Chapter Three

The Defiant docked at Deep Space Nine late that night. O'Brien immediately set to work on the battle damage, with the help of his favorite repair crew. Pynon and Sibrawa went for a walk around the Promenade to compare readings from the planet. Bashir, for his part, announced that he was checking into the Infirmary and then going to sleep uninterrupted for ten hours.

Bashir walked into the Infirmary. Its clean, sterilized smell and appearance reassured him that he was indeed back on the station. None of the nurses were on duty, except one young Bajoran who was in the back of the room and wouldn't see Bashir.

Bashir grabbed a few medical instruments and quickly finished the healing of his head, sealing up the small cut above his right eye. Then he ran a dermal regenerator over his arm, where an angry red burn nearly glowed among the tattered remains of his left sleeve. Within a few minutes, the burn had faded and was replaced by new skin.

Satisfied with his self-treatment, Bashir put the equipment away. Taking one last look at the Bajoran nurse, to reassure himself that he had not been seen, he slipped out the doors and headed for the habitat ring.

~~~~~~~

Pynon and Sibrawa walked along the middle level of the Promenade. The two were deep in a discussion about the readings from the dead planet. Neither one heard the creature that stealthily crept up behind them.

One moment, Pynon was chatting and pointing out an odd flux in the readings. The next, steel spikes rammed through the Krleiuvan's head, cutting loose a spray of blood and chunks of the alien's brain. The dragon- like head split open as if it were a melon, exposing what was left of his brain. Dark orange blood gushed out, creating a sticky pool nearly five feet across.

Sibrawa snarled and leaped backwards, turning to look at whatever had killed his friend. He saw nothing but the shadows of the Promenade. No one was around due to the late hour, and there were no footprints left behind.

Growling uneasily, the saber-toothed Catian knelt down next to Pynon's body. The spikes were gone, but the severe damage remained. Sibrawa didn't even need a second glance to tell that the Krleiuvan was dead. He slapped his commbadge. "Sibrawa to Security!"

~~~~~~~

"You're sure?" Odo asked.

Sibrawa nodded. "Yes, Constable. The exact same thing happened on the planet. It is my belief that we may have brought something on board, sir."

Odo reacted instantly. "Odo to Ops, intruder alert."

~~~~~~~

[Wake up, Julian...]

Bashir groaned and rolled over, hoping the noise would go away. He wanted to go back to the comfortable blackness of sleep, and made every effort to stay in that comfortable area.

[Julian....Jules...]

Bashir growled and opened one eye slightly. "What?" he muttered as he noticed something odd. Opening both eyes, he was surprised to find that he was leaning against the wall of his quarters, next to the door. His commbadge was lying on the floor next to him, as well as his rank pips. He had his legs folded in such a way that his knees were against his chest, and his arms were draped across them. His head was resting on his forearms. He was surprised to feel that his whole body was aching. His legs and arms hurt the worst, though. He figured that was from the position he had been sleeping in, but he was unable to explain why he wasn't in bed.

He carefully straightened himself out and stood up, unsteadily limping over to his bed. He sat down on top of the sheets, wondering why he hadn't been in it before.

Before he could get too far in his musings, however, his commbadge activated. "Infirmary to Bashir." The voice on the other end was young, nervous, and female. The Bajoran nurse.

He reached out and slapped the badge, ignoring the heaviness in his arm. "Bashir. Go ahead, Nurse Lena."

"Sorry to disturb you, Doctor."

"Not at all," he said, his mind drawn back to the oddity of finding himself sleeping against the wall. "I'm assuming there was an important reason for awakening me."

"Ensign Pynon's been murdered."

~~~~~~~

The station was put on Red Alert, and security guards patrolled the corridors. Bashir managed to get to the Infirmary, and his examination of Pynon's corpse was brief.

"Death caused by rather obvious means," he said, trying to keep himself from punching a nearby bulkhead in frustration. He pulled the sheet over Pynon's draconic face. "It's got to be the same thing we found on the planet."

"You're positive?" Odo asked from behind him.

"I saw the Jem'Hadar bodies. This is definitely that thing's handiwork," Bashir confirmed. "But how did it sneak aboard the Defiant?"

Odo didn't bother to answer. He tapped his communicator pin. "Odo to O'Brien. Chief, we need you to calibrate the sensors for an intensive sweep of the station. See if you can find anything out of the ordinary."

"Acknowledged. I'm on my way to Ops now."

"Whatever we're dealing with is definitely a sick, twisted creature," Bashir muttered. "I'll be able to rest easier when that thing is in custody."

"You're not the only one," Nurse Lena added. The young Bajoran looked nervous, as if she expected the murderer to suddenly leap out and take the blame - or the credit - for what it had done.

Bashir forced a smile. "Don't worry too much. Odo's a good detective. If anyone can figure out who did it, it's Odo." But inside, he wasn't so sure.

~~~~~~~

By the next day, nearly the whole station knew about the murder. Visiting ship owners were angry when they were not allowed to leave the station, and Kira spent all morning trying to explain that the murderer might try to sneak aboard their ships unnoticed.

O'Brien's sensor scans only detected a faint energy spike, similar to the one the crew of the Defiant had recorded from the dead planet. However, the pulse was so weak it would take a few days of work to home in on the signal. It wasn't much of a lead, but it was all they had that connected the intruder to the planet.

