CHAPTER FOUR
Apollo had spent about an hour walking around the Promenade, taking in the sights, the sounds, and the smells. He passed by the giant viewports giving him a fantastic view of exterior portions of the station. He was looking at crews working on the damaged ship he saw on his way in when he suddenly heard behind him, "Enjoying Deep Space Nine?"
Apollo spun at the sound of the voice, and found himself facing a Cardassian. He must have been about to attack, because the Cardassian stepped back a few feet. "I... didn't mean to startle you."
The officer glared at this man, studying him intently. "You could have fooled me, Cardassian." Apollo virtually spat the name out.
"So you're the famous Captain Racer," he paused. "You don't look like much."
"What are you doing on this station? Why hasn't Odo..."
"I'm just a plain. simple tailor. My name's Garak."
Apollo looked deep into Garak's eyes. Garak felt as though someone were driving a white-hot spike through his brain, but he held his ground. Finally, Apollo broke off his gaze and smiled coldly. "Not just an ordinary tailor." He dropped his alert pose, and took on a less threatening air. "My apologies. It's just that the only time I saw an example of your race, Captain Picard was showing me an image of Gul Damar."
"Oh. Certainly not the best example of our race. Apology accepted, Captain. Tell me, what brought you back here?"
Apollo shrugged. "The Enterprise did. Why do you ask?"
Garak sighed, a little exasperated. "No, I mean why did you come back? After such a long time?"
He was about to answer, when suddenly he realized he didn't really have a clear answer for that. He thought about it for a moment as they started walking along the Promenade. "You know, I'm not entirely sure. Guess it was convenient for me at the time. I helped a couple of Starfleet officers out of a jam, one thing led to another, and the next thing you know, I was brought here."
"Ah. So, you've basically just been going wherever your travels take you, is that it?"
Apollo thought more about it, and smiled. "Yes. Yes, you could say that."
They were passing by the entrance to Quark's Bar when suddenly Apollo stopped short, feeling a familiar tingle start at the base of his skull and work its way down his spine. "What is it, Captain?" asked Garak.
"I don't exactly know, but that will change soon, you can count on it." On that note, Apollo walked into Quark's.
As he entered, Apollo was overwhelmed by a menagerie of sights, sounds, and smells. He made his way to the bar, where a Ferengi was mixing drinks. He sneered.
"Something wrong, Captain?" Garak said.
"That's a Ferengi," he replied, as though his answer told the whole story.
"I... take it you've met them before."
Apollo was about to reply when he heard, "Captain! Captain Racer, sir?"
He turned his head and saw Chief O'Brien. He was sitting further down the bar with another officer wearing Science colors. They both appeared to be drinking... pints of ale. Curious, Apollo made his way to them and smiled. "Greetings, Chief. This may sound a little corny, but... do you come here often?"
O'Brien chuckled, and his friend groaned. "Captain, this is Dr. Bashir, our Chief Medical Officer. Julian," O'Brien said, pausing for dramatic effect, "this is Captain Apollo Racer."
Bashir straightened at hearing this. "But that's impossible. Captain Racer served in Starfleet almost 100 years ago. And you don't look that old."
Apollo chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment, since actually I'm about 350. And I still do serve in Starfleet, thank you."
Bashir was taken aback for only a moment. Then his scientific nature took over. He leaned toward Apollo, studying him. "What causes your eyes to glow in such a manner?"
Apollo pondered that question. "You know, in all the years I've been this way, I never found out. I didn't bother to find out, either, because I didn't deem it important." He was about to say more when he looked over Bashir's shoulder. "Well... I'll be..." He left the bar, heading around the two men. They followed his gaze until they noticed what had gotten his attention. Apollo walked up to the far wall, where a dartboard hung. The lights around its perimeter winked on and off. "I haven't seen one of these in a long, long time."
O'Brien smirked. "Would you like a go, Captain?"
Apollo thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, thank you. It's been quite some time since I played... I'm bound to be a bit rusty."
But O'Brien wouldn't take no for an answer. He swiped the darts that were left in a mug on the bar off to his side, and brought them over to Apollo. "Please, Captain, just give it a try."
Apollo looked at the chief askance. "Well, okay. But I'm not as good as I used to be."
