Chapter 18
Quem di diligunt adolescens moritur.
He whom the gods love dies young.
(Plautus, Bacchides)

The next morning, Julian thought he heard footsteps. He kept his eyes closed and listened.
The door creaked open and the footsteps entered the room. They came over to them.
"Wake up," Sid's voice said.

Vicki Ann's mind decided to help her cope with her situation by reminding her of happy
memories. She dreamt of how she got back together with David and then her mind then
switch to fantasies of going home and spending time with David. She was considering
taking that leave she had coming and going somewhere quiet with him. Not Risa, not
Betazed. Somewhere quiet, where she could forget the hell of the past month. Somewhere
where she and David were the only people that mattered. Her dreams were interrupted by
a sharp pain that struck her in the chest. She opened her eyes and realized that she was
lying on the floor of the prison cell. Sid had decided to wake her up by kicking her. "It's not
enough that you broke two of my ribs. You had to go for three, didn't you?" she snapped,
sitting up.

"Want to try for four?" Sid said, leaning down toward her.

Vicki Ann shot him daggers. "If I could stand up right now-"

Sid interrupted her. "Well, you're going to stand up, doctor."
He grabbed her arm and pulled her up.

Vicki Ann felt her equilibrium go and she began to fall. Julian, forgetting his own injuries,
stood and caught her. "Easy, Vicki Ann." He turned to Sid. "She's very ill. Can she at least
sit down?"

Sid sighed. "I suppose."

Julian led Vicki Ann over to the bench against the wall and helped her sit down. "What do
you want?"

Sid paced a bit, barely able to contain his excitement. "We have a surprise for you. We'd
like to introduce you to the newest member of Section 31, Julian Bashir."

"Not another clone," Vicki Ann muttered.

"Not quite, doctors." He motioned to someone outside. Two people entered. One was one
of Sid's lackeys and the other one was unknown to the both of them, but looked familiar.
He was tall and thin.

He had dark, curly hair, tan skin and bright blue eyes.

"What are you talking about? I'm Julian Bashir, not him,"
Julian replied.

"Check again. For you," Sid said, tossing Vicki Ann a tricorder. Julian caught it and handed
it to her. And for you, Bashir." He tossed Bashir a DNA scanner.

Vicki Ann scanned the newcomer. "He has all the DNA of someone who's been genetically
engineered. The DNA looks perfect."

Julian scanned the newcomer's DNA. "Oh my God."

"What?" Vicki Ann asked. "What's the matter, Julian?"

"Wait a minute," Julian replied. He ran the scanner over himself and then her. He nodded
sadly. "Just as I thought. Vicki Ann, look at the DNA." As she leaned over to look at the
results, Julian said, "It's ours."

"Meet Julian Bashir, Junior," Sid replied, laughing.

Vicki Ann double checked. The DNA of the newcomer was a mixture of theirs. Her injuries
were too extensive for her to sense him. Besides, his abilities wouldn't be as advanced as
hers. I wouldn't count on that, mother. said a voice in her head. Her head shot up and
she looked at him. "How?"

"You should know the answer to that."

"It wasn't enough that his parents were engineered, you had to tweak him a little bit more,
huh?" Vicki Ann asked, sarcastically.

"Only his telepathic abilities. It just wouldn't do to have him not have any psi abilities
would it?" Sid asked.

"But he looks almost as old as us," Julian replied.

"Just a little accelerated growth, that's all."

Julian looked at Vicki Ann. He could tell that she was trying to maintain control. He could
see the fury boiling just below the surface. She would explode any minute.

Forgetting her injuries, Vicki Ann leapt onto Sid. She knocked him down and she wrapped
her hands around his neck. "How dare you do something like this!"

Julian, along with Sid's lackey, managed to pull her off of him.
"Calm down, Vicki Ann."

She turned to him. "You want me to stay calm, after what they did to us?"

"Yes. Don't sink to their level," he whispered.

