Chapter 2 – New Arrival.
I was almost catatonic for the rest of the journey. I could not reconcile myself to what had been said. I had been expelled from Starfleet, I had worked all my life for Starfleet, done their exams, spent my life studying to make myself worthy of them, forfeited my career as a civilian doctor to join their hierarchy, at the bottom. Even lied for them, to my friends, to my colleagues and even to myself, using my love of Starfleet to assuage the doubt in my conscience. Now they would just abandon me, ignore what I had done for them, the times that I had helped them. All that and they would abandon me because of ramblings of a grief-stricken man who needed someone to blame for the death of his son.
I could think about what had occurred with Starfleet. However, I was unable to even contemplate my rejection by the Federation. The Federation was my home, had been all my life, I had nowhere else. Suddenly I got a flash of how Worf felt, the politics that governed his life. I had a desperate desire to speak to him, to ask him how to cope. He had been rejected, denied citizenship by his people, but he was lucky, he had others to turn to, another place to go. I had no one. No one at all and nowhere to go.
I was still deep in shock from Sloan's proclamation when I saw the Starbase, Starbase 53, the base for the agents of Internal Affairs to interrogate traitors, spies, turncoats and me. Eddington had spent time here, I remembered. as Starfleet tried to eliminate the Maquis threat. I had supported what they had done then, I had thought that Starfleet should eliminate all security risks, In fact, at some moments, when I had been stricken with grief at the loss of friends, I had thought that they should he executed rather than he allowed to live in comfort, in the warm with good medical care whilst innocent civilians were dying. Now. I finally realised what Eddington had undergone. I saw the truth in what I had been taught for many years, that no one deserved to die for whatever crime. In that moment I believe that I finally became what my teachers had said we all were, a higher form human, who values compassion over violence.
The shuttle danced in a bizarre waltz with the station as the pilot initiated docking manoeuvres. I watched as the docking bay doors slid open. revealing an ominous black with only the navi-computer guide lights beckoning us in. I sensed, rather than saw the shuttle pass through the force field, the brush of energy dancing across my skin. With a gentle bump we landed and straight away the doors slammed shut behind us. For a moment, I thought that there was a malfunction but then it occurred to me, they were there to prevent prisoners stealing the shuttle and escaping. "Welcome to the new order," I thought bitterly, as the guards began to complete the post-docking check.
The two people moved around the shuttle effortlessly, performing tasks that were routine to me. It felt very strange to be observing this ritual from the outside. Every small task they performed was familiar, from locking down the plasma vents, to powering down the replicator system. However, this time, there was an extra check; me. I was ordered to stand up, as Yellowshirt and friends checked my restraints. Sloan ignored us, facing the Comm panel and speaking quietly to the anonymous voice inside the Starbase.
"Right then Doctor." Sloan turned in his seat and smirked again to me. "Let's get moving, time to start your vacation. Lower shuttle doors and move him out." He said to the ensigns in a smug tone of voice.
A phaser prodded me in the back and I was led down the shuttle ramp in a little cavalcade of guards, with Sloan at our head.
"Identification, order numbers, serial code?" Enquired the ensign from the shuttlebay booth in the corner of the room.
"Bashir, Julian. EC109557/78D, order 66715/66724 IA. FM998710167534/R N/R" Sloan rattled off the numbers with confidence and precision.
My life, reduced to fifty-one numbers, all unintelligible to me. They seemed to make the ensign content, though. She casually entered them into her PADD, turned back to Sloan and said.
"Provisional 97536.2, reassess 65436.2"
"Understood. Is Admiral Tim'Anna here yet?" asked Sloan, before turning to me.
"You see doctor, we have some more of your allies here. Maybe they'll implicate you and save you confessing."
"He arrived yesterday. Commander. Security'll be here in a minute, then I'll open the door for you so you can go get that processed."
She then turned to me with a look normally reserved for vermin, and said.
"Welcome to Starbase 53. Enjoy your stay"
Sloan and the ensign smiled, I stood there, eyes to the ground trying to ignore the jibe, my face burning.
No sooner had she finished speaking than the ground-floor entrance to the shuttlebay opened, and eight heavily armed security officers marched in. I was quickly surrounded. and taken off through corridors. I lost all sense of direction, and was totally confused by the layout. The guards would stop every so often and change direction, no doubt in an attempt to make me lose my bearings. Eventually, I was stopped outside a sickbay and marched in. This was like no sickbay I had ever seen before, though. The medical equipment had been largely replaced by what appeared to be security equipment. I was led into a corner of the sickbay and pushed gently down on a bio-bed. The doctor appeared out of her office, an Asian woman, dressed in the familiar grey and blue of Starfleet Medical, the uniform I was still wearing. As she approached the bed, a force field sprang up around me.
"The mighty have fallen. haven't they, Doctor?" she muttered sarcastically. "I've read some of your work, what you did with that Elaysian woman, fascinating. Just think, now you'll get the time to correct all the spelling mistakes. Though I bet her family is going to be unhappy when they find out that the doctor who saved her life, also contributed to her death."
That comment hurt me down to the heart. Melora had been killed in a Dominion attack. I had been devastated when I found out. I sent a message of condolence to her family. I had hoped to get to her funeral, but the Elaysian gravity put pay to that. It was still something I regretted.
"OK doctor, standard check, please. Contagious diseases, security implants, DNA," said the Redshirt, who had been left in charge as Sloan disappeared out of the room.
"I know the drill", smiled the doctor, "I've done this enough times. Never to another doctor though, this is a first. Quite exciting, really."
"You think it's exciting that my life is being torn apart piece by piece. Does that excite you?" I replied.
It was the first time I had spoken in anger since boarding the shuttle, the whole of the way to the base, I had been quiet, resigned. The doctor was silent afterwards, though. She performed her task quickly and efficiently, scanning lifesigns, extracting my DNA and performing a routine check-up. Her final task, though, was not routine. Reaching for a hypospray out of her portable medkit, she injected me in the neck. I jumped as I felt the spray on my neck.
"Keep still. This is just a small tracking pellet, means we always know where you are. It can be detected by starships in the unlikely event of you escaping." Explained the doctor, aware of my flinch as she completed the injection.
"Very unlikely" interjected one of the guards, shifting his phaser rifle to a more comfortable position on his shoulder. The doctor laughed, mirthlessly.
"It might give you a bit of a rash on your neck" she told me,
then turning to address the guards, she announced "OK I'm done, take him somewhere else, he's just clogging up my sickbay".
With that. I was marched out of the sickbay and back into the corridors. The guards seemed more relaxed now that I had been injected with the implant. I could feel it under my skin, itching slightly, made more irritating because I could not reach to scratch at it wearing the restraints. I remembered reading in Worf's medical file that he had one of these pellets implanted under his skin by a Romulan, which his doctor had only been able to remove by beaming it out of him. She had given it to him as a souvenir, and once he had shown it to us. I had not understood why he kept it, at the time, but now I did. The pellet signified the ultimate removal of privacy, that wherever you were in your life, someone would be watching you. It was the ultimate paranoid's complex. and here it was, happening to me.
I was taken deeper inside the Starbase complex. Every so often, a forcefield would activate behind us. At first. it made me jump, but after a while, I became accustomed to the noise
We walked past many closed doors. It felt as though we had been walking forever, when I was stopped outside one door. The Yellowshirt lieutenant moved forwards and voice-activated the door. I listened as it moved smoothly open, revealing a small corridor. A flash made me jump, and I was reprimanded for the movement. I realised that it was a forcefield being dropped, and it suddenly occurred to me that I was standing in an airlock. Yellowshirt stepped behind me, and ordered me to walk forwards. This I did, trying to mask my fear by walking steadily. She then commanded me to stop, which I did so, feeling the forcefield rise behind me. She spun me round to face her and quickly removed my restraints. A few seconds later, the forcefield dropped. and Yellowshirt prodded me in the back, ordering me to walk forward.
