Fandom: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine

Fandom: Star Trek - Deep Space Nine

Title: Doppelganger

Chapter title: Clear as mud

Timeline: 2376 Now taking part during the events depicted at the end of the re-launch novel "Unity"

Spoilers: Could be anything in the series plus events in the re-launch novels

Pairings: Series Canon, Re-launch Canon, Kira/Macet and some Kira/Odo

Chapter Word Count: 4.8k approx

Whole Fic Warnings: Not beta'd I read through, edit and fiddle over and over, but I expect some things will slip through. Corpses, murder, violence, mild to moderate sexiness are dotted around, therefore:

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I own none of these characters or their setting, this is for entertainment only and no money will be made by me.

Notes: Big thanks to all who have commented/reviewed/KUDO'd. I wasn't expecting an audience for this pairing, but it's great to have people reading along. I am in an especially busy period in real life but will do my best to keep up the pace.

All the stuff about Kira and Macet's interest in each other, General Lenaris being a bad guy and the mystery surrounding the Force Field Bubble Device (which I made up) is all mine but the political backdrop of the signing, returned Orbs, Odo's return and the Parasite crisis comes from the books.

There is more Odo/Kira in this story than I anticipated, I apologise if that is not your thing.

Also (these notes get bigger every time) Macet isn't actually in this chapter at all, but he gets talked about.

Clear as mud

Once the comm. link was closed Kira dropped her hand and sat there staring at the blank screen, her mind a jumble of fragmented thoughts and feelings. Macet's eyes, Odo's smile, snatches of memory, different pleasures at different times and with different faces. All this jumbled up with a feeling she couldn't quantify because it wouldn't sit still and just be anger or, irritation or, upset or, (this was the one that confused her the most) ecstasy.

Macet's jealousy and possessiveness had crashed into her like a badly docked shuttle and she didn't really know how to handle it.

She remembered Shakaar's struggle with her surrogate pregnancy, but that had taken the form of childishness and sulking that was over quickly and easily ignored. She hadn't felt able to be too hard on him, because there was some basis for his jealousy. She and Miles O'Brien had become precariously close at one point, Odo had picked up on it, so it was hardly impossible that Shakaar had and her niggling sense of guilt had made her go easy on him.

During their talk Macet had not been the pleasant, calm, civilised person who'd made her look beyond her wariness of Cardassians and the memories that his face evoked. He'd been possessive, jealous, even a little spiteful. Suddenly he seemed very Cardassian. She wondered if all she had seen of him before was a facade, or was this just another facet of his personality, something he'd been hiding from her. It brought home how little she actually knew him.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her and Macet's future, assuming they had one at all, was irrelevant at that moment. If they could deal with General Lenaris then there might be time to find out who Macet really was and she would have no compunction in ending their "relationship" if that turned out to be the right thing to do.

But, even as she nodded to herself, confident in her ability to be rational about him, she found herself smiling. Macet would certainly find out that jealous tantrums cut no ice with Colonel Kira Nerys; but, the way he had of looking at her, like she was the only thing he had ever wanted, she liked it, more than liked it, she could still feel the heat of it radiating through her body, starting in her belly, heating her bones and glowing through her skin.

Kira wasn't sure how long she'd been staring at the wall, lost in thought, when Lieutenant Ro appeared in the doorway and made her jump.

"Sorry to interrupt but you've been a while." Ro raised an eyebrow, "So," she said slowly, "I'm guessing you had a good talk with Macet?"

Kira, whose thoughts had been stuck in a loop, circling from one emotion to another, realised she was grinning like a loon and felt her face heating up. "Yes, no, I don't know!" She started to laugh, wondering if Ro would think she'd lost her mind.

Ro's lips twitched and then broadened to a smile as her Commander continued to chuckle, "You do know you're glowing, don't you?"

Kira took a couple of hiccupping breaths and finally stopped laughing, her face becoming serious, "Am I? I don't know why, he made me so, so mad!"

