"Captain, we're approaching Thelos System," called the ensign from the navigation console. "Orders?"

"Drop out of warp and begin the scan," replied Captain Sisko, sitting in the command chair of the Defiant. "If the Dominion has tried to occupy or utilize this planet then I want to know about it and find some way to stop them. Try to find any sign of that strange energy signature our remote sensors reported."

"Aye, captain!" said the young ensign.

They waited while the ship disengaged its warp engines, dropped into real space and began scanning the Thelos System for the energy surge no one could explain. The Thelos system was not near the combat zone that delineated the Federation's border with the Cardassian Empire, but it was not so far away as to be implausible that the Dominion might attempt some covert operation from this unexpected direction.

Chief Science Officer Jadzia Dax was standing next to Sisko, watching the main view screen as they observed the system, a small yellow sun with five planets, only two of which were considered habitable. She regarded the system with a critical eye.

"What on earth could the Dominion hope to accomplish from here, Benjamin?" she queried. "Even if they did manage to slip by our front lines and the Romulans' forces, which I find unlikely, anything they attempted would be discovered and since it is so isolated from their rest of their lines we could destroy it easily."

"Maybe, but the Dominion has shown remarkable resilience and an amazing ability to build ships and fleets at an alarming rate," Sisko said evenly. "If they are indeed here, then I hope we have caught onto it before they've gotten too far with their plot."

"Just Commander Worf's luck," Jadzia commented, smiling. "He's prowling around the Celestine Nebula with General Martok on the Rotaren when he could be back here fighting the Dominion."

"I am sure Commander Worf is perfectly capable of getting himself into trouble even in a nebula on the Tholian border," Sisko replied. "The Dominion will still be here when he gets back. Helm, what sort of readings are you getting?"

"Nothing unusual, sir, this system is not inhabited by- wait... sir, there is a residual energy reading on the second moon of the fourth planet. It's a small moon, marginally habitable with a thin atmosphere. The energy signature is coming from inside a series of caves on the moon's largest landmass. Faint but it is totally out of place."

"There's your answer, old man," Sisko said, rising and heading for the turbolift. "We'll transport down to the surface and see what the Dominion has in store for us. I'll take a Chief O'Brien and a security detail with me. Dax, you have the bridge. Keep an eye out for Dominion ships."

"Aye, captain!" the Trill officer said easily as she settled down onto the captain's chair.

Sisko and O'Brien made their way through the tunnels cautiously, accompanied by a squad of ten security troops armed with phaser rifles. He was reasonably certain that the Defiant still had a transporter lock on them in case they ran into more than they could handle, but he was not trying to get into a fight yet anyway.

"These are old mining tunnels," O'Brien commented as they moved deeper into the complex. "They go back at least two hundred years, nearly to the first days of the Federation. They were mining for bilitrium to help boost antimatter output in the early years of warp engines."

"Dangerous substance..." Sisko mused almost absently.

"Aye, I've no love fer it," O'Brien continued. "There was one time Odo and I found Quark trying to smuggle-"

The engineer went quiet as Sisko held up a hand, indicating that something was up ahead. The captain deployed the troops he had brought with him in a deep firing pattern, allowing constant protection in case they had to retreat. While Sisko found a point of cover, O'Brien activated his tricorder and began scanning the passageways ahead.

"Captain," he whispered. "A cave ahead, one hundred meters. There's a single life form but I can't tell what it is yet."

Sisko nodded and the party began moving forward, O'Brien still reading the tricorder for anything useful. Several minutes later they had approached the opening of the cave and were ready to either move in or fight. Sisko looked over at his Chief Engineer, who was staring at the readings he was getting in confusion. Sisko got his attention and raised an eyebrow. The Irishman shrugged almost helplessly. Sisko nodded for one of the troopers to get into the room. The man nodded and slipped forward, disappearing from sight.

Several seconds passed and there was a cry of alarm before the trooper came hurtling back out of the cavern and slammed into the wall, dropping unconscious on the floor.

"I know there are eleven of you left," boomed a great voice from within the cavern. "Show yourselves or I will come out and get you!"

Captain Sisko looked at Chief O'Brien and they both stood, their weapons ready. Followed by the remainder of the guard detail, Sisko headed into the cavern and stopped as he laid eyes upon the stranger, sitting on a rock in a corner of the chamber.

