A/N: This chapter is based on The Enemy Within episode. This is part one.
Stardate 1672.1
Mission: Specimen gathering on Planet Alpha 177.
"Bridge to all decks. Section three officers, please check communication lines." An announcement rings over the intercom.
I lean against the captain's chair. Uhura is on break and Spock is in command while the captain leads the specimen gathering mission on the planet below.
"What kind of specimens are they looking for?" I ask.
"Botanical specimens mostly. It is not in our best interest to carry large quantities of living Mammalia or Reptilia aboard the ship."
"Too many mouths to feed." I conclude.
"Uh, Mr. Spock?" Whirs the communication device on the captain's chair.
He clicks a button. "This is Mr. Spock. What can I do for you Dr. McCoy?"
"It's the captain." There's a pause. "Would you mind coming down to sickbay for a moment?"
"On my way." He stands and I peel myself away from my spot. We make our way to the infirmary.
The door to the Medical Ward slides open and we find a very disgruntled Chief Medical Officer.
"Hey Doc, everything alright?" I stride over to him.
"Yes, I'm quite alright. I don't think I can say that about our Captain, however." He turns to Spock. "He came in here not a moment ago forcefully demanding Saurian Brandy. Mind investigating what's going on?"
"Of course, Doctor. Did anything else about his behavior strike you as odd?"
"Everything about his behavior struck me as odd! He grabbed me by the neck and demanded the best brandy in my cabinet. He was acting like a wild man." Doc snaps.
Spock turns to me and I nod. We need to find the Captain.
The First Officer knocks on the door one away from my own.
"Yeah?" comes a voice from within.
"Mr. Spock."
"And Echo." I chime.
"Come in."
I step in after Spock, his brow furrowed in concern.
"Yes, Mr. Spock? What is it?" Asks the Captain.
Spock takes a breath, studying Kirk. "Is there something I can do for you, Captain?"
"Like what?" asks Kirk, openly confused with Spock's question.
Spock takes another intake, slightly taken aback, his concern slowly fading into confusion, his arms akimbo. "Well, Dr. McCoy seemed to think that I should check on you."
"That's nice." Says a shirtless Kirk, a towel wrung around his neck. "Come on, Spock. I know that look. What is it?"
Spock fidgets a little. He's uncomfortable. I look from him to the Captain. The man in question certainly looks fine, but Doc was adamant about Kirk's behavior.
"Well, our good Doctor said you were acting like a . . . wild man. Demanded brandy." He manages with some difficulty.
Kirk laughs. "Our good Doctor's been putting you on again."
"Hmm." Spock nods pensively, accepting this as a reasonable explanation. Kirk seems fine.
I on the other hand, am not so sure. Yes, Kirk looks alright, but I don't believe Doc was pulling a fast one on Spock. He was dead serious when he called us in. Quite pissed off, actually. I continue to scrutinize our Captain.
"Well, in that case, if you'll excuse the intrusion, Captain, I'll get back to my work." Apologizes the irritated Vulcan.
"I'll tell him you were properly annoyed." He grins at both of us.
"Captain." Nods an aggravated Spock.
I give the Captain a small wave as I follow a clomping Spock out the door.
"That was weird." I say and Spock only rumbles. "You're pretty mad about this aren't you?"
"I am not mad." He corrects, though his eyes are glinting steel. "Vulcan's do not experience emotion."
I get to my point. "I don't think Doc was lying about the Captain."
"Then how would you explain his current behavior? It does not correspond with the purposed account of a wild man."
"I know." I have nothing to support my claim that Doc wasn't just messing with Spock, though I'm certain he wasn't.
Kirk returns to the bridge shortly after, dressed in a green shirt with an odd slit in the middle and gold-leaf waves extending from the collar to his shoulders; he's still off duty. I sit in Spock's chair organizing a stack of brightly colored acrylic squares in alphabetical order, as per the Chief Science Officer's request. Uhura is back on duty but there is no time for small talk, she's busy.
