Game was 3/18/21.

The Starfleet crew has a few hours before the Dominion transport arrives with the guests from the U.S.S. Agincourt. Phillip leaves the bridge and heads to his office overlooking the main shuttlebay. Once there he immediately starts running programs and simulations on how to de-loadstone the entire ship! K'tral decides to take a much-deserved nap while Ssleestak says goodbye to his new friends… which means a lot of sex! Jessa has left Fal to his work and retreated to her office, deciding that she is not coming out until the transport arrives.

For his part, Fal writes down some of the ideas he came up with while talking to Jessa and then hails Ssleestak to ask how the repairs on the sensor pallets are going. Ssleestak replies, "Be quiet for just a moment. Fal! What can I do for you?" Utterly oblivious, Fal asks for an update on the sensors and if he could help with the repairs; Ssleestak says enthusiastically, "That's 17-A on my list. They've been realigned, but if you want to go check it out, go for it. OK, thanks, bye!" Fal heads to the various sensor pallets and performs an excruciating five-hundred- and thirty-two-point inspection, coming up with a handful of micro-realignments that he quickly corrects. As he works Fal realizes but these sensors have never been touched by Lieutenant Jace Fortis.

Once he completes his inspection, Fal decides to visit his friend Jen in sickbay. He walks in to find her on her usual biobed and greets her. They talk for a bit, but he realizes that she is not completely cognizant of what's going on. She keeps referring to him by other names and then earnestly tells him, "Listen, I know you've been dealt a bad deal. But trust me on this, try the science thing! I know a Fal; he is an excellent scientist!" Fal tries to figure out who she is talking to, but she starts babbling about how Bajor was conquered by humans!¹⁾

Fal unobtrusively memorizes anything pertinent that she is saying, but then she whispers to him, "Do you know what's really weird? Ssleestak is a vegetarian!" Fal has no idea what she is talking about²⁾ as obviously Ssleestak likes meat, but then she tells him earnestly, "Wait, you have to tell her. Tell her Simon is looking for her and that's not a good thing!" Confused, Fal asks, "Who should I tell this to?" As Jen's vitals suddenly spike, she whispers, "Tell Mel! You have to tell Mel this!" Fal suddenly realizes that Swims is looming over him and he announces, "Visiting hours are over, got it!" He quickly exits sickbay and then hails Mel. He passes on the warning, but she is as confused as he is. She declares, "One more thing to be concerned about." Mel thanks him and then returns to work in her ready room.

At 1425 hours the Dominion station hails Mel and informs her with the transport vessel is on track to arrive at 1500 hours. They make it clear that Mel has the lead on this, so she thanks them and ends the hail. She then heads down to deck six to check on her counselor. She taps the door chime and Armina bids her to enter. She greets Mel enthusiastically, so much so that Mel rears back in surprise and asks, "Are you alright?" Armina insists that she is great, and everything is wonderful, and Mel asks, "Are you tripping balls?"

Armina laughs off the suggestion and remains unnaturally upbeat, so Mel carefully asks, "You know there might be some side effects of that Dominion drug, right? Again Armina waves off the concern but then announces, "I'm hungry!" Thoroughly convinced that her senior counselor is having a reaction to the Dominion medicine, Mel suggests Armina get nachos. Armina agrees and immediately gets some nachos from the replicator. Although she does offer Mel some, Armina starts demolishing the nachos and Mel concedes to herself, "She's really high."

Realizing Armina is in no way, shape, or form able to help, Mel bids her good day and exits her cabin. She takes the turbolift up to deck four and traipses over to the counselor's office. She walks in and Jessa looks up in terror. Jessa asks quietly, "You're not on my schedule; I don't have to track you down for a session for a few weeks. Is this about earlier?" Mel shakes her head and replies, "I don't care about that." In the back of Jessa's mind, she hears Terjan cry out, "Yes!"

Mel tells Jessa, "You know how you are going to be assisting Armina with the Starfleet officers? Well, you're in charge. Armina's high right now." Jessa stares up at her in shock and Mel admits, "I believe it's just a side effect of the Dominion anti-psionic drug. She scarfed a plate of nachos in front of me." Jessa grumbles, "I wish we were still on the Solstice. Sola is not here to record that!" Mel retorts that she saw it but Jessa mutters, "Yes, but you're not going to share the fun of that experience." Mel smirks and takes her leave.

Mel returns to ready room and chooses her away team. She decides that she will deal with this herself, leaving Christopher in command of the ship. She selects Ssleestak, K'tral, Fal, Phillip, Shan'taar, Doctor Vrax, Lieutenant Park, and obviously Jessa. She also selects nurses Neri Malim and Akorim Fala, along with Chief Jason Whitley of logistics to be on hand just in case they need backup.

