Explanations:
Ezri Dax: "Ezri took command of the USS Aventine after the ship's captain and executive officer were killed while defending the Acamar System from the Borg. This left Dax the highest ranking crewmember from the original chain of command still aboard the ship. A week later, Starfleet Command field-promoted Ezri to captain and granted her command of the USS Aventine." – memory-beta
Annika Hansen: "In the mirror universe, Annika Hansen, Agent Seven of Corps Nine, is a Cardassian-raised Terran and former member of the Obsidian Order. […] At the age of six, Annika's parents' ship crashed into a deep-space Cardassian colony. She was initially adopted into the high-ranking Ghemor family […] and was [later] assigned as Agent Seven of Corps Nine [at the Obsidian Order], and quickly became a favorite of Enabran Tain, the head of the Obsidian Order. Annika was always grateful to Tain for giving her life meaning when everybody else had abandoned her. […] Seven was taken by the Intendant [Kira Nerys] to Terok Nor, where she was observed by fellow Order member Elim Garak. […] Seven quickly became an object of fear and curiosity among the residents of the station […]"– memory-beta
Tekeny Ghemor: "In the mirror universe, Tekeny Ghemor was the head of the Obsidian Order for the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance during the 24th century. His daughter, Iliana […] describe[d] him as a cold, heartless man, a completely different person than his primary universe counterpart and more like that universe's Enabran Tain." – memory-beta
Chapter 2
"Kiss the girl, get the key. They never taught me that in the Obsidian Order."
- Garak in 'Our Man Bashir'
He hadn't realized how much time has passed until he set foot again on the space station. He had grown up here, passed seven years of his childhood in that metal box floating through space. Everything felt so familiar again as if he had never left Deep Space Nine.
"Hey, Jake…you've grown so much," Colonel Kira greeted him.
"Kira!" he smiled and hugged her deeply. He now was more than five centimeters taller than her. "Wow, seems as if nothing has changed," he mentioned when they entered the long, dark corridor.
"Any news from Earth?" Kira asked. It was obvious that she was concerned about something.
"No…What's up?"
"The Borg…Admiral Ross warned me that they could attack the station."
"W-what? They'd have to fight through the whole Quadrant to reach the station," Sisko said but noted it for a likely topic of a new story. The invasion of DS9.
"I know. But perhaps they fear the Dominion helping us. On the other hand, they could also reach us through the wormhole but it is even more unlikely that they fight through Dominion space."
He laughed. "Doesn't the Dominion have enough to do in the Gamma Quadrant after their defeat?"
"That was seven years ago and nobody really knows what is going on over there. We don't have time to send vessels. We're all needed at our borderlines."
They have reached Ops and stepped out of the turbolift.
"Colonel…we just received a message from the USS New York. The Borg vanguard has reached the Klingon-Federation border and started attacks on the planets near the borderline."
"Acknowledged…how many ships?"
They both hurried to the consoles to have a look for themselves.
"My father is on the New York," Jake managed to say and felt again like the little child waving his father good-bye who was leaving to Cardassia.
"I know," Kira answered quickly and wanted to get an overview of the situation.
"Twenty-three Borg cubes. There're five patrol ships, seven Bird of Preys have already arrived and sixteen vessels, both Klingon and Federation are on their way. They're under heavy attack. One whole civilization on Maranga IV has been destroyed," the comm officer informed.
"Damn it," Kira cursed. They were unable to do anything from here.
A second later, the Lieutenant added: "Communication to the borderline is lost. Federation command reassures their help to the Klingons."
Jake sighed. This wasn't like the 'welcome home'-party he had thought of. It wasn't at all.
=/\=
It was evening when Jake spotted O'Brian and Dr. Bashir in Quark's, their usual hang-out.
"Hey, Jake. You've grown since the last time…how long was it ago?"
"Two years," Jake answered and sat down on the chair. "You've really been too long on Cardassia, chief."
"Well, it's a real mechanic's nightmare. Seven years passed and it still looks like in middle of the war," he said. "So, how's Azeni?"
"Oh, she's fine. She likes Earth although she can't get used to the idea of blue oceans. What about your family, where are they living now?"
"We first wanted to move back to Ireland but then we decided that I'd best return to Starfleet as professor in engineering. Someone needs to tell the students the difference between a phase compensator and an antimatter coil."
"Besides, I bet even after lessons, nobody knows what it is," Bashir muttered but then sipped his beer before O'Brien could turn around.
"What about you and Ezri?" Jake then asked but the Doctor shook his head.
"Well, she went aboard the USS Aventine. The last thing I heard was that she became Captain after the death of all higher ranked officers. A week later she became officially promoted by Starfleet."
Jake nodded impressed. This wasn't the kind of promotion one wished but it was one.