I did so, and was again surrounded by a couple of guards. We had entered some sort of enclosure, a hexagonal room with various openings on five sides. and the door I had just walked through on the sixth. I was marched to the centre of the room, where I realised that the openings were cells, similar to those on DS9. This was it, I realised. I had arrived. Yellowshirt strode confidently to the ensign at the security console, and, nodding at me, proceeded to recite her numbers again
"Bashir, Julian. EC109557/78D, order 66715/66724 IA. FM998710167534/R N/R, provisional 97536.2".
"Understood. If you would step this way please" The ensign requested, as I was pushed forwards by a guard.
I followed him, sheep-like, to one of the openings in the room. A flash signalled the fall of a forcefield, and I was nudged gently inside. I barely had time to turn round, before the forcefield shot up again, blocking my exit, trapping me inside.
I glanced round the cell. It was similar to the holding cells on DS9, but the small entrance gave me some privacy. Against the back wall was a bench, and to one side was a bed. On it lay a sheet and a black jump-suit, which I paid little attention to. I would hold onto my Starfleet uniform for as long as I could, I was not giving that up without a fight. I took a deep breath and walked around the cell, realising how hungry I was. My first thought was simply to walk to the replicator, but I remembered in time that I could not. Instead I sat on the bench, looking out, waiting. Already I could remember the feelings of boredom and apathy from my previous prison experiences.
"Here we go again" I muttered under my breath.
It must have been a quiet night for the ensign at the panel, he wandered over to me and looked curiously at me.
"You're the Dominion spy aren't you?" He said, neutrally.
"No" I retorted angrily "I'm not a spy, this is all some mistake. Sloan is out of control. he just wants someone to blame for his son's death. But I'm innocent"
"Yeah?" He replied "everyone says that when they first arrive. If they were all true, then Internal Affairs has only ever arrested innocent people. Give us some credit, we're not that stupid."
"Some of you maybe." I commented sarcastically "Look." He answered "all the Starfleet people here hate you. Personally, I hope you die here, because at least then you can't do any more damage in the world outside. You aren't going to find it easy here at all! You could make it easier on yourself by not giving anyone an excuse to come down on you like a ton of bricks."
"How?" I replied sceptically
"Changing out of the Starfleet uniform, taking your disguise off. Sloan will just have you sedated if you refuse to change and having that on your record won't help at the hearing. I don't know why I told you that, because I don't care what happens to you, but having you sedated will just be more work for me."
"What happened to innocent until proven guilty?" I asked him, shocked at how I had already been judged by the guards
"I've seen your record" he replied "you're guilty and you know it"
He turned from the forcefield and I moved from bench to bed, feeling tired and frightened. I thought about what he said, and though I was worried by his allusions to my record. I decided to keep the uniform on. I owed it to myself, my Starfleet uniform was a part of me, and I needed to keep it on to remind myself of all the good and happy times. I threw the black uniform onto the bench wrapped myself up in the blanket and fell asleep.
I was woken by the noise of the cell being powered up. At least I knew the time, a readout on the opposite wall showed the Stardate and time. I realised that, with arriving in the middle of the night, I had only slept for a couple of hours. I stirred and sat up on the bed feeling muscles screaming out in agony, unused to the hard bed and the pressure of my tired body. A lieutenant stood at the doorway not the ensign who had been on duty last night when I had arrived. She was holding a packet of something and a bottle. I stood up and walked over to the forcefield, accepting the packets as she dropped the field and passed them through. I walked back over to the bed, TKL's again, and probably the energy drink. Still, I devoured them avidly, I was very hungry after the events of the day before.
After the meagre breakfast. I rallied myself, and was starting to feel slightly positive about the day ahead, when Sloan appeared through the entranceway, flanked by his security people. I saw him out of the corner of my eye, and quickly dodged onto the bed, out of sight. I hoped he would go to one of the other cells. However, he walked straight over to me, with barely a nod at the lieutenant at the panel. He stood at the forcefield. and waited. Eventually, I felt so intimidated by his presence that I walked out and stood facing him.
