Chapter Text
“Really, Doctor, I don’t see how you could interpret that section in that way,” Garak said.
Julian scooted forward to the edge of his chair and scrolled through the text on his padd. “Look, right here…”
Sisko glanced over the runabout controls in front of him, covering his affectionate chuckle at the literature discussion by clearing his throat quietly. After a moment, he heard Garak ask, “Commander, have you ever read the poetry of Jaken Lemorniz?”
Sisko turned in his chair. “I can’t say I have.” His eyes looked the couple over, and smiled. “And even if I was familiar, I wouldn’t dare get involved with this conversation.”
“Pity,” Garak commented. “I fear our dear doctor may be a little too romantic to properly appreciate it.”
Julian narrowed his eyes. “You weren’t complaining about my being too romantic the past three days.”
Kira came from the back of the runabout, a mug in hand. “Don’t tell me you two argued over books the entire time.”
Garak raised a hand and waved slightly. “No, we were more… productive than that.”
“Very much so,” Julian agreed with a suggestive smile at the Cardassian.
“Please, no details,” Kira replied, wrinkling her nose as she sat in the chair on Sisko’s other side.
“I must admit, it was quite refreshing being off the station and on a nice part of Bajor. Though I am interested in the political conference you two attended,” Garak slightly titled his head.
Kira groaned at the mention of the three-day conference she and Sisko had been part of. “You two get a little vacation, while we get to be with politicians and people complaining over trivial things. Hardly fair.”
“I’ll approve leave for you soon, if you want,” Sisko offered.
“I might take you up on that.”
“Major, are you familiar with the poetry of Jaken Lemorniz?” Julian asked.
Kira exchanged a glance with Sisko. She stared down into her mug. “Oh no, I am not getting involved in that.”
“Shame,” Julian sighed. He got up to get a mug of tea from the replicator. “Our dear tailor may be a little too cynical to properly appreciate it.”
“Cynical?” Garak stood to approach Julian. “What you mistake for cyni-“
“Hey, if you two are going to keep that up, take it to the back and be quieter about it,” Kira interrupted.
Julian hid his embarrassed smile behind his mug and mock-glared at the Cardassian. “Now look what you’ve done,” he whispered.
“What I’ve done? I think you were just as-“
“I will lock you back there myself!” Kira snapped.
Garak raised a browridge, and took Julian’s mug and sipped the tea to partially hide his expression.
Kira leaned towards Sisko to whisper, “I am never sharing a runabout with those two again.”
Sisko grinned and shook his head. “Who would you rather be with? Them or the politicians?”
Kira fixed a withering glare at the commander, and blew out a short breath.
Julian had just grabbed another mug of tea from the replicator, since Garak wasn’t going to give his original one back, when everyone froze at the shake of the runabout. He and Garak had just put their mugs back in the replicator as another more powerful shake happened.
“What’s that?” Julian asked, settling into his seat at the consoles when a third quake passed through. The tips of his fingers started to tingle, almost like static electricity was weakly going through them.
“There’s nothing on sensors,” Kira reported. “It’s not reading anything out there. Scanning internally… No runabout malfunctions being picked up.”
“Taking us on a course away from this route,” Sisko said. The shake that followed his statement nearly threw them from their chairs.
“Is anyone else feeling that electricity?” Garak inquired.
“I am. Let me know if it gets worse,” Julian replied.
“It’s already gone up to my shoulders,” Kira stated, keeping her concentration on her controls.
Julian stood to get the medkit off the wall, and another shake, more powerful than the rest, knocked him off his feet. He got a hand under him to get back up, but the electric feeling in his hands swiftly moved up to his head. He couldn’t fight off unconsciousness for more than a few seconds as it spread throughout his entire body.
********
A groan escaped Julian’s mouth as he came back to consciousness. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds as he mentally went over his body for any pain. There was none, and even that electric feeling was completely gone. He opened his eyes and raised his hand. “What…?” he whispered at the sight of the sleeve of his casual shirt completely covering his arm and draping over his forearm. He pulled it down until he could see his hand, and furrowed his brow. Did it really look smaller than it should be?
Julian’s attention went to the other three as they began to stir and groan awake as well. He tried to quickly get to his feet, but nearly tripped and had to steady himself against the wall. He looked down, to find his trousers were too long on him, and only barely stayed up around his waist. His shoes were left behind on the floor where he had been knocked down.
“Report?” came a groggy voice.
It wasn’t a voice that Julian was familiar with, and he gripped the waist of his trousers, feeling absolutely ridiculous, and took a few steps forward. Why did the runabout suddenly seem larger? He blinked, and the chair Sisko had been sitting in turned. Julian’s eyes widened, and he flinched back. “Commander?”
