Disclaimer: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and its characters/concepts belong to Paramount Pictures. Any copyright infringements were intended. This story was written for entertainment and not for profit.

Spoilers and Timing: spoilers for "Trials and Tribble-ations" and for my previous story, Twelfth Host.

Summary:

*****

Agents Dolmer and Luxley stepped into Captain Benjamin Sisko's office on Deep Space Nine. It wasn't the first time they'd been there, and they doubted it would be the last.

Sisko stood to great the Temporal Investigations agents. "Welcome back to Deep Space Nine, gentlemen."

They sat down. "So," Dolmer began. "What happened this time, captain?"

Sisko placed his elbows on his desk and tapped the tips of his fingers together as he considered where to begin. "Well, I suppose it all began when Rizon Dax met the Defiant after we emerged from the temporal anomaly."

The agents nodded. "We remember. That was only two weeks ago, I believe," Dolmer said.

"Two weeks, four days," Luxley corrected.

Sisko nodded in affirmation. "Yes, well, as you well know, Rizon reconfigured the Defiant's systems to ensure our safe return through the anomaly, and back to our own time. He also left a message for Lt. Ezri Dax in her console. She said it contained the information about the tools Rizon had used and what to do with them, in order to keep the paradox from breaking. However, that wasn't the only thing the message said."

Luxley and Dolmer exchanged wary looks before leaning back in their chairs. "Something tells me this is going to be a long story," Luxley said, sounding as if he regretted it already.

Without thinking about it, Sisko picked up his baseball and started twirling it around in his palm. "At first, Ezri wouldn't admit what the message meant. However, one week after your departure, she called a meeting of the senior staff. Naturally, we were all curious to know what it is. She explained to me ahead of time that it was about Rizon's message, but that was all she'd tell me. None of us knew what to expect…"

*****

"Thank you all for coming," Ezri said. She stood at the end of the briefing table in the war room. She looked decidedly nervous. "There's something I need to tell all of you about Rizon's message."

"I thought you weren't supposed to tell anyone what your future host told you?" Dr. Julian Bashir questioned. "In case the timeline is altered prematurely."

"Under other circumstances, I'd say yes, but what I'm going to tell you has to do with the here and now and won't change the timeline at all…I think."

"You think?" Chief Miles O'Brien repeated.

"According to Rizon, I'm supposed to do this, so I'm pretty sure that means that we're okay. He told me that in ten days' time, something bad will happen."

"And exactly what is that?" Odo asked.

Ezri's expression turned worrisome. "Everyone on this station will be dead."

*****

Luxley and Dolmer exchanged glances. "Obviously, something happened to prevent that."

"It certainly did," said Sisko.

*****

"What?" Colonel Kira Nerys asked in disbelief.

"How?" Sisko asked Ezri.

"He wouldn't say," Ezri admitted. "He did say that he'd explain it to us all when he got here."

"He's coming here? To this time?" Julian looked even more surprised.

"Why?" O'Brien asked. "Couldn't he just tell you everything?"

"Nope. He said that we'd need him."

"How exactly is he going to get here?" Worf asked.

"I'm curious to know that myself," Sisko said.

"That's where I come in," Ezri replied. "He told me the details of a Trill ritual that doesn't even exist yet. I'd need the Orb of Time to make it work. With the Orb's help, the ritual will call as many of my future hosts as I want to the present time. I know that it sounds implausible, but we need Rizon. Without him, we'll all be dead. This is the only way I know how to reach him."

"You don't need our permission to do this," Odo pointed out. "All you'd have to do is get permission from Starfleet Command. Why hold this meeting?"

"I need you for the ritual. Well, most of you. I need everyone who participated in Jadzia's zhian-tara. Benjamin, Julian, Miles, Odo, and Kira, that means all of you. I'll be filling Quark and Leeta in later once they and Rom get back from their trip to Bajor."

"Why do you need us?" Julian asked.

"All of you are connected with Dax," Ezri explained. "It should help me locate Rizon and draw him here."

The station's senior staff glanced at each other. "Well, I'm in," Julian said.

"Me, too," Miles said.

"You can count me in," said Kira.

Odo said, "and me as well."

"Me too," Sisko told Ezri. "I'll have to ask for permission from Starfleet Command before I ask the Bajoran people to borrow one of their Orbs, but I'm pretty sure it can be accomplished once they know what's at stake."

