To The Journey

Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This is an AU story.

Chapter Forty-One: The Turning Tide

"Jadzia!"

The Trill turned, and it took Tasha only a moment to realize she looked different, and another to realize why. "Looks like there's something you forgot to tell me."

Jadzia blushed, one hand moving down to her rather round belly. "I was going to, but I could never find the right time to call. There was always some disaster."

"How far along are you?"

"Two months, but Trill and Klingon pregnancies are both shorter than the human variety. Julian thinks it'll be around four or five months more." She smiled. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure."

"Worf and I talked it over, and we're planning to ask Julian to be the baby's godfather. I mean, he was at least as much a part of creating this baby as Worf and I were, and I know he still sort of has feelings for me - less so now that he's got Jenna, though," she added with a grin, "but I've lived eight lifetimes, I've been in love more times than I can count, I know something like that doesn't disappear overnight. That he would do this for me under the circumstances means a lot to me."

"Why haven't you asked him yet?" Tasha pressed. "Sounds like you've got it all figured out to me."

"Worf keeps saying the same thing. I just want to do something bigger and better than just asking. Oh, Worf thinks it's silly, but he can't very well go around me in this, it was my idea and I'm much closer to Julian than he is. He keeps threatening to if I don't do it, but I know he won't actually. In any case, I'm more worried he'll pull me from this mission, but I don't really think he'll do that either."

While Tasha was certain Jadzia could handle herself, from a certain point of view she understood Worf's concern. Win or lose, the mission they were heading out on in just a few hours was going to be the last of the war. They had prepared everything they had for this final strike, and they weren't oblivious enough to expect to come out without heavy casualties. They could only hope it wouldn't be for nothing.

Already the Dominion's hold was starting to weaken. Following his attack on the Orb in the Temple, Dukat had gone off the radar completely, and his second-in-command, Damar, promoted to leader of the Cardassian forces, had started to realize he was in over his head and allied with people he didn't particularly like and who couldn't care less how many Cardassians died in their bid for control, and, with the help of Kira Nerys of all people, Damar had started a rebellion. Most of his original forces had been obliterated, but Damar himself, Kira, and Garak, along for the ride, had survived. Damar had gained some sort of hero status, and was slowly inspiring a people's revolution. They were hoping it would be enough to give them the slim edge they would need.

"You sure?" Tasha replied with a slight edge of surprise. "Worf can be pretty stubborn when he wants to be. I could see you standing up to him, even winning, but him not even trying?"

"The last time I stayed behind off a mission, I came close to being killed on the station. I think he figures that as long as I'm going to be in danger, it might as well be where he can keep an eye on me."

"If I were you," Tasha said somberly, "I'd come up with a way to ask Julian before we leave."

Jadzia swallowed hard. "I know. I'm just - I feel like if I wait, I'm saying that Worf, Julian, and I are all going to make it through this, that I'll have another chance because we have a future after this war. It's been so long since any of us really thought about what our lives might be after the war, it seemed like it would just go on forever. And now 'after the war' means the day after tomorrow, and it's hard to fathom, and there's still the chance we won't live to see it."

"You can't think that way." She squeezed her friend's shoulder. "Sisko's taken the Defiant through more battles in this war than anyone. Miles told me you guys took it into a battle with half the systems non-operational a few years ago."

Jadzia smiled. "We did. And I'm convinced to this day it was a stupid idea, but Benjamin was on a crusade. It was get on board or get out of the way, and we decided that we weren't going to let him go off alone on such a reckless mission. And you're right, we got through it. How I'm not sure, but we did."

Tasha's combadge chirped. "That's my cue," she said softly. "I'll see you when we both make it back."

"Same to you." Jadzia hugged Tasha tightly. "And I'll - I'll think about what you said."

xxxxxxxxx

Tasha and Data stood together in front of the transporter pad. They had dismissed the operator for a few minutes; Data would be operating the transporter himself, giving them a precious few moments alone together.

Tasha hadn't been able to refuse when Admiral Ross had asked her to be on the bridge of the lead ship and run tactical for the fleet. If her skill could save even one life, it was her duty to try. But it meant that, unlike pretty much every other married couple in the fleet, their fates weren't linked.

