Disclaimer: Star Trek belongs to Paramount, I believe. Well, whoever it belongs to, it's certainly not mine... I'm just borrowing the universe for my own amusement ;)

You search the area carefully, hoping to find some remaining piece of the old station. Wait, what's that? The sensors have picked up something. Carefully, you approach it. It very close to the Donorios Belt, still a dangerous area for starships after all these years. Then, you see it. Partially hidden by a particularly thick cloud of interstellar gas, lies that legendary space station. Three of its tall, arched docking arms have been severed and are orbiting the station like crescent-shaped moons, but for the most part it still looks like it is intact. You manually dock the Xion, your shuttle, and head through the winding corridors. Suddenly, you hear a voice. Didn't your scans tell you that no other life forms were aboard? Brushing your thoughts aside, you listen to the voice. It is female, the voice of an old woman.

The voice...

I'm cold... so cold...

And I'm alone... so very lonely...

For over one hundred years I was surrounded by other life-forms... and now... I'm alone... drifting aimlessly...

My people have not come near me for a long time... Even Starfleet has forgotten about me...

So cold...

Oh!

Hello, I haven't gotten many visitors over the past, say, fifty years. Sorry if the fact that I was talking to myself startled you. You've kinda got to, to keep yourself at least slightly sane after being alone for that long. Who am I?

Well, I think you should know that one.

It isn't that hard, is it? I mean, c'mon, how many other life-forms look like me?

Exactly.

What's that? You want to learn more about me?

Sigh. Well, here goes...

I'm alone, in the vast depths of space... near that wormhole. Ships pass by, but they and their passengers only glance at me curiously, if they even notice me with all the background radiation.

They all go to that newfangled space station... Deep Space Thirteen, isn't it?

At least they could think up a better name, don't you think? I mean... if they've named it DS13 that means that there have already been thirteen other stations before it, all of their names beginning with 'Deep Space'. And heck, it's not like this part of space is unexplored anymore...

At least they modeled it after the old Terok Nor...

Terok Nor... she's a thing of beauty, don't you agree? One of a kind... okay, yes, Empok Nor looks the exact same... but Empok Nor was created second, and she's long dead anyway... how do I know? Well, it's common knowledge, isn't it?

No?

Well, trust me, I watched her being built. Actually, I even moved over for a little to lend a hand in assembling her. And I received transmissions from her for years before she finally ran out of power.

But then Starfleet came. At first, of course, being Cardassian, I didn't like them at all. They took over and I tried to repel them, but they're a resilient bunch. Especially their Chief Engineer, Miles O'Brian.

Ha, I actually remembered his name for once...

What? I am more than two hundred Earth years old you know. What's wrong with me getting a little absentminded?

Anyway, at first he was the one I hated the most out of all of them. He was so good with computers... my attempts at foiling him always ended with him foiling me! Eventually, we got on pretty friendly terms.

And then that spread. To all of them.

Even that hot-headed Bajoran woman, whatever her name was... and that's saying something, as Cardassians and Bajorans usually don't get along that well...

Why?

Er... go read a history PADD, okay?

No! Not right now! I... uh... I'm not done!

Sigh...

Okay, fine, I suppose I am...

Do me a favor, will ya? Download all the data I've collected over the years since I've been abandoned, okay? I mean, you know, there's some pretty recent data about the Donorios Belt in there, and some stuff about the wormhole and other little random things. Oh yes, don't forget about Vic... he's a sentient hologram. Got left behind during the evacuation. I've never been able to reactivate him, but I'm sure with the technology that's out there now someone like Miles could do it...

One last favor? Please?

Thanks. Once you leave, put the station's self-destruct on, okay? Yes, I know you could get in big trouble for that. Just say that you were exploring DS9 and the old relic malfunctioned, how's that sound?

Heck, it's happened enough before... and it's half true...

Thanks. Did you remember Vic? Good. Off you go now, and make sure to push that button... No, not that one, that's the tractor beam... which stopped working thirty years ago... No, those are the phasers... Yes, that one.

"Warning. Selfdestruct set. Station will explode in five minutes."

Better hurry back to your shuttle.

Goodbye.

Five minutes later...

You turn around to watch the station as the Xion undocks from the old relic and moves away at full impulse. It's been almost five minutes. Suddenly, there's an explosion and the station begins to cave in on itself. It's so bright that you have to look away from the viewscreen. When you look back, there is only debris, bits of metal and other materials. And so ends the life of one proud Cardassian, Terok Nor, also known as the fabled ancient Starfleet station of Deep Space Nine.

'May she rest in peace.' you think.