Time Killer
by Catherine Weller

   The day after Vil Nali was released from the Bajoran
Penitentiary, he started plotting revenge. Actually, it was a series of
revenges that had put him there to begin with, but that sort of fact
rarely stopped Vil.
   Of course, the shapeshifter hauled him in as soon as he touched foot
on Station 'soil', "I haven't done anything wrong, yet," he informed.
   "I'm aware of that," Odo stated, keeping a cuff-like grip on him,
"but with you it's a matter of time."
   "Constable," Eddingtons' voice rang out as he approached, "Is
something wrong?"
   Odo seethed, "This isn't a Starfleet matter - Eddington," he shook
Vil a little, "This man is a known criminal and a repeat offender. I
intend to search his ship for illegal artefacts."
   "Starfleet is in charge of all ship searches."
   "Really? As far as I was informed, both security teams were given
equal authority. Which means a Bajoran security team can search a
Bajoran registered vessel and then report anything that may concern
Starfleet worries."
   "It's that sort of thinking that got you on the civilian track,
Mister."
   They were practically nose-to-malformed nose, "So much for
Starfleets' alleged 'team playing' ... I wonder which uncle got you
this far."

   ...The view closes on the two security chiefs as they bicker and
argue, until Sisko separates them, shouting, "Enough! Both of you!" We
see that the chiefs are in Siskos' office along with Vil - still in
Odo's grip...

   Sisko had to force the two security chiefs apart, and thanked his
lucky stars that he didn't have to use a prybar, "I am sick of
listening to these sorts of arguments."
   "Then get rid of Eddington," Odo suggested for what felt like the
hundredth time, "he's clearly a disruptive influence on Station
Security."
   "If he wasn't here to interfere with Starfleet Protocols..."
Eddington began.
   "Your Starfleet Protocols wouldn't catch him on a slow day," Odo
interrupted, shaking Vil for emphasis.
   _Here we go again,_ Sisko mentally sighed, "That's enough!" He cut
them off with sheer volume, "You will let Mr. Vil go, then both of you
will search his ship. If you find anything, then you can take him into
custody."
   Odo pointedly released the Bajoran, "Who gets priority in this
matter?" he demanded.
   Sisko could just imagine them drawing a line down the middle of
Vil's ship, ordering the other to keep to their side - then sneaking
across at the earliest opportunity, "Both of you," he stated, "Think of
it as an exercise to observe the others' procedures. I'll expect
reports from each of you when you're done."
   They practically raced each other out of Ops. Sisko sighed to himself,
"That's delayed another headache for an hour or so..."

   "What's so suspicious about a schedule?" Eddington demanded.
   "Look at the date that this particular appointment was logged."
   "So?"
   "It's dated four years ago. During the time Vil was in prison."
   "Probably has a hot date."
   "With a Vichani trader? They don't 'date' outside their species," Odo
made note of the traders' registration, "Something's not right with
this," he tapped the schedule, then left the ship.
   "Where are you going?"
   "To investigate."
   Eddington had to run to keep up with him, "Investigate what? All the
evidence is back on the ship."
   "Not all of it," Odo replied, "That registration number is fake. I
intend to trace it."
   "What?"
   Odo sighed with exasperation at all dense Starfleet security people,
"All Vichani ships have the prefix UVP in their registry. This one has
a group of pictograms."
   Eddington sighed. "Forget this," he muttered, then aloud, "If you're
going to waste your time trying to track that thing, go ahead. I have a
life."

   "And then he told me he'd have an interesting time finding out what I
wasted all my time on, Sir," reported Eddington.
   Sisko tried to rub away his migraine, "I see. He's probably still
there, am I right?"
   Eddington shrugged, "Haven't seen him all morning."
   That would be Odo, gnawing away at a problem until it was solved.
Somebody had better tell him to take a break. Somebody else. "Tell Odo
that unless he can find something by eight hundred, then I'll have to
let Vil go."
   "Right," Eddington nodded, absently reaching for a phaser that wasn't
there.

   Odo didn't take the news particularly well, but also didn't drag it
back to Sisko until Seven Fifty-Five.
   "If I had more time, I'd have been able to obtain more information,"
Odo said, handing across a datapadd, "As it is, my programs are working
on some more solid evidence for the time Vil returns."
   "So you think he'll come back?"
   "It's his favourite pastime; using his freedom to taunt me until I
can imprison him again."
   "Whatever you get, Constable," Sisko informed, "It's going to have to
be pretty solid."

   "It's a Felrigyal rogue," Odo passed the padd of evidence to Sisko,
"Our friend Vil is going to start a business in hot time machines."
   "I'd heard about the Felrigyal advances," Sisko supplied coolly, "but
they're xenophobes; you're suspicions may be out of the ordinary."
   "So what am I expected to do?" Odo snarled, "Just wait until Vil and
his cronies start messing about with history?"
   "I'm sorry, Constable, but the Federation can't let you arrest
someone on suspicion of owning a time machine, and neither will Bajor."
   "Fine!" Odo barked, "Then I'll dig up some technicality to hold him
so I can find the device."
   "Good luck, Odo," Sisko soothed.
   Odos' entire posture changed from top to toe. It was quite a process
to watch. At the end of it, the Constable simply nodded and left for
his office.

