Everything Old... Part IV, conclusion

[dark_sinestra]

Julian

The Infirmary

 

The entire situation seemed unreal. Murder aboard the station was extremely rare, usually the result of some underhanded or illegal dealing gone bad or the occasional result of domestic violence. He performed the autopsy with his usual sense of detachment because it was his job. However, it didn't stop him from thinking about the circumstances of the death and the ugly climate that had permeated the station in just a matter of days from Akorem's announcement. He didn't buy the will of the Prophets rubbish. In his private opinion, non-linear aliens simply had no concept of time or the consequences of jumbling the time line. Who knew why they brought Akorem to the present, or if they had any reason at all other than to see what might happen?

 

It didn't take him very long to be able to determine the cause of death for certain, broken neck from the fall leading to rapid asphyxiation from total body paralysis. Fortunately, it seemed as though he lost consciousness upon impact. He entered his official findings for the record, stripped out of the red scrubs, and put the body in cold storage for evidence in the murder case. He was down to one nurse and one medic for the shift, both of them grim and silent. He wondered if they'd try to put in for a transfer soon. He wondered if Starfleet would pull all of them out of the sector within the year. The only positive he had to focus on in the moment was knowing Garak was with Leeta. He couldn't think of anyone better suited to keeping her safe.

 

“Sir,” his nurse approached him hesitantly.

 

He glanced up from the report he was writing. “Yes?”

 

“Aside from the murder, we had an incident at lunch,” she said.

 

“What sort of incident?” he asked, thinking silently, What now?

 

“You remember a family had an appointment to bring their two children in for routine vaccinations?”

 

“Yes,” he said, nodding.

 

“Someone from a higher caste walked in complaining of a rash and became irate when we refused to see him first. He said he's going to file a complaint with the Bajoran government. I was wondering what our official policy is going to be on this?”

 

He wanted to hit something. He genuinely wanted to hit something, his fists balling tightly. “Our official policy, Nurse, is that Starfleet doesn't operate under a caste system. Since the majority of our Bajoran staff has quit, this is a Starfleet medical facility, and it will be run as such. Tell them next time if they have a complaint to tender it to Starfleet, because we don't look to the Bajoran government for guidance on how we conduct our business.”

 

She smiled slightly and nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, Sir!” she said. “Before I forget, we also received three more Bajoran resumes.”

 

“This should be good for a laugh,” he said. “Are they in my office?”

 

“Yes, Sir.”

 

He retreated to the back and sat at his desk. As he expected, all of them were Belans, Belan Dar, Belan Rasheek, and Belan Pema. Healer caste. “Oh, this is promising,” he said wryly. “Thirty years on a farm in Lonar Province. Experience with wild herb craft, harvesting and preparation. Or how about this one? No formal education, but eager to learn. Oh, quite possibly my favorite yet. 'I've always known I had a special calling. It's the Prophet's blessing that I now know what it is. Please give me the chance to fulfill my pagh path. You won't regret it'. Perhaps not, but I imagine my patients soon would.”

 

The male medic ducked his head into the office. “Sorry, Sir, did you say something?”

 

“I was just talking to myself,” he sighed, “apparently loudly. I'll try my best to keep it down.”

 

An hour later he was summoned to the wardroom. He felt guilty about it, but he was relieved to get out of the oppressive environment of the infirmary, if only for a little while. He met up with Dax on the way. She wasn't her usual mischievous self, rather quiet and looking tired. “You've looked better,” she told him.

 

“I was just thinking the same thing about you,” he said. “Short staffing?”

 

She nodded. “In the worst way. We've now got a backlog of at least half a dozen necessary experiments. That's not counting things that are lower priority. For some of the work, we don't have enough people to man all the stations, so we're having to double up and hope we don't miss anything important. I can't imagine what it's like for you in the infirmary.”

 

“You don't want to,” he said. “I'm down to a skeleton crew. I had three nightmares last night, all about the same thing. We're overrun with Jem'Hadar and Klingons, and there's a constant stream of people with horrific injuries being brought into the infirmary. The only instrument I have is an old fashioned scalpel which I keep waving around like a concert director, trying to get three zombies to do my bidding.”

 

Dax tried not to laugh but couldn't quite stop herself. “Oh, Julian, that's awful,” she said, wrapping an arm at his waist and lightly bumping the side of her head against his.

 

“If I weren't really that anxious, I'd find it funny, too,” he said. “I'm glad at least one of us can get something of entertainment value out of it.”

 

She released him before they entered the wardroom. He had been glad of the comfort. They both took their seats and realized they were only waiting for Chief O'Brien, Major Kira, and Captain Sisko. Commander Worf, Lieutenant Commander Eddington, and Odo nodded to them. None seemed inclined to speak, so Julian took his cue from them.

