Chapter 2
*All right,* Dana thought grabbing one of the rifles, *let's get them out of the brig.*
She walked of the bridge and took the lift down. Once down she stepped out and made her way toward engineering. Ten meters down the corridor, she felt something. She concentrated and turned a full circle. There was definitely something or somebody there - the EM field was now clearly readable to Dana. In fact she wondered why she hadn't felt it before, since it was very strong. Then it tuned down again to a low hum. She opened her eyes, and looked at the ominous black interior of the ship. The eerie silence prevailed.
Dana turned right, the gentle feeling of an organic energy field nearby slowly increasing in strength. Dana waited and looked at the rifle, then she put it down against the wall and continued on her way. She rounded another corner, into an empty corridor. She stopped and drew her katana from the inside of her coat.
"I know you're here. I know you've changed yourself in part of the corridor, so don't bother hiding," Dana said calmly. Inside however she wasn't so calm; this meant trouble, big trouble: the minute this ship went missing, every Dominion ship in the vicinity would come looking for it.
Part of the ceiling, floor and walls changed their texture, becoming an orange liquid that slithered to the middle of the corridor, where it started rising in cone-like shape. Once the orange liquid left the wall, the same wall was revealed behind it. Slowly the cone changed in a Humanoid shape and soon a male founder stood there. "How did you know I was there?"
"I can sense electromagnetic fields," Dana explained coolly, "especially organic ones. It's like a warning system. You can change yourself into anything you want to, but a small part must always stay the same, or you would no longer be who you are. I can detect that."
"I see. How many more are there, with your ability?" the founder asked coolly. Dana knew the cool tone was just a facade.
"You would like me to tell how many and where you can find them, right?" Dana asked, as cool as he. "Eliminate them all, so you can keep hiding among us?"
"Of course, but I've got a feeling you won't cooperate. Am I right?" the changeling asked, still icily.
"You're correct, I won't. Mostly because I don't know how many and where they exactly are," Dana answered him.
"Tell me something. When I suggested this, the others, founders or otherwise, didn't believe me. The moral Federation would never do such a thing. They were thinking about the Klingons maybe, most likely the Romulans. But it is the Federation who created the virus, didn't it?" the founder asked, knowing full well that if the person he was talking to knew about it she wouldn't tell him, but most likely she didn't know about it at al. He was shocked by the answer.
"Yes, we did. Or more accurately, one specific section in Starfleet Intelligence did. It's called Section 31. Only a handful of people know about it, or what they do; the members have no identity, officially they're or dead or never born. The rest of the Federation would condemn what they did, if they knew what they did and that they even existed," Dana said chillingly, then asked, "Are you infected with it?"
"I am, but I haven't shown any of the symptoms yet. I was one of the last to be infected. You're quite talkative. Aren't you betraying your precious Federation now?" the changeling sneered at her.
"What does it matter what you know? You're dead in a few minutes anyway," Dana answered him nonchalantly.
"Confident, overconfident. Do you know where Section 31 is and can you get in?" the changeling asked her, figuring she was one of them.
"I know where it is, but nobody who doesn't belong there gets in. Not even one of you," Dana told him.
"You're not an operative of this 'Section 31'?" the founder asked astonished.
"No, I'm the one who founded it," Dana answered him with a small smirk on her face. The founder looked even more astonished and completely confused and not understanding at all. "Look," Dana decided to continue, "this is a nice conversation and all, but I've got an artificial wormhole to destroy. So let's cut this conversation short, shall we?" Dana raised her sword in a ready position and advanced on him. He didn't move and she sliced her katana through him, from his right shoulder to his left hip, she wasn't surprised that he was still standing, without even showing a hint that it even mildly bothered him.
"Arrogant, little bitch," the founder said as his left arm became a tentacle and wrapped itself around Dana's throat. As he lifted her of the floor and started squeezing her neck, he continued his sentence, "Did you really think you could kill me that easily? Personally I think you're in luck. Since you've already told what I wanted know, I've decided to kill you. If you hadn't, I had left you to the Cardassians to extract it out of you."
While he said this, Dana had grabbed the tentacle around her neck instinctively with both hands, dropping her sword. She tried to get it off, but it didn't work, her face went red and she was gasping for air. And after about thirty seconds her body went limp in the Changeling's tentacle.
The changeling dropped her and thought to himself, as he stepped over her body and started to walk toward the bridge, *Stupid solid. She just told what I wanted to know. Now we know what to look for, it's only a matter of time before we find this 'Section 31' and the cure.* And then he stopped dead in his tracks in shock, for behind him he heard her standing up and picking up her sword as her voice pierced the silence.
