Prologue:
"We're going on a trip, in our favorite rocket ship,
Zooming through the sky-
Climb on board, get ready to explore,
There's so much to find-!"
Stardate: 94790.56
"Got everything you need?" Julian inquired quizzically, trying to appear as not paying any attention to the bucket (which, in fact, was drawing almost all of his interest).
"I'm a shapeshifter," Odo retorted, "I am everything I need."
"Really?" Julian stepped, or, rather, was herded out of the way of the disgruntled Security Chief, while still managing to pepper him with questions. "You don't need anything? Your clothes, those are a part of you? What about food, water? No—I suppose the replicators can handle that."
Odo grunted a response, not caring enough to answer.
"Was that a 'Yes' or a 'No'?" Julian called after him as Odo entered the cockpit.
"It was a 'maybe'," he growled, and that was the end of the conversation, to him at least.
"Leave the poor man alone and come help me with these, Bashir," Kira barked, standing bent double over two large suitcases. "I'm breaking my back while the two of you squabble."
"Is that an order or a suggestion, Major?" the doctor queried, eyeing the case. One was stocky and stuffed so full that the zippers stuck straight out to the side. The other was a bit shorter and slightly less full, though the objects in the side compartment were pressed so tightly against the material that with some consideration he could determine what they were: a standard-issue PADD and multiple isolinear data rods.
Odo rolled his eyes. "Here, let me," he offered, since Julian clearly wasn't going to, then turned and reached for one of the bags. "I didn't know you packed so heavily-?
"Don't get on me about it," she huffed, "These belong to Dax. I just have a duffel bag."
"I see." Odo smirked. She packs light. I can understand that. His mind drifted back to his own luggage—a simple metal pail. It was a little embarrassing, sure, but far too risky to assume that the hotel would have an equally convenient container. He didn't want to be sitting in someone's hastily emptied glass every 18 hours.
"Did I hear my name?" Lieutenant Dax poked her head through the doorway. "You aren't spreading rumors about me again, are you, Kira?"
The Major gasped in mock astonishment, a hand flying to her chest. "Me? Never!"
Julian chuckled from up front. "I don't suppose you got my suitcase, Jadzia?"
She scoffed. "Since when is it polite to ask the women to do your work? Julian, you can get it yourself."
He sighed dramatically, swinging out of the chair and out the door. "Must I do everything around here?"
"Hardly," Odo muttered, sliding the second bag into the luggage corner.
"Well, it certainly looks like you have this under control," a deep voice observed from outside of the runabout.
"Commander Sisko." Odo greeted him with a nod. "Yes, I think we'll be underway soon."
"Nice work, Constable," Sisko acknowledged. "I know this 'vacation' idea maybe isn't your cup of tea, but I appreciate the effort you've put into it."
"Just doing my job," Odo agreed pleasantly, inwardly cursing himself for ever consenting to the suggestion. He was already sick of the runabout and its crew, and they hadn't even left dock yet.
"Commander Sisko!" Kira cried breathlessly, emerging from the spacecraft and just now noticing the commander, "What are you doing here?"
"Just checking in to see how you four were doing," he responded.
"Well, everything's getting packed up and we're almost ready to leave," she reported.
"So I heard," Sisko replied, nodding in Odo's direction. Kira followed his gaze, and then backed into the ship, covering quickly as she realized that she had barged into the conversation a bit rudely. "Uh, right. I'll just go check the system to make sure it's...functioning."
"I'm ba—ah, hello, Sisko." Julian emerged with a medium-sized suitcase. "Just had to fetch my luggage."
"Couldn't we have just beamed this aboard?" Odo demanded, as Julian handed him the bag and he shoved it into place. He loved work, but only when work was necessary.
"Ah, but that's part of the adventure," Julian explained. "The frontier experience!" He waved a hand to the side, as though gesturing to a plain of unexplored wilderness that they would soon cross. All Odo saw was the metal doors and wall of the docking bay, and no "frontier" whatsoever.
"If you're all ready," Dax interjected as she came around the corner, "Systems check out, and we're prepared for departure."
