Show: Deep Space: Nine
 Title: The Lizard Gul
 Author: Charon
 Style: Slash
 Rating: PG-13
 Dates Written: November 24th, 2002 - November 25th, 2002
 Feedback: Please (don't make me beg)and send it to 
kwaigoncainejinn@yahoo.com
 Codes: G/B
 Warnings: Slash although the only reason this isn't rated G or PG, is 
because it involves two men.
 Episode Spoilers: Absolutely None What-So-Ever
 Disclaimer: The wonderful organization called Paramount owns them 
(drat it all, and they won't release them though it's clear they no 
longer want them), and I'm certainly not making any money (HA! 
Money? What's that!?) off this writing. 
Answers the Garak/Bashir Fuh-Q-Fest Challenge: AU; Use any Faery Tale 
and re-write it using Garak 
and Bashir. (Prisca Banks) 
Author's note: This is based upon a Chinese Fairy Tale called 'The 
Tortoise Prince', where a good-hearted young man saves the life of an 
unusual turtle, and gains a fabulous talent through which he becomes 
rich. He gets another gift, and uses it, falls in love, and is 
almost killed, but is saved by his true love. To keep it in the Deep 
Space: Nine realm, I've changed a few things, added others, and 
expanded some explanations. However, the main core of the story is 
intact.

Complete And Total fantasy
 Deep Space: Nine
 The Lizard Gul
 By Charon

Started: 11-24-02
 Completed: 11-25-02


Doctor Julian Bashir was too good-hearted. All of his 
friends said so. Unfortunately, many of those who called themselves 
his friends often took advantage of his kindness. When they were 
sick, they often said they couldn't pay, and, being a very good man 
as well as a kind one, the good doctor never asked for payment from 
them, and often used his own resources to help them. Once the people 
had gotten what they wanted from him, they ignored him, and left him 
to try and recover his supplies on his own. Even though he worked 
for a military organization, he was paid only a small stipend, and it 
was barely enough for him to live on himself, let alone treat those 
who came to him, and treat them for free. Because of his kindness 
and generosity, soon, Doctor Julian Bashir had nothing left, and 
couldn't practice his medicine as he had run out of supplies.
 
One being, and only one, tried to repay him but the man was a 
poor old man, who eked out a living catching the various voles, 
lizards, rats, and other creatures who frequently came in on rather 
dilapidated and often suspect transports. Sometimes they escaped the 
transports, and ran freely onto the main decks of the space station, 
where the old man would catch them, and give them to the doctor to 
use in his medical practice. Or to eat . . . no one ever really 
asked what the doctor actually did with the man's strange offerings.
 
One day (or night - who could really tell on a space station 
that orbited a wormhole in space), the old man gave the doctor a 
lizard that, even at first glance, Julian could tell was unusual. It 
was a very large lizard and bore a strange, white mark, almost like a 
slash, across the top of its head, while its scaled markings were 
easily among some of the most beautiful Julian had ever seen.
 
`What a perfectly beautiful specimen.' The doctor thought to 
himself. `It is, indeed, a handsome work of art. It would certainly 
be wrong to dissect or eat this creature.' He put the lizard in a 
cage and intended to keep it in the infirmary as a pet, while at the 
same time he was determined to find out, exactly, what species it was 
and where it had come from.
 
When he woke the next morning however, and went into his 
infirmary, he found that the creature had somehow escaped during the 
night. He looked almost frantically for it, and noticed that one of 
the panels that led to the conduits, and eventually, to the lower 
bowels of the station, had come loose. He knew, by that the lizard, 
for lack of a better term, had lost itself in the inner workings of 
the space station.
 
He also knew he should have reported the loss to the 
station's security chief, but, from his observations of the lizard, 
realized that the magnificent creature was harmless. He also 
believed that such a noble animal, though his curiosity went 
unsatisfied, deserved its freedom, and he kept quiet about the loss. 
He quietly wished the creature good luck and went on with his 
business, such as it was.
 
It was several months later, that, as he walked one of the deserted 
decks of the station and looked for a certain lichen that he'd heard 
had healing properties, he ran across a rather tall, muscular being 
who resembled a Cardassian, and carried himself with dignity as well 
as with a decidedly overbearing arrogance. The man was flanked by 
four smaller beings who were obviously his servants, though they 
were covered by so much hair, he couldn't tell what species they 
were, which for him, being a multi-species specialist, was somewhat 
alarming.
 
