Danny Amor's Online Library/Danny Amor's Online Library - Volume 1.iso/html/startrek/old-incomplete/shadow-atwindilemma.p1-2

Text File | 1995-08-20 | 26KB | 461 lines

                 THE TWIN DILEMMA
                 ****************
                        BY
                 Raymond N. Cooper



   Quark's.  The place where people of all different races meet.  The place on
the edge of the wormhole in Bajoran space.  The place where you can buy
anything, or anyone.  The place where a girl in Starfleet uniform sat staring
at Quark.
   The intenseness of the girl's gaze upset Quark.  He was used to being
harrassed by males, and usually strong ones at that.  Females were another
thing altogether.
   Actually, Quark hadn't quite gotten over the sight of dressed females. In
Ferengi culture, a female wasn't allowed to hold any important position,nor
leave the house, nor wear clothes.  If one was leaving the Homeworld for the
first time, it was very possible that you could pass out with the audacity of
other culture's females having the presumption to wear clothes.
   Quark found it quaint.  A female in clothing actually gave him a feeling he
hadn't felt in years.  He would rub his ears while imagining some exotic female
stripping off for him...
   A slight moan escaping his lips brought him back to awareness: he WAS
rubbing his ear.  And the sensations produced...!
   The girl still stared at him.  She seemed to be seeing a ghost somewhere in
Quark's general direction.  He looked behind him, to see if she was looking at
anyone else.  She wasn't.
   The Ferengi Barkeep sauntered up to the girl, and leaned on the table. "So,
are you ready to order?" he asked.
   The girl jumped, realising he was speaking to her.  "Um, no.  I've got some
advice, though, if you want to stay in business for a long time."
   Oh, that would be right, Quark thought to himself.  Some brat who thinks she
knows better about how to do business than Quark, a master businessman.
   "Oh?  Do tell," he smirked, sitting down.  This was going to be fun.
   "Go for a holiday in seven years time," was all she said before she got up
and left.
   Quark sat staring at the table for a full minute, realised that thinking
about the girl's statement meant he was losing profits, and shuffled back to
the bar.
   But the advice came back to him over the next several days.
                         ******
   Doctor Julian Bashir, Chief Medical Officer of DS9, the ninth in the Deep
Space Station series, sat in on the daily meeting in the commander's office.
Major Kira Nerys, a rather good-looking Bajoran woman, had just returned from
two weeks on Bajor, searching for clues.
   "You say the... entity, for want of a better word, has visited these five
Vedeks in different guises?  Every time?" the commander, Benjamin Sisko
said,disbelieving his second-in-command.
   "I didn't say that," the Major retorted hotly.  "I just said that several
had seen different ones.  I think they may have been capitalizing on the
subject of 'communing' with the prophets.  Vedek's Bareil and Visa have
reported seeing the same entity, warning them of danger to come from above.
Bareil said it was ambiguous to whatever the warning was about, just that it
had emphasized the 'above' bit."
   "And its description?" asked Jadzia Dax, the science officer.
   Kira breathed in deeply.  "The clothing was different, but the entity was
the same as the one I met in... where ever.  I think she may still be in this
sector.  At least, she's still got to be in Bajoran space.  Visa contacted me
about an hour ago, saying she had seen the Prophets again."
   "Did Visa mention if the entity had said anything else?"
   "Yes, commander, she did.  The... girl had talked about needing help.  I
think that was supposed to get to us.  Whatever is out there, it wants to do
things to us.  Why, I can't imagine.  I got the idea, though, when she was with
me, That she couldn't..., um, interfere is the best word I can find to describe
it.  She didn't want to do much, but she gave big hints.  She told Bashir that
my other self was still alive.  She stayed back at Quarks.  She told me that
going after the Borg was suicidal, and that I was supposed to help the doctor
get myself to the Infirmary.  She loves to help out."
   Dax spoke up.  "Benjamin, I believe that the energy has increased again. It
did this just before Kira was abducted.  I... think it could happen again."
   Sisko looked around at his senior staff.  "I want to know the moment that
anything strange happens on this station.  We'll take in no new ships that want
to dock.  We're going to prepare for a war.  Chief, I want you to ready the
Defiant, in case it is needed.  I also recommend you all get as much rest as
you possibly can in the next few days.  There may be a time when I cannot
afford to let you rest."  He looked around them all.  "Dismissed."  He swung
his chair around to stare out at the stars.
   After the others had left the room, Dax stayed back, and gazed silently at
her old friend's back.
   "Benjamin," she started, "if this ends up at Starfleet - the decisions, I
mean - I'll back you one hundred percent."
   "Thanks, old man," the dark skinned man replied.  "I don't think it'll go
that far, though."
   Dax sensed something was up.  She moved to his back, and watched a tear
rolled down his cheek.  He sniffed.  Dax began massaging his tensed neck and
shoulder muscles, relaxing them.  "What's on your mind, Benjamin?" she said
softly.
   Sisko sniffed again.  "I've been thinking.  These... things caused Kira to
see a part of her life that hurt, a time that hasn't happened yet.  What does
that mean for the rest of us?"
   "How do you mean?"
   "I mean - well, what's the most painful memory you have?"
   Dax thought back through over three hundred years of memories.  "It would
have to be with Curzon, thinking I may not survive to my next host.  I... had
gotten sick recently, and... there wasn't a very good chance that I would have
made it to Jadzia.  But our combined immune system helped me.  That... hurt.  I
could have killed this host.  Then I'd have never seen you again."
   "I never knew you were sick old man."
   Dax smiled.  "Not here," and she touched her body, "but here," and she
pointed at her head.  "I thought I was going to die, I was getting old.  I've
heard since that this affects few trill symbionts, but it does happen to
others.  We think we're too old to go on, and our bodies begin to break down.
Jadzia's body helped me, because it was young, and healthy.  I...got better.
All I needed to do was to change host."
   Sisko was puzzled.  "That doesn't sound so painful."
   "It's not the fact that I got sick at all, just that I... think I may have
killed Curzon.  My illness began to affect him to the point where he aged quite
dramatically."  Jadzia lowered her head.  "I always tell myself that I had
nothing to do with Curzon's death, but it doesn't work."
   The commander smiled.  "It almost sounded like you were talking about a
different person then, old man."



Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
Date: 09 Jan 95 15:29:14
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc:bashir-(2)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
Lines: 123
Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4323

   The Twin Dilemma (pt2)
   by Raymond Cooper


   Jadzia frowned slightly, and placed her hand on her abdomen.  "What's your
most painful memory then, Benjamin?"
   Sisko lowered his head.  "The Battle of Wolf 359.  Where I lost Jen.  We...
were thinking of having another child.  Then the Saratoga was ordered to Wolf
359, and she died, and all our plans were lost..."  Another tear etched a trail
along his face.  Dax's arm curled around his shoulder.
   "That must be painful for you, knowing you too will die at the hands of the
Borg.  I mean, Kira's story..."
   "Not will die, MAY die.  Kira said that was only a possible
future,remember."
   Dax knew that Kira had only said may because she saw so many of the crew
dead.  People she knew,  And now she had to forget.  Or else she would go
insane.
   "It's been six years now, and I still can't forget her, or deal with her
death.  Jake has nearly forgotten her.  I can't.  I still see her lying on the
floor, pinned under that pylon.  I saw the tricorder.  He was wrong.  There
were life signs.  He lied."
   "The lieutenant?" Dax queried quietly.
   "Yes.  There was a flicker on the alpha and beta wavelengths.  She wasn't
long clinically dead, she could have been revived."
   "Why are you telling me all this, Benjamin?"
   "It's my most painful memory.  Knowing she still lived, and I had to leave
her there.  Knowing if I had had another ten seconds, I could have saved her."
   Jadzia looked at him sternly.  "You have to deal with it Benjamin.  If you
need help with that, I'll do anything I can to oblige, you know that."
   Sisko looked up into his old mentor-turned-friend Dax's face.  Underneath
his natural dark skin colouring, his face had gone white.  "I've seen her!" he
whispered fiercely.  "On the Promenade, in my quarters, in here, in Ops! She's
getting closer.  She's more tangible every time I see her.  She's in the corner
of my eye at the moment -"
   Dax whirled around, and caught a glimpse of something... faded, like a
shadow from someone's memory...
                           ******

