The Star Eagle Adventures: QD2 - State of Entanglement

[CeJay]

22


Nora Laas had always prided herself on being able to read people quickly, which as far as she was concerned was an essential skill for a security officer in order to rapidly determine if a person posed a threat to the people she had taken an oath to protect. It was one of the reasons—she liked to believe—why she had been so successful in her career and which had led her to become the chief of security on a ship of the line before she had turned thirty.

That had been five years ago and now she was forced to wonder if those senses had begun to dull with age since she had absolutely no idea what to make of the odd, human-looking man who had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, wearing a dark and old-fashioned two-piece suit and tie and petting a peculiar looking animal nestled in his arms.

Of course, this didn’t stop her from keeping her phaser rifle leveled at the man who had identified himself as Gary Seven even if he outwardly appeared non-threatening and had yet to make a single hostile gesture. If there was one thing Laas was sure of, it was that appearances could be highly deceptive and that only a fool based their threat analysis solely on what they could see.

Diamond’s thought process seemed well-aligned to her own, as she had quickly brought up her rifle as well, covering the stranger from a different angle but keeping her distance, not too close to allow him to strike at her but close enough to make sure she wouldn’t miss if she had to take him down.

“As for my companion here,” the man said after he had revealed his name and indicating the animal in his arms. “This is Isis,” he added and then considered Laas again, taking specific note of the weapon pointed at him. “I can assure you that there is no need for that. Not that it could harm me in my current state.”

“You’ll forgive me if I err on the side of not trusting the stranger who just appeared out of nowhere. At least until you give us more than your name and that of your pet,” Laas said, keeping a firm hold of her rifle.

“I don’t know how much time we have,” he said and took a step away from her, considering his surroundings while Laas and Diamond continued to track him with their weapons. “I fear not much at all. And time is going to be critical for what we—“

He disappeared even while speaking. To Laas it looked like he was literally breaking up, like a comm. signal overloaded by static. His entire being became distorted length-wise as if he was being stretched from either end before he was gone as quickly as he had appeared.

“That was strange,” Louise said, stepping closer to the point where he had stood moments ago, using her tricorder to get some answers but apparently not getting any judging by the way she was shaking her head.

“Lieutenant?”

Nora turned to see that Xylion was getting back on his feet following the conclusion of the mind-link. Bensu and Ivory took a moment longer to recover from the experience and were still sitting on the floor.

“We just had an unexpected visitor,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at the science officer but not willing to turn away from where the odd stranger had just disappeared in case he returned.

Xylion just raised an eyebrow.

“He called himself—“

“Gary Seven,” said Bensu from where he was sitting on the floor.

She nodded. “Yes. You know of him?”

“No.”

She responded with a frown. “Okay. I think that warrants a bit more of an explanation on your part.”

Bensu stood. “Trust me, Lieutenant, I would love to be able to explain just half the things that have been happening lately. All I can say is that I could sense his presence. He is the intelligence I made contact with earlier.”

“I sensed his presence as well,” Xylion said. “However, I am curious how you were able to deduce his name.”

Bensu’s expression seemed to say enough. He had no earthly idea.

“I’d like to know why he appeared human,” Hopkins said after having given up trying to learn anything from her tricorder.

“Or why he had a cat with him,” said Diamond as she stowed away her rifle for now to look after her fellow Niner still sitting on the floor. From what Laas could see, Ivory was fine, just slightly disorientated from the mind-link experience. She did not envy her.

“It may be possible that you misinterpreted what you perceived,” said Xylion, clearly not convinced of what he was being told the rest of the away team had seen.

“My cousin back in Ottawa had a cat just like that when she was younger,” said Hopkins. “I know what I saw.”

But Xylion appeared to remain dubious.

The man who called himself Gary Seven reappeared not a moment later but this time behind them. Laas quickly had her phaser up again but not quite as quickly as Diamond. The recovered Ivory followed suit not a moment later.

Seven was sans pet this time and his image remained distorted, when he spoke, his voice sounded hollow and distant. “I apologize but something or someone appears to be opposing my presence here and it is taking an extraordinary effort to appear at all.”

Xylion took a moment to consider Seven. “Fascinating.”

“I don’t have much time to explain, at least not under our present circumstances but it is vital that we talk,” he said just before he blinked out of existence again only to reappear moments later. He took a few steps forward, ignoring, for now, the three phaser rifles pointed at him and instead paying closer attention to Xylion and then Ivory. “I thought I sensed the presence of Vulcans. You created a telepathic connection of sorts which made it possible for me to reach you but it won’t last.”

“How long do you believe you can maintain your connection?” Xylion said.

Seven shook his head, blinking out yet again. “Not long, perhaps a few more minutes. You will need to create another telepathic link, something more powerful. It’s the only way to—“ He disappeared again before he could finish the sentence.

Laas and the others waited patiently for a couple of minutes but Seven did not come back this time. She turned to Xylion. “How does he think we could create a more powerful mind-link? We don’t have access to any relevant equipment.”

“There might be a way. However, it would require the efforts of the entire away team.”
“I don’t think I like where this is going,” Laas said as she considered the science officer suspiciously.

But Bensu was already nodding. “Seven was right in saying that something is actively opposing us trying to create a psionic connection with him. I could sense it in our mind-link.”

“Overcoming this opposition will require a more concentrated effort on our part, one we might be able to generate if we added additional psionic energy to the link,” Xylion said.

“But we don’t have access to any additional telepaths,” said Hopkins.

“Creating a mind-link with individuals who possess active telepathic abilities would be preferable and likely garner better results,” the science officer said. “But even creating a link with non-telepaths should strengthen our position to create a more stable connection with Gary Seven.”

“I was afraid you were going to suggest something like that,” Hopkins said and stepped away as if to think about what he had said.

Laas hated every part of the idea and differently to Louise, she was not shy to say as much. “You can’t possibly be serious. Bajorans don’t possess whatever it is that lets you use telepathic powers and last time I checked, neither do humans. How is this even supposed to work?”

“Although you are correct that you do not physically possess the required paracortex functions to initiate telepathic activity, it is well-documented that Bajorans and other races can receive and on occasions generate psionic energy. I believe that with my guidance, I will be able to guide your minds to partake and contribute to the mind-link to a sufficient degree to allow us to re-establish a connection with Gary Seven.”

Laas stared back at Xylion as if he had just suggested a spacewalk without an EVA suit. She had no immediate words to offer. Intellectually, she knew that he was right. She had heard of stories of non-telepathic species taking part in psionic events, be it mind-melds or something as simple as receiving telepathic messages, but instinctively speaking she abhorred the very every idea of sharing her mind with not just one person but an entire group. To her, nobody had the right to enter her head; it was the last true bastion of privacy.

Xylion seemed to sense her concerns. “I can ensure that the process will be as least invasive as possible.”

“But you cannot guarantee that.”

“Indeed, not,” he was quick to admit.

“And how do we even know that this Gary Seven person is on our side? He could be involved with these subspace aliens. For all we know, he’s working for them,” she said as she crossed her arms in front of her.

“That is possible but unlikely. Based on what we’ve been able to determine from the previous mind-links Gary Seven is facing powerful resistance from establishing a connection with us, presumably originating from the subspace aliens. And considering what we understand this particle accelerator to be capable of, we will require any assistance we can secure if we wish to stop it from annihilating another universe.”

Laas had to admit that what Xylion was saying was making sense and that perhaps she was just looking for an excuse to avoid having to do as he had suggested.

She glanced around the room to consider the faces of the rest of the away team, all now looking to her as if awaiting her decision. She was not the most senior officer present, that distinction went to Xylion, and in truth, she was not used to be a decision-maker on an away mission.

Diamond was slowly shaking her head, clearly just as reluctant of partaking in a telepathic experience. The Special Missions operative was very much cut from the same cloth as she was herself, she had since learned. Like the rest of her team, she was a woman of action and ready to face any challenges that put her life and limb at risk. But she was not so ready to put her mind on the line like had been suggested.

Ivory, on the other hand, the operative who had already taken part in the initially mind-link, was much harder to read. Bensu kept his expression carefully neutral as well as if he was making an effort to try and not pressure her decision.

Louise on the other hand did a very poor job of disguising her feelings. More than anyone else, she looked downright perturbed. Laas thought she knew why that was.

“As with Ivory earlier, I cannot and will not order you to participate in the mind-link, but I would like you to remember what is at stake,” he said after she had not spoken for a moment. Clearly, she was not the only one who had to make this decision but Xylion had apparently deduced that the rest of the away team would follow her example.

When Louise's eyes were taking on a distinctively pleading look, Laas approached her and they both took a few steps away from the others for a modicum of privacy. Laas had no illusions that every other eye of the team still rested on her back.

“I can’t do this, Laas,” Louise whispered.

“Do you think I want to? Exposing myself like that? Give me a weapon and an enemy I can see. Hells, I’d rather go up against a Jem’Hadar or a Borg drone than letting people mess around inside my head.”

“It’s not just that,” she said and threw a short, furtive glance over her shoulder and towards Xylion.

She uttered a sigh. She understood, of course, about the feelings she’d had for the stoic science officer. Laas wasn’t sure anymore how her friend felt about the Vulcan and maybe neither did Louise. Perhaps that’s what scared the engineer the most.

Laas was also mindful that the clock was ticking. Perhaps for an entire universe. “As much as I hate this, Lou, Xylion is right. And we can’t let personal issues interfere with this.”

It took her a moment but Louise finally offered a small, hesitant nod.

She took one more deep breath and then turned back to face Xylion. “All right, how do we do this?”

 

[Galen4]

There's all kinds of funny business going on now. First, like Michael, I'm glad to see Jarik getting some long awaited just desserts. Although, this wasn't the best time. Michael's blood-thirsty counterpart is reckless and has now likely given away their location.

And Gary Seven!! Love this character. His appearance was a surprise and I can't wait to see what you do with him. I don't recall if he's cropped up in the UT universe before now, but all I can say is he couldn't be in better hands. Wonder how he's involved in this? Guess we're all about to find out.

Of course, our heroes have to all put their telepathic heads together first, which is always dangerous!

Keep it coming!

 

[CeJay]

23


That his counterpart suffered from serious anger issues was difficult to deny after the way he had lashed out against Jarik the moment he had been beamed onboard. And even after he had knocked the unprepared Vulcan onto his back and as he hovered over his prone form, Michael was sure that he could see murder in the other Captain Owens’ eyes.

And yet his temperament was not his most pressing concern at the present moment. There was also the little matter of Altee and his base on the surface being made aware of Jarik’s abduction and likely of his and his people’s escape as well. Not to mention the quickly approaching Preserver fleet which was destined for a showdown with Altee’s forces and with them positioned squarely in the middle of things.

And then of course there was his father and the Prism artifact they required to get back home, both still on the surface and now seemingly frustratingly out of reach.

