DS9 WIP: The Honored 7/8 [PG13]

[Philippe de la Matraque]

Title: The Honored
Author: Gabrielle Lawson
Part: 7/8
Series: DS9
Rating: PG-13
Archive: Yes to Trekiverse.org, otherwise, please ask.
Contact: inhe...@gmail.com
Web: http://gabrielle.sytes.net/Trek/stories/Honored1.html
Summary: The Dominion finally puts a stop to Dr. Julian Bashir. But the
Gidari have need of him. What's death to get in their way?
Author's note: Author's note: I deliberately use italics like this *in
text** just because it makes conversion to HTML so much easier.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
The Honored
by Gabrielle Lawson

Chapter Seven


The sunrise took Bashir's breath away, figuratively thinking. Since he
didn't actually have to breathe. It was stunningly beautiful. The sky,
being in general red, was more yellow at the horizon, only turning more
orange as the sun rose above that horizon's edge and bright red as it
climbed even higher.

It was much easier going since they could now see. They moved away
from the track but kept it in sight. It might be strange to see two
Honored running in the fields. But no train had yet come by.

So they kept running and found themselves in another forest. It wasn't
so thick that they couldn't look left and spot the track beyond the
trees. As Bashir looked up into the red, yellow, and orange leaves of
the trees, he noted they were moving despite the lack of wind this morning.

Kira altered her trajectory to run closer to him. "Darglin," she
whispered, and he remembered the bright feathers she'd brought him.
These were the birds that had saved the Gidari people from the
Dominion's plague. Now that he knew what to look for, he could see
them. They were well camouflaged among the leaves, but now and then he
spotted a black eye or a reddish-brown beak. Kira had said they were
large, as large as a man. She had also said they were predatory.

"Will they attack?" he whispered back.

"Did when we took a sample."

They were coming to a clearing, and, as they left the trees and their
birds, he could see a flat plane with bushes and other small animals.
They were dark with leathery skin and stood on their hind legs at about
waist height.

"Oh, no," Kira said, still whispering. But one of the little creatures
must have heard her or maybe it was just the sight of two people in
purple running into their field. "Don't look at them." Kira turned her
face up, trying to avoid them.

The creatures did have sharp teeth, but Bashir could see they were
gorging on the bushes. Two of them, however, had taken to flight,
running parallel to him and Kira. Well, not quite parallel. They were
getting closer and it finally dawned on him why Kira didn't want to see
them. These were the midulkas. By the time they'd crossed the valley,
the two creatures were behind them. Bashir thought for sure they'd lose
interest. There was nothing to mimic except running after all.

He tried to ignore them and kept running. But soon he noted a sudden
darkness pass over him, and then there was a shadow on the ground, the
shadow of the bird. He hoped it was a small one, not one of the
darglin. He looked around, trying to spot it. It was high in the sky
but Nailati had been right. It looked like fire flying on wings.

As he watched, the darglin dove, and it seemed to wheel around until it
was diving right toward him.

Kira must have seen it, too. She had her finrittor out. It was coming
fast and he was running to meet it. It was huge and its talons were the
size of his own foot. As soon as it got to within a meter, he drove for
the ground. He could feel the brush of the talons across his back and
then he heard a squeak. He flipped to his back and saw the darglin
beating its wings as it lifted the flailing midulka into the sky. Kira
was on the ground, too. She pushed herself up and starting running
again. He did the same. A glance behind him showed the other midulka
was gone as well. Either there had been another bird he hadn't seen or
it had run off. He realized he hadn't heard the darglin he'd seen.
Perhaps there had been another.

That darglin had been large enough to carry off a smaller person, maybe
even Kira. Did they hunt Gidari? Bashir now preferred running in the
trees. It would be harder, perhaps for the birds to navigate around the
trunks and branches with their three-meter wings. But there were no
trees in their immediate vicinity.

