"They needed us early, Kail," she explained. "In order to still be able to start the asteroid survey of the Denorius belt on time, they need us all to come onto Deep Space Nine as soon as possible."
"We're heading out in to space," Kail commented, growing worried. "What about me?"
"Yes, Kelsee, what about Kail?" Connie asked. "Why aren't we taking him home first?"
"There's an ion-plasma storm heading this way," the pilot volunteered. "We'll be lucky if we make it to DS9 without too much turbulence. We wouldn't make it if we had to go back to drop him off. We'd have had to wait at least a week for it to go away."
"What will I do on Deep Space Nine?" Kail asked worriedly. "Is that how long I'll have to stay there? A week?"
"Don't worry, Kail," Kelsee reassured him. "The pilot will arrange for your temporary quarters once we get there. As soon as the storm passes, you'll have a booking on the next passage back to Bajor, compliments of Starfleet."
"That means we can have more time to spend together," Connie whispered into his ear. Kail smiled at her comment, even though he didn't particularly like the idea of leaving Bajor at all. The Federation wasn't stupid; being so close to the wormhole meant that they would probably do blood testing of ships' passengers for Changeling infiltrators. What if he were caught?
"What's wrong?" Connie asked. She had noticed how his smile had suddenly faded.
"I just don't like the idea of leaving Bajor so suddenly," he answered.
"Why? It'll only be for a few days, a week at most. You'll be able to catch the first ship going back to Bajor as soon as the storm passes."
"No, it's not that..."
"Then what? Why don't you want to leave Bajor?"
"Well, there's going to be so many different aliens there... And what am I supposed to do there, anyway? I'll be so bored..."
"You're just making up excuses," she said, laughing away his worries. "I think you're afraid because this is such a new experience for you. Everyone who comes to DS9 is civilized enough that they're not going to bother you. If you get bored, you can always go to a holosuite, or, maybe, you are probably good enough with machines that you could help out Chief O'Brien if you wanted. I'm sure he'd be more than willing to give you a job. There's a lot you can do to pass the time on Deep Space Nine. I'm hoping that I'll be able to pass a good deal of that time with you, too."
Her words brought another smile back to his face, and he took her hand in his. "I suppose you're right."
Connie snuggled up against him once again, and Kail held her for half an hour until the shuttlecraft started shaking. They rose to look out the view port and Kail almost gasped at what he saw. He'd never been in space before, so long as he remembered anyway, so it was somewhat startling to see the space station Deep Space Nine looming closer with every passing second. But even more startling were the clouds of energy they were passing through to get there. The clouds spewed bolts of energy every so often, and every once in a while a bolt would lance out toward the craft, creating turbulence.
"Hang on, we're almost there," the pilot called out to them.
The shuttle docked on the outer docking ring of the station, and after its shields were reactivated, the turbulence ceased. The hatch to the shuttle lifted, and the inner airlock rolled aside like a huge gear to reveal the inside of the stark, Cardassian gray corridors where a small compliment of Starfleet officers were waiting for them. There were two of them, both human, wearing medical blue uniforms and holding small portable medical kits.
"Julian!" Kelsee exclaimed excitedly. "I wasn't expecting such a gracious welcome."
"Actually, it's been quite busy in the infirmary lately, and under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have had time to come and greet you," Julian explained. "I'm here on business. Starfleet requires us to do random blood testing in most incoming ships, especially those whose origins of flight are within the general area near the wormhole."
Kail froze.
"So you have to take some of our blood?" Connie asked. "What for?"
"We'll only need samples from a couple of you," Julian assured her. "Changelings have been impersonating key Federation personnel more frequently since the beginning of the war and random blood testing is the only way to find them."
Julian's assistant proceeded to retrieve a sample from the pilot and Julian looked directly at Kail, as if to evaluate him. Kail momentarily forgot to simulate breathing as the doctor reached for his instrument to take a blood sample with, and then he breathed an inward sigh of relief when Julian pressed it against Kelsee's arm instead of his.
That was close, Kail thought. What if he'd been caught? What would he have done then? Kail had to leave as soon as possible. There was no way he could avoid the blood tests forever.
The doctor and his assistant finished inspecting the samples and turned to leave. "Perhaps I can buy you and your friends a drink later on tonight in Quark's, Kelsee?" Julian asked.
"I'm sorry, Julian," Connie apologized and interlocked her arm within Kail's. "I've already got plans to spend the evening with Kail."
"Oh," he responded, clearly disappointed, but he didn't let it get to him too much. "Well, perhaps some other time then?"
"Sure thing," Connie assured him as he turned to follow his assistant back to the Infirmary on the Promenade.
Kelsee gave her one of those 'What are you crazy?' looks and whispered, "I don't know how you turned him down! He's so cute!"
"Well why don't you go after him then?" Connie whispered back.
"I think I will!" Kelsee said smiling, then quickly strode off after the doctor to catch up with him down the corridor. The pilot, seeing no need to stick around, returned to do maintenance on the shuttle, leaving Connie and Kail alone in the corridor next to the airlock.
The doctor couldn't have been much younger than Kail himself, but his charm, boyish face, and slight build made him seem younger and the perfect match for Kelsee. He was tall as well as quite skinny, but Kail was still a good fourteen centimeters taller, which must have seemed somewhat imposing. Perhaps that's why Julian decided to test Kelsee instead.
"So, who's he?" Kail asked.
"Who, Julian?" asked Connie. "He's the Chief Medical Officer of Deep Space Nine. I accidentally broke my arm playing Parisi Squares in one of the holosuites just before I went to Bajor with Kelsee and he managed to patch me up nicely. He asked to buy me a drink afterwards and I said yes."
"I've heard that Parisi Squares can be dangerous," Kail commented and followed Connie as she started walking toward the habitat ring.
"Yes, it can be, but so can life," Connie explained with a smile.
"Why, Connie," he teased. "I never knew you were such a thrill-seeker."
She laughed at his comment. "There's a lot you don't know about me."
"I imagine there's even more you don't know about me," Kail admitted.
"What makes you think there's anything about you that I don't know?" Connie asked, seeming perplexed.
Kail's smile turned to a frown as they stopped in front of his assigned quarters. "Because if you knew about... all of it... I doubt you would still like me as much as you do now."
"What makes you say that?" she said, taking his hand in hers. "I think I'm falling in love with you, Kail, and it's not because of your family, wealth or anything else like that. I'm falling for you because you're you, the nicest, most caring man I've ever met."
"But, if you only knew..."
"How do you know I don't already know?" she confronted him. "I did some asking around about you, you know. I must've talked to almost all the people in the village and I haven't found anything at all that would make me change my mind about you."
"No one else in the village knows about some of my... predicaments," Kail said, frowning again. "No one knows, and I'm afraid to tell you, but I also don't want to hurt you."
"Then don't, if you're that afraid," she reassured him. "I have faith in you. I trust you."
"So, what do we do now?" Kail asked, changing the subject.
"I have to report to Captain Sisko soon, so why don't you get settled into your quarters and I'll show you around the station in a few hours?"
"All right," Kail agreed. "I thought maybe I'd look around the promenade for a while, anyway."
"Good," Connie said. "I'd better go. I'll be back to meet you later."
"See you then," Kail said as she disappeared around the bend in the corridor.
