Star Trek: Mirrors.
Chapter Four
Federation Station Deep Space Nine, an old Cardassian station at the mouth of the Bajoran Wormhole and command center for the sector in the war against the Dominion itself, once orbiting the planet of Bajor and moved to the mouth of the strategically important access to the Gamma Quadrant by the Starfleet crew almost seven years earlier and home to both military and civilians alike, rumours had begun to travel around the station as to the arrival of a highly advanced vessel from an unknown power, a vessel which remains hidden somewhere in the Bajoran system and protected by a vessel from Starfleet, rumours ranging from a new class of Starfleet ship with highly advanced weaponry, designed and built in secret and manned with a specialist crew to a more unusual theory of Starfleet capturing a ship which had been sent from the distant future and everything in between. Few of the officers of Deep Space Nine, with the exception of the Command Staff and those directly involved with the vessel itself had known the truth about the unusual vessel, although the name of the vessel had yet to be discovered.
Calling for a highly classified meeting of his most trusted staff in his own quarters, the Captain and Admiral had continued to analyse what little information that had been acquired by their own sensors and the sensors onboard the USS Prometheus which had been assigned to monitor the as of yet, unknown vessel.
"One thing is clear Captain, that ship is an unstable element in a dangerous situation"
"Captain, Kira is right in her assessment. We have no idea what we are dealing with, they maybe Starfleet and we know that they are of Human origin. But, we can't allow or feelings towards their counterparts in this universe to guide our actions"
"Captain, I agree with Lieutenant Dax" General Martok replied with an almost smile upon his face. "There are those within the Empire who would still relish the chance to face in battle against James Kirk, his name is both honoured and despised in the Empire even today"
"When I met that Captain Kirk? He is nothing like the man I read about at the Academy" Sisko replied.
"Agreed!" O'Brian said with an almost smile. "His confidence in his vessel and his crew are the same, but there is something behind his eyes that I can't place and the same with many of his crew, although Spock is still Spock. It's this Doctor Rivers that I don't trust, I get the feeling that she is holding something back"
"Sirs? I managed to slip in a small tricorder when onboard their ship. The scans it took of their vessel are incredible"
"How did you do that without their knowledge, Ensign Nog?" The Admiral replied with a growing smile.
"I maybe a Starfleet Officer, but I am still a Ferengi, Admiral and we have our ways. I was able to project a size of their ship as roughly the same length as a Sovereign class and possibly the same in height and technologically? That ship is as advanced as any in our Starfleet, maybe even more so sirs"
"Officer thinking Ensign" The Captain replied with a proud smile. "Anything else?"
"From what I can tell? The crew is primarily Human, with the exception of Commander Spock, but I believe that he is half Romulan, not half Human"
"Intriguing twist" Miles O'Brian replied with a smile.
"Their reality evolved different than our own Miles" Doctor Bashir replied, after remaining silent.
"I once met Captain Scott, when he was rescued by the Enterprise-D from the Dyson Sphere? He was one of the reasons why I became an Engineer" O'Brian replied with a fond smile.
"What of this, Doctor Rivers. Did your scans of her reveal anything Ensign?"
"Yes sir, they did and I was getting to that. She is not entirely Human, from what Doctor Bashir had said after reviewing the scans of her…?"
"She is ¼ Betazoid, Captain from her maternal grandmother along with other species that I have yet to identify without a more in depth medical scan, I doubt that she even has any of their abilities"
"Interesting, and that may explain a few things. Mister Worf detected a covert download of our Federation database, before we stopped the download? We where able to duplicate a few of their files. Doctor Crystal Rivers, formally a Starfleet Officer. Charged with numerous crimes against their Alliance and sentenced to thirty years of confinement, crimes ranging from selling classified information and technologies to several assaults of superior officers" The Captain replied with a smirk on his face.
"Where is their ship now?"
"Still holding position at the edge of the gas giant Admiral, reports from the Prometheus claim that she has not moved in five hours. The USS Cyclops is moving to investigate their claims of the anomaly, they should be in range by now"
"Contact the… hidden vessel, I want to speak directly with her Captain. Something doesn't feel right"
Repairs to the vessel hidden in the clouds had been completed as the now limited cloaking shields of the ship where finally complete. Appearing as a more smooth and flattened ventral side of the ship, rather than a smooth rounder construction with four warp nacelles, rather than the twin nacelles of the new appearance. The Enterprise was still considered as a formidable weapons platform even with the removal of the Beta Module, considered as the warship section of the vast ship as much of the torpedo launchers of the ship remained on the lower section of the vessel, leaving only the twin upper launchers for the main section, although the primary navigational deflector remained on the Alpha Module, with a secondary deflector attached to the lower section of the vessel? Her maximum speed could almost exceed the federation starship above.