Ro pulled up a chair and sat down, "Well, that happens. When I was on the Enterprise there was this arrogant, self righteous, prig of a Commander. Every time I saw him I just," Ro's hands balled into fists, "I just wanted to slap that smug expression of his face. He was so sure of himself and so sure that I didn't belong there. Then, one day, everyone on the ship lost their memories and we ended up in bed together. It was an eye-opening experience."

Kira blinked at her, bemused. "Everyone lost their memories?"

"Long story," Ro said, with a shrug and a grin.

"I bet," said Kira. "Anyway, it doesn't matter." She waved a dismissive hand in the air, "Macet is going to check into Lenaris' record and get back to us." She looked around, "Where's Odo?"

"Still in the bar, driving Quark crazy. He told me that he was enjoying himself too much to leave, but I think he wanted to give you some space to talk to Macet."

Kira smiled, a little wryly, "For someone who keeps saying he doesn't understand solids he's very astute."

Ro leaned back, lacing her fingers across her stomach, "Especially when it comes to you, I think. So, do you want to talk about it?"

Kira opened her mouth and closed it again, swallowing her automatic "no"; keeping things to herself didn't seem to be working for her lately. She shook her head, what at, she wasn't sure. "He was angry," she shrugged, her eyes dropping to the floor.

Ro raised one eyebrow, "What about?"

Kira shrugged again, "Because Odo is back, because I didn't tell him. But, he was the one that said he was going away, that we definitely couldn't be together," she added flatly.

Ro leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, "So he's jealous, I'd say that's his problem rather than yours."

"I know, I'm not planning to let him get away with it," said Kira, irritably. "I've been honest about Odo from the beginning." She huffed out a breath, "I don't think I'm very good at this."

Ro raised an eyebrow, "Good at what?"

"Managing two lovers at once, or, the way things are going, one ex lover and one soon to be ex lover," she rolled her eyes.

"Or," said Ro, brightly, "one ex lover soon to be a lover again and one soon to be ex lover unless he comes back and you and the first ex lover are exes again," she grinned.

"Don't," said Kira, pulling a face and raising a hand in surrender, "It's starting to sound like one of those horrible holo-novels Quark sells."

Ro nodded, "Throw in the evil General trying to keep you all apart and you might have something, you should write it."

Kira shook her head, "I'm not much of a writer, unless it's reports." She stood up abruptly, "Anyway, the important thing now is that Macet's going to look into Lenaris' record; is there anything else we can do in the mean time?"

"Well," said Ro, "while Odo was tormenting Quark I did a little more reading and spotted something." She offered a Padd to Kira. "It may be meaningless, but did you know that Lenaris was in charge of the Security team assigned to the Romulan diplomatic delegations that visited Bajor a few months ago? They were supposed to be discussing the future of some of the old Bajoran colonies that Romulus annexed from Cardassia after the Dominion war."

"You mean the ones that Romulus is "protecting"," said Kira, dryly.

Ro nodded, "So, I'm thinking. Lenaris is essentially an isolationist; the Cardassian woman we found dead was a member of the True Way, a Cardassian isolationist organisation, add the Romulans who want to keep what they've snatched and you have a match made in the FireCaves. All of them had reasons to de-rail Bajor's entry into the Federation and stop the peace talks with the Cardassians, which is why we thought thye might be a plotting to assassinate Shakaar."

"But they didn't assassinate him," said Kira, frowning, "Hiziki Gard did."

Ro cocked her head on one side, "Because they didn't get the chance, the Cardassian and Romulan were dead. For all we know that was their plan."

Kira stared at her blankly, "So where would Lenaris come in? He didn't try to assassinate Shakaar; surely he would have tried before the signing if he wanted to keep Bajor out of the Federation."

Ro shrugged again, "Maybe because he'd run out of assassins. I doubt he'd want Shakaar's death to be brought home to a Bajoran, the point was to bring Bajorans together against the Cardassians, not split them apart." She waved a finger in an "abracadabra" gesture, "So, we have a dead Romulan and a dead Cardassian, both of whom may well have been double crossed. If so, someone, somewhere is going to be pretty angry about it and might be willing to give me evidence against Lenaris."

"Alright," Kira nodded, "I don't think I want to stir up the Romulans just yet, do you have any contacts on Cardassia that can put you in touch with the "True Way"?"