O'Brien smirked and shrugged. "Oh, that's all right, sir."
Apollo took the darts, testing the weight. He raised his eyebrow in approval. Suddenly, in a rapid-fire side-arm motion, he flung the darts one at a time toward the board. The dartboard tweedled each time as one, two, three darts hit dead in the bullseye. As the two men's jaws just about dropped off their faces, the captain gestured toward the board and said, "There, you see? In my heyday, those darts would have been much closer together." He walked away as Bashir and O'Brien inspected the board. The darts had been embedded up to their shafts, barely a centimeter between each of them. They looked at each other in astonishment, then watched Apollo walk away.
Apollo was about to leave when he suddenly heard some noise in the back room. The base of his neck tingled, and he felt he should investigate. When he reached the doorway, he started hearing signs of a hushed argument.
"...were going to pay me more for these, Quark..."
"...market's down; I can't expect to profit from..."
Figuring he had heard enough, Apollo barged into the back room, startling its occupants. "What's going on in here?" he said authoritatively. He looked at a table between the room's two occupants. All sorts of devices and treasures lay sprawled over it.
The Ferengi, who he assumed was Quark, tried not to be taken in, but Apollo could see the fear in his eyes. The Yridian, however, made no effort to hide how afraid he was. "N-now, this area is for authorized personnel only," said the Ferengi. "I'd appreciate it if you would please turn and leave the way you came."
Apollo looked at Quark with disbelief, as though he was actually expected to obey the Ferengi. "What? Me, leave, and miss such a fascinating business transaction? Please, continue."
He was going to play with Quark some more, when two things happened simultaneously. A tablecloth on a nearby table slid off its surface and started to change shape, reforming into constable Odo. And Apollo spotted something among the gadgets on the table that made him see red. In one motion, he scooped the device out of the pile, and slammed Quark up against the wall - literally up against the wall... Quark's feet were dangling three feet from the floor - causing the Ferengi to squeak in surprise and pain. Apollo's face was twisted in anger. "You little space monkey! Do you know what this is?" He shoved the device, which Odo, who now reformed from his covert shape, clearly saw as a gun, under Quark's nose. "DO you!!?"
Quark was shaking visibly, but he attempted to keep his voice nonchalant. He didn't do a very good job. "I honestly have never seen such a thing before in my..."
He wasn't given a chance to finish, because Apollo practically shoved the gun up Quark's nose. "This is a spiderweb gun. It has been banned from the Federation since before I joined up. Do you realize the penalty for even being in possession of such a thing!?"
Quark's partner in crime attempted to sneak out the back, but the Yridian was kept in place when Odo slapped a firm hand down on his shoulder. "And just where do you think you're going?" Seeing that his man wasn't going anywhere, he looked to Apollo. "Captain, I appreciate your help, but I had these two under watch since they came in here. I can take it from here."
Apollo swung the hand holding the gun out, pointing at Odo. From what the constable could see, with the pressure Apollo had put on the gun, it wasn't about to fire anymore; the barrel had been twisted and bent in his grip, the trigger stuck out to the side, and the hammer of the pistol was mashed into place. No, that gun wouldn't be used anytime soon. "Stay out of this, changeling," hissed Apollo.
But Odo wouldn't back down. "I said I'll take it from here, Captain," Odo replied, keeping his voice firm.
Apollo sneered at Odo, then returned his fiery blue gaze to Quark, who no longer tried to keep his fear from showing. Without warning, the captain let go of Quark, who dropped to the floor in a very undignified manner. Apollo tossed the now-useless weapon on the table, and was about to leave, when something on the floor caught his attention. He looked at a rather large but shallow basin. "And what archaeological site did you take this from?" He peered inside. "Odd. It's filled with some kind of liquid. Seems to be moving a little."
Odo instantly realized what it was. "Captain, get back," he roared, but his warning was too late.
The liquid inside the basin expanded upward, looking like nothing so much as a large, orange, fluid slug. It struck Apollo in the face and chest, sending him backward. Odo ducked back out of the way as the shape wound its way past him; in the process, he inadvertently released his hold on the smuggler, who once again took his chance to escape. He rushed out through the front as Apollo was just shaking off the blow.
