Disclaimer - Again, I don't own Star Trek.
The Manipulation of the Founders.
Solids are so easy to manipulate, the Female Changeling thought to herself, but the thought was quickly transmitted throughout the Great Link.
The rest of her people agreed with her before they suddenly felt the inclusion of four others of their kind enter the Link, merging with the higher mind of their commonality. As soon as the Female Changeling touched the consciousness of the four newcomers, she realised who they were immediately.
The Great Link had been planning on expanding into a smaller area of the Gamma Quadrant for months even going as further back as before the Federation first encountered the Dominion and escaped to tell the story, though the journey was long and difficult and would require a lot of work. Their plans for the Federation were ongoing, of course, but the Great Link had no intention of simply not bothering to expand further into the Gamma Quadrant.
The newcomers were some of their agents from the Alpha Quadrant. The Great Link had sent them out a while ago, sending three of their number to each of the major powers in order to assume high ranking positions so then they could spy on the various powers like the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the United Federation of Planets and of course the Cardassian Union. By sending more than one of their people to those different powers, the Great Link could receive reports and intelligence while the others continued and carried out their work spying and carrying out acts of sabotage.
The best thing about those acts was no-one ever linked the Changelings with those acts because they were not really seen as important, and they weren't. They were not assassinations of important officials, the destruction of shipyards, those were acts carried out by other powers. But not the Founders. They caused havoc in other ways.
We welcome you back, the Female Shapeshifter said, for too long we have been diminished.
Thank you.
What do you have to report?
The Founder who was part of the group sent to infiltrate the Cardassian Union was the one to reply first. Enabrain Tain has formulated a plan to destroy us.
The rest of the Great Link learnt of the plan in moments, they soon saw that the former head of the Cardassian Obsidian Order had opened negotiations with the Romulan Tal Shiar to combine a fleet of warships to enter the Gamma Quadrant and attack their homeworld in the Omarian Nebula.
It is an elegant plan, the Female Changeling commented throughout the Link, not only does it combine the forces of two powers, but it would, in theory, ensure our doom if we were not aware of it beforehand.
Yes, the Founder who had brought the plan to them said blandly through the Link.
How do we prevent this?
A voice spoke throughout the Link. We do not. I believe this is the perfect opportunity to wipe out the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order in one stroke. We had plans to deal with both of them, but they have given us the perfect opportunity to do it.
How did Tain come up with the scheme?
The Founder who had been infiltrating the Romulan Empire and the Tal Shiar was the one to reply for the benefit of the Link. Tain retired from his position not so long ago, but he has simply been trying to occupy himself. He is typical of solids; he does the work but in the end, he becomes lazy. Ever since he learnt about our existence, Tain has become convinced we are the greatest threat to the Cardassian Union, and he believes that the Central Command had allowed peace with Bajor and the Federation to have blinded them to the threat we pose.
So this is something for him to do and then later reminisce about?
I suppose so. It's hard to tell with solids. They make no sense at the best of times.
We knew that already. Regardless, it makes no difference. I suggest we have a fleet of ships on the other side of the passageway, and as soon as the Romulan and Cardassian ships cross into our quadrant, they should be destroyed.
I agree. They must not attack us.
No. It may end the present threat from both the Obsidian Order and from the Tal Shiar, but it may inspire other solids from the Alpha Quadrant into launching another attack.
Yes, that makes sense.
Solids never learn from the mistakes of others. One generation makes a mistake causing terrible consequences for them, and then a future generation repeats it. They never learn. We must teach them we cannot be easily destroyed. If we are to attack the Alpha Quadrant in force, maybe there would be no harm in making them aware of what we can do and how far we shall go in order to protect ourselves.
You mean trick the solids into thinking they are succeeding when in fact they are walking into a trap?
Yes.
It should be a psychological victory. I believe that instead of liquidating Tain and ending the threat, we do the opposite; we encourage it, guide it along, and lull both fleets into a false sense of security. When they arrive and attack, we should not be here, they come to an empty world instead.
You mean we should evacuate to one of the secondary worlds?
Yes. We have plenty of monitored planets within Dominion held space. We move to one of them while Tain supervises the construction of the two fleets, and when they arrive they won't even realise they've been trapped all along.
The Tal Shiar already have a fleet, but the Obsidian Order will need time to construct their ships. Technically they are not allowed to possess military equipment of any kind, but they have worked around that in the past.
How long will it take?
Word of our existence has already spread throughout the Alpha Quadrant, but it should only take a few months. That gives us plenty of time to move to one of the secondary homeworlds.
Good.
We should also take the time to record what happened to the fleet. When they pass through the wormhole, they shall pass the Deep Space Nine station, and the Starfleet crew will alert the Federation of what is happening, but it is likely Starfleet will not send any ships through the wormhole after the combined fleet. When they fail to return everyone will guess the Cardassians and the Romulans have died. But there will be questions; were they attacked shortly after entering the Gamma Quadrant? Did they succeed in destroying the Dominion? Were they defeated halfway on their journey here? If we record the entire event as the fleet arrives at our world, and what happened to them, we can broadcast it whenever we wish.
Strengthening the psychological effect, convincing the solids that attacking us comes at a high price. Yes, that has been noted.
The Female Shapeshifter had been silent, keeping her thoughts to herself for a while as she processed the news and the plan that had been formed to deal with it. Now she was ready to add her own contribution. The solids have also given us something else, an opportunity to acquire their cloaking technology. With that technology, we can have a fleet of ships that could pass by invisibly towards various targets.
Our knowledge of cloaking technology is extremely limited. We understand the theory, but the Dominion have never needed it.
True, but I believe we should adapt in order to bring order to the chaos in the Alpha Quadrant.
Yes, that is a good idea.
It shall be done.
We are infinite.
We shall have dominion over all of space.
Victory is life.
Yes. Victory is life.
The Great Link was agreed on the course of action.
But one Founder had seen a flaw in the plan. If we carry out this plan, we shall lose one of our highly placed spies in one of the galaxy's largest powers.
Have no fear. There shall be others.
You mean Colonel Lovok, of the Tal Shiar?
Yes. That changeling has brought us a lot of classified information already. Information that will help shape our campaigns against the Romulans. We do not want to lose that kind of informant. If his cover is broken-
It makes no difference, the Female Founder interrupted soothingly. True, we shall lose information and opportunities to truly bring the Romulan Star Empire to its knees, but we have other operatives in other parts of the Alpha Quadrant. Lovok is not the first, nor will he be. In time, with or without that spy, we shall succeed.
The changeling who had brought up the fear instantly understood. My apologies. I was just concerned we were throwing away a resource; without the Lovok agent, we would never have known about this plan to attack the Great Link. I did not feel we should lose or waste such a resource.
Apologies are unnecessary.
Yes. Do not worry. We shall find other opportunities. Solids are finite, we are infinite, we shall succeed.
Yes. We shall succeed.
What do you think?