He was tall, taller than even the largest Klingon or Naussican Sisko had ever seen or heard of. He wore ornate blue battle armour that had a medieval feel to it but was clearly technologically advanced. In his hands he carried a massive projectile rifle. His black hair was cropped short and he had many silver studs implanted into his right temple. His scarred face was noble but grim, the eyes flashing with merciless cunning. Stylised white 'U's adorned each of the huge pauldrons he wore on his shoulders.

He looked human but somehow came across as much, much more.

The stranger stood tall and announced himself. "I am Andraeus Parmenio, Librarian of the Ultramarines, Fourth Company. Glory to the Emperor of Mankind."

Sisko and O'Brien looked at one another.

"And I thought findin' the Dominion here would be strange..." muttered the engineer.

Star Trek: Deep Space 9

"The Distant And Not-So-Bright Future"

Disclaimer: I do not own nor did I invent Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or any of its concepts, nor do I own or did I invent Warhammer 40k or its concepts. Extant characters are used for recreational reading only and no profit. Any characters I have created are purely for interaction purposes with the universes borrowed and portrayed. Please enjoy this bit of challengefic fluff. Reviews are welcome, flames will be laughed at. Glory to the Emperor of Mankind!

Phase I- What The Hell Are You, Anyway?

The station was abuzz with rumours of a strange humanoid visitor brought back from the uninhabited Thelos system, especially because Captain Sisko had seen fit to transport the person directly to Dr Bashir's medical lab rather than walk him there like any other healthy and functional visitor. What was the mystery? Quark was already taking bets in his bar.

Captain Sisko, Dax, Major Kira and Constable Odo all watched on from a corner of the medbay as Dr Julian Bashir scanned the titanic subject's body with his instruments while his assistants scurried around, trying to track all the data. The huge man, who called himself Andreus, waited stoically, allowing these people to sate their curiosity. It was only at the insistent reasoning of Captain Sisko that he had agreed to remove his battle armour and sat now naked on an examination table. His armour and gear waited in a nearby corner but Julian doubted that the impressive guest needed any of it if he decided to contest the station's mettle.

"So what do we know now, doctor?" Sisko asked as he approached, accompanied by Dax, who was still admiring Andraeus' massively muscled body.

"Captain, I hardly know where to begin," Julian said in his soft English tone. "He is clearly human in origin, but he is altered in many fundamental ways that make him, well... that."

"Genetic engineering?" queried Sisko.

"After a fashion, but not like anything I have ever encountered." Julian admitted. "His impressive body is the result of being rebuilt by implanted organs I have never seen or even dreamed of. If my scans are correct, captain, there are at least eighteen of these things inside him and they all seem to be geared towards turning him into the perfect killing machine."

"Alien technology? Possibly Breen?" Sisko pressed.

Julian smiled and shook his head. "I find that highly unlikely, captain, if for no other reason than Mister Andraeus is human and I somehow doubt any other race would see fit to alter him so."

"So he is not some by-product of the Eugenics Wars."

"I do not believe so, since beings such as Khan Noonien Singh were the products of direct genetic engineering on a level involving DNA and nucleo-peptides, whereas this man's physiology has been altered and continues to be sustained by these organs. To be honest, a lot of what I know has been graciously volunteered by the subject himself."

Dr Bashir led Sisko over to a monitoring station and showed him a diagnostic of Andraeus and he began pointing to various places on the display.

"Take a look here," he said, pointing to the chest cavity. "He has a secondary heart. Over here is a small lung of incredible efficiency that augments the natural two or replaces them entirely if necessary. This small thing here has increased the density and strength of his bones and led to the complete ossification of his ribcage. Another one enhances his senses to what we would consider superhuman levels while this organ produces cells that have replaced the platelets in his blood and allow him to heal or recover from injury at an incredible rate..."

"So what you are saying is that he is essentially built to be a super soldier." Sisko concluded.

Dr Bashir nodded. "So much so that he has some strange black polymer carapace implanted directly beneath his skin and this carapace allows him to interact with that massive armour of his as easily as you and I wear our day-to-day uniforms. One would think he was born inside of that armour."

"Well he doesn't look so bad out of it either..." quipped Dax as she joined the conversation. "But what we still don't know is who did this to him and why."

Sisko considered. "He said that he is a servant and warrior of the Emperor of Mankind, whoever that is. We've checked all the data bases of earth's history and while several madmen had claimed the title of 'emperor of mankind', none of them had the means to create a warrior like that."

