Cerulean Stars - Chapter 102

Chapter 102

Stardate 48379.4 - May 19, 2371 - 11:32:38

“You told Odo to ask the Founders if Rex could be assigned to him?” Sisko put forward as he glared at Raine from the other side of his ready room's small desk.

“I suggested that it might be an option.” Raine admitted, fidgeting slightly under the slight feeling of exasperated disappointment the man was radiating. “He was acting like a worried dad about to send his son off to Starfleet Academy. And it was one of a couple different options I used as examples to try and hammer home the idea that a single Jem'Hadar was likely such a small thing that the Founders would probably go along with whatever Odo asked him to do with Rex.”

She had honestly thought Odo would just ask them to stick Rex on homeworld guard duty or something, because actually bringing him back to the station would involve a whole lot of bureaucratic problems of the type Odo usually strove to avoid.

But apparently something they Changeling had seen or experienced aboard the Dominion ship, had pushed him to believe the only acceptable option was taking charge of Rex himself.

“Is it really that much trouble?” She continued in a hopeful tone. “The Bajorans love Odo, so I can't see them complaining if he wants to train Rex up as a deputy or something. And Starfleet will probably give it a pass since it lets us build up a proper psychological profile of a Jem'Hadar out in the wild.”

Sisko seemed to consider her words for a moment before grinning in a way that instantly set off a red alert in the Asari's head. “Well Brooks, it sounds like you're already well on your way to working out our end of this problem.”

A feeling of dread settled into Raine's gut as Sisko gave his words a few seconds to sink in before continuing. “In which case it shouldn't be too much trouble for you to take care of all the paperwork for it.”

“But that will take days.” Raine pointed out somewhat lamely as her mind went over the sheer number of Starfleet brass that would probably attempt to have at least some input in the situation.

“Possibly even weeks.” Sisko agreed, sounding oddly proud of himself at the fact. “But I'm sure you'll be able to handle it without too much trouble.”

Raine hung her head and let out a defeated sigh, knowing a lost battle when she saw one. “Of course sir, I'll do my best to get everything taken care of.”

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Stardate 48390.4 - May 23, 2371 - 11:54:14

Raine let out an exhausted sigh as she all but collapsed into the chair across from Keiko, grabbing the already delivered bottle of Andorian ale in a death grip before raising her head back up and downing a good half of the bottle in a single drink.

“Has it really been that bad?” Keiko asked in amusement as Raine set the bottle back down onto their usual table at Quarks.

“Six hours being bounced between a Starfleet Admiral who wanted to order Odo to divulge what happened on the Dominion vessel and various Bajoran officials who agree that 'I gave my word not to’ construes a binding agreement.”

As much as she could see the point given the trove of potential tactical information that might be gained, Raine was firmly on the side of not forcing Odo to break his word to the Founders given how little respect they had for solids as it was.

“One of the reasons I never tried to join Starfleet.” Keiko confessed with a pitying shake of her head before the corners of her lips twitched upwards in mirth. “The other of course being that nobody ever seems to want to just let you study things.”

Taking a much more restrained drink of her ale, Raine let a guileless look creep onto her face. “If I didn't know magic was just an intrusion of extra dimensional laws into our universe I'd honestly think someone had cursed us.”

Frowning slightly at that, Keiko took a minute to study Raine's face before he looked morphed into a full on scowl. “I hate it when you do that, because I can never tell if you're joking or not.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny whether Starfleet Security has trained to fight Wizards.” Raine added in, unable to help herself given the day she'd had.

“Now I know you're joking.” Keiko laughed as she waved over one of Quark's waiters.

“What can I help you ladies with?” The Ferengi asked with a toothy grin as he did an admirable job of not focusing his gaze on their chests. 

“I'd like a Japanese Ramen bowl.” Keiko ordered before looking over to Raine.

“Do you still have any of that Orion Yala meat left?” The Asari asked hopefully, still not sure how Quark had gotten his hands on a supply of the slightly poisonous flying snake birds, but more than a little glad he had.

“Regretfully yes.” The waiter confirmed with a grimace.

“Then I'll have a yala meat hasperat wrap with a small bowl of denobulan pepper sauce for dipping.” Raine told him.

