Disclaimer: Characters and concepts borrowed from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine belong to Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Paramount Pictures. Characters/concepts borrowed from Stargate SG-1 belong to Stargate (II) Productions, Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Products

Spoilers and Timing: For DS9, this story takes place after "The Dogs of War". DS9 spoilers are for the episodes "Trials and Tribble-ations" and "Facets" and the novel Star Trek, Deep Space Nine: The Lives of Dax edited by Marco Palmieri. For Stargate SG-1, this takes place in late season six with spoilers for "The Broca Divide", "Message in a Bottle", "Sight Unseen," and other season six episodes.

Summary: The people at Stargate Command have been fighting the Goa'uld, a race of parasitic beings, for years when Ezri Dax is somehow transported to their base. She has no idea how she got there - one minute she's on the station, the next she's been transported across time and space to a past Earth. Hammond and SG-1 promise to help her get back to Deep Space Nine. However, after Dr. Fraiser discovers the Dax symbiont inside Ezri, all hell breaks loose, and that's not the only reason. Memory displacements, dimensional portals, wormholes, and snakes, snakes, and more snakes all make appearances.

Mention "Times Past" DS9 eps.

*****

How did I get myself into this mess? Ezri Dax wondered. Her hand instinctively went to her stomach as her thoughts strayed to the symbiont inside her. Thinking about the Dax symbiont was a common pastime for her – eight lifetimes of memories would be more than enough to distract anyone. Unfortunately, none of her predecessors had ever dealt with this situation before. She drew on the memory of Curzon Dax’s ability to remain outwardly calm in tense situations. Inwardly, her hearts beat furiously.

She paced the confines of the quarters General Hammond had provided for her. Just outside the door, she knew, were two armed guards. They carried weapons that Ezri had seen only in Julian’s historical holographic reenactments. They were handguns from the late twentieth century. Added to that fact was that everyone she’d come across appeared human, and even used a few Earth expressions. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what planet she was on. The really questions were when was she, how did she get there, and how did she get back home. One minute, she’d been on the station, and the next, she was in an underground military base located somewhere on an Earth that existed hundreds of years before either Ezri Tigan or Dax were born.

It wasn’t Dax’s first experience with time travel. Unfortunately, Jadzia’s experience had gone differently. Jadzia had very little to worry about. The crew of the Defiant had gone back in time to the days of Captain James T. Kirk in pursuit of a criminal. Jadzia had fun then – she’d lived through that time period before as Emony and Audrid Dax. She’d spent the time enjoying all the things she’d missed.

Ezri was suddenly lost in the memory of Jadzia in the skin-tight, form-fitting female Starfleet uniform from Kirk’s time that she had to wear as a disguise. She had modeled it for Benjamin, Bashir, and O'Brien. She twirled around, thoroughly enjoying herself as the three men's eyes roamed up and down-

"Argh!" Ezri said, annoyed with herself. There was no time for reliving old memories. She needed a plan. She remembered Tobin Dax’s ability to think through his panic when he had a pack of playing cards available for shuffling to soothe his nerves. She wondered if her nerves would calm down if she had her own fifty-two deck of cards in her own hands.

Concentrate, Ezri, she told herself. She reviewed her options. So far, her options were, 1) to find a way to escape and return to Deep Space Nine on her own, 2) to trust General Hammond and SG-1 to keep their promise to help her get back home, or 3) pretend to trust them and find a way to use that to help her escape. Unfortunately, her chances of escape seemed slim. Security, she’d noticed, was tight everywhere on the base, and she had no advantages. One thing she had noticed was their reaction to her. According to Julian, humans wouldn’t meet any aliens until the Vulcans initiated first contact with Earth in 2063. However, these people weren't alarmed by her spots - only curious. She needed more information about what went on there.

Her door opened. Her pair of security guards entered. "General Hammond wishes to speak to you," one of them told her. "Please come with us."

At least they aren’t threatening me at gunpoint. The two guards escorted her down the hall and into a turbolift. No, not turbolift, she reminded herself. What did Julian call them? It’s an elevator. The elevator stopped on the second-to-last floor of the base. Her escorts led her down another short hallway. They passed other humans on their way. Each of them looked curiously at her but didn’t stare, which confused Ezri even further. Finally, they stopped in front of a door and she was led inside.

