The Vorta and the Cardassian did not like each other, that much was certain. But such belligerence was common in the Dominion-Cardassian alliance which was looking less like an alliance and more like a subjugation every day. Gul Madrel had seen the increasing signs: Cardassian soldiers pushed like cannon fodder to the front lines where they would bear the brunt of the casualties; the sneering looks from Vorta and Jem'Hadar alike even when they knew the Cardassian could see them; the consumption of precious resources by the Dominion, leaving little for Cardassians.

Madrel knew that after the devastating war with the Klingons the Cardassian Union had been weakened and needed an ally, but why did Legate Dukat have to reach across the galaxy to court the blasted Dominion?

"Madrel, are you listening to me?" asked the Vorta, Dahltenn, pacing slightly around the bridge of the Dominion battlecruiser, stepping around the stations manned by Jem'Hadar.

"Yes, yes, you were saying that this is a great moment for the Dominion," Madrel replied.

"That's right," said Dahltenn, eyeing Madrel, not quite convinced he really was listening. "I expect your regiment to have the fortifications for the garrison set up in five days, along with the shield generators and transport inhibitors. The Jem'Hadar will concentrate on the sensor platforms. Once the orbital platforms are launched, we will have total sensor coverage of four front-line sectors. While it will not completely replace the one just destroyed in the Argolis Cluster, it will be much more difficult to destroy."

Madrel grunted in agreement. The Argolis array, supposedly nearly invulnerable, was destroyed by a single ship flying through the supposedly unnavigable cluster. But a planet-based array, protected by 10,000 soldiers, would resist all but the most determined attacks. "I would still feel better if we were given more ships and at least two more regiments to defend the installation," said Madrel.

"We have three Cardassian cruisers, six Jem'Hadar attack ships, and two battlecruisers," said Dahltenn. "I should think that will be more than sufficient to defend the sensor, especially considering the strength of the shield systems. Even if the Federation and Klingons were to break through our pickets, they would not be able to break through the garrison's shields with an orbital bombardment before reinforcements could arrive. You are not doubting the wisdom of the Founders, are you?" Dahltenn's eyes narrowed as he considered the potential for heresy by the Cardassian.

"Of course not," muttered Madrel. Seeking a quick escape from the prickly situation—he could see the Jem'Hadar turn to look at him suspiciously—Madrel covered his gaffe, saying, "With your permission I will supervise the landing of my troops." Dahltenn dismissed him with a wave of his hand, as he turned away from Madrel. But the Vorta added, "I will relay your concerns to command."

As the gul walked from the bridge, his aide, Glinn Telakat, took up position at his shoulder. "Sir, the ground-based station may be nearly invulnerable, but the orbital sensor platforms will be easy pickings for the Alliance. All they have to do is sit in orbit and destroy them as we launch them."

"Don't worry, Telakat. We'll see them coming from a long distance and retrieve the orbital platforms. Even without them, the ground-based sensors can still see up to half of our normal range," Madrel assured his aide. "And we'll put out a call for reinforcements who should be able to chase off the enemy."

As they entered the transporter room, Madrel thought to himself that even so, if the Federation or Klingons made a concerted attack, perhaps even a ground-based attack, on his position, it would be difficult to repulse them without strong support from friendly starships.

"Transport me to the garrison construction site," he ordered the Jem'Hadar at the transporter controls. He had seen the reports; the Dominion's forces were rather thin in this region with most ships devoted to offensive rather than defensive operations.

As the transporter beam formed around him and his aide, Madrel hoped that the Alliance was kept too busy defending against Dominion attacks to make a concerted effort against Callessus.

The strategic situation holotank dominated the center of the large room, dozens of officers gathered around it or sitting at stations near it, all coordinating the actions of dozens more starships spread throughout the Travelka Expanse region, on the section of the Dominion occupation of Federation space closest to the galactic core.

The Second Fleet's Chimrase Division was headquartered from Starbase 390, coordinating the defense of the Alpha Quadrant in the region with more than a hundred Federation and Klingon starships opposing hundreds of Cardassian and Dominion ships.