At 1500 hours precisely a massive transport ship drops out of warp next to the installation! The Starfleet officers examine it on the main viewscreen and find it gigantic, with a sloped triangular hull and a command tower. Phillip and Ssleestak assess the ship and realize that this is a disaster recovery ship, as they can see large cargo bays doors on the lower levels of this vessel, clearly intended for use for when the vessel lands to render assistance. Phillip estimates the ship can't top warp seven due to its mass. The massive conveyor approaches with thrusters and chooses a docking port three ports starboard from the Varich. The vessel is so large, however, that the prow of the ship blocks the two docking ports on either side of her!

Ublis hails Mel and says through clenched teeth, "My apologies, captain. I had intended for our guests to meet you at the airlock so you could bring them back to your ship. However, your comrades are refusing to leave their suite." Mel picks up on the implication and assures Ublis, "We are on our way." She gathers her away team and they disembark from the Varich onto the Dominion installation. They move briskly down the corridor to the correct docking port, where they see Ublis and a handful of Jem'Hadar waiting for them. As they near, they realize Ublis has recovered from the earlier psionic shockwave, but his nasal cavities and sinuses show deep purple bruises.

Ublis greets them and explains, "Your comrades were assigned a suite of rooms on this ship a year ago. Although they have essentially free reign of the ship outside of the usual command center, armory, and main engineering, they've never left those rooms; they believe that we're bringing them to a forced labor camp." The Starfleet officers pick up on the big 'take your kids and leave' energy as Mel replies, "I'm afraid you can blame your counterparts for that." Ublis groans but motions for them to follow him.

They board the disaster ship and immediately find a people-mover. Ublis walks onto that, and the others join him. The people-mover then briskly zips through the ship and several of the Starfleet officers realize the utility of such a conveyance on a relief ship. The people-mover zips down a few side hallways before it stops right in front of a large door which has Dominion graffiti spray painted across it! The Starfleet officers realized the graffiti declares, "Don't go in here, they're insane!"

Ublis sighs in frustration but Mel points out, "By their point of view, they've been captured by the enemy and are locked in a suite of rooms." Ublis replies flatly, "The door doesn't have a lock." He motions for them to proceed, so they immediately head over. As Ublis stated, this set of doors does not have a lock of any sort, so they simply walk in. They find themselves in a wide, well-appointed communal living space, with thick carpets and plenty of seating. However, there is no one here.

Jessa calls out, "Hello?" Shan'taar gestures to a sensor display right next to the door that shows several life-signs clustered in the back bedrooms. Straight ahead is a shadowy hallway to those rooms, and the Starfleet officers immediately realize someone is lurking there, just out of sight. Mel is forced to admit that she would do the same thing, but she steps forward and loudly states, "I am Captain Mel Deline of the U.S.S. Varich. We are here to rescue you!"

The figure in the hallway steps forward and they spot a male Vulcan in command red. His uniform is in tatters and his hair and beard are shaggy and unkempt. However, his three rank pips and his combadge are sparkling clean. This Vulcan, presumably Commander S'ten, eyes Mel up and down before turning and carefully staring at each member of the away team until he gets to Ssleestak. Then, the Vulcan does a visible double take at the sight of a Gorn in a Starfleet uniform! Ssleestak stares at him right back and snorts with disgust, "Are you sure these are Starfleet officers?" For a brief microsecond, a startled expression flickers on the Vulcan's face, and then Ssleestak continues, "Look at the state of that uniform! There's no reason for this lack of discipline!"

Shan'taar snorts while Fal nods in agreement, but Mel warns, "Lieutenant." Ssleestak never stops staring at the Vulcan but makes another dismissive snort. Jessa comments, "I've never seen you this judgey! Also, rude!" K'tral steps behind Ssleestak and crosses her arms to appear as Vulcan as possible, all the while trying not to laugh. Vrax and Phillip try to remain neutral, and Mel tells Commander S'ten, "This should prove that we're not changelings." Jessa jokes, "Unless we're sassy changelings!" Fal retorts, "Sassy changelings who turn into a giant Gorn? That's too much work!" Mel sighs as Jessa snickers. S'ten creeps out of the hallway further, very wary, and Ssleestak gives another dismissive snort. Before Mel can say anything, K'tral turns around and slaps Ssleestak on the chest before hissing, "Too far!"

