I don't own the Star Trek franchise or any of the characters.
A dark skinned human male with curly hair and a close cropped beard stood watch over the ten people assigned to working on the aqueduct system. The man was Captain Benjamin Sisko, the leader of Deep Space 9, emissary to the Bajoran Prophets and now the defective leader of the stranded Defiant crew. Sisko had been doing his daily rounds of the settlement and decided to stop and observe the engineers at work on the aqueduct system.
The engineers, headed by Miles O'Brien, had been forced to change the initial plan for the aqueduct system three times. They had managed to lay down most of the pipes created from the replicator and get the systems to bring the water to the settlement into place. The only thing that really had to be done would be to connect the system to the main building and create some actual places to use the water.
At the thought of O'Brien, Sisko began to worry. The Irish engineer had been in a slump ever since the crash. O'Brien didn't know why everyone acted like they would never go home again. He agreed to help build up the settlement because they were all going to need food and supplies if they couldn't be rescued before winter, but the man would not give up hope that someone would find their transmission in the future and send a crew to rescue them. There had been cases of Starfleet ships travelling back in time before, both intentional and accidental. O'Brien knew the crew would eventually be rescued. It would just take a bit of time.
Sisko knew where O'Brien was coming from. O'Brien was determined to get back to his wife and kids on Deep Space 9. Sisko missed his own son and everyone else he had left behind, but they were too hundred years in the past. The Bajoran wormhole hadn't been discovered and chances were the transmission they sent out didn't even make it passed the quantum barrier surrounding the planet. Sisko and a majority of the crew realised they weren't going home and decided to make the best they could out of their current situation. But there was still a small percentage of the crew, most notably O'Brien that still held hope of being rescued.
Sisko was snapped out of thinking when he heard someone call his name. The captain turned around to see it was Kira who had called to him. Someone was walking beside Kira. It took a moment for Sisko to recognise the person as Odo.
"Constable, it's good to see you up and about again." said Sisko.
"Thank you, captain. I still have a hard time maintaining this form. It will take more time before I regain complete control of my shape shifting." spoke Odo.
"Is there anything you wanted to talk to me about, constable?" asked Sisko.
"There is, captain. I was hoping for you to assign me to some form of work." told Odo.
Sisko took a moment to think. He already had ten people working on the aqueduct system. Worf and six other had gone out hunting. A few were out exploring the area while everyone else was working on the planting.
"I don't think there's anything for you to do today, constable. I already have people assigned everywhere it's needed. Take the next few days to adjust. I expect you to keep an eye on him, major." lightly joked Sisko.
"You can count on me, captain." replied Kira.
If Odo would have really been a humanoid he would have been embarrassed by the implications made by the captain and Kira. But he was a Changeling so he wasn't affected by their joking. He really wasn't.
Kira took the Constable by the arm and led him by the arm back to the settlement. Odo tried to ignore the feeling that overwhelmed his entire being when Kira touched him. He forced himself to ignore his feelings, keeping all his focus on maintaining his humanoid form.
Kira gave Odo a quick tour of the building and told him where everything was. Odo did his best to memorise the layout of the building. After the tour the Constable found an isolated place where he could return to his natural form. The barrier was still making it hard for Odo to maintain his form. It would take a good deal of practice before he was back up to his previous ability. Kira left her friend alone, knowing he would want to be alone. She turned and left the building just as the hunters were returning.
I figured it would take Odo a bit of practice to maintain his form in the barrier even after he learned how to do it. Tell me if anyone seems out of character. Comment if you like the story.