"Good morning. Were the rules not explained to you last night?" He enquired as he eyed my Starfleet uniform, massaging his temples as though he had a headache.
"Nope. Guess, your guards aren't as good as you think they are" I replied, trying to incite him.
"Rights and responsibilities, if you like, Doctor." He said, ignoring my aggressive tone, "Oh well, obviously not. You have the right to be fed every 6 hours during the daytime 5 on journeys. You have the right to consent to any medical treatment which is not directly related to security. You also have the right to 6 hours sleep a night with all non-essential lights powered down. However, with rights, there are also responsibilities. You have a responsibility to obey the rules. In this facility. you are not permitted to wear anything other than the official uniform." Sloan sounded bored, as though he had made this speech many times
"This is mine, it a part of me you can't take" I responded desperately. It was true, Starfleet was just as much a part of me as I was of it.
"In case you weren't listening last night, I'll remind you that you were expelled from Starfleet. I'm not going to argue with you any more, Doctor, so if you have not changed by 1100 hours, I will have you sedated and dressed and this will go on your file. Understood?" He told me, in the icy tones of one who expects to be obeyed.
I sat for a long time after he left, wondering what to do. My uniform meant something to me, but at the same time, I was destined to lose it, regardless. It occurred to me that if I took it off now, I would be able to keep my rank insignia, they were small and could be concealed somewhere in the cell. I stood up and pulled my uniform off slowly. I replaced it with the black jump-suit, feeling hollow inside as I did so. I realised that I was handing over an important part of my life, and I stood cradling the uniform in an attempt, I suppose, to come to terms with the events of the past 48 hours. I was still standing, shocked, when I heard footsteps and the hiss of the fulling forcefield of the outer door. Hastily I removed my rank insignia from the uniform, and placed the two magnetic studs under the mattress of my bed. I had just got them well hidden when Sloan's round, though hard face appeared at the doorway.
"Well, well, someone learns the rules quickly, Doctor. Oh well, so how do you feel now you are not wearing the grey and blue of Starf1eet any more?"
"It's just another uniform" I replied bitterly "this one, that one." I gestured at the Starfleet uniform. "Maybe they are all equally as bad." I was trying to appear nonchalant, to hide my feelings from Sloan, but I could hear the bitter undertone in my voice.
"Ah Doctor. see there is where your reasoning is flawed" said Sloan as he tapped his teeth with a PADD in an expression, I assumed, of irritation. "This uniform," he indicated his own red Starfleet colours "shows that I am a responsible member of a quadrant wide organisation, which is determined to protect its members, and even those who do not belong to it. It shows that I have integrity and strength of mind, it also shows that I have authority over others and that I am part of a supportive network of billions, all there willing to assist me should I require it. Your uniform, on the other hand, shows that you are a criminal, more than that, that you are traitor to the Federation. because normal criminals don't wear it. It shows that you have betrayed people, caused deaths, maybe even committed murder. It also shows that you have no support, that you are on your own, isolated from every single person in this galaxy, even the Dominion. because they don't want to be tied to a captured operative."
I cracked halfway through his speech. It all got too much and I could feel myself desperately holding back tears. I realised what he was saying, that there really was no hope, and I hated every word. Even my friends on D59 would surely abandon me now, even my parents would believe I was a traitor. Seeing the effect his words had on me, he silently signalled to the guards and let the forcefield down. They rushed in and pinned me to the wall as he grabbed the Starfleet uniform from the bed where it lay. As I saw this happen from the corner of my eye, I collapsed in the guard's arms, feeling more isolated than I had ever felt before. I began to weep softly and the security guards, seeing my distress, carefully laid me on the bed as Sloan left. I curled up. going foetal as the tears flowed, hating myself for becoming this weak. I could taste the saltiness on my lips, feel the moisture on my cheeks, as I sobbed and sobbed.