“Captain, I need to get in touch with my ship,” Michael told his counterpart.

But the other man was barely paying him any attention, all his focus, for now, seemed to be reserved for Jarik. “Later,” he said and then reached down to grab hold of the dazed man and pull him off the floor. “First the two of us are going to have a little talk.”

It was clear that there was little chance to alter his counterpart’s priorities and Michael huddled with Leva and the liberated Niners around the transporter console. “Commander,” he said quietly, “can you access subspace communications from here to reach Eagle?”

Leva, who had apparently been thinking the same thing, had already been working at the console and was quickly shaking his head. “Comm systems are restricted to the bridge, I can’t get access.”

Michael had guessed as much. “I’ll have to use the subdermal communicator,” he said quietly and hoping that it had enough power left to deliver a message to Star.

The doors to the transporter room opened and a team of half a dozen armed security officers rushed inside, led by a familiar face. On his ship, in his universe, José Carlos was Nora’s deputy but here it looked as if the burly Hispanic man was in charge of security. He quickly surveyed the scene, his surprise at finding two versions of his commanding officer palpable. “Captain?”

“José, we have some guests,” Owens said even while he was still holding on to the noticeably groggy Jarik by the lapel of his jacket. “Mister Jarik and I are going to have a talk. Keep our new friends here close,” he said and then dragged Jarik off the platform and towards the doors.

“Yes, sir,” he said and indicated for his men to guard the others in the room.

Fearing he wouldn’t get another chance soon, Michael inconspicuously reached for his neck and gingerly tapped against the subdermal transponder implanted there, hoping that it would be enough to get a message to Star, however, the way it immediately began to gently vibrate against his skin told him that it was likely not successful in establishing a link. It had never been designed for repeat use.

Owens pushed Jarik out into the corridor and the half-Vulcan seemed far too dazed to offer much resistance.

Michael, Leva, and the Niners had little choice but to follow along as they were prodded by the security team.

The look in Sensy’s eyes made it difficult to hide that the man was eager to take action but Michael didn’t believe this to be the right time, not while once again outnumbered by armed guards and stuck on a starship with no immediate escape routes. He told the SMT leader as much by slightly shaking his head as they were herded outside.

Owens was apparently far too riled up to consider taking his prisoner to the brig or an interrogation room and instead dragged him right towards a nearby door. Michael recalled that on his Eagle that room would have been one of the science labs.

The entire party followed Owens into the room and Michael quickly found that on this ship the room had been converted into a storage unit, apparently there hadn’t been much need for labs while fighting a civil war.

Two young crewmen were working in the room.

“Get out,” Owens hissed at them and they immediately darted for the exit even while Michael, the rest of the away team, and their security escort streamed inside.

Owens practically threw Jarik towards a chair where the man landed awkwardly.

Before he could pay any more attention to his prisoner, the entire room shook hard, nearly causing him and the others to lose their footing. Owens turned towards his security chief. “What the hell is going on?”

Carlos had rushed over to a computer console, presumably to get an update from the bridge. “It’s the base on Arkaria IX, sir. They have opened fire. Shields are up and holding,” he said before he turned to his captain for further orders.

“Altee can go straight to hell as far as I care.”

“There are also at least a dozen starships closing in on our position, both Guardians and Preservers. They’ll reach us in less than five minutes.”

“Break orbit, get us out of here,” Owens said even as his poisonous glare remained on the groggy Jarik slumped in the chair.

Michael took a step forward which immediately elicited a response from the security team surrounding him. “My father is still down there.”

Owens turned to face his double. “And what do you suggest we do about that now? We’re sitting duck out here.”

Michael wanted to argue that if he had not taken such rush actions earlier, perhaps they would have found a way to retrieve both his father and the Prism from Altee’s clutches before the Preserver fleet reached them. Of course, that ship had now sailed and he had to begrudgingly agree that their options were bleak.

The captain gestured towards Carlos. “Do it, Lieutenant. Put some distance between us and those ships,” he said and then turned back to Jarik. “I don’t want to be disturbed while I’m tending to our very special guest here.”

The security officer followed the order and contacted the bridge to relay the instructions accordingly.

“Before you do anything. Let’s search him,” Michael said in the unlikely hope that perhaps Jarik had the Exhibitor on him.

Owens turned his head to glare at Michael over his shoulder, clearly not appreciating being given orders on his ship.

“He may carry weapons,” Michael said quickly, not wishing to share too much with the other Owens unless he absolutely had to. It was becoming increasingly obvious to him that although this man looked and sounded just like him, the differences were stark enough that he couldn’t allow himself to trust him.

Owens uttered a heavy sigh. “Fine, but let’s be quick about it.”

Michael gave the task to Leva who quickly stepped up to Jarik and first ran his tricorder over him and then, in order to be thorough, also padded him down manually. “I got something,” he said as he reached inside the sitting man’s jacket.

Michael tensed up, as did the security team which raised its weapons.

Leva retrieved a small silvery device which led Michael to think that his hunch had paid off.

“It’s a hypo-spray,” Leva said as he looked back at his commanding officer.

Owens snatched the device out of Leva’s hand and considered it briefly. “I suppose he could have used that as a weapon,” he said and then no longer interested in the medical device, tossed it across the room and far out of Jarik’s reach. “Anything else?”

Leva shook his head as he stood back up and then made his way to where the hypo had landed to retrieve it, offering Michael an apologetic glance.

“Good,” Owens said and took the spot Leva had vacated, hovering over Jarik who was slowly getting back around, looking up at the man looming above him through half-open eyes. “I have some questions and the way you answer them will very much determine how things will go for you.”

When Jarik paid him very little attention, Owens grabbed hold of him by the collar of his shirt to lift him slightly, only to punch him right in the face. “You decide how easy this’ll go for everyone. Are you tracking this?”

“You are wasting your time,” Jarik said, spitting out a wallop of spit mixed with green blood to the floor.

“Maybe,” Owens shot back. “But’s it’s my time to waste and who knows, I might even enjoy it. Now, I want Star. I know you worked with her when she killed my brother. Tell me where she is.”

Michael was appalled by the way his counterpart carried out his interrogation. “Captain, this man can’t possibly know about that. He came here with us. He is from our universe and would not have been involved in your brother’s death.”

Owens, still holding on to Jarik’s shirt with a balled fist turned towards Michael. “How can you be sure?”

“He was taken from my ship along with my father,” Michael said.

“Taken by Star.”

Michael nodded reluctantly. “Yes, but that doesn’t mean that he knows her.”

“You said it yourself, he has betrayed you and made a deal with Altee. Which means, one way or another, he is working with her.”

Michael could tell that Owens really wanted to believe this. Maybe even needed to believe it. “If I’m right we’ll get nothing out of him this way. Allow me to ask a few questions.”

Owens made no move to hand over his prisoner.

“If we get nothing, you can still interrogate him your way until your knuckles bleed,” he said when Owens wasn’t being swayed.

The other man grinned. “We’ve only just met and you already know me better than most. Wonder if it's because there is a little bit of me in you?”

“I sincerely hope not.”

“We’ll see,” he said and let go of Jarik to allow him to slump back into the chair. “Ask your question but make it quick. Patience is not one of my better attributes.”

Michael stepped up to Jarik who looked up at the same face whose owner had just pummeled him repeatedly. The quickly swelling bruises on his face bearing testament. As much as Michael had come to distrust and despise Jarik over the last few days, he still hated seeing him like this. A small part of him still held out hope that perhaps they could eventually find a way to be friends again. Although, admittedly, he knew that it would be a long and difficult road to get there.

“Where’s my father?”

Jarik wiped some more blood from his face. “He’s still down there. Still alive. But I think you know that he is not doing very well,” he added and then began to cough.

“What about the device? Does Altee have it?”

The cough turned into laughter. Michael didn’t fully understand why.

“What exactly amuses you?” The other Owens asked who had remained close by. “Mind sharing the joke?”

“The joke?” Jarik said and then began to nod slowly. “I suppose it is a joke, isn’t it?” he said but kept his eyes on the man who wasn’t native to this universe.

“What are you talking about?” Michael asked.

“I just find it hilarious how blind you have been this whole time,” he continued, alternatively coughing and laughing, creating a terribly irritating hacking sound. “Your father has been working with Altee. They’ve planned all this together to take control of the Ring.”

Michael shook his head.

“Oh, you find that difficult to believe? Really? Is it any more unexpected than seeing your old man coming back from the dead?”

Michael took a step back.

Owens took one forward. “This is not getting us anywhere,” he said and then unceremoniously grabbed hold of Jarik again to use his face as a punching bag, not even bothering to ask questions at first, just hitting him over and over again until green blood was beginning to pour down the half-Vulcan's face. “I can drag this out for hours before I find a way to kill you in the most painful way I can think of. Or you can give me Star.”

When he finally took a break from beating Jarik to a pulp, the half-Vulcan was coughing so hard he had tears in his eyes and was fighting for each breath of air, and with his last bit of strength he feebly reached out towards something.

Michael followed his line of sight and realized that he was looking at Leva, or rather the hypo-spray he was holding. He thought he understood. “Captain, he’s dying. He needs what's in the hypo. Jarik suffers from a degenerative disease.”

But Owens didn’t seem to listen and just went back to striking him with his fist, his eyes wide with mad obsession.

Michael knew he had to stop this and intervened, reaching out for his counterpart and pulling him back.

Owens whirled around and took a swing at Michael who managed to deflect the blow but only enough to soften it. He still stumbled backward and his chin felt on fire. When he reached for it to try and soothe the pain, he came away with blood. But it was green.

Leva and the Niners quickly moved forward to help their captain but so did Eagle’s security detail, and since they were the ones armed, there was little the away team could do.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Owens fumed.

Michael massaged his chin. “You get nothing out of him if he’s dead.”

Owens looked back towards the bloodied and gasping Jarik who was barely able to keep himself upright in the chair. Then he walked over to Leva and took the hypo out of his hand before returning to the dying man. “Tell me how to find Star and you get your precious medicine,” he said, holding the device just outside of his reach.

“Cloaked … ship,” he said between gasps.

Owens nodded slowly. “That makes sense. It’s how she’s been able to avoid me all this time.” He looked around briefly and then found what he was looking for. He picked up a data padd sitting on a storage crate and threw it into Jarik’s lap. “I want the cloaking frequency. Give me that and I’ll give you what you need.”

Jarik was apparently no longer in any kind of state to offer opposition and instead quickly tapped away on the padd and then held it out for Owens in a trembling and blood dripping hand.

The captain calmly took the device and looked it over.

“Hand him the hypo,” Michael said sharply.

Owens looked back up, first at Michael, then at the gasping man in the chair. Finally, he tossed the medical injector at Jarik who caught it clumsily and after some effort managed to apply it to his neck.

The results were almost immediate as he quickly began to breathe more normally again.

