I woke early, just as the sky outside of my artificial window was changing from black to grey. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and tried to remember my dream. I had been about my parents, the ones I hadn't seen since I was thirteen years old and living locked up in their attic until the day my father had decided to turn me in. I tried to forget but the memories clung to me. Six months ago, Sebastian had revealed to me that they had turned me over to the government to be executed, unaware that I had been placed in a government institution. They likely still thought I was dead.

I made toast for breakfast, forcing myself to eat even though I wasn't hungry. I had learned that I did better on missions when I had a meal beforehand. Sometimes the mission went for longer than expected and I didn't want to be distracted by hunger.

At 0730, I left my rooms and took the turbolift down to the first floor. It would be faster to take a shuttle out to Sector C but I didn't want to risk being tracked. On the ground floor, I walked out into the warm air. Outside the dome, it was early spring and the morning would be crisp and cool. Inside the dome, it perpetually felt like a sunny and warm spring day. The sun had come out in the past hour and I felt it warm my skin as I walked. I tucked my blond hair behind my ears as a breeze tried to blow it into my face. I kept my appearance the same while I was on Sandor, no strange height or hair length changes. I suspected that many of the people I saw knew I was a shapeshifter but I did not know how well-kept a secret my presence was. I didn't want to attract undue attention by growing my hair a foot in one day.

I walked through the grassy space between Sectors B and C. I had to admit, whoever had designed the space knew what they were doing. The Capital Building stood elegantly in the middle of the dome, with Sector B surrounding it in a circle, with spaces between the buildings to allow foot and air traffic. Next came a grassy space and after that Sectors C and D. The people who worked in the buildings lived there as well, just as I did, and the Sectors had everything from gyms to playgrounds to schools. There was no reason for any government officials to have to leave on a day to day basis. I suspected that was so the government could keep a better eye on them.

I made it to Sector C and checked the building number 3. I turned right and walked along the slightly curved building face. Eventually I came to a break in the building with a landing strip in it. The next building had a large "4" emblazoned on it. Not far now. Another five minutes of walking took me to a park. It was small, no more than 20 meters across but it housed a collection of plants and an arbor with a bench under it. On the bench sat a man wearing a black coat. Sebastian. I hurried toward him.

He looked up as I approached. He looked tired, as if his sleep last night had been as troubled as mine.

"You're early," he said.

"So are you," I answered. I stopped in front of him and he stood up. He glanced around as if to see if we were being watched.

"I had a break before morning meetings. I told the guards I was taking a walk but if I'm gone too long they'll come looking for me."

I looked around uneasily but saw no one. The park and surrounding walkways were deserted. "Should we be meeting here?" I asked.

"I have the right to meet with members of my government," he said. "I couldn't trust the communicator hadn't been hacked. We should be alright here." He flipped his coat out to show an object in the pocket. "An audio jammer."

"Won't someone realize something's wrong?"

"No one should be eavesdropping anyway. Now, what have you found."

I told Sebastian about the Liaren's and the ship manifest. "The strange thing is, it's the only one that had a future delivery date," I said. "The rest seemed to be a manifest of what was delivered or changed ships. This wasn't due to be delivered until the twenty-third."

"The twenty-third," Sebastian said. He looked at me thoughtfully. "Unification Day."

"Exactly," I said. "Those Liarens had to have a good reason to leave their planet during the Festival. If they were delivering a message to someone, a message of when the attack would happen, that would be a pretty good reason."

"You think the Liarens are behind this then?"

I shrugged. "I know they're up to something. I don't know if it's even tied to you. But it can't be a coincidence that their manifest had the same date as our biggest holiday, one you'll be speaking at."

"Do you know who the message was to?"

I shook my head. "It could have been anyone on the station."

"Or here on Sandor."

"What?"

"Your mission may not have been a coincidence," Sebastian said. "You were sent there to steal manifests and it happened to have the Liaren message embedded inside it. That seems unlikely to be an accident."

I stared at him. Why hadn't I thought of that? "You think I was sent there specifically to bring back the manifest so someone here would know what the Liarens are planning?"

