“Computer begin recording.” A second later there was a chime from the console, indicating Ori could start to speak.

“Personal Log, Lieutenant Junior Grade Orila Karai. Expedition Charlie Gamma Four Nine day 3, July 20th 2399. The camp and base of operations have been established. Although the operations area was able to be located on the alpha deployment site, due to concerns about the stability of the site, the camp was deployed at the bravo deployment site. Yesterday we were able to excavate the entrance to the ruins and today the aim is to finally enter the interior. The geophysical survey of the area indicates that there is a vast subterranean complex, which I believe was at one time a colony for the advanced civilisation that once called M-113 their home. It is my hope that due to the location being underground, it has been spared the atmospheric ravaging that we have seen at other sites.”

Ori let out a deep sigh as she pulled her tunic over her head. Her eyes felt heavy, despite the fact she had just woken up. It had been another late night excavating one of the more recently discovered set of ruins on planet M-113. With another sigh, she ran her fingers through her chestnut brown hair, grabbing the back and twisting it around into a bun. She checked herself over once more, before walking towards the door.

“Another day, here we come.”

The door to the prefab slid aside as she approached and she felt the warm air on her face. The hotter, more arid weather had taken some adjusting to, but after 6 months on the surface, she was becoming acclimatised to the weather.

Ori made her way past the collection of prefabricated buildings that acted as their temporary home. As much as the sand grated on her, Ori was at least thankful that she didn’t have to wear an EV suit to work. During her time at the academy, she had found the bulky suits hampered her ability to work effectively.

The archaeological dig site was situated around 500 metres from the camp, and as Ori approached the area, she noted several of her colleagues already at work. She offered a brief greeting as she walked past, before passing the operations prefab. Much like the prefabs that made up the camp, it was a dull off-white building – or at least it would have been if the dust storms hadn’t stained them, giving them a rust coloured hue – supported by several metallic struts, with a lack of windows and a set of stairs leading up to a single door.

A few metres beyond the prefab was the ramp leading down to the excavation site. Despite clearing the entrance yesterday, the dust storms during the night had begun to surround the entrance with sand again. Ori retrieved her flashlight from her belt and flicked it on as she stepped through the doorway and into the tunnel. The beam from the flashlight illuminated her path along the non-descript tunnel. She had been disappointed initially that the entrance had not lead to some grand chamber, but it was only the first day, and she remained hopeful that the site would yield valuable insights into the planet’s former inhabitants.

After several metres, Ori could hear voices up ahead, and upon reaching the end of the tunnel was met with two of her colleagues, Dr Elizabeth Hemming, the lead archaeologist for the site, and Captain Johsua Riano, the senior Starfleet Science representative for the region and her superior officer. Ori was surprised to see that the tunnel opened up into a large circular chamber and then just dropped away, with a large hole around 150 metres across occupying the centre. She couldn’t quite explain it, but something about the room sent a tingle up her spine.

“It’s rather curious, initial scans didn’t indicate such a vast hole.” The bearded man turned to face Ori as she approached “Ah, Lieutenant Karai, I’m pleased you were able to join us. Thank you for your efforts last night by the way”.

“Quite” the greying haired woman added. “We likely would still be trying to find a way in now.”

Ori pressed her lips together into a faint smile. “Thank you.”

“What are your initial thoughts Lieutenant?” Riano said.

“The structure is certainly artificial, the tunnel at least hasn’t been carved into the rock. Either it was always subterranean, or the surface has risen around it.” She glanced around, noting some peculiarities of the chamber. “Although it is difficult with the light, this chamber is more colourfully decorated than the tunnel.”

“Very good. Very good. Dr Elizabeth Hemming and I have to provide an update to the Archaeological Center, would you care to continue your explorations?” A thin smile appeared on the man’s lips. During her brief time on M-113, she had grown fond of the man, seeing him as a kind of mentor.

“Certainly, it would be a pleasure, sir.” With that they bid Ori farewell, leaving her with nothing but the sounds of their departing footsteps. She moved towards the edge of the hole and held her flashlight over, shining the light down. Nothing, not even a glimpse of the bottom.