Admiral Sevflk, commander of the Chimrase Division, walked around the holotank looking at representations of recent battles, shaking his head at the losses. Captain Derik van Antwerp, his chief of staff, and Commander Serena Minkiwiecz, his intelligence chief, approached the admiral from the other side of the room where they had been conferring.

"Admiral, I think you'll want to see this," said van Antwerp, as he came near. Sevflk looked up from the tank at his officers. "Sir, I believe we've found out why the Dominion has been able to defeat us at Pelatus 12, Krenvuus, and Quorrl over the past week," the captain said.

"Other than that they've been able to overwhelm us with superior forces, you mean," Sevflk said wryly, the bleak look on his face belying the slight humor in his statement.

"Yes sir," said Minkiwiecz, jumping in. "It appears that the enemy has a new transsector sensor system in the Callessus system." She ordered the holotank to display the star system as she spoke. An ordinary K-Type star with six planets in orbit appeared in the tank. The display highlighted the third planet and began to show information about it in a pop-up box next to the image of the M-class planet.

"The Dominion has erected a new sensor system on the third planet, ground based with orbital sensor platforms. We believe it can scan four sectors—21503, 21504, 21506, and 21510—allowing them to concentrate their forces on our ships, long before we see them coming."

Sevflk's eyes narrowed as he pondered the implications. Such an installation would prevent the Alliance from conducting any operations in a wide swath along the front without the enemy knowing they were coming.

"What do you propose?" the admiral asked, knowing his officers would already have begun forming a plan.

"Well, the Dominion appears to have learned a lesson from the Argolis Cluster, because a planet-based sensor is that much more difficult to destroy, but even so there are weaknesses," said van Antwerp. "The orbital sensor platforms normally compensate for the planet's orientation and rotation, allowing full globular coverage of the region, but we believe there is a gap in the coverage. Unless the Dominion places a dozen or more sensor arrays outside the ecliptic plane of the star, there is a slim sensor shadow extending out from the planet-sun line."

Sevflk knew that such a flaw in coverage was a glaring omission that the Dominion was unlikely to leave unfixed. "How sure are you that this gap exists?" he asked.

Minkiewicz consulted the padd in her hand. "A Klingon Bird of Prey was diverted to the system two days ago, and before it was chased away, it mapped the location of the arrays. We believe a strike on the arrays two or three days before we attack the system would open up the blind spot."

"What type of assets do they have to defend the system?"

Van Antwerp fielded that question. "We believe there is a reinforced garrison on the planet with heavy-duty shield generators. Orbital bombardment would take some time to break though them. The Klingon ship detected at least a half dozen Jem'Hadar fighters, a few Cardassian cruisers, and two battlecruisers. The size of the garrison suggests they could support between two and six regiments, perhaps a full order of troops."

Imprecise information, but considering the Klingon ship had been outnumbered at least 10 to 1 in the situation he was grateful to have gotten at least that much. "Begin preliminary planning for an assault based on what we know and draw up estimates for what kind of assets we'll need. But Starfleet Command has ordered us to hold the line here. We're not to make any offensive maneuvers in the region. Most of our assets are being tasked to another major operation." The admiral dismissed them and turned back to the holotank.

Minkiewicz turned to van Antwerp as they walked away. "What do you think the ‘major operation' is?" she asked. Van Antwerp leaned in close and said in a low voice, "I don't know, but I bet it will be an attempt to take back Deep Space 9. The minefield at the entrance to the Bajoran wormhole won't hold forever. If the Dominion gets reinforcements through, it's going to get mighty crowded around here." An icy shudder ran up the intelligence officer's spine, but she didn't say any more. That was a possibility she didn't want to think about.

"Admiral, I believe we've come up with a workable plan for the Callessus problem," said Captain van Antwerp as he entered Sevflk's office. "But it's going to take a major commitment of ships and troops."

"Show me," the admiral simply said, rising from behind his desk. The two men approached the viewscreen mounted on the bulkhead and van Antwerp activated it. A list of starships and ground troop organizations scrolled up.

"It looks like you're preparing for a major ground offensive here, Derik," the admiral said, and that was an understatement. Van Antwerp was proposing to commit a full division of ground soldiers to taking the sensor outpost. Starfleet hadn't yet undertaken an operation of that magnitude using that many ground soldiers. If they failed, the casualties would be horrendous. But then the casualties from the war were already horrendous and growing.