   Vil Nali's returning ship did not stop at the station for more than a
refuelling, then turned on a strange course bearing and promptly
disappeared.
   This woke up the Ops crew immediately, or rather, almost immediately,
as the night-watch crew were the ones to witness the spectacle.

   "Where the hell is Odo?" Eddington grumbled, "He should be in here,
crowing like a rooster."
   Kira glared, "Shall I go find him, sir?"
   "After the meeting," Sisko suggested, "He's probably sulking."
   Kira all but leaped into the fray, "More than likely, he's still
trying to track something down on Vil. I'm going."
   "Or," Dax suggested, "he could be resting."
   Kira buckled down and swallowed her words.
   After the meeting, the computer logged Odos' status as 'unconscious',
so Kira simply decided to try for the rest of her alleged good night's
sleep.

   That morning on the Promenade, Kira knew something was wrong. As the
other shops opened around her, Odos' office remained closed and dark.
   Odos' security office was always open before any shopkeeper even
approached their own doors.
   The outer door opened easily, and in the half-light, Kira could see
very little amiss. "Computer, lights," she ordered. Padds were
scattered all over the floor, and Odos' chair seemed to be missing from
its station by the desk.
   Kira moved around the desk to try and see what was wrong, then
noticed someone under the toppled chair. She hauled it upright,
discovering that it was Odo underneath.
   He was curled on his side, almost face-down and partially under the
desk. Kira turned him over, seeing that Odos' cycle had taken its toll
and turned his face into a malleable shape that had dented when pressed
to the floor; it slowly resumed the normal configuration as she
attempted to pry his hands loose from his side.
   A gaping burn lay underneath, periodically sealed and resealed by
Odo's plastic flesh.
   Kira slammed at her comm badge, "Medical emergency in the security
office!" then, to Odo, quietly, "It's gonna be OK..." she tried to
soothe him without leaving fingerprints all over his malleable form.
   "Why..." he managed, voice barely audible, "...didn't you...
help...?"
   "How could I? I didn't know... I'm sorry."
   "..can still... fix... Time..."
   "Shh,"
   The med-teams burst in, scanning and re-scanning everything.
Questioning her three or four times. Bashir managed to be polite while
suffering mild fatigue and asked Kira to try and find something that
may have lead to this accident.
   "I'm sure he'll be fine," Bashir finished, "Dr. Mora left me all
Odo's files."
   Kira nodded mutely, tidying the office in a disassociated way. If
Odo's office was tidy, then everything else may fall into its rightful
order. She eventually made her way to Odo's quarters, browsing through
the chaos of objects there for anything familiar. The plant she'd given
him was in lush growth, promising to bloom sometime soon; beside it was
a datapadd filled with carefully precise instructions that the
Constable had probably obeyed to the letter. There was no bed in his
quarters - he didn't need it, instead there was more clutter. Objects
of every shape, size and description were placed more or less
haphazardly all through the area. There was even an old book resting on
a table.
   An old book? All of the other objects were new.
   Curious, Kira opened it and flipped through the yellowing pages. 
It was a journal of sorts, starting with cathartic complaints about 
Mora, then moving to detailed life-accounts, replete with 
illustrations that surprised her.
   There weren't precise dates, just annotations of the year and 
occasional references to months or days that stood out.
   Somewhere within the tenth year, she stopped at a portrait of Vil 
Nali, as she had seen him a few days before. He was pointing a 
phaser directly at the viewer.                                       
   "Oh, my God..." Kira murmured, then ran with the book all the way 
to Medical.

   "Ah, Major, maybe you'd better have a look at this. It's Moras' 
original notes."
   Odo lay on a biobed in the background, healer matrices were covering 
his torso, fighting a losing battle with Odos' wound.
   "It says he was killed when he was about ten," she observed, "That 
goes with what I found in his journal."
   Bashir raised his eyebrows, then, like most people shown one page 
in a book, flipped a few pages ahead, "You're in here too, Major, so's 
Dax..." he frowned at the text, "Wish I'd learned to read this 
dialect."

   "That isn't important, Doctor," said Sisko, the problem now 
squarely in front of him. "Obviously, Major Kira and Lieutenant Dax 
have to mount a rescue mission. They're the only people I can spare, 
as I've just received notice that the Kai has also fallen ill."
   "Can I take the book down to Bajor?" Asked Bashir, "These two 
illnesses may be linked somehow."
   "Fine," Sisko approved, "You can work on the translations on the 
way down."

