Mirror, Mirror Part #6

Posted on 07 Apr 2023 @ 3:18pm by Lieutenant Colonel Alexandria Somers & Major S'arila Donovan & Lieutenant JG Jarel Haze & Lieutenant JG Thyra Sh'shraaqir & Lieutenant JG Ted Silver & Ensign C'Tirr K'Ruuras

3,680 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: S3 Episode 5: Diplomatic Incident/Hydaransz Again (Incidentals)
Location: Terran Listening Post/Various
Timeline: MD: 02d

[ON]

With everything set Alex looks at K'Ruuras "Okay Lieutenant take the lead and people be ready for a hostile encounter, this will be a full power setting on weapons affair, do not use stun, Thyra, Haze and Silver will go next then Major Donovan and I will bring up the rear, ready on your say Ensign" she said to the Caitian.

C'tirr nodded as he elbowed the door panel and they slid open. His ears rotated on his head and his nose flared. He slipped silently into the hall in a slight crouch. He pointed a rifle down both directions then slipped to the left. "Watch the rear so they don't catch us from behind." He whispered into his comms.

oO Full power weapons setting. I’m a scientist, not a killer Oo Ted thought but aloud he said “ Understood,” Ted said

Thyra took out a hand phaser in one hand and a tricorder in the other. "I have made a rough layout of the station, looks like the level of technology we noted for the mirror universe hasn't changed much from the last encounter. I can modify the tricorders to detect motion and life signs."

"Excellent Lieutenant, make it happen, everyone is alert if I was the alarms I would start to go off about now," Alex said and with that, the base sensors detecting unregistered bio reading sounded out.

As the siren sounded Haze tightened his grip on his Phaser Rifle but readied it, C'Tirr quickly dived for cover, years of combat had honed her senses and reflexes "Take cover" Somers said and dived for cover as a hail of phaser fire lanced out at them "fire back" Somers instructed and fired back, the intense fire eased off a bit as the team returned fire, this meant the enemy was taking over, Haze turn out the lights, put us into darkness, but make sure we can turn the lights back on" Somers said.

"Yes Colonel" Haze responded as he found an access panel and pulled it out and connected his Padd up after a few moments of furious typing "Okay into darkness we go," Haze said and the corridor they were in went pitch black, then the emergency lights kicked in.

"Okay S'arila, go do what you do best," Somers said the Major removed her combat visor and her bright red eyes could be clearly seen by those who looked at her.

S'arila pulled out her commando knife and moved forward she was in her element, it was what she was created for, she may have been born in a birthing chamber, but the genetic alterations were done to her on a DNA chromosome level, and now she advanced forward and the next noises that could be heard was gurgles as throats were slit and the occasional phaser fire as the enemy tried to fire at the figure with red eyes, but S'arila moved fast.

Ted kept his head down as phaser beams lashed out a little too close for contact. His tricorder was making noises that Silver really did not like very much. Whatever happened with the anomaly the mirror guys were trying to boost its power.

“ I don’t mean to be the voice of doom. But if I am reading this tricorder correctly there is a colossal power jump. Being drawn towards the anomaly. Either they have someone waiting to come through or they’re taking this place through it.” Ted warned.

Looking back with a playful smile "You always want to be the voice of doom Ted" Somers laughed "Seriously though, keep an eye on it, it will be more likely that they are enlarging the anomaly to escape, by now they know that I am one of the Starfleet Officers assaulting this outpost, this defence setup is the type of setup I would do, you know what that means?" Somers said.

It was lucky he was wearing an EVA suit. Otherwise, the away team may have seen Ted go very pale at Somer's words.

“ Lots of cross people looking to end our lives very quickly,” Ted replied

Thyra took out her hand phaser and looked at her tricorder. "We got incoming." She put her tricorder in her belt. "You know, Lieutenant, if you go into a fight with that attitude you are the first to die."She said to Ted. And then aimed her weapon at the door. She had more experience as security than intel, and her instinct told her to get a defensive posture. "If you want to live, Lieutenant, You need to get your weapon out and defend yourself. The only other thing a Terran likes more than killing is torturing, and you pose yourself as the perfect candidate to be taken as a prisoner. If I were Terran, you would make a perfect playmate to me." She winked teasingly at Ted.