Owens handed the padd to Carlos. “Relay these details to the bridge. I want a search pattern in place within the hour. Star is nearby, I can sense her, and this time she isn’t getting away.”

Carlos nodded and did as he was told.

Owens stepped closer to his counterpart next. “Let me ask you something, Captain. If this man truly is from your universe, if he’s only been here for less than a day as you say, how come he knows the exact configuration of Tazla Star’s cloaking device?”

Michael had no answer as he stared back at the slowly recovering Jarik. It was feasible, of course, that he had learned this when he had been taken from Eagle after their arrival in this universe, or that perhaps it had been shared with him after he had agreed to work with Altee. Or maybe, in his desperation, Jarik had simply provided a believable but random frequency in hopes it would give him access to the life-saving hypo.

Apparently, Owens had not expected a reply and instead headed for the doors. He stopped short of leaving the room and turned back. “I think he may have been right about something else. I think you may have been played for a fool,” he said, reached for his phaser, and then fired it at Jarik.

Michael watched on helplessly and in shock as his friend and former Academy roommate disintegrated in front of his eyes.

 

[admiralelm11]

Jarik couldn't have met a better rate. Will anyone miss him?

 

[Galen4]

Damn. Evil Owens don’t play.

I wonder if it was Jarik Prime who just died or his counterpart? If it was our Jarik then I say good riddance.

But now what? The chances of finding the Prism and rescuing Michael’s father are getting slimmer by the moment.

Jarik’s revelation makes sense but will only add to Michael’s grief. It may also prove to be the final nail in the coffin regarding his relationship with Owens Sr.

Waiting for more as always!

 

[CeJay]

24


She ran like her life depended on it.

In fact, it did.

At her last count, at least five Cardassian soldiers were nipping at her heels, dead-set on capturing her if possible or outright cutting her down if bringing her in alive proved too difficult.

At least she thought it had been five, in truth, she hadn’t been able to tell for sure while dodging their barrage of phaser fire which had started the moment the patrol had first encountered her.

The Cardies were angry and probably had every right to be after she had successfully set off a photon bomb just outside the heavily guarded main Cardassian garrison for Rakantha Province a couple of hours earlier.

As had been their standard practice, her cell of mostly teenaged resistance fighters had split up after the attack in order to improve their chances to avoid the inevitable manhunt that would follow.

Her luck which had served her quite well over the last few months had finally run its course when a patrol had stumbled over her practically by accident and she had spent the last hour or so desperately attempting to avoid the soldiers chasing her, fully aware that the longer the pursuit carried on, the higher the chances that they’d catch up with her. There was little doubt that the Cardassians had already called in for reinforcements, a luxury she didn’t have access to as a guerilla fighter facing an enemy with far superior numbers and resources.

She allowed a small smirk to cross her dirty face when she spotted the first signs of the swamp.

The expansive bog with its hip-high and muddy water, its large trees, its infestation of Rakonian swamp rats, and fog so thick it could be cut with a phaser was one of the province’s most impassable regions and an ideal location to throw off pursuers, especially those unfamiliar with the treacherous terrain.

She, of course, had grown up in this place and knew exactly which trails were relatively safe and which ones led right into the worst sandbanks where one could easily lose their footing and drown, particularly in the gloom after sundown with only Bajor’s moons providing any meaningful light.

The mixture of darkness, fog, and mud was a deadly combination she had exploited on many occasions to throw Cardassians off her trail and there was little to make her believe that this time would be any different.

And yet, almost as soon as she had passed the first large trees growing out of the waters and had entered the misty surroundings, she could tell that something was very wrong.

She slowed the frantic pace she had kept up for nearly an hour for the first time, partly because it would have been hazardous, not to mention challenging, to attempt and cross the swamp at an all outrun. But she came to a complete standstill when she suddenly and inexplicably could no longer tell which direction would deliver her to safety, almost as if she had never entered the bog before.

Equally as curious was the fact that an unnatural quietness had fallen over the swamp. Gone were the angry shouts and curses of her pursuers, and neither could she hear the usually persistent squeaks of the large rat population that made this place it's home, nor sounds of birds or even insects.

The swamp was perfectly still, dead even.

She turned slowly to try and reorient herself, to find anything that would indicate which direction she needed to take but rather than reaffirming the right path, her confusion only grew, soon she wasn’t able to tell which direction she had come from. The fog appeared thicker now than ever before, making it practically impossible to see more than two meters in any direction.

Then she heard the faint voice, seemingly coming from somewhere behind her. Whatever confusion she was experiencing, it seemed her pursuers had not encountered any such challenges and were closing in on her.

She did what she always did when she feared her enemy was close by and ready to pounce on her. She went into a crouch and slowed her breathing. Then she closed her eyes trying to concentrate on the movements of her opponents.

It worked.

He was right behind her.

She leaped into action.

“Lieutenant.”

She ignored the strange-sounding voice and struck out through the fog, letting her instinct guide her in lieu of being able to see her pursuer.

She found her target.

“Lieutenant.”

With a mixture of well-practiced moves and the desperation of a young woman fighting for her life, she grabbed hold of the enemy and managed to rip him off his feet and straight into the water, intending on drowning the trooper before he could call for her help.

As expected, he struggled against her as she forced him into the swamp water with all her strength. She was no stranger to killing a man with her bare hands and whenever she had been forced into that situation, it usually helped to not think of her enemy as a man at all.

“Lieutenant,” he gasped again as his face briefly broke the surface of the muddy water.

She applied more force, understanding perfectly well that at this moment it was either him or her, that if she didn’t follow through now, she’d never get another chance.

And yet he was much stronger than she had anticipated, stronger than most Cardassians she had ever fought.

“Nora.”

She hesitated for a moment when she heard her name.

“Laas.”

She realized for the first time that the face of the man she was trying to kill wasn’t Cardassian at all but much darker and smoother than it had any right to be.

And it was familiar.

The head lifted out of the water enough for her to spot his ears which were clearly not Cardassian, not exactly Bajoran either. They were Vulcan.

She let go suddenly and stumbled backward.

There were no Vulcans on Bajor, at least none she knew off. In fact, she was fairly certain that she had never seen a Vulcan in her life and yet she knew this man. Knew him well.

Her head spinning now, she stumbled over the thick roots of a tree behind her and landed in the knee-high mud herself even while she watched on wide-eyed as the Vulcan man stood up from where she had tried to drown him.

“Lieutenant Nora, do you recognize me?”

She nodded despite herself.

“You are Lieutenant Nora Laas, chief of security on the Starfleet vessel USS Eagle. You are currently taking part in a shared mind-link,” he said calmly as he kept his eyes on her, showing no evidence that he had come close to drowning in the swamp moments earlier.

It all came back to her in an instant. “This is all in my head?”

“In a matter of speaking, yes.”

It was only now that she spotted the other figures around her. She couldn’t tell with certainty if they’d always been there or if they had only just emerged from the fog.

She immediately recognized Louise, Bensu, Ivory, and Diamond.

Lou promptly walked over to her and held out a hand which Laas quickly took, allowing her friend to pull her back onto her feet. “Laas, are you all right?”

“A little disoriented to be honest.”

Louise nodded. “You’re not the only one.”

“What is this place?” Bensu said.

“It’s a swamp on Bajor close to where I grew up,” she said and then looked towards Xylion. “The better question is, why are we here?”

“Creating a mind-link is not an exact science, certainly not when involving the less disciplined minds of non-telepaths. Certain aberrations are not entirely unexpected,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “Undisciplined minds? I’ll try not to take offense.”

“None was intended.”

“A warning would have been nice,” she said as she began to wipe the thick mud off her uniform but then stopped when she remembered that none of this was real in the first place.

“Although I anticipated some difficulties, I had no way of knowing the exact shape they would take,” he said as he considered his surroundings.

“So, does this mean we’re all inside Laas’ head right now? Is that what’s happening here?” said Lou.

“Physically, our bodies remain in the same position they were when we commenced the mind-link in the Ring’s command room. However, we are currently experiencing a shared telepathic connection powered by the efforts of the telepaths in our link. But I fear the connection is currently unstable.”

“Because of the undisciplined minds in the link,” Laas said, not entirely able to keep her voice free of indignation.

Xylion offered a small nod. “Yes. Until we can find a way to stabilize the connection, we might experience—“

The Bajoran swamp disappeared in front of her eyes, almost as if somebody had suddenly torn away a veil on which it had been painted and Laas and the others found themselves somewhere else entirely.

The transition was nothing less than startling, more abrupt and immediate than the fastest transporter that had ever whisked her through time and space and it left her dazzled with her mind spinning.

The dark, foggy bog had been replaced by a brightly-lit room, sparsely decorated and judging from the expansive vista observable through a large window, located in a desert-like environment.

The rest of the away team was as startled as she was by this unexpected change of scenery, everyone but Xylion, it appeared.

The Vulcan stood slightly apart from the others, busying himself at a standing computer workstation and paying no attention to the rest of the team or the fact that they had just been yanked to this location without warning.

“What … happened?” Louise said, sounding out of breath from the experience.

She shook her head as she slowly took in their surroundings. While she had been perfectly familiar with the swamp they had occupied moments earlier, she couldn’t place this new locale at all. Outside the window, she could spot a very bright sun high in the sky and at least one other star which was likely part of the same planetary system. This didn’t exactly narrow their options since binary and tertiary star systems were abundant in the known galaxy.

“Vulcan.”

Laas turned to look at Ivory who had taken a step closer to the window and then turned to regard her. She said nothing further as if she had explained everything.

Louise considered her for a moment and then also turned towards Laas. “We must be inside another memory. And if this is Vulcan and the memory isn’t Ivory’s.”

She didn’t have to finish the thought as Laas reached the same conclusion at the same time. She turned to find the only other Vulcan in the team again, finding him still working at the computer station, seemingly unconcerned with their situation. “Commander.”

He didn’t respond.

Louise put a hand on her shoulder which caused her to look at the chief engineer. “If this is anything like the last one, it’ll be difficult to reach him.”

She nodded, remembering how real it had felt reliving her memory of trying to drown the Cardassian soldier in the swamp, almost as if she had been right back in that moment which had taken place over ten years earlier.

The sound of the door annunciator caught everyone by surprise again, and she whipped around towards the room’s only entrance.

“Enter,” said Xylion calmly.

The doors parted and a woman stepped inside. Laas recognized her. She was Vulcan and certainly attractive, wearing just a hint of facial makeup and the strands of bright blonde hair in her otherwise traditionally cut Vulcan hairstyle made her stand-out from much of her peers. Laas had met this woman years earlier when she had visited Eagle along with a diplomatic delegation. K’tera had been Xylion’s betrothed and she had been killed only a few days after she had come aboard.

“Xylion, I trust you have made a decision,” she said with little preamble as she stepped further into the room, paying no attention to the rest of the away team which was clearly invisible to her.

