“Tell me, dear admiral. How are things on Archanis Station?”

Admiral Reyes stared at the monster in their brig. How did it know about Archanis Station? Was this all somehow connected? Her face betrayed none of her thoughts though. She was too practiced for that, and she wouldn’t offer it the satisfaction of acknowledging the tragedy – nearly a thousand dead or dying – that had unfolded aboard the station.

“All’s well,” the admiral replied lightly. “I hear Jazzir, our footloose Risian, is getting ready for a holiday party to end all holiday parties. Why, by chance, do you ask? Were you hoping to go?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” the creature smiled deviously. There was something more to his comments. “Maybe it just has a special place in my heart.”

The creature had no heart. It was nothing more than morphogenic matter materialized into a form convenient for its purposes. The place too, it wasn’t special to anyone. Especially not the changeling. Archanis Station was just a forgotten borderland outpost, irrelevant to most, save for those who called this place home. They were trying to change that, but it would take time. 

“If you’re a good little boy,” the admiral offered sarcastically. “Maybe we’ll put you on a leash and take you for a walk around the promenade so you can enjoy some cobbler.”

It stared at her, and she stared back. They despised each other, and they both knew it. 

The admiral had the upper hand for now though. With the flick of a wrist, she could vaporize the creature, turning it to nothing more than a heaping pile of charred goo. There was something appealing to her about that thought. But no, not yet. She wanted answers first. They needed answers first.

“You know this doesn’t end well for you,” Admiral Reyes warned.

“Nor for you, Starfleet,” the changeling countered, the last word rolling off its tongue with palpable hate.

“I dunno. It looks pretty peachy from where I am right now,” Admiral Reyes chuckled as she looked around. “You, on the other hand, we’ll have our way with you before this is all over.” The creature had made a mistake, whether of cowardice or of hubris, and she didn’t intend to waste the opportunity. “You may be unwilling to answer my questions now, but after my colleagues are done with you, you’ll wish you had.”

“Oh please,” the changeling laughed unperturbed. “Your people, people like that Commander Drake who came to see me earlier, they don’t have the stomach for that. You cling to your laws and your ideals like somehow they make you great, but really, they make you impotent.”

“Last I recall, it was us, with our laws and our ideals, that defeated you in the War,” Admiral Reyes reminded the creature.

“Our defeat was a surprise for sure, but in the broad scheme of things, it was nothing more than a temporary setback,” the changeling insisted. “Just like my present situation here, confined within your brig. In time, both will pass.”

That was it. That was her answer to why it had surrendered rather than trying to make a move against them on the observation deck. It figured wrongly that it would be able to just wait them out. But it had miscalculated. It had no idea who she was, or what she was willing to do.

“As you and I both know,” the changeling continued. “Once we get back to Archanis Station, you’ll hand me over to your lawyers and your judges, and ultimately, what will they do? Lock me in a cell until they can’t remember why I’m there, just like what you did with the Great Link?”

It was an interesting analogy, Admiral Reyes had to admit. Already, the Federation and its policymakers had begun to soften their stance towards the Dominion. When the Lost Fleet returned, the Command swore it had nothing to do with their friends in the Gamma Quadrant. When changelings were found to be connected to Frontier Day, the conclusion was that they must have been rogue. And even now, the emphasis in the crime reports was on changelings operating beyond the Great Link. But was that true? Typically, where there was smoke, there was fire, and right now, there was a hell of a lot of smoke.

“You see, dear admiral, we are a patient people,” the changeling kept on rambling. “Whether it’s a year, a decade, or a century, in the end, we will be free, and you, you will die. All of you. All of this, it will crumble, and our Dominion will reign supreme.”

“I am afraid that you must have mistaken me for someone else,” the admiral at last replied. This was the part the creature hadn’t counted on when it’d willingly surrendered on the observation deck. “You’re not going to see a courtroom, and you’re never going to enjoy the hospitality of our penal system. You see, I know exactly who you are. I fought your kind. I interrogated them. I tortured them. And then I killed them.” 

Her eyes narrowed on him, blacker than black. What she would have given to be there herself, to watch as vengeance was dealt. For Duraxis. For Nasera. For Sol. And for a thousand worlds just liked those, forced beneath the yoke of the Dominion. But alas her position wouldn’t allow that. Not anymore. 

“And that, you monster,” the admiral explained, vitriol effusing off of her. “That is what I’ve arranged for you. You will be going with people who have not forgotten. People who know who you are. People who are eager to make a god feel pain. They will milk you for every last little bit of information you have, and then, when it’s all over, they will kill you.” 

For a moment, the creature almost looked nervous.

“Bridge to Admiral Reyes. Captain Saito and Commodore Agarwal just arrived. They’ll meet you in your ready room.”

What a timely interruption. Let the creature think on that for a bit.

“Tell them I’ll be right up, and ask Captain Vox and Commander Drake to meet us there as well.”

“Yes ma’am.”

The admiral then tapped the combadge off and turned back to the changeling.

“Give it to me now, or wait for what we’ll do to you later, frankly I couldn’t care less,” Admiral Reyes shrugged nonchalantly. “We’ll have our answers at the end of it all.” 

And then, without another word, the admiral turned for the door and left. 

The changeling just sat there in silence as it watched her go. Had it underestimated her? No, there was no way. In the end, she’d fail. The solids always did.

Above deck, the duel of mortal enemies unbeknownst to them, Captain Kenji Saito and Commodore Amit Agarwal settled into a pair of plush chairs opposite the admiral’s desk. Captain Dorian Vox arrived next, followed by Commander Robert Drake.

They didn’t have to wait long. The trip from the brig was short.

When the admiral stepped through the threshold into her ready room, she looked transformed, nothing like just a few moments prior. Gone was the darkness in her eyes, and now she appeared just the inclement professional they all knew her to be.