Later, the Captain and Mr. Spock are summoned to the transportation room. Kirk waits inside the turbolift while Spock shows me where to store his library of acrylic squares. When I file into the elevator next to Kirk, I catch him grinning at Spock and me.
"What?"
"Nothing." He wrinkles his lower lip and mirth dances in his eyes.
We arrive at our destination. Scotty stands with a golden haired pooch in his arms, a horn-like tusk sticking out of its forehead.
"What is it, Scotty?" The captain comes to a stop in front of the Chief Engineer with the First Officer at his heels.
"Transporter breakdown, sir." He turns to a technician working the panel, "Continue circuit testing." He faces us again. "We beamed up this animal, and . . . well, look for yourself. It's in the specimen case." Scotty lifts the lid of a metallic crate.
A growling, barking ball of fur with fangs threatens us from the bottom of the crate.
"Yes?" inquires Kirk, seeing nothing more than a rambunctious dog-like creature.
"A few seconds after they sent this one up through the transporter, that duplicate appeared." Scotty looks pointedly at the crate. "Except it's not a duplicate, it's an opposite. Two of the same animal, but different. One gentle, this –" he holds out the horned creature in his arms, "and one mean and fierce, that –" he motions to the other in the crate. "Some kind of savage, ferocious opposite."
"A doppelganger." I utter aloud as Spock moves to stand beside me, peering into the box.
"Aye." Says Scotty. "Captain, we don't dare send Mr. Sulu and the landing party up. If this should happen to a man. . ."
A chill tickles my spine and my eyes flicker to Kirk's face. 'He was acting like a wild man,' Doc's voice echoes in my memory. Spock frowns, the Captain's face folds in worry, and I know they're thinking the same thing. What if?
"Oh, my." Kirk's exhales heavily.
We drop off Captain Kirk at his quarters, he says he needs the rest.
"What do you think of the opposites?" I ask Spock once it's just the two of us making our way down the hall.
"Are you inquiring about the odd behavior Dr. McCoy reported?"
"Yes." I tilt my head to get a better look at him. His eyes are dark and I can see the tiny cogs of his mind turning.
"We must expect the unexpected."
We're not at the bridge for more than a quarter of an hour when a distress call from within the ship comes in.
"Geological technician Fisher. Deck 12 –" the man is cut off mid-sentence with a grunt.
Mr. Spock dispatches a crewman to check out what's happened. He's more than surprised when Doc calls for his presence in sickbay again.
"Yes, Doctor?" Spock announces our presence.
Doc strides in from the adjacent medical room, his forehead folded into a frown. "Did you two look into the matter I mentioned?"
"We checked out Kirk, like you asked. There was nothing erratic or wild about him." I meet Doc's intense gaze.
"The Captain appeared to be in his fully capable mental capacity, Doctor. Neither of us was particularly humored by your 'joke'." Spock's shoulders bristle as he speaks.
"Joke?" Scoffs Doc furiously. "This is no joke. Two crewmembers were attacked and both claim it was the Captain."
Part of me cannot help but deny the accusations. Another part tells me three people accusing the Captain of this type of behavior cannot be ignored.
"What do they accuse the Captain of, Doctor?" Spock's face is cast in shadow. No matter his loyalty to the Captain, he must investigate these claims.
What Doc says next nearly knocks me off my feet. Yeoman Rand was sexually assaulted by Captain Kirk. She is sure something terrible would have happened if she hadn't fought her way to the door and technician Fisher hadn't been passing by. She shouted to the technician to reach Mr. Spock for help, but he was accosted midway through his distress call – completely knocked out. Thankfully, the perpetrator did not return to the Yeoman's room and another passerby found her and Fisher and brought them to sickbay.
My heart is beating in my ears. Someone very violent is aboard this ship, and I believe that someone to be Kirk's darker double. "Spock." I whisper as Dr. McCoy's attention is diverted by someone moaning in the other room. "I really think they did see Kirk. Though not our Captain, but the doppelganger. It's the most plausible explanation."
"That would entail taking the existence of the Captain's doppelganger as a given." He shakes his head, almost pained. "We must first rule out all possibility that it was not in fact Captain Kirk."
