Chapter Nine
"How did you get here?" Garak asked.
"I was brought here after I left for the conference on Romulus. My ship was attacked and I was taken prisoner." Bashir said.
Martok went over to the other prisoner and hoisted him to his feet. He was Vulcan, his traditional Vulcan robes were off, torn most likely, and his tunic and pants being the only thing left he was wearing.
"Sovak, a girl has come looking for you." Martok announced to him silently.
"Where is she?"
Martok pointed to the cot where Jahzara lay.
Sovak forced himself to walk over to the cot.
"They didn't…?"
"No" Martok shook his head.
He hid his facial emotions well but they showed through in his words.
"She was shot." Sovak stated, after examining Jahzara's superficial wound.
"Yes, by a Jem'Hadar rifle. She's lucky the wound isn't fatal, but it needs to be treated."
"Too true" Sovak nodded. He turned and signaled for Doctor Bashir to come over.
He forced himself off Sovak's cot and came to his own, where the new prisoners had were huddling around.
"My word,
Jahzara's lungs filled with air. Her eyes opened and she breathed heavily at first.
"Quick! We must find Sovak," she gasped, sitting up rapidly.
"It is alright now. I am here." Sovak answered, laying a soothing hand on Jahzara's shoulder.
Doctor Bashir's ears picked up Jahzara's voice and he forced himself over to the cot where she lay.
"I was worried they'd killed you."
"No, my death would not help their cause."
"Jahzara?!" Julian exclaimed. "What are you doing here? What did they do to you?"
"Relax, uncle," Jahzara said, breathing with a bit more ease. "I was stunned. I came looking for Sovak. But how did you get here so fast? You were still on DS9 when we left."
Julian frowned. "No, I've been here since I left for the conference on Romulus."
"But, how?" Jahzara asked, worriedly.
"My shuttle was intercepted shortly after I left, and I was replaced by a changeling." Bashir explained; he suddenly was worried. "Nothing happened, did it? The changeling didn't hurt anyone?"
"No, uncle, it didn't. No one knows about it." Jahzara calmed her uncle.
"I was so afraid that it'd been sent to the station to hurt you." Julian turned his tone to a gentle, caring uncle.
Jahzara rolled her eyes. "When will you learn that I'm old enough to take care of myself?"
Julian raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"Mmhmm."
"Than how come you were unconscious when you were beamed down?"
A pout poured across Jahzara's face. "That was NOT my fault! It was the Jem'Hadar who shot me, after all."
"Alright, so you can take care of yourself, I'll admit to that, but you still need family." Julian furthered.
"Sovak, tell 'em he's wrong. I don't need anyone, do I?" Jahzara begged to her former caretaker.
Sovak shook his head. "Do you not remember anything I taught you, Jahzara? Family is love, as well as friends. You need both to live, for none can live in total solitude."
"I remember, Sovak, the techniques that you taught me and how to perform them and I remember your teachings on life. But I can live without it!" Jahzara debated.
"Someday, Jahzara, someday, you will see that you cannot be happy without family and friends and without happiness, you cannot live at all." Sovak argued softly, shaking his head.
"I hate to break up this happy little reunion, but we all need to hear what Tain told me." Garak spoke up.
All eyes were immediately on Garak.
"He was working on a way to escape when he intercepted some secret messages from leading Dominion ships." Garak announced.
"What kind of messages?" Julian asked.
"They vary. Some spoke of battle plans that I'm only going to tell Captain Sisko about. And some were about destroying the messenger of the prophets." Garak answered.
Julian and Commander Worf gasped.
"What?" Garak asked. "Does that mean something to you?"
"The Captain mentioned something to Major Kira about that before we left. At that time they hadn't made much progress on decoding the names of candidates for the messenger." Commander Worf acknowledged.
"There are that many Bajorans coming aboard the station?" Garak asked.
"No, some of them are humans. The only clue that the Captain was given was that the name of the messenger would mean either Blessed Prince or Blessed Princess." Doctor Bashir answered.
"I see."
"Was that what Lieutenant Dax was talking about, uncle?" Jahzara spoke up.
"Yes…" Doctor Bashir answered vacantly, preoccupied by what was on his mind.
Josh had told him what Jahzara's name meant along time ago but now he couldn't remember. He knew her name was translated from ancient Ethiopian but…
He was brought out of his thoughts by Jahzara's voice calling him.
"Uncle Julian? Are you alright?" she asked worriedly.
"Yes, Jahzara…I'm fine."
Jahzara still frowned worriedly at her uncle's face as he studied hers.
'Why is he acting so strangely?' she thought. 'Does he know something about me that I don't?'
"Are you sure, uncle?" she asked again, just to make sure.
"Yes, Jahzara, I'm fine." Doctor Bashir protested.
"Ok, then, just making sure." Jahzara said and turned back to Sovak. "Now that that's over…"
She flung herself on Sovak and hugged him tightly.
"I'm so happy that you're ok."
Sovak was hesitant to hug the girl back but eventually did so.
"So am I."
((Sorry this took so darn long. First it was Writer's Block, than the show got canceled, and then I had a math midterm And than I FINALLY got a Star Trek encyclopedia so I wrote this chappie and now I have Writer's Block again. So if ya don't mind, PLEASE send me ideas for the plot. I really need them. Thanks in advance and I WILL include your penname in the next chapter if I like your idea.))
