There were times, I had to admit, where I appreciated Dax much more than I normally did. Waking up that day was one of them. As it was, opening my eyes to look into a completely alien face made my heart skip a beat and my body tense with fear until I was able to realize that the alien – a female, I thought – wasn't touching me, let alone harming me. We stared at each other for a moment, more shocked than anything else, then I eased myself up onto my forearms, still watching her. She stood and moved back a few steps and I was able to better see where I was.

I was lying on a hard, narrow bed covered by several ragged and dirty blankets. This new room was larger and brighter than the tiny cell in which I'd so recently been. There were five other beds like the one I was in, all ranged neatly against the bare grey walls. One of them was Julian, lying on his back, eyes closed, obviously unconscious. I sat up quickly and the woman held out one hand to me, speaking rapidly in a language I didn't understand. Instinctively, I reached for my combadge, which was, of course, gone. That meant that my universal translator was also gone, and I had no way of understanding her, nor the others that I had just noticed.

"Help me up, then," I said, extending a hand toward her. She hesitated, and I doubted she could understand me, either, but after a moment, she took my hand and helped me to my feet. It was then I realized how tall she was and actually took the time to really look at her. Even in this desolate setting she seemed regal and composed. Her skin had a dusty, silvery sheen and her hair was pure white, tied back off her face, but falling to her waist nonetheless. Her eyes were bright green, set above high cheek bones. If it hadn't been for the fact that she obviously hadn't seen a good bath in some time, I would have thought her an illusion in that dim and grimy place.

She said something to me and I could only nod, crossing the small space on the hard floor that separated me from my husband. Another alien was seated on the narrow bunk beside him, examining him carefully with her eyes and frowning. This one was short, shorter than me, with pale pink skin, violet eyes, and shockingly yellow hair that was shaggy and came down just below her ears. I wondered how long they'd been here. She looked up at me and I was startled by the frustrated expression in her eyes that did not reach her features. She looked up at the tall woman and spoke sharply. The other replied to her, their words completely lost on me, then the pink skinned woman stood and sat down on another bunk, her back against the wall, her eyes closed. The tall woman looked down at me and shrugged, an expression that surprised me in its universality.

I sat down beside Julian, ignoring the others for a moment. There were two more aliens, not the same race as the woman, but I didn't have the time to take stock of that yet. I leaned down and listening to Julian's breathing for a moment, then touched his chest carefully, checking for injuries. He was breathing slowly and deeply and his pulse felt strong and steady, which was a good sign.

"Jules," I whispered, brushing my fingers against his face. "Jules, wake up."

He groaned and my heart sped up for a moment.

"Jules," I repeated. "Come on, wake up."

He groaned again and his eyes fluttered open. For a moment, I held my breath until he focused on me and I knew what he must have felt in that cell.

"Zia," he muttered.

I nodded.

"How do you feel?"

Julian hissed as he shifted and I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach, where the symbiont was. He healed very quickly and the fact that he was in pain didn't sit well with me.

"Help me sit up," he asked and I shifted so I could shuffle an arm under his shoulders and helped him into a sitting position. I saw his eyes widen as he took stock the way I had, and I gave myself another moment to look at our other two companions. The tall woman had sat down on the bunk beside the meditating pink skinned woman. The others both appeared to be male. One was about my height, stockily built, with yellow-gold skin and absolutely no hair. He had light brown eyes with pupils so large that his irises were almost obscured, although that might be a function of the low light.

The other startled me, because I'd seen one of his kind on the ship that had brought us here. He was probably my height, with the same pale skin and shell-shaped ears of his compatriot. His hair was equally dark, but longer and shaggier, and his eyes were bright blue. He saw my expression and held up his hands so that they were almost cupped together, palms facing me, and said something.

"You must realize we don't understand you," I said levelly despite the frustration of not being able to communicate. Beside me, Julian shifted fully into a sitting position, rotating his shoulders and grimacing at what must be the ache in his chest. I was grateful that I spoke English and Julian spoke Trill, or else we'd be cut off even from each other.

