Shepard walked into her cabin and collapsed on the bed.

"EDI, time?" she asked, her head buried in the pillows.

"The IFF will be ready in about 10 hours. Shall I wake you then?"

"Wake me in 8," she said, removing her amp.

"Understood, Commander."


Sisko poked at his plate uncertainly.

"Something wrong, Captain?" asked Gardner.

"I'm sure it's fine, Sergeant, I'm just not used to rations."

"'Not used to rations?' Aren't you the captain of... oh, right, you guys have fancy food replicators. Well, you should count yourself lucky. Garrus here is stuck with that nutrient paste... stuff."

"It's not as bad as it looks," lied Garrus.

Sisko shrugged.

"So, Captain, how's your war with the Dominion going?" asked Garrus.

"We've had a lot of casualties, but..."

"But?"

"Something's wrong. I can barely remember why we were in the Gamma Quadrant. Everything before that is a blur..."


White. Pure void in every direction as far as the eye can see.

Sisko looked around uncertainly for a moment. "Why have you brought me here?"

Right behind him, Sarah spoke up. "The Sisko has a difficult path ahead. He must not look back."

He turned around. "You're saying I should just forget about the Dominion? About Bajor?"

"The Sisko must focus on his task."

"I can't turn my back on Bajor!"

"Bajor is in abeyance. The Sisko must set it aside."

"What do you mean? Bajor is in danger! I won't-"


"...just stopped talking," said Garrus.

"Benjamin, can you hear me?" asked Dr. Chakwas.

He looked around. He was still in the mess.

"Yes," he said.

"Are you feeling all right? Would you me to have a look at you?"

"I... had a vision."

"Of what?"

"The prophets want me to set Bajor aside. I can't believe they would ask that."

"Could it have been those... what do you call them... Pah-wraiths?" asked Garrus.

"I don't think so. I've spoken to her before. She sounded exactly the same."

"Her?" asked Chakwas. "Sarah?"

Sisko nodded.

Silence.

"Garrus said something about memory loss," said Chakwas.

"I can barely remember anything from my world, except in the most broad, high-level terms," said Sisko. He shook his head.

"Ordinarily, I'd examine you, but we're in orbit around a planet of asari."

"So?"

"Asari counselors tend to be very good at their jobs, mostly because of their telepathic abilities. They could probably give you better help than I could. EDI?"

"I've conferred with Liara, and she's recommended several counselors known for their discretion and efficiency."

"All right," said Sisko. "I'll get on the next shuttle down."

He left.

"Why didn't you just send him to Chambers?" asked Garrus

"Between you and me, the woman has skills, but diagnosing memory loss is over her head."

"What was that about Sarah? You seemed concerned."

"Canonically, Jadzia died before the Captain met Sarah, but when Worf spoke to me earlier, he implied she was alive. Something's not right."


"Come on, Worf. Don't you want to try something new?" asked Bashir. "This bar could be your only chance."

"No."

"Well, suit yourself." He grabbed a bottle that caught his eye.

"Doctor, that is a turian beverage," said EDI.

"Brilliant. I'm sure the turians have excellent taste in alcohol."

"Turian biology is based on dextro amino acids. Their food is generally not safe for humans."

"Well... there are no proteins in this drink, and ethanol is achiral. I'm sure it's fine."

"L-Glucose is a laxative in humans."

Bashir paused at this, and then handed the bottle to Worf.

"Doctor, I do not understand," said Worf.

"You wanted prune juice. That's probably the next best thing."

After a moment, Worf said "I will be in Nos Astra," returning the bottle to its shelf.

"Say hello to Garak for me, would you?"


"Major! We have to contact the Normandy. They're in danger," said Nog.

"Danger? What do you mean?" asked Kira.

"When the IFF comes online, the collectors will find and attack them! They'll have no idea it's coming."

Kira stood up, her hand on her forehead. "The Normandy's shipboard computer said the IFF would come online in 17 hours... about 9 hours ago."

She reached for the shipboard comm.

"Bridge to Engineering."

"Go ahead," said Dax.

"We need to get a warning to the Normandy in the next 8 hours."

"Have you tried the comm buoys?"

"That won't work," said Nog. "The general public has the lowest priority for using those. Turnaround time is too high right now."

"We could modify a probe and put it through a relay," suggested O'Brien.

"We could, if we hadn't used them all up on scouting," said Kira. "Wait, what if we used a shuttle?"

Dax and O'Brien conferred for a moment.

"The timing would be very tight," said Dax. "We'd need to remove its warp core. That's not a straightforward procedure. And then we'd need to configure an alternative power source."

"How long, Dax?"

"At least six hours, possibly more."

"I need it sooner."

"Negative. Six is after cutting every corner we can safely cut. If we mess this up, we're looking at a warp core breach in miniature."

"Then I guess six will have to do. Get started."