"He'll come back Jake, just wait. The prophets work in mysterious ways." Though he knew that Colonel Kira's words where true he refused to believe them, he refused to believe that somehow all this had happened, that his father had somehow ceased to be the Emissary of the prophets and that literally become one of them. But as much as Jake wanted to just move on he couldn't. "Anyways I should get going." he said.
"Yes your conference on Earth, you have to get going don't you; I'm sure if you show up a minute late they'll take back that Pulitzer Prize they're going to give you." Replied Kira. "Anyways let me walk you to the airlock." So new Bajoran commander of the station and the son of her predecessor walked across the bustling promenade once again full of life and vigor. But once they reached it, to Jake's surprise, no one was there to bid him a farewell, not Dax or Dr. Bashir, not Quark or Morn, not even his best friend Nog. "Oh well I guess this is where we say goodbye. I'm sorry no one else could show up, it was very busy up in Ops. To say we are shorthanded would be a massive understatement. Goodbye Jake." "Goodbye Colonel" replied a now sullen Jake Sisko as he walked onto his transport, took his seat and began to lean back when he heard: "Surprise!" They were all there, hiding behind a bulkhead wait to surprise him, Dax, Nog, Quark, Dr. Bashir and even the Grand Nagus of Ferenginar himself: Rom with his fully-clothed wife, Leeta. "You didn't think we'd forget about you?" asked Dax. "My only question is how much Latinum to you get for winning that prize of yours!" "Uncle," replied Nog "The Pulitzer Prize for journalism has been handed out for centuries, it is the highest honor the Federation can give to Jake for his work writing about the Dominion occupation of DS9." After a few more minutes of talking Jake said "Anyways I'm touched that all of you would show up, I know you are all busy people and this transport does leave in less than a minute. But we must say goodbye. I promise to be back soon and tell you all about my trip." "And don't forget to bring back a whole cargo container of your grandfather's food!" Joked Nog as the rest of the crew walked back out the airlock and as the airlocks closed Jaked yelled back "Anything for the new Chief of Operations of DS9!"
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Colonel Kira sat at her new desk. If there was one thing she didn't expect about the job of the commanding officer of DS9 it was the sheer amount of paperwork that was involved. Reading cargo manifests and intelligence reports and official Bajoran requests and criminal activity reports just seemed to make life on DS9 monotonous at best. How Captain Sisko handled it she didn't know, but for a former resistance fighter this could be enough to drive someone totally insane. But deskwork would be something she'd have to get used to, at least grudgingly. Her getting this job was a great honor, because of the Starfleet commission she received while working with Damar's resistance she could now qualify as a possible replacement for Captain Sisko and after Starfleet asked the crew, both Federation and Bajoran, who they wanted as their next commander they all unanimously chose Kira. Now finished with the criminal activities reports, Kira stood up and walked through the swishing doors down into Ops.
The room was abuzz with people, this would be the day they had all been waiting for since Benjamin Sisko first was assigned to DS9. "We are being hailed by the Dauntless, it is Admiral Ross" Nog proclaimed. "Put him on screen" replied Kira. "Admiral it is great to see you again." "You too Colonel, or should I say Captain Kira." Said Ross enthusiastically. "I don't officially become a Starfleet captain of the this station until the treaty is signed tomorrow afternoon, until then I am still officially a Colonel in the Bajoran militia with a temporary wartime command in Starfleet." Replied Kira. "Don't worry, once Bajor officially enters the Federation tommorow, you'll be officially on our team, that is of course unless the wormhole aliens want to intercede again. Anyways I've also brought your new first officer and science officer, now that the wormhole is now again open for inter-quadrant trade, you'll again be seeing some new and interesting things coming from the Gamma Quadrant and you'll need a science officer. Anyways I'll be seeing you when we dock at 16 hundred hours. Ross out."
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Quark looked at his financial reports in awe. His profit margins had gone through the roof in the last month. With Odo finally gone, his trade in contraband kemocite and his Tholian silk smuggling were netting him a 300 growth in profit. Throw in the fact that his brother was now Grand Nagus and he was now on his path to becoming a private moon owner like his cousin Gaila. The new Bajor chief of security was good but he was not as good as Quark and with Kira too busy with the plans for Bajor's entry into the Federation, Quark had free reign over all the illict trades that he tried. "Want another drink Morn? No need to answer it's on the house, I'm having a good day."
Just as he realized what he had just done, two helmeted figures descended the staircase with a bronze spear in one hand and a giant shield in the other. "I must say, I never realized how fun it is to be fighting a losing battle against all odds and fight to the last man or in my case the last Trill." remarked Ezri as she and Dr. Bashir walked hand in hand towards the bar. "You know lieutenant, if I am correct I believe you may be suffering from annihilation fantasies too." Replied Bashir as he kissed her on the cheek, "Now for the post-holosuite ritual, Quark two pints of your finest draft." Quark replied "I don't know what your hew-mons finds so attractive about a glorious death in battle, its absurd to me, why not just go up and spend some time together under an Atanian sunset, or in one of the pleasure palaces of Septan Prime? Wouldn't that be more fun anyways?" "You'll never understand will you Quark but there are things worth dying for and preventing a Persian Army from destroying Greece is one of them, that is why we choose to fight on just like in the Battle of Britain or at the Alamo, that is why Ezri and I chose to fight the battle of Thermopolae" then Bashir added "that andthe fact that Ezri finds my secret agent program a little degrading" Ezri nodded. "Julian that program is so insulting to women it is no wonder Jadzia would rather spend time playing Tongo with Quark and a bunch of Ferengi than spend it as one of the Russian girls in your program." replied Dax. "What is that supposed to mean, I mean it is time specific isn't it" said Bashir curtly. "Time specific to the Dark Ages! It is the most chauvinist game ever, made so that men like you to play with big toys, get the girl and save the day!" shot back Ezri. Bashir then retorted "My goodness how judgmental can you be, what do you think I am some scoundrel or low life…
"You know Morn," said Quark as the two lovers started yelling. "Love may really not be all that it is cracked up to be after all, just a waste of Latinum if you ask me. But that doesn't mean I'm still not trying."
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Kira's voice rang through the communication systems across the station: "This is the moment we've been waiting for so long for, almost 8 years now. So lets give Admiral Ross a Welcome he'll never forget! Now everyone hurry his ship is docking in less than 15 minutes."