“A society composed of none but the wicked could not exist; it contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction, and with a flood, would be swept away from the earth by the deluge of its own iniquity.”

Charles Caleb Cotton, (1822)

The Deluge came, not to wash the sins of the past away, but to cover a more modern transgression.

Throughout history a Deluge came to symbolize and encompass various meanings across different cultures and contexts.

For the Etraani of Sesevus#7, the annual flooding of the wide & shallow riverine basin in which the indigenous people made their home, the Deluge was associated with the themes of purification and renewal. As the levy’s that kept the mighty flow at bay failed during the height of the tri-lunar tides, the destructive power of nature was celebrated for its ability to cleanse and prepare the soil for new beginnings, washing away the old and corrupt.

On Earth the Deluge came to embody the need to be able to adapt to overwhelming changes. The annual flooding of the Ganges due to heavy monsoon rains came to symbolize cyclical nature of life for the Hindu and Buddhist peoples of Northern India, becoming a metaphor for life’s challenges and the role of divine protection during chaotic times.

Of the Deluge that consumed the bunker that formerly housed the Northern Compact High Command of Hecate#7b, it may have been poetic to extrapolate a theme of judgement and redemption as the freezing arctic waters forced their poisoned progress through the long-forgotten corridors of fallen power. But it was far too fanciful of a portrayal to frame the dark onrush that exploded through the ancient complex as representing some form of divine judgement in a place devoid of hope and far beyond the grace of redemption.

The mass of water that flooded the lower levels were the direct result of Major Silak’s deliberate decision to mask the scene of a crime and ensure her escape to the surface.

As the Tal Shiar agent used her suit’s AG to slowly rise to the surface, her helmet lights flowing smoothly over the lift shaft with which she had been able to follow the Starfleet survivors down, Silak cradled in her arms the download module that contained the precious memory engrams of the warmongers who had condemned this world and she indulged in cold inner-fantasy of what revenge the military secrets contained therein could allow the Free States to inflict upon their enemies.

Never one to indulge in the brutish indulgence of violence for violence sake, the torturer preferred a far more subtle route to victory. Whilst she had let Commander Navain’s marines sacrifice themselves in repeated attempts to gain entry to the stubborn bunker complex, Major Silak had watched each attempt with cool detachment.

Each failure told her something about the problem she faced. Each death a brief but edifying lesson about the nature of the defenses arrayed against her.

It’s like she always said, ‘Mind is the great lever of all things.’.

Whilst away team after away team were torn apart and their blood adorned the driving snow in violent fresco’s, Silak came to accept that the autonomous Swarm – weapon that guarded the entrance to the underworld like an ancient Cerberus, could not be defeated by conventional means.

The growing number of bodies spoke plainly to that truth.

Never one to waste her time the Major continued to torture the captain of the former Republic science vessel, to pass the time constructively more than anything else and became more and more convinced that the technological edge that the bunker’s secrets would yield were more than worth the risk of instigating open warfare with the Federation and her allies in the Shackleton Expanse.

Of these erstwhile allies, the long – range sensors of the Rihanhansu confirmed that no other ships had diverted to search for either the Selquar or the troublesome Starfleet vessel that had come questing for the lost ship.

To this end, the Major was satisfied that they had been able to cripple the small escort before they had a chance to send out a mayday alert although, with the download module (and the memory engrams it carried) in her possession, she was keen to quit this accursed place and return with her prize in glory.

In the end Sub-commander Thecal went on to the next world without divulging anything that the Major did not already know or reasonably suspect, but his torture did help pass the time and (if she was being honest) provided a modicum of relief from the boredom of being aboard ship.

Providence being a strange master, it also allowed for the prospect of unexpected and unlooked for serendipity to interject into proceedings and Silak was both amused and intrigued to learn that some of the crew of the Starfleet vessel had, in fact, seemed to have survived and had made their way northwards to the very location of the bunker against all odds.

Rather than act to seize or eliminate this random annoyance, as a lesser mind would, Major Silak had opted to take a back seat and observe her opponents and was more than mildly surprised to see the Starfleet survivors persevere where her own soldiers had failed so many times and somehow managed to gain access to the bunker.

Leaving the blast doors open behind them, as they descended.

Silak could have laughed at the irony of it all, but with the fastness of the bunker breached, the way was left open for her and a small team to beam directly into the ancient command & control facility and avoid contact with & circumvent the lethal swarm – weapon that endlessly patrolled its perimeter.

From there, it was simplicity itself to locate an access node and steal the Repository right out from underneath her enemies noses as they fought and bickered. As much as Silak detested her age – old enemies, the Federation, since the fall of Romulus she had grown to positively loathe her former countrymen and the weak and febrile Republic they had founded – an insult to the power and memory of their once great Star Empire.

It really was a pleasure to drown them all.

Lieutenant – Commander Lane Hanley was struck with the force of a charging Ronto as the tsunami of tainted ocean exploded into the Situation Room, smashing the vacant consoles and scattering the indolent bones of the long – dead High Command officers, as it tore through the darkened space with all the fury of the deep.

