One of the damn Federation ships had disappeared.
"Find it! Return fire on to the other!" Reyal ordered. His ship shook with a direct hit, but he took a degree of satisfaction when his retaliation was equally on target. Another hit made him lurch in his chair.
"Sir, they've knocked out weapons array," Sren reported.
"Engine room! I need those warp engines now!" Reyal snapped over the com.
"We can't, sir!" came the reply and Reyal narrowed his grey eyes.
"You have two minutes to give me something, Sub-Commander," he growled.
Several people beaming over caught his attention and he yelled for his officers to get out their weapons. The beams materialized, depositing four very displeased Starfleet officers. Reyal's people tried to fire.
"Don't bother," a sharp featured Bajoran woman said. "We've disrupted all your weapons."
The man standing beside her, a dark skinned, imposing human, said:
"I've come to get the Cardassians back."
Reyal noted the difference in their uniforms for the first time. They had been followed. Some damn Starfleet crew had followed them through.
"What the hell did you want with Cardassians for another universe?" the Bajoran woman demanded. The other two officers were obviously security: one in the standard gold and black that Reyal was familiar with, the other in grey and black, his uniform most closely resembling that of the captain from the other universe.
They were interrupted by the com.
"Yires to Captain Sisko."
Sisko – now that Reyal had the name, he could pinpoint why the human was so familiar – tapped his badge.
"Go ahead, Yires."
"We've secured all the Cardassians left alive, sir. We have three dead."
"Cardassians or security?" Sisko demanded.
"Cardassians, sir. We lost Tore and, um– Smythe from the other ship, and Lieutenant Ro's been injured."
"Get everyone back to the Quicksilver or the Defiant, whichever can pick you up first."
"Yes, sir. Yires out."
"Now," Sisko said, turning back Reyal, keeping a phaser rifle aimed at him. "Why don't you tell me why you kidnapped a group of Cardassian terraformers from my universe?"
Reyal down at Sisko.
"No," he said flatly.
The Bajoran woman, Captain Kira Nerys, from Deep Space Nine, he realized, sighed and tapped her badge.
"Kira to Defiant," she said.
"Go ahead, sir," a male voice replied.
"Shar, start sending in teams to round up the Romulans and get Nog over here. We need someone who can learn to pilot this ship fast. We'll be taking them back to the station with us."
"And the Cardassians?"
"Are coming home with me," Sisko replied.
"Understood," the man named Shar replied and signed off. Reyal glowered at the Bajoran captain, calculating in his mind how long it would take the Romulan Empire to hear of this and how displeased his superiors would be. He would rather face their displeasure, though, than remain in the hands of the Federation barbarians.
A moment later, three more security officers, all in gold and black, appeared, and began rounding up the bridge officers. Reyal ordered them to give no resistance; they might not have their Cardassians prisoners anymore, but they had the information gleaned from them, and that could stay some of the displeasure his superiors were going to feel. And it was not something these Starfleet upstarts could steal from them, either.
Bashir knew he must be dying because he saw himself hovering over his body, and that could only be a hallucination brought on by shock and loss of blood. The image of himself said:
"Don't worry, you'll be just fine," in his own voice, but he did notice that uniform was different. It was teal and black, with grey padded shoulders on the jacket, and Bashir wondered at this strange image. Why would his brain change his appearance? Why would a doctor wear teal instead of green? That was the science officer colour. Perhaps he was thinking of Dax.
He thought of Dax as he felt something cold press against the side of his neck, injecting him. He wished he could have seen her once more, just to say good-bye, and his daughters, too.
"Stay with me, Jules," his voice said and Bashir wanted to tell himself to shut up, but couldn't find his voice as his eyes drifted shut.
Ezri Dax was sitting in the sickbay of the Quicksilver, which was far superior to the sickbay on the Defiant. It was bigger, with more beds and better equipment, and she wondered if Bashir was envious of the upgrading obviously done here.
