Note: I posted two chapters at the same time
DS9: Okanogan Incident Chapter 4
Kelas and Garak Talk
"I can hear you thinking," Kelas said groggily from beside Garak in his bed. "You might as well tell me, I won't get back to sleep until you do."
Garak sighed a bit grumpily. Julian's revelation from earlier in the evening was spinning around in his mind. He was worried about what it could mean for his relationship with Kelas.
He will admit to himself, if no one else, but he had felt that spark of attraction again when he was in the company of Julian earlier. He even feels relieved that Julian will be changing back to his real form. As he was created by the Prophets, maybe more Bajoran like. He desperately hopes that will resolve his dilemma for him.
Garak sighed again, before shifting in the bed trying to get comfortable. The chill night air prompting Garak to pull the warm covers up to his ears.
"I have not told you everything about my relationship with the good Doctor," Garak starts off cautiously.
"Is that so!"
Garak scowls fiercely in the dark at Kelas's sarcastic tone.
"When I was on the station, I discovered Julian Bashir was a covert operative, for an unknown organisation,' Garak said, he felt a vicious stab of satisfaction at the sudden stillness of his bed partner, knowing he had surprised Kelas.
"A very good agent. It bred a certain level of cooperation between us. Especially when the war broke out. We were both stuck on the station..." Garak's voice drifted off. His mind drifted off to those dark days and the utter blackness of Julian's humour when alone together.
The strangest thing that always struck Garak was that he didn't use any phaser weapons. He had a dispensation as he claimed it was against his religion. He got some flak from his fellow officers over it.
Garak had asked Julian about it, and he had told him that it was against his culture to use them. It struck Garak then what a precarious position Julian was in if he only had his own hands to defend himself with.
One of the many puzzles that was Julian Bashir, argh! And Garak to his shame, loved puzzles.
"Should you be telling me this?" Kales asked in concern.
Garak felt the other man turn his head to look at him. "He told me tonight that he was retiring," he explained in the quiet room.
"From Star Fleet?" The confusion was clear in Kelas's voice.
"No... Well yes eventually. But I meant he is retiring from the spy business."
Garak felt Kelas move beside him, the low level light came on and Garak quickly shaded his eyes. Removing his hand, he blinked up at Kelas in the dim light. He sighed when he saw Kelas' scowl.
"You were collaborating with another agent?" Kelas demanded.
Okay this conversation wasn't going how he expected. He felt a tick of anger at Kelas's accusatory tone.
He pulled himself up into a sitting position, he didn't like to feel vulnerable laying down when Kelas was above him.
He turned to his lover. "I will remind you I was in exile, so I could hardly collaborate with anyone," Garak said succinctly.
"Was he a Romulan or a Klingon?" Kelas continued, ignoring the warning clear in Garak's voice.
"I, no, not either of those species. I don't actually know who his people are. Not Federation anyway." Garak rubbed an eye ridge, he could feel the tension building.
Kelas looked shocked, his mouth slightly opened, eyes wide. "How could you not know," Kelas whispered.
Garak's anger dissipated in Kelas's disbelief that he couldn't discover who Julian worked for. "Believe me, I tried." He looked warmly at his fiancé. "I tried every trick in the booked, I practically bugged Julian's entire quarters." Garak shook his head, he still didn't know how Julian always knew about the various surveillance equipment, he placed in his rooms. They turned up in a box in his quarters with a pretty card and a hand written note: I think you forgot these in my quarters. xxx
"As I said, Julian Bashir, is really good at what he does," here Garak paused, he stroked his chin with his finger and thumb.
Kelas was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to go on. He knew Garak very well and realised that Garak was reaching the crux of the matter.
"In fact, during the rebellion, he was my informant," Garak confessed.
Kelas looked at Garak in surprise. "But... But how is that possible?" Kelas whispered.
"Julian or his people had thoroughly infiltrated our secure Data network. He even knew my birthdate," Garak said scandalised.
Kelas stilled at this information, he had seen the gleam in Garak's eye. He knew how attractive the other man found competency to be. He felt a lump form in his throat. Kelas forced himself to smile at Garak. In that moment he could feel his fiancé slipping away from him.
The only advantage that he could see that he had over the redoubtable Doctor Julian Bashir, was that he was older and hopefully wiser. He understood his fiancé's preferences for older gentlemen. He was loyal too, how trustworthy could a secret agent be?
"So, that is why you insisted that the Data Network be rebuilt," Kelas said at last with a quirk of an eye ridge.
"Yes," Garak acknowledged.
"If Julian Bashir is such an unparalleled genius at being an agent. Why hasn't he caught this stalker, you told me about?" Kelas questions.
