When they got to the conference room, they found Starfleet and Bajoran Militia security outside the door. Inside, Dylan and Sisko waited with Jadia Dax; Andromeda's screen image filled the conference room screen.

Sisko said, "Olma, could you wait outside?"

"Of course, Captain." She left.

Tyr said, "Uh-oh."

Worf frowned. "'Uh-oh'?"

"This is where we find out the situation is far worse then we previously imagined," Tyr explained, "and that there will be dire consequences for up to and including the entire universe if we do not resolve this crisis."

"Does this happen to you everywhere you go?"

"All the time. Curiously enough, that part of my luck hasn't changed much since I left the *Andromeda.*"

Worf grunted.

Sisko smiled. "I see you gentlemen are coping with your situation?"

Worf said, "We will do what is asked of us." He turned to Tyr. "Will we not?"

Tyr nodded. "So…how bad is it?"

"Dax?" Sisko said.

"It's pretty bad," Dax said. "At each moment of transposition, we recorded seismic disturbances on every planet in the Bajor system and increased activity on Bajor's star. Every other planet in the Federation has reported the same effects at exactly the same time, and they are worse each time. Andromeda's side doesn't have FTL communication, but the Collectors dispatched couriers and have received reports of the same thing on their side."

Tyr said, "Some kind of shock wave?"

"It is worse than that…Commander Anasazi," Andromeda answered. "The two universes share some identical physical properties. Newtonian mechanics, gravitation, chemistry, electromagnetism, relativity, most biology and many subatomic particles behave according to exactly the same physical laws. But other higher energy effects are different."

"For instance," Dax explained, "Andromeda's FTL is based on the slipstream. We have discovered that here. But in this universe, it would take the combined output of a thousand warp cores to open a portal the size of an electron. Hardly practical for interstellar travel."

"And Persieds researched the kind of space warping Dax's side uses," Andromeda said, "as a method of travel A. I.'s could navigate. They found that even if it wasn't several orders of magnitude slower than slipstream, it took an impractical amount of energy. That research was abandoned."

"At a sub quantum level, our space times are fundamentally incompatible," Dax said, "but the Orb of Ages has created a connection between them. It is like two tissues rejecting each other. And even when there are no visible macroscopic disruptions, at the sub-quantum level, things are getting worse by the second. We estimate that if we don't break the connection in 24 hours, both universes will be completely destroyed."

"Told you," Tyr said.

"Indeed," Worf said. "But what is to be done? And why are you conferring with us first?"

Dax nodded. "As noted, the universes have many similarities, so Andromeda and I started cross referencing."

Andromeda's image shrank to a corner of the screen, while the rest filled with a star map of part of the Milky Way Galaxy. Two dots appeared on the map, one green and one pink.

Andromeda said, "This is a map of this quadrant of the Milky way Galaxy. The green dot is Earth; the pink dot is Bajor."

"Earth's star system is identical in both universes," Dax said, "although their histories diverge after the year 1965 by the Gregorian Calendar. Bajor is a dead world on the other side and a thriving world here, but both star systems have the wormhole and the Orb of Ages, and the wormhole ends at the same point in both Mily Way Galaxies. We started cross-referencing to see what else we could find."

Two more dots appeared, one red, one white.

Andromeda said, "in Worf's biography, the red dot is Romulus, home of the Romulan empire, who's attack killed his family. And in Tyr's life, it is-"

"Enge's Redoubt," Tyr yelped, "home of the Drago-Kasov pride?"

Dax nodded. "And the Dragon attack killed your family."

"Then the white dot must be Khitomer," Worf said, "the outpost where my family was murdered."

"We did not have a name for the planet," Tyr said. "We lived on an asteroid in a high, synchronized orbit."

"Asteroid? Khitomer's main defensive batteries were on an asteroid that had been moved into orbit. Dax, do you and Andromeda have-"

"Images of the asteroids?" Andromeda said. "Yes. Displaying."

The larger portion of the screen split, but both sides showed exactly the same asteroid.

Worf and Tyr exchanged glances.

Dylan said, "Your enemies come from the same star system. You were orphaned in attacks on the same planet. And you both have beautiful wives who died. That can not be a coincidence."

"If there was any doubt before," Sisko intoned, "there is none now. Gentlemen, everything that has happened has been all about you."

Dylan smiled, turning on the charm. "But let's not forget you're not the only ones involved. This is also about Freya and K'Elyr, too."

Sisko smiled. "Indeed. Ladies? Would either or both of you have any insight into the current situation?"

"Yes, ladies," Dylan said, "Ben and I agree you may have a great deal to say to us."

Freya and K'Elyr's faces hardened …..