Jailbreak [✱34]

Posted on Mon Aug 31st, 2026 @ 11:37am by Frater Maat'n & Lieutenant Commander N'Tgni Creon & Senior Aerospace Specialist Mindo 'Riot' & Cadet Senior Grade Bellis & Ramielos Volsunga & Polyphron & Crewman Thomas Callaghan

1,395 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: UnderMind [4]
Location: Abandoned Underground Facility
Timeline: After [✱32]

Several hours after they had first checked on him, the Vulcans monitoring the energy trap in the lower tunnels returned to where Volsunga had been caught.

"Is it dead?" The Vulcan not responsible for the technology that trapped the Space Marine asked.

"Unclear. But surely. Nothing alive could endure more than an hour." The inventor said with logical confidence. "Switch it off." He told the other, who did so.

With the field disabled, Volsunga fell forwards, hard.

"Strange armour. Not Starfleet make. This tricorder cannot make any sense of it, or see what's inside."

"I will remove it, then." The inventor's offsider approached the massive suit of armour, and reached down to the helmet.

Before his hands had made contact, one of Volsunga's massive gauntlets reached out and grabbed him by the shin. The man was thrown about like a ragdoll as Volsunga got back to his feet, caught in his grip.

The other Vulcan looked shocked in a distinctly Vulcan way, taking several steps back through the sand. There was a flash as the captured Vulcan fired a phaser he'd held on his belt, like swatting an annoyance, Volsunga swing him into the wall of the narrow pass he'd entered when the field caught him, leaving a dark green stain on the wall, killing the Vulcan in an instant.

The other Vulcan began to run, but before he got far a plasma pistol shot bored a hole in the centre of him.

---

Captive storage grotto
A few minutes later

"I think I have it." Bellis said to the two who remained with her. it was a little ambiguous who was in charge because they were both non-commissioned and she was a cadet, but fortunately it hadn't come to anyone having to give orders. "The lights against the schematics show everyone within. This is us. I think this is Saa. This is Commander Creon. I thought these other lights might be bugs, but they seem to be slowly going out. Perhaps some kind of power source we have not seen."

"Pretty good for a cadet, ainchye?" Callaghan complimented the Tyrakhean.

"It's still glowing. Does that mean the Commander's still alive?" Mindo asked.

"I can't say certainly. But I think so." Bellis nodded.

Once again, the omen of fear that had meant the disappearance of their comrades sounded, and the rusted door began to squeak and struggle once more. This time though, the sound was different, and it lacked the usual mechanical force driving it, yet the door moved all the same, perhaps even faster than before.

Bellis moved back, hiding the tricorder once again by instinct.

Callaghan got closer, standing staunch and tall. This time, he didn't care what came through, he wasn't letting either of the women get taken while he was alive.

As the door reached its zenith, they realised it wasn't internal machinery driving it. It was being lifted by an enormous figure in pale blue armour. The armour, some would recognise, as that of Ramielos Volsunga.

"You..." Callaghan said. He had been with Commander Flynn's team when he'd first emerged from his totem, among those who'd brought him down in the hallway outside the hazmat lab. "You're not with the bugs, I'm guessing?"

"I am not." Volsunga said, looking around at them. "Come with me if you want to live." His voice was even more harsh and booming when amplified through his helmet.

"You'll get no argument from me." Callaghan turned to the women. "If he's here, it's because the Captain wanted him to be. Better him than the bugs."

Mindo nodded. Her father had told her about this guy, even though he wasn't supposed to. Apparently he was better now than he used to be.

Bellis did not know what to make of the massive space marine. Was this the gigantic man she had heard others talk about wandering the promenade from time to time? She did not resist, and followed behind Callaghan.

"Do you know if the others from your group are alive?" Volsunga asked as he let the door fall once all three were through.

"I think so." Bellis told him, removing the tricorder once more. "I believe this is Commander Creon. And this is Subcommander Saa. Wait, the Commander is moving." Bellis said, a small excitement building inside her at the idea that she had survived the bug that killed Palamas.

"She's alive?" Mindo asked.

"Maybe it didn't like her brain." Callaghan said.

"If we go down here we should reach her, eventually." Bellis said.

They passed through a narrow octagonal hallway that was still tall enough in the centre for Volsunga to pass. Out the windows, in a lower chamber, they could see warrior bugs fighting each other to the death in an open cavern area below. For what cause or purpose, none of them could say. A group of them seemed to be teaming up to slay one of the flamethrowing tankers, which incinerated those that came for it, but not quickly enough to keep them off.

"They are killing each other. Why?" Bellis asked.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Cadet." Callaghan said, not really considering whether the idiom would be lost on her as they moved.

They walked further in silence, the ambience broken only by the sound of near and distant warrior bugs fighting one another to the death with aimless fury.

Approaching from the darkness of the corridor, Commander Creon emerged as the others approached. She was visibly relived to see them, but confused as she saw the massive Volsunga in tow. "You're all alive. Good. Where the hell did he come from?"

"Your Captain sent me." Volsunga said simply.

"Alright, fine. We need to get out of here. Anyone got any ideas for how we do that?" Creon asked.

"The schematics show what I think must be a transporter. And unless the data is bad, it shows that there's a hard-linked site connected somewhere in a 300km radius. The only site that I know of it could be is Shitau. Explains how M'Hum and his followers got here and back." Bellis said.

"And if it's hard-linked, that might also explain their power problems. I think you're right, Cadet. Let's get down there, Shitau is in bad shape." Creon said. "Can we get Saa out?"

"Yes. I see no reason why we would not be able to beam her out of the tank they are holding her in." Bellis said, joy returning to her voice for the first time in hours.

"You have seen Shitau? How?" Volsunga asked Creon.

"I should let Polyphron answer that." She said, and closed her eyes for a moment, before they opened with an unmistakable flash.

"Commander Creon has allowed me to blend with her to facilitate both of our survival. I briefly took control of their leader, I was able to order the warriors to turn on one another. It was a vast telepathic being, I saw the battle at Shitau. It was a close thing, but their survival should be assured now." Polyphron said through Creon, her voice deep and flanged.

"You are alive." Bellis said with a smile.

"Innovative strategy. Parasitic occupation of the synapse leader." Volsunga said, somewhat impressed.

"Thank you. I suppose in this incidence, parasitic is appropriate. May I see that tricorder, Cadet?" Polyphron as Creon asked, taking the device gently and reviewing it. "You're right. It can only be Shitau, unless there is another bunker of this variety the exact same distance away." She handed the tricorder back. "Let's go."

Before long, they had reached the transporter room. "Looks like it still has power. Let's see if there's anyone on the other side." Polyphron said with Creon's deepened voice, tapping at the Romulan terminal using the Romulan's understanding. She returned her voice to normal, though she was still speaking.

"Is anyone receiving?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"This is Commander N'Tgni Creon. Who is this?"

"This is Frater Maat'n, technology keeper of the Order of Divine Harmony. Where are contacting us from?"

"We're in an underground bunker approximately 300 kilometres away. Clear the pad, we'll be with you shortly."

"I.. very well." Maat'n agreed quietly. The dressing down he had received from Commander Yy had taught him not to question the Starfleet way, given what the Grandmaster had apparently been up to in secret.

 

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