Chapter 3 – Further Horizons
Commodore Sisko returned to Deep Space Nine six months, three weeks and four days after he'd last bid the place farewell. Even before he docked, he could see the difference. There were ships everywhere, moored at the pylons, stationed nearby, floating further out in ordered flotillas, and all of them were of military configuration. But Jadzia Dax hadn't changed. She met Ben at the airlock and hugged him with as much warmth as ever.
"Benjamin." She fingered the insignia at his neck. "I'm so proud of you…Commodore!"
Sisko had mostly reconciled with his fate. He shrugged off her congratulations without any real rancour.
"Thanks, Old Man. I understand that the station's seen some action while I was gone."
"Oh! Wait'll you see…"
They fell into step together as they walked, the same as always. Dax chattered happily, filling him in. There had indeed been an attack, Gul Dukat making good on his threat to retake the station for his own. What he hadn't bargained for was opposition from the Romulans. And the Cybertrons! Did Sisko know yet that one of their ships now patrolled the sector and that two more Cybertrons had been assigned to the station? And that Optimus was a veritable battle droid under that gorilla pelt of his? Sisko admitted that he knew the Cybertron had a robot mode, but not that it was meant for combat.
"You'll have to look at the logs later," Dax enthused. "There's some amazing footage. We caught Dukat's forces by complete surprise, Benjamin. Between the Klingons and the Romulans and our own people, we just thrashed them. We never even had a casualty aboard station, just some moderate damage and injuries."
"I saw two Klingon warbirds outside with the Fleet vessels. No Romulans, though."
"They only come when intelligence alerts us to the possibility of an attack." The Trill suddenly convulsed with giggles over some remembered amusement. "You should see the Romulans with Optimus, Benjamin. I think they're completely terrified of him. They never know how to behave or what to say to him."
"I suppose they haven't dealt with as many alien lifeforms as we have," Sisko guessed. He looked at her closely. "You're certainly in a light-hearted mood given recent events. I thought DS9 had become militant." He pronounced the final word with exaggerated severity and no small humour of his own and Dax responded with a flashing smile.
"You know me," she said. "I do so love uniforms. Seriously, it's not so regimented as all that. Having the Klingons here livens things up a lot. And all the Starfleet people now, it makes up for so many of the civilians leaving."
"I'll bet Quark didn't leave."
"Oh, Quark's in his element. The only decent bar on board and a captive military clientele. He probably hasn't done so well since the occupation, although he'd never admit to it. Do you want to go by Quark's, Benjamin? I know he'd enjoy seeing you. Optimus and most of the others are busy meeting with the Fleet captains and it'll be a while yet before anyone's free."
"All right. And then I'd better look over my old quarters. I still have to decide what to take with me to Bajor and what to leave here."
"Will you be back often? Optimus mentioned that you'd be checking in once a month."
"That's the plan at the moment," Sisko said, and left it at that.
Quark was indeed happy to see the former commander of DS9. He hurried over at once, dripping false bonhomie and servitude.
"Am I glad to see you!" he exclaimed to Sisko at once. "Please tell me that you've come to relieve that Captain Hairball of yours."
"What's the matter, Quark?" Sisko asked, amused. "Don't you like Cybertrons?"
"Not that one. He's too smart, he's like some walking computer." Quark sneered down his crinkled nose to express his revulsion. "It's not fair, Captain, he remembers everything."
"Including your crime record?" Dax interjected, blinking innocently. "By the way, Ben is a commodore now."
"Oh, whatever. Captain, you have to do something about him. He's abusing his authority. Him and Odo, they come in here sometimes and just look at me. They're both shapeshifters, you know. It's disgusting the way they're always together, planning and plotting and—"
Dax broke in again before the Ferengi became completely immersed in his litany. "Quark, why don't you get us both a nice raktajino and then Ben and I will discuss the matter," she suggested in her sweetest tone, and the agitated barkeep, still muttering, allowed himself to be mollified and complied. As soon as he was out of earshot, Sisko dropped the serious act and shook his head.
"I see Quark hasn't changed. What's really going on?"
"Absolutely nothing, except that Optimus keeps a closer eye on him than he'd like. And he read him the riot act about keeping his nose clean when Command first sent in the Fleet and appointed us home port. Optimus tolerates a lot, but not when it's illegal."
"That must have made the constable happy," Sisko mused aloud.
"Utterly," Dax confirmed, and they both paused to savour their brews.
A small knot of Klingon soldiers came into the bar. Sisko passively watched them go by, then almost choked as he caught sight of an arresting mechanoid head towering over the rest. It was helmeted and the exposed visage, bright blue and glossy, was only roughly humanoid, but it turned towards Dax nonetheless as the group passed and the sculpted mouth moved to produce a faint, recognizable smile. Dax continued sipping her drink as she waved her fingers flirtatiously at the being.
