~~META:
title = Episode 40: Act 3
~~
====== Episode 40: Breaking the Glass - Act 3 ======
//Game was 3/4/21.//
==== Two Days Later ====
Two days have passed since the crash landing. The Jem'Hadar attack cruiser has lifted the //Varich// and the //Valiant// from the surface of the planet using tractor beams and brought both vessels up to an orbital repair facility. The facility is massive and can easily handle both ships without issue. The Starfleet officers boggle at the size of it but realize but when they dropped out of transwarp they were already within the gravity well of the planet and had more important things to focus on. The female Jem'Hadar continue to assist with repairs whether the Starfleet crew likes it or not.
However, one unlikely hero arises in the form of [[trek:characters:park|Lieutenant Park]]. Lieutenant Stephane Park was born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba and first worked in damage control before focusing on environmental engineering. He was the engineer that designed Swim's habitat and sickbay on the //Solstice//, which is why he was so devoted to getting it right the second time here on the //Varich//. Stephane Park has a twin sister named Stephanie, but she vanished a year ago... on the //U.S.S. Agincourt//! This chance to find her has propelled the up-until-now-quiet Lieutenant Park into an almost demonic figure as he essentially takes over damage control, conscripts anyone with a scrap of technological capability, and drives the crew hard to repair the ship - so hard in fact, one of the female Jem'Hadar stated, "He's a little intense."
==== Ssleestak ====
[[trek:solstice:pcs:ssleestak]] spends the two days overseeing much of the repair work but is also openly assessing the Dominion technology he sees. He attempts to sweet-talk one of the female Jem'Hadar into letting him look at a scanner; it is an engineering diagnostic tool that allows the user to scan and diagnose problems in the warp core while the ship is traveling at warp! Ssleestak does his best to memorize the specs on this device but the female Jem'Hadar gestured for him to simply take it. He thanks her profusely and notes with approval the stylish purple stripe on the device. What free time he has is consumed with multiple sexual encounters with female Jem'Hadar, and his warming rock is never empty. All this activity has left Ssleestak more chipper than normal and he preens slightly when he walks. His engineering crew is thrown off-guard as only a few days ago they were grappling with the fact that he murdered Ensign [[trek:characters:jetra|Jetra Yaden]], but [[trek:characters:malachi|Malachi]] points out, "There's less face-eating if he's getting laid!"
==== K'tral ====
For her part, [[trek:solstice:pcs:ktral]] also works on the repairs from her end and pushes herself to accomplish as much as she can without succumbing to exhaustion. To rest she meditates frequently which helps keep her emotions suppressed, although she does develop a bit of an eye twitch. She works with Ssleestak often but tells him sternly, "Shower. Just shower."
==== Jessa ====
[[trek:solstice:pcs:jessa|Jessa]] spent the two days not quite hiding but also avoiding as many interactions with the crew as possible is she still deeply embarrassed about losing control to Terjan again. She maintains open office hours, and insists she's not hiding in her office, really! This is said to her constant companion [[trek:characters:jen|Jen]], who is taking it upon herself to keep Jessa company. Jen never pushes, but Jessa is deeply grateful for her friend's presence.
==== Fal ====
[[trek:solstice:pcs:fal|Fal]] is tasked by [[trek:solstice:pcs:mel|Mel]], "Figure the fuck out how to get home!" Fal takes this charge very seriously and compiles local star charts, knowing that Starfleet in the Prime Universe has never been this far out in Dominion territory. He also devotes time to integrating [[trek:characters:luca|Luca]] and Malachi with the rest of the ship. Being a nine-month-old infant, Luca is straightforward; she likes the deep thrumming and flashing lights of the warp core. With Malachi it's much more difficult, as he was born on a //Nova//-class starship and knows future versions of most of the crew. However, he proves invaluable to Fal in one important aspect: as a powerful telepath, he speaks baby and can tell Fal when Luca is hungry, sleepy, or needs a diaper change.
