Title: Legacy, Year 1
Series: Alternate Histories of the Dominion war
Author: Valerie Shearer
Contact: thenightbird@sbcglobal.net
Series: DS9
Part: 2 /? 
Rating: PG-!3
Codes: Angst,Character Death

For full header, see part 0

                              LEGACY 
            An Alternative History of the Dominion War

                              Year 1

                     Teaser - At Ground Zero

Neither knew, but it was the last lunch they would ever 
share. Garak was explaining the nuances of the latest 
Cardassian novel he had lent Julian, but Julian barely 
listened.  His attention was on the noontime crowd, as if 
measuring their mood. Frustrated, Garak stopped.  
"Doctor, I do believe you're not listening." 

"Oh, sorry," Julian replied, distracted.  "There have 
been too many patients hurt in fights.  And the last 
round of physicals showed half the people here need a 
vacation.  Too much stress. Seems like half the people 
here need something to get to sleep," he added, looking 
towards Quark's, "from me or there." 

"It's not easy living in the bull's-eye," said Garak, 
thoughtfully.  

Above the murmur of the crowd in the replimat, someone 
shouted that the wormhole was opening.  As had become a 
kind of ritual, people headed toward the upper level to 
watch. 

Garak noted, "There seems to be something going on." 

                               ***

There was a knot of people near one of the large viewing 
ports.  They stood silently watching as another convoy 
emerged from the wormhole. 

Neither terribly hungry, Bashir and Garak had abandoned 
their food to join the crowd.  They were staring at the 
ships in silence, the sense of alarm visible as the 
convoy did not turn as all the others had.  People backed 
away, uncertain as it headed towards the station instead.  
Everyone knew that eventually it would happen.  None were 
really prepared. 

The klaxons began to sound red alert.

A moment later the first blast hit the station, 
scattering the crowd. 

                               ***

Sisko watched intently as the first few attackers 
retreated from the station's fire. Station defenses had 
been activated, and for the first time the new 
configurations had come on line. The Defiant had been 
scrambled, and was already engaged in battle. But for a 
few moments, the Dominion fleet stood back.  

"They're hailing us, Sir."

"On screen."

Weyoun's face appeared. He smiled. "Captain Sisko, we 
demand your immediate surrender." 

"Another wave of ships is coming out of the wormhole, 
Sir," reported someone quietly. 

Sisko looked around Ops. The station could fight them off 
for a time, but not forever. His people were scared, but 
would not give up without a good fight.  

"I'll have to think about it," he said, signaling that 
communications be cut. 

"How long until we get some reinforcements?" he asked 
Dax.

"Six hours at the best estimate," she said quietly.

More ships were pouring through the wormhole. Sisko 
looked around at his people. 

"Clear all ships that want to leave. No, *tell* them to 
leave. If they stay they may not be able to." 

The information was being passed on in a low voice. 

"Prepare to fire on my order."  

"They're hailing us again, Sir."

"On screen."

Weyoun wasn't smiling this time.  "Captain, you can't 
win. Surrender now and save a lot of lives." 

"I can't do that," said Sisko and communications was cut.        

The attack began in earnest. The Jem'Hadar advanced in 
large waves, the firefight quickly becoming intense as 
the station fired back at anything that moved.  The 
shields were holding but damage to the station was 
already severe. There was a report of an explosion on the 
Promenade. 

                               ***

Bashir had not been able to get to the Infirmary. The 
scattering of the crowd had been fortuitous, so only a 
few had been badly injured when an explosion had spread 
shrapnel over the crowd.  


Tapping his communicator, he said, "Bashir to Infirmary.  
We have casualties on the Promenade.  I need a team 
here." He handed a wad of material to Garak, indicating 
where to press on a badly bleeding patient.  They had 
moved the injured to a less open area, and no one needed 
immediate transport, but he did need help. 

"Anyone serious? We have a lot of injured already here."  
It was his head nurse, so recently  assigned he didn't 
remember her name. She sounded very rushed.  

"A few. Get a team here stat." 

"Okay, Doctor. We need you here."

