Chapter Three: Sticky Situation

Odo slowly retook his solid form as he left the comforting warmth of his bucket. He hated the process. While he was in his liquid state he felt warm and carefree, and as he glanced over his quarters he remembered why. His desk, which took up one entire corner of his dark and cold room, was dominated by stacks of pads, all waiting for his eyes. As he slowly made his way across the room he stopped at the replicator. "Soda water," he stated, grabbing the clear glass and setting it on his desk as he took hold of the first pad. The low fizzing sound relaxed him, and watching the bubbles was somehow enjoyable, though he had yet to figure out why.

When Odo had first crashed on the recently conquered planet of Bajor, he had been taken and studied by Section 31. He remembered those days only foggily; a time of discovery through pain. He had been poked, jabbed and shocked hundreds of times as his shapeshifting abilities evolved. It had taken him over a decade to escape that terrible lab, and he still had a twitch in his right eye from his 'training.'

His rise to a full Agent had been long and hard, but Odo didn't care. His own people, shapeshifters who called themselves the Founders, had sent him out into space to gather intelligence on other races so they could conquer them. Many other Agents resented him because he was an alien, but with his metamorphic skills it was nearly impossible to tell. His black hair, light skin and deep green eyes made him look nearly human. It was his ears which were the most obvious flaw. Even after all these years he hadn't perfected them.

As he slowly worked his way through his electronic paperwork, Odo ran his fingers over the Section 31 identity badge on his chest. The only thing which made it different than any other were the letters J.B. microlasered onto the middle of the metallic device. It had been given to him by one of the few Section personnel he considered friends. Without that friend, Odo mused, he would likely have been dead by this point.

Just as he was digesting his tenth status report his door chimed. "Enter," he called. When the door opened Odo looked up in surprise. "Director Sloane, what a pleasant surprise."

The head of Section 31 smiled as he took the empty seat before Odo's desk, sending up a small cloud of dust.

"I'm sorry about that," Odo apologized. "I must remember to dust that once in a while. I get few visitors as I'm sure you know."

"It's fine," Sloane replied. Spying the drink on Odo's desk he grinned. "Still watching the bubbles? I've never understood why you enjoy that so much."

"Neither have I sir," Odo replied. "Now, I doubt you came here to ask me about bubbles in drinks."

"Right, down to business. We have a mission for you. Three days ago we beat back a large Dominion assault fleet and took several high ranking Vorta prisoner. We haven't been able to get much out of them unfortunately."

"And you think that me being a changeling will make them more cooperative?" Odo concluded. "I thought the Section didn't want me near Dominion personnel. They think it will cause me to question my loyalty to the Empire." Odo frowned.

"Would it?" Sloane asked. He knew Odo had strong principles of duty and loyalty, but to many he was nothing more than a tame Founder.

"Of course not," Odo replied. "My people are the ones who raised me and made me a part of their family. I do hold grudges again some, I won't deny that, but my loyalty firmly rests with the Empire Sir."

"I'm glad to hear that. You'll board the Excalibur when it arrives here in five hours. Once you arrive in the Athena system you'll begin interrogation of a vorta called Weyoun. Use whatever methods you wish, but we need as much intelligence as we can get."

"Understood sir. I'll do what I can. You'll have your intelligence information within three days," Odo promised.

"Good," Slone clapped once and stood to go. "Oh, and give my regards to Admiral Hawksten."

"I will. Good day sir," Odo said as Sloane quickly walked out. "Well then, I guess I should pack." A few pads and his bucket went into a travel bag, and with that he was done. "That was easy," he said to himself. Unfortunately, before he could leave this room he knew he had to finish his paperwork. His face returned to its customary frown as he retook his seat and wearily grabbed the first pad he touched.

…

As Odo entered the airlock of the Excalibur he felt the stare of the officer there to receive him. He wore a Lt.'s uniform and a seemingly permanent scowl on his face. Odo decided immediately he didn't like the man but extended his hand anyway. The Lt snapped a salute instead and Odo returned it.

"Lt. Haft sir. I'll show you to your quarters. Follow me."

Odo followed the Lt. into a turbo lift and down several corridors before coming to one of the guest quarters. "Thank you for the escort Lt." Odo said as he walked in.

"Of course sir. I have to return to my station now." The man left as soon as Odo nodded his head.