"Commander Spock? I am receiving a message from the Beta Module, it is Captain Kirk"
"Onscreen, Lieutenant" Spock called out as he stood from the central seat on the bridge.
"Onscreen now sir"
"Spock, we've located what appears to be a P.O.W Camp, I'm sending you the co-ordinates. Get here as soon as you can, we could use the weapons on the Alpha Module"
"Receiving co-ordinates" Chekov called out from the Science Station. "Keptin? It would take eight hours to reach that location from our current position. And with the Federation ship above us? It maybe a problem"
"Do whatever you can, but get here. We are in orbit of the planet now, there are thousands down there and we can't take them all… I don't want the Federation involved in this, they have enough problems"
"Mister Spock? I am picking up a signal from Deep Space Nine, Captain Sisko is demanding to speak with Captain Kirk"
"Spock, this link isn't stable. Stall him! But get here as soon as you can. Kirk out"
"Mister Scott, how diminished would our cloak be in this atmosphere?" Spock asked slowly, instantly knowing the answer.
"With the Beta Module Off-Line? I can give you 70% power to the cloak. However that ship would see a distortion in the clouds and know of our location if we try to move"
"Mister Spock? We have no idea of weapons capability of that ship, in this atmosphere our sensors are limited" Replied Lieutenant Sulu, as he half turned in his seat to face the center seat.
"We will require what the Captain calls… a distraction. Mister Scott, would it be possible to modify a sensor buoy to emit a warp signature which is identical to our own?"
"Aye? I could do that in moments. But that damned ship would see us moving and… move to intercept. I got it! Never thought that you had it in you Spock"
"I'm lost…" Doctor McCoy replied from a vacant seat on the bridge.
Bustling with activity, the Operations Center of Deep Space Nine monitored both the unknown ship via a relay from the USS Prometheus whilst expertly monitoring the traffic around their location, traffic ranging from civilian freighters to Starships and warships from both the Klingon and Romulan Empires. Entering the bridge from their private and classified meeting in the Captain's personal quarters, the Command Staff once again took their posts across the operations center while the Captain and Bajoran Colonel stepped to the lower deck and the situation table along with the Klingon General, the Starfleet Admiral and the young Ferengi Ensign.
"Captain, the Prometheus has reported that the unknown ship has begun to move"
"Inform their Captain… to monitor their position Mister Worf. If that ship leaves that planet? I want to know where they are heading"
"Sir, with their Cloak? We may not be able to track their movements" O'Brian reported as he sat at his station. "Their cloak is perfect Captain. We didn't even know that they where here until…"
"Captain. Intelligence reports from a planet known as Bakari, several hours ago? A human female matching the description of Doctor Rivers, assaulted three males before fleeing with two unknown humans, one male and one female" Lieutenant Commander Worf reported, instantly.
"What? How in the hell did they get past the Prometheus? How long will it take for the Defiant to reach that planet?"
"Four hours and fifty minutes, but they will have already have left the area by now Captain"
"Contact the Prometheus, order them to approach that ship"
"You think we are being played Ben?"
"I would bet on it Admiral. They have never revealed their ship. Mister Nog, you scanned Doctor Rivers and her Companion previously, are there any signs of Dominion technologies?"
"Nothing sir. You think that they could be Shape-Shifters?" He said as he turned pale.
"Check again. Colonel, order the crew of the Defiant to man their stations. I will deal with this personally!"
The continues pain of pushing the heavy cart up the seemingly endless and rugged hill whilst full of the heavy ore needed to power a starship had begun to take its toll on the exhausted and hungry elderly Romulan Admiral and with plans in place to make their escape from their own personal hell growing ever closer? A new lease on his life had flowed through the Romulan Admiral. With the time of their escape attempt growing ever near, their search for the favourite cousin of the Praetor had yet to reveal her location as rumours of her execution had echoed through the prison camp to anger the Romulan prisoners. Finally reaching the area where he would tip the heavy cart to push the ore into a long and winding shoot down into an unknown area, perhaps to refine the ore into a useable crystal for their captor's vessels, his feet began to slide on the loose gravel as the cart became heavier before a pair of soft hands reached out to hold the cart.
