The Black Box

Posted on Sun Sep 29th, 2024 @ 9:18pm by Captain Aisling Banerjee & Lieutenant JG Shijo Yara

2,178 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Crew Shakedown
Location: Secret Starfleet Warehouse
Timeline: 79460.52

Yara suggested the two of them should be enough, with Type-II (holdout/hidden) hand phasers 'just in case'.

Team Shijo/Lirien beamed down to San Francisco and were met by a security detail who flew them out in a shuttle with darkened windows to a "black site" in that it did not exist on any official Starfleet records. Inside they were given a thorough screening by taciturn individuals who did not seem eager to engage in any conversation. The sight was all stark matte black floors, walls and ceilings and while everyone wore uniforms no one wore rank pips. For all the Kepler officers knew they were surrounded by Admirals. That being said everyone acted with complete professionalism and courtesy.

After a short wait a stern looking woman with dark gray hair and an impeccably creased uniform approached, PADD in hand.

"We have the requested crate," she said, "Been here seventeen years. We will have to escort you down so you can take official custody of it when we released it from the vault," she came dangerously close to cracking a smile, "It's...pretty far down..."

Yara looks at Lirien, and does a surreptitious eye roll. "Lead the way...?"

As a matter of fact, it was pretty far down, easily three kilometers. The woman explained, "A lot of old projects wind up here. Failed experiments people don't want to throw out. I've worked here for years and I'm barely privy to a fraction of it. It takes weeks to get clearance and you two received it in hours. The Admiralty must thing whatever it is you've come for must be important."

The turbolift doors swooshed open, revealing a huge chamber with multiple doors ringing the circular walls. The woman marched the two Kepler officers across the large expanse, both could feel they were being watched.

"I often wonder what's in some of these vaults," the woman replied, "What skeletons-in some case literal-is Starfleet hiding?" she paused outside one door that looked no different from any other. She held out the padd to them.

"I'll need a bio signature," she explained.

"Of course, I am the designated collector" smiles Yara. Looks at the padd to see what he is signing for.

"So where is that which we are collecting." Yara waits to see it before signing.

"Behind this door," the woman replied, nodding to said door behind her, "Which I can't open until you provide the signature," she paused, eyes narrowing, "You...are willing to provide a bio signature, aren't you?"

Her eyes slid between the pair, her suspicion evident...

Yara shakes his head and signs (etc)... "there.. now if we could have the crate please?"

The woman glared at him and hesitated, then withdrew the padd.

"Just doing my job," the woman muttered. She keyed in a code and the door swooshed open.

That was when Lirien thought she had heard something behind them. It was very slight and had she just been a civilian she would not have paid it any mind. But in this large room there were just three of them and supposedly no one else was supposed to be there.

And yet, from just a few yards away, she thought she heard someone inhale.

Yara saw the crate, it was the only item in the three meter by three meter by three meter room. It was matte black and a little over a meter long, and almost a meter high and tall. It rested on a grav pallet.

"There you go," the woman said, "Your black box," she paused and added, "You are permitted to open it, to make certain you are not transporting anything lethal. If this had been some sort of bio weapon, well, let's just say you would be wearing more than your uniform."

Lirien tensed...

Yara senses Lirien tense, glances over to see why.

Lirien didn't look over her shoulder, instead she raised a hand that was hidden by her body and pointed her thumb between her and Yara, then held up a single finger.

Their guide glanced at them both and said, "Well? Do you want to open the crate or not," she paused, "I mean, you don't have to. I just suggest once you transport it you seal it up. It has a built scrambler field so no one can get a transporter lock on it."

"So" asked Yara "it's just you and us down here? " turns to face the direction indicated by Lirien, trying to feel, hear or see if anyone there, without being obvious about looking, "and...why does it need a scrambler here in your vault?" and continues round to face the crate.... then walks towards the crate.

Lirien gives a grimace as you look, but you see nothing. The guard/guide says, "Yup, just me. The place is monitored of course from up above. And the crate doesn't need a scrambler here in the vault; it needs a scrambler when it gets to the surface so no one tries to beam it away from you."

The crate has standard catches along the sides, although there is what appears to be a deactivated locking mechanism that uses a biometric key. The woman says, "We'll activate that after you make sure the contents aren't anything you aren't comfortable transporting."

"Our, umm, instructions did not cover trans-shipping this crate, and how do you propose we get it back to our ship. I assume this site is so secret we cannot see where it is, nor transport from it, nor bring in our own shuttle." As Yara talks he walks around the crate. "So you will, one must conclude, use one of your own shuttles to take us back to San Franscisco?"

Once he finds a location where he cannot be seen from outside the small room he tries to signal the guard to approach, making hand gestures to try and convey 'security compromised, we are not alone'.

Inside the room Yara spotted something of great interest on the inner wall of the vault: three mounted phaser rifles, a pair of tactical tricorders, a medical kit, and what appeared to his quick examination a possible communications device. Judging by the cables leading up it was entirely possible it was an old school 'hard line' leading to some twin up on the surface. And one of the tactical tridocrders was active.

