When agreeing to head up the new SCE Unit on the Odyssey, Reuben Gray hadn’t expected his first big project to be focussed on restoring a planet-wide defence grid. He had a number of engineers under him; most of them were enlisted officers, and a good number were young and almost inexperienced. As a result, on more than one occasion, Gray found himself rechecking work to ensure it was done correctly. He hated sloppy work, and he had already decided that once this mission was over, he would put together a comprehensive training program for every member of the SCE unit. So to ensure they met the goal set by Fleet Captain McCallister, Gray had been fortunate to receive help from Lieutenant Commander Tierra, the Odyssey’s chief engineer. Working together in tandem, the two senior engineers were quickly working on trying to restore the Presedium-class station that sat in orbit of the M-class world. 

“I thought the plan had been to get every other defence system working?” Tierra had checked. The Deltan chief engineer had questioned Gray’s plan earlier in the morning, but after Gray had shared they were on track to restore power to the rest of the orbital weapon’s platforms by midday, along with three of the colony’s phased ion cannons, he wanted to crack on with the station, which Captain Duncan had agreed to over breakfast. 

Now they stood in their EVA suits, working on the shell that was Divnium Station. With a group of engineers from his SCE unit and her engineering department, they were focusing on installing a new computer processor and restoring the station’s power.

Gray focused on connecting the new processor to what remained of the station’s computer systems. Though the processor they were installing was not of the exact specification or as advanced as the original, it would be enough. He could feel his ocular implant itching just above his left eye. Where he once had an eyebrow was now replaced by what remained of his Borg scars. He hated it. And he hated it even more due to him wearing an EVA suit and not being able to give the itch a good scratch. 

“I don’t get it,” Tierra stated over her suit’s intercom, interrupting’s Gray’s thoughts around his annoying irritation. 

“Come again, Tierra,” Gray replied.

“I don’t see how the Dominion could remove these systems so quickly and with precision. Furthermore, I don’t get why would they? What a waste of resources,” Tierra clarified as she activated an EPS tap. “It’s not logical.”

“They’re not Vulcans,” Gray reminded her. “As they said in our briefing, the Dominion like a long-term strategic approach. How are they to know what Starfleet has put in its computer systems since the war’s end?”

Tierra disagreed though her shaking her head did nothing to move her helmet. “Exactly that; why not stay and keep the computer systems and reverse engineer them?”

Gray could see her point. What he knew of the Dominion was limited, so he couldn’t answer her but understood her point. “So if they didn’t remove the systems, then who did?”

“The station’s crew,” Tierra suggested. “But I suspect they didn’t get a chance to finish their work, hence why not everything was removed.”

“How can you be sure?” Gray asked, turning around to look at her.

Tierra stopped her work. “Because if I was threatened by a Dominion super biological weapon and I had seen them release it on a Federation world, I too would have surrendered but not without pulling out key systems that would make this station useless to them.”

“Why not activate the self-destruct?” Gray challenged her.

“I don’t think they had the time,” Tierra offered. “And the systems that were removed were done with precision and care that only a Starfleet engineer would give. I reckon once the Dominion worked out what they were doing, they infected the station, and in an attempt to remove the metagenic weapon from the station, the commander blew all of the hatches and doors to dump it out into space.”

“Interesting theory,” Gray stated. “So, what happened to the crew?”

“They didn’t survive the metagenic weapon,” Tierra said glumly. “But if what I think is correct, they may have given the colony the time it needed to bring its planetary weapon systems back online and take out the Dominion and Breen ships.”

 Gray considered the idea for a moment. “It’s one possibility,” He replied. Still, he ignored the itch that had now spread to the edge of his forehead. Had they got it wrong here on the colony? He had wondered about it all. The facts didn’t quite add up. Maybe Tierra’s theory was correct.

New Portsmouth, Divinum System, Deneb Sector, Alpha Quadrant

“Court to Keli.”

Tapping her combadge, Lieutenant Keli answered the call. “Go ahead, chief.”

“Just checking in with you and your team. How’s it going down there?” Court asked.

Lieutenant Keli, some of her team members and a few engineers were all at the power base of one of the colony’s phased ion cannons. They had already brought online three so far that morning and now were working on the fourth one. Their work, surprisingly, was not taking so long to do. She answered the master chief, who was currently filling in for Lieutenant Commander Jen. “We’re making progress. Once we bypassed the security encryption lockouts, we only had to sort out reconnecting the cannons to the planet’s power grid and realigning their target scanners. We should be ready to transfer remote control to the Odyssey in the next five to ten minutes.”

“Amazing, I’ll let the new boss know,” Court said; his cheeky tone was evident through his tone before he closed the channel. Keli couldn’t blame him. His husband had been promoted the night before to a captain, and now Duncan was filling in for Fleet Captain McCallister and was doing a great job.

Lieutenant (JG) Jisaraa approached her with a PADD. “And that’s another one fixed. We’re just running the final pre-checks before transferring control. This is becoming too easy, Keli.”

Keli skimmed over the contents of the device. “What do you mean, Jisaraa?”

“At this rate, we will have all of their cannons operational, but what bothers me is that all of them are in the same state,” Jisaraa noticed. 

For a moment, Keli had considered the pattern. “You’re right, Jisaraa. This means that the colony’s emergency protocols would have been implemented to prevent an enemy force from taking control of the phased ion cannons to use against us.”

The Orion woman nodded. “And the work we’ve seen so far is in line with the security procedures set out by the colony’s militia. Encrypting the controls and software before unplugging them from the main power network, rendering them useless, means either the colony surrendered or-”

“Or they did it to slow down whatever the Dominion was planning,” Keli finished. “We’ve not detected any remains of the metagenic weapon in any weapon placements so far.”