Ro nodded thoughtfully, "A few, but not ones I can trust to keep my questions to themselves, I think I need to talk to Garak. That cleric from the Oralian way is still on the station and she knows him, I'd like to go and speak to her."

Kira nodded slowly, "Alright, try and avoid a diplomatic incident if you can." She frowned and shook her head, looking puzzled, "Proving a Cardassian vandalised Ziyal's art would have pulled the Bajorans on the station together against the Cardassians, having a Cardassian kill Shakaar would have pulled the whole of Bajor together against them. The thing I don't understand is why Lenaris has got involved with the Ohalavaru and why he's trying to drag me into it. It's dividing Bajor, not bringing them together."

Ro shook her head, "It's dividing them against each other, not against the Cardassians. Like I said to you before, Lenaris has got to be looking for opportunities to take control, if he can destabilise Bajor internally he has a better chance of doing that and," she continued apologetically, "you are a destabilising influence."

Kira gritted her teeth, "I know," she said, keeping her tone level. She couldn't blame Ro for telling the truth, however unpalatable. "It's still all more guesswork than anything else though."

Ro shrugged, her eyes lowered, "When crimes get political, a lot of the time it's a matter of figuring out where to start poking your nose. If we poke our nose in the right place, we'll probably get a reaction."

"That's what worries me," said Kira, with grim emphasis.

Ro raised her head and met Kira's eyes steadily, "I know, it's a risk. But, so far, Lenaris has been playing a long, careful game. It's probably the only way we'll get any proof."

Kira nodded, "I know," she said harshly, "is that everything?"

"Well," said Ro, hesitantly, "It's a bit of a long shot, but I've been wondering who else might have sneaking about the station at the time."

For a moment Kira didn't get what Ro meant, and then it came to her, "Hiziki Gard! It would make sense for him to reconnoiter before the security got so tight." She smiled grimly at Ro, "Before we start causing diplomatic incidents, let's go and see him."

Hiziki Gard was still in the holding cells pending a decision from the Bajoran government concerning whether he was to be tried on Bajor, or extradited to Trill.

When they arrived he appeared to be sleeping.

Ro dismissed the Bajoran security officer on duty and approached the cell. "Gard," Ro called through the barrier, "We need to talk to you."

The Trill assassin stirred and opened his eyes. "Certainly Lieutenant," he sat up neatly, "Colonel too, what can I do for you?"

"When you arrived with the Trill Ambassador, was that the first time you'd been aboard the station?"

The Trill's expression sharpened to one of acute, but wary interest. "Personally yes,"he finally said.

"Personally," Ro regarded him through narrowed eyes. "So, someone else was here first."

Gard subjected both Ro and Kira to a penetrating stare, "I know we've achieved a measure of trust in each other's motives Lieutenant, but I don't see why I should tell you any more at present."

Kira made an impatient noise and stepped closer to the energy barrier sealing off the detention cell. "We're not interested in pursuing your conspirator; we need information about a different matter. When were they here, what where they doing and what did they see while they were doing it?"

Gard sat silently for a few seconds and then stood up, "I won't reveal their true name, but I see no reason not to tell you. A few days before I arrived with the Ambassador, an operative from my organisation came aboard the Station. Their job was to secrete my Isolation suit somewhere that I could transport to easily and where the localised energy readings would scramble my life signs."

"Would this be somewhere near the main fusion reactor by any chance?" asked Ro.

Gard widened his eyes in surprise, "Yes, it was, oh." He smiled, "I assume you've found the body."

Kira felt every muscle in her body turn rigid, their simplest lead had paid off, Gard knew something.

"You tell me what body you're talking about and I'll tell you if we've found it," said Ro, severely.

Gard sighed, "A Cardassian female, my operative wasn't close enough to estimate an age and the poor woman's murderer was very keen to push her down the turbo lift shaft and be gone."

Kira and Ro froze, "Murderer?" said Kira, softly.

Gard's eyebrows went up, "Didn't you know? My Operative said it was a Bajoran male, he transported into an access tunnel, dropped the woman down the shaft, threw something after her and transported out again."

