Everything seemed to have been going so well. From all their efforts in attempts to manually override the lockdown so that they could regain control of the station, to forcing the lockdown to disengage by creating false emergencies to trigger the safety protocols had failed. And then Maxwell showed up and saved the day. Ward had always known that Starfleet Command would send someone to investigate as to why they had not contacted Starfleet. But Ward had not expected her former commanding officer of just a few months. Granted, those were fun and yet stressful months on that ship but regardless, she learned to ease up a bit. Going from a strict, by-the-book, captain to a laidback captain has certainly changed her perspective. Although some would question, why would she allow herself to change so quickly from years of conditioning from one captain to mere months with another? Perhaps deep down, she just needed someone to tell her that it was okay to bend the rules a little bit to get the expected results.

When the Gemini showed up on sensors, she was relieved that their predicament was finally over. When she saw the familiar face, especially with the smug look she remembered from the first time she met him, she was ecstatic. The first time she saw Maxwell and Ryker, she was unsure as to why they seemed so laid back and relaxed. But then the last time she saw them, Maxwell was overstressed, overworked, and unsure of himself, while Ryker wanted nothing more to do with being first officer and preferred being in charge of a Hazard Team Department more than anything. So when Captain Hunt requested her to be the first officer on board this station, she gave him her recommendation for such a department and his exact words were ‘That sounds like a brilliant idea.’ With the history of research and science teams always getting themselves into trouble, it just seemed like a good idea at the time to have a hazard team on standby to save their skins.

But now, from what Ward has heard from their Federation Ambassador, everything went from going well to a new crisis and it sounded like they are going to need Commander Ryker’s team more than ever. The Tholian Ambassador going missing is not a good sign at all. Worse if it was the changeling pretending to be one of them. “The Tholian Ambassador arrived at the station just a day before Frontier Day,” Ward informed Maxwell as she watched him pooling what leads they had off to one side. They were still standing before the large console in the center of the station, holographic display fully operational and in full use by officers on all sides. The word of the Tholian Ambassador being missing has ignited a new spark in the operations staff. The tragic day which was Frontier Day, was no longer lingering on their minds. The need to rescue a species so isolated that only so few people have seen a Tholian, has really changed the mood in the room. It made her believe that there was still hope left on this station.

“Well that’s definitely not good,” said Abigail. “The whole incident on board the station lasted barely a day. If there was indeed one of those new changelings on board-”

“-before Starfleet sent the update to all ships and facilities that would allow internal sensors to detect these new changelings. Then yes. They got a week head start on us.” Maxwell chipped in with a clear tone of annoyance. “That makes the search grid incredibly large. Too large for a search party.”

Ward sighed softly as she crossed her arms over her chest in thought. There had to be some clue that they could use to find them. She looked up at the holographic display of the station in the center, with several small dots moving about, along with a few of those small dots working together to pull the cargo ships in to conduct repairs. Then there were the two large holographic silhouettes that were the Talarian cruisers, still in the same position as they were before. Ward had requested the chief in shuttle hanger and cargo ops to get people back in the shuttles and workbees, return any damaged, and do what they could for the cargo vessels. ‘Wait a minute…’ She thought as a clue formed in her head. “Oh come on, Ward!”

She then saw the eyes of everyone at the center console fall upon her. She smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I just can’t believe I didn’t think of this. Although, once I mention it, I think a lot of us are going to be pretty embarrassed.”

“Spit it out, Commander,” Maxwell’s tone indicated he was in no mood for games right now.

Ward cleared her throat and pulled up a list before them. The list was the support crafts, specifically the runabouts. “This station has a complement of four runabouts. One specificity designed for VIP use.”

“The Albano Lacus!” Abigail chipped in.

Ward snapped her finger and pointed at Abigail. “Precisely! The Albano Lacus was configured with a pod that can handle extreme internal temperatures. So that nothing were to become damaged or anything of the sort from the intense heat for long periods of time. Which made it perfect for any diplomatic meetings closer to home if the Tholians requested it.” She then requested the computer to locate all four runabouts and the name Albano Lacus turned red on the list. “And now we just have to find it.”

Ward saw a light bulb go off in Maxwell’s eyes. “The Talarian cruisers. They said one of their crafts that had left this system, reported what was happening to the Talarian government. Including, small crafts being launched.”

Ward smiled, “So they may have sensor data on a…oh, I don’t know, New Atlantic class runabout leaving the system.”

“As long as it was leaving in a direction that their sensors could keep track. If the runabout went in the opposite direction, it’ll be a very short blip on their sensor logs.” Said Maxwell.

“But we have to try! The Tholians will not be too happy if we don’t get their ambassador back,” said Abigail.

