Why would they demobilize red squad . Thats why i brought it up. But if theyre cadets, i suppose starfleet wanted to get them out of harms way. If thats true, how do you explain this . Three hours later, starfleet command issued an order assigning the entire corps of cadets to field duty. Which means they werent bringing red squad home for their protection. So the question is only to mobilize them again threrehours later . Lights. Are you sure reopening the restaurant is a good idea . Jake, its been four days since the power outage. Have you seen any dominion invnvion fleet . No. Neither have i. Besides, at my age i dont have time to waste sitting at home being bored. Oh, ive got plenty ofofustomers. Just look outside. All i see are security officers. And i bet not one of them has had a good meal in four days. chuckling now, you do your grandfafaer a favor and start chopping up the okra. Captain sisko, is there something i can do for you . I need t ttalk to you about red squad. Go on. Are you aware theres a transporter record of red squad being returned to the academy not long after the power outage . Are you saying thats in the official records . Thats right. Is this a secure line . It is at my end. One moment. Sorry, captain, but i think solutely. Does admiral layton know about this report . He hasnt mentioned it to me. Listen to me, captain. I want that record erased before anyone else can see it. Is that understood . Ill take care of it immediately. Good. That report could cause us trouble. Im glad you spotted it. So am i. Id hate to see the members of red squad get into any trouble. Theyre fine young men and women. When layton talked about using them i thought it was a mistake performed their mission admirably. I appreciate yoyo call, captain. Im in your debt. Well. That certainly raised more questions than it answered. [captioning sponsored by the u. S. Department of education what did i tell you . As human as i ever was. Benjamin you seem pretty jovial today. Well, is there a problem with that . Its just. Well, you didnt seem too happy about being tested a few days ago. Well, that was before the changelings sabotaged the e wer grid. I know, but you have to admit, you were pretty damn adamant. I dont understand you. When i didnt want to be tested, you made it an issue. , dad. Then what is it . Im m t sure. Maybe im just paranoid. Captain, jake said you wanted to see me. Yes, i do. Uh, you two talk. Ill go chililsome tube grubs. What can i do for you, sir . Its about red squad. Red squad . Did you get me in . Not just yet. Oh, too bad. Those guys are the best. Ly people who arent afraid of the dominion. Why is that . I dont know. Ththre not scared of anything, i guess. You seem to know them pretty well. Jake told me i should try to get to know them better show them that im a good guy. And so far, it seems to be wororng. The truth is, i think they only like me because i know you. Is that so . Youre their hero the man at the front line in the war with the dominion. Im sorry. I cant do that, sir. The names of red squad members are supposed to be secret. But you know who they are. Its not easy keeping secrets from a ferengi. But i feel funny telling anyone else. Besides, if they found out i told you who they were id never get in. Cadet, you are obviously under the mistaken impreseson that i am asking a favor. I want a name, and i want it now, and that is an order. Understood, mr. Nog . S, sir. Cadet shepard reporting as ordered, captain. Riley aldrin shepard. Starfleet Service Number c953o4699427 a thirdyear student at Starfleet Academy with a specialty in tactical operations. Yes, sir. Cadet, i have been reviewing a record of red squad activities on the night of the 23rd the night of the poweweoutage. Are you contradicting g , cadet . No, sir. Who told you there wasnt to be a record . The briefing officer, sir. I want that officers name. She didnt give us her name but she said thered be no record of our actions and our role would go unrecognized for now. Maybe if youd done your job better, it would have. But you fouled it up, didnt you . You cadets did some sloppy work some damn sloppy work. With all due respect, sir. Thats not true, sir. Easier than simumutions. If you think by lying to me youll save your own hide, youd better forget it. Mistakes were made, and i will find out whos responsible. I was at planetary operations the whole time. If anything had gone wrong, i would have known about it. Is that so . All right, cadet, lets go over this step by stetp from the time of your Mission Deployment on the night of the 23rd. Yes, sir. We assembled on the eastern quad at 1700 hours on the evening of the 23rd. I assume by we you mean red squad. Yes, sir. After assembly, we were beamed aboard the lakota. Once aboard, we received our equipment and the necessary codes anantransported to the division of planetary operations. At what time . 