Chapter 5: Searching for Clues

"He was complaining of a headache when I left." Kassidy explained and wiped her forehead of sweat. "Constable, is he going to be okay?"

I-have-no-idea would have been an honest and straight-forward answer, but Odo had learned over the years that honest and straight-forward wasn't always the best answer when it came to the people he cared about and especially when they were upset.

The look on her face had a curious effect on him; just like when the Major was anxious, he wanted to reassure her but didn't know how.

"Captain Sisko has good instincts. I'm sure he will be alright."

This seemed to work.

"Whew, it's hot in here." Jake commented and aired out the front of his brightly-colored shirt. "Computer, what temperature is it in here?"

"The temperature is set at one-hundred and two degrees."

One-hundred-and-two!? Jake mouthed silently in horror.

"I wanted to turn it down, but I knew you would want to see it exactly as it was when I came back." Kassidy explained. It was also very dark, but he had complained of a headache, and he often dimmed the lights when he had one.

"I appreciate that." Odo said honestly. "It's not uncommon for people with headaches to dim the lights in their quarters." It was very dark, but other than that, nothing in Sisko's quarters jumped out at him as out-of-the-ordinary except for the high temperature.

"I would request that these quarters remain off-limits during the investigation."

"Of course." Jake answered; Yates had her own quarters to sleep at night, though she had frequented Sisko's. Jake placed a caring hand around her shoulder and exited with her.

Odo followed after and commanded the computer to lock the domicile with his security clearance code. He had six other quarters to inspect.

Martok's quarters was much the same in that the lighting was low and the temperature was high; there were various bladed weapons that decorated flat surfaces and walls, assorted, terrifying animal heads - trophies of hunts - and their furs. That was normal for Klingons; a lack of weapons and trophies, in this case, would have been worrisome. Martok's quarters were clean and lacking the feminine touch that Sisko's had; Martok's wife Sirella lived on Qo'noS.

A plate of something unrecognizable (it looked like it used to be alive at one point) was still in its delivery container, wrapped by the Klingon restaurant. Odo locked the quarters upon his exit.

Worf and Jadzia's quarters was neither dark nor hot. It was eccentrically decorated like most joined Trill; multiple odds and ends that served as memorabilia failed to tie the room together, because for the joined, sentimentality often over-rode aesthetics. "Did you modify anything here since you noticed Commander Dax was missing?" Odo asked.

"Only environment controls. It was too hot to breathe and too dark to see."

"Security officer that you were, you do know better than to tamper with potential evidence?"

"Yes."

He knew better than to berate the Klingon, who didn't appear in the mood to accept criticism.

"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary besides the temperature and lighting?"

"No. Her clothes were on the floor. She only puts them away when she has done something to agitate me."

"Thank you, commander. You can expect a regular update during the course of the investigation."

"Good."

The next round of quarters was Leeta and Rom's. It was immaculately clean with classic Bajoran decorations. It was also hot, but not dark. Rom had the decency to admit he had lifted the lights before discovering she was missing, and like the others, it was hot at nearly the same temperature. "Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?" He repeated his question.

"Yes! She left a half-eaten plate of Palukoo on the table. She hates Palukoo!"

"Palukoo?"

"It's a Bajoran dish. Baked spiders. I think it's really good. She vomited everything else. Palukoo was the only thing she could keep down!"

Odo made his rounds, and once again, in finding nothing abnormal, he turned to leave.

"Constable?"

Odo paused.

"Is she going to be okaaaaaaaaaaaay?" Rom tried not to cry, but his lower lip jutted out further than it normally did.

"I'm sure we will find them."

But Rom was observant enough to interpret Odo's tone and body language to mean that Odo had no idea how any of this would turn out.

"Huh!" He exclaimed, trying to hold back a sob. "Huh!"

"It's only the beginning of the investigation." Odo explained in an awkward attempt to relieve the Ferengi's fears. "The station has numerous security features I've yet to review. That may point to their current location." This seemed to work - Rom was blinking away tears. "I am certain she is not alone. It is likely that she will be with the others."

"Okay!" He blurted, as if forcing to talk himself into a calmer state, and lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Odo in an unwelcome hug. Odo stood stiffly through the event.

"I have more quarters to investigate." He announced in a half-command, half-plea to let him go.

Rom released his hold and opened their quarters for him to exit.

"Byeeeeeee." He said anxiously as the shapeshifter exited.

Dark and hot, hot and dark. The darkness he could understand, but why did they all keep the temperature so high?

