"Computer, activate the EMH," Bashir instructed after signing off with Sisko. The image of a Bolian woman appeared in front of him, her bright blue eyes the same hue as her skin.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency," she said with pleasant efficiency.
"Keep an eye on these Cardassians until we're ready to transfer them," he replied. "I'll be on the bridge. Here's the summary of their conditions."
He handed the hologram a padd and it looked over the information, nodding. Celec and Nadir were on the Cardassian vessel, preparing the small infirmary to receive the patients who would then be going to Empok Nor for continued treatment.
Bashir left the sickbay, heading for the nearest turbolift, and rode up to the bridge. The rest of the senior staff were already there, even Reth, whose services wouldn't be needed for the Cardassians presently in sickbay. They were unconscious or sleeping, and would have psychological care on hand when they reached Empok Nor. The Cardassians taken into the other universe, however, would desperately need the adept counselor's assistance.
"Shar and Klixa believe they've found a way to reopen the portal into the other universe," Sisko informed Bashir without preamble.
The doctor nodded.
"Good," he said. "How?"
"The tear is still there, barely," Shar informed him, swiveling around in his chair to face Bashir. "Using the information Captain Sisko and Commander Dax gathered on the last one, I think we can hit it with a graviton shear from our deflector dish."
"Won't that attracted it toward us?" Bashir asked.
Shar shook his yellow-haired head.
"We're going to reverse polarity on our shear," he replied. "The point is to drive the edges of the tear further from each other. It might be a bumpy ride, though."
Sisko looked over at O'Brien.
"Make sure those inertial dampers are working, and shields are at one hundred percent efficiency. We don't need to be crossing over in pieces."
"Understood," O'Brien replied.
The captain turned back to his two science officers.
"How long?" he asked.
"It will take about ten minutes to set up the shear," Shar reported. "I don't know how long it will take to open the fissure wide enough to travel through it."
"Get on it," Sisko ordered, then turned back to the doctor. "You have ten minutes to get those Cardassians onto the Ledane and get Nadir back here."
Bashir nodded and hurried out. It took eight minutes to get the patients transported securely and set up in the small infirmary. He and Nadir returned to the ship and he assigned her to prep sickbay and took a med kit from his stores and headed back to the bridge. He had no idea what to expect for the crossing, and wanted to be on hand in case anything went foul.
"Ready to initiate the shear," Shar reported.
"Do it," Sisko replied. Bashir noted that the captain sounded even more terse in his orders than normal. He felt a strange tension inside himself, too. He had no idea what was waiting for them once they crossed – these Romulans were a complete unknown to them. No race like them existed in this universe. And, Bashir had to admit to himself, he was in no way prepared to meet his alternate self should the situation arise. He knew the odds were slim, but the idea stayed with him nonetheless.
"Initiating shear," Shar confirmed. "The deflector dish is charging. Five seconds… four… three… two… shear in progress."
"Mister O'Brien, activate our cloak," Sisko said. The engineer nodded and Bashir heard the nearly inaudible hum as the cloaking technology the Federation had been given by the Trisepat came on line. Other than the small sound which no one else could hear, there was no indication that they were now invisible to sensors.
Bashir kept himself from drumming his fingers impatiently on the med kit and kept his breathing slow and steady.
"The anomaly is expanding," Shar said. "I'm starting to get telemetry from the other side. The system appears to the same… But there's debris from what appears to be a Cardassian science ship in orbit of the fourth planet."
Bashir nodded once, to himself. The same planet from which they had picked up survivors here.
"Scanning for other vessels. I'm not picking anything up," the Andorian said.
"How long until we can pass through?" Sisko asked.
"Forty seconds," Shar replied.
"Take us in," Sisko told Tenmei, who nodded. Bashir could feel the tension cutting through the room like a knife. It made his skin prickle as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
"Taking us in," Tenmei said and the ship began to move, slowly, toward the invisible but widening gap. "Two million kilometers and closing."
Bashir strained for some hint of the anomaly on the view screen, but there was nothing to see. The discrepancy came through as sensor readings, nothing else. He had expected to see stars from the other side, or perhaps a planet. Instead, it was simply blackness.
"One million kilometers," Tenmei reported.
"It's wide enough to pass through now," Shar reported. "Still no indication of ships on the other side."
"Two hundred thousand kilometers."
Bashir felt the first hint of unsteadiness in their path. It seemed strange to him; from what he had recorded of his return journey from the other universe, it had been nothing more than stepping over a threshold, and feeling the vague tug on the other side, where the other Bashir had crossed over. But perhaps this was because his other self wasn't right on the other side.
"Taking us in," Tenmei said, expertly piloting the Quicksilver into the anomaly. The ride didn't become any bumpier.
"Steady," Sisko said.
