"Welcome aboard the Horatio Doctor Crusher"
"Thank you but both Captain Picard and I are confused as to why I'm needed"
"If you'll follow me you'll find out shortly"
They go to sickbay and Beverly is then lead further into the secure area where she sees Odo for the first time in over three years. She immediately brings out her own equipment and does her own checks, but once that was done she puts her equipment down and hugs him
"We heard that you were dead...how is this possible?"
"I'm afraid that both of you are unable to hear the reasons why, not even Captain Ferguson is allowed to know as far as I'm aware"
"I understand, for now though I think it best to get you back to the Enterprise, Data's still on DS9 but his rotation is due to end soon"
"I think we should go to the Bridge of this vessel first and inform Captain Picard of my status, Captain Ferguson can deal with informing Starfleet Command"
"Oh man...we have to deal with a lot of paperwork to get you declared alive once more"
"I'd prefer to do that on the Enterprise if at all possible"
"Of course Odo, of course, but for now like you said we should inform the Enterprise from the Horatio so that we don't shock anyone too severely...though I have no clue how we're going to handle Data"
"We'll figure that out later then, for now I believe I'm allowed to leave with you confirming it's me"
"Yes you are Odo, but you have to be escorted by both Doctor Crusher and I until the official announcement is made, and that has to be by you and the Captain and I guess that means that announcement will be on the Bridge"
"Understood"
The three head to the nearest turbolift and then the CMO of the Horatio speaks
"Bridge"
A minute later and the group is on the bridge, where the Captain and Commander turn when they hear the turbolift doors open
"Ah, Doctor Crusher, Doctor Pallard, sir I assume you have a reason for coming onto the bridge?"
"Yes sir, contact the Enterprise please"
"Of course"
The Enterprise is immediately contacted and the ship also immediately answers the hail, Odo does his best to keep out of sight for the moment knowing that it was for the best
"Yes Captain Ferguson, what is it"
"Your CMO is here on the bridge with important information for you"
"Yes Doctor Crusher what is it?"
"Captain Picard the Horatio had a very good reason to call us, they have in fact picked up a missing crew member of ours and wanted to return them as soon as possible"
"But we have no missing crewman Doctor Crusher, you know that, we haven't had one missing since well...I believe you know what I'm talking about"
"That turns out not to be the case Captain, the only thing left I have to say is that your eyes aren't playing tricks on you sir"
"Doctor Crusher what..."
Picard stops talking mid sentence because the person off screen that she had nodded to had come into view and he and the entire bridge crew was shocked into silence, pure and complete silence at what they were seeing
"Hello Captain, I would like to request permission to come aboard and serve under you once more after a long time away from my duties"
"Odo...but how?"
"I'm afraid you all thought I was dead for three years for reasons that only you are cleared for Captain as far as I'm aware of"
"I see, do those unstated reasons have anything to do with that explosion in your office three years ago?"
"Yes sir, I will explain more to you in private but for now I believe Starfleet Command, and more importantly DS9 and Lt. Commander Data need to know of my survival"
"Indeed they do, Picard to transporter room"
"Transporter room here go ahead sir"
"Lock on to Doctor Crusher's signal and two to beam directly to the Bridge"
"Aye sir, locked on"
Odo goes next to where Doctor Crusher was and Picard gives Odo a nod saying that he had permission to speak up to the Captain of the Horatio before being beamed back to the Enterprise
"Thank you Captain for rescuing me, and for keeping my presence here a secret, and Doctor Pallard thank you for what treatment you were able to give me while I was in your sickbay"
"Of course Odo, we're glad that you're alive, Captain Picard can I have the honor of telling Command while you tell DS9 yourself?"
"Of course Captain Ferguson, transporter room, energize"
And so a minute later Odo was on the Enterprise for the first time in three years
"Welcome back Odo"
"It's good to be back sir, are you contacting DS9 now?"
"No, first I need to debrief you privately regarding your...apparent death three years ago"
"Understood sir"
And so the two go to Picard's ready room and Picard sits behind his desk since it was an official report Odo was going to be giving and Odo was standing at attention knowing that his usual method of giving a report wasn't going to cut it
"So...Section 31"
"Indeed Captain"
"Okay, tell me how they managed to make us think that you were dead and hide you where the Horatio found you for three years...if you were there the entire time that is"
"I was as far as I'm aware of, as for what happened that day..."