"My god," Sisko breathed. "Is that one of the other Cybertrons?"
"Yes, that's his robot mode. He's a real warrior. The Klingons adore him. Isn't he gorgeous?"
"You're kidding."
"He can transform into an animal form too, a carnosaur." Her manner went from teasing to downright wicked. "He lets me ride him."
"You're not kidding."
Sisko stared at the Trill and felt all the old feelings that bubbled up whenever his old friend engaged in something outrageous. It spilled over and he laughed, out loud. The Cybertron still standing by the bar amongst his comrades heard him with what was no doubt some enormously enhanced audio sense and looked at him over the heads of the Klingons; and Sisko swore that he could detect a trace of suspicion on the metal face, as though he were being perceived as some rival for Jadzia's affections. He thought of it broke him up completely and he laughed and laughed. It was too loony. He laughed because of the sheer absurdity of the notion, because he was strung tight and needed the release, and because every time he tried to stop, Dax would waggle her expressive eyebrows suggestively at him, which set him off all over again. And most of all he laughed for the sheer relief of it, because he now knew that he could come back to the station which had been taken from him and accept its loss well enough that his visits would bring him more pleasure than pain. He had dreaded that pain, yet it was proving tolerable. Sisko wondered if he was growing into his rank after all, as Thornycroft had said he would.
Later, he went up to Ops and touched bases with more of his old staff. Worf, more unyielding than ever in his new role as executive officer, his full commander's insignia still gleaming pristine bright, greeted him perfunctorily. Kira was a light colonel now, her duties shifted more into the domain of the liaison-diplomat. O'Brien had finally, deservedly, been commissioned from the ranks. They were surprising discoveries, yet logical ones. Deep Space Nine's own role and importance had expanded in recent months and the burdens on its personnel had multiplied as well. Not that anybody appeared to mind. Sisko watched closely, but could detect no signs of negativity or reluctance in any of them. They were a happy crew.
The last two people Optimus had still been busy with left the Cybertron's office and stopped briefly to speak with Sisko. One, the commander of the Klingon forces, General Martok, was looking better than Sisko remembered and Ben was glad for him. The other man turned out to be one Edward Jellico, the most senior of the Federation starship captains attached to DS9; Sisko knew him by reputation only and thought that he came across as a good sort for the job, if a trifle stern. And then it was time for Sisko to finally see Optimus and he drew in a deep breath as he mounted the steps to his former office.
Optimus was still wearing his gorilla guise. The sight of it threw Sisko all over again. It so looked like the real animal sitting there behind his desk for those initial few seconds, then one saw the human-like eyes, all wrong for the species, and then the intelligent awareness. And when he stood up and came forward smiling, as he did now, any last reservations faded.
The Cybertron was happy to see him. He apologized for not having been able to greet Sisko upon his arrival and invited him to have a coffee. Sisko watched bemused as Optimus ordered his own heavily sugared mugful, then began to drink it.
"I'm afraid Nerys and jadzia have been addicting me to all sorts of items in your replicators," he confessed, noticing Sisko's interest. "Ah well, it is one of the pleasures associated with maintaining this mode. And it does save on fuel cells." He further noticed that Sisko's gaze had shifted and glanced himself at his own right wrist, encircled now by a band of cloth studded with four pips. "Yes, it seems that I got promoted along with everyone else. Fleet captain now. Rather silly, really. Ed Jellico's the one really running the Fleet. Still, you people do seem to have this need for a structured rank system. I suppose I should be called you 'sir'."
"It doesn't matter," Sisko said quietly.
"Good. As I said before, I don't much care for honorifics."
He next asked after Jake and pressed gently for details on how Sisko had made out on his long course, and Ben found himself telling the Cybertron everything. Otpimus then told of the events that had transpired over his own recent past and related what he knew of the current conditions and political mood on Bajor and in the sector in general. Sisko listened to the voice go on, calm, reassuring, casual of tone, inviting familiarity, yet at the same time crisp and commanding; and at that moment all of Sisko's remaining anger and resentment withered and slunk away. He could never compete with Optimus and Optimus would never understand. The palette of the emotions he'd been programmed with was incomplete, omitted feelings deemed unwanted or unnecessary, left him devoid of ego, of any need for ostentation. Even the animal he imitated was more human, for a real gorilla could be overthrown by a pitiless young rival vying for troop leadership, and then what would the dispossessed feel? Sisko looked deep into the brown faux eyes, made unnaturally bright by the faint luminosity of the workings within, and what he saw only shamed him.
The Cybertron had never seemed more alien.
TBC