They’d waited until it was dark in the area of the planet they needed to go; hopefully the majority of the locals would be safely tucked up in bed and not wondering around at such a late hour.  Vasileio had the equivalent of a 30 hour day, and now was half way through its dark period which at this time of year would last another 6 hours.  The planets two small moon did not offer much in the way of light, not that it would matter as they were beaming directly into a building any way. 

The building in question could have been best described as a fortified châteaux rather than a castle.  It dwarfed any other building around it and was separated from the rest of the town by a high stone walls and an imposing wooden gate flanked by two square towers.  Between the walls and the châteaux beautiful flowered gardens and tree lined footpaths.  There was signs of resent construction; in the garden sat a massive wooden box and sections of scaffolding around it.

The châteaux was a four story building, though scans had indicated another two floors were below ground level, most likely a wine cellar and the vaults were all the items Talr had been stealing had been stored.  Locating and transporting a Ferengi off the planet should have been easy, but for whatever reason the DaiMon appeared to be operating an Ionic Disruption Field.  The crew of the ‘Jax’ knew he was in the building but couldn’t pin down the exact location.  It was therefore decided to beam down to the co-ordinates taken from the Ferengi shuttle; which was just beyond the influence of the field and work from there.

Lieutenant Stuart stood on the transporter pad, along with Ensigns Tholakath and Cho. All three were dressed in civilian clothing in keeping with the fashions worn by the Vasileian.  Since all of them were much taller than anyone on the planet and looked nothing like a Stoat, avoiding detection would be the key to this mission’s success.  They had decided to keep technology to a bare minimum.  Swallowing small tracking devices rather than wearing Comm-Badges.  The First Officer did however have a distress beacon disguised as a hair slide; a quick tap would be all that as needed to have the three officers whisked away to safety.  There would be no Tri-corder either; Cho would need all her linguistic skill to guide them.  She’d studied and picked up a few general words both spoken and written.  As for weapons, small wooden clubs would have to suffice, complete with manually operated swing activated stun setting; as Stuart so eloquently put it.

Tholakath also had with him two small torches made from dried branches tied together with rope, along with something to help light them, in one of his pockets. They were replicated, but looked authentic enough.

Devron took one long look at the mottle looking threesome before him. “Even I wouldn’t want to bump into you lot in the dark.” He commented. “Try to be as careful and discrete as you can.”

“Stealth is my middle name.” Replied his First Officer with a wink.

“I thought it was Jolel?” Piped up the Cardassian from her right.  Though with the hooded cloak pulled low over his face; it was hard to tell if that had been a genuine statement or an attempt at humour.  Cho did snigger, before swiftly hiding it with a sniff like she had the beginning of a cold developing.

“Right if you’re ready?” Dervron asked and received an affirmative from each of them.  Then waving a finger in Crewman Lightwoods general direction, he gave the command. “Energise.”

            **********

The room was pitch black, until the light from the transported beam fleetingly illuminated the stone walls, wooden shelving, crates and a table to one side.  Soon however the three Starfleet officers found themselves once more in total darkness.  Tholakath felt inside his pocket for the lighter and set about igniting the two torches, one of which he passed to the Lieutenant.

Slowly the light from their torches began to reveal some of the details within the room.  For one think the young Cardassian’s head wasn’t far short of the celling, also he’d need to duck if he wanted to exit via what appeared to be the only door out of the room.  The room was roughly 8 metres wide and 20 metres long.  Stretching the full length of the room on either side, rows of shelves on which sat wooden crates of various shapes and sizes.  A quick and careful search revealed that these boxes contained valuable items.  Decretive glass and china ware, or at least this planets equivalent.  Gold plated drinking mugs; they could probably spend another hour looking, but that wasn’t why they were here, they had a mission to do and time wasn’t a luxury unlike all the stuff around them.

Lyanna had moved over to the wooden door, a thick well-constructed one with iron hinges and plate around the key hole.  And in that lay their first and most major stumbling block.  The door was locked. “Oh you stupid, stupid, stupid idiot!” She cursed under her breath.  It had been her suggestion to beam down to these co-ordinates and now she’d got the three of them locked in a storage room.   

She heard a creak behind her and turned to spot Tholakath opening a small draw mounted on the underside of the table.  From within, after a short rummage through its contents he produced a long slender key. “Always have a backup plan.” He declared in a triumphant half whisper.  Holding the key for his two companions to see.  So the DaiMon had found a spare key or duplicated an original so he could come and go from this room locking it from the inside if he needed to. Without further delay he proceeded to unlock the door, open it carefully and peek outside.  

The corridor beyond was empty, a lone torch rested in a small iron cradle mounted on the wall just next to a stone staircase leading upwards.  Five other doors along the corridor indicated what were probably other storerooms.  They silently made their way to the stairs, the Cardassian taking the lead.  He’d already had to stoop slightly to get out of the room, now he had to do so again to avoid bashing his head on the stone arch.  Technically it was his own fault for volunteering even though he was nearly twice the height of the average Vasileian and knew it would make moving around tricky at times.  It was part of his duty though to protect those he served alongside; the scare of letting them down once, despite his captain’s reassurances it wasn’t his fault, still ran deep.  It had made him more determined than ever though, he would show what a true Cardassian was capable of, both to the Federation and those back home.

            **********

On board the corvette, the Caitian Science Officer monitored their progress from his console at the back of the bridge.  A small three dimensional representation of the châteaux hovered before him.  It lacked any real detail, but was sufficient enough for him to locate where the away team were.  “They’re moving up to the next level.” He informed the Captain.

Devron thanked him for the update and slumped back in his chair.  Waiting was so hard, he hated waiting; for one thing it seemed to take too long.  Part of him worried over the away teams’ near total lack of equipment, but instructions had been clear on avoiding even the slightest chance that modern technology might get into the hands of the Vasileian.  Imagine Julius Cesar’s army with rifles or Napoleon’s with tanks and you start to realise the devastating impact that would have on a civilisations development and future progress.  Replicating something like a phaser with the tools they had would be way beyond them, but possessing one could still be deadly.  He trusted his crew though and new they could get this mission completed.  He just couldn’t stand waiting!

            **********

They’d made it past the wine cellars and kitchen area, through the main dining area and the library and up another two flights of starts unnoticed.  Keeping to the narrow back routes normally used by the servants, who thankfully at this late hour all appeared to be asleep.  Despite not being able to determine the location of Talr, due to the use of the Ionic Disruption Field, C’Rren had managed to calculate the centre of the field and therefore reduce the search area considerably.  With Ensign Cho’s help in deciphering a couple of signs which indicated the staff occupied the top level, it left only three rooms to physically search.

Tholakath had handed his torch over to Cho and asked his two companions to move away.  The Cardassian wanted his eyes to adjust back to the darkness and didn’t want the light from the flame giving away his presence as he carefully opened the first of the three doors.  The curtains were open casting a faint glow, but it was enough for the Ensign to know the bed within was unoccupied.   Silently closing the door, he crept towards the second room.   A thin beam of barely visible green light, at roughly ankle height caught his attention.  Most other people would have probably walked straight through it.  This was unquestionably technology beyond the understanding of those on this planet.  He smiled to himself before stepping over the light so as not to trigger whatever warning device it was probably connected to.  The scarcely audible click from beneath the floorboard as he lowered his foot, told Tholakath he’d just sprung a trap!