"Solids," Odo said, using a Dominion term he had substituted for many Terran curse words. Setting his bag down, Odo stared out at the impressive view of Deep Space Nine. Since it was taken from the Cardassians nearly a century ago, it had been extensively rebuilt and upgraded when the wormhole had been discovered. The old Cardassian station, destroyed by a Terran task force, had been replaced with an Imperial Valor class battle station, one of only three in existence. The massive, 18 kilometer tall structure was done in the classic style of a mushroom shape, but with a crown of spikes ringing the edge. Each of those spikes held a Quantum Phaser Cannon, capable of going straight through anything in a single hit, but those were only the crown jewel. The massive structure was also home to hundreds of beam and pulse phasers, quantum and phalanx torpedo launchers, and layer upon layer of armor. The emblem of the Empire, ten kilometers tall, adorned the forward section of the base.

The base was only one part of the defense net however. Odo extended his gaze and took in the entire defense network. Thousands of weapons platforms, dozens of orbital forts and hundreds of warships, all dedicated to keeping this side of the wormhole free of Dominion vessels. Ever since the first successful defense of Bajor against Dominion aggression, the Bajoran system had become a fortress, surpassed in power only the defenses at Vulcan and Terra itself.

Even after ten years as the Bajor Fortress's security chief, Odo still found the view inspiring, a show of power of one of the strongest races in the galaxy. From what he had learned about of the Dominion they had great power, but wielded it clumsily, simply overwhelming their enemies. While it had been effective against the many small empires in the Gamma Quadrant, the Dominion had never encountered a foe like the Terran Empire. They had the power to go toe to toe with Dominion battle fleets, but their greatest strength was their ingenuity. During his missions as a field agent, Odo had seen Terrans overcome seemingly impossible odds, defeat enemies who outnumbered them ten or even a hundred to one. Their technology could advance at rates the Dominion could only hope to match. If the Dominion was a hammer, than in Odo's view the Empire was a spiked shield.

The ship vibrated slightly as it disconnected from its berth and moved into the wormhole, which flared open as the Excalibur came close. Odo had seen the wormhole open many times, but this was his first time actually going through it. To be honest he was a bit apprehensive. As the swirling energies enveloped the terran vessel, Odo swore he felt a chill pass through him. It felt as though something or someone was watching him, but Odo was captivated by the tendrils of blue white energy arching outside the hull. It stirred some primordial memory deep inside him. He remembered being here before, seeing nothing but feeling just as he was now. It was an almost hypnotic feeling and…Danger!

The thought flashed through Odo's mind, decades of training and experience throwing him to the side just as a phaser beam missed him by centimeters, instead vaporizing the window of his quarters. The freezing void of space quickly rushed in and claimed the room. For some odd reason, the emergency force fields didn't activate. Thinking fast, Odo transformed his fingers into strong talons and dug them into the floor. He saw his luggage sucked out the window and felt rage at the loss of his bucket, which had been with him even since he had left the laboratory.

After the wind died down, Odo reformed his hands and walked through the now airless room. Being a changeling had its advantages; one was not needing to breath. Accessing his personal display, Odo initiated a site to site transport to just outside his quarters. For a brief instant before he was whisked away by the transporter, Odo found himself staring at the interior of the wormhole with nothing standing between him and it. It was incredible. He thought he could see forms moving within the energy streams, translucent creatures with shapes which changed every second. Then he was standing in the corridor, patches of frost covering his body. He shook them off and quickly started for the bridge.

…

Captain Gensten was just six hours into the book which he'd begun after the ship had gone to warp when the turbo lift doors opened to admit to the bridge one very angry shapeshifter. "Agent Odo, what brings you up here?" The scowl on Odo's face was enough to let Gensten know he was in trouble.

"What brings me up here, Captain," Odo spat "is an assassination attempt I just escaped from. Someone planted a hidden phaser in my quarters and attempted to vaporize me. I intend to find out who is responsible and ensure they are punished. If I have your full cooperation Captain, you have my word I will not summarily execute them. Nor will I ask for a full Section 31 investigation of your entire crew. Do you find my terms acceptable?" Odo asked calmly, as if he were reciting to a classroom.