Julian jumped the vertical foot of space between the bay floor and the entrance, disappearing after her. Odo gave Sisko a quick nod and turned to follow.
"Odo," Sisko called. The shapeshifter stopped instantly.
"Yes?" Odo's tone was hesitant.
"This is the only vacation they've had in years. The four of you deserve it. Don't be too strict on them."
"Very well," Odo consented reluctantly, turning again towards the inside of the runabout.
"And Odo—"
"Yes...?"
"At least try to have a little fun."
Chapter One:
Perfectly, Naturally
The trip was a safe, carefully plotted (if a bit long) course to Earth, which made it incredibly boring. After an hour and a half of virtually no excitement, even Doctor Bashir ran out of things to say. They sailed on in silence.
Every time the computer made the slightest unexpected sound, every time a light flashed, their hearts leapt in anticipation—but, of course, it was nothing. The only one comfortable with the almost-complete silence was Odo, who was reminiscing about his office, the brig, work, and even keeping an eye on Quark. He suspected that the mischievous Ferengi was up to something at that very moment. Were his thoughts visible to the other passengers, it would have seemed that they had left Deep Space Nine for good.
Therefore, they were all relieved when Dax announced that long-range sensors had picked up Earth and they were nearing their destination.
They docked on a large landing pad next to multiple different ships and exited slowly, each one a bit stiff from sitting for hours.
"Wow, look at this place," Julian remarked, somewhat in awe of his surroundings. "Who would've thought that an educational recreation of the early 21st century could be so popular?"
"And in Florida," Odo added gruffly.
"I wouldn't really call it 'educational,'" Dax responded. "'Historical,' sure, but this is a real hotel, not just a subject for children's field trips."
"Florida," Odo repeated, oblivious of the conversation. "I never thought I'd live to see the day that someone could convince me to come to Florida."
They passed through a rotating glass door (which Julian found incredibly entertaining) and into a large, yet reasonably comfortable lobby room. Seeming to know her way around, Lieutenant Dax led them up to a polished cherry reception desk and planted both hands on the high counter. The woman behind quickly hid a 24th-century tablet under a stack of papers and plastered a strained smile onto her face.
"Welcome to The Hotel," she greeted them politely. "How can I help you?"
"I have a reservation for a room here," Jadzia responded.
The woman nodded and stared down an ancient ancestor of their modern-day computers that sat stolidly on the desk in front of her. "Can I get your name?"
"Dax?"
The woman clicked on the keyboard, continued to look at the screen for a moment, and then back up at Jadzia. "Kylie Dax, Judy Dax, Xiera-Lo Dax, Rachel S—"
"Jadzia," the Lieutenant sighed, "Jadzia Dax."
A few more clicks on the computer, and the woman was back to beaming her clearly fake smile. "Found you," she chimed, handing Jadzia two thin slips of plastic, which Jadzia quickly handed off to Kira, who quickly gave them to Julian, who quickly thought of something to say.
"What're these for?" he asked, a bit dubiously.
"They're our key cards," Dax informed him, smiling in a way that seemed much more sincere than the counter lady did. "They'll let us back into the room if we leave. Unfortunately, there's only two of them, so we won't all have our own. Come on, let's find our room."
"Key card?" Odo echoed suspiciously. "That doesn't sound very secure."
"I assure you, it is very secure," Dax affirmed. "We are perfectly safe. After all, who would want to break into the room of four vacationing Starfleet officers?"
Chapter Two:
Fish
As it turned out, the room was not one room but a small kitchen/dining room/living space that branched off into two separate bedrooms, each having their own bathroom. It was more like a small house than a large suite, much to the others' surprise. This delighted Jadzia (as she had been the one to pick out the room-with, of course, Commander Sisko's help).
The room was not richly decorated but comfortable. The colors were distinctly Mediterranean, and small, framed paintings of palm trees and beaches highlighted the off-white walls. The kitchen-dining area was beige tile, but the carpeting was a rich blue, accented with light-colored furniture and a patterned rug. At the far side of the living room was a generous window, edged with thin white curtains (that could be overlapped with thicker gray ones to block out the light). When approached, it boasted a glorious view of—well, the parking lot—but the view was glorious, nonetheless.
