Past Prologue, Part 11
Posted on Tue Apr 2, 2019 @ 10:21am by Commander Caleb Ryan
1,365 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Things Past
Location: USS Winchester/The Borderlands/Omicron Nebula
Timeline: FLASHBACK: 2375/Toward the End of the Dominion War
Pierce felt the annular confinement beam release him and took a moment to take a breath, expanding his lungs as the transporter effect faded. Beside him Jirys and his Vulcan Chief Engineer Turil were already pulling out their tricorders.
“Get that data,” Artemis told Jirys and Turil. “Let’s find out what they were doing here.” Artemis looked over to where a team of four Marines lay spread about the room. Three guarded the entrances while the fourth stood watch over the nine remaining members of the facility’s team. All appeared to be researchers or administrators. Artemis imagined the injured that had been beamed out had been what was left of security.
“Have they said anything?” Pierce asked as he strode over. The room was a fairly standard layout with banks of computers and a main operations table tracking various facility systems.
“No, sir. They’re very tight lipped.”
Pierce nodded and looked over the base schematic on the table. He scrolled through. “What’s this?” he asked.
“The power plant, sir, we believe, and backup generator for the labs.”
Pierce nodded. “That’s a large lab,” he said, indicating a big open space. “Has anyone been down there yet?”
“Charlie is clearing that now. Bravo is on second level.”
“The living quarters?”
“Yes, sir.”
Pierce frowned. “Why is there a high security door between this large living area and the smaller one?”
The Marine shrugged. “Perhaps the officers didn’t want to mingle with the grunts,” he said.
“No…” Pierce frowned. “That isn’t really standard Federation design. Look. This almost looks like barracks. And a sizable gym. Much more than they would need for what looks like the limited number of personnel.”
Artemis looked up at Turil. “You have things under control here?” he asked.
“Yes, sir,” the engineer said. “They did indeed attempt a memory core dump, but they were ineffective. We have nearly ended the system cascade and might even be able to restore the data.”
Pierce nodded. “Get what you can.” He tapped his badge. “Pierce to Bravo Team. Have you made it through that security door?”
“Yes, sir,” came Edgar Wilson’s voice, “and…sir, you might want to see this.”
Pierce frowned. “What is it, Captain?”
“I don’t know, sir.”
Artemis looked over at the Marines. “What’s the quickest way down to Level 2?”
“I’ll show you, sir,” one of them said.
****
Captain Edgar Wilson was waiting for them in the first, smaller, section of the living quarters. The room appeared to be a recreational area with a large holovid screen and a table with 3D chess and Kal-toh.
“What did you find, Captain?” Pierce asked, looking around and seeing nothing out of the ordinary. It looked like any recreational area one might see in an isolated research facility.
“Not here, sir,” Wilson said. “This area was all pretty normal. Standard living quarters.” He went down a hall to open a door as indication. Bed, dresser, closet, desk with computer. It could have been lifted right out of basic officer quarters on a starship.
“It’s when we got past the security door that things started to get…different.”
Artemis followed the Marine captain down another corridor. It ended in a highly secure door. The control panel had been pried off the wall and the wires jury rigged to open it. Another corridor had four more doors. The door on the right appeared to be a large mess hall and galley. Across from it was what appeared to be a training area. A mat had been laid out and the far end seemed to be a shooting range. A security cabinet filled with various bladed weapons was in one corner.
“The weapons are still locked securely,” Wilson said, indicating another cabinet with phasers.
“Good,” Pierce said. “Post a guard in here, just in case.”
“My thoughts, too, sir.” Wilson motioned to two of Bravo Company and then led Pierce down the hall to the next door. It seemed to lead to a large communal lavatory.
“There aren’t near enough people here even at the height of its operation for all of this,” Artemis said.
“That’s what I thought, until I saw this.” They went across the hall and Artemis stared into a large barracks room with a hundred bunks lined along the wall.
Wilson motioned Artemis to follow, and they walked down the aisle. Pierce noticed that all the bunks were bare, no linens, just naked mattress, until they got to the last row. Three beds had sheets, which had been thrown back as if in haste, and each had a small footlocker at the end of the bed.
Artemis gave the beds a puzzled look. “Why would any of the staff be sleeping way out here?”
He knelt down and opened one of the footlockers. Inside were plain grey tunics and slacks, nondescript socks and shoes, undergarments, and a few personal care items. Pierce pulled out one of the neatly folded tunics and shook it out, holding it up.
“Small,” he said. “These are clothes for children.”
“Children of the staff?”
“But why way out here? Why not live with their parents? Or close by? And where are they?”
“I may have an answer, sir,” a Marine said from across the room. He pulled back a bunk to reveal the loose grate of the air handling system.
“Only a child could fit in there,” Artemis said. “Where does it go?”
“Down,” Wilson said.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” Pierce mused. He tapped his comm. “Charlie, keep your eyes peeled. We may have children loose in the facility. Let me know if you find them. They may be frightened.”
“Yes, sir,” came Charlie Leader’s response. “And…sir. We might have found what they were doing here.”
Artemis raised an eyebrow in response. “On my way!” He looked to Wilson. “With me. Bravo, secure the level.”
Down on Charlie level they were met by a marine who led them down another corridor. This room was by far the largest they had seen, the lights shining down on rows and rows of large tubes filled with some kind of golden liquid. Some…thing floated inside the tubes.
“My God, are those…?”
“Cloning tubes,” came Jirys’ voice behind Artemis. He turned to see the Bolian science officer walk up with a padd.
“What have you found?” Artemis asked, following the Bolian down one of the row of tubes. He estimated there were about a hundred.
“We’re still reconstructing some of the data,” Jirys said. “But they were definitely cloning…something.” He paused and looked around, orienting himself, and then turned.
“We’re uploading what we can to the Winchester now.”
Artemis stopped in surprise and looked where Jirys was pointing. Three of the tubes stood empty.
“What was in there?”
Jirys ran his tricorder over one of the filled tubes. “Human,” he said. “Genetically engineered.”
Artemis frowned and gave an involuntary shudder. Even hundreds of years later, the tales of Khan Noonien Singh and his army of genetically enhanced Human monsters were told to children to get them to behave.
“How far along are they?”
Jirys shrugged. “Obviously those three were ready,” he said. “According to what we’ve been able to piece back together, about half of them are within weeks of…birth? I’m not sure what to call it. All of them are at viability stage, though.”
Artemis swallowed. “All?” What the hell was Section 31 up to? Wasn’t it enough they had to fight the genetically engineered Jem’Hadar? Did they think fighting fire with fire was going to work? Did they not remember the Eugenics Wars!
“They need to be destroyed, Lieutenant.”
“Sir?” Jirys looked up, blinking. “This is fascinating research. A viable, stable, genetically engineered Human – or most any species – is surprisingly rare!”
“And dangerous. Destroy them. Now,” Pierce said with finality.
And then the room went dark.
TBC
Captain Artemis Pierce
Commanding Officer
USS Winchester
Lieutenant Jirys Hon’gah
Chief Science Officer
USS Winchester
Lieutenant Turil
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Winchester
Captain Edgar Wilson
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Winchester
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