Scapegoat Part 1

Star Trek: DS9 fanfiction

Major Kira Nerys strode purposefully up the steps and into the office of Commander Sisko. When she entered, she saw that he was talking to Admiral Hitchcock via subspace radio, so she waited respectfully until he switched off the communication.

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Yes, Major. I wanted to talk to you about this leave of absence you requested."

"Do you have a problem with that, Commander?" Her voice was even frostier than normal.

Sisko smiled warmly. "Not at all, Major. In fact, I'm delighted."

"Delighted, sir?"

"Yes. I mean, it's not that I'm glad to see you leave, but you haven't taken any time off since you've been on DS9. You're notorious for overworking." He paused, but she didn't comment. "I was curious as to what prompted you to take leave now, that's all. Are you feeling all right?"

Kira leaned against his desk, gazing at him intently. "Commander, the agreement between Bajor and the Federation specifies that I am entitled to this leave. Isn't that correct?"

"Of course, Major. But -"

"To the best of my knowledge, nowhere in that agreement does it state that I am required to answer personal questions. So, Commander, are you going to approve my leave, or not?"

Her words, and even more, her tone of voice, stung Sisko, but he had learned early on that it was a mistake to adopt a defensive posture with her. He picked up her request, signed and stamped it. "Here, Major. Have a good time."

Kira permitted herself a small smile as she took the card and left the office.

A short time later, she was sipping a synthale at Quark's the uncharacteristic smile still on her face. Quark eyed her suspiciously from behind the bar, apparently debating with himself.

Finally, he began to wipe the counter, moving casually toward her. When he was close enough, he said in a low voice, "All right, Major. Let's have it."

"Have what?" she asked, her voice at a normal volume.

"Shhh!" he hissed, glancing around. Leaning closer, he said, "Tell me what you're smiling about. You must be planning something big – you're not out to get me, are you?"

Kira frowned. "Of course not, Quark. And if I were, I certainly wouldn't give you any clues, would I?"

"Who is it, then?" he asked, rubbing his hand together. "Sisko? O'Brien?" He glanced at the figure who had just entered the bar, then chuckled. "I know – it's the doctor, isn't it?"

Kira started to reply, but Quark hurried away as Bashir approached.

"What's the matter with him?" the young doctor asked, taking a seat beside Kira.

"I have no idea," she murmured absently, the smile returning.

Bashir looked at her curiously. "Commander Sisko tells me you're going on leave," he commented.

She turned sharply and the smile disappeared. "He told you that? Why?" she demanded.

He gazed at her, thrown off by her reaction. "I … well … yes, he did. He asked me if you had been having any medical problems, and if you were taking the leave on my advice. I told him no, on both counts."

"I see."

She didn't elaborate, and finally Bashir asked brightly, "So, are you going to visit family or friends? Or just sightseeing?"

She gave him a withering look. "You're very naïve, Doctor, if you think that the Cardassians left anything on Bajor worth seeing. And I don't have any family. They took care of that, too."

She turned away, obviously ending the conversation, but he didn't take the hint. "So all that leaves is visiting friends. Got any big plans?"

Kira drained her drink, then sat looking at him. She looked at him for so long that he began to feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Was I being nosy?" he asked, at last.

She smiled her sweetest, most sarcastic Bajoran smile. "What do you think?" she asked him. Then she strode from the room before he had time to recover.

She found Odo making his usual rounds of the docking pylons. "Constable!" she called, trying to catch up with him.

Odo stopped and turned. "Yes, Major? Can I help you?"

When she reached him she was a bit breathless. "I need a favor."

Kira was one of the few people Odo would actually do a personal favor for, so he didn't cut her off. "I'm listening."

She took a deep breath. "I need to make a burst transmission on a maximum security channel to Bajor."

"This is personal, I assume?"

Kira nodded. "I don't have permission from Sisko, and I can't tell you what it's about. Will you do it anyway?"

Odo appeared to consider, then nodded. "I'm sure you're not going to tell anyone I ddi this."

"Of course not."

"Very well. When do you need it?"

"As soon as possible."

"When I finish my rounds?"

"I'll meet you in your office." They walked off in different directions as if they had never spoken.

The next afternoon Kira was on duty in Ops, pacing like a caged tiger. At regular intervals, she stopped just long enough to see if the station had received any messages from Bajor. Then she began to pace again.

This went on for over an hour, and finally O'Brien had had enough of it. He rose from his station and planted himself directly in her path. "What's wrong, Major?"

