Captain Oteng sat in the conference room at the head of the table, PAAD out in front, listening intently to his Operations Officer. It had been a day (or maybe two) since the Los Angeles had encountered the Jem’Hadar patrol. After the first ship was destroyed, the others had retreated, and that didn’t sit well with anyone on his staff. After the battle, Lt. Commander Pearse had excused herself while she reviewed the logs and sensor readings. Afterwards, she had made a most unusual request…to recover key parts of the destroyed Jem’Hadar wreckage. She and Eloísa had both come up with the fragments that would be most useful, and well, it was an idea worth pursuing. Now, Lt. Commander Pearse was presenting her findings, and well, he was disturbed.

He tuned back into what Saorise was saying as she presented.

“After intensive scans, we were able to retrieve the parts that contained records, though they are obviously incomplete. If the Jem’Hadar even suspected that we could access these pieces of intelligence, they would have not retreated as easily. Their retreat was ordered by the Vorta, so far as we can tell.”
Captain Oteng interrupted. “To what end? Are they testing our response and tactics, or are they distracting us from something more nefarious?”
“Well, Captain…it’s too soon to tell. We need to do more analysis, but preliminary evidence points toward some combination of the two. In my opinion, I believe the Jem’Hadar were testing our response time. Seeing how fast we can get to anywhere on the line.”
“Hmmm…okay. Thank you Commander. I appreciate it.” Fabien turns to Brooklyn. “I want to increase our alert condition to yellow alert, and make sure the shields are online and at full readiness.”
“Aye sir. Permission to leave for the bridge?”
“Granted.”
With that, his first officer gets up and walks out of the meeting, leaving the rest of the staff gathered around the table.
Captain Oteng looks around the conference room and then stands up. Per tradition, everyone also stands at attention.
“Alright everyone; thank you; we will reconvene tomorrow, barring any more developments…”
As soon as he says that, the red alert klaxons go off and the ship shudders.
“Dismissed! Everyone to stations. Doctor, head straight to sickbay.”
“Yep, was thinking that myself.”

With that, the senior staff disperses and leaves the conference room. They walk with purpose onto the bridge where a full-blown engagement is in progress. Captain Oteng heads straight to his chair, steadying himself on the railing as another hit comes through. “Report!”
“Captain, two Jem’Hadar ships have just crossed the border, gunning straight for us; we’re taking fire but also giving as good as we have.”
“Right. Helm, continue pattern epsilon; Mr. Spencer, fire at will!”
The phaser array comes to life as the ship maneuvers into position and fires its phasers, hitting one of the ships.
“Captain, torpedoes ready, and targeted. Continuing phaser spread.”
“Helm, move us closer, increase our speed to half-impulse, combat maneuverability.”
“Aye sir. Closing range.”
Captain Oteng pulls his display closer, then at a close distance, he calls out “Fire torpedoes, full spread, maximum efficacy!”
“Firing sir!”
The three torpedoes leave the ship and one after another, impact the Jem’Hadar fighter and destroyed it. The other fighter continued firing on the Los Angeles, even after its companion was destroyed.
“One eliminated, Captain.” Saoirse spoke up from the Ops position.
“Helm, move to engage the second one; Mr. Spencer, you know what to do.”
A chorus of “Ayes” rang out as the two carried out their orders. Soon, the second ship exploded, and Fabien let out a sigh of relief.

That was two engagements within days of each other. Something didn’t feel right about what was going on.

“Miss Pearse, my ready room please. Commander Abramov, you have the bridge. Stand down from red alert and begin battle assessment and damage control.”
“Aye sir, I have the bridge.” As soon as Fabien stands up, Brooklyn stands up and moves to the Captain’s chair. Tom is busy inputting orders and beginning to download the sensor logs and other reports. As everyone completes their tasks, Fabien allows Saoirse to enter his ready room, ready to discuss what just happened.