"Friend or Foe"

"Red Alert, shields up." Buford ordered. "Prepare to break orbit on my mark."

"Commander, we've got a visual on the approaching vessel." Lieutenant Lune announced.

"Put it on screen." Buford ordered. "Well, we've not seen any of those in a while." He exclaimed.

The image of the Dominion vessel appeared on the viewscreen and it took a few seconds for Lune to get the magnification right.

"The vessel is a Dominion Dreadnought. Five thousand metres long, twin warp cores, thirty torpedo tubes, eighty three disruptor cannons and two squadron of Dominion fighters." Lune reported.

"I'm well aware what it is Lieutenant." Buford announced. "Let's get out of here before it starts to launch those fighters."

"Commander, we are being hailed." Lieutenant Okul announced. "It's coming from the Dreadnought."

"Put it on screen." Buford ordered.

[This is the Dominion vessel Jar'Binx to Federation vessel.] The Vorta that appeared on the screen announced.

"Dominion vessel, this is Commander Buford of the Federation starship USS Taurus." Buford replied. "Your presence in Federation territory is a violation of the treaty of Bajor and if you do not depart will be seen as an act of war. The Dominion have already made an unprovoked attack on the base below and any further action will be dealt with using force."

[Commander. The Dominion had no part in the attack upon your base, that act was carried out by a rogue force.] The Vorta stated. [We had a vessel tracking their vessel, but we have lost contact with it. I assure you Commander that our intentions are honourable and we are only searching for our missing vessel and these rogues.]

"Vorta, we picked up several survivors from a Dominion vessel which was attacked. We have the Vorta Sabá and seven of the Jem'Hadar that were onboard, they are the only survivors of the attack." Buford reported. "We've tried to find out what she knows, but so far she's been very tight-lipped."

[The Vorta are as I am sure you are already aware a very loyal race, you will have no chance to obtain information unless they are ordered to give it. Commander, with your permission I would like to come aboard your vessel and speak directly with Sabá.] The Vorta requested. [We now have a common enemy and it would be in the interests of both the Dominion and the Federation if we co-operated.]

"Permission granted." Buford replied. "We'll have you beamed aboard, but I would request that you come alone. No Jem'Hadar."

[Commander, I will need to bring one other with me.] The Vorta announced. [But they are not Jem'Hadar.]

"Fine." Buford stated. "We'll see you in five minutes. Taurus out."

The viewscreen changed back to the image of the Dreadnought.

"Okul, McQueen. Go to transporter room one and greet our guests." Buford ordered. "McQueen, have our Vorta guest escorted back to the briefing room and bring our latest guests there when they arrive."

Logan tapped his comm badge and ordered the Vorta Sabá to be escorted back to the briefing room before following Lieutenant Okul into the turbolift. Minutes later, the two officers were in the main transporter room awaiting the arrival of the Dominion guests.

[Two to beam over.] The Dominion vessel reported.

Okul operated the transporter console and two figures appeared on the transporter pad. One was a male Vorta, whilst the other looked very human. Both McQueen and Okul realised immediately that the second guest was a Founder.

"Welcome aboard the Taurus." Logan announced.

"I am Vorta Arkin, second of my line and guardian of the Founders." The Vorta announced. "And this is Founder Tinx."

"If you would follow me, I'll show you to the main briefing room. Commander Buford is already there and Vorta Sabá is being escorted there as we speak." Logan offered.

Logan left the transporter room and headed back towards the briefing room, their two guests following on behind. Okul followed, along with a pair of security officers. They entered the briefing room and for the first time Tinx spoke.

"Commander Buford, if it would be agreeable. We would like to speak with Sabá alone." Tinx requested. "I promise that you will be told of what is happening once we have talked, but there are matters here that do not concern the Federation."

"If it clears up the mess, then fine." Buford announced, nodding at the security officers. Buford left the briefing room, along with McQueen, Okul and the two security details.

Outside the Commander gave some orders.

"Okul, return to the Bridge. McQueen I'd like you to stay with me for the moment, but I don't think we need all this security." Buford ordered.

"Understood." McQueen replied, ordering the detail that had been guarding Sabá to get some rest. "The second detail that had escorted the two new guests remained by the briefing room doors as the Commander and Logan stepped into the Captain's ready room.

AJ sat behind his desk and signalled for Logan to do the same.

"What is the status of our other guests ?." AJ enquired.

"Last time I checked, they were still remaining calm." Logan reported. "Lieutenant Kahfre has managed to synthesis some 'White' substitute, but it won't support the Jem'Hadar for long."