They'd been running for nearly thirteen hours and still there had been
no train since the one they'd seen in the evening. He wished he'd paid
better attention to just how far they'd gone from Nardinosti the day
they arrived. He hoped they'd reach it before the twenty-six-hour mark.
They needed at least a day to reach DS Nine, and already, he had less
than two days left.


For a moment, as the turbolift lifted her head above the floor of Ops,
Ezri had expected to see Kira at the Ops table. By the time it had
risen all the way, that fleeting moment was replaced with the harsh
memory that her friend was dead. And it was Major Jaresh who had asked
her to come up.

He smiled when he saw her, and she managed an upturn of her lips in
response. She didn't feel much like smiling. It hadn't even been a
week yet. "How can I help, Major?"

"The captain has left it to me to open negotiations on the arrangements
for the meeting between the Dominion and the Gidari," the young man
said. "The Dominion is sending one of their Vorta. She should be here
in two hours."

That didn't surprise her, even though the meeting was many hours away
still. "They're crafty but generally easy to talk to," Ezri told him.
"And you're not brokering a treaty, just arrangements to satisfy both
parties while maintaining security on the station."

He nodded. "I'm actually looking forward to meeting her for that
reason. But I don't know anything about the Gidari. I was told you had
some experience with them."

A memory floated to the surface. Cold darkness in her lab and a crick
in her neck. Then a blue glow as Gidari transported in. She backed
toward the door. "What do you want?" Jadzia's voice was calm, but Ezri
could feel her fear.

A woman's voice: "Quiet or we'll make you quiet." A smooth cloth
brushed against her. There was a hiss and then she grew heavy. A
blue-lit rod swept the lab as the woman found Bashir's tricorder and the
samples they'd been studied and destroyed each one in a red beam of
light. Another blue glow took the Gidari away, and then Jadzia realized
she was only weak and not in pain. She let her fear go and slowly, and
with great effort, stood, releasing the door manually. Then she crawled
her way toward Sickbay until Kira had found her.

Ezri raised her eyebrows as she took a seat. "My previous host did."
Really the captain had had more interactions with them. But he wasn't
asking for a story. He wanted a profile, a behavioral analysis. "We
don't know much about the Gidari, and that's the way they like it.
They're often mistaken for xenophobes, but they're really highly
ethnocentric. They hold the Gidari over all other species, and that
includes you. They do what they want, when they want. Fortunately for
most of the galaxy they want to trade and keep to themselves.

Jaresh nodded. "So they'll be harder to satisfy?"

Ezri thought about that. "Maybe. Though they called the meeting, not
the Dominion. That might be something to balance out their arrogance.
A little. Look, in the end, they can beam on or off the station at
will, regardless of the state of our shields. If I were you, I'd think
getting the Vorta to agree to the Gidari's desired arrangements will be
harder, as you won't get far challenging the Gidari."

"Right." He pressed a few controls and brought up a transmission's
text. "The Gidari representative is one Harglin Nastroff. I checked the
name but only found a reference to a young murder victim from several
years ago."

Ezri's breath caught at the name. Jadzia had known about Harglin
Nastroff's murder. The first for a serial killer that plagued the
station while they were also dealing with Bajoran terrorists. But
Julian had seen the Gidari, unhooded, draw a cloned child from the body
of Ensign Justin Tsingras. The less people who know that story, the
better. Though Julian wouldn't have to face the consequences now if the
Gidari should find out. Not anymore. "Could be a relative," she
suggested. "Good luck."

"Thank you for your insight, Lieutenant," Jaresh offered.

"You're welcome." She slid off the stool and headed toward the
turbolift again. "As she descended, she brought Jadzia's memories of
that time back to mind. It was possible that some of Tsingras's DNA
went into that clone. That could be why he was engaged to be liaison
here. Knowing that there had been no justice for Tsingras's murder in
that ritual, or even a body for his family to bury, had been hard. And
now the Gidari had robbed her of Julian's body. What could they have
wanted with it? Or Kira's?


