Purrrfect

26-Oct-95 This story contains characters that are owned and copy written by Paramount Studios. The story and all it's contents however are owned by the writer herself. by Cynthia L. Bradley

Star Trek TOS-TNG-DS9-STV are trademarks of Paramount Corp.                                                         

This story takes place right after the events in Way of the Warrior. 

Chapter one 

            Odo sighed contentedly as he reached over and switched off his monitor. He had been reviewing the new security reports in his files and was extremely gratified to see that there was, for once, nothing too serious in any of them .There were a few complaints from disgruntled patrons of Quarks (which for him was par for the course and was quite expected considering the 'honest' nature of his race and business). Several small petty outbursts between the resident Bajorans and Garak, the resident Cardassian tailor, and the discovery of a large animal smuggling ring aboard one of outgoing ships to the wormhole was about the worst of the recent cases on file. DS9 seemed to be a magnet for smugglers of all kinds from Terran to Andorrans to Ferengi. Especially the Ferengi. Their various cargoes of choice were just as multifarious.

            In this case the smugglers were a group of Terran led by none other than Burlinghoff Rasmussen, one of the biggest scam artists to ever come out of the past. Evidently he'd had the idea that the inhabitants of the Gamma Quadrant on the other side of the wormhole would pay for some of the rarer animals of the Alpha Quadrant. Many of these animals were quite rare and some were endangered species on their respected worlds. Only this morning had Odo finished getting them passage back to their home worlds.

            He stood up and walked over to the office door which swished opened at his approach. With his hands behind his back he watched people walking to and fro as they went about their business. It was nice to see such a calm and orderly group of people on the Promenade for once.

            His own life would have been just as well ordered had Mother Nature not decided to interfere with plans of her own. Almost as if his thoughts were readable by the trouble maker herself a bright spot of red caught his eye. His gaze became riveted by the sight of none other than Major Kira Nerys herself. He watched as she stopped and talked to the various people who greeted

her. He felt a bitter pang of envy as he watched her flirt subtlety with a young Bajorans man walking past her. For only about the millionth time did he wish that she would flirt him.

            Better yet, he thought, It would be nice if I could find a way to flirt with her without giving away my secret.

            He gave a small thought back to when Lwaxana Troi  had first come to the station. He had complained to Captain Sisko about her relentless pursuit of his person. Back then he hadn't understood what all the fuss about romance was. Now he had been sucked into it against his will.

He hadn't had time for it then and he still didn't have time for it now.  His heart however, seemed  had other plans. Something he had mentioned to Sisko in that conversation came back to him and he began to ponder the feasibility of the idea that came to mind. People were always trying to change something about themselves to make them more attractive to the opposite sex.

            What if, he thought, I could change something about myself? He suddenly remembered that animal smuggling ring that he busted and smiled at the plan that began to form in his mind.

            He smiled a purely 'feline' grin and walked off into the crowd...... 

            Major Kira Nerys stepped out of the Bajoran temple and smiled contentedly as she gazed out at the crowd on the Promenade. She hadn't felt this relaxed and calm in a very long time. Not since Bariel had died had she truly been at peace with herself.. True, this trouble with the Klingons had everyone tense, but at least for now they were at peace. It was amazing what a little meditation and a good cleric could accomplish. It also helped to have such good close friends.

            After a good stretch she set out on a stroll and stopped to look in shop window. She noticed a rather handsome young Bajoran man glancing at her coyly. Ever since she had subtly made known that she was again considering a relationship with someone, she had been constantly flirted with. This young man was good looking enough that she decided to flirt back. Just as quickly as she smiled at him however she reminded herself that she had to be careful that she didn't encourage men like that awful Tiron. What a fiasco that had been. If it weren't for Odo's help she had no idea how she would had have gotten that situation. Come to think about it Odo hadn't been all that thrilled when she had announced her eligibility. There were a lot of things that confused her about Odo recently. He had been acting so strange lately. She just couldn't figure him out sometimes. She walked to the stairs that led up to the observation windows and ascended them before anyone could interrupt her with some problem that had to be fixed right now. She was peering toward the direction of the wormhole when she was unexpectedly accosted by a small furry animal rubbing against her leg.

