<USS Avalon> "New Recruit, Part Two"

 
New  Recruit
Part Two 
Danaan, Skyler, and  Ketchum
 
 
        Keith's expression was guarded when  Skyler came into his office; his 
hands were clasped together under his  chin, his elbows on the desk. 
        "What's up, Admiral?" she  asked cautiously.
        He shook his head. "Let's wait for Counselor  Danaan, Captain. That 
way I only have to say it once."
        Skyler nodded, wondering what was so serious  as to need to be 
brought to the attention of both herself and their ship's  counselor. She 
wondered 
what could have him so wound up, as the Betazoid half of  her could feel some 
tumultuous emotions coming from him. She sensed he was  worried, and that 
concerned her.
        Moments later the chime rang, and the Tuathan  counselor was bade 
entrance. Cailin smiled and nodded in greeting to each of  them. "What can I do 
for you, Admiral?" she said.
        Keith sighed, then reached out and turned his  desktop computer 
around. "It would appear that Starfleet has seen fit to send us  a new recruit. 
She's... well, see for yourselves."
        Both women leaned forward to read the screen.  On display was an 
officer dossier, that of the woman Skyler had just  met not long ago. Neither 
saw 
anything out of the ordinary at first,  until they reached her species. Though 
her picture (and the woman herself)  appeared completely Human, she was 
listed as a hybrid---
        ---a Human-Changeling hybrid. 
        "Oh my," Cailin said softly, in the next  instant going into 
counselor mode, and observing both Skyler and Keith very  closely.
        Skyler looked at Keith. "Is this for real?"  she asked, her 
incredulity apparent in the tone of her voice and the widening of  her eyes.
        Keith nodded, then handed them each a padd.  "These are access codes, 
to be used each time you choose to read the  classified sections of the 
ensign's file---which both of you will need to  do. I am advising both of you 
to 
read it at your earliest convenience so that  you are fully apprised of the 
situation."
        Cailin glanced at the girl on the screen.  "This...Ensign Scott is a 
situation, sir?" she asked.
        "Indeed, Counselor. Every member of this crew  either faced the 
Dominion in battle or lost someone who did," Keith told  her.
        Cailin nodded, her tail swishing in time with  the movement. "I don't 
doubt that, as I am on the list of those who have." In  fact, she'd lost an 
entire ship and crew, save for two people. She took a deep  breath, and went 
on. "It is also a safe assumption to say that she is on  that list as well."
        The admiral nodded in agreement. "I've  read the whole of her file. 
Says she didn't even know for sure she  was half-Changeling until after the war 
ended."
        "But she found out by running off to their  homeworld against 
orders," Skyler added, having perused the file further while  the others 
talked. 
"What does that say about how well she'll take orders from  us?"
        "Prior to that incident she had an exemplary  service record," Keith 
told her.
        "I think perhaps it would be best to reserve  judgement of the ensign 
until after a full reading of her service record,"  Cailin admonished. "And 
perhaps not to judge her even then."
        Skyler knew the counselor was right. She  turned Keith's monitor back 
around, saying, "What I can't get my mind around is  how she could be a 
Human-Changeling hybrid. Starfleet didn't even know  about Odo until 2369, and 
she's obviously older than that."
        Keith sighed, sitting back in his chair.  "According to the file, 
Ensign Scott is the result of a science experiment, one  her mother conducted 
on 
herself."
        "Her mother?" Skyler queried. 
        The admiral nodded. "She was born as were all  of us," he said. "To a 
Human microbiologist who had injected an---at the  time---unknown cellular 
sample into the nucleus of one of her own cells.  According to Dr. Scott's 
research notes, she did it only with the intention of  gauging the reaction of 
the 
nucleus, because the origin of the sample was an  organic mass that had ceased 
cellular activity."
        "Are you saying that Ensign Scott's mother  found one of the hundred 
baby Changelings?" Skyler asked, her eyes going wide.  "Why didn't she report 
the discovery?"
        "Because of her experiment," Cailin answered,  studying the admiral 
