Chapter IV - Two Faced
On the other side of the quantum plain, in the Starfleet Universe...
Captain's Log, Stardate: 52948.7
Our mission to deliver supplies and personnel to the Federation Study Group on Sigma Iotia II is complete, and we are now departing to Starbase G-6 to pick up our First Officer, Commander Tracy Rose, whose mission to Tigra Zeo II should now be complete. On a personal note, this opportunity to visit Iotia was an experience I will not soon forget.
What a bizarre example of cultural contamination. I had read the reports made by the original Enterprise crew, and those later made by the USS Valley Forge, but nothing could prepare me for the strange culture that resides there.
Imagine a mix of human-like beings whose civilization was divided into two groups: The first half lives a life of gangster warfare right out of the early 20th century back on Earth. The second is a more advanced group who have chosen to emulate Starfleet of more then a hundred years ago, right down to the ranks and uniforms.
And then imagine the two constantly in conflict. How it came to be like this is a conundrum I leave up to the concealed anthropologists that have resided there for the last ten years. The famous Ambassador Spock's report states, and I quote, "A unique society in great need of a logical role model." while Captain Marilyn Darcy of the Valley Forge said "Never has the failure of the Prime Directive to be utilized been more demonstrated."
But I tend to agree with Admiral McCoy's take, "The entire planets crazier then a rabid coon-hound.", at least in his demonstration of exasperation. Because every single attempt at correcting the contamination has escalated the problem. But I digress. We are headed away from the planet and-
Captain Nathan Fox, commander of the USS Triumph, NCC 26228-B, was jarred from his recitation of the day's log by a shocking statement from Lt. Vosek, the Vulcan officer currently assigned to tactical.
"Captain. I am reading an unknown transporter signal in Transporter Room 2! Something is beaming in."
"From where? We're the only vessel in the entire sector." demanded Fox.
He turned to signal his Second Officer, but the tall redheaded Irishman was way ahead of him. Lt. Commander Philip Swire jumped to his feet, and headed for the turbolift, tapping his combadge as he went, "Security to Transporter Room 2!"
Swire burst from the lift and strode with purpose down the corridor. His badge chirped and Vosek updated him, "Sir. I'm reading a second transport, this time it is a lifeform."
Swire pulled the phaser he had acquired from the storage locker in the turbolift from it's holster and set it on heavy stun. He reached the door to the Transporter and it slid open. His eyes went wide with surprise.
A small, prone humanoid figure lay sprawled across the pad, and half it's clothing was ablaze with plasma fire! Dropping his weapon, Swire pulled the extinguisher from the wall and sprayed the person down, then kneeling he checked for a pulse.
"Good! Still alive, if barely." he slapped his badge, "Sickbay, prepare to receive wounded!"
Security Officers burst into the room as Swire stepped behind the console and beamed the intruder directly to Sickbay, "Sloppy gentleman," he scowled at them, "you should have been here twenty seconds ago, what if it had been the Jem'Hadar?"
"I'm sorry sir. We were in Holodeck 2, training, and-" the Ensign in charge started to say, but the Commander cut him off with a look.
"Won't happen again sir!" the Ensign nodded curtly.
"Sir, look at this." and Swire turned to see another Security Guard crouched by a metal cylinder sitting on the pad.
He was scanning it with a tricorder, and then stood up, as Swire himself bent to examine it, "I think something inside it is alive sir, although the casing deflects most of my scans."
"I believe it is a Trill symbiont." said Swire.
"Amazing sir! You can tell that just by looking at the object?" asked the astonished Officer.
"Actually it's written in Cardassian on the side." replied Swire and he hefted it and dropped it into the arms of the embarrassed crewman, "Get this to Sickbay, and do not use the transporter."
Twenty minutes later Swire entered Sickbay and found the ship's CMO Dr. Laura Tan studying the cylinder with a probe, while a nurse scanned it with a tricorder. He nodded at her and went to the biobed against the far wall, where the young woman lay in deep sleep.
There was no trace of any plasma burns, Tan and her staff had done their job expertly as usual. His eyes widened at the site of the green and purple spots that emerged from her hairline and traveled down the sides of her face. "She's a Trill." he observed out loud.
"Very good Philip, now what species am I?" quipped the Doctor, coming to stand beside him.
"Very humorous, Laura. What I mean is, what is a Trill doing this far out?"
"The mystery deepens." Tan produced a padd from her lab coat's pocket, and handed it to him.
"Lt. Ezri Dax, of DS9? What she doing out here?" he demanded, glancing at the patient, "She's changed her hairstyle since this photo."