"Or planning with the Liarens. They could not risk sending a message directly to Sandor, we would detect it. But to send one of our own agents on a mission to bring back the information, no one would suspect it. And unless someone was specifically looking for the information, they'd likely miss it. Would you have thought anything was wrong if you had looked at it?"

"No," I admitted. "I happened to see two Liarens on the planet and even then, it wasn't until Armstrong mentioned the Festival of Reawakening that I realized they shouldn't be there."

Sebastian looked thoughtful. "I will find out who ordered the mission," he said.

"You mean you don't know?"

"It's better to distance myself from the more," he paused, as if choosing the right word, "distasteful aspects of our government's activities. There are multiple layers of command that your missions go through. Technically you don't exist. The funds are allocated through the Exploration Force Assessment Fund."

I shook my head. "Ridiculous. Your whole government is ridiculous. Alright, you can find out who ordered me on that mission. What is it?"

Sebastian had held up a hand and was looking around. "I heard something," he said.

"I didn't, what did you hear?" I joined him in looking around. There, to our right in a group of trees, I caught a flash of light.

"Get down!" Sebastian yelled. He dropped to the ground and I followed suit just as a phase pistol blast whizzed over our heads. I crawled over to where Sebastian was laying prone next to the bench. "Are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine." Sebastian looked to where the fire had come from. Another blast struck the arbor over our head and the wood caught fire. "So much for your theory that they're waiting for Unification Day."

I looked into the woods and thought I could see a form moving. No more phaser blasts appeared. The arbor above us smoked faintly. "Do you mind if I take care of this?" I asked.

"Please do," Sebastian answered, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

A second later, I was off the ground in the form of a hawk, soaring straight for the woods. I flew as fast as I could, praying that the firing would not resume. Perhaps the would-be assassin's phase pistol had overloaded. Maybe.

I reached the edge of the woods just as the man emerged from the woods, a Federation phaser in his hands. Stunned, I flapped to the ground and stared up at him with my yellow eyes.

"Is that you?" Riker asked.

I shifted back into my normal form and Riker held out a hand to help me to my feet. When I was standing I stared at him. He was wearing the neatly tailored suit of a mid-level Sandorian official, dressed all in grey, but other than that he looked the same as the last time I had seen him, when I had stunned him in Engineering aboard his own ship.

Riker let go of my hand and nodded at me. "Good to see you," he said.

"Good to see you?" I asked, dumbfounded. "What are you doing here?" I looked behind me to where Sebastian was climbing to his feet and brushing himself off. "Are you shooting at us?"

"What?" Riker demanded. He pointed the phaser at me, looked at it, and then lowered it to pointed with his other hand. "I wasn't! I just saved your life. You and your friend."

"That," I said, pointing at Sebastian where he was walking up to us, "is not my friend. That is Sebastian Grey, the Prime Minister of Sandor. And if you weren't shooting at us then who was?"

Riker jerked a thumb over his shoulder into the woods. "Someone who I just stunned. He should be out for another few minutes and then we'll have to do something with him." He looked at me with something like hurt in his eyes. "Did you really think I was shooting at you?"

To be honest, I didn't know what I thought. I was standing in the middle of Sandor's secure government zone with the two men who I thought I would never see again in my life.

"I hate to interrupt, but who is this?" Sebastian said, coming up to stand behind me. He stood almost as tall as Riker and was gazing at the Commander with a distinct look of dislike.

"This is..." I paused. "This is my friend Will," I said finally. I thought it better if Sebastian didn't know he was Federation. "He apparently just saved our lives."

Sebastian looked between me and Riker. "What is going on?"

"Let's just go look at who tried to kill you," I said. I strode toward the woods, leaving Riker and Sebastian to follow. In the woods I found the body of a man lying facedown in the mulch. I flipped him over and gasped. It was Armstrong.

"Who is he?" Sebastian asked.

"It's Sergeant Armstrong," I said. I checked him for a pulse and found it strong.

"Did you think I'd killed him," Riker demanded. I looked up and found him glaring not at me, but at Sebastian.