Xylion turned away from his console. “I have. I must accept the Institute’s offer to join the Soval’s mission as such an opportunity will likely not repeat itself in some time.”

She offered a brief nod, seemingly not surprised by the news. “You wish to delay our espousal,” she said. It wasn’t framed as a question.

“My decision will necessitate that we do.”

“By three years?” she said.

“That is the planned length of the expedition.”

“I understand.”

Xylion took a small step towards her. “My commitment to our future has not changed because of this assignment.”

She offered a little smile in response, making it quite clear that K’tera was not the average Vulcan. “It is just that your career is of more importance to you.”

“That is incorrect. However, it is impossible to deny the impact the Soval’s expedition will have on our current understanding of astrophysics and how my contribution to this research is likely to significantly advance the field. If I were not to take part in this expedition now, the probability that such advances will not take place within our lifetimes is high. On the other hand, the probability of our betrothal taking place if I am to join the Soval at this time remains above seventy-five percent.”

“Your logic appears flawless. As always.”

He offered a brief nod as if she had offered him a compliment. “You accept my decision?”

She took a moment to let her eyes wander across the room, towards the window and then slowly back to him. “I wasn’t under the impression I had a choice in the matter.”

Xylion looked surprisingly irritated by her response. “I apologize if I have given you that impression. It was not my intention.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, Xylion. This is your decision and you have made it. I will await your return,” she said and then raised her right hand to offer the traditional Vulcan v-shaped hand salute.

He mirrored the move. “Live long and prosper, K’tera.”

Laas couldn’t help but wince at hearing those words, knowing full well that in her case the salutations would actually turn out to be a dark omen.

“You as well,” she said, hesitated just a moment longer before she turned her back to him and walked out of the room again.

Xylion looked after her, keeping his eyes on the door even after she had left. After a few and empty seconds, he returned to his computer station.

He didn’t make it all the way there. Instead, he stopped suddenly and reached out for his head

Louise stepped closer. “Xylion, can you hear me?”

He turned back and after a moment he seemed to recognize her. “Yes.”

“What happened?” Laas asked.

“It appears the instability in our shared mind-link is causing us to jump to random memories within our subconscious,” he said as he considered his surroundings. “A fascinating telepathic phenomenon I have not previously witnessed and one worth further study.”

“Yes, really interesting,” Laas said, unable to keep a tinge of sarcasm from leaking into her tone. “I think our time might be better put to use trying to stabilize this mind-gizmo thing and try to accomplish what we set out to do.”

“Agreed.”

But apparently, Lou wasn’t quite ready to give up on what she had seen. “Why this memory? Do you regret it? Do you regret that you postponed your marriage to K’tera to pursue your career?” Hopkins said and then blushed immediately, realizing that perhaps she had crossed a line.

“I—” Xylion uncharacteristically sopped himself as he looked back towards the doors where the memory of K’tera had walked out of his apartment and likely out of his life as well, just a moment earlier.

 

[CeJay]

He didn’t get a chance to complete his thoughts and once again, the façade of Vulcan shattered unexpectedly to be replaced with yet another location.

Still not used to these sudden transitions, it left Laas woozy yet again and she stumbled slightly until Xylion, standing next to her, steadied her. She offered him a grateful look and then tried to focus on their new location. “Where are we now?”

They stood in a large and triangular-shaped open-air arena of sorts, with three sides of stands surrounding a wide space with a sizeable three-sided table at its center.

The terraces which must have allowed enough room for hundreds of spectators were mostly empty but at least thirty people stood around that central table. Laas noticed that all their physical attributes matched quite closely to Bensu’s, making it obvious that they had to be seeing one of his memories.

This marked the first time Laas had seen another member of Bensu’s species, a race she hadn’t even been aware of before she had met the enigmatic bartender and even now, she couldn’t name his people or had the slightest inkling where they hailed from.

It seemed this planet, wherever it may have been, held a significant population of his people, may even have been their homeworld.

There wasn’t much to see beyond the tall walls of the building they found themselves in, but even in this memory construct, she could feel an oppressive heat she thought was even worse than the dry climate of Vulcan, which was particularly peculiar since it appeared to be nighttime.

“The vote is on resolution five-nine-eight-nine, resource allocation to the space program,” said an elderly man who stood slightly apart from the others at the narrowest end of the large table. “The resolution recommends that these funds should be reallocated to the transference project to improve current supply shortages. How do you vote?”

The forty or so delegates around the table went in order, each one entering their vote into the record. By the time half had cast their vote, it seemed clear that these delegates seemed fairly evenly split on the issue.

Laas wasn’t a great admirer of politics, usually preferring action to the long and drawn-out process which involved a great deal of talking and, at least in her opinion, very little results, but this process held her entire attention and she couldn’t help but feel that something extremely significant was being decided here.

“Is that Bensu?” Louise asked as she looked at the delegate who was next in line to vote.

Laas shook her head as she studied the man’s face. The similarities were undeniable, the dark skin, the bright white bony ridges running across his scalp, the color of his eyes and the overall size and shape of his body, but this man had to be at least thirty years older than the Bensu she knew. “Maybe his father or another relative.”

“It is him,” said Xylion simply.

Both Laas and Louise threw puzzled looks towards the Vulcan. Considering how close he was to Bensu, it seemed unlikely that he’d be wrong on this.

“I vote in favor of the resource allocation,” the elder Bensu said.

Laas turned back to the session and with Bensu’s vote, it seemed that the tide was shifting towards allowing the resolution to be passed. In fact, just a few moments later the result was in and the group’s leader announced that the motion had narrowly carried.

Before Laas could fully understand how Bensu and his fellow delegates felt about the outcome of the vote or what all of this would mean, the entire building, including everyone inside of it, disappeared yet again, like a sudden scene change in a play.

This time Laas was slightly better prepared for the head-spinning transition. She knew immediately that this time they found themselves inside a starship. Although she could see no windows of any kind, the familiar vibrations and the hum of an FTL drive were hard to miss for somebody who spent the majority of her time in space.

It was a Starfleet ship but not Eagle or any other vessel which currently served in the fleet. This one was much older.

“No, no, no. Not this,” Louise mumbled as soon as she recognized where they were.

It took Laas a moment longer to make the connection. She had been to this place only once before. It was a holographic recreation of the twenty-third century starship Lexington inside one of Eagle’s holodecks. It was a program created by Louise Hopkins with, what she had learned, were some significant creative alterations.

“This looks like the engineering section of an old Constitution-class cruiser,” said Diamond which garnered her a surprised look from Laas to which the operative shrugged. “Starship design history is a bit of a side hobby of mine.”

The way she had so quickly identified the interior of a hundred-year-old starship led Laas to believe that her statement was somewhat of an understatement.

It was something other than the Niner’s surprising knowledge of starship design that caught her attention, however. This was clearly Louise’s memory but in all the other ones, the person who had experienced the memory had been entirely part of it, at least initially, while here Louise still stood with the rest of the team, clearly fully aware, not to mention, concerned, as where they found themselves.

Xylion provided an answer. “I have been able to increase my mental focus on the mind-link,” he said. “At present, we are experiencing a significant dissonance in our shared mind-space which we should be able to overcome if we ignore these memories and instead focus on more calming thoughts.”

Laas spotted the terrified look on Louise’s face. It wasn’t hard to guess that this was not a calming memory for her. And she had a pretty good idea why that was.

The evidence appeared just a moment later when a version of Louise Hopkins entered the engineering room, dressed in an era-appropriate, bright red minidress uniform, complete with dark stockings and tall boots. She was accompanied by a Vulcan wearing a blue uniform shirt. Xylion.

“Looks like this is going to be a nice and quiet night-shift,” the other Hopkins said with a growing grin which she aimed squarely at the Vulcan. “Just the two of us for the next four hours.”

The sudden appearance of another version of himself, seemingly caught the real Xylion by surprise which he expressed by raising an arched eyebrow. “Interesting.”

Louise clearly didn’t think so and regarded Laas with a pleading look. “We need to get out of here now.”

She had no idea what was about to happen in this holographic fantasy, but considering the little she had seen when she had joined Louise in a very similar program year earlier, where her friend had created a relationship between herself and a fictitious version of Commander Xylion, serving together on the old Lexington, she had a good idea why Louise would be greatly concerned about sharing this memory with the away team, not to mention the real Xylion.

“All right everyone,” Laas said, determined to spare Louise the likely embarrassment that was about to ensue. “You heard the Commander. We need to put a stop to this and get back on track. We need concentration and calming thoughts,” she said as she closed her eyes and tried hard to think of the most serene thing she could think of.

“This is beautiful, what is it?”

She opened her eyes again when she heard Lou speak again, sounding a great deal less strained than she had a few moments ago.

They were now standing in front of a large temple-like building with six golden columns that glimmered in the pleasantly warm sun. The temple itself stood surrounded by a lush, green garden compete with a calm stream running through it.

Four people stood by the steps leading up into the temple and in front of those tall columns. Three were Bajorans, one man and two women, and one was a human male. All four were clad in flowing white robes and all four were wearing smiles on their faces.

Laas didn’t require any time at all to recognize them. It was her mother and father who had died in a Cardassian forced labor camp while she had been still a child, her sister who had also been taken from her by the Cardassian, sacrificing herself so that Laas could escape their occupied homeworld and it was Gene Edison, the man she had loved and who had equally given his life to save hers.

And although all four of these people that had meant so much to her were linked to painful memories, seeing them like this, at the threshold of the Celestial Temple, she couldn’t help but feel joy and a deep sense of peace. One that had eluded her for a long time and which she had only recently started to discover.

Before Laas could answer Lou’s question, the scene began to vanish before their eyes but this time, much less violently, slowly fading out rather than being yanked away, given her the chance to look on those smiling faces for just a few seconds longer before they were all gone. She couldn’t deny a small sense of regret at seeing them disappear but the joy and peace she had felt from seeing them at all was the stronger emotion and it lingered longer.

“Took you long enough to get here.”

Laas and the rest of the team turned to see the man who had called himself Gary Seven emerge of the darkness which had surrounded them. Once again, the mysterious man was cradling his black cat within his arms.

“Let’s get started, shall we? We’ve already wasted enough time.”

 

[CeJay]

25


Garla had located the Yellow Rose’s astrometric lab that included a holo-alcove to allow a close-up study of stars, planets, and other stellar phenomena. Curious about her home in this reality, she had configured the alcove to create a scale holographic representation of the entire Star Alliance.

As she walked across the simulation of man high stars and planets, she couldn’t help but be impressed by the sheer size of the territory. She had easily located Krellon Prime, which she had found exactly where she had expected it, as well as the five vassal planets which in the history she knew, her people had brutally conquered and turned into slave worlds for centuries.

But where in her reality the borders of the Star Alliance didn’t extend much further than the farthest of these five worlds, here, the Alliance had laid claim to a far wider area of space, filled with resource-rich colonies and even a handful of planets which she knew to be home of other civilizations but which here were clearly part of the Alliance.