   Kira sat on her bed, staring into a picture of Bashir.  His face was creased
in a large smile.  In the future, it had seemed like there was something going
on between them.  If there was, when would she set future history on its track,
and make the first move?  Or would it be Bashir?  That girl would know.  Kira
had seen her future.  She had tasted the thrill of the combat to come, albeit
too briefly.  Kira needed to know desperately.
   The computer pinged softly.  "Incoming message from Bajor."
   "On screen," Kira muttered, straightening her hair.  If it was Bareil -
   "Greetings, Kira Nerys," the face of Kai Winn said to her.
   "Kai Winn, how lovely to see you again.  And so soon after my last visit."
   Winn looked uncomfortable.  She had given Kira enough reason to hate her,she
expected that.  But for some reason, Vedek Bareil and Kira had been doing their
utmost to help her.  With Bareil, the assistance was whole-heartedly. With
Kira, it was less, but still, it was assistance.
   "I have something to tell you," Winn said slowly, not sure of how to pass on
the message given to her.  Kira waited, her hands tapping out some rythym.
"I... met one of the Prophets, a girl, dressed in flowing white robes.  She had
brown hair, shoulder length.  She said to tell you her description, that it was
important to you."
   Kira held her breath; that was the girl she had met in the future.
   "What did she say?" the Major demanded.
   "She said... she would be back."
   "When?"
   The Kai fidgited.  "She didn't say."
   "What for?"
   "She didn't say."
   "Why did she talk to you, and not to me?"
   "She didn't say!  She just told me to tell you she would be back.  I got the
impression of sooner rather than later."  Winn closed the link.
   Kira lay back on her bed before tapping her comm badge.
   "Kira to Sisko."
   There was a pause.  "Sisko here.  What is it Major?"
   "I've just had a message..."
                              ******
   Bashir entered Quark's, and looked around.  No Cardassian.  Damn.  He found
a table where no one was sitting, and ordered a drink.  He looked up into the
most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
   "Um...Dax!  What a lovely surprise!  Would you like a drink?"
   The lieutenant shook her head.  "I have a favour to ask you, Julian."
   Julian nodded.  His drink arrived, and he took a sip.
   "I think that entity might be going after the commander next.  He said that
his wife had appeared to him several times lately.  I even saw her, or what
seems to be her.  I would just like you to keep an eye on him.  He's going
fishing in holosuite one."
   As Dax spoke, the commander appeared, walked to the bar stiffly, then
climbed the stairs to holosuite three.
   "I must have made a mistake.  It appears he is going to holosuite three. I'm
going up there to talk to him.  I'd like you to keep an eye on both of us.
Just in case, you understand."
   "I... understand."  In fact, the doctor had been lost at the mention of
Sisko's wife.  He knew about her, sure, everyone did.  But what did she have to
do with the strange energy that had been detected around the station recently,
and the appearance of a mysterious girl, and Kira's experience? Sure, the
energy had been detected at Wolf 359 during the battle, just before the
Saratoga was put out of the battle, but what could that have to do with Sisko's
wife?
   Reluctantly, he climbed the stairs.  Dax walked in front of him, swaying her
hips virtually in his face.  Bashir admitted he rather enjoyed it, but for the
sake of remaining respectable, he waited until Jadzia had climbed to the top
before he continued.  Dax stood at the top, waiting for him to get to her.
When he arrived, she tapped in a simulation code, the door opened, and Dax
entered; Bashir followed.  Inside was a large green paddock, trees rising up
from the ground, flowers in full blossom, birds twittering somewhere nearby.
Bashir glanced around, looking for the commander, but he was no where to be
seen.  Kira, on the other hand, was.  She was stretched out on the grass,
wearing a one piece pair of swim wear.
   Something was wrong here.  Bashir turned back to Dax, and saw her unzipping
her uniform, revealing a rather stunning green bikini.
   "What do you think, Julian?" she asked, a coy smile on her lips.
   "Uh... um... green is certainly your colour," he admitted.
   Kira patted the grass next to her, and Dax pulled the doctor over to the
Major.  "Welcome to program 67 BBA-1, doctor," Kira murmured sexily, at
least,as sexily as her voice could manage.  "I hope you enjoy it," she added.

Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
Date: 09 Jan 95 15:29:48
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: DS9-altered shadow arc:bashir-(3)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
Lines: 119
Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4324

   The Twin Dilemma (pt3)
   by Raymond Cooper

   "Ah, yes, Major.  I do.  I think."  Bashir grew tongue tied.
   "And it's not Major here, Julian, it's just Nerys."
   "And Jadzia," Dax added.
   Okay, thought Bashir.  I'll wake up now.
   And he did.
   Thank the Prophets! he thought, grinning at the use of the Bajoran Gods. A
soft moan from next to him startled him greatly.  He always slept alone. Well,
not always, but a lot more often than he let people know.  He hadn't gone to
bed with anyone.  Who could it be?
   "Computer, lights."  A burble from the computer, and the lights flickered
on, revealing two naked bodies next to Julian's own.  The one on his left was
Kira, on his right lay Dax.  Oh boy, was he in trouble.
   Having a three way?  Bashir knew he would never agree to that.  He must've
been forced.  Dax stirred.  "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" she
asked, sleepily.
   "Um, no," Bashir groaned, realising he couldn't get out of this one easily.
"To tell the truth, I can't even remember it."
   "Kira, wake up, he can't remember."
   The Bajoran woman woke instantly.  "That true?" she asked Bashir.
   "I'm afraid so," he admitted.
   "Then we'll just have to refresh your memory..." Dax leapt on him.
   "Computer, end program. Install program DD-9X," Kira growled.  "We'll teach
you not to forget sex with us.  We'll teach you a lot of not nice things about
females, won't we, Jadzia?"
   "Oh, yes," Dax moaned in Bashir's ear.  "Yes!"
   "Cut that out!" Kira yelled, clipping Dax around an ear.  She climbed off
Bashir.  Both crouched down.  Both stared at him.  Kira's eyes shone yellow.
   "You'll never get out of here alive, unless you truly remember what
happened," Dax murmured.  Her skin began to turn a shade of grey.
   Kira raised a hand, nails flashing, nails sharpening, nails turning into
claws, fur sprouting from her hands, fur growing from ger arms, from her face.
A muzzle pushed out from her nose and mouth, teeth lengthened.
   Dax's skin continued its grey shading, then she began to melt into a puddle.
Basic appendages, such as eyes and a mouth, appeared on the blob.  Bashir
realised he was looking at a werewolf and a giant Trill symbiont.
   Kira jumped at the doctor, who dodged, and ran for his life.  The symbiont
gurgled, then gathered itself, and jumped.  It missed the human by a length of
less than a metre.  Bashir ran.
   "Computer, end program!" he yelled.
   "Holosuite protocols overridden.  Program termination impossible from the
inside."
   "Damn you, computer!  I'll get O'Brien to rip out your ODN's!"
   "Language such as that does not become a man such as yourself," a girl said.
   Bashir hardly noticed.  He was trapped in a holosuite program with some kind
of deadly canine and a blob.  Great.  Just why I use these things, he thought
as Kira pounced on him.
   "STOP!"
   The werewolf halted as it heard the voice.  It turned to face the girl.
Bashir glanced up, noticed what she looked like, and grinned.  She had a
Starfleet uniform on, a red one.  She had shoulder length brown hair.  She
looked like a goddess at this point in time.  It was the girl the Major had
described.
   "I can not allow you to harm anyone else," she said evenly.
   The werewolf changed shape, as did the symbiont.  They became grey shadows,
like something not quite there, like something from a dream.
   <<We know you believe in non-interference.  You will do nothing>>
   "You're wrong!  My RACE believes in non-interference, as do many other
non-corporeals, but I DON'T!!!!!!"  The girl raised her arms, and loosed a
lightning bolt at the two shadows.  One of the shadows, the one that had been
Kira, raised an arm, and the bolt deflected.
   <<You think you can harm us?>>
   [Amusing]
   "I don't think so," the girl muttered.  "You felt that.  Try anything else
against him, and I'll fry you."
   The Dax shadow reached down, and picked Bashir up.  [Save him]
   The girl closed her eyes.  There was a flash of light, and Bashir stood next
to her.
   "Thank you," he mumbled, fumbling for his clothes, and the tricorder he had
taken to carrying around with him.  The girl snapped her fingers, and Bashir
was dressed, his tricorder open and sucking in information.
   <<You allow him to examine you?>> the Kira shadow muttered.
   [Disrespectful.  Teach him a lesson]
   "But that's where we're different.  You think you can only ascend using
other people, but we didn't!"
   The Dax shadow interupted.  [Your people were Gods to us]
   <<We know how you ascended>>
   "Then why didn't you copy it?"
   [Failure]
   "Then you can't be ready for asccention, then."  The girl folded her arms
with a smug smile.
   [Are.  Have already achieved stage two ascendancy.  Stage three to follow]
   Bashir's tricorder was going off the scale.  The girl's energy waves were
those that the commander had found at Wolf 359!  The others were the energy
patterns that had recently been detected around the station.  Perhaps they were
caught in a war?
   "Sssh, they can hear you think.  Just.  To me, it's like you're shouting."
The girl gave him a quick grip on his arm, and said, "Do you think you can last
long enough for me to get some help for you?"
   "I don't know," Bashir glanced at the shadows.  They were conversing.
   "You'll be alright," the girl said, then she was gone.
   Bashir raised his tricorder...
                            ******