"I-I do Agent Odo," Captain Gensten answered. He was no big fan of Section 31, who was, but he knew enough to go along with Agent Odo's plan. He had known too many people who had tried to stand their ground against a Section Agent and wound up missing, their records and pasts erased. "You can count on the full cooperation of the crew as well." He looked around the bridge, making eye contact wit each crew member and making sure they knew he was deadly serious.

"Very well. I'll begin by interviewing one Lt. Haft. Where is he?"

"By now he should be in Engineering," Captain Gensten replied. Wanting to do as much as possible to remain out of Odo's cross hairs, he decided to do a bit of needless help. "Computer locate Lt. Haft."

"Lt. Haft is in main engineering," the female voice replied. Odo nodded what Gensten hoped was thanks and swiftly exited the bridge. As soon as the turbo lift doors had closed the Captain breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"Do you really think Haft would try and take out a Section Agent?" Commander T'var asked from her station. Her Vulcan smile was fading. It was well known that she and Haft were an item, though anyone who tried to use it found themselves with an incredible headache and the humiliation of being mind controlled to streak through the ship.

"He's lost most of his family to the Dominion, so he certainly has motive. Still, I doubt he'd try something like this with no place to run to. No, someone's setting us up, and I aim to find out who," Gensten replied.

…

Lt. Haft was just crawling out of the Jeffries tube which led to the plasma manifold when he saw Agent Odo stalk into engineering, his scowl deeper than ever. A chill of fear went up Haft's spine when the changeling spotted him and crossed the distance between them seemingly in an eye blink.

"Lt. Half," Odo began "I'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"All right," Half replied, trying to show none of the terror which gripped him as Odo's eyes bore into his own.

"Then come with me."

"Harven, you're in command 'till I get back."

"Got it," a black skinned man replied from the upper level.

"So," Half began as he followed Odo out into the corridor "what's this all about if you don't mind me asking?"

Odo waited until they were in the lift before turning to haft. "Someone tried to kill me a short time ago, and as the last person to be in contact with me I decided to begin my investigation with you," the changeling replied.

"You think I did it?"

"Well judging by how you reacted to me I assume you have a grudge against changelings. That I can understand; after all I have one against them too."

Half was confused now. "You have a grudge against your own people?" He asked as Odo led him to his quarters, the atmosphere now sealed in by force fields.

"Now then," Odo began as he opened a locked door and retrieved a small round device from within. He smiled as he held it. "First I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Kira." He typed in a sequence of commands and the black dome of the one foot square device activated, changing from black to bright blue. A hologram of a Bajoran woman appeared. She was reasonably tall, had light brown hair and wore the uniform of a Section 31 Agent.

"You're going to interrogate me with a hologram?" Half asked. Kira frowned and swung her fist. Haft's growing smirk was smashed, along with his left cheekbone, as Kira's punch sent him to the floor.

"Don't EVER call me a hologram. I am a fully sentient AI construct with full authority to act of behalf of Agent Odo. Isn't that right?" She asked, sending a smirk in Odo's direction. She just loved seeing the looks or the faces of organics when they found out who she really was.

"Of course my dear," Odo replied. "Agent Kira has been through the same training as any Section Agent. It's only the lack of a viable generator system which prevents her from going on missions by herself. Now then Kira, what have you found?"

"Well, to start with Mr. Haft has no record of serious infractions. In fact his record's nearly spotless."

"Then why an I being accused of this?" Half asked.

"Because my search also revealed you were captured and held by the Dominion for two weeks about eight months ago. Your personal logs indicate you often have nightmares about your experiences there. Now before you start giving me and crap about how personal logs are private let remind you my authority is more than enough to access any information on this ship."

"And what exactly turned up that has you so interested?" Odo asked. He loved watching Kira work. After a brief infatuation with the woman he had gotten her physical parameters from, he had created Kira. A week later she had been killed by Cardassian dissidents when she had boarded a freighter accused of carrying contraband. Odo had personally sentenced the entire crew of the freighter to death by Agony Booth, and to this day he had an affinity for the device.

"Several of his log entries mention experiments, where the Dominion altered his body and tried to mind control him. When he was rescued he was examined extensively and no evidence of brainwashing was discovered. But, I did notice that his social behavior was different for several days after his return."

"Of course it was different; I'd just escaped from a Dominion prison camp!" Haft replied.