~~~~~~~

Sibrawa prowled the Promenade, closely examining the area for any clues that would tell him who or what the killer was. He was so intent on the search, in fact, he never heard the creature approach again.

In the blink of an eye, five razor-sharp spikes tore through the Catian's stomach, ripping it open. Sibrawa looked down in disbelief as his own intestines spilled out of the incision. It finally occured to him to scream for help, but then there was something gripping him by the throat. The sounds of something breathing came softly in his right ear as the thing held him upright.

"No witnesses," the thing growled, its voice low and almost inaudible. Then with a quick movement, the thing snapped Sibrawa's neck and let go of the big alien. The Catian was dead before he hit the floor.

~~~~~~~

Doctor Bashir did punch the wall this time. He kicked his desk so hard, it almost went flying into the nearest door. Then he clenched his fists and tried to get his anger and frustration under control.

"I can't believe there was another murder," he finally said. He ran a hand through mussed hair, but it was almost an automatic action. The doctor had been dragged out of bed yet again to perform an autopsy, and he wasn't too happy about it.

"Come on, Julian, it can't be that bad," O'Brien said half-heartedly.

"Oh, yes it can." Bashir turned to face him. "Think about it, Chief. What do the murders have in common?" At O'Brien's confused expression, he continued. "Pynon and Sibrawa were both on the away team to the planet where we supposedly picked this creature up. I'm sure you can recall who *else* was on that mission." The sudden absence of color in the Irishman's face made it clear that he remembered perfectly.

"Do you think we could be next?"

Bashir sighed. "I think it's a fair bet to say we should watch our backs until the intruder's caught. I don't want anything to happen to you, and I'm not in the mood to get brutally slaughtered either."

"For once, something we can both agree on."

Bashir glared at him.

"Okay, okay, sorry." O'Brien put his hands up in a mock-surrender. "No need to get mad at me. You sure have been irritable lately."

"You would be too, if you had to examine two dead people in two nights. So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see if I can actually get in a full night's sleep." With that, Bashir stormed out of the Infirmary.

~~~~~~~

As the door closed behind him, Bashir sighed and leaned against the wall, allowing himself to slowly slide down until he was sitting on the floor. He didn't even move once he reached the cold deck. He stared down at his hands blankly, a million thoughts running through his head. Who was the murderer? What was it? How did it get on the station? How long before he could go about his normal life?

Bashir was so deep in thought, he didn't even notice when questions gave way to dreams. The doctor fell asleep, leaning against the wall.

~~~~~~~

O'Brien kept an eye on the monitors while he calibrated the sensors. The specific monitor he was watching showed the faint energy pulse, as well as the measurements on the amount of power it was giving off. So far, the readings hadn't changed.

The chief finished with the sensors, and turned to another screen. "All right, you little bugger, where are you?" he muttered to himself as he set the computer to home in on the energy source.

The computer beeped, and politely brought up a map of the habitat ring. A red circle was drawn around part of the diagram, indicating the source of the energy. The surge was being generated from someone's quarters.

O'Brien checked, then double-checked the readings in disbelief. The signal was coming from Bashir's quarters.

'Oh, hell! Julian!'

He slapped his commbadge. "O'Brien to Bashir."

No response.

He tried again. "Doctor Bashir, please respond."

Still nothing.

"Dammit Julian, answer me!"

This time, Bashir's sleepy voice came through the tiny speaker. "You know, some people are trying to sleep."

O'Brien wasn't in the mood for word games. "Sorry Julian, but I just thought you'd like to know...remember that weird energy source we've been suspecting as the intruder?"

"Yes..."

"Well, it's currently in your quarters."

There was a short pause, and then Bashir cursed. Rather loudly. "Well, that's just dandy. I swear, this is a conspiracy." There was another pause. "Well, if it was going to kill me, it must really be having second thoughts. I don't see any sign of...whatever it is."

"Oh, it's there. Trust me."

"Maybe it's just hiding out in here, and it's really a harmless creature that's taken the blame for our mysterious murderer. But if you'd like to bring down a scanning crew to find out where exactly it is, be my guest."

"Don't mind if I do. Expect visitors in about ten minutes."

~~~~~~~

As half-way expected, the scanning crew couldn't find anything once they got there. Bashir got annoyed after the fourth scan, and summarily kicked his unwanted visitors out, growling that he just wanted to get some uninterrupted sleep. O'Brien began to protest that if the murderer was still there, it might kill him, but Bashir wouldn't listen. He all but shoved the engineers out of his quarters.

On his way out, O'Brien noticed an odd set of five parallel scratches on the inside of Bashir's door. The lines were almost perfectly straight, and they looked as if they'd been made by a set of claws. The Irishman glanced back at Bashir, who was waiting impatiently for him to leave, and made a mental note to check on it later when Bashir wasn't in such a bad mood.