The Vorta Kilara and the Breen Varus C'Rakl'mus looked apprehensive. "Quickly! Were we detected?"

Neeron glanced at the portable unit on the desk. "No. The sensor blind is still in place."

Kilara relaxed. "Excellent."

Neeron bent down and checked Rojc's pulse. "He's dead."

"He was supposed to be taken alive, Neeron." Kilara glared the Breen. "Oh well, our scientists can still dissect him dead, I suppose." She turned to the Jem'hadar first. "Start bringing over the rest of the troops."

The Jem'hadar grunted and beamed back onto their ship.

Varus noticed Neeron's look of anguish. "I should think you'd be glad this man is finally dead. You once said he was one of your greatest enemies."

Neeron scowled. "Perhaps." He regained his composure. "But he should have suffered more."

Varus grinned. "Let's prepare for stage two."

Jem'hadar troops began beaming into Neeron's quarters.

"Captain! Internal sensors are reading intruders on the ship. Main Engineering, Decks 18, 4, 3óand 1."

"Red Alert! Alert security teams toó"

Senishra was cut off as Jem'hadar forced their way onto the bridge. Every officer on the bridge reached for there phasers, but stopped short as a blue bolt vaporized Captain Whitman. The Phantom was in the hands of the Dominion.

Minutes later, the Starfleet officers on the bridge had been replaced by Jem'hadar. Kilara, Varus, and Neeron stepped onto the bridge. "Status?" barked Kilara.

The Jem'hadar first stepped away from the command platform. "All teams have reported in--all critical ship's areas are in our control. There is some resistance still on Deck 14."

Varus looked over to the Jem'hadar. "Can you not just transport them into holding cells?"

"Negative. They are somehow blocking transporter signal."

Neeron spoke up, "Cut environmental controls on that deck, then."

The Jem'hadar from OPS spoke. "Environmental systems cut."

After a moment, the Jem'hadar at Tactical spoke. "Epsilon team reports all resistance eliminated."

Varus sneered. "I trust our friends in the Dominion are happy with their prize?"

Kilara smirked. "The Dominion thanks you for your assistance."

Varus continued. "Of course, this wouldn't have been possible without Thot Neeron. When we return, Neeron, the people will know of your deedsóyou will be a hero."

Neeron stared at the viewer. "Yes. I suppose I will."

Kilara glared at the Phantom's first officer, sitting across from her in the Ready Room. "I grow weary of asking, Vulcan, so I will ask one last time. Release the last of the Phantom's lockouts."

Senishra stared straight ahead, silent.

Kilara sighed. "Very well, you have left me no other option." She nodded to the Jem'hadaróhe promptly stepped out of the Ready Room, and picked up a disruptor.

"Any threat to kill me will not change my response. I will not comply."

The Jem'hadar soldier re-entered the room, this time escorting an ensign.

Kilara smiled smugly at Senishra. "Perhaps this will 'persuade' you to comply." Without pause, she leveled the disruptor and fired at the ensign, vaporizing him immediately. She turned back Senishra. "For every fifteen minutes you delay, I will execute one of your officers. And when they are all dead, I will remove your organs one by one, until you die."

Senishra had a sickly look on her face. "Computer release all lockouts and transfer control to Kilara. Access code Senishra pi black five one six two."

The computer chirped. "Lockouts released. Command transferred."

Kilara glowered. "Somehow I knew you'd see things my way. Take her to her quarters and post a guard there. Tell Thot Varus to set course for our rendezvous pointómaximum warp."

The Jem'hadar nodded, grabbed Senishra by the arm, and pulled her out of the room.

Iv'Oor sat hunched against a wall, gasping for air. "This is not good." She turned to Nicot. "Any ideas?"

Nicot was likewise wheezing. "None. They've got the shipóthere's not much we can do."

An lieutenant from Geologic Survey and two ensigns from Security farther down the jeffries tube. The lieutenant looked at Nicot. "Uhóso what do we do now?"

Iv'Oor glanced at Nicot as well. "You're in command right nowófor all we know, we're the only ones left."

Nicot sighed. "I find that hard to believe. There's no way they got Rojc."

"You know procedure, we have to assume the worst. Don't lose it now, Nicot."

Nicot leaned his head back. "All right. Since retaking the ship is unlikely, we sabotage her. Ensign Veveyóyou take Jones and Coleman to the Armoryóget whatever you can and join us on Deck 18 at the main computer core. Retune your phasers to maximum setting. Use them only if you absolutely have to. Get going."

The three officers simultaneously answered with an "Aye sir" and headed down the jeffries tube.

Iv'Oor looked over at Nicot again. "Think this is going to work?"

Nicot closed his eyes. "I sure hope so."

