"It worked, Bashir you check on Odo while I check on Data and we'll go from there"

"Once they're awake I'm making them both go through a mandatory check with me, Lt. Commander Data may technically outrank me but I'm the counselor on this station and as such in this instance I outrank him"

"What about Odo?"

"Oh...he knows what will happen if he doesn't attend a meeting with me"

"Dax?"

"Sorry Ben, but that's between him and me"

"Understood, Bashir how do things look?"

"Right now I don't know, these readings are all over the place, even worse than when he got that disease that almost killed the Founders, and those readings were worse than the readings I got when the Founders almost killed him to bring him to judgment"

"Just...do your best, I'm going to check on Lt. Commander Data, give me an update when you can alright?"

"I will, in fact I may be giving you hourly updates I just don't know yet"

He then goes over to where Data was lying

"How's Lt. Commander Data, Lt.?"

(Sighs) "I think he'll be fine in a few moments, his readings for the most part are already stabilized in fact if I'm reading this right, he should..."

Suddenly Data sits up, blinks and then turns to Sisko

"Captain Sisko, now that I am able to I am formally requesting permission to come aboard this station and I apologize for neglecting to do so earlier as is regulation"

"Permission granted Lt. Commander Data, and you're forgiven for not following regulation earlier considering the circumstances you found yourself in"

"If I may inquire, how is Constable Odo?"

"Worse off than you right now, but he is alive so I'll take that"

"In that case I will be the first to give you a full report regarding what has happened to us and explain any and all of our cryptic messages that you didn't understand"

"Very well, by the way Lt. Ezri Dax has stated that you're to have a mandatory counseling session with her, most likely before you return to duty"

"Where are her quarters so that I may schedule said meeting?"

"Actually she's still here if you wish to speak with her privately for a few moments"

"That would be best"

And so Ezri and Data agreed that the next day they would have that mandatory session, this was primarily because Ezri insisted that Data run a systems wide diagnostic on himself to make sure that any and all repairs had been done correctly and she remembered from his files that those diagnostics could take several hours. It turned out that there were a few minor repairs that hadn't been done correctly but he also knew that those repairs could wait until he was back on the Enterprise and so the next day at the agreed time he went to Ezri's quarters

"Well, I know that you would have counseling on the Enterprise, but I wanted to get a head start on dealing with everything you've been through since that mission, I know that you don't have emotions like most of the others but I would still like you to talk through things regarding how you may have helped Odo in this situation and what your thought processes were while you were unable to do anything regarding communicating your situation of being alive"

And so for the next three hours Data unleashes what had happened to Ezri in a slightly detached way but it let Ezri realize that while Data didn't feel emotions he did understand them after years of observation, he also had asked her to record the session so as to have a means of having his report sent in if he was for whatever reason unable to after said session, which it turned out to be the case due to a hidden chip in his positronic matrix

(Sighs) "OK that was unexpected Dax to sickbay"

"Sickbay here go ahead"

"Two questions, one is Odo awake and two is Lt. Fawn still on the station?"

"No to your first question and yes to your second, I believe I saw him at Quarks only a few minutes ago"

"Thanks, Dax to Lt. Fawn"

"Fawn here go ahead"

"Could you come to my quarters? I think you missed something when you and Lt. Commander Data did the system checks"

"I'm on my way"

When he gets to her quarters he sees Data unconscious on the floor and sighs

"Right, what was missed?"

"I have no idea, however I know for a fact that until the Enterprise gets here you're the closest we have to an expert"

"Right, I'll see what I can do to help him"

Ultimately there wasn't much that Fawn could do but Data eventually woke up on his own in sickbay, where Odo was still in his gelatinous state

"Doctor Bashir, how is Odo?"