She was waiting treatment, feeling tired, her arm sore and bruised. But there were people ahead of her, and the other Bashir was in emergency surgery, as was the young woman they'd found on the surface. The young man with her had died instantly when he'd been shot, and Dax felt a wave of sadness at that; he had only been twenty-two. There were a few Cardassians transferred from the Defiant, one of whom, a woman named Ellik, was looking anxious and darting her gaze toward the surgery bay every few seconds. This place even had a separate surgery bay. Bashir must be jealous.
Lieutenant Ro from the other universe was there, too, along with several security officers, both in the familiar gold and black uniforms and the black and grey of the alternate universe. Ro was sedated and either sleeping or unconscious as she awaited treatment, and the others were looking bored or annoyed, waiting for the Nurse Nadir from this universe to treat them. Dax was having a hard time keeping everyone straight, and it was only the uniforms that allowed her to determine who was from where.
The doors hissed open and Dax looked up to see Ezri Reth stroll in. The other Trill paused in the doorway and Dax made a quick evaluation of the woman who was her counterpart. She wore a black and green uniform, which Dax understood to signify her status as a medical officer. The pips on her collar were bronze and Dax saw she was a lieutenant commander. Someone had explained the medical pip colours to her: silver for physicians, gold for nurses, bronze for psychologists and psychiatrists, black for medics. Dax thought it was an efficient system; no one could ever doubt who they were dealing with once they knew the code.
Reth approached her with a confident step. Dax was pleased to see that her counterpart had the same strong confidence she did, despite the different symbionts.
"May I talk with you?" Reth asked and Dax smiled.
"Of course," she said. She was deliciously curious about her counterpart and wanted to know everything she could find out in the time they had. She thought Kira would be fine with it, and could not judge the reaction of the Sisko from the other universe.
Reth pulled up a chair and settled into it beside Dax's bed.
"Who's Reth?" Dax asked, speaking before Reth could. "I've never heard of that symbiont."
Reth grinned. It was like looking in a mirror, except for the uniform and the fact that the other Trill's dark hair was tinted purple at the ends. Dax remembered threatening to do that to her own hair once, but never had.
"Maybe you don't have Reth here," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm the first host."
Dax's eyebrows rose. That was so rare to see nowadays, and wouldn't be happening anymore, thanks to the decisions made by the Symbiosis Commission after the disaster with the parasites.
"How did you get the Dax symbiont? Jadzia must have died," Reth said.
Dax nodded, slightly saddened.
"She did. She was murdered by a Cardassian named Dukat."
"Dukat?" Reth demanded, her own eyebrows shooting up, dismay crossing her face. "Do you mean Skrain Dukat?"
"Yes. You know him?"
"I know our Skrain Dukat, not very well. He's– He's Captain Kira's father."
Dax stared.
"She doesn't look half Cardassian."
Reth waved a hand.
"No, no. Her biological father died when she was a baby. Admiral Dukat married Kira Meru when Nerys was only two, I think. He adopted her."
Dax shook her head slowly.
"Admiral Dukat. There certainly are some differences."
"I'll say," Reth agreed. "What made you choose the Dax symbiont?"
"Actually, I didn't, really. After Jadzia died, Dax was being transported back to Trill on the Destiny, the ship I was serving on at that time. It began to destabilize and needed a host or else it would die. The only Trill on board was me."
Reth looked shock.
"You weren't an initiate? You had no training?"
"None," Dax agreed.
Reth shifted in her chair, shaking her head in disbelief.
"That must have been awful," she said.
"It was, at first. Now, I wouldn't trade the decision for any in the galaxy."
Reth smiled.
"How did you get Reth? I take it you did have the initiate training?"
"I did," the other woman confirmed. "The Symbiosis Commission decided I would be a suitable first host and Reth became available after my first year at the Academy. It was an interesting experience, finishing one year as Ezri Tigan and going back the next as Ezri Reth. But not as hard as adjusting to a symbiont with several lives of experience, I imagine."
"Probably not," Dax agreed. "So Jadzia is still alive, over there?"
"Yes," Reth said.
"Good," Dax replied. "I remember– well, technically, Jadzia remembers– when Julian came back here, he told us that your Jadzia was married to the other him." She paused, trying to make sense of the sentence she'd just spoken, then laughed. "This is harder than it was trying to sort out my pronouns after I was first joined!"
