“A quarter millennium after the NX-01 took that first vital step…”

Focused rage and zealous determination. Those emotions didn’t belong here. Not now. Not during this happy celebration. But they were here, screaming out over the din of awe and pride emanating from those who’d gathered on the bridge to enjoy Frontier Day.

“We gather on Frontier Day to take another…”

The emotions were frenzied and overwhelming. The Betazoid looked around. 

Where were they coming from? 

The door to the Admiral’s Ready Room opened, and Commander Lewis stepped out. Or stormed out. That was a better description. The aged spook almost barreled over a pair of officers as he darted for the turbolift. 

What was going on?

Lieutenant Commander Eidran wasn’t sure, but he knew something was wrong, so he stepped off the command island and hurried to catch up to the spook. He reached the turbolift just before the doors shut.

“Don’t you have a celebration to watch?” asked Commander Lewis gruffly. The young officer had made clear he bought into the Federation propaganda machine that was this Frontier Day bullshit, even after Lewis and Reyes had shared with him what was going on.

“It’s cool and all,” replied Lieutenant Commander Eidran as the doors shut and the turbolift began to move. “But I gather from the emotion screaming off you that something is wrong. Did you guys learn something new?”

“You could say that,” nodded Commander Lewis, and then he tapped his combadge. “Computer, implement silent lockdown protocols. Authorization Lewis Omega Six Six Nine.”

The computer chirped to acknowledge as it dispatched instructions to transporter chiefs and shuttlebay controllers across the USS Serenity. Although none would expect such an order at this particular moment as the USS Serenity sat safely over Earth, they practiced such lockdowns, and they knew the protocols. Any debarkation request would be delayed by the excuse of ongoing maintenance until command authorization was received. If the enemy was still onboard, they were now stuck here.

“Are you sure about that? We’ve got a lot of guests onboard,” Lieutenant Commander Eidran warned. “At some point, they’re going to start asking questions.” He had questions himself. The aggressive energy coming off Commander Lewis was scary. It was not the sort of emotion the Betazoid was used to feeling from a Starfleet officer on a Starfleet vessel.

“Frankly, I don’t give a fuck,” Commander Lewis replied aggressively. “The enemy is here. On our ship.” His hand rested on his sidearm and fire raged in his eyes. He looked ready to hunt. He hated traitors. The enemy would only be getting off this ship in handcuffs or a bodybag.

“How do you know?” asked Lieutenant Commander Eidran curiously.

“Because Mister Ellis is gone,” replied Commander Lewis as the turbolift came to a stop. “And because two of your guys are dead on the deck in his quarters.” Commander Lewis stepped briskly out of the turbolift without another word.

Lieutenant Commander Eidran stood there for a moment with his mouth agape and his head spinning. His guys were dead? How? Over Earth… on Frontier Day… that didn’t make sense. He thought Admiral Reyes and Commander Lewis were just telling ghost stories. Had they actually uncovered something? Was there really a conspiracy at work in the heart of the Federation? That thought was chilling.

After a couple deep breaths, the Lieutenant Commander got his wits back about him. He was an officer. A senior officer at present, and a security officer in a former life. If something was truly going on, he could help. It was his duty to help. He rushed down the corridor and caught up to Commander Lewis just as they reached the quarters where they’d temporarily housed the old man they’d brought back from Healdsburg.

“Well, this is certainly a scene,” Commander Lewis said as stepped into the room. Lieutenant Morgan and Ensign Rel stood on either side of the room with phaser rifles, a strange sight for a ship in the midst of Frontier Day, but they’d clearly taken security upon themselves given that anyone else might be compromised. Between them, Dr. Brooks and Chief Shafir were studying the two murdered security officers. One lay against a blood-spattered wall, and the other lay between two pieces of a shattered table.

Ensign Rel approached Commander Lewis and unslung a second phaser rifle she had over her shoulder. “In case someone comes back to finish the job,” she smiled as she handed him the rifle. “We’ve obviously not alerted security yet.”

“Yeah, let’s keep it within the family for now,” agreed Commander Lewis as he slung the phaser rifle over his shoulder. He walked over Dr. Brooks and the dead officer against the wall. “Do we have a cause of death for either of these guys yet?”

“Cranial shatter on this one,” Dr. Brooks said as he stood up and gestured at the wall. “Ensign Duval’s parietal hit the wall with a force of over thirty kilonewtons.”