=/\=
Brunt looked up from the console when he heard the doors open again. It wasn't Intendant Kira but another woman. She was tall, had a pale skin and blonde hair. She wore a black suit that remembered him of the one Kira had been wearing.
"What is the status of your progress?" she asked formally.
"Er…I'm still learning about the former negotiations with other races," he managed to stammer when the woman looked at the screen.
"Intendant Kira set a video conference for five hundred hours this afternoon. You will state our demands and then listen to theirs. Kira will agree when the conditions are acceptable. You will ensure that the negotiations go on and that we get what we want. Understood?"
"Yes," he said still surprised about the role of the women on this station. On Ferenginar this would have never happened. It had already been a big step backward when Ishka had become Grand Nagus Zek's advisor.
It has become five o'clock and Brunt was brought to the bridge by two Klingons who didn't really seem too lucky about the negotiations with the Dominion. Perhaps news have spread that they have devastated the Alpha Quadrant in his universe. He entered the bridge and for the first time realized that he really was on a ship, not only having guessed it from the accelerations. He looked around and was pretty sure that it was a Klingon vessel.
"Ready?" Intendant Kira asked and smiled her false grin.
She stood up from the Captain's chair and walked over to the main screen. "And don't forget, we offer the Kabrel system and we get Terok Nor," she added and nodded to the communication officer to open a channel. "I'm Intendant Kira from the Klingon warship noHboq."
"I'm Weyoun 5. I speak for the Dominion."
"We have a proposition to make," Brunt interacted.
"I'm listening," Weyoun answered in his typical slimy voice but which was rather dominant and regnant. He had to make the decision the Founders did in the primary universe and therefore the mirror Weyoun wasn't as subject as his counterpart.
"The alliance wants to join the Dominion. We will all do what you demand when you help us fighting the Terran Rebellion."
"I've heard about them. They won't be a threat for us."
"For your warriors, I found a planet in the Kabrel system where you can produce your White. You won't need supplies of the Gamma Quadrant."
Weyoun hesitated but then asked: "And what do you expect in return?"
"Terok Nor. It's a space station close to the wormhole. Of course, you and all our allies may visit the station when they are in the sector. Currently the station is run by Terrans."
"We will alter this. What about their home world?"
"It is a planet called Earth…and you may destroy it or use it as new central command point in the Alpha Quadrant. Its system is very central." Brunt smiled as much as he could to persuade this Vorta.
He just stared at him before starting to nod. "I'll think about it. I'll hail you within the next hour."
His face disappeared from the screen and showed the stars ahead again.
"Well, this was…" Brunt started, but the other woman who he had met earlier ended the sentence: "Efficient?" She raised one eyebrow but remained serious.
"It was great…for the beginning," the Intendant said with enthusiasm and went to the other woman. "How high are our chances to get what we want, Annika?"
Brunt still had no idea why a Terran worked for the Alliance but there always were exceptions like Leeta, as he had heard, worked for the Rebellion.
"Seventy-four point five percent," this 'Annika' in her hot tight suit answered looking at her padd.
"Wonderful," Kira answered and touched her cheek. 'Annika' smiled shortly, as much as her slight scars on her neck which Brunt had now spotted under the different light, allowed her. Then Kira fell into an intensive kiss with that woman who returned it with fondling her back.
Brunt sighed, being reminded to that scene when Quark had kissed that male Ferengi to persuade him he was a woman. However, he had only one hour to go and then should start searching for a safe way home.
"How's it going?"
"Kira trusts me," she stated neutrally. She looked at the computer screen in her quarters where she had established a safe link to the Obsidian Order's main quarter on Cardassia.
"I'm not sure how long you should stay on the station."
"Because you don't have Garak anymore to watch over me?" Annika Hansen, member of the Obsidian Order as agent Seven of Corps Nine, asked her superior Enabran Tain.
"I think it is time for me to trust you now," Tain decided and nodded.
"I appreciate that. Because you have ever been the only one being kind to me," she said with a bit of grief and bitterness in her voice.
He nodded again. "What about Brunt? Will you let him go after the successful entry of the Dominion into our war?"
"That's Kira decision."
"Influence her."
"Do you want him to leave?"
"Yes. In case everything goes wrong, we need to have the possibility that the other universe knows what is going on here."
"Acknowledged. Anything else?"
"No. Our next conversation will be in exactly twenty five hours."
Annika, who rather liked to be called Seven, shut down the link and went out of her quarters again.
=/\=
"Kira to Jake."
"Jake here."
"We received a message from the USS Robinson. The USS New York has been destroyed but your father has been among the survivors in the escape parts."
Jake managed to breathe again. For the first time in something that felt like ages. "Thanks," he said sounding very relieved. He was in his guest quarters, only two levels above where he had spent so much time. He looked outside and the stars still looked the same.
