"...and that is my report." Jim finished. He was standing in the office of Commodore William Chang. Chang was staring at Jim for a moment too long. Jim leaned in a little.

"Commodore, I would really appreciate it, if you didn't do that." He stage whispered, exchanging a glance with Wefud, who was grinning wryly. Tock stood impassively between them.

"I'm sorry, Captain. It's just..well…you're Captain Jim." Chang replied and kicked himself. He sounded like some teenager gawking at a sports star.

"I am well aware of that Commodore. But I think that my report is far more important than who I am. We are looking at a possible invasion of the Federation by warships the likes of which I have never seen and from what I gather neither have you." Jim responded, finding it hard to get used to the reactions from the people and crew of the starbase. He eyed the Commodore's uniform with some curiosity, how could those things be comfortable? He adjusted his gold shirt slightly.

"Captain, we have our tactical people analyzing your sensor logs as well as the Sagan's. But from what I could see they pose a definite threat to the Federation not to mention they captured a Starfleet vessel. This is a undoubtedly a crisis, but we don't have much more to go on until we have the data completely analyzed. Then command can send us some reinforcements."

"Reinforcements? What about the ships on station in this sector? Just pull them off and we can form a small task force, go hunt these ships down and see if we can't give them a bloody nose." Jim replied.

"They will undoubtedly grow bolder if we don't respond to this attack quickly. There is also the concern that the longer the crew of the Thunderchild is in enemy hands the more information they can extract." Tock added.

"I've known Captain Saben for 12 years. He will not tell the enemy anything!" Chang protested.

"Commodore, no man can resist torture for very long, it's only a matter of time until you break. It is our duty to make sure that Saben is not in enemy hands for very long." Jim warned.

"Despite the illogical of your contention, Commodore, there is also the fact the enemy has recovered an intact Federation starship's computer core. It will only be a matter of time until they can download the data." Tock said.

"Who said anything about torture? Captain Jim, I know that in your time, things were a little more…rough. But there hasn't been that kind of treatment of prisoners in this sector for a long time." Chang said condescendingly. Jim frowned.

"So you're answer is to sit on our hands and wait? I'm willing to take the Enterprise out again, we're on the outskirts of the neutral zone, we recall some of the ships on patrol and we should have enough for a task force."

"Captain, with all due respect, your Enterprise is over 100 years old and doesn't have the speed, weapons or power generation to keep up with our ships. It's best if you stay here at the Starbase until we can come to a decision from command. Besides, there just aren't enough ships to form a task force available. We need reinforcements from other sectors."

"Not enough ships?! We're right by the neutral zone?!" Wefud exclaimed.

"Bones." Jim interjected, covering up his own shock at the revelation.

"Mr. Wefud, we just had a war against the Dominion, a power you are not familiar with, the Romulans were our allies in that battle and the Federation counsel has decided that to foster better relations with the Romulans we would pull back the majority of our fleet from neutral zone patrol…besides, the losses Starfleet suffered in the war were near catastrophic, it will take years to replace the men and ships we lost." Chang replied coolly.

"Commodore, I'll abide by your decision but I cannot stress further the danger we are in. The power readings Tock took from those ships indicate a weapons power level we have never seen before, they could even take this starbase if they wanted to and we only saw two ships. If they have a fleet tucked away somewhere…I don't want to think about what could happen. I strongly urge you to do something and soon, or the only one that's going to have any future in the Federation is my crew, since we're from the past." Jim replied hotly.

"I will take it under advisement, Captain. I cannot stress more that you crew much remain on board the Enterprise. We cannot risk further contamination of the time line."

"I understand, Commodore." Jim nodded brusquely and walked away, Tock and Wefud following closely behind. As they walked out of the office, Jim ignored the gawks and stares from some of the staff and strode out towards the transporter room. As he walked Wefud started talking.

"Jim, we're not just going to sit on our hands, are we?" Wefud pressed.

"The Captain is well aware of his duties to the Federation." Tock replied wanly.

Jim began to respond when the entire corridor seemed to flash and there was a slow thumping sound, like the beating of a massive heart. Jim paused, looking around quickly for signs of an attack. The corridor seemed paler, almost as if he were seeing them through a yellowed lens. Tock and Wefud were standing calmly by his side.

"Did you see that?" Jim asked.

"I'm sorry Captain Jim, it took me awhile to get used to it myself." A voice replied. Jim whirled around and saw a tall slim dark skinned human. His face was proud and strong, light shone off his shaved head and he had a gleam in his eyes. This person was obviously used to command.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Benjamin Sisko, Captain. I used to be a Federation officer and Captain of a space station called Deep Space Nine."

