Star Trek is owned by Paramount…..

Notes: Forgot to mention this story, even though has Chief O'Brien in an alternate universe, takes place sometime in the 4th season of DS9.

Chief O'Brien's eyes widened when he heard the other man that looked like him say he was a captain and the commanding office of the Yukon. He realized he must be in an alternate universe where there was a Federation that was probably similar to his but different at the same time. He already met his double and also met "Doctor" Janeway who was the chief medical officer of the ship and not a starship captain like the Janeway he met last year.

Still, to be in a different universe without the people who he knew for years, especially his wife or his daughter, was frightening for the curly haired engineer. Even though Keiko was away with Molly looking at different plants as part of her expedition, Miles missed his family. To add to the point that he was now in a different reality where he might not ever seen his wife or his little girl ever again scared him.

Captain O'Brien stared down at the man. "And who are you?"

"Chief Miles O'Brien, chief of operations of Deep Space Nine."

Captain O'Brien shook his head. "There isn't a space station in the Federation called Deep Space Nine." He paused and then spoke again with irritation in his voice. "I swear if you're one of those tricksters…."

"Tricksters?" Chief O'Brien didn't know what his counterpart was referring to.

"Tricksters, as in the Q," Captain O'Brien explained.

The chief now understood completely on what the man was trying to say. "No I am not one of the Q, and yes, believe me I have met one who has become a pest on many occasions."

The captain studied the man, looking at every single fiber on the chief, from his hair, his eyes, all the way down to his legs. "You've ran into the Q before? So if you're not one of them….."

Doctor Janeway cut off the captain. "Captain, this Miles O'Brien is real. He is a live and I can assure you, he is not a member of the Q Continuum. All my medical scans show he is a living, breathing person who is just like you. He has the same blood type, same eye color, and even the same size feet that you have too."

Captain O'Brien still didn't want to believe his chief medical officer. He didn't like the fact there was another him on board on the ship, his ship, much less in the same universe. It would have been easy to dismiss the man if he was a clone, a member of the Q, or another race trying to pretend to be him, but this wasn't the case.

Captain O'Brien sighed and looked at the two security guards. "Escort Chief O'Brien took some guest quarters."

Chief O'Brien was a little hesitant on doing what the man in the red uniform was asking of him. "I'm not going to be locked up in quarters just because you think I might be a danger to your crew, do you?"

Captain answered honestly, if not blunt and to the point. "In a word, yes. You see, I'm the captain of this vessel, and I have to do whatever it takes to protect all the people that are on this ship. We don't know that much about you, so you'll have to be in some quarters for the time being."

Chief O'Brien understood the decision his counterpart had to make. "I guess if I were in your shoes, I'd be making the same choice too."

"Look, if you are who you say you are, then I will start to trust you more and find out all we can about you," Captain O'Brien was being a little more sincere than how he was several minutes prior. He nodded at the two security guards.

Like clock work, Chief O'Brien got the cue from the nod Captain O'Brien made and walked off with the two security guards.

As soon as the doors to sickbay closed, Captain O'Brien tapped his combadge. "All senior officers, report to the observation lounge." He looked at his doctor. "Let's go Kathryn."

Observation Lounge

The observation lounge was located just right off the bridge, like in the majority of most starships. The room itself had a rectangular table that was gray. The room itself was more of an off white/light gray in color with the carpet also the same color scheme as the walls. On one side of the room was several windows while the other side had a display screen for which people could show an image or communicate with someone from another ship, planet, or facility. One set of doors led to the bridge while the other side of doors on the other side of the room let to a corridor and to another turbolift for those people who didn't need to be on the bridge. There were also several decorative plants on both sides of the lounge to make the room look more natural.

O'Brien and Janeway came from the side of the room where the set of doors led to a turbolift. The others came from the other doors that led to the bridge.

O'Brien set in the center. One on side was his first officer, Lieutenant commander Garak in a standard red uniform, Janeway, and his chief operations officer Jadzia Dax who was a full lieutenant wearing a standard gold uniform. On the other side of O'Brien was his chief engineer Lieutenant junior grade Chell, a Bolian, and his chief of security Lieutenant junior grade Enrique Muniz.

O'Brien looked at Chell. "What's the latest on the ship from my counterpart?"

"My engineering crews and I have been looking over the Rio Grande, got the power back on, and then began repairing it and looking over log entries."

"What did you find?" O'Brien was curious.

Chell began to speak. "It appears this O'Brien that came through the vortex does work for a Federation that is quite similar to ours."

"Sir," Dax began to speak, "this O'Brien's Federation from what Chell and I looked at from the information from the shuttlecraft, is what Chell has mentioned."

Janeway decided to enter the discussion. "This Miles O'Brien, as I explained earlier sir, is you, though the memories and experiences between the two of you are quite different."

"Security also reported that they safely escorted you…." Muniz paused for a second. "Sorry sir, I mean the other O'Brien, to his quarters without any problems. My apologizes."

"It's okay," O'Brien smiled at his security chief.

"However, we should not be hesitant with this man," Enrique communicated his worries with the senior officers. "I'm taking all the security risk with him just in case."

"Perhaps when we get to know this O'Brien better, we can ease up on the security," Garak interjected. "After all, being locked up in a room is no fun at all with security guards eying you and making sure you don't get out of line. After all, that's what I went through in the hands of the Bajorans."

"Yes Garak, but we're not going to interrogate the man," the Captain said to his first officer. "But like you said, once we get to know this man, then we'll have a better understanding of him." He then looked at Muniz. "Then we can relax on the security arrangements."

"In other words, we're going to be doing Cardassian 101 on this Chief O'Brien," Dax smiled and winked at Garak.

"That's right, just plain old fashion talking," O'Brien added. "I think I'll go and see him." He smiled at everyone for their support and comments and nodded. "Dismissed."