In Times of War

by thebluemeany

Something happened during The War. Something, twenty years later, the Federation will go to any lengths to keep quiet. Sisko is gone. But the Cardassian tailor is still alive. As is the young doctor who followed an order. Living in Lakat and trying to forget the past, Julian Bashir is about to find out just what he and his hero did In The Pale Moonlight...

1. Prologue Past

The rules aren't important. Not really. What you have to remember, what's important is: it's linear. Every time you throw the ball a hundred different things can happen. The batter might swing and miss. He might hit.

The point is you never know.

You try to anticipate, to act as best you can: keep your eye on the ball, play fair. But in the end, it all comes down to one thrown pitch after another. With each new consequence, the game begins to take shape. All you can do is keep playing and see what happens.

My father taught me that. He was a hero; a man of action. He was a good man. He was a good man.He saved the Alpha Quadrant and learnt to live with what he'd done, and I…

I have never learnt to live without him.

But the game he started so long ago is still in motion. And people are dying out there. His baseball sits on my desk and when I sleep I meet his ghost in the moonlight.

So I need to write about this. About what my father did and what happened next. In times of war when the law falls silent, good men must not.

I need to tell you the story of the Englishman in Lakat.