Fools Rush In by Teal
Chapter Eighteen
Ezri sauntered up the hallway, visiting passing crew as she went. Despite all the strange events lately, she was in a fairly good mood. After finishing up with her last counseling patient she was looking forward to seeing Jadzia. She wanted to suggest that they spend some time together. Ezri was secretly hoping that Jadzia could lend some insight on her being a host; she had never been trained, and longed for someone to talk with about it.
As she turned the corner though, those thoughts were banished by the sight before her: two station security guards sprawled out, unconscious, just outside Jadzia's quarters. She rushed up, and after checking for life signs paged the medical team to the hallway. Then she borrowed a phaser from one of the injured men and cautiously entered Jadzia's quarters. The room was a shambles, books and clothing strewn all about. She turned the corner into the bedroom, stepping past a large pool of vomit on the floor.
Ezri's heart raced as she peered carefully into the bathroom. Nothing. She was gone.
"Ezri to Kira."
"Kira here." Came the reply over Ezri's com badge.
"Jadzia's quarters are a mess, and she's gone. The guards look like they were caught unawares."
"We'll find her, Kira out."
Ezri, scanning the chaos around her, hoped that it would be sooner than later.
Jadzia sat against the Cardassian ship's wall, her head hanging low in defeat. At first she had felt devastated, being almost back from where she had begun, in a Cardassian holding cell, but now all she could think of was "why?". Why had she run? And why did she run back into the hands of her captors? She wanted to be angry, to fight, but she only felt like quitting. She was so deep in self-punishment, it took several minutes to realized that someone was talking to her.
Jadzia looked up. Gul Jorath. She shivered. Of course it would be. Still, she would swear she'd never seen him before.
"What?" She asked him, her voice barely a whisper.
"I said I was glad you chose to return to us. I know now that we can work together. It had to be your choice." He smiled carefully down at her. She frowned up at him. My choice? She thought. That's a funny use of the word.
"How did you do this to me?"
He shook his head. "We can't make you do anything you don't want to do, Jadzia. You told us that many times, remember?" The very sincere look on his face slowly dissolved into undisguised pleasure and then the sound of laughter bellowed forth from his mouth, echoing off the metal chamber walls, reverberating like hundreds of tiny little fists hitting her ear drums. He kept grinning as he squatted down to her level, and met her eyes. Those eyes that had forced on her so much fear and torment looked dead to her now, bringing only contempt.
"You aren't the first, my dear. You won't be the last. And I can tell you from past experience, you'd do better not to fight."
"You do this often then?" She tried to sound sarcastic, but her voice was ragged with the anger she was trying to control.
"Half the war with the Bajorians was spent on researching humanoid behavior. We couldn't do research on our own people, that wouldn't be ethical. No, they all thought it was about land and property, but it was about control. It was absolute control over another life form, and therefore absolute power. It wasn't genocide, it only appeared that way. We Cardassians are not cruel. We are simply a curious people, a people trying their best to survive in a hostile age." He shrugged innocently and stood.
"You started a war so that you could have test subjects?" She asked unbelievingly.
"Now, now." He corrected her, "Research. Wars have begun over less."
"But it's over now, you lost, and your people have begun to rebuild and find their purpose again. Why risk another war you won't win?"
He gazed thoughtfully down at her, the expression on his face made her want to crawl over to the farthest corner. "When we arrive back at Pelina One, I will expect your complete cooperation. This time, no more secrets. We have brothers in another time who are in need of our help. I intend to be the one to give it to them. Cardassia will be the victor this time."
She watched him walk out of the prison bay, shaking her head in amazement. He was insane. He had to be, didn't he? She wouldn't let him take control. She'd never give up any information. Everyone she cared about in her own time, not to mention the people she knew in this one, would be obliterated by a double Cardassian army. Especially one headed by lunatics. They wouldn't have a chance. But, she thought, looking around at her tiny cell, how would ever she escape from here?