S:5 E:13 - Dominion Rising Part 2

[Ian Galloway]

[ Lieutenant JG Rebecca Fisk | Ready Room | USS Challenger ]

Lieutenant JG Rebecca Fisk was not used to being in the Ready room on the spot like this. A much more ideal place would be in Engineering listening to the hum of the warp core as it was soothing to her. There were Breen after them and she could hear in her head the Angry Tellerite Chief Engineer if she came up with a bad idea that might hurt his ship.

She paced back and forth a moment and came up with a simple solution. "Vent some plasma, simulate a small explosion on the ships from the Badlands interfeerance, send out a distress call on a comprimised channel, and launch a series of escape pods full of explosives enough that when they scoop them up as prisoners it can internally damage them or remote detonate it near a prime plasma cloud? Play hurt and lure them in. Maybe in the distress call mention we have that officer who can track Melek Nor when it Transwarps, play that up a lot so they want to capture us not blow us up. Anything to keep the Chief from throwing spanners at us!"

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO - Bridge, USS Challenger-A - before leaving for Briefing Room ]

Ruth nodded at Ensign Knight in appreciation and then continued to the Briefing Room.

[Briefing Room, present time]

Ruth pondered the Captain's question before a Lieutenant, she wasn't familiar with, and was a little dubious about - pacing the room like a caged animal.  At the rank the young woman was she should be able to stand still in a meeting.

However, the girl had some good ideas, in theory.  Some may need tweaked for use though.

"Some fair ideas there Lieutenant, but with reference to the Melek Nor and not wanting to fight that if we can help it, I suggest two things, I'm no engineer as the Captain well knows but I'm sure Engineering and Ops would be able to implement."

The CSO paused and then smiled.  "My first idea is simple and uses some of Lieutenant..." her mind didn't find the name she required but supplied 'Twitchy Feet' as an apparently acceptable substitution.  Instead she gestured vaguely with her hand at the young woman and furthered it with a nod in her direction.  Her brain then found the name she wanted.

"...Fisk, basically we provide distractions.  Blow stuff up near them which doesn't appear to have come from our direction.  Now... this is where Science comes in."

Now in her element she was more relaxed.  "First scans to locate any pockets of combustible stuff... I'm sorry I'm not being more literal, i'm not 100% what's out there yet, but if we can mix existing chemicals in the atmosphere, potentially pockets of gas, to mix with other chemicals we have on board or can replicate... or indeed just go ahead and make 2 parts ourselves."

She paused thinking and then said "Something like potassium chlorate and ordinary table sugar combined, and a drop of sulfuric acid added as a catalyst, the two react violently with each other, releasing large quantities of heat energy, which could mimic the heat from an actual torpedo, a spectacular purplish flame, and a great deal of smoke.  There are other combinations.  Now getting it places that don't make it seem like it's from us, that's trickier,  but we could send out probes, modified with the ingredients.  That wouldn't show up as ordinance launched.
Or get Ops to beam them to a random location close to the ships we need to take on, or in the direction we need to steer them towards and then have them explode.  Landing the probes on top of one another should crack the casings enough to have the chemicals react in space."

"My other idea is two-fold.  It's a little risky, but we should be able to pull it off."

She was drawing on her flight knowledge here.

"We use holographic projection, both on ourselves - to have the Challenger mimic the surrounding space, sort of like a cloaking device, but we would probably only be projecting like 'Badlands Greatest Flicks' either side of us rather than managing to shimmer our way out of existence.  In the meantime, we use our light aircraft, the Mjolnir for example..."

She knew Ian would have seen straight through her desire to go play with her favourite small aircraft but she didn't care. In theory she might be giving him an excuse to go play himself, or at least take a helm if necessary.

"...holographically change their shape and size, have them scattered, but well aware of where we all are to provide cover.  Anyone who's used the Fighting Tigers holoprogram would be good...but paint them with ordinance from 9 different locations at once.  Of course we'll need the use of all our flight capable crew for that, but that doesn't mean you can't assist, Sir!"

Ruth tried not to wink.  "You can always pilot the Challenger, that way technically the Captain doesn't leave the ship."

An idea sprang into her head and she hit the side of it like trying to drum some sense into it.

"And of course...we don't have to be one ship... we can separate.  They won't be expecting two ships.  Both sections have effective ordinance and we can go in different directions...the Challenger, as far as shape, size etc would 'disappear'.  We can also change our warp signature if we mess with the coils or harness some other power like local topography..." she trailed off wondering how the captain would take the idea.

"... that way if they are following our warp trail we could potentially have it mimic a Breen ship or something, technically even something bigger and badder than them... but that's Engineer's department I think."

Having laid several ideas out for them, she took a large swig of water and let the assembled officers digest them and build upon them.

[Lt JG Fisk - Briefing Room - USS Challenger]

Lieutenant Junior Grade Fisk paced even more as the Science Department Head explained some variations. "That could work Ma'am, we would need maybe a half hour to make sure everything can be done safely, half that time if we forgoe too much safely. I think its a great idea but not sure what the others would think."

She smiled and cringed thinking what the Chief Engineer would say, something loud, obscene, and shaking a spanner during the saying of such.

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO - Briefing Room - USS Challenger]

Ruth sat, waiting for answers to her suggestions and/or further suggestions from the other department heads.

In the meantime she appeared to be doodling on her PADD.  One might say the drawing was not one of Dutch Grand Masters, closer to Picasso (minus the melting clocks) but it was... functional.

She was in fact drawing a sketch of how she meant about 'Badlands Greatest Flicks' holo projection, only at present she wasn't sure how that would be implemented, she knew what it was supposed to look like.

First she drew a 3D hollow box, in it she drew a very stylized 'Challenger'.  Each of the sides of the box was a roughly square/rectangular projection of... if you were looking head on the projection would be of the space they'd just passed through, if looking from aft, it would be the space they were about to fly into, the opposites for port and starboard and up, down.  Anyone looking at this would effectively see space, it would take someone with a very sharp eye to see them, and very careful helmsmanship from Rin...but she knew that girl could do it.

Then she sat working out possible formulas and probe modifications for the explosions idea, in case that was a go, things would be as pre-prepared as possible to allow that to be implemented with extreme haste.

[Briefing Room "" USS Challenger]
Ian listened intently to the offered suggestions and thought.

"œThis is Starfleet at its best. No better way ta get an innovative answer, than ta give the crew summat ta solve and let them solve it."

When the discussion died down, it was now time to turn those theories into action. He'd been given several options, the hard part would be to meld them into something that would work.

"œI like the spiked escape pod plan. Serve the wankers right and it fits in with Sun Tzu's axiom that "˜all warfare is based on deception'. Helm, we're ta steer as close ta one of the plasma storms as we can without gettin' caught in the bloody thing. Engineerin', prepare ta vent additional plasma. We've already laid the ground work that we're hurt. You're also ta rig a quantum torpedo inside a half dozen escape pods. Tactical, I'm goin' ta need a spread of a dozen quantum torpedoes released manually and fused ta detonate all at once. We need them ta think we've met our end from flyin' too close ta the plasma storm. Ops, send out a low powered signal, broadband, on a cracked code. Tell them about our genius boffin that can track Melek Nor in transwarp. That's will keep them from simply destroyin' the pods on sight.

"œAt this point, ta carry on with the submarine analogy we've been usin', helm will then drop a half million kilometers below the galactic plane via thrusters only as Ops shuts down everything, includin' life support. There's enough Oh two and heat ta last us long enough ta pull this off. Science, as soon as the passive sensors detect the escape pods bein' tractored or beamed aboard the Breen cruisers, we detonate our little surprise. As the old sayin' goes, "˜play stupid games, win stupid prizes' so let's give those Breen summat that will put a right proper dent in their hat. Dismissed."

As the meeting broke up, Ian smiled and returned to the bridge, pleased with what he was about to witness.

[myne]

[Ensign Aarwendil  - USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Aarwendil smiled at Myne. Even if she was probably older than him, the Only seemed to be so happy and excited with new things that the Betazoid could easily believe that she was still a child. However, the brief shadow of sadness that crossed her mind when she talked about her uncle Wendel reminded him that the Science Officer had lived through several situations that a kid would never be able to deal with.

"œYes, I'm a Beatazoid." the Ensign said, but before he could say anything else Myne was already asking him to read her mind. Aarwendil bit his lips, uncertain of how he should answer that. The first thing that he learned when he joined the Academy was that non-telepaths disliked when their thoughts were read without permission, but since she was asking for it, the young man concluded that there wasn't any problem with it.

Besides that, Myne was thinking so hard about what she wanted him to hear that the young Betazoid was sure that he would be capable of reading her thoughts with a superficial scanning.

"œRight, I'll do that." Aarwendil focused on Myne, trying his best to not make the experience uncomfortable. He would soon hear what was going on her mind, with his cheeks getting a bit red after hearing that the Only thought that he was cute. The Ensign immediately laughed when he heard about the part of him being a succubus. "œNo, I'm not a succubus."

[Ensign Myne - USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Ensign Myne gripped her head and put her hands over her face as he scanned and said he wasn't a salt succubus, she squirmed and struggled in a lot of extreme pain before she parted her hands and stuck out her tongue with her eyes closed in a giggle.