“I guess there must be some way down there or at least something at the bottom” she muttered to herself.

Ori stepped away and cast her eyes around, and came to a realisation. Evidence of the original inhabitants of the planet had suggested that they stood around 1.5 metres tall; however, the ceiling in the tunnel and the chamber was at least 6 metres.

“That is a lot of headroom, I wonder what for?” Ori mused as she continued examining her surroundings. It felt to Ori as if she was standing in a room made for giants. Finding nothing further of interest in the room, Ori made her way along another corridor at the opposite side of the room.

After several metres, there was a series of doorways, and upon further examination, it looked to be some kind of living quarters, with 8 rooms located off a shared facility, likely a kitchen and gathering area. Most of the rooms were empty, apart from the occasional piece of dust-covered furniture – nothing that hadn’t been seen at similar sites before.

Ori had been exploring the complex for a few hours, and judging by the cooler temperature, was moving deeper underground. Along the way she had tagged a few areas of interest for further study, including one space that had a variety of machinery that she had not seen before and could only guess as to their use. What had been curious about that particular room, was that despite the dust the machinery and equipment had shown no sign of deterioration. It was even possible that it still functioned, which would be a milestone and may even go some way to further understanding the original inhabitants.

Another curiosity had been, that despite the area she had covered so far, she had not come across a single body or any type of remains – it was as if the entire complex had been abandoned before the advanced civilisation had died out.

Her tricorder began picking up heat signatures, several large heat signatures in fact. She continued deeper into the complex, following the readings. Up ahead she could see a blue glow on the walls.

“Something is still active down here”. With her heart beating in her chest, Ori carried along the corridor, her footsteps echoing around her. She stepped through the doorway and her heart stopped. In front of her were several display units, still feeding out data in a language she recognised as belonging to the advanced civilisation, although she had no idea what it said.

Ori was about to provide a status report when something caught her eye. In the corner of the room, partially obscured by some boxes was a device. She moved towards it and shifted the boxes out of the way. On closer inspection, it wasn’t a device, but some kind of containment housing, covered with a series of markings, and she could feel the heat radiating off it. Inside there was a pulsating blue ball of energy, the likes of which Ori had never seen before. She passed her tricorder over it, but the only material it was able to determine was boronite.

Ori reached up and tapped her commbadge, her voice a mixture of excitement and trepidation. “Lieutenant Karai to Ops. I’ve found something in the lower levels, sending you the tricorder readings now. Recommend you get a team down here.”

“Roger Lieutenant, we’ll arrange…”

The voice cut out abruptly and was replaced by the deep voice of Captain Riano. “Lieutenant, I am going to have to ask you to vacate the complex immediately and report straight to me”

Ori’s eyes narrowed as her brow creased with confusion “But Captain this could be one of the most important..”

Once again the voice of the Captain cut in “Lieutenant, that is an order. Report to me immediately. Riano out.”

The room fell silent and Ori was left feeling confused. In the six months that she had none the Captain he had not once spoken in such a manner, to anybody. Something had him rattled, Ori thought to herself. Ori cast another glance at the glowing box. Her mind drifted to the ancient tale of Pandora’s Box.

“Just what is this thing?” her voice echoing in the empty room.

Ori remained stationary for a few moments, staring at the box. Her mind was racing with questions, primarily what was it about the box that had Captain Riano spooked? With a heavy sigh, she turned about and marched out of the room, and although she couldn’t quite be certain, it seemed the lighting in the room dimmed as she departed.

The walk through the complex didn’t take Ori as long on the way back. She did make a couple of brief stops examining points of interest she had found during the descent. But with the way the Captain had spoken, she didn’t want to keep him waiting too long.

The air was beginning to feel warmer, indicating that Ori was reaching the surface. After a couple of minutes, she had reached the entrance, the bright light dazzling her and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Waiting at the entrance was Captain Riano, flanked by two security officers.

