T’saath walked at the side of the Cardassian, “You seem convinced you know what has occurred here.”

Hasara kept his focus forward as Chief Kondo and his team trailed him, and behind them, the science team walked at a distance.  “Something has been bothering me since I began to examine this…’Vulcansah’. There is no record of them in any database – Federation, Vulcan, Cardassian – those three represent a significant portion of the knowledge of the universe.  And yet this place and those within it are entirely unknown.  I suspect that these ‘Vulcansah’ are not really related to Vulcans in the sense we know.”  They turned a corner as he kept his purposeful walk moving, tracking the scans he had gathered from the various teams.  It took them another twenty minutes, but he found a corridor that ended in a dead end.  He smiled quietly, “Tricky bastard.”

Kondo sidled up next to him, “Gul?”

Hasara pointed to the wall ahead, “This facility doesn’t have many dead ends like this.  Most of them are on the lower floors.  None on the middle floors.  And none on the top floors where we are at this moment.  This leads me to believe there is something here.”  Fowler scrambled forward with her scanning crew and began to work at the wall.  Hasara turned to the security chief, “I may have to ask you to fire a phaser at that wall, Lieutenant.  I do not believe Sokassia is going to willingly give up his secrets.”

De La Fontaine looked at the brownstone wall and then to Hasara, “I’m not opposed to it.  We can’t know if Sokassia will react to our actions, however.”

The Cardassian pointed out, “I don’t think will be an issue.  When was the last time someone interacted with our friend the Vulcansah?”

Kondo pulled up his PADD and began to search through the various reports that had been filed throughout the day.  He shook his head, “No one’s seen him since around 1200 today.  That is…odd.”

Fowler returned from the wall, “You were right.  That is a hollow wall with plenty of room beyond and under it for something.  Sensors can’t quite make it out.”

Hasara turned back to Kondo, “Lieutenant, please shoot the door.”

They all moved back, and the security chief grouped two of his officers with him.  They increased the power of the weapons and took positions.  All three fired at a center point in the wall, and it exploded in dust, debris, and more dust.  It slowly cleared as Hasara came to the front and pointed with glee, “An entrance.  Mr. Kondo, can you escort me in case someone decides to take a shot at me?”

The group entered the opening and walked through a clearly defined corridor with lighting and errant consoles.  They turned several corners until they reached the top of a platform.  Stepping forward, they found themselves at the top of a cavern arrayed with archaic consoles, equipment, and more.  Long stairs took them down to the base level, where the decomposing body of a humanoid lay.  Medical leads and various connective devices were attached, but the displays all showed the same reading.  Dead.

Fowler sent her crew to the various levels of the cavern, and Kondo’s officers followed to ensure safety even as it was becoming apparent the threat level was minimal.  Hasara shook his head, amused, “This was Sokassia.”  He pointed to the various equipment attached to the old body, “He was running a holographic emitter from here.”  The Cardassian looked around and started to see ash piles and nearly decomposed bodies in the chairs on the base floor and above, “Sokassia was the last…but you can see there were others before.  This was once a prison – a place to keep the evil and the terrible from ever reaching out beyond this place.  But something happened.”  He motioned Fowler to a larger console, “See if you can access the logs and records.”

Sadie slid the chair with the dusty bones away and decided to stand as she went to work, “Right.  This is an old system.  First few years, the logs look pretty normal.  They received regular intakes from patrols…until those intakes stopped.”  She tapped further, “It looks like they were worried about what had happened to their deliveries, but the hails went unanswered.”  Another few clicks, “They started to worry about survival – they had a few ships, but none were capable of travel.”  She shook her head, “This is crazy.  They turned to their captives for…dear god.”

Hasara finished her sentence gravely, “Experiments.  It was as I feared.  They sought to combine the features of their prisoners into their own DNA to ensure a long life.”

Fowler spoke up from having dug further into the reports, “They used the defense system to draw in people in order to capture them – this was about halfway through their history, so 300 or so years ago, maybe?  Their measure of time is a bit…odd.  They started taking the ships they captured in order to find out what happened to their others.  According to this, they never did. But…they found everyone else.  Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans…and more.  They captured some and experimented on them all.”  She shook her head, “I can’t read the rest of this.”

The Cardassian stepped up to the console and whistled in appreciation, “These experiments are barbaric even by our standards.  They were attempting to continue their line, so this station might continue to operate for a thousand more years.  The El-Aurian was their final attempt…and it failed.  He wouldn’t help them, and they had nothing to threaten him with.”  He turned to T’saath, “I am sorry they were not who they said they were.”

The Vulcan XO considered the apology for a moment, “He said all the right things.  He held himself the way we would in our early…or even recent days.  I was fooled myself, even.”  A pause, “Who were they really then?”

Hasara glanced at the body, “Someone’s going to have to figure that out.  I don’t wish it to be us.”

Sadie stopped them, “Wait – if Sokassia is dead…what does that mean for this place?  The defense platforms?  The existing prisoners and artifacts?”

T’saath looked around, “There will an investigation.  Vulcans are already on their way…I believe Captain Harris will recommend a Starfleet team be dispatched to work the site, and given its closeness to Cardassian space…”

Hasara shook his head vehemently, “I will protest any idea of assigning me here in the loudest terms.  Absolutely not.”

T’saath cocked an eyebrow, “I will recommend you remain assigned to the Mackenie, Gul.  You are in invaluable source of information, resources, and guidance.  We will need that expertise in pursuit of the creatures that escaped here.”

The Cardassian regarded the Vulcan, “Your people do not lie, Commander.  You mean to tell me that you…mean that?”

Her face remained placid, “Interpret it how you will, Gul Hasara.”  She turned to Kondo, “Prepare Henry Wyatt for transfer to the Mackenzie sickbay.”  She caught a glance from Fowler, “Starfleet wants him.  It is our duty to remove him and process him in accordance with Starfleet regulations and judicial guidelines.”  Sadie opened her mouth to speak but closed it after thinking better of it.

Hasara glanced around, “Then are we able to leave this place and return to the comfort of space?”

T’saath gave him a nod, “You can return to the Mackenzie with me, Gul.  We have many reports to write.”

Hasara cursed in Cardassian.