"I am so glad Dil. There are bad things in there... so never dig too deep please. I don't care for my privacy, but I don't want you upset.", she sighed world heavily.

She opened her mind and gave the briefest glimpse of a hundred years of slavery, branding, pain, and then being Borged while awake but also of hope and optimism threw each and every time. A view that no matter how bad there is never a reason to give up.

[CPO - Lahr USS Challenger-A - Bridge]
Lahr glance back over to M when she replied to his check on her.

"That's great to hear! And you are welcome.  Later, when we're celebrating a successful mission, you'll have to come to one of my DJ'd sets.   I'm thinking of getting Grelek to book me as the entertainment du jour once this is all done.   Figure the crew will need to vent some energy after all this - and no better way of doing that then Raving."

[Ensign Myne - USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Myne looked to Lahr with the happiest of smiles as her emotions flooded out overwhelmingly of joy to be around Lahr. Her emotions tended to be overwhelming, so Dil would be wise to put up shields around the Onlie.

"What... is raving Sir?", she asked very confused. "If you reccomend it then sure! But no clue what that is."

Ensign Myne did not notice the Captain returning and possibly seeing her little 'foolies' with the Betazoid Op when he scanned her.

[Ruth Sigurdsdottir]

[Lt JG Fisk - Briefing Room - USS Challenger]

Lieutenant Junior Grade Fisk paced even more as the Science Department Head explained some variations. "That could work Ma'am, we would need maybe a half hour to make sure everything can be done safely, half that time if we forgoe too much safely. I think its a great idea but not sure what the others would think."

She smiled and cringed thinking what the Chief Engineer would say, something loud, obscene, and shaking a spanner during the saying of such.

( Sorry for the short post I'm just still not doing well. )

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO - Briefing Room - USS Challenger-A]

Ruth gave the junior lieutenant a quick grin and glanced towards Dashlish with bemusement, knowing how the Tellerite Chief could be.

A little cough to hide a laugh from the thoughts surrounding what the Chief could say got the attention of a few people.  "As it's going to be dangerous enough anyway I'd say that's Captain Galloway's call!" she said.  "Normally, I'd want to be as safety conscious as possible..." she tried not to catch Ian's eyes because she knew he'd likely be expecting her nose to start growing like Pinocchio's about that point

[Briefing Room "" USS Challenger]
Ian listened intently to the offered suggestions and thought.

"œThis is Starfleet at its best. No better way ta get an innovative answer, than ta give the crew summat ta solve and let them solve it."

When the discussion died down, it was now time to turn those theories into action. He'd been given several options, the hard part would be to meld them into something that would work.

"œI like the spiked escape pod plan. Serve the wankers right and it fits in with Sun Tzu's axiom that "˜all warfare is based on deception'. Helm, we're ta steer as close ta one of the plasma storms as we can without gettin' caught in the bloody thing. Engineerin', prepare ta vent additional plasma. We've already laid the ground work that we're hurt. You're also ta rig a quantum torpedo inside a half dozen escape pods. Tactical, I'm goin' ta need a spread of a dozen quantum torpedoes released manually and fused ta detonate all at once. We need them ta think we've met our end from flyin' too close ta the plasma storm. Ops, send out a low powered signal, broadband, on a cracked code. Tell them about our genius boffin that can track Melek Nor in transwarp. That's will keep them from simply destroyin' the pods on sight.

"œAt this point, ta carry on with the submarine analogy we've been usin', helm will then drop a half million kilometers below the galactic plane via thrusters only as Ops shuts down everything, includin' life support. There's enough Oh two and heat ta last us long enough ta pull this off. Science, as soon as the passive sensors detect the escape pods bein' tractored or beamed aboard the Breen cruisers, we detonate our little surprise. As the old sayin' goes, "˜play stupid games, win stupid prizes' so let's give those Breen summat that will put a right proper dent in their hat. Dismissed."

As the meeting broke up, Ian smiled and returned to the bridge, pleased with what he was about to witness.

"Sneaky, me likey... ah I mean affirmative, Captian.  I'll go clue in the girls!" she said and followed Galloway onto the Bridge.

[Ensign Myne - USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Ensign Myne gripped her head and put her hands over her face as he scanned and said he wasn't a salt succubus, she squirmed and struggled in a lot of extreme pain before she parted her hands and stuck out her tongue with her eyes closed in a giggle.

"I am so glad Dil. There are bad things in there... so never dig too deep please. I don't care for my privacy, but I don't want you upset.", she sighed world heavily.

She opened her mind and gave the briefest glimpse of a hundred years of slavery, branding, pain, and then being Borged while awake but also of hope and optimism threw each and every time. A view that no matter how bad there is never a reason to give up.

[Ensign Myne - USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Myne looked to Lahr with the happiest of smiles as her emotions flooded out overwhelmingly of joy to be around Lahr. Her emotions tended to be overwhelming, so Dil would be wise to put up shields around the Onlie.

"What... is raving Sir?", she asked very confused. "If you reccomend it then sure! But no clue what that is."

Ensign Myne did not notice the Captain returning and possibly seeing her little 'foolies' with the Betazoid Op when he scanned her.

Ruth had noticed, even if Captain Galloway hadn't.  As she relieved the other Science officer with a smile and slid into her seat she said calmly.

"Raving is something we don't do on the Bridge.  Raving looney... well you have a blue-antennae'd one standing there by Ops!" she said in an 'indoor voice' not really meaning it of Lahr.  She whispered to Melly now "You know I'm joking about Lahr, and I don't mind you being friendly with anyone but...no foolies on the Bridge where other people might catch you at it and report you ok?!"

Ruth tried to be more of a slightly admonishing big sister in her tone, correcting but not punishing, so that she didn't scare the girl.  It was a mild reprimand, and not worth making a big thing of, but she had vowed to make her the best officer she could in time.

"Mr ch'Verret, I trust all our consoles are running at optimum, we're going to be needing pinpoint scans..."  Ruth smiled her brightest smile at Lahr, conveying her love for him in a look, yet not breaking any Bridge etiquette.  He knew that she'd more than make it up to him later.

The CSO reiterated what Galloway had said in the Briefing Room to Melly and Lina. She beamed at Melly and thumbed over her shoulder "By the way, Captain Galloway called you '...our genius boffin...' in there.  He wasn't talking about me since he made mention of tracking the Melek Nor in transwarp blah blah.  To be honest you're going to have to teach me half of that stuff too.  Good show Ensign, if'n he hasn't thought of it already, when this is over and we're all in one piece I'm doing one of two things.  At least if you keep up the good work and no foolies..." she said giving Melly a mock stern look, the upward twitch of her mouth belying the sternness of the look.  ".. first that you are put in for a commendation on your record, that goes without saying, and that can come from me as far as I'm aware, but if further endorsed by the Captain that will look good and... contribute to the second thing,  Promotion to j.g.  Any more of this and I might have to watch my back for you overtaking me!"

Turning slightly more towards Lina she smiled.  "You've been working well with the atmospheric stuff... keep an eye on the storms as we're going to be flying as close as we can to them.  While I'm confident in our helmswoman, I'm sure she won't take it amiss if we help steer her right!"

[M'Nia]

[Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas, posing as Mercenary H'Riss | Ops | Melek Nor | Panora System - in the Kuiper Belt | Badlands]

Zhukdra'shar let out a sigh of relief as Sherem allowed 'Vaughn's son' to head over to the bathroom. He passed it off as 'H'Riss'' comfort on knowing that he wouldn't have to accompany him, "Heh, yeah sure. What'ver keeps me from being with that brat any longer..."

He made a disdainful look, showing his hand, before shaking it, as if he was brushing something unwanted away.

After 'Hubs', 'Vaugh's son' and the other 'Breen mercenary' left, 'H'Riss' proceeded to place his hands on his hips, taking a look around the Ops center as he let out a whistling noise and nodded his head. "Say, Gul Sherem, this is a pretty fancy station you got runnin' 'ere. Gotta say, not often can I see a piece of arquitechure like this with my very own eye..."

He let out a chuckle, looking over at him finally, "I bet its also fully equipped with 'menities n' proper rooms for 'chu n' your men, ain't it? How much do you reckon it costed 'chu?"

He stroked his chin, before he heard a noise coming from the office. His ear quickly shifted towards it, before it returned to its place. He wondered what was exactly happening, though for the time being, decided not to act, instead, buying time for it to be solved by distracting Sherem.

"Also, I gots to know... you're contractin' or somethin' to kill the Federates? 'Cause I love paintin' them uniforms with their own blood..." He lowered his hand, pulling out one of his claws as he let out a creepy, unsettling laugh, "Oh yeah, I love usin' my beauties to get the job done, when possible... those guys don't know how to fite... heh. Cuttin' their throats gets real easy when you get close..."

M'nia heard it too. Something as going on. However she took her queue from ZHuk. "You are disgusting! If you ever step foot on Cait again, I have no doubt you would be severely punished! Maybe even executed! Cait has been a proud member of the federation for over 100 years! Scum like you should be eliminated! You give Caitians a bad name! And you, cardassian! What's in it for you? power? Isn't that what your type usually craves? Power? glory? You military types ever get it! In the end you always fail! You want to control other people! Just remember, what comes around, goes around! Starfleet will catch up to you eventually!" her tail flicked furiously back and forth. She was more worried about what was going on with Kyan and the commander! She didn't dare break character. Not yet! The mission was too important! Not that she didn't want to see that they were safe. She wanted too very badly but didn't dare do anything about it. Not yet!