I nod. He's right, though I don't like to admit it.
"Me? My Yeoman said that?" Kirk peers at us through incredulity, shocked at the words his First Officer confronted him with just seconds ago. "I've been resting here since you left me. Alone, Mr. Spock."
"Captain, Dr. McCoy reports that you demanded this brandy in sickbay and left with it." He indicates the amber flask I hold. "We found this bottle in Yeoman Rand's quarters." Spock studies Kirk as he makes his way across the room toward us.
"Not true." Kirk snatches the tall glass. "I haven't been to the sickbay." He hands the brandy container back to me and I set it down. "Let's find out what's going on." He leads us to a turbolift. "Sickbay."
We arrive at the infirmary again and Doc greets us at the door, never taking his eyes off Kirk.
"I'd like to hear the Yeoman's accusations against me, by her own mouth," Kirk demands.
Doc nods and leads us to her. I am uncomfortable with Kirk questioning Rand as wound up as he is. She's been attacked by someone, the last thing she needs is for her testimony to be doubted.
Yeoman Rand is sitting in a pleather chair in front of a medical monitor. When prompted she begins to recount her encounter. She squirms, tears roll down her cheeks smearing the kohl around her eyes. It is painfully obvious how distraught she is. "Then he kissed me and he said that we – that he was the Captain and he could order me."
Frigid air descends at her words. '. . . he said he was the Captain and he could order me.' The revulsion I feel pushes sick up my throat and I have to battle it down. Kirk looks stunned, if somewhat indignant. Spock's face, however, is drawn in disgusted disbelief. His lips part and his eyes squint as if he were trying to fathom what she must be going through. Doc tries to maintain his calm façade but is also quite disturbed by Rand's account. The air is thick and her heavy breathing punctuates the air at intervals.
"I didn't know what to do." She looks down, then back up at him. "You mentioned the feelings we've been hiding. And you started talking about us –"
"Us?" Kirk interjects forcefully, starling her and earning looks from Spock, Doc, and myself.
"Well, he is the Captain." She recoils within herself, more tears smudging her eyes. "I couldn't just – you started hurting me. I had to fight you and scratch your face." For a moment she looks lost in that horrifying memory.
"Yeoman?" calls Kirk. "Look at me. Look at me." His voice rises dangerously and I have the urge to punch him. "Look at my face. Are there any scratches?" He shows one check, then the other.
Spock runs his eyes over Kirk's face to find nothing there. Doc is mulling over this revelation silently beside the man in question.
"I was sure I scratched you." Rand looks into his face. "I was frightened. Maybe –"
"Yeoman." Kirk addresses. "I was in my room. It wasn't me."
I am becoming increasingly irked by Kirk's forcefulness but I realize how important it is for him to clear his name. He is the captain. Also, I'm pretty sure it was his doppelganger.
I do not particularly like Yeoman Rand. She just rubs me the wrong way most of the time. But she was hurt and that's not okay. She is bravely recounting what happened to her in front of the man she believes to be the perpetrator, and he is treating her like the criminal. My insides burn with anger and I am fueled by the sight of Rand glaring back at Captain Kirk in defiant pain.
"I'm sure you did scratch him." I squat next to her. "We just have to find the man with the scratch marks you rightfully gave him." I can feel Kirk's eyes drilling a hole through my skull, but I don't remove my gaze off of Rand. She needs to know she's not alone.
"Sir, Fisher saw you too." She moves her trembling hand over mine and squeezes it for support.
"Fisher –" Kirk turns to Spock.
Spock gulps and nods.
"If it hadn't been – I can understand." Rand continues and I shake my head. "I don't want to get you into trouble. I wouldn't have even mentioned it."
"No, Janice. What happened is never okay or dismissible." I hold her hand and will my words to make a point, to reach her.
"It wasn't me." Growls Kirk.
I'm about to tell him to shove it where the sun don't shine when a man limps into the doorway from the adjacent room.
"It was you, sir." His shaggy ginger-brown hair reaches the middle of his forehead. A nasty bruise frames his cheekbone and the wrinkles on his forehead give him the appearance of a friendly bulldog. His wide green eyes widen further as the Captain stalks near him.
