Bajor was a forested world dotted by the ruins of abandoned cities, but it had no sentient life. The sky churned with clouds as the *Maru 9* and the Klingonean transport touched down next to the remains of a cathedral like building surrounded by tents and temporary buildings.

Julian recognized Brother Traejen as he ran over; not surprisingly, the monk's robes had changed.

"Doctor!" Traejen pleaded, other men following him. "Thank the Prophets you've come. Everything changed, and…and there are animals in the-" He broke off has he took in Bendylan, Tyworrf, Bekyra, Rax, Trance, Guinan, Olma, and the Klingonean soldiers. "Who are…what…"

"It's all right, Brother," Julian soothed. "These people are here to help."

Bendylan nodded to the monk. "We'll do what we can…Brother. Please, show the way."

The temple/cathedral had huge chunks of its ceiling missing. The orb ages floated under a hole in the ceiling, glowing red with a white tesseract twisting inside it. Orange lightning began to flash in some of the clouds overhead, and the wind picked up.

Jadommie looked up at the ceiling. "Bendylan, we're running out of time."

"I thought you said we had 18 hours left, Rax."

"That was an estimate, Ben. But from the radiations I'm picking up, the sub-quantum instability Trance and Guinan told us about is acceler-"

The orb flashed white and orange light washed out. Then it went back to "normal."

"Everyone all right?" Bendylan said. He turned to Bashir, Trance, Guinan, and Olma. "Do you see anything different?"

Bashir shook his head. "No-"

More armed Klingonean soldiers surged in, training rifles on Bendylan's group. Bendylan recognized the leader, with blonde and black hair, dressed in ornate gold armor.

"Chancellor Duke Gowlivar," Bendylan said. "Tyworrf? You didn't tell me he'd been invited to the party."

Olma snorted, "He had nothing to do with it." She stepped away from the group. "Show yourself! You've tipped your hand, and you might as well relish your 'victory.'"

Frey'Eleyr came around a supporting pillar with a gun drawn and charged towards the group. "I've had just about enough of you, old woman!"

Olma's hand slipped into the folds of her gown. "Don't talk to me like that, girl! I'm still your better." Her hand found the shriller and she turned it on. The device's shriek had no effect on the humans or the mystery women, but the Klingoneans all grabbed their ears and cringed. Olma charged at Frey'Eleyr and punched her, knocking her to the floor.

Olma scooped up Fery'Eleyr's gun and aimed it at the Klingonean queen. With her other hand she reached into her pocket and turned off the shriller. She pulled it out, tossed it and caught it. "Thank you, Seamus Harper." She turned serious: "Have your men lower their weapons. You know I will shoot you if I don't see you of use to me."

Frey'Eleyr nodded as she stood up. "Do as she says," she ordered Gowlivar.

Tyworrf stepped forward. "Beloved? What's going on?"

"Have you truly not figured it out?" Olma said. "Or are you just keeping yourself in denial? Who else would be behind this? Or more properly, her antecedents were. Think about it. If multiple universes share the tale of a great warrior who loses the love of his life, it stands to reason there are other universes where a great warrior dies and his love risks everything to bring him back from beyond the veil." She focused on Frey'Eleyr. "Is that not so?"

Frey'Eleyr nodded. "Freya and K'Elyr tried to soldier on after they lost their beloveds," she explained, her voice carrying echoes of other women's voices, "but even in places where they were shown kindness, nothing could life the weight from their hearts. Then they heard of the Orb of Ages, and its connection to other universes. They used it to search for a universe where they and their mates survived, but found none. Their existences seemed to be mutually exclusive. But when they were about to give up, they became aware of each other and realized that with their combined wills, they could create a universe where they and their loves would be together."

Bendylan stepped forward. "But you ended up combining the universes," he said, "and it turns out they're incompatible. If we can't separate them, they'll destroy each other-"

"Let them be destroyed!" Frey'Eleyr snapped. "Let everything be burned down. Nothing else matters as long as I'm with my husband."

Tyworrf crossed to his wife. "Beloved, how can you say that? What about the people whose lives have been subsumed into ours? What about the multitudes who will soon perish without ever knowing why? Are you truly prepared to sacrifice them all?"

"And you are not?"

"There is no honor in surviving at the cost of so many, not even…even for another moment of happiness-"

The ground shook. The wind picked up; in the sky, orange lightning flashed between dark violet clouds against a green sky.

Bendylan lead Rax towards the orb. "Rax! Can you stabilize the situation? Buy us some time?"

Tyworrf turned from Frey'Eleyr and took a few steps towards his former shipmates. "Is such a thing possible?"

Jadommie extended her hand. "I may be able to broadcast a harmonic that could make the orb stabilize the subquantum fluctuations, assuming I can caclculate the right frequency."

Frey'Eleyr turned her back on the orb and Tyworrf. "After all I've done, you would still try to help me? I suppose that's your nature: In every universe, the captain is a just and fair man."

The tone of her voice got Tyworrf's attention. "Beloved?"

Then he heard the sound of a blade entering flesh.

Tyworrf rushed to Frey'Eleyr just as she began to fall. He caught her and saw the handle of one of her own daggers sticking out of her chest. He yanked it out of the wound and pressed his hand to it. "Just hang on," he said as he knelt with her in his arms. He raised his eyes. "Doctor-"

"No, beloved," Frey'Eleyr said, "no. The orb is bound to my life force. This is the only way." She swallowed, then went on: "The warrior's great love sacrifices herself for the good of all. A fitting end to our tale, don't you think?"

Tears streamed down Tyworrf's cheeks. "I would have preferred 'and they lived happily ever after.'"

"Indeed? I always liked tear-jerkers. Isn't that funny?" She reached up and brushed his cheeks with her fingers. "We had our time together; now, I die content. Suc…success, my love. Live…well…"

Her hand flopped to the floor, and she settled into Tyworrf's arms, her chin settling onto her breast. She looked as if she were sleeping.

Traejen said quietly, "May the Prophets welcome her and grant her tortured soul eternal peace."

Bendylan and the others could just stare as Tyworrf rocked back and forth, tears streaming down his cheeks.

The sky calmed, its colors returned to normal as the clouds dissipated. The tesseract slowed its twisting and the orb's orange light began to dim…

…a green light or mist came at them from all directions and washed over them…

…and then…