[Aarwendil Cheizex]

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]
The rTrill would see many of the people around quietly as they would seem to be focussing on their work at least. They were making sure each moment and movement of the ship was deliberate even if it was slow and running on nothing it mattered not. This place was too dangerous to keep unfocussed. She however would give the new people on the bridge a solid nod as she would think to herself and would smile. "Nice to meet you though i'm a little distracted it's nice to see more members of the ship" She says seeing the information that was sent to her. Her hands sliding against the controls slipping past a few of the plasma storms bit by bit.

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

When he got no reaction from his mental image Lahr gave the fellow Ops officer a slap on the back in comraderie.  Glad that the Betazoid could be trust not to randomly be checking out his thoughts.

"You must be new.  This used to be my spot." he comment as he tied in his PADD to the console and began his diagnostic.  "That was back when Ruth... I mean Lieutenant Siggurdsdottir... was Captain."

The Andorians' expression was a bit wistful.  He'd be lying if he said he didn't miss being on the bridge.  Not so much for the action.. but at least being in the know.    He felt so distanced in his role as an engineer.

" So if you ever need assistance. I'm always willing to help. " he offered the Betazoid.  His PADD beeped... and after a momentary check Lahr gave Ensign Cheizex an 'OK' hand gesture.

"You'll be happy to know that Ops checks out fine."

[Ensign Myne - USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Ensign Myne gripped her head and put her hands over her face as he scanned and said he wasn't a salt succubus, she squirmed and struggled in a lot of extreme pain before she parted her hands and stuck out her tongue with her eyes closed in a giggle.

"I am so glad Dil. There are bad things in there... so never dig too deep please. I don't care for my privacy, but I don't want you upset.", she sighed world heavily.

She opened her mind and gave the briefest glimpse of a hundred years of slavery, branding, pain, and then being Borged while awake but also of hope and optimism threw each and every time. A view that no matter how bad there is never a reason to give up.

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Aarwendil nodded in acknowledgement after the Trill talked. They were in the middle of the Badlands and there was also the fact that the Breen that were attacking them were still out here, any lack of attention could leave the ship in more problems. Due to that, the young Betazoid wouldn't talk with her until they got out of trouble.

However, he was still going to finish his conversation with Myne. Her  attempt to make him think that she was in pain only made Aarwendil smile briefly. "œYou'll need more than that to scare me." the Betazoid had trained his telepathy since he was a small child, he knew when his attempts to read someone's mind would hurt and it wasn't the case with the Only.

What he didn't expect was that his fellow Ensign would give him a glimpse of her life before joining the Star Fleet. For a brief moment, the Betazoid saw so much suffering and pain that made him flinch. This revelation had caught him out of guard and he flinched, stopping immediately from reading her mind. He was pale and scared.

With so much pain in her past, Aarwendil couldn't understand how Myne could still have hope and optimism.

The Andorian's presence offered a distraction from his thoughts about the Only's memories. The Ensign didn't know why he received a slap in the back, but the revelation that ch'Verret used to work on this station was something that he could offer an answer.

"œNice! It's my first time working at the bridge." he said, while watching ch'Verret use his PADD to diagnose the console. "œI still haven't met with Lieutenant Siggurdsdottir, but already heard good things about her." he had noticed the way that the man talked about her and wondered if there was a story between them.

"œThank you, sir." he said, after the ch'Verret finished analyzing the console. The young Betazoid was still curious about the Andorian and his relationship with Siggurdsdottir. Sometimes the non-telepaths could be frustrating, trying to hide what they were feeling or thinking. They should be more open to others, like the Betazoids. In his homeworld, honesty was completely embraced.

[Nira Said]

Kyan's first thought as "œBelvedere" melted into goo was that he was going to tell the Challenger's computer off as soon as he got back. This scenario hadn't come up at all during the countless simulations. He should have thought of it though. Of course there would be a Changeling. There were Jem Hadar. There was a Vorta. And They weren't just gonna fall in behind some old Cardassian Gul with delusions of grandness, or whatever they called it.

That train of thought was immediately set aside when Kyan saw the mutant Changeling's spoiled milk looking tendrils snaking out and grabbing for Nira. He'd managed to duck one of them but she wasn't so lucky. He felt the flash of fear come surging up his throat but pushed it down and set his focus on the task at hand, which was simple. Overcome the mutant Changeling. At Nira's gesture, the boy turned his head to see where she was telling him to look. He hoped it was a disruptor or something with which he could attack the Changeling, but it was a hatch. She wanted him to leave?

Running from a fight was counter to"¦ just about everything Kyan believed. In this case though, with nothing to use and the opponent's overwhelming advantage, running wasn't the best option; it was his only option. "œNo Kyan"¦ ye cannae bring no weapons!" he groused to himself as he dodged a tentacle and dropped low to the deck. "œWe gotta be smart so we do! They'll be suspicious."

Rolling out of the way of a fat, off white tentacle, he came to rest in a prone position near the Changeling's discarded Breen suit. There was a belt with pouches on it which might have something useful in them so he grabbed it. Then almost as an afterthought, he grabbed the helmet too. He used it to bludgeon a tentacle before rolling into a crouch. The changeling was focusing most of his efforts on Nira, so Kyan briefly considered throwing something at it. But she was right. The jig was up and he needed to go before he was caught himself.

He went for the hatch. When he got there he yanked it open and dove inside. He didn't make it all the way in before a tentacle latched onto his left foot. "œGet off me ye sour milkshake lookin wanker!" he yelled back. He tried first to pull away but the changeling was too strong for that. So once again, he took the only option left. The used his other foot to push his shoe off, freeing himself.

Then he scrambled forward as fast as he could. This time the Changeling missed when he dropped the shoe and get him again. Kyan crawled as fast as he could until the maintenance tube opened up a little wider into a T junction. He went left. After several meters he stopped and listened. Hearing only the thrum of power relays and the whirring of environmental scrubbers, he figured the Changeling had decided not to chase him and focus on Nira.

He made the invoking sign and offered up a short prayer to the Powers to keep her alive. Then he leaned back against the side of the tube and began plotting his next move, which of course meant finding a weapon, because the emitter to the palm phaser he'd hidden on himself was in the shoe he'd kicked off, and he sure as hell couldn't go back for it now.

[Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas, posing as Mercenary H'Riss | Ops | Melek Nor | Panora System - in the Kuiper Belt | Badlands]

Zhukdra'shar let out a sigh of relief as Sherem allowed 'Vaughn's son' to head over to the bathroom. He passed it off as 'H'Riss'' comfort on knowing that he wouldn't have to accompany him, "Heh, yeah sure. What'ver keeps me from being with that brat any longer..."

He made a disdainful look, showing his hand, before shaking it, as if he was brushing something unwanted away.

After 'Hubs', 'Vaugh's son' and the other 'Breen mercenary' left, 'H'Riss' proceeded to place his hands on his hips, taking a look around the Ops center as he let out a whistling noise and nodded his head. "Say, Gul Sherem, this is a pretty fancy station you got runnin' 'ere. Gotta say, not often can I see a piece of arquitechure like this with my very own eye..."

He let out a chuckle, looking over at him finally, "I bet its also fully equipped with 'menities n' proper rooms for 'chu n' your men, ain't it? How much do you reckon it costed 'chu?"

He stroked his chin, before he heard a noise coming from the office. His ear quickly shifted towards it, before it returned to its place. He wondered what was exactly happening, though for the time being, decided not to act, instead, buying time for it to be solved by distracting Sherem.

"Also, I gots to know... you're contractin' or somethin' to kill the Federates? 'Cause I love paintin' them uniforms with their own blood..." He lowered his hand, pulling out one of his claws as he let out a creepy, unsettling laugh, "Oh yeah, I love usin' my beauties to get the job done, when possible... those guys don't know how to fite... heh. Cuttin' their throats gets real easy when you get close..."

[Commander Nira Said | Private Head >- Prefect's Office >- Ops | Melek Nor]

It wasn't long before the Changeling had Nira immobilized in tendrils. Some of them went after Kyan, and Nira breathed in relief as best as she can. The Changeling had her bound her limbs and especially around her neck, but not too tightly as to choke her to death. She felt like she was dangling on vines, but if only for an instant before they brought her arms and legs together. Then the Changeling began shuffling her out of the head in a frog-march. Sluggishly, she took note; it had reverted to a liquid state, but not completely as to revert to a complete liquid mass. It was still vibrating...no, it was shaking from apparent fatigue, like it was struggling to maintain its shape despite reverting to liquid. Because it was shaking, it caused her to feel like she was vibrating.

She tried to struggle, but despite its fatigued shaking, it was still able to frog-march her to the door to the prefect's office, and as it opened automatically, it dragged her out and slammed her against an alcove off to the side of the door before the Changeling fully reverted to liquid.

As Nira stared at the crowd below, her helmet off, she could see that the Changeling only needed to maintain its partial form long enough before reverting completely.

