Chapter 109
Stardate 48473.2 - June 22, 2371 - 17:13:55
The words 'we need to talk' had never been particularly reassuring, though Benjamin Sisko took some solace from the fact that at least this time it wasn't coming from a woman he was dating.
He opened his mouth to ask what the man wanted to talk about, only for Kira to angrily step in front of him to glare up at the Kai.
"I thought I told you it was over, Bareil?"
Benjamin had been in similar situations with Curzon enough times to know that his current position standing adjacent to the quarreling pair would likely end nowhere good, so he began to back away to give the two some space only to wince when he bumped into one of the hors d'oeuvre tables.
"Nerys, please." Bareil begged, offering forward an item that Benjamin vaguely recognized from his Bajoran cultural studies as a
pledge bracelet. "I love you."
"I know." Kira said, rolling her eyes before stepping back and grabbing Benjamin's arm in a move that set his mind directly to red alert status. "But I'm in love with Ben."
Just hearing those words from the Bajoran woman nearly made Benjamin cringe, not that she wasn't attractive, but three years working together was enough to know she very much wasn't his type. More worryingly though was that he knew he wasn't hers, so for her to suddenly declare her love for him meant something was seriously wrong.
He looked down worryingly at Kira. "Major, I'm going to need you to focus."
She batted playfully at his arm. "I asked you to call me Nerys."
"And I am focused." She continued, and Benjamin jumped slightly as he felt one of her hands begin inching below his belt. "On you."
"Hey now!" Benjamin exclaimed as he started trying to disentangle himself from the suddenly amorous woman. "This really isn't–
The punch that hit him was more surprising than painful, and he turned a somewhat surprised look to Bareil.
"Bareil, listen to me."
Another clumsy punch headed towards Benjamin's head only for him to catch it and let out a sigh of annoyance.
"I'll fight for her if I have to!" Bareil growled as he attempted to strike Benjamin again to the same result.
Kira sighed and shook her head. "I warned him he was letting himself go you know."
She stepped between them and shoved Bareil back. "Let it go Bareil, he's obviously better than you."
As nice as hearing that felt to Benjamin's ego, things were getting dangerously out of hand if the Kai of all people was throwing punches.
"Nerys." He said, setting a hand on the Bajoran woman's shoulder. "Something's obviously wrong with the Kai, so we should escort him down to the infirmary and have Doctor Bashir look him over."
And her while they were there.
"He had been acting a bit odd." Kira agreed with a nod as she grabbed Bareil by the arm.
"See." Bareil offered with a smile to Kira. "I knew you cared."
Rolling his eyes slightly he tapped his combadge. "Sisko to Bashir."
The negative tone of someone who had set their status to privacy was his only response, which wasn't entirely unexpected given the circumstances, but this qualified as an emergency so he tapped his combadge again.
"Privacy override, authorization Sisko alpha one alpha." The communicator chirped. "Sisko to Bashir."
A moment passed.
"Bashir here." The doctor's voice came through, sounding moderately out of breath for reasons Benjamin really didn't want to consider.
"Doctor." He started, glancing over to Kira who was still distracted arguing with Bareil. "I'm going to need you to meet us in the infirmary as soon as possible."
"Ah… Can it possibly wait?" He asked as a woman's giggling briefly came across the open com channel. "I'm… We're, kind of in the middle of something."
Closing his eyes for a moment, he let out a tired exhale before opening them back up to glare down at his combadge. "You hav–"
The loud sound of a slap echoed through the ward room, and Benjamin looked over to see Natima stalking away from Jake as his son rubbed his cheek with a palm.
"Ha!" Saya laughed from behind Benjamin. "Serves him right for chasing after someone mom's age."
"Five minutes Doctor." He ordered with a frown. "Sisko out."
A quick glance over confirmed that Kira seemed to have Bareil handled for the moment at least. So he strode over to Jake, the niggling worry eating at him that his son was normally not the type to provoke that type of reaction from a woman
"Something wrong Jakeo?"
"I just asked Natima to go out with me." Jake complained, dropping his hand down to his side as he turned a lovestruck look to the Cardassian woman who was currently in the middle of a hushed conversation with Quark.
"Jake." Benjamin began in a slightly chiding tone. "She's in a relationship with Quark."
"I know that dad." Jake returned, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "But I love her, and I'll treat her a lot better than Quark does."
Given the way Benjamin had seen Quark all but dote on the Cardassian woman he wasn't entirely sure of that, but at least that explained the slap.
"Cardassian relationship etiquette is complicated Jake."
Something he only knew about because Brooks had issued a rather amusingly named memorandum on the subject of interspecies relationship pitfalls focused on the various species that were to be found in the Bajor and Cardassian sectors.
"Natima would have considered you asking her out like that when you knew she was in a relationship with Quark, an implication that you didn't think she was good enough to gain another partner if she wanted one."