Kira elbowed Odo, who was still taking it in. "See, I told you it wouldn't be so bad!"
He grunted, unable to argue and yet not quite ready to back down from his position.
"Before you get too settled in," Jadzia instructed, "Boys, you might want to choose which room you want. The one on the left is a little larger—"
"That's ours," Julian interrupted. "I claim it!"
"Typical," Kira grumbled. Julian cast her a wicked grin.
Jadzia opened the door to the room and stepped inside, the others following. The carpet was a thick, dark teal loop. A small window showed more of the parking lot, and sea-green curtains hung over it. The walls, which were pale blue, were covered in pictures of tropical fish. The décor was nothing like the first room-in fact, it was rather like standing inside of a giant aquarium.
"...on second thought," Julian continued slowly, trying not to look directly into the fishes' vacantly staring eyes, "I think I'll be polite and give the girls the bigger room."
"Oh, no, by all means, it's yours," Kira declined quickly.
"No, really," he insisted, "After all, it was Jadzia who reserved the room and helped plan everything."
"He has us there," Dax admitted, still bewildered. "I guess the fish tank room is ours."
While she and Kira brought their luggage into their room, Odo assisted Julian with his (or, in other words, carried it for him). The other room, while smaller and laid out a bit differently, was nice and was, thankfully, very lacking in aquatic animals. The tradeoff for no fish was no window, either, since each wall led to either another room or the hallway.
Julian nudged Odo and gestured to the beds. "Your choice."
Odo cast a long look at the two beds and frowned. "I'll just take a corner, thanks." He set his bucket in a nice spot where the outer walls met.
The doctor nodded grimly. "I'll try not to step on you."
Odo swallowed. This was going to be a very, very long week.
Chapter Three:
He Hosts a Pool
The rest of that day was spent primarily on settling in ("Where are the replicators?" — "There are no replicators, Julian"), unpacking ("Dax, what do you do with all this stuff?"— "I have to pack for eight different people, Kira!"), and dozing off jet lag ("I heard you should take a day per time zone crossed." — "Well, then, wake me in a hundred years."). Overall, by the end of the day, they were each exhausted. All four turned in early that night.
They woke up the next morning mostly refreshed. Dax suggested they explore the hotel grounds and, at the mention of a public pool, their morning was quickly planned. Odo, of course, turned down the invitation, despite their pleading.
"I'm not vacationing," he insisted, "I'm only here to ensure your safety."
"And how exactly are you going to do that from behind the closed door of a hotel room?" Kira's stubborn logic was unbeatable. "If you refuse to enjoy yourself the only thing you'll ensure is our boredom."
Odo hesitated. "I doubt you'd miss me that much." He frowned. "Although I suppose you have a point."
However, once they reached the pool his worries were confirmed. Any remaining respect for rank was shed in the spirit of 'vacation', which meant a lot of "'Odo, turn into this!' 'Odo, turn into that!'", which, in turn, meant a lot of "'No; I am here for security matters, not your entertainment!'", typically followed by a very dramatic sigh.
Morning turned to noon, Kira unintentionally got a light tan, Jadzia and Julian both became thoroughly soaked, and Odo managed to keep an 'I-wish-I-wasn't-here' look even though three of DS9's senior officers were acting like children. Not to mention throwing in a few "'You humanoids…'" comments along the side. Having returned to the hotel, it was silently and unanimously agreed that at least the majority of them had had a good time.
Entering the hotel room, Dax and Julian quickly headed into their rooms to shower, while Kira took a seat on the sofa and Odo, for no obvious reason, meticulously inspected the kitchen.
Kira grabbed the TV remote and stared at the buttons, a slight grin covering her face as she realized that she had absolutely no idea how to use it. It was a moment before she noticed Odo watching her.
"What?" she asked, sort of dubiously.
He looked away, shrugged. "Nothing."
"What?" she repeated, more forcefully this time.