[Commander Molly O'Brien | Ops | Melek Nor]

The hullabaloo from the Prefect's office caused everybody to whirl around and they saw a pale tentacle creature...and Nira exposed of her disguise, forcing her to an alcove before regenerating. And Mister Mackenzie was gone.

Oh God, Molly thought in horror. The men...was one of them a Changeling and the other got killed?!?

As Jem'Hadar and Cardassians surrounded Nira, she gasped deeply, like she had jumped from one pylon airlock to another across from it without the space suit. They then dragged Nira up and brought her before Gul Sherem.

"You," he snapped. "And what you're wearing...well, well...I think we've been tricked."

It was certainly obvious the old man was putting pieces of the puzzle together. The unmasked Nira, the Changeling in its pale liquid form dripping down the steps...Molly was horrified. Was this a Changeling that remained hidden in Breen space? And unfortunately, it would get worse.

"Mister H'Riss," the old man sneered, "is it entirely possible that your Breen comrades are not who they appear to be?"

He was speaking with quiet menace, homicidally pleasant, like a snake ready to strike.

"Perhaps these would happen to be Federation operatives who duped you into bring them along, perhaps to rescue the boy and the ambassador?"

Buy the story, old man, buyitbuyitbuyit, Molly thought desperately. Apparently, he still thought Zhuk and M'Nia were what they were claiming; if the rest of the "Breen" were exposed, it would mean trouble.

"Glinn Luram," he called to a nearby Cardassian officer. "Search my office. Find any bodies. Men...remove the helmets."

"You will not!" Molly snarled in her Breen disguise. "Nobody can ever look on a Breen and live!"

The electronic amplification squealed, causing all to cringe. Old Man Sherem sneered with grit teeth.

"You're looking at one who's friendly enough with a Breen to know who he looks like under the helmet," he said. "But I'm not likely to say, am I? If you truly are Breen, you wouldn't be worried."

"But what about the damn heat??!"

"Room temperature," said the old man, waving it aside. "If you are truly Breen, it'll only hurt momentarily."

Many Jem'Hadar seized the other false Breen...Molly and Doctor Fellows and Lieutenant Savar. The old man then slithered - yes, slithered, it was like if snakes had legs - up to her and seized Molly's helmet, ripping it off. He did the same with Fellows and Savar in rapid succession and snapped, "Remove their armor! They're no Breen! Same with Miss Said!"

Nira was brought with them and the four were stripped of their suits until they were wearing their under-uniforms or tank tops. It wasn't a pleasant scene, and Molly was hoping that that Changeling would take its time regenerating.

Gul Sherem leered unpleasantly at the exposed officers. So did a particular Jem'Hadar, though he seemed to be staring intently at Nira. He was close enough that Molly could see the wrinkles on his face. Yes, wrinkles. The man was old, looking like a wizened dinosaur, but with those spikes and scales, he looked absolutely dangerous.

Glinn Luram emerged a moment later and said with a shrug, "There was nobody in your office, Gul Sherem, but we did find this."

He held up a shoe for all to see. Judging from the shoe size, it had to belong to Mister Mackenzie...which meant...

Molly was even more horrified. Malachi Belvedere was the Changeling?!? It struck home more worse for her; they had been in a relationship for some time before this...how long was he First Officer...he probably has all of Deep Space Nine's secrets...

Gul Sherem turned back to the Ops central console and pulled up the information on "Ambassador" M'Nia's PADD. Judging from his smug expression, it was clear he still thought it was fleet positions. The problem now seemed to be activating the uploading viruses, much less the Cascade Virus...the only problem was that the means to activate them were in the Breen suits, and Glinn Luram's men confiscated them.

"The information looks good so far," Gul Sherem said eerily. "Luram, take the ambassador to some quarters, she is to be our guest for the time being, but keep a guard on her."

"You'll have to go through me first," snapped Savar. Now this drew plenty of attention. Even if Molly had gotten to know Savar's files and learned that he was a part of an extremely rare Vulcan culture, that he was a V'tosh Ka'tur, a "Vulcan without Logic," she was still surprised by his outburst.

The old man stared long and hard at him. "An emotional Vulcan, are you?" he asked. "And who might you be?"

"Lieutenant Savar, chief of the ambassador's security retinue," he said. Molly noticed Nira smiling at the fake story. "I found out about the ambassador's abduction and made every means to infiltrate Mister H'Riss's band. I'm surprised I wasn't the only one."

"Your loyalty is to be admired," he said. "Fine, you can continue protecting Madam Ambassador in the locked confinements. Luram?"

And with that, Luram and his officers, partly Cardassians, one or two still holding the Breen armor, but mostly Jem'Hadar, took Savar and M'Nia to the turbolift and away. Damn, they were quite surrounded, Molly thought, and she looked back at Nira in worry. For all his cruelty and expertise, the old man might be losing his touch. His still assuming Zhuk to be H'Riss, for one, not to mention that Savar's outer uniform was so thoroughly shed that he failed to notice that his uniform color was blue instead of gold. All it would take would be Belvedere re-forming, and Molly hoped it would take a long time yet.

[M'Nia]

K'tals claws. Things were going south. Still Savar and Zhuk were keeping up the act. She really had no idea what had happened but The commander and Savar have been outed as federation and not breen. Still they were providing a plausible cover story and her and zhuks cover was still intact. "LT Savar, thank you for your efforts. I appreciate you trying, unfortunately you have failed. I will continue to pray to K'tal that there is a way out of this and we get out of this in one piece. If we do I will expect a full report on what happened!" She had to play this up like an ambassador would. She was ore nervous than ever now. Still she had Zhuk and would continue to play along with him. She looked at "H'riss" and the cardasian with disdain. What now? How would they get the commander and the the others out of here. She had no idea. Hopefully Zhuk did or the commander came up with something. Hopefully because right now she had no idea.

[myne]

[Captain Galloway - Briefing Room - USS Challenger]

"œI like the spiked escape pod plan. Serve the wankers right and it fits in with Sun Tzu's axiom that "˜all warfare is based on deception'. Helm, we're ta steer as close ta one of the plasma storms as we can without gettin' caught in the bloody thing. Engineerin', prepare ta vent additional plasma. We've already laid the ground work that we're hurt. You're also ta rig a quantum torpedo inside a half dozen escape pods. Tactical, I'm goin' ta need a spread of a dozen quantum torpedoes released manually and fused ta detonate all at once. We need them ta think we've met our end from flyin' too close ta the plasma storm. Ops, send out a low powered signal, broadband, on a cracked code. Tell them about our genius boffin that can track Melek Nor in transwarp. That's will keep them from simply destroyin' the pods on sight.

"œAt this point, ta carry on with the submarine analogy we've been usin', helm will then drop a half million kilometers below the galactic plane via thrusters only as Ops shuts down everything, includin' life support. There's enough Oh two and heat ta last us long enough ta pull this off. Science, as soon as the passive sensors detect the escape pods bein' tractored or beamed aboard the Breen cruisers, we detonate our little surprise. As the old sayin' goes, "˜play stupid games, win stupid prizes' so let's give those Breen summat that will put a right proper dent in their hat. Dismissed."

[Lt JG Fisk - Briefing Room - USS Challenger]

"Acknowledged, will run down to Engineering. You might hear from my boss but hey he might like the idea.", she chuckled before saluting and heading off quickly.

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO - Briefing Room - USS Challenger-A]

Ruth had noticed, even if Captain Galloway hadn't.  As she relieved the other Science officer with a smile and slid into her seat she said calmly.

"Raving is something we don't do on the Bridge.  Raving looney... well you have a blue-antennae'd one standing there by Ops!" she said in an 'indoor voice' not really meaning it of Lahr.  She whispered to Melly now "You know I'm joking about Lahr, and I don't mind you being friendly with anyone but...no foolies on the Bridge where other people might catch you at it and report you ok?!"

Ruth tried to be more of a slightly admonishing big sister in her tone, correcting but not punishing, so that she didn't scare the girl.  It was a mild reprimand, and not worth making a big thing of, but she had vowed to make her the best officer she could in time.

[Ensign Myne - Bridge - USS Challenger-A]

Ensigns Myne's face paled but she nodded, "Yes Ma'am my apologies Ma'am and I will do better next time Ma'am."

After a moment though she smiled, "But he is cute."

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO - Briefing Room - USS Challenger-A]

The CSO reiterated what Galloway had said in the Briefing Room to Melly and Lina. She beamed at Melly and thumbed over her shoulder "By the way, Captain Galloway called you '...our genius boffin...' in there.  He wasn't talking about me since he made mention of tracking the Melek Nor in transwarp blah blah.  To be honest you're going to have to teach me half of that stuff too.  Good show Ensign, if'n he hasn't thought of it already, when this is over and we're all in one piece I'm doing one of two things.  At least if you keep up the good work and no foolies..." she said giving Melly a mock stern look, the upward twitch of her mouth belying the sternness of the look.  ".. first that you are put in for a commendation on your record, that goes without saying, and that can come from me as far as I'm aware, but if further endorsed by the Captain that will look good and... contribute to the second thing,  Promotion to j.g.  Any more of this and I might have to watch my back for you overtaking me!"

