The wait at the massive blast doors had felt like an eternity, crouched down behind a large crate Maine had listened to the breaths of the four team members as they quietly whistled through the empty corridor. The sighs and frustrated mumbles of Hermira the only interruption in the otherwise silent base. “Where is everyone?” he thought to himself. It had been almost half an hour since they had initially entered the base and they hadn't seen or heard anyone on the base, his team were good but given the Breen & Dominion's militaristic nature it was a difficult to think they could escape notice this long. 

The hushed voice of Bib interrupted Maine's thoughts, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” A worried glance was his answer.

“Maybe they're watching, waiting to see what we do?” Ole offered, his earlier suspicions about the absence of the base's staff spreading across the team. 

“Not really their style. They're more likely to capture us and beat it out of us.” Bib responded, even his hushed whisper sounded like a gong in the empty hallways. 

“I don't really want to hang around long enough to find out.” Maine stated, turning to Hermira. “Any update?”

The lithe Orion was elbow deep in the wall console, tricorder in her other hands. A stream of expletives flowing from her lips as she reached into the door's inner workings. “They Breen really know how to build a lock.” A few frustrated twists later she let out a sigh as the tricorder chirped and the large doors began to slide open. “Still, no lock can stop this green machine.” She stated with a smile. Making a deep genuflect she motioned the team inside. 

“Except that one on Katos minor eh?” Ole whispered out the corner of his lips as he passed. 

With venom in her eyes she fell in behind the giant Bolian as the team began to sweep the darkened lab. “How was I meant to know that Ferengi had a second mother?” she hissed as her focus returned to the mission. 

The interior of the lab complex was dark and dim as the rest of the base, the low green glow from the lighting panels in the walls casting a sickly pallor upon the team as they quickly swept forward through the central corridor. Passing individual labs and workshops on either side they proceeded up the long pontoon, parallel to the central axis of the base, the sporadic lights creating shadow visages behind the observation windows. The team moved quickly through the complex with practiced and professional speed, clearing and checking as they went. It was by the 5th pair or labs that Maine began to notice a common theme. Each room was void of anything useful; laid out like an operating theatre, with one large light into an overhead sensor cluster and trays of tools lined the workbenches around each lab's perimeter, each individual lab was identically laid out. 

“They're all empty. No tools, no equipment, no ongoing experiments.” Maine said, stopping the team with a raised fist. 

“There's signs that someone has been here. Look, some blast marks are still present on the walls and around this doorway, signs of an experiment gone wrong?” Bib motioned towards a nearby lab wall that still had a dark ring around the inside of the small doorway. “Another one back there had gouges in the deck plates, presumably from some heavy equipment.”

Appearing from another lab just ahead Hermira spoke, tricorder in hand. “There is evidence of biomatter in this one, not completely cleaned away.” Returning to the small group, she closed the tricorder with a familiar click. “It's like they just took all their toys and went away." Silence hung over the mysterious lab complex, the groaning of the hull against the tides of gravity noticeably absent. "The dampening lab should be just up ahead." the woman offered, taking the lead towards the double doors at the end of the corridor. 

As the wide doors hissed open, a gust of air whipping past the small team, the large central lab opened up before them. A large cannon array extended the length of the room, narrowing to a peak at the foremost point of the pontoon; thick walls fitted with transparent observation windows along its length created an isolation block around the cannon, access into which was via one of two small doors near the entrance from the lab complex. Around the rooms, consoles and panels hung on the walls and jutting out of floor pillars, great worm-like cabling reaching out of them like roots into the soil of the deck plates. In comparison to the clean and efficient labs of the corridor behind them this room felt more alive and natural, even in it's darkened and dead state Maine felt as if he was crawling through the body of a living being. 

“Breen bio-tech.” Bib whispered, allowing his rifle to drop to his side, his eyes widening in astonishment. He raced across the entryway to a tall panel where several of the wormy arteries converged. “This is amazing. Stafleet has had some success with bio-neural circuitry like the gel packs on the Intrepid class but it's always been a difficult thing to manage. Can you imagine what this can tell us?”

