Numb3rs/ Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Fusion: Pilot

[jelsemium]

Title: Deep Space Numb3rs: The New Mathematician
Author: Jelsemium
Rating: K+/PG
Category: Het
Numb3rs Characters/Pairings: Charlie Eppes/Susan Berry, Charlie Eppes/Amita Ramanujan, Don Eppes, Larry Fleinhardt
Deep Space Nine Characters/Pairings: Kira Nerys/Bareil Anton, Quark

Disclaimer: I don't own the Numb3rs characters or the Star Trek Characters

Dedication: Rodlox/Keenir and Spikedluv, both of whom helped inspire this story.

A/N: I came up with this idea for the Numb3rsWriteOff challenge, "Future". However, the story didn't pan out and I went with a Knight Rider crossover instead. I decided the reason that I couldn't get the story to work was because I was trying too many things in one story. So... here's the first of what I hope will be a series.

A/N 2: This is set shortly after Deep Space Nine ended. The war between the Federation and the Changelings is over. Odo has returned to his homeworld. Benjamin Sisko is missing in action.

A/N 3: There are several differences from DS9 canon, the first that most Numb3rs fans will notice is that some Numb3rs characters have changed species. Another big change is that Vedek Bareil Anton is not dead. Other dead characters may appear in later stories. I haven't read the post series DS9 novelizations, so I am probably behind the times.



A wave of noise and emotions surged out of the bar, causing the young Betazoid to halt and take a step backwards. Amita Ramanujan had been to Quark's before. You couldn't stop at Deep Space Nine without coming to Quark's at least once, and you couldn't visit Bajor without seeing the legendary space station.

It had started as a Cardassian outpost. Then, after the Cardassians abandoned Bajor, it became a joint venture between Bajor and the Federation. Shortly after that, the first stable wormhole in history had been discovered in Bajoran space. Suddenly Bajor went from being an unimportant, backwater planet to being the jumping off point to the Delta Quadrant.

And soon, hopefully, Bajor would have a major university that would attract students and scholars from all over the galaxy. The process was in motion, all they needed now was some property.

And some teachers, to educate the students.

Ah, yes, students would be a good thing to have as well.

Of course, Money was always needed. Rounding up some funding would be a giant step forward.

Speaking of stepping forward, she took a deep breath and prepared to do just that. However, before she could take that step, a voice spoke from just behind her.

"Lose something, Mathling?"

She jumped and twisted around. "Commander Kira," she said, placing a hand on her heart. Amita wasn't sure why the commander had chosen to apply the term 'Mathling' to her, but she supposed she could deal with it. Especially as the diminutive seemed to make her less threatening to the older woman. Really, she had no interest in Vedek Bareil Anton as a man. However, since Kira's best friend, the shapeshifter, had left, she supposed she couldn't blame the woman for being a little possessive about her lover.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you, Dr. Ramanujan," Commander Kira Nerys said with a little smirk.

"That's all right," Amita replied.

"I would have thought that that a telepath would have sensed me coming, Doctor," Kira said.

She grinned. "I've told you before, Commander, I'm not a full-blooded Betazoid, I can't read minds."

"Okay, then shouldn't you have picked up on my emotions, then?" the Commander seemed amused. Amita suspected that some of the annoyance that she was picking up on was coming from Kira. She decided to ignore it the best she could, however.

The Betazoid laughed. "Commander, in this crowd, I'm lucky if I can read my own emotions."

Kira actually grinned. "Well, I'll protect you from pickpockets and bad booze, but there's not much I can do about a surfeit of emotions."

"Thanks," the Betazoid said. "I take it you're hear to meet Vedek Bareil?"

"You take it correctly," the commander replied. "I suppose you are, too?" Even a Vulcan could have picked up on the underlying hostility of that question.

"He asked me to join him and your new security chief for lunch," the betazoid replied demurrely.

Kira's eyes narrowed. "I wonder why."

As this was obviously a rhetorical question, the Betazoid made no answer.

They walked into Quark's in mostly companionable silence. .

"Where do you think he's sitting?" the Betazoid wondered.

"Where's the most noise coming from?" Kira asked dryly.

They both looked around, but there were several areas competing for the title of 'most noise'. To the Betazoid, the 'noise' went far beyond mere audible sound.

