It took two hours to reach Odo, but when I did I felt better instantly. Just seeing his face I knew he would know how to fix all of this. He was standing there with his arms crossed, and had a kind of smile. "Ezri said you've been wanting to talk to me. What's the problem, Weyoun?"
I bowed to him, but inwardly my stomach was lurching. "Odo, wise in all things. I have terrible news ,Fou….Odo."
He grunted at me, he seemed to be…laughing. "Out with it Weyoun, I'm a busy man."
I tried not to look desperate, but my calm and resolve were fracturing as I thought where I should begin. "Odo, I'm defective…" I said it, and it burned my throat, but I said that thing that no Vorta ever wants to have to say to their god.
He openly chuckled, and I could feel myself bristling. "Really, Weyoun, how so?"
"Odo, this is not a funny matter. You should terminate my assignment right now. I have exhibited symptoms of panic, disorientation, that alone is enough to have me terminated and a new Weyoun sent to replace me." I could feel myself wanting to cry, I pointed to my eyes to make my point. "Do you see this? I can barely talk about this without breaking down. AND, my sessions with Dax inevitably end in me having these panic attacks. Odo, I had to go to a healer and get medicine to handle the panic."
Odo nodded thoughtfully, "Counselor Dax informed me of this. She said it was normal when facing past suppressed trauma. So, Weyoun, no you aren't defective. She said, and I believe her. You are healing."
"It's so much worse than that, Odo. I am questioning everything. You don't want a Weyoun who questions the wisdom of the founders orders. It's worse than." I swallowed hard, "Weyoun six." I sighed I wasn't going to keep the worst of the worst, "And there is a woman…Dax said she told you of her. Odo, I seem to desire her. " I leaned into the screen, my jaws were clenching, "Sexually, Founder, I am feeling urges to mate with her. I read your report that this could happen, but…" I threw my head back, "Not to a Weyoun, Founder…Odo. Not to me. Please, you need to recall me. I am so compromised, if you don't I may never be able to serve the founders properly again."
Odo, nodded at me, his eyes were compassionate, and somehow that made me feel a little more hopeful. "Weyoun, you are not defective. All that you are going through is normal and natural in a sentient being, who is not encumbered with genetic chains suppressing their normal and natural instincts."
I gaped at him. I don't think he truly understood my situation, "But Odo, how is this free will helpful to the founders? How can I discharge your orders, my duty, if I question the wisdom. Worse yet, if I don't agree with what is being done! Preposterous, Odo! How can willingly give my life to the Dominion, if I am busy…" I hated to say the word, "loving someone who is not your people. "
There was a smile in Odo's eyes, "Are you telling me, Weyoun, that you are thinking about the care of another being other than the founders?"
My head fell, "I am."
"Weyoun do you remember how upset the female changeling was, when I would not join the great link."
"If I live another twenty lifetimes I doubt I'd forget that, Odo."
"Do you know one of the reasons why I wouldn't return to the Link, Weyoun?"
"There were rumors, Odo. " I bowed to him again, "It wasn't my place to know the mind of a god though." I chuckled, how silly to even consider.
"It was because I loved Major Kira, Weyoun. I wanted to be with her more than I wanted to be in the link. I still love her, Weyoun. Were it not for the duties I have to perform here, freeing your people, and seeing to the integration and detoxification of the Jem Hadar I would be with her now. You do not have such obligations though. Your only assignment is to, become the Weyoun you can be, and not the Weyoun the founders made you."
I slumped in the chair. This wasn't going as I thought it would. "But I want to work for the Dominion." I was whimpering and I hated the weakness.
"And you will, of your own free will, and paid as any human officer of Star Fleet. The Dominion isn't going to die, Weyoun, it is going to change. You can be a part of this change, or your line can be terminated. The Founders, the Dominion, we have enlisted the help of some of the greatest Ambassadors of the Federation to begin to change the face of the gamma quadrant, and that face is going to look more like the Federation. It will be multi-cultural, and instead of the Founders being the beginning and end, we are going to be a piece of the picture. "He was smiling, "I've already said I want a Weyoun to be my advisor, and that is why you are where you are now. I don't want a Weyoun that supplicates to me like a god, I want a Weyoun who challenges me, and thinks for himself. Because I am a flawed being, who will need a good friend and colleague to help usher this new era into being."