“Was anyone else in there?” the Captain asked.

“No Sir, just me.” It seemed an odd question, given that it hadn’t been too long ago the Captain had been with her in the chamber within the complex. From the expression on the man’s face, something about what Ori had found had him rattled.

“Thank you, Lieutenant” He turned to the guards. “Secure the entrance. Nobody in or out without my authorisation. The nearest guard nodded and the pair moved to take up a position on either side of the entrance. As they did so, Ori noticed something else – her colleagues were boxing up the artefacts they had found the previous day.

Ori’s eyes narrowed, a puzzled expression on her face  as she addressed Riano “Captain, what exactly is going on here?” 

“That is none of your concern Lieutenant. A shuttle is en route to take you and the others back to the Archaeological Center. This site is being marked as off-limits until further notice. Oh and Lieutenant, please leave your tricorder in the Operations Centre”

Ori was about to respond when Riano shook his head, discouraging further discussion on the topic. Ori simply nodded before marching towards the Operations Centre. Maybe they would be able to provide some insight into what she had found in the complex.

The doors to the prefab slid aside with the familiar swish as Ori approached. Inside she was met with members of the ops team busy packing up the equipment.

“What’s going on?” Ori asked nobody in particular.

A nearby Bolian paused what he was doing and turned to Ori. “Not sure, sir. Captain Riano was in here when your message came through. As soon as he saw the readings from your tricorder he disappeared into his office and returned a couple of minutes later. That was when he ordered us to cease operations immediately.”

Ori folded her arms across her chest, raising her right hand to her chin as she listened to the Bolian. Nothing was making sense to her.

“Thank you.” She lowered her voice before continuing. “Do you have any idea why the site is being shut down?”

The Bolian man shook his head as he spoke. “Unfortunately not.”

With that Ori thanked the man, unclipped the tricorder from her belt and placed it on the side. Part of her was considering downloading her readings for further study back at the Archaeological Center but opted against it. She would have to find another way to figure out what was in the complex.

With her head hanging low, Ori departed the Operations Centre and made her way back to the prefab that had been her home for the past few days. The camp was busier than before, with those not involved in clearing the Operations Centre being tasked with closing down the residential area. Seeing everything being cleared away made Ori even more curious as to what she had discovered. It was one thing to temporarily close down the site or restrict access, but to have everything packed up was something else. With Captain Riano being the one to give the order, Ori wasn’t sure who she could turn to for answers.

Ori had finished packing up most of her things – thankfully she had led a relatively spartan lifestyle since leaving the academy so there wasn’t much to bring in the first place – when she heard a shuttle shriek overhead.

“Just in time, it seems.”

As she stepped out of the prefab, she was surprised to see that the shuttle wasn’t landing at the designated landing zone as expected, but instead had carried on in the direction of the dig site. She watched in amazement, her mouth agape, as the shuttle descended near the site – a procedure that was only to be authorised under emergency circumstances due to the damage that could be caused to the site from the landing.

A cloud of dust was kicked up around the shuttle, obscuring it from Ori’s view. Her curiosity had the better of her, she had to find out what was so important about the shuttle that it could disregard procedure.

She hurried over towards the landing site, the dust cloud dissipating as she arrived. Using one of the ground-penetrating radars as cover, Ori watched as the hatch to the shuttle slid open and two people in EVA suits emerged, carrying a large black container between them.

Ori felt a pain in her hand and realised her fingers were digging into her palm as she watched the two suited figures move towards Captain Riano and carefully placed the container down in front of her superior. The trio exchanged a few words before the two newcomers took hold of the container once again and the Captain led them towards the entrance to the dig site.

With the two security officers guarding the only entrance Ori knew that she would have to figure out another way to find out just what was happening and what had caused Captain Riano to act so out of character. Then there was the question of what had been taken into the compound.

An idea began to form. It was unorthodox, and not something that Ori would typically do. Plus, if she got caught it would more than likely mean disciplinary action. Double-checking the route was clear, Ori made her way back to the prefab that had acted as her home for the past few days.

