Dislaimer: If TOGE sued me for half of what I had, they'd end up with
buggerall. Nevertheless. Their property is theirs, and mine is mine.

Info: Remember how I was saying I had my own theories on what really
happened to the baby Changeling? Well, I finally made it fly. 

                Rebellion: Battle's Lull
Catherine Allan

  Kira woke slowly, not to the sounds of klaxons or firing or any other
indications of emergency. She enjoyed the quiet sounds, and the distant
rumble of her love's voice as he chatted to one of the babies. Her eyes
drifted half-open, so she could watch without disturbing them.
  "Now," Odo was murmuring, "shall we try again?"
  This time it wasn't a baby he was murmuring to. It was an infant
Changeling.
  The Changeling, smaller than Odo's natural state, curled itself into a
simple spiral.
  Odo patted his hands together in quiet applause, "*Very* good! You're
improving every day - every moment..." He noticed her.
  Kira propped herself up. "Were you going to tell me about him? Or is
it 'her'?"
  Odo scooped the infant into his arms, holding it protectively, "I was
going to tell you today... but since you've already found out, I guess
I'd better."
  Kira waited, propping herself up with pillows.
  "When I poured the baby into my hands, it became part of my being; it
unlocked whatever the Founders did to me, and it linked with me. The
baby needed the support of a Changeling in order to heal, and without
knowing how - I helped it. It's only been recently that it's been able
to leave our link for any time without suffering any ill effects. The
baby's still healing, Nerys, and I still have to protect it."
  The infant squirmed in Odo's arms, forming a humanoid shape. A
perfect, adult humanoid, if greatly reduced in size. Then it tried to
speak. "Mmmmaaaaajjj-urrrr," it drawled, "mmmmaaaaa-mmmaaa?"
  Odo made a short noise, holding the infant in a close hug, "That's
right, little one, Nerys will be your mother; if she wants to." The baby
relaxed into it's native shape, its orange colour starting to muddy. "I
understand," Odo soothed, letting a hand melt into its form, "I'll help
you heal." They merged, then Odo re-formed his arm.
  "Oh, dear one," Kira sighed, "The only thing I don't understand is why
you didn't tell me sooner?"
  "Starfleet." Odo replied, "They'd take it. Kill it, or both of us, if
they knew. And when Starfleet left -- there was no time; the chaos.
Everything got in the way."
  "I won't let anyone do that, now or ever," Kira vowed, before
something occurred to her, "Why do you call the baby an 'it'? Isn't that
demeaning?"
  "The baby hasn't decided what it wants to be, yet," Odo shrugged,
patrolling the cribs, checking every one of his adopted family, "My
choice was less open; I only saw males for the first few years of my
life, I didn't know any other shape to imitate." He finally settled by
her side. "Now, my dearling, would you like breakfast, or to help me in
the labs?"
  "What're the labs?" Kira stood, shuffling her nightshirt down past her
hips.
  Odo smiled, "Let me show you."

  The labs turned out to be Odo's area for attempting chemical warfare.
There was just enough room to move between various scientific
instruments.
  "This used to be a distillery during the first occupation. After I
closed it down, I decided to keep its location secret, so no-one else
could take up where the bootleggers left off."
  "Where did all this equipment *come* from?" Kira stared at it, sample
containers lined shelves, as did rows apon rows of chemical compunds.
  "Templer brings them in on request. Thanks to them, we have every sub-
cell stocked with enough supplies and medical equipment to revive
*anything*. It's just up to me to find out what will hurt a Founder."
  Kira found herself picking up a vial. It contained a sample of Odo's
substance, still wriggling to join with him. "You've been experimenting
on yourself."
  "There aren't any alternatives, dearling," Odo supplied. "I'm the only
Changeling available, and - testing chemicals on samples is less risk to
me and the baby."
  "I still don't like it, Odo."
  "Would you have cut off a finger if you knew it would drive the first
occupation away?"
  "In an instant..." Kira admitted, absently tapping the glass. "I see
your point."
  Odo dialed up a journal on the lab's computer, written in a version of
Dockspeak that was nearly everywhere. "I've been trying to come up with
a compound that locks a Changeling in solid form. If it *is* all the
same, I'd rather not kill if we can avoid it."
  Kira read over the list of tried-and-fails, and widened her eyes at
the list of compounds they had yet to test.
  "Fortunately, the reaction time-window is relatively short," Odo
smiled, "I go through the compounds ten at a time. Let me draw off some
samples for you, and we can get started."
  It was nearly mind-numbingly dull. Kira had gone through the first
twenty before the novelty wore off. It took another fifty before she
felt like falling asleep on her feet. Another twenty had gone by before
she thought she'd found something.
  Kira had just introduced the last sample to the tenth compound of that
run, and levelled her gaze along the tubes. Goop, goop, goop, blood,
goop... "Prophets!" Kira seized the fourth container, holding it up for
Odo to see.
  He sighed with relief. "Now all we have to do is see if it lasts long
enough to be useful."
  The effects lasted five days. _How in the name of the Prophets are we
going to make this work?_ Kira asked herself, watching Odo play with
their adopted family, _Five days is nothing to them. A *century* is
nothing to them..._

To Be Continued...