Reth chuckled.
"I know, it's a bit confusing. I take it your aren't a counselor."
"I was," Dax said quickly. "About a year after I was joined, I decided to switch to command track. I'm DS9's strategic operations officer now."
"Are you married?" Reth asked.
"No. I, uh, dated Julian for awhile, but it ended."
Reth looked surprised again.
"Julian? Really? No matter where he is, he seems to have a fondness for Dax, I suppose."
Dax laughed.
"You could certainly say that. And you? Are you married?"
Reth smiled and Dax knew the answer right away. Reth held up a small padd she'd been carrying and gave it to Dax. On it was an image of a very good looking Trill man in his late twenties or early thirties, with a shock of auburn hair and brilliant auburn eyes to match.
"Jarlan Tren, formerly Jarlan Cevan," she said. "We've been married for just over three months now."
"Congratulations," Dax said sincerely. She tried to remember if she, Ezri, had ever met a Jarlan Cevan, but didn't recall anyone who looked like him.
"He just got posted to Terok Nor as a civilian geologist," Reth said. "Which is good, because I didn't want to give up my commission on the station and leave my home."
Dax nodded; she understood about the station being home. She glanced up when she noticed Doctor Ellik had stopped pacing and saw Bashir standing in the doorway of the surgical bay, pulling his gloves off. Reth was on her feet instantly.
"Ezri," he said, nodding at Dax, then Reth. "Ezri."
"Is he all right?" both women demanded as one.
Bashir smiled.
"He'll be okay. He needs time to recuperate, but he'll live."
"Can I talk to him?" Reth demanded.
"He's unconscious right now," Bashir said. "I need to give him some time to come out of recovery."
"All right," the counselor agreed. "Let me know when."
"Of course. Now, if you'll excuse me, my work isn't done."
Both women nodded and Bashir turned to speak to Ellik, who was anxious for news on her youngest staff member. Reth watched the other woman, then turned back to Dax.
"I'm going to go talk to her and the others," she said. "They might need it."
"I understand. Let me know if I can help out. I still remember my psychological training."
Reth smiled.
"Once you get that arm taken care of, you're on."
The captains of both ships had let their crews intermingle as they sorted out the freed Cardassians and the captured Romulans. Kira would take the Romulans to Deep Space Nine, and contact both the Federation Council and the Romulan Senate to let them know what had happened, and, since they were acting in what was now Federation space and kidnapping Federation citizens – albeit from another universe – they would be tried in a Federation court. Sisko was taking the Cardassians home, including the dead, and waiting anxiously for news on his doctor, who had been seriously wounded.
After all the arrangements had been made, while the wounded were still being treated, Kira and Sisko sat down for a personal discussion. Kira was somewhat disappointed to realize her counterpart wasn't there, but delighted to learn that she was nothing like the Kira in the Alliance universe. Sisko filled her in briefly: Captain Kira Nerys was married to Kai Bareil Antos and the mother of an infant son named Keryn. Kira was elated to learn that Bareil was still alive and had been elected kai. When she inquired about Vedek Winn, Sisko looked surprised and said he hadn't thought of her in years. She had been murdered by a Bajoran engineer whose name he no longer remembered. She had been a follower of Winn's, but had turned on the vedek when Winn had hatched a plan to assassinate Bareil. Kira had only been able to shake her head in disbelief: it seemed those events had been opposite of the history she knew. And, of course, there had been no Occupation, so no way of framing Bareil for the death of twelve hundred people in the Kendra Valley. She wished the Bajor Sisko spoke of, the one that had never been occupied, the one that had hundreds of years of solid trust with the Cardassians, was her own. Kira knew wishing wouldn't change anything, and it did feel good to know that somewhere there existed a Bajor that had always been free.
She told Sisko about what had happened to her captain, being taken by the Prophets, being returned nine months later. Sisko seemed surprised at this and confided that he'd never been told by the Prophets that they needed to take him with them. He had never retired from Starfleet, obviously, but had married Kasidy Yates over there and had a daughter named Rebecca. He was still considered the Emissary, but it did not seem the Prophets there demanded quite so much from him as they did here. Perhaps, Kira thought, because Bajor wasn't in dire straights over there.