After that exchange, a female Denobulan in science blue steps out of the hallway and Mel and the others note that her uniform, while a bit threadbare, has clearly been repaired a few times. The Denobulan declares, "I think they're not changelings." Fal moves to nudge Ssleestak to behave, but Ssleestak snaps, "Did you do anything useful, like gathering information on the Dominion, or did you just instead hide in the dark?" Jessa groans and tells Commander S'ten and the Denobulan, "I'm sorry they sent in the clown college, but we're really here to rescue you."

Ssleestak realizes that he went way too far and lowers his head in embarrassment. The Denobulan introduces herself as Lieutenant Sabra and asks if they have a padd or a tricorder. Ssleestak wordlessly hands over the equipment which Sabra clearly covets! Commander S'ten speaks for the first time to warn Sabra, "This could be a trap." Sabra replies, "Don't care!" and is immediately engrossed with the padd and the tricorder. Commander S'ten lifts his eyebrow precisely two millimeters and says, "Well, we've lost her."

Mel admits that the scientists on her ship often get that same look, and then S'ten ask her challengingly, "What class of ship is the Varich?" Mel replies, "She's a Nova-class," and Jessa adds, "With a gun on top!" S'ten eyes her warily, but Mel explains, "The Varich is brand new. Literally she rolled off the construction line, we boarded her, and we left for this mission. Normally, I command the U.S.S. Solstice."

S'ten snaps his head up to glare at Mel and he says tersely, "Selense!" Mel quirks her eyebrow and says, "I see you've met Alberic. Yes, I served with Lieutenant Selense." S'ten narrows his eyes as he asks, "Lieutenant?" Mel only replies with a smile, so S'ten asks her about Alberic's uncle Clarence. Mel admits, "I don't know his family, the only uncle I've heard about is Victor Selense." She realizes that this was a test, but Ssleestak interjects, "Sir, the Dominion would know that." Mel realizes that Ssleestak is right, while Jessa turns to K'tral and asks, "Did you feed him extra sass juice?" K'tral retorts, "I was asleep. This is what happens when he gets too much sex." Ssleestak protests, "it was not just sex!"

Mel snorts and Jessa declares, "I want it on record that everyone higher rank than me is misbehaving this time!" Jessa then offers to take a blood test to prove that she is not a changeling, but she concedes, "Unfortunately, I personally question the efficacy of that for a test." S'ten nods in agreement and then Ssleestak blurts out, "It probably didn't work when their captain got replaced by a changeling!"

S'ten turns on Ssleestak and snarls, "What?" Jessa tells Ssleestak, "You are not allowed to get laid again." S'ten and Sabra stare at them in shock and Mel gently explains, "Your Captain Taylor Leonard is dead. A changeling infiltrated your ship back in our universe and was on board when the Agincourt arrived in the Mirror Universe. We believe the changeling killed and replaced Captain Leonard at that point."

S'ten narrows his eyes as he mutters to himself, "The captain ordered us to get past the Cardassian- Klingon alliance and go for the wormhole. He said he wanted to get out of the line of fire, but I do recall thinking that decision was illogical. However, if Captain Leonard had been replaced by a changeling, that would explain it." Mel adds, "Apparently our changeling tried to join their Great Link and it failed completely."

Everyone then hears a verbal torrent of colorful Bajoran epithets coming from the hallway! Fal reddens slightly but Jessa, who speaks Bajoran, yells back, "My mother was not that flexible! She was a singer, not a gymnast." A young male Bajoran in a tattered command red uniform with one solid pip storms out of the hallway and declares, "Commander, this is a Dominion trick!" Jessa starts to respond, but then she sees Fal give the younger Bajoran his 'I'm not mad I'm just disappointed' look. The younger Bajoran eyes Fal and starts spewing insults in Bajoran, including accusing him of collaborating with the spoonheads to get such a high rank in Starfleet, and declares he's either a collaborator or a changeling! Fal 's eyes narrow and Mel gives him a subtle 'go-ahead' gesture.

Fal snaps, "You are out of line, ensign, stand down!" Jessa quirks her right eyebrow two millimeters in a perfect copy of the Vulcan 'fascinating' eyebrow gesture. The young Bajoran continues to mock Fal, calling him a spoiled effete academic based solely on his Musillan accent. Fal does not dispute dispersions but retorts sharply, "I've thrown better Bajorans than you through a window for less."

