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“Why isn’t Julian over there playing darts with Chief O’Brien? I thought this was their date night?” Lieutenant Hix remarks, setting her Vulcan Mind Meld, an acid green cocktail, down on the table. Next to her, Lieutenant Savannah listlessly picks up a pretzel from the bowl in front of her and takes a bite.
“He’s busy tonight. Something about a group of Ambassadors visiting the station he’s been assigned to show around.”
“It’s not just any group of ambassadors,” Ensign M says, sipping from her own glass of Spring wine. “It’s also a group of the Federation’s foremost xenobiologists and linguists, and they’re all here for a joint summit to discuss some of the new species we’ve encountered in the Gamma quadrant. It’s a great honor Doctor Bashir was chosen to chaperone them.”
Hix shares a knowing look with Savannah at M’s enthusiasm. “And I bet you’re feeling a little envious right about now that you weren’t scheduled in Ops tonight, so you could do a little eavesdropping, aren’t you.” Hix smiles mischievously over the rim of her glass when M blushes.
“Of course not, I don’t rank high enough to be in the same room as the Ambassadors. And as for eavesdropping, I’d never,” she replies, hastily draining her wine glass.
“I just miss Julian,” Savannah sighs, resting a cheek in the palm of her hand, her gaze still locked on the dartboard over in the corner of Quark’s.
“Maybe he’ll stop by later when he’s done his duty,” Hix says, “But enough of this moping around. I thought we were all supposed to be here tonight, enjoying our time off. You and M both need to get at least another glass of Spring wine in you before we go up to the Holosuites.” Susan pesters them both until Savannah and M concede and head toward the bar for another round.
“Evening, Ladies, another round?” Quark calls over the heads of a few customers when they get near.
“Thanks Quark,” Savannah calls, distracted when fellow drinkers at the bar jostle both her and M. M looks a little uncomfortable at being in such close proximity to so many strangers, but waits patiently nonetheless.
This should do it, Quark thinks, tipping a glimmering white powder into a Bolian Sunset and a glass of Spring wine. The powder dissolves into nothing when it hits both drinks. Those Gallamite traders will never know what hit them. The sedative he bought off a Yiridian is guaranteed to knock them out for hours, more than enough time to prevent them bidding on some incredibly rare specially-tempered Bolian crystalsteel he’s already got buyers lined up around the bar for. It’s a perfectly fool-proof plan , Quark thinks, turning away from the innocent-looking drinks when a group of Klingons enter the bar, clamoring for Bloodwine.
“Where’s our drinks?” M asks, eyeing up the Klingons crowding around the bar now. She and Savannah are both too short to see beyond them.
“I don’t know, wait here,” Savannah huffs, moving away from M in order to duck and dodge around customers, looking for where Quark might have left their drinks. Then she spots the Bolian Sunset and Spring wine sitting untouched in the corner of the bar counter. She quickly ducks between two imposing Gallamites to retrieve the drinks, returning to M’s side in triumph.
“To the perks of being shorter than everyone else at the bar,” she toasts with M, taking a large gulp of the drink and smacking her lips. “Now that’s more like it.”
“Where’s Jul-julian? Savannah hiccups, slouching further over the tabletop as she drinks from the last third of her glass. “We should go find him.” Next to her, Hix raises an eyebrow.
“Savannah, Julian’s busy. You told us yourself. I’m sure he’ll be walking in here soon. Cool your warp drive already.”
“I agree with Savannah,” M says, raising her glass in the air before bringing it shakily to her lips once again. Only a few sips remain, but M seems determined to finish it. “Let’s go find Julian and get him to show us how to dlay parts. I mean, play darts.” Susan looks from inebriated friend to inebriated friend, trying to figure out how one extra drink has sent them both around the bend so quickly. They’ve only arrived back at the table a few minutes ago.
“What was in those drinks, you guys?” she asks bemusedly, “Is Quark trying out a new recipe or something?”
