#cc thegreatbajoranschismof2369

[trillscienceofficer]

I've been thinking about the USS Voyager docking at DS9 before embarking on its first mission pretty much ever since I watched “Caretaker” for the first time... The in-universe stardate seems to suggest this happened sometimes between “The Search, part 1” and “Meridian” and I'm absolutely convinced Janeway and Sisko met in his office on the station on that occasion. They had plenty of reason to, since Voyager was on a Maquis assignment and Sisko obviously was one of the best-informed Starfleet officer on the matter.

What makes me particularly interested though is that in that meeting they are both... still completely oblivious to what's going to happen to both of them. On DS9, they just realized who's behind the Dominion, they've just got the Defiant, Sisko is still a commander! Winn isn't even Kai yet, the Obsidian Order has not launched their genocidal mission against the Founders, Eddington is still just an annoying security officer. And of course Janeway has no idea of the kind of choices she'll have to make just in the next few hours; this is after all just her first time in command of a starship.

What did they tell each other? What was their impression of each other? Did they ever thought about that meeting again, after Voyager disappeared/got stranded so far away from the Alpha Quadrant?

What would they say to one another, if they met again after Voyager's return? Would it be obvious to them, the kind of sacrifices they've had to make in order to survive and get to the other side, their selves from 2371 so clearly transformed by the consequences of their actions? They've definitely both become experts in the field of the sunk cost fallacy, but would they recognize that in each other?

tl;dr I would like to see Sisko and Janeway meet very, very much.