I lay there for a long time. After I finished crying, I was so exhausted and drained that I remained curled up on the bed. holding my blanket tightly. I stared blankly at the opposite wall, seeing only greyness and the searing white band of the forcefield. Harsh, institutional colours. I was dehydrated. much of my body water soaked my bed in salty tears, or so it seemed. As if reading my thoughts, the lieutenant strolled over to my cell carrying a bottle. She looked me up and down and said simply
"If you die of dehydration. I would never hear the end of it." before lowering the forcefield and
placing the bottle in the doorway.
I got up and grabbed for it. I was incredibly thirsty, and as I unscrewed the lid with the desperation of a dying man, I smelled real water. No energy drink just cool water. I gulped it down, feeling as I did so, an amazing sense of well-being. I knew that this sensation was all artificial and came from the sudden rehydration, however, even this knowledge could not dampen my sense of elation. The smell of water filled my cell, though I drank every drop. I closed my eves, and remembered my grandfather's home on Earth, on the banks of the Nile, where the river would bring coolness to the boiling days and at dusk, the smell of the river would bring every person outside into their fields to breathe and feel contented. Thinking about my grandfather brought more memories. I sat for a time in the mists of nostalgia, remembering when my grandfather sat and tried to teach me Arabic, an ancient Earth language. I had picked it up easily, that had been before I had known about my modification and when people still believed I had a natural gift for languages. He had shown me a precious family heirloom, a religious book, from when religion was the guiding force on Earth. I remembered being able to understand the words, but not their meaning. I had been fascinated, I had visited temples which he said had belonged to that religion and those before it, but had never understood what the book meant, what concepts were being discussed. I felt in that situation now. I understood the words, but not their meaning. I could understand where I was, but not why.
I was about to get an idea. Sloan and his compatriots re-entered the room and again walked over to my cell. The guards again entered it, this time they were carrying the wrist restraints. I was again pinned to the wall, but this time, I was facing the guards and the restraints were slid onto my wrists. I was marched out of my cell and out of the cellblock and taken to a conference room just down the corridor. It was a small, intimidating room, with three chairs on one side of a large table, and one on the other. I was pushed into the single chair, facing a painting of a starship blasting out of a nebula, warp nacelles shining with powerful light. Somehow, the painting just increased the tense atmosphere of the room. I was gazing at it when Sloan, an older man and a woman entered through a side door.
"Doctor, this is Admiral Tim'Anna" Sloan introduced a heavy set man bearing admiral's rank.
He did not tell me the name of' the woman who carried a PADD and I was unable to tell much about her, though I suspected from her prominent cheekbones and wide eyes that she was Betazoid. Sent to scan me, I wondered, as my interrogation began.
For many hours, it felt, I was bombarded by questions. At first they were routine, asking me to give information that they must already have been aware of. All the time, the woman made notes on the PADD, becoming faster and more preoccupied as the questions became more stretching. Sloan was asking me about 371, before switching to questions on my genetic makeup and Bopak III. The questions were basically the same as those he asked at DS9, but he demanded more in-depth answers, using every hesitation as an opportunity to accuse me. Finally, with Tim'Anna looking on, Sloan rose from his chair and pushed his face within centimetres of mine, he started shouting at me.
"You were captured by them, and then you agreed to spy for them, didn't you! To save your sorry little ass, because you were afraid to die. You called yourself a Starfleet officer. You're nothing."
It was frightening, I tried to get up. to escape him, but I was pushed harshly back into my chair by the guards. He carried on shouting. I was sitting, trying not to scream back at him. He would not stop. He carried on. Again and again, demanding answers to his shouted questions. Tim'Anna rose, and came to sit on the corner of the desk near me. He was watching his colleague's actions, a grim smile on his face. The guards by the door moved closer, watching me. I could no longer cope with the screaming, the pressure. I was surrounded, trapped. All through this, the woman made notes on her PADD as if she did not care. The noise spread around me, the bleeping of the PADD, Sloan's voice, the whirr of life support getting louder, everything. I just cracked, exhaustion, pressure and stress took over and I started shouting back.
"I did nothing wrong. I did nothing wrong" I shouted desperately, over and over again, my voice rising in pitch, before noticing that mine was the only voice in the room.
