"So Constable, do you want to do the honors since your more familiar with him or should I?"

"I think it should be you Lt. Ferguson, after all he's getting used to me and my ways, besides according to your records you're still pretty new to security after having transferred from Engineering for personal reasons"

"Practice"

"Exactly, with competent backup if you need it"

"Thank you, so...where would our prime suspect be?"

"At his bar"

"Shall we then?"

"After you"

"Quick question what is possibly the best way to get his attention?"

"Shouting his name seems to work"

"Then that's what I'll do when I get there"

The two officers go in and the younger Lt. is the one who starts things off

"QUARK!"

Quark turns and senses that he's in trouble, though he legitimately doesn't know for what this time around

"Uh...hi Odo...um who's this nice officer?"

"The name's Lt. Ferguson, now then come with us we have to talk"

"Sure...just...just let me get someone behind the bar first"

Two hours later and Quark was insisting that he hadn't known about the explosives and a check of the cameras proved that he was telling the truth

"Alright Quark you're free to go, though I do have a question first, do you recognize the person who tampered with your cases when they got here?"

"I'm afraid not, there's been no customers that look like that that I can remember and I'm trying to do better about my illegal activities if only because I'm realizing better what you and the Major...or Colonel I guess has been trying to tell me on occasion, there might also have been a private discussion between me and Captain Sisko shortly after his return after hours"

"Fine, now go"

Once Quark had left the security office Odo and Lt. Ferguson looked at each other and then the Lt. is the first one to speak

"Now what?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but it looks like we have a solid and good lead for the explosives"

"And it's not your usual suspect either, I've read reports and know your history with him"

"Indeed, I guess we check where his supplies came in for the next set of clues and also pass around the picture to any and all of our informants and of course our commanding officers"

"Actually all security officers across the fleet should know just in case they managed to get off the station already and are already traveling to another location"

"Very well, you take care of that I'll update Sisko"

"I'll meet you in Ops then, this shouldn't take too long"

Five minutes later and Lt. Ferguson was also in Ops letting both Sisko and Odo know that the image had been sent across the fleet and that all that was left was a waiting game to see if anyone had seen the suspect after the explosives had nearly gone off

"I've sent off the picture, all that's left is the waiting that generally happens in situations like this"

"Hopefully though it won't take too long to get any sort of lead"

"Agreed, in the meantime I think I'll get back to the Promenade"

"Understood Odo...and Odo..."

Odo stops before leaving the office completely like he was starting to

"The Enterprise is due back tomorrow, Captain Picard and I need to talk to you when they arrive about an idea that we have and as such I need you here at Ops until after the meeting"

"Understood sir"

"Well I won't keep you any longer then since like you said you're needed on the Promenade, though I do find it interesting that Quark isn't involved, at least not intentionally"

"This time at least"

"In any case we all have work to do, don't forget Ops for tomorrow"

"Yes sir"

"Then dismissed Odo, you on the other hand Lt. Ferguson are needed here on Ops for a little bit longer"

"Understood sir"

Once Odo left Sisko got straight down to business

"How have things been going Lt. Ferguson with your career change?"

"Pretty good, Odo has been letting me take the occasional lead and even when he doesn't I still get plenty of experience in other ways with more experienced officers"

"That's good to hear"

"I actually led the questioning of Quark and the lead in to his being in the security office"

"Well in any case I want you in Ops because whenever Odo is here we discuss possible security issues regarding ships on occasion and with you going to primarily serve on a ship you need experience in such matters"

"Understood sir"

The next day Odo was in Ops waiting for the Enterprise having dealt with a different kind of Quark trouble after getting back to the Promenade because while Quark wasn't involved in any illegal activity unfortunately people weren't happy regarding the Dabo game this time around and started a ruckus

"So I heard that there was a disturbance at Quark's last night"

"Not his fault, apparently there were people unhappy about how Dabo works and a fight broke out"

"Understood, the Enterprise should be here soon and we'll go from after the discussion that we need to have because it involves you"

"I understand sir"

It turned out that the Enterprise would be three hours late, but that was because they answered an emergency call on the way to DS9 along with other ships and with the amount of ships answering things were settled relatively quickly in that the colony that was in trouble was getting the help it needed and those that absolutely needed relocated for various reasons were properly transferred to the ships going to their new destinations and the Enterprise just happened to get two Bajorans who were actually only at the colony for trading reasons. Those two assured the colony that they would return once things were resettled but in the meantime they knew that they needed to go home

"Captain Picard welcome aboard DS9"

"Thank you Captain Sisko, shall we then?"