"That is what I don't understand," Garak said. He suspected that Julian had an unexpected blind spot of how he viewed his stalker. He would have to gather more information before broaching the subject with Julian.
Sensing that their conversation had come to its natural conclusion, he laid back down in the bed and pulled the soft covers up to his chin. "It's what worries me," Garak quietly said.
Kelas harrumphed, seeing as he wasn't going to get any further information from his fiancé. He reached around and hit the sensor to turn off the lamp.
He settled back under the covers. Looking at the dark shadows in the room and listening to the occasional scattering of an insect. He felt the warmth emanating from his bed partner, adding an extra layer of comfort in the stillness of his room.
He glanced over to Garak and realised that he was only pretending to sleep, he turned back to look at the ceiling. He doubted he would get any real rest that night. He couldn't help but worry what would happen to his relationship now that the mysterious doctor had returned to Garak's life.
Maybe he will have to pay Julian Bashir a visit and evaluate the risk to his and Garak's relationship in person.
The Preparation
Garak had hurried home as soon as the vote was over and the necessary pleasantries to his fellow councillors had been made.
The dust levels continued to fall across the city and fewer people were wearing the face masks now, first recommended by the medical professionals. It was only days during and after dust storms, that masks were still mandatory.
There was an added spring to his step as he eagerly made his way home to see his guest. He felt a little guilty at his eagerness. But he told himself it was only because he wanted to aid Julian in capturing his stalker.
He tried not to wince at the lies he was telling himself.
He was pleased to see various Pointy Chesters lazing in the sun as only the fluffy creatures could. An occasional slitted eye would lazily watch him pass, just a flick, flick of their tails, showing that they were watching him.
Even the dullest Cardassian knew what the flicking tail meant. Garak ensures to ignore the little beast and briskly passed the watchful animal.
But on his return to his home, he was to be disappointed, when he explored his living quarters, they were left in eerie silence, he realised that no one was in the house.
It seemed that Asha was being unexpectedly efficient at her tour guide duties. This was unexpected, as she had been quite strident in her assertion that she was too busy with her course work to hand hold, some alien around Capitol city. She had not been enthusiastic when Garak had insisted that she show the tourist sights to Doctor Bashir during his coming visit.
Remembering the scene he had witnessed the previous evening and how comfortable his adopted daughter had appeared with Julian, it seemed his friend had completely overcome Asha's aversion to his guest.
Lazily looking at the now dormant screen, he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Garak couldn't help but feel his comfortable life here with Kelas and Asha was in danger.
He let his fingers run across the back of the seat Julian had been sitting in last night, the grey material soft under his fingertips. He thought of how relaxed and happy he had looked in his daughter's company... How attractive he had sounded speaking Cardassian. Garak's hands curled into fists.
He let out a gust of breath and loosened his hands.
Garak wandered through his sparse home and straightened up the thick warm throws draped over chairs, ready for use in the Cardassian evening chill. He found the blue porcelain bowl, Asha had been using the night before to hold her white puffy snack.
Garak gingerly brought it up to his nose to smell the contents. Taking a tentative sniff, he was surprised as it smelt very faintly of a popular spicy sweet oil on Cardassia. Taking a deeper breath, with his mouth open, he let the aroma play across his tongue, he contemplated the flavour. There was a hint of sea salt mixed in with the sugary peppery essence of the oil.
He looked at the remains of the contents of the bowl, just a few hard seeds seemed to remain. Intriguing he will have to ask Asha about it later. He walked briskly to the food prep area and recycled the scraps left in the bowl and placed the now empty bowl in the cleaning unit.
Glancing out the window he noted that the dust in the sky this afternoon wasn't too heavy. He smiled, it appeared with each passing week, that the atmosphere of the planet was slowly improving.
While he was in the food prep area he decided to give the counters a quick wipe down with antiseptic spray.
Retiring to his office with a refreshing cup of red leaf tea, he set about some legislative work, feeling a bit smug that he will be able to tell Kelas truthfully that he wasn't wasting his time waiting for his guest. He ignored the stirrings of excitement in the pit of his stomach. Assuring himself that it was only because he looked forward to being involved with an investigation again after being bogged down in politics for the past five years.
The study door was left ajar.
Two Hours Later
Garak heard the outer door open and two happy voices chatting away. Garak tilted his head to the side, trying to make out the language they were speaking. The universal translator told him that Julian and Asha were laughing about Pointy Chester's.
He stood from his desk and the tedious task of proofreading a subordinate's report on the irrigation project they were working on, up in the Kardassi mountains was forgotten. He had taken great pleasure in ruthlessly critiquing the style, grammar, and content of the report.