“Doctor?” the eyes of the dark-skinned boy were just as wide. The uniform practically drowned him.
“Everyone alive?” another voice asked, from Kira’s seat. As soon as she saw her hand against the controls, she jumped back. “What’s wrong with me?”
Garak’s seat swiveled around to reveal the sight of a Cardassian child, the blue tunic hanging off him very loosely. “I… I think the more accurate question is what’s wrong with all of us?”
Kira turned her chair to look at the rest of them, her uniform also way too big for her now. “You… you all look like children.” She noticed how all of their shoes had also fallen off their feet.
“So do you,” Julian stated. He slightly winced at his much younger sounding voice.
Garak’s hand, after he pulled the sleeve down enough, came up to feel at his face. “Well, this is… most interesting, to say the least.”
“Any ideas?” Sisko asked.
“Something to do with whatever was shaking the runabout, and that electrical sensation,” Kira stated.
Julian turned away to find the medkit. After tripping over the legs of his trousers, he asked, “Anyone mind if I lose these? My shirt is more than long enough to cover everything.” At the go ahead from Sisko, he easily stepped out of them. Before reaching up to the medkit on the wall, he made certain his shirt was long enough.
It took a few tries to actually grab it, with his new shortened height. He quickly pulled out the tricorder and waved it over himself.
“So, what do we do now?” Kira asked.
“Get back to the station, and figure it out from there,” Sisko answered.
“Is that telling you anything useful?” Garak asked Julian.
“We should do more extensive medical scanning on the station, but it’s confirming what we’re seeing. I’m showing all the signs of being a healthy Human, age ten to twelve.” Julian stepped over his shoes on the way to them. “Same with you, Commander.” After waving it over Garak and Kira, he nodded. “Same physical age maturity with the two of you.” He sat back down in his chair, which required a little more maneuvering than before.
“Putting us back on course to DS9,” Sisko said after pressing some buttons, getting used to the size of his hands and reach of his arms.
“We can’t just show up like this,” said Kira.
“How else would you suggest we show up, unless you have a way to change us back?” Garak asked.
Kira looked to Julian, silently asking for an answer. Julian could only shrug and shake his head. “Nothing I can do here, Major.” He couldn’t stop himself from just staring at the others, especially Garak.
The Bajoran crossed her arms and pressed her lips together, a gesture that made her look more cute than agitated at the moment. “How long until we get there?” she asked after a moment.
“An hour,” Sisko replied. He looked down himself, sighing at his one-piece uniform overwhelming him. “Might as well start making theories in the meantime.”
********
“Rio Grande is in range,” Jadzia Dax reported from her station in Ops. “I’m sure they’ll be glad to be back after a political conference.” She smirked at Miles O’Brien’s little smile. “Well, at least Sisko and Kira will be. I’m sure Julian and Garak would’ve loved more time on Bajor.” Her mouth turned into a grin at the Chief’s slightly narrowed eyes.
“Well, I think the Major will be glad to get out of the runabout to get away from them,” Miles replied.
Jadzia chuckled, and looked down to her console. “That’s odd. They’re hailing us, but only through text.”
“Something wrong with their comm array?” Miles asked, stepping up to Jadzia’s platform.
“Probably…” Jadzia took a moment to read the message. She said quietly once the engineer was at her side. “They want us to meet them at the airlock as soon as they dock. Giving them clearance now.”
Miles grabbed his tool case, knowing there would be something to fix. Jadzia confirmed that the Rio Grande had docked, and told a Bajoran militia officer that he was in charge. They headed to the runabout docking pads together.
“I ran a scan on their runabout. There was no external damage,” Jadzia said.
“Not a substantial attack, then? Makes my job easier, whatever happened.”
“I’m sure they would’ve told us if they had been attacked. So, how many politicians do you think Kira yelled at?”
They arrived a few minutes later. “Anyone home?” Jadzia asked as the airlock door to the runabout opened.
“Come in,” replied a voice neither of them recognized, one that sounded… young.
Jadzia and Miles glanced to each other before entering the cockpit area. Their eyes widened at the sight of four children, two Human, a Bajoran, and a Cardassian, sitting on the chairs in too-big clothes.
“We’re sorry to surprise you like this,” said the boy in the Starfleet uniform.
“Do you recognize us?” asked the Bajoran girl.
Miles’ eyes glanced over them all individually as the situation fully hit him, and he nearly dropped his tool case. “You have got to be kidding me.”