“No, no, no,” Savannah giggles, clumsily rising to her feet. “They taste delicious, but listen, hey, I’m gonna go find Julian now, okay. Don’t wait up.”
“Ooh, me too,” M says with a giggle, rising to her feet and joining Savannah weaving her clumsy way out of Quark’s.
“Hey wait!,” Hix calls, hurriedly trying to catch up with them. “What’s wrong with you two?”
The Promenade is a glorious, wonderful, swirling vortex of periwinkle light, M thinks as she swims along next to Savannah. She doesn’t remember where they are going, but Savannah is in charge, so presumably she knows the way. The lights blur against her eyes as they swim farther and farther from the voices calling them back, until M can’t hear them anymore.
“M, we need to find out what room Julian’s in.” Savannah says, turning to look at her. The serious look on her face makes M want to giggle.
“But what about the Ambassadors?” M asks, only just remembering. It’s them she wants to see, she’s sure of it. Not Dr. Bashir.
“C’mon,” Savannah says, grabbing her arm and swimming them both over to a computer monitor. “Let’s ask the computer where Julian is and then that could also be where the Ambassadors are, Two stones for two birds.”
“Two stones,” M echoes, blinking slowly as Savannah begins asking the computer stuff.
“We might have a situation here,” Hix says, pacing nervously outside Quark’s. Next to her, Odo and a Security team stand alert.
“Lieutenant?” Odo asks, his gaze darting among the passersby, trying to gauge the current threat. “Is it anything to do with the Ambassadors we’re currently hosting?”
“No, no, at least, I don’t think so?” Hix replies, shaking her head. “It’s just, I was having a few drinks with Ensign M and Lieutenant Savannah, and it was fine until they got another round at the bar. They seemed to get really drunk, really quickly. And then Savannah mentioned something about going to find Julian, I mean Dr. Bashir, and M followed her. They left the bar, but now I can’t find them.” Hix stops her pacing and looks over at Odo.
“Are you sure they haven’t simply overindulged on their off hours, Lieutenant?” Odo asks, pulling a PADD out from his uniform pocket and pressing a few buttons.
“No, nothing like that,” Hix insists, “They just seemed intoxicated, and I know they’re not big into drinking.” Odo nods once in affirmation, tapping his commadge.
“I’m inclined to believe you Lieutenant. I’ll make sure they’re quickly found before they can get into any serious trouble.”
“Odo to Lieutenant Savannah and Ensign M. Please respond.” Silence.
“I’ve tried comming them already,” Hix says, “They’re not responding to me either.” Odo waits for a response for fifteen seconds more before turning to his security force.
“I want you and two other standby teams to spread out, search pattern alpha, to look for the Ensign and Lieutenant. Report to me when you’ve located them.” The security members nod before heading out.
“Savannah, Savannah, tell me why we’re doing this again?” M attempts to whisper and fails miserably, standing next to Savannah in the corridor outside Panyi’s families’ quarters.
“We need a distraction, something to lure Julian away from that silly, boring meeting with the Ambassadors, and what better distraction is there than a child? We can tell him Panyi wants a tour of the Infirmary or something.”
“Good idea,” M nods sagely, watching as Savannah tinkers with the door lock for a few more seconds before a beep sounds and the door slides open. “Quiet now,” Savannah warns before creeping inside. She and M edge around the dark family room before M is distracted by something in one corner. Panyi’s toy chest.
“Ooh, new plan,” M hisses into the dark, clapping her hands together as softly as possible. Unfortunately, her clapping is actually quite loud, and a moment later, noises can be heard from both bedrooms and a light powers on near the door. M quickly sets down the wine glass she’s been carrying around until that moment before snatching up what she’ll need and following Savannah from the room.
“Are you sure that’s all they took?” Odo asks for clarification a third time, unsure he’s understanding correctly. It still makes no sense.