Rojc awoke in a cold, dark chamber, covered by a tarp of some sort. He brushed off the tarp and grimaced at the pain as he grazed his chest. There were a lot of questions he intended to get answeredóbut first, he needed a way out of wherever he was. His phaser was gone, but he still had his communicator. Whether it still worked or not was a different matter. Rojc blinked to change his eyesight to infrared. The chamber wasn't large. He moved over to the door and tried the controls. The door opened and on the other side stood a stunned Jem'hadar guard. Rojc reflexively lashed out at the guard and slammed him to the floor. Without giving the guard time to react, he bent down and smashed his chest with his elbow, killing him immediately. Rojc blinked his eyesight to normal as he retrieved the guard's gun. After a moment of studying his surroundings, Rojc knew he was on a Breen ship. "Must of thought they killed me," he said to no one in particular. He cautiously made his way down the corridor.

"We have just dropped out of warp!" reported the Jem'hadar at the Conn.

Kilara glared at OPS. "Explain."

The guard glared at his console. "I cannot. There is something wrong with the system."

"Confirmed. Something is interfering with computer access," added Tactical.

Varus stood up. "I thought your men had accounted for all the Phantom's crew."

Kilara ignored the Breen. "Well?"

The Jem'hadar at OPS was the first to speak. "I think I have somethingÖ" He pressed a button and a monkey popped up on his display. "What is this!?"

All over the bridge, monkeys began appearing on the display consoles. All stations were completely locked out.

Kilara looked back at Varus. "It seems we may have missed a few of the Phantom's crew."

"It appears a sub-program entitled 'Monkey Business' has entered into the primary system. It is eating up all system resources."

"How could this have happened?" Kilara demanded.

Tactical looked up from his console. "The path used to enter the program into main memory was not of importanceóit was only a fire prevention maintenance sub routine."

OPS punched in a few commands. The monkey on his console stuck his tongue out at him in response. "Its no useówe've lost all access to the system."

"Then contact engineering and tell them to purge the system."

Back at Tactical, the Jem'hadar slammed his fist into the display in frustration, causing the monkey on the display to roll around laughing.

The Jem'hadar at OPS spoke up. "Engineering reports that all their consoles are either affected, or not operational."

"Then tell them to find one that is! Go deck by deck if need be. And send out some security patrolsóI want whoever's responsible for this dead!"

Rojc entered the Breen ship's bridge and opened fire, immediately hitting the two Breen on duty. "Skeleton crew," Rojc hissed. That meant they had taken the Phantom. Rojc walked up to the tactical console on the Breen bridge and punched in a few commands. Three Breen in Engineering, one in each of the two transporter rooms, and one in sickbay. "This should be easy," he thought, and quickly left the bridge.

Coleman, Iv'Oor, and Nicot again sat in a jeffries tube. They had succeeded in sabotaging the Phantom's computers, but at the cost of Ensign Vevey and Lieutenant Jones.

Iv'Oor grimaced as she dressed the wound on her shoulder. "So how long before a total systems failure?"

"You see, that presents a bit of a problem," Nicot replied, "I wasn't able to place the checks on the programóits running on its own."

Coleman and Iv'Oor stared at Nicot. "So we have no control over this thing either?" asked Coleman.

"Nope. And by now, its infected the entire ship. If its rate of growth didn't change, I'd estimate we have an hour left."

Iv'Oor groaned. "You can do anything with a computer, can't you?"

"Hey! Its not my fault! I thought we'd get more time to finish entering the program before the Jem'hadar found us."

"Well, then that's it. Outside of a major miracle, like a Starfleet Task Force with a Spacedock, the Phantom is as good as destroyed." Coleman was solemn.

"Boy is this going to piss off the design team at the Institute..." Nicot added quietly. "Enough rest, we have to keep moving. We don't need to be found."

"Main shuttle bay, then?" asked Iv'Oor.

Nicot nodded. "Yep."

Back on the Phantom's bridge, Kilara was fuming. These Starfleet officers were now proving to be rather annoying.

The Jem'hadar from OPS spoke up. "Our teams are reporting inóno unaffected consoles have been located."

Suddenly, the bridge went dark and the consoles flickered. After a moment, they came back up.

"What was that?" Kilara demanded.

"Engineering reports that core number 3 was just ejected."

"That's it! Contact the Veala! We'll have them tow us to the Rendezvous pointówe can still make it."

After a couple of moments, the Jem'hadar at tactical frowned. "There is no response from the Veala."

"What is the problem?"

"Iódon't know. Our communications systems should be unaffected."

"There!" Varus pointed at the view screen. Kilara and Neeron looked to see the Veala decloak several kilometers in front of the Phantom.

"What is wrong with your crew? It looks as if they are adrift," commented Kilara angrily.