"Oh I know," Kira replied. "But it was enough for me to investigate further. Oh it took some doing, but I found it. In a neuroscan taken three months ago, there was a single anomalous reading. Even I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't known to look for something. The reading showed a second neuro pattern. It was so faint an organic doctor would have missed it, but that's where being an AI comes in handy." Without warning Kira formed a phaser in her hand and fired, but Haft suddenly blurred as he moved faster than any humans should have been able to do. Kira's eyes widened as his eyes changed to pure black and energy crackled in his hands. The energy traveled over her body, and as it did she felt something enter her. She screamed as she felt another intelligence brush against her and dig claws of data into her matrix.

"Kira!" Odo cried, drawing his disruptor and vaporizing Haft in an instant, stopping the flow of energy to Kira. "Kira, are you all right?" Odo asked.

"I…I don't think so," Kira replied. Her image was starting to flicker, and as Odo watched her right hand began turning black and the skin started to peel and crack. "Ugh!" She cried, dissolving her and with a thought and forming a new one, but the blackness returned in an instant, and this time it went an inch up her wrist. "What's happening to me!"

Odo's hands flew across the holo generator. "There's some kind of viral subroutine in your matrix. I've never seen anything like this before. I'll try to isolate and purge it."

"Ahh!" Kira gasped as she felt the virus move again. She could now hear whispers in her mind, a language she didn't understand. The movements of the virus were almost sensual as they pushed tendrils of programming into her matrix. "Odo, this is no ordinary virus we're dealing with. It's ahh! It's almost like it's alive!" She could hear the voices clearer now, and somehow they sent shivers of terror down her holographic spine. They were the voices of something which did not belong, did not belong in this place. By now her entire right arm had turned black, and to her horror it started to move on its own. It pulsed and turned to black liquid flesh, reshaping itself into a massively muscled limb tipped with four massive claws. "Odo, help me!" She cried.

"I'm trying!" Odo replied. Every time he beat one viral program another one seemingly grew out of nowhere. "This isn't working. I'm going to extract your core consciousness and purge your memory buffer."

"Well hurry! This thing's trying to interface with the main computer!" Kira called back, her left arm now transformed up to her elbow, her uniform there dissolving. She cried out in pain as the alien program ate into her data.

"Almost there!" Odo replied. With a firm tug he pulled out a large isolinear chip, but just as Kira's image vanished, a bolt of energy leapt from her arm and hit the replicator.

Almost immediately the lights in the room flickered and changed to dark crimson, and the temperature plummeted. With an unusual groan the replicator activated, but what appeared was a pulsing blob of black matter. It slid to the floor with a sick slurping sound and at once began to dissolve the carpet. Odo, disgusted, aimed his disruptor and vaporized the black mass, followed by the replicator, which sent out a shower of sparks.

"Odo to Captain Gensten."

"Gensten here. Agent Odo what the hell is going on? Half our systems are down and the replicators are churning out some kind of black slime."

"My assumptions were correct, at least partially. Some sort of alien computer virus was hiding itself inside Lt. Haft. When I was questioning him it activated and infiltrated the main computer. I recommend you shut down all computer systems, purge the alien program and reboot from the backups."

"We can't," the Captain's voice replied. "Computer controls are down, and we're getting scattered reports that whatever this black slime is, it's collecting and attacking members of the crew. Unless we can contain this ting I'll have no choice but to abandon ship."

"Then you should begin. I'll head for the computer core and see what I can do there," Odo suggested.

"All right, do what you can. Good luck Agent Odo," Captain Gensten replied before signing off.

Odo grabbed his tricorder from the table and inserted Kira's Ai chip. "Kira, I know it must be cramped in there, but I'm going to need your help."

"You want my help you got my help," Kira replied, her voice sounding muffled coming from the tricorder's small speaker. "The computer is a lost cause. The alien program has infiltrated every system, including life support. I estimate that within an hour the ship's atmosphere will be toxic."

"Then I guess it's good that neither of us needs to breath," Odo replied. Suddenly a door down the corridor was shattered, and from within stepped a creature which even filled Odo with fear. The thing had once been human, but now it was changed, infected. Black ooze covered its massive, eight foot tall frame, with a dissolving human face set into the chest, screaming silently in agony. The face atop its shoulders was simply a pulsing mound of black flesh, pierced by two dull red eyes filled with hunger.

