DISCLAIMER: Still don't own it. Nothing has changed in a few hours.
Yeah, 'cause, this is totally the same day I unloaded the last chapter.
…
Yeah, I'm organised. Well it's all getting exciting isn't it? Read on my fine Trekkie internet friends
'Computer, what time is it?'
'1110 hours' Dax sighed. They should be going now. Where was Julian?
'Kira to Dax. What's happening down there?'
'Julian hasn't arrived. I was about to call him.'
'OK keep me advised' Dax pressed her combadge again.
'Dax to Bashir' There was no response. Dax frowned.
'Computer, where is Dr Bashir?'
'Dr Bashir is not on board the station' Dax's eyes widened and a feeling of dread stirred in her stomach.
'Where was the last place on the station Dr Bashir went before leaving?'
'Deck 6, Section 9' Dax left the shuttle bay, almost running. When she reached the place where Julian had last been and saw the glass on the ground but was surprised not to see his combadge anywhere. She turned around on the spot, panic filling her mind, not sure what to do. Eventually she headed into a turbolift and headed for ops.
'Computer, when did Dr Bashir leave the station?' She said as the turbolift rose.
'1054 hours'
'Did Dr Bashir use one of the station's transporters to leave the station or a transporter from one of the shuttles?'
'Negative'
'How did Dr Bashir leave the station then?' The computer beeped for a moment.
'Unknown.'
In ops, O'Brien was still at his panel but Kira was back in Sisko's office. As Dax walked out of the turbolift, Kira walked down the steps towards her.
'Dax? What's going on?'
'Kira, Julian's gone.' There was a pause and O'Brien turned around towards her, both officers with identical expressions of shock on their faces.
'What do you mean gone?!' asked O'Brien, after a moment.
'Just… gone! He's not on the station. The last place he was on the station; I just went and looked when he didn't turn up in the shuttle bay and there's glass all over the floor.'
'Glass?' said Kira in disbelief.
'Glass. I thought someone must have taken him but there's no ships in sensor range'
'Viewscreen on' said Kira and all three officers turned and stared at the empty screen.
'He can't have just disappeared!' said O'Brien.
'Computer; is Dr Bashir's combadge within sensor range?' asked Kira.
'Negative. Dr Bashir's combadge signal was terminated at 1055 hours.' She sighed in frustration.
'That's one minute after he left the station' said Dax. 'Computer, where are the last known co-ordinates of Dr Bashir?' Again, the computer beeped as if checking its data banks.
'Unable to comply. Dr Bashir's last co-ordinates cannot be specified'
'Why not?' asked Kira, frowning.
'The co-ordinates could not be specified due to a momentary interference with the external sensors'
'Interference?' said the Chief, wondering what it could be when the same thought dawned on all the officers at once. The subspace glitch.
Xxx
Julian woke suddenly and jolted awake, snapping his head up and back down onto the bench he was lying on, making him groan in pain. Slowly he pushed himself up and felt around in the darkness, feeling a wall next to him. He leant himself against the wall and carefully put a hand up to the top of his head. He felt a wave of nausea as he found a gash and felt blood matting him hair as well as small pieces of glass. Julian carefully brushed the glass out of his hair, trying not to touch the wound. It was eerily quiet and dark, even with his enhanced eyesight and hearing.
'Computer, lights' he whispered. Nothing. Well, it was worth a try he thought to himself.
He sat for a few minutes, wondering where he was and how much trouble he had got himself into. Just then there was a clang in the darkness making Julian jump. He stayed quiet and stared the way the noise had come. Footsteps sounded and the noise of buttons being pressed on a console then the room filled with light. Julian closed his eyed for a moment and blinked at the sudden light. When he opened his eyes again, he groaned at who he saw standing opposite him.
'Some offer' Julian said bitterly.
'The plan had to be changed,' said D'Moxo. 'Everything will be explained.' Julian looked around him and saw he was in what looked like a ship's brig. D'Moxo was standing on the other side of the force field keeping Julian in. He walked over to a panel and pressed a button. The force field flickered off.
'Come with me' said D'Moxo. Julian couldn't see a weapon on him but somehow he didn't think that mattered at this point. He slowly got up and walked over to him. He was guided through several corridors and into a turbolift. Julian looked around, trying to work out what kind of ship he was on; it seemed to be quite old, not a Starfleet ship, but he couldn't tell any more than that. The whole ship was darkly lit and they didn't pass anyone as they walked through. Eventually the turbolift stopped and they walked out onto what looked like a bridge but it was hard to tell as it was even darker than most of the ship they had walked through. It was laid out sparsely with a few consoles along the walls, a helm console and a chair in the middle. There was someone sitting in the chair but it was turned away from them so Julian couldn't see their face.
'Hello, doctor' an unfamiliar male voice came from the chair. Julian paused for a moment before replying, calculating which question to start with.
'Where am I?' he asked, ignoring the greeting.
'You're aboard my ship within what I believe you called a 'subspace glitch'.' The voice was monotonous and unbroken; almost bored-sounding, but there was something dangerous about the way every single word was pronounced fully and deliberately. 'You were about to bring a shuttle out to it,' the voice continued. 'Your friend, the Trill, was quite accurate in her thinking of a cloaking device. Although she didn't realise that it wasn't damaged at all' Julian cut him off.
'Why have you kidnapped me?' he asked, coldly.
'The plan had to be changed.'
'What plan? Why do you need me?'
'Patience, doctor,' he said warningly, 'So many questions. We wouldn't want to reveal everything so early in your stay.' There was a moment's pause before Julian tried one more question.
'Who are you?'
'Ah yes, I suppose it's about time I introduced myself.' The man sitting in the chair spun it around and got up. His features were still obscured in the darkness.
'My name…' he paused again, as if hesitant. Then he stepped forwards into the light.
'Is Khan.'
