"Being Solid"

Odo peered down at the blue veins in his hand, absentmindedly tracing the most prominent blood vessel with his finger. The sight was so strange. He had never had the shapeshifting discipline or skill to create such details in his form before. Now that he was a Solid and gifted with a circulatory system, Odo couldn't help but be fascinated by something as simple, yet as complex, as a vein. The amount of corporal systems and organs that were required to keep a Solid alive kept Odo entertained at every hour of the day.

Odo opened his hands, placing them palm up in front of his vision. He studied the many creases in his palms, marveling at the detail. Never as a Changeling would he ever have been able to focus and concentrate so much on his "Odo" form as to make such wonderful traits come alive on his being. In fact, he hadn't even been able to get the ears correct. They had become such a burden to him as he'd put himself through the trial and error process of forming his humanoid appearance that, after a while, he'd just given up and forced uninspired, flat chunks of his form on the sides of his head, hoping they would pass off as ears. Luckily, no one had complained at his lack of artistic detail.

Although, Odo found it interesting how the other Changelings had all decided to grant him the gift of becoming a Solid—if one could call it a gift; Odo hadn't quite decided yet—yet they had made him keep his malformed facial features, parts of his form that had made him such an outcast to begin with. Before people had even known that Odo was a shapeshifter, they had immediately recognized that he was different from all the others, simply by observing his looks. By granting Odo his "wish" to become a Solid, yet forcing him to retain his original features, the Founders hadn't really granted Odo's wish after all. They had only solved the part that would concern them: they had made him Solid, therefore forever severing the renegade Changeling from the link, in the process punishing him for killing that one Changeling he had killed to save his friends.

Odo tried not to think back on that day when his people had shunned him forever, in the process taking away his ability to shapeshift. Now, not only had he been forced away from his home, his people, he was also not allowed to enjoy the simple pleasure of changing his form into whatever he pleased. Now, he had to scrape out a new existence as a Solid, trying to learn how to live a normal life from the beginning. Odo hated to think himself as an infant, not quite understanding when he was tired or hungry, only that he needed something, but, when it concerned his Solidity, he really was nothing more than a newborn.

Odo leaned forward and picked up the PADD on his desk, trying to focus on the job at hand. As Deep Space Nine's constable, he had to stay on top of every petty crime, every misdemeanor, every transgression in the case that there was a bigger problem behind the obvious. Odo had cases to follow, investigations to conduct, reports to write, and people to study. For instance, this one, a certain Fildian Presna, had a warrant out for his arrest. He was suspected of having kidnapped a Bajoran child and holding her for ransom a month ago, hoping to gain some latinum and run off to a distant planet where he could enjoy his filched currency and live out the rest of his days in stolen luxury. But first, he had made the decision to stop at Deep Space Nine for a drink and some Dabo, not at all suspecting that the station's constable was on his case. No, Odo wouldn't allow Fildian to leave the station a free man. Odo grunted softly at the thought. Fildian Presna would undergo interrogation, trial, and, in the end, be brought to justice, just like all the other con artists and thieves who entered Odo's station.

But, Fildian Presna wasn't the only criminal who needed Odo's attention. There was also a Malory Jones, who had been observed injecting illegal chemicals into her system on Earth Spacedock a week ago. Apparently, the human woman had managed to evade the authorities on ESD, leaving Constable Odo to clean up the mess when she'd arrived on Deep Space Nine a week later. A warrant was out for her arrest, too, for possession of illegal substances and evading arrest.

Not only would he have to direct these two criminals' detentions and questionings when the time was right, but he would have to monitor all the petty crimes the station experienced throughout the day as well as write the reports for Fildian Presna and Malory Jones, once they were arrested. He would also have to skim through the names of the people who had entered the station today and run the passenger manifest through the computer to find who he had to detain or keep an eye on. In fact, a passenger ship supposedly carrying a Linviizal'q'ra (Odo had no idea how to even begin to pronounce the absurd name) would be arriving soon. This creature had also evaded the police after being charged with domestic violence and had not appeared in court on his scheduled trial day. There was a warrant out for him, too. When the ship arrived, Odo would be there, waiting to drag the being to a holding cell before he could even set foot on the station.

And, there was always the matter of Quark. Odo always kept an eye on the devious Ferengi barkeeper, making sure he wasn't up to no good or, even better, that the constable could catch him in the an illegal act and detain him. Odo smiled wryly at the thought. Bringing the scheming Ferengi to justice for even the most minor of Quark's transgressions was practically a favorite pastime for the security chief.

