The ornate wall sconces, colonial art pieces and terracotta stucco of the Spanish-style villa stood in sharp contrast to what lay beneath. “I don’t think we’re going to find oak barrels down here,” Commander Lewis remarked as he swept the dimly-lit duranium corridor with his underbarrel taclight. “This looks more like a military bunker than a vintner’s basement.”

“That’s because it probably is,” Dr. Hall replied flatly. Seemed clear enough to her.

“If we had any doubts before, I’d say this validates your theory Jake,” sighed Admiral Reyes. She had wanted to believe the aged spook and his convict friend were seeing ghosts, but too many signs pointed in the same direction. The grounds were censored from Starfleet orbital imagery. The buildings were filled with Starfleet equipment and guarded by paramilitary operators. And now they’d found a secret facility beneath what should have been a simple California vineyard. What the hell was Starfleet doing here? And why had they abducted Rear Admiral Edir, Mark Ellis, and two of the Polaris’ crew?

Dr. Hall had her tricorder out, working to locate the lifesigns they had identified down here earlier. The thick industrial walls obscured her readings, but eventually she picked out the pair of lifesigns they surmised were most likely Lieutenant Morgan and Chief Shafir. “This way,” Dr. Hall instructed as she gestured to their right. “Two stationary human lifesigns one hundred meters down this…” Her words droned off as she hurriedly slapped the tricorder back in her utility belt, dropped to a knee and raised her rifle. “But first, we got company.”

Far above them on the barrel tiles of the villa’s rooftop, Ensign Rel had taken up a prone position as she sighted in on fields to the south. Through her night vision optic mounted atop her rifle, she searched for the enemy patrol she knew was on approach.

“See anything?” asked Dr. Brooks as he crouched behind a chimney, typing frantically on a PADD. While Ensign Rel hunted for the patrols, Dr. Brooks was trying to triangulate the location of the dampening field’s generator. They’d need to disable it if they wanted to beam out.

“Eyes on,” Ensign Rel confirmed a few seconds later. “Two at two hundred meters. Making fast back towards us.”

“Need a second gun?” Dr. Brooks asked, aware that when you had two bogies, you typically wanted two snipers so both shots came out simultaneously. A single shooter would have to compensate for recoil and get their scope back on target before the second subject found cover.

“No, focused on locating that generator,” Ensign Rel answered flatly. “I’ll manage.” It would have been helpful, but the enemy had reinforcements on the way. Unless Dr. Brooks found the generator, it would be a bloodbath.

Dr. Brooks nodded and returned to his PADD.

Ensign Rel inhaled deeply, calming her mind and setting her thoughts aside. All that mattered was her rifle and the two targets opposite it. Two hundred meters was a long shot for her, and she’d have to follow the first shot with a second in quick succession if she wanted to neutralize both targets.The reticle of her scope settled on her first target. She exhaled and pulled the trigger back smoothly. A single shot lept forth.

The rifle kicked up, pulling the scope away from her targets. Ensign Rel pulled down hard, fighting the recoil, trying to get the scope back on target. Where were her targets? She searched frantically, and then the reticle floated across a figure that was diving towards the dirt. Without waiting for it to settle, she squeezed the trigger again. 

And then there was only silence in the chilly spring night.

“You get them?”

Ensign Rel rushed to get her sights back over where the pair had been. Had she hit them both? She let out a sigh as she saw two bodies sprawled across the dirt. “One patrol down,” she announced proudly as she readjusted to face the west. “Now to find the other.”

Back in the subterranean facility beneath the villa, Admiral Reyes, Commander Lewis and Dr. Hall had just incapacitated the two operators who’d tried to stop their advance. 

As Commander Lewis stepped over the pair, he looked down. One was scrawny and diminutive. The other was a massive hulk of a man. “I recognize this man,” Commander Lewis stated as he studied the larger man. “He was there in Milan.” He leveled his rifle at the incapacitated man and flipped it off of stun. “He murdered two Starfleet officers who tried to intercede on our behalf.”

He deserved to die, thought Lewis to himself, but before he could take the man’s life in bloody retribution, a hand settled atop the barrel of his rifle, pushing it away from its target. 

“Don’t you dare,” Admiral Reyes warned in a stern tone. “He is incapacitated. He will pay for his crimes, but this is not the way.”

“He’s no angel, Admiral,” Commander Lewis growled. This murderer had the scars and calloused hands of a man who’d been in this business a long time. “Those two young Starfleet officers in Milan, I guarantee they were not his first kills.”

“Probably not,” Admiral Reyes nodded. “But if you shoot him in the back of the head, you’re no better.” Commander Lewis looked at her skeptically. How did she figure equivalence here? “And besides, is this piece of shit really worth going away for? He’s just a follower. There are bigger fish out there.” The Admiral’s second point landed far better.

Reluctantly, Commander Lewis stood down.

“I don’t care whether he lives or dies,” Dr. Hall interrupted. “But we need to get on with it.” Time was of the essence. “Let’s go get our people back and get out of here before those reinforcements arrive.” She’d rather not get fried because of some moral argument.