As he listened at his study door, he realised that Julian and Asha were now speaking Bajoran. By the sound of Asha's laughter, he wasn't as proficient in Bajoran as he was in Cardassian. Garak felt secret relief in that, as it would be too annoying for Julian to be perfect in every skill he tried.
"Hello Garak!" Asha called out, easily switching back to Cardassian.
Her happy face was all Garak needed to see to know she had an enjoyable time with his old friend.
As Julian stood in the room, with the light from the window behind him, Garak noticed with a startle that Julian had shaved his beard off.
"Julian has just become a Bajoran citizen, so I have been helping him practice his Bajoran," Asha explained as she strode into the food preparation area as two cloth bags swung from her hands.
Garak could hear her opening and closing cupboard doors and then the refrigeration unit. Putting away the purchases she had made.
Coming back into the room, "I bought fish and vegetables for dinner tonight," Asha announced. "I didn't know if Kelas was coming over or not. But I got enough for four anyway."
"Thank you my dear," Garak replied, looking at his adopted daughter, wondering how to gently get her to leave so that Julian and he could finally have that conversation about Julian's investigation.
"Julian was telling me all about a 'Pointy Chester cafe' he had been to on Earth, where the Pointy Chester's come to relax and humans come in to play and pet them," there was a hint of disbelief and wonder mixed in her tone, as if she did not quite believe Julian's story.
Julian had told him many a wild story on Deep Space Nine. He had never been able to decide if the stories were true or not. Another one of Julian's quirks that had made him grind his teeth, as whenever he tried to tell a tall tale. Julian would just look at him innocently and say things like 'Oh, I thought in 2355 you were working at the Cardassian Embassy on Romulus as a gardener?" Then turning big innocent eyes on him and say, "Oh, did I get that wrong?"
Garak had just known that the other agent was laughing at him. The most infuriating thing about the whole situation was no matter what Garak did, he could never find out anything on Julian. There wasn't a single crack in Julian's cover that he could exploit.
He had gone through every single trick in his repertoire. He must have spent at least one hundred hours, trawling through the Federation Data Networks. A more tedious task he couldn't imagine. But not a hint of a fabricated history, anywhere.
In the end it had been Julian's supposed parents that had been the weak spot. His father, Richard revealed Julian's genetic status as an augment. Though that was obviously a cover up, that Julian had managed to cobble up. It worked, as Julian hadn't been exposed as a spy.
Richard had gone to prison instead for illegally having tampered with his child's DNA. Garak cynically wondered what Julian's people had promised or threatened to persuade him to take the fall. The human had seemed like a narcissist, Garak didn't understand how the reckless man had been allowed near Julian's mission.
"He also showed me the funniest of videos all devoted to Pointy Chesters. Julian says in the Federation there are whole platforms just dedicated to them. He downloaded some for me to watch. Do you want to join us?" Asha excitedly told Garak.
Julian seeing Garak's hesitation, "Actually Asha. Garak and I need a private conversation," he said. He then went on to suggest that they head to Garak's office.
"Off course my dear doctor," Garak replied.
Garak showed Julian to his office. The room was decorated purely to suit his taste. Minimalistic, a glass desk, with holo-screens and displays built in. Any additional office equipment was hidden behind sleek shiny grey cupboards that reflected the light coming into the room through a skylight in a pleasing way.
The skylight created cooling shadows and intricate patterns of light on the floor, a polished concrete with flecks of crystal elements, which glittered like a star field at certain times of the day.
The chairs were practical, comfortable and a charcoal grey. A teal blue vase under a spotlight in a shelving unit offered a splash of colour in the otherwise monochromatic room. A green and shimmering pale grey throw added a bit of softness to the room and of course an added source of warmth if needed.
The reclamation of Cardassia wasn't that far advanced to recklessly waste energy of heating or cooling buildings. The building designs were such that they kept an approximate ideal temperature of 30C, with fans and extra layers of clothing to deal with the extremes of temperature that the planet could suffer from at the height of the winter or summer season.
Garak directs Julian to a seat that just happens to place him in the light from the skylight, while Garak sits behind his desk, in shadow. Garak hides a smirk, thinking he is in the position of advantage.
Garak gets comfortable in his chair ready to start the conversation that Julian has travelled all this way to tell him.
He finally looks at Julian in the face, bathed in the natural light through the window above and gasps.
Garak's eyes are wide in disbelief, his mouth falls open, he blinks slowly as his eyes and brain try and understand what he is seeing.
Julian just smiles brilliantly at the other man and leans back casually in the chair so that Garak could get a good look at him.
