Julian Bashir fought desperately, ducking behind the meager shelter of his hypospray counter. God, he wished he'd had more hyposprays. It might have saved him getting that nasty phaser burn across his backside.
The situation looked bleaker than ever as a big group of Jem'Hadar soldiers stormed the medbay, angrily wielding weapons that could inflict injuries Julian didn't want to think about. He counted ten soldiers before he decided he needed to modify his approach. One tiny hypospray counter was not going to
hold off the enemy-big, bulky, angry enemy that it was-for long.
Julian weighed his options. He looked left to an air vent guarded closely by a Cardassian. Not good. He looked right to the doorway, blocked by three Jem'Hadar. Not good, either. He looked up into the barrel of a phaser, and something told Julian that phaser wasn't set for stun.
"Any last words from the good doctor?" Julian was shocked to hear the smarmy voice of a friend… a good friend… in fact, Garak.
"Garak," his voice trembled, "you don't have to do this. Garak, I'm your friend. Garak, I-"
The phaser fired. The force knocked him back and Juilan awoke with a convulsive jerk. Unable to do anything else, Julian just sat, digesting what had just happened and mulling over the possible meanings of his dream. These dreams really had to stop. It was the third one he'd died in since he'd gone to bed at 2300hrs. He blamed it on the Holosuite visit he'd made earlier that night. Comforted by a resolution to stay out of Quark's for a week, Julian placidly drifted off.
Another dark, sinuous feeling clouded Julian's awareness. "Here we go again," he thought, mentally rolling his eyes. In this dream it was completely dark. He was lying in his quarters when he sensed a presence in the room. Knowing it was only a dream, Julian called unafraid for the lights, steeling himself for whatever might appear under the fluorine glow. He was surprised to see a rather small, slender form, dressed classically in black. "As if that would hide him," Julian thought sarcastically. "He at least might have come up with something clever like an individual cloaking device."As Julian's eyes adjusted, he realized the intruder was not indeed male, but female; the rather form-fitting bodysuit revealing gracefully toned muscles.
She held a silent phaser in one hand midair, as if surprised by being discovered. Of course, he couldn't really tell because the mask she wore obliterated any facial expression.
"Really, darling," Julian soothed as he removed the phaser from her stiff hand, "you're not very good at this game, are you?" The assassin, still too shocked to move, did not react. "Come now," Julian surprised himself with his suavity, "did you really expect to win me over by waving a phaser in my face?
A simple hello is quite a bit easier." Julian tapped his comm badge.
"Bashir to security-recently disarmed intruder in my quarters." The girl still made no attempt at movement. Bashir began to wonder if she wasn't really a catatonic schitzophrenic. He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. It was warm, and it felt disconcertingly real. In fact, nothing around him seemed
very dreamlike at all. Julian's blood ran cold. My God, this wasn't a dream at all, was it? He was very aware of his left hand holding the phaser that might have killed him, and his right hand on the shoulder of the girl that might have killed him with it.
Luckily, a security team relieved him of both phaser and assassin before he could flop back on his bed in proper shock. Miles must have come in with the security team, because the comforting bulk of his friend sitting next to him gave him something to focus on.
"Miles… I really thought she was a dream. I could have gotten myself killed and I would have thought it was all a dream. I don't know whether to be embarrassed or thankful or…"
"…shocked?" Miles supplied with a grin. "Well my question is why on Earth someone would want to assassinate you, eh? Got any ideas on that point?"
Julian only shook his head slowly. "None whatsoever."
*
Julian sat pensively in front of Commander Sisko's desk.
"Now Doctor," the Commander began. "You do understand the reason I've brought you here."
Julian nodded.
"I only thought it fair that you should know as much as possible about the people
who tried to assassinate you."
Julian gave a wry smile.
"The assassin we found in your quarters last night was a female."
Julian nodded again.
"She was part of the Baxqau."
"Professional assassins for hire, yes, I've heard of them." Julian wondered what was taking the commander so long to get to the point.
