*under her breath*
We really have to update these translators-- Yeah, Q! She's nice to people. Doesn't put species on trials.

Comparative extratemporal xenoanthropology. Uh. I was talking with Q and my research is to see if you guys have a similar origin the way humanoids do.

Have you ever interacted with Bajoran Prophets before? I mean, other than the time the Emissary punched Q. Do you think they'd understand you, or would it be a turf problem?

Is this a problem with our universal translators, maybe? Like the Tamarians? Culture and intent sometimes are lost in the filter.

No offense, it's just in starfleet, your reputation proceeds you. I don't much feel like being flung centuries back in time or to another planet.

@trialneverends.bsky.social

Yeah. You're the one I was afraid of running into.

So... can I ask why you all have the same name despite having individualistic identities when outside of the Continuum?

It's just an exclamation, you startled me. I was hoping to start out with meeting Travelers - they're more predictably amicable. No offense. Most of the research I have on Qs are secondhand, and there's a specific... personality who interacted with the Enterprise D I hoped to avoid.

*Jumping out of their skin*
Oh, mother of the Prophets, what the-- yes. Yeah. Hi.
*holds out her hand to shake with an awkward smile*
Patyu Chavak. Please tell me you're one of the nice ones and you're not gonna dump me in the Delta quadrant.

Well, yeah, I was looking for her. No offense, you obviously kind of look alike. Would you mind letting me know if you experience any of those symptoms? I do need to ask her for a runabout.

Oh, I don't want to bother Admiral Picard with all of this. Or Captain Crusher. All of this is... it's in its infancy. I don't want to get any hopes up. Self-directed research is the best way to go for now.

Well, the science demands it. I tried to look at the triggers before my encounters that might have made them decide when to send me. The Prophets have a plan for everyone. Have you considered they might be responsible for your molecular stability? Not to get all vedek on you.

When the Circle tried to take over the station, and when the first Orb was retrieved from the belt.

I've never actually... interfaced with the Prophets directly. I've been through the Celestial Temple multiple times, but nothing. I just end up in the Gamma Quadrant. When I interact with the Time Orb, I just find myself displaced in time. When my grandparents left Bajor,

Uh, yeah. A few. More than a few. My mom's a vedek, so there was one at my adulthood ceremony, a couple more when I was getting my doctorate, when I started working with this specialty I was given special permission to work with the Time Orb when it isn't needed elsewhere.

Oh, me? Ugh, no. I don't even like getting my blood taken. I'm working in what I'm calling comparative xenoextemporalism. Life that isn't limited by time or dimension. Like the Prophets, or Travelers, or Q. If I get to meet them. You're... gonna call me some mirror equivalent of nerd.

Well, you know, strange sensations, altering of neural pathways, limbs falling asleep when they shouldn't, headaches, visual aura, unexpected personality changes, new sensitivities... time and dimensionally displaced people are subject to a lot of side effects.

A Cardassian... well, that's interesting. So, you've been here more or less since I was three. Have you experienced any discomfort or instability over the years? Sometimes things aren't caught by the scans. Have you had any orb encounters in this dimension?

Well, "mirror people" is my phrasing. We already have multiple samples of your variations from our quantum mechanics, thankfully. Sorry. It's just. Did you have a Celestial Temple over there? That you could go into? Vedeks don't really talk about you guys.

I didn't mean to say that it didn't matter. You did a lot of good. The entire war is a blur for me. I don't live there, maybe that's why they didn't show it to me.

Oh, you know. Just. The standard. Quark will try to swindle you, the Klingon bar is rowdy, the mirror people... actually! Don't worry about it! I'm definitely not an unsuspecting researcher who skipped combat training!

@intendantkira.bsky.social
You are... not who I was looking for. Sorry. I'll just. Leave.

It's fine, a lot of my friends had parents who never came back at all. Not that I have to tell you about it. I've interfaced with the time orb three times. The Prophets never take me back to the war, so maybe it isn't as important in the flow of time as we think it is right now.

I know. My father was relieved from duties a few months before the Dominion War ended, under some ugly circumstances, so we just avoid the topic at home. You understand.

I don't really remember him. My dad worked here under Odo and he blessed me a couple times, but it's so weird coming back here as an adult.

Really? I've only talked to a couple humans who had encounters. It's absolutely understandable to not talk about it; it's actually a taboo to talk about your encounters.

I wasn't sure if you ever had an encounter, but you've seen people who experienced them, and you have a distance I don't. Ah, no offense.

Yes, I know, but you're also the person who's lived longest by the Celestial Temple who isn't Bajoran. I just have... a few reported encounters with the time orb here. Identifying information redacted, of course. I was looking for some eyes on these comparisons.

Nobody ever chooses to be occupied. Occupation was too kind a word for it. I just... it was hard enough spending the past decade or so away from the orbs and the Temple. My mom's a Vedek, they make me Bajoran. I couldn't imagine our culture coming back from their destruction.

They... the Orbs over there are destroyed? There's no Emissary? That's horrible. I know we only got the orbs back when I was a kid, but I just couldn't imagine being separated from them like that. Why would anyone want to live like that?