"You keep this ship together for me," she whispered into his shoulder, her arms wound tightly around his neck. "I want to see all of you at the victory celebration."

Once upon a time, Data might have remarked on the fact that a victory celebration was anything but certain, but his emotion chip had allowed him to understand what she was doing here. "And you must ensure that the Admiral's ship also reaches the final line intact. Apart from the tactical ramifications of losing so many of Starfleet's best minds, now that you are capable of becoming pregnant, I would very much like to have a conversation about creating a family."

"I'd like that," she whispered back. "I love you."

"And I love you."

She pulled back with great reluctance. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay."

She stepped slowly onto the transporter pad. The last thing she saw before the ship faded out was Data's face, his eyes locked on her as he operated the controls from memory.

xxxxxxxxx

"What's the news from Cardassia?" Tasha asked.

"Not much of it," Ross replied. "But Damar is managing to stir up resistance. How successful is a different story."

"What do we know?"

"A handful of civilians, we believe including Damar, knocked out power to the Capitol for a half-hour." He breathed a soft sigh. "The Dominion retaliated by destroying Lakarian City."

"What? What do you mean destroying?"

"Completely leveled it. An estimated two million civilians killed. They've threatened to destroy another city for every act of sabotage committed."

"My God," Tasha whispered, feeling suddenly faint. Images ran through her head. Bodies in the street buildings leveled to the ground people screaming weapons fire it never stops anyone could be next

"Are you all right, Commander?"

She forced herself to focus. "I'm fine."

"You're whiter than this bulkhead."

"Just some bad memories." She swallowed. "So tactically, that could be a huge mistake on the Dominion's part."

"How do you mean?"

"They think they're ensuring the Cardassians' loyalty, but loyalty brought about through fear will never be genuine, and doing it this close to a battle will bring about no end of problems. They'll be distracted by thoughts of the massacre and resentful of the Dominion for causing it. Even if they fight for them, they won't be at their best. I'm not saying don't fight them, but don't give them more than we need to hold them off, especially not if it means spreading ourselves too thin against the Jem'Hadar and the Breen."

"Understood, Commander."

xxxxxxxxx

"Sisko to all hands. Prepare to engage the enemy."

The transmission came through the comm, and everyone on the bridge drew in a collective breath. A moment later, it seemed as if everything happened at once.

The Federation fleet tried to hold formation at first, but that proved to be a lost cause. Tasha was watching multiple screens at once, trying to keep an eye on the Federation and their allies and watch for weaknesses in the Dominion line. She was calling maneuvers as fast as she could think them up, but so far it was still only an even match. It had been Tasha's idea to divide the army into wings and to assign each wing a flagship to issue additional orders, but even that was only keeping the volume of orders she needed to give to the amount she could actually speak aloud without needing to distort the laws of time.

A large explosion flashed across their screens, and everyone on the bridge winced as they realized the Romulan flagship had been reduced to debris. Ross turned to Tasha. "I'll call this one. You stay on the rest of the fleet."

Tasha nodded. She heard Ross talking with Sisko and Martok, and then he turned to her. "Commander, their line is -"

"Weak in the middle, I heard you. I'm on it."

"Sisko's heading out with his sector to try and keep the Romulan line from falling apart."

"Understood. I'll send a few more ships to join him. Command to Fearless and Odyssey, can you see the Defiant?"

The ships she'd called out confirmed.

"Break off from the main fleet and take your wings in with the Defiant. If the Romulan line collapses we're in trouble."

Tasha's screen lit up all of a sudden. The Cardassian ships were breaking out of the Dominion fleet and pulling together in their own formation. She barely had time to wonder what they were up to before they came about and began firing on the fleet they had just pulled out of.

A collective gasp went up on the bridge, but Tasha was ahead of them. She scrambled to find the Cardassians' radio frequency. "Cardassian fleet, this is Lieutenant Commander Natasha Yar aboard the command ship. Do you read?"

A voice came back through her comm. "Loud and clear, Commander. We've pledged our lives, one and all, to free Cardassia from the hold of the Dominion insurgents and to take retribution for what was done to our people in Lakarian City. We have a common enemy, Commander, and we will fight alongside your fleet to defeat them, whatever it takes."