            "What in the world--," she cried out. Her hands wind milled out to stop herself from tripping over the very amorous creature. She had almost hit her comm badge to call Odo when she realized what the little animal was.

            "Why, hello there. What are you doing out here?," she asked the large orange tomcat. Kira squatted down and warily extended her hand for the animal to sniff. Instead of sniffing her hand however he maneuvered around her and began to rub himself against her ankles. "You certainly are an affectionate little guy aren't you," she said. In response the cat sat back on his haunches, let out a big hearty 'meow' and jumped right into her arms.

            She cried out in surprise and stood up with the cat in her arms. She positioned him like a baby in her arms and began to scratch under his chin. The cat began to purr quite loudly and squeezed his eyes shut in ecstasy. She was shaking her earring over the cats head to let him play with it when Captain Sisko walked up beside her.

            "Hello Major. What do you have there?," Sisko asked casually.

            "Hello Sir. I believe it's a Terran feline of some sort. I have no idea where it came from."

            "It's called a cat Major. Haven't you ever seen one before?"

            "Only briefly. I've never seen a live one before though. Not exactly common on Bajor, you know. Its a shame too. Its quite a charming little animal. Where do you suppose it came from?'

            "Who knows. Several of the human residents of the station have them as pets. Their supposed to kept confined to their quarters though. Odo's real adamant about that so I'm sure its not someone's pet. I wonder if it could be one of those animal in that smuggling ring Odo busted."

            "All those animals were rare and endangered. This little guy couldn't from them. If he were a pet though he would be encoded with an ID chip. This guy's clearly not. It seems we have a mystery on our hands, Captain."

             "Who knows what Rasmussen had in mind, Major. Maybe he was going to--"

            "Personally I don't care what his plans were. That man ought to be thrown in the nearest penal colony and never let out," Kira interrupted angrily.

            "Here, here, Major!" Quark said as he joined them at the window. "I'll have you know that I'm going to be filing a damage claim against that man," he grumbled.

            Quark glanced down at the creature in Kira's arms. "What a charming little creature you have there, Major. I didn't know you like small pets. Could I interest you in a companion for the little guy?"

            Kira sighed and rolled her eyes. That's Quark for you, always out to make a strip, she thought. Quark reached out to touch the cat and got a scratch on his hand for the trouble.

            "Why you vicious little brute! Did you see that? Why there should be a law against animals like that on the Promenade. Come to think about it, there is. I should go get Odo. That would fix you you little--" he stuck his finger in the cats face and got it bit. "Well I never. I'd advise you to get a better tempered pet Major. And as for you" he said to the cat, "I should have you shipped off to Oceania. Lets see how much you would like it there!"

            Kira tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile while Sisko tried to mollify the situation by asking, "What did you need Quark?"

            Quark            pulled his finger out of his mouth long enough to tell Sisko that his holo-suite program was ready for his and Jakes practice baseball game. "Just don't take all shift this time. I got plenty of paying customers waiting for that suite," he said grumpily. He popped his finger back into his mouth, glared at the cat and stalked off back to his bar.

            Once Quark was out of ear shot Kira laughed heartily and began to praise the cat for his good taste.

            "Now Major, Let's not be petty. I have to admit though, its heartening to know that dislike for Quark is almost universal. On to other things though, as you probably know by now, Jake, Dax and I are having an impromptu game of baseball in the holosuites, courtesy of Quark. Would you care to join us?"

            "Why not. It sounds like fun. Unfortunately, much as I hate to admit that Quark is right, I'll have to call Odo and have come get our little character assassin here." She looked down at the cat and said to him, "Don't you worry. I promise not to let him ship you off to Oceania," she told him.

