Forward Unto Dawn

by TheWizardofOzbourne

Triple Crossover, TSCC/Halo w/Star Trek: Voy/DS9/TNG elements. Trapped in a universe similar to our own, Cameron and John Henry struggle to return home. To do so, three gifts, each from another universe, will get them home and entangle them in a war they thought they knew. Eventual Jameron and MC/Cortana. Updated! 02/27/2021 CH47 Posted!

47. The Long Game

A/N: I own nothing.

Chapter 47

The Long Game

Star Trek Universe

June 15, 2381

Savannah Weaver had been ready to leave hours before her transport dropped out of warp.

After packing her things and tidying her cabin, she found herself with little to do but sit, wait, and worry over things she could not control.

The outward calm she projected hid a pit of nervousness that had been eating at her for months.

Ever since Kyle's cryptic call, Savannah had been on edge, and all the conversations she'd had with her parents since were void of any detail about what had happened to Kyle.

Public comm channels were not safe from scrutiny, and, thus, her conversations with them were filled with typical child-parent fluff.

She knew something big had happened. It had to be for the Prophets to interfere so heavy-handedly, but that was all she knew.

The uncertainty was worse than knowing. Her mind could be quite creative when it came to worst-case scenarios.

Because of this tendency, dread was her constant companion. During the week-long trip from Earth to DS9, she'd often fiddle with the pip on her uniform's collar as she tried to calm herself when the negative emotions threatened to overwhelm her.

The little round bit of metal served to remind her that she was an actual Starfleet officer now, and part of Savannah still couldn't believe it.

Despite earning her commission through hard work and determination, she felt like an imposter. The duality of her loyalty kept her from feeling like she belonged even though believed in the ideals of Starfleet and the Federation. She'd known for most of her life that one day her duty to stop Skynet would conflict with her duty as a Federation citizen and as a Starfleet officer.

It already had, several times, in fact.

That being said, she was proud that she'd managed to get through the academy and even make a few friends along the way.

Saying goodbye to Naomi Wildman had been harder than Savannah had thought it would be. Even though staying in touch wasn't an issue, it just wasn't the same as being able to enjoy each other's company after a long day of lectures and homework.

They'd made many good memories in their two years as roommates, even though the last two months leading up to graduation being anything but fun and relaxing.

The young half-Ktarian had been withdrawn and depressed for weeks after Voyager's loss. Savannah, already guilt-ridden from all the secrets she kept, did all she could to help the girl-woman despite being overloaded with finals and worrying about the coming war against Skynet.

With Naomi's extreme growth rate, she was required to eat at least three square meals a day, but goading her down-trodden friend to eat was more of a challenge than getting her to class.

Both Samantha Wildman, Naomi's mother, and Icheb did their best to uplift Naomi's spirits, but it seemed that the loss of her childhood home was something only time could mend.

Seven was doing little better from what she'd heard and was unable to help her protégé while she was dealing with her own tumultuous emotions.

By mid-April, Savannah was forced to take the issue all the way up to Janeway. Getting herself a meeting with the infamous rear admiral required calling in half the favors people owed her just to get ten minutes of Janeway's time.

The meeting had been face-to-face, and it'd taken every ounce of her acting skills to hide anything that would send the rear admiral down a trail that might inevitably uncover Savannah's duplicitous nature.

As far as she knew, she'd been successful, and by bringing Naomi's depression to Janeway's attention, Savannah had found a way to help her friend without drawing any attention to herself.

Part of Savannah felt cold that she hadn't even considered telling Naomi the truth. She was so conditioned to keep secrets it was like breathing.

Naomi did improve after talking to Janeway, though, and that helped Savannah cope with the guilt as she powered through her final assignments. The only thing distracting her then was the whole Prophet situation, but there was little she could do until she joined her parents on Bajor.

They'd come to her graduation, of course, with Sarah returning via trans-warp beaming to maintain the illusion that she'd never been gone at all, but they hardly had time to talk privately.

The whole event had been a flash in the pan, and after a quick celebration, Sarah and Kyle formally went on vacation to Bajor. Savannah stayed to tie up loose ends, work out a start date with B'Elanna's team, and clean out her dorm room.

Then Savannah took the next big step in her life, leaving the Sol system for the first time... well... ever.

With her bag slung over her shoulder, Savannah walked out of her cabin and made her way towards the commissary. The forward-facing windows gave her a perfect view of DS9 as the passenger transport continued its final approach to the station.

Her heartbeat rapidly in her chest at the sight of it.

So much had happened here since the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole, and it had been the one place where all three Next Generation shows had visited at one point or another and had been the focal point for the Dominion War.

As the transport drew closer to the kilometer-wide station, she could hear the theme song playing in her head, and it only intensified upon seeing the Defiant docked in its traditional place.

What some would see as an old Cardassian monstrosity, she saw a place full of history and legends equal to that of any Enterprise.

As the transport maneuvered towards one of the upper docking pylons, the freshly-minted ensign was able to pick out details that were never discernible in the show, and improvements that had been made since the end of the war six years previous.

Upgraded weapons were hidden behind covers and pop-outs, but the deflectors, sensors, and communications were all Federation designs retrofitted to the station that Savannah recognized from her studies.

Though she couldn't see it, she'd bet three bars of latinum that they'd upgraded the fusion reactors to support the upgrades.

She moved on from the vista as the transport's pilot began moving the vessel into the dock and joined a small group of passengers near the airlock. The people were talking amongst themselves while she hovered a few feet behind everyone else, wanting to avoid attention.

Finally, after a few minutes, the docking clamps locked and they were cleared for offloading.

As the crowd thinned out, all in a hurry to get to their destinations, Savannah's eyes were glued to the architecture. The lines and colors and shapes were already so familiar to her, but they'd never been this real.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen anyone stare at an airlock like it was a work of art before."

The ensign's eyes snapped away from the cog-wheel door and landed on something just as familiar: Ezri Dax.

Older. Wiser. Surer of herself, but the woman still had a playful smirk sprouting from the corner of her mouth whenever she found something that amused her.

But it was the knowing glint in her sky-blue eyes that set Savannah on edge.

She knew.

---

Ezri Tigan wouldn't have left another person in such suspense, but Ezri Dax was feeling a little more Curzon than usual, today.

The old ambassador had taken a distinct pleasure in making young Starfleet officers uncomfortable when they got in over their heads, and the new ensign certainly fit the bill. While Savannah was likely stressed beyond even the most haggard of ensigns, the Trill could not help but feel she deserved to have her feathers ruffled considering she was technically an infiltrator using Starfleet for her own ends.

It had absolutely nothing to do with Ezri's own added stress and anxiety... right?

Nope, not at all.

"D-D-Dax?!"

The young woman was flabbergasted, star-struck, and horrified all the same time.

"Ensign Weaver," she replied formally, though the smirk never left her face.

Savannah's wide-eyed panic vanished into blankness and her body snapped into attention. "Sorry, Commander, I wasn't expecting a welcoming committee."

The high pitch settled into a steady contralto that anyone would easily forget if its owner didn't have brilliant copper hair.

"I figured our biggest fan deserved a personal greeting," she teased before gesturing for the girl to follow her. The mystified ensign adjusted the bag over her shoulder in an attempt to hide her growing discomfort before catching up to Dax.

"You've been talking to Kyle."

Ezri held back a bark of laughter. Yes, they'd talked about a great many things since their little field trip.

"When you have an Orb experience with someone you know nothing about, I consider that a sign to get to know them better."

"I see," the younger woman replied while averting her eyes to the floor.

An awkward silence settled between the two after entering one of the turbo-lifts. Ezri was content to leave Savannah stewing in her own misery for the moment.

Finally, they reached the habitat ring. Savannah would be staying in one of the rooms until the next shuttle departed for Bajor that evening.

Just as she was about to hand Savannah off, Ezri gave her a coy smile and said "Tell Kyle and Sarah I said hello. Oh, and welcome to Deep Space Nine."

With that, she left behind a thoroughly terrified and confused young woman with an equally confused Vulcan security officer.

While she went about her duties in ops, Ezri felt a little guilty for terrorizing someone who'd probably feared for her life since she was a young child. However, parts of her, those that were Jadzia and Curzon both felt justified in letting the girl stew. So much heartache and horror could have been avoided if they'd have said something.

Ezri secretly wished they had interfered. Ezri Tigan had done her duty as a Trill and joined with Dax when no other option was viable and her life had become infinitely more complicated than she'd ever wanted it to be because of it.

Any of them could have prevented Jadzia's death or any number of disasters over the years. Even though she accepted their decision to not intervene as both rational and responsible, the scars on her soul made it hard to forgive them completely.

Eventually, she banished these thoughts from her mind and focused on her tasks as she manned the central console in ops. Things had significantly calmed in recent months now that Voyager was declared a total loss, and it meant that things could get a bit dull in ops.

Dax had a total of thirteen years aboard this station, and its day-to-day operations were drilled into her brain like breathing, which left time for her to work out some of the smaller details of stealing the Enterprise from under Starfleet's nose.

Right as she was in the middle of working out the security override procedures, Kira emerged from her office and bee-lined for her.

"Hey," she called out while jogging down the steps onto the main platform, "I've got a reservation at Quark's if you feeling like joining me."

The Colonel's expression was casual and friendly, but Ezri had known the woman long enough to know this was anything but, and she was putting on a show for everyone else but her.

She wanted to talk about something serious, but off the books. Otherwise, they'd be in her office.

"Sure, upper level?"

"Same place we always gossip," she smiled before throwing her arm around Ezri's shoulders and guiding her to the turbo lift.