"Julian," my husband said and I glanced at him, to see he was indicating himself. Then he gestured to me. "Jadzia." It was probably the most basic form of communication in the galaxy when there was a language barrier.

The pale skinned man nodded.

"Oleyn," he replied. He nodded at the yellow skinned man. "Aldtranmoriori." I couldn't tell if it was one name or two, so I repeated it hesitantly and the yellow skinned shook his head.

"Aldtranmor Iori," he said slowly and I repeated it again. He nodded this time.

Oleyn pointed at the tall woman.

"Reth'Nyr," he said, then "Jhal," for the pink skinned woman. He pointed to himself again. "Vorta."

"Oleyn Vorta?" Julian asked. Oleyn shook his head. He paused a moment, apparently thinking, then got up and approached us slowly, obviously not wishing to startle us. Maybe he'd seen the other man of his race put us in here, or maybe he knew that one of his captors was one of his people. He pointed to the markings on the side of my face, then indicated the same area on Julian's face, which was bare of any spots.

"Vorta," he repeated, touching his ears, gesturing to his eyes.

"Ah," Julian said. He pointed to himself. "Human. Trill," he added, pointing at me.

"Human. Trill." Oleyn repeated, looking puzzled, glancing at the others. Aldrtanmor Iori shook his head and Reth'Nyr arched a pale eyebrow. Jhal was still silent, eyes closed, apparently ignoring all of us. Oleyn gave us a wry look and sighed. He pointed at Aldtranmor Iori and said: "Hendulu." Then: "Gri'Thethi and kbsai" for Reth'Nyr and Jhal respectively.

I wondered how much more we could say to each other. It was too easy to forget the blessing of universal translators. Julian and I were lucky; I spoke fluent English and he spoke fluent Trill, so we were never unable to communicate with each other. Julian spoke several languages, actually, as did I, thanks to the experiences of my hosts. But I doubted he'd be able to pick up much of whatever language they were speaking without having any real frame of references. Names of individuals and races wouldn't be enough.

Oleyn said something else, slowly, but it was still meaningless to me. Julian surprised me – and the others, by their reactions – by sitting up and snapping his fingers, pointing directly at Oleyn.

"Yes, yes!" he said, nodding. "Trisepat!"

I was amazed he'd picked up the word, but, at the same time, it was really not a surprise. Julian paused, thinking, then very slowly began to repeat the first part of the Trisepat message that had played in our shuttle before the computer had begun translating. I realized I should have known he'd remember it, and then realized it might have given us a starting point for him learning the language. After all, the computer had provided us with a brief translation.

The others looked surprised at Julian's hesitant repetition of the first few sentences of our message. Oleyn nodded slowly, then indicated both of us, saying something carefully. Julian nodded, repeating it, then turned to me.

"Unidentified vessel," he clarified for me. "At least that way they'll know we're not from around here. But I don't know if I can explain where we come from."

I raised an eyebrow.

"It gets us somewhere," I pointed out. Julian flashed me a quick grin; for a moment, the severity of our situation didn't exist, but only for a moment. We were still stuck with aliens with whom we could barely communicate, being held prisoner, and had no idea where we were, or why we were taken. It was not a promising prospect.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Well enough," Julian replied, and checked himself quickly. He seemed satisfied enough, but that didn't reassure me as much. Having been married to a doctor, I knew they made poor patients and were reluctant to admit their own weaknesses. But then again, it was Julian, and he did heal remarkably quickly.

"Well, now what?" he commented under his breath, partly to himself, partly to me. I was about to answer when the door swung open, answering for me. There was a guard there, another lizard person, this one with dark blue scales, and behind it, a tall, black skinned female with white lines painted on her face. Both were holding phaser rifles, and the lizard gestured for us to exit the room.

