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First Flights into the Gamma Quadrant.

Lieutenant Jadzia Dax looked up from her console to look at the view on the view screen of Ops - she was not sure about the holographic technology used by the Cardassians which was a far cry from the view screen technology employed by the Federation, and many other powers - and she smiled when she saw the small fleet of a joint Vulcan, Andorian, Tellarite and Denobulan science vessels slowly travel to the point of space where the Alpha Quadrant terminus of the wormhole was.

The wormhole was, and always would be, one of the most beautiful things Jadzia had ever seen in her life - including the lives of her symbionts previous incarnations, although they had seen and witnessed many beautiful things. Her symbiont had lived for three hundred years, and it had learnt the lesson over time no event was without meaning although what the meaning of the event would be over the next few centuries was sometimes hard to see.

It was something Jadzia had learnt to accept, and she knew the discovery of the Bajoran wormhole was one of those biggest discoveries in the galaxy; she remembered the discovery of the Barzan wormhole a few years back, and the discovery the wormhole opened into the Delta Quadrant and not the Gamma Quadrant, and was instead unstable despite what the people of Barza claimed, and she recalled the disappointment she had felt when she had learnt the wormhole was just not reliable enough to journey into.

The scientist within her had wanted to scream "What's wrong with you; its a wormhole leading to a different part of the galaxy, and even if it would take years for anyone to get home, there are dozens of ways around that problem. In any case, you've got a wormhole to study."

And yet, practically, she knew it wasn't worth the risk. Even if Starfleet had worked up the nerve to despatch even a fleet of ships into the Barzan wormhole, crewed by people who were unattached to anyone, no families, friends, people like that, it would take years for them to cross the Delta Quadrant and return. At the same time, they would not have any means of sending any communiques unless of course they patiently sent a number of subspace messages over the distance and wait for a couple of centuries for them to be received. But by then they would have likely returned ages ago.

Still, it could have happened.

But this wormhole…

Although she had only been assigned to DS9, Jadzia had spent many hours studying the wormhole. She had even set up a scientific study dedicated to the wormhole on the station. Indeed, she had recently gained so many visits from passing scientists who wanted to study the wormhole pouring over every scrap of data she had found; there were so many she had even relegated them to a waiting list to view that data, and she had collected a vast amount of data.

But Jadzia knew it would be the height of arrogance to think the measly amount of knowledge they had gained so far scratched the surface. There was nothing that explained how the wormhole was stable, why its two termini had not drifted away over the last 10,000 years.

There was a flash of light, and like a flower flinging wide its petals in response of the fresh day, the wormhole opened and expanded like smoke before the glowing entrance to the tunnel within beckoned all travellers into the wormhole, wild energies bleeding out into normal space. The scientist in Jadzia was forever curious about the wormhole, and she knew others were too.

She smiled as she watched the joint scientific fleet enter the wormhole on their way to the Gamma Quadrant; their fleet was going to spend the next eight months exploring the Gamma Quadrant, and Jadzia had no idea what they were going to discover but she genuinely hoped to have a look over their findings when they returned. She could just picture it; new types of atmospheric gases, planets with unique and new elements, perhaps they would find a stellar core fragment, or they would watch a brand new solar system is formed. They might even discover a cure for various plagues, which was one of the reasons the Denobulans were going; but that was expected. The Denobulans might have become reclusive over the years, but their medical knowledge was formidable with their constant expeditions into the galaxy in search of new ways of curing the sick.

The possibilities were endless.

However, her attention towards the wormhole attracted attention.

"Lieutenant?"

Dax looked into the face of Kira Nerys. The Trill had very little insight into the woman's personality despite her fierce attitude, but thanks to the Dax symbionts experience the Trill knew better than to formulate judgements until she knew the person. In any case, she had met several Bajorans recently and she could see the same fierce persona in all of them, which came from being hardened after years of being oppressed. Dax was disgusted by what the Cardassians had done and privately she shared the symbionts beliefs the current peace with them was tenuous.

"I've seen you look at the wormhole several times over the last few weeks," Kira went on, "what are you hoping to see?"

"I just love looking at it," Jadzia smiled, turning back to the screen. The small joint fleet had already gone through, and they would not be back for months. "I look at it, and I see nothing but wonder. Its the first stable, artificial wormhole we know of, and it has allowed us the chance of journeying to a distant point in the galaxy."

Kira couldn't help but smile despite her facade at the passion contained in Dax's voice.

"Every time I see the wormhole, I see a wonder that should be explored and already we have a better understanding of wormhole physics than we've ever had before," Dax went on.

"I thought you already knew about wormholes, that they've been discovered before," Kira observed.

"That's true, but at the same time, there's a lot we don't understand. We're hoping to solve that now with the discovery of the wormhole. What about you, Major?"

Kira blinked in surprise at the question, nonplussed. "What about me?"

"What do you see when you look at the wormhole? I've noticed you always seem happy when you see it," Dax clarified in her typical calm manner.

"When I look at the wormhole I see a new age and new hope for Bajor; the Cardassians destroyed so much, and now we have to rely on help from outsiders to give us aid. There are dozens of my people who would prefer that did not happen, that Bajor stands alone. And while I might share one or two of their views, I know if we had no help, there's a likelihood the Cardassians would return. They've certainly got a good reason to now," Kira lifted her gaze and nodded her forehead at the viewer which was still showing the patch of space they both knew the wormhole terminus was located.

Dax understood her views. "And if they do come back-?"

"Then we wouldn't stand a chance. The Cardassians would come back with a massive army, but first, they'd probably level our cities and make us weaker before they moved in to finish the job and take over Bajor. But with the wormhole, there's a chance we can build a new economy and perhaps even more."

"And its happening, people are coming here and spending money on Bajoran wares. Many of your people have seen the positivity of the wormhole and what it would bring, and they're taking advantage of the opportunity; the Ferengi definitely approve of those who see an opportunity."

"The Ferengi?" Kira repeated incredulously. "You mean like Quark?"

"Yes," Dax folded her arms gently and smoothly. "The Ferengi are capitalists, first and foremost, and while Quark might be like a slimy devil to you, in his mind and the minds of others like him, he's actually doing what comes naturally to him. He can't help it. At the same time, he can admire others being business-minded and if he'd wanted to, he could offer up pointers."

Kira scoffed, unsure if she would have liked that happening to her people. But she had to admit Dax had a point; her people were spending a lot of time developing Bajoran products for selling to passing ships, and there were even plans to open sections of Bajor for holidays which hadn't been touched by the Occupation with the money being spent on repairing and rebuilding whatever damage the Cardassians had caused. She only hoped the more extreme members of the Bajoran resistance did not do anything rash. Some of them had already made it clear they did not like the presence of aliens anywhere near their world, and while she understood their views, she knew they needed all the help they could get. And Sisko had kept his word so far.

"What do you think the wormhole will bring later?" Kira changed the subject to something more long term.

Dax smiled dimly. "I don't know," she replied honestly, "but whatever it is, it will be big."

In the years that followed and the Alpha Quadrant got embroiled in a war, a long terrible war against the Dominion, a powerful empire from the Gamma Quadrant, the two women would remember the conversation and realise they had been right, although they were both disheartened the big consequences of the discovery of the wormhole were bad as well as good.