During the short journey to the Promenade, they talked about inconsequential things, just as they'd done when it was Kira and Jadzia.

Once they were finally seated, Quark swung by with their usual order, knowing their routine when they sat in this spot. "Been a while since you two darkened my doorway," he commented offhandedly as he placed their drinks on the table, "Keeping busy?"

Kira, however, was not in the mood for the usual banter. "And I'm sure you know exactly why, Quark. Do you mind?"

"Actually, I do," he said firmly while setting down Kira's plate with a clank to match his shift in mood. He knew he couldn't push Kira very far, as her tolerance for his antics hadn't increased any over the years. "And if you hear me out, I won't put any of this on your tab."

The redhead sighed and motioned for him to continue. Ezri leaned back in her chair to enjoy the incoming rant.

"Now, I'm not about to ask about all that Starfleet stuff. Voyager's bad news and always has been. Met a few of those poor bastards before they got tossed to the Delta Quadrant." He simultaneously shook his head and rolled his eyes, as if feeling sorry for Voyager's crew and ridiculing them at the same time. "No, I'm want to know if I need to pack up shop and get out of Dodge' as the hu-mans say."

Ezri kept her expression neutral, thank you Curzon, but that didn't stop her stomach from churning. The direction the conversation seemed to be heading was one she preferred not to talk about.

"Come on Quark," Kira laughed, "After all you've lived through, you're worried about Ezri's Orb experience?"

Yep, this had been a bad idea.

"You're not?" Quark countered, "We both know that wasn't any old Orb," he glared.

Kira returned that glare, "None of them are just 'any old Orb'."

He remained undeterred, "Look, the last time you went gallivanting through time with that thing, I spent weeks hunting tribbles and lost over two dozen bars of latinum in profit!"

The Colonel looked completely unsympathetic, not that Quark was looking for any. This was hardly the first time he'd brought up the great 'Tribbulation'.

"And as much as I know you don't care about my profits, I know you care about your friends. So I'm asking from one friend to another: do I need to pack up my things and high-tail it out of here?"

Kira didn't respond, instead of shifting her gaze to Dax. "You know, I was kinda wondering that myself."

Dax had been pretty mum on what the Prophets had shown her and Kyle.

"Wait, she hasn't told you!?"

"Orb experiences are something you normally discuss, right, Quark?"

He licked his lips, "Usually," he acquiesced as his eyes glazed over. Internally, he was thrown back a decade when Grand Nagus Zek had rewritten the Rules of Acquisition thanks to an Orb experience.

Quark shivered as Ezri broke her silence, "There was no doom and gloom," she lied smoothly, "It wasn't what I'd call pleasant, but Reese and I both needed to see it."

"Reese? The guard?" Quark squeaked.

Ezri 'hmmed' an affirmative as she took a drink. "Nothing to do with you, Quark, or the Federation, or Bajor," she finished with a pointed look at Kira, even though it was all a complete, total lie.

There was just nothing they could do about it. Not without potentially involving Section 31 and other nefarious organizations.

Ezri thought that Kira wouldn't dig too hard considering such Orb experiences were generally kept private.

Quark, surprisingly, took her word for it, after some reassurance. "Alright," he said finally, "but if anything happens to Nog or Rom, I'll haunt you."

After he left, Ezri downed the last of her drink, wishing it was something stronger than sparkling juice.

As they began to eat, Kira gave Dax a long look before she smiled and slipped into their normal gossiping routine. Even though her Orb experience never came up once after Quark left, Ezri could help but feeling that Kira wasn't going to let this go.

After they finished lunch, Dax found herself taking the long way back to ops since Kira had to greet some Vedek arriving from Bajor.

Throughout the afternoon, she often found her mind drifting back to Bajor when she found a lull in her tasks. Instead of making plans for stealing starships, she thought only about the two people hiding out on Bajor working feverishly to reverse engineer Skynet's abomination.

She thought about Jadzia, and how they still haven't figured out how to treat one another. Sometimes it was like they were strangers, other times like sisters, and other times like the same person. Ezri both enjoyed and detested spending time with her, mostly because she sometimes felt like she'd stolen Jadzia's life. She'd stepped into her shoes and then taken things in her own direction. She firmly cemented herself in the minds of her colleagues who'd known Jadzia, as Ezri. Some things about her remained the same. Dax was Dax and those things don't change easily, but some things are distinctly Ezri and Jadzia, and those things were noticeable.

People had moved on and accepted her. What would happen when that suddenly wasn't the case? Would she lose them to her elder? Would they see that they cared so much for Dax because she was Jadzia first?

Deep down she knew her friends weren't that shallow. Jadzia had chosen them well.

She was getting ahead of herself, though. She was assuming they'd forgive her at all once they realized what she'd done and what she'd kept secret.

Her other train of thought centered around Benjamin Sisko. He was her mentor, friend, confidant, and so much else.

With him, she wasn't concerned about how he'd handle have two Daxes around. What she was concerned about was his time as the Emissary. She had little idea what had happened to him while he was gone nor how his experiences changed him.

When Ezri spoke to him, he seemed to be the man she used to know, but sometimes she'd get hints of something...else. Something old, something...something.

Was he really Benjamin Sisko anymore?

She really didn't know, and that hurt even more than if the answer had been definitive.

With a heavy sigh, she rested her palms against the railing looking over the ops 'pit' and willed the conflict away. Her coworkers were all around her, and Kira could come back at any moment.

Keeping these secrets from people she deeply cared about was one of the hardest things she'd ever done, and she'd keep having to do them for the next six years.

When it was all over; if they won and somehow survived, would any of them ever speak to her again?

While those thoughts sat heavily in her chest, Colonel Kira Nerys had just finished talking to an old friend who owed her a favor. It was a few moments afterward that she called Ezri into her office.

"Something come up?" She inquired as the sliding doors hissed shut behind her.

Kira gestured for her to sit down. "You could say that," she answered evenly. "Starfleet wants us to escort some Cardassian diplomats to DS9."

"I didn't realize we were having a summit," Ezri commented as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"We're not," Kira affirmed. "We're just a waypoint until the Bellerophon can ferry them to a discreet location."

"And I'm guessing you want me to take the Defiant and do an off-the-books pickup and drop-off?"

"Exactly."

"What's the cover story?"

"Delivering two industrial replicators to one of Cardassia's farming worlds near the old DMZ."

Ezri nodded while mentally running through her list of things she needed to do before departure, "I think I know the ones you're talking about. Is the destination need to know?"

"We'll send you the coordinates after you depart. Standard procedure considering all the pirate activity in the Cardassia sector."

Even after six years, Cardassia was still struggling to recover after the Dominion War and the subsequent near-genocide of the Cardassian people at the hands of the Jem'Hadar. With most of their military devastated, it was tough keeping the peace.

The situation had improved over the years, but it was still far from ideal.

"Departure time?"

"0600," Kira responded while handing over a small PADD containing the details. "Good luck," she smirked as her terminal signaled another incoming transmission.

Ezri took that as a dismissal and left Kira's office.

That evening, after she'd assembled a crew and had the Defiant checked over by Lieutenant Commander Chao and her engineering crew, Dax spent some more time reflecting on her interactions with Kira and Quark.

She was sure that she'd given the expected responses to avoid suspicion. Part of her, likely the Jadzia part, wondered if the colonel was aware that Ezri was hiding something that had nothing to do with her Orb experience.

Once again she found herself internally screaming at Section 31. If wasn't for them, telling Starfleet brass would have absolved her of this enormous responsibility.

What little sleep she got that night was far from restful, but it was hardly the first time.

---

Sipping synthale at a beachside bar was not something Kyle Reese had done more than once or twice since coming to this universe, but now he was finding himself doing it at least three times a week since he and Sarah had taken a long term 'vacation' here on Bajor.

Unlike Kendra Province, this part of the planet was definitely designed for off-worlders and tourists looking to enjoy both Bajoran culture and a little bit of home.

Sarah was sitting in a lounger sipping iced tea and reading news articles on her personal PADD. She'd never been one for vacations, but he could tell that she was enjoying Bajor.

It was a world that had been devastated by half a century of enslavement and exploitation, and despite that, had risen from the ashes to make something of itself. It was inspiring just from a story perspective, but actually experiencing it...

For a resistance soldier and the woman who'd fought so damn hard to stop a dark and terrible future, it brought hope and a sense of peace in a time where there should be anything but.

While Sarah enjoyed her tea, Kyle was checking his notifications on his own PADD and finishing up his second synthale.

Savannah would be arriving at the spaceport soon and he didn't really feel like doing anything until then. He was already dreading telling her that all her plans had been completely turned on their head.

Reflecting on the past few days, he realized he'd been thinking a lot about his adopted daughter.

Unlike Sarah, he'd never really raised a child. He helped out with Allison when she was young, but that was different. Derek had been doing most of the leg work and Kyle had been little more than a kid himself.

Helping raise Savannah had made him wonder how good of a father his counterpart would have been to John had he lived.

All Kyle knew was how to survive and fight, not to nurture. That Sarah was able to do both only made him admire her more.

Together, they'd figured out how to raise Savannah in a world that was alien to them all, and in the process, became a family that none of them had imagined they could be.

While Savannah rarely called him 'dad' or 'father', she looked at him the same way other children did when they saw their own fathers.

Her affection filled him with a warmth he'd never really given a name to, and never felt entirely worthy of. He remembered the harsh training they'd put her through, the lessons they'd made her learn, and the strict rules they forced upon her.

Despite the hardship and pain, Savannah had persevered and flourished into an incredible young woman.

