Star Trek: Absolution

Chapter IV: Countermeasures

Dr. Julian Bashir sat quietly at his table in Quark's bar, carefully studying information on the electronic data pads lying in front of him. He had been working for months to assemble the pieces of what he playfully referred to as "the jigsaw puzzle" and was starting to finally see the big picture emerging. He couldn't hide his enthusiasm and speedily tapped a new series of calculations into the pad he was holding, a wide smile lighting his face.

"Playing games Doctor?" Quark asked him whimsically, obviously trying to bait the preoccupied physician. He set another cup of water next to Bashir and waited patiently.

"Huh… ohh uhm… actually I'm close to completing some very important work on microscopic cellular repair," he said factually, causing the Ferengi bartender to wince.

"You know, it wouldn't hurt you to start having a little fun again," Quark suggested casually, pointing to the empty glasses in front of the Doctor. "You don't use the holo-suites any more, all you drink is water, and you haven't used the dartboard for weeks. I'm tempted to call Chief O'Brien back on Earth and pay for his travel expenses back to DS9. At least I'd get you two spending some latinum and having fun again."

Slightly annoyed, Julian set his pad down and looked up at the smiling Ferengi. "First of all Ezri and I do use the holo-suites occasionally," he said irritably. "Secondly, plain water is very good for you since it clears out your system. I don't think it would hurt you to choose that as your own beverage once in a while." He enjoyed watching the reaction on Quark's face. "Lastly, Chief O'Brien was the only one who has ever beaten me at darts – when he makes me stand back further, that is – so it's no fun just winning all the time."

"Well you drink all the water you want to," the Ferengi decided. "I'm sticking to the bubblier things in life, and I don't mean root beer." He started to walk away and let Bashir return to his work. As soon as the Doctor's attention was distracted Quark reached over and set a hot fudge sundae under his nose. "Take time to live a little Doctor," he suggested.

"Aren't you supposed to be cheating people at your Dabo table or making illegal back room deals or something?" Julian wondered.

"Are you kidding?" said Quark with disbelief. "General Kira is back on board the station for the upcoming peace conference with the Federation. I think I'll let all the negotiations conclude and watch everyone leave before returning to business as usual. Enjoy the sundae."

Julian continued quietly working and reached for his fresh glass of water. He was about to take a drink and then changed his mind. Grabbing the sundae, he took out a huge spoonful of melting ice cream covered with hot fudge and hungrily began eating. He continued to peck away at the data pad as he savored the treat, and suddenly the look of concentration on his face became one of surprise.

"Did you just say General Kira is on the station?" he said with some surprise, picking up his data pads and heading for the nearest exit.

She was in Sisko's old office up in Ops when Julian found her. The office was now normally occupied by Starfleet Commander Patrick Hazelton but he had obviously gone off-shift. Nerys was a General now but still the same old Kira that Bashir remembered and had become good friends with over the years. He didn't see her nearly enough anymore but she still looked much like he remembered her. Her hair style was different, but other than that the energetic young woman looked as confident and vibrant as ever. The uniform of a Bajoran military general looked great on her and anyone who didn't know her would plainly be able to see that she was a battle-hardened veteran with lots of combat experience.

The General was speaking with Shakaar, the handsome blonde First Minister of the Bajoran government. Julian caught only a few words here and there as he waited patiently, but it was fairly obvious that they were discussing details regarding the upcoming peace mission. Everyone on board DS9 was extremely excited about the prospect of Bajor joining the United Federation of Planets, and Bashir was quite pleased more and more with each passing day as he continued to observe the positive signs of stability returning to the sector.

"Hello Julian," she said finally, turning to him as Shakaar nodded respectfully and left the office. "It's good to see you again and I'm glad that you took the time to stop by and see me. How are you and your new wife getting along?"

"Ezri is doing very well… I'll be sure to pass along your best wishes," the Doctor said gratefully. He sat down across from her and handed her a data pad. "It's business that brings me to see you, unfortunately… vitally important business at that."

"Microcellular regeneration techniques?" Kira asked with a smile, reading the data on his pad. "Doctor, are you still trying to cure the entire Alpha quadrant?"

"It's the Gamma quadrant this time, actually," he said a bit defensively. "We left some unfinished business over there during our days with Captain Sisko and with your permission I'd like to go back through the wormhole and correct it." He shifted a bit uncomfortably in his seat as he decided how best to request what he needed from her. Since it was Kira, he decided straight out was his best play. "I need you and Commander Hazelton to grant me access to the Defiant and a runabout."