Ezri nodded. "Understood."

*****

"You agreed to disrupt the flow of time just like that?" Luxley asked, sounding a little surprised.

Sisko shrugged. "According to Dax - both of them - it was a time paradox."

"We hate those," Dolmer reminded the Starfleet captain.

Sisko shrugged.

The TI agent sighed, resigned, and made himself comfortable again. "So what happened next?"

"Starfleet Command was reluctant at first to grant permission. They were as wary of disrupting the time flow as the two of you are. It took me a little while to convince them that it was a time paradox, and that it was supposed to happen. When they did give the okay, I used my Emissary status to request the Orb of Time from the Kai."

"The who?" Dolmer querried.

"The Kai is the Bajoran religious leader," Luxley supplied.

"A few days had passed before the orb arrived on the station. Lt. Dax instructed me to have it sent to the war room where we would have some privacy."

"And then?"

Sisko paused to collect his thoughts. "Before I tell you about the ritual, I should fill you in on Rizon's version of events. He told us a bit about what he was doing when he was transported to this time-I assure you, it was necessary. Anyway, this is what he told us. Rizon had just gotten back from meeting the Defiant outside of the temporal anomaly. When he got back to Trill, he had to deal with a Temporal Investigations agent from his own time…"

*****

Rizon Dax, twelfth host of the Dax symbiont, set his shuttlecraft down on his own personal pad. After shutting down the main power, he grabbed his bag of tools and stepped out of the craft. It took him a few moments to adjust to the almost pitch blackness of the Trill night. When he did, he took in a calming breath. He was relieved to be home. It had been great seeing all of them again; he hadn't lied about Jadzia's and Ezri's friends on Deep Space Nine being the closest friends he'd ever had in twelve lifetimes. At the same time, though, it had been hard to face them. He could remember watching, or hearing, and dealing with many of their deaths. Dax had been married to two of them and very good friends with the rest. It had been hard seeing them again when all of them were at their primes.

A hundred and fifty years had passed since. Even with that time between them, not two mention two hosts, Ezri's and Jadzia's memories were still the clearest. If Rizon hadn't felt so attached to the Defiant's crew, he might not have gone to meet them at that anomaly. The move had been a risky one, considering current events-ones that he was deeply embroiled in.

Rizon stepped up to the locked door leading into his house. "Rizon Dax," he said.

He felt a scanner run over his body before he heard the lock on the door slide away. "Identity confirmed," the computer's male voice said. Some aspects of technology had improved in a century and a half, one being that even the oldest sensors still in operation could detect if one was a changeling, clone, or other. In other words, if Rizon wasn't who he claimed to be, the computer would know about it.

Rizon had barely stepped inside and locked the side door behind him when the door chime rang. Sighing, he hid his bag in his coat closet and attached a personal cloaking device to it to make it invisible. Then he answered the front door.

He wasn't surprised to see a woman wearing the uniform of a Temporal Investigations Agent standing on his doorstep. "Rizon Dax?" she asked.

"Yes?"

"I'm Agent Kathleen Banks." She handed him a PADD badge. His expert eyes could tell that it was legitimate.

"I assume you're here to discuss my little trip to meet the USS Defiant?"

She nodded. "We thought it would be best to contact you as soon as possible, seeing as your associate says your schedule will be tied up for several weeks."

"My associate?" I repeated.

"A Mr. Dittrias V___ (name of agent in Joran's story in 'Lives of Dax')."

"Ah, yes. Well, you might as well come in, seeing as I wouldn't want you to stand there on the doorstep for another minute. You might go blind squinting like that and we couldn't have that."

Rizon's tone was light, but the tension underlying it was obvious. "Thank you," Banks said, as politely as she could, as Rizon moved aside to allow her entry.

They sat down in the living area. Banks took the couch while Rizon sat across from her in one of the less comfortable chairs. The agent wasted no time starting the interrogation. "Mr. 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 on board 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 as the tension in the room seemed to thicken. "Something like that." The way he said it was almost a challenge. He silently dared her to ask what he meant.

A second or two later, he shrugged and answered her first question. "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…please."

*****

Twenty minutes came and gone as Banks asked him question after question. The questions were almost identical to the ones Ezri had to answer.

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

The TI Agent had had enough. She rose, angry. "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?"

