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Spoilers and Timing:

Summary:

*****

"Black hair and blue eyes." Ezri thought about it before shaking her head. "Can’t really think of myself with that description."

Chief Miles O'Brien, Dr. Julian Bashir, and Ensign Ezri Dax sat at a table in Quark’s bar. Twelve hours ago, the Defiant had been trapped in some sort of temporal anomaly. It shot them forward in time. They’d barely arrived in the future when Rizon, Dax’s twelfth host, beamed aboard, adjusting their sensors and shields enough to get them back through the anomaly and back to their own time. Ezri had been unconscious during her predecessor’s visit, and the Defiant crew had held a briefing to catch her up.

"What was in the message he left for you?" O’Brien asked her.

"Pretty much everything," Ezri replied. "When and where to expect you guys, what devices to use, what to do with them."

"Really?" O’Brien asked, interested. "Maybe you could explain what those devices were, then."

"Sorry, Miles. You know I can’t – it would disrupt the timeline. Besides, I couldn’t if I wanted to. I memorized the message before burying the information through the ____ (Field of Fire) ritual. Hopefully, the information will stay buried until Rizon becomes my-Dax’s-host." She stood. "I’ve got a meeting with Temporal Investigations to get to. Benjamin and I are supposed to explain everything to them."

"Good luck," Julian told her.

She smiled. "Thanks."

Ezri strolled across the promenade and into the turbolift. A few minutes later, she walked across Ops and into Captain Benjamin Sisko’s office.

Benjamin stood across from the two agents from Temporal Investigations. Jadzia had met them before – they were the same two agents sent to Deep Space Nine after the Defiant crew’s last venture into the past.

"Lt. Ezri Dax, correct?" one of them, (description), asked her.

Ezri nodded. "Right."

"Good." They sat. "Now, let’s begin."

*****

Rizon Dax took a seat across from Agent Kathleen Banks. They sat in the living room of his house of Trill. "Rizon Dax, two days ago you left Trill and took your shuttle to the Aurelius Sector in order to meet the U.S.S. Defiant-B. Correct?"

Rizon nodded. "That’s correct."

"Would you mind explaining why you did this?"

Rizon sighed. "Agent Banks, Temporal Investigations has already asked these same questions of my ninth host. Why not just look in Ezri Dax’s records?"

If Banks felt any sympathy, she chose not to show it. "We like to get both sides of the story. Please answer the question."

Rizon put on a bored tone, but nevertheless answered, "As you well, know Ezri was unconscious while I was aboard the Defiant. When Ezri woke up, she read the message I left her."

"What did this message contain?"

"Pretty much everything I needed to know in order for me – Rizon – to help the Defiant crew."

"Such as?"

"Oh, device names and purposes, what to do with them, that sort of thing."

Agent Banks raised an eyebrow. "Why would your message contain that? It was unnecessary. You are an engineer, are you not?"

Rizon gave her a secretive smile. "Something like that." He shrugged. "It was insurance, just to make sure I used the correct devices and such."

"I see." Banks entered something into her PADD. "Describe in detail what happened upon your arrival in the Aurelius Sector."

*****

"Explain in detail everything that happened, Captain," the agent told Sisko.

"All right. The anomaly had damaged our shields considerably. We’d barely made it out when sensors detected an approaching ship. Rizon Dax beamed aboard, told us who he was, and set to work."

*****

"Agent Banks, this is all just a waste of time!" Rizon said, his impatience getting the better of him. "You know everything that happened. Benjamin - I, mean, Captain Sisko explained it to your department one hundred and fifty years ago!"

The TI Agent rose. "Rizon Dax, if you do not cooperate with the proceedings, I am authorized to arrest you."

"Fine!" Rizon mockingly held out his wrists. "Arrest me, agent! Although I doubt my government will appreciate the Federation arresting a Trill citizen. After all, relations between our two peoples are strained enough as it is, wouldn’t you say?"

*****

"And his message?" Agent ___ asked, turning to Ezri. "What did it contain."

"Basic information Rizon will need to help the Defiant," Ezri said. "I’m not really sure what. I performed the Emergence Ritual to burry the memories."

"Emergence Ritual?" Agent ___ asked.

"It’s a mental exercise that Trills can perform in order to forget a series of events but still be able to recall the information at any given time," his partner explained.

"Is that all?" Agent ___ asked Sisko and Dax.

"I believe we’ve covered everything," Sisko said.

The agents got to their feet. "Thank you, captain, lieutenant. You’ve been most cooperative."

They left.

*****

"Rizon Dax, according to the treaty between our governments, you are expected to cooperate."

"Well, the only way you’re going to get me to cooperate is if you arrest me!" Rizon declared.

Banks was furious. She glared at him for several long, tense minutes. He almost expected her to let out a growl. The investigator turned and stomped to Rizon’s door. "I’ll return tomorrow. Perhaps, by then, you will remain to control your temper."

She stalked out. When the door closed, Rizon waited with fists clenched in case she decided to pop back in again. After a minute of silence, Rizon broke out laughing. Oh, that had been priceless. He couldn’t understand how Ezri could have been patient with those people. They always seemed want a nice kick in the ass whenever Rizon to deal with annoying bureaucrats like Agent Kathleen Banks.

