Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek Deep Space Nine or any of the characters therein.

Spoiler alert: Contains Worlds of Star Trek DSN: The Dominion spoilers.

Chapter 4

It was coming for her.

The substance—the goo, for lack of a better word, was flowing or crawling towards her. She backed up. She tried to get away, but it was just coming too quickly. It touched her foot, stinging and paralyzing her skin. It seeped up her pant leg in a way a liquid should not have been able to do. She slapped at it and tried to push it off, but it just flowed around her hand, and then started rushing up her arm, towards her face. She felt it pass into her skin, into her veins, coursing toward her brain. She tried to yell for help, but it was too late…

"We are not losing her!" Bashir declared. He and two nurses were rushing around the infirmary as the bioscanners next to Kira blared a warning of her vital signs' crash.

"She's going."

"Not if I can help it, she's not!" Bashir put a hypospray to her neck, then quickly ran another scan. He barked orders to the nurses, who followed them with astonishing celerity. Another hypospray. "You hear me, Nerys?" he shouted at his patient. "I am not losing you!"

She walked into Ops. Everything was so familiar, yet so distant and distorted. Her crew smiled at her, and she smiled back. No need to make them worry. No reason for them to know that it was only a matter of time before they would all be infected.

"How are you this morning, Captain?" Vaughn asked pleasantly.

"I'm alright," Kira's voice responded. "How are you?"

"Never better," the first officer replied.

"Glad to hear it." She flashed a smile. "Have you talked to Sisko recently?"

"I called him last night. His baby's starting to get her first tooth, and he hasn't been sleeping much."

"I should call him; I haven't spoken to him in a while. Or Kasidy. I wonder how she's doing."

Kira commenced with her day's work. Vaughn too would be infected, but that could wait. It might even take years. Patience. Patience was life.

After work, Kira went to Quark's. She scowled her hello to the little Ferengi troll, then ordered springwine. He would be infected, as distasteful as that prospect was. He would be a useful vector.

Odo walked in the bar. Kira smiled happily at him, a smile she didn't feel. This species not only lacked a centralized nervous system, it had no permanent solid form. It would not be easy to infect. Maybe even impossible.

"How are you tonight, Captain?" he asked.

"I'm wonderful. Of course, that could just be because you're here."

He smiled back at her, and watched fondly as she drank her springwine. "Shall we go say hello to Vic?" he asked when she finished.

"I would like that."

They walked arm-in-arm to the holosuite.

"I hope he forgives our lapse in following his dress code."

"You could change into a tux," Kira pointed out.

"But I won't. I want everyone to stare at me when I'm with you."

Vic was entertaining some of his holographic guests when they walked in, but excused himself to join them. "Where you two lovebirds been keeping yourselves?" he asked. "I haven't seen you in weeks."

"We've been busy," Kira said. "You know how it is, running a space station."

Vic looked her up and down. His normally cheerful face fell as he did so. "Kira, what happened?"

"What do you mean what happened?" She smiled nervously.

"You act different. It's like you're not in love anymore. It's like you're not even you."

Odo stepped away from her, looking worried. Apparently, he trusted the hologram's judgment enough to take his suspicions seriously.

"Of course I'm me," she assured them both. "Who else would I be?"

Odo grabbed her arm and attempted to link with her, only to find her as solid as usual.

"Odo! I'm me. Ask me anything you want, if you need proof."

"I don't care if you've got all the proof in the universe, you're not the Kira Nerys I know," the Vic hologram insisted.

"Computer, delete program!" Kira commanded. The holosuite quickly complied.

Odo tapped his combadge. "Odo to infirmary…"

Kira pulled out her phaser and shot the shapeshifter, increasing the phaser's setting until the creature crumbled to ashes.

"Odo, what is it?" Bashir asked through the commsystem.

"Nothing. False alarm," Kira reported.

Kira thrashed in the bio-bed. Her eyes flew open. "Odo!"

Bashir rushed to her side. "Kira, you're awake."

"Oh, Prophets! It's coming!"

"Kira, calm down. You're in the infirmary. You were attacked..."

She lost consciousness again. Bashir swore harshly as her vital signs shifted swiftly back towards catastrophe.

Burnau Bez opened his eyes in the darkness of his quarters. What had awakened him? He held his breath, listened to the soft breathing of his wife next to him. He touched her mind, seeing the chaotic thoughts and emotions of dreaming. Then he turned his powerful telepathy loose, searching the quarters for any insect or vole that might have made the physical or mental noise that interrupted his sleep.

Victory is life…

Burnau poked Nshevalth. Awaken.

What is it, my husband?

The Jem'hadar. It's here.

She sat up. Where?

Outside the quarters, in the hall.

He felt his wife's smile. Tzenkethi had the ability to accept conflicting emotions better than most species. They found absolutely nothing strange about being both happy and angry at once, or even content and troubled. Though most sentient creatures were able to feel seemingly contradictory emotions at the same time, because the Tzenkethi accepted and didn't fight it, theirs were much stronger. As an example, the Tzenkethi word for "spouse" contained both the word love and enemy. Nshevalth had conflicting emotions about fighting and war, considering them to be both tragic and exciting. Her feelings about Jem'hadar, however, were relatively unambiguous: hatred, tinged with respect.

She slipped out of bed silently, not bothering with a weapon, and exited the quarters. The hall was darkened for the night, but had plenty of light for the Tzenkethi's sensitive eyes. She knew what a shrouded Jem'hadar looked like.

Remember, they want him alive, Burnau reminded her.