“Or the antidote,” Jisaraa reminded her. 

Keli paused in her work. “Have we missed something here?” She asked her deputy.

Jisaraa had a tricorder in her hands and switched it off. “If we have, what exactly?”

“I’m not sure; I can’t quite put my finger on it,” Keli said as she thought carefully. “Four weapon placements, all scattered across the planet. All are disabled but not by an outside force. No traces of the apparent metagenic weapon. This isn’t right.” Then within an instance, Keli disappeared after she lifted something off her head. 

USS Odyssey (NCC-80000), Divinum System, Deneb Sector, Alpha Quadrant

Keli found herself back in the holographic research lab; using the holographic interfaces to allow her away team to work on the planet made a difference in their efforts to prevent them from being exposed to anything deadly. But she wondered, was there anything deadly? The idea was now on the tip of her tongue.

Jisaraa then deactivated her interface suit, as did the others around them. “Gut instinct kicking in, boss?” She asked her superior.

Nodding, Keli put her hands on her hips. “Yeah, I’m trying to put what we know together.” She paced the lab for a bit before sighing. “We’re missing something.” She mumbled before turning back to Jisaraa. “I’m heading to the bridge. Take command here and move on to the fifth cannon.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Jisaraa said with concern in her tone for her superior and friend, who quickly left the lab and headed to the bridge in a dash. 

Moments later, Keli walked onto the bridge to see Duncan mid-conversation with Lieutenant Commander Jen on the main viewscreen. It looked like the Trill operations officer was returning to the ship via a shuttlecraft with a young ensign in a blue science uniform. 

“We’ll get those scans underway now, Lukiz,” Duncan said from where he stood just before the captain’s chair. “How long until you return?”

“We’re only a few minutes away,” Jen replied. 

“How bad is the Bellerophon?” Flemen asked from where he stood beside Duncan to his right. 

“We’re not entirely sure, besides it being badly damaged and Themis responding to help them,” Jen stated. “I’m unsure how the captain and Commanders Banfield and Tomaz are.”

Duncan nodded, knowing that by now, Cambil would have told them the news if they had lost their crewmates. “Our thoughts are with the rest of your crew, Ensign Jonarom,” Duncan said to the young man beside Jen.

“Thank you, sir,” Jonarom said solemnly.

“Get yourself back here quickly and safely, Odyssey out,” Duncan ordered. The channel was then closed.

“Craigen, have Rosle and one other fighter rendezvous with Lukiz the moment he enters the system. I want them under escort.” Duncan commanded.

Flemen nodded and got on with speaking to their starfighter group commander, who was currently out on patrol. While he did that, Duncan noticed the arrival of Keli.

“Lieutenant, I thought you were with the team on the planet restoring the phased ion cannons?” Duncan queried the chief security and tactical officer.

“I am, I mean was,” She said. “What’s happened to the Bellerophon?”

“Ambush from the sounds of it; Themis is helping them while the Triton and Cardassians are chasing after the Dominion ship that crippled them,” Duncan replied. “However, Lukiz believes we’ve missed several clues to what happened here.”

“I think he’s right,” Keli blurted out.

Flemen looked up from what he was working on. “What do you mean, Keli?”

She hurried over to her station and started to pull up all of the data they had collected on the system since their arrival the day before. “I think we’ve mapped the timeline of events of the Dominion attack against the colony all wrong.”

“Why? How?” Duncan asked as he moved from his spot towards her.

She was reading the scans taken of the debris and then checking a few other pieces of information. “There,” she pointed to several sensor logs. “Look, the decay of the planetary defence’s fire against the Dominion ships is much shorter than the decay of the effects of the metagenic weapon and its antidote on that tree branch.”

Flemen and Duncan both needed clarification. The latter wanted to know more. “What are you saying, Keli?”

“I think the colony may have fired on the Dominion and Breen ships after they had launched the metagenic weapon and its antidote,” She speculated. 

“Is that not normal once you’ve been attacked? Planetary defences respond in kind?” Flemen asked.

Keli shook her head. “Yes, but no in this incident. The colony’s defence grid should have seen them enter the system and fired immediately. The small number of ships shouldn’t have been any competition for the advanced system they have here.”

“In other words, the colony delayed in opening fire,” Flemen repeated in his own words.

“Indeed,” Keli confirmed. “But the reason why is another mystery.”

“Well, maybe Lukiz has some answers for us,” Flemen suggested.

“Let’s hope,” Duncan said before the incoming hail signal went off.

Court, who was sitting at the operations console, spoke up. “It’s Commanders Gray and Tierra.”

“Put them through,” Duncan ordered his husband. It had been a bit weird having him in such a position since he had been made a captain. However, they kept their work professional. 

“Gray to Odyssey,” spoke the SCE leader.

“Go ahead, commander,” Duncan replied as he moved to return to the centre chair. “What’s your status?”

“We’re almost ready to bring most of the station’s computer systems online; however, there’s something we’ve discovered over here which has made us rethink what may have happened,” Gray announced.

“Captain, we’ve been looking at the damage the station sustained from the removal of its key systems, and we are certain it wasn’t by the hands of the Breen or Dominion but by the Starfleet crew.” Tierra shared.

“Are you sure?” Duncan checked.

“A good Starfleet engineer can see when a fellow Starfleet engineer has done textbook work here; we are sure of it,” Gray answered. 

Court turned around in his chair to look at his husband. “Am I the only one here thinking everything everyone is discovering isn’t a coincidence, and we need to put all the pieces of this bigger puzzle together?”

Flemen nodded. “Tobias is right; we may have jumped the gun.”

Agreeing with them all, Duncan told Tierra and Gray to return to the ship to meet and find out what had happened. 

What was going on? And how did they miss all of this initially?