"Yes, Odo..."

"Yes sir"

And so the three go into the office and that's when Odo finally discovers that Sisko and Picard were discussing rotating certain crew members between DS9 and the Enterprise until the whole situation was resolved, they were also thinking that maybe Odo and Data would like to work together once more until the situation was resolved

"Have you asked Lt. Commander Data about that?"

"Not directly yet, but that was because we wanted to run this idea by you first considering how Captain Sisko has mentioned before that you're...protective of this station"

"Captain Picard I think you would be as protective as I am if you had been in charge of station security since the Occupation like I was"

"That...actually makes sense hearing it in those terms"

"If Lt. Commander Data and the security officer on the ship agrees than I will also agree to working with him again and rotating between the two stations, I can trust Worf to handle the station in my absence since while he's in command red as you call it I know that he used to be security for the Enterprise"

"Actually there's a different officer I have in mind for station security, but you trust them explicitly since you hand picked them during the war with your people"

"I thought she had been transferred"

"She had been, but she requested to be transferred back to DS9 recently and I accepted, she actually came back on the Enterprise and is simply waiting to hear from me that she's welcome aboard once more"

"Understood, by the way were you going to do the transfer anyways?"

"In an indirect way, we want to rotate between the two stations still but we also want the two people who actually went through that whole incident together because of the fact that the Enterprise is on the move frequently while DS9 is stationary"

"Different advantages"

"Exactly"

"Very well, like I said if Lt. Commander Data agrees than I agree to be on the Enterprise part of the time and then we're both on the station part of the time, you two can discuss how long that time period will be by yourselves, I have to check on a certain Ferengi, make sure he's staying in line"

With that Odo leaves Ops and does his usual routine on the Promenade and does also take care of a few disturbances as well while in Ops Sisko and Picard were discussing service length eventually agreeing on every three terran months as the rotation if Data agreed with them as Odo had, the reason both Captains had decided not to make it mandatory wasn't just because Odo wasn't technically part of Starfleet but because they also knew that there was the chance that one or the other, or possibly both would decide that to maximize the advantage that they had it was best if they were separated and working different angles of attack against the enemy

"Though I do wonder if Odo will be able to handle every three months considering how long he's been stationed here"

"I was going to go for every six months however...I don't think my crew could handle Data being away for so long, especially after recent events that both he and your Mr. Odo were involved in"

"Thus the every three months which translates to twice a year"

"Exactly"

"Well then I will discuss these plans with Data and go from there, once I have my answer I'll let you know and you can inform Odo yourself"

"How long will you be here in either case?"

"At least two days for proper maintenance check and minor repairs"

"Understood, you can borrow O'Brien if you'd like"

"That's not necessary but thanks for the offer"

As it turned out Data would have been called excited at hearing that Odo was willing to work with him again on the Enterprise if he'd had emotions. And even though he couldn't express any emotions he did mention that he was looking forward to working with Odo again to stop the ultimate threat to the Federation

"Now then Data you do understand that this agreement means that you'll be transferring between DS9 and the Enterprise on the schedule that Captain Sisko and I agree upon right?"

"Of course sir, as a Starfleet officer I am required to obey all orders given to me by my superiors, even though as you have said this assignment is an optional assignment I find that I...have missed working alongside Odo and I understand that he would be reluctant to be away from the station for long periods of time and as such you and Captain Sisko have devised the best schedule for both crews"

"Very well, I'll contact Sisko and we'll meet at Ops at a time he agrees upon before we leave"

"Understood sir"

The next day at noon Data and Odo were in Sisko's office waiting for their respective Captain's who were late to the meeting due to a medical issue involving members from both DS9 and the Enterprise and they had been warned beforehand and so simply waited and while they had kept in contact with one another since the separation they also decided to update each other on things not said over subspace, as a means of regaining a sort of cohesion though they also knew that they were out of sync with each other due to how long it had been and that only missions would bring them back into sync