Gul Hasar sat in the Cardassian Brig, the prone body of T’saath lying tied tightly behind a forcefield.  The ship was moving slowly at warp 6, and he’d had time to try and stop it.  No matter what he did, the ship kept going.  He’d resolved to find out what he could from the Vulcan.  He was waiting for her to wake up.  Her phaser was now clipped to his utility belt.  He wasn’t sure what or who he would talk to shortly, but he wanted to be prepared.  He leaned forward as she stirred and glanced around, her eyes settling on him.

“You cannot keep us behind this field.  We have control of this ship.”  Her voice was her own, but it retained a chilling chorus as if several others inhibited her body.

Hasar chuckled, “Yes, but you forgot one simple thing.  You forgot to lock out the controls to the lower systems…and one of those is the brig systems, rooms, and forcefields.  You see, we learned long ago that we needed to build them on separate grids to ensure that nobody could take control without separate command codes.”  He stood and stretched, “You erased all those command codes when you made one ship from four.  I found the subroutine and put in my own.  So, for now, this is my home.  And yours.  Which reminds me – we haven’t been introduced.”  T’saath growled a deep muttering sigh of anger as she attempted to free herself from the binding that had encircled her tightly.  “That’s special brig equipment we designed for Vulcans, Klingons, and whatever other strong alien races we might encounter.  We tested it.  Repeatedly.  You didn’t dispose of that either.”  He sighed, “Your name?”

The alien who occupied the Vulcan body spat back, “I am called Enhed.  The sister of Tashlultum, the wife of Rimush who leads us to victory.”  She stopped trying to roll, “I would destroy you, Gul Hasar.”

The Cardassian stood and walked up to the forcefield, “You would try, Arretan.  Something I have discovered that you are starting to suspect is that your powers do not have dominion over me.  It is most unusual…and a glaring exception to most humanoids.”

Enhed was frowning and scowling as she focused on Hasara, with no result.  “This is a trick.  Impossible.  We have dominion over all living things.”

The Gul shrugged, “My guess is the others in your group have tried to come and take over my body like you’ve done so many times…but they cannot…what is the word…connect within me.  It must be infuriating.”

The Arretan inside T’saath remained silent for several minutes until she spoke, subdued.  “It is the main reason this ship exists in the manner it does.  Your people fought to the death…and nearly tore apart the four ships.  They took many of the bodies that we had as well.  None of the people of the planet knew how to fly such a ship as this.  The Cardassian members had fled, never to return.”  She looked from her tied-up position, “You are a stubborn and annoying species.”

Hasara cackled, “That is basically what The Federation has labeled us since the beginning of our relationship.  We did go to war with each other, to be fair.”  He activated the replicator and sipped at some juice, “So you won’t be able to subjugate us.  Perhaps the Breen?” Enhed didn’t speak, and her gaze met the floor.  The Gul waited.  And waited.  Then he knew.  “You can’t control them either!”  He clapped his hands together, “You picked the wrong end of the galaxy to launch your new empire.  That’s why you wanted The Mackenzie…and the rest of Task Force 47.  You can control Vulcans, humans, and the like…an easier target with more bodies to throw around.”

She hissed, “We’ll still have it.  We have this Vulcan to use. They’ll listen to her.  They’ll come for her.  And then, we’ll take them.”

The Cardassian scoffed, “You may get the Mackenzie, but they’ll adapt to you and figure you out pretty quickly.  The universe has changed a lot since you last walked around.”  The Arretan went silent and refused to answer anything further that Hasara asked.  He retired to his chair and began to read a book he had found.  They still had a long way to go.