The train had finally passed by, heading toward Nardinosti. But only
once. And it hadn't made any stops as far as they could see. It was
also colored gold. The sunlight made it look more like rose gold.
Every car was the same color. Julian didn't know if that was the
default color or if it was a status he hadn't been exposed to yet. The
train had sped by so quickly that they hadn't been able to get half-way
to the station before it was gone again. The station itself was deserted.

But from the eastern edge of the station, Julian glimpsed the next.
And he thought he maybe recognized it from the station outside
Nardinosti. The station where Tarlingen had led them onto the train
that took them to Nodgarin. They were almost there. He estimated it
would take approximately four hours at their average speed. And then
they'd have to navigate the gates of the port city.

Bashir pointed out the far-away station to Kira. "I can barely see a
glint of it," she told him, "but I'll take your word for it. We can
make it."

They stayed near the track this time, trusting that there wouldn't be
another train to run them over from behind. And that no one would pay
attention to their passing. There was also less wildlife near the
tracks. The occasional haftha gave it a go, but Kira and Bashir swatted
them off each other and kept running.

Physically, Bashir found it all rather fascinating. He was running at
top speed, sustaining it for hours as the kilometers rushed by beneath
his feet. He should have been winded and parched for water. His feet
should hurt from the constant pounding on the turf. His legs should be
spasming from the strain.

But none of that was true. If there hadn't been a expiration date on
the glowing liquid in his veins, he could have worn out his boots before
he ever tired of running.

Kira still had fully working lungs and heart, but she was breathing
evenly as she kept pace with him. He never heard her gasp or gulp for
air. "I see it now," she said, as calmly as if she'd been standing
still. "You're sure it's same one?"

"More sure now," he replied. "The train is stopped there. And I can
just make out the gates."

The station, when they neared it in just under four hours, was
similarly deserted. The train was similarly empty. Either it had
arrived empty or its passengers had passed through the gates into
Nardinosti.

The sky was darkening now and they were faced with the biggest
challenge since they'd left the caves. They could not pass through the
gates as Gidari did. The Gidari had to linger, to have their bodies
altered to breathe different air. Bashir and Kira were already able to
breath that air. If they lingered, they'd be changed. And since their
bodies were not Gidari bodies, Bashir couldn't predict what changes
would result. They had to pass through without stopping, which would
give them away to the guards as aliens.

"Maybe they shut down the port, too," Kira suggested. "Maybe there are
no guards during this time of mourning or transition."

"It's possible," Bashir agreed. "But someone is in there. Why else
would the train have come?"

"Well, we can't get back to DS Nine without getting through the gates."

The gold color of the train had gotten him thinking. The only gold
he'd seen on Gidar was in the throne room or on the leader. But it was
too early for Tarlingen--Nailati--to be up and about. She didn't just
have to assimilate the symbiont, she had to grow in the process.
Growing that much in such a short amount of time had to be incredibly
painful. He found it hard to believe she'd make this journey to the
port city in her condition. And if she did, why? Was it that important
to stop their Honored from escaping?"

"Maybe we shouldn't risk the closest gates," he suggested. "We could
run a bit north or south and come in where we wouldn't be expected."

Kira nodded. "South. It's closer to the ships."

They circled the city to the south for fifteen minutes. Then they each
stood in front of a gate. "On three," Kira ordered. "One, two, three."

He stepped through, expecting to be thrown to the ground by a guard.
But there were none. Kira was right beside him. They'd made it.
Bashir looked around in the bright, white light.

Kira began to cough. Hard. She dropped to her knees. Bashir pulled
out his tricorder and scanned her. "You'll be alright," he assured her.
The coughing subsided and she caught her breath. "You were just
expelling the Gidari air. You were breathing it in all along."

"You weren't?" she croaked.

Bashir did have a bit of a tickle in his throat. "Not as much."

