A/N - So I've just been in a weird mood for more Quark for DS9 (again) and I started up a fanfiction. It was only supposed to be a oneshot, but it turned into a pretty long story so far. I mean, this is only the first chapter and it's equivalent to two of my short stories! I know that length means nothing, but I hope this might be a sign of me improving, if not in quality, than in proportioning! lol

Chapter One

The terrible beeping noise pounded through the young woman's ears, eventually making her groan in annoyance. She lazily lifted her arm from beneith the sheets and simply lets go once it was positioned above the alarm clock. It stopped beeping, but unfortunatly the force of the blow had it toppling down off the table in a very clanky and loud way. The woman shot up from her bed at the noise and scrambled to pick it up, afraid she had broken it. After a full inspection, she was certain it was undamaged and set it back on her nightstand. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and threw her arms abover her head, stretching. An obnoxious yawn forced itself up and she scratched an annoying itch on the side of her neck.

Groaning in protest, her legs pushed herself up into a standing position, ready for the daily routine. Lara Hasting hated mornings. Absolutely detested them. There was something about being woken up abruptly and forced to rush around her house getting ready when she was still so tired that just didn't agree with her. She was all about the night and the starry sky rather than the bright, obnoxious light of the hot sun. And it wasn't just her mind that didn't like the sun. Her skin, no matter how many times she tried to get it to tan, was as pale as snow and burnt in only twenty minutes in the sun. Even with the most expensive sun-tan lotion she could find, all she got were odd, extremely unattractive lines of bright red skin that was hot to the touch. Not even a slight discoloration other than that.

And it wasn't like she was some sort of hermit that only went out when she had to go to work or someone dragged her out. She liked being out and socializing. It's just that she wasn't really all that good at it. Her only friends were at work, and even then they weren't that close. Either they would share a poor joke when working together, or would ask about one's day. There really wasn't more to it than that. And they were the hermits, not her. She would ask a collige once in a while if they wanted to go out and do something, but all she got was an, "I'm busy, maybe later," or a, "not right now. I'm not in the mood."

But here she was, going on with her life like every day. She would go to the lab, look at some germs, write some infomation down, and then, hopefully, she would be able to check out the telescope again. Just something about looking out into the great emptiness of space and just seeing it. Just looking at the darkness. Hoping she would see something. There was something about it that fascinated her so much. Would she be able to see a shooting star? A Planet? Maybe she could even discover one for herself. The thought made her giddy. Sometimes she wouldn't even have to see anything. Just to look out into the blackness and think. Think about all the different possibilities out there. There had to be other lifeforms out there, right? We couldn't be the only ones.

"Just think," she always said. "We are in one system. Our one system has so many planets, so many we haven't even discovered yet. And even if there isn't anyone in this system, there could be in a different one. Our sun is just one star. You look out there and there are billions. Stars and galaxies, with billions of other planets. And they see more stars and galaxies that we can't. Just how far does that go on? Forever, some might say. And some people are foolish enough to think that we are just so blessed to exist that we are the only ones in this gigantic universe?" She tries to explain her beliefs, if not to persuade, then at least to broaden one's mind slightly. She doesn't really care if someone disagrees with her; that's their business. But at least now she can say she tried.

And yet, with this wonderful, creative mind full to the brink with wonder, she can't get out of this rut. She gets up every morning, much like this one, and gets ready for the day. Then she goes to work and studies. She researches and theorises, and then she goes home to sleep and to wake up again. The cycle goes on and on in an endless loop. There's no exciting twists, no surprises, nothing to look forward to but a telescope. And sometimes not even that.

But she goes on, trudging through her house and putting her blond hair up in a ponytail. She slips on her worn-out old converse sneakers and heads out the door of her apartment.

----------------------------------------------

"Are you doing okay?" asks Rodney Waters. He is Lara's mentor, since she's only been working in the labs for a couple of weeks. At first, Lara didn't seem to like him much, but grew to like his personality. He always tried to keep her busy; he said he used to be an assistant, and hated how little work he was given. And he was nice enough. He didn't seem to want to be much of a mentor, but more like a friend. And he was handsome enough, with dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. But he was a tall, bulky man (it was a wonder he was a scientist and not a model) with a smile that seemed to sparkle at you. Lara didn't find such men attractive. She was a tiny, petite woman and didn't like to be reminded of her size. But he was kind enough, and she respected that.