"Of course not," I snapped at him. I was having so many conflicting emotions at seeing Will again that they seemed to be manifesting as annoyance. The last time I had seen him, I had been begging for Picard's help in helping the shapeshifters. It had ended with me and a group of shifters taking over the Enterprise and me stunning Riker. I did not think he would remember me fondly yet here he was, saving my life. And I had other feelings, confusing ones, ones embroiled in anger at being left behind. I brushed my hair out of my face and stared down at Armstrong. "He's the one who gives me my missions," I said, pieces starting to fall into place. "He could have arranged for me to go to Prandor and bring back the manifest. He must be working with the Liarens."

"The Liarens?" Riker asked. He looked between me and Sebastian Grey. "What the hell is going on here?" he demanded. "Why are you with him?"

"We don't have time right now!" I snapped back. "We need to get him somewhere out of sight where we can ask him questions." I looked at Sebastian, who nodded.

"I have a private room in each building in case I need to use it. The one in Building 4 isn't far and it has a private entrance."

I tried to pull Armstrong to his feet but failed. I tried to keep myself fit but I didn't have enough muscle in my Sandorian form to lift a man.

"Oh, I'll do it," Riker said impatiently. He pulled Armstrong to his feet and hefted him over his shoulder. "Lead the way," he said with gritted teeth.

Somehow, the four of us made it to Sebastian's secret rooms without being seen. Inside, Riker laid Armstrong on the floor. Armstrong was starting to mumble.

"He's waking up," Sebastian commented. He was holding a phase pistol that he must have picked up where Armstrong had dropped it. He turned it over in his hands as he talked. Then he rounded on Will. "Now who are you? And why did you save my life?"

"I didn't save your life," Riker said. He pointed at me where I was locking the door behind us. "I saved her life. If I had known who you were, I might have let him kill you."

"Will!" I cried.

"He locked you up!" Riker said. "Kidnapped you and now what, you're working for him?"

"It's not that simple," I told him.

"I thought you hated Sandor," Riker said, his voice taught. "You never wanted to come back and now you're living here? Working for their corrupt government?"

"This isn't the time!" I snapped at him. No matter what I had done to Will, he didn't have the right to accuse me to intentionally working for the Sandorians. "We need to question Armstrong. Give me your phaser?"

"After what happened last time? I think I'll keep it."

I gritted my teeth. Riker wasn't wrong, but I was too angry to see it. Instead I stood over Armstrong as his eyes started to open. He started to sit up but Riker pointed the phaser at him.

"Slowly," he said.

Armstrong lifted his hands and sat up, looking around us. He started when he saw Sebastian standing across the room.

"You failed," I said, trying to make my voice hard. Armstrong's eyes flickered between me and Sebastian to rest on Sebastian again. I glanced back at the Prime Minister. "Why are you trying to kill Grey?"

"What?" Armstrong looked back at me and he had genuine confusion on his face. "I wasn't! What...what was he even doing there? Why hasn't he stunned you?"

"Are you serious?" I asked, looking down at Armstrong. "You just tried to kill him! Don't try to act like you don't know what's going on."

Armstrong looked between Riker and Sebastian before turning back to me.

"I was trying to kill you!" he finally said. He narrowed his eyes. "I knew we couldn't trust you. I told them from the beginning."

I stared at Armstrong. "Me?" I asked, dumbfounded. "You just tried to kill the Prime Minister and you're saying you can't trust me?"

"I told you I didn't try to kill him." Armstrong seemed to be regaining control of himself. His voice was returning to the practiced strength that I was used to. "You've been working with a group of terrorists to assassinate the Prime Minister. I was trying to save his life."

I glanced back at Sebastian. "He sounds serious," I said. Sebastian stepped forward.

"If you weren't trying to kill me, why shoot at me?" he asked Armstrong.

"I thought you were in danger, sir," Armstrong said. "I'd been ordered to take out Lawrence before she could kill you."

"Ordered by whom?"

"I don't know," Armstrong said, shaking his head. "That's not how it works, sir. I don't know who sends the orders. It's safer that way. All I have is the identification code."

"So you're trying to tell us that you aren't working with the Liarens?" I demanded.

Armstrong stared at me again, his mask slipping to show confusion. "The Liarens? What do they have to do with anything?"