“Is that why they haven’t been accepting any calls from Starfleet Command?” Maxwell asked.

“It’s hard to say. If they realized that their ambassador went missing, and then heard what happened on Frontier Day, it is possible that they were not sure whether or not they could trust anyone at Starfleet Command.” Abigail explained.

“Then I wonder what is keeping them from launching a full-scale attack?” Ward asked.

Maxwell sighed. “Time. We did lose a lot of good seasoned officers, but we still have a large fleet. Not to mention, if the Tholians had heard about Frontier Day, then they would know about the formation system. They have no idea whether it has been fixed or scrapped. Nevertheless, that leaves them at a clear disadvantage. But that does not mean the Tholians can’t form every single ship they have, or build more for that matter, in an attempt to match our forces.”

Ward nodded her head as she understood what he had said. “Then there’s that crazy energy web. Do they still use that?” Ward watched Maxwell visibly shrug his shoulders.

“No clue. As isolated as they are, we haven’t seen how far they’ve come in terms of technology or tactics. In a sense, we would be fighting an enemy we have little knowledge of, which puts us at a disadvantage.” Said Maxwell.

“Then we better get that data from the Talarians before the Tholians do sum up enough forces to launch an attack.” Said Ward. Just before Maxwell or anyone could say any more, they heard the chirp of the intercom.

“Sickbay to Ops.” The voice of their Chief Medical Officer, Olivia Bates.

“Commander Ward here. Any news on the Captain, Doctor?”

“Just what I was about to inform you. Captain Hunt is awake and wishes to speak to you.” Said Olivia.

“I’ll be right there. Ops out.” Ward then sighed. “I was afraid of this.” She saw the frown on Maxwell’s face and answered before he could ask. “He’s going to make me take full command of the station.”

“Well, you are the first officer and he’s out of commission. Regulations state that you would be the one next in line until Starfleet Command says otherwise,” Maxwell told her.

“I know that. When do you plan on sending your report to command?” She asked.

He sighed, “I was going to, but after Abi told us that the Tholian Ambassador was missing. Likely not until after we save them.”

“Could you send it now?” Ward asked. She then saw the frown return on his face.

“You’re not getting out of this one, Commander. Besides, I have Gemini to take care of and from where this is going, we will most likely be needing the Gemini to find the Tholian Ambassador.” Maxwell told her.

Ward sighed again and then began to head for the turbolift. She looked over her shoulder to see Maxwell and Abigail tailing her. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”

“And that’s the situation so far, Captain.” Ward had just finished her explanation to Captain Hunt. The man was lying there on the biobed, the monitors that showed his vitals indicated that he was doing fine. However, he is under strong pain-neutralizing agents, considering his situation. “The doctor told us that you’ll be out of action for a while.”

Ward saw Hunt try to nod but visibly he winced as if he was struck by a sharp pain from the attempt. Apparently, he was not completely out of pain. “I’m sure you all already know the story of my condition or the condition that I was in.. Thank god for the medicine of today.” He cursed under his breath when he exhaled after he took a long inhale. “Luckily, there was still some tissue left from the destroyed organs, otherwise regenerating them would have been impossible. Although replacement was not off the table. As for my spine, they didn’t need to replace the whole caboodle thankfully, but it’s going to take a while for my system to adjust. And then there’s the physical therapy. Hell. I can’t even eat solid foods right now.”

“For what you did for Commander Ward, we can only be thankful that the phaser was damaged enough that it didn’t vaporize you,” Maxwell told him.

“I had always thought good deeds would be rewarded. Although, from what I’ve read that’s happened across the fleet, I only wish others were as lucky as me.” Hunt sighed. “Do you have any leads on the Tholian Ambassador?”

“We have one so far, and I believe Captain Maxwell is about to follow it.” Ward looked at him, who nodded his head to confirm that she was right.

“I will be returning to the Gemini and request our friends to lend us a hand. If not that, then at least the sensor logs.” Maxwell smirked.

Hunt then looked at Ward. “If that is the case, then you know what has to be done.”

Ward nodded her head, “Yes, sir.”

“Until Starfleet Command says otherwise, you are now in full command of Starbase 415.” Hunt slowly raised his right hand towards her. “Congratulations, Commander.”

Ward hesitantly and carefully shook his hand. “Thank you, Captain. Now please, get some rest.”

“To that, I insist.” Doctor Bates chipped in. “His body is still suffering from the trauma and he needs his rest.”

As they began to walk out of sickbay, Ward had wondered if that man would ever be back to one hundred percent. He could still serve, and the Starbase would technically be his desk job. But as he and Maxwell had said, it was up to Starfleet Command in the end.