carefully. "She didn't want anyone to know what she'd done  because she knew 
that it was wrong, even while she was doing it."
        Keith looked up at her. "I won't even try to  guess as to her 
motivations, Counselor."
        Skyler shook her head. "That still doesn't  explain how she became 
pregnant, especially if the cell she used wasn't a  reproductive cell. Simply 
implanting the cell with the sample in it's  nucleus into her uterus wouldn't 
have done that."
        "No one knows the answer to that,  Captain---not even the Changelings 
themselves," Keith told her. "Even they can  only theorize."
        "Do they have one?" Cailin  prompted.
        Keith nodded. "And I have to admit, it makes  about as much sense as 
can be made of something that no one understands.  According to what I've 
read, the Changelings believe that while the infant  discovered by Dr. Scott 
registered on scanners as inactive, or dead, there  remained miniscule 
electro-chemical activity. When it was introduced to her cell  nucleus, it 
bonded with the 
DNA it contained."
        Skyler had a sudden realization. "They think  the sample contained 
some of the infant's intelligence, don't they? Perhaps it  was primitive, at 
least as far as Changeling infants go, but it knew enough to  know it was on 
the 
verge of death. So it fused with the doctor's DNA to save  it's own life!"
        Cailin nodded. "That would seem to be the  most logical explanation," 
she agreed. "After all, the Changelings are  beings of exceptional 
intelligence."
        "And that brilliant deduction, Captain, is  probably why you've been 
put in charge of Ensign Scott's medical care," added  Keith. "That, and for 
security reasons."
        "Starfleet wants to keep the truth confined  to as few people as 
possible," Cailin guessed, and the admiral nodded. "Given  what you said 
before, I 
can understand why."
        "Admiral, you do remember that it's been  some time since I've 
practiced medicine with any regularity," Skyler  said.
        Keith grinned, his first smile since the two  women had come into his 
office. "Well, now you've got yourself a regular  patient. Although 
considering she's half-Changeling, I doubt she'll have much  need of your 
services."
        "Sir, ma'am," Cailin  said, including Skyler in what she was about to 
say. "Ensign Scott is a  Starfleet officer, and should be treated no 
differently than any other. We  simply know something about her that no one 
else on 
Avalon  will."
        He sat forward again. "You're right,  Counselor. We can't hold her 
parentage against her, nor her tenure in the  stockade. Obviously Starfleet's 
given her a second chance, so we must give her a  chance as well. 
        "My only concerns are keeping this from  becoming a nightmare. If the 
crew finds out, there's a chance she could be at  personal risk. People do a 
lot of things they shouldn't when they're angry. I  wish I'd known about this 
before she got here---"
        "Why, Admiral? Would you have refused her  posting?" the Tuathan 
asked.
        "No. I don't think I would have, Counselor. I  would, however, like 
to have been a little more prepared."
        "Forgive me, Admiral, but I really don't  think one could prepare for 
a revelation such as this," she countered. 
        "What happens if the truth comes out?" Skyler  wanted to know.
        Cailin looked at her. "We do the only thing  we can do, Captain. Fly 
through that wormhole when we come to it." 
        The felinoid smiled, and gestured with the  padd she'd been given. 
"Now, if you will excuse me, I've a new crewman to  familiarize myself with."
        "I think I will do the  same," Skyler said. 
        Keith nodded, and the two women were  dismissed. As Cailin left the 
Bridge and entered the turbolift, she wondered,  for a moment, if she would be 
able to adhere to her own advice. Certainly no one  should hold Delaney 
Scott's biology against her, not even anyone who'd lost  friends and loved ones 
to 
the Dominion. The ensign was not part  of the Dominion, after all, and could 
barely be called a Founder. But  having suffered herself, she could understand 
how easy it would be to hold  on to hate. 
        She just hoped that, should the truth come  out, the crew's subdued 
anger toward the Dominion wouldn't be taken out on an ensign who was innocent 
of their  crimes.

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