Lane was suddenly enveloped in darkness and turned this way and that as the fierce current raged and she lost all sense of orientation. Something unyielding struck her in the left side, hard, and she felt the humerus in that arm fracture, even as her suit’s AutoMed unit confirmed the injury and instantly injected her with a local anesthetic and a TENS unit began to emit ultrasonic pulses to stimulate pain relief.

The Deluge carried her across the hemispherical space, just one piece of flotsam carried with an accumulation of carnage created and carried by the irresistible flow of water. Lane was pinned against the wall that held the shattered control displays and was just beginning to register the pain blossoming in her arm, when her suit HUD alerted her to the presence of Six of Eleven.

The former Borg had recovered quickly from the debilitating effects of Professor Venrax’s treacherous ambush, the nanites that still coursed through her body working to slough off the damage and compel Six back into action.

The suited figure became visible to Lane by virtue of her helmet lights piercing the debris-obscured dirty rush of frigid water. Lane could see that the engineer was dragging another similarly besuited form behind her and she powered through eddies to Lane’s position.

=^= “Six! Am I ever glad to see you!” =^= Hanley sent as she reached out to help the Lieutenant and drag her close. =^= “ The Chief? Is he…?”=^= She worried as her gloves found Lucius’s prone form and closed around his belt to brace him against the flow.

=^= “Alive, just unconscious.” =^= Vanya’s broad Russian tones filled Lanes ears, as Six added. =^= “A state of affairs that may quickly change for all of us if we don’t find some way out of here soon.” =^=

Lane was forced to agree. The Tal Shiar agent had outplayed her at every turn.

Whilst their suits (as battered as they were) would ultimately protect them from drowning in the freezing mass of contaminated ocean, the Deluge itself would slow their progress considerable and give the Romulan an undisputable lead with which to return to the surface and escape to orbit with her prize.

=^= “At this point, I’m entirely open to suggestions.” =^= Hanley gritted her teeth against the pain that began to throb through her arm as the fierce current buffeted the trio in its wake.

The helmet lights of Six’s EVA helmet swept around. The water in the vast former C&C space had quickly risen, pressing their bodies up into the very apex of the domed space, but Six noted that the waters had not risen to the point where they drowned the room completely.

=^= “There must be some run – off point where the waters are draining to.” =^= Six reasoned. Without any power operating within the ancient bunker, neither their suits nor her Borg ocular implant had no live systems to interrogate to identify where that point may be. Yet before the advent of sophisticated tools, engineering had been founded of good math and solid guesswork.

=^= “Any closed hermetic system requires a circulationary pathway to extract air tainted with carbon dioxide and carry it to air scrubbers to rehabilitate and replenish the oxygen content. For a complex of this magnitude, there must be a return pathway back to a central life – support plant facility. The water is likely draining through the conduits that link that network. If we can locate the extraction grille, we might be able to ride the flow to that point and find a way back to the surface.” =^= The engineer explained.

=^= “Sounds like a terrible plan. I love it, let’s not waste any time!” =^= Lane managed through gritted teeth.

=^= “My arm’s broken. I’ll hang on to the chief and leave the swimming to you. =^=

Six disappeared below the surface and struck out into the darkness. Lane could see where she met the flow of the torrent as her light quickly receded into the gloom.

Major Silak emerged from the entrance of the Bunker, flanked by the 4 – man team that the Rihanhansu had assigned as her security detail and stepped out into the endless arctic night.

During her journey back to the surface, the Tal Shiar agent had been able to briefly link and commune with the memory engrams from the Repository that she had captured in the download module; a necessary precaution to verify the integrity of her prize.

She too had stood in that virtual representation of the War Room; it had appeared ten thousand years ago as the Hellworld was born.

Whilst the personalities of the long – dead Garsedi Northern Compact senior officers bordered on hostile and, at times the General Staff were so self – absorbed that she found it challenging to convince them of the passage of years  (so enthralled as they were in their positronic fantasy world of command & endless wargames in which they were digitally-ensconced) yet Major Silak did at least managed to convince them that there were forces gathered that would see them destroyed.

Having secured at least a conditional overture of cooperation from the High – Marshall himself, the Tal Shiar agent strode out confidently into the driving snow, her team sweeping the quarters for hostile contact nervously as they stepped carefully over the frozen body parts of their former comrades, which had started to accrete snowfall like tiny drifts in miniature.

There came a chittering sound in their helmet pickups and the Uhlan leading the Free State marines suddenly called out.

<<Hostile contact. Range bearing Seven-Two-Six-Four. Range Thirty – two meters and closing! Prepare to fire!>>

All around the Major there was the sound of disruptor weapons powering up with an imperceptible whine as the soldiers nervously trained their weapons on the contact rapidly closing on their position.

<< “I really wouldn’t advise that.”>> Silak smiled thinly as she held the download module to her chest like a mother protecting her newborn.

But Uhlan Tethca either chose to ignore the Major’s warning or the prospect of facing the same enemy that had decimated so many of her shipmates filled the veteran Marine with the fog of war.