   No runabouts had been available, so Kira had commandeered a Bajoran 
transport. In keeping with their undercover guise, both wore civilian 
clothes.
   "It'd be best if you let me do the talking," Kira suggested on the 
journey to secure another time machine, "You sound a little too 
Starfleet for my liking."
   "Shall I be Vapid Decoration or Silent Warrior?" Dax inquired, half 
in jest.
   "Depends. If the Felrigyal is male, be vapid. Once we're saving Odo, 
it'll be time for the warrior."
   "Does everything on this ship have a double purpose?"                        
   "Don't ask, you just might find out."
   "Communication from the trader."
   "On screen." Kira rigged things so that the pickup wouldn't catch 
Dax immediately, giving her time to adjust. "Greetings, trader," Kira 
began, looking battle-worn and edgy, "We've been informed that you're 
marketing a very special device, one that could aid our battle?"
   "Yes... I have... one in stock," the rogues' eyes forever trailed 
towards the now visible and extremely vapid Dax, "I could let you have 
it for... Fifty bars of Latinum."
   "It better be fuelled for that price."
   "Oh... it is," he breathed, "The trouble is getting back. You'll 
need a plasma storm to get that sort of energy."
   "Beam us the machine and we'll beam you the Latinum."
   "You... first."
   "Simultaneously, then." Kira summarised, "And if you try to cheat 
us in this deal, I'll personally atomise you."
   Kira locked on the machine, beaming it aboard before the Felrigyal 
could realise he wasn't getting any Latinum, "Dax! Is that the real 
thing?"
   "Yeah."
   "Good..." Kira unleashed some photons on the rogue.
   "What did you do that for?" Dax demanded, vapidity draining away.
   "I don't want him selling any more of those things! Think of it as 
insurance."
   Dax eyed the monstrosity on the transporter pad, "You're lucky I 
know what Felrigyal machines look like. We could have beamed aboard 
anything..."
   "That's why you're here," Kira set course back to DS9, "now let's 
figure this thing out before we get to the station."

   With the machine in place, the transport was thirstier on energy, 
and required extra fuel cells to be installed as insurance. O'Brien 
kicked the last cord into haphazard place, "That aughta fix it," he 
sighed, what he really wanted was to tear the entire box and dice 
apart to see how it all worked, but there was no time for that sort of 
thing.
   "How's Odo doing?" Kira asked quietly.
   "Worse," O'Brien murmured, handing over a padd, "Dr. Bashir called 
up and transferred a list of treatments that aught to work. It's his 
best recollection of Moras' original lists."
   "I hope we won't need this."
   "Good luck."
   Kira turned into her ship. _Which is the greater good, staying by a 
friend in his last hours, or fixing things so he never dies?_ she 
plotted a course to follow Vils', set the machine to two days prior 
Odos' 'assassination' and fired the machine.
   Pain.
      Timelessness.
         A chaos of images; running through the Promenade, a babys' 
wails. She saw an infant crying under Odos' desk. Security uniform 
draped over it. She picked up the squalling infant and now it wore the 
Kais' robes...

   Odo moved the bag onto his shoulder, settling it so that it 
wouldn't come off so easily this time. Tonight, he left the 'Bajoran' 
Centre for 'Science' forever; or at least, that was the plan. He 
exuded a special 'access card' from his misshaped attempt at a hand, 
and used it to short out the entire security system before swallowing 
it back into his body.
   The Cardassians had never found out how he did it, and hopefully 
never would. No more imprisonment, no more tests, no more threats or 
rewards held over his head and no more Gul Noxx.
   Odo pattered through the dim, night-lit corridors like the child 
that his body appeared to be, as if lost but still running for the 
sake of running.
   His breathing quickened as he neared the exit. Almost there! Five 
corridors; Four; Three; Two...
   Cardassians! Odo turned away and started padding towards the 
next-nearest exit.
   Eight; Seven; Six; Five...
   A Bajoran man he didn't recognise aimed some kind of weapon at him. 
Odo dodged into the nearest branchway. Ten; Nine; Eight... he quickly 
lost the Bajoran as he raced through a nest of medical personnel. 
Four; Three; Two; One...
   And almost ran straight into Gul Noxx and his guard; the latter of 
which clamped onto his arms before he could even think of dashing away.
   "Well, Odo'ital," Noxx crooned, "This makes it... fourteen this 
year. It can't be all luck, now, can it?"
   "Huh?"
   "Don't try that on me, animal," Noxx growled, "You're not as good 
at playing retard as you think you are."
   "FREEZE!" The Bajoran screamed, phaser trained on the group, "Drop 
the freak and back off."
   They dropped Odo like so much garbage. He turned, staring down the 
muzzle of the weapon in mute horror.
   Time flowed like Tar.

   Kira and Dax loosed a flow of expletives, hands flying over their 
instruments. Vils' ship was small enough to evade scans, so was 
theirs. By the time they caught a charge from the storm in the 
Denorios belt that had raged all that year, they had lost him.
   Their only hope was to get Odo before Vil did.
   The transport hovered in the airspace above the Research Centre, 
scanning for the ten-year-old Odos' life signs.
   "Got him!" Dax crowed.
   "Lock on!"
   "He's moving too fast, I can't," her hands flew over controls, "I 
can only track him..."
   "He must be running all over the Centre," Kira frowned, joining in 
the task, "What is this? A Kymtag race? Uh-oh, Vil's after him."
   "He's stopped. Damn! There's people touching him. Unless we want 
them along for the ride..."
   "Let him go..." Kira chanted slowly, "Let him go..."