Tasha glanced to Ross, who was nodding. "On behalf of Starfleet and the united Alpha Quadrant fleet, I accept your offer of alliance."

"Our ships are yours, Commander, for the purpose of this fight."

"Acknowledged." She opened a channel to the fleet. "All hands, this is the command ship. The Cardassians have joined our fleet - and," she added as her screen lit up again, "the Dominion is pulling back towards Cardassia Prime."

Ross waved to Tasha to cut off the channel. "Regroup and await your orders," she instructed, then turned it off. "Admiral?"

"Hail Martok and Sisko."

"On screen."

"I never thought I'd say this," Ross said as the two people he'd asked to speak to came up on the viewscreen, "but thank god for the Cardassians."

"As I predicted, the day is ours," Martok added.

But Sisko, more reserved, said what Tasha was thinking. "Not yet it isn't."

"Ben," Ross protested, "we've driven the Dominion back into Cardassia Prime. We can keep them bottled up there indefinitely."

"Admiral," Tasha broke in. "All due respect, I agree with Captain Sisko. The Dominion fleet is weak, disorganized, trying to pick up the pieces after suddenly losing a chunk of their fighting force. We won't get another chance like this."

"What if they use this time to rebuild their fleet?" Sisko added. "Tasha's right. This is the best chance we have to take them down."

"The Dominion has displayed an ability to build ships at an impressive rate," Martok added. "We should continue the attack before they have that opportunity."

"At what cost?" Ross asked. "We've already lost a fourth of our fleet."

"And we must see to it that those soldiers did not die in vain," Martok replied.

Tasha joined in again. "If we stop now, we'll only have to do this again. A month, six months, a year from now, maybe, but we'll be right back here, and we'll only lose more people if we give them a chance to pull together a stronger force to send against us."

"Admiral, with the Cardassians joining us, we have an opportunity to put an end to this war once and for all," Sisko pointed out. "Ultimately, that's what we all want here."

"All right, gentlemen. We press on. Commander, address the fleet."

She nodded, cutting off the channel with Sisko and Martok and reopening the fleet-wide one. "All hands, this is the flagship. I know we're all tired and we've taken heavy losses, but we cannot falter now. We have this one chance to crush the Dominion and make them pay for all they've taken from us." An image of Kathleen Paris' face flashed into her mind, and she swallowed hard before continuing. "And we can do it. We are stronger than they are. We can stop them here, before they have a chance to take any more from us." She punched every word of that last sentence. "And we can do that by taking all the grief we have, all the anger, and putting every bit of it into this last strike. So let's make them regret the day they ever came through the wormhole."

She was aware of everyone on the bridge staring at her, and she felt suddenly self-conscious. She had only meant to give the ships their orders; the little motivational speech had come to her out of nowhere. She looked down to her console quickly. "All ships, fall into formation and prepare to engage Warp Six towards Cardassia Prime."

As the ships scurried into formation, Ross turned to Tasha. "Some speech, Commander."

"I think I've watched too many old battle movies," she said ruefully. "My cousin was really into them."

"I didn't mean that sarcastically, Commander. I admit I was caught off guard by that, but what you said got them focused and worked up for this fight. And if that's what we're doing, that's what we're going to need. Now why don't you start working on how we're going to win this fight?"

A small smile came through on her features. "Yes, sir."

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If she had thought everything was happening at once in at the start of the battle, that was nothing compared to what they got when they dropped out of warp around Cardassia. The Dominion might have known they had nowhere to go, but they also knew this was to be their last stand. Tasha also knew that the Dominion's soldiers had no concept of self-preservation, and she doubted the Breen were much better. They would fight to the last man rather than surrender without orders, even if they were hopelessly outnumbered. On the surface, meanwhile, Dominion forces were destroying Cardassia, once city at a time. The combined Alpha Quadrant fleet was fighting hard, but so were the Dominion. Once again, Tasha was calling orders as fast as she could come up with them, barely having time to call one before she had to jump on someone else.