"That is because I am not from your past, Captain." Andraeus said, standing and walking over to loom over them. Sisko turned to look up at the giant while Dax stared cheerfully at his abdominal muscles, poking them with her finger. Andraeus was three meters tall easily, far beyond any human standard.

"So if you are not from our present or our past, am I to understand that you are from our future?" Captain Sisko asked.

The giant nodded. "Your very distant future, captain. Very, very distant."

Julian considered and shrugged. "While in theory these organs of his could be replicated with our current level of technology, I have no better explanation than what Andraeus offers, Captain. They are sublime and barbaric all at once, not really standard scientific standard protocol for the Federation."

Dax nodded. "And the energy signature we detected in the Thelos caverns did contain tachyon particles and Cherenkov radiation as well, Benjamin, all of which might be consistent with a temporal gate."

"Let's say for the moment that is true," Sisko continued. "The question that begs to be asked is what our visitor from the future is doing here?"

The three of them looked at Andraeus who frowned and shook his head. "I am afraid I have no answer for you there, captain. I was sent as part of a team to the Thelos System to investigate rumours of alien technology found on the moon. Over my vox implant someone said they had found something and then there was a flash and I was suddenly alone. Now I am here, approximately forty thousand years in my own past."

"Forty thousand..." Julian whispered in amazement. Andraeus regretted his choice of words, realizing that these people might not have been ready to hear this. He had yet to tell them he could hear their thoughts because at this point in the distant past, humans with psychic abilities were practically unknown beyond limited and illegal genetic manipulation.

"So, this Imperium of yours," Dax said, softening the moment before disbelief was firmly entrenched. "You said it is protected by... 'Space Marines', like yourself?"

"The Emperor's warriors are myriad, but even so, we barely hold back the enemies of humanity, for they are without number. The mutant, the heretic, the vile alien, they are all..."

Andraeus stopped himself again when he remembered that the ones called Dax, Odo and Kira were aliens. Against all common sense and reasoning, these humans had formed bonds of trust with certain races from other worlds, even after fighting wars with them. How had humanity survived so long?

"I'm just going to assume that aliens in your time are not as agreeable or savoury as we can be these days." Dax said agreeably. "For the sake of the station's continued harmony, at least try to get along with myself and Major Kira then, okay, Andraeus?"

Andraeus' innate distrust of aliens was understandably strong, but given that his own people were working so closely with them as to be unified on this station, he decided to let the matter be for now. He nodded to the Trill woman, whose mind indicated she held no ill will for humanity, nor did the one called Kira.

There were, on the other hand, other aliens on the station he could sense...

"Well, there's something you don't see every day, Rom," Quark commented as Jadzia led the behemoth visitor into the bar. Andraeus was now wearing a unisuit similar to the station's Starfleet crew but without insignia and replicated to fit his massive frame. Not a single being in the establishment pretended not to stare.

"Goodness, brother," said the Ferengi known as Rom, Quark's younger brother, pausing to observe the new person. "That hu-man is bigger than I guessed they could get. His fist is the size of your head. Lieutenant Dax seems quite taken with him."

"Yes, that happens a lot with her," Quark said with what might have been a tinge of annoyance or jealousy in his voice. "Anything muscle-bound has her rapt attention."

"He certainly is that, brother," Rom agreed, nodding and still staring. "Do you suppose he is a warrior?"

Quark looked at his brother in mild exasperation. "What do you think he is, you half-lobe, a xeno-botanist? Of course he's a warrior, look at the way he's built. Divine Treasury help us if there are more like him coming to the station..."

Andraeus ignored the stares of the bar's patrons. He'd been compelled to duck his head slightly even to get into the establishment. Now he was surrounded by races he had never even heard of. Was the galaxy once so populous with alien species and most had since died out?

He allowed Dax to lead him over to a table in the corner and he waited patiently while some little alien thing with ridiculously big ears and a bulbous head scurried to find some sort of chair that would support him. Once he was seated, the creature, whose mind he could not read or sense, waited on the two of them, massaging his hands together somewhat nervously.

"Hello," he said finally, trying to not show that he was overwhelmed by the size of Andraeus. "I'm Quark, proprietor of this establishment. Welcome to my bar, what is your pleasure?"

"Your death." Andraeus replied, his expression flat.

"I'm... I'm afraid we're fresh out of that today." Quark said, feeling beads of sweat suddenly forming on his neck. Dax playfully swatted Andraeus' hand.