Once inside she began rifling through her belongings.

“Come on, I know I saw you here earlier.”

After a couple of seconds, Ori let out a faint yes and held up tricorder, turning it around in her hand as she examined it.

“This should do it”

She turned about, grabbing an empty packing box, carefully placed the tricorder inside and strode out of the prefab, a woman on a mission.

Ori made the trip back to the operations area in record time. She had worried about somebody questioning her, but it seemed her colleagues were too busy with their own worries.

The door to the Operations Centre slid aside with the familiar swish as Ori approached. There was still a frantic level of activity and nobody paid her attention as she made her way over to where she had left the tricorder from the complex. Thankfully it was still there.

Ori cast a glance around her, double-checking that nobody was paying attention to her. She gently placed the packing box onto the counter, trying to avoid drawing any attention. Her heart was racing and she rubbed some of the excess sweat off her hands onto her jacket before placing the tricorder she had brought with her next to the existing one.

She took another look around her and confident nobody was looking, tapped a few commands into each of the tricorders. She watched the displays, her stomach twisting and turning around in knots as she waited for the data transfer to complete.

After what felt like a lifetime the displays confirmed the transfer was complete and Ori let out a faint sigh of relief. Quickly she placed the second tricorder back inside the box and headed over to the area that had acted as her desk for the past few days.

She offered a few brief greetings to her colleagues as she packed up her remaining belongings, trying to appear calmer than she felt. As soon as she finished packing up she slipped away from the area, heading back to her quarters. A few minutes later and she was safely locked inside her quarters. She threw herself into bed, staring at the ceiling above her. What was going on?

Her mind was racing as she lay there. What did Captain Riano want with such a large black container and what was inside it? What had she discovered inside the complex that had warranted such a reaction? All these questions and more raced around in Ori’s head.

Ori sighed, closing her eyes, wishing this was all a dream or nightmare and she’d wake up from her sleep soon. Ori sat up, running her hands through her hair, pulling at it slightly. She needed answers. She needed to know what she had found in the complex. She needed to know why Captain Riano was acting so strangely.

She finished packing up the rest of her personal effects, concealing the tricorder amongst her off duty clothes. It would be too risky to review the data here, she would have to wait until she was back at the Research Centre.

The shuttle trip was thankfully quiet, with the other passengers occupying themselves. As the Research Centre came into view it was a bittersweet moment for Ori. She had been one of the first people to enter the most comprehensive and intact set of ruins on M-113 and she wasn’t sure if such an opportunity would present itself again. On the other hand, now that she was home she was hoping to find answers to what she had found.

Ori wasted no time in departing the shuttle and she headed straight for her quarters. She had contemplated going straight to one of the labs but figured it would look odd carrying around her belongings, so decided to drop them off first. Once she had stowed everything away Ori made her way to the nearest lab with the tricorder in hand.

She entered the passcode for the lab and entered the room, closing the lab door behind her and locking it. The lab was silent, and she found the silence to be oddly comforting. She made her way to the computer terminal in the corner and booted it up. She then proceeded to input her passcode to access the main Federation database.

Once the access had been confirmed, Ori placed the tricorder beside the terminal, inputted the necessary commands and a moment later the data link was complete. She took a breath and glanced behind her, fearing that the data would trigger some kind of alarm. Thankfully that didn’t appear to be the case.

She tapped at the display, bringing up the readings from the container and skimmed over them. The tricorder had only identified boronite in the composition. The only other point she noticed was that whatever was inside the container was resonating at a frequency of 1.68 terahertz, although she wasn’t sure what that meant.

“Computer, list all uses of boronite.”

It took the computer a couple of seconds to process the request. “Boronite is a rare mineral with no known practical applications.”

Ori’s eyes narrowed at the answer. “No known practical applications?” she muttered to herself. That wasn’t true. She was staring at the readings that confirmed whatever was inside the container utilised boronite.