Her Betazoid heritage made it easy to pick up on the emotions of others. Her human heritage made it hard for her to turn off her betazoid heritage. That meant crowded areas where emotions ran high, like sporting events and gambling establishments, were a huge headache as far as she was concerned.

However, much as she would have liked to have avoided Quark's, she could not. She had a meeting with her boss, who loved Quark's for reasons she didn't quite understand.

But hers was not to make reply, hers was but to... She hesitated at the threshhold, wondering what she could use for a rhyme besides "die."

The Commander sighed, "come on, mathling," she barked, and then she plowed forward through the crowd.

Lacking other options, the "mathling" followed.

Amita tried not to take Kira's hostility too personally. She was scrupulous to not only keep things with Vedek Bareil on a strictly professional level, she made sure that she was never in a situation where their relationship could even be questioned.

She wondered, sometimes, if the commander would lighten up if she, Amita, found a boyfriend. However, impressing the station commander wasn't really a good reason to jump into an affair.

Sex.

Now, sex would be a good reason to jump into bed with somebody, Amita decided. She wondered where she could find someone who would be physically attractive and emotionally available to a half betazoid.

Come to think of it, Quark's was probably a good place to start, what with all the off duty, extra cute Federation officers hanging around.

Hm, maybe that was the purpose of Vedek Bareil introducing her to the new chief of security. Humans and Betazoids went together like gold and latinum, as witness the amount of interbreeding among them.

Amita followed on the commander's heels, keeping an eye out for her boss and the station's security chief. The commander spotted them first. Being in the lead and probably having an idea about which table they were at no doubt aided her in her search.

There were three men sitting at the table, not the two that Amita had been expecting. Bareil she knew, of course with reddish hair and the wrinkled nose common to Bajorans. Bareil also sported nasty scars and metal braces on his head and neck from where he had almost died five years ago. He wasn't bad looking, but not to her taste.

The human sitting next to her boss was obviously the new chief of security. Amita hesitated a moment to get a good look at him before he saw her. She knew that the Federation had not intended the Star Fleet's uniforms to look sexy, but all the Star Fleet personnel she had met looked so damn good in them. The chief of security had dark hair, closely cropped in the military style that Star Fleet loved. He wasn't tall, as she could tell when he stood up, but he had a compact muscularity about him that Amita found very appealing.

The third man, another human, who also leaped to his feet upon the approach of the two women, was obviously not Star Fleet. He was dressed far more casually, in what Amita considered the "human uniform" of denim jeans and a t-shirt. There was a picture of the milky way galaxy on the shirt with an arrow and a caption "you are here." The civilian also had dark hair, but he wore his in wild curls. He was significantly shorter than the Star Fleet officer. However, Amita felt certain that the two humans were related in a family way, not just in the "we're from the same planet" kind of way.

Bareil made a gesture as if to stand. Both women immediately waved him back to his seat. Bareil sank back into his seat and almost managed to conceal his look of relief.

"Amita! So good of you to come up on such short notice," Bareil said. "Lieutenant Commander Don Eppes, this is my assistant, Amita Ramanujan of Betazed. Amita, this is the new chief of security, Don Eppes from Earth."

"And my tag along brother, Charlie," Don interrupted. There was a note of teasing underlied by something sharper. Again, Amita was not sure what to make of it as it seemed very close to hostility. Perhaps the security chief would have preferred to not have an audience while he settled into his new assignment.

"That's Dr. Tag Along Brother to you," Dr. Eppes replied. The surface was genial teasing, underneath, however, was disappointment, maybe, or even hurt feelings. Amita really wished that she knew how to turn the empathy off. This was way too much information on such a short acquaintance.

Amita decided to try a bit of humor to ease the tension that maybe only she really felt. "I think your shirt needs to be updated, Doctor," she told Dr. Eppes. "You are more here, right now!" she pointed to a region close to his belly button.

Charlie Eppes laughed. "So I am," he said.

Cmdr. Eppes chuckled. "Maybe there's a market for t-shirts that show the wormhole," he said.

Out of the corner of her eye, Amita thought she saw Quark's over-sized ears quiver.

