A/N: I do not own Star Trek, DS9, or any of the characters you recognize.

This is my first DS9 fanfic, and it took me longer to write than most of my stories (nearly 24 full hours, rather than simply churning it out overnight). I hope it's not too disjointed!

Chapter One

Miles and Julian flew in silence toward Ugra Prime, a planet in the Gamma Quadrant just emerging onto the galactic scene. It was not the first time humans had been to this planet, however their entire history's worth of visitors probably only had about a dozen visits from various sized ships. Jadzia Dax and Benjamin Sisko had stumbled upon the planet about a year before and had opened diplomatic talks. The Ugrans seemed to be wary, but welcoming. At first they preferred that any other teams from Deep Space Nine be kept separated from their population. Eager to help a newly space-going species, and to make friends, Captain Sisko had agreed to take things slowly. Several months later, Miles and Keiko arrived with a few other botanists to do a floral survey. Today, Miles and Julian were going for plants that Keiko and Miles had surveyed on their previous visit. Julian had found that several had wonderful medicinal properties for many of the Bajorans on the station. He preferred a good synthetic compound, but some of the more traditional Bajorans on board appreciated a more natural approach, and as the station's physician, he tried to make his patients as comfortable as possible with their own treatment.

As this was not the first mission Miles and Julian had been sent on together, they had chatted for a while about their latest holosuite program, station gossip, and then lapsed into a companionable silence for a time broken only to discuss their meal.

After a time, they were hailed by the Ugrans, and given landing coordinates several kilometers outside of the capital city, Kuta. Due to thoron radiation, their transporters would not operate on this planet. They had been given permission this time to enter the city after they had retrieved several kilos of plants, and told to have a pleasant experience. It wasn't a full shore leave, but it would be a nice change of pace after a day's work. A sit down dinner at a restaurant that didn't serve gagh, or have shouting dabo girls.

They put down in a clearing and set to work. Keiko had been very thorough with her survey, so Julian had little more to do than scan for the plants and put what he needed in stasis units. In a few short hours he had enough of each variety of plant to stock his cabinets for years. The stasis units he had would keep the plants as fresh as they were today until he needed them in the future.

When he had completed his work, he and Miles found a nearby road and had a very pleasant hour's walk to the city. The planet was one of the more peaceful ones they'd been to, with creatures making very similar and soothing background noises as you'd hear on a walk through the woods on earth. As they approached the city, for the first time, they were surprised to see that it seemed to parallel many medieval cities on earth. There was a tall, thick wall that fortified the city, and even in some places, a naturally forming moat. There were many entrances, though, and inside of the walls they found little alleyways, side streets, and giant plazas. With permission to visit, and a day's work behind them, they set about finding a restaurant that looked appealing.

While they received many looks from the native people, they received no questions. Julian and Miles knew that outsiders were not known very well to these people, and yet they seemed to be able to curb what would be an insatiable amount of curiosity in a human being. Not one person asked anything about them. Their waiter, a slightly green tinged skinned person took their order with a pleasant, yet efficient, manner. Their plates were brought out by a paler, smaller person, and their table emptied by another pale, small person. Throughout dinner, many people glanced their way, but no one approached them.

"Julian," Miles said. "Do you have the feeling we're on display? Look, but don't touch?"

"Well, I'm sure we're new to them, and they're likely unsure of how to react. It's hardly as if we're on Klingon or Vulcan, where they knew of warp travel long before we did. The Ugrans have just put warp theory into practice ten years ago, barely able to maintain warp two. We were there once as well. Maybe they're just not as curious as we are. Or more polite." He smiled a bit at that.

"It could be that," Miles commented. "I just can't shake this feeling that we've got everyone watching us, waiting for us to do something we shouldn't. It feels like the first week back on DS9, when the Cardassians had left, and they were waiting for us to fall apart."

"Don't forget Major Kira," Julian said, with a grin. "She was waiting for us to leave, to think them worthless, and waiting for the Bajoran government to fall as well. And that turned out pretty well."

Miles conceded with a nod, and looked around at the restaurant again. There seemed to be fewer than half of the patrons left, even though it didn't seem very late according to the planet's sun, nor had the patrons appeared to be finished. As he and Julian watched their plates being cleared, before they could push back their chairs, heavy hands clamped down on their shoulders.

"You will come with us for violation of Doctrine 4.56.921-B, the discussing of offworlders, on the orders of Warden Onan. You are under arrest, and sentence will be carried out swiftly."