“Before I return to the Gemini, there is something that’s been bothering me. The station was broadcasting a warning with the short-range transmission emitter. Are the satellites not supposed to link with the station, in case of long-range communications being offline?” Maxwell asked. 

Ward frowned at the question because it only meant the system was tampered with and she was going to need to send a team to investigate one of the satellites. “In cases of emergency and scenarios like we just had, yes. The system is designed that, if either long-range sensors or communications were to go offline, say maintenance or damage, the station, and satellites are supposed to link up so that the station can still have long-range capabilities.”

“Then we don’t have any more time to waste. This changeling has done this to establish a huge lead against us. We need to find them and save that Ambassador, or that changeling will find a way to eliminate the Ambassador and make it look like Starfleet did it.” Said Maxwell.

“Understood. I’ll order Commander Ryker to get his team to the nearest transporter and beam over to the Gemini at once. And I’ll have a team run a level one diagnostic on one of the satellites.” Ward told him her plan, in the hope that she had taken her command well.

“Don’t forget to organize repairs. More generators and shields would be a good place to start.” Maxwell suggested before he tapped his badge. “Gemini, Maxwell. One directly to the bridge.”

With that, and a beam of sparkling light, he was gone.

On a barren rocky world in between two asteroid belts, just 0.33 AU away from the sun, that belonged to a neutral system just between the territories of the Tholian Assembly and the United Federation of Planets. On the planet, around the equator area was a New Atlantic-class runabout with the name Albano Lacus on the ground a few meters away from an entrance to a cavern. The cavern corridor led from the entrance, down into a subterranean level of the planet. The subterranean corridors tunnels were wide and the tunnels were vast and would branch off of several arms. It was also quite humid and the temperatures were quite high. Perhaps not at a temp that a Tholian would enjoy but it was enough to keep one alive and conscious. If it were the first time for anyone to come down and explore the tunnels, they could potentially get lost.

Not for Damien Hill. During the Dominion War, some Dominion vessels had reached out this far and a Vorta had chosen to visit this very planet and explore the subterranean level for a potential base. But they never got the chance to do that. Nevertheless, when he was among those on the Alpha Quadrant side of the war, he reviewed the data and chose to keep such information stored in case it would become useful. Always be prepared for any kind of contingency, he told himself. Deep within the subterranean level was a large cavern with several hollowed-out ‘rooms’ in the walls, one was being used as a containment cell with a portable generator that powered a portable forcefield. The only thing that would possibly terrify anyone who tried to explore the tunnels now, would be the noise the Tholian was making.

“I told you to be quiet!” Damien yelled at the Tholian after he stepped closer to the forcefield. He stared at it in discontent and anguish. He had thought the plan was going to work without a hitch, that they would finally be rid of their enemy. But instead, it ended almost as soon as it had begun. He was forced to improvise. He scrambled the command codes so no one could disengage the lockdown on the Starbase, at least not until Starfleet Command sent someone. He knew the Captain had been critically injured, so that bought him more time than he had predicted. Not that he was going to complain. He had also planted a virus in the six satellites that when a simple diagnostic was performed, everything would look perfectly fine. But the satellites will not be doing their job as intended.

But with all that time he had bought himself, a whole week to bring the Tholian Ambassador to a place to hide it, to formulate a plan, and to initiate it. He had found a slight snag. Even if he were able to show the Tholians government a Starfleet Officer shooting and killing their Ambassador to start a war, Starfleet Command could easily disprove the whole thing. Even though Damien did sabotage Starbase 415 to buy himself time, he didn’t cover his tracks. They will figure out that he used his command codes to scramble everyone else’s, and that he was the one who planted the virus in the satellites. They will also find out that he took the Albano Lacus, along with kidnapping the Tholian Ambassador, and provide evidence to the Tholian Assembly to prevent the war from happening. That was the snag.

Out of desperation to find another solution to destroy the Federation, he made mistakes and those mistakes were going to cost him unless he found a solution. Damien stared long and hard at the Tholian. “I swear, on my life, I will find a way to force your government to launch an all-out war against the Federation.” And then it came to him. He realized that they were going to potentially find him anyway, but this gave him ample time to set up his plan. He was going to put on a show, make it appear that he made an attempt to bring the Tholian Ambassador back to the Tholian Assembly, was forced to land the runabout, and was protecting the Tholian from the ‘affected’ Starfleet. If he can make it so appear that Starfleet has fallen and succumbed to the original plan, then the Tholian Assembly would refuse to believe any story that comes from Starfleet Command and retaliate for the death of the Tholian Ambassador.

Damien snapped his fingers. “I got some equipment to get from the runabout. I need to prepare for the whole thing and make it as believable as possible. And you, my Tholian friend, are going to be my star.”