The room was much larger than her quarters. In the center of the room was a long table with chairs on all sides. A smaller table off in one corner held glasses and mugs. On the other end of the room was a staircase leading down to the floor below. One wall of the room was made entirely of windows, but beyond them was what appeared to be a steal wall.

General Hammond was seated at the head of the table. Seated on the left side of the table were four people Ezri didn’t recognize. The man seated on the general’s immediate left had graying hair. The man seated next to him had skin as dark as Benjamin’s, and the most noticeable feature he had was a gold – tattoo? Emblem? – that decorated his forehead. On his left was a blonde-haired woman, and the man seated next to her appeared to be the youngest of all of them.

General Hammond stood and introduced them to her. "Lieutenant Dax, this is Colonel O’Neill, Teal’c, Major Carter, and Jonas Quinn. Please." He indicated the chairs on the table’s empty right side.

Her guards took up positions on either side of the door. Ezri chose the chair immediately to the general’s right and sat down. Here goes, she thought, and waited for them to ask the first question.

"What exactly do you remember about how you got here?" General Hammond asked.

Ezri took a deep breath. "Nothing," she admitted. "One minute, I was on the station - um, Deep Space Nine. It's a space station where I work. I was walking across the promenade and then the next minute I was here."

Her hosts were confused by this. "So there wasn't a Stargate on her end," Jonas Quinn remarked.

"So, what? A wormhole just opened up in the middle of nowhere?" Colonel O'Neill asked sarcastically.

"It is possible," Major Carter reminded him. "The X-302 was capable of it, sir."

Ezri wondered what they were talking about. "What's a stargate?"

"It's a device that can open a stable wormhole to another stargate," Major Carter explained. "It allows us to travel to other worlds."

Ezri stared. "What planet is this?" she asked. If this wasn't Earth, where was she?

"We're on Earth," General Hammond answered.

"Earth is also known as the planet of the Tau'ri," Teal'c added.

"What's the year?" she asked. "In Earth years."

They exchanged looks. "It is the year 2003," Teal'c replied.

She'd been right about the planet and the date, but what about everything else? There was only one explanation that she knew of. "I'm in an alternate universe," she muttered aloud. "There are no Stargates in my reality," she told them. "At least, none that I know of. It's about four hundred years in the future where I'm from. On the Earth in my universe, humans meet an alien species for the first time in-" what was the date Julian had given her? "-2063. No human had ever met an alien before then, as far as I know."

"Yes, and how would you know?" Col. O'Neill asked her. "How do we even know you're telling the truth?"

They wanted proof. That was understandable. "How do I know you're telling the truth about the Stargate?" she asked.

Klaxons filled the air, making Dax tense. They sounded nothing like the red alert klaxons aboard the Defiant, but her reaction was just the same.

A voice resounded through a communications system. "Off-world activation!"

Everyone began to stand up and head for the stairs. Hammond told her, "Lieutenant, if you will please come with us, you will get to see the Stargate in action."

Ezri followed them down the stairs. The room below was small and narrow. It was crowded with machinery and technicians working at controls. Ezri took that all in before her eyes fell on the sight visible through the room's glass window. The room beyond the window was a large one, as blandly decorated as the rest of the base. What stood out in it was unlike anything Ezri Dax had ever seen, in any of her lives. It was a huge ring made out of some sort of unrecognizable material. A metal ramp led up to the ring's base. Two of the seven triangle-shaped pieces space out at even intervals around the outer ring were lit, and as Ezri watched, a third one locked into place and lit up. The inner ring of the Stargate was spinning.

"Chevron Four has been decoded."

Soldiers dressed all in black with assault riffles filed into the room containing the Stargate. They lined up at the base of the metal ramp and aimed their weapons at the ring. "What's going on?" Ezri asked.

"It's just a precaution," Quinn reassured her.

Ezri decided that he meant the black-suited soldiers. "No, why is the - Stargate? - spinning like that."

He grinned. "You'll see in a minute."

Meanwhile, the technician finished his countdown. "Chevron Seven - locked!"

Suddenly, a blue whirlpool erupted out of nowhere from within the Stargate. It burst forward, making Ezri step back, even though she was in no danger. She watched, disbelieving, as the whirlpool settled into a rippling wall in the center of the Stargate.

"Close the iris," Hammond ordered.

A metal shield closed over the wormhole. A moment later, the technician announced, "Receiving SG-3's transmission."

"Open the iris."