And so for over an hour Odo explained how on the day his office had been bombed he had been beamed away right as the explosion went off, however Section 31 had managed to leave enough of him behind to be identified as him, he was then kept in his gelatinous state for the entire journey where he was then tortured for three years about his activity against them and how he had survived the initial attack alongside Data, but Odo never broke, they had also constantly tortured him by either keeping him in solid form and watching him flake into pieces, they burned him while in solid form or a combination of both. He had no sense of time but he estimated that they had finally left him to die no more than a month before the Horatio found him, but they had kept the device that kept Odo in solid form on, though at a lower level than Garak had to prolong his torture one last time hoping he would die in solid form eventually
"Well, this will have to be kept secret until we can take down Section 31, in the meantime I have an officer who now has an emotion chip that hasn't been fully activated because of your death but it's still obvious that he's mourning your loss and has been for three years, Sisko and I deliberately try not to work him on the anniversary of your loss, the day you were discovered by Mora Pol to be sentient, and the day you two were returned to us after the initial belief of your loss, we also pull him off duty if it's obvious that your loss has affected his work too much. I actually had to put him on light duty for a month after his return to the ship because he suddenly crashed from an unknown being attacking the ship, which activated his dream program and he felt your loss keenly for that long, Sisko took him off duty for a solid week after your loss as well before Data became too insistent for him, though he made sure that Ezri Dax cleared Data for duty first by making that a mandatory condition of his return to work on even light duty"
"Sorry about that Captain"
"Not your fault, I blame Section 31 entirely, by the way you should know that the pattern of one step forward two steps back has continued, Data now stores everything regarding his research internally, the communication from your shared quarters on the Enterprise is as secure as mine so that Data can continue coordinating with Doctor Bashir per your choice to bring him in and no solo searches without prior knowledge of either of us and even those searches tend to have a time limit"
The two leave his ready room and then Picard speaks up
"Hail Deep Space Nine, Odo, it's like the Horatio, you stay out of sight until I signal for you"
"Understood sir"
The hail is answered immediately and Data is seen in Ops
"Captain Sisko I know this is sudden but I needed to contact you regarding a time sensitive matter"
"Shall I take it in my office?"
"No, this concerns the entire command crew, Mr. Worf, hold Data"
"Captain I assure you that..."
"Sorry Data, but you need to be held for this, and where's Doctor Bashir by the way?"
"In surgery"
"Right, he'll have to find out later, Mr. Worf..."
Worf goes over and holds Data as ordered and then Picard nods to off screen and it turns out to be a good thing that Worf was holding Data because otherwise he would have gone down hard in shock at seeing Odo, the rest of Ops wasn't fairing much better, but they had been dealing with their emotions all their lives as well and as such were better off than Data who was basically unconscious in Worf's arms having his chip currently activated
"Aaaannnnd...we've just temporarily lost Data to emotional shock, Odo, how are you alive?"
"Captain Picard will transmit that information securely Captain Sisko, needless to say that my survival was due to...unique and classified circumstances"
"Right, that situation, understood, I'll let Doctor Bashir know personally about your survival and the circumstances surrounding it, in the meantime Picard you and I need to discuss changing the rotation schedule slightly even though the three months are almost over"
"I know, your office Sisko, this is not something to be discussed in open lines, meanwhile someone find a way to wake Data up, he might be needed"
Ultimately it was decided that it was best for everyone that the rotation schedule originally conceived and followed even after Odo's apparent death would be maintained, plus it gave the station three months to get used to the fact that their security chief was in fact alive for classified reasons without him being constantly looked twice at in disbelief. Besides that Data needed the stability of routine especially with the shock of Odo alive, neither Captain knew it but every lead regarding Section 31 had a personal secondary mission in trying to find out if it had been them that had caused Odo's apparent death and if so Data wanted to find and bring home his remains, Odo being alive meant that he would slowly but surely completely activate his emotion chip, and that meant him being on the Enterprise with the crew that knew him the best due to how long he had served aboard that ship and understood him the best, because the DS9 crew knew him pretty well after three years but only Worf and to a certain extent O'Brien knew him the best and even then O'Brien struggled at times understanding Data, as did Worf once the emotion chip came into play, but they were better off than the rest of DS9. After agreeing that Data would continue the rotation schedule Sisko left the office and Data was awake once more and working besides Kira once more