"I don't know. Hail them aó" Varus was interrupted as the Veala suddenly, and violently exploded. His jaw dropped. "No..."

Kilara also stood agape. "How...?"

Neeron coolly grinned. "Rojc."

Kilara turned to Neeron. "You said he was dead!"

"So I did and so I thought. Perhaps you should have paid more attention to his file."

"No matter. There are little under two hundred Jem'hadar on this ship. Rojc may be good, but he's not that good," Kilara scoffed.

"He took a direct disruptor blast and lived; he destroyed my ship; now he is on this ship and we cannot detect him. I believe the time has come to drop the overconfidence, Kilara," growled Varus.

Neeron stepped over to the Tactical station and grabbed the Jem'hadar's disruptor rifle. "I will deal with Rojc myself. You will leave him to me."

"The Jem'hadar will find him and kill him. There is no need for you to get involved." Kilara glared at the Breen.

"No they will not. Rojc will evade them."

"Well, Thot Neeron, you are entitled to take your own course of action, but I will send the Jem'hadar out to find him."

Neeron muttered something incoherently and stepped into the turbo-lift.

Rojc tapped at the computer display on his desk in his quarters. Scattered around him lay various weapons, tricorders, and other equipment. "This can't be good," he thought to himself.

The computer quickly analyzed and displayed the status of the Phantom. Core 3 was gone; lcars and command access was off-line; 189 Jem'hadar troops, 1 Vorta, and 12 Breen were safe guarding the primary systems; and most disheartening--the Captain was dead at the hands of the invaders.

Rojc sighed and leaned back in his chair. He only had so much time before the Jem'hadar patrols would reach this deck. Clear thinking did not come easy, however. Revenge weighed heavily on his mind; the Captain had been a good friend, something akin to being his mentor. More than anything, Rojc wanted to grab a phaser and see how many Jem'hadar he could take down with him--but Rojc had to remain objective, he had to think clearly--there were others to think about.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as a proximity alarm went off. Rojc grabbed a pulse rifle and pointed it at the door. Through the doors walked a calm Thot Neeron, disruptor in its holster and hands up. Rojc backed off for a moment before retaking aim.

"Killing me does nothing for you now," the Breen said casually.

"Oh really? Please explain why I shouldn't repay you the favor of trying to kill me."

Neeron relaxed slightly. "If I had wanted you dead, Rojc, you would be. I do not overestimate my enemies, unlike the Dominion. And if you want any hope of retaking the Phantom, you will need my assistance."

Rojc stared into the Breen's eyes for a moment before laying the rifle on the desk. "I'm listening."

"Roughly six months ago, I uncovered a series of transmissions between certain factions within my government and the Dominion. I investigated them. I did not like what I foundóI soon learned that these malcontents intended to seize control of the Imperium and ally with the Dominion. Say what you will about me or my peoples Rojc, I am no traitor too my Emperor. I did everything I could to ensure myself their confidence; I have worked long and hard to get them to trust me, and I have succeeded. My "superiors" were intent on showcasing there power to there new Dominion friends, thus they struck upon a plan to steal this vessel from Starfleet. Everything that has transpired on this mission thus far has been to their design. Little do they realize that I am in control hereóI am now prepared to reveal these traitors."

"Two things I don't quite understand. How was the Dominion/Breen contingent able to set this up and where do I factor into your plans?"

"One of Starfleet's top admirals is really a shape shifter. Without his orders, you wouldn't be out here. As for your second questionówho else but you would have the access and skill necessary to retake this ship?"

Rojc rose from his chair. "I want the name of that admiral. Now."

"All in good time, Commander. I will divulge all information, but it does you no good if we all die now. First thing's first: retaking the ship."

"I'll never get close enough to a command station to re-establish control. I do have limits."

"As I'm well aware. I believe the Jem'hadar patrols will solve that little problem for usóit seems that some of your officers have been putting up some rather obnoxious defense; they are about to be caught by a patrol, while sneaking into the main shuttle bay."

"If you knew where they were and what they were planning, why didn't you get them firstóthe Jem'hadar will kill them!"

"No they won't. The Vorta changed her mind about quick executionsóshe needs control of the ship back, and she needs you captured. Waving these officers in front of you will work quite wó"

Before Neeron could finish, the comm-link opened and interrupted Neeron. "Attention, Commander Rojc. I know you're alive and somewhere on this ship, and you are no doubt intent on retaking it. Unfortunately for you, we have just captured the last of your officers putting up resistance. You have 5 minutes to surrender to a Jem'hadar patrol before I execute them."

Neeron smirked. "What did I tell you? I believe you understand what I have planned now."

Rojc nodded. "All right. But if you betray me, so help me I'lló"

"There is no need for idle threats. And this is not the Romulan Prison Campódon't delude yourself."

"Fine. Let's go."