[Ensign Myne - Bridge - USS Challenger-A]

Ensign Myne's face brightened at the praise and the compliments, she didn't care about commendations or promotions but it was a sign she wasn't being gotten rid of anytime soon. So that brightened her to no end. But then a look of confusion crossed her face.

"What is a boffin?", she asked confused.

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO - Briefing Room - USS Challenger-A]
Turning slightly more towards Lina she smiled.  "You've been working well with the atmospheric stuff... keep an eye on the storms as we're going to be flying as close as we can to them.  While I'm confident in our helmswoman, I'm sure she won't take it amiss if we help steer her right!"

[Lina Knight]

Lina would smile a bit tail flicking at the praise and nods "I'll do my best and avoid any big issues! I'd be shamed if I missed something that got us stranded" she grins like a cheshire a bit as she almost giddly gets back to work clearly loving being given praise, maybe she's used to being made fun of or treated like a freak... half breeds and all that fun stuff, kids aren't great with new things like that after all but she's found her zone and man was she happy to make sure that stayed that way.

[ShranLahr ch'Verret]

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

[USS Challenger-A - Bridge]
The Andorian's presence offered a distraction from his thoughts about the Only's memories. The Ensign didn't know why he received a slap in the back, but the revelation that ch'Verret used to work on this station was something that he could offer an answer.

"œNice! It's my first time working at the bridge." he said, while watching ch'Verret use his PADD to diagnose the console. "œI still haven't met with Lieutenant Siggurdsdottir, but already heard good things about her." he had noticed the way that the man talked about her and wondered if there was a story between them.

"œThank you, sir." he said, after the ch'Verret finished analyzing the console. The young Betazoid was still curious about the Andorian and his relationship with Siggurdsdottir. Sometimes the non-telepaths could be frustrating, trying to hide what they were feeling or thinking. They should be more open to others, like the Betazoids. In his homeworld, honesty was completely embraced.

"It's the best spot on the Bridge.  Never take it for granted." Lahr commented sagely back towards the Betazoid, even as he began his check of the Helm station positioned just beside Ops.   Lahr gave a charming smile to the Caitian flight officer seated there.  "Excuse the interruption.. won't be but a moment."

[Ensign Myne - USS Challenger-A - Bridge]

Myne looked to Lahr with the happiest of smiles as her emotions flooded out overwhelmingly of joy to be around Lahr. Her emotions tended to be overwhelming, so Dil would be wise to put up shields around the Onlie.

"What... is raving Sir?", she asked very confused. "If you recommend it then sure! But no clue what that is."

Ensign Myne did not notice the Captain returning and possibly seeing her little 'foolies' with the Betazoid Op when he scanned her.

Lahr had heard M's question, but with his attention already split between Ops, Helm and her it took a moment for him to get around to her question.

"A Rave is a massive dance party usually set up in places not designed for dance parties.  You joined the ship a tad late, if you'd been two months earlier you could been witness to me DJing a Rave in Engineering."  The Andorian chuckled at that polywater virus chaos.  So much fun!

[Lt. Ruth Sigurdsdottir, CSO - Briefing Room - USS Challenger-A]

Ruth had noticed, even if Captain Galloway hadn't.  As she relieved the other Science officer with a smile and slid into her seat she said calmly.

"Raving is something we don't do on the Bridge.  Raving looney... well you have a blue-antennae'd one standing there by Ops!" she said in an 'indoor voice' not really meaning it of Lahr.  She whispered to Melly now "You know I'm joking about Lahr, and I don't mind you being friendly with anyone but...no foolies on the Bridge where other people might catch you at it and report you ok?!"

Ruth tried to be more of a slightly admonishing big sister in her tone, correcting but not punishing, so that she didn't scare the girl.  It was a mild reprimand, and not worth making a big thing of, but she had vowed to make her the best officer she could in time.

"Mr ch'Verret, I trust all our consoles are running at optimum, we're going to be needing pinpoint scans..."  Ruth smiled her brightest smile at Lahr, conveying her love for him in a look, yet not breaking any Bridge etiquette.  He knew that she'd more than make it up to him later.

Lahr's explanation and boasting had distracted him from noticing the shift in air currents as Ruth and the other Department Heads exited the Briefing Room, so when Ruth spoke, Lahr's antennae perked and the turned to gaze upon.

Her query about the bridge stations status, reminded Lahr to check his PADD.
"Ops and Helm consoles are 100%.  I'll do Science station next."

[Briefing Room "" USS Challenger]
Ian listened intently to the offered suggestions and thought.

"œThis is Starfleet at its best. No better way ta get an innovative answer, than ta give the crew summat ta solve and let them solve it."

When the discussion died down, it was now time to turn those theories into action. He'd been given several options, the hard part would be to meld them into something that would work.

"œI like the spiked escape pod plan. Serve the wankers right and it fits in with Sun Tzu's axiom that "˜all warfare is based on deception'. Helm, we're ta steer as close ta one of the plasma storms as we can without gettin' caught in the bloody thing. Engineerin', prepare ta vent additional plasma. We've already laid the ground work that we're hurt. You're also ta rig a quantum torpedo inside a half dozen escape pods. Tactical, I'm goin' ta need a spread of a dozen quantum torpedoes released manually and fused ta detonate all at once. We need them ta think we've met our end from flyin' too close ta the plasma storm. Ops, send out a low powered signal, broadband, on a cracked code. Tell them about our genius boffin that can track Melek Nor in transwarp. That's will keep them from simply destroyin' the pods on sight.

"œAt this point, ta carry on with the submarine analogy we've been usin', helm will then drop a half million kilometers below the galactic plane via thrusters only as Ops shuts down everything, includin' life support. There's enough Oh two and heat ta last us long enough ta pull this off. Science, as soon as the passive sensors detect the escape pods bein' tractored or beamed aboard the Breen cruisers, we detonate our little surprise. As the old sayin' goes, "˜play stupid games, win stupid prizes' so let's give those Breen summat that will put a right proper dent in their hat. Dismissed."

As the meeting broke up, Ian smiled and returned to the bridge, pleased with what he was about to witness.

However, no sooner had he begun the diagnostic check on M's console when Lt Commander Tharn's voice sounded from his comm badge.   It seemed she was recalling Damage Control Team One to work on another project - something to do with 'spiking' the escape pods with torpedoes.  Lahr wasn't sure he understood what the Commander wanted but specifics were being sent to his PADD for him and the others of DCT1 to work on.

Roozh, he'd have to leave his task here unfinished.
"Sorry Ma'ams." the Andorian addressed both Ruth and M.  "I'll have someone else sent up here to finish the check of the Bridge stations."

With a parting nod to both, and a mock salute towards the Captain, Lahr double-timed it down to the torpedo bay.

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - Forward Torpedo Bay Magazine]
When he arrived, he found Ensign Jones and the rest of the team already assembled and preparing the torpedo warheads as their orders specified.  His job was to do the install into the escape pod.  Getting everything just right was critical.

While the others worked on preparing the torpedoes, Lahr figured the most secure way to position the torpedo in the escape pod.  Two minutes later, and they had six torpedoes ready to be beamed into the escape pods.

Lahr tapped his comm "ch'Verret to Ops.  I got some party favors that need to be beamed to the escape pods. Section 5-7 numbers 1 though 6.  My advice to you...  Be gentle."

At that point, Lahr headed to the corridor where those specific escape pod were, finalize the install into the pods.

When they were ready he commed the Captain. "Party favors are ready, sir."

[Ian Galloway]

[Lt JG Fisk - Briefing Room - USS Challenger]

"Acknowledged, will run down to Engineering. You might hear from my boss but hey he might like the idea.", she chuckled before saluting and heading off quickly.

CPO ShranLahr ch'Verret
[USS Challenger - Deck One - Bridge]

"It's the best spot on the Bridge.  Never take it for granted." Lahr commented sagely back towards the Betazoid, even as he began his check of the Helm station positioned just beside Ops.   Lahr gave a charming smile to the Caitian flight officer seated there.  "Excuse the interruption.. won't be but a moment."

Lahr had heard M's question, but with his attention already split between Ops, Helm and her it took a moment for him to get around to her question.

"A Rave is a massive dance party usually set up in places not designed for dance parties.  You joined the ship a tad late, if you'd been two months earlier you could been witness to me DJing a Rave in Engineering."  The Andorian chuckled at that polywater virus chaos.  So much fun!

Lahr's explanation and boasting had distracted him from noticing the shift in air currents as Ruth and the other Department Heads exited the Briefing Room, so when Ruth spoke, Lahr's antennae perked and the turned to gaze upon.

Her query about the bridge stations status, reminded Lahr to check his PADD.
"Ops and Helm consoles are 100%.  I'll do Science station next."

However, no sooner had he begun the diagnostic check on M's console when Lt Commander Tharn's voice sounded from his comm badge.   It seemed she was recalling Damage Control Team One to work on another project - something to do with 'spiking' the escape pods with torpedoes.  Lahr wasn't sure he understood what the Commander wanted but specifics were being sent to his PADD for him and the others of DCT1 to work on.

Roozh, he'd have to leave his task here unfinished.
"Sorry Ma'ams." the Andorian addressed both Ruth and M.  "I'll have someone else sent up here to finish the check of the Bridge stations."

With a parting nod to both, and a mock salute towards the Captain, Lahr double-timed it down to the torpedo bay.