The wormhole opened to its yellow-orange and lilac-blue beauty and a ship vanished into the curvature of space and time. Keiko had taught him the mathematics behind it but after a time he had stopped listening. He was a writer, not a scientist but it always helped him to know the causes for the reasons.
He stepped closer to the window and sat down with the eyes gazing to the wideness in space. It seemed infinite although he knew it wasn't. What if the Borg really attacked soon? They'd either have to fight through Federation space in the Alpha Quadrant or Dominion space in the Gamma Quadrant. Both of them were weakened and no real threat. The perfect subject for a story. But this was none of his stories. He had learned this before. To write about the reality, to bring the truth to the readers, you needed to experience it first. And after he had experienced something, he had always needed some time until he could write about it. But finally he always knew that he had to process what he had seen and what he had done.
He was so lost in thoughts, that he first didn't realize what was happening in front of his eyes. But suddenly he noticed the change of colors in space. Not the black and white and blue of the stars, but the wormhole.
It opened again, but no ship was neither flying in nor coming out. But something flamy, like fog, but red, orange and yellow entered his view. It was flying toward the wormhole and vanishing into it. Jake stood up and stared with widely opened eyes. The wormhole glowed and seemed to burst into both violet-blue and yellow-red colors.
"No," he muttered. He remembered that. It happened before. This couldn't be. The Pah-wraith couldn't be released. They were banned to their fire caves, his father has finished it, banished them forever, fallen into the canyon together with Dukat. "Jake to Colonel Kira," he said directly and without thinking.
"Kira here. We've also noticed, Jake. Would you mind coming to Ops?" he heard the soft voice he had once 'fallen in love with'. This was long over.
He smiled to the memories of when he had fallen in love with her, Dax with this father, Kira and Bashir...all due to Lwaxana Troi.
He left his quarters and went straight for Ops. "What's happened?" he asked and went to the main consoles in the center of Ops.
"The same thing you have witnessed. The sensors are reading strange values. The wormhole stabilizes and destabilizes every moment," Kira answered.
"They're fighting," Jake muttered and thought about his dad. Would he feel it? Did he know what was happening or had the link been closed forever? After his return he hadn't had any visions.
"It's gone," the Lieutenant Commander at the Science station stated. "The wormhole has destabilized."
It felt like the air had vanished immediately. Jake stared at the Colonel. "Hail the USS Robinson," she ordered immediately.
A space map appeared on the screen and the Robinson was spotted on its way to Vulcan where they had obviously planned some damage repair. The battle was still ongoing although the Federation was close to winning. The first of their vanguards. Their real fleet was about to follow soon. Nobody knew how soon. Nobody knew how big it was either. But the USS Robinson couldn't fight anymore, they'd be repaired and sent back as soon as possible.
Only a second later, the image of the captain of the Robinson appeared. He was a grey-haired Vulcan and Kira remembered having read that only his grandmother had been from Vulcan.
"I'm Colonel Kira from the space station DS9."
"Captain P'tor from the Robinson. I expected your call."
"You did?" she asked surprised and with a side-look to Jake.
"Yes. We rescued the USS New York under the command of Captain Benjamin Sisko. About ten minutes ago, he collapsed on our bridge. He was brought to sickbay but we weren't able to reawake him. He's been muttering all the time like he is having nightmares."
"What is he saying?" Jake asked, shocked and with hope.
"You must be Ben's son Jake, right? We don't understand a word, something about Deep Space Nine, the wormhole and the Pah-wraith. And he's been keeping to shout the name 'Dukat'. Any idea?"
"No...but Gul Dukat is dead..." Colonel Kira answered.
"He isn't," Jake muttered. "He isn't. My father survived the fight in the caves because the prophets have saved him. It would be likely that Dukat may be rescued by the evil prophet," Jake said suddenly out loud.
Both, the Colonel and the Captain, kept silence. Then, the partly-Vulcan said: "Prophets, emissary. I don't believe in such things."
"But it is real. There are scientific proofs for that," Jake said and he knew he was right. The Pah-wraith were released again and when they were, Gul Dukat also was. But with his father, the emissary of the good prophets, on the other side of the Alpha Quadrant, who would save them now?
=/\=
"The wormhole has destabilized?" Weyoun 10 asked in disbelief. He looked at the console and typed in some commands to verify the data. But it was true. "The Pah-wraith," he muttered silently and stared at the screen showing deep space.
"I beg you pardon?" the Founder asked. She already was wanted by the Federation but nobody was looking for her. Especially not in the Gamma Quadrant.
"The Bajorans believe that the wormhole is inhabited by some kind of Prophets. The Pah-wraith are the evil prophets, once released they are trying to gain control over the wormhole."
"It seems they have succeeded."
"Yes," Weyoun answered and looked back the black space.
"What is this?" the Founder asked when something could be seen. He zoomed in and recognized a space runabout.
