“I must say, it’s refreshing to see someone who is not a tenured academic – display such a keen interest in Quantum – phase modelling, Commander Hyland.”

Thus spoke the venerable Dr Orbyn Chung, the epigenic – folds around his warm brown eyes crinkling further by the tell – tale folds of old – age and the academic’s playful humor. “These affairs are normally well attended by dusty relics more of my own ilk and about as engaging as a colonoscopy.”

Chung smiled as he raised a snowy eyebrow and indicated to the intellectual worthies, crowding the reception space to the Main Plenary Hall, with a glass in his liver – spotted hand.

Despite her extreme nervousness, attendant to the enormity of the crime that was about to be perpetrated here – at the very gates of this hallowed institution for knowledge and enlightenment; Commander Samantha Hyland (dressed in a very fetching, but conservative, dress) laughed despite herself, unconsciously bringing her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh.

Whilst several decades her senior, Orbyn Sung was one of those men that exuded charm and an easy wit and was very good company. He was also shamelessly flirting with her in that harmless, but mischievous, way that old men sometimes did – eminently comfortable that the entire exercise was highly unlikely to ever graduate from beyond the academic.

“I’m afraid that I’m more of a dabbler, Doctor.” Sam blushed and took a drink from her own glass – champagne.

For what was about to unfold, Samantha figured she could do with the bolstering effect of the alcohol and that (if things did not go as planned), that this could very well be her last drink – so she’d might as well throw caution to the wind and make the most of things.

Orbyn sighed theatrically and turned his attention to a side table loaded with an impressive cornucopia of canapes and wondered which of those morsels he could safely consume without triggering a tsunami of gastrointestinal tribulation. In the end he opted for a small piece of sushi.

“Samantha, I may call you such?” Dr Chung artfully placed the canape on the small plate balanced in his other hand.

“Please do.” Sam smiled at the wizened little man.

“Long experience immersed in the crucible of academia has led me towards one, irrefutable – if not universal truth.” Dr Chung smiled wanly, and this time indicated to his assembled peers with the small plate – causing the piece of sushi to roll the dice with the law of applied gravity.

Sam smiled and took another sip. “I’ll bite.” She prompted and popped a canape of her own into her mouth.

Dr Chung leaned in, mock – conspiratorially and whispered with dry relish.

“Despite their lofty titles, their grand scientific achievements and almost world – crushing egos – every single person in this room is a dabbler, when you really come down to it. They just hate to admit it!”

Now Samantha did laugh out loud (causing several academics to turn and frown disapprovingly in their direction) and she smiled.

“Does that hypothesis include your august – self, Dr Chung?” It was her turn to be playful (good lord! Was she flirting with an octogenarian?!).

Orbyn Chung grinned wolfishly and made a small bow from his waist (causing both contents of glass and plate to push the very boundaries of containment and stability and somehow come back from the edge intact).

“I – my dear – am assuredly the biggest dabbler of them all.”

Given that Dr Orbyn Chung was one of the Federations most Pre – eminent minds in the field of Quantum Physics, a tenured fellow of a fist of prestigious universities and (most importantly) sat on the board of governors for the Daystrom Institute – all gave Sam the distinct impression that the mercurial old scientist was bullshitting her.

But it was his very position within Daystrom that had prompted Samantha to insinuate herself into his social orbit. For her part in this audacious heist to succeed, she had to establish a good alibi and Dr Orbyn Chung was bullet-proof in that respect.

It also helped that he was such charming company.

Orbyn smiled with good humor. At his age it was diminishingly rare to enjoy the company of an attractive young woman – without her administering a bed – bath and telling him that it really was time for his nap now.

Dr Chung sighed happily. “We are so very glad that Lieutenant Commander Sonak was able to take up the invitation to deliver a lecture as part of the symposium.”

Orbyn acknowledged thoughtfully. “His work with the ASDB speaks for itself, of course, but the Commander’s grasp of Quasiclassical dynamics on the Quantum – critical have truly broken both the domain wall as we know it and the pride of several of the more stuffed – shirts assembled here this evening. It really will be a night to remember!”

~ In more ways than one.~ Commander Hyland thought with trepidation, instead she rejoindered dryly.