"Fearless, pull your wing back and - Fearless, can you hear me? Defiant, stand by a second. Fearless, respond! Jim, get your ships out of there! What the hell are you doing? This is no time to be a hero, and I need to know you're going to be where I tell you to or it throws everything off and I'm running an entire battle here, I don't have time to figure out what you're up to! Thank you. Come about sixty degrees and fall in beside the Washington, they're heavily outnumbered over there. Defiant, repeat your last message."

Jadzia's voice came through the comm. "Major Kira and the Cardassian army have taken over Dominion headquarters on Cardassia Prime and taken the Dominion commander hostage. Odo's on his way down to try and talk terms with her - he's the only member of our entire army she even might listen to."

"Understood, Defiant, but we can't stop fighting until they do. Wings sixty-five through seventy, come about to bearing one-five-three mark seven and engage the Breen at that location. Wings eight, thirteen, and twenty through twenty-eight, come about bearing eight-nine-seven mark two one and engage orbital weapons platforms at that location. Romulan wings one through ten, come about to -"

But all at once, the fierce fire from the Dominion forced ceased. Tasha hurriedly opened the fleet-wide channel. "Alpha Quadrant fleet, cease fire. Repeat, cease fire."

"We're being hailed from the surface," the communications officer reported.

"On screen," Ross ordered.

The screen flashed on, and Odo stood beside a woman with poorly-shaped features not unlike his own that Tasha recognized as the commander of the Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrant. Behind them Tasha saw Kira, Garak, a couple of Cardassian soldiers, and one Cardassian in civilian clothing that Tasha guessed had to be Damar.

"You command the Federation forces?" she asked, sounding tired.

"I do," Ross replied.

"On behalf of the Dominion forces in the Alpha Quadrant," she said softly, "I surrender."

"She's agreed to stand trial for her actions," Odo added.

"Conditions?" Admiral Ross asked suspiciously.

"Only one," Odo replied. "I will return to the Founders' homeworld to impart the cure for the illness that is killing them."

Tasha knew about that. The Founders had been infected with some sort of virus that was slowly breaking down their body structures. Starfleet had been notably silent on where it came from, but Tasha could understand how that could have been the final push that convinced the Dominion, already facing defeat, to surrender gracefully rather than go down trying to take as many enemies with them as possible.

"Then -"

"The war is over, Admiral."

Odo's words, spoken with such certainty, plunged the entire bridge into silence. It was something everyone had waited for for so long and no one had believed was going to happen anytime soon.

Ross drew a deep breath. "Commander Yar," he said softly, "tell the fleet."

"Yes, sir." She opened the fleet-wide channel again. "Attention all hands. This is Lieutenant Commander Natasha Yar. As of 2234 hours today, the Dominion have surrendered to the Federation. All ships, stand down. Repeat, stand down. The Dominion have surrendered." She drew a breath before repeating the words Odo had just said. "The war is over."

The silence on the comm channel was as absolute as the silence on the bridge had been. Then Jim Kirk's voice came across. "Confirm, Commander. You said the war is over?"

"That's what I said, Captain."

Jim let out a triumphant cry. That was all it took for the silence to break, and cheers and joyful exclamations came through from so many channels Tasha had to mute her audio input before it deafened her.

"Commander." Ross gestured to her. "With me."

She followed him down the corridor. "Sir?"

"We're beaming down to the surface to analyze the situation there. I'll have Sisko and Martok meet us there."

xxxxxxxxx

Ross looked vaguely nauseated when they materialized on the surface, and the same look was reflected in Sisko and Jadzia's faces. But that was nothing compared to Tasha's reaction. She went completely white as soon as she saw what they were standing in the middle of, stumbled a little ways off, fell to her knees, and was violently sick.

"Commander!" Ross called out, concerned, but it was Jadzia who hurried to her friend's side, holding her shoulder.

"I thought I was the one who was supposed to be getting sick," she commented wryly, but concern and compassion were written in her face. "You going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." She took the woman's extended hand and stood on shaky legs. "I just - haven't seen anything like this in years."

Jadzia's eyes softened even more when she realized what Tasha meant. "You sure you're okay?" She put an arm around her friend's shoulder. "You don't really need to be here."

"Yes," she replied firmly. "I do."