"That's where it get real interesting. Ezri Dax is a joined trill." said Tan.
"Yes, I know, I met Jadzia Dax, the former host, a charming woman, before she married what's his name, ah yes, Ambassador Worf." replied Swire, starting to become annoyed at Tan's attempt to build up the drama of the situation, "Get to the point, Doctor."
"There is no symbiont present in this young woman." revealed the Doctor, "But I am reading the Dax symbiont in that container over there." she gestured at the blue cylinder.
Confusion furled the Commander's brow, "We both know that can't be possible."
"It is if this isn't our Ezri." replied the smiling CMO, and she walked back to the cylinder, "Look at this, Phil."
She turned the container around to reveal a character stamped in it's side. It looked vaguely familiar, being an amalgam of the Klingon and Cardassian symbols.
"I ran this through the Starfleet database and found a match, under a highly classified file." she replied, then nodded at the nurse, who nodded back and left the Sickbay, leaving the two of them alone, "This is the symbol of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance from what is known as the-"
"-Mirror Universe. Of course." finished Swire, and his eyes went wide, "Then that would make her..."
From Tan's point of view the Second Officer seemed to strangely hesitate, then a smile spread across his lips. He glanced at her and the grin disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"Phil, what is it?" Tan asked, confused at his reaction.
"Oh, nothing, nothing." he replied, then he slapped his combadge, "Swire to Security, dispatch an armed guard to sickbay."
"Commander, that is hardly necessary." frowned the CMO, "The girl's internal injuries haven't fully healed, and I will have to keep her sedated for at least ten hours."
"Doctor, there are strict regulations regarding this kind of situation, and I believe in them fully." he gave one last glance at the pretty Trill, "Is the symbiont in any kind of danger?"
"No, it's held in a sort of suspension, its healthy." replied the Doctor, as a Security Guard arrived.
He nodded, "Contact me when she awakes. I will report what you've discovered to the Captain, but I don't have tell you not to reveal anything of this to anyone. No one is to speak to Ezri, or whoever she is, until I do, understood?" Tan nodded and Swire headed to the door.
"Wait, you mean you and the Captain, right?" asked the Doctor, tilting her head in confusion.
Swire paused, "Yes...yes, of course." then he was gone.
Back in Sickbay, the patient moaned in her sleep. Deep within her heart, a tiny Romulan implant not detected by the Triumph's CMO continued it's work of filtering the sedative from her blood.
Ezri Tigan's eyes moved rapidly under her closed lids. She was heavily sedated but the images flew through her mind. She breathed softly, and shifted slightly on the biobed. Where-Where am I? The pain was intense, and she feared for the symbiont. But as the pain increased her mind reverted to her memories to distract the body, and she descended into the past...
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The Space Station known as DS9, six months earlier...
"Julian, come back here!" said Lt. Ezri Dax after the retreating human, and he stopped.
Dax walked up to him and grabbed his arm, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to complain, but I'm serious. There's no room in your quarters for one person, let alone two."
"But the Alamo model was Miles's and..." he broke off, staring into the distance.
Dax's voice became softer, "I know Julian, believe me. I miss Ben as much as you miss the Chief."
They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment, then Julian smiled.
"Lets talk about it over lunch, okay?" asked the Counselor, and he nodded.
From the shadows of an empty Promenade kiosk, she watched them go, then consulted the padd of data she had downloaded from DS9's computer archive.
Ezri Tigan, Trill merc from the Mirror Universe, stared down at the face of her doppelganger, the joined Trill Ezri Dax. They were very similar. Dax had shorter hair, not as wild as hers, and Dax wore less makeup. And that uniform, ugh! Tigan never wore anything that wasn't black leather, if she could help it.
And the other Ezri was a Counselor, she helped people with their problem's for Tiberius's sake, and she was in love with a Terran! And not just any Terran, but the carbon-copy of that Denebian Slime Devil Bashir. Tigan shivered in disgust.
"But she seems so happy..." whispered Ezri, "It's not fair, why..."
She stood in silence, then hit erase on the pad and dropped it into the corner of the stall. She raised the hood of the heavy Romulan cloak she wore, and headed back to the cargo bay to return to the Mirror Universe. She strode down the corridors of the old Cardassian station, deep in thought.
Why did I even come here? Ezri demanded of herself. Sure, I told myself I was scouting for business opportunities, but no, instead as soon as I arrived here I downloaded all the information I could on my counterpart and her predecessor. And then I watched her all day. Jeez, I must be insane, this serves no purpose...
She entered the bay and stepped up to the cargo transporter, then produced her new MTD, activated it with her thumb print. She played it across the console, then set it on time delay and stepped aboard.
