"Guard Duty"

Logan McQueen stood watching the small group of Jem'Hadar that were currently enjoying the hospitality of Commander Buford and the Taurus. Logan would have preferred to just open the airlock doors and jettison them all out into space. The Dominion had been responsible for the deaths of his parents and he had not been able to pay them back. Instead he had been forced by fate to leave Starfleet Academy to look after his young sister, who had survived the Dominion attack.

However, Logan also had the loyalty that was instilled into each and every Starfleet officer to protect all life. The Federation was no longer at war with the Dominion, although there had been several attempts by rogue elements to keep fighting, so these aliens were now under Federation protection. These Jem'Hadar were no threat to the Federation at the moment, they had no ship and no way to communicate with their peers.

The entire compliment of security personnel aboard the Taurus, plus the members of the security team that was to replace the team at Juno III were involved in keeping these 'guests' secure, in total there were sixteen crew on duty. Twelve were stationed on the gantries overlooking the cargo bay and another four were standing guard outside the door. Another three had been assigned to escort the female Vorta around the ship. Another sixteen were on standby in case of trouble and in another two hours would be relieving the current shift. The final sixteen were currently off-duty and once the second shift took over, would be on standby.

Logan walked along the gantry above the cargo bay looking down on the aliens. Most of them appeared to be Gamma quadrant clones, but a couple including the Jem'Hadar First were Alpha quadrant clones, their lighter skins singling them out.

It was very unusual to see a mixture of Alpha and Gamma Jem'Hadar together. Since the end of the Dominion war the two distinct groups had been split to avoid conflict. The Jem'Hadar created in the Alpha quadrant because of the genetic modifications at were made, saw themselves as superior to their Gamma quadrant counterparts, the new improved model. In return the Gamma's saw their Alpha clones as interlopers within their ranks, created purely to supplement their own depleted ranks when the Bajorian wormhole was sealed, cannon fodder.

This group of Jem'Hadar were unusual in other ways as well, including their manner and their uniforms. Whereas most Jem'Hadar had plain grey and black uniforms, these soldier had a red trim to theirs and although surrounded by what they perceived as an enemy they remained calm and disciplined, following the lead of their First.

"How are the prisoners ?" Logan asked the team leader.

"Calm." The junior Lieutenant replied. "Too calm, it's as if they are just waiting for something to happen and when it does they will pounce. Any news from the Captain about what he intends to do with them ?"

"I've heard nothing." Logan replied. "He's been talking with the female Vorta ever since we picked them up. I would guess that we will leave them on Juno III and have them picked up."

"So we're heading back to Juno III." The Lieutenant enquired. "I would have thought the Commander would have wanted to get rid of these Jem'Hadar ASAP."

"So would I, but we have set course back to the base." Logan replied. "We should be arriving in orbit in about an hour."

Just then the ship went onto Yellow alert.

"Remain here." Logan ordered. "Keep a very close eye on our friends, they may take this opportunity to make an escape attempt. If they do, you have the authority to fire back. I'm heading for the Bridge to see what's going on."