The metal shield slid away once again. A few seconds passed. Everyone watched the Stargate, waiting. Suddenly, several human-sized ripples appeared in the water-like surface of the wormhole. A group of four humans stepped through, dressed in US military garbs.

Behind them, the whirlpool collapsed in on itself and disappeared altogether, making Ezri's ears ring.

SG-1 watched her for her reaction. Ezri simply stared. It was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. The wormhole that was situated just outside Deep Space Nine was nothing like the Stargate.

*****

It was sometime later when, back in her quarters, Ezri heard a knock on the door. Jonas Quinn stuck his head inside. "Hi," he said. "It's Lieutenant Dax, right?"

Ezri nodded. "Was there something I could do for you, Mr. Quinn?"

He gave her a smile. "Call me Jonas. I wanted to let you know that we've decided to help you get back to your reality."

"Can you do that?"

Jonas nodded. "We've got a device that can be used to travel to alternate dimensions. However, the same device needs to exist in other realities in order for our device to be used. Hopefully, your reality has one."

Ezri could feel hope build inside, along with uncertainty. "And if it doesn't?"

"We've got plenty of other resources. We'll keep looking. Col. O'Neill is planning to go see one of our allies and ask them what if they knew how you could have gotten here."

Dax didn't know who the Asgard were, but nevertheless, she was surprised that they were helping her so much already. "Thank you," she told him, sincerely.

"I was about to head over to the commissary. Are you hungry?"

Ezri's stomach growled suddenly, making her aware of the fact that she hadn't eaten in hours. "Yes," she told Jonas. "I'd love something to eat. Although-am I allowed to wonder around?"

"I asked General Hammond. He's given you clearance to go to certain areas of the base as long as you're with someone."

They set off down the hall. Her guards remained one or two paces behind them. Ezri ignored them.

Jonas asked, "So…can you eat Earth food in your reality?" Ezri answered in the affirmative. "So what exactly are you?" he asked. "I hope I'm not imposing."

"It's all right. I'm a Trill."

"What is that, exactly? Besides the spots."

"My mental capacities are greater in some areas, and my physiology is a little different than a human's. That answer your question?"

He nodded. "Pretty much, yeah."

They entered the commissary. The medium-sized eating hall was almost packed with humans. Most of them were male, although Ezri did spot the occasional female. She had never seen so many humans in one place without other races mixed in.

She and Jonas got in line. When they had gotten two tray-loads of food, they turned around, looking for a place to sit. Major Carter and Teal'c waved them over.

"Good afternoon, Jonas Quinn, Lieutenant Dax," Teal'c greeted them cordially.

"Same to you," Ezri told him.

Major Carter addressed Dax, "There's something I wanted to ask you. What exactly do you remember when you arrived here?"

Ezri looked down suspiciously at the noodles on her tray with the unidentifiable green bits. Giving up on trying to figure out what it is, she turned her attention to the US Air Force major. "It's like I said earlier. I was walking across the promenade of Deep Space Nine. Then, suddenly, I was here. I don’t know how, sorry."

Carter shook her head. "What's the first thing you remember when you arrived here, at Stargate Command?"

Ezri opened her mouth to answer, then shut it. She didn't know. She had been walking out of Quark's, and then - what? She could remember looking around, drawing her phaser, aiming it at the security guard posted - posted where? Down the hall? In the room housing the Stargate, the embarkation room? She couldn't remember. She didn't know where on the base she'd appeared or whether if she'd just materialized or fallen through a mini-wormhole or anything.

She remembered when Jadzia had discovered the Symbiosis Commission's mind block in an attempt to block Joran Dax's memories, and couldn't help feeling a small stab of fear. Had someone performed a second mind block on her, Dax?

"I can't remember," she told them.

Major Carter turned to Jonas. "Do you remember how Lieutenant Dax got here?"

Jonas' brow furrowed. After a long moment, he admitted, surprised, that he didn't.

Carter nodded. "It's what I thought. No one remembers how, when, or where you arrived."

"What does that mean?" Jonas asked.

"I don't know."

Klaxons blared. "Intruder alert!" a female voice, one Ezri would later realized was Dr. Janet Fraiser's, vibrated out of the loud speakers. "Repeat, we have an intruder alert! SG-3 have been compromised!"

Suddenly, the loud noises of gunshots filled the air. The commissary was alive, not with idle chit-chat, but with the sound of chair legs being sratched across the floor or being tipped over in their occupant's hurry to stand, accompanied by shouts from superior officers barking out orders.