“They took my toys,” Panyi sobs, sitting on the living room floor in front of his now emptier than before toy chest. “My animals! They took my animals!” He begins to sob, his uncle moving in to try to comfort him.
“Rest assured, I’ll do my best to recover them,” Odo says, surveying the now brightly illuminated quarters. Nothing else is out of place, except. “What’s this?” he says, eyes narrowing when he spots a wine glass behind Panyi’s toy chest. He moves to carefully pick it up by the base. It’s empty barring a few mysterious white granules at the bottom. Finally, a piece of concrete evidence. “We’ll see ourselves out now, and I’ll let you know when I have more information to share. Goodnight,” he returns Panyi’s uncles’ nod and exits their quarters along with his security forces, glass in hand.
“I’ll have the contents of this glass analyzed immediately,” he says to his fellow security personnel as they head toward the nearest turbolift. “The sooner we can determine what’s causing the officers’ erratic behavior, the better. I’m going to head down to the Infirmary, I want you and the others to continue searching.”
“Affirmative,” the security members depart with a nod to Odo.
There’s no telling what trouble two potentially ill, drugged, or intoxicated officers could get into, Odo thinks to himself. Breaking and entering could be just the beginning.
“Ugh, I think I’m gonna explode,” Ensign M groans, spooning another glob of hot fudge into her mouth. She and Savannah are in the seldom-used lower level Replimat. Not many ventured far enough down into the station to use it, and besides, the area was sort of dark and unfriendly. Even the addition of more lightning couldn’t quite penetrate all the dark corners.
“Me too,” Savannah groans from across the table, taking another bite out of the strawberry shortcake in front of her, topped liberally with whipped cream. “I think I broke the Replicator,” she adds, giggling. M turns her head, slow as molasses, to the Replicator behind them, which is blinking in a disgruntled sort of way after Savannah tricked it into spitting out dessert after dessert. Now, every table and flat surface surrounding where they sit is piled with a vast array of brownies, ice cream sundaes, cookies, cakes, and pies.
“We gotta get a move on I think,” Savannah remarks dazedly. “We were gonna go find...Julian? Yeah, we were gonna do that. I think.” Across from her, M seems unwilling or unable to move, her head and shoulders slipping farther and farther down toward the table.
“Alright, give m’ a moment,” she mumbles.
“C’mon M,” Savannah insists, lurching to her feet, and seizing M’s hand in her own sweaty one. “Julian awaits, remember.”
“This has Quark written all over it, Doctor,” Odo growls from his position standing over Dr. Bashir’s shoulder at the Infirmary computer terminal. “And if my suspicions are correct, I’m going to string that conniving Ferengi up by his bootlaces.”
“I just might have to agree with you,” Bashir remarks grimly, studying the chemical structure of the compound he recovered from the bottom of the discarded wine glass. “The drug inside this glass is intended to work as a sedative on Gallamite physiology, which is drastically different compared to other humanoids, especially humans. I have no way of knowing what effects this could be having on Lieutenant Savannah and Ensign M,” Julian concludes by running an anxious hand through his curls, spinning around in his chair to face the security chief.
“While I’m busy apprehending Quark, Doctor, I’ve got my personnel performing a floor-by-floor search for the Lieutenant and Ensign. We’ll need you on hand when we locate them,” Odo says, striding toward the Infirmary doors.
“Of course,” Bashir bounds out of the chair, hurrying to gather his medkit, and follows Odo from the room.
“I’m gonna lose it,” M does a poor job of stifling her giggles as she fumbles with the thick wire at her feet. She wraps a length around her ankle by accident before clumsily fixing her mistake. She and Savannah are sitting comfortably on the metal grating of an access conduit. Where the space would be too small for a larger humanoid, both officers fit inside with ease.