"We'll emerge in fifteen seconds," the pilot report.
Sisko nodded, then turned sharply at a sharp gasp from Shar. Bashir heard it as well, his hands tightening on his med kit as he hurried over to the Andorian.
"Shar," he said, crouching down next to the science officer. "Shar."
The Andorian's normally steady hands were shaking and his blue skin pale.
"Shar?" Bashir repeated.
Shar looked at Bashir as if from a long distance. The stunned grief Bashir saw in the other man's eyes made his heart skip a beat.
"Thriss is– dead?" Shar whispered.
"What?" Bashir asked, then shook his head emphatically. "No, no, Shar, Thriss isn't dead. She's back on Terok Nor. She's one of the healthiest Andorians I've ever met."
"But–" Shar started, then frowned, confusion sweeping over his features. "I can remember her dying…"
Bashir understood suddenly. He put a hand on Shar's arm, squeezing it gently, and the touch seemed to bring the Andorian back.
"No, you don't remember that," he said firmly. "The Shar over here does."
For a moment, Shar didn't seem like he understood, then he nodded slowly. Bashir flipped the kit open and pulled out a neural inhibitor. He activated it and placed it on Shar's neck, just at his hairline.
"This should help," Bashir said. "This happened to me when I was in this universe. I had all of the other Bashir's memories, but mine starting leaking through. Better?" he asked.
Shar hesitated, then nodded. He began to relax.
"Thriss is alive," Bashir assured Shar. "Remember?"
Shar nodded again, this time more quickly. Bashir glanced up at Sisko, gave a curt nod, then stood. Reth crossed the bridge and Bashir shifted out of the way for her, allowing her the space to crouch down and talk to Shar.
"If anyone else starts to have memories that aren't theirs, I want you to let Julian know right away," the captain ordered. He turned back to the doctor. "Make sure you have enough of those on hand." Sisko paused. "And make sure you keep a close eye on yourself," he ordered.
Bashir nodded.
"I'll need to get down to sickbay and replicate some more," he said.
"Do it. Talk to the rest of the crew, too. Let them know what they might expect."
"Understood," Bashir said, snapping the med kit shut.
"Report back as soon as possible."
Bashir nodded, then headed for the turbolift, calling Nadir on the way and requesting that she meet him in sickbay. He'd need to get Reth's assistance on this, but she needed to help Shar at the moment. There probably wouldn't be much he could tell her that she wouldn't figure out from speaking to Shar or having read Bashir's log entries after he had returned.
The turbolift had almost reach his level when Dax's death hit him. Bashir stopped breathing for a moment, wild panic surging through him. He dropped the med kit, his hands scrabbling against the wall of the turbolift. He could see her, so clearly, on the biobed, pale and lifeless. She had been murdered, in the Bajoran shrine on the station. He had saved the symbiont but not her.
Now their daughters would have no mother.
Bashir screwed his eyes shut. No, that was wrong. These weren't his memories.
He had failed her. She had been attacked, left alone in the Bajoran shrine, had almost died alone. And he'd never had the chance to set things right and then Worf had come along…
He gave a choked sob, his legs giving out. He gritted his teeth against the tears that stung his eyes and managed to tap his combadge. His body felt numb with grief.
"Bashir to Nadir," he gasped.
"This is Nadir. What is it, Julian?"
"Help," he managed. "I need help."
"I'm on my way."
It seemed to take her an eternity to reach him. Bashir fought himself, dredging up the memories of the years after the other Jadzia Dax had died. His wife had been promoted to commander. Their infant daughter had learned to crawl, then to walk and speak. They had adopted Narye. Dax had been the first of the two of them to hold the orphaned baby and Bashir had known that she had loved Narye from that first instant.
Suddenly, something cold and metal was on his neck and the memories that weren't his were gone. With a deep, rasping gasp, Bashir sat up and opened his eyes to find Nadir crouched over him. He blinked, understanding now what Shar must have been feeling. Bashir never wanted to experience that again.
"Come on," Nadir said, slipping an arm under his shoulders and helped him stand. Once on his feet, Bashir realized how much he was shaking. "What was it?"
"The other Jadzia died," he said, taking a deep breath to steady himself. "Over here."
Nadir winced, shaking her head.
"I'm so sorry," she said.
"It wasn't my wife," Bashir said, more to reassure himself than her. "Anything strange for you?"
"Not yet," she assured him. "Let's get you to sickbay. We don't need you as a casualty."
Bashir took another deep breath, feeling more himself again. The memories of the other Dax's death had receded and his own memories, the true memories, had returned. Jadzia Dax was very much still alive and probably much safer on Terok Nor than he was at this point on the Quicksilver.