==== Phillip ====
To keep busy as the ship is stationary, [[trek:solstice:pcs:phillip|Phillip]] assists with the repairs by welding whenever and wherever he is needed. He spends most of his free time with [[trek:characters:peel|Peel]], and eventually gets her to admit there are three things bothering her. The first is the open nature of the Mirror Universe Dominion, as all her training regarding the Dominion is as an adversary. The fact that there are two Phillips running around the ship is also something she's trying to deal with although she freely admits to some sexual fantasies about that. Finally, the female Jem'Hadar medical staple gun has led her to deeply question her cultures dismissal of modern medicine.
Regarding [[trek:characters:phillip2|Phillip II]], Phillip doesn't avoid him necessarily, but doesn't seek him out either. Thankfully, Phillip II fully agrees that this situation is creepy as fuck, but he has also picked up welding, so they do interact. Between the two of them, they realize that Phillip II is the same Phillip from the //U.S.S. Varich-A//, but for him seven years have passed since their encounter, while for Phillip it was only a week ago. Phillip II freely credits that initial encounter with helping him reassess his life and making some fresh choices. He tells Phillip that he is back with his Peel, and before his incarceration they were talking about starting a family together. He leans in and adds in a low voice, "Two words. Two words that will get your ass out of so much trouble. Mongolian barbeque. Trust me on this!" Phillip takes note of that tidbit for later.
Phillip also devotes some time to trying to wrap his head around how this ship without transwarp drive somehow traveled at transwarp across the galaxy and into a different universe! Although the numbers are impossibly staggering, he tries to figure out the theoreticals to make it happen again. However, he is forced to concede that the psionic factor is one he simply cannot account for.
==== Mel And Her Business Counselor ====
While her ship is being repaired, Mel gathers as much information as she can about the //U.S.S. Agincourt// and this region to come up with a tactical plan. Thankfully, the Dominion has accumulated a large amount of observational data, so she loops in [[trek:characters:shantaar|Shan'taar]] and Chief [[trek:characters:roya|Roya]] to help formulate a tactical plan. On the second day,((June 9th, 2372)) [[trek:characters:ublis|Ublis]] asks to speak with her. They meet in her ready room and Ublis asks about a technology exchange. He uses veiled language but is open about his intentions and he is not a sleazy as the Prime Universe Vorta seemed to be.
Mel attempts to negotiate, but swiftly realizes she is completely outclassed here. She asks for a brief pause so she can summon her counselor; Ublis immediately agrees. Mel hails [[trek:characters:paj|Paj]] and asks for his help; Paj happily accepts and heads up to join them. Ublis looks at her strangely and Mel replies, "I told you, I need to consult my business counselor!"
Paj arrives a few moments later and immediately dives into aggressive negotiations with Ublis. Mel loses track of the conversation almost immediately, as the two men talked for over an hour! Unfortunately, she realizes that Ublis has outmaneuvered Paj as well, as the Ferengi calls for a break and declares that it is time for some alcohol. He shrewdly asks Ublis what his pick of poison is, and Ublis shrugs and replies, "As I'm not familiar with the spirits on your side of the galaxy, the best I can tell you is something sweet and fruity."
Mel immediately hails K'tral and says, "We need an alcohol that's sweet and fruity." K'tral returns to her quarters to grab her portable bartenders kit and heads up to the ready room. She sets up the kit quickly and efficiently and makes a drink that is essentially a lemon drop with a kick. Once the drink is complete, she slides it over to Ublis, packs up the kit, and heads out. Paj declares, "I like this female, she has hidden talents!" Mel produces her bottle of Scotch, which Paj happily accepts for his choice of booze as well. The three drink, and Mel can see that there is a grudging but deep respect between Paj and Ublis that is developed in the past hour.
Once the drinks are consumed, negotiations resume and Ublis plays his trump card by pointing out, "Your chief engineer has already acquired some of our technology." Mel grudgingly concedes, "I didn't know that," as Paj glares at her. Paj snaps, "You left him unsupervised?" Mel retorts, "Plausible deniability." Both men stop and stare at her for a moment before conceding that she has a point.
