BIRTHRIGHT !

     when the communique appears on his monitor, doctor bashir’s heart leaps into his throat. 

     it takes several hours  (  thought it feels like mere minutes  )  to will himself open it. every sound outside his quarters making his heart jolt and his chest taut. finally, while rubbing jules’ fur to keep himself busy, he scans through it. again, and again, unsure he’s reading it correctly. he can’t be. removing the distraction, despite jules’ protesting meows and clawing at his uniform’s sleeves, he sets her down on the ground. he gets closer to the monitor, finally, reading the letter in full.

     found in self-defense. and there’s not a single mention of his status as an augment. 

     captain archer didn’t report it. 

     just to make sure, julian sinks a canine into the side of his thumb  —  and it hurts like a motherfucker. this is real. captain archer didn’t report him. despite everything that happened. 

     with a quick change of uniform that’s free of cat hair  (  at least, he hopes it is. to say he’s a bit disoriented would be an understatement.  )  julian goes to jon’s quarters. he rings the doorbell without even having a script prepared or vague idea of what to say. maybe he should’ve prepared  —  he absolutely should’ve  —  but it’s a little late now. 

     he just needs to speak to him. he just needs to ask one question:  why  ?

           well. it’s about time. 

      it was getting a little late, and jon had just given porthos his dinner before starting to ready himself for bed. changing out of his uniform into loose pajamas because the captain had an early shift in the morning and he just ASSUMED that perhaps julian wouldn’t confront him about the communique from starfleet. 

      and yes, jon knows it came in. forrest had also informed him that headquarters agreed with him in the self-defense ruling. julian bashir was nowhere near hot water and he could resume life aboard enterprise as if nothing happened. as if this incident hadn’t dug up something so completely DAMNING and jon left starfleet none the wiser about it.

      he’s almost been so naive to think julian would just leave it alone, but if he’s learned anything in the past few days, it’s that he doesn’t know his doctor as well as he thinks.

      ❝ come in, doctor. ❞

      jon sets down porthos’ food bowl and gives the beagle a couple pats on the head before straightening up and turning to the entrance of his quarters. and he wonders idly what julian would say. how he’d react. 

      “ i assure you, we can take care of ourselves. ”  khan will not budge on this. he distrusts humans, particularly ones in uniform such as these ones are. he had found many of the militaristic systems of earth to be quite inefficient & ruthless, which, in combination, were quite dangerous. he doesn’t expect them to be much different now, regardless of how long he had slept.

      but the fact that their captain believes him & his people to be human — that is one good sign, at least. their anonymity will keep them safe, he hopes. his only task is to rid their ship of these strangers.

      he surmises, though, that the first step to doing so would be to release their doctor. he gives the denobulan a glance before releasing his grasp & allowing his hand to fall to his side.

      “ we have all that we need, & that which we do not, we will acquire. my family has always been self-sustaining & resourceful. we will find our own way. ”

      with the release of phlox, the captain relaxes a bit more. the security detail slowly lower their phase pistols from the man in the pod, though jon can tell they’re still cautious. ON GUARD. and jon doesn’t blame them.

      and yet, he’s still reluctant to just pack up and go back to the ship and write a report about an EARTH VESSEL so far from home. surely there’s more they can do. jon can understand a captain and his crew being independent, but even then, would it not be easier to accept help from fellow humans ?

     it’s almost funny  —  hilarious, in fact, how julian has put in so much effort to hide, only to now roll over and give up. in the moment of silence, he almost laughs at it, and laughs at himself. how fucking pathetic. he can run through thousands upon thousands of ways to escape this, figure out exactly how much risk would be involved, and how likely he can walk away from enterprise unscathed. and instead  ?  instead he’s standing before captain archer, waiting for the inevitable. 

     being dismissed to his quarters is a much nicer outcome than he was prepared for, admittedly. julian’s browns furrow at that, his gaze turning to jon, confused. is he  —  does jon trust him to not do something  ?  to not try and sabotage the communications array, to not take a shuttle and run  —  to not do something  ?  no, he doesn’t have plans to do anything, but the mere fact he’s not being escorted to a cell leaves him in stunned silence. 

     so much so, he doesn’t move when dismissed. not right away. he blinks, processing what has happened slower than any augment should or can, looking over his captain. does he still trust him  ?  or is he just underestimating him  ?  it sparks the tiniest bit of hope in him, though he’ll be sure to douse that when back in his quarters. 

     julian opens his mouth, begins to thank him, then cuts himself off before he can get a coherent noise out. thank him for what  ?  mercy  ?  he doesn’t even know if this is mercy. 

     bowing his head after lingering for far too long, he turns, and quietly leaves to his quarters. 

      julian’s hesitation to leave was only for several seconds, but it felt much longer. with jon’s eyes pointed elsewhere, and his heart beating hard and fast, it feels like MINUTES go by between his dismissal and the doctor actually leaving.

      once he’s gone, jon’s quarters is dead quiet. he expected the tension to leave along with julian, but it’s still there. hanging heavy in the room and keeps porthos in his little bed by the corner. jon feels the gaze of the beagle, so he turns to look at him. and porthos is just watching him silently, as if asking him what he’ll REALLY say in his report to starfleet. 

      julian is still a member of his crew, right ?  his friend ?  would it be right to throw him to the wolves, even though he hasn’t technically done anything wrong ? 