"It's been a long time sir" A soft female voice whispered from his side.
"Of all of the people, you where at the bottom of my list for a rescue" He said as he turned to look beneath a long hood.
"We are here, Admiral. Your message got through"
"Sinclair?" He whispered softly.
"She was injured, but alive. The last I heard. I'm not alone…"
Before her sentence was completed, another pair of hands pushed on the cart as the Admiral turned before nodding slightly at a familiar face stood by his side.
"Enterprise?"
"Alpha is on her way sir and hopefully bringing more help. We are in Beta, but she can't hold everyone"
"I knew that they would send you Kirk, you have always been my favourite student. We have a plan in motion to break out… everyone. With your help?" The Admiral whispered softly.
"What do you need?"
"A distraction Kirk, nothing more than a distraction"
"Of course. You'll know it when you see it Sir. Be ready. Where is…"
"Captain. We have yet to locate T'Rian" He whispered softly.
"We'll find her Admiral. I give you my word. I am not leaving this twisted reality without her… I gave my word to her Cousin, personally. Give me one hour and then make your move… good luck!"
Screaming through space at maximum warp speed with three Federation Starship in pursuit, the USS Enterprise under the command of Commander Spock, seemingly refused to cloak after an encoded transmission dispatched from the Beta Module of the vessel while the sensors onboard the three Federation Starships began to record every inch of the fleeing starship as much as possible. Utilising every asset available to him onboard the USS Defiant, Captain Sisko continued to analyse the capabilities of the fleeing vessel in an almost intricate detail from one of the few empty stations on the bridge of his vessel.
"Sir this design makes no sense at all!"
"Here it makes no sense Mister Nog. We design our ships for purpose, it seems that so do they?"
"Of course. With the Captain's permission? The vessel has smooth and rounded lines, the ventral side is… flat and shapeless, it follows none of the design…" Ensign Nog replied slowly. "… Captain, what if that ship is capable of separation, with the lower section is warp capable. Following the curvature of the vessel and with additional warp nacelles? The ship would appear as possibly a four nacelle design?"
"Can you project what that ship may look like, with four nacelles Ensign?" Sisko replied as he leaned backwards in his seat, to rub his eyes.
"Following the curves of the vessel and the almost flat underside, placing in twin nacelles of identical design? The deflector seems to be out of place, high for our standards. Similar to… a cross between the Sovereign and Prometheus sir. They slipped out, without us even knowing. I'll bet that Kirk is on that section"
"I should never have trusted them. Why haven't they cloaked?" Sisko whispered to himself. "Is it possible that the cloak is located, on the second portion of the ship?"
"Sir? That cloak is perfect, if they cloaked now? We would never find them until they want to be found" Called out the on duty science officer.
I could never get the lack of a Starfleet file on myself out my head, is it possible that I did not exist in this reality as my parents had never met, or even born? With so many counterparts of this crew existing here, could I be the anomaly here? Maybe I was born as a male, no! the computer would have identified the male DNA from the predictive programming and displayed that file. Perhaps, perhaps my counterpart had never joined their Starfleet, I only joined Starfleet because of my grades and at such a young age, I barely qualified for Starfleet Service.
This is a different reality and it stands to reason as I have seen that this reality is far different than our own. Perhaps my parents had never met here? I have destroyed my career in Starfleet and severed ties with all but one of my family, as only my Cousin will speak with me now. But this woman we had recovered, looks so much like her, perhaps she is in some way related in this reality? Kirk calls me a Mission Specialist, the truth is? That I am making this up with each heartbeat and I am terrified of what may happen next.
Stepping into the limited medical quarters of the Beta Module of the ship out of her own time and reality, the limited medical staff consisted of a junior doctor, barely out of medical school himself and unsure of his own purpose in the universe, a young and almost terrified man who's hands shook as he held the medical tricorder to scan the half-naked woman before him while she almost cowered away in fear.
"Let me help?"
"Doctor Rivers? Thank you" He said with an almost stutter.
"You're a Doctor?" She said slowly.
"Different kind, but I do know a few things about field medicine. My mother was a Doctor and she taught me a few things. What is your name?"
