Arrival at Bopak III

It had been three days of hard travelling from the Tarn Vedra system. The Saucer section could have halved that time if they had been running alone, but they had two other vessels to take care of, vessels that were a lot slower then the Saucer. Since escaping the Tarn Vedra system and the trap that the Rogue Jem'Hadar had set up, they had been running silent and had not contacted the Engineering section or the Hellcat. Neither vessel had followed the Saucer, which meant for the moment the Saucer was on it's own.

"Commander." The Ops officer suddenly announced from his console. "I'm picking up a vessel leaving the Bopak system."

"Can you identify it ?" Lieutenant Commander J'Ross enquired.

"Looks like a Dominion Battle Cruiser." The Ops officer stated. "They're heading away from Bopak III and towards the demilitarised zone, looks like they're heading back to Dominion space."

"M'eko checked the Helm console in front of her, they were at least three hours from Bopak III at their current speed. She silently thanked the Starfleet engineers who had designed and built the Leviathan's sensors. It was unlikely that the Dominion vessel would have detected their own approach, so they could safely continue.

"Can you pick up any other vessels in the system ?" J'Ross asked.

"We're still too far out from the system to make any detailed scans." The Ops officer announced.

"Continue to scan the system." M'eko ordered. "There maybe more vessels in the system."

She was very aware of what had happened to the Taurus and two Dominion vessels the last time they had been here. One vessel had been destroyed and the second had been severely crippled. The rogue Jem'Hadar vessel had also caused heavy damage to the Taurus.

The Leviathan was a very different vessel, designed to defend itself. But the majority of its firepower came from the Engineering section not the Saucer. The Saucer could defend itself, but against something like a Dominion Battle Cruiser or the Rogue Jem'Hadar vessel they weren't going to last long.

Two hours later, they were finally close enough to perform some long-range, detailed scans of the system.

"Commander." The Ops officer announced. "I'm scanning the Bopak system and finding no other vessels in the area. There's been some activity in the area, it looks like at least two maybe three Dominion vessels have been here in the past day or so."

"Where have those vessels been ?" M'eko asked.

"The scans show a concentration around Bopak III." The Ops officer reported.

"Can you scan beyond the sun ?" M'eko announced. "The last time a Federation vessel was in this system, they hide behind the sun."

"I'm not picking up any vessel in the system, including on the far side of the sun." The Ops officer confirmed.

An hour later, the Saucer section was about to drop out of warp. As they did so, the Bridge crew watched as the two Jem'Hadar transporters followed suit.

"Open a channel to the transporters." M'eko announced.

"Channel open." The Ops officer announced.

"We've picked up some Dominion activity in the area, although this appears to be recent rather than current." M'eko announced. "But we are not going to take any chances. You should remain here on the edge of the system until we contact you again. We'll move into the system and check it out, once I'm happy that the way is clear, you can follow us in. Is that understood."

[Yes, Commander.] Both Jem'Hadar Captain's confirmed.

"Close Channel." J'ross announced. "Activate the refractive shielding."

Still sat at the helm, J'ross moved the Saucer section of the Leviathan into the Bopak system, towards Bopak III."

Travelling at low impulse, the Saucer section had arrived at Bopak III in just over two hours. They were now ready to set orbit and start to scan the surface.

"Commander, I'm picking up a large concentration of Jem'Hadar on the surface." The Ops officer announced.

"Where ?" J'ross announced.

"About a thousand miles south of the pole." The Ops officer announced. "It would appear to be some sort of mobile command and control centre. I'm picking up at least two independent power sources."

"Any scanning equipment, has our arrival been detected." J'ross enquired.

"None." The Ops officer replied. "I've just picked up a second smaller group of Jem'Hadar, heading east of the command centre, looks like they're on foot. I'm picking up strong tachyon emissions coming from the group."

"Are they aimed at us ?" J'ross asked.

"Negative." The Ops officer announced. "They appear to be scanning the surface."

"How many Jem'Hadar at the command base ?" J'ross asked.

"About a hundred." The Ops officer announced. "The search party is made up of about another ten."

"Weapons and defences ?" J'ross asked.

"I'm picking up two positron cannons and several shield emitters. I'm also picking up several small groups of Jem'Hadar patrolling the perimeter or in key positions to defend the base." The Ops officer reported. "The base is heavily protected, it's going to be hard to take it out."

"Get all the information you can on the base and have it ready for a briefing in one hour." J'ross ordered. "Also see of you can find a safe area where we can land the Transporters without them being detected. I think it's time we tested our Jem'Hadar friends honesty and willingness to defend themselves. Have Goran'Agar brought to the briefing, maybe he can explain just why his own people are so interested in this planet, especially since the Dominion gave it to the Federation after the war."

"Commander, there's a plain about sixty miles east of the Dominion command base." The Ops officer announced. "We should be able to land the transporters there without being detected, especially if they entered the atmosphere from the far side of the planet."

"Good. Contact the transporters and have them make a long sweep into the system." J'ross announced. "Contact Lieutenant Colonel Phanan, give him the information the command base and tell him to meet me in the briefing room in one hour."