Jake frowned as he glanced between Benjamin and Natima for a moment. "But I… That wasn't what I meant."
Of course it wasn't, but Benjamin knew researching Cardassin relationship practices would keep Jake busy for several days at least, which would hopefully be long enough for whatever was going on now to blow over. Otherwise he was going to have to have a very long talk with his son about acceptable age ranges.
Benjamin felt a tug on this vest, and looked over to see Saya staring at him with a pinched expression on her face.
"Mister Sisko, is something weird going on?" She frowned, glancing at Jake for a moment before turning back to him. "And I mean like Starfleet weird, not normal person weird."
That she felt the need to differentiate at all was more amusing then it probably should have been, and Benjamin had to fight back the urge to grin as it brought to the fore the memory of the first time he'd regaled his father with tales of the various things he'd been through.
"Because mom always says if people start acting weird I should keep an eye out for anything out of place." Saya continued, glancing suspiciously over to where Ambassador Troi was talking with Odo. "But Kira was acting weird, then Bareil tried to hit you which is also weird, and earlier I noticed Miss Troi spread her headache to them which is out of place because headaches don't spread."
They did sometimes for telepaths Benjamin knew, but it was also the type of event that had the potential to be connected to whatever was going on.
Saya's eyes flicked to Jake again before pouting slightly. "And while Jake can be a dummy at times."
"I am not." Jake protested, turning an annoyed glare to the Asari who just stuck her tongue out at his son in response.
"Running up to Miss Lang and asking her out is weird for him too." She finished, crossing her arms and giving a solemn nod.
The urge to defend his son was somewhat tapered by his desire to avoid what had all the hallmarks of teenage drama, so Benjamin decided to focus on the important part of what Saya had just told him.
"How long ago did you see that happen with Ambassador Troi?"
Furrowing her brow, Saya seemed to think over the question for a moment before nodding to herself. "I think Kira was about four hours ago, a little after I asked you where Jake was. And Bareil was like a half hour ago when Mrs Troi was complimenting me on my dress."
That roughly matched up to when Kira had begun acting off, something he had at the time just chalked up to the Bajoran woman letting her proverbial hair down for once.
"I'll have a talk with the Ambassador." He said, really hoping it wouldn't be as hard as he suspected it would be to get the Betazoid woman to the infirmary.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stardate 48473.3 - June 22, 2371 - 18:06:28
"Zanthi fever?" Lwaxana repeated, skepticism all but dripping off her voice as she looked up at Doctor Bashir from the biobed. "That's ridiculous, impossible even. That only affects older Betazoids."
Benjamin took a moment to consider which baseball game might be good to run before they headed to Earth for the Gamma Quadrant symposium next week.
"That may be." Doctor Bashir offered as he studied the information on the padd he was holding. "But according to my tests you show all the symptoms."
He turned to Benjamin. "Zanthi Fever is a virus which affects the empathic abilities of mature Betazoids, causing them to unintentionally project their own emotions onto others."
That certainly explained their current disastrous circumstances, and Benjamin shot a brief glance of apology to the Betazoid woman for the thought before focusing back on Bashir.
"Then Mrs Troi's amorous feelings were being passed along to the people around her?"
"Only those in close proximity when she had an attack." Bashir admitted with a shake of his head. "And even then it would be less imposing those emotions on others and more amplifying pre-existing attraction."
"You're saying Kira had a pre-existing attraction to me?" Benjamin asked, doubt thick in his voice as he tried and failed to imagine what entering into that sort of a relationship with the Bajoran woman would be like.
"You and her were together in that other universe." Bashir reminded him with a smirk, only to let out a sigh and shake his head. "But in this case I'd say it was only on a subconscious level. Best not think about it too much, if you ask me."
Lwxana hopped down from the biobed before shooting them both an apologetic smile. "I'm terribly sorry about all this. I hope I haven't caused too much trouble."
"I'm sure no permanent harm was done. Right, Doctor?" Benjamin returned, not sure what else to say about what was sure to be several very awkward conversations whenever this wore off.
"A simple wide spectrum antiviral agent should cure Mrs Troi." Bashir agreed with a nod as he walked over to the Betazoid woman with a hypospray in hand, waiting a moment for her to nod her ascent before injecting her in the arm with it.. "And as for everyone else, well they should be back to normal in a day or two."
The command staff had tomorrow off for the end of the gratitude festival, given the circumstances however it would probably be for the best if he extended that by an extra day so those affected wouldn't be put in positions they would regret later.
"Now if you'll both excuse me." Bashir continued with a grin, setting the empty hypospray down on a nearby tray "I promised
Leeta I'd meet her back in her quarters after I got this finished with.".
"Leeta?" Benjamin inquired with a frown.
"A dabo girl at Quarks." Bashir explained as he began heading to the door. "We met a couple days ago, and I really think she might be the one."
