The Last Temptation of Odo – Chapter 8

By

Creek Johnson and Nance Hurt

Disclaimer: We are but fleas on the elephants' posterior that is Paramount.

No infringement on their rights is intended. We hope none is taken.

It just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser, thought Vivian Landis. She glanced around her, eyes scanning the dark. Satisfied she was alone, she asked. "Would you remind repeating that?"

"I said," replied the Vorta. "Where I am is not important. You, and your companions, are in danger and I want to help, but first I must know how to dismantle the weapons systems on your craft. Can you help me?"

"Listen. Sanka…"

"sanKe."

"Whatever. Do your parent know what you are up to?"

There was a short pause. "You think I am a prankster!"

"Aren't you?"

"No! No, I am deadly serious."

"Prove it," she demanded. "Where exactly are my companions?"

"Ah," replied the Vorta. "The disbursement field…"

"Yes."

"The Founder ordered you to be scattered to the four winds. Instead, I set it to just relocate you."

"You?" asked Vivian. "You work for the Founder?"

"Yes. I do not know exactly where each of your are, the field is not that accurate, but based on reports that are starting to arrive, I believe you are in the Eastern Prefecture among the Higoshi."

"And the others?"

"Again, based on reports, one of you is in the West among the Nishi, one is in the North among the Hoku."

"That's three."

"The fourth is unknown." Vivian thought she detected a note of sadness in the voice. "Logically, the fourth should be somewhere in the South among the Minami, but there has been no report…" The Vorta stopped. He thought could hear footsteps approaching.

"Hello?" said Vivian. "Are you still there?"

"Someone approaches," replied the Vorta quickly. "I must go. I will contact you again."

"But…"

The comm. went dead.

Scattered to the four winds, thought Vivian as she made her way back to camp. Sanke had made it sound as though the field was supposed to destroy them, not unlike a transporter that beams someone into space. Well, she thought, if Sanke did in fact work for the Dominion, it would be in her best interest to play along.

With a war cry, Chudan crested the high bank and surveyed the river below. The buckets hanging from each end of his sword swung wildly in the breeze. In his mind, the banks of the river suddenly became populated with several of his enemies. Swinging his sword in order to deal with his imaginary foes, he was momentarily startled as the empty buckets were flung away from him, only to bounce down the slope.

Covering his mouth, his eyes wide with embarrassment, he looked around to see if any of the men had noticed his childlike behavior. The pale light of early morning showed no activity among the camp. Satisfied he had not been observed, he once again warmed to his fantasy. Lifting the sword, he charged down the bank, the buckets having been elevated to treasures he would give his life to defend. His imaginary foes fought well, but not well enough for a warrior such as he. In one last gallant act to defend his treasure, he swung his sword, lost his balance, tripped over the bucket and lay on the banks of the river laughing.

Aya, he thought. If only his family could see him now. Just one year out of school and all ready apprenticed to, in his opinion, some of the finest accountants in the South. He kicked his feet in joy and suddenly remembered the buckets. Dawn was just breaking, the sun would soon be up and his teammates would be calling for fresh water in which to cook breakfast. He would not let them down.

Scrambling to his feet, he picked up the one bucket and began looking for the other. Singing softly to himself, he finally spotted it near a dense clump of rushes not far away.

"There you are," he said to the bucket. Reaching down, he did not notice the pair of feet until it was too late. Before he could call out, a hand was clasped over his mouth. Struggling against the many hands that held him, he looked up and into the hard face of Ogon.

They had traveled beyond the tall grassy fields, so Odo had no choice but to land in a cluster of trees a few kilometers from their camp. His nightly search of the skies had once again proven fruitless. Quickly reforming in his humanoid form, he climbed down out of the tree and made his way back to the camp.

Approaching, he heard voices. There by a small fire sat iSamu and a strange man. The man stood at his approach and Odo noted that like iSamu, he was also of medium height, slightly stooped shoulders, long neck and a v shaped head. The only thing that distinguished him from the other of his people was a cap perched perilously on his head and a dark uniform.

"Is this him?" demanded the man.

"This is Odo," she agreed. "Odo this is Toshi."

Odo watched the man warily as Toshi stood and circled him. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Toshi has brought us news."