He'd never really gotten to know the older Savannah from his timeline, but from what he remembered, she'd been much like his daughter, only more haggard and worn down.

Sometimes it made him wonder what that Savannah had gone through. What had her life been like living with Sarah Connor and James Ellison?

She'd been extremely resourceful and pragmatic, but she'd also been thoughtful and kind. Both her and Old Man Ellison had been critical in keeping Ziera base going as Skynet began to tighten the proverbial noose around their necks.

His memory of that Savannah and the actions of his adopted daughter were some of the reasons he'd agreed to her plan to recruit B'Elanna Torres.

Kyle also wondered how Savannah would fit into their new 'team' and what input she'd have, but before he could really think about it, the alert went off on his PADD that her transport would be landing in a few minutes.

Sarah was ready to go before he had time to pack up and tip the barkeep. He caught up to his wife just as she hailed a hover cab.

After they were dropped off, Kyle noticed Sarah giving him a concerned look.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he whispered before taking her hand and walking into the building.

While they both knew that was a load of bullshit, Sarah understood that 'nothing' was the code phrase for 'not in public', or 'I'm working through it' when it came from Kyle.

Going through security was painless, and soon they were at the terminal where the transport had landed. Savannah was waiting for them even though the transport wasn't fully unloaded yet, and by the look on her face when she saw them, he figured out why.

Despite seeing them at graduation, she was clearly worried about their safety even more than they were about hers.

She wrapped her arms around her parents, crushing them into a one-way group hug. Savannah hadn't hugged them like that since they'd come back from the war.

"You guys okay?" She whispered as her eyes searched for any threats over their shoulders.

Sarah gave her a reassuring smile, "We're fine, Ensign Weaver."

Savannah's face fell into relief/annoyance at the turn about but returned to its worried state when her eyes focused solely on her father figure.

"Dad?"

"Better than ever," he fibbed but kept it convincing. She knew he was lying, but she also knew to keep the act up.

"Good," she sighed, "It's just that... things happen out here, and you're the only family I have."

Sarah chuffed, "Says the girl who joined Starfleet on a tactical path..."

Savannah at least had the decency to blush a bit at her own hypocrisy, but it was all for show anyway.

"Come on, ensign," Kyle urged quietly. "We're burning daylight."

His daughter snorted, "I still outrank you, Sergeant."

"Retired," he sassed while relieving her of her burden.

Laughter echoed throughout the transport hub as the trio left the terminal.

---

They spent an hour telling Savannah what had happened to Kyle and Ezri, and what they'd been doing since.

She kept calm, but her eyes were wide the entire time. After asking questions and getting some of the details clarified, she stood up and smoothed the wrinkles from her shirt.

"Stealing the big E? And you said my plan was too ambitious," she huffed and ran a hand through her hair, "I'll fill in B'Elanna when we get back, but we're going to have to figure out how we're going to coordinate all this..."

They let her pace for a minute before Sarah spoke up. "Why don't you go for a walk; clear your head."

Their daughter sighed and clenched her fists. "Yeah," she breathed. "That's probably a good idea."

Without saying another word, she pulled her commbadge out of its privacy case and slapped it on her chest hard enough for her to wince at her own carelessness.

"I'll try to be back before dark."

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose before turning to Kyle, who looked entirely too tired for a man supposedly on vacation.

"We should probably drop by," she suggested off-handedly, drawing her husband's attention.

"Yeah, it's been a few days."

"Come on," she grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. They couldn't just head out to the ruins as Kyle and Sarah Reese, they had to disguise themselves.

Over the years, they'd learned to blend into crowds amongst aliens with quick-apply prosthetics and clothing. Isabel provided them with fake documentation that'd hold up well to casual scrutiny and Sisko had given them reading material on how to act like a Bajoran paying respects to an ancient city ruin about 15 miles outside of the city.

Every time they visited, they changed their disguises just a little. Different clothing, different make-up to change their skin tones, and even using vocalizers hidden in their throat to change their voices.

They often went separately just to throw off any surveillance, but today they went together.

The ruins were thousands of years old, but they'd been partially excavated for well over a century now. Sisko, having been the Prophet's Emissary, had visited many periods throughout history, and knew about a few buildings that had yet to be uncovered.

With most archeologists working on newer/more important sites, it wasn't hard for Sarah and Kyle to descend into the depths of the ruins that were previously undiscovered.

A holo-blind kept anyone from noticing anything amiss, but with the right transponder attached to their person, you could walk right through it.

Isabel greeted them on the other side.

"Your both looking relaxed," she remarked sarcastically. "How'd it go?"

"About as well as could be expected," Sarah replied while removing they removed their cumbersome outfits. "Where's Sisko?"

"He and Jadzia are finishing up the latest module extractions. They'll be out after they go through decom."

The parts they extracted could contain still-active nanoprobes, so they took extreme measures to ensure that they were contained and dealt with.

Jadzia was the first to emerge after stripping out of the bio-suit that protected her from latent radiation and nanoprobes.

She embraced the couple while Isabel's holo-avatar skirted around them and took the decontaminated modules over to the lab stations.

After greeting her colleagues, she noted Savannah's absence. "How'd she take it?"

"Not as bad as I did," Sarah admitted. There had been some heavy drinking in the first few weeks after finding out what had happened to her son.

"She went for a walk," Kyle clarified as he hung up his Bajoran-style vest on a makeshift coat rack.

"And I'm sure Ezri didn't give her a hard time?"

Sarah shared a look with her husband. Savannah hadn't said anything about meeting Jadzia's counterpart.

"She was pretty worried about us," he commented to no one in particular as he turned back to the taller woman, "Why would Ezri give her a hard time?"

Jadzia's face hardened, "When Ezri was joined with Dax, one of the strongest memories was of me dying. You knew that was going to happen and did nothing to stop it."

There was a pause while she let them digest that, "I've been on my own time travel adventures. You knew things would work out and left well enough alone as any responsible person should."

That wasn't entirely true. They'd fought in the war and interacted with influential individuals throughout the years, tempting the Butterfly Effect to make a mess of things, but they'd realized long ago that something, or someone, was correcting any minor changes they might have caused from throwing the timeline into disarray.

"That doesn't stop it from hurting," Sarah finished, knowing that kind of pain all too well. "What about you? Do we have a problem?"

Being the one whose life had ended, and then up-ended, did make her feelings on the matter complicated, but Jadzia wasn't Ezri.

"I won't lie and say I don't feel some resentment," she answered as her hand ghosted over her abdomen. "But I'm a big girl. I know what it means to sacrifice for the greater good."

Both Sarah and Kyle had lived most of their lives with the 'greater good' as their primary motivator.

"For what it's worth," Sarah began, "Savannah was pretty torn up when we heard the news."

Jadzia's eyes snapped to the woman, but her gaze softened upon realizing exactly what that meant. "I'm guessing there was a lot of that..."

"There was," Sarah replied as Sisko exited decom.

Having sensed the gloomy mood in the room, Sisko put on his jovial smile and greeted both of the trans-dimensional travelers with a handshake and a hug respectively.

"Glad you could join us," he told them both. "We've made a lot of progress since the last time you were here."

Jadzia perked up at the shift in conversation. "That's putting it lightly. Without Isabel, it would have taken weeks processing the sub-atomic scans we've been taking of the components."

"What'd you find?" Kyle asked as they walked over to the lab. The area was filled with consoles, stations, holoprojectors, and datahubs in addition to the secure storage vault where they kept the extracted samples.

"We've been trying to classify it first," Sisko explained as he brought up a detailed hologram of the apex Terminator on the holotable. It'd been installed in the center of the room at Isabel's insistence when they'd set this place up.

Said Smart AI switched from a human-sized avatar to a smaller one she normally used atop the table. "As you saw, the design is very reminiscent of the T-X series with its variant sheath and hardened endoskeleton, but..." she paused and broke the diagram down into the smaller components. "It's very Borg in nature."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Kyle inquired.

Isabel rearranged a few things and then brought up pictures of drones in various stages of assimilation. "Meaning Skynet used Borg technology not only to subject its victim's mind and body but also to slowly convert it into... this."

The components had a classic Skynet design to them, but you could see evidence of leftover human anatomy that no Terminator ever had built into it. Most of it was visible on the skull where you could find small irregularities that one wouldn't find in a high-precision manufacturing plant. These were places that followed John's original skull shape that had been replaced with hyper-alloy composite and circuitry. Also, some of the pathways for nerves and blood vessels had been changed over to wires, plasma conduits, and optical data lines.

"After the initial conversion," Isabel continued, "I believe Skynet grafted upgrades onto the combat chassis during the final phases, allowing the nanoprobes to integrate them seamlessly."

Sarah kept a straight face through it all, as did Kyle, but that didn't stop them from feeling an even deeper revulsion than they had before.

"All of this evidence leads me to classify this machine, under Skynet's nomenclature, as a Terminator class, generation four crossover series, subclass assimilated.

"T-X4A," Jadzia summarized. "The technology is clearly an evolution of the T-X2 and exceeds many specifications for Cameron's T-X3."

She didn't need to explain the assimilated bit, and Sarah was glad she didn't delve into it further.

Speaking of the T-X3, the endoskull Kyle salvaged had served as an introduction to evolved Terminator designs and their disassembly.

Cameron's fried neural net, now extracted from its housing, had been obsessively studied by Jadzia and Sisko. They'd spent days discussing the neural net architecture and how incredibly efficient the design was for something based on old technology.

It had also helped them grasp the basics of the T-X4A once they'd started tearing it down.

