Beka sat in the pilot seat of the *Maru* and watched the video record transmitted from the *Andromeda* play on the monitor above her head.

"I don't like threats," Beka said on the screen, drawing her pistol in the corridor of the *Andromeda Ascendant.*

"Neither do I," Gerentix said, "which is why I brought him along."

The big doors behind Gerentix opened, and Worf lead his squad of mercenaries in.

"I'll take it from here," the big Klingon boomed.

"Freeze playback," Beka said. The image froze. Beka closed her eyes and put herself back in that day, the moment she'd seen Worf for the first time, coming through the airlock in a chain mail shirt.

"Damn," Beka said. She looked down at the stack of photos on her lap. Dylan had insisted on having group photos of himself and the crew taken every year. Every one of them showed Worf. Tyr Anasazi was as absent from the photos as he was from her memories. And Worf loomed large, in more ways than one.

"Boss?" Harper appeared in the monitor.

"Harper," Beka said, "tell me you don't remember Worf."

"Yeah, unfortunately I do remember ol' Worthless, and I don't want to think about him."

"So when we fought the Magog…"

"It was him."

"And the 'Where's there's life there's hope' stories-"

"It was him!"

"Yeah, ok, so someone has turned reality into an etch-a-sketch, and we have to undo it."

"Yeah, well, one way or another, we had a big stoic warrior type betray us, and I will be happy when whichever one of them who's supposed to have done it is out of our lives again."

Beka chuckled. "Thanks for being you, Harper. Stay in touch."

Harper left the screen.

"Any luck?" Major Kyra asked, entering with Dylan and Sisko behind her.

"Nope," Beka said as she came up from the pilot's well. "I've checked the *Maru's* records, the *Andromeda's,* and talked to Harper. Everything agrees Worf was part of the *Andromeda's* crew. Worf, Tyr, Freya, K'Elyr and Olma are the only ones who know any different."

Kyra said, "What about Guinanan and your Trance Gemini?"

"Major," Sisko said, "I have the impression involving our mystery woman might not be helpful."

"Damn," Beka said. "Can this get any weirder? What I'm saying? Of course it can."

"And what about alternate realities?" Kyra said. "What's it like to live through that? Chief O'Brien once got kicked forward in time thanks to the point singularity in a Drago-Kasov warp …. Well, somebody's warp core. Just a few hours, then he'd snap back. But he saw the destruction of Deep Space Nine, and I was killed…and I wasn't. I get a headache from thinking about it."

Beka nodded. "I once met a future version of myself. She was a tough-as-nails cyborg, but that's because the *Andromeda* was destroyed. But it wasn't, so, am I supposed to be a cyborg now? What was it like for her?"

"It seemed so simple when I was assigned to DS9. I have a big mouth, and they kicked me up to be second bannan to a Federation panty-waist…" Kyra turned to Sisko. "No offense, Benjamin; things have changed since then." Back to Beka: "Anyway, I remember thinking, 'Well, at least it'll be quiet.' Hardly."

"When I salvaged the *Andromeda,*" Beka said, "I thought the worst thing I'd have to deal with was Harper going on and on about the sexual escapades he'd have on Seraglio with his money. Never saw a dime. And when Dylan said he wanted to reform the Commonwealth, all I could think was, 'Ok, maybe the time dilation scrambled his brains somehow-'" She broke off turned to Dylan. "But obviously, I was wrong about you."

"Say, Beka, do you like root beer?"

"I don't hate it, Kyra."

"Nyres. Kyra is my family name."

"Ah."

"Anyway, I was thinking our crews' big brains will need a couple of hours to sort this out, and Quark just got some real root beer from Earth. So I figured I'd treat you to some root beer and we could compare notes on dealing with the weirdness." Kyra turned to Sisko. "With your permission, Captain."

Sisko nodded. Kyra and Beka left.

"Ben, I am probably the last person to tell anyone how to run his command," Dylan said, "but I'd hate to think I was being a bad influence."

Sisko smiled. "It may be a little late for that."

"Yes, but still, do you want your XO off active duty during a crisis?"

"Normally, I would agree, Dylan. But at the moment, our first officers aren't trying to murder each other. I will take what I can get."

"I had a hunch you'd say that…"