Harris sat in his ready room, reviewing the latest reports from engineering.  They were working hard and fast to repair the damage that had been done by the Cardassian attack.  They’d managed to get the ship sped up to warp 5.5, and the mood was turning in engineering as the pieces of the repair puzzle began to fit.  The chime to his door rang, and he called out, “Come on in.”  He frowned as Chief Kondo walked in with one of his security officers in tow.  “What can I do for you, Kondo?”

“Ensign Kurtz has some suspicions about a member of the away team.  I think there’s some merit to his concerns.  Ensign?”

The young man gingerly stepped forward, “Ensign Mardo has been acting…weird since she came back from the away mission.  I talk to her pretty much every shift and we get along really well.  When she came back, she wasn’t interested in talking to me at all…and got really mad when I asked her what was going on.”

Ambrose shifted forward over his desk, “You sure she’s just interested in you anymore, Ensign?”  He caught a momentary smile from Kondo.

Kurtz turned red at the implication, “No, sir.  We’re strictly friends.  Nothing like that. She’s not my style or my kinda person.”

Harris looked to Kondo who explained, “I decided to track Mardo’s movements since she came back.  She’s been spending a lot of time in her quarters and in and around the armory.  Those are two places she stays away from normally.  I spoke to her about an hour ago and something has certainly changed.”

The CO dismissed the ensign and turned back to Kondo, “You think it’s possible something came back with her?”

De La Fontaine nodded, “We know when the Jade Dilithium is charged at allows the Arratans to control things.  I think it also allows them to move from one place to another through the stuff.  When the Cardassian ship woke back up, that pathway was opened.  Why they chose Mardo is still unknown.”

Harris let out a long sigh, “We need to get her contained, then.  At least we don’t…oh.”  He shook his head to himself, “We have Jade Dilithium in the cargo bay…secured…but it’s still a risk she could find a way to charge it.”

Kondo pulled up his PADD, “She’s…near the shuttle bay.”

Ambrose stood from his chair, “Lock the Mack down.”  Kondo quickly tapped into the PADD and headed for the bridge, followed by his CO.

Kondo spoke to the ship’s computer, “Computer, lock down all decks, secure all doors, and disable internal and external transporters on my authority.”  The computer beeped, and the lights flickered to orange as the ship’s computer announced the lockdown.  He glanced at his PADD, “She’s outside the shuttle bay.  I’ll take a team.”

Harris gestured to the operations chief, “Take Calog with you – you’re going to need help with ship systems.”  Both men entered the turbolift after Kondo entered his override codes.”  The door closed, and the CO turned to the bridge, “Communicate with our departments – we have the person contained – nobody opens a door for anyone without Chief Kondo’s authorization.”  He returned to his chair.  The clock was ticking.

Kondo had slipped on the phaser rifle rather nonchalantly, and Calog had hesitantly accepted the hand phaser from him, asking, “Are you sure we’re going to need this?”

The security and tactical chief gave him a look, “The briefing details what we know about the Arratans.  There’s plenty we don’t know about.  I’d rather not find out the hard way, you know?”

“I’d rather not find out the hard way either, you know.” Tir reminded him that she was very much a self-preservationist at her core and would like to live, thankyouverymuch.  Calog rolled his eyes at her and continued following at the side of Kondo.  “You make an excellent point.”

They worked their way through several sealed corridors and another locked-down turbolift before they reached the shuttle bay deck. They came to an intersection where the body of a security officer lay sprawled.  Kondo leaned down, “He’s alive.  This was the guard for Henry Wyatt.”

Calog frowned, “What could she possibly want with him?”

“He is El-Aurian.  Maybe they think they can get into his body…live forever?” Calog repeated the same idea to Kondo, crediting his symbiont.  De La Fontaine gave a nod, and they continued towards the shuttle bay.  As they rounded a corner, they found Ensign Mardo holding Wyatt in a hold, a phaser rifle cocked and pointed at his body.

“You cannot hope to stop me.”  

Wyatt was relaxed and almost seemed to regard the Arratan-controlled Mardo with amusement.  “I think they’ll find a way, Arratan.  Your kind never learned how to simply exist with anyone else.”

“I have a name.  My name is Tashlultum.  I am the wife of Rimush, the Son of Sargon.  You will bow to us and serve us.  You will allow me to take a shuttle with your supply of Jade Dilithium, and I may yet allow this rodent to live.”

Kondo kept his phaser rifle up and aimed at Mardo, his finger resting against the trigger, “You must know enough about us to know you’re not leaving us, especially with Mardo.  We get a little possessive of our fellow crewmen.”

Tashlultum in Mardo hissed as if she was a cat, “I will not allow you to ca…,”  Suddenly Wyatt fainted sound away as the possessed officer uttered a “wha…”. At that point, Kondo’s finger wrapped around the trigger and fired, sending Mardo’s body slumping to the ground with a thump.  Tir quickly ascertained the body and gave a thumbs up.

Kondo tapped his badge, “Chief Kondo to Captain Harris.”

=^=Go ahead=^=

“We’ve subdued Mardo.  I would recommend transporting the other members of the away into secure quarantine chambers for examination by Doctor Reid.  We’ll get our subject into the secure brig for further questioning and examination.”

=^=Make it happen.  We’ll get to work on our end.  Harris out=^=

Tir glanced up to Kondo as he restrained the unconscious officer, “What are we going to do with her?”  He glanced at Wyatt, “and him?”

De La Fontaine shrugged, “Lock her down for now.  We have a short window to figure out how to handle the other Arratans.  I suspect that is our next step.  As for Wyatt,”  He motioned to the El-Aurian, “Come with us.  Sickbay is on its way to handling your escort’s injuries.”  Wyatt gave a quiet nod as Kondo gestured for Tir to grab the woman’s shoulders, and they began the process of carrying her to the brig.