   Sasha hurried through the station, hoping to find Kira.  She was being
purposely cloaked.  She knew that the commander would be next, in fact, he
should all ready have been attacked, but Sasha had him cloaked.  The Jennifer
Shadow was following Sasha, knowing that if Kira was cloaked, and couldn't be
contacted, then Sisko would be next.  She couldn't ask Sisko yet, however.
Sasha had one more trick up her sleave.  Time travel.
   Four hours ago, Kai Winn received a strange message, and passed it on to
Major Kira Nerys, as ordered.  Sometimes, Sasha reflected, religion could have
its good points.  Non corporeals hardly ever used it, though, fearing the
retaliation of a higher non corporeal.  This time, though, was justified.


Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!msunews!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!nntp.brisnet.org.au!softtech!au!org!brisnet!closer!william.gracie
From: [e-mail] (William Gracie)
Date: 09 Jan 95 15:30:26
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: DS9-ALTERED SHADOW ARC: BASHIR-(4)
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: Soft-Tech [phone]
Lines: 63
Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:4325

   The Twin Dilemma (pt4)
   by Raymond Cooper

   Kira stalked into Quark's just after Sasha left the holosuite.  She needed
to talk to Bashir.  He may be an eager little Hrelkk, but that didn't mean he
was good to talk to.  Quark told her Bashir was in Holosuite Three, with Dax
and the commander.
   The major climbed the stairs, paused outside the door, then opened it.
   The scene inside nearly gave Kira nightmares.  Two shadows were talking,
possibly arguing, and Bashir was standing next to them with a tricorder.  He
looked up with an ecstatic look on his face.
   "You wouldn't believe the data I'm getting!" Then he remembered, and
said,"Turn the program off!  Don't let the doors close!  End it!"
   Kira slapped the reset switch.  The green paddocks disappeared, and Bashir
stood alone in the centre of the room.  When Kira finally convinced Bashir to
come out of the holosuite, he waved the tricorder around as if it was a million
bars of gold-pressed latinum.  With a great whoosh, he kissed Kira square on
the lips, then he ran off to find Dax before Kira could say a thing.
   She had to admit, she quite enjoyed it.  But not yet, she still had a
certain Vedek waiting for her on Bajor...
                           ******

   The Siskos' door chimes rang.
   "Come!"
   The door opened to reveal Dax.  She was wearing a dress, something she would
rather not do.  A Trill preferred unobtrusive clothing, something that fitted
in.  Well, Trills except Curzon.  The part of Dax that would always be Curzon
rather liked the idea of dressing up for a change.
   "Yes, Benjamin?  You said you needed to see me?"
   Sisko nodded.  Dax hadn't seen him this happy since he married Jennifer. He
hurried her inside, bringing her to the table.  He told her to sit.
   "Stay," he added.  "No peeping, now.  Jake's off at some friend's.  We'll be
alone."
   He brought out some candles, and a hot dinner: albergine stew.  Dax began to
feel uncomfortable, Jadzia even more so.  He disappeared once more.
   "This is the surprise I've been waiting to show you..." he said, holding out
a wedding ring.  But the ring was attached to a hand.  The hand was attached to
Jennifer Sisko.
   But she was dead...
   Wasn't she?

                              To Be Continued
                                    in
                            Repeat Performances




   This is the second story in this cycle.  Next is Sisko's story. Background
information on these stories may be posted sometime soon.  I'm also starting on
Sasha's world story.  Should be good.  See you soon!

Please note that, while some of the characters in this story are copyrighted
(c) to Paramount Pictures, the rest (i.e. Sasha Wren, the shadows, and several
others) are my own, as is the storyline, and several of the locations.  They
are copyrighted (c) to Raymond N. Cooper.  This story may be sent to the Gamma
Quadrant for all I care, just leave the copyright stuff, my name as author's,
and my address (Down below) attached to it.

Raymond N. Cooper
17 Belton crt
BEERWAH QLD 4519
Australia