      “shut up” jon wants to say to porthos. the beagle has no concept on what bashir is, and why jon needs to report it.

      with a huff, he turns away from the dog to return to his desk. brings his monitor back to life, and opens a new report to starfleet.

      he does not trust them in the slightest. even that small step forward is unwelcome. while the doctor he keeps in his grip is not human, the rest of those present are. & if he is working with them, the likelihood that they have poisoned him against augments is quite high.  ( of course, little does he know of denobula’s history. )

      “ i appreciate your assistance in waking me, ”  he says, words careful & cautious.  “ but you should return to your ship & leave me to mine. we require no further assistance from you. ”

      he wonders how much these humans know. if they realize the ship they have boarded is full of what he is certain history calls criminals. outlaws for their mere EXISTENCE. 

      if they are unaware, he plans to ensure they remain that way. but, if they refuse to leave them be, then he will take OTHER measures to spark their retreat.

      despite the threat at hand, jon lets his surprise show on his face through kitted eyebrows & a single blink of his eyes. he wants them to....leave ?  just like that ?  surely, this man & the rest of his crew would be HAPPY to come across another vessel of humans. it’s obvious they’ve been in stasis for many years. there’s so much they’ve missed. 

      ❝ i wouldn’t feel right, leaving an entire ship of people adrift in space. ❞

      perhaps the man in the pod was just afraid. CAUTIOUS. jon still isn’t happy with his doctor being a hostage, but he’s dealt with worse first contact situations. even if first contact is another human vessel. 

      the captain’s words inform him, but they do not assure him of anything. the man before him is HUMAN, but the doctor, it seems, is not. this person is alien in every sense of the word. he stares at the doctor for a few moments before his gaze flickers back to archer.

      “ why have you boarded my ship? ”  he asks.  “ why wake me? ” 

      as he keeps his eyes focused on the captain, he silently counts the active pods in his peripheral. from what he can tell, none have been removed, but some have FAILED. some of his people have perished in their journey. it fills him with anger & sorrow only paralleled by the deaths of those lost in the war. but for now, he must set those thoughts aside & settle the problems at hand. 

      the captain, the doctor, & the crew that stand before him — they are STARFLEET, as archer has said. he knows not what starfleet is, but he recognizes military when he sees it. this does nothing to assure him either that he & his people will be treated kindly.

      the man in the pod still hasn’t released phlox’s throat - a fact that jon is very aware of. he’s worried, a little anxious, but it doesn’t show on his face. the captain keeps his expression NEUTRAL with knitted eyebrows as he takes a small, experimental step forward. 

      ❝ we found your ship adrift with low power, but there were signs of life. nobody answered our hails, so we decided the risk of boarding was worth taking, in case anybody needed our help. ❞

      shouldn’t he be GRATEFUL to them for coming aboard ?  for waking them up before their ship completely lost power ? 

      jon shifts his weight slightly; the fact that phlox was still hostage aggravates him. especially since he and the rest of the boarding party had only wanted to help the people stuck in the pods. jon has to resist pointing this out to answer the man’s second question. 

     after tossing the bone on the desk, julian swipes his hand on his side, brushing off a few strands of tiny dog hair that transferred from the bone to him. cupcake and jules won’t be happy with him, but they’ll get over it, in time. 

     grinning at his own shamefully bad pun, he takes a seat across from jon, settling for a moment  (  and, just maybe, in hopes of petting porthos a bit. don’t tell his kitties.  )

                 ❝  the medbay. i assume he must have left it there last time he was in for eating too much cheese. he hid it well, but not well enough. imagine all the landscaping he would do if he could hide these bones in a yard.  ❞

      as julian sits across from him, jon glances back to the far side of his ready room, where porthos lay on one of the seats. and as the captain lowers the bone toward the ground and gives it a tantalizing wave, he immediately jumps off and pads over with a wagging tail. 

      porthos sniffs the bone for a moment before deciding doctor bashir was much more INTERESTING. jon just gives a light scoff when the beagle turns away to sniff julian’s pant leg, and then his tail wags even harder.