[USS Challenger - Deck 9 - Forward Torpedo Bay Magazine]
When he arrived, he found Ensign Jones and the rest of the team already assembled and preparing the torpedo warheads as their orders specified.  His job was to do the install into the escape pod.  Getting everything just right was critical.

While the others worked on preparing the torpedoes, Lahr figured the most secure way to position the torpedo in the escape pod.  Two minutes later, and they had six torpedoes ready to be beamed into the escape pods.

Lahr tapped his comm "ch'Verret to Ops.  I got some party favors that need to be beamed to the escape pods. Section 5-7 numbers 1 though 6.  My advice to you...  Be gentle."

At that point, Lahr headed to the corridor where those specific escape pod were, finalize the install into the pods.

When they were ready he commed the Captain. "Party favors are ready, sir."

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As nothing Ian had asked for was particularly difficult, the crew had everything done fairly quickly. Therefore, just twenty minutes passed before all departments signaled they were ready and he hit the com unit on the command chair.

"All hands, this is the Captain, we're about ta do some hard maneuverin'. If you can strap yourself down, now is the time ta do so. If'n you can't strap in, grab a hold of summat and hang on tight."

Closing out shipwide, Ian nodded to Rin.

"Take us in, leave paint samples."

The Challenger surged forward at full impulse and this drew the attention of the two Breen cruisers immediately, which in turn triggered their pursuit. On seeing how close to the plasma storm the Challenger was going, the Breen backed off and split up, which was the action Ian was waiting for.

"T'Kel, release those photons. Helm. All stop. Take us down, thrusters only. Steady. steady."

"Sir, torpedoes away."

"Acknowledged. Stand by ta detonate."

Ian waited for one of the Breen cruisers to close within 100,000 kilometers of Challenger's last known position.

"Detonate! Ops, wait ten seconds and deploy those escape pods and sent that distress call."

The half dozen unpowered photons all detonated at the same time, creating a large enough explosion to simulate a ship the size of Challenger being destroyed. Watching his display closely, Ian saw the escape pods deploy and heard the broken distress call go out. Now, they could only wait to see if the Breen would take the bait.

"Go on you frozen pillocks, get curious. You want ta ken who can track you. Go on, you know you do."

Ian crooned as he waited to see if the plan would work.

[Zhukdrashar Mrekrerhas]

[Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhukdra'shar Mrekrerhas, posing as Mercenary H'Riss | Ops | Melek Nor | Panora System - in the Kuiper Belt | Badlands]

[Commander Nira Said | Private Head >- Prefect's Office >- Ops | Melek Nor]

It wasn't long before the Changeling had Nira immobilized in tendrils. Some of them went after Kyan, and Nira breathed in relief as best as she can. The Changeling had her bound her limbs and especially around her neck, but not too tightly as to choke her to death. She felt like she was dangling on vines, but if only for an instant before they brought her arms and legs together. Then the Changeling began shuffling her out of the head in a frog-march. Sluggishly, she took note; it had reverted to a liquid state, but not completely as to revert to a complete liquid mass. It was still vibrating...no, it was shaking from apparent fatigue, like it was struggling to maintain its shape despite reverting to liquid. Because it was shaking, it caused her to feel like she was vibrating.

She tried to struggle, but despite its fatigued shaking, it was still able to frog-march her to the door to the prefect's office, and as it opened automatically, it dragged her out and slammed her against an alcove off to the side of the door before the Changeling fully reverted to liquid.

As Nira stared at the crowd below, her helmet off, she could see that the Changeling only needed to maintain its partial form long enough before reverting completely.

[Commander Molly O'Brien | Ops | Melek Nor]

The hullabaloo from the Prefect's office caused everybody to whirl around and they saw a pale tentacle creature...and Nira exposed of her disguise, forcing her to an alcove before regenerating. And Mister Mackenzie was gone.

Oh God, Molly thought in horror. The men...was one of them a Changeling and the other got killed?!?

As Jem'Hadar and Cardassians surrounded Nira, she gasped deeply, like she had jumped from one pylon airlock to another across from it without the space suit. They then dragged Nira up and brought her before Gul Sherem.

"You," he snapped. "And what you're wearing...well, well...I think we've been tricked."

It was certainly obvious the old man was putting pieces of the puzzle together. The unmasked Nira, the Changeling in its pale liquid form dripping down the steps...Molly was horrified. Was this a Changeling that remained hidden in Breen space? And unfortunately, it would get worse.

"Mister H'Riss," the old man sneered, "is it entirely possible that your Breen comrades are not who they appear to be?"

He was speaking with quiet menace, homicidally pleasant, like a snake ready to strike.

"Perhaps these would happen to be Federation operatives who duped you into bring them along, perhaps to rescue the boy and the ambassador?"

Buy the story, old man, buyitbuyitbuyit, Molly thought desperately. Apparently, he still thought Zhuk and M'Nia were what they were claiming; if the rest of the "Breen" were exposed, it would mean trouble.

"Glinn Luram," he called to a nearby Cardassian officer. "Search my office. Find any bodies. Men...remove the helmets."

"You will not!" Molly snarled in her Breen disguise. "Nobody can ever look on a Breen and live!"

The electronic amplification squealed, causing all to cringe. Old Man Sherem sneered with grit teeth.

"You're looking at one who's friendly enough with a Breen to know who he looks like under the helmet," he said. "But I'm not likely to say, am I? If you truly are Breen, you wouldn't be worried."

"But what about the damn heat??!"

"Room temperature," said the old man, waving it aside. "If you are truly Breen, it'll only hurt momentarily."

Many Jem'Hadar seized the other false Breen...Molly and Doctor Fellows and Lieutenant Savar. The old man then slithered - yes, slithered, it was like if snakes had legs - up to her and seized Molly's helmet, ripping it off. He did the same with Fellows and Savar in rapid succession and snapped, "Remove their armor! They're no Breen! Same with Miss Said!"

Nira was brought with them and the four were stripped of their suits until they were wearing their under-uniforms or tank tops. It wasn't a pleasant scene, and Molly was hoping that that Changeling would take its time regenerating.

Gul Sherem leered unpleasantly at the exposed officers. So did a particular Jem'Hadar, though he seemed to be staring intently at Nira. He was close enough that Molly could see the wrinkles on his face. Yes, wrinkles. The man was old, looking like a wizened dinosaur, but with those spikes and scales, he looked absolutely dangerous.

Glinn Luram emerged a moment later and said with a shrug, "There was nobody in your office, Gul Sherem, but we did find this."

He held up a shoe for all to see. Judging from the shoe size, it had to belong to Mister Mackenzie...which meant...

Molly was even more horrified. Malachi Belvedere was the Changeling?!? It struck home more worse for her; they had been in a relationship for some time before this...how long was he First Officer...he probably has all of Deep Space Nine's secrets...

Gul Sherem turned back to the Ops central console and pulled up the information on "Ambassador" M'Nia's PADD. Judging from his smug expression, it was clear he still thought it was fleet positions. The problem now seemed to be activating the uploading viruses, much less the Cascade Virus...the only problem was that the means to activate them were in the Breen suits, and Glinn Luram's men confiscated them.

"The information looks good so far," Gul Sherem said eerily. "Luram, take the ambassador to some quarters, she is to be our guest for the time being, but keep a guard on her."

"You'll have to go through me first," snapped Savar. Now this drew plenty of attention. Even if Molly had gotten to know Savar's files and learned that he was a part of an extremely rare Vulcan culture, that he was a V'tosh Ka'tur, a "Vulcan without Logic," she was still surprised by his outburst.

The old man stared long and hard at him. "An emotional Vulcan, are you?" he asked. "And who might you be?"

"Lieutenant Savar, chief of the ambassador's security retinue," he said. Molly noticed Nira smiling at the fake story. "I found out about the ambassador's abduction and made every means to infiltrate Mister H'Riss's band. I'm surprised I wasn't the only one."

"Your loyalty is to be admired," he said. "Fine, you can continue protecting Madam Ambassador in the locked confinements. Luram?"

And with that, Luram and his officers, partly Cardassians, one or two still holding the Breen armor, but mostly Jem'Hadar, took Savar and M'Nia to the turbolift and away. Damn, they were quite surrounded, Molly thought, and she looked back at Nira in worry. For all his cruelty and expertise, the old man might be losing his touch. His still assuming Zhuk to be H'Riss, for one, not to mention that Savar's outer uniform was so thoroughly shed that he failed to notice that his uniform color was blue instead of gold. All it would take would be Belvedere re-forming, and Molly hoped it would take a long time yet.

'H'Riss's' eye went wide as he saw Nira being smashed against an alcove out of the prefect's office, her disguise now eschewed by the figure that had turned into liquid. His fur rose, puffing up his tail and neck, as he instinctively pulled on his weapon, a modified Romulan disruptor pistol.

A Changeling? Here? Well, it couldn't speak for now, he supposed. Was only a matter of time before it divulged anything it could have learned from its scuffle with the Lieutenant Commander. But it would be good if he ensured it couldn't reconstitute itself. He knew little of these shapechangers, but he was sure that liquid was somehow, its body. Or whatever it made its 'body' - so theoretically, if he made sure to dispose of it, it wouldn't come back.

