Shadows and Darkness

By

Numb3rsfan

Chapter Two: Loss for Words

"You are on Deep Space Nine..."

Those words kept echoing in Sara's head as she sat on the edge of the bio bed. Deep Space Nine? How the heck was that possible; DS9 was supposed to be a work of fiction and yet...

"So now what?"

All eyes turning to Major Borodin who was leaning against the wall closest to Sara's bio bed. Nolan and Jason were standing side-by-side to the right hand side of the bio bed. The four of them had gotten together once Dr. Bashir had left them alone. Realistically the sickbay wasn't the safest of places to talk about what had happened, but the need to regroup, get some semblance of what had just happened seemed to overpower their better judgment.

"Now we...we need to figure out what happened." Nolan said, placing his hands out palms down in an effort to symbolize the need to remain calm.

"No shit man. I thought this place wasn't even supposed to exist!" Jason whispered back. He was just as surprised as everyone else to find out their current location.

Until thirty minutes ago Jason and everyone else had believed that Deep Space Nine had been a work of fiction, something based on a vision that had been in the mind of Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry, but now they weren't so sure.

"Apparently not." Sara said with a small shrug of her shoulders. Jason looked at her, the look on his face dripped with sarcasm.

"Oh that's very helpful Captain," He shot back, "Next you'll be telling me that the Jedi and Sith are real too!"

"McCallister, Cafferey that is enough! Arguing isn't going to get us back home. Instead of bitching, we need to find out how we got here and see if we can use the same process to get home! I for one don't want a stack of paperwork a mile long to go through!" Nolan said. It was obvious the Major was seconds away from slapping the two of them, and it was that knowledge that shut the two of them up.

"Is everything alright?"

Jason and Nolan turned around, while Cypher stood up straight and walked the few steps to stand by Jason's left side while Sara hopped down off the bio bed and stood to Nolan's right. In front of them stood Dr. Bashir and an odd looking back in a tan uniform.

"Yes we were just discussing the events that brought us here." Nolan said; it was the truth at least as much as they were willing to divulge at the moment.

"Good, that is what I wanted to discuss anyway." The odd looking man said as he folded his arms, giving all four officers an icy look.

Dr. Bashir looked from the man to his patients and back again. "You'll have to forgive him, this is Constable Odo, the station's Chief Security Officer." Dr. Bashir said in an almost apologetic voice. Nolan, Jason, Cypher and Sara remained silent, each of them deciding what to say and what not to say. Sure they could give their rank and name but what then? Surely this Odo would try to verify what they said and once he found out that the military had no record of them ever existing or worse...! If the United States Air Force and Army didn't exist anymore, then they would be in a heap of trouble!

"Major Jason McCallister," Jason began, taking the matter in to his own hands, "To my left is Major Cypher Borodin. To my right is Major Nolan CarMichael and Captain Sara Cafferey."

After introducing them all to the Constable, Jason shut up.

Odo didn't seem at all impressed with their rank and from the look on his face it did seem as if he were a little annoyed at it instead.

"Hmm. Well if you would all follow me, I would like to discuss this with you at the Security station." Odo said.

Nolan, Jason, Sara and Cypher each looked at one another before once again looking at Odo. It was clear that his 'suggestion' wasn't really a suggestion, but an implied order and if they didn't oblige it would look as if they had something to hide.

"Lead the way then." Nolan said, gesturing to the door.

Odo nodded his head and stepped outside on to the Promenade, followed seconds later by the four officers. Once outside on the Promenade, Jason, Cypher, Nolan and Sara gaped at the size of the Promenade. Sure each of them had seen Deep Space Nine on tv and they knew what the Promenade looked like but to actually be standing there now, it was something else!

"Ahem!"

All four officers realized that Odo was still waiting and he didn't really seem like a patient person so they all quickly fell in to step behind the man, following him to the Security Station. Once there Odo went to the central desk and sat down in the chair before tapping a few buttons on the console in front of him.

All four officers stood side-by-side in front of the desk with their hands clasped behind their backs. They hoped all of this was just standard procedure, but for some reason it didn't seem like it.

"You four were found on the USS Helsing," Odo began as he looked over something on a screen only he could see.

Jason, Sara, Nolan and Cypher resisted the urge to look at each other. A ship? They had been found on a ship when last they knew they had been on a planet?

"It was adrift near the entrance to the wormhole in the Gamma Quadrant. All other crew members and passengers were dead." Odo said.

"Sir, I can honestly say that we don't remember being on a ship. The last memory I have is exploring a planet." Jason said, receiving nods from the rest of the team.

"What planet?" Odo asked.

"We're not sure of it's true name; only the name that we made up for it; P4X-774." Cypher said, receiving looks from the other three officers.

From the look on Odo's face it was clear that he didn't understand the name but wasn't about to admit it himself.

"You were found wearing black military style uniforms that had these patches on them," Odo began, showing them the Tauri symbol patch as well as the SG-2 patch and AE-3 patch. As their eyes fell on the burned patches, their minds began to swirl with possible answers they could give. If they told him the truth there was no guarantee that he would believe it; what was more possible? They killed the people on the ship or were drugged and brought to a different reality all together?

"The uniforms were burned almost beyond recognition but according to the doctor's report none of you had any burns whatsoever." Odo said.

"I can't explain that." Jason said, shaking his head as if to emphasize his point. How could they explain something that they themselves didn't understand?

Odo seemed to ponder Jason's answer. Finally after several minutes Odo pushed a button that caused the doors of the Security Station to open. At this, all four officers looked confused. Was the questioning over? Were they free to go?

"You may go. I'll have a security detail escort you to the guest quarters." Odo said. Almost as if they read his mind, four men wearing the same tan uniform stepped in to view just outside the doors of the Station. The men looked human except for the ridges on their noses and a weird looking ear ring on their left ear.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth Jason, Nolan, Sara and Cypher left the office and followed the security detail to a lift, entering in to it behind them.

"Habitat Ring corridor H-12-A." One of the officers said. A quick almost musical chirp sounded before the lift began to move downwards. Jason, Nolan, Sara and Cypher noted the location; it was easy enough to memorize should they need to know where they were assigned.

When the lift doors opened they followed their 'escort' out and down the hallway. They passed door after door after door before one of the security officers stopped at a door.

"These next four rooms have been assigned to you. You are free to roam around the Promenade when and if you wish. Also Commander Sisko will wish to speak with all of you soon." The officer said before he pressed the button located on the keypad that was attached to the wall beside the door.

The door of the first room opened up, showing the interior of a gray walled room that looked rather uninviting.

"Thank you." Jason said, watching as the officer nodded before he led the rest of the security detail back towards the lift.

When they were gone, Jason and the others entered the room.

"I'll take this room," Jason said as if he weren't too happy with the arrangement, "Nolan you take the next one, Sara the next and Cypher the last room. I suggest we wait to do any poking around until we've talked with Commander Sisko. He may be able to shed some light on the matter, then again maybe not."

"Alright fair enough. What do we do in the meantime?" Sara asked. She folded her arms across her chest as she waited for a reply.

While being on Deep Space Nine was a little exciting, now was not the time to go crazy. They needed to find a way to get home before they were declared MIA; wouldn't General Eddings just love that?

"In the mean time? We wait." Jason said with a slight shrug.