*****

"That's good enough, Captain," Dolmer told Sisko. "We should hear as little as possible about the future."

"I'm afraid I needed to tell you all of that, Agent Dolmer," Sisko said. "It is relevant, I assure you. And knowledge of the future won't change a thing - after all, Rizon was supposed to tell us. But you're in luck. Rizon wouldn't tell us anymore - just that relationships between Trill and the Federation were a little shaky in the future. He was as worried about disrupting the timeline as you were and wouldn't tell us more."

"We're glad to here that, Captain," Luxley said, looking relieved.

Sisko stood. "Gentlemen, it is getting late. Station's night will begin shortly. I suggest we continue this debriefing tomorrow morning?"

Dolmer and Luxley stood. Dolmer said, "Goodnight, Captain. We will return at nine hundred years tomorrow morning."

"I'll be waiting."

*****

"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 be calmed down."

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 to want a nice kick in the ass whenever Rizon had to deal with annoying bureaucrats like Agent Kathleen Banks. It was only Curzon's acceptance of them that allowed Rizon to tolerate them as much as he did.

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, more costlier advances in technology. Fifty years ago, the first projected console had been introduced. It had lasted only a few months on the market. No one could afford them-not even the Federation. Its resources had shrunk considerably.

There were many plausible reasons for that. Ten years after the Dominion War 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 the empire hadn’t completely recovered from the Dominion War, and the Romulan-Federation War didn’t help the Klingon's economy.

After the Romulan-Federation War, the Federation spent a considerable time providing aid in the Klingon Restoration. Meanwhile, the Borg struck, assimilating large numbers of Federation starships before Starfleet could launch a defensive.

That wasn't the end of their troubles. Sensing weakness, the Cardassians decided to take advantage of this. They retook Bajoran outposts they'd gained during the Dominion War and the Bajoran Occupation. The Bajorans asked the Federation for help. Starfleet couldn't take back the territory the Cardassians had reconquered; they were forced to limit their manpower to preventing the Cardassians from advancing even further, and even that was a strain.

It became clear to everyone by that point that the mighty United Federation of Planets was starting to break down.

Dozens of planets, now capable of defending themselves better than Starfleet could, 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. Some joined the Dominion. The others were neutral, but Rizon knew it would just be a matter of time before the Cardassians took them over as well.

The Federation was still a force to be reckoned with, but they were getting weaker all the time. Trill had been one of its strongest supporters…until the Federation made a crucial mistake.

Not only building materials but Federation medical supplies were becoming more and more limited all the time. Medical services, 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. No one on Trill could understand the refusal, not even Rizon and the people he worked for. Medical supplies were thinning, certainly, but the Federation could have done something to help Trill. They could have at least tried. To the Trill people, the Federation Council didn't seem to even consider it for the briefest of moments.

For several weeks now, the Trill Council had been discussing breaking away from the Federation. Whether they remained in the Federation or not, there was no guarantee that Trill would survive, which was why it was such a long debate. The Federation had denied charges of not caring for Trill but had as yet to send aide. Any concrete decisions hadn't been made as yet.

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.

Rizon himself was not affected, and likely never would be. Nor was he a carrier. Some of the Trill were immune to the disease, and he was part of that lucky - or unlucky - minority. Unfortunately, the infected Trill outweighed the immune Trill be too many numbers.

Their scientists, Dax included, were very puzzled by the disease. It had been in existence for fifteen years now and they still knew very little about it. The disease was unlike anything they'd ever seen. They weren't even sure how it was transmitted - they were almost positive that it wasn't genetic, it wasn't sexual transmitted, it wasn't from tactile contact, carried on air particles, and traces of it were not found in common food products-replicated or natural.

Dax's job was to help study the disease and find a cure…among other things. He'd been on the project with dozens of other Trill doctors for three years now and they were no closer to success than when they started. Still, they kept trying.

As he reviewed the messages left for him from some of the other doctors, his thoughts wandered once again to his meeting with the people from Ezri's and Jadzia's lives. Seeing his predecessor had been a little unnerving, to say the least. Rizon had been prepared for it, and 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 and he was looking forward to seeing it again.

He wondered why Agent Banks hadn't asked him about his second trip to DS9. She probably would the next time he saw her…which would probably be when he got back from his little time traveling adventure. He wasn't sure when he'd be transported back in time, but he did know that it could happen any minute now.