They went over to sickbay on the Quicksilver when Kira's Bashir informed them that the other Bashir was out of surgery and would survive. By the time they got down there, Bashir and the Quicksilver's EMH had finished operating on Kelde Moset and predicted she would survive, although Bashir seemed less confident. Kira left Sisko to visit his medical officer and asked Bashir if she could see Moset. He let her in, although the girl was still unconscious, and Kira simply watched her for a few moments, more and more aware of how vast the difference between the two universes was. Here, Crell Moset was a war criminal, a man who had committed genocide. She didn't know about the Crell Moset over there, but suspected that without an occupation, he hadn't run about infecting Bajorans with a deadly pathogen. And this was his youngest daughter. She had seen some of the Cardassians in the main area of the sickbay and watched the Quicksilver crew interacting with them. Some of the security officers on board the other ship were Cardassians in Starfleet uniforms. It was amazing. Watching then, Kira was able to see that they all considered themselves on even footing, and that there was indeed a long history of trust and friendship between Cardassia and Bajor. She had never in her life imagined she would see Cardassians and Bajorans interacting without suspicion or mistrust, as if there were no real difference between them other than physiologically. She'd even seen Cardassians with Bajoran earrings: children of the Prophets. It was astounding.
She was tempted to go with them, but knew that she couldn't. This was her life, and making things better here was part of her job. If she could help Bajor become more than it was, then it was worth staying. Kira felt she'd already accomplished a great deal in that mission.
Bashir, looking tired, informed her that her injured crew members were well enough to transport back to the Defiant. Kira nodded, noticing that Dax and Reth were speaking with some of the patients, and she wondered if Ezri Reth was or had been a counselor. She wondered if Dax had spoken to Reth, taken the opportunity to get to know her, if only a little.
"Jadzia is still alive over there, Nerys," Bashir said softly, calling her back to reality. She looked at him with surprise, then smiled.
"I guess that makes sense," she said. "Captain Sisko told me about Admiral Dukat. He doesn't sound like the sadistic, murdering bastard that Gul Dukat was. And they didn't have a war with the Dominion."
"I know," Bashir said, and Kira remembered he'd been able to recall that long enough to record it in his log.
"Will the other Julian be all right on their way home?"
Bashir nodded.
"They have an EMH and Amia more than knows what she's doing."
"All right," Kira agreed. "Shall we go?"
Bashir nodded and turned to the sickbay over to the Nurse Nadir from the other universe and, with his nurse's help, began preparing the Defiant's injured for transport back to their ship. Kira gave what help she could, wishing Bashir had actually had a chance to talk his counterpart.
Bashir and Nadir were helping the last of the wounded who could walk comfortably to the transport room when Ezri Reth hurried up to him, asking for a moment of his time. He waved Nadir and two security officers turned patients ahead and stepped aside, looking down at her. She smiled at him, but it was a generic smile, not the smile of an old friend. He had his own Ezri; the other Bashir had this one. Although they obviously had never been lovers, he was certain they were friends.
"Jules asked me to give this to you," Reth said and Bashir started at the nickname. There it was again. On the surface, the other Bashir had requested Eddington call him that, but Bashir hadn't realized the other man made common use of it.
"You don't go by that nickname do you?" she inquired, and he reminded himself that Reth symbiont or not, this was still Ezri and she was quick and intelligent.
"No," he said.
"Jules does reserve it for his close friends, but I suspect there's been a lot in your lives that's vastly different. Here. He wants you to have this."
She held out a small framed holo photo and a padd and Bashir took them curiously. His eyes widened when he saw the people in the holo: it was the other Bashir, Jadzia Dax and a very young girl and a baby. He stared at it for a moment, focusing more on Dax than anyone, then read the padd.
Julian, it read, I'd like you to keep this. It would have been interesting to talk to you. Me and Zia you recognize. The girl is Renzia, and the baby is Narye. We adopted her a couple of years ago, when she was only three weeks old. She's a full Trill. They're both growing up beautifully, and too fast, and are bright and happy. I owe you one. Jules Bashir.