She was well aware that many in the Central Council, the Star Navy, and even in the Eye of Krellon regarded the Federation with at least some envy over their ability to create an empire which stretched out over thousands of light-years in just a couple of hundred years and, differently to other major powers such as the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, and in fact even her people, without the need to conquer a single planet. The Star Alliance in this universe wasn’t nearly as massive as the Federation in hers, but it was certainly several times more expansive than what she called home.

“Quite a sight, isn’t it?”

She turned upon hearing the familiar voice, already berating herself for allowing anyone to approach her undetected, something that could quickly turn out to be a fatal mistake in her line of work.

“It never ceases to impress me,” Lif Culsten said as he joined her inside the holographic representation of the Star Alliance. “To think that this all started with a single, mostly unimpressive planet and over time grew into an empire like this. An empire that has become the envy of many nations in the galaxy.”

“Except perhaps the Nyberrites,” she said.

“If our last encounter tells me anything, it’s that they want what we have,” Culsten said. “And they understand our potential. Are probably afraid of it.”

Garla regarded the simulation again. “This empire of yours. It certainly is larger than what I’ve ever known,” she said as she walked to the center of the alcove until she stood right inside Krellon, the planet on which she had been born. “Tell me about your Star Alliance.”

His eyes seemed to light up at this. “It’s a truly magnificent place and I think our history reflects this. We spread out into the stars just over three hundred years ago. We encountered the Yooktku first.”

This surprised Garla. In her universe, their first contact had been with the lupine T’aq. An aggressive and warrior-like race that had not responded well to Krellonian explorers more interested in the resources their world had to offer than its people. A long and bloody war soon followed that had eventually led to the enslavement of an entire people and developed into a doctrine of Krellonian foreign policy for years to come.

She wondered what it would have been like if her people had made contact with the peaceful and enigmatic Yooktku instead. By the time the Star Navy had come across them nearly a hundred years later, the Alliance was already an empire fueled by war and slave labor and the Yooktku had fared little better than those who had come before.

“We formed a partnership and established the seeds of what would later become the Star Alliance, initially made up of five founding members.”

Garla knew these founding members as vassal worlds instead.

“Together we quickly grew, establishing colonies as far as the Gazelle Nebula and convincing other races like the Jin’Tar, the Ortu, and the Darsaean to join the Alliance. Today we control an area of space nearly four hundred light-years across.”

“That is impressive.”

He nodded and then walked over to the computer console, entering a few commands and the simulation all around her changed until it was focused on what she recognized to be the Federation. Although what in her universe was a massive entity spanning over one hundred fifty worlds over two galactic quadrants, here it had been reduced to less than a few dozen star systems seemingly being fought over by two separate factions.

“And it could become even more impressive.”

She understood what he meant. “You wish to conquer the Federation.”

He joined her inside the holographic model. “There isn’t much left but many of these worlds are still rich in resources or hold other worthwhile secrets, including Earth, Vulcan, and Andor. And while engulfed in civil war, the Federation has never been weaker since the Borg War.”

“What about the Nyberrites?”

“Contrary to popular belief, the Nyberrites don’t care much for open conflict. Sure, they like to flex their muscles from time to time, but they much prefer to use diplomacy and trade as weapons. That’s how they picked up the pieces of the Romulans, the Klingons, the Cardassians, and parts of the Federation after the Borg had decimated most of their space. They won’t mount a serious military effort to stop us.”

Garla took a moment to consider what he had said. It was obvious that Sentinel Culsten was among those people who had always desired what the Federation had, even if it was a shadow of its former self.

“Together we can make this work. I can tell that you share the same sharp mind and tactical acumen as the Garla I knew. With my resources and your knowledge of strategy and tactics, there’ll be very little to stop us. Even those bloated buffoons in the Central Council will be forced to acknowledge the inherent logic of our plans.”

“But why?”

He offered her a puzzled look.

“You’ve told me that the Star Alliance is this wonderful place and from all I’ve seen, it certainly appears much superior to my home. Resources are in high supply, you’ve been spared the social ills that have plagued my home and your people, from everything I’ve seen so far, your people are content. Why risk all of that by going to war?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We can’t allow ourselves to stagnate and become complacent. Look at what happened to the rest of the galaxy. While they were resting on their laurels and became slow and lazy they allowed the Borg to nearly wipe them out. That is not a fate I wish for the Star Alliance.”

“And your strategy to become impervious to such a fate is what? To eventually conquer the entire galaxy?”

“Why not? If there are no more enemies to threaten us, the Star Alliance will be able to sustain itself until the end of time itself.”

Garla couldn’t help wonder how many other civilizations that were now nothing more than ancient memory and dust had followed that exact same chain of reasoning.

 

[admiralelm11]

It sounds like this Lif Culsten is trying to make Garla a deal that she can't turn down.

 

[Galen4]

This was a great example of just how messy and dangerous mind melds can be. You can clearly see the confusion and disorientation that can ensue in these encounters. Well rendered!

It seems Garla is getting romanced by this universe’s Star Alliance which is becoming the major power in the quadrant. She may find all isn’t as it appears,

 

[CeJay]

26


Michael was trying to come to grips with the fact that his counterpart had just killed Jarik in cold blood. There had been little love lost between him and his former Academy roommate, in fact, many of his actions as of late had made him seriously reconsider their friendship, but he wouldn’t have wished that kind of fate on his worst enemy.

And then there was how Owens had so callously executed Jarik, almost casually and seemingly with little thought and zero prior warning. He had tortured him for the information he needed and then discarded him like he was nothing more than useless waste.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect to all of this had been the fact that the man who had pulled that trigger wore his exact face and a small voice in the back of his mind couldn’t stop wonder that if his counterpart had been capable of committing such acts, then perhaps that same darkness lived within him as well, just much better hidden underneath a carefully maintained façade of moral certitude and conviction and yet ready to surface just as effortlessly as the other Owens had dispatched his prisoner. That thought, more than anything else, scared him the most.

Thankfully he didn’t have more time to consider those disturbing parallels as another crisis seemed to have caught up with them.

Eagle took another hit, a big one, causing everyone in the room to lose their footing and slam painfully into a bulkhead or the deck.

Captain Owens scrambled back onto his feet first. “What the hell now? Bridge, what’s going on up there?”

The voice of a flustered young woman responded. “We’re under attack, sir.”

“I figured that much. Who is it this time?”

“The Agamemnon, sir. She came out of nowhere and landed a direct hit. Shields are fluctuating,” the officer reported, sounding noticeably out of breath.

“Donners,” Owens fumed. “Of course.” He found his security team. “Escort our guests to quarters and make sure to keep a close eye on them.”

Michael had no interest to become a prisoner yet again, not after he had witnessed how this Captain Owens treated his ‘guests’. “Captain, we’ve run into Amaya Donners shortly after we arrived here and came to a mutual understanding.”

He shook his head. “She’s Preservers. You made a deal with her, you picked the losing side.”
“What I’m saying is that I have established a rapport with her. If she knows I’m onboard, perhaps I might be able to talk her down before she blasts us to pieces. Last I spoke to her, she didn’t think very highly of you.”

He grunted to that. “We have history. It’s complicated.”

The ship jolted again, giving proof that Amaya Donners was clearly not letting up now that she had Eagle and her commander dead to rights.

“Let me come with you to the bridge,” he said and briefly glanced towards where Jarik had been a moment earlier and where now only burn marks remained. “The information you obtained will be useless to you if you and your ship are dead.”

Owens nodded reluctantly. “All right. But the rest of your people stay put.”

Under the circumstances it was the best he could hope for, Michael decided. “Let’s go.”

The two Owens’ and Josè Carlos left the room and headed for the bridge even while Eagle continued to take multiple hits. From the telltale sounds of the ship around him which he was all too familiar with, he could tell that the battle was fairly one-sided. Eagle was returning fire but it wasn’t nearly enough to seriously slow down the Agamemnon which had caught Eagle on the back foot.

The moment the turbolift doors opened and they emerged onto the bridge, they were greeted by chaos.

The room was laid out almost exactly like his own bridge, the only key difference he could spot through the smoke quickly beginning to fill the air was the fact that the central command area only had a single chair for the captain, whereas on his Eagle, the captain’s chair was flanked by seats for the XO and another officer, as well as two further jump seats.

The ops station at the front on the bridge was already out of commission, apparently having burned out following a power surge, and the officer who had manned it lay on the deck unconscious with another one trying to tend to his injuries.

A young lieutenant stood over them both, shouting commands at the helmsman and the tactical officer while on the flickering viewscreen the Agamemnon was turning back around to complete yet another pass.

Owens shook his head. “That’s what I get when I leave rookies in charge,” he said as he promptly made his way down the ramp and towards the command area while Carlos relieved the officer at the horseshoe-shaped tactical station.

Michael had already figured that the Guardians, and likely the Preservers as well, suffered from significant personnel shortages, probably ever since the Borg War had decimated much of the Federation. Experienced crewmembers, not to mention first officers who could take over in a pinch, seemed to be luxuries of the past in this universe’s Starfleet.

“Report,” Owens barked at the lieutenant.

The woman did a double-take when she spotted not one but two Captain Owens’s. Already stressed enough as she was, this was clearly not an additional complication she could deal with, causing her to gawk at both men.

Owens had no time for this and loudly snapped his fingers into her face a few times. “Rachel, pay attention to me,” he said forcefully. “What’s our status?”

“Uh, sorry, sir,” she said, shaking her head. “Not good, shields are nearly down, and we lost the torpedo guidance system. Engineering is not optimistic about getting systems restored within the next hour.”

Michael braced himself when he spotted Agamemnon approach on the screen and not a moment later she unleashed a barrage of phaser fire which rattled the bridge hard, causing one of the aft stations to erupt in a shower of sparks. They didn’t have an hour.

As Owens took over, the lieutenant which Michael thought looked very much like Rachel Milestone from his universe, headed for an auxiliary station. “She’s hailing us, sir.”

“Ignore it,” he said instantly and as if out of instinct.

Michael stepped up closer to him. “I suggest we try to talk,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I don’t think we can fight our way out of this.” Michael had to admit it felt strange, uncomfortable even, being on this bridge and not being the one giving orders. Then again, in this universe, he had yet to find a situation that didn’t feel strange.

Once again, Owens nodded reluctantly. “Fine. Put her on.”

The smiling face of Amaya Donners appeared on the screen not a moment later. Usually, he loved seeing her smile, but on this occasion, there was something very sinister about the grin decorating her lips. Something that caused a cold shiver to run up his spine. “Well, look at who I’ve found with their pants around their ankles,” she said in a singsong kind of voice.

“If you think I’m going to bend over, you’ve made yet another mistake.”

“Right,” she said her eyes regarding him like a set of dead stars. “I suppose my first one would have been to ever share a bed with you. I guess it's time to make up for all of them and I can’t think of a better way of doing that than erasing you from this galaxy.”