"Once you get past all the alien bits," Isabel waved at the Borg and Forerunner derived systems, "we started to see how Skynet masterfully weaved all the tech together with its own homebrewed solutions. Especially with the central processor."

At this point, Sarah inhaled sharply. She knew that the central processor was the twisted remains of her son's mind, but seeing the detailed hologram of it only made her stomach churn worse than it already was.

Everyone in the room noticed, including Isabel. She'd been watching the woman closely so she'd know when to stop talking, and they'd reached that point.

Noticing everyone's looks, she ducked her head and turned to leave. Kyle immediately made to follow, but Sarah held her hand up. "I just need a moment."

He knew that was a lie, but didn't call her out on it. She wanted him to stay for the briefing.

Sisko, having helped compile the report, left the room to see if he could work some of his magic.

Kyle, meanwhile, breathed out through his nose and turned back to Isabel and Jadzia. He did his best to push his concern for Sarah aside so he could concentrate on the briefing.

"Continue, please," he said at just above a whisper.

"It appears that the chip is two pieces fused at the final stages of conversion," Isabel explained. The processor was black with transparent bits connecting the larger blocks like a mini spinal cord. It was an optical backbone for the traditional processor to connect to the spherical top section that was unlike any Cyberdyne class neural net he'd ever seen.

"The bottom part is a hyper-efficient design that exceeds Cameron's by an order of magnitude, but it's just a co-processor. It's the interface for the real seat of consciousness up here," Jadzia pointed out as she outlined the chip's top.

"That's what's left of John, isn't it?"

Saying his name brought a grimace to both the AI and the Trill, which told him they both tried not to think about it while they worked. "Yeah. We're not sure where or when Skynet learned how to do it, but that top bit is essentially an emulator for the human brain. It can even simulate the chemical reactions that trigger emotions and other stimuli."

And that was disturbing. It essentially called into question what it meant to actually be human. Granted, it wasn't the first time Kyle had questioned that over the years. Aliens that looked and acted very much like humans, but weren't. Cameron and Weaver being far more emotive than any machine had a right to be, holodecks very realistically emulating people just based on public records, among many other things.

But seeing someone he knew transformed from flesh to metal and still being able to retain most of their identity, barring any interference, was just... well, he was going to be drinking something stronger than synthale later today because he was already getting a headache.

"Do you need a minute?" Jadzia asked as her gaze softened upon seeing the horror and confusion on his face.

"I need a lot longer than that," he replied honestly. "Is there anything pressing we need to know?"

The woman shook her head, "No, we can pick this up later. Isabel, would you mind starting the analysis on sample 045?"

The mussy-haired AI smiled and replied, "Sure, just don't forget about me."

Both of them knew that was impossible, but Isabel loved being quippy.

Kyle followed the taller woman into the common area where Sisko was talking with Sarah over a pot of coffee and some treats. They'd started talking about raising their respective sons, and he decided to leave them to it.

Sarah clammed up around him, sometimes. She hated showing emotional weakness to anyone but the people closest to her, and even then...

When it came to John, he'd realized long ago, was when she tended to do it.

If Sisko knew a way to help her start processing what had happened to her son, the better.

Jadzia passed them by with a friendly nod and then turned towards the exit.

After throwing on their disguises, they made their way out of the hidden lab in silence.

He let her guide them down a path into the public part of the ruins where they'd blend in with anyone else who happened to be here.

After ten minutes of just wandering around the remains of the city's main marketplace, Kyle finally broke the silence.

"You asked us how we're doing," he began. "How've you been doing? Being cooped up in a bunker 24/7 isn't fun."

The question seemed to shock her as if she didn't expect him to ever ask about her well-being.

"I know I'm not one for affection, Dax, but I pay attention, and I do care."

She slowed her pace and swallowed hard. "I know, I just wasn't... I thought if you were going to talk, it'd be about him."

"Maybe we will," he admitted, "but I'm not the only one suffering because of this. Your whole life was turned inside out."

"Literally," she quipped sadly.

He waited for her to continue, but a minute would pass before she did.

"If it wasn't for Benjamin, I'm not sure how I'd be doing," she began. "I'm a people person. I don't like being alone."

Kyle nodded, this he already knew.

"Isabel's been great," she smiled. "She reminds me a lot of Julian when we first met."

"Exuberant, chatty, slightly brooding, has confidence issues..."

"And extremely gifted. No wonder the UEG and the UNSC did so well for themselves." She added.

She paused again as a series of emotions played across her features. "I miss them."

He did not need to ask whom she was speaking of. Kira, Bashir, Quark, O'Brien, Jake, and, of course, Worf.

"I know things aren't the same as they were back then. I know they moved on after getting to know Ezri and the war ended."

"But you haven't," he concluded. "Or maybe you had before they brought you back."

She wrapped her arms around herself and squeezed her eyes shut as memories flooded through her mind. "Something like that."

Kyle slowed his pace and looked up at her. "I'm sorry."

"I know," she forced out while wiping tears brimming at the edge of her eyes. "I know."

Jadzia slowed to a stop and let out a shuddering breath as the pent-up emotions overwhelm her for a moment.

"How do you do it?"

He blinked, "Do what?"

"Live like this?! In a galaxy that isn't your own, ripped away from nearly everyone you loved, and face enemies that you never should have to face!"

It suddenly became clearer. She was going through was Ezri did after joining with Dax, only in reverse. Dumped into a situation she never expected to find herself in and never trained for.

He'd gone through various paradigm shifts in his life. First was Judgement Day itself, and realizing everyone he loved, besides Derek, was dead. Finding out a homicidal machine was responsible for it was just the cherry on top.

Losing Ziera base, and finding out about John Connor's back story had been the next, quickly followed by being blasted into the past, and then to another universe were the other big ones that haunted his dreams.

Once they'd finally ended up here, adjusting had been difficult for them all, but accepting that they were stuck in the Star Trek universe without any allies had been the worst part of it.

"I guess you could say I'm used to it by now," he explained. "I was eight when the bombs fell."

She hadn't known how old he was, and her expression told him as such.

"Derek saw the missiles and got us underground. We had no way to warn our parents, and we never found out what happened to them," he began. "We were forced to adapt or die."

"Ezri saw what remained of Cardassia after the Dominion tried to wipe them out. I can't imagine living like that without any hope of aid."

A lot of people had that attitude when it became clear there was no one left to help them. He'd seen plenty of suicides long before Skynet made its presence known in the post-apocalyptic world.

"Reese boys don't give up," he stated as he recalled Derek saying it to him long ago. "Daxes don't either."

Jadzia snorted a laugh. "If that's your advice, it's not very helpful."

He wasn't finished yet. "I had family through it all," he revealed, "Derek, and eventually Allison were with me during the dark years. Then I had John to help me figure out the whole time-travel and interdimensional-travel mess."

"And you had Sarah and Savannah to support you when you ended up here."

"Exactly," he confirmed, "And you have Sisko and Ezri."

It was at that point she committed to talking with them more in the future.

"But was there anyone you got to know here? People you cared about? How'd you deal with not telling them about what was in store for them?"

Kyle sighed tiredly, "We made it our business to stay away from anyone we knew from the stories. But when we were deployed with our men? What were we supposed to tell them? We had no idea if we were going to live another day."

"But you knew the war was going to end in our favor."

"We didn't actually. Sarah and I both wondered if just our existence might put things in jeopardy, despite everything else coming to pass," he explained as old worries and guilt were dug out of their graves. "The end of the war was a pretty finicky thing."

Jadzia knew that from Ezri, and she couldn't argue the point, but he had skirted around the original question. "So you never cared about someone enough to feel guilty about letting them suffer and die?"

Kyle's jaw clenched. "I can't speak for Sarah or Savannah," he remembered what his daughter had done to one such person, and he wasn't about to bring it up to Jadzia. "But for me, it was you."

The joined Trill stopped walking and faced him. "I thought..."

"That it was only Savannah who mourned you?," he chuckled sadly, "After that night with Curzon, after he helped me sort through my feelings for Sarah, I never stopped feeling guilty. Curzon showed me kindness and I returned it by doing nothing when you needed someone most."

He'd saved him from falling flat on his face that night, true, but most people would have thanked him and moved on. He'd only been doing his job.

Kyle was reserved most of the time, but at that moment she saw guilt pooling in his eyes as he fought to keep his facial expressions blank.

"I know I did the right thing, but..." he trailed off as his breathing shuddered from emotion.

Jadzia knew Kyle was a good man whose life had been screwed up by external forces far more than her own had been. For the first time, she really began to understand just how worn down the man in front of her was.

Surviving through two wars and living under the looming specter of a third, at his age, would destroy most people.

'Reese boys don't give up', he'd said. With Sarah and Savannah at his side, he seemed to be holding together. She didn't want to imagine what he'd be like without them.

He and Sarah were just normal people whom fate had demanded more of than it had any right to ask.

The resentment she felt at her fate, the part of it pointed at the Reeses, began to fade.

She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. "I forgive you," she whispered.

"Not sure I deserve it," he replied just as softly.

Her reaction was to simply pull him into an embrace. "It's not about deserving it, Kyle, it's about what we both need."

"I forgive you," she repeated into his ear, "for everything."

Kyle brought his arms up and wrapped them around her back while fighting back the flood of emotions that threatened to overwhelm him.

The things he'd done in the name of preparing for Skynet and leaving the timeline intact extended far beyond letting Jadzia get murdered by Dukat. Out of all of them though, this had weighed on him the longest, and to hear Jadzia say those words meant more than he'd imagined.

They split apart after a moment and continued on their walk, both of them feeling a little less burdened than before.