The doctor, being confused as to why a Cardassian of his 
obvious rank and status was walking through the deserted lower levels 
of the station, as well as being accompanied by an unknown species, 
stopped and stared at him.
 
"And just what are you staring at, human?" The being 
snarled, most disagreeably. "Can't you see I'm in a hurry? Step 
aside immediately, and let me pass."
 
"I can't." Replied the good doctor, his tone calm and 
reasonable. "Not only won't your extreme rudeness let me, but I have 
not seen you before, and I'm quite sure that you have no business 
being on this level of Deep Space: Nine. Therefore, it's my duty to 
call Constable Odo, and turn you in . . ."
 
The Cardassian's face turned an unusual and certainly 
unattractive shade of dark grey, and he waved to his hairy servants, 
who literally swarmed over the good doctor. They removed both his 
weapon and his comm badge before he could even blink, then grasped 
his arms, and pulled him to the floor, where he was forced to kneel 
before the angry, seething being.
 
"You impudent human." He snarled as he stalked up to the 
doctor. "I will have your name, and then I will beat you senseless 
for the insult you have paid me this night!"
 
"I have paid you no insult." The doctor met the angry 
expression of the man with his face full of defiance. "And as for my 
name, I am Doctor Julian Bashir of Starfleet Medical . . ."
 
As soon as the man heard Julian's name, his wrath turned to 
obvious joy, and he knelt before the startled man. "You are the man 
who saved my life! I do beg your forgiveness!" He ordered his 
servants to free the younger man, and helped him to stand. "Do me 
the honor, my friend, of coming with me to my ship and letting me 
explain!"
 
%%%
 
Julian didn't, of course, understand the man's sudden of change of 
heart. He could easily forgive the rudeness, but certainly didn't 
want to go with the man who went from arrogant and who had threatened 
to have him beaten one moment, to being completely congenial and calm 
the next. That reeked of someone psychiatrically unstable, and it 
made Julian very nervous . . . although he *was* curious as to the 
explanation he was to be provided. However, he had barely stood when 
the bigger, and stronger man, grasped him firmly, but gently, by the 
arm, and they walked, accompanied by the man's servants, to a 
turbolift. There was no conversation as it took them to a landing 
platform, where a magnificent ship that Julian was *sure* hadn't been 
there before, awaited them. When they walked through the airlock to 
the ship, Julian couldn't help but stare.
 
It was as large, and seemed even larger on the inside than it 
had from the outside, a fact which, being quite familiar with physics 
and knowing such a thing was impossible, both intrigued and puzzled 
the good doctor. However, he didn't get to ask about it as he was 
led through the ship. They passed through large, open, airy 
corridors, and he stared at the extravagance that surrounded him. 
Everywhere the good doctor looked, precious metal and jewels 
decorated everything, as well as exquisite artwork of every 
description and kind, seemingly from every planet in the known 
quadrants, were hung on the walls and stood in every corner. The 
imperious being finally led Julian through a large, beautifully 
filigreed doorway, to a sumptuously decorated, lavish banquet hall, 
and imperiously ordered a meal for them both.
 
"Ah!" He grinned, and bowed to Julian. "I would, my good 
Doctor Julian Bashir, like to make my explanation as to my extreme 
rudeness. You see, I was at a political function where there was 
nothing but false posturing being done, and then only for effect, not 
for any real purpose. I was on my way back to my ship when I 
encountered you, and I am afraid I took my ire out on you. Allow me 
to introduce myself as well. I am the High Gul Skrain of Dukat, a 
rather distant and remote territory of the planet of Cardassia, and 
it is an honor to be able to formally meet you."
 
"And I you . . ." Julian tilted his head at the Cardassian, 
and knew that it would be rudeness itself to inquire into the man's 
history, no matter how curious about it he was. He also knew that to 
offend a Gul, particularly a High Gul, in his own ship, not to 
mention one who was so obviously mentally unbalanced, was dangerous, 
as well as a basis for an intergalactic incident. With that in mind, 
he merely nodded, and decided that as long as the Gul didn't try to 
kill him or injure him in any way, he'd just enjoy his hospitality, 
and put any odd statements, such as the one he'd made about the 
doctor having saved his life, down to the fact that the being was so 
obviously mentally confused.
 
