Prologue:

Between Myths and Stories

Deep Space Nine Station

Twenty-Fourth Century

Jadzia Dax's P.O.V

It was the archaeological discovery of a generation. No, Jadzia Dax remedied. It was the archaeological discovery of twelve generations, it being close to three hundred and fifty years since the pod's disappearance, and here it was today, right in front of her, in arms reach. Dax was almost salivating at the thought.

It was a small thing, barely five foot five standing upright, tubular, and unmistakably of old Earthen structure. It had no windows or view screens; its construction was long before humans managed to stabilize cryogenics enough to incorporate glasses. The exterior was plain and dull, slate metals melded with thick bolts and rusted fragments, across the front, boldly inscribed, two words, and it was, perhaps, one of the most beautiful things Dax had ever seen.

This stasis pod, against the odds, had survived nearly four centuries lost, buried in the damp soil of Earth's European coast, had seen the Eugenics war and Green's Peacekeepers come and go, to be here, this day, beneath Dax's eye. There was something special in that, Dax thought.

It was also, incredibly, still functioning.

"All my scans are coming back with high abnormalities. Whatever's inside is throwing my readings off."

Dax, who had been stooped over the pod, deftly tracing the metal with her fingertips, straightened up, glancing over her shoulder to the perplexed voice at her back, punctuated by the few beeps and pings emanating from his tricorder.

"That's to be expected, Doctor Bashir. According to legend, Sojett Potter suffered from genetic irregularities. It's likely these aberrations that has allowed to her to survive being in such rudimentary cryogenic sleep for so long."

Bashir huffed, growing exasperated with whatever jumbled readings he was receiving from his tricorder, as he turned to regard his friend and colleague.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you know of her at all. I always thought the legend of Potter was a predominately Terran fable."

Striding away from the platform the stasis pod had been carefully placed for inspection, Dax set down her own tricorder and dusted her hands off.

"Curzon was the one to uncover the Earth story originally, through his friendship with Benjamin. Sisko, after finishing an exam for xenolanguistics, came out the Academy hall and said he pulled a 'Sojett'. Of course, this confused me at the time, never having heard of this 'Sojett Potter'. Spotting my puzzled face, Sisko explained it was Earth slang for triumphing against the impossible. I did some more digging, Curzon was always too curious for our own good, and imagine my surprise about all the myths I found!"

Dax grinned.

"I have to admit, though, that while Curzon preferred the Sacrifice of Snape, my favourite myth was the Battle of the Basilisk."

Bashir returned her smile with a bright one of his own.

"I always leaned towards Trials of the Triwizard, personally."

With her gaze fleeing back to the pod before the duo, Dax's head tilted in deep thought.

"How much do you think was real?"

For a while Bashir was silent, before he ultimately shrugged.

"There's no saying, really. All of it? None of it? All our records of her, her people, are gone. Lost in the wars that completely destroyed them and half of humanity. It's amazing we found her stasis pod at all, given how little information that exists on where she went. All we know is during the Eugenics war Sojett was fatally injured, and in a last-ditch attempt, her friends shoved her into a slumbering state in hopes they could heal her in the future, leaving but her name carved into the cryogenics chamber so she may be found if ever lost. Even that could be just another story, and, really, isn't that all we are in the end? Stories?"

Genially, Dax bumped Bashir's shoulder with her own, chuckling.

"I didn't realize you were such an existentialist, Doctor. Or, perhaps, have you been spending more time with our plain and simple tailor, Garak?"

The reaction was instantaneous, a hot flush that washed down Bashir's cheeks to soak into his neck. He spluttered as Dax laughed, hissing like a Risian cat as he sought to deny the insinuation. There was no point of course, as Dax herself had seen the Doctor only yesterday sneaking out Garak's personal chambers in the middle of sleep shift, half-dressed at that.

Dax couldn't see the appeal of their local Cardassian, he was just a little too… Reptilian for her tastes, but it sure did give her plenty of ammo to fire at her dear friend. As Bashir struggled valiantly to get his tongue to cooperate long enough to get a full sentence out, he was swiftly cut short by the computer behind them hooting.

Sighing, Bashir trudged over, hunching over the screen, squinting.

"These scans just don't make sense."

Following Bashir, Dax peered over his shoulder, frowning at the spiking graph blinking red.

"Do you think it could be deterioration at the cellular level? She has been in stasis for nearly four hundred years."

Bashir shook his head, gesturing to one particularly high spike on the graph.

"No, if it were deterioration we would see none of these. There would merely be a steady decline in all readings. This, however…"

Dax hummed, stepping closer, nearly pressing into Bashir's back, as she noticed the blue line shadowing the red. She blinked at it, noticing the slope and dip-

"I've seen this before."

Caught up in her sudden catch, Dax wriggled passed Bashir to get to the screen, tapping away.

"I'm surprised the institute of Exoarchaeology has tasked you with such a find. I thought they would keep it to themselves and to Earth… No offense."

Dax only spared Bashir a passing glance before her attention was snapped back to the screen ahead.

"None taken. They tried to, of course, but the leading archaeologist, Dr Farallon, was my mentor in Exoarchaeology in my Starfleet Academy days, and I one of his prized pupils. He's become ill, and well, as all good Doctors, he doesn't leave his work to just anyone. I'm a fill in until he gets over his Denobulan flu. Starbase six, where Dr Farallon was stationed doing his work, isn't too far from Deep Space Nine, and the transfer of the pod and surrounding findings were easy enough with minimal risk to the condition of Sojett or… Bingo!"

Dax took a stride back, watching as the graph she had found in the computer's database overlaid itself on their own. The blue and red spikes matched eerily well.

And they shouldn't have.

"But this is impossible."

Bashir was incredulous, as skeptical as Dax felt, but it was right there, before them, as was Sojett Potter's stasis pod, a glaring Match sign blinking in the corner, coupled with the highlighted spots that equated to a biological relation. Slowly, the two friends looked to each other, Dax cocking a questioning brow high.

"Now what are Cardassian genomes doing in a three-hundred-year-old human from pre-contact time?"

Bashir whistled low.

"A three-hundred-year-old human who, by the looks of it, isn't quite as human as we all first believed."

Swiftly, Dax turned, plucking up her tricorder as she headed for the door, Bashir shouting at her retreating back.

"Where are you going?"

Dax paused in the doorway.

"To speak to your boyfriend. That DNA match? It wasn't just any old Cardassian file I pulled up. That's Garak's. Ninety-eight percent counterparts are typically only found between parents and children. I think our resident tailor has some explaining to do."

Thoughts?

A.N: This is a sort of remix of my other Cardassian Fem!Harry fic, Dynasty. A lot of people who liked that fic wanted a Damar/Fem!Harry pairing, but the majority wanted Mekor, so I went with that in the end, but I didn't want to leave people hanging. Plus, I couldn't resist delving into Damar anyway lol. So, instead of just dumping Damar completely, I thought I would rework some stuff and have another fic with that pairing for all the lovely readers who wished to see it go that way. If you have read Dynasty, you can already tell a lot has changed, as this won't be a retelling, but a sort of what-if spin-off. I really do hope you all will like it, and have enjoyed the little prologue!