The three proceeded down the corridor until at last they came upon a reinforced duranium door. Commander Lewis tried the keypad but had no success. Why did he think he would? He was no Chief Shafir or Dr. Brooks. But there was another way, one he was far more familiar with. He pulled out a shaped charge and placed it against the hinges of the door.

“What if they’re right on the other side?” asked Admiral Reyes.

“That’s a risk we’ll have to take.”

“Well, just humor me for a moment,” Admiral Reyes asked before she turned towards. She pounded on it with her fist. “Anyone there?”

From the other side of the door, Chief Petty Officer Shafir sat up. That sounded like Admiral Reyes. Was her mind playing tricks on her? “Admiral, is that you?”

It was almost comical, the things one could forget in moments of stress. Commander Lewis breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her voice. He recognized it instantly. “Ayala, is Jace in there with you?”

“He is indeed Jake,” Chief Shafir reported back excitedly. This wasn’t her mind playing tricks!. Somehow, they’d found her and Lieutenant Morgan. But of course they had. She’d learned long ago to never doubt Jake Lewis. He always found a way. “You guys here to break us out?”

“That we are,” Commander Lewis confirmed. “Step as far back from the door as you can. We’re going to blow it.” Ideally without launching the duranium slab straight into the pair.

There was a brief pause, and then her response. “Alright, we’re clear!”

Commander Lewis pressed the detonator and blew the door off the hinges. As he stepped through the threshold, he saw Chief Shafir and Lieutenant Morgan huddled in the far corner of the room. Ayala Shafir had a dark, ghostly look about her, and Jace Morgan looked absolutely broken. “You two look like you’ve seen better days,” Commander Lewis offered.

“Torture will do that to you,” Chief Shafir replied as she stood up and raised her hand to show the stub where once her trigger finger had been. “But enough of my sob story. Where the fuck are we?”

“Just north of San Francisco,” Commander Lewis explained as he unholstered a sidearm and handed it to her. “Can you still shoot?”

“I was born with two trigger fingers,” Chief Shafir nodded. “These assholes only took one.” And she’d trained ambidextrously in case she was ever wounded. She’d be just fine. She took the sidearm, and then by habit, she glanced down to confirm it was in good working order. That’s when she noticed something she hadn’t expected. “Set to stun?”

“These guys are either Starfleet or Starfleet-adjacent,” Commander Lewis explained. “And Allison would prefer it if we don’t kill our own… even if they deserve it.” He frowned as he glared at the Admiral. That hulk of a man in the hall behind them deserved to take a blast to the back of the head for what he’d done.

“I told you Ayala,” said Lieutenant Morgan as Dr. Hall helped him to his feet. “Commander Drake is part of this.”

The room went silent. Had Morgan really just said that the JAG officer from the USS Polaris was involved? Admiral Reyes, Commander Lewis and Dr. Hall all stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

“I saw him.”

The trio didn’t look convinced. It didn’t fit.

“He interrogated me.”

“Commander Drake is aboard the Polaris over Nasera,” Admiral Reyes reminded him. She looked into his eyes. She saw a mix of assuredness and desperation. He believed what he was saying, and he wanted them to. But it simply wasn’t possible. He was halfway across the galaxy. “And Commander Drake is incorruptible. He’d never take part in something like this.” Far more likely was that, just as they had taken Chief Shafir’s finger, they’d messed with his mind and distorted his reality.

“Admiral, I swear I saw him with my own…”

Their conversation was cut off by banging against a door down the hall. 

“Hello? Is someone there?” 

The voice was muffled, but Admiral Reyes recognized it instantly. It was Mark Ellis, the elderly husband of retired Rear Admiral Aria Edir. He’d gone missing from Moustiers-Sainte-Marie around the same time as Lieutenant Morgan and Chief Petty Officer Shafir had been abducted.

“I thought you said there were two stationary lifesigns down here?” Admiral Reyes asked as she and Dr. Hall rushed down the corridor towards the other door.

“That’s what it looked like,” Dr. Hall nodded. “But the industrial crap down here is doing a number on our scanners. We’re lucky we even picked up Shafir and Morgan’s lifesigns.”

Admiral Reyes pulled a shaped charge from her vest as she approached the door, assuming she’d have to breach it similar to how they’d breached the other door. But, as she came upon the door, it simply slid open.

“Mark,” smiled Admiral Reyes as she reattached the shaped charge to her vest and extended a hand to help him up. “Wish it was under better circumstances, but it’s good to see you again.”

He took her hand and lifted himself up with labored breath. “Allison, thank god,” the old man sighed with relief. “I… I… ummm… it was horrible… did you… did you find Aria too?”

“Unfortunately not,” Admiral Reyes frowned. “But we’re relieved to have found you. What happened? How’d you…”

But before the Admiral could inquire further about what happened and how he’d wound up here, they were cut off by a call over the combadge. In a mix of panic, shock and fear, Ensign Rel delivered the bad news. 

“We’ve got company. Lots of it.”

From her position on the rooftop, she could see the hell that was headed their way.