As she dissolved into the beam, she again considered her reasons for coming to the other reality. Ezri Tigan had been a mercenary, or merc, since escaping from her terrible home life in the Sappora System, at the age of fifteen.
She had grown tired of her sadistic brothers who would constantly abuse the Terran slaves under their control. When she complained to her mother, Yanas Tigan beat her badly, as she would do every now and then, for her impudence.
Ezri emptied the family credit account and stowed away on a Bolian transport the very next day. After wandering for nearly a year she hooked up with a gang of soldiers for hire whose leader had saved her from Alliance Security when they caught her stealing. She spent three years with them, learning the trade, until she met a Ferengi.
Brunt was a smart man, always the planner, and the two worked well together, and she departed from the other mercs. She and Brunt went into business for themselves. Everything was going fine, until she met the Intendant of Bajor.
Ezri knew the woman was trouble, but making wise decisions was something she had never mastered. She always felt something had been missing from her life, and for awhile she felt she was filling it with the erotic Bajoran.
But when Kira murdered Brunt, that all changed, and their violent separation led her to Terok Nor and the rebels. But she still felt something was not right with her existence, she was drifting, lacking purpose. And then her curiosity about her own doppleganger started her wondering. Had the Dax symbiont of her Universe been ment for her? Was that her destiny? But it was lost, killed with her host, Jadzia, battling the Alliance.
What a waste...
In her deep forced sleep Ezri's mind shifted to the chance meeting with the Betazoid Elbron, then she sped forward and the recent events came at her faster and faster, she was on Iotia, she was running, she was back on the Bok'ra, then the shuttle was hit by disruptor fire, began to break up and she fell back onto the activating transporter pad and-
Ezri screamed!
With a jerk she sat up on the biobed, eyes wide with shock from the filtered drugs and the pain.
"Dax!" she gasped out, "Wh-Where's the symbiont? Where, uh! Ugh!" she clutched at her newly fused ribs in agony as she slid from the biobed onto unsteady legs.
She looked down at herself in the slight med gown. Damn, I'm naked under this, where's my clothes? And then she noticed the man in the Starfleet uniform lying prone on the floor beside the bed.
"Okay..." she said to herself, and she grabbed his phaser, not one to ignore any opportunity, then turned to leave and froze, staring.
The symbiont container lay on a table by the door, and it was open. Even more amazing was the Terran Starfleet Officer who stood over it with his hands disappearing inside. From the wrists up he appeared human, but below them he was a flowing mass of golden brown fluid! He was in deep concentration and hadn't noticed Ezri's loud reawakening. But he noticed her presence now as the phaser snapped up and she nailed him in the head with a heavy stun shot.
He released his connection with the symbiont and stumbled back against the wall. Ezri dashed forward and slapped the container closed again and sealed it.
She leveled her weapon at the creature who would be human, "I don't know what you are, but you signed your death warrant by touching this!"
He had reverted back to fully human and started to get up, murder in his eyes, but Ezri flipped to a higher stun setting and blasted him again, "Maybe you didn't hear me, monster, I'm gonna spin this phaser to max, and then you're going to be a stain on the deck!"
Now unable to properly hold his form the creature raised it's arms pulsating with the golden fluid of it's true nature, "Please, you don't understand, I wasn't trying to hurt the symbiont, I just needed information on where you come from! I want to go there myself."
Ezri shifted the weapon to it's highest setting, "Who are you?"
"My name is Philip Swire, or at least that's the name of the deceased human I replaced. The name I've chosen for myself is Loth. I'm a hunted Changeling, I went against my own. But I can only evade them for so long, they'll eventually find me and kill me!" he pleaded, beginning to panic.
"Wait, you're a Shapeshifter? Like Odo, from Terok Nor?" asked Ezri, intrigued despite herself, "There's other Shapeshifters? Well, hah, dumb question."
He nodded, "But in your Universe, I could be free, they would never think to look for me there." Loth said, slowly getting up.
She considered for a second, then shook her head, "No, you're too dangerous, Odo was a menace, I'm calling this ship's Security."
"I wouldn't." Loth said, and Ezri paused reaching for the comlink beside the door, looked back at him.
He formed back into his fully-human shape, "Starfleet now has very specific regulations for encountering people like you. You will be detained and taken to Earth for interrogation. It might be years or never before they let you go home. And no way could you keep the symbiont."
Ezri stayed her hand, and then dropped it back to her side. The Changeling smiled.
"Okay," she asked reluctantly, "what exactly do you have in mind?"
To be continued...