Scapegoat Part 2

Kira paced the length of the runabout, waiting for Odo's signal. It seemed that waiting was all she had done for the past few days. She was sick to death of waiting, for patience had never come easily to her impulsive nature. She would have preferred to storm the shelter, shoot Milon and all the other so-called Arbiters of Justice, and rescue her son in a blaze of glory.

That was her emotional response. The rational part of her knew that Odo's plan was better, but she still held the urge for violence in reserve, in the back of her mind. Just in case.

She stared at the communication board, willing it to come to life. As she watched, an indicator turned green.

"Odo to Kira!" Odo's voice rang out. "I've got him."

She moved swiftly to the transporter panel. "Ready to beam you -"

"Stand by!" he interrupted, sounding irritated.

"What is it, Odo? What's happening?"

There was no response. Kira glanced around for the remote transporter link, then beamed herself to Odo's coordinates, her phaser ready.

Kira materialized in the middle of a fight, and her practiced gaze instantly analyzed the situation. Odo was struggling with two Bajorans, while in the corner crouched a young woman with curly blond hair. In her lap lay a small child; his eyes were closed but Kira could not tell whether he was asleep or unconscious.

She drew her phaser and prepared to fire on the guards, but a glint of light caught her eye. She glanced back to see Milon holding a knife blade against Dubaiy's throat, a small smile on her face. The implication was obvious.

In the back of her mind, Kira noticed that Odo had disabled one of the men and was working on the other, but she was too concerned with her son's safety to pay much attention. She had no doubt that Milon intended to use the knife – the Arbiters' malicious desire for vengeance was quite evident in her eyes. Kira lowered the phaser to put it away, sighing in resignation, then turned quickly and fired on Milon.

It was a calculated risk, and fortunately it was a risk that proved successful. The knife clattered to the floor, and Kira caught Dubaiy as he slid from Milon's grasp. She held him close, painfully conscious of the tears running down her cheeks. She tried to wipe them off with the back of one hand, but was only marginally successful.

Odo had thrown the second guard against a piece of metal furniture, effectively knocking him out. "Are you all right, Major?" he asked.

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet.

"Then what the hell are you doing here?" he demanded. "You're supposed to be on -"

"I know," she interrupted, "but I thought you might need help. Let's get Bashir and leave quickly, Constable, before more of the Arbiters arrive." She pressed the transporter link, sighing with relief as the runabout materialized around here, then quickly beamed the other two aboard as well.

The ride back to DS9 was agonizing for Kira. Dubaiy was still unconscious, and Bashir was not sure whether he had been seriously injured.

"There is no sign of cranial trauma," he told her. "As far as I can tell, there is no reason for him to be unconscious."

"Drugs?"

"Perhaps. Some drugs do not show up on this portable scanner. I'll have to examine him on DS9 to be sure."

But at that moment the boy began to stir, and Kira, who was kneeling beside him, laid a hand on his forehead. With one finger she traced the racial markings on his face – the nose ridges of his Bajoran heritage, the bony circles around his eyes that revealed his Cardassian ancestry.

His eyelids flickered, then opened wide. Kira smiled tenderly. "You're going to be all right now," she whispered. "Everything will be just fine."

Dubaiy's eyes were glazed as he looked around. Suddenly he spotted Odo and his body stiffened. "No! No!" he wailed, obviously frightened. Kira scooped him up and held him as she had when he was a baby, his head tight against her chest so he could hear her heartbeat, her arms forming a circle of protection around him.

"Shh," she murmured soothingly in his ear. "Mama's here, Dubaiy. You're safe now. Just relax." She slowly rocked him back and forth, humming softly, and after a time the wailing stopped. His eyes gradually closed, and he fell asleep.

Kira sat very still, unwilling to move for fear of waking him.

Bashir and Odo, who had been watching surreptitiously, glanced at each other. "Now that's something I never thought I'd see," Bashir commented quietly.

Kira and Dubaiy spent the next day in the infirmary, as Bashir insisted on running a multitude of tests.

"You're not trying to get data for a paper in some medical journal, are you?" Kira complained after the third full hour of tests.

"Well, this is the first time I've ever examined a Bajoran-Cardassian hybrid," he admitted. "However," he added, seeing her enraged expression, "I do feel the tests are medically necessary.

"That hurts," piped Dubaiy's childish voice.

"I'm sorry, Dubaiy," the doctor apologized sincerely. "It won't take much longer."

"It had better not," grumbled Kira.

Finally the tests were complete, and Kira left the infirmary with a smile on her face and Dubaiy's hand in hers. She felt as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Dubaiy was safe. Dubaiy was well. For once, she sincerely believed what she had told him, that everything would be fine now.

On impulse, she steered him toward the Promenade. "How would you like some tespalin?" she asked him. Tespalin was a frozen dessert that resembled Terran ice cream.

The boy's face lit up. "I love tespalin!" he exclaimed. "Do you really have some?"

"We certainly do. I'm sure Quark would be glad to make you some."