“Hurry up,” Savannah stage-whispers, pulling up the metal grating in front of her to reveal the room below. “I’m sure Julian is bored out of his skull in this boring meeting with some boring ambassadors about some boring subject. We’ve got to set our plan in motion.” The grate comes loose easily, and Savannah sets it aside with a grunt of effort, wiping the sweat from her brow. It’s funny, but she doesn’t always remember the access conduits being so warm before.
“Got it!,” M exclaims before promptly dropping the hook attached to the end of the wire in her hand. It makes a great clanging noise as it meets the deck plating. M and Savannah both slap a palm to their foreheads. Typical. Below them, the conference room that until that moment, has contained the soft murmuring of several voices, quiets. Savannah and M wait a few long moments for the room's volume to pick back up again before proceeding with their plan.
“And considering this species’ record of hostility and aggression toward outsiders, I recommend that we…” Major Kira breaks off her report, distracted by a commotion coming from the ceiling. Beside her, Lieutenant Ahna also looks up, alerted by the banging, scraping sounds and the voices coming from above. It seems unlikely Chief O’Brien would send a repair crew to their location. He knows about the Ambassadors’ visit.
“Juliannn, hey Juliannn,” a female voice sings, the voice a little muffled through the grating but still discernible. At this point, all the assembled Ambassadors are also looking toward the ceiling, confused expressions on their faces except for the Vulcan ambassador Lojal.
An instant later a strange sight comes into view, dangling from the open access panel. A figure with brightly colored hair appears, strapped into a harness, in the newly opened ceiling panel. It’s Lieutenant Savannah, Ahna realizes, her nose ridges crinkling further in bewilderment, watching silently along with the Ambassadors and Kira as Savannah is slowly lowered from the ceiling.
“Julian,” Savannah hisses as she dangles, arms outstretched, from the ceiling of the meeting room. “Where are you?” she asks, her gaze darting around. “Julian?” The Ambassadors all turn as one to give Kira and Ahna looks of bewilderment and disapproval.
The Ambassador’s expression doesn’t change in the slightest as he looks upward toward Savannah, but one eyebrow raises.
“Major, I hope there is a logical explanation behind all of this.” Lojal turns to face Major Kira, eyebrow still raised.
“Oh for Prophet's sake,” Kira exclaims, setting her PADD down with unnecessary force and making a hasty exit. Ahna follows quickly behind, apologizing to the Ambassadors as they go.
“Retreat, M, retreat!,” Savannah calls, cupping her hands around her mouth to reach M in the conduit above her. “Julian’s not here.”
“Copy that,” M calls back, her sweaty hands struggling to keep a tight grip on the auto winch as she presses the button to reel Savannah back up.
“Oh no, I think we’re in trouble now,” she giggles, flopping over to the side to let Savannah back through the hole in the grating.
“C’mon we gotta go,” Savannah says, brushing stray hairs from her sweaty forehead and crawling away down another conduit.
“We should be able to locate them using their commbages,” Bashir says, hurrying along next to one of Odo’s security teams.
“Can’t. They’ve been disabled,” a Bajoran security member replies.
“By who?”
“By them, I suppose. They’re not in their right minds, sir.”
“How about locating them using the station’s sensors?”
“Kira to Security? I need a team to the access conduit above Conference Room D immediately. We have a situation.”
“What’s the situation, Major?” Odo responds, having just joined them after depositing Quark in a detention cell.
“It seems a few young officers have overindulged at Quark’s. Again.” Odo shares a meaningful look with Bashir before responding.
“I’ll be there with a team right away Major. Unfortunately, the officers in question aren’t intoxicated. They’ve been drugged.”
“Drugged?” Major Kira says. Next to her, Ahna turns to look at her sharply, a spike of alarm rising inside her.
“We’re doing everything possible to recover them, not to worry. You can continue your meeting with the Ambassadors. I’ll keep you informed.”
“Alright then,” Kira replies, already heading back into the room to reassure the Ambassadors nothing more unusual is happening.