Commander Lewis looked at the scientist curiously. That was roughly the force a baseball bat struck a fastball in a professional baseball game. But one could not swing a wall at a person. That meant the officer had been thrown at the wall with an inhuman amount of force.

“And Chief Sorenson,” Dr. Brooks gestured across the room at the second officer. “He died by a complete cervical separation. But if his brainstem hadn’t been divorced from his spinal column, it would have been a race between organ damage and internal bleeding. His body was used to break the table in half.”

“This makes a Klingon bar fight look like a pillow fight,” Commander Lewis remarked as he took it all in. He’d expected a shootout, not a brawl, but a shootout would have triggered the internal sensors, while a physical brawl would not have.  “Makes you wonder who – or what – did this to them. Any ideas?” Even Nausicaans and Klingons didn’t have the appropriate level of strength.

“Not so far,” Dr. Brooks frowned. “No biological traces of anyone or anything in the room except for Ensign Duval, Chief Sorenson, and Mister Ellis.”

“And what about Mister Ellis? Anything on him at all?” Commander Lewis asked as he glanced over at his intelligence officer. Chief Shafir had snuck into and out of Federation facilities more than anyone, and she’d know exactly what to look for.

“Nothing whatsoever,” replied Chief Shafir. “Nothing on biosensors or debarkation logs, and no sign of tampering with our systems. Ran a full diagnostic. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s still onboard.” From their soiree to Healdsburg, she was well aware that their enemy had access to the most advanced technology Starfleet had to offer, as well as command codes and other Fleet-level access that might have allowed them to escape without a trace.

Commander Lewis was about to respond when his combadge beeped.

“Lewis, go.”

“Transporter Room 2 here sir,” came curt, professional voice of a transporter chief over the link. “I understand we are on protocols, but I’ve got someone down here requesting to beam over to Sol Station.”

“Identification?” asked Commander Lewis. Even though they had a good number of guests aboard, most of them were Starfleet officers, and they were here for the festivities. It didn’t fit that someone would be jumping ship in the middle of the ceremony.

“A civilian by the name of Mark Ellis.”

The man who Ensign Duval and Chief Sorenson had been protecting here. “Is he with anyone?” asked Commander Lewis, his first thought going to the possibility that Mr. Ellis had been taken hostage.

“No, he’s alone.”

Well, that meant not a hostage situation. “Stand by,” Commander Lewis requested before muting the link. He looked at the two bodies on the deck and then at his people. “Anyone want to give me a theory as to why Mark’s protective detail is lying here dead, and we can’t find him on biosensors, but he’s standing there in Transporter Room 2 asking for a beamout?”

“Not one that looks good for him, boss,” Chief Shafir chuckled. “If he was on the run, wouldn’t he call us for help rather than strolling onto a transporter pad?” She stopped to consider hypotheticals. “Maybe someone’s got something on him?”

“Could be,” nodded Dr. Brooks as he gestured at the dead security officers. “But, even if that were the case, how would a seventy year old man muster the strength to do this? Someone else would have had to do this.”

“I think it’s time we get some answers,” Commander Lewis smiled. The one mistake Mr. Ellis had made, if he was truly trying to run, was simply going down to the transporter room for a beam out. All he could assume was maybe that Mr. Ellis had figured they wouldn’t have so quickly come upon the crime scene. He unmuted his combadge. “Transporter Room 2, you are cleared to transport Mister Ellis, but instead of Sol Station, beam him straight to the brig.”

“Sir?” the transporter chief asked to clarify. The civilian standing in Transporter Room 2 was an old man. One did not typically beam the elderly straight into the brig without warning them.

“Mister Ellis is a person of interest,” Commander Lewis replied firmly. “Either beam him to the brig or we come up there and make a mess of your transporter room.”

“Understood sir. Transporter Room 2 out.”

“Rel, Eidran, with me,” Commander Lewis ordered as he headed for the door with his phaser rifle over his shoulder. “We’re going to have a conversation with Mister Ellis.” He looked back at the rest of his team. “Doc, Chief, see if you can figure out any more about what happened here. And Morgan, keep an eye on them.”

Commander Lewis, Lieutenant Commander Eidran and Ensign Rel left the room and headed for the brig. When they arrived, they were met up front by a brig officer.

“Good afternoon sirs,” the brig officer greeted. “If you don’t mind me asking, who is the gentleman that Transporter Room 2 just beamed down here?”