 

Captain Sisko arrived with the major and quickly took a seat. “Chief O'Brien can't get away for this, unfortunately. He's a bit understaffed.” He nodded his understanding at the various grunts and displeased looks from around the table. “I'm aware we're all suffering the same problem.” Kira looked strangely guilty and refused to meet anyone's gaze. “In light of this recent murder and the Bajoran government's inadequate response, I feel as though I have no choice but to fly with Akorem Laan into the wormhole and find out what the Prophets really want.”

 

A chorus of protests immediately rose from everyone else at the table with the exception of Kira. Julian couldn't believe what he was hearing. “Captain, as Chief Medical Officer I really must object. What you're proposing...”

 

Sisko cut them all off with a sharp chop of his hand. “I know,” he said sternly. “Every single one of you has a valid point, and I'm well aware of the risk I'm taking. I can't just sit by and watch three years of hard work and progress flushed down the toilet in a matter of days based on the words of some ancient poet from two hundred years ago. Now, the way I see it, the only ones who can tell us what they're really thinking are the wormhole aliens themselves. If I don't do this now, Bajor and this station are going to descend into chaos and possible civil war. I will be leaving within the hour. Commander Worf, you'll have the station.”

 

Although he looked reluctant, Worf nodded. “Aye, Sir.”

 

“As for the rest of you, I expect you to continue doing your very best with your short staffing and aid Mister Worf in any way you can. For good or ill, I'm hoping I can bring us an answer within the next twenty-six hours. Dismissed.”

 

No one lingered after the meeting, as none of them had the luxury of the spare time. Julian was in no mood to talk on his way back to the infirmary. He had no reason to trust the wormhole aliens not to do away with the captain altogether if they had decided to back Akorem. While he knew Worf was capable of short term command, he worried about the long term effects on morale of everyone being under such a stern, unapproachable task master, particularly with the staffing issues. He really wished that Miles could have made it to the meeting. The bluff engineer had a way of putting things into perspective that made even the worst case scenarios not look quite so bad.

 

They saw two more patients before his day was done. Fortunately neither arrived at the same time, so caste wasn't an issue. One had a broken finger that seemed to have gone untreated for a few days. He was less than talkative about the circumstances. Julian gave him an antibiotic for a mild bone infection that had set in, broke and set the bone properly, and gave him pain medication. He noticed a suspicious cut across his throat, long since scabbed over and healing. Of that the man refused to speak at all. The other patient was another rash case. He wondered if stress might be getting to some of the people, because he could find no easy cause of the skin irritation. He prescribed a cream and sent the itchy woman on her way.

 

As soon as his relief arrived, he hurried back to Leeta's quarters. She was dressed for work, and she and Garak had their heads bent over a game board. He drew closer and discovered they were playing kotra. “I had no idea you knew how to play kotra,” he said to Leeta.

 

“I don't,” she answered. “Garak is trying to teach me. Operative word, trying.”

 

“You're too hard on yourself, my dear. It's a complex game that takes years to master. You grasped the rules more quickly than many I've instructed in the past. Improvement comes with time and practice,” Garak said. He straightened his back and twisted a stretch, looking at Julian. “You seem to have news,” he said.

 

“I do.” He pulled up a chair and straddled it backward, resting his forearms on the back in a loose fold. “I can't say I think it's good news, I'm afraid. Captain Sisko is going to enter the wormhole with Akorem so that they can ask the wormhole aliens directly what they really want for Bajor.”

 

“Well, that's good,” Leeta said, glancing sharply at him. “If there's confusion, go straight to the source. Why do you think this is a bad thing?”

 

“What if their answer is that this is what they actually do intend for Bajor?” he asked. “What if they decide the captain is a dangerous distraction? They could do anything to him. We could never see him again.”

 

Garak broke in before things could get heated. “Let's...not excite ourselves with what ifs,” he suggested. “Captain Sisko has returned from all of his encounters with the aliens so far. They've never seemed particularly malicious or spiteful, just...mysterious, correct?”

 

Julian grudgingly agreed.

 

“Regardless of the outcome, one thing we will be able to say is that there will be no more confusion or potential for varying interpretations, assuming they return with an answer at all. In its own way, that is progress, Doctor.”

 

Leeta gave a satisfied nod. “I'm glad he's doing it,” she said. “I'm glad somebody has the guts to challenge the status quo. Considering you look like somebody dragged you down the Promenade behind a rampaging rakazo, I'm going to ask Garak to escort me to work and ask you to get some sleep,” she said, leaning over and kissing Julian's cheek.

 

He was too tired to argue. The three of them left the quarters together and parted ways in the H-ring. Julian promised he would talk to both of them later. At home he was too tired to remove his uniform, simply flopping into his bed and going dead to the world within minutes. The last waking thought he had was, Two straight days in this uniform without a change. Somebody's about to get a little ripe.