"Be nice, Andraeus," she chided. "Quark, I will have my usual and my guest will have..."

She looked at Andraeus, fishing for some kind of preference or suggestion. He decided to humour the alien female, her intentions were at least honest, if somewhat forward.

"Very well, something strong," he said. "Whatever you have that is strong."

"Are you sure?" Quark warned. "I have some beverages that even Klingons are wary of trying."

"I do not know what a Klingon is, but I am sure I will be fine," Andraeus snorted. "You can bring your entire store of the beverage if you like."

"Oh, now I am not one to question the veracity of your drinking prowess, my friend," Quark said, holding his hands up in a staying gesture. "But there is the matter of the cost. I paid very handsomely for this shipment and while I do not mind parting with a glass or maybe two, I cannot afford to just let-"

"Why am I allowing you to continue living?" Andraeus growled, his glare indicating that his patience with the alien was wearing thin. "Do all your patrons have to undergo this sort of interrogation or just the hu-mans?"

"Quark, bring a bottle of it and I will cover the cost, alright?" Dax interjected, not eager to see her Ferengi compatriot turned into a bloody smear on the deck. "Let's show Andraeus some real Deep Space Nine hospitality."

Quark nodded and retreated to the bar, where he hoped he was, just maybe, out of arm's reach.

Dax smiled. "You'll have to forgive Quark, he is somewhat protective of his profits and wary of imposing strangers. His bar is often the scene of altercations involving Klingons, Nausicaans or others."

"Well his bar is safe as long as I am here," Andraeus said, sternly. "Although my only concern is the protection of my own species."

"Oh come now," Dax said sweetly, giving him one of her legendary dazzling smiles. "Are we aliens really all so bad as that?"

"You smell like an alien." Andraeus pointed out.

Dax was not certain with how to proceed for a moment but recovered admirably. "You... Your Imperium must be a dark place if humans of your time revile aliens so much."

"There are no races we are not at war with one way or another," the Space Marine agreed. "At best we might have tenuous truces or work with the less reprehensible races, but even the most tolerable can be insidious and wish for humanity's destruction. We have been at war for millennia now, since before the inception of the Imperium."

Dax tried to understand what kind of universe might have created the need for such terrible weapons as Andraeus. She sought to expand upon what he had been telling her. "So you said that humanity basically rules the galaxy."

"Yes, the Imperium is more or less that size of the galaxy. There are small enclaves, belonging to races like the Tau, but humanity is the dominant race, you might say."

"What about my people, the Trill?" Dax asked.

"I have never heard of them," Andraeus admitted. "I have fought on hundreds of worlds throughout the galaxy for over four centuries now, and I have never heard of an alien race called the Trill."

Dax faltered for a moment, wondering what had become of her people, forty thousand years from now. "Well maybe they- wait a minute... did you say you've been fighting for over four centuries?"

Andraeus nodded. "I was barely twenty standard years when I was selected to join the Ultramarines. Years of implantation, therapy and training transformed my body into what you see today. We Space Marines are very long-lived by the standards of humanity. Chapter Master Cervan Dante of the Blood Angels is reckoned to be over thirteen hundred years old and our own revered Chapter Master, Lord Commander Marneus Calgar, must be five hundred."

Dax stared at the man for several moments in disbelief, hardly noticing Quark returning and putting their beverages on the table. The Ferengi nodded and left quickly. Dax came back to herself and poured Andraeus' drink for him out of an ornate crystal bottle. The spirit was a vivid blue colour.

"Quark wasn't kidding when he said he had the good stuff," she mentioned as she struggled with what she was being told. She had agreed to act as Andraeus' handler and ambassador while he was here and she was getting much more than she bargained for. "This is Romulan ale, aged at least fifty years by the colour of it."

Andraeus took the slender goblet she had poured the ale into with surprising dexterity and drank the entire measure in a single gulp. He put the goblet down and looked at her. Clearly he was trying to think of some way to compliment the libation.

"It's... not without its charm..." he said somewhat weakly.

Dax fixed him with a look and poured him another dose. Within five minutes the entire decanter was empty and the enormous man showed no signs whatsoever of inebriation. Dax was less than pleased and expressed herself.

"Oh, come on..." she pressed. "I mean, I know you're big and all and I understand you're some kind of human wrecking machine, but Romulan ale is the bane of the entire Alpha Quadrant! And you're telling me you feel nothing?"