Kira could tell by the expression on his face that he wasn't joking. She, however, was looking for something a bit more playful after days of endless, serious peace discussions. "Would you like a couple of Galaxy-Class starships too, while we're at it?"

"I'm serious," he said almost angrily. "And you will be too once you find out what I'm planning to do out there."

The General folded her hands on the desk in front of her, setting them gently next to Sisko's baseball – an object which she had specifically ordered must be left there until the Captain returned for it as he had promised. "Explain it to me then," she requested.

"It all started when the starship Voyager returned to the Alpha quadrant from its long journey back from the Delta quadrant," he said excitedly. "No starship in a hundred years has accumulated as much data so quickly on so many different species… including the Borg."

"The Borg?" Kira's interest in the conversation began to grow a bit.

"Yes," Julian insisted. "You see along the way they separated a human female they encountered from the Borg collective. Her name is 'Seven of Nine' and – upon separation – she became an individual human being again and eventually a valued member of their crew." He leaned forward and tapped a button on the data pad that Kira was holding. The data she was looking at changed and displayed the contents of a new file. "Ever since they've been back Seven has been interviewed repeatedly by Starfleet Command… naturally they want to know everything that she knows about the Borg and their shared collective."

"Nano-probe technology," Kira read off of the data pad.

"Exactly," the Doctor said firmly. "Admiral Janeway is on her way here to take part in the peace negotiations. Since I couldn't get direct access to Seven of Nine I sent the Admiral a message and requested that she send me information on the techniques that they discovered to use nano-probe technology for healing purposes."

"Like the microscopic cellular repair of damaged tissue," Kira said, this time with a definite degree of interest evident in her tone.

"She complied with my request, and also made sure I got the specifications to replicate my own nano-probes," Julian said, failing to hide the enthusiasm in his voice. "I've just finished several weeks of tests on them and am nearly one hundred percent certain that I can cure the Quickening disease that's affecting the Gamma quadrant planet of people that the Dominion poisoned over two hundred years ago."

"I thought you had cured them?"

"I cured their newborn children," Julian said. "Unfortunately the antigen that I created only works on unborn fetuses. The current generation of adults will continue to die off prematurely from what they refer to as 'the Blight' unless something additional is done for them. That's what I want the runabout for… I can send a Bajoran Doctor and some of my staff to treat them with my modified nano-probes. Once each of them receives a simple injection, the Quickening disease should be completely gone from their systems within a matter of minutes."

Kira considered his words carefully. "Okay, I agree that you have come to me with a reasonable request Doctor," she said. "I'll assign the team you choose to take the Ucayali into the Gamma quadrant and cure those people." She leaned forward with a mischievous look on her face and stared him in the eyes. "Now then…" she said with deepening interest. "What do you want the Defiant for?"

"We still have a few days before the Enterprise arrives. I need a starship because where I'm going we'll need weapons," he began slowly, returning her gaze with interest. "And since you were with me on this other planet, I would think that with Bajor's newest peace effort so well underway you'd know exactly who I'm planning to go and get and why it is so vitally important that we try and bring her back – particularly now."

He watched all of the mischief vanish from her expression as it dawned on her just what it was he was proposing. "Are you telling me…?" she started to say.

"Yes I am," Julian replied. "All I need in order to bring Kai Opaka back to Bajor is a starship to clear the armed satellites orbiting the moon we left her on in the Gamma quadrant. Once we're back on the surface, taking care of the automated bio-technology that requires her to stay there will be a piece of cake for my modified nano-probes."

Kira stared in complete shock at the Doctor for a moment, leaving Julian feeling quite enthused. When he had first met her she had thought he was a high strung emotional basket case. To have this opportunity to demonstrate to her the vast possibilities available to them with modern medical techniques and his personal skills at applying them, well… it pleased him more than any compliment he had ever received.

"Request granted Doctor," said General Kira softly.

Mere hours later, the General herself sat in the command seat of the Defiant as the starship's weapons finished destroying the last of the armed satellites in orbit above the small moon. Lieutenant Nog smiled from behind the helm console as he adjusted the ship's course into a geo-synchronous orbit above the life signs detected below.

"Final orbit achieved General," the Ferengi officer reported with satisfaction.