"We're going to get that fixed," she told him, standing again. She
cleared her throat and looked around. "Where are the ships?"

She was right. Not only were there no guards at the gates, but there
was only one ship docked. And Bashir recognized it as the *Gindarin**
or one of the same class.

"Honored."

They spun around in unison. A lone figure in black had appeared. A
Liytner. This time a male. He bowed in the familiar pose.

Kira and Bashir looked at each other and then repeated the bow. They
were out of options.

The Liytner stood. "I am Harglin Nastroff, the Elder, your liaison.
The Leader has requested your presence. Please follow me."

He walked past them, toward the gaping loading port of the *Gindarin.**


Benjamin Sisko rolled the baseball over and over in his hands as Jaresh
laid out the plans for the meeting. The Gidari had proven predictably
stubborn in their demands. "The entire Promenade?" His patience was
stretching to the breaking point. But not at Jaresh. Sisko had dealt
with the Gidari before.

"The upper deck, though they did stipulate that all civilians be
evacuated to the Habitat Ring. We are allowed a security presence. The
size of which they left to our discretion."

"How very generous." Sisko frowned. He wouldn't want civilians around
anyway, not with Gidari and Jem'Hadar. "And the Dominion?"

Jaresh sighed visibly. "The Vorta was more pleasant but just as
adamant. If the Gidari were going to surround the Promenade, the
Jem'Hadar would, too."

That would be a lot of Jem'Hadar. Sisko held his breath to keep his
temper. He squeezed the ball until it hurt.

Jaresh went on. "They'll dock on opposite pylons, one high and one
low. All non-security personnel were to be removed from their paths to
the Promenade. Senior staff--no more than six people--are allowed to be
present at the conference site, here."

Jaresh pointed to one spot on a diagram of the Promenade. Just across
from the upper level of Quark's bar. "This is where the Founder and the
Gidari representative will speak."

"And all those Gidari and Jem'Hadar will leave after?" Sisko was
already planning the security sweep that would follow the Dominion out.

"Yes, sir," Jaresh replied. "The Gidari liaison assured me it wouldn't
even last half a *glif**. Those I'm not sure how long a *glif** is."

Sisko sighed and put the ball back in its spot on the desk. "Let's
hope it's short."


Bashir and Kira were placed in the same room they had awoken in nearly
a week before. Or all such rooms looked alike. Bashir felt the ship
take off. They were leaving Gidar. But going where? He checked the
tricorder. Twenty-six hours and twenty minutes. He would have made it.
They both would have.

Kira was pacing. "The whole planet closed down for the transition.
That explains the empty stations, the lack of ships."

"Except this one," Julian added.

"And the train brought her here? Why? She can't have changed yet."

"You did say the captain is her brother."

"Right. So he's trusted. This has to be something important. But what?"

"Maybe they'll attack the Dominion in retaliation." That seemed a
likely option.

She paused her steps and turned toward him. "Just one ship?"

Julian shrugged. "One ship might be enough. We don't know what the
Gidari are capable of. Even now. For all we know, they only have one
ship."

Kira resumed her steps. "Why do they need us?"

Bashir didn't have a response to that. Why indeed? He'd fulfilled his
purpose and, as his helper, so had she. They were supposed to be off to
the clearing in the woods by the lake.

The door opened. Nastroff, flanked by two of the clergy, entered. The
priestesses each carried a folded purple cloak. "Your robes are soiled
from your journey. Please change. We will return in five minutes, as
you count time. Then you will go before the Leader."

They took the offered robes but waited until they were alone to change.
"Well," Bashir noted, "we just might get some answers."

Kira started an inventory as soon as she had the new cloak on. "Make
sure they've got everything." She took the PADD from her dirty cloak
and tucked it into the new. Bashir wasn't sure what all had been in his
previous cloak. He watched Kira to see if she found something amiss.

They had just gotten the new claoks settled when the door opened again.
Nastroff was alone this time. "Please follow."