In response, Toshi pushed his finger into Odo's chest. Odo was quick to note the somewhat surprised look on Toshi's face when his finger met with flesh that became noticeably harder under this touch. "News for iSamu not for you," warned Toshi. "My message for you is this: if you so much a lay a finger on her, I will deal with you."

Odo leaned around the combative newcomer to give an inquisitive look to his companion. She shrugged in response.

"I'm talking to you," said Toshi punctuating his words by repeatedly stabbing his finger in Odo's chest. "Where I come from, we don't appeal to our women for help."

"Where I come from," replied Odo taking Toshi's finger between two of his own and squeezing it until Toshi grunted in pain. "We don't poke other people in the chest." He released Toshi and moved to sit at the far side of the fire. "A friend of yours I assume?" he asked her.

"An admirer," she replied, ignoring the fuming Toshi. "He has brought news. There is talk of a man in the Nishi Prefecture who might be the poDosai."

Toshi, having recovered partial use of his finger, stomped stiff legged to the fire and shook the still painful appendage at Odo. He sputtered in fury, but no recognizable words were forthcoming.

"Sit down Toshi," iSamu told him. "Before you embarrass yourself."

Meeting her gaze, Toshi did as instructed.

"Toshi," continued iSamu. "Is a pilot for the Medical Corp. There was a fatality not far from where this man was last seen. It is his duty to take the body to a morgue in the Capital. He has offered to fly us there."

"Fly you there," muttered Toshi his arms crossed defiantly across his chest. He brightened suddenly. "I just remembered, the additional seat has been removed in order to accommodate the body! I can only take one other passenger." There was a note of satisfaction in his voice as he sneered at Odo.

"Odo does not require a seat in your plane," iSamu said looking pointedly at Odo. "Do you?"

She knows, Odo thought fighting a momentary sense of panic. "No," he replied, wondering how much she knew. "No, I can meet you there."

"Good, we will leave as soon as it is light."

He glanced at iSamu, who sat serenely as usual, her face giving nothing away. He looked back at Toshi, who merely grinned at him.

"Aya!" shouted Houk. "Where is that boy? Bekko!"

"Doa!" Bekko dropped his pack and bowed to his leader.

"Go find that silly boy!"

"Excuse me, Doctor," said Bekko. "It looks as though breakfast will be delayed."

Accountants, said Julian softly to himself, who would have thought? He went back to packing up his gear only to have his attention drawn away by a shout. Turning, he saw Bekko standing on the slope overlooking the banks of the river. Reading the look on Bekkos face, he grabbed his pack and ran.

Cresting the slope, Julian could see Bekko pulling the body of Chudan out of the tall rushes. He was at Bekkos side in an instant.

"Is he…?" asked Bekko, panic written large across his face.

The boys face and upper torso were a mass of cuts and bruises. Julian quickly scanned him with the tricorder. "No," he said tersely. "But lucky for him you found him when you did."

"Who could have done this?"

"Ogon," said Chudan, his voice not much above a hoarse whisper.

"Easy now," cautioned Julian. "You've taken quite a beating. Best not to talk."

"Doa," said the boy. "They were hiding here by the river. They wanted to know about you…"

"Me?" asked Julian. "Lie still."

"Yes. Who you were...where you came from…"

"Chudan, please, lie still…"

The boy looked pleadingly at Bekko and gasped in pain. "Tell…them…I told Ogon nothing…" he managed before passing out.

The Li wedding had gone off without a hitch and the reception was in full swing. Kira Nerys having congratulated the happy couple made her way through the crowd of well wishers and found a quiet table in the corner.

"Quite a shindig," remarked a voice close at hand. She looked up to find her First Officer hovering over her. "Care to dance?"

She declined, but offered him a seat.

"Vivian's going to be sorry she missed this one," said Bryan Landis, leaning back in his chair. "She does love a party."

"How do you do it?" asked Kira. "Not worry, I mean. It's been over a week without any word."

"Of course I worry. But, I know my wife," he said with a measure of pride in his voice. "Viv's a match for just about anything." Bryan looked at his commanding officer a bit more closely. "Listen, Colonel, Viv didn't mean anything at dinner the other night. About the wedding, I mean…"

"I know, Bryan. You aren't the only one who's wondered about Odo and I. I'd wager half the people in this room are asking themselves the same question." Kira lapsed into silence, watching the crowd. Bryan Landis sipped his drink and remained quiet. He recognized a person wrestling with her own demons when he saw one.