   The beam tore into the wall to his side. Odo felt a peculiar tingle 
overtake his body as the Bajorans' phaser beam approached in a level 
flare.
   Cardassian return fire (heavy stun, of course) cruised over his 
head.
   So this is what it was to die.
   His world dissolved into a cloud of sparks...

   She'd locked on and jammed the controls on in seconds, praying that 
Vils' shot hadn't hit.

   ...and reconfigured into a strange room where two strange women 
stared at him.
   Faced with this enormous conflict of information, Odo collapsed on 
the spot.

   Kira stared at the readout again. Shock-related shutdown, all they 
could do was wait. Considering everything the young Odo had been 
through, shock was not a reaction the major had considered.
   Odos' childlike form was proof that he'd needed practice at the 
humanoid configuration. Even his clothing had a plastic, unfinished 
look; like the rest of him, as if he'd partially melted in the heat 
and never recovered.
   She turned her gaze back to the readout, then returned it to the 
suddenly very small Odo on the biobed that also served as a conference 
table. Kira wondered how he could have grown up so hard-bitten and 
feral when he looked this vulnerable this young. "Poor kid," she 
murmured.
   Dax flipped Odos' pack open, "Colouring books? Fuzzy toys?" The 
moment she tried to touch them, her hand passed through them, "Ah... a 
holographic display. Clever..." she fished around and brought it out, 
"Stolen parts, mashed together with minimal aptitude... the 
programming is brilliant," she tipped the display and a riot of 
pencils spilled according to gravity, as did the books and toys.
   Odo was watching her.
   "Hello," Dax turned the device off, "Nice work. You hurt?"
   "Um..." he scanned the room.
   "It's OK," Kira informed, "We know about you."
   "I... don't feel hurt," Odo managed, cautiously sitting up to 
examine his side, "I thought I was going to die."
   "You sound disappointed," Dax sang, "You don't have to be; 
considering your artwork, here. We could use you."
   Odo simply nodded at this, tension draining away.
   "She was referring to your skills," Kira put in, a little too 
hurriedly, "not what you are."
   "You're not much different from the others," Odo breathed, "Either 
way I'm used."
   "Not here," Kira stated flatly.
   "Really?" Odo tilted his unfinished head, "You just said I would be 
used here."
   "Well, if you want to work with us, that's your choice," Dax 
explained, "In return, we offer protection from people that try to 
shoot you."
   "Why - was that man trying to kill me?" he asked, displaying an 
early talent for asking the most unwanted questions.
   Kira paled briefly before stammering, "We'd... received word that 
the Science Centre was training a sentient weapon. Considering the 
fire fight, we can only guess it's you."
   A small alarm signalled for attention and Dax moved to answer it, 
leaving Kira alone with him.
   Kira sighed, "You always hear of these things and think of some 
huge cyborg that's going to be sent out to crush Bajorans. Not a 
little kid..."
   "So you think it is me."
   She shrugged, "We couldn't see any cyborgs down there. Anyway, you 
hear a lot of things about the Centre; maybe it's all propaganda."
   "Proper - what?"
   "Politically enhanced lies."
   Odo climbed down in order to pace the floor - a mannerism that sent 
chills down Kiras' spine, "So, if I was this new weapon, you would 
turn me against the Cardassians, yes?"
   "Probably."
   "And... what if I'm not?"
   "We can't exactly put you back down there; who knows what they're 
throwing at each other now?"
   He stopped pacing, placed his hands behind his back and stared a 
question at her; causing another chill to shoot across Kiras' back. 
"You haven't exactly planned this, have you?"
   "If you're in the Resistance, you learn not to plan - you don't 
live that long."
   Little eyes went wide as saucers; he'd probably never even heard of 
the fighting, poor kid.
   "We gotta put down," Dax said without preamble, "That transport 
drained a lot more juice than we planned and something's wrong with 
the reserve connections."
   Kira produced a low growl, striding to the operations area of the 
vessel with Dax.
   Odo, left alone, pondered the situation. _I escaped... I actually 
escaped; and these people, Resistance or not, have helped me. I owe 
them some favours_

   They managed to avoid everything by hiding in one of the remote 
mountain areas and concealing the ship in a cave well away from any 
villages; or at the very least, out of sight of them.
   Odo raced out of the cave as soon as he could, Kira following 
after, cursing under her breath for trusting him not to escape. She 
was much surprised when he halted in the sunlight and just sat.
   "What the hell?"
   Odo was seated calmly, eyes closed, legs folded, arms hanging limp 
and purring softly. He would occasionally quit purring to sigh in a 
gratified way.
   "You like sunlight?" she asked.
   "Amongst other things, I'm a Radivore... Sunlight - is something of 
a treat for me."
   Kira, too, dropped into a sitting position, "Oh, Prophets," she 
murmured, "you poor kid."
   "Hm?"
   "They won't even let you play in the sunshine... flakkin' 
bastards..."
   "Is this one of those inalienable rights I keep hearing about?"
   "It should be." Kira replied, "Too many cultures already take it 
for granted."
   Odo didn't reply, he was lolling on the cave mouth, looking 
blissful and purring in the sun.

