Jadzia Dax stared across the vast expanse of the hanger bay on board the starship Liberator, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Nothing could have prepared me for this." the young Trill said, turning back to her two old friends.

"It's the largest shuttle bay ever constructed aboard a starship, and the Liberator has four of them." Captain Gary Quick said happily. "And it doesn't even have any shuttles."

Commander Dan Shetley chuckled quietly.

"You might be waiting longer than you think, Gary." Shetley said as he took a seat upon the railing that surrounded the second level of the bay.

"Starfleet's just having problems finding experienced shuttle pilots that can handle the Viper." Quick shot back.

Shetley shrugged his shoulders, not convinced.

"Maybe," the commander replied, " or maybe Starfleet's getting cold feet about the whole idea about a fighter."

"Viper?" Dax asked, hopping onto the railing.

"The official name given to the first class of Federation fighters these hanger bays will soon become home to." Quick replied, looking the skeptical Commander Shetley as he spoke.

"That's if they ever get out of the testing stage." Shetley added.

"Have either of you ever seen one of these fighters?" Dax asked, her interest piqued.

"Seen them, hell, Dan and I flew the prototype on its maiden voyage out to Jupiter and back to Mars." Quick replied, smiling.

"Blew the hell out of our old records for the Jovian Run." Shetley laughed.

"Then it's fast." Dax commented.

"Definitely fast." Quick replied.

"The Viper is the fastest, most maneuverable Federation ship of any kind at impulse speeds." Shetley added.

"It isn't a slouch at warp, either." Quick said, leaning against the bulkhead.

Dax was silent for a few seconds as she absorbed the information.

Commander Shetley took the opportunity to speak again.

"The Viper was constructed using the existing frame of the Danube class runabout." Shetley began. "All of the modules , the science and crew systems, have been replaced by static electronic countermeasures, sensor arrays, jamming and listening devices, and a quantum torpedo launcher."

"You mean the full-sized torpedoes and not the micros, don't you?" Dax asked, knowing that the runabouts already possessed the smaller versions of these lethal weapons.

"Yes, the new launching mechanism is designed, at least in theory, to be deployable from the belly of the ship." Shetley replied, using his hands to help visualize his idea.

Dax shook her head.

"How may torpedoes can it carry?" 

"The Viper carries a standard complement of eighteen quantum torpedoes." Quick replied.

Dax whistled.

"That's quite a bit for such a small ship. Dax said. "Isn't that going to make the crew more than a little cramped?"

"Well yes," Quick replied, "but the Viper wasn't designed for comfort."

"It has a bunk, a replicator, a lavatory, and a sonic shower." Shetley added. "What more could you ask for?"

"I'm just glad that I'm not going to be assigned to one of those things." Dax said, laughing.

"You'd get used to it." Shetley replied.

"I think that the old worm's just getting soft." Quick said, smiling.

Dax's eyes narrowed.

"The 'old worm' is doing just fine." the Trill replied, hopping off the railing.

"How many Vipers are going to be assigned to the Liberator?" Dax asked, looking out again at the hangar bay.

"Four squadrons of twenty-four." Quick replied, moving from the bulkhead to the railing. "Plus another four ships held for reserve and training."

"You've almost got an entire fleet in itself." Dax said. 

Both Quick and Shetley nodded in agreement.

"You forgot to mention the best part." Dan Shetley said, looking at Gary Quick.

Quick stared back at Shetley for a few seconds before his eyes widened. 

Smiling, he turned back to Jadzia Dax.

"In addition to the quantum torpedoes, all of the phaser strips have been removed and replaced." Quick said.

"Replaced by what?" Dax asked.

"Two pulse phaser cannons." Quick said matter-of-factly.

Dax's eyes widened in surprise.

"Pulse cannons." she exclaimed. "How did they get pulse cannons mounted on a runabout?"

Shetley and Quick both laughed.

"It was our idea," Shetley began, "the runabout's standard phaser banks just were not powerful enough to be effective. We designed a scaled down version of the pulse cannon based on the ones used on the Defiant."

Dax was speechless.

"They're not as powerful as those aboard a Defiant class starship but they still pack a hell of a punch." Gary Quick added.

Dax shook her head, looking at her two old friends.

"Is there anything that the Viper doesn't have?"

"We couldn't think of anything else to stick in it." Shetley laughed.

Gary Quick began laughing as well.

Soon Dax found herself laughing along with her friends.

It felt good to laugh like this, the beautiful Trill thought.

As their laughter subsided, the three turned and leaned against the railing, staring.