“Good day, gentlemen,” Admiral Reyes smiled as she took a seat at her desk, getting straight down to business. “Amit, I understand everything has turned for the better?”

“Indeed, ma’am,” confirmed Commodore Agarwal, the chief of the Corps of Engineers’ Archanis detachment. “No more notable issues, and the buildout is back on schedule. I anticipate the colony will be running on new power infrastructure, supported by the new water filtration and waste reclamation facilities, within the week. The new subspace transceiver will come online shortly as well, and then we’ll begin the deployment of industrial replicators and clean refining systems.” All things that the Federation took for granted, but that would be novel for Duraxis.

“What a change this will be for the colony,” Admiral Reyes beamed. This is why they did what they did. “So much progress in such a short time.”

“It’s easy when our shit doesn’t go missing or randomly explode,” Commodore Agarwal laughed. “I will admit, as everything was breaking, I started to wonder if I was the one going crazy. This should have been such a routine assignment.”

“Amazing what one little gooey freak can do,” Admiral Reyes laughed. “But it won’t give you any more trouble.” Not now that it was in their brig, and soon to be shoved in a deep, dark hole somewhere.

“Forgive me, but I’m still a bit confused,” Captain Saito said, jumping in. “We never did tell the people of Duraxis the whole story, did we?”

“No, we most certainly did not,” Admiral Reyes confirmed. “Only just enough for them to move on.” They had given the governor enough to pin the explosions and the murders on Voral, but the fact Voral had been a changeling, that was something they didn’t need to know.

“So what of his movement?” Captain Saito followed. “The thousands who rallied behind the man they knew as Voral?”

“Collective memories can be so fickle,” Admiral Reyes observed. “Especially when, absent the instigator, everything turns around. That was why it was so important we hit it hard right after.” She looked over at Commodore Agarwal and smiled. He and his people, pulling double shifts since the governor had allowed them back to the surface, had done exactly what was necessary to help the people of Duraxis forget their past grievances. A bright future now awaited them.

“What about the changeling in our brig?” Captain Vox asked, directing his question at the JAG for he, like the others, was unaware the admiral had even paid the creature a visit, let alone that she had already made arrangements for it.

“Nothing so far,” Commander Drake frowned. “It knows something though. Keeps making allusions to some grander plan. We need to get to the bottom of it.”

“I agree, and that’s why I’ve already called ahead,” Admiral Reyes shared. She knew this would be the part the JAG wouldn’t like. “An advanced team from Starfleet Security will rendezvous with us to take it away to somewhere more secure.”

Commander Drake eyed her suspiciously. “Wait, really?” He didn’t know her to be the type that would let a lead out of her sight. Not unless there was something more at play. “Allison, give me some more time with the changeling. I’ll break it.”

“It would be irresponsible of us to hold a changeling longterm on our ship, or aboard a station of twenty thousand,” Admiral Reyes replied flatly. It wasn’t a lie. It just wasn’t the whole truth. “It’s already been decided. The advanced team will meet us at Archanis Station in three days’ time.”

Commander Drake looked less than pleased, but he held his tongue. For now.

“You said three days?” Captain Saito jumped in. “You’re leaving already? Things are just starting to turn around?”

“For exactly that reason,” Admiral Reyes nodded. “You don’t need us anymore. We go where the crisis is. It’s the nature of the job.” And she wouldn’t have had it any other way, while that modus operandi sounded absolutely dreadful to the captain of the Pacific Palisades. But that’s why she was where she was, and he was still commanding a utility cruiser ferrying around a detachment of engineers. “I’m sure you’ve got it from here, Captain Saito.”

“Yes ma’am,” Captain Saito nodded as he glanced over at his colleague. At least he had Commodore Agarwal. They didn’t always agree, but over the course of the events that’d unfolded on Duraxis, he’d come to appreciate the man’s counsel. “We’ll get it done.”

“Dorian,” Admiral Reyes then ordered as she turned towards the captain of the Diligent. “There’s no reason to delay then. Call our people back up from the surface, and prepare the ship for departure. Let’s get out of here by 1400 hours.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Captain Vox nodded. Like the admiral, he wasn’t one who liked to sit still.

“Dismissed.”

Commodore Agarwal and Captains Saito and Vox promptly rose and left the room, but Commander Drake stayed seated. He was going to try once more.

“The changeling…” he began once they were alone.

“I think I was perfectly clear,” Admiral Reyes interrupted. “We can’t risk it getting out. Keep him here long enough, and he will, almost guaranteed.”

“Where are you sending him?”

“Starfleet Security,” Admiral Reyes replied flatly. “I already told you that.”

Commander Drake didn’t look convinced. He knew her far too well. When her tone was so flat, it meant the real answer was exactly the opposite. “Why do I get the feeling I’m never going to get to charge that creature for its crimes on Duraxis?”

“There are some problems you can’t solve within a court of law,” Admiral Reyes answered cryptically. “You said it yourself. There’s more at play. A trial won’t get it to give us what we need. Especially not if time is of the essence. Let them take it from here. They’ll get to the bottom of it.”

“I don’t like how you’re talking about all of this,” Commander Drake cautioned. “You sound almost like you think we’re still in the Dominion War.”

“Are we really so far from it?” Admiral Reyes asked darkly. “Consider the last nine months, Robert. The Deneb Sector. The Battle of Sol. And now this. It all ties back to the changelings. Now we have in our brig, and frankly, it’d be a waste if he went down for something as petty as sabotaging a fusion reactor. For the sake of the Federation, we need to get to the root of this.”

He understood exactly what she was saying, and much to her surprise, he actually agreed. “Yes, I suppose you may be right.” And maybe she was. Maybe she’d actually been right about more than he gave her credit.