Garak blinked again. Julian looks just like that first day he arrived on the station. No… In fact, he looks better than that. His skin looks smooth, healthy, so healthy it almost looked like is glowed from within. His hair was black with defined curls, not a spec of white or grey to be seen. There was no trace of the tiredness that dogged the other man last night.
Julian in a word, was young again. From Garak's perspective he seemed to be in rude health.
Julian looked like he always looked, but, but like he was now in high definition. It was startling. He felt his heart rate pick up and his stomach dropped as he realised how attractive Julian was. He was reminded of that first day he had accosted the doctor in the Replimat, fifteen years ago.
How could this be? Was Julian a literal child when he arrived on the station, a child prodigy?
"Ta da!" Julian crowed. Very pleased at Garak's shocked reaction.
Julian just raised an eyebrow at Garak, "I did tell you I was going to return to my original form," Julian said with a smirk.
"I thought you would look like a Bajoran," were the first words that came to Garak in his shock.
"We generally inherit the majority of our phenotype from our mother's," Julian just shrugged at this revelation.
"You look good. Erm...Young even," Garak tried to cover his shock at his friends appearance.
"Yes, we generally stop aging at around twenty-eight, of course there are some outliers," Julian said airily. Obviously greatly enjoying Garak's discombobulation.
Garak waited in silence hoping Julian would give more of an explanation.
Julian just grinned and sat in silence, eyes laughing.
It appeared that he was going to make Garak work for any information about his species. In consideration Garak decided the best approach was to ignore Julian until he was ready to reveal more of his past.
"Ah, on the station, you were old enough to consent, yes?" Garak delicately enquired.
Julian burst out laughing. Deep hearty laughs that come deep from the diaphragm. A few tears escaped his eyes, with deft fingers he wiped them away. "Oh, that was funny, I am definitely old enough to consent. Hell, I would even say I am ancient," Julian to quietly chuckle and shake his head, as if he had never heard something so funny in his life.
Garak's eyes narrow and he scowled. He didn't enjoy feeling like he was on the outside of a joke.
"Sorry Garak. Thank you for asking," Julian had smothered his laughter and apologised sincerely.
Garak gave Julian a dignified nod of the head. "Shall we get down to the real reason you are here?" he said looking coolly at Julian, not quite ready to forgive and forget the joking manor of a moment ago.
Julian sobers at once. "Yes, lets." Julian sighs.
"Why don't you start at the beginning," Garak suggested.
"You had already returned to Cardassia with Colonel Kira, to form the Resistance" Julian started his story, leaning forward intently.
"It didn't feel too serious when it first started. A simple message scrawled on my mirror with lipstick, saying 'I will be watching you!'" Julian recalled frowning. "I reported it at the time to Odo. He checked my lock, and it was a level five medical override."
"Hmm, I can think of several ways of getting such an override, the easiest would be from Quark," Garak pointed out.
"I thought of that, I questioned Rom if he knew anything about Quark selling medical overrides," Julian said.
Garak nodded. Rom was an unusually honest Ferengi and after what Julian had done for his son Nog, he doubted he would deny a request that it was in his power to grant the doctor.
"He said Quark wasn't selling access. I asked Quark too. He said he wasn't crazy to sell Federation access codes during a War," Julian reported. Quark was many things, but not that crazy.
"Go on, what happened next?"
"At first, I wasn't sure if there was anything going on, but little things would happen, like my access codes changed, alarms not set. My name signed to inventory checks when I was off station. Replicator adjustments," Julian looked at Garak, his blue eyes intent on Julian's face.
"Miles got great enjoyment out of the time the replicator was adjusted to make my underwear one size too small," Julian ran his hands through his hair. "At times it made me feel crazy," Julian confessed, eyes sad.
Garak had picked up a stylus and was playing it and flipping it through his fingers. "This is strange, petty annoyances, rather than purposefully injuring you." Garak now tapped the stylus against his lips in thought.
"I don't understand, you are one of the most skilled computer hackers I know," Garak said thoughtfully.
"Actually, I am not that skilled. Mainly my people have infiltrated as many data network systems as possible in the Alpha Quadrant. My position in our hierarchy allows me access to these networks," Julian gently corrected Garak.
Garak looked a little startled at this new bit of information about Julian, though he believed him. Julian had always been able to access the most interesting information. He certainly was able to dig up all sorts of confidential information on him. It was a bit worrying to think his people had infiltrated so many governments completely undetected.
Garak sighed in relief. He was right to have Cardassia's data network rebuilt from the ground up.
"Okay, with your limited skills what have you found out?" Garak said, his tone sceptical.
Julian flashed him a smile, before his face became serious again. "Everything done to my schedule or replicator were done with a standard Star fleet maintenance access. I asked Miles about it. He told me that there was no way to trace it back to its owner.
