Okada and Kondo took point as they searched the grounds.  They picked up a signal that led them to the settlement administration building and quickly climbed the steps and forced their way through the main doors.  The silence echoed through the cavernous hallways of the stone building.  There was a buzz of energy somewhere, and they both tapped at their tricorders to trace what they could hear with what they couldn’t see.

Kondo glanced at the walls as they walked, “They left all this art on the walls when they fled.  The people of Fenris have talent.”  He pointed to the various large gorgeous pieces of canvas that littered the halls, “The colors are…dare I say exquisite.”

Katsumi gave him a look, “Never figured you for the artsy-fartsy type, Chief Kondo.  Struck me as more a punchy-kicky type.”

A snort from the chief security officer, “Humanity sometimes ignores the layers present within ourselves – we are complex beings with passions and dreams.  We are not the sum of the surface that others see.”

There was more to Chief Kondo than his weapons. “Fair enough.  That sound…it’s getting stronger.”  They moved through the halls, down a corridor, and into a lobby where two massive and ornate doors remained closed.  Bright lights shone through the clouded glass.  The chief engineer tried the door.  It wouldn’t budge.  “Well, it’s secured somehow.  I’ll see if I can find an override.”

Kondo scanned and glanced around until he spotted two cameras set in the far corners of the room.  They were moving and appearing to zoom in on him and the XO.  “Commander…we’re being watched.”  

She glanced up and followed as he pointed them out, “Well, now that’s interesting.”

“YOU WILL LEAVE.  I WILL UNLEASH HELL ON YOU AND YOUR SHIP.”

Katsumi cracked open the panel and went to work, ignoring the voice.  A moment later, her communications badge chirped.

=^=Harris to XO.  We’re seeing holographic representations of the Borg, Hirogen, and Gorn out here.=^=

She grunted as she pulled the override and the massive doors rumbled open, “Roger that, Captain.  Whoever is doing this relies heavily on subterfuge with some good old-fashioned smoke and mirrors.  I should have an answer here in a few.”

Kondo shifted to stand with his rifle drawn as the door shuddered open, revealing an open administrative court area, a large screen strapped to the judge’s chair.  Okada followed him slowly in, her phaser out as she examined the room.  The screen flickered to life, a disembodied head appearing, glaring at them from the front of the room.

“HOW DARE YOU COME INTO MY INNER SANCTUM.”

The security chief sighed and walked the room, checking for anything that could jump out at them. The eyes on the screen followed his every move, grumbling and growling as he completed his search and returned to stand by the XO, “It’s clear.”  He nodded to the grousing image on the screen, “We just need to figure out where he is.”

The chief engineer slipped out her tricorder once more and began to scan around the screen as the figure protested, yelled, shouted, threatened, and flustered about them and what they were doing.  Okada found herself at the door to the judge’s chambers and turned to Kondo, “Wanna smash a door?”

He did.  It took him thirty seconds to crash through the wood and bash the door open.  Debris and dust hung in the air as he stepped through the door, phaser rifle up and sweeping.  Okada followed him in and found herself staring at a sputtering and rotund man in an electronic chair, his eyes wildly going from one Starfleet officer to the other.  “You…you cannot be in here.  You must leave!  This is…is my town!”

Kondo holstered his rifle on his back and walked up to the man, and began disconnecting the various cords and wires, “This isn’t and wasn’t yours.  You took it and made a show so everyone would leave.”  He checked to make sure he’d gotten it all.  He roughly lifted the squealing man into the air and set him standing, applying cuffs to his hands behind his back with little effort.  The man still huffed and puffed but stopped talking.

Okada tapped her communications badge and reported to the Mackenzie what they had found.  She was amused as Harris chuckled, =^=That’s a callback to an old Earth story.  The Wizard of Oz.  The Great and Powerful Oz was the man behind the curtain.  As much as things change…they remain the same.  Get back together with your away team – start dissembling the equipment across the settlement.  We’ll send a security team to take custody of your prisoner and start the interrogation process.  Harris out.=^=

Okada looked at the man whose bravado had deflated as reality had sunk in.  He mumbled, “I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you, Stupid Starfleet.”

The XO corrected him, “Smart Starfleet, thank you very much.”