Kira's quarters was painfully quiet, driving home that she too was amongst the missing. The incense and candle wicks that lined her Prayer Mandela hadn't been lit for a while. No sign of forced entry. An untouched plate of replicated Palukoo. She hated replicated food and hated Palukoo, and yet, just like in Leeta's quarters, there it was. A single mug of Brooks tea rest on the table, cold and full, as if she never bothered to even take a sip of it. They all had poor appetites. Was that a clue or a side effect of the headaches? He did not stay there long and opted to head to the O'Brien's next.

He saw O'Brien was hugging his son on the couch.

"I knew ye'd want to inspect the place. Don't bother. There's nothing here, I've already checked."

"I would still like to take a look around, as a measure of procedure, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead."

Odo made his rounds; toys were littered on the floor, spread by Kirayoshi. Otherwise it was as clean as everyone else's; a sign of a healthy mental state of mind of the family that lived there.

"I should tell ye it was hot and dark when I came in. I should have never left them." Miles admitted. "Maybe if I'd stayed-"

"You had no way of anticipating their actions. Leaving in this manner is uncharacteristic for everyone involved."

"I know. I just-"

"-I understand." Odo answered.

"Odo," O'Brien said to him as he had turned to leave. Kirayoshi took the opportunity to slide his father's finger into his mouth and bit down, leaving a trail of clear drool. Kira said he was teething. "You'll tell me, won't ye? The moment ye find anything? I'd like to help. Any way that I can."

Odo gave him a single nod in the affirmative and left.

Upon entering the last quarters, Odo had noticed something was off. Garak's was slightly different; Cardassians preferred clean, dark, hot and humid environments naturally. And while it was indeed clean, dark and hot, it was by no means humid.

"Computer!" He said quickly with excitement. "What is the humidity in these quarters?" The computer chimed back.

"The humidity is set to six percent."

Six percent!

"Now that is unusual for a Cardassian." He said to himself. Everything else, however, was unremarkable.

He made his rounds back through each of the quarters, and discovered that all of the quarters had humidity far lower than was considered comfortable. Hot, dark, low humidity. Any uneaten food that was left out all had one thing in common: they were arachnid-based.

He filed these curious little details away to his memory and moved on.

There was no record of physical threats on file for any of the missing persons except for those directed towards General Martok (reported by witnesses). Martok himself never reported them, since he was of the mind that a threat should be backed by an attempt. His explanation for his escalation of threats was that unlike holosuites, real altercations were the superior training ground. But no one who recently threatened the General were even on the station, and hadn't been long before he went missing.

He reviewed what painfully few security cameras there were on the promenade. He had requested more be installed years before -he remembered the previous chief security Thrax had requested the same- but Sisko and the Major denied his request, claiming they did not want the station to feel like a 'surveillance state.' Which made his job more difficult.

There was only one camera that showed Keiko and Molly walking down the promenade, but to where he couldn't tell. Recent scans of all the quarters showed no transport signatures neither in nor out of their quarters.

Odo had to admit, he was going to need some help.

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Quark saw Odo and O'Brien approach the bar, eyes fixed intently on him. He instinctually raised his hands as if surrendering.

"If you're asking about the Peklid, I have no idea how he got those drugs!"

"Drugs?" Odo asked with a curious and ominous tone.

O'Brien leaned in, in at attempt to control the topic of the conversation. "Quark, eight people just disappeared last night."

"You're not here about the drugs?"

"Not today." Odo corrected.

"I'm sorry, I don't know anything about any missing persons." Quark bent down to clean his bar.

"Listen here! I come back from Vic's to find My wife and little girl are nowhere to be found!"

"I really am sorry," Quark said, staring the chief in the eyes, "but that has nothing to do with me."

"Next to Odo, you're practically the eyes and ears of this station." O'Brien licked his lips, leaning in closer. He wondered if it was wise to tell Quark about how grave the situation really was, but he and Odo needed leads. "Now at about twenty-two hundred, half the senior staff disappeared."

The gravity had not been lost on the Ferengi, whose mouth opened in surprise. "Then whose running the station?"

"Anything you know could prove useful in locating them." Odo explained, ignoring his question.

"Worf is in command of the station." O'Brien answered.

"That Klingon!" Quark groaned. "We'll all be dead before morning." He shook his head. "I'll tell you everything I know." He grumbled honestly at first, but the greed inside caught hold of him. "For a minor fee."

"Quark!"

Odo rolled his eyes. "I may be able to convince Tellikano to drop the fraud charges."

"That wasn't fraud! He bought it knowing full well it was defective! 'Caveat Emptor' I believe the hoo-mons call it? So they can use it but I can't?"

Odo leaned back with a take-it-or-leave-it expression.

