“Yes, sir, I believe it was, but—”

“But what, Shar?”

“Sir,” Shar said, uncharacteristically flummoxed by something. “My scans are showing that the space around the wormhole has been altered since we were last here.”

Everyone turned to look at Shar.

“Altered how?” Dax asked.

“If these readings are correct,” Shar said, “the wormhole now opens within the Idran system.”

“Idran?” Vaughn said. Idran was a blue dwarf star of eight uninhabited planets and, Vaughn knew, at a distance of three light-years, was the nearest Gamma Quadrant system to the wormhole. “Are you telling me the wormhole has moved?”

“Not at all, sir,” Shar said. “The system has.”

Vaughn stared at his science officer for a moment, almost ready to accuse Shar of making an exceedingly poor joke. But, of course, Shar seldom joked about anything, and certainly not about something like this.

Vaughn exchanged a look with Dax, who joined Shar at his station to examine the readings herself. “My God,” he heard her whisper. “This is unbelievable.” Dax looked back at Vaughn. “According to this—”

“Captain!” Bowers said suddenly. “Contact bearing zero-four-zero mark nine. Distance three hundred million kilometers and closing fast. It’s a Dominion ship.”

“Red alert,” Vaughn said at once. “Give me a visual, Mr. Bowers.”

On the viewscreen the menacing insectile form of a Jem’Hadar attack ship grew as it approached the Defiant.

“Hail them, Sam,” Vaughn said.

“Sir, they’re hailing us,” Bowers said. “And slowing to impulse.”

Curiouser and curiouser.“Take us out of warp, Ensign Lankford. Sam…on screen.”

The Jem’Hadar ship was replaced by a view of its bridge, where a Vorta wearing the monocular headset the Dominion employed in lieu of viewscreens smiled pleasantly at Vaughn. “Greetings,Defiant,” the Vorta said. “I trust your little sojourn went well. To whom have I the pleasure of speaking?”

“I’m Commander Elias Vaughn, captain of this vessel. And you would be…?”

“I’ll be damned,” Dax muttered, reacting to the Vorta. “Weyoun!”

Weyoun?Vaughn thought. He remembered the name. Weyoun was one of the key figures among the Dominion forces stationed in the Alpha Quadrant during the war.

“Lieutenant Dax,”Weyoun beamed, his buttery voice oozing affection. “How nice it is to see you again.”

“I wish I could return the compliment,” Dax said. “I thought the Weyouns were extinct.” Like the Jem’Hadar, the Vorta were an engineered species, but one whose members enjoyed a kind of immortality in which memories were recorded and encoded into new clones upon death. At least, as long as the Vorta continued to be useful. Weyoun himself had died several times while in the Alpha Quadrant, only to be replaced by a cloned successor each time. But by all accounts, after the Vorta cloning facilities on Rondac III were destroyed, the last Weyoun had been killed during the final battle on Cardassia.

The Vorta looked positively amused. “Lieutenant, I was first cloned in the Gamma Quadrant. Did you really think that even if all my clones in the Alpha Quadrant were destroyed, some of my genetic material wasn’t still on file in the Dominion?”

Dax smiled humorlessly. “I might have known it was too much to hope for.”

“My dear, you cut me to the quick. Which reminds me…how is Commander Worf?”

“He’s Ambassador Worf now,” Dax said. “To the Klingon Empire.”

“Really?”Weyoun said, absently feeling his neck. “Well, I suppose if anyone would appreciate Mr. Worf’s style of discourse, it would be his fellow Klingons.”

“Was there a reason you contacted us, Weyoun?” Vaughn said, trying to get back on topic.

“Oh, my apologies, Commander Vaughn,”Weyoun said, and suddenly his voice lost some of his friendliness. “Our sensors are showing you have a Founder aboard your vessel. We demand his return at once.”

“Of course,” Vaughn said, then turned to Dax. “Lieutenant, would you please inform our guest of the situation and arrange to have her beamed aboard the Dominion ship? And be sure to give her the chip.” After Dax nodded and left to carry out Vaughn’s order, he turned back to Weyoun. “The Founder in question was rescued by us after being marooned for two years on a planet we came across. We were going to bring her with us to Deep Space 9 and then contact the Dominion to arrange her safe return. Your arrival here simplifies that immensely.”

“Her?”Weyoun said.

“Yes,” Vaughn answered. “She seems quite young—at least, by our standards. Scarcely more than a child. Her ship was brought down two years ago by a force we’re quite familiar with—the Borg. She’ll attest to what I’m telling you, and she’ll also be carrying a report we’ve compiled about the encounter that you might find useful.”

“I see,”Weyoun said thoughtfully. He spoke quietly to a nearby Jem’Hadar, similarly equipped with a headset. The soldier nodded and moved off. Probably the First,Vaughn thought. “Yes, we’re aware of the Borg from our intelligence on the Alpha Quadrant,”Weyoun went on. “Many of us were wondering how long it would be before they paid a visit to the Gamma Quadrant.”

“If you’d like,” Vaughn said, “we could perhaps arrange to provide additional intelligence on the Borg as part of an information-exchange pact.”

“Thank you for the kind offer, Commander. I’ll certainly pass it on to the Founders.”

“While we’re waiting…” Vaughn said, wondering how to phrase his next question, then decided only the direct approach would serve in this situation. “Can you explain what’s happened to the Idran system?”

“Oh, yes, Idran,”Weyoun said. “Remarkable, isn’t it? And just as I was beginning to believe the universe couldn’t become more troublesome. To answer your question, Commander, I cannot begin to explain what’s happened here, and I suspect you may find out before I do.”

“But what—” Vaughn started to say when Dax returned to the bridge.

Walking up to the center seat, she reported, “Chao is standing by in the transporter bay.”

Vaughn nodded. “Thank you, Lieutenant.” He turned back to Weyoun. “Your bridge?”

The Vorta nodded. “Acceptable.”

“Vaughn to transporter bay,” he said. “Chief, please beam the Founder directly to the Dominion ship’s bridge.”

“Aye, sir. Energizing…”

As the Founder materialized near Weyoun, the Vorta bowed his head reverentially and said in a supplicating voice, “Founder, you honor us with your presence. We’re gratified by your safe return. Perhaps you’d care to rest after your ordeal?”

“Yes, I think I would. Please thank the Federation people for their help to me, and for their hospitality. I owe them my life.”With that, she turned and left the bridge of the Dominion ship. For his part, though he clearly was trying not to show it, Weyoun was taken aback by the Founder’s words.

“I take it you heard that?”he asked Vaughn.

“Every word,” Vaughn confirmed with a small smile. “She’s welcome.”

“You’ve done the Dominion a great service, Commander,”Weyoun said, “and you have its gratitude.”

“We could just say you owe us a favor,” Vaughn suggested.

“I’d rather not,”was Weyoun’s cheerful reply. “But I will say that our meeting this way is fortuitous. You see…I believe we’ve found something that belongs to you.”With a quick nod to someone off screen, Weyoun turned back to Vaughn and said, “Safe journey, Commander. Perhaps our paths will cross again someday.”He closed the connection, and disappeared from the viewscreen.

“What the hell was that about?” Vaughn asked aloud.

“Sir,” Bowers said. “I’m detecting a transporter beam—”

“Shields!” Vaughn shouted, instantly on his feet.