He accompanied Nadir to sickbay, the neural inhibitor humming away on his neck, keeping the other Bashir out of his head. He and his nurse equipped all the med kits with neural inhibitors, replicating more, one for each member of the crew. Bashir really hoped it wouldn't be necessary. When he saw the faintly confused look in the nurse's eyes, he quickly put one of the tiny instruments on her neck. Her long black hair covered it neatly, and she thanked him. Inwardly, Bashir sighed. This was going to be more difficult than he'd imagined.
He left her to run the sickbay while he returned to the bridge, hoping no one else there would need his help.
Ellik lay in the near darkness, feigning unconsciousness when the two guards came in. One hovered in the doorway, phaser trained on her. The other one, the luckless one, was holding a tray with a very minimal amount of food and water. As he set it down, Ellik launched herself up, leaping at him and grabbing him, shoving him back toward his compatriot. He died in her arms when the other guard fired an instinctive shot. Ellik pushed him away, into the other man, and grabbed the phaser as the second guard stumbled. She aimed and fired before he hit the ground, then dragged him into the cell, allowing the door to close most of the way, propping the small tray between it and the wall. Enough light spilled in to allow her to strip the smaller guard and take his clothing, then she stood in the middle of the cell, feeling stupid.
What had that gotten her? A weapon, yes, and one of the alien uniforms, but she wasn't about to be mistaken for one of them and they weren't considerate enough to be wearing helmets that would have disguised her face. She swore under her breath, then regained her composure.
"Computer?" she whispered, working on what she realized might be a faulty assumption. Just because everyone she knew spoke to their ship's computer doesn't mean these idiots did.
"Acknowledged," a harsh male voice replied. Ellik raised her eyebrows. Beautiful.
"Is this ship equipped with access tunnels for engineering purposes?"
"Affirmative."
"Give me the location of the nearest one."
"Section f-eight."
"Distance," Ellik said.
"Ten meters."
She frowned to herself. This was a particularly uncooperative computer.
"In which direction?" she asked.
"Stern."
That left her two choices when she slipped into the corridor, phaser at the ready. There didn't seem to be anyone else for the moment. Since Ellik had no idea which way was stern, she guessed, relying heavily on intuition and was rewarded.
At least something's gone right, she thought as she ducked into the poorly lit, cramped access tunnel.
"Now, computer, where's the nearest communications relay?"
It was ten decks up, and several sections over, which required a lot of climbing and clambering through the dim tunnels. Ellik left her stolen combadge at a random point, tossing it as far down a tube as she could, picking one she'd not entered. Let them stew on that for awhile, once they realized their guards were bested. She didn't delude herself; two guards wasn't much of a victory. It was still her against most of the ship.
"Computer, how many Cardassians are on board?" she hissed as she pulled herself up to the communications relay.
"There are ten Cardassians on board."
"Names?"
"That information is not available."
Ellik nodded to herself. She hadn't thought so. She sat down in front of the relay and examined it for a moment, grateful that she'd taken a range of engineering courses. Terraforming was her first love, but she'd shown a high aptitude for communications while in school as well, and her instructors had encouraged her to learn what she could. Her father had wanted her to follow through with communications engineering and stay on Cardassia Prime, but Ellik hadn't followed the dutiful daughter path and had gone her own way instead. She wondered what he would think of her now, using her communications training to attempt to save her crew.
She got to work, mostly guessing, hoping to all the hells anyone had ever imagined that she was doing this properly. Rising through the ranks of science to become the second-in-command on a terraforming mission had required that she learn many things she'd never thought she'd know, including how to program an encrypted Cardassian frequency. Ellik opened the secure channel and hissed:
"This is Doctor Ellik. Does anyone read me?"
There was no response and Ellik cursed silently. She adjusted some of the settings and repeated her message, wondering if there was anyone even out there, wishing she knew how to encrypt on secure Starfleet channels as well. It was just as likely a Starfleet ship was hanging around these parts as it was that there was a Cardassian ship out there.
So, not too likely.
"Doctor Ellik!" a response came back suddenly and Ellik winced at how loud it was. Then she recognized the voice and her heart skipped a beat, speeding up significantly when it resumed its operation.
"Oh, thank any gods listening, Kelde."
"Doctor Ellik, where are you?" the young woman's disembodied voice asked, filled with elation and trepidation.
"On the damn alien ship. Where are you?"
"On the surface of some planet, in an escape pod. Milen's here with me."
Ellik let out a deep, silent sigh of relief.
"Good," she said. "Are you all right?"
"We're in danger of freezing to death if the pod's systems fail, but we're not hurt."
"Did you find anyone else?"
"No. Are you in control of the ship?"
"Hardly," Ellik replied. "I'm hiding in an access way and managed to commandeer a communications relay station to contact you. Can you get the coordinates from your pod and give them to me? If I can find a transporter room, or a relay, I want to beam you up here."