"Speed it up," it snapped and I was somewhat surprised to understand, then realized it was wearing a communicator of some kind. I cast a quick, side-long glance at Julian, who nodded imperceptibly; the first chance we got, we would have to speak to one of our fellow prisoners, but I was not inclined to try this with a rifle pointed at me. The others filed out with us, and I was surprised at how unfazed they looked, as if this treatment didn't bother them. Perhaps they were used to it by now, but I doubted it. I was a joined Trill, and had observed enough aliens to learn to read new body language quickly; they knew something, but I had no way of finding out what.

We were herded by the guards through the complex, past other cell rooms, and I began to suspect this was a forced labour camp. There were other prisoners moving around, all in the same general direction as we were headed. Most of them were dirty, although their clothing was well cared for, and no one actually looked injured or ill, just exhausted. I caught Julian's eye again briefly and saw a glimmer of acknowledgement there. The labour supply was obviously limited, so prisoners were cared for, at least enough to keep them as healthy slaves. That was good in its own way, because it meant our chances of survival were higher, but it also indicated to me that this place must be difficult to find. Looking at the other prisoners, I suspected that part of the operations here involved mining, and this didn't hearten me. I had seen the mines on Bajor from which the ore processed at Terok Nor was excavated; they were probably the safest, cleanest, and more secure mines in the Federation. The Cardassians had paid for mining rights on those mines, and if nothing else, Cardassians were meticulous when it came to attention to detail. I had no hope that the mines here would be run as well, because the miners on Bajor were not slaves and their workin conditions has to be good.

Instead of being put to work as I thought we would be, we were ushered unceremoniously into a large mess hall, where a line of tired prisoners head of us were being issued something that may have been called food. Even when I received my meal, I had no idea what it was, but followed the lead of my tall, silver-skinned cellmate, claiming a seat a long table with narrow benches on other side. Julian slipped down beside me.

"Let me try it first," he muttered, so low that I barely caught it, and I nodded imperceptibly. The rule against speaking was clear enough without anyone saying it outright, but there was enough noise as people moved around us and as crude cutlery banged against dented trays to cover the sound of his voice.

He ate a mouthful hesitantly then gave me the slightest of nods.

"Don't worry, they don't poison us," said a quiet voice on my other side. I resisted the immediate temptation to turn my head toward Reth'Nyr. I could just see her out of the corner of my eye; her head was bowed, her attention focused on her meager meal. "They have communicators in here so that the guards can speak to us. Don't sleep deeply tonight."

I wanted to ask her what she meant by the last remark; in fact, the urge to keep speaking was so strong that I had to force myself to eat the tasteless sludge in order to keep myself silent. This was not a good situation for a joined Trill to be in, particularly one whose last host helped negotiate the merger between the Alliance and the Federation. I was fascinated by other species; Jadzia always had been, even before I was joined to Dax. It was one of the reasons I was married to Julian. And here I was, in a first contact situation with not one but a handful of alien races in the Gamma Quadrant and I could do nothing but give Reth'Nyr a small nod, because there was a guard heading for us. There was so much I wanted to know, not least of which what the Trisepat was, and if they could get us the hell out of here.

By my estimation, we had less than half an hour to eat, then we were marched back to our cells again. Movement in the corridors was too supervised for speech, and back in the tiny cell, there were no communicators, leaving me and Julian once again isolated from the others. I was glad to have him with me, not least because there was no language barrier between us.

Aldtranmor Iori took up a position by the door when the guards had closed us in, looking for all the galaxy like he was relaxing against the wall, his arms folded loosely over his chest, his weight on his left foot and his right foot propped against the wall. But his golden eyes were bright and watchful, and he cocked his head from time to time, as if listening.

So something was happening, something which at least he and Reth'Nyr knew of. It seemed the other two did as well, because they all spoke quietly to each other, and cast glances at us, aware that we had no way of understanding them.

The lights went off so suddenly that Julian gave a small gasp and I grabbed his hand instinctively in the darkness. We were already seated on one of the bunks, thankfully, or there would have been some stumbling about until we could get oriented. I wondered if there were enough light for Julian to see, but it seemed impenetrable to me, even where the door was. If there were lights on in the corridor, they were not creeping into our cell.

"Let's get a bit of sleep anyway," Julian whispered.