"You arrogant, stupid asshole. Did you actually think that if I could die that easily, I would come after you with nothing more but a sword? Especially since I have access to every weapon in this ship," Scully hissed at him, an almost mad look in her eye. She had decided to find out, what it would take to kill one of them and she was determined to find out.
The founder, in the mean time, had turned around and looked at her, completely astonished. "You . . . you . . . you're dead . . ." he stammered at her.
"I know, I've been dead for four hundred years," Scully said in a grim tone. Then she ran at him. Right in front him, she jumped in a pirouette. Her sword went into him and she quickly pirouetted straight through the changeling; the outward force was larger than the central directed force of the changeling and globs of his orange body splashed all over the place. When she landed, she looked around at the globs of liquid body, and then she saw them rapidly turn to dust, leaving only a sand-like substance. She wiped the dust from her body; it crumbled easily to the floor. The EM field was now no longer present. Dana walked around the corner as she re-sheathed her sword. Behind the corner she picked up her rifle and continued her way toward engineering.
Once she reached engineering, she looked around and found what she was looking for at the place where it should be: an industrial replicator. She ordered what she needed - a thick metal plate - she placed it on the floor, then shot at it with her rifle. After a few shots at close range the plate looked like the surface of the moon. Dana smiled in satisfaction, picked up the plate of metal, and put it under her clothes on her back. The ambassadorial and long coat covered it up nicely.
*Next stop: brig,* Dana thought to herself as she started walking briskly in the right direction. *That damn founder messed up the time table severely.*
*****
"Heilig gesodemieter!" Hans cursed in his native language as he looked out the force field toward the entrance to the brig area. "Claudia, Kovar, come here and tell me I'm not going insane."
"You're not going insane, Hans," Claudia said teasingly as she turned back toward him, "you already are!"
"Ha, ha, very funny," Hans answered her dryly. "I'm serious."
Claudia and Kovar walked toward him and looked out the force field. Claudia's jaw dropped and Kovar's right eye brow shot up.
"That's . . . that's . . ." Claudia said disbelieving.
"That is the ambassador," Kovar stated coolly for her. From the mutters and sounds from the other holding cells, they could tell the others had noticed her too.
"Yes, but if I remember correctly, she was shot dead, not forty-five minutes ago," Hans told him.
"It appears our eyes deceived us," Kovar once again said without a hint of emotion.
The force field dropped and they stepped out of the holding cell, as did the ones in the other holding cells. The first question on everybody's lips was, "How did you . . . ?"
Dana raised her hands, showing they should be silent. Once they were, she explained, "I can slow down al my vital signs. Unless you make a very thorough check, you'll think I'm dead. During that time I can heal far faster as normal . . . "
"But that still doesn't explain why you're not dead," Admiral Ventura answered, as Kovar nodded in understanding. Many Vulcans had that ability, including him.
"I wasn't finished yet, if you would let me speak," Dana told him sternly, looking him straight in the eye. Then she turned back to the twenty-four people and continued, grabbing under her clothes at her back, "As I was saying, I was wearing this." The inch thick, charred, metal plate clanged to the floor as she grinned at them. Smiles crept up the others' faces as the supposed facts sank in.
Dana cut the euphoria off, before more precious time lost celebrating. "All right, listen up. The ship's clean, no more Dominion crew are left. Except for our friendly neighborhood Andorian over there - you're with me - you should all know which positions you should fill. So let's move. Get to your positions; I'll brief you once we're where we should be."
They walked out of the bridge, each to their respective station. Dana, Kovar, Admiral Ventura, the Andorian, and a female Lieutenant went toward the bridge.
"Admiral, for the duration of this mission, I and Commander Makai outrank you," Dana told Admiral John Ventura. "That means, if I'm not present or killed, the Commander still is in command, get it?"
"Understood, captain. Essentially for the duration of this mission, I'm demoted to Lieutenant Commander," the Admiral answered her.
"Good, you understand," Dana said neutrally, then turned to Commander Makai. "Do you understand what it means?"
"I don't need to take crap from the admiral during this mission," the blue skinned commander Makai answered with a grin and raised eyebrows.
"Essentially correct," Dana answered as the lift opened on the bridge. She stepped out, Kovar took navigation, Hans went straight to helm controls, Admiral Ventura took tactical, and the female took the damage control/science station. Dana grabbed one head set and tossed it toward Makai. While he put his on, Dana grabbed the second head set and put it on her own head, then moved the screen up so she didn't have to look in it yet.