“Don’t make me laugh,” Owens shot back. “You don’t have what it takes.”

Michael quickly took a step forward, sensing that this was going the wrong way. “Amaya, let’s think this through. Eagle is finished and an easy kill for you, yes. But more is at stake here than your civil war. Your entire universe might be in danger.”

She regarded him briefly, thankfully not with nearly as much inherent bitterness and rage she had directed at his double. “You know I can almost understand why in whatever reality you’ve come from, my counterpart was quite fond of you,” she said and then glared at the other Owens. “See, where he comes from, you and I, we actually came to like each other. It must be because he’s not a slimy bastard.”

“Nobody forced you to do a thing, Maya,” he said through clenched teeth. “I remember right, you were a most willing participant.”

That intense look returned in a flash. “For a moment there, I considered keeping you alive.”

“Amaya,” Michael said, trying to beseech her to do the right thing.

But she shook her head. “I can’t argue with the fate of the universe and all that but I don’t think we need him around to save it. I’ll beam you over to my ship and then blow him and his trash pile out of the stars.”

“Go ahead and try. But I’ll make sure to take you with me when I go.”

“Sir, I’m reading another starship on approach,” Milestone reported from her station.

Owens seemed invigorated by the news. “Reinforcements?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Ours or theirs, Lieutenant,” Owens said sharply, clearly fully aware that whoever was about to join this fight would likely seal all their fates.

“It's… Eagle, sir,” she said and looked up from her station with a dumbfounded expression on her face. “It’s us.”

On the screen, another starship Eagle jumped out of warp to position itself right in-between them and Agamemnon.

Michael was the only one on the bridge to utter a sigh of relief at the sight. “Here’s my suggestion before we continue to consider blowing each other to Kingdom Come. Let’s reconvene in neutral territory on board my ship and find a way to keep this universe in one piece. Once we’ve accomplished that, everyone can go back to whatever the hell they were trying to do before we showed up.”

“I don’t like this,” Owens said.

“Consider the alternative, Captain.”

“I agree,” Donners said. “For no other reason than that Michael seems to hate it.”

Michael sighed. He knew it was the best he was going to get for the time being. He shot Owens an insistent look. “Think of your crew, Captain. I don’t know about this universe but in mine, I swore an oath to protect them as best I can. If it were me, my choice would be clear.”

Captain Owens turned his glowering eyes from Donners on the screen to regard his counterpart. “I am not sure if you had noticed, or not, but this universe is very different from yours. I’m very different from you.”

“Oh, trust me, I had noticed. But I have to believe that some things are universal. Tell me, what is it you think you’d be able to accomplish without this ship and her crew? You need them just as much as they need you. That is true no matter what universe we are in.”

Owens took a moment to regard his broken bridge and the faces of the mostly young crew around him, all of them looking expectantly towards their captain, ready to follow whatever order he’d give next.

He finally nodded. “Stand down,” he finally said through clenched teeth before he regarded Michael once more. “Let’s do this then. I have a busy schedule to get on with once this universe-saving business is done.”

 

[admiralelm11]

We're all seeing double?! Time to schedule that overdue eye appointment with the EMH!

 

[Galen4]

Eagle Prime to the rescue!

Man, Donners is out for blood. I’m glad Michael finally got his counterpart to listen to reason. Maybe he can also rekindle some of her humanity to resolve this mess.

Waiting for more, as always!

 

[CeJay]

27


Michael felt a surprising sense of relief after he and his away team rematerialized inside the transporter room of his starship Eagle. Surprising perhaps since they had not exactly accomplished what they had set out to do. On the contrary. His father and the Prism, both crucial parts in getting them back home and likely finding a way of stopping the massive Omega collider from wiping out any other universes were still in Altee’s hands while Jarik had been killed by a homicidal version of himself.

And yet there was something about the familiarity of his ship and crew that made him immediately much more comfortable than he had been ever since he had left her. They were still a long way from being back home, but there was something to be said for at least being back in friendly territory.

“Somehow I expected more. This isn’t exactly all that impressive,” said his counterpart who had joined them on his ship.

His apathy seemed almost predictable to Michael, it seemed to be on par for everything he had heard this man say and seen him do. As far as he was concerned, his ship was far superior to the other man’s Eagle in nearly every way. She was clearly far better maintained, she was cleaner, her crew was more experienced and capable and she was overall in much better shape. He was not about to state any of this to the other captain. “It is essentially the same ship as yours.”

“Just perhaps a little more polished,” said Leva who apparently couldn’t quite help himself. The comment immediately garnered him a dark scowl from the other Owens.

Michael was also convinced that his crew acted more professional at seeing two versions of himself walking down the corridor. There were still double takes but nobody outright gawked at them. In their defense, they had likely gotten used to the idea of being in a parallel universe, where bizarre was just around the next corner.

Michael dismissed Sensy and his people as well as an armed security team that had been waiting on them after they had arrived, feeling that it was important that neither Amaya Donners nor Owens felt threatened while they were on board. After all, he considered securing their assistance a major priority in tackling the challenges that laid ahead of them in a mostly hostile universe.

With Leva returning to the bridge, Michael escorted his counterpart to the observation lounge on deck two where he knew he was going to have to make his case to him and to Donners about the importance of all of them working together. Michael liked to pride himself on his diplomatic experience and accomplishments, but this was not a task he was looking forward to.

Things got off to a bad start.

Donners had already beamed over onto Eagle and was awaiting them in the briefing room, lounging comfortably in one of the chairs surrounding the large conference table.

But it wasn’t the other starship captain that caused an immediate issue, it was the other woman in the room. In hindsight, of course, Michael realized that he should have anticipated this and he later berated himself for not taking more appropriate precautions.

The other Owens froze the moment he stepped into the observation lounge and laid eyes on Tazla Star standing just a few meters in front of him.

“I was positively giddy to see how you’d react to this,” said Donners with a wide smirk on her face as she placed her boots on top of the smooth black table as if getting ready to watch a spectacle.

A spectacle she would get.

“Captain, this is my first officer Commander—“ Michael didn’t get a chance to properly introduce her, however.

“Star,” Owens seethed, clearly not having heard a word his double had said, and then, like a racing hound, straining for the start, he shot towards the Trill with murder in his eyes.

Star was not entirely prepared for seeing her captain—a version of him, at least—jumping her with such vicious intensity and although she was, no doubt, well-trained in combat, her momentary hesitation was enough to allow Owens to tackle her hard and drag them both down onto the floor.

Michael immediately regretted his decision of having dismissed the security team earlier or not having kept at least one of the Niners around as he dove after his counterpart to try and pry him away from his beleaguered first officer.

But Owens was blind with rage and in his single-minded fury, he managed to leash out at everything and everyone, including Michael, delivering a powerful punch right into his face that caused him to fly backward and toward the table, even as he held his bruised and now bleeding nose.

“Getting punched in the face is a real thing with you,” said Donners as she watched him stumbling against the table. “You deal with that problem much?”

“Not until I got to this universe,” he said as he cast her a dark look that did nothing to rouse her into action and away from her relaxed pose in her chair. “Feel free to help out anytime.”

“Are you kidding? I’d pay good latinum to watch this.”

Michael frowned, wiped the blood from his nose, and turned back towards Owens and Star, ready to pounce back in to try and rein in the other captain.

There didn’t seem to be any need.

After her initial hesitance, Star had started to take action and managed to throw Owens off of her and get herself back onto her feet.

But the captain wasn’t willing to give up so quickly and charged her again. But while he was driven by anger and rage, Star was much more calculated and already over the fact that her attacker looked precisely like her commanding officer.

She easily blocked a punch being thrown at her face and responded with one of her own, driving it right into his solar plexus with enough force that caused him to double over in pain.

It didn’t stop him for long and when he tried to strike out yet again, the Trill intercepted his attack, took a firm grip of his lower arm, spun him around, and drove him face right into the bulkhead. She pushed him hard into the wall, keeping hold of his arm and twisting it behind his back to keep him in place.

Michael was both impressed and slightly concerned with the apparent ease she had been able to subdue him. It didn’t speak well for his chances if there’d ever be a physical altercation between him and his first officer. He made a mental note to try and avoid any such encounter in the future. Not that getting into a fistfight with Star was one of his primary concerns.

“I know who you think I am,” Star said while she kept the furious Owens pinned against the bulkhead, taking full advantage of her cybernetic arm that afforded her superior strength. “But I am not her and I’ve never met you before today.”

“All right, Commander, I think you’ve made your point. Let him go, please,” Michael said as he approached the two.

She offered him a short nod and then took a couple of steps away from the man who had tried to take her head off. “With pleasure, sir,” she said and Michael didn’t miss the little sparkle in her green eyes, almost as if she had indeed taken some enjoyment from the tussle. That, did seem concerning.

Owens whirled back around. “We’re not done, Star.”

“Captain,” Michael said, quickly positioning himself between him and the Trill. “As I was trying to explain earlier. This is my first officer. She may look like the Taza Star you know, but just like you and me, they have otherwise very little in common.”

Owens was still breathing hard, his anger was slow to subside, especially now and after he had been bested by the doppelganger of his sworn nemesis. Michael wasn’t sure what had wounded him more, the physical bruises she had given him or the way she had so publicly beaten his pride. “We’re not talking with her in the room.”

Michael uttered a small sigh and then turned to glance at Star.

She understood and nodded. “I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

“Thanks, Commander but I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

Star offered the other Owens a last, parting glance, one which he purposefully ignored, and then left the observation lounge with a fairly confident stride.

“Now that that’s settled,” Michael said, still feeling a little out of breath himself from being punched a moment earlier. “Perhaps you’d like to take a seat.”

Owens took a moment to gather himself before he did so, picking the chair at the far end of the table. Michael went for the one at the other end.

“I have to say, if that’s how it’s going to be should you ever catch up with the Star you’ve been chasing all this time, my money’s going to be on her,” Donners said, still amused, as she removed her boots from the table.

“I’m going to start listening to you once you have something useful to say,” he shot back without making eye contact.

Donners rolled her eyes in response.

“I hope you haven’t forgotten our deal, Captain,” he said, looking across the table at Michael. “I’ll help you deal with Altee and this crisis of yours but in return, you’ll assist me in getting my hands on Star. The real one.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Donners said. “The man is painting a picture of the end of all life as we know it and all you can think of is your own petty quest for revenge.”

Owens ignored the other captain altogether, keeping his eyes on his counterpart instead. “Jarik gave us the cloaking frequency of her ship. Which means we have the means of finding her. I won’t be able to do it on my own, say what you will about our Starfleet, but solving science-based problems isn’t really our strength anymore. But I’ve seen you and your crew operate and I’m convinced you’ll be able to locate her.”

“It’s a big galaxy, Captain.”