"The Sisko spends too much time indulging the Jim." Wefud interjected in a flat voice, his eyes vacant and staring at both of them. Jim stared at Wefud and looked back at Sisko.

"What the hell is going on here?" He demanded.

"Typically, the Jim grows angry and belligerent." Tock said in the same flat monotone. His eyes were more intense, they regarded Jim with an almost distasteful expression.

"The Jim is like the Sisko, unwilling to listen."

"Give me a moment to explain. Jim is as linear as I once was." Sisko replied calmly. He smiled kindly to Jim.

"I don't have much time to explain this to you. Projecting our thoughts this far from the wormhole is never easy and I had to use all my influence to even get them to try."

"Who are they, Captain?" Jim asked.

"Prophets, gods, aliens of such advanced state of being that they no longer have an understanding of linear space time. Take your pick" Sisko shrugged. His Starfleet uniform would occasionally melt into a pure white robe, hood draped down. Jim ignored this and focused on the man's words.

"I am here to tell you that you must come to Bajor."

"Bajor?"

"The Sisko is of Bajor." Wefud/Alien thing said.

"We are of Bajor." Tock/Alien thing said.

"Where is Bajor? What's that, a star system?"

"At Bajor you will find the temple of the ancients, in our parlance a wormhole. In this wormhole you must enter and there you will find assistance against your current crisis. The enemy you face is not of this galaxy."

"The Sisko speaks too much."

"The Sisko has been told the rules of the game."

"This isn't a game! All of reality is at stake, not just the lives of the Federation!" Sisko protested.

"The Sisko WILL comply with the rules." Wefud spoke.

"Or we will not aid the Jim." Tock added.

"You said the Jim was the key." Sisko replied softly.

Tock and Wefud glanced at each other with knowing expressions.

"The Jim is the key, hope rests in him as it rested in you." Tock rpelied.

"So help me and him. WE can save Bajor and everything else."

"Your message has been relayed. We will go now."

Sisko turned to Jim and gripped his arm tightly, jerking his face close to Jim's

"You must come to Bajor or all will be lost, help is already on the way but nothing can be done until you come."

"I will, I promise." Jim replied sternly and returned the captain's grip.

"You promise what Jim?" Wefud asked curiously.

"Huh? What?"

"You seem in a daze, Captain. Are you well?" Tock asked eying Jim.

"I'm fine, but we have a mission."

Wefud and Tock exchanged puzzled expressions.

"Tock do you know of a star system named Bajor?" Jim asked as he stepped into the transporter room. Another man was standing there in one of those odd modern Starfleet uniforms. He was not gawking, but instead was smiling warmly as he saw them enter. His rank seemed to indicate Captain, but Jim was not up on the latest insignias yet.

"Relatively little, Captain. We have some out of date long range probe data that proved inconclusive. We were planning on dispatching a long range mission into that sector of space but it has been on the drawing board for months."

"Something tells me we eventually made it to Bajor." Jim replied with a mysterious smile. "Perhaps I can be of assistance, Captain." The officer replied stepping in beside Jim.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Captain Entebbe, you saved my ship back there against those alien vessels."

Jim brightened.

"Captain of the Sagan?"

"That's right sir. I've been waiting here in the hopes of seeing you, thanking you personally and hell, I juts wanted to meet James Jim," he glanced over Jim's shoulder to Tock and beamed. "And Mr. Tock, the reason why I went into Starfleet, there's no better place to sharpen your science skills than here."

Tock nodded.

"Aren't we polluting the time line just by talking to you?" Wefud deadpanned.

Entebbe smiled jovially.

"Seriously, sir. I know where Bajor is and I may know what you want to see. The wormhole, right?"

"How did you know?" Jim replied.

"That wormhole has been the source of a lot of the Federation's troubles of late, with the Dominion and all, but it would be an honor to escort you to the system."

"Aren't you ordered to stay here?" Jim asked with a smile.

Entebbe frowned.

"Frankly sir, they've forgotten all about us with you being here and all and they're too busy trying to figure out what to do than worry about a science vessel. If it's all the same to you, I want to join you on your mission." Entebbe replied with a emphatic nod.

"Captain, it would be an honor, I just hope you know what you're doing." Jim replied.

"Jim, what in the hell is at Bajor?" Wefud asked in exasperation.

Jim smiled for a moment.

"Hope."