"What good would that do?"
Even the odds, but not enough, Ellik thought. Actually, they were safer down there.
"Nevermind," she said, realizing there was no sense getting them killed, too. "You need to get a distress signal out. I can talk you through encrypting an emergency Cardassian frequency."
"I've already sent out a distress signal on an encrypted Starfleet frequency," Kelde replied and
Ellik's eyebrows shot up in surprise. The girl had said that so matter-of-factly, but how had she learned to do that? "Someone's coming to help us," Kelde continued. "Some ship called the Defiant from Deep Space Nine."
Ellik had never heard of that station nor that ship, but it didn't matter. Help was on the way.
"Good. Stay put and out of sight. Do you have any weapons?"
"Yes," Kelde replied.
"Keep them ready. I'm going to see if I can get anyone else out of the cells they've been keeping us in."
"Okay," Kelde said, but sounded uncertain. Ellik didn't blame her. She was over twice Kelde's age and still felt overwhelmed and afraid. She couldn't imagine what it must be like for the young woman and man who were facing life threatening danger for the first time.
She signed off and asked the computer to give her instructions on getting through the tunnels to the area where the Cardassians were being held. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than doing nothing, and she had no idea when this Defiant ship was supposed to reach them. This was her team; at very least, she owed them the effort.
Julian Bashir had noticed the first sign of a headache and had taken care of it immediately, although it had been more of a mild distraction than real pain. He suspected that it was the uncertainty of what they were heading into that was bothering him, because some of the other crew members seemed somewhat distracted.
He couldn't really blame them. No one had figured out where the distress call was coming from specifically. Shar had narrowed it down to the fourth planet in an uninhabited system, but there was no evidence of ships in that area, including debris, and no response to their continued hails on the emergency channel. Scans for cloaked ships were turning up nothing, which Bashir hoped was a sign that nothing was out there. He didn't want to entertain the idea that they might be heading into an ambush.
He was in the tiny sickbay, reviewing some of the scans Shar had taken of the area, for lack of anything else to do. They still had half an hour before arriving, and there was only so much prep work he could do and so much waiting stress he would put up with.
One of the routine scans showed anomalous radiation signatures that made Bashir stop and do a double take as he held his breath. He stared at the padd, rereading the section carefully, then remembered to exhale as he skipped to Shar's report about the slight variation in the channel frequency. Bashir fished around hurriedly for a blank padd, then downloaded the distress call information and compared it to the information on the background radiation.
He didn't even pause to tell Nadir where he was going, nor did he bother to call Kira to warn her he was coming up. The turbolift doors hissed open and Bashir strode out onto the bridge, the urgency of his footfalls catching the captain's attention, and that of everyone else on the bridge. He held up the two padds, as if for validation of his entrance.
"I know why the emergency channel frequency was off," he said. "And what those anomalous radiation readings are. There's a tear in the space-time continuum, between our universe and that alternate universe."
Kira stared at him, eyes widening, dismay crossing her sharp features. The rest of them were staring at him, too, with varying degrees of incomprehension or apprehension.
"Not that one," Bashir said and saw the flicker of relief on his captain's face. "The one I went to and don't remember. The radiation signatures are the same as those Dax and Sisko recorded four years ago, when the anomaly was orbiting Bajor."
Kira blinked, then seemed to regain full composure, something that Bashir envied.
"We collapsed that anomaly," she said. "How could it have reopened?"
"I don't think it's the same one," Bashir replied. "I think someone opened this one, either deliberately or accidentally. Maybe from the other side, and came through without meaning to. That's why the distress call we picked up on the station was slightly off frequency. They wouldn't use exactly the same frequency."
Kira nodded curtly and spun to Nog, who was watching Bashir with open surprise.
"Lieutenant, take us to warp nine," she ordered. "I think we need to find these people before anyone else comes snooping around."
"Sir," a lieutenant said and Commander Reyla looked up from his work, nodding at the younger man. "I'm getting communications activity on the surface."
Reyla frowned, leaning forward in his chair, knitting his Romulan brow.
"I thought we'd captured all the survivors on the surface," he said, addressing this statement to Sub-Commander Vepil, who nodded back to him.
"So did we," she assured him.
"Obviously, you did not," he pointed out, then turned back to Lieutenant Sren. "Can you localize it?"
"Attempting to, sir," the lieutenant replied, once again focused on his console. "I believe the communication was encrypted and the discrepancy in frequencies between our universe and theirs is making it difficult to pinpoint it."
"Keep trying," Reyla ordered, then turned back to Vepil. "Take a team down to the surface to pick up our errant friends once Sren gives you the coordinates. And send someone to check on our prisoners. Someone sent that message and I'd like to know who."