“I was just answering the Colonel's question.” Silver explained.

"Understood Lieutenant," Somers said.

As the last comment and reaction were made Major Donovan returned to the defenders and put her visor back on "Okay Mr Haze you can return lighting to a normal level" S'arila said and the room got brighter.

Somers stood "Excellent work Major," she said and then looked at C'Tirr "Okay Lieutenant lead on, Everyone is wary there will be lots of blood and it may be slippery, I hope you have strong stomachs" she added then looked at C'Tirr she knew the smell of human blood may hinder his smelling sensed, but she knew he would do his best Somers said.

To stop himself from going into a career ended a full-blown panic attack. Ted concentrated on his tricorder the power fluctuations between the anomaly and the place they were in. It looked like a heartbeat but after each beat, the power seemed to rise slightly. At the rate it was climbing they would either be sucked into the mirror universe or be blown into delicious grilled meat chunks.

“ Judging by the power build-up. We really need to get this done quickly. Before we end up in the universe from hell or a pile of crispy meaty freeze-dried chunks of meaty goodness.” Ted said

Looking back at Ted "You are a cheery one ain't you Lieutenant, okay let's move forward, I will take lead this time" Somers said and as she lead the team forward, she felt a chill run through her as someone walked over her grave, then a familiar voice over the communications sounded.

"Well I see Starfleet has sent their best to destroy my facility, as I am you and you are me I know you will succeed, but in the end, you will be given a choice, take me prisoner or let me go and destroy the station thus disobeying your orders, what will it be Alexandria?" The familiar voice said.

Haze looked at the Colonel his mouth open, Alex knew what the engineer was thinking, she simply smiled and silently cursed the mirror universe, but at least her doppelganger managed to navigate her universe.

"Is that who I think it is Alex?" S'arila asked.

Alex looked at Donovan "When you look in a mirror, do you not see yourself, but in reverse" she said simply.

Something then occurred to Ted “If we kill someone from the mirror universe does that mean we get seven years of bad luck?” He asked

Somers, Haze and Donovan gave Silver a look "So Mr Silver you do have a sense of humour then" the Colonel said with a smile.

"Very funny Lieutenant Silver" Haze said laughing.

S'arila looked around "I don't get it!" Donovan exclaimed, earning her a stern look from Somers "Really Major, really? Did not your adoptive parents from your universe not use humour before your universe's Second Dominion War? You also grew up with humans, yet a simple joke like this you do not get it!" Somers exclaimed. "Have you not heard of Seven Years' bad luck if you break a mirror?" Somers asked.

S'arila thought it over a length, but she still found human humour problematic, she understood the Mirror breaking bit, and then it hit her the Terrans were from the Mirror Universe, and suddenly the joke was understandable, she looked at Silver "Very amusing Lieutenant" she said deadpan.

Ted nodded. “ I was being serious…..” Ted replied

Somers and Haze just laughed "Finally light dawns on marble head!" the Colonel said laughing very hard at S'arila.

Thyra aimed over to the mirror version of the colonel and then broke the silence by firing her phaser, it graced over the shoulders and then Thyra moved her phaser to the side and said, "Before you say, my colonel knows I don't miss, so you can be assured that the next will also go exactly where I want it to be as well. We have our orders unless she would like to revise that order right now. She will have to be quick because I am one to follow orders in the field." She narrowed her eyes as she was ready to fire another round. Somehow she almost waited for the Colonel to tell her to lower her weapon.

"At ease Lieutenant, my mirror is used to being shot at, if she is anything like me, we will be given a choice at a critical moment," Prime Somers said.

"My double is correct Andorian, I will leave you to face my troops, be seeing you," the Mirror Universe double of Colonel Somers said and gave an evil laugh before hurriedly leaving the area when Alex was sure she was out of earshot "we have a tough time ahead of us, okay I will lead, be careful all of you," Somers said as she led the way forward.

Something else nagged at Ted. “I wonder what my double is like?” Ted said aloud.