Odo set his PADD down on his desk and swiveled his chair around to face the wall to his right. He stood up and walked over to the screens on the wall, reaching out to bring up his favorite setting. An inside view of Quark's Bar took up the screen, allowing Odo the ability to watch everything that happened at the bar. Odo smiled smugly. He would just check up on Quark, make sure the Ferengi knew who was watching him, and get back to work. After all, the passenger ship carrying the alien with the strange name would be here in about two hours. Odo had plenty of time before he needed to be present for the disembarkation.

Odo strode out of his office and down the Promenade. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Quark glance his way from inside the bar, then hurriedly stuff something in his jacket. Odo tried to stifle a smirk at Quark's weak attempt to save himself. Yes, the conniving Ferengi was definitely up to no good today.

"Quark," Odo announced upon entering the bar.

"Odo," Quark responded, defiance present in both syllables of the word. Despite this play of boldness, Odo noticed the Ferengi reach nervously up to his ear. The chief of security noted the suspicious action before, as if flipping a switch, Quark's voice changed to a polite timbre. "How might I serve you today?"

Odo ignored the forced cordial tone to Quark's voice. Instead, he turned his features into what he hoped was his best scowl—of course, it was hard to tell since he had to use muscles to make the expression instead of the simple matter of shapeshifting—lifted his chin, and placed his left hand out in front of Quark, palm up.

Quark looked at Odo's expression, looked down at Odo's hand, then back up at his face.

Odo decided to stay silent, hoping that forcing Quark to be the next to speak would make him fess up.

Instead, a practiced smile on his face, Quark said, "Can I interest you in a drink, now that you're one of us?"

Odo smirked sarcastically at the Ferengi, hoping he was giving the impression that he was not amused. "Hand it over, Quark," he said, tone blasé.

"Hand what over?" Quark asked, taking a cloth and rubbing a glass with it.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Odo responded.

"No," Quark said, his behavior just as nonchalant as Odo's was. A tinge of worry started to gnaw at where Odo thought his new stomach was supposedly located. Why was Quark acting so calm if he knew he had something to hide? Quark knew he couldn't get away with anything as long as Odo was around.

"I saw you hide it in your jacket. Now, give it here before I have to search you for it." The thought of strip-searching the devious Ferengi was one of the most distasteful thoughts Odo had had in a long time. He stifled an aggravated sigh. Odo'd hoped it'd never come to this.

"How do you know I have something?" Quark asked, persistent to his claim. "I could just have a slip of latinum tucked away in my jacket, like I do everyday."

"Because," Odo said, starting to sound irritated. "I saw you—now, last time I checked, I am the security chief and you the civilian, which means—in case you've forgotten—that when I ask for you to empty your pockets, you will do so."

Quark pointedly set down the glass he had been polishing onto the bar in front of him, crossed his arms, and stared at Odo. "How did you see? Were you here as a chair, or a glass?" Quark gestured to the glass between them before he picked up another one and began to polish it. "No. I don't think so. You're a Solid now, Odo. You can't just shift into any little object that you please and spy on me, any longer. It might make you angry, frustrated—who knows? It might actually make you sad. But you can't do it anymore."

Odo glared at Quark. "And?" he asked, trying to act as if Quark's little speech wasn't getting to him. The fact that he couldn't shapeshift anymore had been the worst part of becoming a Solid.

"And…Well, I'm just thinking out loud."

Odo had had enough. "Quark, hand it over," he growled impatiently.

Quark looked up at Odo's stern expression and sighed. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small device. "I found it on the floor. Someone must have dropped it." He shrugged as if this were an everyday occurrence.

Odo took the object and held it up to his eyes. "It's a Naussican listening device," he stated. "And completely illegal. Now, what would you want to listen to that would be so important as to carry this around, eh, Quark?"

Quark just shook his head, his pleasant bartender expression on full-force. Despite this, Odo knew Quark well enough to notice his mouth tighten at the sides in resentful anticipation.

"I told you, someone dropped it and I was just keeping it so that I could give it to you and you could chase down the criminal like the good constable you are."

"That's hard to believe," Odo responded. How stupid did Quark think Odo was, even after all these years? No—just because Odo was a Solid now didn't mean Quark could have a hey-day and step all over the constable. Odo would make sure that never happened, and he would make sure Quark knew it.

Quark glared at Odo. "Now, if you don't want to buy anything, then can you move away? I have paying customers to serve."

Quark started to walk around the bar and toward a table where two Bajoran males were seated, enjoying their lunch. But, before the Ferengi could get anywhere near them, Odo stuck out a hand and grabbed Quark's arm, forcing the Ferengi to be still while making sure that he firmly held the illegal listening device in his other fist. "I don't think so," Odo said, plastering another wry smile onto his face. "You know the way to my office."