“Oh, she’ll be close by, I can practically sense her.”

“You sure it’s the right one this time?” Donners said with a smirk.

Owens regarded her with a glare that did nothing to relieve her of her ongoing amusement.

Michael quickly jumped back in, knowing that he needed all three of them focused on the same task, as far as he was concerned, it was their best chance of stopping the Ring and getting back home. “I am not planning on reneging on our arrangement, Captain. But first, we find Altee and get my father back.”

“So your personal objectives take precedent over mine? So much for your moral high ground, Captain,” he said, crossing his arms defiantly.

To Michael, Owens looked almost like a petulant child and he hoped to God that he had never come across like that to other people. He shook his head. “This isn’t personal at all,” he said, mindful that this wasn’t entirely accurate. “My father is the key to engaging the particle collider. And without him, Altee, won’t be able to use it for his own purposes. And since your Star apparently works with Altee, there is a good chance that wherever he is, she’ll be nearby.”

This seemed to put him at ease slightly. “Fine, we’ll do it your way. For now.”

“Trying to stop Altee won’t be easy. He and at least half of his Guardian fleet managed to slip out of the Arkaria system before our task force could secure it,” said Donners.

“Which means they are most likely on their way to the collider right now,” he said and glanced at Amaya. “What about your task force? Can we count on their help to corral Altee’s remaining ships?”

She shook her head. “Doubtful. That battle left them in bad shape. Besides, I might be willing to help you save the universe, but trying to convince the other captains is going to take time we don’t have.”

He realized that she was right. Altee already had a head start on them, and the longer they delayed, the greater the chances that he would get to the Ring first and find a way to activate it with the Prism and his father’s help. And what would happen then was anybody’s guess. The worst-case scenario, he knew, was nothing less than apocalyptic.

“All right, we’ll have to make use of what we have,” he said and looked at the two captains. “We set course for the Ring right away and on our way, we’ll try to carry out repairs to your ship as best as we can,” he added, glancing at his counterpart.

The other Owens stood. “Don’t do me any favors. I certainly don’t need any of your people crawling all over my ship.”
“Oh, I wasn’t planning on sending a soul to help you,” Donners said with a straight face.

Michael sighed. He understood that this alliance was tenuous at best. At worst they were going to kill each other in a not-so-friendly fire accident. “At the very least we’ll get you any parts or resources you’ll need to speed up repairs. Once we reach Altee, we need all our ships at their best.”

“Fine,” Owens said before he turned towards the exit. “Just get it done. I need to get back onto my Eagle. The air over here is becoming a little too stale for my tastes.”

Donners stood after Owens had left, offering Michael another smile. “If nothing else, this should prove to be rather exciting, don’t you think?”

He had no words to offer. Worrying that his own allies would turn against each other was not exactly the kind of excitement he needed in his life right now. Not while the stakes were this high.

He remembered a saying his father had liked to quote in times like these. Sometimes, you have to play the cards you’ve been dealt.

He was very cognizant that he was holding a bad hand and that bluffing his way through this one was only going to get him so far.

 

[admiralelm11]

Well, it wouldn't be Owens if his counterpart didn't have issues...
Great stuff, CeJay.

 

[Galen4]

Yeah, Michael definitely screwed up by having Star in the briefing. I like that he recognized that mistake but then gets everyone back on track in spite of it. It’s great reminder that our heroic captains are fallible.

I wonder if Michael can hold this temporary alliance together long enough to achieve the impossible. And will his spirit of cooperation make a lasting impression on the seething natives of this universe after he’s gone?

Time will tell.

 

[CeJay]

28


“I had every confidence that you would manage to breakthrough,” said Gary Seven as he regarded the Starfleet away team before him.

“It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing all the way,” said Hopkins and Laas could tell that she was still somewhat shaken from their strange trip through their various memories, none more disturbing to her than her own.

He nodded. “I caught a few glimpses here and there. But what matters is that you managed to establish a stable, telepathic connection by working together.”

Xylion took a step forward, although Laas was quite aware that in reality, none of them were truly standing there at all, instead, their physical bodies remained sitting on the floor of the Ring’s control room. She tried to ban that thought, it was giving her a headache.

“Now that we have established this connection, it is time that you explained who you are and why you have contacted us.”

“I suppose that is only fair, Xylion,” Seven said with a smile.

“Let’s start by telling us exactly how you know who we are,” Laas said, not entirely able to not see this odd human with his pet animal as a threat and secretly wishing she had a weapon with her. Not that she needed one, of course.

“You could say I’ve done my homework on you,” he said as she walked up to Laas which caused her to tense slightly, ready to jump into action. Lieutenant Nora Laas of Rakantha Province on Bajor, chief of security of the U.S.S. Eagle.” He continued to Xylion. “Chief science officer of the aforementioned vessel, hailing from the city Sh’calla on the planet Vulcan.” Then to Lou. “Lieutenant Louise Chirac-Hopkins, chief engineer. Born in Ottawa on Earth.” He continued to the Niners. “Chief Petty Officer Isabis Awuzie, better known by your codename Diamond. Deputy Team Leader of Special Missions Team Forty-Nine, born in Lagos on Earth and Chief Petty Officer T’Set, or Ivory, from the ShiKahr District on Vulcan.”

Gary Seven finally moved on to Bensu. “And then there is you. Bensu, the bartender.”

Bensu looked at him expectantly, waiting to hear more.

“You are a bit of an enigma, aren’t you?”

“So I’ve been told.”

“You know the Aegis would be very interested in you, considering that, as far as I can tell, you are one of the very few unique individuals in quantum reality.”

“What does that mean?” Nora asked.

He turned to look at her. “I’m sure you must have noticed by now that there are multiple versions of you in the infinity that is quantum reality,” he said and briefly glanced towards Xylion. “Some of you have come face to face with your counterparts already.” He turned back to Bensu. “But in the endless universes that exist, you will likely not find another Bensu anywhere.”

“Fascinating,” said Xylion. “What is the Aegis?”

“I apologize, I got carried away a bit, I suppose. Allow me to introduce myself properly,” said Seven and faced the rest of the team once more. “I am Class One Supervisor 194, an Agent of the Aegis. You could consider us an organization that keeps an eye on time and space as well as on the multiverse. We try to keep the balance as best as we can and interfere only if deemed absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, this is one of these times.”

“Your concern then is with the massive particle collider and its builders,” said Xylion.”

Gary nodded as he allowed his cat to jump out of his arms. “Precisely. Truth be told they have been on our radar for some time now but matters have become more worrisome as of late. The situation has escalated far quicker and more dramatically than we had anticipated.”

“I suppose the annihilation of an entire universe will do that,” said Laas. “I have to say, if you truly are a guardian of the multiverse of sorts, letting something like that happen, doesn’t exactly speak to your competence.”

Seven nodded. “Yes, I suppose we deserve that. We were caught off-guard by this development and we believe that the universe that was destroyed wasn’t the first one.”

Louise looked shocked. “It has destroyed others?”

“Yes, I think it has and it may destroy more if we don’t find a way to stop it.”

“We?” Laas said. “You seem to be the expert on this. Why can’t you and your Aegis take care of this matter? Why would you need our help?”

“It’s complicated. Events are unfolding at a faster rate than we could have expected. This might sound somewhat trite coming from someone who is used to move through time and space, but time is running out for all of us and there is little I or the Aegis can do alone. We are up against something immensely powerful which to tell you the truth scares us quite a bit.”

Xylion raised an eyebrow. “And yet you believe that we will be able to stop this force?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. But what I do know is that by fate or pure coincidence, whatever you wish to call it, you find yourself in the right place at the right time to prevent what has been set in motion.”

“And what is that exactly?” said Laas.

He looked her square in the eye. “I was hoping we could find out together.”

She offered him a dumbfounded look in response, unable to believe that he had not more to offer already, considering what he had told them.

“This place is what we like to call a hub of the quantum-verse. You have, of course, already experienced this yourself the way you have traveled from one quantum reality to another. But this place also possesses tremendous psionic energy which is how we were able to connect to each other and how I believe we can glean more knowledge about the subspace creatures who constructed it.”

“How do you propose we accomplish this?” asked Xylion.

“You’ve already done the hard work,” he responded as he regarded all members of the away team, one after the other. “You’ve created a fairly stable psionic construct powered by the energy of your combined minds. Allow me to function as your guide as we attempt to pierce deeper into the veil.”

Laas couldn’t quite suppress a little sigh. “I don’t like this,” she said but then shrugged as she considered Xylion. “But I suppose we’ve come this far.”

The Vulcan offered a small nod. “Agreed,” he said before turning his focus on Seven. “How do we proceed?”

“All I need you to do is focus your minds. I believe you already know how to do that.”

“Here we go again,” Laas said and then took a deep breath before closing her eyes. It didn’t take long at all for her to see yet another disturbing image inside her mind. She saw herself, along with the rest of the away team, all sitting in a circle in the Ring’s control room where this strange journey had first begun.

It was disconcerting, to say the least, to look down at herself like that, an out of body experience which most people equated to the sensation of shuffling off the mortal coil altogether.

She spotted Gary Seven sitting among the away team. He craned his neck and looked upwards, right at her and oddly it caused a sudden calm to settle over her being, allowing her mind to focus on the questions they had been asking since the moment they had first encountered the superstructure in subspace.

Who was responsible for building it?

The odd séance disappeared with a flash and she felt herself being pulled through a vortex as if she was riding a rollercoaster of time and space. She remained stationary but the world around her seemed to change at warp speeds.

She was still inside the Ring, and she could feel the presence of the rest of the away team in her mind, although for the moment they were invisible to her. Instead, she saw the interior of the superstructure. But not the way it was now, rather than how it had been years, perhaps decades ago, essentially a construction site, entire sections still missing or nothing more than skeletons. The reptile-like subspace aliens crawling all over the structure, inside and out, adding to it like busy little ants.

How did they make the Ring so powerful?

She couldn’t be sure if the question had been hers or if it had originated from somebody else within the mind-link.

It seemed to matter little and within a moment the answer became obvious. Just like Xylion and hypothesized, the vast majority of the interior of the structure was dedicated to massive acceleration tubes, designed to allow particles to travel at the speed of light.

There were large freighters that had entered the subspace pocket from regular space to deliver the particles.

She could see the path they had taken, she traveled back to their point of origin which was a place she had seen before. The Piqus system in Krellonian territory. There, within the asteroid field, two hidden bases produced a powerful molecule in great secrecy.

Why were they working together?

She watched as the subspace aliens send out probes all over the Amargosa Diaspora, encountering various people and races, including humans and Krellonians, abducting them, and carrying out terrible experiments on them like they were little more than lab animals.

It was their way to try and learn about other races and possibly find allies in their task of creating the Ring.

Eventually, she could see, they settled on the Krellonians, reaching out to Garla and convincing her to assist them in creating the particles they needed in return for the power to reshape her own world. Those were empty promises, based not on what could be, but on what was already reality elsewhere in the quantum-verse.

