DS9: Book by its Cover Chapter One
Julian Bashir bounced on to Deep Space 9, a newly minted lieutenant in Star Fleet. His black and teal uniform still exhibiting its crispness, of a newly issued uniform. He smiled excitedly at everyone he passed. Taking in the alien architecture of the station, with its unfamiliar angles and curves. He turned in place, craning his head to take it all in. The underlining design of the station put Julian in mind of a scorpion, its tail held high, ready to strike at a moment's provocation with its deadly poisonous sting.
Julian smiled a secret smile, he had always rather enjoyed Cardassian architecture. It said so much about the psychology of the species. Their guardedness, ready to strike at perceived enemies at a moment's notice. The darkness of the station spoke of the Cardassian's aversion to bright light. The station hinted of a militaristic and conformist society. This environment, Julian found, was truly fascinating. He wondered of the outliers, the subtle diversity within that conformity. No society was truly a monolith.
As Julian weaved through the diverse crowd, his hazel eyes widened in fascination at the assortment of alien species populating the station. His head swivelled from side to side, absorbing the myriad of sights and sounds that surrounded him. The unknown aliens drew his attention, prompting occasional goggle-eyed expressions as he marvelled at the diversity of life on Deep Space 9. This would truly be an adventure. He was confident in his skills as a doctor and he relished the challenge of such a diverse population to care for.
Spotting a lone figure on the mezzanine above, Julian's keen eyes noted the Cardassian man who seemed to exude an invisible force field, keeping others at a distance. Despite the isolation, Julian's excitement soared, and a mischievous glint sparkled in his eyes. This mysterious Cardassian promised an intriguing twist to his assignment. Julian wondered how there was a Cardassian aboard the once abandoned station.
Unfazed by the Cardassian's guarded demeanour, Julian flashed a jaunty wave and a brilliant smile. The Cardassian responded with a puzzled expression, quickly transitioning into a sardonic lift of an eye ridge, revealing a hint of curiosity beneath the stoic exterior.
The Cardassian, looks so lonely. Julian smiles a secret smile. It looks like this tour of duty will be even more interesting than he thought. He ponders how he might orchestrate a meeting and how he will play it.
Before Julian could ponder the enigma further, a commanding voice snapped him back to reality. "Lieutenant Bashir," Julian jerked his head around and spotted a tall attractive Trill officer walking his way. Her long dark hair was gathered in a ponytail, swinging gently between her shoulder blades as she walked, held away from her face by silver clip. Her Trill markings standing starkly against her fair skin. Julian couldn't help but smile appreciatively at her. His quick and intelligent eyes caught her exasperated sigh. He hid a smirk by turning his head as if his attention was caught by the extravagant sights of the promenade.
"I am Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax, Chief Science Officer on board Deep Space 9," she crisply informed him. Julian, offering her his most charming smile, replied, "Pleased to meet you, Commander."
He felt the Cardassian's watchful gaze lingering on him, his eyes narrowing slightly as he observed the enthusiastic young lieutenant. A subtle air of mystery clung to the Cardassian, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the unfolding drama on Deep Space 9. Julian, catching the Cardassian's gaze, couldn't help but feel a thrill of anticipation. This assignment promised to be more captivating than he had ever imagined.
He returned his attention to the Trill science officer, who had now crossed her arms, looking impatient at the young officer before her.
She observed the newcomer, a tall and slender man with a coffee-coloured complexion, radiated an infectious puppyish exuberance. His eyes widened with excitement, betraying his inexperience with space travel. Jadzia sighed inwardly, sensing the potential for weariness in dealing with this enthusiastic new crew member.
"Commander Sisko wants to see you immediately in his ready room," Jadzia informed him briskly, hoping to divert any untoward advances he might make. Julian seeming not to catch her subtle discouragement, smiled in an overly flirtatious manner. "I've never met a Trill before," Julian said with a lascivious look, "Tell me, do your markings go all the way down?" he said with a broad open smile and a waggle of his eyebrows.
With a stern look, "Doctor Bashir, that question is completely inappropriate," Jadzia reprimanded sharply. My gods was he asleep during Star Fleets classes on the appropriate behaviour for Star Fleet officers, she thought. "Aah, uhm, yes of course. My apologies Lieutenant," Julian bumbled, flushing slightly.
"If you follow me, I will escort you to the commander," Jadzia commanded. Julian trotted after her. "I am sorry for coming on so strong. You must know you are a beautiful woman, and I was too enthusiastic in my admiration," Julian said hurrying after the Lieutenant Commander. Jadzia sighed, tiresome, frowning darkly.
"So maybe I can make it up too you with dinner," said Julian eagerly with a hopeful smile. Jadzia looked at him in disbelief. She couldn't believe him; she had just told him his actions were inappropriate. "Or, or coffee?" Julian babbled.
"Do not make me write you up for sexual harassment in the first thirty minutes of being on board the station," she told the new Lieutenant harshly. "I, I, didn't mean it like that. I was just trying to be friendly," he stuttered, his complexion paling. As Jadzia sternly commanded, 'In the future, if an officer tells you are being inappropriate, you stop and leave them alone at once.' Understandably chastised, Julian nodded, "Yes ma'am."