"Why didn't we do this sooner?" Kira asked curiously. "Why didn't we come back?

Julian was standing directly behind her. "Because until now there was nothing we further we could do for her," he said softly. "Do you think she's still down there?" They watched the moon's image on the starship's viewscreen. "If so, I wonder what she's managed to accomplish with the Ennis and the Nol-Ennis. They were still quite dedicated to unending violence the last time that we saw them."

"There's only one way to find out," the General said as she stood up and turned to face Julian. "Ezri can come with us… Nog, you have the bridge." Without a further word she headed for the transporter room. Ezri cast a hopeful look at Julian and he squeezed her hand reassuringly as they both followed Kira into the turbolift.

They materialized next to the wreckage of the Yangtzee Kiang, which was still lying undisturbed right where Julian, then Commander Sisko and Kira had left it. Ezri glanced at it thoughtfully but noticed immediately the expressions on the faces of Julian and Kira. Even without counseling skills, it was obvious to her simply by observation that the sight of the destroyed runabout brought back lots of memories for the other two members of her landing party. Even though she personally had never been on the planet, her Trill symbiont also had memories of the incident, since Jadzia and Miles O'Brien had eventually ended up rescuing the stranded party from orbit using a second runabout.

"Where is everybody?" Ezri asked cautiously.

"We beamed here first intentionally," replied Kira. "The last time we visited this place the people on this planet were involved in an endless, brutal war. Their bodies were instantly healed by the automated systems on this planet as fast as they could kill each other. If we get caught in the middle of it death is not the worst thing that can happen to us."

"No it certainly is not," Julian said, scanning the area with his tricorder. "The bio-technology is still active and functioning – any injuries sustained on this moon are still being instantly detected and repaired, with the additional penance of making the healed person completely dependent upon this environment."

"That's why we left her here," Kira said as her expression clouded over. "Because we had to. That… and because she insisted that it was prophecy that she should be left here."

Doctor Bashir pointed off toward the west and they began walking casually in that direction. There were no sounds in the wooded area that they entered other than a few calling birds, so they continued moving toward the large cave where they had last seen the Kai. They didn't find anyone in that area either so they headed directly toward the life sign indications on Julian's medical tricorder.

They came to the edge of the forest and walked out onto a flat plain before immediately pausing in awe. Row after row of growing crops lined the area in front of them… it looked as though they had inadvertently walked onto someone's farm. Off in the distance they could see several dozen wooden cabins, most of which had a large chimney from which spirals of black smoke rose lazily into the air. Still there was no sign of anyone and they curiously continued walking through the crop fields toward the cabins.

"Kira…"

They spun around and there she was… Kai Opaka with an astonished look on her face and a basket of crops she had picked held tightly in her hands. She was dressed in native clothing rather than the familiar purple robes that she had worn back on Bajor. Her face, neck and arms were covered with partially healed scars from old injuries, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was her. Kira ran forward as the Kai dropped her basket in shock and the two hugged for a long time, reunited at last.

"It's so good to see you again Opaka," Kira said finally, stepping back and smiling with delight. "I've been thinking about you over the years and planning to come back…"

"The Prophets finally decided that they were ready for us to reunite," Opaka decided.

"Where are the others?" Bashir asked. "The Ennis and the Nol-Ennis? My tricorder indicates that there are lots of other life signs close by."

"The Ennis and Nol-Ennis are no more," Opaka declared proudly as she picked up her basket and began scooping some of the fallen wheat back into it. "The people on this moon speak to each other with respect now, using each person's individual name." Glancing from Kira to Bashir she smiled. "Some are still asleep and the rest are out hunting… we were preparing a celebration this evening in honor of the lasting peace that we have established here."

"What a beautiful community," Ezri commented as she looked first to the rows of crops and then to the cabins in the distance. "Considering what this place was like when you first arrived, I think you've done a remarkable job."

"Thank you," Opaka said, bowing her head slightly. "But it did not come without cost. The violence continued for quite some time after my arrival. It isn't something that I can ever forget." Fresh red blood was running down the knife blade and spattering onto the ground below, but she held firm – determined that this time there would be a difference… They watched the distant expression that had formed on her scarred face. "The peace did not come without cost," she repeated slowly, remembering...