As he led them down passages and around corners, Julian half-wished
Nastroff would remove his hood. He wanted to ask him if he remembered
Justin Tsingras, if he felt human at all. But he kept those thoughts to
himself. Tarlingen had said he was Gidari. She probably hadn't meant half.

They stopped beside a tall, gold and black door. Nastroff turned to
face them. "You go before the Leader. All must remain covered. When
in the Chamber, you must remain silent. Answer if you are spoken to,
but be brief and respectful. You must march silently and place your
hands--"

Bashir held up a hand to stop him. "We remember. Life and death reside
together in the chamber."

Nastroff stood to one side. Bashir hoped Kira remembered Tarlingen's
teachings from their first meeting with the leader. They both stood
five feet from the door. Bashir waited until the door was fully open,
then snapped his arms up, crossing his thumbs beneath the sleeves of his
cloak. He saw Kira do the same in his periphery. Together they pranced
into the chamber.

Some of the same weapons were festooned on the walls of this smaller
chamber. A red carpet led, not to a throne on high, but to an oversized
bed at eye level. Bashir stopped at the same distance Tarlingen had
from the throne and began to bow. Kira was right in synch with his
movements. They ended in the Gidari equivalent of parade rest and
dropped their heads.

"Look at us, Healer." The voice was changing. Some words sounded like
Tarlingen, others like Nailati. They rose and fell in pitch, which told
him she was still in transition. He raised his head. He was right.

She was reclining on a bed with the head raised, like a chaise lounge.
But the bed was enormous and she was not yet as tall as her predecessor.
Her breathing was forced and she was tensed in pain.

And he just had to risk it. "May I give you something for the pain?"

"No," she snapped. "My Trill host suffered as did my first Gidari
host. We are no better than they." She hissed and shifted her position
slightly. He hated to see her like this but he knew better than to argue.

"I regret we cannot give you the Leaving we promised. Though it shall
still be painless We have need of you yet. Both of you."

"We have little time left," Kira said.

"Your new Purpose will be fulfilled in that time. When we reach our
destination, you will follow Harglin Nastroff's instructions. This day
you will stand with me in front of our Enemy."

"Will you have completed your change?" Bashir asked.

"Not quite. But we shall not portray any weakness before the Enemy.
Neither will you. We will be changed enough."

She was already taller than Tarlingen had been, but not yet as tall as
the previous leader. He and Kira had roughly a day. How much taller
would this new Nailati be by then?

"Go now," she told them. "Return to the chamber from which you awoke
as Honored. Wait for Nastroff to return to you. Follow his orders. You
may bow but we will not be stepping away."

Bashir and Kira repeated the bow and waited for her cue to rise. She
didn't keep them long. "Arise and go."

The two of them turned about face and pranced back out the door.
Nastroff was there but he didn't move or speak until the door was
completely closed. "I shall show you the way."

Likewise, Kira and Bashir didn't speak until they were alone in their room.

"So they are going to confront the Dominion," Kira said, throwing off
her hood.

Bashir lifted his as well. "Looks that way."

She went to a corner and dropped to the floor. This time, there were
no crates to sit on. "We could have made it."

Bashir sighed and sat down beside her. "We tried. But there were no
other ships."

"She didn't so much as scold us for running away. What do you make of
that?"

Bashir wasn't sure what he made of that. Had Tarlingen or Nailati
expected them to run? Nastroff had been respectful, even deferential,
back in Nardinosti. Was it just esteem for their status as Honored?
Maybe they couldn't be scolded?

"Do you feel any different?"

Bashir hadn't expected that question. "Disappointed," he replied.
"But if you mean physically, no. I could run another hundred
kilometers. But we still have just under a day. I'll probably feel it
by then."

Kira took his hand and squeezed. "At least it won't hurt, right?"

Bashir squeezed back. "I don't think she'd lie about that."