"You think you can sleep now?" I asked, then added: "Nevermind." I felt Julian's grin somehow; he was able to sleep wherever and whenever he wanted.

"Whatever's going to happen, we should get some rest before it does," he whispered back to me. I nodded, knowing he'd feel it, and we lay down on the narrow bunk together. Julian wrapped an arm around my waist and I settled my hands over his, not bothering to try and get comfortable on the cot. I could hear the others settling down as well, but my ears told me that Aldrtanmor Iori hadn't moved from his position by the doorway. I closed my eyes, quelling the frustration I felt not being able to communicate with these people. Julian shifted behind me a bit, then settled down. I listened to his breathing slow and deepen. Whatever happened, he would be prepared for it, because the enhancements meant he required less sleep than most humans.

I awoke suddenly, aware of a hand covering my mouth. Panic gripped me instantly, freezing me momentarily, and I heard a hiss in my ear beside me. It took a second for me to understand that I was being hushed, and that the hand over my mouth wasn't covering my nose, and I could still breathe. I nodded, hoping that whoever was holding me would understand the gesture. The hand retreated and I felt Julian shift beside me, sitting up. I sat up carefully as well, guided by a pair of hands in the darkness. I could hear Julian getting up as well, and wondered who was guiding me. A moment later, I felt the wall near the door. I took a hand laid on my shoulder to mean that I should stay still and wait. I put my back against the wall, relaxing my body just enough to remain wary without being tense. In the darkness, I strained my hearing in attempt to catch any sound from the outside. I wondered if this was because there was nothing to hear, or if the cells were sound proofed.

The lights came on abruptly, causing me to wince, but I adjusted quickly, because they had not come on full. I glanced at Julian, who met my eyes, then I looked at Aldtranmor Iori, who gave me a chilling grin. His canines were particularly pointed, I noticed, even though they weren't much longer than I was used to seeing. In the low light, they seemed to glint.

Suddenly, Jhal made a small sound, almost of triumph, and I saw an expression of smugness pass quickly over Reth'Nyr's face. Then I felt their presences not just beside me, but inside my mind. It was as if someone had poured cool water over my brain; it was not a sensation I'd ever experienced and I'd never forget it. I realized suddenly that I was in the presence of two powerful telepaths that had been blocked until a moment ago. Through them, for a moment, I felt the entire base, a jumble of emotions, including a number of individuals who had a very focused, driven feel to them. Then it eased as the telepaths retreated from my mind. A glance at Julian's expression told me that he had felt the same thing. I had only an instant to wonder how it would feel to live like that all the time before I heard one of them speaking in my mind.

"We've been looking for this place for years," the voice, clearly female, said. "I think we may have you to thank for it."

I glanced at Reth'Nyr, who was watching me, then at Julian, who'd apparently heard the same thing. I wanted to ask what she meant by that, but before I could even open my mouth, the door blocking us into our cell shimmered and shifted and a moment later, I realized someone had stepped right through it. The figure remained a glowing, amorphous shape for a moment, then resolved itself – herself – into a humanoid form. My jaw dropped and I heard Julian gasp quietly; it was Odo. But not Odo, a female version of Odo, with the same smoothed over features and neat, molded hair.

"Damn good security they have here," she commented. "Everyone, back of the room."

The Trisepat prisoners obeyed instantly; this was not a guard, but a rescuer. I grabbed Julian's arm, because he was still staring at the shapeshifter in shock, and hauled him to the back of the small cell. The shapeshifter glanced at us with a knowing look, giving me a faint smile.

"Ah, you must be the Federation people," she commented. "Down, now."

