Once the door slid shut behind him, the room was dark. Only the light of a small communications pad and the gap at the bottom of the door providing any illumination. Before the door closed, he could clearly make out three figures shrouded in hooded cloaks. In the dim light, he could make out their silhouettes. The one in the middle was clearly shorter than the two that flanked him. The anonymity, of course, was for the benefit of anyone else happening upon the room. He KNEW who they were. "You summoned me?" The Cardassian asked nervously.

The figure in the middle held up the communications pad. On it was a distant picture of the USS Warlord. Just above it were even smaller images of smaller vessels. "We have a problem, Councilman Tegril." The melodic male's voice complained. "Do you see the ships just above the Federation ship?"

Ross Tegril squinted to see. The pad itself was small; the image even smaller. However, he could make them out. They were quite small in comparison to the mammoth starship currently in orbit. "Yes, I do," he eventually answered.

"I thought we had an understanding that the Federation was to stay put." Despite the smooth sound to his voice, he was clearly agitated.

"It wasn't me!" Tegril answered defensively. "Dogran gave them permission to do some warp tests on the ships."

"Calm yourself," the voice insisted. Tegril took several deep breaths. "Do you know where they're heading?" the voice asked calmly.

"I believe they were heading to the Sheva system. I don't know if they're going anywhere else. Dogran gave them a list of restricted places not to go." He was desperately hoping he wouldn't have to answer any more questions.

"Do you know if the Orias system was among the list of restricted areas?" He asked melodically.

That was the one question he hoped he wouldn't have to answer. "It was not," he admitted sheepishly.

"That is most regrettable," the figure concluded. He tapped his fingers along the communications pad for several minutes, while Ross Tegril waited nervously. Sweat ran down the side of his face. "If they discover our operation... " His demeanor changed to become considerably more authoritative. The figure obviously turned his head to one of his associates. "Have our people contact the base. Tell them to keep all the ships but one scout hidden. If the Federation are truly testing their warp systems, which I doubt, then they may not even come. If they do, don't give away our position unless they get too close. If they do decide to start snooping around, destroy them. Put a jamming field around the area, too. Have our base contact us if they engage the Federation."

"What about me?" Tegril asked. He was desperatly hoping he would simply be dismissed. He just wanted to hide.

"I'm afraid Chief Councilman Dogran needs to be removed from office. We need to discourage people from pursuing relations with the Federation." That statement left a hard lump in Tegril's throat. "I will contact you later this afternoon with a time and place for you to meet Dogran alone. We'll have an ambush waiting. Dismissed."