Andraeus shrugged. "Perhaps your Doctor Bashir failed to mention that I have a small organ implant, a pre-stomach that filters and neutralizes toxins before they enter my system. I cannot begin to tell you what amount of alcohol I would need to ingest in order to overload the Preomnor Gland."

Dax sighed and sat back in her chair sullenly, sipping at her springwine. "Well, that will doubtless be the best brick of latinum I've ever spent..." she grumbled.

There was a crash off to one side, drawing their attention. Dax saw five Klingons standing around one of the Dabo tables, glaring at the Ferengi dealer, who was quailing in fright. They glared at him hatefully and one of them, clearly the ringleader, shook his fist in the smaller alien's face.

"You little sneak, Ferengi!" he bellowed. "You think you can cheat me and get away with it? I should skin you alive and turn your face into a wallet for my wife, just so she can put it in her back pocket and sit on it!"

"I swear to you, I wasn't cheating!" the Ferengi protested, shaking in terror.

"Ferengi always cheat!" roared the Klingon. He back-handed the dealer, sending him sprawling. The other Klingons laughed while patrons at nearby tables scrambled away.

"Let me guess... Klingons." Andraeus said dryly.

"They're not all this obnoxious, I swear to you." Dax said hastily. "Some of them are... well... not so obnoxious."

"And yet your Captain Sisko arranged an alliance with them." Andraeus observed. "It makes me wonder what the Dominion he speaks of is like if these 'allies' of humanity are preferable."

Dax heard station security approaching the bar and realized that the Klingons were drunk enough to cause a serious fight. Without General Martok around, things might get out of control.

"Andraeus, I have a favour to ask you," she said quickly. "Could you possibly subdue those men before security arrives?"

The Space Marine frowned. "Why would I care if the aliens kill one another?"

"Please, Andraeus," she pleaded, taking his massive hand and looking into his eyes. "I know you do not trust aliens, but these times are not yours and allowing things to go to hell now changes nothing in the future. I cannot guarantee humans will not be hurt unless you act."

Andraeus sighed and rolled his eyes. "Very well, lieutenant. This one time, I will save the little alien from your allies."

She beamed a grateful smile. "Thank you. I will find a way to make it up to you later."

Andraeus tacitly ignored her advances and stood up. He strode over to the scene of the altercation, cricking his neck and rotating his shoulders to warm up, all the while watching the way the Klingons moved.

They were a strong species, built for combat. They seemed barbaric, but he could sense discipline in their forms, the kind brought about by years of stringent training in martial arts and would allow them to be superlative fighters...

If they were not drunk.

He strode up behind the leader and put a hand on his shoulder. The alien whirled around and glared up at him, not seeming to be intimidated by his size.

"What do you want, human?" he spat scornfully.

"You are not welcome any longer on this station, shell-head," Andraeus said sternly. "Depart now to your vessel swiftly and without incident, or your life is forfeit."

The Klingon roared angrily and swung at him. Andraeus held up his arm and blocked the punch easily, stopping it dead. He countered with a palm thrust to the alien's chest that sent him hurtling backwards across the bar and crashing into a corner, where he lay crumpled in a heap.

Another one of the Klingons pulled out a wicked-looking knife and slashed and him, but Andraeus caught the blade and twisted the wrist violently, snapping the bones and then pivoting into a kneeling pose he threw his foe in another direction. Without pausing he surged up and slammed both fists backwards into two more opponents, knocking them both unconscious.

"Andraeus, watch out!" Dax cried in alarm.

Andraeus turned around and the remaining Klingon rammed a knife into his stomach. The alien grinned wolfishly but then goggled in astonishment as the human did not react. Andraeus scowled down at the knife hilt and then at the Klingon before he punched him in the face. Hard.

The Klingon was dead before he hit the ground, his skull shattered.

Dax had come rushing up to him by the time security arrived on the scene, all of them the Bajoran aliens who seems so prevalent on the station. She grimaced as she watched Andraeus pull the knife out of his abdomen and examine it. He held the blade to his nose, sniffing it and then gave it to her to hold onto.

"That was somewhat annoying," he muttered. "You said this sort of thing occurs frequently?" Dax wasn't paying attention but examining his wound, making sure he wasn't haemorrhaging to death, as the ragged blades of Klingon knives were so likely to cause in their victims.