"Nothing," she said curtly. Then she muttered to herself, "They should have responded by now." To O'Brien she added, "Chief, I want you to check our comm systems and personally guarantee that they are working properly."

"Aye sir." He knew very well that there was nothing wrong with the comm systems, but maybe if he checked them she would stop her bloody pacing. He started toward the lift.

"Wait, Chief," called Dax. "Major, we're receiving a message from Bajor over one of the scientific data channels."

Kira almost pounced on the science officer. "What does it say?"

"It's coded – just one moment." Her fingers danced over the console. "Decoding complete. The message says 'Dubaiy is gone.'"

Kira sat down abruptly, deflating like a punctured balloon.

"What is it?" asked Dax, concerned. She had never seen Kira so shaken.

"Nothing – nothing," Kira lied, trying to get hold of herself. "I must speak to Odo."

A few moments later, she all but ran into the security office, barely waiting for the door to open. "Odo, I need that secure channel again. And this time it has to be two-way."

"I'm sorry, Major, but that's not possible," he told her coolly.

"Odo!" The frustration was evident in her voice. "This is a matter of life or death – you've got to help me!"

He knew Kira would not say "life or death" unless she meant it. "All right, I'll set up your channel," he agreed reluctantly. "But this time I want to listen – to your side, at least."

Kira nodded. She didn't care what Odo heard because she knew she could trust him. Unconsciously, she began to pace again while he gave the necessary codes to the computer. "Major!" he complained when she passed him for the third time.

"Sorry," she said, forcing her legs to stop moving.

"It's programmed. Same destination?"

"Yes."

"The call is secure – go ahead."

"This is Major Kira Nerys, DS9, calling Tenm Daja. Respond, please."

"Nerys?" came a female voice from the speaker. "Did you get my message?'

"I certainly did, Daja, and I want to know what's going on. Rightnow."

"We had to register him for school," the other woman explained. Her voice was neutral on the surface, but Odo could detect an undercurrent of fear. "I didn't think there was any danger. Everyone here has accepted him, and we live so far out -"

"Daja, what happened?" Kira demanded impatiently.

"I let him go out to play after our early meal, and when I called him later he had disappeared. None of the other children had seen him all morning. We thought he might have gotten lost in the forest so we searched for several hours, but there was no sign of him. When we returned, there were words scrawled on the side of the house -" The voice broke off.

"Yes? Go on," Kira prompted.

"It said 'Death to Cardassian bastards,' with the symbol of the Arbiters. It looked like blood, Nerys."

"That doesn't mean anything," Kira reassured her friend, brushing aside the fear in her own mind. "Do you think -" She paused to glance at Odo, then set her jaw and continued. "Do you think they know who his real mother is?"

"Well, I had to register him under the name on his birth record, you know. The papers have to be thumb-stamped and there's no way to fake that."

Kira wanted to dump her anger on Daja, wanted to scream at her that she should have known better. She should have kept him out of school entirely rather than make his location known to anyone who had access to the planetary files. But instead she just sighed. "I'll get down there as soon as I can, Daja. DS9 out." She signaled Odo to terminate the connection, turning to look at him cautiously.

He was standing with his arms folded and his unfinished eyebrows raised. "I think you have quite a lot of explaining to do, Major."

She nodded. "I know. But I don't have time for that now. I've got to convince Sisko to let me lead a rescue party – I'll do any necessary explaining then. Come on, Odo."

Sisko was off-duty and out of uniform, so it took a bit longer than usual to track him down. They found him in a holosuite practicing baseball, and he was none too pleased when they walked in uninvited and switched off his program.

"What is it?"

Kira opened her mouth to speak, but Odo was faster. "Serious business, Commander. A child has disappeared on Bajor, probably kidnapped by an extremist group. The child's mother is on staff here at DS9. Therefore, I think it would be appropriate for me and a few others – perhaps Major Kira and Dr. Bashir – to attempt a rescue."

"Someone here on DS9? I thought all the Bajorans brought their children with them."

"Not all of them," Kira put in dryly.

"There's more, sir. This situation is extremely delicate since the child in question is half Cardassian."

Kira turned to Odo, startled. She looked almost frightened.

"I didn't think that was possible. Are you sure -"

"Believe it, Commander," Kira interrupted. "Unfortunately, it is possible."

"Are you sure?" he asked again. "Who is the mother? Do I know her?"

Kira and Odo exchanged glances. She could tell Odo was waiting for her to respond. She took a deep breath and wiped all expression from her face. "You're looking at her. We're talking about my son."