"All right." Quark agreed sourly, then leaned forward. "So exactly who is missing?"

"General Martok, Captain Sisko, Major Kira, Commander Dax, Garak, Keiko, Leeta, and Molly."

Quark snapped his fingers in an 'a-ha!' fashion, then wiggled his finger at Odo to lean in closer. "I did witness something last night when I was closing up." He paused for just a second, considering how the news could hurt Odo's feelings, then disregarded it. Dropped fraud charges were more valuable than silly sensitivities. "I saw Major Kira and Garak walking the promenade together last night. Drunk as Bolian booze-skunks. Maybe you should check his quarters."

Odo leaned back, lips pressed firmly shut.

"My family is missing, I don't have time to listen to you spread absurd rumors!"

"I'm telling you what I saw!"

"Wait, Chief." Odo raised his finger. "He's telling the truth."

"Wh-I've never seen the Major drunk. And she can't stand Garak!"

"Ensign Tannenbaum was working on the Promenade last night and said she saw Leeta and General Martok walking the promenade together last night and they appeared drunk." But he had dismissed it at first as mistaken identity; Leeta and the General never socialized. But now? "That can't be a coincidence."

"Leeta and Martok, fine. But Kira and Garak, that's unbelievable."

"Those Bajorans. They act all pious, but at the end of the day, they get drunk and make mistakes just like the rest of us." Quark squeezed Odo's shoulder empathetically. "I'm sorry, Odo." Quark let go when he saw Odo stiffen at the touch, then cocked his head to the side in thought. "Didn't most of your missing persons cancel going to that Vic Fontaine program?" He offered.

"They did." Odo confirmed. "They were complaining of headaches."

"I only went to Vic's because Keiko and Molly were feeling sick. But that doesn't answer the question of where they went."

"Did Keiko and Molly have headaches?"

"They did. Julian said their headaches were a result of short term exposure to Jeraddoan atmosphere."

Odo nodded. "So did the Major. And I know that Captain Sisko and Garak both were suffering headaches as well."

"Maybe we should ask Julian to look over their files again. See if he missed something."

"Maybe we should."

"You're welcome." Quark added brusquely. "Remember those fraud charges!" He said to their backs as they walked away.

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"No one came to the infirmary with complaints of feeling ill. Headaches, yes. But not illness." Julian recounted as he pulled up Keiko's recent scan. All normal here. "Martok and Garak never saw me at all, but they don't typically come here unless they're actively dying." He pulled up Kira's scan next. Also normal.

O'Brien rest his hands on his hips.

"They went to Jeraddo, came back, complained of headaches..." Odo visited and revisited what little he knew. "In the replimat, Garak barely ate anything. Dax and Kira cancelled going to Vic's. Nearly half the missing crew had uneaten arachnid-based meals in their quarters."

"Insect-based foods are common in every sector." Julian said passively. "And the headaches are just a side-effect of breathing the atmosphere without respirators."

"The environment controls were also set to high temperatures and low humidity, and the lights were off." Odo added.

"Plenty of people with headaches dim their lights. The high temperature could be a sign of a fever, but the low humidity, I don't have an explanation for that."

"Keiko said she wasn't feeling well, didn't even stay for supper. Just went straight to bed. So did Molly." O'Brien recounted.

While the two talked to themselves, something in Molly's recent health scan caught Julian's eye.

"Now that can't be right." He said quietly, more to himself than anyone else, and approached the monitor.

Behind him, Chief of security and Chief of engineering threw out significant and insignificant details of the day before, any and every little thing, in the hope of discovering a lead.

"Chief." Julian called him. "I was wrong. Look." He pointed to Molly's scan. "There are DNA fragments here that weren't in her previous scan."

"'DNA fragments-?'"

"Yes. I'm looking right at them." To O'Brien, it all looked like static gobbeldy-gook. Julian pulled up Kira's recent scan, then Keiko's, and squinted in confusion. "There it is again, and again. It's happening to them, too."

"What's happening to them? What does this mean, Julian. Give it to me straight."

"It means they're ..." He squinted again. "...changing."

"Changing?! To what!"

"I don't know." He glanced over at Odo. "No one mentioned exposure to anything unusual, besides the atmosphere."

"Could the atmosphere do this?"

"Doubtful. Plenty of people have gone to Jeraddo and returned without any problems. Except for the ones who stayed too long without respirators. They all died."

"But they weren't on Jeraddo that long." O'Brien excused.

"No, not long enough to cause any permanent damage. The migraines were the extent of it. This," He said, referring to the DNA fragments, "this is new." He read and re-read the medical files, brows knit together in concentration. "I don't know why I didn't notice this before, this definitely should have raised alarm."

