The Dominion's border was close, and First felt the excitement flaring inside of him. Finally, they were returning home, and that was something to rejoice, he guessed, in the stoic manner a Jem'Hadar could do so.
But First also sensed trepidation building up alongside that eagerness. For the warriors who now came back to the Founders had changed. They were now free of their addiction, both their bodies and minds. They were no longer servants whose only purpose in life was to be born and die following blindly the shape-shifting creatures' designs. They had learnt they had their own will, and that it was their right to exercise it.
They were free now. However, First realized, the rest of his fellow Jem'Hadar had never come to think they were not. And so they were alone. They would very probably cross that invisible net that enfolded their territory and found themselves shunned from their own people. Because he planned to talk to all of them about everything he had discovered thanks to Relnak, but he doubted they would listen to any of his words. For the rest of his race, the Founders were gods.
Their return could be a bittersweet one. His sharp mind, engineered so he could easily grasp the military tactics, allowed First to envision many more scenarios, now that long hours with the rogue Cardassian scientist had shown him the interest of them. His mental world widened, but his spoken words were still few.
In the bridge, in spite of the inner expectancy they all felt, there was only silence, and every one focused obsessively in their respective tasks.
And that fact saved their lives in the first strike.
Fifth, who manned the science station, never frowned or took in his breath; he remained as impassively as ever, and only the rapid flow of his fingers over the alien console showed that something abnormal had happened. An unknown distortion in the space grid behind us. He thought, and immediately turned to study it. In the next fraction of second Fifth noted the anomaly was advancing towards them. The next one, he had already figured it out.
"A quantum torpedo is coming for us!" he shouted, but there was no hint of alarm in his voice.
"Raise shields," First coolly ordered.
They were all on their feet, even if the Romulan vessel was designed with seats for most of their posts.
The red alarm sounded in all the ship, in a strange language that was actually becoming familiar to them. Decoding the signs that the ship's screens continuously sent to them was delaying their responses, but not much.
Fifth indicated the course of the incoming torpedo. Immediately, First ordered an evasive maneuver. The helmsman obeyed at the double, the ship whirling so abruptly that its system could not even entirely compensate the momentum and they all grasped their consoles so they would not fall down. The cloaking device suddenly dropped as they raised their shields.
The next instant, the entire ship shook. The shields had taken the hit, but the clash of energies was so violent that it racked through the small vessel, even if no damage came from it.
"Another inbound," Fifth announced.
This time, the tactical officer was prepared and fired away the interceptors without awaiting for his direct order.
The torpedo was still too close to home, and even if the defensive measures successfully halted it, the resulting explosion was not entirely lost in the void of space, the shocking wave reaching the already debilitated shields.
"Locate the enemy ship, now!" First harshly ordered, and turning towards his second, who acted also as chief tactical officer, he added, "Fire a wild round."
The Jem'Hadar knew very well their chances of hitting their attacker in a blind shot were scarce, but their aggressive nature told them returning fire was imperative. They had to show their sharpened teeth too.
But their mysterious foe had the upper hand, and before any of his crew could get their possible location, and while their own shots were harmlessly lost in space, more torpedos came their way towards them.