"Doesn't that hurt?" she asked in bewilderment.

"Well, yes, it hurts, I guess," he admitted. "But it will heal quickly enough and there is an implant that blocks my pain receptors when-"

"Oh, enough with all of your fancy implants already!" Dax hissed, still examining him.

"Everybody stay in your place and allow my teams to secure the area!" declared a gravelly voice, indicating that Constable Odo had arrived on the scene. He moved swiftly and with purpose, making sure that everything and everyone was accounted for. He had the unconscious Klingons hauled off to holding cells and then examined the dead one before turning to look up at Andraeus.

"I don't know if random deaths are common in your time, Mister Andraeus, but I assure you, I do my best to keep such occurrences to a minimum on my station."

"Odo, the Klingon stabbed him." Dax interjected. "He was protecting the Ferengi dealer from-"

"I have no doubt his motives were honourable, lieutenant," Odo said flatly, cutting her off. "But a death aboard the station always warrants investigation, you know that. The rules must be followed."

"Your Chief of Security is correct, lieutenant." Andraeus said simply.

"Well at least let me take him to Julian before you- did you just call me lieutenant?" Dax demanded, turning to glare up at the Space Marine. "After I bought you an entire bottle of Romulan ale, you think you can play a formality card with me?"

Odo looked at Dax. "Romulan Ale is illegal, lieutenant, where did you-"

"Odo, take this insufferable man to your brig!" she hissed before turning on her heel and marching out. "I've had quite enough of his nonsense!"

They both watched Dax leave and then looked at one another in no small amount of confusion. Odo finally caught sight of the wound in Andraeus' stomach and seemed rather impressed.

"Perhaps Doctor Bashir should see you first."

"And then the brig?" Andraeus asked.

"It might be the only way I can save you from Lieutenant Dax." Odo replied.

And for the first time since the temporal distortion had brought him here, Andraeus laughed.

"How is our guest doing now?" Sisko asked Doctor Bashir while the stood outside the infirmary. Inside, Julian's assistants were attending to Andraeus, although there seemed to be little that they would need to do aside from wait and monitor.

Julian sighed. "Predictably by now, he is doing fine," he said. "Those absurd little cells he calls 'Larraman's cells' are doing a bang-up job of healing him at a rate of recovery even a Jem-Hadar could not match. Some manner of scar tissue sealed over the wound virtually before my eyes and he seems to be knitting back together nicely. He is not at all concerned about a wound anyone else would have considered fatal without instant medical attention."

"Just another piece in the mystery," Sisko mused. "But doctor, surely you can't tell me that you're not enjoying the challenge. If he is telling the truth, then we are taking part in an unheard of event."

Julian considered and nodded. "We have heard of visitors from the future before, maybe as far out as a century or two... but forty thousand years..."

"Just be thankful you don't have the temporal division of Starfleet breathing down your neck," Sisko mentioned. "I have done everything I can to deflect and delay them, but sooner or later, they're going to want a look at him."

"You're right, I don't envy you that," the doctor admitted. "But captain, there is something else I think I should tell you about Mister Andraeus."

"Oh? A surprise not related to his implants or combat ability?"

Doctor Bashir led the captain over to a monitor and brought up an active display. Whatever it was he was showing Sisko, he seemed genuinely concerned.

"These are his brainwave patterns, sir," he began. "As you can see, they are clearly human, but these brainwaves here..."

Sisko frowned mildly as he looked at the readings indicated. "I am no doctor, but I have never seen anything like that before. What are those?"

"You never see them in humans, captain," Julian stated. "Or if you do, it's strictly an engineered process. Such brainwaves are common in species such as Betazoids."

"Are you saying that Mister Andraeus is telepathic?" Sisko breathed,

"Not just telepathic, captain, his theta-waves are off the charts..." Julian warned. "Frankly, I have no idea what to do except ask him about it."

"You might want to let me broach that subject with him, doctor," Sisko suggested. "For someone who apparently answers only to a sovereign emperor of the whole galaxy, he seems to respond instinctively to authority. I have been meaning to have a frank discussion with him in any event."

Julian nodded and sighed. "Very well, but at least allow me to observe him until his wound is completely healed, at this rate it shouldn't take more than another twelve hours."

Sisko smiled and put a hand on Bashir's shoulder. "Have it your way. Then please escort him to my ready room. Mister Andraeus will be skipping his stay in the brig."