Ublis says baldly, "This is what we are proposing. We want the tactical data for the //U.S.S. Agincourt// and in return we will give you specific shield upgrades and modulations so that your defensive systems will be effective against polaron weapons." Very much aware of the tactical advantage those shield modulations present, Mel still insists, "I can't give you full schematics, but I'm willing to negotiate for partial schematics." Ublis replies, "I understand your position, captain. But I need you to try to understand ours. In the past year, the //U.S.S. Agincourt// has attacked sixteen of our installations in this sector, causing over sixty thousand casualties, mostly civilian."
Mel rocks back in shock as Ublis continues, "Our intelligence indicates that the crew of the //Agincourt// are attempting to form a pact with some of the other local species. The Karemma, a race motivated by unchecked capitalism, and the Dosi, savage pirates and pawns of the Karama. There's also the Wadi, and their vastly superior technology. If they succeed, this sector will plunge into all-out war." Mel replies, "I do understand your position, and if you want to give me a little more time, I will bounce ideas off of my chief of security." Ublis agrees without quibble, and he and Paj depart.
==== Difficult Decisions ====
Mel summons Shan'taar, [[trek:characters:virgil|Virgil]], and [[trek:characters:hall|Christopher Hall]]. She weighs up the offer and the demand, and asks Shan'taar, "Which thing do I give him? Offensive capabilities? Their defensive capabilities?" Shan'taar considers the question very carefully for several moments before replying, "The sheer tactical advantage of us bringing back a way to protect our ships against our Dominion's weaponry is incalculable."((The //Defiant// managed to repel Dominion weaponry two months ago (Episode 4x07 //Starship Down//), but that was likely some modification Chief [[trek:characters:obrien|O'Brien]] made. Considering [[trek:characters:dukat|Gul Dukat]] is caught off-guard when DS9's shields hold against polaron weaponry when they invade the station at the end of 2373, over eighteen months later, I can safely assume whatever O'Brien did, it didn't work out fully but kickstarted research and development. This data will speed that along immensely.)) Mel concurs, and Virgil chimes in, "With that in mind, captain, I don't think it would be unreasonable to give them the specs for the //Agincourt's// phasers and photon torpedoes. This will allow the Dominion to defend themselves but won't increase their offensive capability against the Starfleet ship."
Shan'taar nods in agreement, and Mel says, "Thank you both, gentlemen. When you get a chance, send me whatever you have for your tactical plan." Without missing a beat Shan'taar hands her a padd and Mel grins before she dismisses them. She then turns to Christopher Hall, who is remained silent up until now. Hall admits that he is unsettled with the idea but agrees with Shan'taar and states that he will support Mel's decision.
Mel asks gently, "I need to ask you a delicate question about the elephant in the room. You've been where the //Agincourt// is now because of the //Phoenix//." Hall frowns and replies, "Not quite the same thing, captain. With all respect, Captain [[trek:characters:maxwell|Maxwell]] let us into Cardassian territory for only a few days while the //Agincourt// has been trapped here for over a year. The //Agincourt// also has a changeling manipulating them, while Captain Maxwell, for all of his faults, cared deeply about his crew." Mel nods gently and they dance around the issue a bit more before Hall tells her, "Oh, before I forget. The //Agincourt// crew that this Dominion has captured is scheduled to arrive here tomorrow afternoon. There's twenty officers and crew, including the executive officer Commander [[trek:characters:sten|S'ten]]."
Mel accepts the change in topic without comment and muses, "Understood, thank you. Do you have any ideas on how we can go after the //Agincourt//?" Hall replies frankly, "The //Agincourt// is a fifty-year-old //Excelsior//-class starship. However, despite her age, the //Agincourt// went through every scheduled upgrade in her service life, except for the last tactical update as she was trapped here. Quite frankly, we're outgunned on a one-on-one match." Mel agrees and asks him to get as much additional information as he can about the //Agincourt// from the Dominion.