"No change, and the same can be said for you as well, there are anomalous readings that I can't get a handle on, fortunately Odo isn't dying right now, but it could get that ways if we don't get things resolved soon"

"I see, in the meantime I must report something to Captain Sisko that I was initially unaware of"

"Understood"

"Doctor Bashir, you also have a right to know, it involves a group called Section 31"

(Growls) "them, I know that group well enough, I will get started once you tell me what you know"

"Captain Sisko first for safety reasons"

"Understood"

And so Data explains to Sisko that Section 31 was involved in their accident in that they had managed to sabotage the transporter on the Melbourne and had also managed to inject Odo and implant Data with a specific scrambler system that would react to any kind of explosion with any kind of system to make it appear that they had been lost in said explosion as long as it was big enough and they were close enough if a transporter wasn't in use and they had planned such an explosion on the Melbourne before the rescue mission for the Klingon vessel

"Can you help Odo then?"

"I believe I can help Doctor Bashir synthesize an antidote, however it may take several days"

"I don't care, Bashir is nearing his limits right now and could use the help of someone who knows what was done to Odo"

"Understood sir, if the Enterprise arrives while we are still working on the cure can you let them know that I am at the sickbay?"

"I will indeed let them know, dismissed Lt. Commander Data"

And so the next week was spent with Bashir and Data pouring over every last bit of information that Data finally remembered in regards to what had happened to the two of them, and while they themselves didn't quite come up with the solution, that was only because they were missing the last piece of information that they needed that only Doctor Crusher on the Enterprise had, once that information was inserted the three of them quickly found a cure that would allow Odo to return to a solid form

"Thank you Doctors, Data, it was getting a little tiring being able to hear everything but not able to do anything about it, I'll be giving Sisko my report in the morning after I also have my mandatory meeting with Lt. Dax"

"In the meantime we have to deal with Section 31"

"Doctor Bashir, you and I both know how difficult that would be"

"I know Odo, but they could have killed the two of you, as it is we did think you were dead for three months and have been spending almost as long if not a little bit longer trying to get you back, I don't know if Starfleet Command knows that the two of you are alive or not but in either case Section 31 has to pay"

"That may be the case, but now is not the time, maybe one day but that day may be far off when we're dead"

"Understood Odo, in the meantime like you said Ezri wants to see you before clearing you for duty again and I also want to see you back here tomorrow at the earliest before I clear you for duty once more...I mean it Odo, you've been cloaked for an extremely long time and then subjected to Anyon emissions and then the solution to finally bring you guys back to us, you've been in your gelatinous state since being brought back, by the way you guys saved Earth with your cryptic message, it turned out that Captain Picard figured out what you were trying to tell me, and Lt. Commander Data has also already explained all of your other cryptic messages except the first one since we figured that one out ourselves"

"That's...good to hear Doctor, now then I have an appointment to schedule and then I also have to let Captain Sisko know a few things that Lt. Commander Data was unaware of only because I didn't tell him about it"

"Odo..."

"I'm sorry Doctor, but even though I am not medically cleared Captain Sisko has to hear this immediately, it may affect the safety of this station or even the Federation if this isn't handled correctly and as quickly as is possible"

"Understood, but Ezri and I will both be at that meeting, Bashir to Dax"

"Dax here go ahead"

"Meet Odo and I in Ops, he apparently needs to tell Captain Sisko something immediately even though he has not been medically cleared for duty yet"

"I'm on my way"

Once at Sisko's office they could see that he was not happy about Odo being up and about acting like he was reporting for duty

"Odo"

"I'm sorry sir, but there's something that Lt. Commander Data didn't report that you need to know"

"Why would he keep something a secret"

"That's because he is actually unaware of potential danger, has he informed you of the brief period we were split up?"

"Yes, he said that you two were separated for three weeks during the initial three month period of being cloaked"

"That was not intentional at all, unfortunately nevertheless we still got separated. During that time I learned of potential dissident plans but I couldn't explain that to anyone even after we gained the ability to send brief messages, from what I remember any actions that were to be taken against either this very station or the Federation were to begin within this time period, the warning we gave you before was of a different trouble, however..."

"Maybe if you describe the problem a bit more we can see what has happened in the Federation that might look like the trouble you're trying to warn us about"

And so Odo explains that a group of dissidents were planning to bomb a location during a major meeting that he was unsure was being held at, considering how many important meetings were being held now at DS9 he knew that the station was at risk