"Can I tell you something?" she asked eventually. "Something I've never told anyone else?."

"I'd rather you didn't," he replied with a slight smile on his face. "It's been my experience when a person opens a conversation with a sentence like that they usually wind up having to kill the unlucky recipient of the confession."

"Don't worry, I'll make it quick and painless." Bryan was pleased to see the shadow of a smile light her face. "It's not that type of confession."

"Well, okay then."

"In all honesty," said Kira becoming very serious. "It never occurred to me that I would survive the Occupation, I almost didn't. So, I never gave much thought to what I would do after it was all over. I never knew any other type of life, didn't know how to live any other type of life. The other people in my cell would spend hours talking about what they would do. Some would go back to farming; others talked of settling down and starting a family. Me? I couldn't see beyond what it would be like to have a hot bath, a full belly, and a clean bed. All of this," she waived her hand indicating the swirl of activity around them. "This was something that happened to other people."

"Until you met someone," prompted Bryan.

"Until I met Bariel and I began to think that maybe I was wrong. I think you would have liked him Bryan - Bariel was nothing like me. I'm serious," she remarked in response to his sudden outburst of laughter. "He was calm, patient, and so certain about his future. Strange, when you consider he didn't have one."

"He died?"

"Shuttle accident. And I thought, well Nerys that was your shot at living a normal life. Be thankful you had that much and just get on with it. Even my short-lived relationship with the First Minister just served to reinforce the belief that love and romance were simply not what the Prophets had in mind when they made me."

"They're writing songs of love, but not for me," quoted Bryan.

"Something like that…"

"Until?"

"Until I realized how I felt about Odo," she agreed. "You have no idea what a small miracle that is, after all this time, to find someone I feel I have a future with. And what with finding him only to lose him and then against all odds to get him back - it just seems…I don't know…ungracious…for me to ask for anything more."

"When you say you haven't told this to anyone," remarked Bryan breaking the profound silence that followed her confession. "I assume you mean you haven't said this to Odo either?"

Kira nodded and stared hard at the contents of her glass. "And I should have."

Odo and Toshi sat on the tailgate of the flatbed trailer and watched as iSamu spoke to a group of the local residents. They were the shortest adults Odo had ever seen, iSamu towered over them like a giant. No wonder, he thought, they couldn't manage to move the body without assistance. It would take a dozen of the Nishi just to lift the body, but it would have been impossible for them to have lifted it very high. He glanced at the shroud wrapped feet just behind him. The body had been kept in cold storage as the local hospital had no facilities for such a large corpse and Odo wondered idly if it still retained a smell.

"A dentist," remarked Toshi following Odo's gaze. "Heart attack apparently." Having flown the entire way disguised as a bird, Odo had landed to find a much more subdued pilot waiting for him. Apparently iSamu had given him quite a talking to during the flight.

"What do you do?" he asked Odo.

"I was a security officer," replied Odo. "But I'm not so sure anymore."

"I know what you mean," said Toshi with a nod of his head. "I was a firefighter. Now I fly a plane."

They watched iSamu as she left the group and approached the trailer. "She is lovely isn't she?" whispered Toshi. Odo remained silent unsure if a word of agreement from him would set the volatile young man off on another jealous tangent. But Toshi was so entranced with iSamu that he never noticed Odo's lack of reply.

"We must load the body and be on our way," said iSamu moving to take the seat next to the driver. "The man we seek is a couple days ahead of us on the road. We may still catch up with him if we hurry." Before Toshi could protest, the driver put the vehicle in gear and took off for the makeshift landing strip.

Toshi gave Odo a disgruntled look before sighing and resting his chin in his hand. "Are you married?" he asked Odo.

"No."

"Are you in love then?"

"Desperately," confessed Odo.

"Aya," replied Toshi. "Then we have much in common. So, is she like iSamu?"

"Only in that both are supremely confident in their own abilities."

"She is that," agreed Toshi. "Will she also not agree to marry you?"