"You have no evidence!" Quark protested.

"I have all the evidence I need in your ear," Odo stated, knowing he had won.

Quark glared at Odo once again for good measure, yanked his arm out of Odo's grip, then pulled the receiving end of the listening device out of his large left lobe. "I was just testing it to see if it could be used as a spare part. Rom might be able to use it in maintenance! And you know how far spare parts go around here." Quark knew it was a lame excuse, but he used it anyway. He'd always used Rom to get out of tricky situations; he didn't hesitate to throw his brother into the line of fire again.

"Your brother has no place in this," Odo said. "Besides, I thought you said you'd been planning to give it to me. Using it is something entirely different…" Odo knew he had Quark cornered.

As Quark stared at the constable, mind undoubtedly trying to find some elaborate lie to get himself out of this unfortunate situation, Odo lifted his right arm and gestured in the direction of his office. Quark scowled and walked toward the Promenade, going as gruelingly slow as he could, just to annoy Constable Odo. Quark knew he had been caught. He just hoped that he wouldn't be in a holding cell for too long. He knew the offense of carrying a Naussican listening device wasn't considered too horrible. As Quark moved to the doors that led to the Promenade, he signaled to one of his waiters, hoping the Bolian could keep the drinks flowing smoothly for however long Quark would be "learning his lesson" in a holding cell. Quark and Odo both knew that this punishment wouldn't stop the Ferengi in the future, but such was the sentence.

Quark soon found himself sitting in a holding cell, watching as Odo pressed a button along the frame of the cell that made an energy field hum into life, keeping the Ferengi from running off. Quark tried to look bored, but his lips held a pout. The worst part of this whole ordeal for Quark was the pleased expression Odo bore.

"You will be in here for thirteen hourson the charge of possession of an illegal device used for the intrusion of solitude," Odo informed the Ferengi as he grabbed a PADD from the table behind him and started recording Quark's misdemeanor for the records. Then, the constable looked up, smugness settled around his eyes. "Enjoy your stay," he told Quark, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Quark rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I will," he bit back, just to show his defiance to this whole legal tribulation. In the back of his mind he realized that his response hadn't been the cleverest of comments he had ever uttered, but he didn't care. He had never liked the pettiness of legalities. The law only kept him from attaining the amount of profit that he was destined to make, and anyone who knew Quark for even a moment knew that he was all about profit. Of course, Quark didn't remind himself that having an officer on hand had always been handy when things had turned against him, but he wouldn't let himself think that thought. Not when it didn't benefit his currently irritated and embarrassed emotions. He just hoped Rom never found out about this—his brother was supposed to be the one too stupid to cheat and get caught, not Quark.

Odo shook his head at Quark, turned on his heel, and walked out the door and into his office. He grinned to himself. There was nothing like the satisfaction of catching Quark in one of his many illegal acts and sending him to a holding cell.

Not to mention that he had done it without the aid of being able to shapeshift into any object if needed. The thought of not being able to use that trick made Odo feel cheapened, if not nearly useless. After all, Odo had gotten into security in the first place because of his unique ability to shapeshift. But, Odo shook off those self-demeaning thoughts, telling himself that he was much better than that. He had years of experience in security and, even though he couldn't shapeshift, he would still be able to do his job just as well as before. He would just have to find other ways around it. Odo was resourceful—he would find a way.

Catching Quark while Odo was a Solid was proof of that.

Odo's smirk turned into a genuine smile as he thought back on what he had just done. Yes, he would be able to be as cunning and resourceful a constable as he had been before; today's catch was proof of that.

Odo sat back down in his chair behind his desk and picked up another PADD, setting the one he still held in his hand down on a small pile of the devices. He rested his right elbow on his armrest, absentmindedly supporting his head against his hand. He massaged the smooth bridge of his nose, half paying attention to the reports, half thinking to himself that he should try again to create Bajoran ridges for his nose. Then, with a jolt, he realized he was a Solid, not a Changeling anymore, and he was rubbing his head because he was starting to feel an annoying pressure behind his eyes. If Odo kept reading from all these PADDS, he would have to make his way to Dr. Bashir's again, complaining of a headache. Odo sighed. He didn't want to find himself in the infirmary again, suffering from some petty Solid aches and pains. He just needed to learn to live with it.