With a few taps on the tricorders display, Ori brought up one of the symbols she had seen on the container, a green flame-like symbol surrounded by a circle formed by what looked like waterdrops.

“Computer, cross reference this symbol with any similar known symbols in the database.”

The computer chirped, acknowledging the command. Ori sat there, staring at the display whilst the computer searched. A moment later the terminal emitted another chirp, confirming the search was complete.

Ori leaned forward and began reading over the results, which didn’t take long as there were only a couple of entries.

“Tkon Empire?”

According to the available data, the symbol was that of the Tkon Empire, although it appeared that not much was known about them and certainly no associations to M-113. Why would the contents of a container from a long-extinct civilisation have caused such concern to Captain Riano?

A name stuck out to Ori. Dr. Tejdeep Jawanda, whose name was listed amongst many of the references. Evidently, he would be the person to speak to about the Tkon and just what the box might contain.

Ori pulled up the Doctor’s entry on the Federation Archaeology Council and skimmed over it. According to the most recent entries Dr Jawanda was currently on an expedition in a nearby system. With a few taps on the console, Ori requested personal leave, grabbed a few belongings and set out towards the shuttle bay.

**********

Her personal leave had been granted during the shuttle trip. With the sudden closure of the dig site, nobody had questioned Ori’s need for leave. In fact, she had bumped into one of the techs from the dig site who had the same idea.

As the shuttle came into land, Ori was already up and waiting at the hatch. The moment the shuttle touched down and the hatch opened, Ori was down the ramp and halfway across the pad before the other occupants appeared out of the shuttle.

Ori continued through the facility, following the map on her PADD to Dr Tejdeep Jawanda’s office. It had only been a short walk and in less than ten minutes after stepping off the shuttle Ori found herself outside the doctor’s office, his name listed in white on a crimson plaque beside the door. She took a deep breath and reached for the chime.

“Enter” called a deep voice from the other side.

The doors slid open and Ori entered the office. It would have been a spacious office, but pretty much every available space was occupied, either by PADDs, books or artefacts and mementoes. A set of eyes peered over a stack of PADDs at her.

“May I help you?” said the Trill.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Doctor. I’m Lieutenant Junior Grade Orila Karai, an archaeologist based at the research centre on M-113. I understand that you’re somewhat of an authority on the Tkon?”

The Trill pushed aside the PADDs and leaned back in his seat and stared at Ori for a few moments. Finally, he sat forward, resting his elbows on the mahogany desk and clasping his fingers together.

“I suppose you could say that” he chuckled. “I’ve spent a great many years following their trails. Why do you ask?”

Ori raised the PADD, entered a few commands and placed the PADD facing the Doctor on his desk. On the screen was the green symbol Ori had seen in the ancient complex.

“This symbol was in a site I was exploring on M-113.” Ori reached forward and slid her finger across the PADD, the image on the display changing to a collection of symbols. “This writing was inside a chamber that I found, but I have no idea what any of it means.”

There was a subtle change in Tejdeep’s expression, as he made a sucking sound. He looked from the PADD to Ori.

“That is most certainly a Tkon site. No doubt about it.” He took hold of the PADD and began reading over the details. A few minutes after he placed the PADD back on the table.

“Lieutenant, if your PADD is to be believed, you may have found one of the most complete Tkon structures to date. Nothing I have seen is as extensive as what you have here.”

Tejdeep turned the PADD back around to Ori. On the screen was the glowing container whose discovery had prompted the site to be shut down. Ori felt a lump form in her throat at the image.

“Do you know what this is?” Tejdeep asked.

“Unfortunately not doctor. As soon as I sent the readings back to the Ops Centre, I was ordered out of the complex and the site was shut down.” Ori said, a tinge of sadness in her voice as she recalled Captain Riano’s voice.

“Curious.” Tejdeep rose from his seat and made his way to the side of the room to a pile of books. His fingers were a blur as he flicked through them. Several seconds later and he placed the book on the table, a drawing of the same container on the left page, the right page filled with the same symbols from the room.