Sid seem to be happy that he'd angered Vicki Ann. "Yes, do calm down doctor. You're
setting a bad example for your son."

"You son of a bitch," replied Vicki Ann.

"Temper, temper. You should act a little more like your son. You don't see him getting all
emotional over meeting his parents, do you?" Sid remarked.

Vicki Ann walked up to Julian Jr. "I can't believe you're actually going along with this. You
have to know that this is wrong!"
She considered the thought. "But, then again, your concept of right and wrong would
come from them. And they probably told you that what they're doing is right and what
we're doing is wrong."

"That's because that's the way it is, mother," Junior replied.

"No, it's not. You should know that. Even if they told you it was right, you have a heart, a
soul and a brain to figure it out for yourself. You have to know that this is wrong!"

"I know that it is right."

"How can you say that with such conviction? With such certainty? How can you say that
and not feel anything?" Vicki Ann reached out to him with her mind, hoping that she would
find some glimmer of a conscience or a slight waver in his certainty. Nothing. She felt
absolutely nothing. It was like she was staring into a big, black void. "Why don't I sense
anything from you? Why don't I sense any emotions?"

"Because he doesn't have any," answered Sid, practically beaming.

"More of your tweaking, huh? It wasn't enough that you taught him your ways, but you
took his emotions, too. Why didn't you just get a bloody Vulcan instead of ripping away his
humanity?"

"Because we wanted him."

"Oh my God," Vicki Ann whispered, coming to a realization. "That's why you chose us, isn't
it? Why you tried to recruit us. You didn't want us as agents, you wanted our DNA."

"Not exactly. We did want you as agents, but when you refused, this opportunity
presented itself. We had your DNA from our cloning experiments. By the way, if you're
wondering, Dr. Troi, none of your clones were successful. Just the luck of the draw, I
guess. We decided that instead of reworking someone into the perfect operative, like we
tried to do with you, we'd create one."

"Then why did you kidnap me again,?" Julian asked.

"We needed a doctor to work on our implant problem. That's all.
And since you're the best Starfleet has, with the exception of Dr. Troi, we chose you."

"Thanks a lot," Julian muttered.

"Then why keep us here?" Vicki Ann asked.

"We haven't decided whether or not you may be useful in the future," Sid replied. "Besides,
we thought you might like to spend some time with your son."

"Since you can't erase their memories due to the engineering, I would have them
executed. They know too much about us," Julian Jr. said coldly.

"Now, now Julian, don't be heartless. These are your parents you're talking about," Sid
teased.

Vicki Ann looked Junior in the eye. "Don't you feel anything for us? Not even an instinctual
attachment? After all, we're your parents."

"No," Junior replied.

"We may be his biological parents, Vicki Ann, but parents we're not. A parent is someone
who cares for a child and teaches them about the world, not just the people who supply
the DNA," Julian said.

"You're right." She turned to Junior. "Then, I guess Sid is your father. And your mother. We
were just a means to an end."

"Exactly, mother. I'm so glad you understand. Enjoy the rest of your stay," Junior replied,
turning to the door. "Good day."

The door shut behind them. Julian and Vicki Ann were left alone again. Vicki Ann turned to
Julian. "Julian, how do we keep getting ourselves into these messes?" she asked, trying to
lighten the mood.

Julian shrugged. "I don't know, Vicki Ann, I don't know. Just luck I guess." He looked over
at her and saw the tears begin to fall faster down her face. He put his arm around her
shoulder and pulled her to him. "Go ahead and cry, Vicki Ann. There's no one here but us."

Deanna Troi sat at the desk in Lt. Dax's office. When she had first come here, she had felt
uncomfortable, like she was invading Ezri's territory. But everyone, including Ezri, had made
her feel at home. She just wished she was getting somewhere with Dax. Ezri still believed
that Julian was on Cardassia and that he was coming home. Kira had called Deanna to her
office and told her about Bashir's clone. Maybe, now, she could get somewhere with Ezri.
At least if there was a chance that Julian was still alive, maybe Ezri's delusion wasn't
harmful. In fact, maybe it wasn't a delusion after all. Maybe she had known deep down
that Julian was still alive. Who knows what the human mind is capable of?