"What access tunnel?" said Kira.

Kira and Ro were running, ignoring the surprised stares of people on the Promenade.

"He'd only have been there a few seconds," puffed Ro as they dived into a Turbolift that would take them down to the main fusion reactor. "Chances are he didn't leave any evidence, especially after all this time."

Kira knew that Ro wasn't trying to suggest that they shouldn't bother going, she was just trying to manage their expectations, to ensure that her Commanding Officer in particular didn't get her hopes up. "I know. When we've finished remind me to go back and ask Gard why he kept this to himself, if we don't find any evidence I'm going to charge him with impeding an investigation and send him to Bajor for trial, whether the First Minister likes it or not."

"Hmm," said Ro, "I wonder if his "operative" knows anything about our dead Romulan?"

"We'll ask him later."

They traveled the rest of the journey almost in silence, crawling along the access tunnels until they reached the larger open space where the tunnel joined the Turbo Lift Shaft. Cautiously they crawled out of the tunnel and stood up, keeping their backs to the wall while Ro opened her tri-corder.

Kira forced herself to be patient as the device emitted its usual soft, chirruping sequence of tones. Finally it started beeping and she had to force herself to stand still while her stomach lurched and rolled in anticipation.

Ro smiled, "There is some genetic material here, a mix of Cardassian matching the dead Glinn and an unknown Bajoran Male," she whispered. "My Tri-corder is connected to the station's database, we need to connect to the Bajoran central records office. I'll have a better chance of making the link if I get away from all this interference."

Kira nodded, "Do that and get a forensic team up here, there may be other evidence."

Ro nodded back, she tapped her comm. badge, "Ro to Security." She waited a moment and then tapped it again, "Ro to Ops." There was still no reply. "The main Fusion Reactor causes dead comm. spots, I'll go back the way we came." She turned around and started crawling back into the access tunnel.

One of Ro's feet was still in view when there was the sudden sound of an energy discharge. Automatically Kira jumped back and as she watched, Ro's leg jerked violently and disappeared into the tunnel.

Kira threw her back to the wall, un-holstered her Phaser, set it on heavy stun and listened. Other than the usual hums, clicks and buzzes natural to a maintenance area there was silence. She tapped her comm. badge and whispered, "Kira to Security," as with Ro, there was no response.

She was just about to duck down, shoot first and ask questions later when the lights went out. Choking back a gasp she forced herself to stay still, breathing slowly, her ears pricked and her phaser pointed at her best guess of the location of tunnel's entrance. Finally, she heard a scuffle and without hesitation, fired.

The tunnel lit up like a spot lit stage and Kira saw a man's figure diving off to the right. She turned smoothly and fired again, just as he knocked her arm up sending her phaser beam harmlessly into the Turbo Lift Shaft.

The flash gave her a quick glimpse of her attackers face. It was the Bajoran Security Officer who'd been on duty when Kira and Ro had gone to see Gard. She couldn't remember his name, he'd come aboard towards the end of the Dominion War and there'd been so many new faces. Whoever he was he was fast and strong, blocking Kira's attempt to back hand him with her Phaser arm and promptly hooking her legs out from under her.

She landed hard, rolled and felt his boot stomp the deck plates beside her head, so she swiped blindly with her arm, caught hold of his pants leg and yanked as hard as she could.

She felt the breeze of his pin wheeling arms as he tried to keep his balance, so she yanked again and he finally toppled, crashing down somewhere to her right. She scrabbled onto her knees and punched blindly, hoping to hit his groin or second best his stomach. She missed them both, slamming her fist into his ribs instead and feeling one crack.

He hardly made a noise, just backhanded her with the full force of his arm, catching her across her right ear and cheek and sending her spinning and crashing into the wall. She had just got one foot under her when he landed on her back, slamming her flat and knocking the breath from her lungs.

Even as she gasped for breath she kicked, jabbed and thrashed, forcing his arms away as he tried to get one round her neck. In the end he lifted his weight and slammed her again, the pressure forced her head back and he grabbed her hair with one hand and encircled her neck with his free arm.