The three old friends continued to look out across the expanse of the hangar bay for several minutes without speaking, lost in thought.

In the silence, Dax debated whether or not to tell her friends about what had happened this morning in the captain's office. Both of these men were fiercely loyal to Admiral Pierce and had been his friends for many years longer than either Dax or Sisko. She was determined to find out what had happened, but at the same time she did not want to risk alienating them by making unwarranted accusations about the admiral.

Finally, Dax made her decision.

"Something strange happened this morning on the station." Dax began, still looking out at the hanger bay.

Both Quick and Shetley seemed interested, but remained silent.

"Admiral Pierce did something to Benjamin." Dax continued. 

"'Did something'?" Quick asked, turning to the beautiful Trill. "What do you mean?"

Dax Shook her head.

"I'm not exactly sure, but the admiral made some kind of telepathic contact with Captain Sisko and the rest of us in his office."

Shetley straightened up and looked at Dax.

Quick tilted his head, not believing what he had just heard.

"Telepathic?" Quick said, shaking his head.

"Yes, Dax replied quickly, "I'm positive of that much."

Dax recounted the events of the morning to her two friends, omitting nothing. Both Quick and Shetley listened silently but Dax could tell by their expressions they both wore that they were not convinced.

"You say that all of you lost consciousness?" Quick asked, laughing uneasily.

Jadzia Dax nodded in reply.

"Nothing like that has ever happened with anyone else and the admiral." Dan Shetley admitted.

"Are you sure?" Dax asked.

"Believe me Jadzia, something like that we wouldn't forget." Shetley replied.

"And when you came to, the admiral was gone." Quick stated.

"Yes." Dax replied defensively. "Look, this isn't a joke."

"I'm not saying that it is." Quick said, raising his hands. "It's just a little hard for me to believe that Vice Admiral Alexander G. Pierce, someone I've served under for over damn near twenty years walked in, put the whammy on four people and then left."

Dax looked at her former friends, frowning. 

Perhaps this had been a mistake after all, the young Trill thought.

"Still," Quick began, "the old boy hasn't been the same since he got back."

"That's for sure." Shetley added quickly.

"Got back?" Dax asked. "What do you mean?"

Quick looked at Jadzia Dax for several seconds.

"Come on, Gary." Dax prodded. "What are you talking about?"

Captain Gary Quick looked out across the hangar bay, checking to make sure that they were alone.

"Almost two years ago, when we were all working on the Andromeda Class Development Project, Pierce disappeared." Quick said, almost whispering.

"Disappeared?" Dax said.

Quick nodded and continued.

"Yes. As you can expect all hell broke loose. Searches were made, people questioned, the whole nine yards. Everything turned up blank. No one knew if he had been killed, kidnaped by the Dominion, or what.

"For a time, Starfleet Command debated on whether or not to continue the project, fearing that it had been compromised." Quick said. "In the end, mainly because of Admiral Dougherty, the project continued under the ever-watchful eyes of one Rear Admiral Edward Jellico."

"More like 'under the thumb'." Dan Shetley added grimly.

Quick sighed, remembering.

"Jellico pushed the project ahead full steam for almost nine months." Quick said.

"Then one day..." Shetley began, but stopped.

"Then one day," Quick continued, "Pierce came back like nothing had happened, looking younger and sporting that goatee."

"He does look good." Jadzia Dax said, smiling. "Then what happened?"

"All hell broke loose, again." Quick replied. "The admiral was arrested and taken away."

"We didn't see him again for over a month." Shetley said.

Suddenly, a door opened and a young male midshipman entered. He stopped and came to attention when he saw the three officers talking.

"Can't you see we're in a meeting?" Quick snapped.

The young man's face turned red with fear and embarrassment.

"Sorry sir, I didn't know anyone was here." the young man said quickly. "I was just coming in to do some stress analysis tests on the power relays."

Captain Gary Quick stared hard at the midshipman, causing the young man to visibly tremble.

"It can wait. Get out." Quick said, raising his voice.

"Yes, sir." the young man, turning and quickly exiting the way he had come.

"That was a little harsh, don't you think." Dax said, a little angry.

"If you only knew how risky telling you this really is you wouldn't think so." Quick replied quickly. "We're only telling you because of our friendship and what happened to you this morning."

"Yes, and we expect you to keep this to yourself and not to breath a word of it to anyone," Dan Shetley added, "not even Ben Sisko."

Dax looked into the eyes of her friends and saw how serious they were. Finally, she nodded her head. "Alright, I promise."