   Forty years later, and Meanwhile...
   Lieutenant Commander Eddington desperately attempted to keep up 
with a tangle of woes that he'd "inherited" from Odo. If the shape 
shifter could manage this warren, Eddington could at least adapt. One 
of his chief woes was the fact that the station did not adhere to its 
original design, and that most of the wall-spaces were apparently wide 
enough to allow access to a humanoid if they wanted to escape 
attention; only half of these areas had been mapped, apparently by 
hand. Fortunately, some were labelled as smuggler "hot spots", but 
many of them were in the dead zones. Eddingtons' quick fix was to seal 
the dead zones completely and hope.
   Then there were Odos' soon-to-be-infamous programs. Every single 
purpose that could tie the Constable to his desk had a computer 
program that did the job in seconds, if the user knew the right 
commands. Damn know-it-all blob of jelly made it look so easy, then 
again; according to the files, he had written them. The help files 
were more a set of abbreviated notes designed more as reminders for a 
temporarily lapsed memory rather than actual help for anyone new.
   The Promenade was closing down, and still Eddington was hard 
pressed sorting out that days' files. On impulse, he journeyed to 
Medical, the medtech on duty was paying more attention to Odos' 
readout than Visitors and acknowledged Eddingtons' presence with a nod.
   "Can he," he indicated the inert Odo, "hear us? Or even understand?"
   Shrug. The medtech either didn't know or didn't much care.
   Eddington approached the being in the middle fields and restraint 
devices designed not to allow the shape shifter to spill. "You always 
knew what you were doing, didn't you?" murmured Eddington, "You could 
have told us, once in a while. We'd have been able to understand..."
   Cradled in a nest of technology, the Changeling gasped for air, 
remaining grey and unresponsive.
   "Starfleet made such a fuss over your few breaches... I was lucky 
to miss that many in a day. This place is more trouble than it seems, 
Odo."
   Breathe. One eye fluttered open, scanning Eddington before it shut 
again as if to say, _Is that all?_
   "I - hope Kira's looking after you back then... we won't know for 
sure until she gets back..." he trailed off. Odo hadn't moved since 
that barely perceptible flicker. He sighed, "Get better fast, Odo. I 
don't know how long I can cope with this madhouse."
   Eddington left, not noticing that Odos' grey features had formed 
into a satisfied smile.

   Floating, skimming through the occupation-era station, trying to 
find the crying child before she tangled in a net and began to choke...
   Kira was still gasping when she woke in the middle of the night. 
She knew what this dream meant - if Odo didn't survive now, she'd have 
been hanged for Rebellion during the Occupation. Probably after 
torture, as well.
   Kira became aware that Odo - the ten-year-old Odo; was watching 
her. "What are you doing up at this hour?" she whispered.
   "Watching you sleep," Odo replied, whispering in turn, "I've only 
seen Mora sleep before now. I was wondering if the process was 
different for females."
   Kira propped herself up with her elbow, "And is it?"
   "Not much," Odo shrugged.

   Red-hair yawned at him, "Fine... whatever," a long blink, 
"Normally, it isn't considered polite, you know."
   "I know," he told her, "but I have to observe everything."
   "Ge' back to sleep, wouldja?" Red-hair mumbled as she settled back 
down.
   _Sleep? But I don't sleep..._ Odo blinked, watching her sleep, 
watching her breathe as distant thunder echoed in the hills.

   It wasn't thunder that had punctuated the night, but some variety 
of shelling. Odo peered down at the new cave in the cliff just to the 
left of their cavern. "Prophets," he whispered, then to Kira, "Do you 
think it was the Cardassians?"
   "It could have been our lives," Kira grumbled, damping what little 
there was of his enthusiasm.
   Odos' face lost its timid smile, "Or you could have been hurt... 
I'm sorry..."
   Kira knelt, "I can't let you go wandering about anywhere, anymore-" 
his face was a picture of heartbreak, "at least, not without some form 
of protection. I'll rig up a transporter armband for you; if you see 
trouble coming, just press it - the computer will do the rest."
   He smiled at her.
   Kira let him follow her into the Transport, letting him see her 
fiddle with the settings of the armband wouldn't count for much - 
circuits weren't Odos' forte. "Just to make it safer, I've rigged this 
so that you come straight back here if you get near an armed phaser or 
a ship flying too low."
   "Okay," he murmured, watching her hands as they moved to strap the 
thing on his arm.
   "Go out, now, you're as safe as I can get you."