"I set monitoring sensors up in my quarters, the only unusual activity was that my door was opened, but the visual recording showed no one crossing the threshold. The door was open for four seconds," Julian told Garak, a deep furrow in his smooth brown brow.
"Could they have detected your monitoring system?" Garak enquired.
"Did you ever detect it?" Julian countered with a look.
Julian had a point, Garak had tried on multiple occasions to find Julian's monitoring devices, he was never successful.
"I viewed Odo's security files and there was strange interference with the camera's just outside my quarters. I was able to track the interference through the station and then it would just stop," Julian explained, before leaning back in the dark chair he was sitting in.
Garak had now introduced a gentle swing to his own chair as he thought through everything Julian had told him. "I can think of several ways of breaking in to your quarters and making changes to your replicator etcetera, it could also be done remotely. I know you do too," Garak sent Julian a mock scowl.
Julian smiled unrepentant, there was a time, he had taken great pleasure in changing Garak's automatic messaging service to an overly sentimental message, for any of his customers that tried to contact him.
"And then there was the break in to Ezri's patient files."
Now Julian looked a mix of sadness and outrage at the reminder. "That was about six months after he war, so the harassment had been going on for a year at that stage," Julian said, jaw tense.
Garak could actually see the other man's pulse jumping at the base of Julian's throat.
Julian abruptly stood from the chair and started to pace in front of Garak's desk.
"I didn't expect it, that personal attack, it could have been a career ending, except for my reputation" Julian said, there was a slight flush of anger on his cheeks, teeth gritted together.
"I don't know what bothered me more, that they framed me, or that everyone automatically assumed I had done it," Julian was scowling now. He knew he wasn't being entirely fair, as he had kept a certain separation on station for the sake of his cover.
As fast as he started to pace, he slumped back into his chair. "That's unfair. It's not like they knew the real me," he acknowledged softly, leaning back in his chair, head resting against the firm leather like material.
"Come now my dear doctor, don't be so hard on yourself," Garak replied sympathetically. He knew the demands on a covert agent to maintain their cover. The layer of protection they had to establish between themselves and the people they were interacting with as part of the pretend life they had to keep, as part of their mission.
Garak understood all too well the toll that, that sort of pretence could have on anyone's psyche, no matter their training and how tough they were mentally.
It was why discovering Julian's secret persona on the station had been a blessing in disguise. They each had someone they didn't have to always pretend too. Though they never revealed their own goals to the other. Just knowing that there were things they could not tell each other offered a level of emotional honesty that they could share.
"Go on my dear. After the setup of the stolen patient files, you moved on," Garak prodded Julian to continue with the retelling of the past eight years.
"Yes, of course," Julian said. Sighing he pulled himself into a more upright position in the chair and looked at Garak.
"My mission on the station was essentially over," Julian admitted. "My Prime directed me to move on to different posts, just take the temperature of the Federation and Star Fleet. Keep my ears open to see if anyone was aware of the talks going on between the Primes and the leaders of Bajor," Julian said, rubbing his forehead to get his thoughts in an ordered state to continue his retelling.
The only tell that Garak had been startled by this information was he paused playing with his stylus for a second. Of course, Julian's people would give him a knew mission. Garak hadn't considered that his superiors would use the same cover. And with how easily Julian revealed this data to Garak, it illustrated to him just how serious Julian had been when he told him he was retiring the night before.
"Everything was going well, I was received well at my next posting, my wartime record stood me well. Even with the black mark on my file" Julian licked his lips.
"Until about four months in, when the same patterns started to occur. My personal schedule would be changed to show me I was off duty, but then a nurse or other doctor would call me wanting to know why I wasn't in the Med-bay. Or I would order tests for a patient, but they weren't recorded in the system, it made me look in competent," Julian's voice had started to show his anger at this situation.
"I had to spend hours each week and then every couple of days running virus scanners and correcting programs and schedules," Julian sighed. "I was a fool."
"Why?" Garak said.
"I had been so used to covering my tracks, lying, acting in a clandestine manner, that I never thought to report the tampering. By the end of the eight months I spent on board, my reputation was completely shot, everyone assumed I was suffering from PTSD. But if I had reported the tampering when it first occurred, I could have maybe nipped the persecution in the bud, or at the very least my crew would have known I was being harassed."
"But by then you had already tampered with the computer records, and you would have had to explain how you had done, it and why?" Garak concluded.
"Hubris," Julian succinctly said. "I was so used to playing my tricks and manipulating the Star Fleet data network, it hadn't even occurred to me to ask for help. I would have had Odo's and Miles's record of the harassment I was suffering on Deep Space Nine as evidence," Julian confessed grimacing.
