The Virus Hunters, Part II

Posted on Sun 30th Jan, 2022 @ 2:02pm by Lieutenant Commander Kiara Lena & Lieutenant Elliot Jericho
Edited on on Mon 7th Feb, 2022 @ 9:02am

1,639 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A Good Day to Hunt
Location: Undisclosed Asteroid field just inside Romulan space.
Timeline: MD -27 1945 hours

Elliot maneuvered the fighter close to the asteroid or at least as close as he dare to. "Okay, we are in position, prepare for transport."

Mila nodded, before realizing he probably couldn't see her. "Okay." She grabbed her equipment. "Ready."

"Our sensors are not penetrating very far into the asteroid so our beam in spot is limited to the very end of the tunnel. In that immediate vicinity, there are no life forms. I don't know about the rest of the place." He paused for a moment, "Energizing."

The cockpit of the fighter was replaced by a dimly lit tunnel. Elliot drew his phaser with one hand and pulled out a tricorder with the other, "I can see farther than this thing reaches. There is just too much interference from all the minerals in this rock, a perfect hiding place, more or less." He placed the tricorder back in its holster.

"Okay. You lead the way, and I'll do my best to not be a hindrance." She wasn't sure how much she could help, unless it was medical or scanning. She was really good at that.

"Don't worry, you're not a hindrance, and when we find what we are looking for, I'll need you. For now, just stay on my heels and keep your eyes peeled." Elliot hoped that they wouldn't get into a firefight, but this virus was pretty significant and he couldn't see this lab being unprotected.

"I can do that," Mila said, following him. She would take his lead until they got closer and she could do the job she was here to do.

The tunnel was nearly smooth as glass. It must have been cut by a machine, a big one. Just up ahead and now coming into view was a door. Elliot cautiously approached. When he got close the door didn't open on its own, it was probably locked and didn't seem to have any handle in which to 0pen it. Elliot felt around the door before coming to the conclusion that it was locked and the only way to open it was to hotwire the controls from the existing panel just to the right of the door frame. "Watch our backs while I get this thing open."

"What sort of trouble are you expecting?" Mila asked.

Elliot shrugged his shoulders and pulled a hydrospanner from a small tool kit that was strapped to his left thigh, "I don't think that this place is unattended. If it's what we believe it to be, we are really in for it." He used the tool to pry the cover off of the control panel very carefully so he could hotwire the controls. Elliot had extensive training as an Infiltration Specialist so he knew how to get in places and circumvent certain security measures. The door slid open, "Got it."

"In for it how?" she asked. "And what do you believe this to be?" And why hadn't he said something about it before now? She knew there were reasons this was not your normal assignment, but no one had given her any real details. It wasn't that she minded, but she didn't want to be caught off-guard by anything. Or anyone.

Elliot dropped what he was doing and spun around, "Were you not briefed about our mission by your Department Head?" This was a serious mission and potentially deadly. She should have been well briefed before leaving. He would have done it himself, but Captain Zed assured him that she would be fully aware of the mission and that it would be a dangerous one.

"Not really..." She sighed. "Someone else was supposed to come. I was a last-minute replacement. I was told there might be danger, but you were well-equipped to take care of anything that came up. I'm to scan for bacteria and viruses and take samples where possible."

"Well, some of that is correct, but there is more to it than that," Elliot explained. "We have been tasked to find the virus if it's here and destroy it and all files related to it. Basically, if it's here then we are to destroy this place. I am able to take care of our safety within reason, after that, I may need a little help."

"There are many ways to eradicate a virus that doesn't require destroying the facility. I hope it won't be that drastic," she said.
"But we will have to identify it and break it down before we'll know what works best. Sometimes trying to destroy a virus only makes it stronger."

Elliot shook his head, "Starfleet wants the base wiped off of this rock. They don't want the Romulans to create any more biological weapons here any time soon. If we leave it intact they could go right back to business as usual. Nothing works better on viruses than fire. Nothing gets rid of equipment and research on viruses better than explosions." Elliot smiled at the thought of an explosion, but then stopped smiling when he thought about his brush with death when he got caught in the explosion on the pirate base."Time is of the essence and I don't want to be around the virus long enough to get infected by it. The longer we are near it the stronger chance we have to be exposed to it. We just need time to verify it and the research then destroy it, that's all."

"As long as we have the research to make sure this doesn't happen again," Mila replied. "And so we can eventually find a way to fight it if it does."

Elliot shook his head, "That would mean that we would have the virus. It's too dangerous in anyone's hands. It must be destroyed, not studied and besides that, I have my orders. It and any research we find on it is to be destroyed." Elliot put his tool away and turned back to the passageway in front of him, "We should get this over with."

She disagreed. If someone had created this virus, who was to say they hadn't left with it? There were facilities where the data could safely be stored. But she also knew she couldn't argue with his orders. "After you."

He drew his phaser and passed through the doorway and walked down the dimly lit tunnel. after a dozen or so yards they came to a sharp turn. Elliot froze and held up his free hand in a fist, signaling her to stop. He hugged the wall and indicated for her to do the same. The sounds of footsteps got louder as several individuals approached.

Mila did the same, keeping behind him and holding her phaser, just in case.

The sounds of footsteps suddenly stopped. Elliot couldn't tell exactly how far away from the corner those individuals had been so he waited for them to get closer. Seconds passed then a minute. He waited for five minutes. Had they gone through a door that he couldn't hear open and close? He shrugged his shoulders and began to move around the corner.

Mila wasn't sure if the others had gone through a door or were simply waiting for them to turn the corner. She checked her tricorder. "It's clear." At least it didn't pick up any life signs. Which begged the question: where did they go?

As soon as Elliot stepped around the corner, he knew he had been mistaken. In his mind, he knew that he should have either waited longer or attempted to distract the individuals that had been waiting for him. He felt the phaser wrenched from his grasp and then a pair of hands grab him by the straps of his backpack and toss him like a rag doll. He hit the ground with a thud and slid against the wall several meters away. The wind was knocked out of him and he sucked in air as he tried to catch his breath.

Mila was a second behind him with her phaser in her hand. Fortunately, her training kicked in and she fired. As Elliot was on the ground, she didn't have to worry about hitting him. She swept the corridor, hoping to get everyone standing.

When the first Romulan was hit by the beam, the other two tried to avoid it by lunging at the female but were unsuccessful. Elliot still dazed from hitting the wall watched as the three Romulans went down. He sat there for a moment to catch his breath, thankful that he had someone to back him up.

Mila stood for a moment, half-expecting more to show up. When they didn't, she clipped her phaser to her suit and went to Elliot. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Elliot slowly nodded, "I think so." He slowly got up and looked around for his phaser. Spotting it, he went and retrieved it. "Let's keep moving. I don't think we have much time."

She nodded. No. The more time they spent here, the more chances they'd have to get caught and she, for one, wanted to spend as little time as possible here. Especially now.

For a few minutes everything was quiet. There was no resistance at all and that seemed to concern Elliot. Had the Romulans thought the base so cleverly concealed that they needn't have much security?

He kept moving cautiously down the corridor made of rock until they came across a heavy reinforced blast door. There was a control panel just to the right of the door. "Watch our back while I try to open the door."

"Okay," she whispered. Mila was happy to let him do this part. She felt woefully unprepared for this venture. But then, her job was as a medic, and that was something she was very good at. She turned to face the way they'd come and watched.


TBC......

 

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