“Not a lot. I don't think its got much to say.” Ole quickly replied. 

“I don't mean literally.” Bib responded, now was not the time for stupid statements. 

“I know that." Ole spat back, his large eyes narrowing toward the Andorian. "I don't think it's going to last very long.” With his rifle he motioned to a large mass on the floor by the panel that appeared to be rotting away, the biological components sloughing off the pedestal’s frame in thick decaying blobs.

“This guy might.” Hermira called from across the room, the face of a Vorta appearing on the screen, various figures moved behind him hurrying on with work. 

“Research Log: Tayul recording. It appears the experiment with the upscaled Breen dampening weapon has been a failure here. The biological components of the weapon's design cannot maintain sufficient power levels to service the weapon, becoming overwhelmed and burning away. Uthot Nil has attempted to upscale the conduits in several ways but each has been as unsuccessful as the last. Other bases are reported to be having better success and with the advancing of Starfleet's Fourth Fleet the Founder has instructed us to abandon this research base in favour of other avenues. A few days ago we noticed a Starfleet vessel surveying us from the across the border so we have elected to leave the base on automated operations in the hope it will be a distraction from our other objectives. Without direct support the base will likely fail in a few days but this should be sufficient for us to evacuate. A small patrol will remain here to watch the border and maintain the appearance of an active base. The Breen have begun poisoning the bio-components of the base to make them unsalvageable and the Jem'Hadar have begun loading our ships with what research we have managed to gather. I have failed the Founder in my service.”

The screen finished on the face of the Vorta as environmental-suit clad figures froze in the background, syringes of viscous green liquid in hand. Hermira reached across and deactivated the screen, the groaning of the hull against the titanic forces of the suns sweeping into to fill the silent void.

“Abandoned.” Maine whispered, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Empty.” T'sal had given his life to bring them recon of what had turned out to be an empty floating hulk. 

“The Vorta was telling the truth, the base is on automated operations, but I can already see some major systems are beginning to fail. It'll only be a few hours until the biological components in the computer core fail and then with it power generation, shielding, SI fields. The suns will finish the job.” Hermira paused, slowly closing the tricorder as Maine slowly began to collapse to his knees. “There's nothing here to salvage.”

Noticing Maine begin to crumble, silent but for a quiet whisper of defeat, Bib turned to the team. “Anything worth saving in the computer library?”

“Nope. Wiped clean of anything but basic functions and information.” Hermira replied. The three of them uncomfortably aware of the man whom they loved and respected beginning to fall apart before their eyes. 

Bib tapped his combadge, “Bib to Nestus.”

“This is Zaya. What happened to comms blackout?” Came the Cardassian's voice.

“No longer relevant, the base is abandoned. We need an out.” Bib replied, waving to Hermira & Ole to begin preparing to move. 

“And quickly, theres a sizeable flare growing. I don't think the station's shields will handle it very well.” Mitchell offered. 

“Transporters?” Bib asked, taking a kneeling position next to the collapsing body of Maine. The man's pain was palpable, it tinged the air with a bitter taste.

“The section your in has some ambient interference, probably part of the shielding around the labs. There is an airlock near to your location. We could pick you up there.”

“Agreed. We're en-route.” 

“Maine?” Zaya asked, her loaded question hovering in the air. Zaya was smart enough to guess at the situation. 

“We have him.” Bib responded, only half-believing his own statement. “Ole, I need your help.”

As the giant Bolian scooped up Maine in his arms, cradling the weeping man like a child against his chest, Bib grabbed his dropped gear and followed the squad down the corridor to the airlock. They moved quickly through the abandoned base clinging to one single thought; soon they would be back onboard Nestus and flying back to safety in Federation territory. Soon the sun would consume what remains of the Dominion experiment. Soon this would all be behind them. 

As the echoing thud of the two hulls gave way to the quiet hiss of equalising air pressure, all three team members drowned in one sound. The haunting sobbing of a man who had killed his lover, hunting empty threats.