"Ah, and by then your reputation had been tarnished," Garak leaned forward, resting his arms on his desk, stylus still, as he looked at Julian in sympathy. It seemed his dear friend wasn't omnipotent after all.
"It would have looked like I was making excuses," Julian said wearily. He was angry with himself for falling into such a simple trap.
"So, the intimidation continued up to the USS Okanogan?" Garak gentle probed.
Thunder clouded Julian's eyes, they almost seemed black with his emotions. He clenched his fist, jaw tense.
He took a deep breath and tried to relax enough so he could get the words out. "I had come up with an elaborate range of checks and balances and for once I thought I had alluded them," Julian whispered.
Garak was forced to lean a little closer to ensure that he caught every word.
"But it was worse than ever before. I had locked out any computer station that was personally mine, med-bay and my quarters," Julian shook his head. "It was only me by that stage in medical." Julian sighed slumping slightly in his seat.
"I changed the settings, so all updates had to be made in person and I ensured that I only ever used those stations." Julian shook his head as if in disbelief. "But someone must have come on board."
"Before I had even been assigned to the ship, the Okanogan had been scheduled for a week in dock for a minor upgrade to the living quarters. This was scheduled to occur about four months after I joined the crew. I put a personal encryption code on the computers in Med-by and my quarters, to bar access to anyone and prevent tampering while I was on the station."
Julian leaned forward in his chair and rested his head on his hands, he couldn't bear to look at Garak and in light of his utter failure.
Garak looked at his friend in compassion and remained silent, allowing Julian to compose himself.
"During the retrofit, someone actually took a ghost image of my system and physically removed the whole unit and replaced them with another Star Fleet computer of the same model. They used a modified Toolkit, with buried subroutines to trigger, wiping its existing system and replacing it with a crude Cardassian hack," Julian said sitting back up and looking at Garak.
"So, while I was on board, it ran all my commands, and recorded false records on my system. I was taking the blood work for each crew member as they came aboard as per SOP. Running the results and logging it. What I hadn't realised, was that it would give me a negative result each time, no matter what it actually was." Julian rubbed his eyes.
"I didn't realise my system had been breached, as all my diagnostic tests on the systems were coming up clear. It was only when everybody started getting sick, that I realised that all the results were coming up negative when I knew they couldn't be correct. When I realised my computer system was buggered, I had to result to manual identification of the virus," Julian swallowed. "By then it was too late," his voice held his despair clearly.
Garak just nodded, not wanting to break the flow of Julian's words.
"I was able to reprogram one of the food replicators in the rec room to make the necessary antivirals. It was too late for 87 crew members," Julian said sadly.
"I checked my computer, when I had time and at last realised that it had been tampered with. I tried to gather the evidence, to show it had been compromised, but this triggered the hidden subroutine, it removed the toolkit, revealing the clean system underneath once more." Julian rubbed his eyes with his hand.
"The actual Star Fleet operating system show literally no work activity, but it logged any entertainment or correspondence I had sent out and received. It also clearly showed that there hadn't been any testing done in months. At the same time, it did a piss poor job of trying to corrupt this data with a poorly executed Cardassian hack."
Garak could see the pain in Julian's eyes.
"Once we arrived back at station, the crew were either dead or compromised and were in no condition to vouch for me, along with my record from the previous four years, well you get the picture," Julian told him.
Garak nodded, "Yes, I see."
Whoever was going after Julian had struck him at the heart of him. Garak had always known Julian was an excellent doctor and took his duties to his patients seriously. This attack was particularly cruel.
"They took us all back to Earth to investigate. I tried telling Miles what had happened, and I could see he didn't believe me," tears pooled in Julian's eyes. "I knew I would have to sever our relationship," Julian shrugged regretfully as he swiped the tears from his eyes. "So, I came up with a story I knew he would believe, that I had cocked up. I knew how traumatic he had found that twenty years in prison. So, I manipulated him to delete the evidence against me."
Julian now hanged his head in shame at deceiving such a good friend. He cared a great deal for Miles O'Brien.
Garak looked at Julian. Though he was as handsome as ever, the other man looked wrung out from the emotional retelling of his harassment over the last eight years. Whoever was staging this vendetta against Julian, it was personal to them, that much was clear.
There was just one thing he wanted to know at this time. "When you came to Deep Space Nine, how old were you?"
"When I arrived on the station, I was physically twenty-seven years old, and twenty-eight only six months later," Julian replied honestly.
"Physically?" Garak wanted clarification.
Gesturing to himself. "This rendition of me, Julian Bashir was born in Oxford, Earth, in 2342," Julian said with a weak smile.
