Convergence 2
Have a Nice Day.
Prologue: Discrepancies
The Guardian of Forever, 24th Century
	In some ways, it looked like a big donut with a guy standing in the middle of it.
	The lone figure was the Guardian of Forever.  He stood unmoving, guarding the portal which would allow anyone who passed through it to go to any point time they pleased. The portal itself did look at fist like a misshapen donut, and it was filled with purple-bluish light.  A team of Federation observers had set up camp a few feet away.  The Federation had always had a presence here ever since the Enterprise-A and her crew, led by the legendary Captain Kirk, had discovered it nearly a century ago.  Thus, the Guardian had stood, watching the Federation members, as they recorded the images that had flashed over the Guardian's visage, over and over again.  Nothing, really, had changed in a very long time. 
	Except for today. 
	Mary Mac, an Orion scientist who usually surprised people she met by simply being an Orion woman and a scientist at the same time, went on her noon observation of the Guardian.  She and the Guardian had known each other for years, if you can call it a friendship. 
	"And how are you today?"  Mary asked the Guardian.
	The guardian always liked it when Mary asked him questions like that.  He was an omniscient being, but he enjoyed the way Mary would bring him down to "earth", as it were, by asking him how he was.  As always, he was fine--
	"ACHOO!" 
	The Guardian blinked.  He had sneezed.  He suddenly did not feel very well-- 
	Mary stood back as hundreds upon thousands of realities flashed over the Guardian and the portals.  A cacophony of images blazed across, over and over again- but in 30 seconds, it was all over in a flash of blue light.  When Mary opened her eyes, she saw, suspended over the image of the Guardian and the portal, were these words:
WE ARE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES.  PLEASE STAND BY.
The FBI Building, Washington, D.C., May 17, 1998
	"Who are you?" Spender asked.
	"I'm your father," The Cigarette Smoking Man replied.
	Suddenly, the fire alarm went off. The Cigarette man walked past Spender and turned the corner. Spender was distracted by the alarm, but if he had looked back a little longer at the mysterious man, he would have seen him disappear in a flash of  blue light. 
Babylon 5, 2262
	Somewhere...
	Deep within the station...
	where no one could go...
Deep Space Nine, 24th Century
	Somewhere...
	Deep within the station...
	Where no one could go...
Both Stations
	...a chessboard appeared. 
	Two seats, one on each side. Waiting for the players. The Pieces already began to populate the board. They didn't look like ordinary chess pieces, but all of them had one thing in common: they were all pawns.
Deep Space Nine, 24th Century
Day Zero, 8 A.M.
	It was another morning. Another morning. 
	Alexander O' Rourke woke up and began to go through his morning exercises. He looked at himself in the mirror. As always, as it had been for 700 years,  the face of an auburn haired Irishman, just a few days over twenty-three, stared back at him. His hair was close-cropped; as he dressed, he put on jeans and a tee shirt- he could never get past his love for twentieth century attire. He wondered what he would do today. The Promenade? Go to Quark's bar for a little gambling? Trade war stories with Morn? He didn't know. ever since he had won the Prize two hundred years ago, and done all he could in helping the Federation be formed, he was looking for something to do. Today, however, he felt that things would be different for some reason. As he finished dressing and began to exit his quarters, Alex decided that he would visit the Zocalo. As he stepped out of his quarters, he suddenly wondered:
	What's a Zocalo?
Babylon 5, 2262
Day Zero, 9:53 A.M.
	Londo had to admit, he was enjoying the rest brought on by his unexpected heart attack. It was fun to be away form the chaos of the Centauri government. He sat up in bed, reading the latest news. He looked up and saw Vir Cotto, who'd been with him the entire time when he almost perished in MedLab. 
	"Sir, I have some odd news." Vir had a fearful expression on his face. 
	Puzzled, Londo asked, "What is it, Vir?"
	"Remember where you left Mr. Morden, Londo? Well, it seems... it seems that... he's not there anymore."
	Londo's eyes widened. "'Not there? Great Maker, what do you mean by 'Not there?' Since when does a decomposing head placed on a stake just get up and walk away? Was it taken down, Vir?"
	"No sir. According to reports from Centauri Prime, the head was there, and then there was a flash of blue light, and then it...disappeared."
	Londo stroked his chin in thought. Morden had said that his employers, the Shadows, had allies. Maybe those allies were finally making their move...
Somewhere in the American West, 1999
Project Quantum Leap
Day Zero, 3:16 P.M.
	"Well, have you found him yet, Gushie?"
	"I'm trying, Al, but something's going on. There's some sort of weird interference with the leap, I can't pin it down."
	Suddenly, a huge flash of light emanated form the waiting room. Al Calivicci rushed in to see what it was. He stopped in shock. The man in the waiting room didn't look like Dr. Sam Beckett. Of course, whoever was in the waiting room, technically, wasn't Sam Beckett anyway. No, this man didn't even wear Sam's tunic. Instead he was quite gaunt, balding, and wore a devilish grin on his face. 
