—- USS Luna, Transporter Room 1 —-

The away team rematerlialized on the platform and everyone rushed off to do their jobs. Lieutenants Junior Grade Hume and Flores to the security office, Cruz went to the bridge and S’anra Navan went to speak with her government. Only Chief Diplomatic Officer Acharya had not direct role to play in the emergency response to finding an entire Romulan station dead, so she remained in the transporter room a bit longer.

”Can I help you Lieutenant?” asked Chief Petty Officer Keerroxa Breasi, annoyed that she had to refrain from running the diagnostics she had planned to wait on a tardy officer. 

Acharya shook her head, “No I’m just thinking about how to make my arrival on the ship special.”

Breasi looked at her confused, while she did not have the details of the station the rest of the crew had seemed to be in some hurry and now the diplomatic officer was talking weirdly. She reached out with her mind, being a Betazoid she should have been able to read the human’s thoughts.

”Lieutenant?” she asked confused.

”Oh you’re one of those telepaths I’ve heard about,” Acharya said, “very annoying.”

Breasi reached for her comm badge but Acharya was fast, moving across the room before the Betazoid woman could raise her hand. Acharya pinned Breasi to the wall her hands holding the other woman’s wrists and smiled. A third hand, of sorts, grew out of Acharya’s stomach and formed itself into a blade.

”Thank you for helping me announce myself to the ship,” Acharya said and plunged the bladed hand forward into Breasi’s stomach.

—- USS Luna, Bridge —-

Captain Adriana Cruz hunched over the console watching her Chief Science Officer type. 

“I’ve used our scanner readings. They’re incomplete because the station is shielded as you know Romulans are secretive. But passive scanners were running the whole time you were over there,” Lieutenant Commander Gabriella Miller said, “Looking back though them there’s one like sign that pops up but it vanishes then pops up again. Again it could be because the of the shielding.”

Cruz pointed, “Here’s the reading of Acharya and me on the bridge, she goes into the office. Wait why is there two readings? One appears a few minutes later here.”

Miller shook her head, “Not sure, then suddenly Acharya’s life signs get weak. But she was fine when you beamed back right?”

”Totally fine, didn’t mention anything. Yet wait her life sign isn’t moving,” Cruz said, “It’s still there?”

Miller looked at the screen, “I don’t know.”

Cruz turned to Klar, “Send the Hazard Team to look at the bridge and office, phaser rifles for everyone. Go now.”

Klar nodded, “On our way.”

Cruz’s comm beeped, “Cruz here.”

”Captain this is Tashai, you’d better get down to the transporter room,” Tashai said over the comm link.

—- USS Luna, Transporter Room 1 —-

Doctor Va’Tok ran a scan over the Betazoid, “She will live, maybe. Severe internal bleeding however, I’m taking her to the medical bay.”

Two blue suited officers lifted her on the stretcher and began to move towards medical bay and out of the transporter room. Cruz watched them go as Chief Operating Officer Tashai and Chief of Security Claudia Jara stood by and watched. The Luna had not had a murder, or attempted murder, on board before, so this was serious. It was also serious considering that there were two thousand dead Romulans on the nearby station who Cruz could not put out of her mind. Whatever had lead to the deaths of the station’s crew, was now seemingly was on board the ship.

Jara’s team closed off the corridor.

”I’ve put an alert out for Lieutenant Acharya,” Jara said.

Cruz nodded, then her comm badge beeped, “This is Cruz.”

“Klar with the Hazard team,” Klar said on the other side of the communication, “We found Lieutenant Acharya, bleeding in the office. We’re beaming her to medical bay.”

”Stay in groups of two or more,“ Cruz said and then she ended the call, “We need to find out what that station was doing.”

—- USS Luna, Briefing Room —-

The senior staff, minus Lieutenant Acharya, had assembled and taken their seats around the illuminated table. At the head of it was Captain Adriana Cruz who was in a frustrated mood and had the sinking sense that this meeting was about to make her feel more frustrated. When Romulan liaison S’anra Navan began speaking that was confirmed.

