A puzzle box.

Posted on Mon Jun 7th, 2021 @ 4:10am by Lieutenant Xalanth & Lieutenant Commander Croesus

1,307 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 110 - An Endeavor in Discovery
Location: Starbase 400

Well, Xalanth thought to himself as he calmly felt around the area that his info indicated. Barley back on the station a day and he was already busy.

The Romulan he'd rescued from a suicide vest Pallen had finally come round and in her harrowing account had told him that some of the republican POW's had been taken into another room for an unknown reason.

As no room had been found the lizard had gone down to take a look himself and asked the operations chief to assist him.

Croesus was more than happy to help his new friend as he had helped recover his tool box and apprehend two Romulan spies to boot.

" Lead the way Lieutenant." Croesus smiled.

Walking slowly along the corridor the lizard paused as he looked at the blueprints from when the station was under pact control. " Well according to Pallen this room she saw is around here. Can't even begin to imagine what the Romulans would be doing with the republic prisoners. "

" Me either but the fact that it is a Romulan issue always put me on alert. Damn! There is a sensor block down here. Somebody doesn't want us using the tricorder." Croesus replied as he slid out a dak'tagh from his sheath that was inside the box.

The lizard held up his hand as he looked at the area the sensor block was. " Check the area surrounding it first. They may have bobby trapped it."

Croesus tricorder was modified with sensitive gear and had the ability to over power the rigged perimeters.

" They're good but we are better. Two emitters on each wall. I'll fire left and you right." Croesus told Xalanth.

" On Three." The lizard said as he drew and aimed his own phaser.

Silently counting down Croesus 3 finger mounted a blast to his target and Xalanth to his.

" We're in." Croesus scanned again Being former chief science officer on the Tikal reminded him of his section days.

Three figures were around the other side and began blasting back.

" Did I tell you I hate Romulans?" Croesus told Xalanth.

" By the ancestors how long have these three been here. " the lizard yelled back as he fired back at one of the figures.

Croesus about answered but one of them suddenly appeared to program something out if thin air causing an energy ball to form on the wall, then a ring and then...a portal.

" Damn they have an iconian portal device. Fire at his wrist." Croesus yelled.

Xalanth aimed at the foe shooting him sending him sprawling to the ground as his shields broke. The other two broke from cover and ran for the portal which crackled as one made it through. The other was almost there as Xalanths shot smashed into it's wrist pannel. The portal crackled just as the attacker's arm made it through before collapsing. The assailant collapsed to the ground and start whimpering as it looked at it's half-severed arm.

" Well, that's got to hurt." Xalanth said as he ran up behind the individual and smashed them to the ground as he held the assailant down. " Check who these guys are." He said gesturing to the collapsed one.

Croesus scanned and then scanned again.

" He is not Romulan. The collective data base does not recognize this species. We have ourselves a real mystery here Lieutenant." Croesus discovered.

" Well, this room looks Romulan." replied the lizard as he looked around the chamber. " I'll get Fulvia down here she probably knows more than I do about Romulan secrets."

" I agree but this guy here is not Romulan or human according to my tricorder. That energy surge was definitely an Iconian window. "

" Well, the iconians are extinct if i remember my galactic history correctly so they must be someone with access to their tech. Any idea who may have that level of tech?" the lizard replied.

" My last knowledge was the Romulans found a stargate. We need to get this guy to sickbay." Croesus replied.

" Indeed." The lizard responded just as the medical team he'd called for arrived. " Get these two to sickbay maximum security." he said to the waiting team.

" Let's see what toys they've been a hiding." Croesus added as he picked up some items on a working console. " Well this is a very adaptive power supply. It's some kind of regenerative cell device. They didn't want to use the stations power or else we would have been able to trace a power drain. This stuff is Romulan however." pointing to some tool's.

" Make sure it's not linked to a dead mans switch. If they've not been whipped we may be able to get the info on the drives. " The lizard added. This really wasn't his area which is why he'd asked for Croesus aid.

In a former life as ex 31 Croesus had used skills he wasn't happy about. This reminded him of one such issue as Xalanth eluded.

" It is DNA linked...but fortunately we have some blood that belongs to the DNA signature reader." Croesus said as he dipped his hand into the blood. The trick worked as the box opened after reading the blood match.

" Make sure you clean your hand they may have altered it to become acidic after a minute or so." The lizard said finding a book with a small pile of ash in the bottom. " Clever burn the reports after you've read them. " He said as he walked over.

" What do you make of this stuff? I don't recognize any of this but that remote there looks in tact. We could access that portal again if we needed to. Question is where it leads? I have hand sanitizer in my kit. I better do just that." Croesus replied.

" Most likley romulan space. Can you hack the computer and see where it's going?" Xalanth said looking at the portal and the room. " How did they hide this thing it must be sucking up power like ferengi make latinum."

" That one is easy...their suits have a voltaic generator. They just generate their own power needs. Xalanth your right, it is link traced to a set of coordinates..." Croesus said as suddenly the portal opened and the image of a Romulan hallway appeared. Closing it up Croesus looked to Xalanth.

" Well now we know where."

" So somewhere deep in romulan space. I'll get a security team down here." Xalanth said already typing in the command.


" I have recorded all this. The base was a staging area for infiltration." Croesus concluded.

" They were spying on their own side?" Xalanth said out loud. The distrust of the Romulans was never a source of confusion to him.

" I would speculate that this group is plotting against the other groups. Commander Terrh has his own agenda." Croesus decided.

" The trust the Romulans have for each other is staggering," Xalanth replied sarcastically .

" Terrh is my fiancee's father. He has returned to steal Kah'lyn back for his own purposes.." Croesus told Xalanth.

" I know she's told me something felt wrong so i've had her under survilance by her own request. " The lizard explained. " You don't think these are his people?"

" Yes I do. Who else would?" Croesus replied . ' we need to secure this area and get back and make a report."

An idea lay on the lizard's mind. " Let's keep it off the record for now. Terrh , Kah'lyns father sounds like a dangerous animal. If he thinks he has an escape route we could bait him into a trap. Could you install a kill switch on this that would remain undetectable. "he asked Croesus.

" Yes. I love your mind Xalanth." Croesus replied.

" Well let's get started. This trap won't bait itself." The lizard said as they got to work.

Croesus installed the kill switch and then add some other tricks to help them if needed..

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