Captain Harkness had been in command of the Defiant for a year now and he knew his ship inside out. Until today's battle he had just lost another three, including his acting first officer, killed instantly when a plasma valve had exploded in his face.
Captain Harkness' orders were to remain out at Deep Space Nine for as long as possible and cause as much trouble as he possibly could. The mission was a dangerous one. The constant fighting was taking its toll and Captain Harkness had lost his original first officer just over a month ago. He still felt regret for his loss, he had served with the man for a long time and had known him well.
The Federation's offer of a new first officer had caught Strax by surprise but he had been pleased to accept. He needed the help and from her personnel file, it appeared that the newly promoted Romulan was good at her job. With her science background she would be doubly useful. She had studied science and after graduation, had won a scholarship to study at a Terran university after which she had completed a further year's postgraduate study at the Vulcan Science Academy. She was now twenty four years old. He made a mental note to organise a training programme for her, to allow her to become more familiar with Domino methods and procedures. He knew that she would find serving on Oath Keeper very different from the Starfleet's ships she was used to.
After the Enterprise was destroyed the crew was reassigned only Demi remained at Deep Space Nine.
Getting more interested, Captain Harkness began to investigate but there was nothing in either the Federation or Klingon databases, not even a date of birth. It was as though six years ago, the Klingon had not existed. Reading the record again.
The freighter had been badly damaged in the attack and it took the Federation engineers three days to get it space-worthy again. Even then, the stricken ship wasn't going anywhere under its own power. The Jem'hadar had been surprised that he had lost only six crew members in the battle, including the first officer. The final body count would have been higher but the Vulcan Savvok and Doctor Bashir had worked wonders and several men that had been expected to die of their injuries, owed their lives to her dedication. Their recovery would be slow, but it was expected that they would eventually be able to return to active duty.
Progress was painfully slow. Despite all the repairs, the freighter's structural integrity field could withstand no more than warp two. The man had been very relieved that the two ships had come to his rescue, but even as he thanked them, he had been unable to resist adding a few complaints, wanting to know what had taken them so long, and what was Starfleet playing at anyway, leaving a defenceless freighter to travel without protection?