This seems super fast to me. There are two years between Chapter 1 and Chapter 14 after all…

Chapter 14: The Sisko Kid

The aftermath of Wolf 359 had brought a steady stream of morose Federation officers to Utopia Planetia where they awaited reassignment. She didn't envy the grieving they were in the midst of and tried not to be too happy about Daniel and Jack coming. They should be here less than an hour, in fact. She stood watching out the window, knowing that the watched starship never comes, but unable to help herself anyway.

She was so enthralled with her watching and waiting that she only barely noticed when a little boy came to stand next to her. He was dressed rather like Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn, and might have held a fishing rod and straw hat and not looked strange despite the fact that he was looking out a window on a starbase at an expanse of stars. He looked up at her briefly and then back out. Was he watching for the ship, too?

"Hi," Sam said to him with a smile. "I'm Sam." He looked up again, and then back down. "Are you waiting for someone?" she asked. He answered by going up to the window, and plastered his two hands and face to the glass. "Me, too," she said quietly, watching him now instead.

He looked up at her, his big brown eyes smiling despite his mouth not following suit. "Are they coming on the Yamaguchi?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah, they are. Who are you waiting for?" She knelt down to look out the window at his level. They might be sitting here a while, Sam thought… but she routinely held out hope for an early arrival.

"No one," he said solemnly, as though what he had just said and done made perfect sense. Maybe he always waited for the incoming starships, Sam wondered. "Who are you waiting for?"

"My friends," Sam answered.

"Were they at Wolf 359, too?" he asked.

Sam sighed. Bringing children into the battle there had been a necessity, and an unfortunate one. The Federation, as Sam was quickly learning, was entirely unprepared for war. The only ships they had in the vicinity of the Borg cube to help repel its attack on Earth were ones that, while maneuverable and heavy enough to be warships in another universe, were people mostly by officers and their families.

"No, they weren't," she answered. She hoped to steer the conversation away from the tragic happenings at the system so near to Earth's star-system, thinking that this little thing might be traumatized by it, but he didn't seem to mind talking about it.

"I was," he said. "The ship shook and things were falling and exploding. I was trapped and… things were on fire. There was lots of smoke," he explained, then looked down. "My mom died."

Sam sighed again, closed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Jake!" A loud voice boomed through the empty space like it spoke through a microphone. The timbre of his voice echoed off the walls, ceilings, and windows with all the tone and class of a jazz singer.

The little boy spun around immediately and waved at what Sam assumed was his father. They were something alike in appearance, and had the same eyes. However, the boy was lanky unlike the commander that stood before her now. Of course, the boy was also probably eight years old, while his father appeared to be in his mid-thirties.

Sam stood to introduce herself, but Jake appeared to want that honor for himself. "This is Sam."

"I know who this is," he said to Jake, walking to the window and looking out. He looked for what seemed to Sam to be a long time before turning back. "I am Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Sisko. I can see you've met my son." He put one of his hands on the top of Jake's head, and the little boy leaned into him.

"Sort of," Sam said with a smile.

Lieutenant Commander Sisko smiled weakly; Sam thought that such an expression didn't suit him. But, then, she didn't blame him. His wife had died only about a month ago. Sam didn't know if she'd been assimilated or killed, but she also knew that, at the end of the day, it didn't much matter.

"I'm, um, waiting for the Yamaguchi," Sam offered, to fill the silence.

"I know."

When Sam's eyebrows kinked in confusion he smiled again, this time more real. "How…?" she began.

"I was transferred here to oversee ship design, and you are, starting next week, under my command," Lieutenant Commander Sisko explained. "Well, as much as you can be under anyone's command, I suppose," he pondered. "Interesting situation you have. Independent and yet… dependent."

Sam had never thought of it that way. But it was definitely right. She hadn't gotten through her entire thought before Lieutenant Commander Sisko motioned his hand toward the window. "There's your ship, now, Major."

Sam almost leaped for joy. How long had it been since she'd seen Daniel and Jack? It seemed like nearly forever. She must have been just grinning out the window like a giddy idiot, because Lieutenant Commander Sisko was chuckling. But she didn't care. Once that ship docked, she was as good as gone.

And it finally did. She waited outside the airlocks, tapping her foot while they took their own sweet time opening. A sea of faces filtered past, everyone seeming to know exactly where they were going. Some to their assigned quarters. Others to see their new commanding officer. More straight to work. It was the best thing to do in a crisis. But Jack and Daniel… where were they?

It didn't take too long for her to figure it out. The crowd slowed to almost a stop as, apparently, only a few who didn't know where they were going could gum up the works. And then someone shouted over the small murmuring, "Well, excuse me, madam! After you! Well, go on!"

"Jack?"

"Sam!" Daniel returned from out of sight.

Jack decided to leave whatever manners he had fabricated behind as he shoved through the remaining flood of personnel and, before she knew it, his arms were wrapped around her. "It's so good to see you," she said over Jack's shoulder to Daniel as he emerged.

He was rather the picture of a Federation civilian. When in Rome and all that, Sam thought with a smile. "Daniel, look at you!" she laughed, stepping back a moment to look at both of them. On Earth in their universe and their time frame… it was hideous. One of those ugly-Christmas-sweater type things. But it somehow looked like something Daniel would wear.

Jack, on the other hand, had somehow managed to keep to his fatigues, even though these were obviously new. "Oh, please, don't bring that up," Jack muttered, eyeing Daniel in disapproval. "My great-aunt made more attractive sweaters."

Daniel just chuckled and enveloped Sam in a quick hug before drawing back and readjusting the sling on his shoulder-canister. "Utopia Planetia," he said. "I've seen pictures, but this is something amazing."

"It is," Sam agreed. "I'll show you around…" She spun to see Lieutenant Commander Sisko still standing there. He was looking out the window passively, not really watching them but probably listening. "Oh. Daniel, Jack, this is Lieutenant Commander Sisko, my new commanding officer."

"Nice to meet'cha." Jack offered his hand in greeting.

"Lieutenant Commander, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill and Doctor Daniel Jackson," Sam offered.

"These days I leave off the 'colonel' part," Jack sighed. "Any military personnel in this gaggle of bigheads?"

"Jack," Sam hissed.

Lieutenant Commander Sisko just chuckled at that and shrugged. "Probably more now than before, Colonel." He looked around at the Starfleet personnel swarming about them and sighed, repeating, "Probably more now than before…"