Either way, the decision the  Uhlan made proved ultimately to be her last.

The Swarm boiled out of the driving snow, a nightmare conglomeration of shining red sensor – dots amidst and swirling – cloud of deadly black metal. Even as the squad open fire, the autonomous weapons systems seemed to gather and bunch in the air, the tiny knife – sharp aerostats forming a swelling head that coiled up tightly in the air and then suddenly burst forth, falling upon the marines and tearing them to shreds like airborne piranha.

Major Silak stood very still in the midst of this murderous carnage as it miraculously flowed around her. Even so, the sensation of being surrounded by so much rushing death made her shoulders tense unconsciously as she gripped the Module tighter.

When she opened her eyes, it was to a scene of utter devastation.

All around her were pieces of what her brain told her were Romulan Marines, but even to a torturer as accomplished as she with an expert knowledge of anatomy – even the Major would have been hard pressed to recognize anything that could be associated with that which until recently had been a person.

It seemed as if the Northern Compact’s instinct for self – preservation was great indeed and that by possessing the download module, Major Silak had earned herself immunity from the Swarm.

The Tal Shiar agent looked piteously at the meat arrayed around her and determined that no amount of collateral – damage could outweigh the possibilities contained within the dull metal cube that she held in her hands at that moment.

She walked on a little further and shifted the cube to one hand as she activated a comm channel to the Rihanhansu and was about to order her transport to the ship waiting high above in orbit, when she was interrupted by a challenging voice.

=^= “Stop right there and drop that cube!” =^= Lane transmitted to the distant figure and levelled her handphaser at the Major.

Six of Eleven stood beside her, having deposited the unconscious Lieutenant Harvey in the relative safety of just inside the entrance at the bunker – cap.

As the snow swirled around her, the Tal Shiar agent turned to face Hanley and balanced the cube laconically on her hip.

<< “Bravo, Captain.” >> Major Silak returned acidly. << “You’re obviously a much stronger swimmer than I gave you credit for.” >>

Hanley had literally been to hell and back over the last week or so and it was all down to the swaggering woman that stood squarely in her sights. It took every ounce of resolve and all of her training as a Starfleet officer not to shoot the agent there and then on the spot.

=^= “Oh you’ll find I’m full of surprises lady. “ =^= Lane growled menacingly. =^= “Set the cube down carefully and step away and I will let you return to your ship unharmed. It’s more than you deserve.” =^=

There was genuine amusement in the Major’s voice as she replied.

<< How ‘gallant’ and prototypically predictable, Captain. But I’m afraid that in threatening me, it is you who have sealed your fate.” >>

As she spoke, the Swarm broke forth from the confusion of snow – following its pre-programmed protocol to protect the occupants of the bunker, which it counted the Major to be part of as she held the substrate containing their memory engrams.

Lane’s eyes widened in horror, but Six gently pushed down the hand that held the phaser and stepped forward in front of her injured CO.

As before, the distributed machine mind of the Swarm recognised the former – Borg as one of their own and stood down their threat protocol and began to swarm lazily around Six of Eleven and Lieutenant – Commander Hanley.

For one of the vanishingly-rare occasions in her life, it was Major Silak’s turn to be surprised.’

As Six put out one hand and the Swarm ran through her fingers like living, black sand, the Tal Shiar Agent retorted;

<< “Well, that’s a neat trick to be sure. We seem to be at a state of impasse, Captain; I can’t kill you but you can’t kill me.” >>

She took the cube in both hands and appeared to do something to it.

Suddenly the ice beneath their feet began to rumble and shake. Long fissures began to appear and sent fine clouds of spray arcing into the frozen air as the ice sheet about them began to fissure and crack.

<< “But you see, Captain. I’ve made some interesting new friends and they’re willing to do just about anything to ensure that I don’t let you don’t destroy them.” >> Major Silak crowed nastily as Lane and Six were forced to their knees as the pack ice began to fragment and cant, dislodged by inevitable motion that persisted from beneath.

Rimed in snow and ice which fell in a random cascade from their angular flanks, from the ruin of ice a pair of massive forms began to emerge from where they had been entombed for countless years in the frozen repose, ever ready and waiting to heed the call of duty once more.

Up from the depths of history they rose, multifaceted armored joints groaning to life after lifetimes of inactivity, heeding their masters call once more.

=^= “This definitely complicates matters.” =^= Six commented in a masterclass of understatement as the Swarm fluctuated randomly around her legs, seemingly unconcerned by this new development.

Lane Hanley looked up with horror and a growing sense of dread as the angular faceted turrets of not one, but TWO of the monstrous Hunter/Killer tactical drones (similar to the one her away team had barely survived in the Circle-city) rose implacably from the hellish ice and trained their massive Fusion Cannons down upon her, the ends of the questing barrels beginning to gather with the warning crackle of intense blue energy.

Major Silak gave a small flourish and challenged mockingly.

<< “So then, Captain, let me be the one to break the Deadlock!” >>