*****

Luxley and Dolmer arrived at Captain Sisko's office at nine hundred sharp the next morning. Once they were settled down, Sisko continued retelling events.

*****

The Orb of Time was set up in the war room. Eight days before the event that would kill everyone on board, at nine thirty sharp, the senior staff, along with Leeta and Quark, had been assembled around the orb.

The briefing table was pushed to one side of the room. The orb was placed on a pedestal with two mirrors on either side. The senior staff plus a few others, excluding Worf who stood in the corner, was positioned in a semi-circle around the orb. A Guardian stood next to Worf. The Guardian was an un-joined Trill representing the Symbiosis Commission. He was there only to observe and interfere if something went wrong. Otherwise, he did nothing. He knew very little about the ritual Ezri was performing, and couldn't help feel a little apprehensive.

Worf also felt a sense of foreboding. The people assembled around the orb had participated in Jadzia Dax's zhian-tara, a Trill ritual where the currently host of a symbiont could interact with the symbiont's previous hosts. This was achieved through a Guardian who transformed, telepathically, the members of a host to another body. Jadzia had undergone her zhian'tara three years after arriving on DS9 and had used, with permission, the bodies of her friends aboard the station as temporary hosts.

Worf was still on the Enterprise while the ritual place. Being reminded of a ritual that his dead wife was apart of made him miss her. The entire affair made him very uncomfortable, and he hoped that the ritual would not take long.

Kira, then O'Brien, Leeta, Quark, Julian, Sisko, and finally Odo stood in the semi-circle. Each held a candle. Ezri lit each candle one by one. When she was done, she smiled nervously at them. "Ready?" All of them nodded. Ezri took a deep breath and began to speak in the ancient Trill language.

"____"

Ezri turned away from them and approached the orb. She opened the cartouche (?) and stared inside at the double helix-shaped orb.

Ezri forced her eyes away and into the mirror to the right. Her reflection stared back at her. "___." She turned to the other mirror. "___."

The reflection in the mirror shimmered. Ezri's breath caught in her throat. It was working.

The figure reflected back at her wasn't Ezri's. It was a Trill woman with straight red hair, blue eyes, and lots of freckles. Dax had never seen her before, but she knew who the woman was: it was Dax's tenth host, Zetil.

"____."

The reflection shimmered into a man with sandy blonde hair and green eyes. He was a giant compared to Ezri's height. He was Yorin, Dax's eleventh host.

"___!"

The reflection changed again and Ezri stared back into the face of a Trill man with midnight black hair and icy blue eyes. This was the host she was looking for. This was Rizon.

Ezri forced her gaze away from him and stared into the Orb of Time. "___!"

A light flowed out from the orb and bathed the entire room in white. Everyone was blinded by it. When they could see again, everyone still stood where they were a moment ago with one exception. Standing directly behind Ezri was another Trill. His back was to them, but they all knew by his black hair that the time traveling ritual had worked.

Ezri saw the reflection of him standing behind her and twirled around. She stared up into the eyes of her future host. She didn't know what to say.

He did. He smiled, half-exasperated and half-teasing, and said, "Well, it's about time."

*****

Sisko stepped forward with a welcoming smile. "Hello, Rizon. Welcome to Deep Space Nine."

Rizon looked around at them and couldn't help the feeling of loss forming in the pit of his stomach. He recognized all of them, of course. How could he not? But those memories included ones when they were a lot older, as well as a few of memories of seeing them dying or dead. Rizon fought to keep these feelings under the surface; he had a job to do. He could reminiscence on old times when he got back to his own time.

Instead, he smiled. "It's good to be back, Benjamin." It really was good to be back at the station, back when everything was all right despite the constant fear of a Dominion attack.

"He's going to be Dax's twelfth host?" Quark asked Ezri.

"Hello, Quark," Rizon greeted him. "It's good to see you, too."

A few minutes later, Quark and Leeta had both left the room. The senior staff, along with Rizon, sat around the briefing table. Rizon rubbed his hands together. "All right. You've filled 'em in?" he asked Ezri. She nodded. "Okay then. All of you know that something will happen in eight day's time that will destroy the station…or is supposed to. Considering that this is a predestination paradox, it's obvious to everyone that I'm supposed to come and stop it, so the station and its inhabitants - well, most of them - remain alive and intact."