	"Hello, Al," the man said. 
Nowhere
	The threads of what was lost in the last Convergence began to come together. Of course, while the rest of the Multiverse eventually had gone on, The original Convergence had never really ended, forever locked in its own reality. However, something from that Convergence split off into two...and one half had wound up nowhere. And now it-she-had awoken. And she squealed with delight. Suddenly, then she was...somewhere.
Deep Space Nine, 24th Century
Day Zero, 6:21 P.M.
	Filling the time was the worst part. Who knew that part of the Prize was immortality? For, in the end, there was no reason for anyone to cut off your head. But once you'd used your knowledge- and Alex had, years ago, as an "invisible hand" that had helped form the Federation- but now he was bored. He'd often thought about just taking a ship and cruising into the Delta Quadrant, but he'd spent much of his pre-Prize life so alone that the thought of isolating himself from communities and the home he'd known was almost too terrible to contemplate. But fill the time he did. He had decided not to interfere in Federation affairs for at least a century, and he hadn't regretted that decision, until the war with the Dominion. He wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure if he could do anything. Dr. Bashir, who was one of the few individuals on the station who knew of Alex's unique...condition, often spoke that the odds were against them. Alex would have liked to think Julian was wrong, but he wa
sn't sure.
	Well, at least there was some good news: Kira Nerys and Odo had finally shared a kiss. Alex was a good observer, and he often spotted Odo's longing looks as he would see her pass by. Their relationship reminded him of how hesitant he was with...with...he didn't want to think about her. He'd spent a whole century thinking about her, after he'd taken her head and won the Prize. sometimes he'd spend hours in the holodeck, just talking to her, remembering what it was like when he asked her to marry him, and how she turned him down, and how they remained friends, up until the Gathering had finally come, and Ahriman had returned, and how he had inexplicably come out the winner. Man, the late Twentieth Century was when it had all come together for him. He'd done what he could with his power, giving Zefram Cohcrane the supplies to build the first warp drive, and other things. And now, here he was, living on what had once been Terok Nor, living as far away from Earth as he could. He wanted to
 be, he told himself, where the action was. 
	The truth was he had no idea what he wanted. 
	And so he sat at Quark's bar, living inside his memories. He never drank too much, he was too dead inside to even destroy himself. God, how he missed her. She should have won the Prize, Alex thought. I was so undeserving. Methos, MacLeod, they would have known how to clean up this mess. I'm just a thug, someone who had the power to change the world. Emphasis on "had." 
	"Ah, I see that your are thinking of her again, aren't you, Alex?" 
	"Yes, Londo, I am. You've been married five times, what's it like?"
	"Well, I've had two loves in my life, Alex. One I gave up, and there isn't a day I wish to the Great Maker that I had made the decision to stay with her. The other, well, I made the wrong kind of friend, and she... Adira... paid the price."
	Alex made a cursory glance around the Zocalo. He saw the people laughing, talking- wow, how things had changed. he remembered watching the footage of the Vorlon ships passing through the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. The explosions on Za'Ha'Dum. Everyone thinking Sheridan was dead. and--
	WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING HERE?
	In the next second, he was not  in the Zocalo anymore. What's a Zocalo? He asked himself for the second time that day. He was back in Quark's bar. Alex folded his hands and rested his chin on them. He wondered if he was going crazy, if it was just a fever dream. After all these centuries, could he finally be going bonkers? Alex got up from  the bar, paid for his drink, and walked out. Somehow, and he didn't know why, exactly, that vision was real. And whatever it meant, he'd have to prepare for wha was coming. Londo certainly looked good after almost dying of a heart attack. 
	As Alex walked through the station, a man who was used to helping people get what they want observed him from afar. He wore a gray suit and had his black hair slicked back. He was a new arrival to Deep Space Nine, but he was already beginning to like the place. Captain Sisko- now there's a man who could use his assistance. He walked back to his quarters and sat down. immediately two wraith-like black shapes emerged, seemingly from nowhere. "Let's see if the Shadows can help out the Federation, with those pesky Cardassians, shall we?" the man told the Shadows. Mr. O'Rourke will also be an asset, if what you have told me is correct...we'll give him...her...and he will be ours."
	Morden smiled.
The Chessboard
	He smoked Morleys.
	She smoked Camels.
	"Your move," said the Girl.
End Prologue
Teaser: The Girl and the Cigarette Smoking Man begin their dance again, as both Babylon 5 and Deep Space Nine's realities begin crashing in on each other. A deadly disease has Babylon 5 under siege while Sisko makes a deal with the devil. Strange arrivals begin to plague both stations, as the walls the between realities break down again...but even without it being a Round Robin, can this story possibly stay on track.