Before tempers can flare even more, another male Starfleet officer steps out of the hallway, wearing science blue. At first Mel and the other officers think this man is human until he gets closer, and then they see his dark eyes and realize that he is a Betazoid. The man introduces himself as Ensign Oakes Eveanox; he apologizes for his Bajoran comrade's hostility, but carefully reminds Mel and her officers that they have been prisoners of the Dominion for over a year now, and subject to their mental games. ³⁾ Mel concedes the point with a nod and Oakes asks, "If you would be willing to merge minds with me so that I can prove to my comrades that you are not changelings, that would go a long way."

K'tral immediately refuses and Mel shakes her head as well due to her security clearance. However, every other member of the away team steps forward to volunteer. Oakes decides to start with Jessa first, so he approaches her carefully and then gently places his fingers on her temples. ⁴⁾ Jessa feels Oakes gently slide into her thoughts and lets him in deep. She shares a few pieces of memory, but mentally warns Oakes, "Stay for the beer and flying buttresses, but stay away from the titty bar!" Oakes spots the mental depiction of said bar and immediately dives for it, expecting to find some treachery, only to realize too late his mistake when Terjan comes out and yells, "Hello there!"

Terjan's voice echoes out of Jessa's mouth and Ssleestak immediately strides over and lifts her up with one scaled claw! Terjan cries out, "Someone get this lizard off of me!" Inside Jessa's mind, Oakes immediately shoves Terjan's caustic personality back into the titty bar and snarls, "You little shit!" He steps away from Jessa and tells Commander S'ten, "They are not changelings."

Jessa protests to Oakes about invading the part of her mind she asked him not to, and Oakes admits, "You're right of course, my apologies." Commander S'ten seems unconvinced so Oakes declares, "Fuck it, let's go for the Gorn." He walks over to Ssleestak, who crouches down slightly so the smaller mammal can touch his temples as well. Oakes slips effortlessly into Ssleestak's mind; Ssleestak offers no resistance and allows the Betazoid full and unrestricted access to whatever he wants. Oakes carefully slips through Ssleestak's memories and murmurs aloud, "So much sex, how are you still alive?" Ssleestak shrugs while Phillip snorts in sympathy.

Oakes find something deep in Ssleestak's mind and then immediately pulls out. Ssleestak looks at him in confusion, but Oakes only says, "One moment, please." He gets up and darts back to Jessa; he asks, "Would you mind if I scanned your mind again?" Jessa shrugs but nods, so Oakes touches her temples and slides into her mind. This time, he ignores Terjan's titty bar completely but plumbs a bit deeper. He stops and announces out loud, "There is about half an hour of your memories that are walled away with a sign that reads, 'Do not open! Signed, Jessa Tyr.' There's also a middle aged Terran woman present, flipping me off! ⁵⁾ I found the exact same thing in Ssleestak's mind!"

Jessa frowns but replies, "Oh, yeah. That makes sense. We had some of our memories erased to protect the Temporal Prime Directive." Oakes disengages and announces firmly, "They're not changelings, and I'm done. Let's go." Commander S'ten nods in acceptance and calls out to the rest of his crew. A moment later, knots of disheveled Starfleet officers, humans, Vulcans, Andorians, and a handful of others come filing out. Mel and Shan'taar shift slightly into defensive stances when they see the other Andorians; Shan'taar's defensive stance earns their grudging respect, while in Mel's case they look at her slightly confused.

As the Starfleet officers from the Agincourt gather in the main room, Mel and her officers realize that there are twenty deeply traumatized people here, and the sudden hope in their eyes makes this situation incredibly dangerous. The doors back into the corridor open freely, so Mel orders, "Fal, take the lead. I'll be bringing up the rear." The two crews file out, and the Varich officers start moving into the mass of the captives while Jessa noodles around the entire group, noting who seems to be in the worst shape. As they move out, Fal tries to befriend the young Bajoran ensign, but swiftly realizes the young man is a Hendrikspool yokel.

The two crews exit the suite and find the hallway empty; the lights are dimmed and there are no Jem'Hadar or Vorta visible. They get on the people-mover and Mel notes there seem to be about five or six officers in the Agincourt crew, with the rest being enlisted personnel. As they move through the vast corridors of the Dominion ship, some of the Agincourt crew start asking questions about the United Federation of Planets and the Agincourt itself. Mel assures them that the Federation is fine, keeping the alleged coup to herself. She also carefully stresses that her ship is going to find the Agincourt, but as far as everyone knows, the ship is still intact and functional.

The people-mover eventually comes to a halt in front of the airlock door, which presents the first true test. Several members of the Agincourt crew hesitate, fearing the airlock will open into a Dominion labor camp or something much worse, so Jessa and Oakes do their best to coax them to the door. Fal goes to the airlock door first to trigger any trap, but the airlock opens into the corridor of the Dominion installation without fuss. Once again, the lights are dimmed and there are no Dominion personnel present whatsoever.

