Did Odo just unknowingly kill laas and the other 100?

[CommanderTrip]

I can't believe I missed this on the first watch in order run through my DS9 DVD's (which I love btw), but I caught something rather disturbing in Season 7's Chimera....

At the beginning of the episode, Sisko and Odo were speaking about whether or not Laas was a founder, or genuine member of the 100 sent out to explore the galaxy. Odo brought up the point that Laas did not exhibit any of the symptoms of the disease plaguing the founders. Later on in the episode, Odo, the original carrier for the disease, linked with Laas!

Now, we all know Odo did not know he was infected, let alone the carrier for the entire disease. But if I understand this correctly, Odo just infected Laas, who planned on finding the other 98 changelings spread across the galaxy. It is safe to assume Laas will also link with them, leading to their destruction as well as Laas' own annihilation.

Was this ever addressed? Did the writers ever mention touch upon this, either on screen or in one of the relaunch novels? Did I miss something that states this to the contrary? Did Odo, after learning he was infected, ever try to find Laas or warn him? Or did he just unwilling kill 99 other changelings?

 

[Guy Gardener]

He was an ()*&hole if I recall, and more than likely, someone would have killed him before the symptoms became noticeable or he found any more Changelings.

 

[Jack Bauer]

CommanderTrip said:
Was this ever addressed? Did the writers ever mention touch upon this, either on screen or in one of the relaunch novels? Did I miss something that states this to the contrary? Did Odo, after learning he was infected, ever try to find Laas or warn him? Or did he just unwilling kill 99 other changelings?

I don't think it was ever addressed onscreen. I don't recall the writers commenting on it. IIRC in the Relaunch novels Lass didn't infect any other changelings.

 

[Timo]

It took Laas long enough to find Odo; finding and infecting the others would take longer, especially considering that Odo was where no Changeling was supposed to be in the first place, massively displaced by the wormhole.

Yeah, the novels have Odo "intercept" Laas before he makes contact with anybody else. Then again, the novels have other things happen to the Changelings that might not necessarily flow naturally from the aired material...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[14thDoctor]

In the relaunch novels, Lass is on the Founders new homeworld with Odo, so he (and anyone he found) presumably received the cure as soon as they linked with any previously cured member of the link.

 

[anti-matter]

I remember reading about 'Odo infecting of Larrs' here a few years back...lots of theories. It's hard to know how the founder homeworld got infected though because by then the wormhole was closed iirc. But S31 did take liberties with Odo when he went to SF HQ to help coordinate a defense against shapeshifters. It was determined it was at that time he was given a slow acting version of the virus.

 

[Timo]

There would have been multiple opportunities for Odo to infect the Great Link. After he got infected himself in "Homefront", he visited the Link in person in "Broken Link" - ironically because the Founders had also infected him with their own bioweapon. The fate of the Link must have been sealed by then at the latest.

On the other hand, DS9 must have been teeming with Dominion agents at least until the beginning of the war. Odo would probably have closely interacted with such agents (what with them no doubt impersonating main cast members and other key personnel), although not quite linked with them.

Odo would also have been in physical contact with Dominion forces in "To the Death", which some say is when he got infected by the Founder bioweapon (although I rather think it happened in the teaser for "Broken Link" instead). It is possible the infection would have been carried "home" by the Jem'Hadar there - or then there could have been a Founder agent among the Jem'Hadar, even. And of course there would be later interaction with potential agents after "Broken Link" (say, "A Simple Investigation" where Odo got quite carnal with a highly suspect person). But I feel all of this is unnecessary because "Broken Link" itself is the perfect event for transmission of the Federation bioweapon.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[DS9Continuing]

Jack Bauer said:
I don't think it was ever addressed onscreen. I don't recall the writers commenting on it. IIRC in the Relaunch novels Laas didn't infect any other changelings.

The Companion states that the DS9 writers were aware that Odo probably did infect Laas, and had hoped to bring Laas back to address that sometime in the Final Chapter arc, but they simply had too much other stuff going on and didn't get the chance to do it.

14thDoctor said:
In the relaunch novels, Laas is on the Founders' new homeworld with Odo, so he (and anyone he found) presumably received the cure as soon as they linked with any previously cured member of the link.

It's not explicitly stated outright that that is the case, but that is the assumption everyone is working on, yes (at least until anything else is established).

Timo said:
There would have been multiple opportunities for Odo to infect the Great Link. After he got infected himself in "Homefront", he visited the Link in person in "Broken Link" - ironically because the Founders had also infected him with their own bioweapon.

Everyone always wonders how Odo could have been carrying two diseases at the same time. My own personal opinion (aside from the "it was a writers' retcon" explanation) is that they're two very different diseases.

Section 31's disease strikes me as an AIDS analogue - caused by an infectious agent that carries between individuals. But the Founders' own disease ("Broken Link") seems more comparable to Muscular Dystrophy or some such - a breakdown of the body's own systems without any external agent to blame. It's entirely possible for one body to carry two such disorders at the same time.

As a corollary, I don't think Weyoun needed to infect Odo with anything. If the Founders have the ability to freeze Odo's morphogenic matrix and force him into a permanently solid form at the end of "Broken Link" (even though he was really still a Changeling deep down, as "Things Past" and "The Begotten" both prove), then I say they have the ability to make his matrix unstable and floppy at the beginning of the same episode (even if by remote).

Timo said:
Yeah, the novels have Odo "intercept" Laas before he makes contact with anybody else. Then again, the novels have other things happen to the Changelings that might not necessarily flow naturally from the aired material...

*cough* Progenitor *cough*

 

[Timo]

Everyone always wonders how Odo could have been carrying two diseases at the same time.

Hmh? Why should a lifeform not be carrying any number of diseases at the same time? Certainly a human may harbor dozens of different types of bacterial and viral infection at any given time.

It's a bit weird that Odo actually has a DNA-based biological structure, as stated in for example "A Man Alone", considering how fantastically exotic he is otherwise - capable of altering his mass (or at least weight), for example. But if he has DNA, he probably also has cell division or some analogy thereof, and therefore is susceptible to viral attacks that take over the cell division process for their own purposes.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[nx1701g]

With the recent events affecting the Dominion in the relaunch I think finding and curing Laas would be a priority.

Spoiler: Fortunately

He's already been cured and is with Odo

 

[Deckerd]

I didn't miss it. It's the first thing I thought of when it was revealed that Odo was infected. I don't think it's likely that he went on to kill other changelings since he was pursuing his own agenda but he was no great loss, sad to say.