Jadzia led Tasha back to the group, still standing close to her, a little protectively. Martok seemed to have missed this altogether, or have decided to miss this, to preserve his friend's dignity from a Klingon point of view. He was pouring Klingon bloodwine into mugs. Jadzia just shook her head when it was offered, indicating her swollen belly as an explanation, and Tasha still felt too sick to even think about drinking something so strong.

"This is a moment worth savoring," Martok declared. "To victory, hard fought and well earned."

But only Martok drank. Sisko and Ross just stared at their mugs. "What's wrong?" the Klingon pressed.

"Suddenly, I'm not thirsty." Sisko said shortly.

"Neither am I," added Ross.

"Before you waste too many tears, remember, these are Cardassians lying dead at your feet. Bajorans would call this poetic justice."

Tasha and Jadzia both turned a glare on Martok. Sisko was even more forthright. "That doesn't mean I have to drink a toast over their bodies." He and Ross poured the drink on the ground, and the four of them walked off to meet their troops in what had been Dominion headquarters.

A few dozen more people were already there. Tasha spotted Garak right away, talking to Julian. He, like all the Cardassians, looked rather stricken.

The man Tasha had seen on the viewscreen approached them; Ross nodded to him. "Legate Damar."

Tasha looked at Damar, half expecting to feel fear, as she always did when she looked at a Cardassian male. But their eyes met there, and she read a deep, consuming pain in his eyes, a pain she remembered well from her own childhood, and she felt only sympathy. An understanding passed between them in that moment.

Kira was talking to Sisko, though she turned when Jadzia approached and her face lit up as she took in the Trill's appearance; Kira must have been with the Cardassians long enough that Jadzia hadn't been able to tell the Bajoran woman she was pregnant. They embraced each other, both laughing with joy now. Ross was standing with Odo and the Dominion commander, probably arranging prisoner transport. That left Tasha and Damar standing alone, face to face. Tasha broke the silence first. "If we'd been standing here a month ago, I would have been terrified of you," she admitted softly.

He regarded her, and there was compassion in his features. "Our soldiers treated you badly," he surmised. "If there is one thing I've learned over the past few months, working with Major Kira, it's that there were many things we did during the Occupation that were unforgivable. I would not blame you for being afraid."

"But I'm not," she replied. "Not anymore."

"No, I can see that. You understand what I'm feeling right now, I can see it in your eyes. How, I don't know, but -"

"For all humans like to put down Cardassians, or Romulans or Klingons or whoever's convenient, there's nothing fundamental that makes us different. What the Dominion did to Cardassia - humans did that to my homeworld. Maybe not so fast, but this place looks just how my planet did when the warring factions got through with it."

He nodded. "You do understand."

She met his eyes again. "You do have one thing we didn't. Cardassia is willing to unify and rebuild. You can chose to let this place fall apart completely, or you can use what you have to come back stronger. And if you're willing to commit to that, I will personally do everything in my power to make sure the Federation Council is behind you."

"Thank you, Commander." He paused. "Although I do have to correct you on one small matter."

"What's that?"

"If we'd been standing here a month ago, your fear of me would have been the least of our concerns."

Tasha burst out laughing despite herself, and Damar joined in.

There will be follow-up to this, but I wanted to get this chapter posted. You've waited long enough. I do apologize for the wait, but I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this, and then I had The Move From Hell in mid-August and my vacation shortly thereafter to recover from said move and other stress this summer.

As for why Damar survives in this timeline and not the primary, my theory (because I really wanted the character to survive) is that some of the decisions he made in the way he fought were due to his guilt over killing Ziyal, which we learn was consuming him, and that he might have just a little more self-preservation in this one since she survived.

This chapter contains a number of references to the DS9 episode What You Leave Behind, up to and including borrowed dialogue. I'm not a huge fan of DS9 Season Seven, so I'm going to let readers assume that Jadzia served basically the same function in that season as the Ezri Dax character did (minus the identity crisis, of course), rather than write it up. I wanted to change the way the war was won, but I couldn't find a way to justify that by Tasha's being alive. The reason she understands Tasha's reaction is that, if you remember, her last host was on Tasha's home planet and would see the similarities. The reference to Sisko taking a ship into battle with half the systems down is a reference to the episode For the Uniform.

I would just like to say that with the addition of this chapter, To The Journey now has more chapters than any other story on my page.

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