Perhaps ten minutes later, Bashir returned, pushing what looked like one of Quark's serving trollies. It bore a duvet, two pillows and a small viewer.
"Julian…" she chided, without really thinking. "You shouldn't…"
"Ezri, I know you're not Jadzia. You're your own person. At least let me make you more comfortable in there."
"He's sweet on you." Joran commented, standing between them. "I suppose he isn't entirely unattractive, by human standards, but he isn't special. I don't know what you see in him either."
In response, Ezri pulled a shoe off her feet, and threw it through the smirking projection, where it crackled off the security field on an almost direct trajectory towards Bashir's head. "I DON'T WANT YOU HERE! JUST STOP BOTHERING ME!" She shouted.
Bashir took several steps back from the cell.
"If that's how you feel, Lieutenant Dax, that's up to you." He said, stiffly and formally. "I won't push any comforts on you that you obviously don't care about." He turned, leaving the trolley loaded with comforts, which she now saw also included a small stand for the viewer.
"JULIAN!" She shouted. "I WASN'T AIMING AT YOU!"
And then she curled up, and finally let all of the tears flow out. It was surprisingly cathartic, even for a trained counsellor. She'd liked Hector Ilario, even if he had been… she blushed slightly at the thoughts. She'd been tempted. The parts of her that were Jadzia and Curzon had positively encouraged her to enjoy herself. And then her mind dragged out the picture of him lying on the floor, cold and dead, with a hole in his chest. It beat her with the thoughts of what might have happened if she'd stayed with him that night. She might have saved him. They might have gone to her quarters instead. She also saw another image, of her own body… half-clothed, with him lying across her, having tried to shield her in their last moments
She just wished she had access to that freshly replicated, soft, warm duvet to curl up in, and block out the world with.
"I hate you." She shot at Joran. "I hate what you make me do!"
"Make you do, dear Ezri?" Joran commented. "I didn't make you throw a boot at me. I'm just a part of you. A memory. You've made every single decision on your own."
Glaring at the mirror, she began trying to put Joran back in his 'box' again. "I'nora, ja'kala vok…" She recited, before the doors slid open, and she looked through them to see Sisko, this time in uniform, looking through them at her.
"I thought you had things under control, Old Man." He said, using his special 'I am disappointed' voice that he seemed to have developed for use on Jadzia. The memory actually made her smile.
"Julian… tell him I'm sorry. Joran…"
To her surprise, Sisko actually opened the forcefield keeping her in the cell, and pushed the trolley in, before helping her unload. It didn't take long. He also handed her another small device that she recognised as an old-style communicator. The case appeared to be slightly reinforced and padded, as if it was designed for a psychiatric hospital.
"If you need anything, this will get you Odo or me." He explained. "We're not going to act as your butlers, but we want to make this as easy as possible for everyone." He paused and lowered his voice. "We know you took Ilario back to his quarters. Did anything… happen?" He asked, slowly. "Did he… try to make something happen?"
Ezri shook her head. "I… thought about staying the night, Ben. I really did. But I didn't. And nothing happened." She was surprised by how much her voice was shaking as she spoke. "I didn't kill anyone, Ben. You don't need to make excuses for me."
He just squeezed her shoulder for a second. Then he stepped out of the cell, and reactivated the forcefield, leaving Ezri alone again. She just nestled under the new, warm and soft duvet, curling up in it and wrapping it around herself. She curled up into a ball, needing the security and comfort of a 'nest', and tried to fall asleep.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
From the monitor, Kira breathed a sigh of relief, and put down her phaser. "That was a risk, Captain." She scolded Sisko.
"I know, Colonel." Sisko replied evenly. "I still don't know for sure."
"You think that this… Joran… might be in control?" Kira asked. "Even though Dax didn't try to escape?"
"I had him in my head for a while, Kira." Sisko explained. "Joran is patient. He's cunning. He killed three people, and, until the third killing, they had almost no evidence. He fooled Jadzia into thinking I'd taken control and she could lower the forcefield, then tried to kill her. I don't know if he's playing us, by pretending to be her, and acting tearful and emotional to get us to lower our guard. If he could fool Jadzia… she'd known me a lot longer than we've known Ezri."
Kira shook her head, letting out a slow breath. "How will we know?"
Sisko paused a moment. "When Dax tries to kill someone." He stated, grimly. "Until then, we have no way of knowing unless we catch someone else with a TR-116 and an exographic targeting array."
"Wasn't that the rifle and array Chief O'Brien replicated?" Kira queried, looking confused. "It can't be him. We know where he was at oh-three seventeen the night of the first murder."
"Why would Dax use a different weapon?" Sisko asked.
"Time? Opportunity? To throw an investigation off the scent?" Then Kira sighed. "Do you think she's the killer?" she asked, softly.
"I don't think Ezri is. But if she's been being influenced by Joran…" Sisko paused, shaking his head. "Maybe if Ilario offended Joran in some way… after a night of drinking… would his judgement even be impaired? I don't know, Colonel. I knew Curzon for years. I served with Jadzia for six years. And I still have no idea how any of this works. We need an expert."
"You saw how Ezri reacted when we mentioned the Symbiosis commission."