"When he finally came back to the project, he was promoted to vice admiral and placed in charge, much to the dismay of Rear Admiral Edward Jellico." Quick continued.

"I can imagine." Dax replied, smiling.

"Under Pierce, the Andromeda was completed first and on its major voyage it disappeared with all hands just twenty four hours after it was launched from the ship yards." Quick said. "No one has heard from it since."

Dax shook her head.

"Do you think that Admiral Pierce had something to do with the Andromeda?" Dax asked.

"No, not really." Quick replied. "He seemed just as shaken by it as everyone else."

"It was bad, though." Shetley said. "More delays and threats of cancellations. Everyone was afraid that there was a problem with the warp drive."

"No one was very anxious to sign aboard the Liberator when they thought they might not come back." Quick said. "Not very many of us have a lot of faith in these dual warp cores."

"According to my chief of operations, Admiral Scott pretty much solved all of the compatibility problems, didn't he?" Dax asked.

"Well yes, but you have to remember that nothing like this has ever been created." Quick replied. "Who knows what could happen each time we go to warp speed. These three nacelles work better than anything we've ever had, but they haven't been tested enough before putting them in the field."

"Most of the simulations the Theoretical Propulsion Group ran were inconclusive, and the rest are still being analyzed." Shetley said. "We're out here because Admiral Pierce asked us, not because of our belief in the technology."

"Most of the systems, weapons and defensive, haven't been tested outside the lab." Quick said. "I'm not at all thrilled by the prospect of going into a prolonged battle with this ship. If we had done more field testing it would be a different story, but not now."

"Why was there such a rush to launch the Liberator, especially after the Andromeda disappeared?" Dax asked.

Quick and Shetley looked at each other then back to Dax.

"We needed to get here." Captain Quick said flatly.

"Admiral Pierce wanted to get here a day earlier but we were delayed by Doctor Brahms." Shetley added. "She wasn't too happy about being drafted."

"Drafted?" Dax exclaimed. "No one gets drafted in Starfleet."

"Doctor Brahms was," Quick replied, "by Admiral Necheyev."

Shetley nodded, smiling.

"I still think Pierce had something to do with that."

Captain Quick looked at his friend.

"Why? He can't stand being in the same sector as her, let alone the same ship."

"Payback." Shetley said.

Dax saw Captain Quick's eyes widen as he thought about Commander Dan Shetley's mysterious reply. 

"That could be," Quick said, "but we're getting off track."

Gary Quick paused a moment to collect his thoughts, Dax guessed. She had learned a lot but still nothing to tie in with what had happened this morning. Still, the young Trill thought, there had to be more.

"The day before the Liberator left Utopia Planitia to come here, Empok Nor disappeared as well, without a trace." Quick said.

"Chief O'Brien was told by Admiral Scott that Empok Nor had been moved into Federation controlled space so that it could be safely used as a training facility for the Federation Corps of Engineers." Dax replied. "You mean the entire station vanished, without a trace?"

"That area became a real hot spot." Dan Shetley said. "All of the Federation technology was stripped and the station was abandoned and the Cardassians or the Jem'Hadar could have easily destroyed it, or even moved it back deeper into their territory for all we know."

"Why would the Dominion want an abandoned Cardassian space station?" Dax thought aloud, feeling a little overwhelmed by the strange turn of events that led to her reunion with her old friends.

"Who knows," Gary Quick replied, "but the rumors of bad luck associated with everything connected to the Andromeda project grew and no one was eager to ship out with the Liberator."

"Especially Doctor Brahms." Dan Shetley said.

Yes, especially Doctor Brahms." Captain Quick repeated. 

Seeing the confused look in Jadzia Dax's eyes, Quick continued.

"As we said before, Doctor Leah Brahms was less than enthusiastic about being assigned to the Liberator as its Chief Engineer, even if it is only temporary."

"More than once, the good doctor spoke out against the Andromeda project, and more specifically, Admiral Pierce." Shetley said. "She called the Andromeda class starship an 'abomination to the ideals that the Federation stands for'."

"She also said that Alexander Pierce was 'a heartless warmonger and was possibly a greater threat to the Federation than the Dominion'." Gary Quick said. 

"Needless to say, she didn't endear herself to the admiral." Dan Shetley added.

"I've never met Doctor Brahms but I've read a lot of her papers." Dax replied. "She doesn't sound like the type of person that would slander anyone or anything like that, much less a Starfleet flag officer."

