Disclaimer: CBS/Paramount own all of Star Trek and the characters established on the shows. The story and original characters are mine.

Author's note: I apologize for the lag between chapters, but real life insisted on interfering.

Dax asked for opinions, from both her bridge crew and the workers on Cold Station 12, "Does anyone have any theory, no matter how far fetched, as to why the subject of artificial genetic stimulation would discomfit the aliens?"

Todd slapped himself on the forehead, "Holy crap."

Dax rounded on him, "I beg your pardon?"

Todd did his best to look sheepish, "Sorry, I just had a theory pop into my head, but I admit, it is more than just a little far fetched, it is ridiculously far fetched."

"Let's have it Doctor."

"Okay, back when Voyager was in the Delta Quadrant…" he ignored the small collective groan he heard from his coworkers since he knew they were reacting out of stress. Even so, they should have known his theory would relate back to Voyager, almost everything with him did, "…the crew was subjected to medical tests by phase shifted aliens."

Dax tried not to show her impatience, but it was very difficult, she was worried about the situation in general and her husband specifically. "We know that, what does it have to do with your theory?"

"If I'm right, everything. Specifically, Voyager's crew was affected by artificial genetic stimulation."

T'Phir, Lindbergh's Science Officer spoke up, "Which is exactly what is happening on Cold Station 12."

Todd was thrilled to have a bit of support, he swung around to look at T'Phir, "Precisely. Am I the only one who thinks that is a damned odd coincidence?"

Icheb chimed in, "Well, it's no more bizarre than all the coincidences in our recent experiences with the Unimatrix Zero Borg, is it?"

Todd snapped his finger, pointing at Icheb, "Yes, yes, just so. It seems to me, you and Nao…Ensign Wildman are coincidence magnets. Back to my theory, is it entirely out of the realm of possibility there are more than one set of aliens in the area conducting experiments? Think about it, Cold Station 12 is an absolutely prime place to do medical research." He seemed to think he should explain further, "Well, because, that's CS12's main purpose, medical research, why shouldn't others take advantage of the opportunity to do a bit of clandestine research?"

Since they not yet contributed to the conversation, the crew on Lindbergh's Bridge had all but forgotten the Operations center on CS12 was watching them from the main viewscreen. So almost everyone was startled when the Denobulan woman spoke, "You know something Doctor Franklin, I must say, I've never thought of that, but now you mention it, I'm convinced your theory makes perfect sense. How do we go about confirming your theory?"

Ezri responded, "Good question."

Todd said, "Well, since Ensign Wildman didn't mention any other aliens, and considering the visible alien's reaction to the genetic manipulation, I would say the aliens we know about are unable to see them as well. That is if they even exist at all."

The Denobulan on the view screen thought for a second, "I think we should go on the assumption there is another group of aliens until we are able to disprove that hypothesis."

Todd agreed, "That sounds logical to me, but again, how do we go about disproving this 'second set of aliens' theory?"

T'Phir responded, "The most obvious method would be to rotate the sensors to compensate for different phase variants to see if anyone else appears."

Todd rushed over to T'Phir's station, "May I?" The Vulcan woman moved aside and allowed the CMO access to her console. Looking up he explained what he was doing, "I think this is unlikely to work, but I have an idea about the phase variant with which we should start. I must reiterate this is unlikely to be successful." He continued to work the console. Once he stopped tapping the console he looked up at the viewscreen, as did everyone else on the bridge. To their utter surprise, there stood two aliens, who were of an entirely different species from the ones detected by Naomi, amongst the crew members on CS12. He couldn't help himself, "Let the coincidences continue."

After their shift in Stellar Cartography was over, Maria and Naomi went to Lindbergh's Mess Hall. Maria was determined to get the back story behind the statement about Naomi and Harry Kim both dying on the day Naomi was born. After they got their beverages, and Naomi got a snack, they found a table, and were soon joined by Mary Melody, Naomi's roommate. Shortly after which, several other coworker's from Stellar Cartography joined them.

Since Maria knew slightly more than the others, she thought she should address this in her question to Naomi, "Listen, Naomi, I hate to pressure you about this, but, really, you can't just say 'I'm from a different reality, because I died in this one' and drop it. You have to explain further." Looking around the table, Maria was hoping to get some support from the others, "Right?"

To a man, everyone around the table agreed. Mary asked them, "What exactly are you all talking about?"

Naomi quickly filled her roommate in on what had transpired on the Bridge and later in Stellar Cartography. As soon as Mary was up to date, Naomi decided she really couldn't delay telling the story of the day she was born, and died.