The Starfleet personnel follow Fal back to the airlock leading to the Varich. The doors open once again, showing pearly grey blue of the Varich's airlock doors. This brings the Agincourt crew up short, and several of them start to cry when they see that familiar Starfleet hull coloration. The Varich's airlock door slides open and the two crews cross over and step onto deck four of the Varich. The engineers amongst the Agincourt crew are the first to identify the familiar vibration of a Starfleet warp core and the faint buzz have a functioning EPS grid. This causes even more emotional breakdowns as several people press against the bulkheads in desperate familiarity.

As the airlock cycles closed behind them, Mel notes grimly that twenty additional people on her ship will put a strain on the Varich's life support systems, especially as they have no idea how long until they can return to Starbase 212. Ssleestak approaches Commander S'ten and apologizes for his shameful behavior; S'ten accepts the apology but admits, "The unexpected sight of you caused me to question if we really were in the Mirror Universe, as the Dominion claimed." Ssleestak replies softly, "You really are," before bowing slightly and then heading to engineering to start tinkering with power levels to accommodate the extra people.

Mel receives a text message from Commander Hall stating, "All Dominion personnel have evacuated the ship, and we are clear for departure." Mel tells Phillip, "We are leaving; get to the bridge." Phillip immediately bolts and ignores Shan'taar calling out to him. Shan'taar stares at Phillip's retreating back before turning to Mel and pointing out, "He doesn't even know where we need to go." Mel shrugs and replies, "I don't think he really cares about that."

S'ten finds his way to Mel and offers his sincere thanks. He also offers her a few of his saner crewmembers in case she needs additional bodies. Mel replies, "I appreciate the offer, but I cannot accept anyone before they are cleared by our medical staff first, because if I don't do that my CMO will eat me." S'ten raises an eyebrow but then realizes if Mel's crew includes a Gorn, he's not entirely sure he wants to meet the CMO. However, Doctor Vrax and Jessa leave the Agincourt crew away to the overflow area in the gymnasium.

As the crew watches their Agincourt counterparts depart, Fal realizes his mistake from a few days ago and heads over to K'tral to apologize. He also sends an application for her basic computer safety course, which is eighteen hours long. K'tral accepts the application and then heads to her cabin to get some much-needed rest and food while she thinks about what she's going to tell Ssleestak later. Phillip reaches the bridge and immediately snuggles up with flight control; Lieutenant Merek'miir asks, "So where are we going?" Phillip shrugs and replies, "Don't care."

Mel reaches the bridge a few moments later and steps into the command well before taking her seat. Hall leans in and says softly, "The Valiant is also cleared for departure, and thanks to the copied data banks from the U.S.S. Marie Curie, they already knew about the Mirror Universe. The Dominion has sent us updated reports; they've detected the Agincourt approximately four light years from here and on a direct course to a Dominion colony world. It'll take us about eight hours to get there, but the Valiant is significantly slower than we are. The Dominion flotilla that intends to accompany us is also slower, so the Guardian has agreed to travel with the Dominion but obviously doesn't want to be left behind. The Dominion's made it clear that they're willing to let us handle things at first, until we can't." Mel concedes, "That's fair. Feed the coordinates to flight control. Phillip, once you have a course plotted, hit it."

The Varich and the Valiant detach from the Dominion installation, and then the Dominion flotilla lines up behind them. To everyone's shock, this flotilla consists of two massive battleships, four battle cruisers, and six dozen attack ships!⁶⁾ They follow the Varich and the Valiant out, and then all the ships go to warp simultaneously! Their destination is the colony on Evalla IV, with an eight-hour travel time as Commander Hall stated. They're in beta shift now, which means they'll be reaching their destination shortly after the beginning of gamma shift.

Down in engineering, Ssleestak reroutes power and then returns to sketching out his Crashed Starship bar. Meanwhile, in sickbay, Armina joins Jessa, looking exceptionally regal. Jessa cracks, "So how were the nachos?" Armina says frostily, "I have no idea what you are talking about." Jessa continues to needle her a bit, leaving Armina to retort coldly, "Once again, ensign, I have no idea what you are talking about." She pauses and then quietly admits, "Because I don't remember anything." Jessa snickers and shares an abbreviated version of what Mel told her. Armina groans in horror, but then Jessa drops the frivolity and tells Armina everything about the away mission, including how Oakes nearly brought Terjan out. She makes a joke about Terjan's titty palace, leaving Armina to retort, "Oh yes, I've definitely sensed that before."