I looked up at Sebastian and stood. "I think he might be telling the truth," I said. I looked down at Armstrong, who was still glaring at me. "I've worked with him for a while now and I think I've gotten to know him. He's...rough but he has a strong sense of duty."

"Duty!" Armstrong spat. "What do you know about duty? You sold yourself out for money and your freedom."

"What are you talking about?" It was my turn to ask the question.

"You agreed to kill the Prime Minister because you're getting paid by the terrorists," Armstrong said, sounding completely sincere. "And they're supposed to break you out once you succeed."

"That's a lie," I said. "I've been working for Grey to try to save his life!"

Armstrong looked between the two of us.

"It's true," Sebastian said. "I recruited her yesterday to investigate a plot on my life." He looked at me. "I trust her. She's not in on the conspiracy."

"Conspiracy?" Armstrong asked.

"Yes. It's now obvious that the plan to assassinate me is coming from deep within my own government."

Armstrong finally looked at Riker. "Who's he?" he asked. "One of your security?"

"He's a friend," I said just as Sebastian wearily said, "Honestly I have no idea."

Armstrong slowly climbed to his feet. "So you're not trying to kill him?" he asked.

"No," I emphatically said. I took a step back from Armstrong just in case he decided to attack me again. "You aren't working for the Liarens?"

"What do they have to do with this?"

"We think the Liarens are communicating with someone in the government, someone who has control over Miss Lawrence's missions. They embedded a code in the shipping manifest she brought back from her latest mission."

Armstrong looked between us. "On Prandor V?" I nodded. "What are they trying to do?

"We think they're trying to assassinate him as his gives his speech on Unification Day."

Armstrong's face went white. "My daughter." At Sebastian's confused expression, Armstrong explained. "My daughter is one of the Exploration Force cadets who will be on stage with you."

I looked at Sebastian. "I don't think he's in on it," I said. "He wouldn't risk his own daughter's life by try to kill you."

"I told you, I'm not the traitor here!" Armstrong said angrily.

"Enough," Sebastian said, putting the full authority of his position behind his voice. We all looked at him. "I trust Miss Lawrence. She and I have not always seen eye to eye, but she certainly isn't close enough to anyone in the administration to be part of conspiracy. Or anyone outside of it for that matter." He looked at me. "You trust Sergeant Armstrong."

I couldn't believe it, but I nodded. "He's awful and he's been a pain in my ass, but he's loyal."

"Good. He can help us."

"Help us?"

"We still don't know who is behind this," Sebastian said. "We need to go through your past missions, see if there are any more strange anomalies that we didn't discover before. Armstrong, have you noticed anything strange in the data?"

"I don't analyze it," Armstrong said. "I just send it up the chain of command. All I'm in charge of is organizing the missions."

I hadn't known that. I wondered what other information I had unwittingly been passing to traitors within the government. Not that I particularly cared. I wouldn't mind watching Sandor crumble from within. But Sebastian had promised me my freedom and I couldn't collect on that if he was dead.

"I still have some of the data on my computer, though," Armstrong said. "The last two, at least."

"Go to your office and get them," Sebastian said. "I need to get back, I will have been missed." He turned to Riker and held out his hand. "I don't know who you are, but you saved Miss Lawrence's life. Thank you."

Riker didn't take it. "I didn't do it for you." He said.

Sebastian handed the phase pistol to Armstrong and turned to go.

"Sebastian, wait!" I called. He turned back to look at me, a funny expression on his face "You need to be careful. Increase your guard."

"Why?" Sebastian asked.

"Why? Because someone's trying to kill you."

Sebastian shook his head. "I don't think they'll try anything. Not yet. They'll wait for Unification Day. Whoever this is wants to make it big, make it showy. They'll wait until every camera is on me before they move." Then he left.

I looked between Armstrong and Riker, who were eyeing each other up.

"We need to get into Armstrong's office," I said.

"It's Sergeant Armstrong," he corrected, annoyance flashing in his eyes.

"I'm not on a mission for you. I don't need to work by your stupid rules anymore." As dire as the situation was, I felt momentarily happy. I