===== Stardate 49440.77; Friday June 10th, 2372; 0745 hours =====
==== Staff Meeting ====
The senior officers head to the morning staff meeting at 0745 hours, and this time Ublis joins them. As the crew gathers, Jen tells Jessa, "I'll wait for you." Jessa agrees, knowing her friend just stood all of gamma shift and is probably exhausted. As the crew settles into their seats, Ssleestak produces a locally sourced Dominion dish for the crew, some sort of purple and green hash. He's been enjoying it for the past two days and wants to share it with the others. Several of the officers, including Jessa, Fal, and Phillip try it, but K'tral and Mel abstain. Fal rates it a 'three out of ten' in terms of Bajoran-level spiciness, while Ssleestak reveals that the dish is primarily insectoid protein and it's quite popular on the planet below. He adds that Paj wants to negotiate a finder's fee and admits he's seriously contemplating opening up a restaurant down on the planet below called the Crashed Starship!
Mel shakes her head and opens the meeting; the senior officers provide perfunctory updates and then turn their eyes to Ublis. Ublis picks up the thread smoothly and says, "The twenty members of the //Agincourt// crew under our protection will arrive at 1500 hours, ship time." He then smiles briefly before adding, "After that, then they are your problem!" Mel snorts but asks the senior officers for any thoughts on how to approach the //Agincourt//.
Ssleestak immediate replies, "I have an idea, and the //Rush// song is optional. When we find them, we should override their internal communications and tell them the truth. Identify ourselves, tell them the truth, and let them know we're here to bring them home." Hall immediately concedes, "That's actually not a bad idea. However, they're not going to know who we are, as the //Varich// was on the other side of the Federation under construction when the //Agincourt// disappeared." Mel counters, "That actually helps us. They don't know us, so we actually have more credibility here. They can't say we're some Dominion trick, a ship pulled from their memory banks. Us walking up as total strangers adds to our authenticity."
The senior officers discuss the proposition a bit more but agree that Ssleestak's idea is definitely worth an attempt. Ublis warns that the crew of the //U.S.S. Agincourt// may have changed from their Starfleet roots, and become more violent. He pulls out a Dominion data rod and says, "By all means, verify this information however you wish, but this contains additional data in the form of sensor readings from the installations the //Agincourt// attacked and destroyed."((The Dominion didn't reveal this information initially because, as Ublis then points out, unconscious biases are still in play and the only interaction this Dominion has with Starfleet is violence and death.)) He slides the data rod down to Mel, who insists they trust Ublis and this Dominion. Ublis nods and replies, "I believe you, captain. But we all have unconscious bias here. To you the Dominion is a mortal threat, while to us a Starfleet ship has killed thousands."
Mel concedes, "Certainly the presence of a hostile Founder and our Dominion do color things. But so far, your Dominion has given us no reason not to trust you." Ublis nods gracefully and makes a joking reference to the Alpha and Beta quadrants in this universe. Mel declares that while the Gamma quadrant on this side seems great, the Alpha and Beta quadrants are not. She segues into discussing her Mirror Universe counterpart, and Ublis openly takes notes.
Phillip admits that he wants to explore the Dominion insulation here, and Ublis grants him permission as long as he stays away from the control center, the armory, and main engineering. Phillip is fine with that and would expect the same. Ssleestak asks Fal, "So we just went through transwarp and trans-dimensional travel. Did that leave a channel behind? Or a chunnel?" Fal agrees that the presence of such a channel is quite likely, but he hasn't found it yet. Shan'taar interjects, "Even if we found it and got into it, would we travel at the same transwarp speed?" Fal shakes his head and replies, "No, we would have a path back, but we wouldn't be able to replicate the speed."
==== The Affairs of Gods and Men ====
Before the conversation can continue, Lieutenant [[trek:characters:evan|Evan Kras]] hails the conference lounge, //"Senior office to the bridge, bring the Bajoran poking stick."// Ublis looks absolutely confused while the other officers groan and Fal hangs his head. However, the //Varich// is not at red or even yellow alert, so Mel assumes that things are under control. That assumption lasts for approximately three picoseconds before a psionic shockwave hits everyone in the room! K'tral manages to subconsciously block most of it, leaving her with only a thin trickle of green blood from her nose. However, [[trek:characters:armina|Armina]] drops into a violent seizure and sprays blood out of her nose! To complicate things even further, Ublis also seizes up and spews purple blood over the table!