But what is the purpose of all this?

The massive collider began to spin like it had when an entire universe had perished. It had done so before, Seven had implied this and she could see it now. Not just once or twice, but dozens of times. Maybe more. Universes just like hers had fallen, one after the other, wiped out of existence by the immeasurable powers generated by the collider.

She could see an entire group of subspace aliens, speaking seemingly anxiously in a language that to her ears sounded like indecipherable clicking noises. And yet, somehow, she could sense what it was they were discussing.

An artifact that was being used to oppose their plans, a people who stood in their way, who had managed to interfere.

The aliens turned as one, all looking straight at her.

“Beholder.”

She didn’t understand but she certainly felt them in her mind. Something was targeting her, targeting all of them.

“Beholder.”

Images she had tried to ban from her mind reappeared as if to punish her: Bajorans being brutally tortured by the Cardassian invaders of her home. Her mother and father working themselves to death in a forced labor camp. Her sister being killed by Cardassian soldiers while she was attempting to smuggle them both off-world. A shapeshifter, having taken the form of Xylion, driving an appendage turned steel blade through his body after having pushed her aside.

“Beholder.”

As much as she tried to hold on, she was no match for the intensity of her own emotions, of her own grief. She felt herself slipping away and being sucked into a void offering nothing but darkness so complete it would swallow her mind and soul.

 

[Galen4]

Now we’re getting into the nitty gritty of how to stop this invasion and save the multiverse. And it’s gratifying to have Gary Seven along for the ride. I’ve always liked that character.

Poor Laas. Seems like someone always has to take the most mental punishment!

looking for more!

 

[CeJay]

29

“According to the latest reports, repairs on the other Eagle are ahead of schedule. Shields, weapons, and navigational systems are functional again, warp engines are currently at eighty-six percent efficiency. Their chief engineer has requested additional deuterium, anti-matter, and duranium alloys.” DeMara looked up from the padd she had been reading when the captain didn’t respond to what she had said.

Instead, she found him sitting behind the desk of his ready room, seemingly fully absorbed by something on his computer screen that she couldn’t see.

“Michael?”

He glanced at her very briefly. “Huh?”

“They’ve requested additional resources for repairs,” she said.

He nodded. “Yes, sure, whatever they need,” he said and then returned to look at the screen.

DeMara entered the required authorizations onto her padd. “You know, I have to question why we are doing all this?”

“Why we are doing what?” he said even as his focus remained on the screen.

She couldn’t quite suppress a sigh as she lowered the padd. “Look, I know that it’s not easy to meet another version of yourself. You start to question a great many things about your own nature. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I’m not still trying to get to grips with coming face to face with that other me and the things she said. She seemed nothing like me and yet, some of the things she said,” she stopped herself there. Her double from a now-dead universe had shaken her to the core and caused her to start reevaluating aspects of her own life. And it was still difficult for her to talk about that. Even to a close friend such as Michael Owens. Or perhaps it was more difficult to speak to him specifically, after all their relationship had been somewhat strained as of late.

He regarded her once again with a very brief glance. “What’s your point?”

She scowled at his abruptness. “My point is that this other you is not a very good person and I’m not clear why we are helping him.”

“We are about to go up against Altee and half a fleet, we need all the help we can get,” he said and returned to work at his computer station.

“The man is a cold-blooded killer. I’ve heard how he executed Jarik in cold blood. He would have done the same thing to Star if he had been given the chance. He’s dangerous, Michael, and keeping him around is not going to do anyone any favors.”

“I disagree,” he said but refused to make eye contact.

Fed up with his attitude, not to mention his lack of a focus on their conversation, Dee stood suddenly and leaned over to reach for his desktop computer. “What are you working on?” she said and then turned the screen around to glimpse at its content. “Sensor scans of the sector?”

“This is none of your concern,” he said angrily and turned the screen back to face him. “And as for my counterpart, you weren’t there. You are basing your opinions on second-hand information. He may have had a very good reason for the things he did. He’s trying to bring his brother’s killers to justice.”

She nodded slowly, remembering a very similar mission a few years back when Michael had gone against orders to chase down Westren Frobisher, the man who had been responsible for the death of Matthew Owens in their universe. “I know that there are parallels between the two of you. But you are nothing like him, Michael. Remember how you felt when you had caught up with Frobisher? How empty you were inside? No matter how angry you had been and how desperate you were to revenge Matthew’s death, you understood that killing the man responsible would give you no satisfaction. That’s why you are a better man, Michael. You know that there is no justification for murder.”

“Maybe, sometimes there is.”

A shiver ran up her spine at hearing the ice-cold tone in his voice.

She took a step backward. Then she began to nod slowly. “Maybe.”

She had backed off another step before Michael suddenly sprang into action. He practically leaped over the desk at her, knocking down the computer screen and a half-empty glass in the process.

DeMara turned to run towards the doors.

“Computer, seal the ready room,” Michael barked.

The computer acknowledged with a soft trill just as she collided with the doors which had suddenly refused to open for her.

She felt him grab her hair from behind and before she could even think to call out for help, he forcefully smashed her head against the bulkhead, causing her to stumble backward. The harsh impact had left her dazed and she couldn’t stop the room from spinning around her.

He pushed her down towards the floor and in her woozy state, she wasn’t able to keep her balance and landed on the deck with a thud, only managing to brace herself at the last moment.

Michael was on top of her in an instant and he could see his face close to hers through blurry eyes. He took his time to look her over before he finally spoke again.

“My God, you’re beautiful,” he said as he brushed her golden locks out of her face and wiped away a bit of blood that was trickling down her forehead. “You have no idea how difficult it has been for me to focus since you’ve entered the room.”

She pushed him away angrily and pulled herself up against the bulkhead to sit against it, but not before he snatched away her combadge. “What do you want?”

He sat down on the floor opposite from her, remaining within an arm’s reach, but for now just content to keep his eyes on her. The look he was giving her was one she had never seen on that face before and it disturbed her a great deal. “I like this ship,” he said and took a brief moment to take in the ready room before he glanced back at her. “It’s different and yet so familiar at the same time. And I hate to admit it, but the crew is much more efficient than my own. I think I could accomplish great things here.”

“You wouldn’t last five minutes,” she said.

“I fooled you.”

“For a moment perhaps. As soon as you started to open your mouth it was clear you weren’t who I thought you were.”

He shrugged. “I’m sure I could do better. After all, he and I are the same, aren’t we? And I could be even more like him,” he said and moved closer.

“You’re nothing like him.”

He regarded her with an almost lascivious kind of look. “I know how lonely it can be for a starship captain. I guess not so much for him, huh?”

She responded by shooting poisonous daggers through her eyes. “If you are inferring some sort of romantic relationship between the two of us you are gravely mistaken.”

“I find that difficult to believe.”

DeMara uttered a humorless chuckle. “As I said, you’re nothing alike.”

He moved closer still. “Maybe the problem is with him. And maybe you wouldn’t mind being a bit more than what you are now. If it can’t be with him, I see no reason why it couldn’t work with us.”

She watched him carefully as he closed in on her and then placed a hand on her thigh. There was little denying, at least to herself, that he was hitting a raw nerve. And yet, at the same time, she was more revolted than she had ever been in her life.

Balling her fist came as little effort then. Nor did she hesitate when she punched him right in the face.

It had been a good hit she thought, and he had not seen it coming. It had hurt her tremendously but the way his face jerked sideways and his lip split with blood, she knew it had hurt him more.

At the end of the day, however, she was not a great fighter and he recovered more quickly than she had hoped.

He struck back as if on instinct, slapping her hard across the face, causing her entire left side to sting terribly.

Owens seemed remorseful almost immediately and backed off. “It doesn’t have to be this way,” he said.

She pulled herself back up against the wall, refusing to let him see how much pain he had caused her. “I don’t really see another way,” she said through gritted teeth, wiping away the blood which was now tickling down her nose with the back of her hand.

Owens stood back up and retrieved the computer which had fallen to the floor when he had jumped over the desk. “Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps the idea of taking over his life is nothing more than a fantasy. Perhaps we are too different after all. Besides,” he said as he brought the screen back up so that she could see it. “I am on a mission that takes priority and I’ll need your help to complete it.”

“Fat chance.”

He continued as if she hadn’t spoken, looking at the screen which had taken some damage from the fall but was still readable. “I pulled up sensor logs for the entire sector. With the information Jarik has given me, I am convinced that we can track down Star’s cloaked ship but I have to be honest, decrypting sensor data isn’t my strong suit.”

“Why am I not surprised? Seems to me your strong suit is hurting people,” she said and then wiped away some more blood to make her point.

He uttered a sigh. “I want you to understand something, my dear, lovely DeMara,” he said as he stared deep into her eyes. “I’ve been chasing Tazla Star for the last twelve months without interruption. There have been weeks I hardly found time to eat, not to mention get any kind of meaningful sleep.”

“If you’re looking for sympathy here, I’m all out.”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not what I’m after at all. What I’m trying to tell you is that I’m very determined to get what I’m after. And also, so very tired.”

“I suppose that partly explains your delightful disposition.”

“Make no mistake, I will not allow the other me, or you or anyone else to get between me and Star. Not now, when I’m this close to finally making her answer for what she’s done. You think that killing that snake Jarik was out of line? I’ll kill whoever I have to in order to get to her. At this point, it doesn’t even matter anymore if they are guilty or innocent. If you stand in my way, I will get rid of you. Do you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”

She glared at him but didn’t say a word.

He retrieved something else from his desk and it took her a moment to realize that it was a phaser. He didn’t point it at her, not directly, but the implication was clear. “You can help me to get what I need or you can stand in my way. The choice is yours.”

She wanted desperately to defy him but looking into those tired and furious eyes of his, she had little doubt that he would make good on his threat. This meant that after he was done with her, he would simply find somebody else to try and get what he wanted and if they refused, he’d simply continue to kill his way through the crew until he either got what he wanted or he was stopped.

She glanced at the screen and shook her head. “You’ll need to carry out a tachyon scan to find a cloaked ship.”

He regarded the screen briefly. “Tachyon scan.”

“We can initiate one from the bridge.”

Owens looked back at her and smirked. Then he nodded. “I’d knew you come around. Let’s do it.”

She slowly walked towards the doors but then stopped when they still refused to open and turned to face him again. “We can’t get to the bridge until you unseal these doors.”

His smile widened slightly. “We’re going to the bridge, all right,” he said. “Just not yours.” He tapped his combadge. “Energize.”

The transporter beam caught hold of her before she could do as much as offering a protest.

 

[admiralelm11]

DeMara's been kidnapped?! Oh, this does not bode well. I suspect we're going to see some Eagle versus Eagle action soon... after they take care of Atlee's fleet. I wonder if we'll see some familiar faces and ships in that scenario.