"Odo will no doubt be glad to hear that," Julian said. "He has been worrying about the ability of a holding cell to even contain the prisoner and he has been pestering Chief O'Brien constantly to help him improve the strength of the security fields."

"You know where to find me." Sisko replied, walking away, nodding to Andraeus as he exited the medbay.

There is much the two of them had to discuss and learn from one another.

Captain Sisko sat behind his desk in his ready room, having just given security permission to bring Mister Andraeus to the bridge and then to him. He sat with his fingers steepled, waiting calmly, going over the questions he had and what he perceived to be the likely responses from this most unusual guest.

The door finally slid open and two Bajoran security officers escorted Mister Andraeus into the room. The huge man had to duck his head to make it through the aperture, but he seemed to have become used to this inevitability already.

Sisko dismissed the two men and then gestured for Andraeus to sit in the specially designed chair he had recently commissioned Chief O'Brien to construct. It was almost comically large and sat on the floor, not even bolted down.

"I apologize about the somewhat ramshackle condition of the chair," Sisko began. "I'm not used to entertaining visitors of your dimensions."

"The thought is appreciated, captain, usually I just stand. But since the ceiling of this room is somewhat low by my standards, I will use the chair." Andraeus replied, easing himself into the proffered seat.

Sisko examined the Space Marine for a moment and finally spoke. "I will freely admit that I hardly know where to begin. I have endless questions I want to ask, probably the vast majority of which I have no business knowing the answers to."

Andraeus nodded. "I will admit that I am tempted to ask questions as well, since this is a period of history long-forgotten in my own time. Some twenty thousand years from now, a terrible period called the Dark Age of Technology will descend upon humanity and much scientific and mechanical knowledge will be lost, never to be rediscovered, even in my own time."

"Yet you spend little or no time asking any questions." Sisko pointed out. "I assume this is because you have no need to?"

Andraeus considered what Sisko was inferring and finally nodded. "So your doctor noticed that I am psyker. It is as you say, I can read people's minds, to a degree at least. Humans, of course, some of your alien associates, but not all."

"The Ferengi, for instance." Sisko posited.

"Yes, the little ones with the funny heads and the love of money." Andraeus confirmed. "I do not trust them, Captain Sisko."

"Nobody does," replied the captain. "But for the most part they are harmless, especially when compared with races like the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, Breen or the Dominion."

"Your tolerance for them at all baffles me," Andraeus said. "The Imperium is beset by foes and for over ten thousand years we have fought to protect humanity from being obliterated by beings so terrible that I am loathe to speak of them."

"A sorry prejudice," Sisko said sadly. "Though the galaxy of our era is a dangerous place, we have learned to live in friendship and harmony with many races, some of whom have joined us in the Federation. Are there no such instances in your time?"

"Captain, none of the races you speak of have survived into my time, as I intimated to Lieutenant Dax earlier," Andraeus stated. "These Klingons, Breen, Ferengi and Trill... they are not only missing in my galaxy, we do not even know any lore of them."

Sisko considered what the man from the future was saying. Could all the races he knew of and had learned about truly be gone?

"Humanity... destroyed them?" he asked warily.

"I do not know," Andraeus admitted. "That is entirely possible, I suppose, though there are no records. Like I said, so much was lost over the millennia."

"What of this emperor you speak of?" Sisko asked, wanting some context for what he was hearing. "Is he a hereditary warlord?"

"No, captain, nothing could be further from the truth." Andraeus said flatly, shaking his head.

"Then what is he, if I might ask?"

Andraeus drew a deep breath, realizing that what he was about to explain would sound completely ridiculous to his audience, even if it sounded perfectly natural to him.

"The emperor, captain, is not only the ruler of an interstellar empire but he is also the god of our race," he began. "The Imperium of Man has survived for over ten millennia and the Emperor has ruled from Terra for that entire time."

Sisko's face betrayed nothing as he listened but inwardly he was stunned. What on earth was Andraeus talking about?

"The Emperor is as old as mankind itself and the most powerful psyker to ever live," Andraeus continued. "His mental powers were so prodigious that he was effectively immortal and for ages untold he has been trying to guide humanity through its development until we enter the next stage of our existence, that being a fully developed psychic race."

"I see," Sisko said. "Please, go on."