Not wanting to look up at him, she mumbled absently, "Fine, why?" She didn't feel fine, actually. There was a horrible pouding in her head and she swore she could taste some sort of coppery substance in her mouth.

Rodney looked at his assistant hesitantly before turning back to a sheet of data. "Alright. Just... tell me if you feel funny. You look a little pale."

Lara nodded, almost painfully, when she could feel a sweat suddenly break out on her skin. She felt light-headed, as if the whole room was spinning and she couldn't stand still. She let out a sigh, stumbling back a few paces. She could see out of the corner of her eye... something moving. Hands wrapped around her waist and she struggled with them, tearing herself away and throwing her weight in the opposite direction. She screamed as she came toppling down to the ground, hitting her head on the concrete floor. She saw her foot curved in an unnatural direction, but couldn't feel it at all. Suddenly, she felt as if she were floating, or... no longer existing. She saw her foot disolve right in front of her, then suddenly, everything was black.

------------------------------------------------

Lights. Bright lights. Beeming down to meet a disoriented face, the lights blinded the poor woman as she regained consciencess. She blinked several times before her eyes even started adjusting. She could hear a faint beeping sound from somewhere far away. As she became more awake, she could hear the beeping steadily increase. She tried to move her limbs but felt a sharp pain in her left leg. Grunting, she sat up slowly to try and look at the source of the pain, but she was unable to fully prop herself up, and fell backwards with a loud thump as her head hit a pillow.

Footsteps could be hear pouding towards her in a quick dash. Suddenly a head popped into her line of sight. It was the face of a man, tan and young. Dark hair and hazel eyes, and an excited smile. He was handsome, but... unfamiliar.

Lara tried to speak and, oddly enough, quickly found her voice. "What... where am I?" Her disoriented voice wavered slightly and sounded more like a raspy whisper than an actual question.

The man's smile grew even more, if that was possible. An English accent filled her ears. "You're in the Deep Space Nine infirmiry. You were quite banged up when you were transported. A minor cuncussion and a broken ankle, but it looks like you'll be up and walking in to time," he hesitated. "With some support, obviously."

Lara's mind couldn't seem to grasp what he was saying. Deep Space Nine? Transported? What on Earth was this man talking about? Questions gripped her thoughts. "What? Who are you?"

"Oh! My apologies. I'm doctor Julian Bashir. At your service." He smiled again. The happiness was beginning to get to Lara. Why was he so cheerful? She was injured and confused, why was he acting like she'd just bumped her head a bit and everything was perfectly normal?

Whatever the case may be, she still had her manners, she thought. "I'm Lara Hasting. I was talking to Dr. Waters, and I felt really sick, and then I collapsed. I woke up here." Lara thought for a minute while the doctor seemed to be cought a little off guard. "What's Deep Space Nine? And what's 'transported' mean?"

The doctor's brow quickly furrowed in cunfusion, obviously not expecting what she was asking. The last he remembered, they were asked to pick up an injured merchant from a minor crash. There was nobody else with her, so why was this woman talking about a professor with her? When they picked her up, there were no more lifesigns on the crashed ship, so there were no mistakes on the transporter... And how could she not know about the station if she asked for help? It seemed the good doctor was just as confused as the young woman in his infirmiry was. He tried to remember the name of the crash vitim they were suposed to pick up. "You aren't Theya Loranne? The merchant?"

Lara thought about it for a moment. She knew she was her, but the doctor did say she had a cuncussion. No... she wasn't the merchant, she fnaly decided. She was a scientist. Lara shook her head slowly at the doctor. "No, I'm a scientist. Well, an assistant mostly." Her voice seemed to be returning to her, and she almost sounded normal again. "I assist Dr. Rodney Waters, the microbiologist in our lab. And sometimes," she smiles dreamily. "I get to clean the telescope. Sometimes I'll just peak through. It's so fascinating." She seemed to almost drift off thinking about the telescope.

Doctor Bashir snapped her out of it, however. "What lab? Where is it located?"

"Chicago, Illinois, why? Is that imortant?" Lara could quite understand why the doctor was so intent on asking her all these questions. Surely if he treated her, he knew where she came from. Did she just magically appear in this infirmiry and he just treated her without question? How is that possible?

Bashir looked even more confused. "Earth? That's not possible. And why so specific?"