The servants soon set a wonderful repast before the doctor, 
who, though he was slender, easily ate as much as the muscular 
Cardassian next to him. They laughed and talked for quite a long 
time, and the doctor thoroughly enjoyed the time he spent with the 
being. At long last, a bell chimed through the innards of the ship. 
Skrain of Dukat looked at Julian and smiled, though regretfully.
 
"You are indeed good company Doctor Julian Bashir. But I am 
sorry to say you will have to leave now, as I must go. However, 
before I do, allow me to give you a gift." Julian blushed, and would 
have protested, but the Cardassian shook his head. "This is a gift 
you may find useful, but unfortunately, you will not be able to keep 
it forever. However, I will not take away the gift until your every 
wish is fulfilled."
 
As he smiled, he took the doctor's arm in his, then gave the 
caramel-colored flesh a hard pinch. Julian cried out in pain, and 
tears immediately sprang to his eyes. "There, my dear friend, now 
you may leave." The Cardassian walked the stunned doctor from his 
ship, and Julian all but stumbled through the airlock back onto the 
station.
 
After the airlock had closed, the doctor looked at his arm 
where the Gul had pinched him, and to his surprise, as clear as any 
tattoo done by any culture, just where the Gul had pinched him, was a 
perfect, thumb-sized image of a lizard with a white slash on its head.
 
`Curiouser and curiouser.' Julian shook his head as the words 
from one of his favorite childhood books played through his mind, and 
he looked down at the floor, then started violently. The metal 
flooring he walked on had become as transparent as any aluminum, and 
he swallowed, then blinked as his eyes landed on the very lichen he'd 
searched in vain for earlier. The doctor ran to the turbolifts, rode 
down the necessary levels until he found the lichen, and scraped 
several samples of it from where it hung off the pipes.
 
He returned to his infirmary and tested it, then cried out in 
joy. He'd been right, and it was exactly what he'd needed to cure 
the fever that had so plagued the inhabitants' children. It was 
right then and there that he decided to use the gift the High Gul had 
given him for no other purpose than to do good for those around him.
 
Not long after, word of his almost miraculous remedies spread 
throughout the station, and the finally grateful inhabitants of Deep 
Space at long last provided him the ways and means to continue his 
practice as generously as he had before.
 
He took more and more forays from the station onto many 
different planets, most known but some not, to find mosses, lichens, 
grasses, molds, plants, flowers, and minerals that would heal wounds, 
cure diseases, and remedy plagues of all kinds. He took such trips, 
because he had discovered, like the metal flooring on Deep Space, no 
planet could hide their healing treasures from him, no matter how 
deeply under the ground they were buried.
 
%%%
 
One day, the Commander of Deep Space: Nine received a distress call 
from Cardassia that told of how a plague had swept over their planet, 
and they needed help, desperately. Though Julian's reputation as a 
miraculous, gifted healer had grown as he'd prospered, he'd remained 
the same generous man he'd always been, and he knew that it was his 
duty, as well as his pleasure, to respond and do what he could for 
the ailing people of Cardassia. Immediately, he took a transport to 
Cardassia, which, as had all the other plants he had been to had 
done, quickly gave up her healing treasures, and in a relatively 
short period of time, he cured the plague.
 
While on Cardassia, however, the good doctor had treated a 
very poor patient who was so grateful to the human for his kindness, 
his respect, and for healing him and his family, that he gave Julian 
his one possession, which, upon examination, was no more than an 
ordinary piece of reflective glass. The patient had told the good 
doctor that it had magical properties, and rather than merely show 
the reflection of whomever looked in it at any one time, it showed 
the image of whatever truly beautiful being had looked in it last.
 
Being a very scientific minded medical doctor, Julian, of 
course, didn't believe the person, though he said nothing of his 
disbelief, but graciously accepted the gift, and the patient happily 
went on his way. Julian kept the mirror on the table of the modest 
shelter he'd been assigned, and was astonished the next day, when a 
beautiful person walked by his opened window, and the glass held onto 
that image until another, even more beautiful person passed.
 