"Colonel, we just agreed that we have no idea which Dax we're dealing with right now. I hope we're dealing with the confused assistant counsellor, but we might have been speaking to the insane serial killer. He'd have entirely different reasons to want to avoid the Symbiosis commission investigating this than Ezri would ever have. This 'Gard' Dax mentioned… they might know." He glanced at Kira. "Computer, search federation records for a Trill with the surname Gard working for the Trill Symbiosis Commission."
"Hiziki Gard, born 2320, on Trill. Currently working for the Trill Symbiosis Commission as a Special Agent and located on Tesnia, on secondment as a cultural attaché."
Kira rolled her eyes. "Cultural Attaché?"
"Yes, Colonel. I know exactly what that actually means." Sisko deadpanned. "Computer, send the following message to Hiziki Gard: This is Captain Benjamin Sisko, Commanding Officer of Deep Space Nine. We have a situation involving one of our officers on our hands where we think your expertise would be invaluable. Sisko out."
"Will he respond?" Kira asked.
"If he's what I think he is, he will." Sisko replied. "Given how secretive the Trill still are about their symbionts, they've got to have a team who deal with hosts gone bad. This can't be the first time a host has been accused of murder in these sorts of circumstances. Although it is strange that one of their agents, who is personally known to Dax, is just fifteen light-years away when everything goes wrong." He rolled his eyes. "I wonder if they thought something like this might happen and wanted a trouble-shooter in place."
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
On Tesnia, Gard blinked slightly when he found the communication in his inbox. Even though he had personal experience of the Dax symbiont's last… troublesome… host, he hadn't expected to be called upon. Even though this Sisko, whoever he was, hadn't specified what had happened, he'd already seen the reports. Two federation officers, killed with a gun, both shot at close range.
Calling up the file, he read through it again:
FILE: Dax, Ezri
Rank: Lieutenant junior grade, Federation Starfleet
Current assignment: Station Counsellor, Deep Space Nine
Full Name at Birth: Ezri Tigan
Year of birth: 2354
Place of birth: Trill, grew up in Sappora system
Parents: Yanas Tigan, mother, Verem Tigan, father.
Education: Starfleet Academy, Medical Program, 2372-2374 (final year of training waived)
Marital status: Single
No Application to Initiate Program on file. Enrolled in Starfleet Academy medical program, with emphasis on psychology. Assigned to U.S.S. Destiny for field training, with title of assistant ship's counsellor. Joined to Dax symbiont during medical emergency, as only available Trill, despite lack of training. Took leave of absence on Trill to receive training. Accepted position as station counsellor on Deep Space Nine, with promotion to lieutenant junior grade.
It was accompanied by a picture of a small, smiling female Trill, with boyishly short black hair. Even Gard, used to assessing people entirely objectively, found her appearance slightly disarming.
Then he shook himself. That disarmingness would make it easier for her to approach victims. Her height would make her seem entirely unthreatening. Her memories from Emony and Joran, not to mention Curzon and Jadzia, would make her extremely dangerous with a knife or sword. With a ranged weapon… at close range, she'd be unlikely to miss and have the benefit of surprise.
Calling up another file, sent to him from his contact in Starfleet, he read a tersely concise incident report.
"Security personnel dispatched to quarters of Lt. JG Hector Ilario, after failure to report for shift or answer communications attempts. Door lock overridden, and entry gained. Lt. Ilario found deceased on floor. Cause of death: Gunshot from apparent close range, directly to heart. Last person to see deceased alive: Lt. JG Ezri Dax. Time of Death: Approximately 0317hrs Station time. No suspects. Murder Weapon not recovered."
Dax's involvement had been the only reason he was sent the file.
Calling up his terminal's communications program, he sent an immediate response.
"Captain Sisko, this is Hiziki Gard. I am on my way. Please send a full briefing. I am cleared up to Level Ten. My ETA is approximately 33 hours." It was useful having access to a government diplomatic courier vessel at times like this, which is why he had such a craft available. His work for the TSC was often time-sensitive, particularly if he was transporting a symbiont whose host had died suddenly.
He was off the pad within twenty minutes, having left behind a note indicating that he'd been called away on urgent consular business on Deep Space Nine.
The additional files Sisko sent through an hour later contained a significant amount of additional information. The station's chief engineer, with the brilliance typical of such personnel, in his experience, had deduced the murder weapon's function.
He'd replicated and demonstrated a version of it. There had been two additional murders with the same weapon as the first murder.
There was no evidence as to how the victims were chosen, or if they were selected at random. Each time a pattern seemed to emerge, it disappeared with the next killing.
The first two victims had been human, the third bolian. The first victim had been male, the next female, and the third male. The first victim had been single, the others married. Two victims had been childless, the third had multiple children.
The final, interrupted shooting had been of a male Vulcan, who'd been wounded.
Shaking his head, he settled on his bunk, leaving the shuttle's computer to fly itself to Bajor, and closed his eyes, running over all of the data he had slowly.
On the face of it, the data pointed to a loss of control and the desire to regain it. But he'd know more when he arrived. Starfleet (or Bajoran) security were unlikely to have his level of experience. Not when it came to serial killers. On Trill… he was always involved. That was part of the job of Gard.
He just hoped that it wasn't too late for either Dax or Ezri Tigan to be saved.
AN: Feedback is appreciated.