Lara huffed slightly. Was this all a joke? "Of course it's on Earth. Where else would it be? Besides, that's not specific at all. I could tell you the address if you'd like."

The doctor shook his head. "We're no where near Earth, it's not possible to have transported you from there. We can barely get Bajor, and we're orbiting it."

"Bajor?" What was this nonesense. The doctor seemed to be avoiding all of her questions, or at least not giving straight answers."

"Bajor's the planet we're orbiting. This is Deep Space Nine, a space station on the edge of the alpha quadrant. We took it over after the cardassian Occupation. That's a big peice in history, Lara Hasting, how could you not know that?"

Lara groaned in frustration and refused to say more. She just glared at the doctor, her eyes demanding real answers. She no longer thought this was funny - well she never thought it was funny, but it had gotten too far. She refused to go on with this foolishness. Crossing her arms, she turned to her side, her back facing the doctor. There was a long silence from the both of them, as if they were thinking about a way to proceed. Neither had any idea what's going on and why the other was ating so strangely. Finally, Lara could hear the doctor take in a long breath as if to say something.

"What year is it?"

The question sounded odd to her. Why would he ask what year it was? People are usually well-informed on the year. Sighing, she turned back around to face him and let her arms go. "The year's 2006."

The doctor shook his head slowly in disbelief. It was impossible. Wasn't it? There was no way the transporter reached a human woman, on Earth, from the past. "No, it's 2369."

"Not possible," Lara huffed almost imediatly. The thought had occured to her, but she knew it couldn't be true. Even if there is some sort of space station floating aorund a distant planet in the future, time travel wasn't possible.

The doctor sighed and grabbed a pain of metal rods with straps on them. "Here. You need to keep pressure off of your ankle. I've treated it, but it'll still take a day or two to form back together." He handed them to her and showed her how to put them on. She seemed to grasp the idea quickly and soon found they were extremely easier and more comfortable than crutches were. She stood up and sighed as she slowly let her weight down on the supports. As soon as the doctor saw she was able to walk, he put a hand on her shoulder. "We need to talk to Captain Sisko. He may offer some insight on this, or at least give us an idea on how to proceed."

Lara was weary of this 'Captain Sisko'. If this was a joke, just how far were these people willing to go? Would they have some sort of trick of the eye to make it look like they were teleported or something and then have somebody named 'Captain Sisko' talk to her? Probably, she settled in her mind. She felt proud of herself for figuring out the prank, bu instead of 'teleporting', they were walking right out of the infirmiry.

Her heart sank as they walked into a long walkway. There were shops everywhere, and people talking and arguing everywhere around her. But some of these people didn't seem right. Out of the corner of her eye, she could hve sworn she saw a blue person, but when she looked, they were no longer there. Her heart was beating rapidly and she wasn't sure what to make of this circus. Everywhere she looked, there were tall people, short people, people without hair and people with nothing but hair. Some had markings on their foreheads, their noses, even their arms. She suddenly became panicked, and tried to wiggle out of Bashir's grasp. He told her to calm down, that they weren't going to hurt her. That they were just people.

It wasn't that she was afraid, she was just overwhelmed. If this was real, that she was in the future on a space station orbiting an alien planet, she couldn't contain her excitement. She knew it! She just knew it! People called her crazy for believing in aliens, but where are they? They are on Earth way in the past, look in at germs and writing information down. And she was here, in the stars, with aliens all around her, acting like normal, human beings. Just how different were they, she wondered. They must have different physiologies. They all looked different, that's for sure. She wondered if they acted and spoke different as well. Then the thought occured to her. She could only tell someone was different by looking at them, but what if there were alien species that didn't look different than a human?

Cautiosly, she looked up at the doctor escorting her. She wondered, if that was true, if he was an alien. She shyly addressed him. He stopped walking and turned to face her. "Yes?" he asked politely.

Lara couldn't look into his eyes anymore; her natural shyness was overtaking her. She cleared her throat and asked, "Are you an alien?"

Bashir laughed and motioned for her to start walking again. "No, I'm not. But I could see why you would ask that. You never know, someone could look like you and you would never know it. There are some aliens that do look similar to humans, but most aren't too alike in any other way. Take betazoids, for example. They look exactly like humans; they only way you can tell someone is betazoid is if their iris is completely black. But usually, you don't even have the chance to get a proper look at them before they read your mind, which is what most betazoids will do. You see, just because they look like us, doesn't mean that they are anything like us."