Deanna almost wished Ezri was able to work. She could use a counselor to talk to about
Vicki Ann. Vicki Ann was AWOL and no one had any clue as to where she had gone.
Deanna was afraid for her sister. Vicki Ann had a tendency to get herself into trouble when
she let her emotions get the better of her. Deanna laughed. It was funny how they were
opposites. Deanna's Betazoid side ruled, making her totally in touch with and in control of
her emotions. She thought everything out before hand. Vicki Ann's human side was in
control, letting her emotions control her. She was always doing things without thinking and
letting her heart rule her head. The door chime rang. "Come in."

Lt. Dax entered.

"Hello, Ezri. What can I do for you?"

"I just spoke to Kira."

Deanna nodded. "She told you about Julian and Vicki Ann."

Ezri nodded. "Would you have some time to talk?"

Deanna nodded again. "You know, Ezri, I was just thinking the same thing. Maybe we can
help each other."

A few hours after Sid left, Julian and Vicki Ann's dinner was brought in. Julian didn't
recognize the man who had brought it. Julian ignored him until he stood in front of Julian,
as if he was waiting for Julian to notice him. "Yes?" Julian asked.

The man leaned toward Julian as if he had a secret. "Tonight, at 0200 hours, you will be
beamed to Dr. Troi's shuttle. You'll find everything you need to get home inside."

"What about Sid and his friends?"

"They will be distracted."

"It what way?"

"There will be an explosion in the lab."

"How?"

"The power couplings are going to short out."

"That'll kill anyone in the building!"

"The good of the many outweigh the good of the few."

Julian nodded. "Why are you helping us?"

"I don't agree with their genetic meddling, so I'm destroying the lab."

"Thank you, but what are you doing about the bugs they have in here?" Julian asked.

"They have been taken care of. Don't worry, doctor. Everything is taken care off."

"What about a med kit?"

"In the shuttle."

Julian smiled. "You did anticipate everything. Thank you."

"Wake up, Vicki Ann. We have to go," Julian said, shaking her gently.

"What? Where are we going?" she murmured.

"They're beaming us to your shuttle. We can go home."

"Home?" She wasn't quite awake, so her voice was muffled.

Julian decided against waking her up and just picked her up. A second later, they
disappeared in a shimmer.

When they arrived in the shuttle, Julian sat Vicki Ann down and began to check
everything. While he was busy, she woke up.

"Julian, how did we get into my shuttle?"

"A friend in Section 31 beamed us out. We're going home."

"What about Sid?"

"Our friend is blowing up the lab. Sid will be killed."

"Julian, what about-"

Julian stopped her. "I'm sorry, Vicki Ann, but he'll be killed too."

"Julian, we have to-"

He put his hands on her shoulders. "No, Vicki Ann, we can't."

"JULIAN!"

"VICKI ANN! Listen to me, we can't go back. The bomb is going to go off any minute. We
have to leave before we get killed, too."

She glared at him. "Well, maybe you can desert him, but I can't. Even if he is a Section 31
machine. With counseling, he could be fine." She started to walk out of the shuttle.

Julian grabbed her elbow. "You can't!"

Vicki Ann wriggled free from his grasp. "Yes, I can." She walked out and toward the
building.

Julian followed her, with his tricorder. "Vicki Ann, the couplings just shorted out! The
building will go any minute!"

Vicki Ann ignored him and continued walking to the building. Julian ran after her and
tackled her just as the building in front of them exploded. Vicki Ann was crying and trying
to get free from Julian.

"Let me go! Julian, I have to go save him!" Her screams were silenced by the hiss of a
hypospray.