---

Cardassia Prime had come a long way in six years.

Ezri remembered the blasted ruin it was after the Dominion War had ended in 2375. It was still far from recovered. Half the major cities had never been rebuilt, but it was recovering faster than some 'experts' had predicted.

She hadn't been surprised in the slightest. The Cardassians were a formidable, resilient race even on their worst days.

Passive observations such as these bounced around in Ezri's mind as she waited for the dignitary's signal to beam up. The Defiant had arrived at Cardassia Prime under cloak and they had sent a coded transmission indicating their arrival.

Two minutes after they'd sent the message, her comms officer reported that they'd received the proper response and were ready for transport.

"Send them to transporter room 1," she ordered while getting out of the captain's chair.

"Yes ma'am," the officer acknowledged as Ezri left the room.

She knew very few of Cardassia's newer dignitaries other than the government's current leader. There had been a lot of change after the previous democratic leader was assassinated two years previously.

When the doors to the transporter room slid open, she expected to find three or four people she'd never met before standing on the transporter pad. While that was partially true, the one standing in front of the other four was far from a stranger.

"Commander Dax, it's a pleasure to see you again."

Ezri breathed in deeply, holding back a well of emotions at the sight of DS9's old tailor-slash-exiled spy standing in front of her. "Hello, Garak."

---

After exchanging pleasantries with Garak, his agricultural minister, and both of their aides, she took them to the staterooms.

Once they were settled, Garak and the agricultural minister, an imposing woman by the name of Kali Tomlek, both observed as Ezri and the Defiant's crew carried out the coverup mission to deliver two industrial replicators to one of Cardassia's agricultural planets near the old Demilitarized Zone.

With business taken care of, Minister Tomlek retired to her quarters, but Garak had other ideas in mind for the return journey to DS9.

"Would you mind joining me in the mess hall? It's been a while since we've had time to just sit and chat."

His trademark smile stretched across his face, setting the younger of the two on edge. "A little over a year, right?"

"Something like that," he replied, "I'll be honest, the days can blend together when you're trying to rebuild an interstellar government."

Ezri grunted softly followed by a small smirk that told him she understood. "I'm not that busy, but that whole Voyager business made me glad that Julian's still off in the Gamma Quadrant."

"Oh?" He sounded surprised to her ears, but with Garak, you never knew.

"Too many nights without sleep, or too little sleep. He'd have been hounding me about it if he'd been here."

"Of that, I have no doubt," he chortled as they sat down with cups of steaming red leaf tea.

After they both took sips of their respective drinks, Garak steered the conversation towards more general topics: Bajor and DS9 being primary among them before Ezri switched the conversation to the Cardassian recovery.

After almost an hour of such talk, he summed it up by saying, "Considering the state we were in six years ago, I'd say we're doing splendidly. However, I don't think our borders will ever be as secure as they were before the war."

"Even after the pullback?"

Garak shook his head, "Not in my lifetime anyway. There just aren't enough of us left."

That struck a chord with Ezri, and she had a feeling he was hinting at something.

"Is that what this summit about? Border security?"

He smiled as a proud mentor would to a student. "I'm glad to see my absence hasn't dulled your wits, Commander."

She scoffed and took another sip of her tea. "Kira and Julian do just fine keeping me on my toes."

"I can't speak for the colonel, but I'm glad our good doctor has taken my lessons to heart."

Laughter echoed across the room as they both remembered all the goofy adventures they'd gotten into at Bashir's expense.

"Speaking of crazy and unexpected adventures..." he trailed off as he took the last sip of his second cup of tea. "I heard rumors you had another misadventure with the Orb of Time."

Ezri did her best to keep from reacting negatively and then barked out a laugh. "That's one way of putting it."

Garak, she knew, likely wouldn't press her for information in such a casual setting. "I'm just glad you came out of it unscathed. It's very unusual for an orb to dump someone so far away from where it took them."

"You should have seen the security guard. He put in his resignation almost immediately."

The former spy nodded with a hum as he gauged her. "The Prophets tend to have that effect, hence my concern."

"I'm fine," she replied, "Apparently I needed to see something about my past I hadn't yet settled."

"And that poor guard got dragged along for the ride."

Ezri bobbed her head, "He did meet Curzon, briefly, years ago. Jadzia too, during that massive party after we retook DS9."

Garak allowed his eyebrows to raise slightly in mock surprise. "An odd coincidence," he remarked before sliding his seat backward. "Well, Commander, it's been good catching up with you. I'm afraid I need a little shut-eye before we reach Deep Space Nine, and I'm sure I've kept from your responsibilities long enough."

Ezri stood up with him and said, "It was a good talk. I wish they weren't as infrequent, but you know how life is."

"All too well I'm afraid," he returned after recycling his dishes. "Good day, Ezri."

And with that, he left the mess hall as Ezri remained frozen in front of the replicator with her own teacup.

She was fairly certain that Kira had arranged this whole shindig just so Garak could interrogate her. As a dark expression settled on her face, Ezri recycled her cup and walked back to the bridge. Why was Kira digging into this so deeply? No one had bothered Kira about her own little trip with the Time Orb years back!

Something was up, or Ezri hadn't been as discreet as she thought she'd been.

Whatever the case, she wasn't going to take the risk that something bigger was behind Kira's suspicious inquiry.

Once they arrived at the station, and she'd taken the dignitaries to their temporary quarters, Ezri retired to her own.

Hidden behind a panel, encased in sensor absorbing material, was a special PADD that she used to contact the rest of the 'team' when she needed.

With the amount of scrutiny she could be under, Ezri had little choice but to destroy the device by putting it through the replicator after wiping its memory chip.

A tired sigh escaped the woman's mouth as she unzipped her uniform jacket. She rested her throbbing head on her joined hands and closed her eyes as she wondered how she was supposed to endure six more years of this.

The only way she could now warn the others was through direct contact. Going back to Bajor was out of the question unless a convenient excuse came up.

Hopefully, her lack of contact would encourage the others to investigate and come to the station.

Two days later, Sarah and Savannah arrived at DS9.

---

Ever since she'd watched O'Brien and Bashir play round after round of darts in Quark's bar as a young girl, it had been on her bucket list to do the same.

Not that she was any good at it though...

The board chirped negatively at her when her last shot hit the outer ring, and she groaned in despair.

Sarah chuckled behind her glass as she sipped on her fruity synthale.

"And yet you can put a knife into a bullseye at 30 yards."

Savannah snorted and collected her darts from the board. "How'd you get so good?"

Her adoptive mom had beaten her five times in a row and it was starting to get on her nerves.

"I spent a lot of time in seedy bars when I was your age," she reminded her while picking at her American-style burger and fries.

"Right," the ensign sighed while trying to imagine Sarah towing around a toddler playing darts and smoking cigarettes. "Another round?"

"Not until I finish this," she replied before taking a bite of the replicated dish. It was not often they indulged in junk food these days since healthier options were basically free out of any replicator, but today was supposed to be a bit nostalgic.

Savannah occasionally had to remind herself that this wasn't a dream and she was actually here, playing darts in Quark's bar. The man himself was busy behind the bar cleaning some of his more exotic glasses as he eyed his patrons for more profit.

Morn had dropped by for a bit, and much to her surprise, the Lurian really could talk your ear off. She'd heard him and Quark going at it before the Ferengi had served them their food some minutes later.

The rest of the crowd, both patrons and staff, were foreign to her, save one.

After their second round of darts, both of them noticed someone enter the bar that stood out from all the rest.

Elim Garak.

He'd only a few heads when he entered the bar, Quark's and Morn's primarily. He was a dignitary and a well-known figure nowadays, but he wasn't dressed as such. If anything he appeared as a mere refugee.

That little fact didn't stop Sarah or Savannah from recognizing him immediately.

If there was one person to avoid at all costs, it was him. He was a man who observed far more than most and made better deductions than Sherlock Holmes from them. There was a reason Sarah and Kyle had never dared go near him nor speak of him during their time in Corps.

Suddenly it became obvious why Ezri had not contacted them, and they wondered if she'd been compromised or just cautious.

Either way, they needed to talk about this newest development, but they couldn't just get up and leave. Instead, they continued to eat their meal at a leisurely rate and talked about all sorts of innocent things ranging from what Savannah's first assignments might be, to what new concoctions Sarah had thought up in the kitchen. Anything and everything that a normal family would discuss.

Once they finished their meals, they played one last round of darts, which Savannah lost, before the redhead went over to the bar.

"Quark," she called out, attracting the Ferengi's attention. "got any open holo-suites?"

"I don't know," he smirked conspiratorially. "Do you have the latinum?"

He was pointing at the pricing chart behind him, written in Ferengi and English.

She gave him a lazy smile and slowly, mockingly, slid the exact change over the counter.

His confident smirk never left his face, nor did his eyes break contact with hers as he pocketed the metallic strips.

"For someone fresh out of the academy, you seem to know your way around cold hard cash," he observed idly. "Who told you about little old me?"

Savannah's smile brightened, "Besides my parents? Chief O'Brien."

Quark's smirk vanished.

"He was teaching advanced engineering concepts for the upperclassman, and naturally he got asked questions about his time out here, and you just happened to come up."

Ferengi's facial expression flattened as sarcasm filled his voice, "Really?"

"There were stories."

"I'm sure," he deadpanned.

"Lots and lots of stories..." her grin widened.

"Alright! I get your point," he cried as he threw his hands up in the air. "Holosuite 2 is yours for the next hour."

"Thanks, Quark!" she chirped as she walked back to her mother.

The bar owner waved her off with a dismissive 'bah' and went back to cleaning his drinkware.