The tension eased a bit more when they were joined a few minutes later by Amita's mentor and colleague, Dr. Larry Fleinhardt of the planet Trill. Larry was blond with a trail of spots going from his hairline and diappearing into the collar of his wildly colored tunic. The trill and his symbiont hovered near their table for a few moments before Vedek Bareil gestured Larry over. "Ah, Professors Fleinhardt," he said genially. "Do join us!"

"Why thank you," the Trill. Who pulled up a chair and seated himself between the Eppes brothers. Amita wondered if her mentor could sense the tension between the brothers or if her own discomfort was communicating itself.

Quark bustled over to take their drink orders. He returned in a few minutes with synth ale for the men and Kira, Tarkalean Tea for Amita and tall glass of off-white, thick liquid for Larry.

"Is that a real milkshake?" Cmdr. Eppes asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Indeed," Larry replied. "As close to an authentic Earth vanilla milkshake as I can induce Quark to make. The ice cream and milk are replicated." He held up his thumb and forefinger in a pinching motion. "However, the vanilla spice is so important that I persuaded Mrs. O'Brien to grow some in her botanical garden."

Kira snorted and shook her head at Larry's fussiness. "Tell me, Dr. Eppes, what are you a doctor of? Medicine?"

Dr. Eppes shook his head. "Actually, I'm a mathematician," he informed the table.

Larry's jaw drop and Amita felt the equivalent emotional reaction from the symbiont. Or maybe that was her own surprised and awestruck and fan girly reaction.

"THE Charles Eppes?" blurted Larry.

There was a flash of jealousy from Cmdr. Eppes, followed by an inward sigh of resignation. Oddly enough, the resignation was followed by a flash of humor, a surge of affection and a definite note of pride.

"You're well known even out here, Chuckie," Cmdr. Eppes said, fortunately only the humor and affection came through his voice.

Dr. Eppes eyed him suspiciously. "You've been blogging about me, again, haven't you? Everybody's going to know about that snow mobile incident even before I get to tell my side?"

Cmdr. Eppes laughed. "You already blew the gaff on that one," he said. "But no, I haven't been gossiping. I'm just impressed that your math is so useful and famous everywhere we go."

Dr. Eppes snorted. "Don't be impressed unless someone comes through the wormhole and asks for my autograph," he replied. There was a note of pride in his emotions, and worry. He obviously wanted his brother to like him and not just in the "we're related, therefore I must not kill you" kind of way.

"Yes," Cmdr. Eppes said to the table. "If you mean is this the Charles Eppes of the Eppes Convergence Theory and the Eppes Cognitive Emergence Theory, then yes, you are in the presence of greatness."

Charlie looked embarrassed. "I never said that," he protested.

"That's okay, Dr. Eppes," Larry said. "We'll say that for you."

Cmdr. Don Eppes grinned and the expression lit up the bar. "Okay, I'll play nice," he said.

"That's good," Quark said, bringing their lunches. "Less arguing means more buying!"

"Makes for a nice change of pace," Dr. Eppes muttered, just loudly enough for Don and Amita to hear.

Don shook his head and obviously decided a change of subject was in order. "Well, you all know what we do for a living," he said. "And Kira's occupation as my boss is well known to me, so... what do you three do?"

"Not much," Bareil said. He indicated his neck brace. "As a wounded war veteran, I sit around and look pretty while people throw money at me." He grinned. "I would probably be very wealthy, if there were many other wounded veterans, most of whom are better looking than I am."

Kira acutally laughed. "What Bareil means is that he is in charge of raising money to repair and update our schools. Most notably our new university."

Charlie tilted his head and Amita got a flash of interest from him. "Really? I thought Bajor had several excellent universities."

Kira nodded, looking pleased. "We do, however, they're mostly for the locals. We are planning to create a university for studying the wormhole and the Gamma Quadrant. We hope to attract students from around the galaxy."

Amita wondered if Kira was going to mention that they wanted to upgrade Bajor's image from being the home of terrorists to being the home of scholars. (Or rather, remake Bajor's image back to what it was before the Cardassian invasion.)

However, Kira didn't bring that topic up. "Professor Fleinhardt will head of the science department..."

"Oh, please, not even in my worst nightmares," Larry demurred.

"Of Bajor's soon to be new institute of higher education, Emissary University," Kira continued.

"Not eager to be the boss?" Cmdr. Eppes inquired.