Benjamin grabbed the man's shoulder. "I think maybe you ought to postpone that visit for a day or two, Doctor. Just to be sure."
Though why did it feel like he was…
"Have either of you seen Dax or Brooks around?" He asked as the realization hit that he hadn't seen either of the pair since the festival's opening ceremony.
"Odo and I ran into them shortly after the opening ceremony." Lwaxana offered. "The poor women were practically radiating ennui at their lack of love lives."
That was a little more than Benjamin wanted to know, but it did put them both firmly in the danger zone of the Ambassador Troi's condition so he tapped his combadge.
"Sisko to Dax."
The negative tone of a privacy lock was this only response, so he tapped his combadge again.
"Sisko to Brooks."
A similar response, as a niggling worry began to form in the pit of this stomach.
"Computer, locate Lieutenant Dax and Commander Brooks."
"Lieutenant Dax, habitat ring level four section twelve room twenty three." The computer replied. "Commander Brooks, habitat ring level four section twelve room twenty three."
"Isn't that…" Bashir began with an odd look on this face.
"Dax's quarters." Benjamin confirmed with a grim nod.
He tried to avoid thinking about Jadzia Dax's love life on principle, the dichotomy between the relationship he had with Curzon and the attractiveness of Jadzia the source of several uncomfortably conflicted feelings. But he was also her commanding officer, and couldn't just ignore what might very well be an unwelcome sexual encounter.
Thankfully though he had other options.
"You should go check on them, Doctor." He put forward, shooting an apologetic look towards the man he had very possibly just doomed. "I'll take care of warning Major Kira and the rest."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stardate 48473.4 - June 22, 2371 - 18:59:02
The ringing of the door chime dragged Raine back to wakefulness, and she nudged Jadzia with her elbow.
"Door." She mumbled.
"You get it." Jadzia mumbled back as she clutched her pillow. "I don't wanna get up right now."
Another ring of the chime echoed out through the room.
"Maybe if we ignore it they'll go away." Raine muttered as she snuggled into the Trill's side, enjoying the cool feeling of the other woman's body temperature against her own as she began to fall back to sleep.
"Jadzia!?" The recognizable voice of Doctor Bashir called out from the living room.
"You forget to lock the door." Raine groused, grabbing the covers and pulling them over her head.
"Did not." Jadzia shot back as she pulled herself up to stare at the door.
"In here Julian!" She yelled.
A moment passed before he spoke again, this time sounding like he was standing just outside the door to Jadzia's bedroom.
"Is Raine in there with you!?"
Raine stuck her head out from under the covers to shoot a glare at Jadzia.
"If he comes in here I'm sticking him to the ceiling." She hissed.
"Yes!" Jadzia answered, grinning impishly at Raine. "But we're naked! So don't come in!"
Grabbing a pillow, Raine smacked Jadzia with it, the Trill just sticking out her tongue playfully in reply.
"Ah, well, I suppose that's not exactly the worst case scenario." Bashir put forward in an odd tone. "Er… It is just the two of you in there, right?"
Exchanging a brief glance with Jadzia who was grinning like the cat that just ate the canary, Raine was stuck between dread and morbid anticipation at what the Trill was likely to say.
"Morn's here too! But he's a bit tied up at the moment!"
"Morn?" Raine silently mouthed at Jadzia, who bit her bottom lip and shrugged in response.
"I… Er…"
It was clear from the Doctor's words that he had no idea what to say to that, so Raine decided to save him since they'd probably need his brain relatively intact later.
"It's just us, Doctor Bashir!"
"Oh thank goodness." He exclaimed in relief as Jadzia pouted at Raine for ruining her joke.
"Not that there would be anything wrong with that if you were." Bashir hastily corrected, very clearly off balance at this point. "It's just… I would… What was I going to say again?"
"Something about why you're here!?" Raine guessed in a somewhat droll tone.
"Oh! Right!" Bashir exclaimed. "It seems Lwaxana came down with a case of zanthi fever, and we're trying to contact everyone who might have been exposed to the resulting emotional broadcasts, but we couldn't get in touch with either of you by communicator."
Frowning, Raine glanced over to Jadzia.
"I left mine in the closet." The Trill offered with an embarrassed blush. "I thought you had yours though?"
Thinking back through their series of activities, Raine winced as she recalled where she last recalled having hers.
"Brought it with us to the bathroom." She confessed. "Think I forgot it there after we got distracted in the shower."
"I suppose I am very distracting." Jadzia agreed with a giggle, posing in a way that made Raine's heart once more skip a beat.
"We left our communicators in other rooms!" She explained to Bashir, dragging her eyes away from the Trill's naked form to focus on the door he was standing outside of. "Now what's this about zanthi fever and emotional broadcasts!?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Notes: Well, that's certainly a conversation the two will have eventually… And by eventually I mean during the worst possible time when all of time and space is at risk…
Also, a burst of inspiration hit so enjoy the surprise Saturday chapter.