No one noticed Garak smiling behind his glass as the mother-daughter duo headed upstairs towards the holosuite. He always enjoyed it when someone put Quark in his place, even if he hadn't done anything wrong.

---

After half an hour, several rounds of Velocity, and many thorough tricorder scans to make sure they weren't being spied on, Savannah and Sarah felt secure enough to talk freely.

"So," Savannah began as they began another round, "Garak."

Sarah frowned as she lined up her shot, "Someone's snooping."

As the flying disc came back to her, Savannah rolled and shot it back at her mother. "It explains why Ezri's been radio silent."

Sarah darted across the room and spun around just in time to shoot the disc. "Whoever they are, they're taking this seriously."

"My bet's on Kira," her daughter noted with confidence as she bulls-eyed the disc with little effort. "She knows Ezri, she knows the Prophets, and she knows the Orbs."

"And she's in a position to call in a favor with the head of the Cardassian government to sus her out."

Savannah nodded as she shot away from the disc once more. "Seems a little extreme, even for her."

"We're getting ahead of ourselves," Sarah pointed out. "If it is Kira, I can't fathom why she's doing this behind Ezri's back. It just seems out of character."

Savannah had no definitive answer to that, but she had some theories.

The conversation paused until the round ended with Sarah miss-stepping and getting tagged in the shoulder.

"We don't know what's happened to her in the last six years. What experiences might have changed her." Sarah puzzled before starting another round. "We'll just have to wait for Ezri to reach out."

Again, the conversation died as they continued to dart around the holosuite trying to outmaneuver each other. This time, Sarah won as Savannah became increasingly distracted by a dark train of thought.

"What?"

Her daughter was frozen for a moment before she broke out of whatever was troubling her.

"I know we've done a lot of questionable things, Sarah," she licked her lips before continuing, "Have you ever done something you were proud of at first, but in hindsight realized how cruel it was?"

Considering that Savannah had done considerably fewer illegal things than her adoptive parents, Sarah had a good idea what was bothering the twenty-four-year-old.

"Is this about Ziyal?"

Savannah exhaled slowly and let herself slide to the floor. "Yeah."

Sarah put away her phaser and sat down next to her. "We did what we needed to."

A slow nod was her initial response, "That doesn't really justify it, Sarah."

Such moral quandaries were not unknown to Sarah. She'd been dealing with them since the first Kyle Reese had shown up and told her about the abysmal future that lay ahead.

"You could have picked anyone." The memory of that time was pretty vivid in Sarah's head.

"We could have picked anyone," she corrected as she leveled a glare towards Sarah. "You didn't really try to talk me out of it."

She really hadn't, the older woman reflected. "Not about Ziyal, no."

Sarah had been leery about messing with Borg technology, but the potential gains from recreating the Doctor's medical nanites were too high to ignore.

Savannah stayed silent, and so she continued, "I've done a lot of questionable things in my life, Savannah. Everything I've done since I found out about Skynet has been to make sure that never happens. Sometimes I screwed up and I hurt people I cared about, sometimes I did things in the name of survival and hurt people who didn't deserve it. I've threatened, injured, exploited, even killed."

"I know, mom," her daughter replied solemnly. Sarah raised an eyebrow at the title. Savannah didn't normally call her that in private.

Something beyond the morality of this issue was eating at the ensign, and she was determined to find out what.

"This isn't the first time we've talked about this," Sarah remarked. "What brought this up? Garak?"

"Yeah," she breathed. "For a second, I thought, maybe, we could use her against him somehow. Get him to back off."

Sarah leaned back against the wall. "I'm pretty sure that would have the opposite effect."

"I know," Savannah sighed. "It's just... I can't believe I even thought about it."

"That's what happens when you spend enough time in the muck. It soils you the longer you stay in it, and if you don't remind yourself about how things should be, you won't think twice about doing something like that in the future."

"And that's how you lived all these years?"

Sarah nodded sadly. "It's not easy figuring out what's right when everything is at stake."

"Whatever that is," Savannah said, "we need to talk to someone who knows Garak first."

"I guess we wait for Ezri, then. She was his therapist, after all."

The ensign nodded as she stood back up. "Well, we still have fifteen minutes. Another round?"

If she were being honest with herself, Sarah knew she'd be feeling sore tomorrow, but Savannah needed a distraction. "Sure, I got a few more rounds in me."

As her daughter pulled her to her feet, she smiled. Even though the girl she'd met so long ago had grown up into a complicated young woman, Sarah enjoyed every minute she got to do things that normal mothers and daughters did together.

You never knew how long you had until life took those opportunities away forever.

---

Later that evening, Ezri appeared at their door after crawling through kilometers of maintenance shafts.

When she rang the door chime, Savannah found a sweaty and disheveled Trill on the other side.

After wordlessly ushering her in, Ezri shed her ratty cloak, revealing a hodgepodge of padding on her knees and arms. As she tore them off her sweat-soaked clothing, Savannah stepped over to the replicator.

"Can I get you anything?"

Ezri, exhausted and tired, rasped out the word 'water' as she collapsed into a nearby chair.

Savannah ordered a large glass of water enhanced with electrolytes and handed it to her without fanfare. The Trill gulped down half the glass before stopping to catch her breath.

"Did you crawl the entire way here?" Sarah asked with an amused smile plastered on her face as Ezri downed the last of the liquid in her cup.

A glare was the Trill's only response to that question.

After a beat, Savannah broke the ice with a simple question: "Who put Garak on our tail?"

"You noticed, huh?"

"We saw him at Quark's."

Ezri sighed, "I'm pretty sure Kira asked him to figure out what really happened during that Orb experience. I'm not sure why, though."

"Our knowledge of the Colonel ends with the show. Has anything happened in the last six years that might... I don't know, change her from the Kira of 2376?"

The Trill pondered Savannah's question for the moment but came up with nothing she could recall. "If something did, I wasn't aware of it. The past six years have been largely uneventful, at least compared to the six before that."

Sarah and Savannah shared a look. Dead end on the nosey Kira front.

"I guess the only solution to that is to wait her out. Keep your head down."

"Pretty much," Ezri replied as she wiped the sweat from her brow. "But if we manage to get Garak on our side somehow, or at least get him to lead Kira to believe nothing special happened during our Orb experience, then I might be able to work with that."

Savannah wrapped her arms around her torso. "Any ideas on how to do that?"

"Honestly? No. He's too perceptive for me to lie to him, and I've got nothing to blackmail him with."

The mother-daughter duo shared another look before Sarah spoke.

"We had a few ideas, but we really don't know Garak that well."

Ezri raised one of her eyebrows in response. "I thought you knew a lot about us?"

"Garak was a supporting character, and there's a lot we never really found out about him. You and Jadzia probably know plenty of things about him that we don't," Sarah reasoned as her arms crossed over her chest.

"Maybe," the Trill shrugged. "What'd you have in mind?"

Savannah licked her lips. "Tora Ziyal."

Ezri sat up straight in her chair. The hairs on the back of her neck tingled at both Savannah's tone and delivery. She had a very bad feeling she wasn't going to like a word of what was going to be said next.

"She's alive," Savannah continued, "We... resurrected her."

The air in the room seemed to freeze along with Ezri's entire body.

"What?" She squeaked as her entire thought process halted. "What... Why would..." she stumbled while trying to come up with some line of questioning to follow up that insane statement.

Instead, she let her head fall into her hands and exhaled deeply. She stayed like that for a moment before she dragged her hands back through her hair and looked up at the duo with a weary gaze.

"On a scale of one to ten, how much am I going to hate this?"

Sarah remained passive while Savannah cringed. "Probably an eight. Or nine."

After emanating another groan, she asked the one question she knew she'd probably regret asking.

"How? And more importantly, why?!"

With her arms still crossed, Savannah shifted her weight from foot to foot as she struggled to answer that particular question coherently.

"Right before we came here, I lost someone I cared about to the machines. He died protecting me."

A moment of silence fittingly washed over the room as Savannah drove images of James Ellison dying out of her head.

"Obviously that was traumatizing to a six-year-old, and it only got worse when little me realized I was in a universe filled with the same weapons that killed him."

Ezri, having trained as a ship's counselor, knew all about that kind of trauma and what it did to kids.

Even though she already had questions forming on the tip of her tongue, Ezri let her training take over and gestured for her to continue.

Savannah explained how the fear of losing her new parents like she had lost Ellison had driven her interest in nanotechnology.

There were many ways an energy weapon could kill a person, and being vaporized, or even just turned into a crisp, was not something you were ever going to come back from without some kind of time machine.

Most people who were killed by phasers and disruptors were done so on the lower end of the lethal spectrum. I.E. just powerful enough to kill the victim by flash cooking their internal organs and shocking the nervous system to the point of collapse.

This was the type of damage Savannah sought to reverse.

"You're hardly the first person to try," Ezri pointed out. "Even Julian's worked on new treatments to reverse the nerve damage caused by particle weapons."

"I know," Savannah shook her head sadly, "I keep up with the medical journals, Commander. There's been a lot of progress during the war, but... it's just not enough."

Ezri leaned back in her chair and waited for the younger woman to continue.

"One of the things I loved about watching Voyager was all the technological progress they made during their journey, especially when they experimented with Borg technology."

Darkness settled in the Trill's azure eyes as she realized just how serious Savannah had been about her not liking where this was going.

Sarah picked up where her daughter had left off by explaining that both she and Kyle had known about their daughter's obsession throughout her childhood, but they never thought she'd actually pursue a resolution before she was an adult. At least, that was the case until they found a thirteen-year-old Savannah in their bunker without their permission. She'd been studying a sample of the Borg nanoprobes Kyle had bought on the black market.