0400 hours, exactly local time, of course. Go on, cadet. Uter control network. We were give n bypassed security lockouts and downloaded disordering protocols into the network. And from there, the protocols spread to every power relay on the planet. It was a pretty impressive sight, sir watching those relays wink out one e ter another. Im sorry i missed it. After that, all we had to do was sabotage the restart sequencers and get out. And are you sure that this cadet is telling the truth . He admitted to committing acts of treason against the federation. If he was going to lie i think he would have made up a better story. I take it that you gave him a blood screening. I tested him myself. Hes human. Well, then lets say that he is telling the truth that his superior officers ordered him to sabotage the power relays. Doesnt rule out dominion involvement. For all we know his superiors have been replaced by changelings. I thought about that. But if it were changelings, what have they a aomplished . Theres been no invasion and powers been restored. And starfleet has fortified earth. I see your point, captain. So, lets say youre right. What are you going to do about it . That is the bottom line, isnt it . What am i going to do . sighs these arent evil people, odo. These are people i worked with. Theyre my friends. People i respect. How can i turn against them . To me. If they have committed treason against the federation the federation that you swore to protect you wont be turning against them. Captain, ive been in politics for 70 years. Im no stranger to overstatement and exaggeration but the idea that starfleet would plot to ovovthrow the Federation Government is the single most astonishing accusation i have ever heard. Sir, if youll hear us out. As i intend to but youll forgigi me if i remain somewhat skeptical. Now, you should start at the beginning. Several months ago, i learned from one of my people that changelings had infiltrated the federation. Not long after i gave this information to starfleet reports indicate that admiral leyton led a contingentntf highranking officers to meet with you and recommend implementation of sweeping security measures meant to protect earth. And i rejected their suggestion as extreme. Its no secret that leyton disagreed with you, and despite your calls for calm his concern about the dominion threat continued to grow. Inced that the changelings posed a greater threat to earth than you were prepared to admit. And so admiral leyton approached me again this time with you two at his side and i agreed to his proposals. Some of his proposals. We believe admiral leyton and his supporters werent satisfied with the limited security procedures you authorized. They were convinced extraordinary measures were needed to counter the changeling threat. They were determined how vulnerable earth was to a dominion takeover. So they sabotaged the global power grid. Starfleet officers committing sabotage . i know exactly how you feel, but its the truth. I find that difficult to believe. Admiral leyton may be somewhat t ating and inflexible at times but a man of his accomplishment, a man of his distinguished record to commit treason . He and hisisupporters think that their actions are both necessary and justified. Not to mention effective. The power grid fails and the next thing you know, starfleeeesecurity officers are on the streets of every city armed with phaser rifles blood testing citizens at random. Your story has a certain logic to it, gentlemen but what it lacks is proof. You want proof . Order admiral leyton to withdraw his troops from the streets. See what he does. Order from his commander in chief . If he orders his troops to stand down then im wrong, and ill offer my resignation but i dont think thats going to happen. With thoho troops in place, admiral leyton controls earth and hes not going to give up that control until hes convinced that he has ended the dominion threat. He may nototave to give up anything. If what you say is true if the power outage was part of leytons plan then its worked perfectly. Curity. If i try to remove those troops over leytons objection ill have a planetwide riot on my hands. What if we bring you the proof . Hard evidence linking leyton could force leyt to the sabotage of the power grid . On to stand down, make him withdraw the troops. I promise ill use i if what you say is true, ill have his resignation. T. Sorry im late. Wheres cadet shepard . Thats a good question. What do you mean you couldnt find him . I mean, hes gone. So is every other member of rededquad. The rumor is theyve all been sent on some kind of training exercise. door slams im afraid cadet shepard wont be returning to o rth any time soon. Admiral leyton, its. Ben. I think you and i have to talk. In private. Ill be in the next room if you need me. Mind if i get a cup of coffee . Help yourself. I havent been getting a lot of sleepepately. Too much to do. Maybe you need a vacation. chuckling mmm. Somehow, replicated coffee never tastes this good. sighs im afraid i owe you an apology, ben. The way i see it you owe a lot of people an apology. I wish i couldve told you the truth from the beginning e eye to eye on this thing. Then why did you bring me here . Because i needed someone who knew how to fight shapeshifters, and thats you. And i suppose on some level i hoped that when you u w what we were accomplishing youd join us. Youve always