Chapter Text
"Any sign of him yet?" Kira Nerys asked impatiently from the pilot's seat of the Rio Grande.
They had been in orbit of the Founders' homeworld for days now, but there seemed to be some sort of interference set up. They hadn't been able to detect a single life sign on the surface since Odo had beamed down three days ago.
Three days. With the Founders. Kira cringed at the thought. Nothing was so frustrating as the mystery of Odo's people. The hold they had over him, his drive to return to them no matter what wrongs they committed, frightened her. Even before she'd known of his feelings for her, she'd been afraid the Founders would one day take him away from her. And now…
Starfleet had no right to ask this of him. And Kira knew that Odo felt little obligation to Starfleet. The only reason he had agreed to this intelligence mission was because of the slim opportunity it offered. Maybe, by learning more about his people for Starfleet's benefit, he could come to understand his own nature. Kira understood that desire more than she'd ever admit. She, after all, felt a similar connection to her own people. But her people weren't the rulers of a vast, interplanetary dictatorship. Her people couldn't assume any form they chose or infiltrate the Solid world at will, and they had no desire to enslave those who opposed them. And her people didn't attempt to hypnotize and manipulate, like the Founders did to Odo.
And now, so soon after she'd finally stopped wasting time and had fallen in love with him, they were going to take him away from her.
"No sign yet," Dax answered her with a worried shake of her head.
Kira sighed and impatiently tapped the arm of her seat. He had to be down there somewhere. She had the visceral sense that something was going wrong. If the Founders were concealing what was going on, then something told Kira that the situation wasn't working out according to Starfleet's plans.
Take that, Starfleet, she thought. Where's your intelligence now?
"Major," Dax said a moment later, "we're getting a transmission from the surface. Weak. It's Odo's frequency."
Kira jumped forward in her seat. "Put him on!"
The crackle of combadge static suddenly poured from the cockpit's speakers. The voice that spoke was female and unfamiliar. "Odo to Rio Grande. One to beam up."
"Odo?" Kira paused. That certainly hadn't sounded like Odo. The comm wasn't clear, but she was sure she'd know his voice anywhere.
The woman's voice was broken and uncertain, but Kira was sure she detected a trace of resignation. "Yes, it's me. I suppose."
"Who is this?" Kira demanded. She briefly wondered if a Founder was impersonating him, but immediately rejected the idea. A Founder would know to duplicate his voice, as well.
"It's…it's Odo. That much, I'm certain of. They've…they've changed me again, Nerys. Kira. Major. I apologize, I…oh, let me just explain to you in person."
Kira's brow furrowed. They'd changed him again? Her head snapped up and she met Dax's eyes, her eyebrows raised in a question. "Do you think they…?"
Dax, always quick on the uptake, shrugged. "It's possible."
Had they made him humanoid again? Or…
The woman's voice, the only logical conclusion, suddenly gelled in her mind. Was it possible…?
"Odo?" she murmured.
"Please, Major. Beam me up. I…I don't want to stay down here any longer."
The situation fell into place in Kira's mind. She straightened in her seat with a new sense of urgency. "Go on, Dax. Beam him up!"
Dax turned back to her station and manipulated the controls. A moment later, the transporter shimmered behind Kira. She swiveled around on her chair and watched as the effect dissipated. Standing there in the Rio Grande's cockpit was a woman she didn't recognize. Wait, no. Kira realized she did recognize the strange figure. Her hair was the same, her face was distinctly based off of her male form, and her eyes…
Kira's breath caught in her throat. Those eyes. Odo had never been particularly expressive, but she swore everything he ever felt shone in those eyes. Now, they were filled with the greatest despair she had ever seen.
"Odo…what have they done to you?"
"This. Isn't it obvious?" Odo gestured at herself. "They've destroyed me."
"Odo, no…" Kira began, painfully aware that she had no idea what she meant to say, no idea how to help the man—woman? —she loved. "They haven't destroyed you, they just changed…"
She didn't finish. How did she know how much they had altered him? Maybe he was right, and he was no longer the man she knew. Maybe…
She shoved those thoughts out of her mind. "Odo, we can work through this."
He—she—tilted her head. Her eyes now wore that knowing, sardonic look, that expression of loneliness and resignation. She clasped her hands behind her back. "Really, Major? I can see the doubt in your eyes."
Kira opened her mouth. "Odo—I—"
Odo shook her head. "Please, Major. Don't trouble yourself. We don't have to work through this…if you don't want to. I…" She trailed off.
Kira clenched her teeth. No. She'd only just fallen in love with him. They'd only just begun their time together. "Constable, don't you dare walk out on us."
Odo closed her eyes and sighed. "How long until we reach Deep Space Nine?"
"A few days," Kira said. "That'll give us some time to talk, don't you think?"
"Major…"
Kira's warning look stopped Odo in her tracks.
"I…" Odo fumbled for a long moment. "I'll be in the back of the runabout." Almost as a second thought, she added, "Regenerating."
"Tired?" Kira asked, forcing a small smile.
Odo's head fell forward in assent, releasing a breath that sounded like relief. "Beyond believe." With an awkward nod, she said, "If you'll excuse me."
With that, Odo left the cockpit.
With a whoosh of air she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Kira swiveled her chair back around. Her eyes hesitantly slid over to meet Dax's.
"Major…" Dax began.
Kira held up her hand. "Don't you start. He'll come around."
Dax sighed. "Kira, just promise me one thing."
Kira met her eyes challengingly. "What's that?"
"Don't rush into this one," Dax said. "He's—she's—just undergone a major physical alteration, and…"
"Rush into this one?" Kira repeated. "If I don't try to restore what we had, he's going to think I don't care for him anymore. He'll retreat back into himself and we both know he won't have the courage to approach me again. I am going to be there for him, Jadzia. I am going to help him through this even if he shrugs me off."
Dax pressed her lips together. "Well, alright. We both know I can't stop you." She shook her head. "Poor Odo."