Larry shook his head. "I much prefer to do actual scientific research than politicking and hobnobbing and begging for money," he replied. He gave an exaggerated shudder.

"Surely your symbiont could help with the politicking," Cmdr. Eppes suggested.

Larry shook his head and Amita could feel a tinge of sorrow, edged with self mockery. "Alas, my symbiont is of little help in such matters," he said. He sighed elaborately, mostly for effect, Amita noted. "I am actually my symbiont's first host."

Both Eppes brothers gaped, then burst out laughing.

Larry grinned slyly. "There's a first time for everything, isn't that the Earth saying?"

"So it is," Cmdr. Eppes said. He turned to Amita.

"Dr. Ramanujan is my assistant and a brilliant mathematician in her own right," Larry said proudly.

"Oh?" Dr. Eppes said. "The same Professor Ramanujan who recently won the Milton prize for her work in combinatorics?"

Amita felt her own emotions become a tangle of pleasure, pride and embarrassment. "Why, yes, that's me," she said. "I wouldn't have guessed that you would be interested in my work, Dr. Eppes!"

Dr. Eppes grinned. "How can a person learn anything if he only reads familiar works?" he asked. "And, please, call me Charlie."

"My friends call me 'Don'," Cmdr. Eppes added.

Amita suspected that her cheeks were turning even pinker.

Amita felt a surge of hope from Kira. Or maybe that was a surge of hope from her own self

"So, you're a Betazoid?" Don asked. "I've always thought that being able to read minds would be very helpful in an investigation."

"Not as much as you'd think," Amita said. "What with each planet having a different take on how mind reading should be regulated to protect privacy and security."

Don nodded.

"In any case, I'm not a full blooded Betazoid," Amita added.

"You're half Betazoid?" Don said curiously.

Amita hesitated. "Well, not quite half," she said. "My maternal grandmother and both of my father's parents were half human/ half betazoid. However, my maternal grandfather was just a human." She winced. "Ah, I meant..."

Don grinned, his smile as bright as the opening wormhole. "We know what you meant, Doctor," he said. "No need to apologize."
"Ah," Dr. Eppes said, apparently not even noticing the unintended slight. "That would make you three eighths Betazoid and five eighths human."

"That was fast," Larry said.

"Well, he's a math genius," Don said. "It says so on his business card."

Charlie made a face at his older brother. "And who had those cards printed up?" he challenged. "It wasn't me!"

"My guess is that Mom did it," Don said.

"Really? Mom said you did it," Charlie shot back.

Kira apparently got tired of the brotherly banter. "So, Doctor Eppes, ah, Charlie, what is your purpose on DS9?"

Amita could sense Charlie's conflicted emotions when he answered, sadness warred with a tinge of bitterness and something that could have been... relief? "My wife, Susan, was killed after fighting cancer for several years," Charlie said. "I am on a sabbatical while I decide what to do with my life."

Amita felt a surge of excitement from Bareil and Larry that matched her own. If a mathematician of Eppes stature could be persuaded to move to DS9…

But of course, it was too soon and too forward for them to suggest it.

Fortunately, Cmdr. Eppes was so hampered. "Why not move here?" he said. "You heard what they said about starting a university. You could help them out."

Charlie frowned at him

"And I'm sure that Ada would love it here," Don went on.
Amita felt oddly disappointed that Charlie... Dr. Eppes... already had a replacement for his wife.

"Who's Ada?" Larry asked.

"My eight year old daughter," Dr. Eppes... Charlie... replied. "She and our parents are visiting the holodeck." He looked around. "Quark's isn't exactly age appropriate for her."

Don said. "I think you need to stop drifting. Susan wouldn't want you to mourn forever."

Charlie shrugged. "I know that," he said. "I'm just not ready to... well, go back to CalSci and pick up where we left off."

"As it happens," Larry said diffidently, "We do have an opening in our new university."

"An opening, or two, or three dozen," Amita muttered.

Charlie looked intriqued. "This might be just the thing," he admitted. "I'll need to, well..."

"Do the math?" Amita suggested with a smile.

"Exactly," Dr. Eppes said. He smiled at Amita and she thought she felt a lessening of his grief.

"That would be perfect," Don said. "And who knows, you might meet that autograph seeker from the Gamma Quadrant after all."