*****

Ezri Dax's right arm ached from extreme pain. She grabbed onto it with her other arm as she slid down against the wall, out of the range of fire.

Col. Jack O'Neill - she finally learned his first name - and Teal'c took turns ducking around the corner to return fire from their assailants, the SG-3 team that had been 'contaminated'-whatever that meant.

Ezri blinked and glanced around in confusion. How did we get like this? she wondered, confused. Her last clear memory was of hearing Dr. Fraiser's warning over the comm system. Whatever happened after that was a blurr, but somehow, she'd ended up here, in this random SGC hallway with Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill, whom she know knew were two of the four members of SG-1, along with Carter and Jonas Quinn. But wait - how did she know that? She couldn't remember them even sharing that piece of information.

"You all right?" O'Neill asked her. Ezri nodded. She would be.

Jonas Quinn and Major Carter suddenly appeared in a doorway across the way. The open door was labeled, 'weapons room.' Ezri watched as Carter threw a small, spherical device out into the corridor. She had barely realized that it was a grenade when there was an explosion down the other corridor.

When they investigated the effects of the grenade, they found two of the four members of SG-3 lying dead in the rubble.

"That's all of them," O'Neill said with a sigh. "Damn worms," he muttered. He turned his attention to them. "Everyone all right? Dax, how's the arm?"

"Just a flesh wound," Ezri reported.

"What about your leg?" Jonas asked.

Ezri suddenly became aware of the fact that she'd been limping. She glanced down at her right leg and noticed that it was bleeding. She suddenly felt very light-headed. As she collapsed, she wondered when her leg had been hit, but she couldn't remember that, either.

Then she passed out.

*****

Teal'c carried Lieutenant Dax to the infirmary. A few other people were being treated for flesh wounds. When Dr. Fraiser saw Dax, she set to work immediately.

Dax's physiology was similar enough to a human's that Janet was able to repair some of the damage. The Starfleet lieutenant had lost a lot of blood. Hopefully, the blood tests would show that the alien had a human blood type. If not, there was still a chance that the lieutenant would pull through without a transfusion.

While Ezri was still unconscious, Janet performed as many tests as she could think of in case there was something she overlooked that wouldn't have been a danger for a human. She found nothing alarming that should knew of - until she did a MRI.

The scans of the alien woman's abdominal area were similar to something Janet had seen before, and also very different.

Alarmed, Janet immediately paged the general. When Hammond arrived, she shared with him what she'd found. Hammond responded by posting additional guards around Ezri's bed before ordering SG-1 to report to the briefing room. This was something they would need to hear.

*****

SG-1’s general mood, as they sat around the briefing table, was grim. The four members of SG-3 had been good friends and good fighters. Now, three of them were dead, and the fourth was in a holding cell, and the SGC didn’t have any way of separating the Goa’uld symbiote from Captain Randoll’s body.

General Hammond and Dr. Fraiser entered, and from their expressions, SG-1 knew they were going to bring even more bad news. "People, we’ve got a serious situation on our hands," Hammond told them. "Lt. Dax has been hiding something very important from us."

"Like what exactly?" Jonas asked.

Dr. Fraiser pulled out a group of handouts from a folder and slid them across the table to each of them. Jonas, Sam, Teal’c, and Jack glanced through the handouts and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It was a scan of Dax’s body heat. Beneath her stomach, hidden between her intestines and her (organ Teal’c doesn’t have) was a worm-like shape.

"Figures," Jack muttered. "She’s got a snake in her."

"But this doesn’t make any sense," Carter said, confused. "If Lt. Dax is carrying a symbiote, Teal’c and I would have known it."

"That’s because it’s not a symbiote," Dr. Fraiser said. She slid over an x-ray. Even Jack had seen enough Goa’uld’s up close and personal to know that the worm-like being’s bone structure was different than a Goa’uld’s. "Their body chemistry is similar, but they are not the same."

"So what is it, doctor?" Hammond asked her.

"I don’t know," she admitted. "Our only source of information is Lt. Dax herself."

"If that really is Lt. Dax," Jack said. "For all we know, this guy doesn’t need to attach to the brain stem."

"It is possible," Teal’c mused.

"Doctor, is Dax awake?"

Fraiser nodded. "She’s been conscious for less than an hour."

"Well then," said Col. O’Neill, "Let’s go down and have a talk with her."

Hammond stood. "Agreed."

Part Two

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