The last thing Tomo remembered was a woman's face: dark, fine-featured, shockingly beautiful. While in Yomi's case, the duplicate's seedy confidence produced an ugly impression, it was hard to believe the two Sakakis were physically identical, so much did the beauty of one eclipse the other. The thought had flashed through Tomo's mind that her Sakaki, in her shyness, seeming uncomfortable in her own body, was afraid of becoming this woman. Then this Sakaki drew a phaser and summarily fired. In the split second before losing consciousness, Tomo had assumed this was it; and only regretted not going down fighting Kobe, or for that matter, anything at least marginally cooler than this.

Apparently the phaser had been set to stun.

She was sitting reclined, and when she tried to move, metal bars cut across both her wrists, her waist and her knees. Above her—like at the hated dentist's—was a piercing white light; or to be exact, five small lights ranged across her vision. The room had a sterile, faintly metallic smell.

She heard footsteps and was somehow sure it was Sakaki. She tried to raise her head, but found it difficult with the rest of her body strapped so firmly to the chair.

"Okay," she said quickly, "I re-eally hope this isn't what it looks like, because it looks like what I saw when I walked into Fleet Admiral Kimura's office for the briefing and he had to shut off the vid-player real quick." Then she shuddered and added: "What is with you people?"

Sakaki didn't bother replying. Tomo heard her pass behind the chair. Then she came into view, a dark silhouette under the lights. She looked supernaturally tall like something out of a nightmare.

"Don't get the wrong idea," she said. "I don't take any kind of sadistic pleasure in this. Well…it would be fair to say I enjoy a job well done. But this, I've done a thousand times, and I'd prefer to dispense with the boring part quickly."

Tomo realized there must be a second chair, or stool in front of her, just below her line of sight. Sakaki sat down so that only her darkened face remained pulling at the edge of her vision. It made Tomo's head ache.

"You have a resilient mind," came the cold voice. "Most people are walking masses of fear, insecurity and regret. Picking them apart is like picking the wings off a Betazed wasp. But while my agent reported you as an incompetent buffoon…I appreciate why you were tapped for command.

"Now. Let's be frank with each other. I have a request; that you will make a recording, for transmission to your commanding officer, advising that your Federation lay down its arms and negotiate with us as the weaker power. I doubt you'll accede to my request. Pain, of one sort or another, will be necessary to convince you. Does that sound about right?"

"You know what I really hate?" said Tomo. "I have this crippling fear of not being tied to a chair. And weapons—can't stand 'em. If you let me go and put a phaser in my hand, I bet I'd crack right away…"

"—and you'll prattle on in some attempt to prove," Sakaki went on, "as if to an invisible audience, how tough you are and that you aren't afraid me. Well, there will be pain if it comes to that. Know that your simpler thoughts are an unclouded pond to me. Anyone could tell you're terrified of blood, and hate physical pain. The thought of the simplest tortures—oh, say, the splinter under the fingernail—makes your stomach clench up. Isn't that right?"

Tomo swallowed hard, and said nothing.

"However…those tactics are unsavory. We are both rational people. Perhaps we can reach an understanding."

"Does that mean, like, 'all you creepy people leave our space right now and never come back?' Cause if so, I'm all for that."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible.—As an intelligent woman like yourself must have guessed, we come from a world that resembles yours to a startling degree. Except that, rather than blindly traipsing around the galaxy, we have devoted ourselves to conquest. Our numbers must be roughly equal. But each of our ships carries many times the armament of yours. Now, our war fleet is poised to invade, and your Federation stands a Provian ice cube's chance on Kelsor Two.—That's the one with all the lava fissures."

"Yeah, thanks, I got that."

"You will forgive our substitution tricks; but we couldn't be certain we were dealing with a proper civilization. Now I understand—that you are even in need of our help. Imagine how efficient…how powerful our two Japans could be in tandem; like two suns in the sky. Nothing in all the compound multiverse would be beyond our reach."

"Okay. I get that. But I got one question."

"By all means…ask."

"Why do you got to invade? I mean, can't we just, y'know…be friends?"

It was still impossible to see—and the throbbing in her head was worse, and the steady light appeared to be flickering—but she thought Sakaki smiled.

"This is the difference in our philosophy. Your people, as I understand it—and I must thank you for the glimpse into your own mind, which has taught me a great deal—value freedom above all else. My people value peace."

"Oh—come on, you don't think I'm gonna buy…"

"Peace," Sakaki pressed on imperturbably, "is the single thought behind every action we take. Yes, in the short term that means bloodshed; and we appoint officers with a talent, even an enjoyment of such. That is only rational. But only when all the universe is united under a single banner will all conflict cease. Do you mean to tell me your Federation is in a state of eternal peace?"

"Well…ye-eah basically. Okay, when we bumped into you guys, we were on our way to mediate a border dispute. But hey, wait, that space anomaly must have been you guys; so that's your fault! If not for you, the Romulans and Vulcans would just barely manage to suppress their mutual hatred and we could all get along."

"I see.—On which subject, other races have the right idea. The Romulans and the Klingons, for example, both value strength. But the Klingons enjoy conflict for its own sake—a barbaric mindset—and the Romulans, with their provincial xenophobia, never would have amounted to anything without our help. Only we understand the urgent necessity of uniting everybody.

"Reality is…what it is. It stands to reason there must be one correct way of living. Our divine task is to bring all peoples to this realization…Since the days of this vessel's namesake, men and women have been patiently laying down their lives for that cause. I intend to make sure those sacrifices were not in vain."