"I…just find it amusing that you spent two hours sitting and doing nothing, and, now, you are preparing to sit and do nothing some more."
She huffed, still smirking, and turned back to the TV remote. "I haven't been doing nothing. I'm researching the historical pastimes of early 21st-century people." She continued studying the remote for a moment, then pointed it at the TV and pressed a button. She continued violently stabbing at buttons until, finally, the pixelated screen flickered to life.
"Ha, see," she said triumphantly, "That was something, wasn't it?"
He could have laughed.
Chapter Four:
Once More unto the Beach
Breakfast the next morning was courtesy of the complimentary buffet in a cozy off-section of the lobby, at which Julian ate more than two fair servings. However, this was at least slightly balanced out with the fact that Odo, being a shapeshifter, ate nothing.
Afterwards, they headed back upstairs to the hotel room. Because (as Julian promptly lectured) you are not supposed to swim until an hour after eating, the public pool was out of the question for late morning activities (which Odo found to be somewhat of a relief). The next hour was mostly spent lounging about the room, losing a key card, losing the second key card in the process of finding the first, and finally discovering them both underneath a sofa cushion. 12:00 came around surprisingly quickly, and, after a small lunch at the kitchen table, they were faced with the same dilemma of what to spend the day doing.
Jadzia was interested in some corny historical park about Ancient Florida, and was determined to get the others just as passionately intrigued.
Kira was more into the idea of exploring the closest of Florida's iconic beaches, which was only a short walk away.
Julian had been considering a visit to the gym in the hotel, but after sharing this thought and getting more than a few laughs in return, he decided to go with Jadzia.
Being unable to be in two places at once, and protect all of them simultaneously, Odo chose to go with Kira, who would otherwise be alone (though, on second thought, he wondered if, perhaps, Kira was more capable of defending herself than Julian or Jadzia, even if they were together).
-o-
His original opinion proving to be accurate, Julian was completely bored by the park before he and Jadzia had even gone inside. However, either the Trill was oblivious to his discomfort or rejoicing in it, and they read every note, map, and plaque that came into view, along with looking at (and practically memorizing) multiple displays.
-o-
Even Odo had to admit that the walk to the beach was very interesting, although the perfectly-manicured shrubs and carefully planted palm trees made this recreation of Old Florida seem rather…fake. Despite the strange faultlessness of the place, Odo was rather enjoying himself (and Kira was practically skipping along the sidewalk).
-o-
After an hour and a half of exploring the park, Dax decided that they had seen everything and, much to Julian's relief, they headed back to the hotel building.
"That was fascinating," Jadzia declared for the thirtieth time as they strolled into the lobby and over to the elevator (which was basically just an old-looking turbolift) and pressed the "up" button.
Julian, for once, kept silent as she babbled on about the many 'interesting' parts of the tour through the historical park, just relieved to finally be back in the hotel. They looked up at the musical "ding" as the doors opened, and they stepped inside.
It was the first time they had actually used the elevator, having taken the stairs before. However, after a few awkward moments of asking the walls to take them to their level, they discovered the button panel and managed to get to level 3, agreeing not to mention this occurrence to the others upon their return.
They swiped the key card at the door, then went inside. The light fell through the thin curtains and pooled welcomingly on the floor, still pleasantly captivating even on the third day of their stay.
Slightly surprised that the others hadn't returned from their walk yet, Julian and Dax settled down on the sofa to relax and mess around with the 21st-century TV.
It had to be a good fifteen minutes later that a weary knock resounded on the wooden door. Dax and Julian looked up, surprised. Odo and Kira had taken one of the key cards, so they ought to be able to let themselves in, but she got up to open the door, regardless.
As soon as the door was open, the two officers stumbled inside and slammed it shut behind them. Kira leaned back against the wood, panting, while Odo gave Dax a tired but apologetic look.
"What happened? I thought you two were going to the beach?"
"Oh, we did," Kira responded, nodding quickly. "Until we ran into a pair of Andorian idiots who needed to be taught a lesson—"
"—but because murder is against the law, I quickly escorted Major Kira in the opposite direction," Odo cut in.