I stopped, and then Sloan gestured to the guard to take me back. Numbly, I held out my wrists, allowing the guards to replace the restraints, and was escorted back in silence. In my cell, the guards removed the restraints and left me standing in the middle of my cell, trembling. I was so afraid, I felt the same fear as when I witnessed the destruction of the Odyssey by Jem'Hadar forces. As I saw the destruction, I realised that I was seeing a force that could tear my world apart, and I knew that Sloan could do the same thing. He had already taken everything I knew from me, now all he needed to do was carry out his threat to break me. I stood, only barely aware of the gaze of the guard. My reverie was interrupted as Yellowshirt entered the cell area, carrying a PADD. She curtly glanced at me, before handing it to the guard on duty, who nodded in my direction. I suddenly wondered if this was a positive sign, if someone had discovered the mistake and if I was soon to be on my way back to DS9. I held my breath in anticipation as Yellowshirt left and the guard strolled over to the door.
"Well. You obviously made an impression somewhere, getting association so early."
I looked at her, uncomprehending.
"You will be permitted to associate with the other inmates today. Doesn't normally happen so soon. Enjoy it."
With that, she strolled over to the console and began entering commands. Once the sequence was complete, the console powered down, and she walked hastily towards the exit-way. A minute later, the cell force-fields dropped.
I stood, bemused, not knowing what to do. I watched as people left the other cells, bringing their mattresses with them. Some even carried the distinctive silver ration packets. I followed their example and, picking up my mattress, left the cell. The other inmates were all laying their mattresses down on the floor, and greeting others. Tentatively, I walked out and placed my own mattress down on the ground, outside the immediate circle. I felt uncomfortable enough meeting new people especially under the circumstances.
A Bajoran woman was first to greet me. She stood up and walked over to where I was sitting.
"Hey. Akasi, who are you? What's your name'." She asked in an acerbic voice. remarkably similar to that of Major Kira.
I wondered idly if it was some Bajoran trait as I summed her up and decided whether to answer.
I.ook. I don't bite." She continued "But hey, if you want to go through life here without knowing anyone I'll go away. just don't blame me for being friendly."
Forcing a deep breath I responded
"I'm Julian Bashir. I used to be the doctor at DS9, until Sloan brought me here. How about you?"
The Bajoran looked at me for a moment, then moved back to her mattress and sat down.
"I'm Ro Laren. I am Maquis, used to be Starfleet. This" she said, pointing to a Ktarian sitting next to her "is kabe'Etana Tal, from Starfleet, Jamatina Leclerc from Starfleet, Sonak from the Vulcan Unificationist movement and Ben Tamler from the Maquis. They both used to be in Starfleet too, spot the pattern?" She laughed sarcastically.
"Roll call," the man named as Tamler announced dryly. "Every time there is a new face we go through it. So anyway, we've some time to kill here, its slightly less boring out here than in there, tell us more about why you are here. We can swap stories."
"Ah hell. Ben" muttered the woman identified as Jamatina "trust you to come up with interesting things to do. Oh well then" she sighed with resignation. "Who goes first?"
"New faces up first, I always think. We've all heard our stories before" answered kabe'Etana
"But come into the circle Akasi, er... Julian and we can talk"
So I began a brief summary of the story behind my incarceration, sitting on a mattress in a room guarded by security holding phaser rifles. I had no doubt that these would be set to kill.
I took a deep breath as I finished my story. I was shocked at how matter of fact I could be. At least when I had been in 371, I had been able to justify myself, to tell people I had been asleep then woken up there. Here, I had no such qualification to add.
Kabe'Etana began next.
"I was in Starfleet, I was a Conn officer, an ensign. Just your average ensign, you know, Academy graduate, fresh out" I laughed quietly as she began her story remembering myself when I first arrived on DS9. She glared at me so I apologised and signalled for her to continue.
"I served on the Cairo under Captain Jellicoe. Old ship, nothing special. I tried for the Enterprise. As it was, it was a pretty good thing I didn't get it, otherwise I doubt I would be here I'd probably be dead."