“I’ve gotten a lock on them, they’re in the access conduit closest to the aft power junction,” one of Odo’s underlings reports, leading the small group down the correct corridor.
“The aft power junction? If they try to override the security around it they could get blown to pieces,” Odo growls, hurrying ahead of the others toward the aft power access conduit. He types in the correct overrides to open the access hatch, which slides open obediently. The conduit is empty when he peers inside, but the officers could still be further along, closer to the junction. Odo leads the way inside the conduit, followed closely behind by Bashir and the others.
“Almost got it,” Savannah grunts, wiping sweat from her brow. Her fingers fly over the computer panel in front of her, executing a series of complicated commands in order to disguise their lifesigns from pursuers. “M? You awake?”
“Mmm,” M sighs in response. She’s sitting curled up in the conduit behind Savannah, her face buried in her bent knees. She tries feebly to raise her head to look at Savannah, but only manages to raise it a few centimeters before plopping it back down. “M’ sleepy,” she mumbles, her eyes already closing. The hum of the life support system in the space is surprisingly soothing, she thinks, not clangy or annoying at all.
“Got it!,” Savannah chirps a moment later, watching as the security door protecting the aft power junction whooshes open. At the same moment, from several feet behind them comes the sound of multiple people crawling through the conduits.
“Stop right there, Lieutenant,” Odo’s commanding voice comes down the tunnel, slamming into M and Savannah. M opens her eyes with a start to look down where the search party is now converging on their location.
“Never!” Savannah says before pressing a button on the control panel. Instantly, a force field comes to life, blocking the search party from continuing further. Savannah crawls quickly on her hands and knees, heading left, away from the power junction. “C’mon M, that force field isn’t gonna hold for long.”
Panting and blinking dazedly, M follows.
They crawl for a long time inside the access conduits, until they come upon an access panel unlike the rest. This one is making noises. Strange animal noises.
“Savannah, wait, Savannah,” M says, pausing over the strange panel. Looking down, she can see inside a room on the station. Through the cracks, she can make out movement and see fur. Animals! There’s animals in there!
“Animals! It’s animals Savannah!” M says, looking up to see Savannah also looking down into the room.
“We must be over Ari’s animal sanctuary,” Savannah says, nodding knowledgeably.
“They sound so sad,” M says, wiping her sweaty palms on her jumpsuit. “ I don’t think they should all be penned up like that, she says, sounding near tears.
“Me neither,” Savannah agrees, a determined look coming into her eyes.
Slowly, M raises her head to meet Savannah’s gaze. An understanding passes between them.
“For such two diminutive crewmen, the lieutenant and ensign have certainly caused enough trouble this evening,” Odo says, following the steady beeping of Dr. Bashir’s tricorder toward the Promenade, “But it’s still nothing I can’t handle.”
“Ahem, I believe my contribution was necessary,” Bashir says, adjusting the strap of his medkit on his shoulder. “I showed you how to reconfigure the tricorder to pick up only part Trill lifesigns.”
“Of course, Doctor. They’re in the animal sanctuary,” Odo replies. He leads the group toward the correct door, gesturing for them to approach from the sides. The element of surprise should work in their favor.
Odo presses the button to open the door of the animal sanctuary and instantly regrets it. A scene of complete chaos bursts from the small room. Delta the Quoll skitters away under a table in the Replimat, a few lizards Odo cannot identify move as fast as their stubby appendages can go, and worst of all, several large winged birds flap and flutter their way out of the open door and onto the Promenade. The birds seem the most confused, hesitant to land anywhere, but making repeated dives at the search parties’ heads. While Odo and the rest of the security team get swept up in the chaos, Julian ducks and dives his way through it to enter the room, locating his patients at last.
Ari's animal sanctuary has been left in disarray thanks to the two rogue officers' efforts. All the cage doors lie open, and a thin layer of feathers and shed fur litters the floor. Julian lets his erratic tricorder readings guide him, spotting Savannah first--part of her anyway. She’s somehow crawled ontop of the large animal cages and is escaping through an open ceiling panel, her lower half still inside the room.