Odo considered the question for a moment. Although he could still not remember if he and Kira had discussed marriage, he was absolutely sure of one thing, he would not have been the one to ask her in the first place. "You have to understand," he replied. "I never in my life expected to fall in love. Love was something that happened to other people, but not me."

"Until you met her?"

"Yes. Kira."

"kiRa. A nice name."

"It is," agreed Odo. "I was head over heels in love with her for years, but she thought of me as just a friend."

"Aya! It is the same with iSamu," lamented Toshi. "And what happened? Does this kiRa still think of you as such?"

"I should hope so," replied Odo. "Although the miracle of it all is that she did love me – still loves me."

"Then why do you not marry?"

It was a valid question. Odo gave it due consideration. "I spent the majority of my life thinking I was alone and that no one would ever allow me to share my life with them," he said eventually. "Fortunately I was wrong. You have no idea what a miracle it is that she loved me. Then I…I had to leave her indefinitely and not under the best of circumstances. I thought she would go on with her life, find someone else, someone she could have a future with, start a family..."

"Did she?" asked Toshi.

"No. Years later, when I found her again, well, actually she found me; I was truly amazed that she still felt the same way about me. That she wanted to spend her life with me, how after all that had transpired, she still wanted me back." He found speaking difficult he was so choked with emotion. "I guess I never asked because having found her, only to lose her and then find her again…it…I…I just guess it simply never occurred to me to ask for more."

"And have you told her so?"

"I don't think so," Odo confessed. "And I should have."

Unnoticed by both men, the stone on Odo's chest began to glow.

From their hiding place on the banks of the river they watched as the group departed. It was obvious, to those who watched that the little band was a few members short, but from this distance the dark headed man in the blue and black uniform was clearly visible.

"Do you think this will work?" asked Bekko.

"If we stay low and only travel at night," replied Chaho. "Budans black paint will only fool them at a distance, if Ogon gets very close, the deception will be discovered."

The two men smiled at the memory of painting black hair on the smooth skin of their companion. A Minami with hair! It would have been hilarious under other circumstances. They sobered at the approach of Julian.

"Right," he said keeping low in the rushes. "Chudan is still unconscious. How long did you say it would take us to reach a caravan?"

"Traveling by night," replied Chaho. "Carrying Chudan will slow us down, but we should reach the closest one in a day or two. From there we can arrange an emergency medical transport."

"Aya, Doctor," said Bekko looking at his companion. "In our clothes and with your hair covered you almost look like one of us!"

Julian scratched at his scalp. The sandy mud they had liberally applied to his hair and face itched like mad. "Let's just hope it is enough to fool Ogons patrol," he replied.

"Will you stop doing that?" asked Quark giving the reins a tug to get the horse moving again. The horse stood his ground and stamped a hoof. They had been traveling for two days when suddenly the horse became unwilling to continue the journey and no manner of threat or bribe seemed to coax it into taking more than a few steps at a time.

"What?" he asked. "You can't be hungry you ate this morning, remember?"

The horse lifted its head, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed the breeze. Not liking what he smelled he took a step back.

"Oh come on!" said Quark.

"Looks as though the horse is smarter than its owner," said a voice. Quark turned to find a man standing in the middle of the road. The stranger held a small cudgel in his hands, which he beat thoughtfully against the palm of his hand.

"Oh please," replied Quark. "Do you really think I'm stupid enough not to expect an ambush of some sort?"

"I don't know are you?"

"Fine." Quark took step away from the horse. "Go ahead," he urged. "Check the box if you want, but you will find it's empty."

The man approached the horse, but was too short to even reach the stirrup without help. "So," he said turning back to Quark. "I take it you hid the treasure."

"Wouldn't you?" asked Quark.

"I would," agreed the man. "Don't suppose you are going to tell me where?"

In a flash, Quark brought the dull blade of his sword up, sending the cudgel spinning out of the man's hands and into the dense brush lining the side of the road. "Don't suppose I will," he replied with a jaunty waive of the sword. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have places to go."

Laughing softly to himself, Quark took up the reigns once more and set off down the road. They only progressed a few meters when a sharp whistle broke the silence and five very large men stepped out of the brush on the left side.

"Have you seen this?" demanded the Jem'Hadar waiving papers at the Vorta.