Garak regarded Julian for a minute, before nodding, accepting his answer as truth. The wording of his answer to Garak's question about consent indicated that there was more truth to be had, but he would accept his answer at face value for now.
"I want to think about what you have told me," Garak said carefully. "I will have some questions for you later. But first why don't we have a drink and watch those amusing videos of Pointy Chester's?" Garak suggested.
Julian sagged in relief; his energy levels seemed to be depleted after their conversation. He was grateful for the reprieve.
Garak stood from his chair and walked over to Julian. He offered the other man his hand as he pulled him from his chair. He frowned slightly, as Julian seemed heavier than he had before.
They went in search of Asha and to relieve some of the tension between them.
Family Dinner
The lights were dimmed, and the food smelt delicious as the four people gathered around the glass dining table. Mismatched plates and glasses sat before each diner. The plates had been scavenged from his father's former estate, early in the recovery period. For some reason Asha favoured them. When she cooked, these were the dishes she liked to use.
It was a very awkward for the four adults who sat around the table where the food was laid out.
Kelas spent most of the time glaring at Julian or Garak.
Julian wasn't so removed from mortal sensibilities that he realised it was probably his apparent age that was upsetting Kelas. Asha hadn't questioned Julian when he had appeared for breakfast this morning. Julian had assumed that Asha was not familiar enough with human's so didn't know how to gauge age accurately.
Kelas was a different matter.
Garak was tense from all the glaring Kelas was sending his way. After the revelation of Julian's physical appearance and the emotional discussion about the trouble Julian was having with his stalker, it had slipped Garak's mind to forewarn his fiancé about Julian's apparent age.
Kelas was appalled at Garak. Many years previously when they had started their relationship, Garak had told him about his friend Doctor Bashir and that they occasionally had sex. He liked to think he knew Garak's tastes well, these included: intelligence, experience, and competency. Bashir must have been a literal child when he first arrived at Terrok Nor.
Kelas had spent time tracking down every paper and article Bashir had ever contributed to, so knew he was prodigiously intelligent. But his looks twisted something deep in his guts.
Garak didn't know what to do. It's not like he could explain the situation with Julian sitting with them at the table. Besides, he didn't understand how Julian could look like he did.
Julian was fed up with eating his root vegetables in stony silence, while Asha cast fretful glances at the other three men. He couldn't let this continue or else they would all suffer from indigestion.
Swallowing the mouthful of food, Julian took a sip of the white wine, it was sharp and fruity, pairing excellently with the fish. Kelas had brought it with him. He gave the other doctor a half smile. "I am a lot older than I look," he finally said aloud while looking at Doctor Parmak.
This didn't do anything to alleviate the scowl the other man was sending his and Garak's way and Asha just looked confused at this statement.
"My species generally stop ageing at twenty-eight and then maintain perfect physical fitness from then on, until we die. I truly am much older than I look. Up until I arrived on planet, I was sustaining my human disguise, so I had been using, hair dye, posture, etcetera to appear middle aged. I am very good at it, as I have had a lot of practice," Julian explained. This wasn't the only way he could affect his appearance, but it would be too difficult to describe over a simple lunch.
Asha mouth formed a nearly perfect 'O', while Garak tried to hide his interest and Parmak just looked sceptical.
This was a new experience for Julian, explaining his existence. In the distant past it wasn't exactly forbidden to never tell humans. In fact, there were always humans, and then some Vulcans and Klingons who knew about them, but only in very small numbers. They could marry and were allowed to tell their spouses. Especially if they were full adults and thus fertile. They needed the consent of their wives to impregnate them if they wanted to have biological children.
But it had never been this casual, just sitting around a table. Julian unexpectedly felt anxious and a bit sweaty from the experience, he even thought he was developing a tension headache. From his own unique physiology, he almost never fell ill. He surreptitiously wiped his damp palms on his trousers out of sight of his dinner companions.
"You're not human?" Asha asked, a little flushed, a little confused.
"Ah, no, I am not," Julian simply said. He felt wary, his senses, already superior to his companions, heightened. He felt a coiled tension in his legs, ready to leap to his own defence if need be. He tried taking calming breaths.
"What are you then?" Kelas demanded in a gruff voice. Not believing the other doctor. He knew he was being slightly ridiculous, as Garak had already told him that Bashir had been a covert operative on the station.
Julian frowned in thought. He speared a bit of fish with his fork and popped it in his mouth, thus avoiding the question for a moment.
Garak now looked at Julian with curiosity. He was moderately confident that he knew the other man well enough to detect a lie. He wanted to know how Julian would answer.