"Well, doctor… I won't beat too long around the bush. What's really bothering me is the fact you managed to stop her."
Julian squinted. "So you're most concerned that I didn't die?"
"Yes, doctor. The fact you managed to stop one of the best assassins in the quadrant bare-handed is very disturbing to me."
Julian took a deep breath. He was going to have to tell the commander the whole embarrassing truth, wasn't he? "Well, sir… you see, at the time I was convinced it was a dream. That certainly affected my clear judgment at the time. I just walked over to her and took the phaser out of her hands,
unafraid. She didn't move a muscle, sir."
Sisko hid a smile by sighing and coughing. "That poor assassin! Can you imagine being confronted by a target that was absolutely unafraid of you?" he muttered to himself.
Julian forced a smile. "It must have been quite a shock, yes."
The commander coughed again. "Well, the assassin is in the maximum security brig under full watch. I've decided to relieve you of duty for the next two weeks. You will be assigned guest quarters with a guard posted around the clock. And Bashir… I won't go so far as to put you under house arrest, but
please, do be careful."
*
Julian puttered aimlessly around in the guest quarters. Oh sure, he had a replicator and a *comm badge and his PADD…but he felt entirely useless pacing around his quarters like a caged lion. What if someone wandered in half-mangled and needed his expert surgery? What if Keiko needed a babysitter?
What if someone attacked the station and all he could do was sit there being helpless instead of being on the bridge or in the medbay where he ought to be?
Sighing, he slumped onto his bed and felt sorry for himself. He listlessly picked up his PADD and tried to read through the latest medical journals, but he soon tired of that and discarded the PADD like the useless bit of wires it was.
Luckily, his door chimed. Desperate for company and confident in the security guards, Julian opened it without question. It was Jadzia Dax.
"Jadzia!" Julian cried gratefully.
"How are you holding up?" She smirked, knowing the answer before she asked.
"Terribly. I'm so desperately bored. But now you're here, and you can entertain me!"
She laughed at the bleakness in his eyes. "Julian, you know I can only stay until I go back on duty at 1400 hrs," she said carefully, not wanting to drive him deeper into insanity.
He answered quite seriously, "I don't care. Any relief is profoundly welcome."
Jadzia smirked again.
It was only a matter of time before Julian asked her about the infirmary.
"It's surviving. Dr. Anaya is doing all she can to keep it together."
Julian got up. "I am so bored!" He paced restlessly. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be kept prisoner in guest quarters? I'd almost rather have been killed! This is madness! This is torture!"
Jadzia only raised an amused eyebrow. A few moments later, she brushed off her uniform and stood.
"No. Oh no, Jadzia Dax, you are not allowed to leave now!"
She smiled evilly. "Watch me!" She sprinted to the door, barely dodging his grasp.
"Jadziiiiiiiaaaaa!" came the haunted cry of a man bored out of his wits.
"I'll send Chief O'Brien to look in on you as soon as he finishes his shift!" a distant voice echoed. Julian could just see the maddeningly mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
"Computer," Julian called, waiting for a beep of acknowledgement, "What time does Chief O'Brien go off duty?"
"1430 hrs," the computer declared flatly.
Half an hour…the torture was unimaginable. He had to wait an entire half-hour for any human contact whatsoever! He couldn't stand it. He simply could not take another thirty minutes of this imprisonment! Having reached his last straw, Julian decided to venture out of his quarters for a nice little walk to the replimat. He still hadn't put Tarkalean tea in his replciator's database and he had been hankering for a nice steaming hot cup since daybreak.
The security guards looked up, not a bit surprised to see him. He'd tried to make conversation with them about an hour earlier and the guards had been just waiting for him to crawl outside, having gone nearly insane.
"I'm going on a walk," Bashir declared calmly.
One of the guards nodded passively. "Would you like one of us to accompany you, Doctor?"
"No, no," he waved them off, "I'm only going to the replimat for a cup of tea."