Both Gary Quick and Dan Shetley shrugged in unison.

"That's exactly what happened." Quick said.

"Maybe she knew something about Admiral Pierce that we don't." Shetley added.

"What do you mean?" Quick asked, turning from Dax to Shetley.

"Well, something is definitely different about the admiral." Shetley said.

"Like what?" Dax asked.

"Well, since his return Admiral Pierce made a lot of trips to the infirmary at Utopia Planitia and more recently, a lot of visits to sickbay here on the Liberator." Shetley replied quietly.

Quick nodded in agreement.

"Have either of you spoken to your Chief Medical Officer?" Dax asked.

Shetley and Quick looked at each other and back to Dax.

"That's just it, he hasn't been seeing the CMO." Quick said.

"Every time he's gone to sickbay that we know of, he's gone into one of the private rooms and activated the Emergency Medical Hologram program." Shetley added. "He stays in there from anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour and a half."

Dax frowned.

"Doing what?" the young Trill asked.

"We don't know, Quick replied, "the EMH's memory of each event has a code block on it and all of Admiral Pierce's medical records have been classified."

"Not even the ship's CMO has access to the admiral's records." Shetley added.

"This just gets weirder and weirder doesn't it." Dax said, shaking her head.

Quick nodded.

"I did some digging and found out that every time the admiral gets back to earth, he does go to see one specific doctor." Quick said . "Leonard McCoy."

Jadzia Dax's jaw dropped.

"He's been retired longer than I've been alive!" Dax exclaimed. "Well longer than Jadzia, anyway.

"What would a retired, one hundred forty eight year old Starfleet medical doctor have to do with Admiral Pierce?"

"That's another mystery that we haven't solved yet." Gary Quick replied. "But from what we've heard from old Scotty, Doctor McCoy is very interested in Admiral Pierce."

Dax shook her head.

"I'm even more confused about what happened this morning than I was this morning." Dax said.

"I wish we could have been more help." Dan Shetley began. "We've never heard of anything even remotely close to what you described, but that doesn't mean that we don't believe you."

"We just don't know what to think of it." Captain Quick said. "If it was some kind of telepathic exchange, then maybe you should speak to Sa'lanna."

"That's true," Commander Shetley added, "she's probably the best bet for finding out about the admiral's Vulcan abilities."

"You mean Sa'lanna is stationed aboard the Liberator?" Jadzia asked.

"Not just aboard, she's the captain of the Liberator now." Quick replied.

Before anyone could speak again, the lights in the hanger dimmed slightly. Several panels around the hanger which had been dark, now glowed a blight yellow.

All three old friends were caught off guard and looked around.

"We've just gone to Yellow Alert." Gary Quick stated.

"I wonder what's happened?" Dax replied.

The voice of the admiral suddenly emanated from the communication panels throughout the ship.

"This is the admiral. All senior officers will report to the War Room, immediately!"

"I guess we'll find out soon enough." Shetley said.

"Care to tag along?" Quick asked, motioning Dax to the doors leaving the hangar bay.

"Why not." Dax replied. "Besides, I didn't get to see the War Room during my tour."

Both Quick and Shetley laughed as the three friends left the hangar and entered the corridor.

As they walked towards the turbolift, Dax noticed that more crew members were moving about the starship now than she had seen during the past four hours she had spent onboard. She also noticed something else.

"Am I the only one onboard this ship not carrying a phaser?" Dax muttered.

Dan Shetley looked around casually and then said, "I guess so."

"Admiral's orders to every ship in the Seventh Fleet." Gary Quick added. "A lot of the defeats that starfleet has been getting over the past year center around our starship crews not being able to defend themselves in hand-to-hand combat. The Jem'Hadar seem to enjoy boarding ships and slaughtering the crews."

"At least with a phaser, they can have a chance to defend themselves." Shetley said.

"Is that also the reason why Starfleet started stationing marines aboard as well?" Dax asked as the turbolift doors opened and the three entered. 

"Deck ten." Captain Quick stated.

Immediately, the turbolift began to move down.

"Yes, that's part of the reason." Shetley replied. "The main reason is that eventually, we will have to take war to Dominion space if we ever hope to win. When that happens, we'll need ground troops to secure a location planet-side."

Dax nodded in agreement.

"Benjamin has been saying the same thing, but no one at Starfleet Command has been listening." the young Trill said.

"Believe me Jadzia," Gary Quick said matter-of-factly, "someone is always listening to Ben Sisko."

The turbolift stopped and the three Starfleet officers quickly exited.

