"The Debriefing"

Commander Buford and the Female Vorta had swiftly made their way to the main briefing room, whilst the Jem'Hadar had been escorted to the cargo bay where they could be contained safely. Lieutenant McQueen had assigned three security officers, including his younger sister to the Commander's escort and arranged the remaining security personnel, plus some of the relief crew for the base on Juno III into three shifts.

"Please sit." Commander Buford requested, taking a seat himself at the head of the table.

The female Vorta hesitated for a moment before sitting.

"Captain, I must request that you set a course for the nearest Dominion outpost immediately." The Vorta ordered. "The nearest base is three days travel from Juno III at warp nine."

"You are in no position to give me orders." AJ replied. "Now let's do this again. I am Commander Buford of the Starfleet vessel the USS Taurus."

The female Vorta looked at the Commander with a certain amount of frustration in her eyes that AJ had not taken her order seriously.

"I am Sabá, the third of my line." The Vorta replied. "Attached to the Elite guard of the Founders and formally of the Dominion vessel Xena Vox."

"The Elite guard ?" AJ enquired. "I've heard of them, but I never thought I'd ever get to see any of them."

"The Elite guard are the best Jem'Hadar the Dominion can produce, their sole purpose in life to protect the Founders." Sabá replied. "It is an honour and a privilege to serve the Founders in this way."

"So the Elite guard are genetically created to be the best ?" AJ enquired.

"No." Sabá said sharply. "They are taken from the general ranks of the Jem'Hadar and tested rigorously before being given the rank of Elite guard. Of every hundred Jem'Hadar selected, only five become Elite guard and almost half never survive the training."

"That must be one tough training program." AJ remarked.

"There are always more Jem'Hadar to take their place." Sabá stated coldly.

"You're a long way from the Founders." AJ stated. "What bought you out this far ?"

"That I am afraid is a question I cannot answer." Sabá replied. "All I am willing to say is that we were sent on a mission of the highest urgency by the Founders themselves and you are preventing the Dominion and the Elite guard from completing that mission."

"Would that mission have anything to do with the Jem'Hadar vessel that attacked our outpost on Juno III and left you for dead." AJ suggested.

"Again I cannot answer." Sabá stated. "Once again, I must insist that you set course for the Dominion outpost now."

"You are awfully eager to return to your own space." AJ commented. "Do you have something to hide perhaps ?"

Sabá was silent, sitting staring at the Commander as if she could make him change his mind through sheer will power.

"I have a Federation outpost that was attacked by Dominion forces, at least four dead and nine injured. That's almost a third of the outpost personnel and my only lead is you and your Jem'Hadar. I also have over a dozen of my own crew back there, including my chief medical officer and Commanding Marine." The Commander stated. "They are my primary concern, not getting you and your 'dogs' back to your own space. Once we are secure in the fact that the base will not be attacked again and providing you become more co-operative, then maybe I will take you back to the nearest outpost."

"In four days, those 'dogs' as you refer to them will become drug-crazed savages." Sabá replied. "That is how long the Jem'Hadar will survive and remain calm for without their doses of Ketracel-White. Those of the Elite guard are trained to survive for a limited period of time without 'White', but eventually they do succumb to the urge. However, as you are unwilling to return us to a place where they can get more 'White' I have a compromise proposal to make."

"Go on." AJ stated, listening intently to what Sabá had to offer. He knew how dangerous the Jem'Hadar were even when under the control of the 'White' and he didn't want to see first-hand what they would be like when the drug wore off. But his first priority was to Juno III and the Federation personnel stationed there, including his own crew.

"Give me access to your communications system and I will contact one of our vessels to make a rendezvous at Juno III." Sabá suggested. "They can pick us up and transfer us away from you and your space within a few days."

Commander Buford thought for a moment and then tapped his comm badge. "Buford to Vossik."

[Vossik here.] The Taurus's first officer replied from the Bridge.

"Scan the area to see if you can detect any Dominion vessels within communications range." AJ requested.

There was a long pause before Vossik came back with an answer.

[Captain, there are no Dominion vessels within scanning range.] He replied. [Hold on, we are receiving a hail from Juno III.]

"Patch it through to the Briefing room." AJ ordered.

AJ pushed a button on the desk in front of him and the viewscreen on the far wall came to life. The left-hand side of the screen showed the Bridge of the Taurus and Vossik and after a few seconds the image of First Lieutenant Zeth Floten appeared on the right-hand side. The image was a little distorted as if something was interfering with the signal from the base.

[Hello Commander.] Lieutenant Floten reported.

"You have something to report ?" AJ asked.

[The base is secure.] Zeth reported. [For now. The Jem'Hadar appeared to have targeted the main science labs, destroying them in the process. All the casualties have come from there and Doctor Kahfre is treating the injured now. So far we have recovered only five survivors, the rest are either dead or buried under the rubble. There appears to be some kind of dampening field around the base that is interfering with everything. We are having trouble finding any of the bodies with tricorders until we are right on top of them. The same goes for sub-space transmissions, we've had to increase the signal output on the portable transceiver to get this signal out. There is one curious thing, a couple of the survivors have reported that the Jem'Hadar appeared to be searching for a specific scientist, a Doctor Frank Mitchell. They appear to have taken Doctor Mitchell and his assistant as well as most of their equipment.]

"So we can add kidnapping to the list of charges when we catch up with the Jem'Hadar who attacked the base." AJ commented.

Just then Vossik cut in once more from the Bridge. [Captain, long range sensors have just detected a Dominion vessel on approach to Juno III. Forty-two minutes till they reach orbit.]

"How far are we from the base ?" AJ enquired.

[About another fifty minutes at current speed.] Vossik replied.

"Increase speed to maximum." AJ ordered. "I want to reach the base before the Dominion do."

[At maximum speed, we will only arrive two and a half minutes before the Dominion vessel.] Vossik replied. [That will not give us much time to prepare to ward off another attack.]

"That two and a half minutes will have to do." AJ stated. "Go to Yellow alert."

Vossik cut out of the conversation and the viewscreen enlarged to show just the image of Lieutenant Floten on Juno III.

"Lieutenant, I need you to prepare the base personnel for immediate evacuation. You'll all be safer on the Taurus than on the base." AJ ordered. "We should have just enough time to transport everyone aboard before the Dominion forces arrive."

[Understood. At least we can get the survivors to better medical facilities, the Doc will be pleased.] The Marine replied. [Floten out.]

"Commander, I could talk to the Dominion vessel." Sabá stated. "It may not be the renegades we were tracking."

"So you were tracking those Jem'Hadar that attacked you." AJ said, picking up on Sabá's slip of the tongue.

"Yes we were tracking them." Sabá admitted. "But I will say no more."

"Escort our 'friend' to some guest quarters." AJ ordered the three security officers who had been stood by the door. "And keep her there."

Commander Buford rose from his seat and left the briefing room, heading for the Bridge.

Sabá rose from her seat and Ensign McQueen led the way to the guest quarters, followed by Sabá with the other two guards bringing up the rear.