
Bashir pushed O'Brien aside out of harm's way but only
just before the changeling had decided to keep the doctor in his
grasp so as to use him as a hostage. The changeling backed up
against the bulkhead with his hostage as Odo poured out through
the bulkhead where he had recently come through and Kail poured
into the corridor from another hole in the ceiling on the other side.
As all three Changelings reformed into a humanoid form,
Julian attempted to struggle free from the Changeling's choking
grasp, but to no avail. His grip was too strong. The doctor cursed
himself for leaving himself open to be taken hostage.
"Give it up," Odo demanded and kept his distance for fear
that the changeling might hurt the doctor. "You can't escape and
you can't run forever."
"I can, and I will," the changeling spat in reply. "You can't
stop me."
With that, the changeling started to morph with the doctor
still in his clutches. Doctor Bashir gave a yell as it dragged him
back, stretching his arms at an obscene angle, and then together
they slipped back toward the gaping hole in the bulkhead. Kail
knew that if the other changeling escaped that it would take more
hostages as many times as it took to finally escape the station. He
inched forward slowly.
The changeling stared him down; he knew what Kail was
planning. At the same time, the changeling released the doctor and
Kail jumped him. Kail forcibly shoved the other changeling away
from the hole with every ounce of strength he could muster, cutting
off the closest means of escape. He struggled fiercely and was
determined not to let this thing that could not possibly be related to
him get away, when suddenly a sharp jolt bit into his lower
extremities, paralyzing him and his prey in a death grip.
Seconds stretched into what seemed like minutes and hours
when the shock finally released him and he fell to the floor with a
soft slosh of liquid. He didn't know how long he lay there before
he finally was able to reason what had happened. Someone behind
him had taken a plasma conduit lead from inside the broken
bulkhead and thrust it between them. Every molecule in his body
buzzed inside him for what seemed to him like weeks, but finally
he was able to coalesce himself into his normal bajoran shape.
"Kail...?" He faintly heard a voice near him whisper. It took
him a moment to remember whose voice it was. It was Connie's
voice. He willed himself to open his eyes to look into her pretty
face with her light brown hair and her dark eyes.
She smiled broadly back at him with uncontained joy and
gave him a great big bear hug. "You're all right! I'm so glad!"
He hugged her back and laughed as he gently caressed her
hair as it fell onto his face. "Are you sure I'm all right? I feel
horrible."
"I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, a little anxious. "When Chief
O'Brien pulled out that plasma conduit from the wall and stuck that
changeling with it, we thought you were dead along with that other
changeling until Doctor Bashir ran his tests and found that you
were still alive!"
Kail looked wearily over at the doctor on his other side and
gave him as genuine a smile as he could fashion. "Thank you,
Doctor."
"Oh, no," he protested with a grin. "Thank you, sir. You are
the one who saved my life, as I recall."
Kail smiled again and turned back to Connie. "Connie," he
said softly and gazed into her deep eyes, "will you stay... Will you
stay with me? I love you."
Connie hugged him again enthusiastically. "Of course I
will!"
"Then let's go to Bajor and be joined!" Kail exclaimed with
happiness.
Someone in the back of the room cleared their throat before
she had a chance to give a reply. Their eyes followed into the
shadows. Major Kira stepped forward from the shadow of the
consoles and spoke first. "I'm sorry, Kail, but now that we know
your current "status," I don't think the Bajoran government will
allow you to return to Bajor."
Kail's eyes fell.
"Maybe we will go to Earth, then," Connie hopefully
volunteered.
Captain Sisko then appeared at the side of Major Kira. "I'm
sorry, Ms. Preston, but I don't think the Federation government
will allow Kail to stay on Earth, either, unless he is in a
laboratory."
"Have I not already proven that my loyalties are not to the
Dominion?" Kail pleaded. "Is there nowhere that we would be
welcome?"
At this Captain Sisko smiled and said, "You are welcome
here on Deep Space Nine and will remain so for as long as I am
captain of this station."
"But," Kail still pleaded, "will I be allowed to at least visit
my friend Dovan now and again on Bajor?"
Major Kira hid her frown. She understood his reasons for
wanting to visit old friends. "I think something can be arranged."
Kail grinned and neither of the two had ever before felt so
much joy. He took Connie into his arms and kissed her long and
deeply.
And they lived happily ever after.