Kyle and Sarah had procured them intending to create a weapon capable of killing any pursuer.

"I'd heard rumors Borg tech was circulating in the underground. Last I checked, Starfleet Intelligence was cracking down on it pretty hard," Ezri commented as her eyebrows furrowed. "What would possess you to play around with Borg nanotech?"

"Because they can transform cellular structures at a whim," she explained simply. "Voyager's EMH reprogrammed them to revive a dead crewmate who'd been had been dead for 18 hours."

And suddenly it became so clear. Ezri had not been privy to that information before and she was glad the information had not leaked out after Voyager's return. At least, to her knowledge, that was.

After the minor interruption, Sarah continued.

They had banned her from the bunker until she was sixteen. By the time of her 'sweet sixteen', she had mastered contemporary computer science and was well on her way to fluency in Borg operating systems and programming. With Kyle's help, she worked with other 'questionable' researchers who were fascinated by the Borg and their advanced tech to understand exactly how the nanoprobes worked and functioned.

"You wanted to crack their coding language?" Ezri questioned and Savannah nodded before pickup up the story from there.

When she was seventeen, the Federation went to war with the Dominion, and both Sarah and Kyle began their rotational deployment.

After Sarah lost her arm during her first deployment, Savannah convinced her parents to let her experiment on a single nanoprobe and attempt to reprogram it.

One month later, she managed to bypass the security, overwrite the existing protocols, and upload her own custom functions.

All she had it do was etch her name in the transparent-aluminum dish it was contained in.

"And you're sure that it couldn't revert? That it wasn't lulling you into a false sense of security?"

"Yes," Savannah replied with resolution echoing loudly in her voice. "If you isolate just one of them, it has no collective processing power with other linked nanoprobes."

"And the other 'researchers' confirmed this?"

"They did. We weren't the only people to get our hands on nanoprobes. At least two others confirmed that any single nanoprobe cannot reset its coding due to its limited storage capacity. If it were surrounded by other unmodified nanoprobes, or in the presence of some other Borg tech, only then would it be possible for the programming to revert."

With that reassurance, Dax nodded in acquiescence and let the redhead continue.

Savannah explained that for the next two months, she worked with other renegade programmers to develop a medical diagnostics program. They intended it to be adaptable to almost any carbon-based lifeform so that it could service a wide variety of species.

For her co-workers, it was simply a system that they could use for their own purposes outside of regulatory control. Shady to say the least, but Savannah had no issue with it. This particular group had no idea about her interest in Borg technology, and it was best that she leave no trail between the different 'personas' she had for interacting over the comm-waves.

Once she had all the pieces, the nanoprobes, a way to reprogram them, and the software to enable them to heal, she set about putting them together.

Four months into the war, she succeeded in reviving individual cells with various forms of damage. Physical, chemical, age-related, and phaser damage were all able to be repaired if the cell was intact enough.

From there, she enabled their replication routine and made one nanoprobe into a million.

Then she revived a dead house plant, followed by a fly, then a mouse, and, finally, a fox.

"I remember when that fox woke up," Sarah whispered, "and it sniffed your hand before you could move it back."

Savannah nodded, "I thought I'd feel elated like the Doctor did when he brought back Neelix."

"But?" Ezri queried.

"But," she breathed out as the memory surged again, "I felt like Dr. Frankenstein. Messing with powers I barely understood."

Even though the preliminary scans had indicated that the nanoprobes had migrated to intestines and self-destructed to be expelled, Savannah refused to take the risk.

To make sure, Savannah was forced to put the animal down so that she could subject it to high-intensity scans that would have killed it otherwise.

Results had shown that all of the nanoprobes had followed their instructions to a tee, proving that her code was ready for the next phase of testing: a humanoid subject.

"I hope you ran simulations as a precautionary measure."

"Of course. I had them running full time after we revived the fox. All of the scenarios came back with expected results, and my co-workers reported similar when using the diagnostic software in their own usage."

Despite the reassurances, Ezri could tell the ensign was smart enough to realize just how risky the endeavor still was despite all the precautions and research that went into it.

Then there were the moral and ethical dilemmas involved with such experiments, and Ezri honestly didn't feel like peeling back that particular onion at the moment. It didn't matter that it had already been done successfully. Experimenting on the corpse of a sentient being was not something any normal person would consider doing, but these weren't normal people.

Ezri couldn't even consider them 'bad' people. She could even sympathize with them considering what she'd witnessed during the Orb experience, but that didn't make it right.

"Why did you choose Ziyal?"

To that question, Savannah answered with conviction.

"Because, if you're going to give someone a second chance at life, it'd better be someone worthy of it. Someone whose character is above reproach. Someone whose light makes the universe a brighter place. For me, I'd barely knew anyone outside of my classmates and parents at the time, and I couldn't exactly help anyone from Voyager or the Enterprise-D."

The Next Generation had already ended three years previously, and Voyager was still way out in the Delta Quadrant. Deep Space Nine characters had been all she could choose from, and considering just how morally grey that cast of characters was, Tora Ziyal was pretty much the only option.

A highly ironic option considering that her father, Gul Dukat, was the penultimate villain of the series.

When Savannah had made her final choice, the 21-year-old Cardassian/Bajoran hybrid, an aspiring artist, had been set to die during the retaking of DS9 in the coming month. She was as pure a soul as one could ask for, even though life continued to disappoint her, especially when it came to her complicated father.

When she realized her father would not show mercy to Rom, Quark's brother, she'd helped the Ferengi escape and assisted other rebels in fighting back against her father and the Dominion. When one of her father's underlings heard her confessing to her father that she'd betrayed him, he'd shot her in the back with a phaser, killing her.

Out of all the characters across all of Star Trek, few were as wholesome as the tragic figure that was Tora Ziyal.

Savannah laid all of this out for Ezri, and the Trill found that she couldn't argue with her. Jadzia had not been close to the young woman, but she'd known her well enough that Ezri agreed with Savannah's assessment of her character.

"Okay..." Ezri drawled as her mind began picturing how they managed to get the body out of DS9 and back to Earth. "How'd you extract her body?"

"I left that part up to Kyle," Savannah replied before launching into the next phase of her story.

She explained that getting to the body in time had been an enormous challenge. Seventy-two hours was the maximum time limit to revive someone in this manner unless they were placed into stasis quickly after TOD.

Kyle was already assigned to help retake DS9 as one of the foot soldiers who were going to flush out any stragglers and security risks left behind. He purposefully volunteered to be assigned to the Defiant, knowing that it would survive the battle unharmed.

The plan was simple: swap Ziyal's body out with a replicated dummy while everyone was busy celebrating, and then cryo-freeze her corpse until he could get it back to Savannah on Earth.

His underground associates had taken care of the seedier parts of the plan, but it hadn't been hard for them to sneak the fake body in and Ziyal's body out during all the chaos.

Several weeks later, her body was secretly beamed into the same bunker where Savannah had conducted her experiments.

Once Ziyal's body was thawed and placed on a bio-bed, Savannah and Sarah set up security measures just in case something went wrong.

With a hypo full of her reprogrammed nanoprobes in her hand, Savannah pondered not following through as she stared at Ziyal's face.

"She looked so peaceful," Savannah whispered as the memories ghosted in front of her. "We knew how she'd react, and I just planned on sedating her and sticking her back in that cryo-tube."

Ezri said nothing as her features held a stony, yet slightly constipated expression.

"You must think I'm a monster, or at least, a reckless fool too consumed by fear and grief to really consider the consequences of her actions."

"Were you?"

Sarah stayed silent as her daughter thought long and hard about that.

"No," Savannah resolved. "I know the stakes. I knew what could happen if they got out of control. I knew what would happen if we allowed ourselves to get picked off one by one if Skynet ever invaded. We needed those nanoprobes, just as Kyle needed the One-N-Done."

Ezri cocked her head at the strange name before she recalled the weapon he'd destroyed the TX-4A with.

"That was your knee-jerk reaction," Sarah reminded. "Kyle and I both talked you out of it."

Savannah pulled her legs into her chest and sank her head between her knees. "I never did thank you for helping me. I know you were never a fan of the whole... Lazarus project."

Her adoptive mother smiled, "I'm still not, but you and Kyle were right. Skynet's pulling out all its toys. We need a few ourselves if we're going to survive."

A silence enveloped the room for a moment before Dax brought things full circle.

"It worked, I assume." Her fingers were steepled together with her chin resting on them as Sarah and Savannah's attention drew back to her.

"It did," Savannah breathed. "The nanoprobes did exactly what they were supposed to do and dissolved after migrating to her large intestine."

"Did she wake up?"

Again, Savannah nodded. "Yeah, and go figure, she freaked out."

"She had me up against a wall at one point," Sarah commented idly. "I didn't think she had that kind of strength."

"The Breen made her work in a dilithium mine for six years," Ezri reminded her. "And Cardassians are naturally stronger than humans, especially when they're cornered."

Savannah pinched the bridge of her nose as a headache threatened to form in her skull.

"We did get her to calm down, and we explained what was going on and what we'd done to her. She kind of broke down after that, and I had no idea how to deal with it, so Sarah sat with her the whole night since I had classes in the morning."

"Eventually," Sarah continued, "We got her to agree to be cryo-frozen until we had ensured the timeline's integrity."

Ezri snorted, "Something that's not going very well at the moment, is it?"

"No, it's not," Savannah admitted sadly. "Hence why we brought her up."

