Helena lowered her eyes and nodded. She could well remember the conversation he was referring to: an argument, actually, which took place when she and John had informed Tony of their decision to marry. The first officer had been adamantly opposed to the idea, arguing that it would send a message to all the other Alphans that their commander had definitively given up on the idea of finding a new home. Tony apparently considered that Alpha was no more a place for romance than it was for children. (2)

"Maybe things will be different if these Starfleet people can give us a ship," she said hopefully.

Tony guffawed humourlessly. "I don't think we should get our hopes up too high. All we've had from these people so far is one hostile act and a lot of talking. They want to blow up the Moon, they shoot Maya... I don't know... I mean, I know Sisko and Bashir are humans, and that does make me feel a lot better about them. But I don't think we should assume that they're humans like us. And who knows what alien creatures are pulling the strings in Starfleet Command?"

"The trouble with you, Tony, is that you believe the universe is populated with hostile aliens."

"Yeah. Because in my experience, the universe is populated with hostile aliens."

"So, what do you think of these Alphans?" asked Nerys when she came to join Odo in his quarters later that night. She was sitting on the sofa, tired after an evening of assuring various Bajoran dignitaries, including her former lover, First Minister Shakaar, that everything would be done to stop Alpha from colliding with Bajor VIII.

Odo, standing by the window, turned his face in her direction and seemed to consider what to answer. "I don't know," he said finally. "I don't really trust them."

"What's not to trust?" said Nerys, looking up at him in surprise. "They're only a bunch of ancient humans who have been trapped on their own moon for six years. I don't think they represent any threat to Deep Space Nine."

"Hmm." Odo stared at her for a moment, and then looked out of the window again.

Sensing that her lover was upset about something, Nerys came over to join him and placed her hand on his arm, feeling the simulated material of his uniform under her fingers. Odo half shrugged as if to shake her off, and Nerys removed her hand. She followed Odo's gaze; Alpha was not visible from this side of the station, and there was nothing to see out of the window other than the familiar constellation of the Cardassian system.

"Do you think this Shapeshifter of theirs is a threat?" she asked, trying to guess at the cause for Odo's mood. "That she has something to do with the Dominion?"

He shook his head. "She isn't a Founder. She's from some other species we've never met before, but I don't get the impression either she or her Alphan friends have anything to do with the Dominion."

"So what's wrong?" insisted Nerys. Odo's elusiveness was beginning to worry her; there was obviously something he didn't want to tell her, something about the Alphans that bothered him, and she wanted to find out what.

"Nothing. I just have a bad feeling about them. The sooner they're out of this universe the better," said Odo shortly. "Now, I need to regenerate. We're going to have a busy day tomorrow."

Crushed and confused by the coldness of his tone, Nerys took a step back. "Yes... yes, I suppose we will..." she stuttered, before adding, "Odo..."

Her tone was a gentle invitation for him to say more, to confide in her, but Odo didn't take the hint. Nerys watched his smooth features for a moment and then turned away.

As she walked back to her own quarters, Nerys pondered what had happened. It was unlike Odo to be so cold towards her; regardless of the situation, he usually made an effort to be warm and welcoming whenever she came to visit him. She was also puzzled by his attitude towards the Alphans. A crew of primitive 20th century refugees was hardly a threat to the station.

Nerys shook her head silently as she entered her quarters and headed for the bedroom. Odo himself had said he didn't believe the Alphans had any connection to the Dominion, so he obviously wasn't concerned they might cause any harm to Deep Space Nine or its population. Having performed a thorough scan of their Moonbase with O'Brien earlier that evening, Nerys knew that the Alphans' weaponry was crude, probably only really effective in hand-to-hand combat, and that their base had been constructed as a science station rather than a military installation. One blast of a photon torpedo and there would be no more Moonbase Alpha. So, no, Odo definitely couldn't be worried about them being a threat.

As she changed into her night clothes, Nerys was suddenly struck by an idea. It seemed so obvious that she sat down on her bed in disbelief, annoyed that this hadn't occurred to her before. Odo's discomfort had to come from the female Shapeshifter. After all, the last time a female Shapeshifter had been on the station, during the Dominion occupation, Odo had been driven to betray his friends, herself included, and very nearly turned the war in the Dominion's favour.

Nerys shivered involuntarily at the memory. Thanks to the Dominion, the station had been back under control of the Cardassians and the former Prefect of Bajor, Gul Dukat, strutted along the Promenade every day with his Vorta advisor Weyoun. Meanwhile Nerys was made powerless by a non-aggression pact between her government and the Dominion. In spite of this, she had been determined to do everything she could to get rid of the occupation forces and facilitate Starfleet's return. Odo had been equally determined -- until one of his Changeling siblings came on board the station.

This Founder was the head of the Alpha Quadrant Dominion, a Shapeshifter who usually took on a female appearance in solid form. Odo had been... seduced by this creature -- there was no other word for it. As a result, he had failed to help Nerys in her attempt to sabotage the Dominion's plans; if Dukat's daughter hadn't unexpectedly helped them, Odo's treachery would have resulted in the death of most of the rebels and would no doubt also have handed the Alpha Quadrant over to the Dominion. (3)

Maybe Odo was remembering these events as well, and feared that this other female Shapeshifter might distract him from his duties again. Nerys felt a dull wave of jealousy as she lay down in her bed. Odo was hers; he had no business to be worrying about other females!

Not that she could blame him if he did look for someone closer to his species. He had never really discussed the experience with her, but from what Nerys gathered, 'linking' with his Shapeshifter sibling had been beyond compare with anything he could experience as a solid life form. Not that he ever complained about the shortcomings of humanoid sex; after all, he was in love with Nerys, and she assumed this made him content to make do with the limitations of her solid body. He usually seemed very happy whenever he was with her. It was daunting to have such power over the happiness of another being, but Nerys certainly wasn't going to question her good luck.

Odo was the best thing that had ever happened to her. Someone who loved her completely, unconditionally, who gave her the sort of love a mother would give a child. The sort of love her own mother would have given her if she hadn't been so busy being Dukat's... Nerys dismissed that train of thought rapidly. (4)

Now that she was involved with Odo, Nerys' only regret was that she couldn't reciprocate his feelings. He had been one of her closest friends for years, he loved her, he was a kind, attentive lover, a person who definitely deserved to be loved, but Nerys knew she didn't love him. Not the way he loved her. Much as she wanted to be, Nerys just wasn't in love with Odo.

She knew what love was like; there was no mistaking the feeling, but Odo didn't make her heart beat wildly with a single smile, she didn't yearn for him when he was absent, the feel of his simulated hands on her body didn't make her shiver with desire. Her hope was that being with him, seeing what a wonderful person he was, realising day after day how lucky she was to be loved by him, would some day make her love him. It wasn't impossible, after all. Dax always said that nothing was impossible.

And who needed love, anyway? Nerys knew she wanted stability, safety, the security she had so rarely known in her life, and that was exactly what Odo offered her. It wasn't as if she was going to find anyone better, she reminded herself; Odo's love was that of a Shapeshifter, unaffected by hormones and the irrational behaviour of humanoids. What else could she hope for? Some ordinary humanoid like Verdeschi?

Nerys frowned at the thought and shook her head. "Computer, lights!" she ordered. The room was momentarily plunged into total darkness, before Nerys' eyes got used to the light level and could make out the glow from the computer controls at the head of her bed. She closed her eyes and turned onto her side, waiting for a sleep which would empty her mind of all these depressing thoughts.

By the time Maya woke up the next morning, she had managed to clear most of the damage from her head and move it to her right arm, which was now in excruciating pain. The injury she was creating looked like a burn; her skin was wrinkled and covered in nasty sores. Although it was painful, the burn was fulfilling its purpose of evacuating the damage from Maya's body; the crisp layers of skin were already beginning to peel off.

Maya could tell Doctor Bashir was frustrated by his inability to do anything to relieve her suffering. A painkiller would have made her unable to identify the areas of damage, and tests had proved that Maya's misgivings about the regenerator were justified. After being exposed to the regeneration scan, a cell sample Bashir had taken from Maya had become as firmly bonded as the cells of any ordinary humanoid. If Bashir had run the scan on her, Maya might not have been able to transform again.

After doing the test, Bashir asked some questions about her metamorphic abilities. He said that someone on the station called Odo was a Metamorph too, though he did explain this person was from a completely different species. Maya was fascinated by this information; she had never even heard of any other creatures capable of changing shape. As far as she knew, it was an ability that only Psychons could master, and even then, it was artificially induced thanks to a biological computer. Maya was very curious to meet this Odo.

One thing she didn't particularly appreciate was the way Bashir kept using the term 'Shapeshifter' instead of 'Metamorph'; there was something pejorative about the name that made it sound as if metamorphosing was a trick. But maybe the Starfleet people had started using the term as an insult for their enemies and it had simply caught on.

The doctor eventually left for a staff meeting, leaving Maya in the care of his nurses. To keep Maya's mind off the pain, one of the Bajoran nurses provided her with a flat portable computer they called a 'padd', and the first task Maya set herself was understanding the time cycle on DS9 so that she could easily calculate the difference with Alpha. She then had a replicated breakfast of melon with Parma ham -- something she had read about and wanted to taste for some time. After that, she read all the information about the station and its neighbouring star system, as well as the propaganda-loaded news bulletins about the war. After that, she was bored.

Maya regenerated for another half hour until she was too tired to do any more. She then spent some time picking at the wound on her arm. It did nothing to alleviate her pain, and she was certain both Bashir and Helena would have been horrified, but throwing away the ugly strips of mangled skin made her feel she was closer to being healed.

While her left hand was busy picking at the burn, Maya let her mind drift, consciously willing it to think about anything except the pain. Not surprisingly, one of the first thoughts that came to mind was for Tony. The poor man had looked quite distraught when she had seen him late last night; he liked to pretend that he was cool and aloof, but she knew that in reality, he had about as much calm as a clucking mother hen. The image made her smile. She would have to remember to tease him about that.

Maya sometimes felt that joking with Tony was one of the only things that kept her sane... and given her experience of the sanity of her own people, that was no mean feat in her opinion. No matter how unhappy or depressed she might be feeling, she knew she could trust Tony to lift her spirits... most of the time. There had been times, especially recently, when being with him made her uncomfortable.

Maya's thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone clearing their throat. She had expected Tony to be the first person to visit her, but she knew from the unfamiliar sound that her visitor was someone else. Self-consciously hiding her wounded arm under the counterpane, Maya looked up to find the smooth-faced alien at the foot of her bed. She remembered meeting him the previous evening and then hearing him arguing about something with Tony, but she certainly hadn't expected him to come and enquire about her health.

"Good Morning, Miss Maya," he said, looking slightly embarrassed. "I don't know if you remember me -- Constable Odo."

Maya smiled politely and nodded a greeting as Odo approached. "Constable. Of course I remember. You were there just after I fell on the Promenade."

"I hope you are feeling better," he continued, coming to stand rigidly at her bedside. "I apologise for what happened yesterday; the soldier responsible has been reprimanded."

"Thank you. I'm a lot better now; Doctor Bashir said I could probably leave the Infirmary later today." If Odo had noticed the state her arm was in, he certainly didn't mention it, and Maya kept it well hidden under the cover.

"Good."

He didn't seem to know what to say next, so Maya said, "Doctor Bashir told me you were a Metamorph."

Despite his blurred features, Odo managed to look surprised and embarrassed at the same time. "Um, yes, I am..."

"The method I was taught is based on the repositioning of any number of molecules to simulate a living creature, using subspace transference to achieve mass compression and matter relocation. Perhaps you change shape in a similar way?"

"I... I'm not sure." Odo's small blue eyes shifted around the room as he spoke. "It's just something my people can do naturally, I guess. I've always been able to shapeshift... I can't really describe it, but... I suppose I can give you a demonstration..."

As Maya watched, his hand changed into a gelatinous, orange blob. "This is my natural state," he explained. "I can change any part of myself to resemble any shape or texture I want." As an example, he changed the blob into a wooden hammer, and then turned it back to a humanoid hand.

"That's extraordinary!" exclaimed Maya, ignoring the lancing pain from her arm as it rubbed against the sheet. She had never seen anything like Odo's method of changing shape; although she was able to change into any living being, she couldn't morph into inanimate objects. She was so engrossed in Odo's transformation that she didn't immediately notice that someone else had joined them.

"I take it you're feeling better. Holding court, I see."

Maya's heart leapt with delight as she heard that sarcastic voice, and her eyes immediately left Odo to seek out the Alphan.

"Tony! What are you doing up? It's only 5.00 am on Alpha -- did you come back with John?" He looked tired and haggard, Maya noticed, as if he hadn't had a good sleep. He was still her favourite human in the whole universe, but his good looks were currently marred by the bags under his eyes and the fact he hadn't shaved yet.

Tony approached, giving Odo a hostile stare as he placed himself on the other side of Maya's bed. "I stayed here -- John's orders," he added, as if to pretend he hadn't wanted to stay. "When the night cycle finished, I thought I might as well get up and see how you were doing."

"You look exhausted," said Maya with concern. "Maybe you should go back to bed."

"No, I'm fine," declared Tony a little too vehemently. "Well, maybe I am a bit jetlagged." He wiped one eye with his finger and looked up at the clock on the wall. "I must admit I didn't sleep very well. They have these lights that seem to stay on all the bloody night, and their beds are atrocious. Hard as nails! Whoever designed those must have been some kind of masochist!"

"Cardassians," said Odo.

Tony stared at him blankly. "Huh?"

"Cardassians designed this station and its furnishings," explained the constable.

"Oh. As in the Cardassians who have joined the Dominion?" said Tony casually, scratching his cheek. "Yes. They're obviously suckers for punishment."

Odo's eyes narrowed. "I see Captain Sisko has given you a full briefing on the situation," he said. For some reason, that seemed to displease him.

"Yeah, well, we're all friends now, right?"

"Hmm."

Neither of the security chiefs looked convinced and Maya couldn't help grinning at their childish adversity. She thought she had better warn Tony that Odo was a Metamorph before he went picking a fight with the constable. Perhaps one of the human's most endearing qualities as far as she was concerned was his tendency to act first and think later. But then she didn't like him for his brains.

Tony shrugged his shoulders. "You'll have to point out one of these Cardassians to me some time, and I'll give him a piece of my mind." Before Odo had a chance to answer, Tony had leaned closer to Maya. "Have they given you breakfast yet?"

"Yes, one of the nurses fed me about two hours ago." She noticed the disappointed look on Tony's face and half-regretted her truthfulness. "Perhaps we could have lunch later?"

Tony looked at Odo, and Maya knew that if the constable had not been there, he might have accepted her offer. But as it was, he simply nodded. "We'll see. John and Alan will be back by then." He looked at his commlock. "I'll call them in a couple of hours' time to see what their plans are."

Odo had evidently decided that he was no longer needed. "I think I'll leave you now. I have some work to do. It was a pleasure talking to you, Miss Maya."

Maya smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "I look forward to continuing our conversation later, Constable." She leaned forward as Odo left and the counterpane dropped from her arm.

"Dio mio! Maya, what happened to your arm?"

Looking up at Tony, Maya could see he was staring at her burn with undisguised horror. "It's the result of my regeneration," she explained seriously, realising that he was genuinely concerned and this was no time for jokes. "I've moved nearly all the damage from my fall into this sort of burn. Once all the skin drops off, I'll be healed."

Tony drew his gaze away from the hideous wound and looked into Maya's upturned face. His expression relaxed a little and he shook his head. "You know, sometimes, you really freak me out, honey."

Maya laughed. "Am I too alien for you, Tony?" she said teasingly.

"Nah. I'll get used to it... some day."

Tony cupped her chin in his hand and Maya knew he was about to kiss her. He drew his face nearer, until it was only a finger's length away from hers, and then stopped. "You're going to turn into some ugly monster, aren't you?" he said warily.

"No, I can't transform right now," said Maya.

"Aha! So I have you in my power at last," chuckled Tony as he placed his lips on hers.

Maya's heart beat increased dramatically and, unfortunately, so did the throbbing pain in her arm. This was the only situation in which being with Tony became uncomfortable. Touching him this way always produced such intense emotions that she was afraid she might involuntarily change into something horrible. What was it about this particular human being that made her react so strongly, anyway? Kissing John Koenig had never made her head spin this way, so it wasn't just some strange allergy to his species. Maybe it was a natural response to being kissed by the person she spent most of her time with, but Maya had neither the knowledge nor the experience of what a normal Psychon reaction would be. All she knew was that what she was feeling was close to unbearable.

Instinctively lifting her hands as the sensation grew too strong, Maya hit her wounded arm against Tony's chest. She let out an involuntary yelp of pain and Tony immediately let go of her.

"I'm sorry, my arm hurts," she mumbled, looking down at the burn.

"That's okay," she heard him say, though she didn't believe him. He always tried to hide it, but she knew Tony was puzzled by the way she pushed him away every time he kissed her. So far, Maya had never worked up the courage to explain exactly what was wrong; she was hoping the problem would just go away some day.

Still keeping her eyes down, Maya heard Tony walk away. Sudden panic gripped her, only to be replaced by relief as she realised he had only walked around the bed to be on the side of her good arm. She felt the bed give a little as he sat down beside her.

"Not many people around, are there?" he remarked lightly. "I'd have expected lots of people to be in here. With such a big station, they must get some hurty fingers and runny noses. Where's that posh doctor of theirs, anyway?"

"He's at a staff meeting, I think," said Maya, relaxing now that their mini-crisis was over. She looked up at Tony and found him smiling at her.

"What did Plastilino want?" he asked, indicating the door with a nod of his head.

"'Plastilino'?"

"Oh, just a joke," he said vaguely.

"A private joke, evidently."

"You wouldn't understand. Anyway, what were you two talking about?"

"Jealous?" said Maya mischievously.

"No, just curious," he replied, putting on an air of studied nonchalance. "You seemed very interested in whatever he was showing you when I came in."

"It turns out our friend Odo is a Metamorph, too," she explained. "He can even turn into inanimate objects! I think I might learn something from him."

"I see. Yes, he did mention something about that last night," said Tony. He leaned closer again, this time to whisper in her ear. "Talking about yesterday: did you find out anything interesting... before they shot you?"

"I think you must know most of it by now," said Maya, keeping her voice low. "About the war with the Dominion and its metamorphosing Founders." Tony nodded to confirm this. "Well, what I did find out that the Starfleet people might not have told you is that the war isn't going at all well for the Federation."

Tony looked around to check no one would overhear them. "Ah now, that is news," he said with a satisfied smile.

"I might have been listening to a particularly gloomy pair of soldiers," continued Maya, "but as far as I can tell the Federation's only advantage is that they control the wormhole. This has cut off the Dominion troops from their reinforcements on the other side of the galaxy, but it still hasn't stopped the Dominion from invading several Federation worlds in recent months. From the conversations I overheard, it seems the Federation is getting pretty desperate. We couldn't have arrived at a worse time."

"Hmm. If they're losing the war, I suspect the Feds will have more important things to worry about than some rogue asteroid. They'll probably want to ship us off somewhere and then blow the Moon up or something." Tony paused thoughtfully and then chucked Maya under the chin. "Well, we've got ourselves out of worse situations. I'm sure we'll find some way to return to our universe as long as the Dominion and the Federation let us... But what you need to do now is concentrate on getting better. We're going to need that fantastic brain of yours..."

*Commander Dax, may I speak with you for a moment?* said Sisko over the comm channel.

"Yes, Captain."

Dax got up and left her station in the Ops pit, eagerly climbing the steps up to Sisko's office. She was hoping the captain had finally received an answer from Starfleet Command as to whether they could spare a ship for the Alphans. Sending the people back to their own universe would be a challenge, but Dax was looking forward to it. It would be a welcome change from worrying about battle manoeuvres and weaponry.

But as soon as she entered Sisko's office, Dax knew the captain had not got the answer he was hoping for. He was leaning back in his chair, handling his fetish baseball pensively. The window behind him was facing the Moon, and the pale reflected light of the faraway Bajoran sun lit up the outline of Sisko's shaven head with an eerie blue glow.

"I take it you got the answer from Starfleet Command," said Dax, her spirits already deflated by the captain's expression.

"Our orders are to evacuate the Alphans from their Moonbase and keep them on Deep Space Nine until the U.S.S. Addis-Ababa arrives to bring them to Starbase 571. In the meantime, we are to find a quick and easy way of destroying the Moon before it reaches the Bajoran system." Sisko delivered the order from Starfleet in a monotone voice which made it clear he didn't agree.

"Evacuate them and send them to some Starbase?" exclaimed Dax, outraged at the suggestion. "I thought Starfleet policy was to return people to their own universe whenever possible. And surely they can trust us to send the Alphans back."

Sisko sighed, the tension visible in his hand as it gripped the hard baseball. "I know that. But Admiral Ross is concerned that we'd be wasting our time trying to find a way back for them. According to him, our main priority should be stopping the Moon from entering the Bajoran system. Starfleet is also nervous about messing with the wormhole these days, in case we give the Dominion an opportunity to come through." He paused and placed his baseball back on its stand. "Needless to say that under those circumstances, they're not willing to provide the Alphans with a ship."

"Surely the Prophets wouldn't let the Dominion through just because we've sent some ship into the wormhole!"

"You know that Starfleet Command are very uncomfortable with the whole concept of the Prophets," said Sisko, standing up and beginning to pace, one fist behind his back. "I don't think they fully understand that the Prophets deliberately closed the wormhole because I asked them to."

"So what are we going to do? Contact Commander Koenig and tell him his people can't return to their own universe?"

"Koenig certainly looked determined to return." Sisko paused. "How long do you think it would take you to find a way back for them?"

"Not long," said Dax with a smile. She could tell Sisko was looking for a way around the order. "We already know how to beam individual people into an alternate universe using a recalibrated transporter. Obviously, we can't use the same method for 223 people; it would take too long, and we've no idea where they would end up in their universe. The best method would be to send them back using the wormhole and a modified ship. If we can modulate the shield harmonics to emit the right quantum frequency and then engage a warp bubble, it should be enough to push the ship into subspace and then back out into the appropriate universe... in theory at least."

"But that just brings us back to the same question: where do we find a ship for them? They've become a bit of a rare commodity these days."

"That's the big question, isn't it?" Dax thought for a moment and then added, "Ideally, it would have to be a Starfleet ship; that would make it easier to modify."

Sisko nodded. "I'm sure it would be. But I doubt you'll get much choice." He stopped his pacing and looked out of the window. "Starfleet have already assigned a team from Bajor IV's mining crew to come and destroy the Moon; according to the geological survey Chief O'Brien did last night, it shouldn't be too difficult. I'm going to let him oversee that part of the operation, but I'd like you to study ways of sending the Alphans back. I want to know as soon as possible if that's feasible. Preferably before Starfleet knows what we're doing."

"Don't worry, Benjamin, I'll take care of that."

"I know I can count on you, Old Man," he said softly, giving her a tender smile. "In the meantime, we must evacuate the Alphans to Deep Space Nine and destroy the Moon before it does any damage; at least that will show some willingness to follow Starfleet's orders. I'll discuss this with Commander Koenig when he comes back to DS9."

"He is not going to be pleased," said Dax emphatically.

Sisko nodded. "No... he isn't."