   Odo hovered by the door, looking back. He owed this strange young 
woman - and he didn't even know her name.
   "Go on, kid. Enjoy yourself. Go an play."
   "Odo..." he stammered, "My - name is Odo... And you - are?"
   Red-hair regarded him a little sadly, "Call me Nerys."
   "Yes, Miss Nerys," he galloped off, into the sun.
   He was unfamiliar with the concept of 'play', even though he had 
spent time and effort observing other children in the act. To him, it 
was a pointless activity - but he didn't want to disappoint Miss 
Nerys. Odo wandered out, following the crater-pocks of shells, 
collecting odd bits of fused sand or fragments of casings as he had 
seen real children do.
   On a downhill slope, Odo lost his footing, tumbling down until he 
collided with a casing jutting out of the side of the hill. His first 
view of the interior of the crater was that of a female body. Whether 
she'd been hit by shrapnel, or had stumbled into the resultant crater, 
Odo couldn't tell. Her belongings had scattered all over the ground. 
Provisions, clothing, pottery and... some kind of odd basket? It made 
a wailing noise, whatever it was. Straddling the shell, Odo reached 
out and flipped the basket from its side to its base.
   The basket held a crying baby.
   "Oh, dear..." Odo murmured, "How do I tell Miss Nerys?" _'I found 
it in the woods, can I keep it?' No..._ he lifted the basket carefully 
and held it close to his body. "I can't just leave you here... I have 
to bring you along. Miss Nerys will know what to do," and began the 
long climb back to their cave.

   "It was the strangest thing, Commander," Bashir reported over a 
vid-link. "Almost as if she was suffering from exposure. She'd 
stabilised as soon as Major Kira had - gone on her mission."
   "Same thing with Odo," Sisko informed, "Can you find anything in 
the records about a young Vedeck Winn in some kind of - accident?" 
Time travel concepts gave Sisko headaches, like the one currently 
dissolving his left temple in sulfuric acid.
   "She'd have to be very young if there was anything like that. 
There's no record of there ever being a Vedeck Winn on the computers."
   "Keep searching, Doctor."
   "Understood. Bashir out."

   The second Dax heard a child crying she thought something was 
wrong. She hurried away from the tangle of connections before she had 
the chance to wonder if Odo cried.
   He was all right - and carrying the source of the noise. "What in-?"
   "Um..." Odo managed, jiggling the baby in its basket, "I - found 
it... the mother is - gone. At the bottom of a crater... Where's Miss 
Nerys?"
   Jadzia calmed somewhat, "She better not know about this right now. 
Come on, we can see what we can do for the poor kid," she guided Odo 
into the ship; he had the kind of look that didn't easily surrender 
things into the hands of others.

   Kira returned from foraging to discover the engine room completely 
unDaxed. "Jadzia?! The engines' not fixing itself!" Then she heard 
unfamiliar laughter. Odo?
   "She likes it."
   "Of course she does," Dax! _I'm gonna kill her, and her Trill, for 
wasting time like this._ "she's been hungry all night."
   Fine. There was no way to tell what the hell was going on unless 
she walked in on it, so Kira did just that.
   The normally morose ten-year-old Odo was actively smiling. And 
holding a baby.
   "What the hell?"
   "Odo found her," Dax cooed, "He couldn't just leave her there to 
starve..."
   Kira glowered at her as she shelved the freshly- scavenged/hunted 
meats and vegetables. "Does the mother know?"
   "That depends on your theology," murmured Odo, "She's - um - 'sent 
to the mines'."
   "Dead," translated Dax.
   "Miss Jadzia can care for the baby if you want me to show you," Odo 
suggested, "Poor baby, half starved and half asleep; she doesn't know 
what to do first."
   Dax chuckled, scooping the infant into her arms.

   The mother was, indeed, dead at the bottom of the crater. Kiras' 
inspection revealed that she'd been trying to save her baby from the 
shelling. Was it Vil, or just Cardassians after a resistance pocket 
holed up in these hills? If it had been Vil, would the mother be alive 
if they hadn't gone back? _I hate temporal mechanics..._
   Kira coerced Odo into helping bury the mother, while delivering an 
abbreviated chant. She had taken the mothers' earring and some other 
pieces of jewellery and handed them to Odo, informing him that they 
were the babys' now.
   They returned to the cave in appropriate sobriety, but at least Odo 
had seemed to have got over the shockyness he had had before. He was 
still silent - Kira had never seen a quieter kid in her life; at least 
he didn't seem indrawn or moody.
   "We can't keep the baby," Kira told him quietly.
   Odo nodded, "I know. I can't take her with me, either. If I get 
caught... I've seen what the 'Bajoran' Centre for Science does to 
babies."
   Kira shivered, _So, those horror stories I heard were true... poor 
kids._ "We could find a temple somewhere," she suggested, "There's 
supposed to be a village downhill from here; she'd be safe, at least."
   There was a hint of 'I want to be safe, too' in Odos' posture, "I'd 
- like to make sure she's healthy, please."
   "Sure," Kira patted the young Odos' shoulder, "there's no reason 
why not."
   Odo brightened a little, but remained silent and downcast.
   Kira drew him closer to her, "Don't worry about it so much. This 
sort of thing - happens all the time."
   "I - wasn't exactly worrying... just - annoyed," he accepted her 
touch, "All those children out there, unprotected, uncared for. The 
newscasts just tell people that no-one was hurt."
   "That's because they only count Cardassians," Kira grumbled, barely 
keeping the correct tense, "All the newscasts are propaganda anyway; 
they don't want people to know the truth."
   Odo nodded blandly, "Everyone lies to everyone else, don't they?"
   "More or less," _You're right, Odo. Everyone lies, even I'm lying 
to you. Again. You're so involved with the truth it hurts to lie. I'm 
sorry._ "Sometimes people lie because they want to hide the truth, 
others because they want to keep living... it's complicated."
   "It's easier to tell the truth. You at least know what you said."
   Kira wanted to weep; she wanted to shake him and scream, 'They'll 
eat you alive!', tell him that there just wasn't a single person that 
didn't lie, except for him. Instead, she just gripped his shoulder in 
a sort of hug.
   Odo responded as if hungry for affection.
   _My head hurts,_ her mind wailed.