                               ***

The Dominion seemed to be losing a lot of ships. But they 
were smaller ships, and despite the shields they were 
creating a lot more damage than normal.  Several had 
impacted against the station, creating hull breaches that 
had sealed several sections. It was as if the strategy 
was to use up station resources and cause a lot of 
damage.  Once the ships were damaged they rammed the 
station. 

"Another convoy emerging," said a tense voice, as a large 
fleet of larger ships came into view.  

Sisko listened to the flood of damage reports coming into 
Ops. Almost every part of the station had sustained 
damage. It was going to be a long repair job--if they had 
the opportunity. 

"Shields?" he asked.

"Holding at forty percent."

He looked at the massive Dominion fleet still exiting the 
wormhole. Reinforcements would never arrive in time. This 
was the moment they had all dreaded and it wasn't going 
to last much longer. He looked around at the faces of his 
people. Bajoran and Starfleet alike, they were not giving 
up until they had no other choice. 

"Divert all available power to shields," he ordered.

"Shields at fifty percent."

Another wave of small ships was coming towards them.  

"Continuous fire.  Don't worry about targets," he 
ordered. There were enough small craft it would be hard 
to miss. 

Something crashed into the station near Ops. The room 
shook and the power momentarily dimmed. Another burning 
ship rammed the station, this time near Engineering. For 
a second everything went dark before emergency power 
kicked in. 

This was the end.

"Shields at ten percent," came the report.

It was now just a matter of time.

And then, quite unexpectedly, the attackers began to turn 
back. Stunned by the sudden reversal, Ops became utterly 
quiet. 

"Cease fire," ordered Sisko as the enemy retreated to 
safety. It wasn't going to matter much in a few minutes 
since there wasn't much more to fire. 

                               ***

DS9 had come out of the short battle in one piece, but 
with weeks of repairs ahead. Both transporters and 
internal sensors were out. The replicators were down.  
There were four major hull breaches.  

Bashir had more casualties than he knew what to do with.

They didn't have any chance at all if the Dominion 
launched another attack. 

They didn't even have the Defiant.

                               ***

The Defiant hadn't fared much better.

Worf, in command, watched the smoke drifting from the 
burned out panels.  The overload had sent three of the 
bridge personal to sickbay, and no one had replaced them 
as the panels were too damaged to use. Engulfed in 
Jem'Hadar ships, they were still fighting their way out. 
Half of the systems were off-line, including warp drive. 

The Defiant had been specifically targeted. Even after 
the attack on the station was ended, the swarm of 
Jem'Hadar ships had continued to fire, the Defiant 
cornered a little too far away for the station to help. 

"Divert all available power to shields," he ordered. 

"Shields holding at twenty percent."

They were traveling as fast as they could on impulse 
power, trying to get into the station's firing range.  
Most of the weapon systems were damaged or offline, 
having been specifically targeted, and shields would not 
hold for long. 

"Approaching station range, Sir."

"At my signal, drop shields and divert all power to 
impulse engines. Get as much speed as you can." 

The Defiant shot through the swarm of Jem'Hadar ships and 
into safe range, but took a number of blasts in the 
process. The Jem'Hadar ships withdrew. 

"Shields are gone."

"Impulse power failing as well, but it should get us to 
the docking ring." 

"Sisko to Defiant," came the voice. "Status report. We've 
lost transporters." 

"We will be able to dock," said Worf, relieved.  
"However, we have numerous injuries." 

Bashir's voice, sounding very harried, promised a team 
would be waiting. 

More ships were coming through the wormhole.  But instead 
of heading toward Bajor, their direction was toward 
Federation territory. The fleet that had surrounded Bajor 
itself was moving towards them. 

Starfleet must have been amassing a fleet to meet them.  
Warnings had been sent immediately. 

A ring of Dominion ships remained, however, shadowing 
both Bajor and the station, The ships did nothing, just 
sat in a stationary orbit and watched. 

The occupants of DS9 had finished their one and only 
battle of the Dominion invasion.  The harder part of 
their war was yet to begin. 

