FicWad

Chapter Two: Traveling the Stars

Following Sisko's orders, O'Brien gathered a few engineers together whom he could spare from other jobs around the station to start on the repairs on the ship that had arrived that night. Upon arriving at the airlock, he found a tall, silvery-blond man, with the same pointed ears as the earlier arrivals, standing at the entrance. He appeared to be standing guard so that those who were not permitted to enter the ship would not do so. He turned his attention to O'Brien and his work crew as they approached.

"You are the ones here to help us repair our ship?" the unidentified man inquired.

"Yup!" O'Brien said, trying to remain enthusiastic and not the least bit cautious as to make the visitors wary of him. "I'm Chief Miles O'Brien and this here is my crew who will be helping you."

"Welcome, you will be of great assistance to the others," he said as he motioned for them to go on in but he stopped O'Brien a moment as the engineers went on their way. "You served once on the Enterprise, did you not?"

"Yes, how'd ya' know? Was Worf talking about me to people again?" the Irishman laughed with a little surprise. "What was your name again?"

"I am Rúmil," he introduced himself. "And no, I learned of you from Dr. Crusher. We spent some... time together while the crew was visiting my home in search of the crash survivors."

"I see," O'Brien said, not quite sure what the elf meant. "Well, I better get to seeing how my crew is getting settled."

Rúmil nodded as O'Brien went through the airlock into the ship then yelled back to him, "Oh, do not mind my brother, Haldir, if you meet him. He is not himself these past days."

O'Brien looked at him quizzically before continuing on his way inside the ship. He had not met many of the visitors yet but they seemed odd to him nonetheless. The ship they were traveling in seemed just as mysterious to him as he came into a main corridor. Following some noises, he finally came upon what appeared to be the bridge or command center. Several more of Rúmil's crewmates were present and were working hand in hand with those under O'Brien's command. Another man stood to the side watching over a few things and giving instructions to others as if he were in command. O'Brien walked up to him to see if there were any extensive reports created yet on what the damage was on the ship.

"Hello, are you the commander of this ship?" he asked, sticking out a friendly hand in greeting. "I'm Miles O'Brien, the chief of operations here at the station."

"Ah, yes, I am Erestor. It is good to meet you," the tall dark-haired man responded though he paused a moment before taking the offered hand. Instead of shaking it he simply clasped their arms tightly before removing it. "We greatly appreciate any help you may give us despite your not."

"No problem," he responded with a smile. "Any friends of Worf's or the Enterprise crew are friends of mine."

"Are all people of the realms outside of ours like those of the Enterprise?" Erestor questioned with a look of curiosity.

"What do you mean?" O'Brien asked. "We are similar in many ways... we are part of Starfleet, we travel around the galaxy..."

"I mean by your hospitality to other peoples whom you do not know," Erestor explained.

"Oh, well... Some are very nice but others are not. I'm guessing you had the worst luck to come across one of the few baddies we have around here," the Irishman said with a shrug. "Though you can always trust the Federation."

"The Enterprise was very kind to our people and willing not to interfere with us overmuch," Erestor said. "Still they made a lasting impression on Lord Elrond and the Lord and Lady of the Golden Wood. I myself was wary of their motives at first but I was shown otherwise."

Not knowing yet all the people of whom Erestor was speaking, O'Brien simply nodded at the names. Though it heartened him nonetheless to hear good things from someone concerning his old ship and fellow crewmates.

"That is good to know," he said with a chuckle. "I will have to let Commander Riker and Captain Picard know and send word you dropped by for a pint."

"If you mean intoxicating brews, not many of the elves would be inclined but perhaps the hobbits would happily agree to that," Erestor said with a laugh. "Though, we do have our own drink that you may find to your liking."

"I'll take you up on that!" O'Brien said liking these people more with every minute.

It was at that moment that thunderous shouting and noises came from the nearby hallway. A few of the elves looked up for a moment and with worried faces turned back to their work. The Starfleet crew helping them looked to O'Brien with curious faces as to what the commotion might be. Erestor let out a tired sigh while staring in the direction of the hallway as the chief looked back at him.

"Do not be frightened by his loudness," Erestor said with a touch of concern. "Haldir has been rather angry as of late since we were attacked."

"Why is that?" O'Brien asked.

"He feels as if he failed his Lady in protecting her from those who took her and Mithrandir," the dark-haired elf said resignedly. "As the former Marchwarden of Lórien he takes his position very seriously."

