As Jake pulled Hector aside, Hector whispered urgently, "Wait, what are you doing back here? You were relieved 20 minutes ago and I'm supposed to be helping the Officer of the Deck figure out a problem with the hanger bay. They're having a meeting with the CIC head now to try to deal with it." Jake smiled and said, "You're in luck! I ran into some marines when I was heading back to my rack who were just heading there and they have some info about the problem. They needed to stop and use the head but I was bringing them here to brief everyone."

Hector looked pleased. Jake knew that as the Junior Officer of the Deck for this watch, Hector was looking for ways to impress the bridge crew, and figuring out an issue that the command staff couldn't would help. "Great! Why don't you fill me in and I'll brief everyone."

Jake smiled and started leading Hector down the hall toward the head. "Well, I didn't get all the details since I figured it would be faster for them to pass those along themselves. But the gist is there's some sort of hazardous material leak in the hangar and they've had to pull out the crew temporarily."

Hector seemed surprised. "Wait, why didn't they just tell us that themselves? Why all the radio silence?"

Jake opened the hatch for the head and gestured for Hector to go in first. "That's the complicated part I wanted them to explain for themselves." Jake continued as he followed Hector into the head and walked toward the two marines standing by the sink. "It turns out that they suspect that someone in the crew smuggled the foreign material onto the ship, and until they know who has been involved, they can't trust this information to anyone they haven't screened."

As Hector walked up to the marines, he asked them incredulously, "Wait, do you think that someone on the Bridge has been involved in this?" The marine nodded solemnly, calmly stating, "We know for sure that one person has been... and that another will be soon." Hector's confusion was clear on his face... as was his shock as an arm snaked around his throat and clamped tightly against his windpipe. Hector bucked and kicked at his hidden assailant as the chokehold on his throat began to tighten. He tried to call to Jake to help him, but couldn't get any words out. He looked at the marines imploringly and frantically gestured for them to help, but as they calmly stepped forward and flanked him, he realized that they were binding his arms, not assisting him. As his strength began to falter and his vision began to narrow, Hector could see one of the marines reach into a pack and pull out something blue and glowing. "What is that... thing?" Hector thought dimly as he felt himself being pushed down into a crouching position on the floor. Nearly unconscious from the chokehold, Hector felt his shirt being lifted and something clammy being positioned onto his back. Once it was in place, he dimly felt a rippling, biting sensation on his back. As his mind slowed to a crawl, he began to feel the presence of something foreign in his thoughts.

Gradually, he felt both his body and his mind regaining strength and realized that he had been released from the chokehold. The two marines shifted from restraining him to now steadying and supporting him as a bright sensation surged up and down his body. The powerful blast seemed to rise like a plume of fire and circled around his increasingly alert mind, burning away all of the fear, confusion, and doubt it found there. He slowly arched his back and reveled in the feeling of his master incorporating itself into his spine and becoming one with his body. As his thoughts began to clarify and strengthen, he realized the importance of his new mission: Everyone on the ship must also be given their new master, starting with the command staff in the Bridge and CIC.

As Hector's master dissolved the last vestiges of his resistance, he felt his eyes flash brightly, which he saw echoed in the eyes of the marines and Jake. As Hector looked up, he smiled at Jake and thanked him for giving him his new master, albeit complaining, "Ugh, couldn't you have figured out a way to do that more gently? What if you damaged this body, or if someone had come in in the middle of that?"

Jake smiled and helped Hector to his feet, saying, "Well, we've got other marines blocking off the corridor just out of view, but we didn't want to take a chance that your host's girlish screaming might bring people running."

Hector laughed as he tucked in his shirt and mockingly punched Jake in his stomach. "Okay, now we're even. But speaking of people running, we need to get some masters to the bridge to take command there before they send someone else to investigate the hangar. It's a good thing it's middle watch and they're short-handed!"

As Jake picked up a backpack filled with masters, he replied, "True, true. If they'd had someone else to send, they might have accidentally sent someone competent enough to ruin our plans! Now, if all goes well, the masters will be running things on this ship before anyone knows what hit them." Hector laughed and picked up another bag, and then he, Jake, and the marines walked toward the bridge to relieve the human commanders of the ship.