“That must have Flipped – spun more than one Quasiparticle, I’m sure.”

Dr Chung’s age – crinkled eyes flashed with amusement at Sam’s deft Quantum Phase – transition laden quip and he was about to reply when Sam was jostled from behind and felt a keen sting on the back of her bare shoulder.

“I’m awfully sorry ma’am.” The grey – uniformed Starfleet Special Services waiter apologized demurely, by the time Samantha had time to reply – he was already disappearing into the throng assembled in the reception area, his tray – top describing his slow progress through the sea of guests.

“I say, how dammed clumsy!” Dr Chung apologized with vociferous – ire, glaring at the back of the retreating waiter.

“It’s quite alright Doctor, really…I just…” Samantha began to smile, then her voice faltered.

Before her, Dr Chung seemed to be frowning.

Her vision swam, the edges of the room darkening. Sam felt her skin become clammy and the room suddenly too warm.

“Samantha…Commander Hyland? Are you feeling alright? Dr Chung’s voice held a frisson of concern now.

Sam did not feel alright. The feeling of lightheadedness phase – shifted into a nauseating disorientation. Her chest felt tight, and her right shoulder and arm began to ache terribly, a cramping pulse that seemed to echo the cramped thudding in her chest. She tried to swallow and say something, but her throat seemed to be constricted, and she couldn’t speak.

“Commander Hyland? Are you unwell?” Dr Chung was holding her hand now, his face a mask of alarm and concern.

“I just nee…..” Sam managed and then collapsed backwards into the buffet, dimly aware of the impact in the small of her back as the floor tilted up to meet her and all of a sudden, she could only see people’s feet and shoes.”

“Oh my god! “ Orbyn’s panicked voice could dimly be heard, as if from a distance. “She’s having a heart attack!!” (he’d had two cardiac episodes himself and survived both – so he spoke from real and bitter experience). “Somebody, call for the medics!!!”

As Sam’s consciousness slowly ebbed away, the waiter had already exited the Plenary Hall’s reception area, which had predictably descended into a scene of chaos centered around the stricken Commander Hyland. The Special Services Crewman did not break his stride when he threw the spent hypospray injector into a matter decompiler, back-of-house and keyed his Comm-badge.

“Artful, this is Band-aid. Canape is down. Good to go.” Spoke Petty Officer Amado Varela. The Field Medical Specialist from the USS Albion’s Hazard Team keyed the holo-emitter that turned his smooth Argentinian features to that of a Nipponese male some years younger.

These features remained, but the illusion of a grey – Special Services Uniform flowed away to be replaced with that worn by the Daystrom Institute’s Janitorial Staff. Amado commandeered a mop and bucket and exited the kitchens to head to his next point of deployment.

Back in the reception area, a sea of concerned faces was gathered around the recumbent form of Commander Samantha Hyland, some of the finest minds in the galaxy enquiring as to why a small geriatric Asian man was furiously applying chest compressions to an unconscious young woman. This served to make the approach of the Daystrom Institute’s First Responder team all the more confounding.

One of the guests, seemingly a well – built African man of late middle years, joined the others and craned over the shoulder of the person in front of them.

“What’s going on?” They asked with mild concern.

The person in front, clearly irked to have someone looming over their shoulder, replied distractedly.

“A young woman seems to have suffered a cardiac episode, for god’s sake everyone, give her some room!”

The man nodded in sympathy and stood back, departing the throng of concerned onlookers and retreating past the inrushing medical team and made their way to the restroom.

Once inside a stall, the man took out the object that their practiced hands had removed from the observer. A Daystrom Institute biometric security – tag. They turned the credential around in their hands, briefly inspecting it, before putting the prize back in their pocket.

“Padlock. This is Artful. I have the key. Proceeding to Alpha.” Spoke the Hazard Team Leader, Lieutenant Clara Hask, as she too adjusted her holoemitter – now she looked like a young Starfleet Security Ensign with short dark hair. Without so much as a second thought, the Starfleet Intelligence Officer exited the bathroom and made her way to the rendezvous.

Hask entered the corridor where the single turbolift was situated, that was the only access down to the Transporter room that controlled the sole method of access to the Daystrom Institute’s Secure Area archives.