"Your son?" he replied incredulously. "Your personnel file said nothing about -"

"His father was Cardassian, Commander. Do you really think I would let something like that get into my personnel files?"

He appeared to consider. "No, I guess not." After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "But how -"

"You want to know how it happened," she interrupted again. "I suppose I might as well tell you. The Cardassians did more than just rape our planet, Commander. When the Shakaar raided Tulaton base, I was captured … the only prisoner at the time, guarded day and night by three lecherous bastards who raped me whenever they damn well felt like it – which was frequently. They thought it was really funny. Just one more way to humiliate a Bajoran." She stared into space as if she could still see them. "One would hold me down, another pointed a phaser at my head. I screamed, but they didn't care about that."

Sisko laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. "Don't feel sorry for me, Commander. I don't want your pity. I just want your help. Dubaiy is my son. I don't care who his father was! He needs my help, and I'm going to help him even if it means the end of my career!"

"Easy, Major," Sisko said soothingly. "There's no need to sacrifice your career or anything else. Take whoever you need and go down to Bajor. If there's any other way I can help you, let me know."

She closed her mouth, somewhat mollified. "Thank you, Commander." With a quick gesture to Odo, she left.

Back in the security office, Odo and Kira studied maps of Bajor, discussing the best way to find Dubaiy.

"I just don't know," Kira said finally. "The Arbiters have no registered headquarters, and no one knows where they meet. Most of the leaders move frequently ..."

"Except for this one," Odo commented, pointing to a file. "Milon Kahti, the director of a shelter for the homeless near Glocarra"

"Glocarra? Let me see that." Kira turned the screen towards herself. "Do you know what this shelter is? It's the old Gallitepp mining camp!"

"Interesting," Odo murmured thoughtfully. "Major, tell me about the Arbiters."

"They call themselves the Arbiters of Justice," she began, "because they emphasize the doctrine of racial justice – payment for racial crimes. They believe that if a certain number of Bajorans died during the occupation, then an equal number of Cardassians must die. They have claimed responsibility fo many assassination, bombings, and other attacks. Of course, they haven't been as active since the Cardassians left Bajor."

"I see. Why do you think they are interested in Dubaiy?"

"To begin with, simply because he is half Cardassian. Even more moderate factions would say he doesn't belong on Bajor for that reason. Then, too, the Arbiters would see him as a scapegoat. His death would be exchanged, in their eyes, for the deaths of Bajoran children."

"So you believe they will kill him?"

Her face was impassive. "Probably, but not right away. That's not the way the Cardassians did it."

"They will torture him first?" Odo tried to say it gently, but he knew he wasn't very good at projecting emotions.

Kira nodded, her dark eyes as empty as the space between the galaxies. She turned away for a moment, and Odo did not interrupt her thoughts.

Finally she asked, "Do you think Milon is hiding him in the shelter?"

"The psychology works," he told her. "After all, isn't Gallitepp the place where the Cardassians committed the worst atrocities? What better place to exact retribution for those crimes?"

"Yes, that's the way the Arbiters would think. I'm sure we're right. Have Bashir meet us at Pad C; we'll talk strategy on the way down."

Bashir was full of questions as they prepared for departure. "I know this is some sort of rescue mission, but why am I coming along? Who are we going to rescue?"

Odo explained while Kira ignored them both, particularly when Bashir began to shoot curious glances her way.

"Doctor, you will enter the shelter to inspect their medical facilities," Odo said. "Here is your authorization from the provisional government." He handed Bashir a medical ID card, and the doctor looked at the shapeshifter with renewed admiration.

"Very impressive," he murmured.

Odo inclined his head to acknowledge the compliment. "I will be concealed in your kit in my liquid state. During your inspection, you will find it necessary to visit the washroom. While there, you will -"

"Pour Odo down the drain," finished Kira, with a hint of a smile.

"Precisely," agreed Odo. "I will then locate Dubaiy, exit the plumbing system, and signal Major Kira to beam us to the runabout."

"How will I get out?" asked Bashir.

Before Odo could answer, Kira said, "Wait a minute – you expect me to stay on the runabout? You're out of your mind, Constable."

Odo shook his head. "Think, Major. If you go into that shelter, Milon will realize immediately that we know where Dubaiy is, and there won't be time to beam him out."

"She might think it a coincidence," Kira argued.

"I doubt that. She certainly would be suspicious enough to post extra guards."

Kira considered his point, then nodded reluctantly. "Very well."