We both ducked, Julian instinctively in front of me. Intuition told me to cover my ears and I did so, shutting my eyes as well. A moment later, a very directed but very powerful blast rocked the walls around us. I stayed still until someone touched my arm then looked up to see the door had been vaporized. The metal around the frame was still hissing and steaming slightly from the blast. There was a group of uniformed soldiers standing a semi-circle around the door, weapons aimed through the gaping hole. They lowered their weapons at the gesture of a male who looked to be one of Aldtanmor Iori's species. He strode forward, tossing a weapon at Reth'Nyr, who caught it in a deft, fluid movement. She checked it with a critical, practiced eye, then hefted it, gesturing for us to stand up. Then she turned back and spoke to the man who had entered the cell. Obviously, there were still no translators functioning here, because I couldn't understand them. Reth'Nyr seemed to realized this and spoke quickly to the soldier, motioning toward us. He nodded and strode out, gesturing and giving orders as he went.

"Come," she said inside my mind. "We have not yet secured the entire facility, but we must get you to safety."

Julian and I rose, the others following us, and we were led from the cell, immediately surrounded by the soldiers waiting by the door. It felt again as if we were being trapped, but these guards had an air about them that suggested that anyone looking to harm us would find themselves seriously inconvenienced.

The noise outside the cell was almost overwhelming. I could hear fire fights that did not seem too distant from us, and I could hear yelling, some of which sounded like shouted communication, some of which sounded like conflict. Beyond that, however, was noise that was not really noise, but an electric sensation at the back of my consciousness; I thought this must be telepathic communication. It seemed that this Trisepat had its share of telepathic races, too, and I wondered how much was being organized without a word being spoken.

"Where are we?" Julian inquired of one of our guards, the one who looked like Iori.

"Not now," was his reply. "This way."

We followed without much choice, but there was more respect here, and a certain urgency in the movements of the guards. It seemed to me that some of the fighting was closing in on us, and the guards wanted to be well away from this place. We joined up with another force who had apparently released some more prisoners. I recognized one Gri'Thethi among them, but that was it. The rest were from races I had not yet encountered. Briefly, I wondered what the Federation would think of this; Julian and I were making more first contacts in one day than the entire Federation did in a year. It was unnerving. And exciting.

"Hold," said our guard and we stopped. The guards set about gathering the prisoners, instructing them on where to stand while taking names and fielding questions.

"Everyone calm down," another soldier said, holding up her hands. She was reptilian, I thought of the same species as one of our abductors, but she had blue scales which shimmered gently as she moved, and dark grey eyes. "We'll answer everything once we're off."

The group of freed prisoners began to settle down and one of the soldiers began communicating with a ship. It appeared that our rescue was a top priority, because the unseen respondent on the ship sounded relieved, although still very composed, to hear that we had been recovered. The reptilian soldier told us to prepare for transport; no sooner than she had spoken did the world began to dissolve into a pale green, the distant sounds of phaser fire and yelling retreating as a low frequency hum touched my ears.

When we rematerialized in what could only be a transporter room, I had enough time to be thankful that it was me and Julian who were experiencing this rather than anyone else I knew. I had eight lifetimes of experience behind me, and Julian had his enhancements. Between us, we were able to absorb a lot, and to adjust much more quickly.

The room was hexagonal and the individual transport pads that stood apart from one another were triangular. There was an alien I had not yet encountered standing by a console attached the wall, two Gri'Tethi guards and several people who had to be medical personnel, because they came forward immediately, honing in on the injured members of our transported group. But the man who caught my attention was a Vorta, waiting with his hands clasped behind his back and a small smile playing on his lips, as if he were alone aware of some subtle joke. He had the bluest eyes I have ever seen, and was dressed in very fine, well-tailored clothing. The deep purple of his silk shirt served to enhance the bright colour of his eyes, and the delicate silver stitching that decorated his clothing shimmered gently in the artificial light. His perfectly fitted pants were black with the faintest suggestion of midnight blue. He wore no jewelry, but had a look about him that suggested aristocracy nonetheless. Part of me was intrigued, another part suspicious, by this display of easy, knowing confidence.

"Lieutenant Jadzia Dax and Doctor Julian Bashir," he said smoothly, stepping forward fluidly to greet us. He opened his arms somewhat, palms facing us, in a gesture of welcome, the knowing smile growing into a greeting. "Welcome to the Injfelis and to the Trisepat. I am Legislator Weyoun."