It wasn’t even Starfleet’s business. They already knew what happened, anyway – they got their answers back when relationships between the Federation and Trill had been better.

He took a calming breath. There was no point dwelling on what should have been. It was time to get back to work. He made sure the doors were locked and that there were at least a dozen security blocks preventing someone from opening them. Then he went over to his computer monitor and sat down.

Technology hadn’t really changed much in a century and a half. More gizmos were around than there used to be, sure, but wars, famines, and multiple supply shortages had forced most of the galaxy to keep the older models and reject the newer, most costlier advances in technology. Fifty years ago, the first touch-holographic screen had been introduced. It had lasted only a week on the market. No one could afford them-not even the Federation. Its resources had shrunk considerably in the past ninety years.

Ten years after the Dominion War had ended, the Federation went to war with the Romulans. The Federation won, but just barely. The Klingons had pitched in with the war as well, but they hadn’t completely recovered from the Dominion War, and the Romulan-Federation War didn’t help them.

The Federation spent many years helping in the Klingon Restoration. Meanwhile, the Borg struck, assimilating large numbers of their star ships before Starfleet could launch a defensive.

Meanwhile, the Cardassians retook Bajoran outposts. The Federation couldn’t send enough ships to stop them, and it became clear to everyone by that point that the federation was beginning to break down.

Hundreds of planets pulled out of the Federation. Planets who had contributed men or a large quantity of materials needed to construct starships or phasers were suddenly independent. Many joined the Dominion; others remained neutral, but the Dominion soon conquered most of those. The Federation tried to stop them, but they couldn’t.

Medical aid, along with repairs on stations, colonies, outposts, even starships, were neglected. Diseases began to crop up everywhere. A new disease that only affected Trill physiology had spread, slowly yet efficiently, everywhere Trills dwelled. As Federation citizens, the government of Trill had requested Aide in fighting this disease, only to be denied it point-blank.

Rizon's fists clenched again in renewed anger as he thought once again about the numbers of Trill dying of the disease every year. Dax's eleventh host, Horan, had suffered that fate. Thankfully, the symbionts themselves were immune to the disease. They couldn't be carriers, either, or the Dax Legacy would have ended with Horan's painful death.

That began the conflict between the Federation and Trill. Still, the Federation apologized enough that the council elected to remain in the Federation. Many members of the council could remember the golden days of the United Federation of Planets - back when the federation was good for everyone. It had taken them a long time, Rizon included, to finally accept that the older federation could never be again.

The council began discussing whether or not to become independent once again when the Federation struck their final blow. Not five years ago, Rizon had been an initiate at the Symbiosis Commission. During his training, because of his degrees in engineering and mechanics, Rizon had spent more time than the other initiates taking care of the symbiont pools. His job was to replace the old cleaning tools with more updated machines.

(more-illegal experiments with symbionts; Starfleet is accused, but people responsible not yet identified)

What Rizon disliked about time paradoxes is that they could creep up anytime. It wasn’t really a big deal – if only it didn’t happen when he was in the middle of something important. Like decoding Starfleet intelligence messages that had something to do with his people. Rizon hoped nothing would go wrong while he was gone. If all went well, they wouldn’t even notice he’d taken another trip back in time. Temporal Investigations would, of course. He’d see more of Agent Banks for sure.

He stared in the mirror at himself. His jet-black hair, cut short, along with his spots, made his skin seem pale. He did spend a lot of time in front of a computer or out in space these days. He needed a tan. A holosuite beach program might even do the trick if he didn’t have time to visit the purple oceans of Trill. He almost looked…what was it Julian said? Oriental. If he was a human, he would appear Oriental until one’s gaze fell on his eyes. His eyes were a pale blue that was almost light gray. They unnerved a lot of people, even him sometimes. And it didn’t help that he could also remember having every other eye color under the sun-or stars, as the case may be.

*****

"So which one is this?" Ezri asked. She glanced from the Bajoran Orb sitting on the table before her to Ben with an eyebrow raised.

"The Kai sent this to me," he answered. "She called it the Orb of Division. She said that would help me to understand what the prophets meant when they told me marrying Kassidy would bring me sorrow."

"I wonder why it’s called the Orb of Division then?" Ezri wondered.

Ben shrugged. "The Kai said that this is the orb the Prophets want me to use."

"Well, I'll be in my office if you need me." Ezri turned and left the

Sisko faced the Orb. He opened the cabinet that housed it and gazed inside. The swirling, double-helix shaped Orb was a dark-purple in color. As Benjamin watched, the purple intensified to light purple, then to blinding white. He couldn't pull his gaze away.

*****

Seeing his predecessor had been a little unnerving, to say the least. Rizon had been prepared for it. It wasn’t until after that the nostalgia hit. Memories of eleven lifetimes did that to him. Even with two lifetimes between them, Ezri’s and Jadzia’s memories were the most vivid. Deep Space Nine had been his home.

He was looking forward to seeing it again.

"Come on, Benjamin," he muttered aloud, getting impatient. Curzon’s techniques for staying calm never worked for him, and any minute now he’d start pacing.

Two minutes later, he began the first lap around the room.

*****

Ezri exited the turbolift into Ops.