He was glad he had done some research into his task beforehand. Though now he wondered if perhaps he should have been more thorough. He did not expect to come upon a

Then again, where were Kyan and Beldevere? Had they also gotten knocked out by the creature? He was unsure, and that uncertainty made him nervous. He made sure to keep it buried down, though, as he lowered his weapon slightly, while the Jem'Hadar and the Cardassians brought Nira towards Gul Sherem and them. Still, 'H'Riss's' fur did not settle, much less so after being accused of being a collaborator by Gul Sherem.

He hissed, "What?! I would NEVER work with 'em FEDERATES!" He made sure to sweep his hand across the area in front of him, lightly lowering himself as he snarled over toward Nira, wondering whether he would require to aim the disruptor at her and reassure Sherem that he was willing to pull the trigger if he wished to prove his loyalty. Of course, it would only be a bluff, as he expected Sherem to stop him so that the captured individuals may be interrogated.

However, at the order of getting the helmets off from the Breen, and the subsequent shriek from Molly, disguised, he stopped. He couldn't help but cringe, the tone hurting his sensitive ears, his snarl turning towards her. It might just work, however, as he prepared himself to speak on Molly's behalf, sure that if he could vouch for them, and reassure him that they were actual Breen, the mission would not be compromised.

Too late, however, as Gul Sherem proved to be smarter, and instructed them to remove the helmets. 'H'Riss' kept his mouth shut, as he couldn't argue against his orders. He feared outing himself accidentally, so he just scowled. And then proceeded to be just as surprised as when Nira had been brought when Molly, Savar, and Fellows. He pointed his weapon at them, trying his best to channel sheer betrayal through his acting, "Impossible! YOU ARE ALL FEDERATES?!"

He hissed in their direction before he proceeded to sheath his weapon as they were undressed. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at the situation, even if he stared, frozen as the adrenaline in his body faded, unaware for a moment that he had to keep the illusion up. If he hadn't been exposed by proxy. He was getting more and more desperate inside, mind racing to try and find a way to act in case the worst came to bear. Could he fire against Gul Sherem and kill him before he was shot? Maybe try and arm his fellow comrades? Should he try and run into the bowels of the station?

All unlikely options for him to succeed, though when the shoe of 'Vaugh's son' was brought forth, it did offer some relief. He had escaped then, it seemed. Alright, maybe they could still pull this off, especially as he was not targeted to be arrested. He took a deep breath to internally calm himself, playing it off as him being just shocked at the Breen revelation. He fought the urge to groan once he determined that Beldevere was the Changeling. Dammit. Disposing of him truly was a priority.

For now, though, at least Savar's outburst had even been believable to him, making him step back, as he jumped slightly like a cat in an alleyway. It had helped to get him fully back into this mission. Now, it was just a matter of staying in character and finding a way out of this mess. Maybe meet up with Kyan. Maybe...

"Harr... harr... enjoy your time with the Ambassador, pointy-ears..." He went back to his smug demeanor, though he still projected anger with his bared teeth towards the Vulcan. "Soon, I bet, you'll never see 'er again~"

K'tals claws. Things were going south. Still Savar and Zhuk were keeping up the act. She really had no idea what had happened but The commander and Savar have been outed as federation and not breen. Still they were providing a plausible cover story and her and zhuks cover was still intact. "LT Savar, thank you for your efforts. I appreciate you trying, unfortunately you have failed. I will continue to pray to K'tal that there is a way out of this and we get out of this in one piece. If we do I will expect a full report on what happened!" She had to play this up like an ambassador would. She was ore nervous than ever now. Still she had Zhuk and would continue to play along with him. She looked at "H'riss" and the cardasian with disdain. What now? How would they get the commander and the the others out of here. She had no idea. Hopefully Zhuk did or the commander came up with something. Hopefully because right now she had no idea.

He huffed, glancing over at the 'Ambassador' to give her a grin that was meant to be uncomfortable towards her. He wished that he could be reassuring to her, however. This was her first mission, and this was a major hurdle to the plan. If he didn't play his cards carefully, all would be in jeopardy, he feared. But just as that worry began to creep into him, he just set it aside. He had to focus for all.

He approached Gul Sherem with his ears lowered, trying to appear as if he was almost groveling. He figured out that trying to appeal to Sherem's pride and sense of magnitude could be a good plan now.

"My deepest apologies, Gul Sherem...." He placed a hand over his chest, before looking down at the floor, "I did not know I was bein' trick'd by... them... Federates...!" He hissed, fur rising again for a moment, before he took another deep breath.

"I will not allow that to happen again. I swear on my honor as a killer..." He grinned maliciously, as he licked his muzzle, "Allow me to... to... make them pay... let me bleed them to get you what they know..."

He made a pause, as he then chuckled, "Ah... right... you Cardassian, you might... wanna do that yourself... heh. Well, uh... maybe let me chase after that brat. I will make sure he regrets escaping~"

He offered, wondering how he would respond.

[AmatsaKitsune]

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

As nothing Ian had asked for was particularly difficult, the crew had everything done fairly quickly. Therefore, just twenty minutes passed before all departments signaled they were ready and he hit the com unit on the command chair.

"All hands, this is the Captain, we're about ta do some hard maneuverin'. If you can strap yourself down, now is the time ta do so. If'n you can't strap in, grab a hold of summat and hang on tight."

Closing out shipwide, Ian nodded to Rin.

"Take us in, leave paint samples."

The Challenger surged forward at full impulse and this drew the attention of the two Breen cruisers immediately, which in turn triggered their pursuit. On seeing how close to the plasma storm the Challenger was going, the Breen backed off and split up, which was the action Ian was waiting for.

"T'Kel, release those photons. Helm. All stop. Take us down, thrusters only. Steady. steady."

"Sir, torpedoes away."

"Acknowledged. Stand by ta detonate."

Ian waited for one of the Breen cruisers to close within 100,000 kilometers of Challenger's last known position.

"Detonate! Ops, wait ten seconds and deploy those escape pods and sent that distress call."

The half dozen unpowered photons all detonated at the same time, creating a large enough explosion to simulate a ship the size of Challenger being destroyed. Watching his display closely, Ian saw the escape pods deploy and heard the broken distress call go out. Now, they could only wait to see if the Breen would take the bait.

"Go on you frozen pillocks, get curious. You want ta ken who can track you. Go on, you know you do."

Ian crooned as he waited to see if the plan would work.

Rin would listen to the commands and would make sure everything was actually done properly. She already had taken to much risks earlier and she wanted to do this properly. She would take her speed down low as she'd want to make sure the captains plan went off without a hitch. She knew that the captain had a big plan and it was still kind of exciting to see it going on. Plus She probably would get to see two breen ships exploding very soon that or at least fleeing. "Everything is going according to the plan Captain. Thrusters on minimal all ready for your order."

[Kyan Mackenzie]

:: Melok Nor | Maintainence tubes ::

It had been almost twenty minutes since Kyan had escaped from the Changeling. He was too far away to hear what was going on back in Ops, but it had been long enough that he knew no one was chasing him"¦yet.

"œSo what tae do the now?" has asked himself aloud.

If the Changeling was working with Sherem, then Nira's cover was blown, as was his, and probably everyone else's too. Even if it wasn't, then the commotion in Sherem's office was enough to draw attention. Nira's cover was still blown, which meant that Sherem knew Starfleet was here. So either way, the scared little kid routine was over. Which meant that Kyan was able to operate unshackled from the charade of his false identity. "œAnd thanks be to the Powers for that." He thought happily.

So the first order of business was to take stock of his resources. He had one shoe, which had parts that were useless now. He took that one off and pulled out the insert. The lower site of the palm phaser was lodged in a cutout inside the sole. He pulled it out and put it in a cargo pocket. The top half was in the other pocket. Even if he never got the other shoe back, or the emitter coil, he could replicate a new one when he went back to the ship. And since one shoe was useless without the other, he tossed the remaining one aside. After a moment he took off his socks too, since they might be slippery one some surfaces, or catch on others.

"œNow let's see what these Breen carry around in their belts." He wondered, picking up the belt he'd taken from "œBelvedere's" suit.

It looked as though the Breen from whom it had been taken was an engineer, given the tools that he found in most of the pouches. Most of them were useless to him. He did pocket the plasma cutter though, figuring it might come in handy. The last pouch had what looked like a multi-tool. Kyan turned it over in his hands until he found a button. He pressed it and a three inch, single edged blade sprang from the handle with a satisfying "œsniiikt" sound. The Onlie grinned as he checked the edge. "œWell Thanks be tae you Mister Belvedere."

Kyan put the blade back in and replaced the knife in its pouch. The belt was way too big for him, but he adjusted it until it was at least small enough not to fall off if he wore it. Now it just fell low on one side like an old west cowboy's gun-belt. Now that he had something to use, a plan began to take shape in his head"¦.

~ A little while later, in the habitat ring. ~

Gar Almor Malat was on the last leg of his shift, and looking forward to being off duty. He had plans with his brother Nakal, who had recently been promoted to Garresh, to celebrate in the makeshift bar that the enlisted men had set up on the promenade. Nakal had always been a better soldier than Almor, who had only followed his brother into the services of Sherem because he didn't see his career in the Cardassian military going anywhere. Working for Sherem hadn't been a lot better, but at least they were doing something.