 

Garak

The Promenade

 

Garak had an odd sense of symmetry of events as he watched Captain Sisko ascend the podium before the Bajoran temple. His arrival back on the station the evening before without Akorem sent shock waves through the Bajoran populace that still hadn't settled. He imagined this speech was designed to do just that, settle the people and get them back on track, whatever that might entail.

 

As he listened to the mellifluous voice, he also watched the captain's expression and body language. He was relaxed, serene. He was a man no longer divided within himself. For good or ill, it seemed that Sisko had finally accepted his role as Bajor's Emissary. Although he wasn't sure what that meant for Bajor or indirectly Cardassia, Garak couldn't help but to believe that this was better than the alternative that had been presented. Seeing a caste system from the outside had opened his eyes to some ugly truths about his own people. For one of the first times ever, he felt grateful to be at a distance from his home world so that he would have the luxury of processing his newfound insight without being accused of sedition. At the end of the speech, he applauded right along with the Bajoran throng no less enthusiastically than the least among them. The caste system was no more.

 

Julian

Quark's Bar

 

Julian accepted his ale from Quark with a grin and turned to survey the crowd from his vantage. He still felt a small thrum of adrenaline from the fracas in the holosuite, he and Chief O'Brien against the entire court of the King of Leinster in a brawl to end all brawls. Others could say they looked ridiculous if they liked. He thought that he and Miles cut fine figures in their Irish warrior regalia. He couldn't believe how quickly everything had turned around. If anyone had asked him two days ago if he thought he'd be spending a fun evening with his friend, have a full staff at the infirmary, and no longer have to worry about some hothead murdering his girlfriend for looking at him wrong, he would have scoffed.

 

Keiko's intervention on behalf of her depressed husband just couldn't have had better timing. Of course, he would never let Miles know that he had been told how he felt. That would just embarrass him. The stress release of being able to cut loose and just have fun was pure balm to his spirit. He slouched shoulder to shoulder against the engineer and toasted Leeta with his tankard. She smiled brightly at him from her place at the dabo wheel and rolled her eyes playfully. You look silly, she mouthed.

 

“Looks like things are better for you,” Miles observed. “Bein' honest paid off, didn't it?”

 

Julian beamed at him. “More than you can possibly imagine.”

 

The End

Comments

[meteorprime.livejournal.com]

And they all lived happily ever after....- Until next episode! :D protective-ninja-Garak is awesome. I wouldn't mind one for myself. I can't wait for next episode. I love how you take whats given and expand it into something so much more complex and deep and.. well I could flatter you all day. I really like this Leeta- Its nice to have a wholely decent person who knows how to deal with every dramtic soap-opera-shenanigan that tends to pop up on DS9. ;3 More soon!

M

[dark-sinestra.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a real switch for things to end on an upbeat note for once! They ought to be paranoid about that, because on DS9, things only go well so they can get worse. :P At least for O'Brien and Garak, their favorite characters to torture.

Some episodes have more room to work in than others. This episode had loads of room, so it was a little easier to expand. It's really fun to try to find that space and see what can be done with it. I'm really happy it worked for you. I never know if it'll be successful.

I honestly didn't know how Leeta would handle all of this. Her faith angle was something that took me by surprise but felt right for her. And Garak had way more fun than he should've. hehe I'm super duper looking forward to the next one because of the episodes coming up. It'll be some time in early May before I can get started on it, though. Thanks for reading and the awesome review!

[blossommorphine.livejournal.com]

Brilliant, as usual. I'm very happy that for once, things are calm and not leaving everyone frazzled and unhappy. I enjoyed the way you fleshed out how a return to the caste system would affect someone like Leeta, who is without a family name, and the ugliness that comes with such a system.

I'm also seeing how Julian and Leeta would come to an amicable ending, though I must say Leeta is far more forgiving than I would be. I feel she's almost resigned to never being the most important person in Julian's life, but still wants to hold on to their friendship. It makes me look forward to "Doctor Bashir", when she and Rom get together. The way that Julian and Garak went right back to flirting when they start to make up was adorable, though.

♥

[dark-sinestra.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yes, it felt good to be able to end on a more upbeat note for a change. They've all taken a beating lately in one way or another. This episode always stuck with me, imagining how it would be to go from the oppression of the occupation to the return to a system that is inherently unfair. I could see a lot of angry, frustrated people using those lower than them as "whipping boys". Such an ugly situation.

Leeta is more forgiving than I would be, too. I was actually OK with allowing that to be the way they split in my stories, departing further from canon. The bit about their paghs and faith arose fairly spontaneously from the character she has become in my head. I think Bajorans have a pretty unique way of viewing relationships, and their spiritualism permeates every aspect of their lives.

The flirting scene was fun and another thing that popped up out of the blue. Garak was way more cooperative than I expected him to be in that scene. Thanks very much for taking the time to review!

