Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!prodigy.com!news.glorb.com!hermod.ttsg.com!newsread.com!newsstand.newsread.com!POSTED.monger.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: <413D1A8B.8030907@comcast.net> From: "czb (Chris)" MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: NEW DS9: Title Challenge: A Dukat for Your Thoughts 1/1 (O, Du) [PG-13] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 76 Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 04:55:02 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: monger.newsread.com 1094532902 209.198.142.218 (Tue, 07 Sep 2004 00:55:02 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Sep 2004 00:55:02 EDT Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:83990 X-Received-Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2004 21:55:10 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: A Dukat for Your Thoughts Author: C. Zdroj (aka "the Pagh Wraiths") Email: czb at comcast dot net Website: http://odosgirl.tripod.com/ Series: DS9 Part: 1/1 Rating: PG-13 Codes: O, Du Summary: Written for Stephen's Title Challenge. Odo reflects on his **** A Dukat for Your Thoughts by C. Zdroj (aka "the Pagh Wraiths") Of all the people that he might have selected to oversee security, I'll never know why he chose me. Perhaps it was expedient. I happened to be there. He happened to require a non-Cardassian to conduct a particularly sensitive murder investigation. He dared not do the thing himself, dared not reveal his ties to Vaa'trick and the other Bajoran collaborators. That would have been suicide. But why me in particular? Did he think I would be malleable, as perhaps my liquid form suggested? Did he think that I, being an outsider, might actually try to be objective? Did he want the truth? Or was I just another tool at his disposal, a convenient pawn to help put an acceptable face on the Cardassian Occupation of Bajor? Or was there something more--a fascination with what I was that he never dared to pursue, and that I elected not to notice? He certainly seemed to hold himself above any vulgar fascination with changeling parlor-tricks, such as those that Gul Hadar had found so amusing. And yet, the way that word--"shapeshifter"-- came sliding off his tongue ... sensuous, half-insult, half-challenge ... it always made me wonder if he was daring me to defy him, or perhaps inviting me to turn my investigator's gaze on him and see something different than the figure of command that he presented to the Bajorans and to his own soldiers. Perhaps he thought that with my alien eyes I would see something in him that no one else did. Something admirable. In some perverse way, I do believe he wanted my approval. He often pretended that I was his confidante--the only one capable of understanding that he truly loved Bajor and its people. Not that I ever believed that particular delusion of his. I have never doubted that he was using me, but strangely, he seemed to enjoy the fact that I knew this. Perhaps this was his way of seeking redemption. I know a great deal about that, since I've been seeking it myself for so long. Mostly for the work I did in his name. Now that the man is dead, I find I am no nearer to understanding his motives than I ever was. I recall him with disgust, both for what he was and for the work I carried out for him. And yet, some part of what I am is still owed to him, since he was the one who gave me the job of maintaining security on that station. A job that eventually became, for me, the pursuit of justice. He was the first one to see past what I was to what I might become. And that is why, unlike Nerys, I cannot fully hate the man. Try as I might. ~the end~ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: