Jadzia Dax, Science Officer of Deep Space Nine, walked the halls of the Starship Enterprise. Not the familiar Galaxy class vessel commanded by Jean Luc Picard, but the original Constitution class ship commanded by James T. Kirk. A starship currently in orbit around space station K-7.

Less than twenty-four hours before, her own starship, Defiant, had been hurled a hundred and five years back in time to the mid twenty-third century. An incident engineered by an elderly Klingon in human form who had gained access to a Bajoran Orb the Defiant had been transporting. His goal, to return to the scene of his greatest failure, K-7, and to revenge himself on the cause of that failure, James Kirk.

Jadzia and the crew of the Defiant had thwarted the assassination attempt on Kirk, locating the bomb the Klingon had planted and removing it from the station. To do so, they had needed to disguise themselves as Starfleet officers of this period during their search. Something the Trill hadn’t minded at all.

There was something to be said for the uniforms of this Enterprise, Jadzia thought. In some ways they were a definite improvement over the unisex jumpsuits of her own era. The tunic she now wore, red for ships services, reached only to her thighs, displaying both her long legs and the rest of her graceful form. Even her hair, normally tied back in a functional braid, was now woven into an elaborate, if old style twist. No one was going to mistake her for anything but a woman.

Defiant, orbiting K-7 under a the protection of a cloaking device, silently awaiting Jadzia’s return in order to use the Orb to make the return trip through time; a passage that had been planned several hours before, but delayed by the discovery that one of the modified tricorders they had used to search for the explosive earlier had inadvertently been left on the Enterprise by the search party. Outwardly, it looked like any other tricorder of the time, but within were components that wouldn’t be designed for decades to come. As such, it couldn’t be abandoned.

Returning to the place the crewman had last remembered having it, Jadzia was disappointed to find it wasn’t there. Silently she stood in the side corridor, pondering her next action.

“Lose something?” a young man in an orange jumpsuit asked after watching Jadzia looking in and below one of the connecting Jeffries tubes.

“Actually I did,” Jadzia said with a disarming smile, thinking if the crewman worked in this area he might have seen what she was searching for. “It’s a little embarrassing really. I was working here earlier today and I left in such a hurry that I forgot my tricorder.”

“A Mark IV?” the crewman asked.

“Yes it was,” the dark haired woman said hopefully.

“I found it when I came on duty.” he said.

“That’s great,” Jadzia beamed, thinking that her task had just been made simple. “Could I have it please?”

“If I still had it, I’d be glad to give it to you,” he replied apologetically. “But when I couldn’t find an ID number on it, I turned it in to ship’s stores.

“Ship’s stores,” the woman in red asked, “where is that?”

“You don’t know where ship’s stores is?” he asked, now looking at the unknown officer in front of him with a more suspicious eye.

“I’ve only been onboard a few days,” Jadzia quickly offered. “I transferred off the Concord and I haven’t really learned my way around the Enterprise yet. This is a really big ship.” she added, remembering the name of a lesser class ship of this period.

“Yeah, it does take some time to get use to it,” he replied, his doubt now allayed. “It’s down on deck twelve, I can show you the way if you like.”

“I think I can manage,” Jadzia said, thanking him for his help and heading for the nearest turbolift.

Jadzia found ship’s stores easily enough, and the Lieutenant acting as Quartermaster was more than cooperative. He confirmed that yes indeed, the tricorder she had been searching for had been turned in a few hours earlier. Unfortunately, it had also been signed out to someone else during the interim.

“No problem,” the Quartermaster said. “We’ll just get you a new one.”

“Actually, I need to find that one,” Jadzia said, “I hadn’t downloaded the results of some tests from it yet. Could you tell me who signed it out.”

The Quartermaster took a moment to refer to some information on his computer screen, then turned back to Jadzia. “That was signed out by Lieutenant Uhura,” he said. “Would you like me to contact her and get the unit back for you?”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Jadzia said with her best smile. “Thank you for your help.”

“My pleasure,” he said, watching Jadzia turn and walk down the corridor.

That the tricorder had been given to someone else was a problem, that it had been given to the Head of Communications was a bigger one. One that Jadzia didn’t want to exasperate by going through channels to get it back. Eventually someone was going to look past her smile and this tight uniform and ask who she was. The “I’m new here” defense really wasn’t going to hold much water with someone who would’ve seen every transfer order that had been made recently, as Uhura certainly would have.

From historical records, Jadzia knew that the Enterprise would leave K-7 in six hours. She had only that long to recover the tricorder. Slipping into an empty room, she used one of the computer terminals to locate the Communications Chief. According to the duty roster, she would still be on duty for the next half hour. Knowing where Uhura was going to be would give her the opportunity to search her cabin for the tricorder.

Gaining access to Uhura’s private quarters proved to be easier said than done. Jadzia had assumed that with eight lifetimes of experience, it would be child’s play to override any security setting on the door. What she had failed to consider was that the normal Starfleet protocols had been augmented by the ship’s Science Officer. When it came to his skill with a computer, Spock of Vulcan had few equals even in her own time.

“Time for plan B,” Jadzia said to herself as she checked her chronometer. “The only way I’m going to get into that room is if Uhura lets me in herself.”

Grabbing a turbolift back to the bridge, Jadzia managed to get there just before Beta shift replaced Alpha. To cover her appearance, she moved to the unoccupied environmental console and pretended to check some readings on the main screen against those on the tricorder in her hand. At the last minute, she had taken the Quartermaster up on his offer of a new unit, if only to have one to switch with the one in Uhura’s quarters.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jadzia could see the object of her quest. Just about every member of the Command Crew of the Enterprise was a legend in her own time, both for what they had already accomplished and for what they would do in the years to come. In this, Nyota Uhura was no exception. Still, as she turned her head to get a good look at the Communications Officer, the Trill from the future had only one thought - the dark skinned officer had to be one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen in any of her lives...

Earlier in the mission, Jadzia had mentioned to Ben Sisko, the Commander of DS9, that one of her earlier hosts had known the Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer when he had been younger. What she hadn’t mentioned, was that Leonard McCoy wasn’t the only member of the 23rd Century crew that one of her hosts had interacted with. Years from now, or years ago from Jadzia’s perspective, Curzon Dax would have a brief affair on a diplomatic missions with a Starfleet Admiral. The Admiral was the same woman that now sat only a few feet away from Jadzia.

When Dax, in an earlier incarnation, had known Uhura, she had been well into her sixth decade and still a woman of classic beauty. Seeing her in her prime was enough to produce a much different sort of admiration in Jadzia than the hero worship she had first felt. An appreciation that, fueled by her shared memory of the time Curzon had spent with her, so captivated the Trill’s attention that she almost didn’t notice the Lieutenant rise from her chair and head for the turbolift. Just before the lift doors closed, Jadzia dashed inside.

The woman from the future’s heart skipped a beat when the dark skinned Lieutenant smiled at her. Their eyes met for a moment, lingering for a brief span before Uhura’s gaze dropped to take in the rest of Dax’s body. Jadzia didn’t need multiple lifetimes of experience to know that the woman of this past age liked what she saw.

“Are you new to the Enterprise, Lieutenant?” Uhura asked, her smile growing even brighter. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

“Jadzia Dax, I’m assigned to the station,” Jadzia replied, giving her new cover story as she returned Uhura’s smile. “I’m an environmental control specialist and was doing some research while the Enterprise was in orbit. I just had to take some final readings on the bridge to finish up my report.”

“I hope it all turned out well,” Uhura said, trying to establish a dialogue with this woman who strangely attracted her.

“Oh I’d have to say things worked out as good as I could’ve hoped for,” Jadzia answered, feeling a flush as she felt Uhura’s eyes on her. “Just a minor loose end to wrap up.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” came the dark haired woman’s response.

The turbolift came to a stop as the doors opened on the deck where the officer’s galley was located. The Communications Officer started to step out, then paused.

“Jadzia, I just went off duty myself and was thinking of having a bite to eat,” she said. “If you’re not in a rush to head back to K-7, I was wondering if you’d like to join me. It’s not that often that I get the chance to chat with someone new.”

The excuse for the invitation was rather flimsy, especially in light of the fact that Uhura was just coming off shore leave. Still, it was good enough to leave the visiting officer a wide latitude if she wasn’t interested. Even if it wasn’t necessary for Jadzia to find a way into her quarters, she definitely would’ve found herself interested.

“I’d like that,” Dax responded, putting a hint of the possibility of something more than an early dinner in her reply.

Jadzia had a definite advantage over Uhura in that she knew a lot more about her than she could imagine. The elder version of the Enterprise Officer had spend more than a few night sharing tales of her life with Curzon. The sexual aggressiveness that had drawn her to the diplomat had its origins when she was younger. While she did have several long-term relationships with a few select shipmates, the younger Uhura also sometimes had a strong disposition toward brief encounters with strangers as well. With the rigors of Starfleet life, it was a predilection she shared with many of her fellows.

The officer’s galley was sparsely populated at this time of the day, allowing Uhura to select a table in the far corner that afforded them some privacy. Over the best the food synthesizers had to offer, each shared with the other the story of their life. Or in Jadzia’s case, the life she was creating as she went along. The bulk of which she copied from the host her Dax symbiont occupied in this era.

After they had eaten, Uhura casually slid her hand across the table and brushed it against Jadzia’s. The Trill reacted to the soft touch with an inviting smile and moved her own hand on top of Uhura’s, gently stroking the palm of it with her fingers.

“We still have a couple of hours before the Enterprise leaves K-7,” Uhura suggested. “I could come back to the station for a while if you like.”

“I’d love that,” Jadzia said, still holding Uhura’s hand, “but I’m sharing a room and it’s not likely to be available right now.”

“Well I guess it’ll have to be my quarters then,” Nyota said, remembering all too well the days when she had to share quarters and the difficulties that posed when she wanted to have a guest.

“That would be great,” Jadzia replied, thinking that sometimes things did indeed work out.

Uhura’s quarters were what Jadzia expected for an officer of her rank on a Constitution class vessel. It was small, almost cramped by the standards of her time, but even Captain Kirk would have a cabin that wasn’t much larger. Scattered around the room were a number of personal items that reflected the occupant’s personality. These included a few small items that Jadzia recognized. They were keepsakes that the Admiral would still cherish years later and would take with her when she traveled.

“Would you like a drink,” Nyota asked as she opened one of the cabinets and removed a small decanter. “I have some Saurian brandy that I save for special occasions.”

“Real Saurian brandy?” Jadzia asked.

“Is there any other kind?” the Enterprise officer asked in turn, thinking her guest’s question strange.

Not wanting to try and explain synthehol, Jadzia instead said she’d love some. It had been years since she’d had the real thing.

“Oh that’s good,” Jadzia said as she lowered her now empty glass, thinking that her own time might be more advanced, some would even say more civilized, but that there was a lot to be said for this more primitive time as well.

“I’m going to put on some music,” the gracious hostess said as she brushed her hand across the computer access terminal. “Do you have any preference?”