Jessa dives for Armina as Ssleestak calls out, "Medical emergency in the conference room!" He then realizes that he forgot [[trek:characters:swims|Swims]] was even in the room until she rears up behind him and he quickly scrambles out of the way. Swims launches herself at Armina and Ublis, so the other officers rush across the corridor directly into the bridge. As they go, K'tral tells Mel, "I just realized that this is a sympathetic shockwave. Someone else is in pain and accidentally transmitted it."
The senior officers enter the bridge but immediately hit a psionic pressure wave that tickles their minds. As they push through it, they see Malachi curled up into a fetal position behind the command well while Jen stands imperiously in the middle of the bridge. She turned slightly, and they can all see her eyes are the swirling blue of the Bajoran wormhole! Fal immediately calls for red alert as he scrambles for Science I; he taps his combadge and calls out, "Bridge to sickbay, medical emergency!"
Mel immediately interjects "Cancel red alert, tell the station that everything is fine." She then turns to Jen and says, "Hello, Prophet." Meanwhile, K'tral and Phillip shift the side to stay out of the way, while Ssleestak deliberately places himself between Malachi and the Jen-Prophet. This leads him to loom behind Jessa, who mutters that she can suddenly smell cinnamon buns at the beach!
Jessa drops down next to Malachi and performs an initial medical assessment as the boy cries out in pain, "This is the first one!" He keeps repeating that, so Jessa asks, "The first what?" Malachi manages to focus on her as he hisses in pain, "The first Prophet!" Ssleestak mutters to himself, "I guess the Prophets are the same in any universe." Jessa advises Malachi to relax, but the boy replies through clenched teeth, "If I relax, my brain may explode!" Jessa realizes she can't actually argue with that.
==== The Prophecy And The Coup ====
The Jen-Prophet stares at Mel and says, //"The temple has been rent asunder, the Abbess has been crippled. One brother has been held by treachery, the other brother has been held by ambition. Only the Immortal can restore the faith."// Most of the crew stares at her blankly, but Mel and Fal immediately realize that this is the so-called Second Kras Prophecy, that she spoke on the bridge almost a year ago, on stardate 48557.1 - Friday July 23rd, 2371!
Malachi suddenly cries out, "Bollocks! Oh, bloody bollocks! Today's date? What's today's Terran date?" Mel checks the computer and replies, "June 10th, 2372 at 8:15 AM. Why?" Now moaning in pain, Malachi says hoarsely, "That's today. It's today! I didn't even realize it! Today's the coup!" Mel goes to red alert and demands, "Wait, what coup?" Malachi winces and cries out, "The Starfleet coup! Later today [[trek:characters:leyton|Admiral Leyton]] will attempt a coup to remove [[trek:characters:jareshinyo|President Jaresh-Inyo]] and replace the Federation Council with a military tribunal! He believes that the Federation is being too soft against the changeling threat! The prophecy, it's not about religion! It's about the brothers, the Selense brothers!"
Mel suddenly curses pieces fall into place while Ssleestak asks Malachi, "What do you mean this is the first Prophet?" Malachi groans, "This is the first one that possessed her. There have been multiple Prophets running around inside her... and I phrased that poorly. This is the first one, the one that gave the initial prophecies. In my time, it's never shown up again, and I was unprepared for when it arrived! Oh bollocks, it's angry! You did everything out of order!"
Mel concedes, "We didn't realize that then." She realizes the rest of the crew is still staring at her, so she explains, "Last July the Orb of Prophecy and Change made it out this way, and that was when Jen was first possessed by a Prophet. This Prophet, apparently. The Prophet used her to give a set of prophecies, but since they are nonlinear, noncorporeal beings, we didn't realize the Prophet had actually given them to us in a specific order." ((The order given was the reliquary/Jen getting the Dai'Loq nanites, then the Abbess/Selense brothers, and finally the extra-galactic conduit/the Harbingers. They did #3 first.))