Looking back at Ted "Well if reports of the Terrans that have been encountered in the past are anything to go by then he would likely be a psychopath to some extent, cruel and what we would consider evil, how best to explain, every bad thought you had an evil fantasy you have had and all that is bad in a human your double would have enhanced, he would likely be a venial and treacherous lout. We all have an evil side Lieutenant, our environment and upbringing determine which side we fall on, hence my comment of when we look in the mirror, we see only ourselves but reversed! The Terrans are capable of compassion and goodness, but breeding and their environment have made them who they are over the centuries" Somers said.

“ Well as a kid I was a bit of a monster. Until a game of date nearly killed me. So in the mirror universe, I would have been a little angel before the accident. Then a monster afterwards or maybe I did not live after the fall.” Ted said

"Wow Deep Colonel, Deep!" Donovan said Alex looked at the hybrids and smiled.

Thyra lowered her gun. She watched the mirror version of the Colonel leave. But she remained vigilant.

"Okay, let us be going, I have the lead," Somers said and stood up listening for any possible movement.

“ Scans show everything has not changed since my last freak out,” Ted said

Thyra looked at her tricorder. "We have incoming. Must be her troops she spoke about."

"Ready weapons people, remember the Terran soldiers have orders to kill us, so in this instance do not hesitate to shoot the enemy," Somers said.

"Oh brother, this is more action than I intended on taking part in!" Haze commented as he looked back to K'Ruuras who looked ready but remained silent.

"Suck it up Mr Haze, you are a Starfleet Officer, yes as a rule engineers do not fight, but you have been given basic combat training, so pull on that," S'arila said.

Ted looked at his tricorder.

" Power is all over the place. Whatever they're using to keep that gateway out there open. Is drawing so much power there could be an overload." Ted Warned

Thyra readied her weapon again. "That sounds to me like the place is going to blow itself up if we don't. How much time do we have, Lieutenant?" She looked on as she saw the forces come in.

“ Possibly an hour at the most,” Silver replied

The team moved around the corner and took cover just as the enemy came around their corner, they were alert, but they had not seen the Starfleet team, yet. Somers Pulled out a flashbang and looked at her team and mimed hands over ears and closed eyes, this they did and she primed the flashbang and threw it into the group of Terrans, covered her ears and closed her eyes just as it went off, there were screams of pain and surprise.

Somers aimed her weapon at the six Terrans who were stumbling about disorientated and shot them, Lieutenant Sh'shraaqir I know it is a gruesome job but check the bodies to see if they have any intel on them, Mr Haze see if you can blind their sensors to our presence permanently" Somers said.

"On it, Colonel" Haze said sounding a little relieved that he had avoided firing his weapon this time and got to work on his Padd to locate a wall console and upon locating an outlet reprogrammed the sensors to ignore only the Starfleet team, a moment later "okay Colonel they cannot see us, but we can see them," Haze said.

"Good, well done Lieutenant" Somers said.

Thyra went over the bodies and went through their clothes. She found some ID markers, rank pins, and then a jack post. "Colonel, I found what appears to be an order padd. It may be orders or reports. I will need more time to get through them, now may not be the time. Also, I don't know how much they were told, they seemed not high-ranked enough to be in the know, but it still could be valuable information."

"Understood Lieutenant, put them safe you can go through them when we are back on the Tomcat, as for their positions, the Terrans are only told what they need to know at their level, everything that is the worst of humans is magnified and rampant Paranoia is the norm" she paused to listen "okay let's move out I have the lead" then Somers remembered something "Dammit, How is that sensor block going Mr Haze?" She asked realizing that she had almost left one of her troops behind.

Putting his stuff away "All done Colonel" Haze said and now they advanced forward initially encountering no resistance until they neared engineering them encountering Terrans was not as much of a surprise as the defending Terrans seeing the duplicate of their commander, it was somewhat comical as both sides stared at each other, then just as quickly all dived for cover and started firing, they heard a grunt from behind them Somers did not have time to check she fired back "Fire in the hole she said and primed then threw another flashbang, like before it had the desired effect and disorientated the enemy, which the whole team managed to get a target this time.

With the defenders taken care of the team entered the Engineering section, there were a few armed techs there, but all were taken care of, then she noticed someone was not with them, she looked at S'arila "Major go get K'Ruuras, think he may have been injured" she said and the tall major left to get one of their own, Somers turned to Haze "okay Lieutenant download all engineering files, do not bother to try to decode them, we do not have the time, just get as much as you can" Somers said then looked to the Andorian "the same for you Lieutenant, but concentrate on key and important Security files and Lieutenant Silver you do the same for their science and medical logs" she said.