“Oh, just an Admiral’s husband,” laughed Commander Lewis without elaborating further. 

 An Admiral’s husband? The brig officer looked like he was about to vomit as the trio walked past him nonchalantly. Ensign Rel almost felt bad for the young officer. She appreciated Commander Lewis’ humor, but it could do a number on those that didn’t know him.

Mark Ellis looked up at Commander Lewis as they stepped into the cell block. “Commander, what is going on? Why am I here? I was just trying to beam over to Sol Station…”

“Yes, you were,” Commander Lewis interrupted. “But, you see, there’s just one problem. Or two really. Ensign Duval and Chief Sorenson are dead.” 

Commander Lewis’ eyes narrowed on the old man, but Mark Ellis’ blank expression suggested he didn’t recognize the names.

“Your guards,” Commander Lewis continued. “The guys that were there to protect you. They’re dead. And here you are without a single scratch. Want to explain that to me?”

Mark Ellis didn’t flinch. He just continued to stare blankly at the Commander.

Standing there, Lieutenant Commander Eidran quieted his mind, silencing the background noise of those around him as he focused on the old man in the cell. What was he thinking? Nothing. What was he feeling? Nothing. Wait, nothing? Actually nothing? That wasn’t right. 

Lieutenant Commander Eidran looked over at Commander Lewis, who was locked in a staring contest with the old man. “Commander, can I speak with you for a moment?”

Commander Lewis pulled his gaze away, and he followed the Betazoid out of the cell block into an adjoining office. “What is it?” he asked, once he, Ensign Rel and Lieutenant Commander Eidran were alone.

“Something is wrong,” Lieutenant Commander Eidran explained. “As a Betazoid, I’m used to feeling emotions like the din of chatter in a crowded room. And when someone gets stressed, those emotions grow stronger, like when you stormed out of Reyes’ office a short while ago.”

“Yes, I’m aware of how your people’s telepathy works,” Commander Lewis nodded dismissively. “Where are you going with this?”

“Well, you see, there’s something different here,” Eidran explained. “I’m getting nothing from Mister Ellis. Like nothing at all. I don’t feel a thing. No thoughts. No emotions.”

“Nothing? You’re sure?”

“Yeah, I can feel your rage,” Lieutenant Commander Eidran replied, drawing a look from the spook. “And Ensign Rel’s desire to be accepted by you.” Commander Lewis looked at the young Ensign amusedly, and Rel looked away with embarrassment. “And the brig officer’s confusion about the old man in his custody. But when I focus on Mister Ellis, there’s nothing. It’s like there’s a… a…” His voice tapered off as he hunted for the words.

“A null space devoid of anything whatsoever,” Commander Lewis filled in the gap. He hadn’t invented the description though. He’d borrowed it from a colleague from the seventies.

“Yeah, that’s a good way to put it.”

“Fuck.”

“What’s going on?” asked Ensign Rel. She wasn’t following any more than Lieutenant Commander Eidran was.

“That’s not Rear Admiral Edir’s husband in there. It’s a Changeling,” Commander Lewis responded firmly. It was like a bomb going off in the room. They thought they were done with the gooey bastards after the battles and bloodshed of the Lost Fleet crisis in the Deneb Sector, but now there was a Changeling in their brig.

“How do you know?” Lieutenant Commander Eidran stammered, caught completely off guard.

“Because we used your kind as bloodhounds during the war,” Commander Lewis replied in a tone that made the Betazoid shiver. “Changelings don’t give off regular thoughts and emotions.” Eidran and Rel were both still looking at him skeptically. “It fits. All of it. An inhuman level of force in Ellis’ quarters. The lack of biosigns if he was trying to go unnoticed. For that matter, even  the way Mark just sort of turned up when we raided the villa when we hadn’t detected his lifesigns prior… and hell, even Lieutenant Morgan’s insistence it was Commander Drake that interrogated him in Healdsburg.” 

The dots connected, and the implications were terrifying. How deep did this go?

“Ensign Rel, we need to get to Admiral Reyes,” Commander Lewis said as he gestured for his colleague to follow. He had been suspicious of Rear Admiral Edir when she’d called, but now he was all but certain that Admiral Reyes and Dr. Hall were walking into a trap. “Lieutenant Commander Eidran, while we’re gone, see what you can learn from our friend in holding.”