Lara nodded, taking in the advice like a starved puppy. If this is real, she thought, then I need some serious help.

-------------------------------------------------

After a long walk in what Lara now knows as the Prominade, the doctor, also now known as Julian, led her to an elevator. "Ops," was all 'Julian' said and the elevator shot up. Lara was fascinated by the voice commands, but was a little wary of the speed. She felt as if these were going to fast, but eventually it landed on a new level and her worries were lost. There were consoles placed everywhere throughout the room, and there seemed to be someone at all of them. A 'bajoran', a couple humans, and a woman with spots on her face. The doctor had been explaining all the species that she saw, but really she olny remembered a few. The bajorans especially because they seemed to be everywhere. Julian had said that it was because we orbited their home planet.

They walked across the room, walking around the consoles and busy officers. They came to a large doorway which opened when they neared it. Walking in, Lara noted her surroundings and concluded that this was an office. Probably the captain's office. And sure enough, there was a man sitting behind a large desk. He had darker skin, short hair and... Lara couldn't help but notice the baseball in his hand. She was never really a big fan of baseball - or any sport for that matter - but she wondered if even in the distant future, far from Earth, they still played it.

"Captain," said the doctor respectively.

The captain looked up at Bashir with a wide smile. He tossed the baseball lightly and caught it, then sat it on a pedistal. "Doctor Bashir," he said, standing up and reaching for Lara's hand. "Is this our new quest?" Lara carefully shifted her weight to one side and shook the captain's hand.

"She is. But there's something... off about this whole thing." The doctor almost sounded nervous.

"Oh?"

Lara nodded, deciding it was time to speak up. "I'm from 2006," she stated plainly. She had long past not believing this 'time travel' thing and was just eager to go back out to the promenade and see more species. Maybe talk to a few. "Aparently there was some sort of freak occurance and I was transported here, whatever that means."

The look of confused shock was on the captain's face, though there was still a slight hint of that playful smile. "What?" he chuckled.

The doctor sighed. "Well... She explained it better than I could have, Sir. I have no idea what happened, but it seems her knowledge is quite primitive," he paused when she huffed at that. "Sorry," She smiled faintly and nodded. "And I ran some DNA tests and they are... unevolved, so to speak."

"Unevolved?"

"Well, compared to present humans, some of her body functions are naturally weaker, her organs are less developed, and her life expectancy is almost ten years lower than the average person. And yet, she is completely healthy. No diseases, no viruses, no abnormalities except she is just not as evolved as the humans of this time are. I really believe she is from the past." The Doctor, whatever he was saying, seemed to be doubting himself. He said it was impossible for her to be in this time, and yet he believed it, but didn't. It was strange for him to have two opposite opinions. But one was backed up by uncertainty and the other was instinct and scientific evidense, so it was obvious what he went by. He did believe she was from the past.

The captain took a while to think about the predicament that they were in. He had sat back down, and was holding his head in his hands as if defeated. "Well, doctor, what do you suggest we do?"

The doctor looked at Lara, who was just standing beside him innocently. He looked back to his commanding officer and lightly shrugged. "There's really nothing we can do for not, Captain. At least not that I know of. And she seems to like it here enough," he said, looking over at her and her excited blue eyes perked up at the thought of staying, at least for a little while longer. "I say we arrange quarters, and see what happens for a time. If later we can find out what happened, we may be able to send her back. If she wants to, that it."

------------------------------------------

Lara had never been so confused on something before.

The captain had given her quarters, and the doctor told her to stay in for the night and see how she felt after a rest.

But she couldn't sleep with these conflicts running in her head. She was in space! In the future, living amung the stars with the very things she's always fantasized about since she was a little girl! Every time at home she would just look up into the sky and think, "what's up there?". And now she knew. She didn't have to wait for night to come to look out and see the beauty. She could just had to look out a window now. She dreamed of going to the stars and finding what's out here. And now, here she was, living with them. It was a dream come true.

And yet, if she stayed here, she would never see anybody she knew again. They were all long dead by now. Not that she had close friends, but she would never see her family again, or hear Beth's complaining, or Hannah's excited laughter, or Rodney's charming smile. She was out of the rut, but everything that came with it was gone as well.

She didn't know what to think.

__________________