"From what we can glean from the Klingon sensor logs, the Dominion has learned from the Argolis loss and decided that they would prefer to heavily fortify a ground-based system that will require a major commitment from us to take it," van Antwerp said. "With the success of Operation Return and the recovery of Deep Space 9, we believe that it would be in our best interests to press our advantage for another decisive victory."

"Agreed," Sevflk said. "But I want better intelligence about the forces we'll be facing."Activating his desk computer, Sevflk tapped some commands and said, "I believe the Cherokee is available and in the region. Have her make a high-speed run through the system. One pass and out, collecting as much information as possible, but especially regarding the garrison size."

Returning to the wall screen, he said, "I notice you haven't listed specific units for the ground element yet. Why?"

Van Antwerp hesitated a bit, but then pressed on. "Sir, I would like to bring a reserve force forward from the rear area. The 8 ^th Division."

Sevflk turned to his subordinate in surprise. "The Eighth? Why? That's a new division, mostly recalled reserves and newly trained conscripts. They'll get slaughtered against battle-hardened enemy troops."

"I don't think so, sir. The first battalion of each regiment is regular Starfleet, and almost all of the reserves have served at least three years on active duty before retiring. And the conscripts make up only 35 percent of the whole unit," van Antwerp said quickly. He knew his plan hinged on convincing the old man of this point. The admiral was notorious for making decisions quickly and sticking by them. If he decided that using the 8 ^th Division was too risky, the captain would never convince him otherwise.

"I think using a fresh, complete division in this situation is far superior to cobbling together assets we already have assigned to the 2 ^nd Fleet. In an action of this magnitude, unit cohesion and discipline are critical. The 8 ^th Division has just finished work ups and is listed as combat ready. They are fresh, well-trained, and at the peak of efficiency. Any ground element we use will have to work as a complete unit to pull this off."Van Antwerp finished his prepared speech and waited, holding his breath, to see what Sevflk's reaction would be. Minkiewicz had bet him that the admiral would reject the plan. She knew that Sevflk had felt the weight of the mounting losses under his command keenly and believed that he would not be willing to risk so many lives on the gamble. But van Antwerp was betting that Sevflk's strategic competence and drive for victory would win out.

"All right," Sevflk said after considering the idea for a few seconds. "I'll recommend to Starfleet Command that the 8 ^th Division be moved up and assigned to this operation. And these other assets should be available, as long as we don't lose any between now and the time of the operation, God willing. Issue the orders for these starships to report here after the completion of their current assignments. I think these tactical ships," he said pointing to one list, "should all be here in no more than three weeks. When will the ships for the orbital assault be ready?"

Relieved at his commander's approval, van Antwerp replied, "We should be able to form Task Force 172, the orbital assault group, within seven days, sir. If the 8 ^th Division begins moving within the next week, they should be here by the time we form Task Force 175, the escort group."

"And when are you planning for this operation to take place?"the admiral asked.

"I'm planning for the main orbital assault to begin 32 days from now, sir," van Antwerp said. "Oh and sir…."The admiral looked up from his desk where he had returned as van Antwerp spoke. "… We're planning on calling this Operation Pellador."

Sevflk smiled. "Pellador" was a word from his native Chiska tongue meaning "a goal scored in a game," analogous to home run in baseball or touchdown in football. If they pulled this off, it would certainly count as a "pellador".

"Well done, Captain."

Two Cardassian Galor class cruisers were patrolling the orbit of the outermost planet of the Callessus system, when they received a signal from the garrison on the third planet.

The image of Glinn Telakat appeared on the viewscreens of the ships' bridges. "Callessus station to picket ships Alpha Three and Four, be aware. There are 12 incoming vessels that will pass by your patrol location in three hours. Challenge them, but let them pass once they are identified as Card— … Dominion vessels. Callessus, out."

Three hours later, the two ships turned to face the vessels now showing on their sensors. Within moments, the new starships had dropped from warp—three more Galor class cruisers, six more Jem Hadar attack fighters, and transports carrying an additional Cardassian regiment and a Jem Hadar regiment.

Madrel had finally received the reinforcements he had asked for. Perhaps the Founders really were wise.