"It's a Federation runabout. Obviously the space station tries to use the wormhole," he said reading the name 'USS Orinoco'. His mouth stayed open when the wormhole suddenly reappeared. But it looked quite different: It wasn't blue and violet anymore, but red-orange and yellow inside. It swallowed the runabout but it didn't turn up on the other side of the connection.
"They're inside," the Founder stated.
"Visiting the Pah-wraith," Weyoun added and his eyes started glooming violet.
=/\=
It was an experiment and Kira had no idea if it was right or just foolish. They haven't seen the Prophets leaving the wormhole so there was a chance that they were still inside. They didn't have any readings of activity but the only way to find out was to take a runabout and fly toward the wormhole.
Jake had volunteered for this journey and when O'Brien and Bashir had heard about that project, they had wanted in as well. So now Colonel Kira was staring at the little Federation sign that showed the status of the USS Orinoco.
"There wormhole's opening," the Lieutenant said and they stared at the Pah-wraith version of the former blue and violet.
"They have lost," the Colonel muttered and silently began to pray for the return of the Prophets and that Sisko would reawake and fight once more. A second later, they lost contact to the Orinoco and just hoped they'd return soon.
=/\=
"We're entering the wormhole in two seconds," Dr. Bashir informed and the shuttle seemed to be swallowed up by the fiery wormhole. It didn't become blue and white around them like before, although it looked quite similar, just in red and yellow colors. O'Brien and Bashir looked at each other in astonishment.
Suddenly, the Doctor jumped up. O'Brien turned around and saw that Jake has fallen to the ground. He wasn't moving any more. The two men kneed beside him and Bashir scanned him. "He's alive and breathing. But I read no signs for the unconsciousness."
"Seems the Prophets have got him."
"Or the Pah-wraith…"
=/\=
"The Sisko has returned." It was Dr. Bashir who spoke.
"Not the Sisko. It's his son." Miles O'Brien.
Jake looked around. He was on Ops of DS9. Bashir and O'Brien were walking around him, watching him carefully.
All of sudden, Colonel Kira appeared. "He wants to save his father. He wants to save the prophets. Their Prophets."
"He doesn't know it's too late," said Dr. Bashir again.
"Too late for what? What happened to the Prophets?" Jake asked confused.
The three officers stopped and stared at him with strange expressions in their eyes. "The Prophets are banned. They cannot return," Kira continued.
"What about my father?"
"He will awake. He will face the same destiny as the Prophets. He is banned."
"What?" Jake didn't understand a word.
"The Prophets are lost in their existence. They cannot return to the wormhole."
"Where are they?"
"On a planet nearby."
"In the Gamma Quadrant?"
Dr. Bashir nodded. "This is what the humanoids call it. Gamma Quadrant. Bound to an existence in space."
"And linear time," O'Brien added.
"What about my father?"
"They live within his soul. Only he provides their existence, without him, the Prophets die."
"And he won't live any longer," Kira said.
Jake wanted to scream and ask what this meant but his vision went blurry again and suddenly he opened his eyes and saw the real Dr. Bashir and O'Brien kneeing over him with concerned faces.
"What did they say?" Dr. Bashir asked when Jake sat up.
"They intent to kill my father. Without him, the Prophets will die. They are banned to a planet in the Gamma Quadrant. I need to talk to my father immediately," he answered and went to the consoles to establish a communication link to Captain P'tor again.
=/\=
The corridor seemed darker every time he was walking it and perhaps, so he thought, this was a sign for that he should probably retire soon. He wasn't the youngest anymore and definitely not the fittest. But nevertheless, he was still the one treated with most respect and even fear. Having verified his command codes, he entered the brighter lit hallway where the doctor was already awaiting him.
"I'm afraid we have not much to tell you, Legate Lok, as your last visit down here was only a week ago."
"How many have you reactivated for the first time in this week?" the head of the new Obsidian Order asked.
Although the intelligence service had been integrated into the Dominion law system during the war, they have recovered with some foreign help and have disappeared into secrecy even more than before.
"Only two of them, sir. But I fear we have had some regress as well. Their Captain doesn't want to cooperate in case that we cannot promise his crew members to be safe. He has shown himself more or less rebellious and has been brought back into stasis."
Lok nodded, "I understand. However, I want you to show me the other testing results of this week. The situation is becoming worse…which you notice when you enter daylight again."
"Well, down here we don't see much of what is happening up there. Has the Typhon Pact made the first aggressive statements?"
"You can call it like that," Lok said and followed the doctor to the main lab. Walking toward the office, he noticed beside their usual research projects a human male lying on an operating table. Dozens of wires were placed on his skin to measure his reactions.
"This is one of our recently activated ones," the doctor explained and pointed over to him. "I think genetic engineering must have been a huge field of research on Earth…however centuries ago. I don't understand why they stopped after making such progress."
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