Raised alarm.

"Alarm." Odo quoted and curled a finger over his chin in thought. Of course! how could he have not thought... "Computer, how many runabouts are docked on the station?"

"There are three runabouts on the docking ring."

"We should have four! There's no authorization to use any right now." O'Brien paused. "But anyone trying to leave with one would set off an alarm."

Odo nodded. "Unless it was overridden by Captain Sisko."

"Computer," O'Brien called out. "List the names of the runabouts still on the docking ring."

"Runabouts Congo, Irtysh, and Styx are located on the docking ring."

"The Neisse is missing. That's the same runabout they used when they went to Jeraddo." O'Brien said quietly.

"Computer, when did the Neisse leave the station?"

"The Neisse left the station at twenty-two hundred hours, thirty-seven minutes and twelve seconds."

"Ensign Deegan to Chief of Security Odo."

"Odo here."

"We found that Peklid you were looking for."

He cast a glance over to Julian and O'Brien. "On my way."

He excused himself from the infirmary and headed back to Security.

He entered the jail and stood before the Peklid with arms folded.

"Why am I here?" The prisoner asked slowly. "I have done nothing wrong."

"Public intoxication-"

"-I have no alcohol on me."

"No, you don't." Odo agreed and lifted a slender datapadd. "Public intoxication," He repeated. "And possession of three different drugs-" He tucked the datapadd back under his arm. "-All of which are illegal on the station."

The Peklid's expression fell. "They are not illegal on my planet. A wedding present from my father, said it will help."

All hopes of pinning this on Quark just disappeared.

"Please," The Peklid continued. "I am not smart, I did not know." His bushy eyebrows lifted with sincerity, and his brown eyes were pleading that the Constable believe and take pity upon him.

Those Peklids do like to downplay their intelligence. Only a fool would underestimate them.

"I'm obligated to treat all prisoners the same, regardless of intent." Odo said almost apologetically.

"I won't do it again!"

Whether that was a true statement or not remained to be seen. Odo tapped the tip of his nose in thought. He was on the promenade last night. What were the chances that he interacted with the missing Jeraddoan crew?

"Would you mind telling me something?" He saw the Peklid raise his head to listen. "Did you see anything unusual on the station? Other intoxicated individuals? Anything you can provide me would help your case."

Hope lit his eyes. "Oh, yes!" He exclaimed with a fat-lipped smile. "When I was floating over Sagittarius A in the spectral field, I was the color Blue..." Odo resisted a roll of his eyes at the obvious description of a drug-induced hallucination. "...I saw two eagles on the station. One was wearing Bajoran skin, and the other wearing Cardassian skin. Their wings hadn't grown yet, but they were eagles. They were helping each other to go home."

"...I see." He said patronizingly. He wasn't sure if any of this information could even be categorized as 'useful'. "Did those two 'Eagles' happen to say where they were going?"

"To hide. They were very afraid." He said matter-of-factly.

"Of what?"

"Of me." Odo quirked a brow. Of you? Surely not. "Of Quark," He continued. "Of People. Too noisy. He wanted to attack. But she wanted to fly, fly fast." He shook his head. "She could not fly."

"Well. I thank you for your interpretation of events," The constable said. "That is all the questions I have at the moment."

"You will let me go?"

"Not yet. But you will find the Bajoran Magistrate is soft on people who cooperate with local law enforcement, she will review your case and make her decision." He knew her well enough to know that the Peklid would be released within a 26-hour period for his first, uncomplicated offense. He rest his back against the wall in a sulk.

Odo left Security heavy in thought.

Now about that missing Runabout.

It was early, so its warp signature could still be tracked.

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Scans of the warp signature showed the Neisse had headed straight for Jeraddo.

With a fresh lead, O'Brien was now a man on a mission to retrieve his family. Odo and the Chief agreed that he would be the better choice given his experience, and it would be better for Odo to stay behind. All they needed was Worf's approval.

Once he had seen to Kirayoshi's care, he stuffed a small duffel bag of the things he thought he might need and made his way towards Ops.

He found Worf in Sisko's office, scanning files and documents referring to Odo's new missing persons case.

"I know why you have come." He said curtly to the Chief engineer, without even a standard greeting. With Sisko, the Major, and Dax missing, he was the next in command and was thus honor-bound to the station by the uniform he donned, despite his wife being among the missing.

"You do? So I have permission to go, sir?"

"I can not ask you to stay, and you are more than qualified for a mission such as this." Worf stared the old soldier in the eyes. There was nothing left needing said, as far as the Klingon was concerned.

"Thank ye, Worf."

"Q'apla."

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