had a strong senen of duty. My duty is to protect the federation. Thats what were trying to do. What youre trying to do is to seize control of earth if thats what it takes to stop the dominion. So youre willing to destroy paradise in order to save it . Remember when we were on the okinawa fighting the tzenkethi . That time when i wanted to take the ship into an asteroid belt, chase down those three raiders . And i said it was an unnecessary risk. You spoke your mind which is exactly what a good executive officer is supposed to do. Ing after the staff meeting you followed me into my ready room and tried to argue your point again. Thats right, i did. And remember what i told you . That a good officer must respect the chain of command fice that there comes a time r and carry out those orders whether you agage with them or not. I also told you that when you became a c. O. Youd feel the same way. And you were right about going after the tzenkethi and about me. Without the chain of command starfleeeewould cease to function and we wouldnt stand a chance against our enemies. Im still your Commanding Officer and now more than ever and i cannot do that then as of now im relieving you of yououpost as temporary head of earth security and sending you back to deep space nine. Go home, ben. You dont belong here. Beautiful evening, isnt it . Chief, howd you get here . Yoyodont look so good. Youve a lot on your mind, i bet. How is your father . No way the defiant could get here so soon. I didnt say i came on the defiant. Tell me the truth. Do you really believe that phaser rifles will do any good against shapeshifters . Youre not obrien. Oh, luckily no. The thought of being locked its. Its unnatural. Dont bother calling for help. Itll only cut short our conversation and i do enjoy your company. If you have something to say to me, say it. Oh, you solids, you are so impatient. I thought we could sit here for a while. Maybe go to a bar, have a pint, throw some darts. I dont think so. Let me ask you a question. How many changelings do you think are here on earth going to play any guessing games with you. Ah. What if i were to tell you that there are only four on this entire planet . Huh . Not counting constable odo, of course. Think of it. Just four of us and look at the havoc weve wrought. How do i know youre telling me the truth . Oh, four is more than enough. We do not fear you the way you fear us. In the end its your fear that will destroy you. Are you finished . Finished . laughing weve barely begun. I recognize that look. What look . The one youre wearing the one that says, somethings bothering me and i dont know what to do about it. Oh. That look. Do you want to tell me about it . I wish i could. Oh, i see. Its a neffie beumont kind of thing. Neffie beumont. Whoo what a crush i had on her. Not that youd admit it. You just sat around for weeks brooding and pining away, trying to sort it all out until your old man finally sat you down one day and gave you some advice. There comes a time in every mans life when he must stop thinking and start doing. And the next day you finally went over to young neffies house and asked her out. And she turned me down. Brooding anymore and when Zoey Phillips moved into the neighborhood a few weeks later, you asked her out before her parents were done beaming in the furniture. And dated her for three years. I guess what youre telling me is that i must stop brooding and make a decision. Exactly. Thank you, dad. Dont mention it. sighs make sure you turn out the lights on your way out. I wonder whatever happened to Zoey Phillips . whispering Zoey Phillips. Captain, why are you transmitting iscuss i dont want anyone else to hear. Whats your status . Everything here is fine, no sign of dominion activity. What about the wormhole . Dax its acting normally again. It stopped opening and closing at random not long after you left. If any dominion ships did sneak through theyre not giving us any trouble. Listen closely. Theres something i need for you to do. Its all yours. I suggest you hurry. I doubt itll take them very long r that were here. I never knew it was so easy to break into classified starfleet files. Everything i know i learned from quark. Looks like leytons been a busy man. Hes reassigned over 400 officers in the past three weeks. Do you recognize any of these names . A lot of them. Daneeka, mcwatt. Snowden, orr, moodus. All of them were officers on the okinawa when i was leytons x. O. As far as i can tell, every officer on this list arth. Or commanding ships somewhere in this sector. It says here hes ordered another set of transfers. Take a look at these dates. Odo they all take effect on the 14th. A day before the president s speech. Do you think theres any connection . sighs maybe admiral leyton doesnt intend for the president to make his speech. Hmm. I better get a copy of this. Odo, if admiral leyton is planning some kind of takeover on the 14th i want to make sure that jake and my father are safe. We should get them off earth as soon as possible. door chimes come in. Captain. Im surprised to find you here. Just cleaning out some of my files. Ill see you later, constable