"Go after that... thing!" Apollo ordered Odo. "I'll get Shorty." He got up off the floor and took off through the bar. He made it into the main area of the bar when he stopped due to the crowd. "Hold it right there!" Apollo shouted after the smuggler, but he could only watch as his perpetrator rush out the front entrance. Knowing what to do, he ducked into a foyer.
O'Brien, seeing this started toward where he saw Apollo go. "Captain, where are you..." but his words were cut off as he shielded his eyes from a bright flash of light. When his vision cleared, he looked in the foyer, but Apollo wasn't there. He came back out, and Bashir should see the perplexed look on his face.
~ * ~
The Yridian had always prided himself on being a fast runner. He already knew he left that dumb captain and any other persuer far behind. He had already made it to the docking ring of the station. A few more meters, and he would be at the airlock where his ship was docked. He would be disengaged and through the wormhole before they even discovered where he went. He started to smile, but it was wiped off his face as he first saw a flash of light ahead of him, then he slammed into a brick wall. As he lay on his back looking up at the ceiling, the captain he swore he left back at Quark's stood over him. "Are you deaf, is your translator malfunctioning, or do you just have a hard time comprehending the concept of 'stop'?"
As two Bajoran security officers showed up, Apollo hit his combadge, "Racer to Odo."
"Odo here," came the reply. He sounded as though he were running.
"The smuggler is in custody. Do you have yours?"
"It's heading for cargo bay 3. If I can seal it off there, it shouldn't be able to escape."
"I'll meet you there," Apollo said.
"Impossible," Odo answered, "I'll have the place sealed by the time you get here."
"I'll be there. Racer out." Apollo looked to the men and said, "I believe you know where he can go." He headed onto the bridge back toward the habitat ring. As the men picked the smuggler off the floor, they saw a flash of light come from the bridge. They looked around the corner, but no one was there.
~ * ~
Odo rushed into the cargo bay and immediately gave the commands to seal it off. He had just seen the other changeling enter, so he knew it was trapped. As he searched through the bay, he bumped into Apollo. "Hold it right there," he commanded.
"Told you I'd be here," Apollo replied.
"Uh huh," Odo nodded in disbelief. "And it's more likely you decided to take this shape to throw me off."
"What the hell are you..." Apollo stopped in mid-sentence and immediately looked off to the side. Odo was puzzled, and Apollo took only two steps when the changeling came charging out at them. "Not this time," he said. He pushed his hands sharply out in front of him, and Odo saw a blue ball of energy shoot out and strike the changeling. The ball expanded into a type of forcefield that surrounded the changeling. It briefly changed into humanoid form, but then it started shapeshifting rapidly, trying to find any form it could use to escape. But Apollo saw this, and started to shrink the field. As a result, the changeling was forced to use smaller and smaller forms. Finally, it was forced into its liquid shape, and the field formed a sphere, suspended in midair in front of the two of them.
The changeling still tried escaping, doing everything from striking a concentrated point in the glowing blue ball of energy, trying to punch through it, to covering every square millimeter on the inside, in an attempt to exert as much force as possible at every point in the sphere. But Apollo held the shield, and finally it collapsed in a puddle inside the sphere. Apollo contracted it further until the changeling was compacted into a tight ball, and floated it an inch above his hand. He looked to the station's security chief. "I assume you have something more permanent to hold this in."
Odo nodded blankly. "How did you do that? And how did you get here so fast? Did Dax do a site-to-site?"
Apollo shook his head. "I'll explain later. Right now, you might wish to release the seals on the cargo bay."
"Uh, of course." Odo unsealed the bay, and two Starfleet security officers entered. They were carrying a container that Odo recognized as the ersatz prison he was kept in when terrorists led by a Trill came aboard the station to steal the Dax symbiont. He watched as Apollo directed them to hold the container right under the force bubble, while he basically "poured" the changeling into the container. They activated the seals on the container and took it to the brig. Apollo was then about to walk out of the cargo bay. "Captain," Odo said. Apollo stopped, and peered back over his shoulder. "I've never before seen anyone do what you've done in here. How did you do it? What are you?"
Apollo turned fully to look at him. After a moment of fixing the constable in his glowing gaze, he smiled coldly and walked out the door.