“If you say so.” The waiter said before turning and heading down to the bar.

“A Ramen bowl?” Raine asked Keiko, raising a slightly judging eye ridge at the other woman.

Keiko let out a tired sigh. “Miles has started making breakfast. I love him, I really do, but they're so heavy they always leave me wanting to eat light the rest of the day.”

Having had Irish breakfasts before, Raine could only really disagree with that by dint of possessing a biotics metabolism. 

“The things we women put up with for love.” Raine joked as she held her bottle forward in a faux toast before taking another drink.

“Unfortunately I seem to have less luck than you in getting my daughter's father into a pirate outfit.” Keiko confessed in a teasing tone.

The out of left field nature of the statement left Raine choking on her ale, and she shot a glare at the now giggling Keiko as she coughed to try and clear her airway.

“Dirty fair Keiko.” 

The Japanese woman grinned at her. “I still owed you for that holonovel suggestion.”

“Outlander is a pre-first contact classic!” Raine protested with pout. “And it's perfect for you and Miles to play through together in the Holosuite since the female lead is basically a plug and play character out of her time while the male lead is a highland warrior.”

Really, she had thought it would be perfect for the pair given Miles love of that time period and Keiko's limited holonovel experience.

“It's perfect all right.” Keiko groused. “If you like giant dresses that weigh a good twenty kilograms.”

Raine had come to appreciate them on occasion, mostly for their ability to swish dramatically as she entered and exited a room, but she also had a good four inches of height and denser musculature compared to the Japanese woman so the Asari supposed that might just be her greater ability to take advantage of the outfits speaking.

“You don't have to go full ballgown you know.” Raine returned as their waiter returned with their food. “Those were only for big parties. And even then you can just tweak the settings so the holograms accept something more practical.”

“Your Ramen.” The waiter began as he set the steaming bowl down in front of Keiko. 

“And your Yala hasperat with denobulan pepper sauce.” He continued, placing the plate down in front of Raine. “Please be aware Quarks takes no responsibility for gastrointestinal distress or hospitalization caused by menu selection.”

Rolling her eyes at the disclaimer, Raine pulled a slip of Latinum out of her pocket and passed it to the now grinning waiter.

“I don't get why you do that.” Keiko offered with a bemused shake of her head after he walked off.

Shrugging, Raine sliced her wrap in tow before dipping a corner in the pepper sauce. “We might be covered by the credit accrued from Quarks power draw, but Ferengi waitstaff contracts assume tipping so tend to under pay in other areas.”

Taking a bite and just savoring the pepper based spice and slight tang of the meat for a moment she shot Keiko an impish grin and continued. “Also, it ends up with the waitstaff liking you more. Which makes my job slightly easier given the amount of times security ends up having to interview them as witnesses to various crimes.”

“Now, what’s this I hear about holographic plants taking over your quarters and invading the station?”

“It was just one.” Keiko protested in between bites of her ramen. “And it really wasn’t my fault, nobody knew the photonic seeds of the Brellia Photonica could travel over subspace connection as part of a holographic data packet.”

Raine would have assumed it was a possibility from the name alone, but that was probably just her years of security paranoia at work. “Sounds like something that could earn you an Indaura Award. And possibly an Erickson Award given I’m pretty sure that breaks several records for long range transport of a living structure.”

“I’ll take the Indaura.” Keiko agreed as a look of consideration flashed across her features. “But the Erickson would feel like cheating given that it was mostly because of a unique feature of the plant itself.”

“Though speaking of awards.” Keiko continued with a grin. “I hear you’re in line for a Silver Palm for your successful first contact with the Founders.”

Holding back a grimace at the foreknowledge that particular first contact would likely end in war, Raine put on a faux grin instead. “Commander Sisko may have mentioned he put my name forward to receive one.”

“Then here’s hoping we both end up receiving one.” Keiko put forward with a grin as she finished the last of her noodles.

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Author’s Notes: I probably should have tried to do an Odo POV for this block of chapters, but he’s a remarkably difficult character for me to get directly into his head. Of course, it didn’t help that I only figured out the “Odo would want to prove they were wrong” about the Dominion’s opinion on the Jem’Hadar after the part where that would best work was already past.