                               ***

Looking at the faces of his officers, Sisko noticed how 
grim they looked.  They had not cleaned themselves up.  
Bashir had dried blood on his uniform.  There had not 
been time to worry about that. 

"Report." Sisko nodded at O'Brien, who had inspected the 
Defiant after its docking. 

"Almost every system has sustained heavy damage.  It's a 
wonder it even made it back.  All we can do is have her 
towed to a repair yard at this point." 

General Martok, who had been on patrol near the 
Cardassian border when the attack took place, offered his 
help. "We will be joining the Federation and Klingon 
fleets. We can tow the Defiant back." 

"That would be acceptable," said Sisko with a heavy 
heart. The Defiant was as much his command as this 
station. To see her so badly damaged hurt, especially 
with the station defenses nearly out and the Dominion 
lying in wait. 

"That leaves us with one runabout," said Kira. The Rio 
Grande was the only surviving ship on the station. The 
visiting ships had taken Sisko's advice and left. 

"How about the station?" he asked.

Dax spoke. "Shields are holding, for now. But we couldn't 
stand up to much of a fight. Phasers are operative, but 
not fully. There are a few torpedoes left.  We might be 
able to take out some of them, but not many." 

"Casualties," asked Sisko softly.

"We've treated and released over 100 people for minor 
injuries. I have some 40 patients who will require a lot 
more care. There were ten deaths."  Bashir's voice was 
very quiet, but there was an odd edge to it. 

The station was a wreck, damage everywhere.  Main power 
was in the process of being restored, but that left 
almost everything else. 

They all knew that without help they didn't have a 
chance. And with the huge Dominion fleet heading toward 
Federation space, there wouldn't be much of that. 

"What about the people we have on Bajor?" asked O'Brien.  
His family had been caught on the planet, along with 
other dependents, and so far there was no way to get them 
back. 

"The shuttles that tried to leave were shot at," said 
Kira. "Not destroyed, just forced to return." 

There was a grim silence in the room. Kira remembered 
five years before, when the Starfleet people were new and 
Dukat had disappeared into the newly-discovered wormhole.  
His forces had tried to take the defenseless station 
then.  It had been the baptism, at least for some of 
them, in life away from their safe haven.  But now they 
were all much the same.  There hadn't been a sign of the 
Cardassians, just the Dominion, and they were intent 
on forcing their special version of order on far more 
than Bajor. 

"Well," said Sisko, "this meeting is dismissed. I have to 
discuss this situation with Starfleet, so hold all but 
priority communications for the next few hours." As his 
officers grimly left the room, Sisko steeled himself for 
what he expected to be bad news. 

                               ***

The admiral looked tired. Sisko was upset but did not let 
it show. He had detailed the reports of damage and the 
lingering Dominion fleet. 

Martok's bird of prey would be taking the Defiant back 
for repairs with a skeleton crew, Worf in command. 

"If it's abandoned it's just going to be all the harder 
to retake later," argued Sisko. 

"I'm sorry, Ben. It's not defensible. No matter what you 
have, they have the wormhole to resupply themselves.  The 
best thing we can do is get you out of there. You can't 
even get your own people off Bajor." 

"That's something that needs to be addressed. I have 
people here who aren't going to willingly leave them 
behind." 

"We'll do our best. Maybe when the evacuation ship 
arrives we can try to get to them. I'm just saying I 
can't make any promises. But your orders are to prepare 
for total evacuation." 

Sisko wondered what they were leaving out. Something was 
wrong. There were too many Dominion ships heading towards 
the Federation. Warnings about the Dominion and the 
danger it presented were only lately being taken 
seriously. 

There was one more thing to do. He initiated his second 
call, this time to Bajor. 

                               ***

The announcement was made before the senior officers, but 
it was transmitted throughout the station. 

Sisko stood before his senior staff, looking rather grim.

"I have received the following orders for all residents 
of this station." 

An edgy, nervous feeling spread throughout the station.  
There was barely a sound. 