With her hands full she couldn't get to her comm badge so she handed her new friend over to Sisko. Apparently he decided that he didn't like Sisko as much as he liked Kira and jumped down to the floor to start rubbing against Kira's legs again.

            "He's got good taste," she said.

            Kira hit her comm badge and called out, "Major Kira to Odo,"................. 

             Silence. Kira glanced at Captain Sisko and raised her eyes in a questioning expression.

            "Major Kira to Constable Odo. Are you there?"

            Again silence. Now Kira was really puzzled. Her first thought was that maybe he was in his natural state. She knew however that Odo generally tried to maintain the same schedule as everyone else and that meant he reverted to natural form when all the others were sleeping.

            By this time Sisko was puzzled as well. "Computer, please state the location of Constable Odo."

            "Constable Odo is currently on the Promenade."

            "That means that Odo is probably disguised as something," Kira stated. "Probably somewhere in Quarks keeping on eye on things no doubt."

            "Lets start over there and see if we can't locate him," Sisko said.

            Quite suddenly the cat sat down, lifted a paw into the air and began to wave it at Kira to get her attention. It worked to say the least. They both looked down at him and he began to meow at Kira.

            "Better see what he wants I guess," Kira said. She squatted down to the cat's level. He put his paws on Kira's knees and reached up with his face and licked both sides of Kira's face. Kira gasped and the cat reached up with his right paw and stroked her cheek with it. The cat then turned around and walked off down the stairs into the crowd.

            So surprised was she that you could have knocked Kira over with a feather. She stood and touched her face with her right hand.  A look of wonder was clearly written all over her face.

            "Well I'll be a Ferengi's uncle if I've ever seen anything like that before," Sisko said amusedly.

            "You mean they don't normally do things like that?"  Kira asked.

            "Not that I've ever seen before. I'd say you have quite a fan there, Major."

            Odo startled Kira out of her reverie asking as he came up beside them, "Is something wrong with your face Major?  Should I go get Dr. Bashir?"

            "No, no I'm fine Odo. You wouldn't believe what just happened here," she said. Kira quickly realized what direction Odo had come from and quickly asked, "Wait a second. You didn't happen to see a large orange cat walking in the opposite direction, did you?"

            "Cat? There was a cat on the Promenade? I didn't see a cat but believe me, If I had, he wouldn't be here for long. Unrestrained animals are not allowed on the Promenade."

            Odo sighed and rolled his eyes heavenward. "Not only do I have to keep law and order and baby-sit Quark to keep him out of trouble, now I've become the station 'dogcatcher'. Will the joy never end?" Odo said sarcastically.

            Kira smiled and couldn't help feeling sorry for Odo. For some reason the feeling wasn't quite as satisfying as what she had been feeling lately but at least it was more understandable. Lately when she was around Odo she kept having the strangest emotional responses. The last time she had felt this way was with Bariel....Maybe I'm just not getting enough sleep, she thought.           

            "If you could, let me know when you catch the little guy, OK. I think I'd like to adopt him if he doesn't belong to someone." Kira said.

            Sisko smiled as well and decided to ask Odo if he would like to join their ball game. "Come on Odo, You would make a great umpire," he said.

            "Thanks, but no thanks Captain. I don't mean to be a wet blanket but I have a cat to catch remember." 

            Kira was a little disappointed but decided not to let anything else get to her today. "Suit yourself," she said. "See you later."

            Kira and Sisko walked off toward Quark's bar laughing and talking to each other about positions they would be playing. Suddenly Kira remembered something and spun around.    

            "By the way Odo, where were you a couple of minutes ago? I tried to contact you over my comm badge but you never answered. We asked the computer where you were and it said you were on the Promenade."

            "Oh, I was around here and there."

            Kira was plainly confused but decided to let it go and resumed her and Sisko's trip to the holo-suite.

            Odo put his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels as he stared after them. He was quite proud of his little disguise. As he watched Kira's departing form disappear down the stairs his face began to transform into feline mask. All he could think to say was, "Meow."

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