"And then they started chasing us down the beach—"
"—so we hid in a sea cave—"
"—but then we got lost," Kira finished, still breathing hard. "And we couldn't see where we were going. So I had Odo turn into a flashlight—"
"And I have never been so humiliated," Odo growled, "Which reminds me, you owe me a favor."
"Uh, sure," she stammered. "Well, anyways, we found our way out."
"...But, then we were equally lost. You see, we had been walking in the cave for so long—"
"That we were in an entirely different part of the town—"
"Until finally I stopped for directions and we made our way here."
"And we lived happily ever after, the end." Kira concluded, pushing past a speechless Dax and a befuddled Julian, and into the women's bedroom. She paused in the doorway. "I'm going to take a shower and then lie down for a while, if you don't need me."
"I…think we'll be just fine," Julian responded, as she continued around the door and out of sight.
Chapter Five:
The Two of Clubs, The Seven of Diamonds, The Queen of Hearts, The Ace of Space
Kira emerged that evening, conveniently in time for dinner. Jadzia had surprised them by ordering a traditional earth special. It was a kind of flat pie, consisting of a bready base with a red vegetable sauce spread over it. On top of this was a thick layer of cheese, which, once the whole thing had cooked in the oven, was quite messy and hot but well worth it in taste. They each approached it with some wariness but eventually, between the three of them, it went quite quickly. Cleanup was fairly easy. Comfortably full, the four sat in silence for a while until Julian broke out a pack of cards.
"Well," he began, "who's up for a game of poker?"
Dax pounced on the idea instantly, and between the two of them Kira and Odo were goaded into a round of Seven-Card Stud. Julian was dealer, and explained the rules.
An hour and a half later, they were still engrossed in card games, having mastered multiple poker variations (which Odo had all won) and (growing tired of Odo's incessant luck) changed to Blackjack. Odo was still winning.
Eventually Dax retired and was soon followed by Julian, but Kira was stubbornly intent upon beating Odo. They continued through multiple different card games, from multiple different species.
It must have been some time around two o'clock in the morning when Julian left the bedroom to get a glass of water, his eyes immediately bombarded with the flickering orange light of the table lamp, illuminating just enough of the small kitchen to reveal Kira and Odo, both seeming thoroughly exhausted, but keeping at it.
Chapter Six:
Departure
They shouldn't have stayed up that late, not the night before leaving.
Of course, Kira was having none of it—she was too stubborn, and certainly not going to admit that it was a foolish decision; after all, the total four hours of sleep she ended up getting was enough for the great Bajoran freedom-fighter. Odo was rather grumpy all morning, but then, not that much out of the ordinary.
Jadzia and Julian were rather tentative in waking them up at eight thirty—rightly so, as Kira threw a fit and nearly kicked Julian in the face—but after a few moments she regained most of her wits and was definitely grateful that she'd been woken up with enough time to grab a quick breakfast at the free hotel buffet.
Checkout was at 11:00. They spent the time between the end of free breakfast hour (nine o'clock sharp) and then by packing up at a leisurely pace, making sure they had everything, cracking the code to the room safe ("I don't know why you'd put your socks in here, Julian"), and explaining the tragic loss of the extra keycard to a very uninterested—and intolerant-desk lady.
Then it was off to the parking lot, and from there to the runabout. It didn't take too much time to load up all their luggage, and they were departing shortly.
Epilogue:
The trip back to DS9 was smooth and uneventful, but this time, the silence was relaxing. Kira managed to catch a few "Z's" on the trip back. Bashir and Lieutenant Dax chatted back and forth about what they had enjoyed about the trip. And Odo just stared out the window, waiting, and thinking.
Captain Sisko met them in the shuttle bay with wide arms and a warm smile. "Welcome back, Doctor…Major…Lieutenant…Constable," he greeted them in turn as they stepped down the ramp and onto the station, "I trust you enjoyed your trip?"
"It was excellent, sir."
"Could've been better."
"Glad to be home, Benjamin."
And finally:
"Hmmph."