A few weeks later, news came to the district where Julian was 
staying that the reputedly very handsome and intelligent, First Gul 
Enabran Tain's son, Elim Garak, planned to visit the hot mud pool, 
which was famous for its healing and soothing properties, and lay 
just a few kilometers outside the district. Julian was intrigued by 
the news, and he packed his glass in a protective cover, then hid in 
the bushes not far from the pool.
 
He didn't have long to wait, for soon, an ornate, lavishly 
decorated, hand-carried sedan chair emerged from the swirling dust of 
the dry, desert-like planet. It stopped only a short distance from 
the good doctor's hiding place, and Julian held so still he barely 
breathed, even as his heart pounded in his chest.
 
He was both exhilarated and frighted at what he attempted, 
for it was a well-known fact that First Gul Tain was extremely 
possessive of his son, as well as obsessively protective of his son's 
virtue, and anyone, including his fellow Cardassians, who saw Elim 
Garak, even briefly, was immediately executed. However, being 
possessed of a rather large quantity of curiosity, and a surprisingly 
low level of self-preservation when it came to satisfying said 
curiosity, the good doctor deemed the risk well worth his time and 
effort.
 
The curtains of the sedan chair finally parted, and Elim 
Garak stepped out. Julian took only a moment, held the glass up, 
then slipped it back into the protective cover. Having never once 
actually seen the Cardassian man with his own eyes, he crept away 
from the pool, and returned to his shelter.
 
Once there, he closed the door as well as covered all of the 
windows, then removed the cover from the glass. He gasped in 
astonishment, and stared at the great beauty the mirror had caught in 
its reflection.
 
Elim Garak was tall and stately, with a soft mane of ebony 
hair and the most beautiful light blue eyes the good doctor had ever 
seen. The image was so real, he wished, desperately, that it would 
speak. He sighed, and knew that he'd fallen helplessly, immediately, 
and desperately in love with First Gul Enabran Tain's son, Elim Garak.
 
With a sigh, Julian covered the glass and hid it as well as 
he could, then went about his usual business. He desperately wanted 
to gaze endlessly at the image, but through strict self-discipline, 
he allotted himself only one - sometimes two, but only on special 
occasions - hours a day in which he looked longingly at the 
reflection. Not only did he hide the mirror, but whenever he viewed 
the reflection, he made absolutely certain, beyond any shadow of any 
personal doubt, that he was alone.
 
Somehow, though, the word got out that the human doctor, 
Julian Bashir, had fallen madly in love with the First Gul's son, 
and, to make matters worse, he kept an actual portrait of him 
somewhere in his shelter. Finally, as rumors in small districts are 
wont to do, it reached the First Gul, and he was filled with wrath. 
He ordered the portrait to be found and the impudent human arrested 
and brought before him.
 
The First Gul's guards and soldiers ransacked Julian's shelter, found 
the glass, and arrested him. None too gently, they dragged the good 
doctor before the First Gul, who immediately flew into a rage after 
he viewed for himself the image the glass reflected.
 
"You have dared to look upon my son! You have spoiled him 
for all who would court him and provide a suitable mate for him!" 
The First Gul howled. "You have been too bold, and for your insult 
to my son, his honor, and to our family house, you will be beheaded 
at dawn!"
 
Julian inclined his head, and his voice was soft. "I am 
guilty, First Gul Tain, I cannot deny that, nor can I undo what you 
see as my crime. In fact, I don't even regret it. However, I ask 
that you consider one thing: I have a rare gift. I can find any 
manner of healing elements that are hidden from view - even those 
which are concealed deep inside the bowels of a planet. Should you 
cut off my head, a process that's really of no use to anyone, my 
special gift will be lost. Spare me, and I will put myself, as well 
as my healing gift, completely at your disposal for as long as you 
desire."
 
"You are human, and will say anything to save your head, 
rather than to die honorably, as you should, and I refuse to listen 
to any of your lies!" The First Gul snarled. "It will be as I have 
ordered! You will die at dawn!"
 