The woman nodded, "Of course. We-"

The phaser blast came from nowhere. Literally. It appeared to come from thin air and the guide let out a gasp as it struck her full in the back!. The blast might have come from perhaps fifteen yards away. There was a muffled curse and the sounds of feet.

Two pairs of feet rapidly dashing towards the vault door, whose footfalls were drowned out by the alarm klaxons...!

"Lirien, in here... quick.. and close those doors!" Yara wonders why there's a tactical rack inside the vault, and why one is active... grabs a phaser and tosses it to Lirien, then grabs the active tactical tricoder and scans for the 'invisible' foes. Depending on what happens next he will either guide Lirien on where to fire, attempt to seal the 'enemy' outside the vault, or enter close combat with invisible foes!

Lirien dashed in and grabbed their guide, dragging her out of the way. "How am I supposed to close the d-"

The doors swooshed shut as Lirien caught the phaser rifle out of thing air, "How..." she muttered as she looked at the sealed entrance, then examined the weapon

"Oh hells," she muttered, "They're bio-coded! I-"

Her phaser rifle chirped, her expression brightened, "...huh. Maybe our bio signatures are on record and-"

The tricorder recorded nothing out there except for sound...no, there was something, the slightest shimmer. They were wearing holo suits, the sorts anthropologists wore to study primitive cultures (i.e. Star Trek, Insurrection). There was another sound, something touching against the door. Now two somethings. Now four...

"Quick, behind the crate, in case that's breaching charges they placed!" Ducks behind crate... "tight behind here.. Oh and use max stun in case this is a test of some sort..." Yara laughs nervously.

Lirien nodded and with her free arm grabbed the guide and dragged her behind the crate.

"hmm the door closed when I said 'close the door' so... 'explosive dampner field!' oh and 'SECURITY ALERT!' - PLEASE!" Yara looks at the guide "so what is your procedure for such cases?"

The guide was unconscious. Or dead. It was hard to say which. Then things happened almost at once. The first is Yara saw the flicker of a force field pop up across the door. The second is the communications device on the wall began to warble. The charges mounted on the door went off and blue the door apart, the sound was almost deafening in the close confines and he saw Lirien more than heard her scream as she dropped the phaser rifle and her hands flew to her sensitive ears.

Then he saw the doorway. Something...bounced off of it with the field flaring with the contact, he had a brief sense of a humanoid form and then it had backed away.

In Yara's hand the tricorder switched settings, almost as if it had a mind of it's own. It set for detecting, of all things, tachyons. It was not a normal setting for a tactical tricorder but since tachyons were the byproduct of certain weapons it was a feature. Tachyons were also a byproduct of cloaking devices if one was not careful in regards to the calibration and output.

And Yara saw what seemed to be a field of tachyons coming through the wall on the opposite side of the door from him, in a humanoid shape...

Yara stands, half crouched facing the door, but spins and grabs the tachyon-form trying to throw it into the forcefield (or form beyond).

The form had been phased and Yara felt the form like smoke in his hand's, wisps that brushed against his calloused flesh. The person...thing reacted quickly and while he could not see it Yara had the uncanny sense whatever he was dealing with was panicked.

That was when the form began to grow visible, a being in black from head to toe, black visor covering it's face, black helmet on it's head, segmented matte black body armor. Yara could still see through it as it scrambled back towards the wall in an attempt to get away from him. It reached the wall.

And then it grew solid.

The last movement from it's body was it's fingers, trembling, hands reaching out. And then the body was still, embedded in whatever ultra-durable material the wall was made of.

Yara saw movement out of the corner of his eye; it was the other assailant, now visible, clad in the same suit of armor. It stood on the other side of the force field, phaser in it's hand, what looked like an anti-grav clamp slung across it's back*. It regarded Yara silently for a long, long moment. Then it took a step back and faded away...

Lirien saw the form as well, then she regarded the guide and said, "Yara, she's still alive. We-" she stared a moment at the corpse in the wall.

"What in the nine hells..." she murmured, then she shook her head, "Toss me that medical kit and call for help! And keep an eye out for that other one..."

Yara grabs a med kit from the tactical station and kneels down next to the two female officers, placing the tricorder to one side, and the med kit directly before them, opening to allow speedy, easy, access.

"So how do I ... " grabs tricorder and moves to tactical station, looking to see if can set an alert, and call for help, before turning back to tricorder to check for readings.

As Lirien treated the guide's severe wounds the tricorder showed no signs of the second intruder, or any intruder, for that matter. The communications rig was easy enough to operate: it only had one channel.

"-ein!" a concerned voice barked, "We registered weapons fire, explosions, the emergency force field going up. You better be having a party down there because the boss is on his way and he's got a squad with him. You better be dead or have a good reason; would help if it was both..."

"Tell THE BOSS that they have INTRUDERS in stealth suits that can phase through doors, maybe walls! One is down, permanently. Look for Tachyons! We have injured, one of yours! We await you!"

To the credit of the person on the other end of the line, there was no incredulous response, so demand for verification, no insistence that Yara identify themselves. A single heartbeat, then they responded, "Wait one, lieutenant," bare seconds passed, then, "The Director has been informed of the situation, lieutenant. hold tight, help is on the way."

Lirien glanced up from where their guide lay. She shook her head, her expression grim...

 

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