She screamed, or tried to, and continued to thrash and kick. He let go of her hair and clamped his hand over her mouth and nose, so she bit him, hard enough to tear away a chunk of flesh.

He cursed her softly and tightened his hold around her neck, making flower like flashes pop and bloom in the darkness of her eyes.

Suddenly he vanished, as if she'd imagined him. One moment his weight and his squeezing arm were there, and then they were gone. Kira flopped over and clutched her throat, gasping. The deck plates were icy against her back where his body had heated her skin and there was an even colder, clammy patch of hair behind her ear where his harsh breath had made it damp. She scrubbed weakly at it with her sleeve, finding it disgusting.

When she could properly breathe again and the thudding in her ears had subsided, she became aware of the sounds of a struggle and the strangled cries of someone in distress.

She forced herself to stand and feeling along the wall she found a panel and ran her fingers over the touch screen, trying to remember how to re-boot emergency power. After a few false attempts she hit the right combination and finally the lights buzzed and flickered back to life, settling down to a rhythmic, on, off, on strobing pulse that did nothing to ease her nausea or the pounding in her head.

Blinking, she looked around, Ro was slumped by the opening to the tunnel, consciousness going on and off in her eyes like the lights as she vainly tried to raise her phaser. Kira followed the general direction of her arm and saw Odo, three "limbs" bracing him at the opening to the turbo lift shaft.

He looked back at her, his face empty of emotion, "Shall I drop him?" His gravelly voice was so harsh that she was sure he meant it.

Kira stepped forward carefully, holding onto the wall and looked over Odo's arm and downwards.

The Security Guard was gripped in the loop of Odo's "arm" and his panicky, kicking legs were beating a tattoo on the shaft walls. Though her thoughts were still sluggish his name chose that moment to come back to her, "Hello Roscha," she said. She screwed her eyes shut and tried to focus on Odo's question, "No," she said finally, "We need answers."

Ro was on a bio-bed, sedated and looking very young and innocent in her sleep. Dr. Bashir had insisted, the old pre-occupation weapon Roscha had used to stun her hadn't knocked her out for long, but had left her very confused and unsteady. No-one seemed to know enough about weapons from that era to tell whether it had malfunctioned and technical records from the period were almost non-existent, but after a few minutes Ro had started to wake up and though semi paralysed, she'd managed to open a comm. channel and slur the simplest, useful word she could think of which was "Odo". Thankfully Roscha had dragged her out of the dead comm. spot and the message had gone through.

Odo was watching over their stubbornly silent prisoner in detention. Kira had sent a security contingent along with him, not just because she thought Roscha might be dangerous, or try to escape, but because she'd rarely seen Odo so angry. If Roscha offered him provocation Kira was uncertain whether he would restrain himself.

She was forcing herself to sit still while Dr Tarses treated her mild concussion, the soft tissue trauma to her neck, a broken finger that she didn't even remember happening and her various other cuts and contusions.

"I'm glad you're here Colonel," he said conversationally, as he fiddled with the settings on his dermal re-generator. "Not glad that you had to wound yourself to do it of course."

"I didn't actually wound myself Doctor," said Kira, with a touch of tartness.

Doctor Tarses smiled apologetically, "You know what I mean." He ran the re-generator up and down her cheek and then put it down. "It's about our mysterious Cardassian. With Dr Bashir's help I've finally figured out why I was getting such odd cellular readings. If you weren't already here I would have called you."

Kira raised an eyebrow, "I'm sure it's very interesting Doctor, but can it wait until after I've interviewed our prisoner?"

Dr Bashir walked over to join them at the Biobed, "I'm not sure it should wait Colonel," he said earnestly. "As you know Dr Tarses was concerned because some of the Cardassian's skin cells were ruptured."

"I vaguely remember," said Kira, shaking her head.

Dr Bashir but his padd down on the trolley next to the bio-bed and precisely aligned it with its edge, "After some further investigation Dr Tarses and I discovered a decayed and previously unrecorded virus infecting the Cardassian's skin. We extracted its DNA and conducted some tests; we've only just got the results."

Kira looked from one Doctor to the other a little impatiently, "So?"

