I don't own Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

Author's note - While I think TNG was great, with incredible moments, I think DS9 was the best because there was more character development with multiple twists and turns that affected everyone.

Let me know what you think, please.

Klingon against Cardassian, Federation against Klingon.

The thing about Klingon Bat'leths was they were easy to use when you got the hang of them. It also helped if you were the former captain of the Academy Wrestling team - granted it was a long time ago, but martial arts was something of a hobby of Sisko's which hadn't gone away. It had helped him many times in the past.

Focus on the fight, Sisko thought to himself as he used his stolen Klingon sword and used it against them, wondering what it was about knives and swords that Klingons found so wonderful when they were bulky.

But at the same time, a part of his mind drifted to the last few days since the Klingon Taskforce had arrived in Bajoran space, led by a Klingon general who was more paranoid than most but had plans to conquer the Cardassian Empire under the foolish belief the Cardassians had become influenced by the Founders of the Dominion. The Klingon High Council had become so terrified of the Dominion getting a foothold when the Cardassians changed government thanks to the Obsidian Order now out of the way after Tain's attack on the Founder's homeworld that it gave the Cardassian Dissident Movement, a civilian organisation tired of the oppressive government, finally gained power, that they had decided to invade Cardassia under the lie of the Alpha Quadrant being under the protection of the Klingons.

Sisko couldn't believe it.

In fact, he knew the Federation couldn't believe it either once they'd received his earlier reports after Commander Worf had told him what the Klingons were really doing.

Gowron and the rest of the High Council believed this was to protect the Alpha Quadrant. They had taken a look at the recent events in Cardassian territory and they believed the change in government was down to Changeling intervention. Sisko could, more or less, see the logic there. The Founders would manipulate the governments, and use that for their own ends.

He could see the Founders doing that, which was one of the reasons why he'd had Bashir check the Detapa Council members to see if they were Founders. They weren't. But at the same time, Sisko wondered what the long term goal was, but he could see it now.

The Founders would love this situation because it would spread suspicion, and after the mess with the Krajensky changeling when a Founder had tried to start a war between the Federation and the Tzenkethi, and the way the Obsidian Order and Tal Shiar fleets were destroyed, it was likely no wonder the Klingons were lashing out like this. Maybe this was all a part of the Founder's long term plan to spread distrust and conflict to make the Alpha Quadrant weaker?

Sisko decided to push that out of the way and he looked around the whole of Ops, but the Klingons were dead and here and there were bodies of Bajoran or Starfleet officers who'd been killed in the fight. He rushed to O'Brien who was just getting to his feet after being thumped in the head by a Bat'Leth

"Mister O'Brien?" Sisko asked in concern. Miles was quite groggy, but he was okay despite the nasty wound on his forehead, "Yeah." Sisko kept his eye on O'Brien to see if he was alright, but the Chief seemed to be recovering quickly. He must have just been dazed.

"Get those shields back online," he went back down to the lower tier to the operations table and he spotted Kira, lying on the ground near the bodies of dead Klingons. "Major?" He asked in concern when he saw she had her hand pushing against a stab wound.

"I'll be okay. It's not as bad as it looks," Kira smiled, although he felt it was more for his benefit than for hers.

He would make sure she got help in a moment, he only hoped she could last that long; Kira might have been conditioned to pain long ago, but he had a lot to deal with right now. That was the trouble of being the captain. "Sisko to Odo," he said, opening a channel to Odo so he could find out what was going on; the rest of the station was vast compared to OPS and he hoped Odo's security detail could handle them.

They had an entire fleet out there, the last thing they needed to do was worry about Klingons storming up here after so many had died. "Odo here."

Sisko held back the urge to grin when he heard the constable's voice - Odo's changeling nature made him a perfect target for the Klingon warriors, it was good to know he was okay. "Status report."

"We have Klingon troops on the Promenade. The habitat ring, and lower pylon three. They seem to be contained for the moment, but I can't guarantee it'll stay that way." Sisko processed the news. He knew Klingons were good but were Odo's people capable of holding them back for long?

"Keep me informed."

"There is another wave of Klingon ships coming in," Worf reported.

Sisko wished he had gotten that piece of news a moment ago, if Odo had overheard the report then he would have been prepared to tell the security detail to expect further trouble.

"I've got the shields back up, but I don't know how long they'll hold," O'Brien said from his console.

Sisko grunted with relief. They could do a lot with the shields back up, and the time would give them the opportunity to hold the Klingons already on the station at bay before he could find something that would make sense to Gowron, anything to stop him from doing this Dax had been monitoring the long-range sensors to see if there were any more waves of Klingon ships coming from Cardassian territory to carry on the siege until the station would be blown to atoms. "I'm reading a cluster of warp signatures approaching, bearing one eight seven mark zero two five," Dax's face suddenly lit up with a dazzling smile before she explained the good news. "It's Starfleet, Benjamin. Six starships, led by the Venture. They'll be here in fifteen minutes."