==== Rideshare Via Prophet ====
Ssleestak mutters, "Is this a pocket-dial from a Prophet then?" He then raises his voice and calls out, "Are you the same Prophet as before?" The Jen-Prophet turns to him and declares, //"We are nonlinear."// Ssleestak says, "I guess this means you're trans-dimensional. Any chance you can come back and pick us up later?" To everyone's surprise, the Jen-Prophet gives a very human shrug as she replies, //"Very well."// Ssleestak exclaims, "Nice! Thank you!"
The Prophet abruptly vanishes from Jen, and she starts to topple forward before Mel grabs her. Ssleestak tries to figure everything out as Jen blinks rapidly, looks up at Mel, and asks plaintively, "What just happened?" Mel replies, "So today we found out the Prophets are everywhere! Apparently the first one just showed up again to share the whole brothers/abbess prophecy. However, we figured out this is actually about the Selense family."
Jen frowns before her eyes widen and she whispers, "The Abbess. Alberic's mother was crippled!" Mel nods and then Jen winces in pain and announces, "So, good news, I think. I somehow know the way home." Mel says firmly, "That's wonderful! Go lay down! Go to sickbay, and I'll have Ssleestak bring the preteen." Ssleestak leans down to gently pat Malachi on the head as the boy tells Jen, "At least this wasn't the Alexandria-Prophet!"
Jen demands, "Why in the name of God would I ever name a Prophet Alexandria?" Fal chimes in, "Well, you and [[trek:characters:alexandria|Alexandria]] have unconventional relationship..." Before he can continue, Jen growls, "Shut. Up." Malachi carefully sits up and then in his best Captain Jen Kras impression says, "Because they both annoy the fuck out of me constantly." Mel admits, "That's good. That's really good!" Jen grumbles as she recovers her balance before she looks at Jessa and announces, "So, side effect. I can see your Mirror Universe counterpart now." Jessa says firmly, "I don't want to know, and you're coming to sickbay with us." Ssleestak nods but Jen looks at him and mothers, "Huh, I didn't expect that."((As is later revealed, Mirror-Ssleestak is a vegetarian.))
==== "I Thought You Didn't Swear." ====
Clearly keeping his priorities straight, Christopher Hall turns to Malachi and remarks, "I thought you said you didn't swear." As Ssleestak helps Malachi to his feet, the boy replies wearily, "Dad says Scottish doesn't count, and if I didn't swear, I wouldn't be able to communicate with his side of the family at all." Hall blinks in surprise before he concedes, "Every time you open your mouth about your Scottish heritage, my five years at the Aberdeen science installation make more and more sense retroactively."
Fal decides to remain on the bridge and tells his best friend, "Don't worry, you're in good hands." Ssleestak picks up Malachi effortlessly and heads for the turbolift while Jessa reaches out and guides Jen there as well. They take the turbolift down to deck four and as they approach sickbay Jen starts humming... to Tyr! Jessa is surprised to see that she's communicating directly with her symbiont, but she gets the general sense that Tyr's reaction is, //"Huh, OK. This is happening."//
==== Ready Or Not, Here Come The Jem'Hadar! ====
Once they leave the bridge, Phillip heads to flight control for want of anything better to do while K'tral just takes over the ops station. Mel and Christopher claim their seats in the command well and then Shan'taar announces, "Receiving a hail from the station." Mal replies, "On screen," and then the viewscreen shows Third [[trek:characters:omaratan|Omar'atan]]. The Jem'Hadar starts asking rapid fire questions, more than Mel can answer before he asks yet another one. Mel just lets him go for a few moments before he takes a breath, and then he demands, //"We detected a massive radiation and psionic surge from your ship. Is our Vorta alright?"//
Mel shrugs and replies, "I believe he's no longer spewing blood. I didn't know he was psionic." Omar'atan looks at her blankly and replies, //"All Vorta or psionic. It's genetic."// Mel mutters, "Not on our side." Omar'atan grumbles, //"I hate your universe. I think I'm going to recommend the Dominion avoid the Idran Anomaly here."// Mel replies honestly, "I would." Omar'atan looks away suddenly before turning back and saying tersely, //"You will be receiving medical assistance,"// in a tone that clearly conveys the female Jem'Hadar are on their way, like it or not.