Julian finished chewing and took a sip of the wine to wash the food down. "Erm, we don't really have a collective name for us," Julian said thoughtfully. They should probably come up with a name for themselves. A dark cloud passed over his features. "The Federation called Augment Remnants," he almost spat out this hated epitaph.
Asha jumped at Julian's vehemence, she looked to Garak for reassurance.
Garak smiled calmly at the young woman, his eyes flicked to Kelas, who looked startled at this statement.
"I am sorry," Julian quickly apologised. "The question took me by surprise. You see we have had to live our lives in utter secrecy for over ten thousand years. Our whole society, communities, even our hierarchies have all been held in total concealment from the outside world," Julian explained before taking another sip of his drink.
"It has only been in the last week with the Treaty signing with Bajor, that these restrictions have been lifted," Julian quietly said. He was struck in that moment what a profound change this was for his people.
Garak looked at Julian with new eyes. How strange to be a covert race, what did that do to a people, other than make them all covert agents.
"How do you stop little kids from blabbing," Asha now asked in curiosity.
"In the beginning we lived in communes, separate from humans, so it didn't matter," Julian clarified. "But as the world became more populous and our own numbers grew it wasn't possible anymore to remain isolated. When we started going out in the world, well we just didn't tell the children until they reached twenty-eight years old, the age of physical maturity."
Kelas looked horrified at this, Garak didn't look much different.
"And now?" Prompted Asha.
"Well in the last decade of the twentieth century, our leaders instigated private institutions where our children could be educated. A much better arrangement I assure you," Julian said. His expression sorrowful as he remembered the past.
"The majority of our past has been extremely violent. I don't know if you understand just how violent and brutal humans on Earth were." Julian barely stopped himself from shuddering as sudden horrific memories were clamouring to get into his conscious mind.
He took a deep breath. "I don't want to talk about it," he said firmly. The dark repressive look on his face clearly said to 'back off' to his fellow dining companions around the table.
"Earth, violent?" Asha said in puzzlement looking to her adopted father for clarification.
Garak had studied enough Earth history to know this to be true, though the Human's in the Federation liked to play this down. But Garak hadn't read Shakespear and not come out of it with the realisation quite how violent Earth was in the distant past. But now looking at a pale Julian, he wondered exactly how distant it was for the other man.
Garak just nodded his confirmation for Asha.
"Hence, you never had a name for your people," Kelas pondered allowed. He regretted this line of conversation, he wasn't a cruel man, and though Julian was the first human appearing person he had met, he can tell the other person was in pain.
Julian sighed and pushed away his negative thoughts. It wasn't in their nature to be depressed. It wasn't the ideal temperament for a super soldier. They were an emotionally resilient race, who had a positive outlook on life. They had been uniquely designed to be long lived people.
"My apologies, not exactly pleasant dinner conversation," Julian said with a slight smile. "Informally, amongst ourselves we usually refer to us as Immortals."
"Immortals," whispered Asha, eyes wide in wonder now.
"We're not immortal," Julian quickly clarified. "Just long lived, we can die in violence, like most people."
'Immortal,' it implied so much Garak thought. He cast a curious eye over his friend now, thinking back to the conversations they have had. Julian did say he was born in 2342. But that whole conversation implied that he was older than the forty-two years on record for one Julian Bashir.
"How long?" Kelas bluntly asked the alien opposite him.
Julian smiled brilliantly at the Cardassian, "well I have a much, much older cousin who is approaching nine thousand years old."
Kelas was momentarily stunned at how pretty the other doctor was. Then his brain caught up with him and he was left in dismay. It just occurred to him that he probably didn't have the advantage of age and experience that Garak finds so attractive.
Watching the ease with which Bashir moved, it was obvious that he was fully at home in his body. An indicator of maturity, yet he looked so young.
"Cool," Asha said, a hint of excitement to her voice as she imagined the history Julian must have seen.
Julian looked a bit warily at the young woman, he had caught the enthusiasm in her tone. This often preceded a grilling on one historical event or another. The only bright side being she wasn't human, so unlikely to know any of the historical high points to ask about.
"This dinner is delicious," Julian quickly interjected, hoping to derail any more questions about his distant past.
Garak quickly caught on and brought the conversation around to the 'Pointy Chesters' café Julian had told Asha about earlier in the day. Asha love for the furry creatures was bound to distract her from Julian.
Garak spared a glance at his fiancé and now saw him morosely chewing on his food.' Now what could have upset him now?' Garak thought.
He plastered on one of his charming smiles and entertained his companions with a safe story from his childhood.
It didn't fully distract anyone at the table, but at least it enabled a semblance of a normal dinner amongst family and friends.
Note: I am currently writing chapter 9, so I am going somewhere with this story, if slowly