Sisko took a deep breath like everybody else, but he could use this. "Contact the Negh'Var again. Maybe now Gowron will be in the mood to talk."

Even as he gave the command to open the channel, Sisko wondered if Gowron would talk, if not to discuss a way out of this, but to alert him that Starfleet was coming. "I've got him." Gowron's face appeared on the screen, Martok flanking the Chancellor. "Captain, your shields have been weakened, your station boarded, and more Klingon ships are on their way. Surrender while you can."

Sisko momentarily wondered what would happen to him and to his crew, to say nothing of Bajor, if he gave the command to surrender if it wasn't for the Starfleet Taskforce coming. But he dismissed it. He would never surrender unless he realised he could plan something big from behind the scenes. "I don't think so. My shields are holding, your boarding parties are contained, and my reinforcements are closer than yours. You're facing a war on two fronts. Is that what you really want?"

Worf picked up what Sisko was saying, and he knew the exact words to use to try to talk some sense into Gowron. Sisko was grateful for the chief of security of the late Starship Enterprise's help, but he wondered if Worf still had any kind of influence over Gowron left to make this point. Worf likely wondered the same thing, considering the way Gowron had dishonoured him recently when Worf refused to help in the insane charge across Cardassian territory.

But Worf was clearly prepared to try regardless, and Sisko thanked him for that.

"The Empire is not strong enough to fight the Federation and the Cardassians. End this now, Gowron, before you lead the Empire to its worst defeat in history." On the viewscreen, Martok slammed his fist down on the back of the command chair on the Negh'Var's bridge. "We will not surrender!" Suddenly Sisko understood everything that was going on.

They were being used. The Founders knew any kind of conflict within the Alpha Quadrant would destabilise the region, and any wars that were fought would make it easier for the Jem'Hadar armies to take over what was left. Martok was a seasoned and veteran warrior, and yet he didn't seem able to see it.

Maybe it was as Worf said, there were Klingons who believed their empire had been at peace for too long and that they should and needed to expand in order to survive and the threat of the Dominion had given them the excuse they needed to do that while making their empire stronger. Maybe Martok was one of them, Sisko neither knew nor did he care. All he needed to was to make Martok see that he was being used, that Gowron was being used, something they simply refused to see.

But maybe he would now.

"This is exactly what the Founders want," Sisko said passionately while at the same time desperate to make the Klingons listen. "Klingon against Cardassian, Federation against Klingon. The more we fight each other, the weaker we'll get, and the less chance we have against the Dominion."

He would have said more if Worf hadn't gotten there first. "Consider what you do here, Gowron. Kahless himself said, destroying an Empire to win a war is no victory."

Sisko had never heard the saying, but it was clear Gowron had.

"And ending a battle to save an Empire is no defeat," Gowron finished, sending a meaningful look towards Martok which Martok easily understood because he lashed out, knowing what it was the Chancellor was saying without words.

"We can still win!" Martok protested, sounding very much like a whining child in the throes of a tantrum.

Sisko got there before anyone else could say anything; it was obvious to him Gowron didn't want to fight Starfleet any further, but while the damage was done, it was likely the Chancellor might want to keep relations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire on an amicable level.

But Sisko wasn't sure about that.

The Klingons had killed many of his crew. Destroyed the treaty between their powers. Threatened to invade a Federation space station over a foreign coup.

Maybe war was the only thing between them, now. "Not before those starships get here," Sisko interrupted quickly. "Now, what do I tell them? To stand down or to come in firing?"

"It is we who shall stand down," Gowron declared. "

Ach Gowron, yay chol." Sisko didn't know what Martok said, but he genuinely didn't care. It was likely an argument, or the Klingon for "have you lost your mind?" Gowron's expression darkened.

"Enough. Ceasefire. Order our ships in Cardassian territory to halt their advance. I do not intend to hand victory to the Dominion. But let your people know, the Klingon Empire will remember what has happened here. You have sided against us in battle, and this we do not forgive or forget."

The transmission ended, much to Sisko's relief. He knew the station wouldn't have taken much more, it was only the news Starfleet was nearby that allowed them to survive this whole mess. "The Klingon ships have powered down their weapons," Dax reported checking her instruments.

Sisko glanced over at O'Brien. The Chief looked relieved but mildly disbelieving, almost as if he couldn't believe the news. "It's over."

"For now," Worf said ominously, but Sisko knew he was right. The Klingons had returned to being a major threat in a time when they needed every ally they could find. Gowron and Martok might have stopped the attack, Gowron more than Martok at any rate, but they now knew the Klingons would be back.

The Bajoran wormhole was the only way into the Gamma Quadrant, the only way the Dominion was going to come through into the Alpha Quadrant from the Gamma Quadrant, and they were sitting on it.

The Klingons were going to come back.

Now they would have to fight and face two enemies on two sides. But Sisko wasn't sure if they would come out alive next time.