They had long lost track of the number of attacks. Too many intruders roamed the decks of the station; too devestating their weapons to only think of fighting back.

Garak's hand held the nearly depleted phaser so tightly, it almost hurt. He peeked around a corner, down the promenade. Since the invasion had begun, it looked like a ghost town. Most shop owners, except Quark and himself, had fallen during the first attack waves, though ironically they didn't even own red shirts. With his keen sense for fashion, the tailor would have known about that.

A quick and painless death fic seemed merciful, Garak thought. Oh what he would have given to trade roles with some unnamed ensign who got blown out of an airlock in chapter 2, or at least a random bridge officer dying on his console! But there was no mercy. Not here, in this alternative universe; not for him.
Here, he had to endure countless hurt/comfort fics, and even in the comfort part, Garak couldn't find much of it. He always ended up in the infirmary, beaten and bruised, just to be 'cared for' by Dr. Bashir. Usually, both were naked in the end. Garak shuddered at this thought.

He tried to shake off the horrific memories. Maybe, he finally had a chance to escape this reality. It didn't look as bad as usual. The invaders had withdrawn from the promenade a bit ago to besiege Quark's Bar. From what Garak knew, Quark and Weyoun had taken shelter there and presented, at least for the moment, a more appealing target.

His eyes scanned the empty hallway. Over in the Klingon restaurant, Worf and Jadzia were hiding and trying to hold out until they could reach a shuttle. That was also Garak's plan, but it was far too risky to move in groups. He checked the other direction. The turbo lift to the docking ring was too far away to take the risk and sneak all the way at once. He needed a hiding place, half the way. There was the infirmary, of course. But Garak knew that Dr. Bashir had locked himself in there, trying to develop a biological weapon as a last resort. He would probably have opened the door to let his lunch partner in, but Garak just couldn't go in there. Too many disturbing memories were connected to this place...

The Bajoran Temple! he thought. This was the last place where anyone would be looking for him. And it was just close enough to reach it without drawing attention from the raging mob outside Quark's Bar. Garak took a deep breathe and then he ran.

When he finally reached the shelter, he sank to the floor in the hallway between entrance and altar room. He considered searching the temple for water or food when he heard steps coming closer.

"GARAK!!!!1 U r my fav char!!!1"

The tailor froze in shock. This couldn't be! This just couldn't really be happening! Since the invasion began, he had never been so close to escape, and now this! He set the phaser to kill and crawled to a corner. This would be his last battlefield, he knew.

The invader stepped into the temple. The two-tone eyes began to shine brighter than the sun when they spotted the Cardassian. And it smiled. What a horrific sight it was! What disgusted Garak more than anything wasn't the silly pink and purple eyes, or the manic smile. No. It was the Starfleet uniform it wore - clearly an outdated version from the last Star Trek series...

It opened its mouth to speak, but Garak didn't hestitate. He fired the last bit of energy from his phaser, and much to his dismay... the monster was uneffected.

"Ur weaponz cant harm me!!!1" it smiled. "My mother was the queen of the Urzuhumfzi from the omega quadrant!!" Garak just stared at it. Obviously, this Sue shared the background story with around 1.2 mio others of her kind and had a parent of a self invented non-canon species that granted her super powers. "U must fall in luv with me now!!1" it informed the Cardassian. "Please... No! Not again!" he begged, desperately trying to get just one more charge out of his phaser.

"It will not come to that, my child!"

Surprised, Garak - and also the monster - looked over to the altar room. "Kai Winn!" they yelled; the monster in shock, Garak in relief. In times like these, it didn't matter if she was the religious leader of the world his people had occupied for so long. With so many of both their people fallen and hunted, it was easy to forget. Maybe not to forgive, but this was to be saved for later - if there was a 'later'. Even someone like Kai Winn, on who the various ridicolous super powers of the Mary Sues and fangirls had no effect, could not defeat them all.

It all happened so fast, and Garak was so exhausted, he couldn't follow the events of the next minutes. Kai Winn opened the Orb of Resistance that she carried, and the spiritual powers of it sucked in the monster, shattering it into pieces and leaving nothing behind.

When it was over, the Kai turned to Garak and offered him a hand to help him up. "We must go now, child", she said, smiling. "We must find the other First Ones and prepare for the final battle." Irritated, Garak replied: "First Ones? Isn't that from Babylon 5?" "Yes, it is", the Kai said softly. "I have learned to turn our enemy's weapons against them. I have found the lost Orb of Crossover."