I don't own the Star Trek franchise or any of the characters.
Days passed and Odo found himself adjusting to a new routine. Each morning the Constable would start his rounds while everyone else was getting breakfast. Once everyone was done eating and went off to work, Odo would find a secluded area of the building where he could practice his shape shifting. The more Odo practiced his shape shifting the less affected he became by the quantum energy barrier surrounding the planet. After he was done practicing his shape shifting, Odo would busy himself helping out around the settlement.
So far all the Constable had been doing was break up fights between the crew. The fights were usually over petty things (stealing tools, being late for work, ect.) but they were happening so often that the Constable found himself at his wits end.
Odo was currently breaking up a fight between Security Chief O'Brien and another engineer. The fight had apparently started when the Chief reprimanded the other engineer (Odo believed her name was Ensign Rita Tannenbaum) for being an hour late for work. Several witnessed backed up Rita's claim that she tried to explain to O'Brien that she had been helping with the planting. The Chief had apparently not cared about Ensign Tannenbaum's excuse for being late; he just wanted her to be on time when he assigned her to the engineering team that day. One thing led to another and eventually Odo was called in to break up the fight.
"Enough. I don't care how this fight started. Just don't let it happen again. The Captain gave me permission to deal with disruptions as I see fit. Ensign Tannenbaum, I'm giving you a warning. Chief O'Brien, I'm going to recommend to the Captain that he reassign you to another work force for the next few weeks." stated Odo.
O'Brien couldn't believe it. The Irishman ran a hand through his filthy golden curls. O'Brien didn't know what to do. He wanted to scream at the Constable for daring to take away his position. He wanted to do as Odo suggested and take a few weeks off from the engineering team. The last few months of stress had started to get to O'Brien and he knew he shouldn't be taking it out of his subordinates, but it was just hard for the Chief to cope.
O'Brien hadn't felt this overwhelmed since he was a soldier fighting against the Cardassians. When the Defiant crashed everyone had been lost. Captain Benjamin Sisko had quickly stepped up and kept the crew from falling apart. While the Captain kept the crew together, the job of finding out a way to get usable power, running water, proper shelters and other base necessities fell to O'Brien and the engineering team. The stress had started to get to O'Brien and the Irishman realised he needed a break before he did something he regretted.
"You're right, Constable. I'll go see the captain and ask him to reassign me to another area for the next few days." agreed O'Brien.
O'Brien left the next most senior engineer in charge during his absence. With a sigh, the blond Irishman trudged his way back to the shelter where he knew Captain Sisko would be this time of day. Odo watched O'Brien until he was confident the engineering chief was going to do exactly as he said. With that matter settled Odo wnet back to doing his rounds.
Sisko wasn't expecting anyone to come looking for him when he was one his break. That didn't mean the former Starfleet captain wasn't happy when he was O'Brien come in and talk to him. O'Brien hadn't properly spoken with Sisko or anyone since the first few weeks after the Defiant crash. Since then O'Brien had been saying that they would all find their way back to DS9 before they knew it. In the beginning Sisko had hoped O'Brien would be right but as the weeks passed he knew getting back to DS9 was nothing more than just a dream.
"Captain, I have to speak with you." said O'Brien.
"What is it you want to talk about, Chief?" asked Sisko.
"Sir, I'd like to be reassigned for the engineering team for the next few days." told O'Brien.
Sisko was surprised. He hadn't been expecting that.
"Can I ask why you want to be reassigned from the engineering team?" questioned Sisko.
"I got into a fight with Ensign Tannenbaum. The Constable broke it up before we had the chance to do any harm. This is just the most recent in a long line of fights I have gotten into with my team. The Constable said he wanted me away from engineering for the next few days. He'll probably come and file a report with you later, captain, but I wanted to tell you myself before that happened." confessed O'Brien.
"I'll see what I can do about reassigning you for the next few days. And also O'Brien until you're back at engineering you're confined to quarters during non-work hours and your rations will be cut." stated Sisko.
Sisko didn't want to add to O'Brien's punishment but he had to. Infighting just couldn't be tolerated. They needed everyone working together if they were to survive, no exceptions.
With a nod, O'Brien turned and went to the shared crew quarters. The chief engineer would wait patiently for Sisko to reassign him for the next few days, but until then O'Brien would think about the crew's return to DS9 and his reunion with his wife and children.
Sorry about the late update. I've been busy with college. I'll try to update faster in the future. Tell me if anyone seems out of character. Comment if you like the story.