The following story takes place some time after the DS9 book Unity. (Making this story take place during year nine of the show.) If you don't read the books all you need to know for this story is the following: Bajor is part of the Federation so all the Bajoran officers are Starfleet officers. Ben Sisko has returned and is living on Bajor with Kassidy and their daughter Rebecca. He is no longer in Starfleet. All of the Bajoran orbs have been returned to Bajor. If you do read the books some things have been changed, but not too much.

This was inspired by the DS9 book Millennium.

In all things that are nonlinear we must conclude that there is an aspect of the linear, that which has no time corresponds equally with that which has time. Like a Möbius strip or two snakes that bite each other's tails causing an eternal ring that would end if either let go. So it was with my existence both being linear and nonlinear at the same time eternal and ephemeral. It all makes sense with this simple formula: T (equals) infinity (equals) Ω. It makes little sense that time is equal to infinity which in turn is equal to the end, but that is part of the paradox that makes everything make sense. Though a paradox is something which makes very little sense in itself.

Life as it is/ was/ will be is always something in my view. My race exists differently than most, we are like an hourglass that is constantly turning so that the time will never run out, but at the same time we are that last grain of sand slipping through. Forever seeing without understanding that which exists and does not exist outside of the Hourglass.

Prophets and Pah-wraiths both the same, and yet both different. Each at an opposite end of the Hourglass. I in the center shifting, stuck and yet on my own course. So this is my story; the story of all that is, was, and will be. The story of how the Sisko became necessary, why the two sides split, and how they will in time rejoin. Of Emissaries and the One True Emissary, and of Reckonings fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled.

Captain Kira Nerys went to the shrine to meditate like she usually did. It was a surprisingly calm day with not too many problems. "This is the perfect day to relax," she thought as she lit several of the candles in the orb chamber. She then walked to the orb and opened it. Light washed over her body and the Prophets let her in.

Kira was in the place where few had been, a world of white, where the Prophets light of illumination shone brightest. A figure walked towards her, it was a female. She had light grey eyes and nearly black hair, which again contrasted with her pale skin. She was nearly Bajoran in appearance, but not quite.

"Hello Nerys," the woman said, with the all-knowing voice of a Prophet.

"Prophet, this is an honor."

The woman tilted her head to the side, studying Kira intently; Kira looked down out of reverence. "You do not need to look away, in fact you may find it tiresome after awhile. You are needed for a task. I will explain it to you."

With that Kira found herself in front of the orb again and she closed the doors of its case. Kira turned around and the woman was standing there looking at her. She wasn't as radiant as she had been in the Orb vision, but she still retained much of her beauty.

"You may call me Anareth. I am the one who met you in your vision."

"Anareth, that translates to fallen messenger."

"Yes, that is the meaning that has been given to my name, but come there is much to be said, but not in this place. Lets go to your quarters, that way I can tell you my purpose for you."

Kira nods and then walks out of the temple. Anareth, who is clad in a white robe, follows her. Many of the Bajorans on the Promenade turn to look at her, but she only gazes straight ahead. When they are inside of Kira's quarters Kira sits on a chair while Anareth stands in front of her pacing as she speaks.

"First I must explain to you the truth about my people. You will not believe me at first, but I will show you things that will help you to understand. I am not a Prophet, nor am I a Pah-wraith, I am alone, a third part of the whole. It is my duty to bring unity to the parts so that we will once again rule the realm of Jalkaree together."

"What," Kira questioned out of disbelief.

"Millennia ago, before the current peoples of this galaxy had achieved knowledge of their own lands we in Jalkaree had power. There was a war between two sides, it lasted for eons without either gaining or loosing. When we saw that the beings of this corporeal realm were beginning to grow we knew that our war might spill into their realm and cause problems. So the Pah-jara launched a great assault on the Pah-tala. The Pah-tala were forced from Jalkaree into the linear realm. They found a small planet and made it their home. When the Pah-jara were reorganizing the realm the forced any who had sided with the Pah-tala to leave. They also forced me to leave because I had chosen neither side in their war. The Pah-tala became your Pah-wraiths and the Pah-jara became your Prophets."

"I don't believe you."

"I came to you while you were in an orb, yet you don't believe me. Then I will give you proof. I will take you to the War of Jalkaree."

With that Kira was no longer in her quarters, but in the midst of a battlefield that was nearly impossible for her senses to understand. Red and blue pulses flashed everywhere around Kira, and then she was above it all, she viewed it from the sky of that non-corporeal realm. Prophets and Pah-wraiths, Pah-jara and Pah-tala fought one another within the Celestial Temple, the wormhole, Jalkaree. Flashes of battles that she had seen herself filled in what was too complex for Kira's mind to comprehend. From further back she saw more of what it appeared to be like. An hourglass filled with blue and red lights and in the very center a single yellow light stood, trying to separate the two warring sides.

Kira was alone in the universe at a time before her species had even begun, witnessing the birth of all she had ever been taught to believe. And she didn't know what to do next.

TBC...

So, what do you think?