Chapter Text
When Martok had said that ‘a friend’ was going to be joining them who had been in solitary confinement, Worf had assumed it was going to be another Klingon, or perhaps a Starfleet officer who knew something about an escape plan. What he hadn’t expected to see was Doctor Bashir, battered and worn looking as if he’d been in prison for weeks. Of course, once the initial shock faded away, he was able to realize that this Bashir probably had been here for weeks, which could only mean that the Bashir back on the station was a Changeling. Then he felt anger at both the fact that he hadn’t even suspected Changeling Bashir of being a Changeling and how the young doctor had clearly been mistreated.
Bashir’s eyes went wide when he saw Worf and Garak along with the other prisoners. For a few moments he couldn’t believe his eyes, and he even briefly entertained the thought they were merely mirages, the first sign he was beginning to crack from his time here. But no, he hadn’t been here long enough for his senses to be faltering in their reliability, even if he had felt just a little bit insane during his last few days in solitary. The second he accepted the fact they were, in fact, there, a sudden feeling of joy and relief surged through him; seeing familiar and friendly faces after spending so much time alone in that tiny prison cell made everything seem more bearable.
Garak realized what was going on just as fast, if not a little faster, than Worf had. He too felt indignant at the fact he hadn’t guessed that the Bashir at the station was a fake, though he was taking it somewhat more personally than the Klingon was; after all, not only was he supposed to be trained in analyzing and observing details, but he spent a fair amount of time with Bashir and had for years yet he still hadn’t suspected anything was amiss.
“Doctor Bashir…” Garak said, still somewhat stunned but the first to recover enough from those few moments of shock to speak.
“What are you doing here?” Worf demanded incredulously; while it was clear Bashir had been replaced with a Changeling, he couldn’t guess when or why the Founders thought Bashir was the sensible person on Deep Space Nine to replace. Wouldn’t replacing Captain Sisko have given them more power and political influence? His thought process was being hindered by the fact Martok was trying in vain not to chuckle too obviously at the total bewilderment on everyone’s faces.
“I could ask you the same question.” Bashir said weakly, smiling at slightly them. Even though he was happy to see his friends and relieved to be out of solitary, Bashir knew the first thing they had to ascertain was if they were here to rescue them or if they had also been replaced by Changelings.
“We came after deciphering a coded signal that came from here. Unfortunately, our landing wasn’t particularly graceful, and so here we are.” Garak said, gently helping Bashir to the bed so he could sit down.
“Are you alright?” Worf said, managing to sound stern even through his concern. He still had a lot of other questions to ask, but he supposed that just because he was in prison didn’t necessarily mean he should forgo basic decency in his eagerness to escape.
“As alright as anyone else here, I suppose.” Bashir said, clearly fatigued. “What’s happened here while I was away?” he asked, looking at General Martok.
“Well, as you can tell Tain finished altering the life support system, and with these now with us we’ve reinstigated out plans for escape. Other than that, there’s not much to tell.” Martok said. Bashir was now looking at the general with a scrutinous gaze.
“I doubt the Vorta let you go a whole week without fighting. Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked.
“I assure you, doctor, I am just fine.” Martok said.
“Good. Then you won’t mind if I take a look at you later just to make sure.” Bashir responded, obviously not believing the Klingon general. And after seeing Martok’s eye roll at the statement, Worf wasn’t sure he believed him either.
“If I may make a point, one of us could be a Changeling trying to learn of our escape plan. So now that the doctor’s back, I suggest we all take a blood screening and then get down to business. We’ve spent enough time on greetings and catching up.” their Romulan prison mate said, speaking up for the first time.
“Agreed. We must not waste any more time.” Worf said. Garak and Bashir briefly exchanged glances; truthfully they could both spend hours just exchanging pleasantries and both still had questions they wanted to ask, but escaping had to be their first priority.
“Alright then.” Bashir said, accepting Garak’s offered hand to help him up, before going to prepare the equipment for the blood tests.