“Dear God,” Julian says, looking around frantically for a means of reaching Savannah’s position and finding nothing, “Savannah would you please get down from there.” Above him, Savannah startles, and she ducks her head out of the ceiling panel.
“Julian! There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you!” She exclaims, a joyful grin taking over her expression. “Hey M! M!, Julian’s here!” she calls, still staring down at Dr. Bashir in amazement.
“Yes, I’m here,” Julian says, his concern for his patient momentarily overtaking his exasperation at the situation. The sooner he can find Ensign M and get them both to the Infirmary, the better. “Why don’t you come down from there and come with me?” He says, nodding his head encouragingly.
“What’s in it for me?” Savannah responds playfully, only moving to plant both feet on the cage below her. Julian thinks quickly.
“You can borrow my favorite sweater?”
“I already have your sweatshirt, try again.”
“I’ll tell nurse Hortak to stop kicking you out of the Infirmary when you're napping?”
“Tempting, but no.”
“You can fix that diagnostic imager you’ve always wanted to before the specialist repair crewman gets to it?” Savannah considers this for a long moment.
“Alright, Julian,” she sighs deeply, already beginning her descent, “you drive a hard bargain mister.”
“Thank you,” Julian replies, distracted with making sure his friend makes it safely to the floor. The second she’s safely down, he runs a thorough scan of her using his tricorder. Pulse rapid, temperature elevated.
“Where’s Ensign M?” he asks, taking Savannah gently by the shoulders and attempting to capture her focus. Through hazy eyes she answers after a moment.
“She’s with Fluffy Mcfluffles. Over there,” she says, pointing over into the next room. Julian follows, leading Savannah along with him.
They find Ensign M sitting against a small cage in the animal sanctuary's back room, a fluffy brown something clutched to her chest. The small fluffy brown thing is making some very threatening sounding growls and noises, but M seems uncharacteristically unperturbed.
“You’re so fluffy, yes you are,” M coos, petting the creature even as it’s growling increases in volume. “I just love you so much, yes I do.”
“Ensign M,” Julian begins, approaching the pair hesitantly. “I think you should let that poor creature go. I don’t think it wants to be held.” M shakes her head no.
“But he’s so fluffy, and he’s so cuddly and soft,” she pouts, squeezing tighter. A moment later the creature lets out an almighty yowl, their claws leaving a row of shallow cuts on M’s forearm as they flee into a dark corner of the room.
Behind him Savannah lets out a shocked gasp, falling into a crouch at Ensign M’s side and staring at her injury. “I can’t believe Fluffy Mcfluffles would do that,” she says.
“M-me neither,” M says, looking down at her empty lap with tear-filled eyes, stunned. Her tears abruptly stop when she looks up to see Julian there, and she straightens up.
“Oh hello doctor,” she says in a sultry voice, “ I didn’t see you there.” She focuses her lust-filled gaze on Julian, hurriedly running a hand over her hair to smooth it down.
“Okay, I think it’s time to get you both to the Infirmary,” Julian says, taking a cursory reading of the Ensign’s vitals before helping her and Savannah to their feet. M’s animal-induced injury is fairly minor compared to the drug still coursing through her and Savannah’s systems, but still. He guides them all through the doors of the animal sanctuary and onto the Promenade before M seems to find her voice again.
“Where are you taking us?” M asks, “I hope it’s someplace….private,” she says, her gaze sweeping over the Promenade, which is still in chaos what with Odo’s security forces hurriedly trying to round up all of Ari’s escaped animals, and seeing nothing out of the ordinary.
“We’re going to the Infirmary, silly,” Savannah giggles, pressing her free hand to her mouth, the other still clutching onto the back of Julian’s uniform as he leads them through the chaos. Distracted by a passing male Bajoran security member, M runs headlong into a support pole outside the Replimat.