In the hours since their meeting with the new leader--Tarlingen before,
now Nailati--they had considered leaving their room. Their status may
have afforded them the freedom to do so. But every time they'd been
out, the walls and corridors had been non-descript and monotone. And at
least one wall was a holographic door. They weren't sure where they
should try to go and didn't think they'd find their way even if they had
been.

There was really nothing interesting to keep them busy. The medical
supplies that had been retrieved from the runabout and stashed against
the walls the first time they'd occupied this room were back in the
palace at Nodgarin. There were no consoles, no viewports. In fact,
there wasn't any furniture of any sort. Just four gray walls and one door.

Bashir found he wasn't scared, though now that he only had a few hours
left. It wasn't like waiting for an execution. It was more like
getting a terminal diagnosis. Kira considered that when he told her.
"Yeah, I can see that. The executions already happened. I still wish
it wasn't going to happen at all."

To while away the hours, they'd taken turns telling each other stories
about their childhoods. Bashir's stories were a bit more cheerful than
Kira's. Now they just shared whatever thought came to mind, just to
have some conversation. Like whether Gidari quarters were anymore
decorated than their plain room. Kira had posed that the leader's were
and surely the captain's.

Death didn't leave Julian's mind long though. He'd been so close
several times before. Well, more than a few. And, of course, he
actually had died in the runabout. Had it been a foregone conclusion?
He cheated it and cheated it but it was going to catch up eventually?
He'd cheated it this time in spectacular fashion. But it was definitely
catching up unless by some miracle the Gidari dropped them off at DS
Nine or some other Federation outpost.

"How much longer?" Kira asked again. Death didn't leave her mind long
either.

"Four hours or so," Bashir replied without annoyance. He even wished
he could sleep. A nap would save him from an hour or two of boredom and
the slow crawl of time. But he wasn't the least bit tired.

The first thing they'd done was to use the PADD to record messages to
their loved ones on the off chance that the PADD would find its way back
to Federation territory. Kira had written to Odo and Sisko, and even
the ministry. Bashir had written to Ezri, his parents, O'Brien, Garak
and even his friend Felix back on Earth.

They left vague their last week and how it had come to be. If the
Gidari read the PADD and discovered details of their planet or culture,
the messages would have even less chance of reaching their recipients.
The Gidari had revived them temporarily to assist with an illness. Kira
had left out her adventures foraging for specimens, and Bashir had not
shared that the leader of the Gidari was joined with a Trill symbiont or
how that had come to pass. It made for awkward transitions.

Three hours later, Harglin Nastroff came to the door. Kira stood
easily enough, but Bashir found his energy had started to decrease. He
had to push against the wall for the leverage to rise to his feet.

"Forgive, Honored," Nastroff said. "Your time is short so we will
dispense with the bowing and other ceremonial actions. We have arrived.
You will fulfill your Purpose very soon. Cover, please, and follow me."

"I didn't even feel us docking," Kira remarked. "How do you feel Julian?"

"A bit tired," Bashir admitted. He pulled his hood over his head and
met Nastroff at the door. Nastroff led them down one corridor to
another filled with Gidari crewmen. He pushed past them, all the way to
the front of the line where priestesses stood in their red robes. This
time they weren't facing a holographic door but a more recognizable
docking port. They weren't on a planet, then, but a station or another
ship. Wherever it was, the Dominion was near. Nailati had said they'd
stand with her front of their enemy this same day.

*Well, whatever happens,** he thought to himself, *they can't kill me.
I'm already dead.**

[Alan Heah]

Hi Philippe,

The Gidari are rendered frightening in aloof superiority (Sisko of course continues to feel irritated!).
It's refreshing that superior as they are, they can be cordial and efficient, without expecting unrealistic deference from lesser species.
Even compassionate till the end.

On Tuesday, 23 March 2021 at 2:16:09 pm UTC+8, Philippe de la Matraque wrote:
> Title: The Honored
> …
> Part: 7/8
> Series: DS9
> …