"By the joint order of Starfleet Command and the Council 
of Ministers, this station has been ordered evacuated.  
This order affects all residents. Bajoran nationals will 
be allowed to return to Bajor, should they wish to do so.  
Starfleet is providing transportation to the nearest 
available location within Federation territory for all 
Federation personnel and dependents, and foreign 
nationals who wish it. But this order is very clear.  
The station must be completely evacuated." 

Here and there were comments, quickly hushed. The station 
residents stood or sat stunned by the sober tone. The 
feeling, now spread to everyone on the station, that 
something terrible was wrong became stronger. 

After a pause, Sisko resumed.

"I urge all Bajorans to seek the protection of Bajor, 
however should they wish the Federation will provide for 
the evacuation of any Bajorans who wish to leave the area 
as well." 

The Bajorans looked curiously at each other.

"The Dominion forces have agreed to allow this evacuation 
to proceed without interference. However, it must be done 
quickly.  Every person is permitted one bag of personal 
belonging and one bag of food and other provisions for 
themselves for one week. We must be prepared to provide 
for ourselves should it be necessary." 

The aura of nightmare grew stronger. There was a flurry 
of worried comments, and a sense of unreality began to 
pervade the onlookers. 

"That is the end of the first announcement."

"The second is also not a happy one. Due to 
circumstances, and at the urging of the Emissary, the 
government of Bajor has signed the proposed non-
aggression pact with the Dominion. It is hoped that 
this should provide a measure of safety for this station 
while the evacuation is in progress and for Bajor." 

No one said a word.

He paused, taking a breath, and continued.

"This is not a happy occasion, and we all must work 
together to make this work. I ask that help be lent in 
any way possible. Due to the damage from the attack we so 
recently suffered, the stores on the Promenade will be 
closed. However, anyone needing supplies will be provided 
with them." 

Taking a deep breath, Sisko continued, his tone softer 
this time. 

"In recent times, we have all had a very difficult time.  
I personally want to thank my people, all of you in this 
room and out, for your loyalty and service.  When we 
return to this station, there will be a place for all of 
you here. When I came here I did not want to stay, but in 
these five years this has become my home and I leave it 
with a vow that we will not give up until we can come 
home." 

The residents of DS9 were in a state of shock.

They all wanted to believe they would return. But they 
also understood that it was not to be soon. Starfleet 
would have to take back the station, and at the moment it 
was likely that the Federation had bigger problems. 

                               ***

The Defiant sat dead in space, dark, with all systems 
off. The Rotarron sat ready to leave, the small crew of 
the Defiant housed in rather cramped quarters. Worf was 
going with them. Jadzia was staying behind.   

"I do not like it," said Worf, assembling his belongings. 
"It reeks of dishonor, of surrender." 

Jadzia had been staring out the window at the Dominion 
fleet parked outside.  Since the announcement they had 
moved a little closer. 

"There's something wrong, something more that's been left 
out," she said distantly. "Benjamin knows it too but he 
can't say anything." She shook her head. "Things aren't 
going well." 

"This evacuation," said Worf, with heavy accent on the 
second word, "is very abnormal. Starfleet should have 
completed it by now." 

"I wonder," replied Jadzia thoughtfully. "Everything from 
Starfleet except one channel is being jammed." She shook 
her head in frustration. "Something big happened. 
Probably something bad. That was a pretty big fleet that 
went through here." 

If something had happened and ships' positions could be 
given away, it would account for the lack of 
communications. Neither of them wanted to think much 
about that. 

A small alarm sounded. Worf had to go.

Jadzia put her arms around him. They exchanged a 
restrained kiss. 

"Whatever the plans, I will find you," said Worf, rather 
softly. "You are my par'machai." 

Jadzia hugged him again. "And when we find each other, 
I'll be your wife." 

Worf looked surprised. He accepted her tight embrace.

Breaking the contact he fished out a small token and 
handed it to her. She took it and gave him a remembrance 
as well. 

"I look forward to that day," he said. The door opened 
and he walked out. She didn't follow. 

And then he was gone. She waited until the ships 
disappeared before the tears fell. She had the uncanny 
feeling she would never see him again.      

End, Legacy, Year 1 - Teaser


   Valerie,
The Nightbird