“Still no response to hails,” Selu informed everyone aboard the runabout Paralus as she closed the hatch behind them. “But more worrisome is that Commander Lake is reporting no life signs inside the facility either.”

“Okay, I don’t think I like that,” Blake Pisani said as she sat herself down at the rearmost station of the Delta-class runabout’s command space. “No, actually, I most certainly don’t like that.”

“Uh, if they haven’t responded to hails and there’s no one down there, couldn’t we just beam down?” Willow Beckman, the most junior officer amongst the away team, asked while going through the routine of bringing Paralus to life. “No one down there to object, right?”

“We’re better off with the runabout,” Sidda said as she sat down at the station to the left of the ramp down to the pilot’s station. “Especially if we have to isolate from the crew for a while.”

“We what?” Blake asked, an element of concern in her voice. “Mind answering that before we leave?”

“Shreln’s a bioterrorist?” Sidda asked, as if that was obvious, an eyebrow raising as she turned to face Blake. “Thought that was obvious.”

“Oh yeah, that.” Blake shook her head, rolling her eyes as she turned to her console. “Hey Blake, go on an away mission would you? Chase down the bioterrorist we’re after, would you? Cheers Blake.”

“Cheers Blake,” Sidda repeated, with far more pep to her comment and way, way less sass than Blake had used. “It’ll be fine. We’re bringing the best doctor in the sector with us.”

“Best doctor this side of DS47 thank you,” Blake shot back with no hesitation. “I’ll fight that three-armed freak Terax any day of the week.”

“Three-armed?” Willow asked as the Paralus’ engines hummed to life and the runabout lifted from the deck as the doors built into the bay’s roof separated. Bays 1 and 2 nominally had elevators for arrivals and departures, the main bay having been surrendered to the Republic’s complement of Valkyrie fighters. But Willow had given the bay chief distinct instructions to just open the doors. She wasn’t some barely capable shuttle pilot who needed a guiding hand, just everyone getting out of her way.

“Doctor Terax of the USS Atlantis is an Edosian,” Selu provided, her volume once more dropping to a razor above a whisper. “And perhaps we can keep the threats of violence to a minimum, yes?”

“It was a joke Levne,” Blake shot at her, glaring momentarily to emphasise the point.

“Alright, alright, settle down folks. Willow, get us on the ground in one piece, would you. Then we’ll all suit up and go take a look.” Sidda tapped at her console, then sat back, crossing her arms. “Shouldn’t be a long trip, but we need some music and Kolar Blight, I love to announce, dropped a new album.”

As the inner airlock door cycled and began to open, a hand was shoved through the widening gap, thrusting a tricorder into the air of the base. It beeped and hummed as it sampled the air, conducted a myriad of scans and then dutifully reported its findings to the four enclosed individuals who walked through when the door was finally wide enough to admit them.

“Honestly, think I’m a little insulted there isn’t a welcoming party to meet us,” Sidda said, her tone of voice oddly flat before suit comms did their trick of stripping some emotion from what was said.

“Helmets stay on,” Blake reiterated, slapping Willow’s upper arm with the back of her free hand as noticed the junior officer reaching for the latchings. “Tricorder is picking up something in the air it can’t identify.”

“As in unknown-unknown or just unknown?” Sidda asked.

“Can rattle off what it’s made of, but the structure is…unique,” Blake answered as she tapped at her tricorder. “Sending the details up to the ship, let my people and Lake’s look it over while we scrounge around.” She looked up, orientated herself with the hallway markings dutifully laid out under the sign that read Helcta Institute in Cardassian and then started marching after consulting her tricorder once more. “This way kiddies to the command centre.”

The first Cardassian they did find on their way was missed by Blake as she consulted her tricorder but elicited a shocked gasp from Willow. The woman, only a few years older than Willow herself, was on the floor straddling a door frame, one arm stretched out ahead of her as if reaching for something. It only took Blake two seconds for her pronouncement. “Dead. And with this level of decomp, I’d need to do a full autopsy for a jab at cause.”

“How long has she been dead?” Selu asked, brooding over Sidda and Blake as they inspected the dead Cardassian woman and shielding Willow who had started to pale at the sight and had made herself a bit scarce.

“Couple of days,” Blake answered after another scan, her medical tricorders auxiliary scanner waved over the body while she read from the screen. “I’d wager something cardiac or respiratory though.”

And then her tricorder blared at her angrily, demanding her full attention to flick through a series of prompts and notifications. “Willow, if you’re going to be sick, you can open your helmet,” she announced after a few moments, then looked up at the two daughters of Orion with her. “Not you two though, unless you feel like suffering from the worst hayfever you’ve ever experienced in your life.”

“I’ll pass,” Sidda answered.

“Agreed,” Selu answered as she turned to check on Willow who was doing as she’d just been allowed.

“Lake just got back to me.” Blake waved her tricorder slightly. “The unknown substance is a bioagent that the life support seems to be circulating. Deadly to Cardassians, massively irritating to Orions, harmless to Humans, Andorians, Vulcans, Tellarites…”

Sidda cut Blake off with a raced hand and a wry look. “Long-standing Federation species?”

“A genius to put something like this together.” Blake looked at her tricorder again. “Correction, it looks like it might be irritating to Vulcans after all. Not as bad as Orions, but close enough for me to say no Vulcans can come down here.”

“We should continue to the command centre,” Selu declared as she returned with Willow at her side, the young lieutenant looking pointedly away from the dead body and still pale as she held her EV suit helmet under one arm. “Perhaps there we can determine who deployed his agent.”

Sidda stood, her easy manner gone as she shook her head in agreement, offering a hand to help Blake up to her feet. “We need to know what happened here and why and we need to know before someone catches up with us and tries to blame all of this on us.”

“Would they though?” Willow squeaked out, her eyes turning to the body at their feet briefly before she paled once more and then looked sharply to the ceiling.

“First order reaction from Cardassians – blame the outsiders.” Sidda’s comment got a noncommittal shoulder shrug from Selu. “They’d investigate once the politicians got involved, but let’s have facts ready for when this goes sideways.”

By the time they got to the control room they’d counted two more bodies, one slumped over at a table in an otherwise empty breakroom, the other much like the first. The control room of the Helcta Institute’s hidden-away research facility increased their body count from three to twelve. Bodies at their stations, others clearly heading for doors and one unfortunate individual who had figured something out and had cracked open an emergency rebreather kit, but succumbed before donning the mask they had liberated.

A console bleeped for attention incessantly, advising the dead operator of the Republic’s presence in orbit, another of intruders within the facility, now really angry they had walked into the control room. And one other spoke to the new arrivals occasionally. “Helcta Institute facility, this is the USS Republic, please respond.”

“Lieutenant Jenu, Doctor Pisani here,” Blake answered as she set her own helmet down on the comms console, having found herself the closest when Republic’s ops officer tried once more to get their attention. “We just got to the control centre. No survivors.”

“Report Doctor,” Mac’s voice came over the comms.

“Either a breach in containment or mass murder.” Blake turned to face the others and the silent tomb that was the command centre. “Though the agent responsible has Doctor Shreln written all over it.”

“Have to agree with Doctor Pisani,” Sidda chipped in. “Damn, this is looking like Intelligence’s writeup of what Shreln would do.”

“Need any other help down there, Commander?” Mac asked immediately.

“Not until we figure out just what happened,” Sidda answered. “We’ll keep you in the loop sir.”

“See that you do. Republic out.”

Sidda nodded her head a few times as the comm line went dead, then looked at her fellow Orion with a neutral expression. “Right, let’s consider this a crime scene then. Lieutenant Levne, you’re our security specialist, lead the way.”