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14 - Last Goodbyes

Malek felt the presence of a symbiote approaching, and he soon realized it was coming from the small stream that flowed through his room. He smiled as he soon heard squealing.

"Uncle."

"Hello Iasis." He approached her.

"Uncle missing hair."

"Would you believe I opted for a haircut?" He heard footsteps approaching as he picked up the larva.

"No," Iasis chirped. "Uncle in infirmary for days. I not allowed in. Now uncle missing hair."

"Amb was seriously injured, and we needed time to recover. Your parents didn't want you to get scared."

She chirped sadly, then nipped his temple.

"Thank you. I feel better now." He looked over as he saw the one approaching was Bashir.

"I didn't mean to interrupt. Was that a kiss?"

"Yes." Malek smiled. "She's very affectionate."

Bashir smiled. "Jacob will be here very soon. I volunteered to find you for the final goodbye."

"Thank you."

"Oh, it's no problem. It is my way of lingering down here. It's fascinating. No doors. Are there no crimes? No privacy?"

"No crimes, and we hold no secrets from each other. If someone needs to be alone, that is granted out of respect."

"Odo would need a new job."

Malek smiled. "He would be perfect to keep watch above, assuming the sun didn't bother him. He could be a rock or pose as a native animal."

Bashir smiled.

"I'll join you on the surface."

"I come?" Iasis asked with a hopeful wiggle.

"No." Malek put her in the water.

"Awwwww."

Bashir grinned. He didn't know Iasis's language, but that tone. He knew it in any species. That was definitely whining. He didn't understand that squeal that followed, but Malik replied with…

"No, you are not big enough."

Iasis made an angry splash, then swam off.

Bashir immediately thought of all the doctors that he knew who would love to be able to study symbiote behavior, the differences between the blended and unblended.

"Sorry," Malek said. "She can also be…temperamental."

"She's a teenager," Bashir replied with a grin.

"That she is. Blending often matures us," Malek said as he began walking.

"Really?" Bashir followed. "How so?"

"When we first blend, we are still essentially adolescents. Now we are suddenly sharing a mind, seeing the memories of another person, and that person is usually older."

"Jadzia has talked about how joining with Dax changed her, but she doesn't much talk about Dax's pre-joining experiences." He paused. "Though…neither do you."

"I was born in a lake. I chased fish. I played with my batch mates." He saddened. "Our queen was lost before I took my first host. I ended up spending most of my childhood in various tanks."

"I am sorry."

"It was necessary in case we have to be quickly evacuated. The blended did their best to give us happy larvahoods."

The two soon joined the others up on the surface. With the Starfleet officers were the Tok'ra, minus Jacob, who had originally crashed into the Defiant.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay," Martouf said.

"It was quite informative," Bashir replied, "and I think Dax is already looking into how to reverse engineer your tunnel technology."

"Starfleet could use the need to quickly build a base," Dax added. "Worf is definitely going to miss this place, watching for intruders in the hot sun."

"I prefer to return to the war effort," Worf replied, but even he had to quietly admit that between that and the sparring, he had enjoyed his stay.

Sisko looked up as the tel'tac approached, then looked to Sam, who was smiling. He wondered what it was like to go on missions with either his own dad or his son.

Then he remembered…

"The injuries would indicate that they have been recently tortured."

Losing his wife had been hard. Watching his father's failing health was hard, and the worry whenever Jake was in danger…?

No. He couldn't imagine having to watch them be tortured…or sitting helpless in a room, knowing…

Besides, he already had something to share with both his father and Jake, a love of cooking.

The tel'tac landed, and Jacob soon emerged.

"I honestly wasn't sure if you were going to survive," Jacob admitted as he grinned at Amb. "It's good to see you."

Malek bowed his head as he gave Amb control.

"A little brain surgery and a blood transfusion, and I am as you say, good as new."

"Oh, was that all it was?" Aldwin teased.

Amb smiled. "I have my lovely husband and Dr. Bashir to thank."

"Thank you," Jacob said as he turned to Bashir.

"Oh, it wasn't a problem." Bashir smiled.

Jacob approached Sisko, surprising him with a datapad.

"Thank you." Sisko looked over it.

"I went back and forth between universes to make sure everything was fixed. I was contacted by your Starfleet. It is a report on the battle. The mission was a success."

"Good for us," Dax said.

"Good for all of us," Worf corrected. "Chancellor Gowron was not pleased that the operation was happening so close to Klingon territory."

Jacob smiled. "I am to pick you up and rendezvous with the USS Centaur. The details are in the datapad.

"Charlie is a friend of mine," Sisko replied with a smile. "I see that he will be taking us back to Deep Space Nine."

Jacob made a short nod.

Sisko went to Amb, since he was the highest ranked outside of Jacob. Amb immediately retreated.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Sisko said.

"And we thank you," Malek replied.

"We had fun," Dax added, "and I enjoyed meeting another blended species."

Martouf smiled. "As did we." He made a small little bow. "Hopefully, we can stay in communication after this. It would be interesting to have friends from another universe."

"I'm sure Starfleet would like that," Sisko replied.

"I am curious," Dax said, "I know you were designed to blend with humans, but could you blend with another species?"

"The greatest risk was when we were taking our first host," Aldwin answered.

"We are compatible with most species," Malek added with a slight grin.

"We should be going," Sisko said, knowing that Dax might linger.

They gave goodbyes again before following Jacob back to the tel'tac. Bashir lingered back a little on the ship, smiling at Dax.

"What?"

"Looking for another symbiote?" He teased.

"I already have Dax."

"You are Dax, and there is still room in Jadzia's head.

She laughed. "No, but I couldn't help but think of rejected Trill initiates. I almost was one. They probably wouldn't mind a second chance."

"I thought the same myself," he admitted. "It doesn't seem fair that they die without hosts and your planet has many so willing."

"The Ferengi would call that an opportunity."

"Ah, the Great Material Continuum." Bashir grinned.

"Though without the profit." Dax laughed. "At least not the type of profits that they are looking for." She kept walking, following where Sisko and the others had already left.

"I admit, I look forward to returning home."

"And Garak?"

"You have to ask?" Bashir smiled. "So… Who gets to tell Quark that we were in tunnels where everything was made out of crystals."

Dax laughed.

Thank you all for reading. The story ended up being longer than I originally planned, but it was a lot of fun. I hope you have enjoyed it as much I have.