"But ten thousand years ago, just after he had pacified the galaxy and united all of mankind's far-flung stellar colonies, a terrible civil war erupted. Nearly half of his army, led by his greatest general, Horus, who was like a son to the Emperor, turned against him and the galaxy burned. Countless billions died in the bloodshed."

"But if the Emperor was the most powerful man to ever live, then how-"

"Horus was a Primarch, captain, a member of a select group of men genetically engineered from the blood of the Emperor himself. They were twenty and their powers were beyond reckoning. From each of the Primarchs came the legacy of the Space Marines, men such as myself... Ultramrines, Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Salamanders, Black Templars and Iron Fists, to name but a few."

Sisko listened, rapt by the account.

"Horus had been corrupted by terrible entities too powerful for even him to overcome and he in turn corrupted half the Primarchs and their Space Marine legions."

"Civil war between the mightiest beings and warriors humanity had ever known." Sisko said quietly. "Please continue."

"The civil war raged throughout the galaxy and even reached the Imperial Palace on Holy Terra," Andraeus related. "In the final battle, when all seemed lost, the Emperor realized that his son Horus was truly beyond saving and he destroyed him utterly, but at the cost of his own life. He has sat immobilized now in a vast throne of lost technology and this singular machine has kept him alive on some level for ten thousand years now. His body is a desiccated husk, with few living cells, yet his mind and will remain our beacon of light in a galaxy of darkness."

Sisko was silent for some time as he pondered what he was being told. Finally he spoke. "You understand, of course, how it is hard to not be sceptical of your account, Mister Andraeus."

"I understand completely, captain," Andraeus reasoned. "May I point out, though, that a thousand years before your own time, people would have considered your circumstances mythical or impossible, yes?"

"Granted," Sisko said readily. "But I can account for my own time and I can account for the past. I as yet have no proof of your era outside of the ephemeral evidence of your remarkable physiology."

Andraeus sighed. "And for the most part I do not blame you, captain. To be honest, I have struggled with reticence about sharing any information with you at all, given how fantastic it would seem, but I figured I owed you the chance."

Andraeus now stood and looked down at Captain Sisko, his eyes glowing slightly.

"If I cannot effectively tell you about my Imperium, captain, then at least allow me to let you look inside my mind so I can show you..."

Sisko nodded and closed his eyes, searching out Andraeus' mind and the secrets within...

The bridge was operating normally when the door to the ready room opened and Mister Andraeus walked out. Major Kira, Chief O'Brien and Lieutenant Dax all watched as he was met by two security officers and escorted to the turbolift, disappearing from sight.

Captain Sisko emerged from his office some time shortly after and he seemed pensive. He walked around the bridge almost absently, looking at the deck, occasionally mumbling to himself. Finally, Dax and Kira could take no more of it and stopped him.

"So? What happened? What did he say?" Dax asked.

Sisko considered his response. "To be honest, a lot of things I was not prepared to hear."

"So you believe his is from the future?" Kira pressed, clearly expressing scepticism.

"I will tell you what is more important than that," Sisko said in a stern tone. "What really matters is how we get him back to where he came from..."

Author's Notes: So someone challenged me to try and do a crossover between DS9 and 40k and it sounded like fun. Rather than shoot the Defiant roughly four hundred centuries into the future, I decided to bring a Space Marine back to DS9. Originally Andraeus was not a Librarian or psychic, but I was finding Imperial prejudices against aliens a little problematic- ergo, I am allowing our oversized protagonist's ability to read minds to mitigate his actions somewhat, given the unusual environment he now finds himself in.

Even though I don't really like the chapter much, I went with the Ultramarines simply because I figured they might prove the most reasonable and adaptable to such circumstances. Let's face it, a Dark Angel, Black Templar or a Space Wolf would be a disaster and while a Blood Angel might have been fun, I am already working on a fic for them, so it was the Ultrasmurfs who wound up here. No, using some second-rate chapter like the Crimson Fists or Howling Griffons never occurred to me.

For the 40k nerks out there, I am already aware that many of the psychic abilities that Andraeus displays are not canon from the rulebooks or even other extant fiction. You will just have to suck it up and do what the Trekkie/Trekker nerks do and use some suspension of disbelief this time around.

I am trying very hard to get the dialogue and speech styles/interactions of the DS9 characters right, make them sound and talk like they do in the show. I have hopefully done not too bad a job of it, but it's up to you to let me know, okay?

As always, reviews are welcome and flames will be laughed at.

Keep your stick on the ice!

-Management