“The station was operated by the Romulan military for the past several years, since the collapse the previous government,” Navan began, she was standing and gestured at a semantic of the station on a screen. Continuing she explained, “Prior to the military and the Romulan civilian government taking it over it belonged to the Tal Shiar and was a research station for some of their most dangerous experiments.”

“Meaning weapons,” said Chief Intelligence Officer Chief Jake Dornall flatly. Starfleet had not been blind to instillations like this, and while he had not served against the Romulans he had certainly come across information into just to what extremes they would go to. 

“Weapons and other projects,” Navan said nodding at Dornall, “Near the end of our war with the Dominion we arrested a shapeshifter posing as a Senator on our former home-world. The Tal Shiar took it and brought it to this station for experimenting. The shapeshifter remained imprisoned when the military took the station, but it had undergone decades of experimentation.”

“Why didn’t our scanners pick it up when we beamed it over?” Asked Cruz, “We should have Doctor Crusher’s most recent scanning technology installed.”

Chief Operations Officer Tashai nodded, “We do, but from what Navan is saying extensive genetic and other modifications have been done, it’s likely it looks nothing like a changeling to our scanners.”

“This was meant to be a weapon to be used against the Federation or Klingons,” Navan said, “Efforts would have likely been made to mask its biosigns during transport. Also likely its strength would have been augmented and other things done, under the belief that we could control it.”

The Chief Strategic Operations Officer Eleanor Dorian chimed in, “There is a second issue, a very large Warbird is making its way towards us.”

Navan nodded, “A ship is being sent to clean this up. The trouble is that given the changeling, as you call it, given its abilities the way they will clean this up is destroying the station and the Luna. With everyone onboard.”

“How far away is the Warbird?” Cruz asked.

“Two days,” Dorian said.

“We need to solve this in two days,” Cruz said, “And any of us could be the changling. Great, okay Jara I want guards in pairs around all the areas that the changeling could cause mass death. Engineering air intake areas, environmental controls, warp engineers, whatever.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jara said.

“Unless there’s anything else let’s meet tonight for updates, we have a countdown now,” Cruz said, “I doubt any of us, even if one of us is the changeling, want to miss it.”

—- First Officer’s Room —-

Klar growled, he was ill at ease since the meeting. He had not fought in the Dominon War which had been over long before he had entered the KDF, but he knew about the changelings, They had no honor, and struck without facing their opponents in open combat. He knew that one on one he would prevail, but a changeling was not going to do that.

“Come,” he barked as his door chime rang. In entered the Bajoran Sesi Oari who was a head of the Hazard team and who he had been training with the last few days. After the Captain’s decision not to further pursue a relationship that Klar had defined as most definitely being intended to end up with them marries with children living in the Klingon Empire, Oari had been a looser more relaxed presence in his life. 

She believed nonsense about prophets and all that Bajoran hokum, but Klar had realized that expecting a Starfleet officer to move with him back to the Empire was unlikely, so this was more relaxed.

”What are you doing here?” he asked.

”Rumours around the ship about a changeling?” Oari said, “and I didn’t want to spend my free time alone in my room.”

”So you came for protection,” Klar said showing his teeth in a wide grin. 

Oari laughed, “Actually maybe I could protect you.”

Klar laughed again at the thought of the small woman protecting him. He took a bat’leth from his wall, “If I get my hands on the changeling I will show it the sharp end of my bat’leth.”

Oari smiled, “I love a man with a sword. Can I see it?”

Klar nodded and handed it over, handle side first. Oari examined it, “Nice. I’ve always admired Klingon weapon work.“

Klar nodded, “Forged for my father, he fought the changelings and their minions.”

”Then this is appropriate,” Oari said and seemed to grow two feet taller and twister, the blade slashing at Klar’s neck. He grabbed his neck as it bleed and Oari pivoted stabbing him in the chest with the other end of the Klingon weapon.

Klar fell the the ground, and the last thing he was was himself standing over himself laughing.