Or he could take the advice that Major Kira had given him once: maybe he was just overtired and needed a nap. She had told him that sometimes, when she got headaches, it was her body telling her she needed to rest. But, Odo didn't have time to make his way back to his quarters and start sleeping on the new bed he'd had delivered the other day. Sleeping was still so foreign to him—but his bed was comfortable… No, Odo told himself. He had work to do.

Of course, if his headache got too bad, Odo would swallow his pride and force himself to see Dr. Bashir. To Odo's disdain, he was quickly finding himself less and less able to tolerate something as mundane to Solids, yet as foreign to him, as a headache.

As Odo forced himself to focus on the Criminal Activities Report he was reading, he swiveled around in his chair, preparing himself to summon a raktajino to his replicator pad. Kira had always gushed about the Klingon coffee, claiming she needed at least one a day to make it through alive. Odo automatically called up Kira's favorite blend of the drink—"one raktajino, extra hot, two measures of kava". He would give the beverage a try.

Odo sipped the strong taste of his raktajino, jerking his head back as he burnt his tongue from the heat. He had asked the replicator to make it extra hot, hadn't he? Odo set the drink down on his desk, thinking that he would wait until it cooled down some more. Maybe he would call up a cooler, fizzier drink next time. Odo'd found that he liked fizzy drinks.

In the meantime, as Odoread through the Criminal Activities Report—something his job had conditioned him to eagerly await every day—he couldn't help but watch as his gaze fell to sweep the intricacies of his fingernails. His nails were so smooth, so transparent…and a bit longer than they had been the last time he'd examined them. Odo blinked at the sight. It was so strange to watch as something grew a growth that he had absolutely no control over. Odo had also found himself oftentimes impulsively feeling the steady rhythm of a heartbeat in his wrist—a heartbeat he didn't control. The Changeling-turned-Solid found these sensations both frightening and fascinating.

Just as Odo's thoughts had drifted even farther from the reports, the doors before him swished open, admitting one of his security officers leading a Valerian male into his office.

Odo stood up and received the report from his officer. The man was Fildian Presna, the person wanted for the abduction of the Bajoran child. Odo uttered a low, "come with me," and led the alien to a holding cell in the brig stationed right beside Odo's office.

After Odo had placed the criminal in his cell, safe and snug to think over his wrongdoings, the security chief walked back to his office and picked up another PADD from his desk. The sight of so many PADDs covering his usually tidy desk almost made Odo shudder. Well, now he knew at least one thing hadn't changed since he had become a Solid—Odo was still innately the neat and tidy person that he had always been, even if his desk today didn't reflect that.

Constable Odo walked back into the brig, one hand holding his PADD as the other flew over the touch screen, refreshing Odo on what he needed Fildian Presna to admit. As he strode over to Fildian's cell, passing Quark's own humble abode on the way, without even glancing up from his PADD Odo reached out to press a button on the wall next to Quark's cell, making sure to create a sound buffer to weave itself within the containment field. Odo wouldn't give Quark the pleasure of listening to the upcoming interrogation.

An air of calm confidence about him, Odo looked up from his PADD and set it on the side of the table before Fildian Presna's cell. Constable Odo crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side, trying to gauge what he could get out of the criminal without being able to use shapeshifting to intimidate the man. No. Odo wouldn't allow himself to think like that. He was a Solid now and he would learn to live with it. There were many Solids who were successful interrogators. With time, Odo was confident he could learn to be just like them.

"Well then," Odo said, trying to act as if he were bored. "I see we have a 'Fel-day-an Press-nay'." Odo made sure to butcher the name for the criminal's sake. Odo was very good at gauging personalities from just one glance and he could tell this Fildian Presna thought he was better than everyone else. To hear someone wreak havoc on his name probably wreaked its own havoc on his towering self-respect.

Odo was correct—"irritation" could hardly be the word to describe the emotions that flashed across the Valerian's features.

Odo pulled out a chair and sat down in front of the cell. "Did I pronounce it incorrectly?" he asked, innocently.

Fildian Presna seemed about to say something hotheaded, but stopped himself. He closed his mouth and leaned back on the bench, muscles tensed with annoyance and impatience. Odo tried to keep himself from smiling. This was going to be easy.

"Well, then, let's begin." And, with that, Odo turned on his full constable-mode, forgetting that he had ever been changed into a Solid. All he knew was that Odo was still Odo…he still had the same wishes, dreams, thoughts, personality, and—to his internal joy—skills as an advocate of justice. The only difference was physical. And, after what he had proven to himself today, Odo decided that he could live with being a Solid.

At least, he wouldn't let himself think otherwise.

I hope you enjoyed this next installment of my Odo-based one-shots! Please review to tell me what you think!