   Odo was 'resting' in the other room when Dax came to Kira. "I 
finally translated that elaborate stitching on the babys' dress."
   "And?"
   "She's Eleka Winn," Dax told her, "The Kai."
   Kira was unaware of the next few minutes. All she knew was that she 
eventually found herself staring at the sleeping baby. This fragile, 
tiny life would eventually decide the fate of Bajor. If Vil hadn't 
been so intent on killing Odo, Bajors' fate would have been different. 
If Odo was allowed freedom to arrest Vil in the first place... but 
then, he'd asked her why she didn't help him.
   He remembered her, so in a sense it had already happened. Damn this 
time travel stuff. She had to help baby Winn because she already had. 
Next 'mission' like this, and Kira was going to volunteer someone else.
   "Is something wrong with the baby?" asked Odo.
   "Huh? No. I was just - thinking. And watching her."
   Odo carefully brushed baby Winns' cheek.
   "We figured out the script on her dress, her name's Eleka Winn."
   "Pretty," Odo cooed, "Eleka..."
   "She should be strong enough to travel in a few days," Kira 
informed carefully, "I found a monestary a little less than half a 
days' walk from here, we could leave her in their care."
   Odo drifted towards morose again. Kira responded by placing a hand 
on his shoulder, "It'll be fine," she lied, "Eleka stands a better 
chance with them."
   "I know." Odo murmured, "I guess I just want to keep her safe 
forever."
   "It'll be fine," Kira lied again.
   Baby Winn stirred, and Odo busied himself with feeding and caring 
for the infant while Kira checked on Daxs' progress.
   "How's it going?"
   "The backups were put into the emergency grid, not the reserves... 
I've almost got it," Dax grunted.
   There was a whirr and the lights brightened. "HA!" Kira crowed, 
"We're in moving condition at last."
   In the back of the ship, Odo was trying to teach Winn to walk. Kira 
sighed inaudibly at the spectacle. Forty-so years later, they'd hate 
each other, yet their fates were inseparable now.

   Odo had overdone himself. He'd managed to rig up a shaded carrycase 
for baby Winn. Kira trudged silently along with him, considering the 
future/present. How tempting it was, to just leave Winn somewhere 
where there was no help - like a Cardassian Orphanage. But then there 
was Odo - the ten-year-old, trusting, barely sure of himself shape 
shifter.
   For some strange reason, she couldn't let him down; had to show him 
that at least one sentient could keep her word. After the baby was 
safe, then what? Get Vil, sure, but how? Odo had to come along, safe 
in an escape capsule, perhaps, but significantly shielded from a 
firefight. Assuming there would be a firefight.
   "There's the temple!" Odo enthused, jiggling the baby to prevent 
her crying, "You'll be safe soon," he told baby Winn, "Vedecks are 
nice people."
   _Not some Vedecks,_ Kira amended, remaining silent while they 
waited for the local Vedeck to arrive.
   He was simply dressed, reminding her painfully of Bareil. "Do I... 
know you?" He asked.
   "We - found a baby in the woods," Kira informed.
   "Her name's Eleka Winn," Odo supplied.
   "She was named after an Aunt uphill from here," the Vedeck told 
them, "What happened to the mother; do you know?"
   "She's - dead." Kira gave the details of where to find the grave, 
and what she'd died of. "Can you tell me where to find this Aunt?"
   "I can take you there. It isn't too much trouble," offered the 
Vedeck, "Gret Winn has been much worried about the fate of her sister."
   The walk uphill wasn't far, although they were all obliged to stand 
in the sun to wait for Aunt Winn to answer the door.
   Baby Winn started to cry. Odo rather desperately held her and 
patted her. "Shh, shh..." he soothed ineffectually.
   Aunt Gret Winn threw open the door, shocking Kira by how much she 
resembled the future Kai. "Saulmaht? You found her?"
   Vedeck Saulmaht shook his head, "She'd gone to the Prophets, Winn; 
but these strangers saved her daughter."
   Odo stepped forward, still juggling the baby, "Ma'm? She likes--"
   Gret snatched the baby from him, "Filth! Get away from her! How 
dare you stain my sisters' child! Mareek!"
   Stunned, Kira could only unfasten the twist of cloth that held the 
jewellery she'd recovered. Aunt Gret snatched that, too.
   "And you," she snapped, "You should be ashamed of yourself. You 
should know better." She held the infant closer to her chest, causing 
her to wail louder.
   "She likes to be held high..." Odo tried while managing an 
effective cringe, "Ma'm?"
   "Mar-reek!" Gret shrieked.
   A huge hill lout appeared behind her. He was holding a broom. "Yah?"
   "Take the baby and wash her. And put her clothes in to be boiled."
   Mareek disappeared back into the home.
   "Ma'm, please," Odo attempted, this time with half-hearted mime, 
"she likes to be held--"
   "And use lots of soap to wash her!" Gret continued, "Did you hear 
me Mareek?!"
   There was a distant "Yah."
   "Ma'm?"
   Gret glared down at Odo, "You want to be rewarded," she made it 
sound like a curse, "Hold out your hand."
   "But-"
   "Now!"
   Odo put his hand forward while distancing his body from the limb. 
It was as if both body and hand were slowly repelling each other.
   Gret put a coin into his hand as if stabbing it. "Here is a Lita. 
Now get!"
   >Slam!<
   "That - bitch," Kira managed. Stronger epithets failed to pass her 
throat, they all seemed compliments.
   "You must forgive her," Saulmaht instructed quietly, "these past 
days have been stressful for her house."
   Odo stared at the Lita. "Vedeck," he turned, holding the coin 
towards Saulmaht, "I think you could use this more than me."
   The coin changed hands. "Prophets bless you, child," a hug, eagerly 
accepted.
   Kira wanted to scream. Or at least phaser Gret Winn out of 
existence. "We have to get back before dark, Odo... Thank you for your 
help, Vedeck."
   Odo sighed, but took Kiras' hand in preparation for their journey 
back, "Thank you, Vedeck Saulmaht," he chimed, the to Kira, "I wish I 
could have told her about the baby."
   "Don't worry," Kira allowed a strange smile, "I think little Winn 
will be held very high..."