Kilometers below rock lay some of science’s most volatile and destructive enigmas, secured away from the knowing world where their secrets could be further delved into and unlocked without presenting further danger to humanity and the stars beyond.

Approaching the Turbolift, Hask passed by Band-aid – Varela in his Janitor’s disguise had already set up holographic “Wet – Floor” signs and would remain up – top to control access to the Turbolift – in the event that unexpected guests felt compelled to join the party.

Ahead, the remaining members of Hazard Team – Albion assigned to the mission, Padlock and Atom (Crewman T’Kul – the Hazard Technical Specialist & the diminutive Crewman Park Soo Jin – Hazard’s Science Specialist), approached the Turbolift from the opposite end of the corridor, both disguised as Daystrom Institute Technical Services operators and carrying a pair of small equipment cases.

Without saying a word, the trio converged at the Turbolift and Lieutenant Hask withdrew the stolen biometric security – tag and (with a deep breath), held the card up to the scanner plate. After a moment that seemed to draw into eternity, the doors hissed open, and the trio entered the Turbolift.

As they were swiftly conveyed down to the Transporter room, no one spoke. They had no need to. Every Hazard Team member knew their role and the exact sequence of events had been rigorously rehearsed for long hours aboard the USS Albion’s Holosuite’s. Nor did they drop their Holographic disguises, as they were keenly aware that their every move was being monitored and recorded.

The doors slid back into their recess, with the barest hiss of industry and the trio emerged into the small transporter room. Unique in that the facility only existed to beam authorized travelers down into the caverns of the Secure Area and back – the Transporter could not send to any other coordinates. If an attempt to do so was made, it would trigger one of the plethora of highly effective security safeguards that protected this trove of forbidden technology.

Foremost and the most basic of which were the two Starfleet Security officers that stood impassively as they flanked the single Transporter Chief – the sole occupants of the tiny room.

“Pass please, Ensign.” One of the Security guards intoned, wholly without humor. His compatriot frowned at the pair of Technicians that proceeded with the Ensign – keeping a wary eye on them both as the Transport operator looked on noncommittally. Hask noted a set of D’Jark cards unattended on a nearby table and correctly surmised that they had interrupted a game, when the Turbolift was activated.

Lieutenant Hask handed over the stolen biometric security – tag, a disarmingly bland smile on her stolen face as the Security Officer inserted it into the reader.

Hask began to count down.

Knowing that the purloined ID was good enough to get her team access to the Transporter Room, Clara Hask was under no illusion that her DNA would even remotely match that enshrined in the card – it would only be a moment before the guard was alerted.

Sure enough, the big man’s face came up – a look of alarm starting to inhabit his features. A look that slowly melted away as the Man, his colleague and the Transport Operator all fell slackly to the floor – almost as one.

Hask moved forward and retrieved the card from the reader, even as Crewman T’Kul was moving forward to the security station, opening his equipment case and prying off a service hatch below the main console.

Crewman Park lay down her own case and took out her tricorder. When the scientist was sure that the Transporter – room’s environmental scrubbers had removed all trace of the nerve agent that had suffused the tiny – space from the cylinder hidden in her case, Soo Jin nodded to her Team – mates, who removed the small filter – plugs from their nostrils and breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The nerve – agent, released in gaseous form was quick – acting and non – lethal. This Soo Jin and Amado had seen to, when the pair had concocted the weapon in one of the USS Albion’s configurable science labs, two days earlier. With the need to ensure that the occupants of the Transporter room were swiftly debilitated, Phaser – fire was out of the question (even on stun settings) and hand to hand combat provided an unacceptable margin for error and permanent injury.

T’Kul stood from the console, intently scrutinizing his own Tricorder data and then dropped his Holo – disguise.

“The Security System has been neutralized Lieutenant.” The handsome, coffee – skinned Vulcan intoned.

The skillset that had brought T’Kul to serve as the Hazard Team’s resident technical specialist was his affinity for Computer Systems – security systems in particular. The Vulcan had previously prepared a Logo-centric “clone” of the Daystrom Institutes Security Algorithm – to all intents and purposes the Daystrom system did not perceive anything wrong – barring a picosecond disruption to its operating system and Tukul’s program took the place of the real data being transmitted from this part of the facility.

