The BLTS Archive - Mask of Shifting Sand by Allison Kulp (cardassianfire@yahoo.com) --- The Jem'Hadar shoved her roughly into a small, dimly lit room. Kira wasn't sure if she was more quaking from fear or anger as she stumbled in. The doors whooshed shut behind her and she turned to find herself alone in the cell like room with the female shapeshifter. The Founder placed her hand smooth against the door and sealed it with a specialized lock. "Sit down." She gestured to the only chair in the cramped space. "What the hell do you mean dragging me here against my will?" Kira balled up her hands into tight fists. She felt helpless and wanted to strike out, but she knew that changelings were impervious to physical assault. Still, that thing had no right to force her out of her bed in the middle of the night to interrogate her. "Sit down or I will make you sit down. You are a most troublesome solid, Major. The two who brought you here are still guarding the door and will escort you back to your quarters when I am finished with you." She gave Kira a withering look, and the Bajoran backed slowly into the chair and sat down. "Much better," smirked the changeling. Kira shuddered, remembering every time she'd seen Odo give that same look to Quark before throwing the book at him. Somehow, it didn't feel right being on the receiving end this time. "You may be wondering why I had you brought here," said the changeling. Kira started to speak, but the shapeshifter grabbed her jaw. "If I want you to speak, I'll tell you." She moved her hand down, transforming it into a sort of tentacle. "Odo has been extremely lax in his dealings with solids - especially with you." The tentacle now had a very firm stranglehold on her neck. "I merely want to try to understand why you are so special to him, why you think you can control him, what kind of hold you have over him." The Founder squeezed harder then relaxed her hold. "I love him. That's all, I love him and he loves me. But that's nothing you'd understand." Kira choked out her words. The shapeshifter gave her a derisive look. "Love is an excuse your people created to rationalize your animal instincts. I have not brought you here to listen to your foolishness." "Then what do you want from me? What can I possibly tell you about something you don't believe in?" She looked up astonished at the Founder. "Love isn't rational. It's not something that can be examined in a laboratory. It's a gift from the Prophets." "Perhaps it is a better way of controlling him than we have found. Somehow you've created a link between yourself and Odo. You've managed to create feelings in him, feelings of connection that rival those that Changelings share. However, what you have is no match for the Great Link. This substitute joining, this minor link, I will show him how much weaker it is than ours is." The changeling straightened up. What might be considered her flesh shimmered with golden ripples. The tremors subsided and the image resolved into a facsimile of Odo, down to the commbadge. Kira gave an astonished gasp. "His image is easy enough to duplicate." She spoke in a perfect imitation of Odo's gruff voice. Kira felt sick. The Founder gave a very Odo-like chuckle, causing Kira to sink farther back in her chair. "What, you don't like my form?" "Why the hell are you doing this? Is this some sort of sick joke?" "No joke, Major. Just doing some research. After all, Odo always tried to keep your encounters hidden from me. I thought I'd do some investigating on my own." "You're sick - a sick monster." "Oh really? And why would say that, Nerys?" "You have no damn right to call me that!" "Why not? Odo is part of the Great Link, as am I. I have just as much right to appear as Odo as I do to appear as any other form. And how better to understand what he's been holding back - this love, this connection, than to appear as him?" Kira tried to gather her thoughts. "But you're not him. You can't understand what we have!" "Nerys, Nerys. I just want to see if you will respond to me as you might to him. To see if those animal instincts will accept me as him. And why shouldn't they? In a way, I can be him. After all, in the Link, we both have as much right to be Odo as we do to be Tarkalian hawks." "What do you want me to do? To say, yes, you do a great Odo. You're not him! He's a unique being, not some random form anyone can take! He has a past, a personality, a soul..." "Nerys, we all share what you might think of as a soul. You should respond to my Odo just as well as you respond to his Odo." She leaned back slightly and crossed her arms, regarding the Bajoran with a bemused expression. "You're not him! You're...whoever the hell you are!" "Enough of that." The shapeshifter pushed Kira into the chair, holding tightly onto her shoulders. The grip was hard enough to keep her still, but soft enough so that she could still move slightly. When she moved too much, the grip would tighten. Slowly, the Founder melted part of her body down her arms and under Kira's shirt. She stifled a moan as she felt the familiar liquid movements circle the nape of her neck and travel down to her nipples. The soft fluid enclosed her nipples, pulling them gently, stimulating them to the point of throbbing. Kira kept her eyes shut, fearful that she would look up and see that terrible sight of the Founder wearing Odo's face, smirking at her. The bands around the nape of her neck melted and congealed into hard straps, pushing her against the back of the chair. Slowly the liquid flowed down her chest. More bonds clamped her legs to the chair. Tendrils moved down from the liquid flesh to cover her pubic area then onto her clitoris. Her breathing was becoming more labored and she struggled not to let her captor see any sign of pleasure. Suddenly, she felt a liquid lump forming within her vagina. The pulsating form filled her entirely, forcing her over the edge into orgasm. She bucked and rolled, lost in a confusion of pleasure and shame. The shapeshifter withdrew herself from Kira, slowly loosening the bonds that held her. Kira slumped miserably into the chair. The Founder melted back into what Kira regarded as her true form. "That was informative. Your body does respond to any changeling that takes on Odo's form. I'm sure he'll enjoy hearing of that." Kira looked at her, her face a mask of hatred. "You assaulted me, you held me down, you raped me, bitch. How the hell do you think he'll react to that?" "I brought you in here, I take on his guise, and you react like an animal. Obviously, it doesn't matter what part of the Link you're with, as long as you're with someone who looks like Odo, it will do." "You raped me! I don't care if you looked like him; you were the one raping me!" "And your body responded. That is enough for me to see that this supposedly special link you have with him is an illusion. Sex, love, instincts. Founders are more evolved than that." "Evolved?!", screamed Kira. "Odo is a thousand times better than you are! He has morals, feelings,and compassion!" "Do you still love him?" "Yes!" "Even though I can be as much Odo as he can?" "You're not him! You're some damned Pagh'Wraith sent by the Dominion!" The shapeshifter regarded her with some amusement. "Every one of your thoughts gets filtered through that primitive religion of yours. You still cannot accept that we have as much right to be considered deities as your wormhole dwelling entities are." "You make pretty lousy gods!" "So, our link did not break that link you have formed with him?" "Rapes don't form links. Love forms links. And you'll never know love." "And what will he say when we link and I inform him of this night?" "I hope you do. Then you'll know how powerful love is. When I tell him of the hell I've gone through tonight, it will make you wish you never set foot on this station." The Founder unlocked the door and threw her out to the waiting guards. "Perhaps. Or perhaps we will see that the draw to be with his own people is stronger than love." --- The End