"Ensign, are we still on course toward the Badlands?" Dana asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Hans answered professionally, "course directly toward the Badlands."
"Good," Dana said, as she pushed the intercom button. "All right people, listen up. What you're about to hear is classified, so once we get back you don't talk about it with anyone, not even someone who's with us now, understood?" Acknowledging sounds came from the other side.
"Well then; Starfleet Intelligence has found evidence that the Dominion is building an artificial wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant," Dana paused and saw alarmed looks on the faces on the bridge and murmurs of dread coming from the intercom. "Our mission's primary objective is to destroy this wormhole, which, according to intelligence reports, is nearing completion. Our mission's secondary objective is to implant a virus in the Dominion's computer system which will delete all references to the artificial wormhole, including its blueprints. The wormhole was designed by a Trill Federation scientist, who died, while helping to destroy the first artificial wormhole. Any questions?"
"What is the plan?" Admiral Ventura asked.
Dana grinned at him. "We hijack a Dominion warship. That done we find the wormhole, fly up to it - without them knowing it's us - and then we destroy it. Afterwards we find a way to release the virus in the Dominion and Cardassian computer networks."
"Great plan," the female behind the science console muttered sarcastically.
"I thought so, or I wouldn't be standing here," Dana answered her, grinning.
"No more questions? Goo-" Scully was about to conclude when the doctor's voice came through the intercom.
"Yeah, I have a question. Doctor Marcus here. It's more of a statement really. I can't seem to find the sickbay on this ship."
"That's because there is no sickbay on this ship, Doctor Marcus. You can either use the morgue or try to convert one of the living quarters into one," Dana answered.
"Bashir chose the last option, Doctor, if you want to know what a doctor chose with some more time to make a decision," Hans piped in, as he looked back, he received a appreciative, yet deeply disapproving glare from Dana. He decided to add, "Sorry. In the future I'll ask permission to give advice."
"Was that all, Doctor?" Dana asked, forcing Hans to turn around with just one look. Kovar's eyebrow raised as he watched his friend's uncharacteristic behavior, and the ease with which the captain kept him in check.
A deep sigh came from the intercom, then Marcus' businesslike voice saying, "I guess that'll have to do. I'll inform you when I can start receiving patients. I would be much obliged if you could refrain from sending any until that time. Marcus out."
Dana smiled briefly, then ordered, "Engineering, start examining every inch of this ship. I want it combed. Report anything out of the ordinary immediately, and send someone to find our communicators, this intercom is irritating. I'm expecting your full report in two hours."
"Yes, sir," a male voice reached her ears.
"Captain, we've reached the Badlands," Hans told her.
"All right, Ensign, drop out of warp and ease us in there, then set course for Sector 283 and get us there as fast as possible without blowing us all to kingdom come," Dana told him.
"Yes, ma'am," Ensign Papen acknowledged.
"Anything on sensors, Lieutenant Palermo?" Dana said, turning her head to the science console.
"Only plasma, dust, and energy, sir. Everything you'd expect from the Badlands," the female science officer answered.
"Good, notify me of any change," Dana told her.
"Captain?" a voice came over the intercom.
Dana sighed, walked back a few paces, and pushed the intercom button. "Yes, commander?"
"Captain, we've done an internal sensor sweep first and we found our Runabout in cargo hold two," the chief engineer's voice told her.
"I'll be there in a minute, be there," Dana ordered him. A smirk crept up her face.
"We're already on our way," the engineer told her.
She pulled her finger of the intercom button and was prepared to leave the bridge, when Ensign Papen interrupted, "Captain?"
Dana turned toward him and said, "Yes, Ensign."
"One question; I've been thinking, what are our odds?" Hans asked.
Dana took a few steps closer to him and said, grinning ferally at him, "The chances of us succeeding in the primary objective are 96.73%, chances of us succeeding and surviving are 1.56%, chances of succeeding and surviving the secondary objective as well are .033%."
"In other words; this is a suicide mission," Hans stated. "They don't expect us to do the secondary objective, do they?"
"No, they're expecting to have to send in a second team to finish the job," Dana told him.
"Great, just great," Hans said. Dana looked around and saw the others looking a bit paler, except Kovar and Makai. The last looked a bit more yellowish.
Dana put her hand reassuringly on Hans' shoulder. He looked up at her smiling face. "Don't worry," she said, then spoke louder to all the people on the bridge. "I've always got a backup plan, and if it's in anyway possible, my backup plan will have a backup plan. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go tend to those backup plans." And then Dana walked of the bridge remembering a different time.
~~X~~