   "Now stay in here until someone comes to get you out, OK?" Miss 
Nerys secured the last strap over his body. His bag rested loose on 
the floor, Odo put his foot on a strap, weighing it down.
   "All right," he murmured, "What's going to happen?"
   "We've got to go after someone. You'll be fine right here." She 
kissed his forehead briefly, then sealed him in the lifepod.
   Odo collected his bag from the floor and hugged it for reassurance. 
Miss Nerys had tried to explain he'd be safe here, but he wasn't sure. 
He felt safer with Miss Nerys.

   Kira launched their little craft into the air, knowing that, at any 
second, Vil could shoot them out of it. He wasn't apparently, waiting 
for them to emerge as she'd expected. They traced his vapour trail, 
revealing that he had scoured the mountains - following the exact path 
of a Cardassian carpet-bomber.
   If Bajor wasn't going to kill him, Kira would.
   Phaser fire barely missed them. Kira swore fluently as she returned 
fire, desperately trying to miss any ground, where villages could be 
hidden.
   The battle went as battles do, at the end of it, Vils' ship was 
forced down. They followed, beaming Vil into their own vessel, then 
blowing his to pieces. Only when Vil was suitably restrained did Kira 
release Odo from the lifepod.
   "It's safe?"
   "Safe as it can get," Kira assured, "You'd better look after the 
prisoner while we sort out the rest of this."
   "Yes, Miss Nerys," Odo intoned, padding softly to the rear of the 
ship.

   It was the same man that had tried to shoot him in the Centre. He 
glowered at Odo, probably cursing him in his mind.
   "Do you want anything?" he tried.
   The man glared, "Not from you."
   Odo replicated some water, "You have to have something..."
   He refused.
   "Why did you try to kill me?"
   "I dislike shifters," he growled.
   "Why?"
   "Does it matter?"
   "Yes..." Odo finally put the water back into the replicator, "I 
haven't done anything to you."
   "Yet."
   Confused, Odo hefted his bag again and headed for the 'bridge' of 
the ship.

   "There you are," Kira attempted a smile, "Do you want to be dropped 
off somewhere?"
   "No," was his instant reply, "I want to stay."
   Kira bit her lip. "Look, we can't drag you along everywhere, 
anymore; you could have been killed today."
   A sigh, "Outside the search radius, then. Give me a chance to stay 
Out."
   "You're a good kid, Odo." Kira knelt to reach his eye level, "don't 
forget that."
   "I won't, Miss Nerys."

   The street was deserted. Kira put away her phaser as the 
ten-year-old Odo adjusted his bag. "Here we are," she sighed, "Good 
luck."
   "You too."
   They hugged. Kira mourning for all he be forced to become, and Odo 
just enjoying the embrace.
   "Goodbye," she managed, hitting her armband.
   As soon as she left, Odo picked a road and ran.


   They just made it to the plasma storm, and had to take a charge 
twice before they could jaunt.
   Pain.
      Timelessness.
         A plethora of images, distorted pasts that hurt her to think 
about them. _I'm sorry Bareil..._ Kai Opaka told her to forgive 
herself. Bareil told her he understood.

   When she came to, her face was wet and her heart heavy. One life 
could change Bajor, but the true order of things had to remain.
   "Major?"
   It was Odos' voice. Kira opened her eyes. An unharmed, healed Odo; 
she smiled, "I'm fine. Get Vil."
   Nod. He was off.
   Kira allowed herself a few moments for the headache to wear off. 
She'd done it. Somehow.
   Bashir pressed a hypo against her neck and advised a days' rest. 
Rest, Kira decided, was a damn fine option.

END.