Clara nodded to Padlock and went stand on the Transporter Pad as Atom joined her and T’Kul went to the Transporter controls and keyed the system to send the pair down to the Secure Area – many kilometers below the earth’s crust.

A swirling haze of azure energies insinuated around Hask and Park and the everyday miracle of matter – decompliation, relocation and reconstruction – that was 25th Century Transporter technology – ushered them to the prize waiting below.

The pair of operatives materialized in a long, white echoing corridor – emblazoned with decals denoting the sections and areas that delineate the various storage areas, laboratories, containment chambers and a myriad of other scientific and technical facilities with which the Daystrom Institute used to study some of the most restricted scientific oddities and artifacts ever discovered.

“Atom, you’re up.”

Crewman Park was a protégé of the USS Albion’s own Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Tobias Esmann – chosen to join Hazard as Science Specialist expressly due to her talents in Theoretical Sciences.

Part dreamer, part pragmatist, it was Soo Jin’s task to assess & evaluate the various new alien technologies and phenomena that the Team might encounter on their Away Missions. Park’s keenly inquisitive mind was geared to looking at the unfathomable and coming up with a reasonable hypothesis.

Today her task was to locate and verify the scientific and technical data that embodied the Genesis Particle and help her team steal it.

Originally envisioned by Dr Carol Marcus as a technological innovation designed to alleviate sociological problems such as overpopulation and limited food supplies and completed aboard Spacelab Regula 1 in 2285, it became inescapably apparent that the science behind the Genesis Particle (instigator of the terraforming “Genesis – wave” effect) was not only as wildly unstable as it was breathtakingly ambitious in its intent – but when the original Genesis Device was trigged within the Mutara Nebula with catastrophic effect – that Project Genesis had inadvertently birthed it’s very antithesis and become the not only the destroyer of worlds, but potentially whole star – systems.

Henceforth all data on the Genesis Particle had been strictly controlled and the use of proto-matter in technology similar to the Genesis Matrix had been prohibited and strictly enforced.

Somewhere in this labyrinthine maze of forbidden thought, Genesis awaited.

“This way.” The diminutive Korean woman nodded her blonde – pixie cut head and indicated with her Tricorder.

The Scientist and the Spy began down the corridor to perpetuate a crime to catch a criminal that had framed an innocent woman for a crime that she had not committed – whist she committed another.

Given the surroundings, it was still far from the strangest thing happening down here.

As the pair transcribed their journey, monitored by T’Kul in the Transporter room, many kilometers above, from the requisitioned security systems, Lieutenant Hask was suddenly startled when they turned a corridor in pursuit of their prize when a voice call out from behind them and made them freeze.

“Hello Ensign, you appear to be lost?” a female voice called out neutrally, but politely.

Clara and Soo Jin turned to see a pale young woman, with close cropped hair, wearing a simple white coverall with a Daystrom logo, smiling quizzically at them from a few feet away.

A ready smiled washed upon Lieutenant Hask’s face as she looked up from the single rank – pip on her disguise.

“Hi, yes…yes we are.” Hask extemporized, outwardly giving all of the appearance of abashed embarrassment, whilst the more reptilian parts of her mind coolly assessed the threats implicit in this unexpected turn of events.

She gestured towards Crewman Park.

“Central tasked me to escort this Daystrom Tekkie here down to Sublevel 8, Section C to take a look at a glitch in the EPS Manifolds feeding the Environmental Regulators there. People have been complaining and so I have to babysit her – fifteen goddamned minutes before the end of my shift! Can you believe?” Clara griped and hoped that she was convincing.

The pale woman smiled uncertainly as she slowly approached.

“This is Sublevel 5, Ensign and Section C is in the other direction.” The Woman’s voice was impassive, her gait unhurried. But her frown concerned Clara as she continued.

“Access to this area is restricted, Ensign. If there is a technical malfunction, the maintenance system would inform me, and I would be dispatched to rectify. Can you please show me your security credentials.”

Hask swore inwardly but was glad to note that Soo Jin had moved behind her as the woman approached.

“Yeah sure.” Hask nodded in confirmation, reaching into her tunic and drawing out the stolen pass. She made sure that Park was obscured by her body and moved to hand the pass to the woman.