"Hopefully, we can get rid of all our guests and get on with the job of finding out where our scientists are." AJ replied.

"On that subject, I took the liberty of checking out Juno III and the two scientists that were kidnapped." Logan reported.

"What have you found ?" Buford enquired.

"Juno III was once a thriving, lush class M planet inhabited by a race of humanoids. That was until the Dominion arrived and attempted to take over. The natives attempted to fight back, but were ultimately defeated. We don't have much detail on what happened, but we believe that the Dominion used some kind of terraforming bombardment to totally destroy the eco-system." Logan explained. "From the records, this all happened nearly a thousand years ago."

"It certainly doesn't show many signs of being bombarded now, it not an ideal planet for a Federation colony, but it obviously habitable." AJ exclaimed. "But why the interest now ?"

"When the treaty of Bajor officially ended the Dominion war, certain territory in the Gamma quadrant was given over to the Federation, mainly the existing systems where colonies had already been established before the war. The remainder of the systems were those that bordered the existing colonies, allowing the formation of one single Federation territory, one of the additional systems was Juno." Logan continued. "When the Federation sent an advanced survey team to Juno III, the only class M planet in the system they found not a decimated land as the Dominion had told them, but a thriving eco-system once more. They also found something far more interesting."

"What ?" AJ asked, now hooked at Logan's report.

"Whatever happened on the planet when the Dominion destroyed it, something survived and left alone evolved." Logan stated.

"The creatures that the away team encountered on the surface." AJ suggested.

"Are evolved from one of the species that survived." Logan replied. "From what the Dominion records show, the planet was totally devastated by the bombardment, no life could have survived. Of course these records are nearly a millennia old, but from what we know of the Vorta they are meticulous record keepers."

"So how did the planet recover so fast and how did those creatures survive ?" AJ enquired.

"Those were more or less the same questions the Federation asked." Logan replied. "They set-up a team of top scientists to study the planet and it's eco-system to try and find the answers. From what they've already reported, evolution on the planet has been in overdrive for the past thousand years, creating vast quantities of varied species in the beginning, which have gradually been reduced to just a handful of survivors. From the research they did, it appears that this evolutionary acceleration has gradually slowed down as time has passed. Their last report suggested that evolution was currently running at a hundred times the standard model. When the planet was first destroyed that would have been tens of millions of times."

"A hundred years of evolution in one year." AJ exclaimed. "It's a fascinating opportunity to see all that happening in real time. But what about the team, were they effected by the planet's environment ?"

"Not from what we can tell." Logan replied. "The effect is isolated to the native species only, probably something to do with their DNA being altered during the bombardment. Doctor Mitchell proposed that some small mammals might have taken refuge where they would have been protected by the blast. Once everything had settled down, they would have re-emerged and started to feed on what was left."

"What do we know about the two scientists that were taken ?" AJ enquired.

"Doctor Mitchell was a xeno-geneticist and head of the research team. He had been examining the DNA of the native animal and plant life. The other scientist was Dantex Jix, a joined Trill and an expert in DNA re-sequencing. She was attempting to discover exactly what had caused the accelerated evolutionary process." Logan reported.

"I can't see any significance in those two scientists. Exactly why would the Dominion want them ?" AJ suggested.

"There is one more piece of the puzzle to add." Logan replied. "The Jix symbiont's previous host was a Doctor Bastia Jix. He was a renounced authority on the Jem'Hadar during the war and published several papers on this biochemistry. When the USS Virgo made contact with the Jeorri, he was one of the first Federation scientist to meet with them and exchange medical and scientific data. He died just over a year ago and was transferred to the Dantex host. Bastia lectured at the Daystrom institute for many years, where he taught both Doctor Mitchell and Dantex."

"Now things are starting to make some sense." AJ remarked. "They've taken two of the Federations top experts on the Jem'Hadar. As these are rogue Jem'Hadar, could they be using them to assist with the creation of more clones or the production of Ketracel-White. They've probably not got access to those kinds of facilities."

"It's entirely possible, but from what we've managed to obtain from the away team the Jem'Hadar only took certain equipment." Logan replied. "I've spoken with the Doctor and she's examined the list of missing equipment. Most of it's appears to be for the analysis and manipulation of DNA according to her. None of it could be used to create clones or produce 'White'"."

"Maybe this Founder will......" AJ started to say, before being interrupted by a message over the comm.

[Commander Buford.] The voice announced. [Ensign Greere here. The Dominion guests have finished their talk and have requested your presence.]

"Thank you Ensign, we'll be with you in a minute. Let's go see what our guests have to say for themselves." AJ announced, rising from his seat and heading back to briefing room.