Bashir smiled, shaking his head. He, too, wished he could have spoken to the man whose life he had lead for those few days all those years ago.
"He should be resting, not writing," Bashir said to Reth.
She grinned.
"Do you make a good patient?" she asked pointedly.
Bashir sighed, shaking his head.
"Please make sure he rests, though."
"I will," she assured him, patting him on the arm. "I need to get back to sickbay now, and you need to get back to your ship. Good-bye, Julian. It was good to meet you."
Bashir grinned, holding out a hand.
"And you," he said as Reth shook his hand. He watched her for a moment as she walked away, then looked down at the padd and the holo again before hurrying to catch up with Nadir and the security officers, to return to the Defiant.
The Quicksilver docked at Terok Nor again several hours later. The Starfleet vessels had worked from their respective sides to close the rift again, then the Quicksilver had headed for home. By the time they had arrived, Bashir was feeling much more himself again, but Nadir had firmly confined him to his bed. He chaffed under her restrictions but didn't protest, aside from giving her plaintive looks which she stoically ignored. Rather than letting him walk from the ship to the infirmary, she had him and some of the other patients transported, including Ro, who was equally unhappy about it, and much more vocal. Nadir simply reminded her that while Ro was in charge of station security, Nadir was in charge of her health and the Bajoran was going to stay put. Bashir distracted Ro by asking her about her alternate self and learning quite a bit about the other universe in the process. He also learned that the other Ro was in a relationship with Quark, which appalled the security officer he knew and made him laugh. He couldn't even picture them together.
When they materialized in the infirmary, Dax was waiting for him and Bashir lit up. She hugged him as soon as she could and admonished him for getting himself hurt.
"Pff, I'll be fine," Bashir said. "Where are my daughters?"
"In the care center for the time being. You do not need the enthusiasm of two toddlers right now."
"They're my children," Bashir protested.
"And mine," Dax said. "And I am your wife. And your superior officer. Right now, what I say goes."
Bashir heaved a sigh but couldn't help grinning. He held her face between his hands and kissed her. It was a soul lifting relief to be home, to know that his Jadzia Dax was still alive, despite what had happened to her counterpart in the other universe. That didn't matter; it wasn't his life, or his loss.
"Renzi had some idea that we'd all go to Trill once you got back," Dax said once they'd finished kissing. "Now, where did she get that from?"
"Must have been you," Bashir suggested.
Dax stuck out her tongue at him, laughing.
"Well, I called my parents and they'd be delighted if we came. The girls grow so fast and they miss their grandparents."
"Maybe their grandparents would be willing to baby-sit for a few hours a couple of the days," Bashir suggested.
Dax grinned wickedly, her blue eyes gleaming, and Bashir's interest was instantly piqued.
"What?" he asked.
"They're already agreed to take the girls for three days, and I've booked us a suit at the Hoobishan Baths."
Bashir grinned back, squeezing her hands and kissing her again.
"Did I ever mention how much I love you?" he asked.
Dax kissed his forehead, smoothing a hand over his hair.
"I'll let you prove it to me when we get to our hotel room," she promised.
Kira Nerys sat with Julian Bashir, Ezri Dax, and Ro Laren in the Defiant's tiny ready room. She was glad that the rift between the universes had been sealed and that the Quicksilver was safely on its way home, but she was troubled as well.
"How in the galaxy would the Romulans know how to create one of those breaches?" she asked to the group. "How would they know about that other universe?"
"I've been thinking about that," Bashir said before any of the others could speak. "There's only one answer I could think of. Sloan."
Kira's eyes widened and she saw Ro stiffen and Dax put a hand to her forehead.
"But how?" the captain asked.
Bashir shrugged one shoulder.
"He followed me there," he replied. "And he was working with Koval. If he gave Koval the information we gathered on sealing the rift, they may have found a way to open one artificially."
Kira's eyes darted to the closed door that separated their small group from the bridge. She thought about the Romulans they had in their tiny brig, of their superior officers who must have given them the mission, of the entire Romulan Senate.
"And if he gave that information to Koval…" she started.
"There's no telling who he's shared it with," Bashir finished.