%%%
 
The good doctor was quickly hauled off to prison that night to await 
his death, and the First Gul went to his rooms, satisfied with his 
decisions, and proud of the quickness with which he had found, and 
then dispatched the mere human who had so impugned his son's honor. 
Just as he'd fully started to relax, his son entered the chamber, 
then bowed his head in deference to his father.
 
"Father . . ." The tall, handsome man said quietly. "I wish 
to speak to you on the matter of this human doctor."
 
"Then speak." Tain, though he loved his son, was cautious, 
for he knew that Elim was more clever than he, particularly when he 
had set his mind to something.
 
"I have seen this Doctor Julian Bashir, father, and I have 
been seen by him. No matter how many times you order him killed, or 
how long it takes him to die, nothing will ever change the fact he 
saw me. By your own decree on the day of my birth, there is only one 
thing that can restore my honor for being seen, and that is to marry 
the one who has seen me."
 
"Never!" The First Gul exclaimed, horrified. "I will not 
allow a human's blood to sully our line! Killing him will return 
your honor, my son . . ."
 
"It will return honor only to you, father, and pay you back 
for not being able to have foreseen, and to have blocked, this lowly 
human doctor's advance upon my person." Garak was angry, though his 
voice never rose, and he shook his head. "But there is no way it 
will return honor to me personally. My personal honor dictates that 
I must either marry this doctor, or I must die. If you will not 
allow the marriage to take place, then, as tradition dictates, I must 
starve myself to death." He bowed low to his father and retreated to 
his own rooms.
 
The First Gul was sure that his son's threat was an idle one, 
as the younger man had never seriously disobeyed him before, but, 
just in case, he postponed Julian's execution for three days. Each 
day, once an hour, he sent for news of his son, and each time the 
news was the same: Elim Garak would not eat.
 
The news only enraged the First Gul further, but he knew that 
he had no choice. Angrily, he ordered Julian freed, then announced 
the engagement of the human, Doctor Julian Bashir, to his Cardassian 
son, Elim Garak.
 
As soon as he was set free, Julian returned to Deep Space: 
Nine, and in the Cardassian tradition, prepared Elim Garak's dowry. 
He knew the First Gul had all the riches he needed, and, since Julian 
was of a practical nature, he gathered all the healing herbs, plants, 
minerals, flowers, moss, lichen, and the like that he had found, 
along with the medicines that he had made from them, and sent them to 
the First Gul.
 
The First Gul, finally, was forced to admit that Julian, 
though he was a human, had many excellent qualities, as well as what 
he had seen as bad ones, and he gave his son and the doctor his full 
blessing for their union. A union for which both Julian and Elim 
were blissfully happy.
 
The doctor took Elim back to Deep Space, and the two of them 
set up a household blessed with more love, romance, and happiness 
than either of them had thought they were ever capable of having, or 
indeed, even deserved. However, on one particular night, a year to 
the day after he had been so bold as to have taken Elim Garak's 
reflection for his own enjoyment, he'd worked a double shift, and 
Julian was alone in the infirmary. It was a quiet night, and he took 
a moment, then smiled at the glass that, to that day, reflected only 
his Elim's face, when he sensed another presence in the room.
 
He turned, and his face burst into a wide grin at the 
muscular Cardassian who stood in the middle of the infirmary. He 
greeted, warmly and enthusiastically, the High Gul Skrain of Dukat. 
He invited the Cardassian to sit and talk, but though his greeting 
was returned, the High Gul smiled and shook his head.
 
"I regret that I don't have the time to sit, Doctor Julian 
Bashir, but I have come for the gift I gave you. You really don't 
need it any more, since you will never lack for anything ever again, 
and will be happy for the rest of your life. Fitting payment, I do 
believe for the gift you gave me of my own life."
 
He smiled, then pinched Julian's arm. As before, tears 
sprang into the human's eyes, and for a long moment, they blurred his 
vision. However, when he could see again, he found that the High Gul 
had left. He realized that he no longer saw through the floors of 
the station, then pulled up his sleeve and saw that the lizard mark 
was gone from his arm.
 
He ran to the door of the infirmary to see if he could catch 
the High Gul before he left and thank him, once more, for his 
happiness. However, the only thing he saw as he bolted out the doors 
of the infirmary, was the tail of a rather large lizard as it 
disappeared into a loose conduit panel in the wall of the corridor.
 

The End!