Gelnon stared at the image of his precious, disintegrating battleship longingly. His chances for success were dwindling rapidly and all because of a handful of diplomats and a leader who didn't know when to shut up. Looking more closely at the scan of the Warlord, he could see it was finally taking some damage. Somehow, that didn't comfort him as much as he would have liked. Behind him, his last hope of either salvage or escape was weeping uncontrolably on his knees. Gelnon reached down and grabbed Ross by his face. "The Federation has killed your family, but you have millions of Cardassians still at risk! Order your people to engage your enemy!"

"Engage your enemy, engage your enemy, engage your enemy..." those words cut through Ross' remorse. He had endured so much just to keep them safe. He put his entire planet at risk to save two people... two people he cherished more than his own life. Now, they were gone. His reason for living was gone. All he had left was a failing government which he was in charge of. "Engage your enemy," Gelnon's voice repeated in his head. His eyes still blurry with tears, he looked up at the pale-faced person who had dominated his life for almost a year. The person who had manipulated him, enticed him, bribed him, deceived him, and finally... cost him everything. Tegril's was a look of defiance. "Fine," he said quietly. Slowly, he stood up and straighted his uniform. This would be his last moment of life... he would live it with the dignity and fortitude he should have had for the past year.

He stepped forward to the communications panel. Next to it, he saw the satellite relay of what was occurring in space just above his home. Warlord was damaged, but skirting past the moon with a cruiser not far behind. Waiting between the moon and Cardassia Prime were three smaller, crab-looking attack fighters. Not far away, five Galor-class Cardassian cruisers sat and waited. The Dominion numbers had dwindled to eight, clearly demonstrating the Starfleet vessel's firepower. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he knew would be the last thing he ever did.

Tegril pressed several buttons on the communications panel that opened a public address frequency that would be heard both on the ground and in the air. Gelnon tensed, waiting to hear the words Ross Tegril, the cardassian he put into power. Making a quick nod to his First, the Jem'Hadar slipped his finger over the safety setting of his weapon, activating it. "This is Prefect Ross Tegril," he began, his voice shaking, "there are people both on the ground and in space who claim to have our best interests at heart. They are liars and deceivers. They have been here before under the guise of peace only to start a war. We can sit on the sidelines no longer. Rise up and destroy the Dominion! Take our planet..."

At the nod from his master, the Jem'Hadar fired his weapon into Tegril's back. As Ross' lifeless body slumped to the ground, Gelnon realized it was too late. The damage had been done. He had but one option left. He turned to his First. "I need one of the two remaining cruisers brought into orbit immediately. Order them to beam us aboard. We need to leave while we can."

"What about the Founder?" the Jem'Hadar asked. "Our mission was to free her."

"That will have to wait," Gelnon replied calmly. "We can't very well do that if we're dead."

Barely audible to all but the vorta, shouts of cardassian rage could be heard from the streets, and it was getting louder.