I felt incredible, light headed and giddy, drunk on freedom. I sat in the back of the shuttle reading about the implants, trying to find a way to extract them. I was drinking a plain cup of water and eating hot toast, dripping with butter. For the first time in fifteen years, I felt normal. I could almost imagine that those years had not occurred, but the fantasy was blown away when I saw Chakotay piloting the shuttle where it should have been O'Brien.
We successfully dodged Federation ships for days. A combination of Chakotay's exceptional piloting skills and Kim's technological wizardry outsmarted all the ships we came near. The Voyager survivors were pressing me to find a way of removing the implants as the longer it took, the more difficult it was to dodge ships. However, the answer proved illusive, they were much more integrated into our bodies than I had realised. As far as I could tell, though it was completely illegal, the implants had been integrated with bodily systems so far as if they were removed improperly, they would release neurotoxin, not enough to kill, but to maim. I was still nowhere near a solution when we finally met our match, I heard the hail from where I was sitting in the back of the shuttle.
"This is Captain Nog of the Starship Defiant to renegade vessel. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. Don't make this difficult on yourselves, we know who you are."
Pushing my way forward, I commanded the computer to open a comm channel.
"If you know who I am, then you'll know I'm not a traitor. I'm your friend. I've known you since I first came aboard DS9, I helped you. You know me. I am not a traitor, I never have been, and neither are the people I'm with"
"You are not my friend and if I'd known what you really were, you would never have been my friend on DS9. I don't care what you did for me back then, I was probably just an unwilling part of your plan, your disguise. I would have no hesitation in handing you over or shooting you across the stars."
"They're powering weapons, initiating evasive manoeuvres" called Chakotay from the comm. "We can't hold them off though, not in this."
As if to punctuate his remarks, the ship shuddered as the Defiant locked on with a tractor beam.
"Not again. This won't happen again" swore Kim "I'll destroy them myself".
"No!" I pushed him away from the console. "You can't kill them, they're my friends"
"They hate you. I won't let them take me again!"
"Please," I begged. "Don't kill them. Then we will be murderers and Sloan would have been right. They've done us no harm and there are other ways"
Kim glared at me for a long moment before reaching forward. He entered a few short commands into the weapons console. I could not see what he was doing, and I did not dare ask. Instead I moved towards the window. If he was going to destroy the Defiant, I wanted to see it happen.
I saw a flash travelling up the tractor beam, and the tractor emitter exploded.
"Chakotay, get us clear" ordered Kim
"What have you done, Harry?" Shouted Chakotay
"Relax" Kim smiled coldly. "I've just sent an antimatter pulse up the tractor beam. They'll have to eject their warp core, but they're in Federation space and can get help. They're just not going to be going very far for a while. Don't thank me all at once!"
I stood by the window and watched the warp core leave the ship, floating gracefully before flashing briefly and going dead.
"See" Kim turned to me "Not even an explosion."
We were both watching the Defiant out of the window when we heard a transporter beam behind us. As we turned, hearts falling, we saw a box and a PADD appear on the table. I grabbed the PADD as Kim opened the box to reveal medical tools, engineering equipment and spare parts,
"You can be free now" The message on the PADD read "Here are instructions for removing the implants. Some of us always knew you were innocent. Good luck – Dax."
I was able to use the medical equipment to beam the implants out of our bodies. We then sent them into space with some random organic material and metal. We even beamed the molecules of our horrible black jumpsuits into space, replacing them with comfortable civilian clothes. Hopefully the material would be found and we could be recorded as deceased. We were free and as the shuttle moved on, we all wondered where our futures lay. Somewhere I knew I could find peace, there must be some place where I could live without being a pariah or a genetic freak. Somewhere I could reclaim my identity as a doctor, stop being Bashir the traitor and instead return to being Bashir the healer. Somewhere out there where I could find redemption.
When I had first been arrested, Sloan had made me a promise. He told me that he would get the truth out of me, then take whatever was left of me and lock it away.
I gave him nothing but the truth, and this is what was left of me. And he did not, could not, lock it up forever. For now I am finally, completely, truly free.
The end.