… How difficult it had been after her friends had just left. Commander Sisko, Dr. Bashir and Kira had just beamed aboard the second runabout and were on their way back through the wormhole to Deep Space Nine. She, on the other hand, was trapped here – quite probably for the rest of her life. The sounds of fighting from outside the cave entrance continued and she cringed from it. She remembered watching Golin Shel-la, leader of the Ennis, as he finished screaming at Sisko's party right before they vanished. Realizing they were leaving whether or not they agreed with him, he hefted his large spear with the curved blade at its tip and rushed to join the battle. He was determined to keep his vow to destroy the Nol-Ennis once and for all.

That had been his way on their home world, too, and the rest of its population had grown sick of it. Not only had they transplanted both sides of the struggle to this small moon but they had put in place the bio-technology to keep them all alive – even without food – indefinitely. Here they were free to fight over and over again, never accomplishing anything as the dead and wounded were almost instantaneously healed and reborn to fight again.

She remembered her last words to Sisko vividly. "My work is here now, Commander. But your pah and mine will cross again." Just moments after she had said that, one of the injured Ennis had staggered back into the cave in front of her, blood running from a large cut on her neck. The Kai had stepped forward and held the dying woman in her arms, then watched the cut heal itself and "magically" restore the injured woman to life.

The endless battles had gone on that way for weeks or months – she hadn't kept track. All she remembered were the endless visits to the side of soldiers who lay dying from cuts or traumatic blows to the skull. They would lay there, suffering, and she would hold their hand or sing to them until they passed away and the bio-technology's instant-heal process would activate and bring them back to life.

It didn't matter whether they were Ennis or Nol-Ennis, she had comforted them all at one time or another. That had really baffled Zlangco at first, who was leader of the Nol-Ennis. He was ravaged by paranoia and had convinced himself and his followers that the newcomers from space had arrived solely to aid the Ennis. Onward they had continued fighting, battle after battle after battle… Opaka had grown used to the sight of brutal and bloody wounds as the fighting continued all through the days and nights.

After the first couple of weeks she had ceased to comfort the dying and instead had focused her efforts on talking directly to the still-living warriors who were busy hacking and stabbing and chopping at each other. She would tell them how stupid they were – what a terrible legacy of violence that they had set. The Kai had also spoken of children and chastised both sides for daring to set such a bad example for the young people back on their home world.

Her patience and persistence were both unmatched. Two people would be standing before her, locked in combat, and she would continue calling them names and telling them that they deserved every second that they lived on this moon. Eternal damnation was too good for them, she added, and in her opinion the people who marooned both sides here should have thought of something even harsher to punish them with.

Some of the evenings she spent hiding in the cave, gathering herself in preparation for what was to come. The angry words she continued to say to the combatants as they clashed were finally working and eventually their intense anger began to redirect itself at her. At first they killed her right away, cutting her throat or stabbing her in the chest. But they grew quickly tired of that idea since the moon's automated systems would simply heal her in time to rise and resume her verbal tongue-lashing of the last few people to survive during each clash.

They developed a new game – the last person standing got to kill "the Nik". That was the name they eventually chose for her… short for peace-nik. They tried to intimidate her back into the cave and… at first it worked. Then she would come boldly walking out and choose the person that she wanted to survive and deliver the death blow, turning their game back around on them by rooting each time for one person to survive over all the rest. They still killed her for awhile – the survivor would walk toward her grinning and hold up a blood-soaked knife or spear and simply execute her on the spot. Then the technology would kick in and heal everyone and they would begin their sick game all over again.

Opaka didn't know how things would ever change – only that they would. She continued watching the battles, waiting for the inevitable victor to walk over and deliver the death blow. One night in particular things just suddenly seemed to fall into place. Zlangco was the last to stand and he glanced over at her as the opponent in front of him fell dead to the ground. His sneer was victory enough, but he savagely looked at the sky and screamed in victory.

"The Nik will receive an honor tonight," he gloated, walking toward her with his bloodied spear. "Usually the leaders are the first ones targeted but tonight I get the honor of shutting your mouth!" He strutted around in front of her while the others groaned, healed, and began sitting up. Leaning over, Zlangco stared directly into her eyes with a malevolence that made her shudder deep down. He turned his back on her and began encouraging the others to watch, telling them how great a warrior he was. That was when Opaka simply knew exactly what it was she had to do.