Placing his hands beneath the table, sanKe quickly checked to see if the report was still in its hiding place within his sleeve. His heart sank as he realized there was nothing there, someone must have found the report and passed it on to the Jem'Hadar. He carefully placed his hands back on the table and hoped no one would discover he had tried to conceal the report from the others. Fortunately, the Jem'Hadar paid no attention to him at all.

"Strangers," he declared loudly. "Strangers have been reported all over the Prefectures. And it's a safe bet they are headed directly for the Capital."

"But how did they escape the Disbursement Field?" sanKe asked quickly feigning surprised outrage.

"Alien technology," warned the Jem'Hadar. "We must locate them and strike them down before they attack."

"No." said the Founder. "Let them come."

"What?"

"If they can survive disbursement then their technology is strong indeed," replied the Founder. "Let them come. And when they are at our gates, we will destroy them with their own weapons."

sanKe closed his eyes and whispered a brief prayer. He jumped as the Founder turned his attention on him.

"You!" declared the Founder. "Vorta! I want your best men on the job. We must have those weapons ready to go before the outsiders arrive!"

"Looks like your poDosai is in trouble," observed Odo. The driver from the village could only take them part of the way and they had spent the last couple of hours on foot only to catch up with their quarry just as five large men stepped out of the brush.

"If this is your poDosai," he speculated. They could not get a good look at the man supposed to be their quarry due to a large horse blocking their view.

"We shall soon see," iSamu remarked seating herself on a fallen tree trunk, apparently content to wait and watch.

"It's five against one," commented Odo. "Aren't you going to help him?"

"The poDosai requires no assistance."

"I don't suppose you're going to help," Quark asked the horse as the five men moved into the center of the road. At least, thought Quark, they don't appear to have weapons. I just might have a chance after all.

The horse merely raised an eyebrow by way of reply.

"Right then," said Quark drawing his sword. "At least watch my back will you?"

The horse flapped its lips at Quark and calmly stepped away as though declaring itself a total non-combatant.

From his place on the side of the road, Odo looked on as the horse moved aside to reveal its owner.

Odo blinked.

"This?" he asked iSamu. "This is your poDosai?"

iSamu remained silent.

"Okay then," muttered Quark unconsciously tapping the end of his sword on the ground as though tapping home plate. He raised his sword as though raising a baseball bat and prepared to do battle. As the men drew closer, Quark thought he head a familiar voice.

"Quark," warned the voice. "Just what have you gotten yourself into this time."

Odo?

Quark tore his gaze away from the men and glanced at the horse. "Odo?" he asked swinging his gaze back to his attackers. "I knew it was you," he said angrily. "You didn't fool me one bit." He glanced back at the horse, which merely bared its teeth and nodded its head but refused to offer any assistance. Quark glanced back to his attackers and was surprised to see the men had halted their advance. They stared at him with shocked looks on their faces.

Odo stopped his advance less than two meters behind Quark who seemed to be in earnest conversation with his horse. Sizing up the situation, Odo recognized hired thugs when he saw them. He realized that although he could easily defeat several of the large men, the others would have no problem dispatching Quark while he was otherwise occupied. Right, he thought, this calls for a more subtle approach.

Keeping his back to iSamu, Odo allowed his face to soften and then reform to what he hoped was the face of a Gorn. Keeping his movements small in order not to distract Quark, he bared his teeth and snapped his jaws at the attackers.

"That's right," said Quark flourishing his sword at his attackers. "Come on fellas. Who wants a piece of this?"

Much to his delight, the men slowly backed away, and then broke into a run, crashing into the brush in their flight.

"Yes!" Quark shouted, throwing his arm up in the air and whooping with joy. "Did you see that?" he demanded of the horse. "Did you see that?" he demanded of the world. He jumped into the air and twisted his body, landing facing the opposite direction.

"Did you…"

Odo watched as the men halted in their advance, then slowly backed away, and finally ran. He continued snapping his jaws until he was certain they had left for good. Quark in the meantime, still oblivious to his presence, whooped and jumped for joy. Realizing he would soon be discovered, Odo quickly transformed his face back to his familiar form.

Unfortunately he was not quick enough. Quark leapt into the air and came face to face with Odo in mid transformation.

"Did you…" was all Quark managed to say before fainting.