"Yes, Colonel" Haze said as Donovan returned with an unconscious Caitian.

“ Me to Colonel,” Ted said

"On it," Thyra said as she moved towards a computer console and started her magic on it.

"How is he, Major?" Somers asked.

"He got himself a nasty knock on the cranium, I had to induce a coma as the reading said of a potential swelling" Donovan responded.

"I see your Field Medic lessons are paying off, we will get him to a doctor when we return," Somers said "You watch the door for any new arrivals I wIll start planting the explosives" she added and Donovan nodded and took up a guard position at the door.

Eerily they were not attacked, considering who the commander was Alex was not surprised, and then the PA system activate =/\= Well hello there my dear intruders, if you are all still alive and if I know me you will have already arrived at the bases engineering section and my counterpart is planting explosives, very smart, also you would be doing download dumps of all data, also smart =/\= the Mirror Somers said.

Alex paused what she was doing and went over to the station communications =/\= well, well if it is me that lost all sense of morality and has become a psycho, well breeding will tell, I am assuming you are taunting us because you have something diabolical planned to make our survival odds lower, do not deny it, as it would be what I would do if positions were reversed =/\= Alex said.

=/\= True, Alexandria and your superiors would be terribly mad that you destroyed a valuable asset =/\= This was followed with a sinister laugh.

=/\= I cannot deny that, but when I explain to them why, it will be a slap on the wrist and sent on my way, the Admirals would be upset at me for some time but operational reports will clarify my actions, now you are stalling, why? =/\= Alex asked.

=/\= Oh you know us too well, yes I am stalling because I have set the stations to self-destruct, so you do not have much time, the data your people are no doubt downloading is mediocre, the best bits are in the Command section, the question is can you do what you have to do there, fend off my trips and get to the data and escape, you have to make a choice Alexandra, I have to go now as in five minutes this place will be no more, ta, ta =/\= with an evil laugh the line went dead just as enemy troops attacked.

Haze had finished his task and looked up "I am done Col... Argh!" he said as he was mortally shot, Donovan glanced back and went into a battle rage, Alex rushed over to Haze and checked on his wounds and saw it was hopeless she looked up at Silver and Thyra and shook her head sadly, she realised the shooting had stopped as a wall display showed 4:50 on the display and it was counting down, she looked at the pair "You pair have all you got? Good, get ready to move" Somers said to the DCSO and CIO Officers.

“ Yes, I have all the data,” Ted said putting his tricorder into a safe outer pocket of his suit.

Thyra was still tapping on the console. "Just a few more seconds, colonel, this won't take long. Just want to make sure you and I know, why I was put in this position." Her fingers seem to dance over the console rapidly. She was racing against the timer. She then grabbed her tricorder that rested on her hip and pressed a few buttons on it. "Ok, I got everything."

With a nod she looked at Haze which of these devices will do a rapid data dump onto them?" she asked and Haze with a shaky hand held out the device and Alex took it, she looked up at Donovan who had turned to watch "Major, I want you to get K'Ruuras and Haze back to the ship along with the Lieutenants here and get the ship ready to leave" Alex said looking at the countdown timer.

S'arila looked at the timer and then back at Alex "You are a crazy woman regardless of what reality you exist in!" she said "Understood" she added and looked at Silver and Thyra "Okay Lieutenants, get your stuff together and be prepared to move rapidly back to the ship I will carry our wounded, Lieutenant Sh'shraaqir you take the lead Mr SIlver you bring up the rear, now let's move we only have four and a half minutes" Donovan said.

“I am on it.” Somehow seeing what had happened to Haze had sent Mr Scaredy-cat Silver away and brought forward Mr Blood and Guts Silver.

Thyra put her tricorder back on her belt and then pulled her rifle out. "Let's go!" She started running ahead towards the shuttle.

With that done she watched her crew head back to the ship, she picked up a download device and hooked it to her combat EVA suit and pulled her Phase Pistol versions of her Desert Eagle Pistols and set them to frag and headed to the Command centre.

[OFF]

 

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