I was angry, sad, enraged, hopeful…confused. Before I could stop myself, I slammed my palm down on the desk, "I question the wisdom of this!"
Odo nodded, he was smiling again, "Good. Very good. Keep questioning, Weyoun. By all means question this, because it is scary and you will see things you don't want to see. Welcome to real life, Weyoun. "
"Founder…Odo…" I was shaking my head, I couldn't even look at the screen.
"Dax will be down in an hour or so. She has with her a drug to help you break through some of the memory barriers you face. I won't order you to allow her to give it to you, Weyoun. I will say that the more you do to help yourself, the quicker you will be able to return and take your new place in the dominion. "
I groaned, none of this was much a choice. "What of Derna?" I asked, my voice much weaker than I wanted.
"What of her? " Odo said with a shrug, "If you want her Weyoun, I suggest you court her like a man should court a woman. Let her break your heart, or give you joy! There is nothing like the feel of a…" he drifted off, "Just treat her well, Weyoun. Engage in the age old dance of love."
His smile as he said love, sent a shiver down my spine. Yet, in some disgusting primal nook of my brain I was panting to do just that. I could feel the rush of desire to claim her and make her mine. MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE! I couldn't fathom why. What was it about the idea of possession that appealed to me so? It felt so territorial and so delightful, there was an annoying twitch in my trousers.
"Are we done here, Weyoun? Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, Odo."
He shut off the comm and I was left sitting in silence. I had a lot to consider before Dax arrived. First, I had to calm myself and put this ridiculous claiming notion out of my head. Then, I had to make the choice whether I would allow this chemical intervention Dax was going to offer me. Things were so much simpler when I just did whatever the Founders wished. I wasn't so fond of these choices.
O_O_O_O_O_O_OO_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O_O
T'Lyn took her fingers off the prone Vorta's face and looked at Odo and Dax. "He is considering the intervention now. I thought I would take a meal and let his mind ponder this choice. He is very conflicted now."
Odo grunted, "The addition of the drug with the other melds has produced wonderful results. I am hopeful he will."
T'Lyn stood and Solok took his place by her side, "Then I take it the other Reldai have been useful."
Odo nodded, "I don't think we could have made such progress this quickly without the help of you and your people."
T'Lyn bowed, "We are here to serve, Odo."
Solok and T'Lyn walked down the corridor away from Weyoun's treatment room. Solok looked at his daughter, "Can you break the barriers without the use of the drugs, my daughter?"
T'Lyn nodded, "Yes, and I have already seen what waits for him beyond those particular walls."
Solok raised his eyebrow, "Enlighten me."
"Conflict, Father, for the history he believes is not the true history."
"And how do you think the Vorta will handle this?"
"You know emotional beings, Father, their reactions are not predictable. This is why I gave him Derna, for much like a Vulcan male, he needs the balance of a bond mate."
"Wise, my daughter, but have you factored in the possibility that when he wakes from this therapy he will experience the void of loss of this imaginary mate?"
"I have taken that into consideration, Father. He will suffer for a time, as we all do when our bond mates are no more, but Odo desires him to be a complete person. Loss is a part of that completion." T'Lyn nodded gravely, "It is only logical he feel it now, in safety, so he might better be able to deal with it in reality."
"What is necessary is not unwise." Solok said with a nod.
"I feel a certain compassion for him though, we grow over years into this understanding, he and his race must now make up for thousands of years of emotional and mental evolution in a matter of hours. I hope what we are doing is enough to give him and his people the foundation to grow."
"An emotional indulgence, T'Lyn?"
"Perhaps, but also a logical desire."