At that moment a silvery-blond man walked onto the bridge. He seemed calm enough but his stormy, sapphire eyes betrayed the turmoil of his emotions. So startlingly comely Haldir was that O'Brien finally noticed that all the recent arrivals of the Eldar were more attractive than the average grouping of humans or any race for that matter. He could not help but notice a few of his female engineers stealing a long glance at Haldir with a strange sort of awe in their eyes before turning back to their work.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find them soon enough," O'Brien reassured.

"I hope that you are right," Erestor said with a sigh as they watched Haldir go to a chair at a station and check some read outs. "I worry though it may be hard for us since we are unfamiliar with the region. We will have to see what Lord Elrond will decide for our next course of action."

"Well, I'm going to get back to work with my people here and if you have any full reports on the damage to your ship, let me know and I'll take a look," O'Brien offered.

"I shall," Erestor said with a bow of his head.

*
"So, you are telling me these friends of yours are... elves?" Sisko asked with a disbelieving tone.

"Yes, sir," Worf said, standing at attention in front of Sisko's desk. It was the morning following the arrival of Lord Elrond's ship and Worf had been called in to speak to Sisko about this strange mission from Worf's past post.

"And when the Enterprise came to their planet they were in the middle of a great war with their gods?" Sisko reiterated the main points of Worf's story as the Klingon nodded in affirmation. "Now they are traveling to their 'promised land' with these little people..."

"Hobbits, sir," Worf corrected him.

"I'm really having a hard time with this story, Mr. Worf," Sisko said as he picked up his baseball from his desk and walked around his office. "This all seems like a fantasy tale."

"I assure you, sir, that it is not," Worf affirmed. "It was strange at first for those of us from the Enterprise."

Sisko sighed as he looked out at the stars outside his window, "This also leads back to Dr. Galen's research into the relationship between the races and species across the galaxy."

Worf remained silent as he waited for his captain to speak. Sisko appeared to be mulling over all that was going on in the past twenty-four hours. Worf pondered for a moment how different his new commanding officer was from his former. Picard was very different in his own right but he tended to voice his thoughts to his senior staff to get a feel for their opinions while Sisko liked to figure it out on his own.

"This whole situation still seems strange to me but with my own situation with the Bajorans and their prophets, who am I to criticize their theology?" Sisko said finally. "I have a feeling we will be more involved in this than we are or the Enterprise ever was before with these people."

It was at that moment a message came through from the Command Center.

"Dax to Sisko," came Jadzia Dax's voice. "Lord Elrond and his councilor are here to speak with you."

"Worf and I are waiting for them, thanks Old Man," Sisko said to his science officer.

The two Starfleet officers turned around as the office doors opened to reveal Lord Elrond and Lord Erestor. The two elves entered and took two offered seats in front of Sisko's desk as Worf moved around to Sisko's side on the opposite side of the desk.

"Captain, I wished to express my thanks to you for your help," Elrond began as the doors closed behind him. "Our ship will be restored in great speed."

"That is good to hear," the captain said with a short nod. "Is there anything else we can offer you in the meantime?"

"Information you may have on the hostile peoples you are familiar with would be most useful to us," the elf lord said. "We need all that we may get in order to find those who were taken."

"Of course," Sisko agreed. "Worf can assist you with that and answer any questions you may have while you are still on the station."

"We cannot show enough appreciate for the assistance you are giving us," Erestor spoke up. "This omen of our continual friendship bodes well for all else to come."

"The Valar indeed have a hand in these events," Elrond agreed before turning back to Sisko and Worf. "However, I do have a concern."

"What may that be?" Sisko asked, genuinely curious about what could be the problem.

"How well do you know your Chief of Security?" Elrond asked. "Your... Constable Odo?"

Worf and Sisko exchanged odd glances before the captain continued.

"We have known him for a few years but he has been a loyal to justice and law since before Starfleet commanded this station," Sisko said. "Why are you worried by Odo?"

"His people, is he familiar with them?" Elrond continued to ask questions, completely disregarding the one posed by Sisko.

"To an extent, yes," Sisko said, frustration starting to line his tone with being brushed aside. "He was found alone and not part of his people. Only recently did he learn of the other Changelings and the Dominion."

"So that is what they call themselves..." Erestor muttered.

"What is this all about?" Sisko said, finally letting it known that he wanted answers.

"We are very familiar with Odo's people," Elrond elaborated. "They were once part of the Valar but they were exiled into the Void when they turned against the teachings of Eru. It is not surprising they are attempting to once more create a realm of their own once more. Perhaps we should look further into this... Dominion."

"That would be a good idea," Sisko said. "We are not exactly on good terms with the Dominion either and if it comes to light that they are going to attack ships in this vicinity, then we must know it before our own people are harmed or taken."

"It seems a cooperative effort might be in our future," Elrond said with an upturned eyebrow. "Then we should be starting immediately as to not waste time."