"Why?" I asked, uncomprehending.
"You remember that incident a few years back. When a Ktarian tried to take control of the Enterprise and Starfleet Academy? She was a rebel, and determined to conquer the Federation. Anyway, she was captured and extradited. Her name was Etana Jol."
I noticed the similarity of the names, and must have showed some response. because suddenly kabe'Etana looked up at me, eyes blazing and defiant.
"She was my Neema. I loved her, as a Neema should be loved. I applied to speak to her when she was in Rehab, to send a message to her. Until then, no one knew we were related. Once they found out, I became a security risk, and Sloan came to demand that I renounce her and forget her relationship to me. I could no more renounce my relationship to my Neema than you could pretend that your mother never gave birth to you. So I was brought here. I committed no crime, but they found evidence. Said I had communicated with her when she had control of the Enterprise. Then they started telling me that I was some sort of Ktarian agent, that there was a secret organisation who had given Ktaria to the Cardassians, and that I was a part. They had some convincing evidence, too. Not that it's true."
I gasped. I finally realised that I was not alone, that others were here for the same twisted reasons, namely that Sloan believed them to be spies or traitors. I was worried by kabe'Etana's statement that she had been here for years, without trial. I realised that I could just disappear out of the system with no one knowing where I was. I wondered if my friends would forget me, as their lives continued on DS9.
I was aware that Jamatina was preparing to talk, I focussed on her voice and began to listen. I could sense that my, up to that point, unshakeable faith in Starfleet was about to be damaged, if not destroyed. Her first words startled me.
"My father was a Cardassian". She began.
"My mother was a civilian, she worked on one of the non-aligned worlds, outside Federation borders, when the Federation was still fighting the Romulans and the Cardassians had not made diplomatic contact. The world was close to the border, she was working on reconstruction, she was an environmental engineer and this world, N'ara IV, had been hit by a serious natural disaster, a super- volcano that triggered a nuclear winter. She and others heard about the plight of the world and left, believing that humanitarian work was what humans were designed to do. They were followers of the group of theoreticians who believed that humanity had evolved beyond what it had been . We learn about them now at school, but then, it was revolutionary. Anyway, she met a Cardassian when his ship, crippled by ion storms and disrepair, crash-landed into the northern regions. The Cardassian, my father, was seriously injured and she spent months nursing him. They fell in love, she found him so sensitive and kind, he loved her warmth and passion. You're a doctor, you know the odds of producing a Cardassian/Human child without medical assistance?"
"Yes." I replied "millions to one. In fact, I would say that it is medically impossible."
"Oh no doctor, that is where you are wrong" Jamatina laughed without humour.
"I am a Human/Cardassian. See, I have the ridges, you can hardly see them, but they are there."
I glanced at her. I suddenly realised how many Cardassian features she had. Her ridges were barely visible, but she had the long, thick black hair of a Cardassian woman, plaited neatly and wound around her head. Her skin was human-coloured, though, there was none of the deathly pallor of the Cardassian about her.
"No-one knew. I told people who asked about my hair or my ridges that my father had been Askrian. they have been in the Federation so long that I was considered acceptable. I told this to everyone. Starfleet Academy, all of them. Of course, there was no way to find my real father, he left during the coup. when the military first took over on Cardassia Prime. He told my mother that he had to go back and fight for a better Cardassia. She believed him. He went back, and my mother continued her work whilst raising me. She decided to go back to Earth, and was able to get passage on a Starship. It was then that I decided I wanted to join Starfleet. I worked so hard, and was posted on the Wellington. then the Intrepid. I worked fine, I became a lieutenant. All until we were requested to give samples for Changeling testing. Finally, they found that my DNA was Cardassian. My crew stood by me, but Internal Affairs could not believe that I was not an agent, and so I ended up here. I have been here for a year and a half now. I will remain here until the Cardassians are no longer a threat, then I will be quietly moved to some civilian job, knowing that they are always watching me. I was loyal to Starfleet, my father was loyal to Cardassia, so here I am. A punishment for my loyalty, my father's belief and my DNA."