“Oh pardon me, Ambassador,” M says, all professional courtesy to the pole, “I didn’t see you there.” Julian, Savannah still attached to him, quickly doubles back to retrieve M with a sigh.
“This way M, I’m going to get you and Savannah the antidote you need now.”
“If you say so, Doctor,” M breathes, looking up with stars in her eyes at Julian as he sweeps her up and shuffles them along toward the Infirmary doors. The group enters the Infirmary and Julian leads the Lieutenant and Ensign over to two biobeds next to each other in the first triage area he comes to. Savannah forgets her grip on Julian’s uniform in favor of closely examining the blinking lights on the room’s patient monitor, as if trying to unlock some kind of code. “Savannah, come here and lay down for me please,” Julian says, patting a biobed and gently forcing her into laying down on it.
“But Julian, have you seen these lights before? I don’t think I ever have. They must mean something secret right?” Savannah babbles excitedly even as Julian’s forcing her head and shoulders down and starting a scan.
“Yes, I’ve seen them before Savannah, it’s nothing to worry about,” he reassures her. He checks to make sure she intends to stay put before turning his attention to M.
He expects her to be hanging by the equipment trolley where he left her to corral Savannah. He expects her to be uncomfortable and nervous in the Infirmary based on what he knows of her medical phobia.
Instead, He turns around to see M slouched against the biobed next to Savannah’s, her head and upper body supported by one elbow. She winks at him.
“Well Doctor, here we are,” she says, smiling with glazed-over eyes. She cocks a hip outward. “What are you going to do with me, now that you’ve got me alone?” Julian feels his cheeks heat up, but he remains professional.
“Absolutely nothing except to isolate the compounds needed to make an antidote for you and Savannah,” he replies, heading over to adjust the head of M’s biobed to lie flat. “And, I don’t have time for this,” Julian huffs, coming over to stand in front of M’s slouched over form. Gently but firmly he settles her on the biobed, and presses her upper half down until she’s lying flat.
“Hey! What’re you doing?” M retorts with a scowl, attempting to rise.
“Saving your life,” Julian says, bringing a hand swiftly up, capturing both of M’s slim wrists and pressing them over her head. M seems dazed for a moment at this turn of events before she speaks.
“This is just like what Saul did to T’Lana in those wind-swept caverns,” Ensign M says in a strange, breathless way. Julian’s brow crinkles in confusion, but he turns his attention to running a scan of M, careful to keep her hands restrained in case she gets any more ideas. A few relatively quiet moments comparing the two officers’ results and he thinks he’s got a solution.
“Savannah? M? You both still with me?” he asks, letting go of M at last and rushing over to the hypospray station.
“Saul?”
“Yes, kind physician.”
“I think I’m going to be able to create an antidote, but it’s going to take a little time. So I’m going to give you both something first to help. You’re going to sleep and when you wake up you’ll feel a lot better.” He fills two hyposprays with the required sedative and approaches Savannah first. He’s come to think of M as his problem patient at the moment.
“Savannah,” he says softly, running his fingers through her hair that’s come loose from it’s usual hairstyle. “I’m going to give you something that’s going to help you sleep, okay.”
“Yes m’ go ahead,” Savannah mumbles, already semi-conscious. He administers the medication before moving over to M.
“M, this is going to help you relax,” he says, pressing the hypo to her neck.
“Oh, I’m plenty relaxed, Julian,” M says, her eyes already closed.
“Now for the easy part,” Julian sighs in relief, healing M’s scratches and monitoring both patients for a few moments before beginning work on an antidote.
“M? Wake up. M?”
“Rise and shine, crazy.”
“Savannah, what did that Replicator ever do to you?”
Stifled laughter. Then: “And what about that new diorama on the Promenade.”