[deeply-spaced.livejournal.com]

Splendid and brilliant and it ends on a positive note! The way you expanded this episode was amazing. I love what I learned about Leeta here. She has never been written with such care and such insight.

Garak surprised me with his honesty and by his scene with Julian when they made up, which was adorable, btw. His protectiveness to Leeta and working with Julian to keep her safe was delightful.

Your detail about what was happening to everyone on the station because of the caste system gave me a new awareness of this episode. You've done it again, my dear. You are so talented, it's quite scary.

Enjoy your vacation, relax, and have fun!

[dark-sinestra.livejournal.com]

Aww, thank you! Leeta surprised me a lot. She has been so much fun that I almost hate thinking soon enough I won't have much reason to write for her anymore. At the same time, she was one of the side characters with a lot of room for development, a good opportunity.

Garak surprised me this time, too. I think he has a real weakness for truly decent people. There were always glimpses of that in the show. Leeta is another of those people who inched past his defenses without having to try.

Thanks tons for the review, and you better believe I'll have fun on the trip! I'll give you a call when we've gotten settled in some time on Monday. Can't wait! :-)

[jgalt44.livejournal.com]

“Th' same way you told me,” Miles answered.

I'm starting to wonder about my reading comprehension. Did Miles actually make a move on Julian? I've totally forgotten. I remember Julian talking to Garak about Miles's obvious crush.

Having them work together to protect Leeta was sweet and I'm glad to end in a happy note. I feel better about her ending up with Rom. He's an ugly little troll, but he'll worship her like she's gold pressed latnium. You've gotten me to the point where I worry about her happiness and that's saying something since I was so annoyed by her on the show.

[dark-sinestra.livejournal.com]

Nope, he hasn't made a move on Julian. He was talking about what he just said to him about Leeta. :) It has been such a long arc that I can see how it could get confusing. A lot has happened, to the point I had to do a recent re-read to make sure I don't confuse myself.

I was a little surprised by Garak, but I do see him as having a bit of a weakness for really decent people. That's a huge compliment about Leeta! Thank you so much! I'm looking forward to her being able to go to Rom, too, but I also think that she and Julian still have something to offer each other. I think some relationships are like that, stops along the way to learn something and grow, but not a destination.

[tj-dragonblade.livejournal.com]

Another thoroughly enjoyable installment. ^_^ I really, really like the fact that Leeta can be so graciously understanding of the whole somewhat triangular situation, once the initial reaction has had time to pass. It's rare to find such an open-minded and forgiving point of view, in fiction or RL, and it's very gratifying. Is it bad that I'm mulling over the possibilities of a Garak/Bashir/Leeta threeway, now?

The whole idea of society moving backwards is rather terrifying to me - I can't say I remember seeing this episode, but you've managed to lay out a lot of the reasons why the idea is so frightening. I'm inclined to think, in the end, that this was perhaps the 'Prophets' putting things in motion to help Sisko come to terms/make peace with his role as The Emissary (and if that was confirmed in the ep, well then nevermind my 'insight', eheh), for the good of Bajor and all.

In any case. Nicely done, as always, and I hope you enjoy your vacation to its fullest!

[dark-sinestra.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I think sometimes situations like that have the potential to be workable if everyone is mature and honest about what's going on. As Garak observed, what bothered her the most was the dishonesty.

G/B/L? Hmmmmm... >.> <.< O.O Probably not in the series, but that did give me an interesting idea. hehe Bad! Baaaad!

The Prophets did say in the episode that they had brought Akorem back for Sisko. They weren't very clear about why, but Sisko assumed that it was to help him further accept his role as Emissary. It further tarnished my view of the Prophets as a whole, because it led to a lot of suffering and unnecessary mental anguish for the Bajoran people just to get Sisko to get with their program.

I did enjoy my vacation! It was wonderful. I got to do and see a lot of things as well as spend a lot of quality time with family and meet some great people. It's why this response was so terribly delayed! Thanks again for the wonderful review and the evil idea. :-D

[lady-drace.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, this was great in SO many ways! Garak and Julian's bond, Garak's methods of persuasion, Leeta's generosity and Julian's guilt tripping. I loved it!

BTW, do you have a beta? I spotted a few minor mistakes here and there.

Anywho, THANK YOU for giving me back the hope that Garak and Julian might just figure something out in the end! YAY!

[dark-sinestra.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! It was a good episode to be able to work with. I don't have a beta. When I went back and did my series re-read so that I could refresh myself on where it has been and where it's going, I caught lots of little things throughout. Annoying. >.< You can re-read something a gazillion times and still not catch it all.

Patience pays off, eh? ;-) They still have their work cut out for them, but all is not lost. I'm glad you got the chance to read, and thanks for the review!