Rising from her seated position where she had been observing the latest fight, she picked up a knife with a blade dulled from too many battles and rust-colored from dried blood. With no emotion on her face she stepped forward and rammed it into Zlangco's back, piercing his flesh instantly and driving the knife home up to its hilt. She pulled the weapon out again, causing him to cough in surprise from the damage to one of his lungs. He turned to face her, stunned beyond words. The others were also standing or sitting in disbelief and watched the Nol leader stagger toward a tree. Slumping up against it, he sank to his knees and died right there on the spot.

Moments later he was up again, healed once more by the moon's hidden technology. She stepped forward in front of all of them and held up her weapon. Fresh red blood was running down the knife blade and spattering onto the ground below, but she held firm – determined that this time there would be a difference…

"I have devoted my life to peace, compassion and healing – the complete opposite of your philosophy," she said. "And now you have turned me from what I was into one of you. I am now just like you – as brutal a killer as I have accused you over and over of being. So I want you to think carefully and look inside yourselves… for if I can become one of you then is it not at least possible that you can travel in the opposite direction and become like me?"

Tired and worn out from their endless battles they had listened… really listened to her this time. She had talked for hours about the world she came from, how peaceful its philosophy was and how good its people were. The Bajorans had killed too, she pointed out, but for self defense and survival. Eventually some of the people had begun to ask her questions, which she promptly answered. They still fought battles from time to time, but her attack against Zlangco proved to be the turning point that finally moved both sides on a path away from their endless cycle of violence. She took the time to learn all of their names and addressed them as such – in no time at all they were calling her Opaka or Kai – the "Nik" reference completely disappeared.

They didn't need food or water to survive but she began to teach them simple farming techniques. Their first foray was into the woods, where she offered some of them some berries from a line of bushes at the forest's edge – they ate hungrily, barely remembering ever doing it before. Again it took a long time, but her efforts this time focused on dissolving the useless tribe titles of Ennis and Nol-Ennis from the moon's inhabitants and establishing each as a unique living individual. She insisted that they refer to each other using each person's proper name rather than the original group that he or she had originally belonged to. The "Ennis" and "Nol-Ennis" terms also quickly disappeared from their vocabulary.

That was about the time that she taught them to begin choosing some of the plants in the forest whose taste they specifically liked and grow their own food. Shortly after that, she stood alongside them as they began cutting down the trees and helped them build cabins for shelter. The cave where she had hidden for so many lonesome nights shivering in fear became a distant memory. She told them a lot about Bajor and its people, how she had watched her world as it was occupied by cruel and evil people. When they had finally left it had been the most joyous day of her entire life – now equaled only by her successful peace effort between the moon's former violent inhabitants.

They continued to ask her questions, and she discovered that – much to her surprise – she had gone through an amazing transformation also. When she had first landed on the moon, her efforts had been directed at assisting Kira Nerys in transitioning from a violent terrorist back into a normal, law abiding citizen. She had offered good advice to the young woman, true, but had never fully realized just what the Major had to live with until that fateful night when Opaka had picked up a knife and used it to kill. Back where she came from, dead people didn't automatically revive after a few minutes and start walking around again. Actually committing the act of murder had been a revelation for her – and changed her a little forever too…

"Opaka, are you okay?" General Kira asked as she noticed the Kai obviously reliving some very vivid and brutal memories. "Would you like to sit down?"

"No child, I am fine," Opaka insisted as Bashir pressed a hypo-spray against her bare arm. The device hissed as it injected his modified nano-probes into her system. He replaced the hypo in his medical kit and quickly began studying her physiology with his medical tricorder.

"The bio-technology is being neutralized. She'll be able to leave the moon's surface within half an hour," Julian said optimistically. He felt Ezri squeeze his shoulder to comfort him and he smiled at the battle-worn Kai. "Once we get you back to the station we can use our medical equipment to get rid of most of your scar tissue. We'll have you looking and feeling like your old self in no time."

"How about the others?" Kira asked. "We have the capability to cure them too. The Defiant has enough room for everyone. We can take them off of this moon and relocate them somewhere else… on any available planet that they choose."

"Doctor, please neutralize the bio-technology in their systems so that they can live out the remainder of a normal life. But their decision will be to stay," Opaka predicted. "They have worked long and hard to make this place a home instead of a war zone. I would never have believed it when I first stayed behind, but my work here is finally done. This is where they belong now – it is their home."

"Thanks to you," Kira said, hugging the Kai again. "Bajor will rejoice at your return."

"They had better," Kai Opaka decided, a wisp of a smile forming on her lips. "I have been gone for a long time, after all."