Inside Julian was laughing. So far everything was going as he expected. He was the Chief medical officer on board. Of course, he had received all the Star Fleet officers medical records as soon as he accepted this posting, serving aboard DS9. He had read Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax's file. He knew that she was slightly older than three hundred years old. From his own experience, when a long-lived species got to three or four hundred mark, then they suddenly thought they knew everything about the universe. Truly their arrogance was equal to a teenager, well without the mood swings he will admit.
Trill's were slightly different in that they were symbionts, so they experienced different lives. From her file he knew Dax was an intelligent person. He needed to throw her off from the get-go. A love-struck fool was the best bet to distract her. He needed to keep the crew at arm's length, so they only saw what he wanted them to see. A young, slightly obnoxious, medical officer. He held no ill intent towards the crew. He just wanted to be left in peace to do his work, help what ever patients needed it and maybe have a little fun along the way.
Someone of his nature tended to garner excitement wherever he went. Generating outrageous amounts of entitlement to his experiences from his companions. He intended to avoid it this time around. He went through extraordinary lengths to get here, to disguise his true nature. Only his closest family new his true identity. And on this quiet little space station in the middle of nowhere, he was determined to keep it that way.
Noticing the Trill's stiff back, Julian followed her, hoping he hadn't gone overboard with his ruse. He didn't want to totally alienate the woman, after all he still had to work with her for the next how many years. They reached the stations equivalent of a turbolift. He tried sending her a conciliatory smile. She just sighed again. Julian couldn't help but send a genuine broad grin in her direction.
Jadzia entered in the code to bring them to the first stage of reaching the command center, and shook her head. Was she ever that young, she wondered. When she was just Jadzia, she was so focused on becoming a joined Trill she doesn't think she had time to be so, so frivolous. He was still grinning at her enthusiastically, he was handsome, but too immature for her. "Look Dr Bashir, I am over three hundred years old. You would be better off sticking to someone your own age," she told him, not without some compassion in her manner.
Julian brightened up considerably. "I can assure you commander that I am plenty mature enough," he said making sure to stretch to his full height and puff out his chest. "I also came second in my class at Star Fleet academy too," he pompously exclaimed, ensuring his voice was tinged with the right amount of umbrage, lifting his chin in defiance. Making sure to carefully watch Jadzia's reaction from the refection of the commander in the polished trim of the turbolift.
She was back to looking annoyed again. Julian was delighted. This was going to be: Fun, Fun, Fun!
The turbolift doors opened into a dark corridor, with multiple doors and service hatches leading from it. Julian looked around him curiously. He had expected the turbolift to open on to the command center itself, like it would normally do on Federation space stations. Jadzia notice Julian looking around with puzzlement. "The Cardassian people are a paranoid bunch. None of the main turbolifts go directly to the command center. They all open up here on this access corridor, where there is an auxiliary security post, weapons locker, engineering workshop and various access conduits to the internal operations for the station. Only senior officers and engineering staff have access to these areas," Jadzia calmly explained.
Walking down the dark corridor with Julian following her, she continued. "There's a lift platform up ahead that opens on to the command center. I will program in your biometric code that will allow you to operate the lift," she explained. The corridor was dark and eerie, even though there were multiple overhead lights. How did the Cardassian's manage to create an atmosphere of such foreboding? Julian wondered to himself, looking all about him. This was a stark contrast to the bright and airy stations the Federation preferred. The materials in the corridor absorbed all the light keeping everything in shadow.
Highlighting again the Cardassian's avoidance of bight light. Julian wondered if it would be possible to get a scan of a Cardassian's eyes, he speculated on how their photoreceptors worked. The last time he met any Cardassian's he wasn't a doctor, and he wasn't particularly interested in their biology. With a quick private grin to himself, well, not the biology of their eyes, he corrected himself, lost momentarily in vivid memory.
They reached the lift platform. "Here, calls the lift by pressing your palm on the panel. Just let me set it to scanning your palm," Jadzia said as she quickly entered her password access and then set the panel to scan Julian's hand. "Go ahead," she nodded towards the panel. Julian quickly pressed his palm against the scanner, a brief light was emitted from the panel, recording his palm print. "Is that it?" he asked Jadzia. "No, it just needs to scan your face, for two factor verification," Jadzia said with a small smile.
Julian stood awkwardly where Jadzia indicated. Face scans always made him feel awkward. As soon as he needs to look normal for the scan, he immediately forgets what normal looks like. The panel flashes and beeps, indicating that the biometric scan is complete.
"There is only one destination for the lift, so all you need to do is stand here, let it scan you, then press this icon," Jadzia instructed, pointing out the dull amber icon on the screen. "This one here, brings you back down," She indicated a greyed-out symbol. "What with only two icons, and with how busy the Chief is, it was decided we wouldn't upgrade the panel to Bajoran or Standard, at this time."
At Jadzia's encouragement, Julian gave the lift the command to take them to the command center.
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