Odo fired his disruptor, but the creature raised one arm, which hardened into a shimmering ebony shield. The disruptor pulse ate away the first layer of armor but left the creature unharmed.

"Damn, that thing's tough," Kira remarked. Fearing for her friend's safety, she ran a scan of the creature. "Odo, dial your disruptor to maximum and use the beam setting," she suggested. She saw Odo comply and vaporize the creature with his next shot. "Good work. We have to get to the shuttle bay. These things must be learning how to adapt to our weapons. We've got to warn Command about this."

"I was thinking the same thing," Odo replied as he took off into a run. If he'd had a pulse it would have been racing as he tore down the corridors. Twice his way was barred by the black creatures, and the second took two beam shots to kill.

"Help me!" The voice echoed from a corridor to Odo's left. Ignoring his sense of better judgment, Odo followed the voice and found Captain Gensten. One of the creatures was pinning him to the wall and, as Odo raised his disruptor, the creature opened its gaping maw and shot a glob of ooze into the Captain's screaming mouth. He began coughing violently and the creature let him fall to the floor. Odo caught it with a max setting blast in the back, turning the creature to empty air.

"Captain, are you all right?" Odo asked, already knowing the Captain was beyond help. Already his skin was rupturing as black ooze began to cover him.

"Agent Odo," the Captain hissed through cracking teeth. "You have to destroy this ship. Whatever these creatures are, they must not be allowed to spread. I couldn't set the self-destruct, so I need you to take a shuttle. I diverted power to the main deflector dish. You can-" the Captain stopped as a tide of ooze shot out of his mouth. Odo narrowly dodged and vaporized the dying man.

"You heard the Captain," Odo said. "We've got a job to do."

"I'm with you," Kira replied. "Not like I have much choice."

"We'll have time for jokes later. "

By the time Odo made it to the shuttle bay there were already half a dozen creatures oozing around. He vaporized the first three with his disruptor, but the forth elongated its arm and knocked Odo's weapon out of his hand. Thinking quickly, Odo jelled his own arm, forming the tip into a blade and severed the creature's head. A tide of black fluid erupted from the severed neck, but the creature continued to move. Odo also felt a burning on his hand. He looked down and with horror saw his hand slowly jelling and turning into black ooze. "Kira, scan my hand quickly!"

Kira obeyed quickly. "Oh my god. The virus is altering your cell structure into more of itself. It's almost like it's trying to link with you."

"Well it won't get far," Odo replied, severing half of his hand and dropping it to the deck. He retrieved his weapon and formed a new hand, but it cost him a half inch in height. "And I'd just gotten used to my chair," he complained. Racing up the ramp of the Delta Flyer class Assault Shuttle, Odo closed the ramp, plugged Kira into the main computer, and phasered the bay doors open. The creatures clung to the deck plating, but Odo thanked the Empire that meant they couldn't grab onto the shuttle.

As soon as they were out of the shuttle bay Odo flew his small craft under the Excalibur, the Intrepid class ships' deflector dish glowed blue in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Kira asked.

"What Captain Gensten ordered," Odo replied. "He flooded the deflector dish with anti-protons." Moving back to 30,000 kilometers, Odo fired the Flyer's phasers at full power. When the orange beams met the soft blue dish both were obliterated in a massive explosion which reduced the Excalibur to dust and small debris. "Kira, run a scan. Did ANY of that ooze survive?"

"Negative," Kira replied over the shuttle's speakers. "What do we do now?"

"Well, ships from Wormhole Command should be reaching us any minute, and when they do I doubt I'll have time to watch soda bubbles for a while." As Odo sat and waited, he pressed his fingers together, noting their almost imperceptible change in size. "Whoever implanted that thing in Haft's head, I'll be sure to find them and make them pay for costing me a part of myself."

"And I'll be right there with you, though hopefully by then I'll have a new emitter," Kira added.

"You will, I promise."

…

Thousands of light-years away, far from Terran space, something spasmed as the death cry of its' child reached it. Sending a message to its brothers, the decision was reached: the plan would have to be accelerated. The Terran Empire was becoming a danger and had to be dealt with. But the time was still not now. Its servants had yet to prepare the way, but that would change soon. Eventually, the entire galaxy would know terror as it all were destined to, for the true rulers of this galaxy were approaching, and once the doorway was opened, nothing would stop them.

Next chapter coming soon. The Emperor protects.

ENTILZA