At first Kira was oblivious to the stares they were attracting as they walked through the busy Promenade. But then a young Bajoran boy ran beside them and pulled at Kira's other hand.

"Is he a Cardassian?" the boy asked, scorn evident in his voice.

"I don't think that's any of your business," Kira snapped. "Now run along."

The boy left, and Dubaiy gazed up at Kira with wide, innocent eyes. "He scared me, Mama. He called me a Car – a Cardassian. Is he going to hurt me like the others?"

She knelt to his level. "No, dear, he's not going to hurt you," she said softly.

Satisfied, he smiled again, and they continued.

A few minutes later she noticed the same Bajoran boy and several others pacing them as they walked. "He's Bajoran andCardassian!" came a loud whisper from the crowd.

"That's disgusting!" someone else said.

Kira whirled, searching in the crowd for the offending speaker.

"Major Kira," a woman called out loud, "Where did you find him? Is he Bajoran or Cardassian?"

"Or some kind of freak?" came another anonymous voice, followed by a titter of laughter.

Kira stopped walking, anger growing so quickly inside her that she wasn't sure if she could control it. She turned a cold stare on the woman, who flinched and slowly moved away. The crowd began to disperse without Kira having to say a word.

But the encounter had triggered in Dubaiy all the painful experiences he had suffered at the hands of the Arbiters, and he began to cry. She tried to embrace him, but the touch of her hands seemed to frighten him even more, and he resisted frantically. "Stop! Let go! Don't hurt me, don't hurt me!"

They were beginning to attract attention again. Kira gathered all her strength and picked him up, ignoring his screaming, then carried him as quickly as possible to her quarters.

Dubaiy had fallen asleep, nestled in Kira's arms, when Sisko came to her quarters late that evening.

"Shhh," she warned him as he entered.

Sisko nodded, sitting down carefully, and spoke very quietly. "How is he, Major?"

"He's been through a lot – I don't know exactly what they did to him, but it was something very frightening. I had a difficult time calming him down enough to sleep."

"But he's all right, physically?"

Kira shrugged. "Bashir says he is. Minor cuts and bruises, nothing serious. The drugs are out of his system now." She shook her head. "It was his mind they tortured, not his body."

"I see." Sisko hesitated, unsure of how to continue. "Major, you do realize that he can't go back to Bajor, don't you?"

She turned to look at him, and the emptiness in her eyes told him that she realized all too well. "Yes, Commander."

"And he can't stay here."

She shook her head. "Of course not. He'd be just as vulnerable here as on Bajor." She looked down at the sleeping child, her face impassive. "He'll have to go away from here, where no one will care whether he's Bajoran or Cardassian or what. Where neither side can reach him."

"Yes, that's what I was thinking." He hesitated again. "Do you want to go with him?"

She looked up sharply. "I think you know me better than that, Commander. My place is here."

"That's what I thought you would say." He rose to his feet. "I've made arrangements for him to live at Starbase 74. There are children of many different races there, and it's far enough into Federation territory that there should be no Cardassian threat." He gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Will that be acceptable, Major?"

Kira appeared to study something on the wall. "Can I visit him?"

"If you want to."

She sighed deeply. "All right then."

"Good. The Hawking leaves at 0600."

"I'll have him ready."

Sisko turned to leave, then stopped. "Kira, are you all right?"

She fervently wished that he would just go away, leaving her alone with her thoughts, and she knew he wouldn't do so if she betrayed her true emotional state. So she set her jaw, forced down the lump in her throat, and said as neutrally as possible, "Yes, Commander."

Sisko watched her for a moment, then quietly left.

She had tried to explain to him what was happening, but she knew that no three-year-old was capable of understanding. So she gave up and carried him to the playroom on the Hawking, where the children of crewmembers were noisily playing.

The ensign in charge of the younger children spoke to her softly. "Commander Sisko briefed me, Major. This is Counselor Wright. She'll be working with Dubaiy until we reach Starbase 74."

The dark woman gazed at Kira with understanding. "We'll take good care of him, Major. I'll send you a report as soon as we arrive. You can put him down whenever you're ready."

The ship was scheduled to leave in 11 minutes, so she didn't have much time. "Dubaiy, I want you to do what the people here tell you, all right?" She stroked his thick, black hair. "I won't be able to see you for awhile, but I'll come to visit as soon as I can."

She set him down near the shelves of brightly colored toys, then turned to leave. The boy suddenly realized what was happening. "Don't go!" he cried, clutching her legs. "Don't leave me again, Mama! Don't leave me!"

"I've got to go, Dubaiy," she said, fists at her sides. "I'm sorry. I have to go." She looked at the counselor, her eyes silently pleading.

Wright took the cue and picked up the child, who immediately began to kick and scream. Kira turned and left as quickly as she could. Once outside the playroom she paused, leaning against the bulkhead, breathing heavily. She could still hear him screaming.

As she began to walk away, she covered her ears. That helped some, but with a sudden stab of anguish she realized that she could never shut out – or forget – the memory of her son.