Savannah blinks awake suddenly, staring up at the familiar ceiling of the Infirmary. She feels...a little confused. She doesn’t remember heading here last night, unable to sleep. She turns her head to see a whole crowd of people in the small room. There’s Susan, leaning against the wall nearest her bed, and Robertson and Ari next to her with Mimi and Irena. Lieutenant Ahna is pacing in the small space, and stealing glances at something out of her line of sight. Guiditta gives her a wave and blows a kiss from the foot of her bed, and she even spies Odo lurking near the back with Major Kira and Commander Sisko.
“What?” she begins, her forehead creasing. Has there been some accident, and she can’t remember it? She tries using her hands to prop herself up, but finds one of them already taken. Julian is sitting on a stool positioned between her biobed and the next one over, holding her hand gently in his, his other arm stretched out to hold another prone figure a few inches away.
“How do you feel?” Julian bends closer to ask, his eyes performing a cursory visual inspection of her. Savannah licks her dry lips before responding.
“What happened?” she asks, “and why are we holding hands? Not that I’m not okay with it, but.”
“Well, that’s kind of a long story,” Susan begins before being interrupted by Ensign M bolting awake with a snort.
“I’m awake,” she says loudly, her eyes darting quickly around the room. Julian hastens to reassure her.
“It’s okay M, calm down. Just lay back now, that’s right,” Julian soothes, urging M back into a prone position. “You and Savannah aren’t fully recovered yet.”
“Recovered from what?” Savannah asks, forehead creasing in confusion when her question prompts a fresh round of giggling from most of the assembled.
“Well you see, it all started when we were having a few drinks in Quark’s,” Susan begins, relating the chain of events that unfolded as a result of the drinks mix-up in the bar. As the story unfolds, others chime in with additional details. M listens and grows as red as her hair, letting out a soft groan of mortification every so often. Savannah lays there and cringes.
“And then, I finally managed to get you both into the Infirmary and cooperative,” Julian adds, purposely not mentioning M’s turn into lasciviousness. “And here we are, no permanent harm done.”
“And the hand holding?” Savannah presses. Julian looks a little nervous.
“Well, the sedative I gave you was only effective for so long, and then after that, the antidote made you and M a little...restless, shall we say. And the only thing that seemed to help was... holding your hands.” He almost looks apologetic.
“Oh my gods,” M groans, covering her face with her hands. “I can’t believe this.” Julian takes this as his cue to shoo everyone from the room.
“I think that’s enough visitors for the moment. Savannah and M will be released later today, so I’ll have to ask you all to leave.” The group departs, some still giggling and speaking in undertones about the previous nights’ events.
Later that evening, Julian releases Savannah and M from the Infirmary, instructing them to take it easy for the next few days. It’s when M and Savannah emerge onto the Promenade that they see it, prominently displayed next to the Klingon restaurant. It’s quite a detailed tableau, made using...toys? M and Savannah share a fearful glance before moving in for a closer look.
Yes, it looks as though they’ve stolen most of Panyi’s toys to make...this. Seru and T’Lau the Vulcans look to be locked in quite a feverish embrace with….is that Spock? And what are all those animals doing? They’ve been arranged in rows facing Panyi’s Sehlat named Larry (no one knows where he got the name from) as though they’re worshipping one of the Prophets. And worse still, is what they’ve done with Panyi’s Klingon action figures. It doesn’t bear repeating. Stunned, M and Savannah turn to look at each other for a long moment before making a decision. Unfortunately for them, their friends have already taken all the holoimages of the tableau they could ever want, and dismantling the display is no help to them.
As they set off to return Panyi’s toys to him, M and Savannah run into Quark outside of the Security office.
“Ladies, my sincere apologies,” he simpers, taking them both by the arm and steering them toward the bar. “Allow me to make last night’s unfortunate situation up to you. How about one drink and three rounds at the dabo table each, on the house of course?” Savannah and M share a disbelieving look before replying in unison.
“Not a chance, Quark!”