"Carrie, Carrie Kramer. But people call me Crystal" She said as she pulled her dirt covered top over her left shoulder slowly.
"Really? That is actually my first name, Crystal, I mean. You are very safe here, no one will hurt you"
"Where is my brother?" She said nervously.
"He is helping a friend to locate some people. How old are you?"
"I turned eighteen yesterday"
"Happy Birthday, Carrie. Why did you go to that world?" She said as she slowly scanned the young woman with a medical tricorder.
"When George escaped? He got word to me, I was to meet him there and we would run"
"Go where?"
"As far as possible, away from the Dominion. Please don't take us back to the Federation…"
"I'm not going to do that, I give you my word. In fact, what if I told you that we could take you someplace where the Dominion will never find you? A place with no wars and no one will harm you?"
"Not possible. They are everywhere!" She replied slowly, in fear of her very life.
"Trust me Carrie? You have no broken bones and aside from being hungry, thirsty and in need of a good shower? You'll be fine"
"As I said!" The Doctor mumbled to himself.
"What is this ship? Their uniforms look like Starfleet and that man I saw earlier, Is that?"
"Let's just say that we are not from around here and plan on leave as soon as our job is finished. This is only a small ship, but there is a shower in that back room to your left. The replicator is at your disposal for food, drink and clean clothing. The Doctor will assist you with anything else that you need, trust me Carrie? This is the safest place on the ship for you to be, when your brother is finished with my friend? I'll have him escorted back here"
"Thank you Doctor" She said with a sigh of relief.
"My name is Crystal, or Rivers if you prefer. Also, try and get some rest, you look exhausted"
She was so unsure of herself at that time, but what I saw in that young woman was not a lack of hope or fear, perhaps it was the presence of something amazing. The scans myself and the Doctor had taken of her had shown a high IQ, and the potential to be something great, given the chance. I knew that we couldn't help everyone on that terrible excuse for a planet, but perhaps we could help just two people? And with Starfleet now breathing down our collective necks and no doubt in pursuit of the Alpha Module of the Enterprise? Our time was running short, we had to act quickly in order to save the Republic officers from their fate and also protect our unsuspecting reality from the forces of the Dominion of this Reality.
Entering the system where the Beta Module had hidden itself, under the weakened cloaking device with the Federation fleet in hot pursuit, command Spock's order to raise the cloak had been given far to late as three Jem'Hadar fighters began to move in for an attack run against the seemingly Federation Starship, although agile beyond the comparable Federation Vessels, the diminished weapons capacity of the Alpha Module could barely hold its own against the three Dominion ships. Explosions began to rip through the ship while rocking hard to port and starboard while firing bolts and ribbons of phaser energy from the remaining weapons ports. Onboard the compact bridge of the Beta Module, Kirk's orders where to engage the Dominion fighters attacking his own vessel with a surprise attack from the rear of the enemy fleet as a separate vessel, rather than reforming the vessel into one powerful ship.
"Spock, we're in the zone. Break left, attack pattern Omega-Three, target the lead ship, we have the others" Kirk ordered, from the helm seat.
"Understood Captain"
Decloaking the small and agile section of the vessel while power began to return to the primary systems, four torpedoes sprang into life from the forwards torpedo launcher, independently guided towards their targets with the pale white glow of the powerful Type II-b Quantum Torpedoes, a new design given to the United Earth Alliance in recent years by their latest allies in return for type III-a cloaking system. Slamming into the unsuspecting ships from the limit of their range, one of the Dominion vessels exploded with a large fireball as the second vessel broke her formation only for the two torpedoes to follow in close pursuit. Spinning on her axis back towards the planet whilst reactivating the cloaking shields, the remaining two Dominion vessels quickly entered into warp speeds away from the system once they had detected the arrival of the Federation armada in pursuit of the alternate reality USS Enterprise.
"Did you see that? They ran!" Ensign Nog called out from the Helm of the USS Defiant.
"Status of that vessel?" Sisko asked instantly.
"Minor damage to their outer hull. It appears to be regenerating, Captain. Impressive…" Called out O'Brian from his console.
"Captain, sensors are detecting thousands of life-forms on the surface. It looks like the POW camp they spoke of, high traces of dilithium ore… it's a mining prison sir"
"Order all ships to converge on that planet, they where right!"