Suddenly Ezri understood where this was going. "You want to use her as a bargaining chip!?" She yelled incredulously.

Savannah motioned for her to keep her voice down. "What else do we have to use against him? Even if we told him what was going on, you can't trust someone like him! He tells lies like he's breathing."

Ezri almost wanted to retort that Savannah and her family had done the same thing for the better part of two decades, but refrained. She knew, deep down, that these people could never lie half, as well as Garak, could on his worst day. He devoted his life to being a secret operative out of his own free will. The Reeses and Savannah had no other alternative but to lie and blend in as best they could.

Exhausted and slightly overwhelmed, Ezri took a moment to collect her thoughts before speaking again.

"I'll be honest," she began, "I think what you did was reckless and immoral."

Savannah didn't even blink at her judgment, and neither did Sarah.

"That being said, we're all going to have to make plenty of questionable decisions before all of this is over."

Sarah gave a curt nod while Savannah leaned back against the wall.

"What about Garak?" The ensign asked.

"We're not using Ziyal," she said firmly.

Sarah suddenly looked up sharply as an idea popped into her head. "What about Sisko?"

Ezri's eyebrows screwed up in confusion. "I'm not following..."

Savannah, too, perked up. "In a Pale Moonlight?"

Sarah nodded. The famous Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode featured Sisko and Garak working together to trick the Romulans into joining their side of the Dominion War. Doing so forced Sisko to make many compromises on his morals to make the Romulans think the Dominion was planning an invasion of their territory. At the end of the episode, Sisko described in a personal log how unsettled he was by his choices, but despite that, he thought he could live with the decisions he made, or at least, learn to live with them.

A guilty conscience was a small price to pay for victory over such an overwhelming, villainous foe.

Ezri knew nothing of this.

"A what?"

Again, the mother-daughter duo shared a knowing look, and it was getting old.

Sarah spoke first. "You need to ask Sisko about he got the Romulans to join the war."

The Commander shook her head. "Why? We all know that the Dominion planned to betray to Romulans and they found out."

"It's Sisko's story to tell," Savannah affirmed. "He may know how to deal with Garak too."

Realizing she wasn't going to get any more out of them, Ezri pursed her lips as annoyance and anxiety washed over her in equal measure.

"Fine, but I'll need a way to talk to him first."

Savannah smiled. "We have a few ideas."

The rest of their time together was spent updating her on the T-X4A and then planning out the theft and refit of the Enterprise-E.

After Ezri crawled into her bed at 0300 and exhaustion began to pull her into a deep sleep, she wondered how Sisko would handle Garak when he came to the station later that week. She also felt the pit in her stomach as she wondered what he'd done to ensure the Romulans had joined the war.

---

June 25, 2381

Deep Space Nine

It had been a while since he'd seen this place with human eyes, and he had to admit, he missed it.

Most of the place remained as it had since he'd left, but there were upgrades here and there that he noticed, and entire shops on the promenade had come and gone during his absence.

With his Bajoran disguise, grown-out hair, and full beard, Benjamin Sisko found that he blended in well with the crowd, who were oblivious to their Emissary's presence.

He'd already talked to Ezri about the whole Garak situation, a conversation that had taken an awkward turn when she brought up his involvement in bringing the Romulans into the Dominion War.

Needless to say, it was going to be a while before she spoke to him amicably outside of a professional setting.

Despite that, they'd had agreed that Sisko would be the best person to convince Garak to lie to Kira.

The sheer shock of his reappearance was one reason, the other was the respect that they knew Garak held for Sisko. With both, he should be able to get Garak on their side without having to reveal too much.

According to the itinerary that Ezri provided him, Garak was going to visit Ziyal's grave on Bajor to pay his respects.

A graveyard wasn't the best place to ambush someone, but it was the only opening they had before the USS Bellerophon picked up Garak and the rest of his Cardassian entourage.

After a few more moments of reminiscing, Ben stepped into one of the turbo lifts and headed for the transport pad that would take him back to Bajor.

Several hours passed before he found himself standing amongst the dead. Some of the names he knew from his time as the Emissary, but most were unknown to him.

He found Tora Ziyal's grave marker in the section reserved for those who died in the resistance. Kira, he knew, had fought for her place here considering what'd she'd done to help Kira and the others to stop the Dominion from coming through the wormhole.

It was almost a shame that all Kira's hard work had been for a fake corpse.

He kneeled before another marker just a few feet away and began praying. It was recent enough that it would work as a guise, but also that the prayers would mean something if the person had any relatives or friends still living.

After about ten minutes or so, Garak arrived. His guards stayed a respectable distance back, but still within firing range of their phaser rifles.

The man knelt in front of Ziyal's marker but said nothing. Whatever was going through his mind, he was keeping it to himself.

After a minute or so, Sisko breathed deeply and spoke the word that could save the whole operation, or damn them.

"Garak."

He dragged out the syllables in a deep drawl that he knew would draw the Cardassian's attention.

To Garak's credit, he didn't even flinch upon hearing Sisko's voice, allowing only his eyes to widen for a fraction of a second before returning to normal.

"I can't say I'm completely surprised," the man replied with his eyes still firmly set on Ziyal's fake grave. "I had my doubts of course, but only you could get Colonel Kira and the Bajorans so up in arms."

Sisko huffed as amusement spread across his face. "Especially if they're asking the state head of Cardassia for assistance."

A smile spread across Garak's face, but Sisko only caught it out of his peripheral vision.

"Indeed."

A moment of silence passed between them before Sisko spoke up again.

"There's a storm coming, Garak. One big enough that both the Prophets and the Q are getting involved."

Several moments passed while the former Cardassian spy digested that bit of info.

"I take it the fate of the galaxy is at stake?"

His tone made it sound as if he were telling a joke, but Sisko knew him better than that.

"That's one way to put it," he responded he replied gravely. "It's not something we want getting out."

"We?"

"Just me, Ezri, the Reeses, and their daughter."

"And that's enough?" He questioned as his eyes twitched toward the former station commander.

"There may be a few others involved, but that's irrelevant for the time being."

"Why keep it secret? Why not go to Starfleet?"

Sisko had no doubt Garak had his own thoughts as to why.

"There are certain 'groups' we'd prefer to keep out of this. Lest they use what they learn to their advantage."

"Ah." He said smoothly as his suspicions were confirmed. "Not even the good doctor?" Garak queried about Julian Bashir.

"The fewer people that know, the better off we'll be."

Another pregnant pause enveloped them as the once-tailor mulled over the information. "You're going to do something big, aren't you? Something so big that you're trying to minimize the backlash on those you care about."

"I see your deduction skills haven't dulled in the slightest."

A soft snort escaped from the penitent Cardassian. "Politics tends to keep one's mind sharp, wouldn't you agree?"

At that, he let out a soft chuckle. "I've waded through the swamp a time or two."

With the corner of his lips turned up, Garak turned the conversation in a new direction. "I assume you'll want me to lie to Colonel Kira?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble." He affirmed. "Kira has her own part to play in the future of Bajor. She needs to be blameless in all this."

"Of course. I shall do my best to convince her that nothing's amiss and that her dear friend has not returned from the you-know-where."

The sarcasm was biting, but not unearned. It was necessary, though, leaving Kira in the dark. She'd get involved no matter how hard he tried to dissuade her.

He was just about to get up to leave when Garak spoke.

"I assume whatever you have planned requires a base of operations."

Sisko said nothing and let the man figure out that he wasn't going to explicitly tell him.

"I'll take that as a yes," he said with a smug expression on his face, even though he knew Sisko could barely see it while they maintained their appearances of mourning men.

"I don't suppose you have an unused, out-of-the-way place that would fill such a need? One that might give you a convenient way to keep tabs on what we're doing..."

"Actually, I do have a place. Empok Nor to be precise."

Deep Space Nine's twin sister had been decommissioned almost a decade prior. The place had been a source of spare parts for DS9 during Sisko's tenure as station commander, but now that they were allies with Cardassia, they could get the parts straight from the source.

"I planned to have it scrapped given its current condition and outdated design, but if you think you could make use of it..."

It would be useful, and a perfect place to retrofit the Enterprise after they'd stolen it. The only problem was its location: it was well known and not hard to find.

"Given that its location is hardly classified, I don't think it'll suit our purposes," he supplied while shifting his weight to relieve the cramp growing in his leg.

"Oh, don't worry. That won't be a problem."

With that, Garak stood up and walked away.

Sisko would later find out that the enigmatic Cardassian had the station towed to a discreet location just inside a nebula, deep within Cardassian territory.

While that might have been an issue when he was tied down by rules and regulations, now things were a lot more... unregulated. With Isabel's help, they managed to make something of the old station. With repairs being carried out by maintenance drones designed and controlled by the Smart AI, and plenty of resources left behind by Garak, Empok Nor returned to full operational status and became a permanent base of operations for Sisko's little team.

It would be there where they would develop the technology that would allow them to steal, retrofit, and command the Enterprise-E. Then, hopefully, they could stop the nightmare barreling towards them like a freight train down a mountain.

Only time would tell if they would succeed.

---

A/N: Oh boy, this was a doozy to write. Even though I outlined the whole thing, it was still a pain to really think through the scenes and get into the heads of all the characters.

I have part of the next chapter planned out but don't expect it right away. I'm helping out family at the moment and that cuts down my time for thinking/writing.

Just to give you an idea of what's planned next, it shouldn't be more than two or three chapters before our groups meet up and the final part of the story really begins to take off.

The next chapter will switch back to the Halo universe and will be series of shorts scenes from a variety of characters, including Skynet, whom we have heard from in a long time...