Well, Nakal was. He was in ops. There was some big prisoner thing happening up there, some Federation ambassador and the son of a prominent Starfleet gul. Almor wished he was there, but instead he was patrolling the habitat ring"¦ for whatever reason. "œOh well." He thought as he passed another dimly lit corridor that looked the same as all the other dimly lit corridors in this part of Melok Nor, at least he would get to hear about it later.

A glint caught his eye as he passed and he turned to look at it. What he saw didn't really make sense. A Breen helmet sitting on the deck, looking at him. He looked back the way he'd come, and further down the corridor. No one was there. Curious, he walked over to the helmet. He shifted his disruptor rifle to one hand before tapping the comms box on the bulkhead.

Malat to Ops.

Ops. Came the gruff reply he knew to be his brother.

Nakal, I've found a Breen Helmet in the habitat ring, section 153"¦=/\=

Almor bent down to pick up the helmet. As he did so, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Before he could process what he was looking at, there was a Breen utility blade lodged in his neck. What began as a scream turned into a gurgle as the Cardassian crumpled to the deck.

Almor? the comms box called out. Then more urgently Almor! Respond!

Kyan stepped over the dying soldier an picked up his disruptor rifle. Not his weapon of choice, but better than the utility knife in any case. He grabbed that too, and wiped it on the falled Cardassian's uniform before retracting the blade and putting it back in the pouch.

He then went back to the comms panel.

Almor can't talk the now. Sure and he was a good fella though"¦he let me have his disruptor rifle.

Kyan pressed the button, ending the conversation before Nakal could reply.

[Ian Galloway]

[Commander Nira Said | Private Head >- Prefect's Office >- Ops | Melek Nor]

It wasn't long before the Changeling had Nira immobilized in tendrils. Some of them went after Kyan, and Nira breathed in relief as best as she can. The Changeling had her bound her limbs and especially around her neck, but not too tightly as to choke her to death. She felt like she was dangling on vines, but if only for an instant before they brought her arms and legs together. Then the Changeling began shuffling her out of the head in a frog-march. Sluggishly, she took note; it had reverted to a liquid state, but not completely as to revert to a complete liquid mass. It was still vibrating...no, it was shaking from apparent fatigue, like it was struggling to maintain its shape despite reverting to liquid. Because it was shaking, it caused her to feel like she was vibrating.

She tried to struggle, but despite its fatigued shaking, it was still able to frog-march her to the door to the prefect's office, and as it opened automatically, it dragged her out and slammed her against an alcove off to the side of the door before the Changeling fully reverted to liquid.

As Nira stared at the crowd below, her helmet off, she could see that the Changeling only needed to maintain its partial form long enough before reverting completely.

[Commander Molly O'Brien | Ops | Melek Nor]

The hullabaloo from the Prefect's office caused everybody to whirl around and they saw a pale tentacle creature...and Nira exposed of her disguise, forcing her to an alcove before regenerating. And Mister Mackenzie was gone.

Oh God, Molly thought in horror. The men...was one of them a Changeling and the other got killed?!?

As Jem'Hadar and Cardassians surrounded Nira, she gasped deeply, like she had jumped from one pylon airlock to another across from it without the space suit. They then dragged Nira up and brought her before Gul Sherem.

"You," he snapped. "And what you're wearing...well, well...I think we've been tricked."

It was certainly obvious the old man was putting pieces of the puzzle together. The unmasked Nira, the Changeling in its pale liquid form dripping down the steps...Molly was horrified. Was this a Changeling that remained hidden in Breen space? And unfortunately, it would get worse.

"Mister H'Riss," the old man sneered, "is it entirely possible that your Breen comrades are not who they appear to be?"

He was speaking with quiet menace, homicidally pleasant, like a snake ready to strike.

"Perhaps these would happen to be Federation operatives who duped you into bring them along, perhaps to rescue the boy and the ambassador?"

Buy the story, old man, buyitbuyitbuyit, Molly thought desperately. Apparently, he still thought Zhuk and M'Nia were what they were claiming; if the rest of the "Breen" were exposed, it would mean trouble.

"Glinn Luram," he called to a nearby Cardassian officer. "Search my office. Find any bodies. Men...remove the helmets."

"You will not!" Molly snarled in her Breen disguise. "Nobody can ever look on a Breen and live!"

The electronic amplification squealed, causing all to cringe. Old Man Sherem sneered with grit teeth.

"You're looking at one who's friendly enough with a Breen to know who he looks like under the helmet," he said. "But I'm not likely to say, am I? If you truly are Breen, you wouldn't be worried."

"But what about the damn heat??!"

"Room temperature," said the old man, waving it aside. "If you are truly Breen, it'll only hurt momentarily."

Many Jem'Hadar seized the other false Breen...Molly and Doctor Fellows and Lieutenant Savar. The old man then slithered - yes, slithered, it was like if snakes had legs - up to her and seized Molly's helmet, ripping it off. He did the same with Fellows and Savar in rapid succession and snapped, "Remove their armor! They're no Breen! Same with Miss Said!"

Nira was brought with them and the four were stripped of their suits until they were wearing their under-uniforms or tank tops. It wasn't a pleasant scene, and Molly was hoping that that Changeling would take its time regenerating.

Gul Sherem leered unpleasantly at the exposed officers. So did a particular Jem'Hadar, though he seemed to be staring intently at Nira. He was close enough that Molly could see the wrinkles on his face. Yes, wrinkles. The man was old, looking like a wizened dinosaur, but with those spikes and scales, he looked absolutely dangerous.

Glinn Luram emerged a moment later and said with a shrug, "There was nobody in your office, Gul Sherem, but we did find this."

He held up a shoe for all to see. Judging from the shoe size, it had to belong to Mister Mackenzie...which meant...

Molly was even more horrified. Malachi Belvedere was the Changeling?!? It struck home more worse for her; they had been in a relationship for some time before this...how long was he First Officer...he probably has all of Deep Space Nine's secrets...

Gul Sherem turned back to the Ops central console and pulled up the information on "Ambassador" M'Nia's PADD. Judging from his smug expression, it was clear he still thought it was fleet positions. The problem now seemed to be activating the uploading viruses, much less the Cascade Virus...the only problem was that the means to activate them were in the Breen suits, and Glinn Luram's men confiscated them.

"The information looks good so far," Gul Sherem said eerily. "Luram, take the ambassador to some quarters, she is to be our guest for the time being, but keep a guard on her."

"You'll have to go through me first," snapped Savar. Now this drew plenty of attention. Even if Molly had gotten to know Savar's files and learned that he was a part of an extremely rare Vulcan culture, that he was a V'tosh Ka'tur, a "Vulcan without Logic," she was still surprised by his outburst.

The old man stared long and hard at him. "An emotional Vulcan, are you?" he asked. "And who might you be?"

"Lieutenant Savar, chief of the ambassador's security retinue," he said. Molly noticed Nira smiling at the fake story. "I found out about the ambassador's abduction and made every means to infiltrate Mister H'Riss's band. I'm surprised I wasn't the only one."

"Your loyalty is to be admired," he said. "Fine, you can continue protecting Madam Ambassador in the locked confinements. Luram?"

And with that, Luram and his officers, partly Cardassians, one or two still holding the Breen armor, but mostly Jem'Hadar, took Savar and M'Nia to the turbolift and away. Damn, they were quite surrounded, Molly thought, and she looked back at Nira in worry. For all his cruelty and expertise, the old man might be losing his touch. His still assuming Zhuk to be H'Riss, for one, not to mention that Savar's outer uniform was so thoroughly shed that he failed to notice that his uniform color was blue instead of gold. All it would take would be Belvedere re-forming, and Molly hoped it would take a long time yet.

[Prefect's Office - Melek Nor] [Lieutenant Jessica Fellows]

When the plan came apart and Jess' helmet was pulled off leaving her feeling raw and exposed under the all to piercing eye of Sherem, she had never been more scared in her life. It took every fiber of her being not to whimper at that moment.

"In through the nose for a count of two. Out through the mouth for a count of four... In through the nose for a count of two. Out through the mouth for a count of four..."

She made the calming technique a mantra as she put on a brave face.

"I will not embarrass myself or the Challenger by showing fear, but this is bad. This is real bad."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Bridge - USS Challenger]

To Ian, the tension on the bridge was so palpable that he felt like he was trying to breathe water as one of the cruisers scanned and then began tractoring the escape pods into its cargo bay. As soon as the last pod disappeared behind closing doors, Ian said.

"Now!"

As sound could not travel in a vacuum, there was nothing to hear on the viewscreen, but the way the Breen cruiser swelled and was engulfed in fire was all too visible.

"Take that ya bloody git!"

Ian cried out in triumph before barking out a series of orders.

"Helm, intercept course for the second cruiser. Ops, brings us ta full power on everything. T'Kel, light the buggers up as fast as the weapons will cycle. I want ta burn these wankers down before Melek Nor can even get here. Science, continual scans for transwarp signature. Oh and Ops... play a music file shipwide you will find tagged in the system by Mister ch'Verret as 'battle one'. We're ta do this in full Highland style ridin' ta the skirl of the pipes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NziNCnUR2cM