"Dang," said Tomo, and tried with all her strength to focus her eyes on Sakaki; though she did not have the sense they were looking at each other. "You really mean it…don't you? You aren't just messing with me. You really are that nuts."

Then she heard Sakaki sigh. It was a dreadful lingering noise, reverberating around the metal-walled room, like a ghost.

"Perhaps we can't see eye to eye on this issue," she said, "just yet. Let's change the subject. Tell me, Captain Takino…how many lights do you see in front of you?"

Tomo blinked.

"Four," she said.

A lengthy pause.

"Are you sure about that? Try twisting your head a bit, maybe one's off to the side."

"Nope. Still seeing four."

"Damnit, that's now how this works. You say there's five, and I try to convince you there's only four, and then I break your will."

"Oh is that what we were doing? We can, like, start over if…"

"Silence!" Sakaki stood again; and now there were indeed four lights, as one of them vanished to form a dark corona around her head. "I can see this won't be easy. But you can't just invent whatever you like. Everyone is subject to the same reality, and I intend to teach you that lesson. Now how many lights do you see?"

"Four!—Now free my right arm so I can give you the pink-eye!"

"Wrong answer." Now Sakaki removed an object from a pocket of her high-collared uniform; a dull silvery cylinder, slightly bigger than a stylus. "If you insist on behaving like a child, I'll treat you like one. Now, count along with me." She pointed at the rightmost light. "One…"

"One."

"Two…"

"Two."

"Three…"

"Three."

"Four…"

"Four."

"Five."

"Four!"

Sakaki squeezed the cylinder and a burning filament of red light, as thin as a human hair, shone benignly from one end.

"Oh what are you gonna do now, laser-pointer me to de—a-a-augh!"

The beam lashed across Tomo's chest; and though there was no sound, nothing damaged, a wave of agony washed up and down her body.

"Didn't your people invent the laser whip? That was the weakest setting.—This isn't. Now let's try this again. How—many lights—do you see?"

In truth, through her involuntary tears, Tomo only saw one white blur.

"Th-that's gonna cost you," she choked out, "now I only see three ligh—ow-ow-ow!"

"I can read your thoughts; I know your clowning is an act! It's time to stop living in your childish little world and face facts!

"It's n-not an act…I really am this dumb. Ow! Okay stop already, please, y-you made your point…Ow! Mommy! Yomi…Yomi, help!"

"Your first officer is quite content under my command. She finally has the respect she's always deserved."

"That's a lie, Yomi would n-never…!"

"As for the rest of your bridge crew, I've given orders for their summary execution. They are of no use to me. If you cooperate…it may not be too late to save one or two."

"You're lying, I don't believe a word of it!"

"Perhaps. But you can't be sure. I, on the other hand, can see you'd do anything to save one of your friends. Paralyzed by compassion—no wonder you were never a match for me."

Sakaki squeezed the cylinder again, and it began to emit a high-pitched buzzing.

"I'm running out of patience. The longer this goes on, the fewer words and the more pain will be involved."

"You can hurt me," said Tomo, between deep ragged breaths, "you can mess with my head…you can even threaten my crew…but you can't take away…my right to do what I want, be as weird as I want, and say whatever random things I want! That's the Federation! And if your reality means running lasers through people I don't want any part of it! No one from my world could ever live in yours! That's right, I said it; you live in a stupid world for losers!"

Sakaki squeezed the cylinder one more time. Now it visibly shuddered in her hand; and the beam, of a blinding intensity, illuminated half her pitiless face.

"As you wish," she said. "From now on, there will be only pain."

But then—as if (and later, she would claim this was the case) Tomo's force of will had physically manifested—the room shook all around them. Sakaki caught herself on the edge of the chair; her communicator sounded.

"Bridge, Kagura, report!"

"Commander, we are taking fire. Shields at eighty percent and holding."

Now Sakaki too was breathing heavily, and as she leaned over Tomo, a bead of sweat showed on her right temple. She whispered:

"Allow me to confide something in you…although it's hardly necessary. Our Yomi is a stooge. I keep her in the captain's chair as a precaution against assassination—and I suspect your Yomi has much the same attitude. I did at least believe she was competent…but it would seem your crew has regained control of your ship. Now they've made the rational choice, and decided to sacrifice your life and the half-Klingon's for the greater good."

"Th-that's not possible. I've carefully trained my crew never to do anything that makes a lick of sense."

"Be that as it may.—Bridge! We have no choice. Target all weapons on the Ryouma and keep firing until there's nothing left. I'm on my way."

"Sir."

"Wait!" yelled Tomo, but Sakaki didn't even look back. "You win! I'll make the transmission!"

"You should have taken my offer while you had the chance," Sakaki said, a moment before the door slid shut.

"H-hey…you're not just gonna leave me strapped to this thing. Well I guess you are evil so it's not that surprising. How about just freeing one arm? So I can like scratch my nose if I have to? You're, uh, long gone aren't you. Coward! Run away from me, will you!—Oof, ugh, these restrains are…really pretty sturdy. Well…y-your boobs aren't as big as the real Sakaki's! Oh yeah, and one more thing…there—are—four—lights!"

Note: Like I said earlier, I don't know how familiar y'all are with Star Trek:TNG; but Chain of Command is one of the two episodes in all of Star Trek I would recommend anyone watch, regardless of their familiarity. The other is Deep Space Nine's Duet, Incanto out