Worf sat patiently on the bed in medical as Trance passed a scanner over him. K'Elyr stood nearby, her nose in a flexie.

Trance put her scanner down and sighed. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Good," Worf answered.

"Good," Trance said, "because I have never seen anything like you before, so I have no baseline to judge your condition by. You could be in perfect health or terminally ill for all I know."

"I passed my last physical with flying colors."

"How long ago was that?"

"Two months ago."

"Good. Then I'm not too worried about you, although I'm concerned about the operation of some internal organs I've never seen." She picked up a hypo and turned to K'Elyr. "As for you-"

K'Elyr looked up. "Hmm?"

"Roll up your sleeve, please."

K'Elyr obeyed. "What's that?" she asked.

"Nanobots," Trance said. "In our universe, inter-species breeding isn't possible, but it is in yours. So the question is will your DNA hold together or unravel while you're here, and unraveling would be bad. These will monitor your condition and alert me if anything starts to go wrong."

"Oh, ok."

Trance gave her the shot. "There." She picked up a hand-held. "The nanobots are transmitting, and so far, everything looks ok. But I want both of you to alert me if you feel odd." She turned to Worf. "I mean *anything,* Worf. I know stoic warrior-types like you will shrug off any pain or discomfort, but in this case, you can't afford to."

Worf smiled. "I will follow your instructions…Doctor Gemini."

Trance smiled. "Good! If only all my patients were so agreeable. And it's just 'Trance.'"

The door slid open and Dylan entered.

Worf stood up and got to attention. "Captain," he said.

"As you were," Dylan said.

Worf sat down.

Dylan smirked. "Damn," he said, "it has been a while."

K'Elyr chucked. "He's not even from our universe, much less your superior."

"He should still get the respect he's due," Worf said.

Dylan arched his eyebrows. "If only I had more like you on this side," he said. "Trance? How are our friends doing?"

"Ok, as far as I can tell," Trance said. "Worf has some bruises but that's no big deal. My biggest worry is K'Elyr's hybrid DNA. I've injected her with nanobots to monitor it in case it starts to unravel in our universe. So far, no problems."

"Then I guess the next question is how you got here," Dylan said. "Especially you, K'Elyr. Apparently, you're supposed to be dead."

"And never having seen you before," Trance added pleasantly, "we can't tell if you're the genuine article."

K'Elyr nodded. "Well, Worf and I pretty much know when realities diverged, but it'll take a little explaining."

"We have time," Dylan said.

"Ok," K'Elyr said. "When Tyr was a child, his family visited a Klingon outpost named Khitomer. His father suspected someone of plotting with another species, the Romulans, and followed the trail there. While the family was there, the outpost was attacked and destroyed by the Romulans. Worf was orphaned in the attack, but he was rescued by a Federation starship that responded to the outpost's distress signal. Worf was adopted by one of the crew and raised in the Federation. That's how he ended up in Starfleet."

"Huh," Dylan said. "Sorry, but Tyr was also orphaned by an enemy attack. He pretty much had to fend for himself, though. In any event, from the sound of things, I'm guessing that Worf's father's suspicions were correct."

"Yes," K'Elyr said. "Someone transmitted the access codes to Romulan patrol ships, allowing them to remotely deactivate the outpost's…defenses. But no one knew who had done it. Twenty years later, long after Worf had joined Starfleet, the Klingon High Council discovered from a captured Romulan ship who had betrayed them: Ja'Rod, Worf's father's rival, whose family had survived the massacre and whose son, Duras, was a member of the high council."

"Ouch," Dylan said.

"As the son of a traitor," Worf said, "Duras could have been executed for his father's crimes, but the council feared that would split the empire. So they declared my father a traitor to the empire."

"By then, Worf was serving aboard the *Enterprise,*" K'Elyr added. "The council figured that Worf wouldn't find out about the charges against his father, and it wouldn't affect his life in the Federation anyway, so the matter would be quietly buried. They didn't reckon Worf had a younger brother. He'd been raised in secret by another family."

"As the elder brother," Worf said, "I had a duty to challenge the charges against my father."

"Worf and Captain Picard uncovered the truth," K'Elyr said, "but the council wouldn't budge." She smiled sardonically. "One family's honor wasn't worth a civil war."

"For the sake of the empire and my brother," Worf said, "I accepted dis-commodation."

"He was ostracized by his own people," K'Elyr said, "not even his own brother could talk to him, and he and Captain Picard were sworn to secrecy over it. Jump ahead a year later, and Duras was a candidate to succeed the Supreme Chancellor, who had been poisoned. Captain Picard was called in to arbitrate it because, ironically enough for all their talk about honor, no Klingon could be trusted. I was there, too, and I learned pretty quickly something was up. But no one was talking to me about it."

"K'Elyr learned what had happened, and confronted Duras," Worf said, "and…in my reality, he killed her. I claimed my right of vengeance, fought Duras, and killed him. Gowron, the other candidate, became chancellor."

"Well…" K'Elyr said, "…that's where things went…differently for me. When I confronted Duras, he came at me. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in sickbay." K'Elyr's voice started to shake: "Dr. Crusher was…I could tell she was upset about something, but no one told me why. Then Captain Picard came in, and I'll never forget his words: 'K'Elyr, I'm sorry, I regret to inform you Lt. Worf is dead.'" A tear flowed down her cheek. "You had gone to fight Duras, and he had won." Her eyes glittered. "But I got him, Worf. Picard and I took that bastard down. And Gowron became chancellor."

"Very interesting," Dylan said. "But I'm more interested in how you got here. Because it looks like you jumped the tracks of two universes and brought Mr. Worf here along for the ride. Do you know what happened?"

"No, I…." K'Elyr hesitated. "I'm sorry, Captain. One minute I was aboard DS9 - I'd been assigned there to help Captain Sisko deal with the Klingons - long story, again - and the next, I was in that place with Worf." She took one of Worf's hands in both of hers. "Being together again….that's all that matters to me now. And our son will have both his parents."

"Alexander saw your body," Worf said.

"If he knows anything about the *Enterprise's* missions, he'll get used to it." She kissed Worf. "Everything else can take care of itself." She turned back to Dylan. "I'm sorry, Captain. If I could provide more information, I would."

"I am sure Captain Sisko will help unravel the mystery," Worf said. "There is no cause for concern."

Dylan thought for a minute. "All right," he said, "fine. Then the only question is whether my medical officer is ready to release you."

Trance spread her hands. "They're both fine as far as I can see."

Dylan said, "In that case, Trance, will you escort our friends to Command? I'll be along shortly."

"Of course. This way, please."

After Trance had lead the two Klingons out of the room, Dylan said to the air in front of him, "What do you think?"

Andromeda's hologram appeared in front of him. "Well, unless Worf is a complete sociopath, he's the very model of a military officer. I don't think he can conceive of being treacherous, much less do it. It begs the question of how Tyr would have turned out if he had been raised in the Commonwealth."

"Yes, it does," Dylan said. "And K'Elyr?"

"Definitely hiding something. She knows more than she's telling about what's happened."

"Uh-huh. And what really bothers me is how Mr. Worf will take it when he finds out. Let's hope things don't get any worse."

"It would be nice if that happened for a change, wouldn't it?"