"Because of the way this virus enters via the skin cells, we believe it has been engineered specifically to infect Cardassians and only Cardassians," said Julian.

Kira slid off the Biobed and nearly to the floor, her legs felt like they were boneless and stuffed with hasperat soufflé. Julian caught her and held her until she found her legs again. "Are you telling me," she said, her voice rough, "That someone has been developing a biological weapon that specifically targets Cardassians?"

Dr Tarses looked faintly surprised at her reaction, but nodded, "The virus was designed to specifically target Cardassian DNA, rupturing the epidermal cells and then moving inwards. In our subject there were some early signs of rupture in the skeletal muscles and even the Cardiac muscle. I project that if the virus had performed as intended she would have suffered complete organ failure within thirty nine hours, suffering horribly in the process."

"But she didn't." Kira looked from Dr Bashir to Dr. Tarses and back, "Why not?"

Dr. Tarses glanced at Dr. Bashir before answering, "The virus decayed too rapidly to be fully effective, she might not even have been aware that she was infected when she was placed into Stasis. It would have felt like," he waved a hand in a vague circle, trying to find a comparison, "an allergic reaction, very itchy and sore, but not much more."

"Stasis?" Kira blinked at him, "She was in stasis?"

Both Doctors nodded, "For some months," said Dr. Bashir, "There was a residual energy signature in her Brain Stem that we couldn't immediately identify, but after some research we believe it's an energy artifact from a pre-occupation Bajoran stasis chamber."

Kira sat on the edge of the bio-bed and frowned at the floor, "So a Cardassian, infected with a potentially fatal, but faulty disease, a manufactured disease, is placed into stasis for months and then taken out just in time to be murdered." She shook her head, "What is he up to?" she said, through clenched teeth.

The Doctors looked at each other, "I'm sorry Colonel, who?" said Julian.

"Never mind." Kira looked up at him, "Could they, whoever they are, have developed this disease any further?"

Dr Bashir shrugged, "Certainly, or perhaps they gave up when it failed to work. I can tell you there's no record of any new diseases on Cardassia."

Kira held a hand up and closed her eyes, "Hang on, pre-Occupation stasis tube, pre-occupation weapon," she said, more to herself than anyone else.

Dr. Tarses looked from her to Julian and back again, confused. "I'm sorry Colonel, is that significant?"

Kira shook her head, impatiently, "I don't know, it's just odd, why all the antique equipment?" She straightened up, "I need to go and see Roscha."

Deputy Roscha Unos sat in the holding cell next to that of Hiziki Gard, his shoulders slumped, staring at the floor.

Kira watched him silently for a few minutes, Odo standing sentinel beside her. Finally she took a deep breath, "Why did you attack me and Lieutenant Ro?"

Roscha didn't even look up.

Kira stepped a bit closer to the barrier, "I'll ask you again," she said, her tone hardening, "why did you attack me and Lieutenant Ro?"

The prisoner's fingers tensed and relaxed, but he made no other sign that he'd heard her.

Odo moved forward, "You realise that, even if you did not do it yourself, you are implicated in the murder of a Cardassian citizen. This crime takes precedence over the attack on Colonel Kira and Lieutenant Ro. If you do not speak Colonel Kira will have no choice but to extradite you to Cardassia.

Roscha's shoulders started to shake.

"Well?" prompted Odo, "what is it to be, a nice, clean Bajoran prison, or a death sentence on Cardassia?"

Suddenly Roscha raised his head and to their mutual shock they saw that he was laughing, laughing so hard that tears trickled down his face, but still, he said nothing.

"Why are you laughing?" asked Odo, stepping closer to the barrier again, his head on one side.

Finally Roscha spoke, "You think you can scare me by threatening to hand me over to the Cardassians," he gasped, holding his chest and sides. "That's the funniest thing I ever heard." His hands dropped and with a few deep breaths he stopped laughing and just sat there smiling at them, "Do it, see how far it gets you." He lay down on the bunk and rolled over, turned his back to them and ignored any further attempts to get him to talk.

But, every so often his shoulders would shake, as if whatever had caused him to laugh had struck him again and was too funny to be completely contained.