- Trapped in some sort of maze. (Captain Torn)
- Still hiding inside a subspace distortion nebula near a star system with a Class A blue star, apparently inside Dominion space, in the Gamma Quadrant. (The ship and rest of the crew)
Summary:
- 2392.04.25
While Captain Torn and the other COs of the Frontier Fleet, as well as the Fleet Command Team, were still trapped in an alien maze, the crew of the Atlantis had been unable to locate their missing Captain. Unfortunately, they won't be able to start a genuine search any time soon, because they have slightly more pressing matters to attend to.
The nebula in which the Atlantis was hiding from the subspace rifts turned out not to be the safe haven the crew thought it would be. Claiming that the Atlantis was violating their territory, the Dominion made their presence known in the form of two Jem'Hadar vessels. The Vorta demanded that the Atlantis left immediately, even though the ship was in no condition to face the subspace rifts again. It seemed the crew was given an impossible choice: to die at the hands of the subspace rifts... or to stay inside the nebula and die at the hands of the Dominion.
Having been given some time to consider their options, the crew decided to surprise the Dominion and try to outrun them. Unfortunately, Dominion reinforcements arrived and cornered the Atlantis; the ship was held in tractor beams shortly after the crew's ill-fated attempt to escape.
Facing five Dominion vessels now, the Atlantis wouldn't stand a chance in a fight. The only way out of this predicament lay in a hardly credible bluff set up by Andersson and Velden: they tried to convince the Vorta that if the Atlantis should self-destruct, the power of the explosion, augmented by the fictitious singularity torpedoes, would destroy everything inside the nebula, including any installations and fleets the Dominion might have stationed here.
Although the deception managed to create doubts in the Vorta's mind, it failed to convince him completely, and he soon called the crew's bluff. Knowing that the Atlantis would be no match against the Dominion forces, and determined not to allow transwarp technology to fall into Dominion hands, the Bridge officers initiated the auto-destruct sequence.
But the destruction of the Atlantis brought with it the risk of a very powerful explosion which could destroy everything in the nebula. Ultimately, the Vorta was not willing to take this risk. He contacted the Atlantis to suggest a compromise: Jem'Hadar soldiers would be transported on board the Atlantis to oversee repairs and make sure the crew wasn't spying on the Dominion. In return, the Vorta would allow the Atlantis to remain inside the nebula until repairs were complete.
The compromise was accepted and the auto-destruct sequence was aborted. The crew of the Atlantis had no time to rest, though. They had to make sure the Jem'Hadar posed no threat and that they would not get to see the transwarp drive or notice the lack of singularity torpedoes. After the Jem'Hadar and the Vorta beamed aboard, the Jem'Hadar split up into groups in order to search the ship -- escorted by Starfleet security personnel, of course. The Vorta, named Volnaran, joined Andersson and Velden in the Captain's ready room to discuss the details of their compromise.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Fletcher remained in his quarters, where Counsellor Imala talked to him about his attacking a medic after losing his fiancée. In sickbay, Doctor Morgan and the EMH plotted a little scheme involving fabricating evidence of a non-existent virus in order to keep the Jem'Hadar out of restricted areas.