Following her two friends, Jadzia Dax walked down a long corridor that curved slightly to the right. 

Gary Quick stopped in front of a large, very heavily shielded, set of double doors. On either side of the doors stood a large and very capable looking Federation Marine. Neither marine spoke as the doors opened.

Dax thought that the doors looked like those at the entrance to a holodeck aboard a starship, rather than some kind of briefing room. 

Gary Quick motioned for her to enter and she followed Dan Shetley inside.

Jadzia Dax's first reaction was that she was inside the stellar cartography laboratory aboard some of the larger Starfleet ships. The room appeared to be oval-shaped, but she could not be sure because the far wall was illuminated with the display of the Alpha Quadrant. It was also difficult for her to judge the size of the room, but it looked to be at least forty meters from the entrance to the star chart. The room encompassed three decks, with one below her, where she was standing and the rest of the space was covered by the image of their section of the galaxy.

There were also several free standing maps, mainly of Dominion space and also one depicting the Bajor system. Several young officers were busy updating the maps.

Off on the right side of the room stood a large table, at least fifteen meters long and three meters wide with several consoles and monitor screens built into it. Dax quickly counted forty seven chairs placed around the table. Each chair was built into the deck and swivelled, allowing easy access.

There were quite a few officers that Dax did not recognize, but she immediately saw Admiral Pierce in the center of the room. The admiral was speaking rapidly to several junior officers and two captains, one of whom was Benjamin Sisko.

As Dax approached, Sisko quietly moved away from the others to speak to her.

"I've been trying to find you, old man." Sisko said, smiling. "Chief O'Brien said you were aboard."

Jadzia Dax smiled. It was good to see Benjamin in a better mood, she thought.

"I knew that Chief O'Brien had everything under control and I would have just been in his and Admiral Scott's way." Dax replied. "Besides, I had to come aboard and get the grand tour."

"And did you?" Sisko asked.

"Gary and Dan were very thorough." the beautiful Trill replied, smiling again. "I think they might have been trying to recruit me."

Sisko laughed at loud, drawing a few strange looks from some of the younger officers.

"You're not thinking of leaving me, are you old man?" Sisko asked, placing his arm around Dax's shoulders.

"Me," Jadzia laughed, feigning surprise, "never. I'll be here until the end, Benjamin. Beside, Worf would never let me leave."

Sisko laughed again.

"No, I doubt he would." Sisko replied. 

"By the way old man, I think I've solved general Martok's problem."

"Thank you, Benjamin." Dax replied, smiling. "What did you come up with?"

"I'll let you know later." Ben Sisko said cryptically.

After a few seconds, Sisko winked at her and slapped the young trill gently on the back. 

Dax looked at her old friend for several seconds, not really understanding the reason behind Benjamin's good mood. Dax quickly decided that she was happy to see him like this rather than depressed.

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Dax asked.

"I spoke to Jake earlier." Sisko replied quickly.

Dax immediately realized that he had wanted to tell her from the beginning of their conversation but had been holding back, waiting for her to ask.

"I take it he and Nog and fine." Dax stated.

"He told me things went better than I had hoped for." Sisko replied. " He didn't get into the details but it looks like the Ferengi may be entering the war, on our side."

"That is good news." Dax said. "When will Jake and Nog get back?"

"In a few more days." Sisko said. "I ordered Ensign Nog to take a couple of days leave since he was already on Ferenginar."

Dax smiled. She knew that he was thinking about the safety of Jake and Nog. She was positive that part of Benjamin still saw the two young men as boys, playing on the Promenade and constantly getting into trouble.

Inside, part of her thought the same thing.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Admiral Pierce announced, getting the instant attention of everyone assembled. "Please take a seat and we'll get started."

Everyone moved towards the large conference table. 

Dax was unsure of where to sit but Gary Quick motioned for Ben and her to sit next to him and Dan Shetley at the opposite end of the table from Admiral Pierce.

After Pierce took his place at the head of the table, the others sat. The admiral quickly keyed several controls in front of him as he looked behind him at the large map.

Instantly, the image of the Alpha Quadrant was replaced by a very large and detailed image of the Badlands. Towards the far right side of the map floated two icons representing the Federation starships Bozeman and Excalibur. 

Another icon was depicted on the map as well.

The secret Cardassian science station floated motionlessly in the center of the image of the Badlands.

Suddenly, the icons of the two starships began to move swiftly across the map, towards their Cardassian target. 

Admiral Alexander Pierce turned to the seated officers and spoke.

"It has begun."