As their hands briefly touched, she noted how cold they were and suddenly looked up into the woman’s face and noted the bright yellow eyes of an android.

Several things happened and they happened very quickly.

Soo Jin had begun to draw her phaser, set to stun, with the intention of incapacitating the woman, when Clara stepped back.

Lieutenant Hask was beginning to shout a warning, her own eyes widening in recognition, when what felt like a freight train hit her square in the chest, sending her barreling backwards into the tiny science – officer behind her and the pair were sent sprawling several feet down the corridor.

With all of the air suddenly driven from her lungs and sure that she had felt at least one rib break in the impact, Clara Hask had about enough time to roll out of the way as the Daystrom Institute Android bore down on the pair.

A lapse in her tactical planning, the presence of Androids had been a gap in the intel she had managed to gather to mount this operation. Poor planning was always a risk when an Op had to be put together on the fly. Given the extreme risks presented to organic life by most of the artifacts sequestered in the Secure Area – it was a logical precaution to task synthetics to manage the lower levels.

Hindsight is a bitch.

Lieutenant Hask had scant time to consider this as the Android’s boot slammed into the floor where her head had rested moments before, impacting on the deck plate and staving a deep depression in the durilium.

Clara pivoted around, attempting to unbalance the Android by whipping her legs out from underneath her, but was confounded as the Android caught hold of her incoming leg and, with terrible force, she bodily slammed the Hazard Team Leader up into the ceiling – shattering the light fixture and sending Hask raining back to the floor as part of the debris of the impact.

Stunned, Hask could only look helplessly on as the Android (who had not shown any signs of exertion) reached forward towards her……and suddenly slumped to the floor – looking at her with sightless eyes.

Shaken, Clara painfully managed to push herself into an upright position against the wall – as she fought to catch her breath.

Behind the recumbent Android, Crewman Park stood shaking, a small device in her hand.

“Is..are they… dead?” Lieutenant Hask managed as she dabbed blood from her broken nose.

Breathing hard, her face flushed, Soo Jin stood bent over with her hands on her thighs. She shook her head and held up the device she was holding.

“Not dead…Deactivated.” Park gasped. “Electromagnetic probe.” She flourished the device, “Reverse the polarity and it can temporarily disrupt Positronic Circuit pathways….”” Soo Jin indicated the deactivated Android, “If you can get close enough.”

Lieutenant Hask nodded wearily as she stood. She reached into her med kit and produced an antiseptic spray and began to contaminate anywhere her blood had pooled or stained the corridor. She had not anticipated leaving any trace of their incursion. The Android would be discovered in time, and she could not afford to leave any physical evidence of their intrusion, that would link them back to the USS Albion and Starfleet.

She approached the Android and placed her hands under the woman’s shoulders.

“We have to get this body out of sight.” Clara reasoned “Help me with her legs, we’ll put her in that Lab over there.”

Crewman Park helped her stash the body and as the door to the lab hissed shut, Soo Jin gasped in alarm.

“I can’t find my tricorder!”

Hask swore urgently, “Dammit! Are you sure?”

“It must have come loose in the fight!”, Soo Jin began to frantically search the corridor, sifting through the remains of dislodged ceiling for the device.

Clara winced, more complications.

“It can’t be helped. We don’t have time for this – the clock is ticking and our run – in with our friend there has moved the timetable up.” She took out her own Tricorder and started to hand it to Soo Jin.

Crewman Park was about to take the Tricorder when she called out with relief.

“No! here it is! Thank the ancestors!”

Hask too was glad, one more complication she didn’t need. Leaving behind a piece of equipment that would tie them to the crime was a headache she didn’t need.

Frowning, Soo Jin peered at her Tricorder.

“I think it’s broken.” She commented sadly.

“Must have been the impact. Tell it that I sympathize” Clara commented dryly as she rubbed her burning ribs and continued to hand Park her own, functioning, device.

“Here – use mine. Just make sure that you take the broken one with you.

Soo Jin took the offered Tricorder and, satisfied that it was functioning, the pair left the shattered corridor behind and began to descend deeper into the Secure Area, there to steal a prize that could spell the deaths of millions – all to place it in the unscrupulous hands of those most likely to misuse it.

After all, soldier’s lot is not to reason why.