A few moments later the white-armored Jem'Hadar storm the ship again, and Mel meets them and brings them to the conference lounge. She tells them, "Here, take your Vorta," as by now Swims has helped both him and Armina. Armina grumbles, "I don't suppose you got anything for psionic headaches?" To everyone's surprise, the female Jem'Hadar do, and one immediately administers a hypospray to Armina and Ublis! Swims eyes the hypospray covetously while Ublis recovers and asks for a situation update. Mel shrugs and replies, "There was a demigod on the bridge. One of the Bajoran Prophets."
Ublis cries out, "Wait, they just show up?" Mel shrugs again in reply and Ublis grumbles, "I hate your universe." Mel retorts, "You and Omar'atan both." Armina recovers swiftly and declares, "Get that, more of that!" Without missing a beat, a female Jem'Hadar shrugs, opens the hypospray, and tosses the capsule to Swims. Ublis starts to protest before he groans and then just grumbles, "Ah fuck it." The female Jem'Hadar escort him off the //Varich// for further testing and the crew returns to their stations.
==== "Walk The Dog. And The Bajoran!" ====
Mel starts issuing orders to get ready for the twenty Starfleet officers incoming and finds out that the SCE back on Starbase 212 already set up cargo bay three with additional living space. Phillip remains at flight control wondering what the fuck just happened, while K'tral tends to her nose bleed and remains at operations. Fal continues to hunt for the potential transwarp channel and manages to find it! Unfortunately, what he finds is a tear in the multiverse, one that is trying to repair itself.
After dropping Malachi off in sickbay, Ssleestak heads to engineering to examine the verteron particles the Prophet generated. He also realizes that the ship needs psionic shielding that's not a twitchy Romulan. However, he starts purring with pleasure as the verteron readouts start coming back to his station.
Jessa lingers until Jen is safely on a biobed, and she tells her friend, "Now, you need to actually rest." Jen retorts, "Then do me a favor. Walk the dog and walk the Bajoran." Jessa agrees, and departs sickbay to take [[trek:characters:rajdog|Raj]] and [[trek:characters:simondog|Simon]] for a walk. She then heads up to the bridge and tells Fal, "I've been told I need to walk you." At this point, Fal is two //raktajinos// into the scientific problem, but he admits, "Some physical activity might help." Jessa eyes the dense scientific material on his screen and replies, "I'd ask, but I wouldn't understand it." Fal declares, "I'll explain it anyway!" Jessa is agreeable, and as they head off the bridge Fal starts explaining the problem in excruciating minutiae, and as predicted, Jessa understands none of it. However, she's happy he's walking and talking, so she lets him ramble, secure in the knowledge that Fal often has breakthroughs when he's allowed to talk through a problem.
==== Coda ====
Down in Two-Forward, Paj examines Ssleestak's plans for the Crashed Starship and starts adding his own personal tweaks to the schematics... and the menu.
=====Summary=====
The Dominion brings the //Varich// and the //Valiant// up to an orbital installation for repairs. The crew focuses on repairing the ship. Phillip learns much from Phillip II. The next day Ublis negotiates with Mel - with Paj's assistance - for tactical data on the //U.S.S. Agincourt// in exchange for updates to Starfleet shields making them resistant to polaron weaponry. She and Hall have a difficult talk. Ssleestak opens diplomatic channels with the female Jem'Hadar. The day after, Ublis joins the staff meeting. The First Prophet possesses Jen, causing a psionic shockwave from an unprepared Malachi. She repeats her second prophecy from last July, causing Malachi to realize today is the coup and the prophecy is about the Selense family. Ssleestak accidentally secures a ride home. Jessa 'walks' Fal per Jen's request.
===== =====
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[[{}trek:solstice:recap:40_act_2|<= Act 2]]
[[{}trek:solstice:recap:40_act_4|Act 4 =>]]
{{tag>star_trek solstice recap}}