I'll see what I can do.

There he was, leaning against the wall, counting on both the dark and his near-invisibility to keep from being seen.

What's he planning? Nshevalth asked. She knew the creature could see her, but took comfort in the thought that he didn't know she could see him.

Nothing. He's insane. All he wants is to kill…and to stay alive.

She yawned and stretched. Her loose, diaphanous nightgown flowed around her. She walked toward the shrouded Jem'hadar, swaying from side to side as though she were very tired. Though Tzenkethi weren't physically strong like Klingons and Vulcans, they were naturally violent, and Nshevalth had years of combat training and experience behind her. Plus, she had the element of surprise. When she was within arm's length of her opponent—specifically her arm's length—she attacked. She flipped her long hair into his face, temporarily blinding him. He lost his shroud, and she noted with relief that he wasn't carrying a weapon. But he wasn't just a Jem'hadar, but an Honored Elder, and his unarmed combat skills were superb. He grabbed Nshevalth's hair and pulled her to the ground. She didn't resist, instead diving with Taran'atar's momentum and somersaulting to her knees. She hit her opponent in the face with her wrist, using her long arm to increase the force. Taran'atar quickly recovered and grabbed Nshevalth's neck. She hit his elbow with her own, breaking his grasp. He threw a punch, which she ducked and countered, aiming for his exposed neck. He deflected her blow, then hit her with a punch that knocked her to the other wall. She used the wall to stop, then propelled herself off it, aiming a kick at Taran'atar's head. Her toes stretched out, wrapped around his face, and slammed him into the wall, then pulled him to the floor before he had a chance to recover. He rolled out of her grip. Blood dripped from claw marks on his face. He was dazed, but tried to punch Nshevalth again. She moved to the side, grabbed his oncoming arm, and yanked it in the direction his momentum was already going, pulling him off balance. Then her knee connected with his arm. The Jem'hadar screeched in agony as his bones snapped. People in nearby quarters looked out their doors, reacted to the sight of the Jem'hadar and Tzenkethi battling, and called security. Burnau had been watching the fight from his door, phaser ready just in case the combat got out of Nshevalth's control. It hadn't, and now she had the Jem'hadar pressed against the floor, his injured arm bent at an unnatural angle behind his back, his good arm held across his neck, his legs restrained by Nshevalth's feet at the knees. When the security team finally got there, Nshevalth and Burnau helped drag Taran'atar to a holding cell.

Odo, Kalaran, and First Jolin'yobek faced the screen where the image of a changeling had just appeared.

"Odo, I'm so happy you could find time for me. I understand you've been…quite busy."

"What do you want, Laas?" Odo asked impatiently.

The changeling stared at him angrily. "I told you, I will not respond to the name given to me by the solids anymore. I am the Founder!"

"Founder," Odo conceded. "Why did you ask to speak to me?"

"I wanted to warn you that I know the Jem'hadar base in the Pojangka system is a stronghold of your supporters, and I'm ready to have it destroyed if you continue with your imbecilic plan to reengineer the Jem'hadar."

Odo took a deep breath and tried to control his irritation. "I'm not at war with you, Laas. You have to agree that it's not right to engineer the Jem'hadar…condition them to serve without question or any thought of themselves. It isn't just cruel; it's dangerous to keep them in servitude."

"They are what we need them to be. They do the best possible job of keeping the solids in line. Don't you understand, Odo? Your dream of a peaceful Dominion is doomed to failure. You can't remake us in the image of the Federation. They are a cooperative of equals, of solids. We are gods! Our destiny is to dominate the inferior species!"

"NO!" Odo pounded his fist against the wall in fury. "The solids are not inferior to us, and they are not our enemies! The survival of the Dominion depends on recognizing that!"

"What about our own survival, Odo? Our survival depends on conquering and controlling the solids. They would destroy us if they had the chance. They don't trust us; they're not capable of it!"

"You've lived among solids longer than I have. How can you seriously believe that?"

"How can you not? You've seen what they're capable of. They infected us with a virus that would have killed us all…"

"THEY'RE NOT ALL LIKE THAT!" Odo yelled. He turned away from the screen and took a moment to gain control of himself before he faced Laas again. "Besides, our people have engineered dozens of diseases to control and punish rebellious Dominion planets."

"That was different," Laas said simply.

"How was that different?"

"They were solids," he replied, as though that was explanation enough.

"They're solids and so they're inferior? Their lives are shorter than ours, so it's alright to cut them even shorter?"

"That's right," Laas said. "They don't matter. I don't know why you don't understand that."

"How can you honestly believe what you're saying?" Odo demanded. "You've met solids that prove you wrong."

"All the solids I've met have been petty, limited, deceitful, insignificant fools."

If Laas had been in the same room, Odo might have hurt him. "How can you say that about Nerys? She saved you."

Laas scoffed. "She saved me to manipulate you. She knew you wouldn't leave her. She's just like all the other solids. By the way, do you really expect me to believe that you sent your ship through the wormhole, and you weren't on it? If you want to deceive me in the future, you should consider being more discreet. Your feelings for the solids are blinding you to the needs of your own people, and I won't let you endanger the Dominion because of them. Choose whose side you're on." With that, he cut the transmission.

"We can't allow him to destroy the Pojangka system," Kalaran said.

"The Jem'hadar protecting that system are loyal to us," First Jolin'yobek assured them. "They will defend it from any attack by Laas's troops."

Odo looked troubled. "But if he does attack, we'll have a civil war on our hands, a civil war the Dominion won't survive."