"Do you know what you're saying?" Kirk glares at him as he leans against the locked medical cabinet.
"Yes, sir." The young man looks frightened out of his wits but does not back down. He inhales sharply. "I know what I'm saying."
Doc steps in and leads the man back to the room full of beds. Kirk wanders back over to us, at a loss for words. Beads of sweat form around his hair line and complete disbelief engulfs his face. He looks to Spock, then to me. The three of us turn to look at Janice who lowers her gaze.
"You can go now, Yeoman." Spock places a hand underneath her arm to help her up.
Janice rises and shakily makes her way out of sickbay. I look after her, worried, and see the same expression on Spock's face when I turn to him. We wait until the door slides shut behind her before any of us speaks again.
"There's only one logical answer." The First Officer says when Kirk turns to him for answers. Spock nods at me. "We have an imposter aboard."
"Imposter." Mouths Kirk.
Stardate 1672.9
We are now certain beyond reasonable doubt that Kirk was duplicated when he came aboard the ship, just as the hairy, unicorn specimen beamed up was. What caused this malfunction? Has Fisher also been duplicated? At this point it is more than likely the crew waiting on the planet below will also be duplicated if we attempt to bring them aboard the ship. We don't yet know if there are any ill after effects of duplication.
But temperatures on the planet are beginning to drop, and they can drop as far as 120 degrees below zero. Far below human tolerance levels. The danger Sulu and the rest of the landing party face is increasing exponentially.
"How did all this happen?" Kirk moves toward Scotty who stands behind the transporter panel, an adorable hairy beast in his arms.
"I don't know, sir. But when Fisher came up, his suit was covered with a soft yellow ore. It had highly unusual properties." Scotty's face puckers. "It may have caused an overload. I can't tell. Not yet." He finishes with a tilt of his head.
I stand with Spock in the back, at the mouth of the transporter platform, both our arms crossed over our chests. I'm not sure when we started mimicking each other's movements.
"Does the transporter work at all?"
"Yes, sir. But we don't dare bring up the landing party. They might be duplicated like this animal." He points his head at the spiked fur ball in the Captain's arms.
Spock and I listen as the Captain and Scotty deliberate the safety of using the transporter to bring back our comrades.
"What do you think Spock?" I whisper under Scotty's and Kirk's voices in the foreground. "Do you think the danger of bringing the crew up and them being duplicated is greater than the risk of their certain death as the planet freezes overnight?"
"Yes, I do believe the risk to be greater if we attempt to bring them aboard. These duplicates are volatile. If the landing crew is left on the planet, they may freeze to death, but the casualties would be contained." He stops to look me over, likely checking to see if I'm judging him. I'm not. "If we were to bring them aboard and they were to duplicate, we would be faced with the likelihood that they would cause harm to others aboard the ship and outweigh saving a handful of lives."
"Not to mention, we don't know if there are negative side effects." I sigh. "For all we know it's half of what makes them, them."
"Precisely. Bringing them aboard may do more harm than good. It is imperative we locate the Captain's double, before he causes more damage."
Our conversation comes to a halt when Kirk wanders over to us.
"About your double, Captain."
"Yes, uh. Yes. We'll have to find him." He stutters. "Search parties, Mr. Spock. Organize search parties."
"We can't take a chance on killing it." I warn him. "We don't know what that could do."
"We have no previous experience, no way of knowing what would happen to you." Spock sums it up.
"That's right. We don't know." Mutters Kirk. "But the men will have to be armed. The men are to be armed with phasers locked – I repeat – locked on setting number one." Spock gives the Captain a strange look as he carries on. "There can't be any chance of him being killed. He's to be taken without – if the men are forced to fire, he can't be killed."
"How should we explain it to them, Captain?" Spock circles Kirk. "The search parties are to capture you?"
"Tell them . . ." Kirk stops mid-sentence. He studies the pooch in his arms as if he hadn't been carrying a conversation with us at all.
"The search parties, Captain?"
"Yes, I'll make an announcement to the entire crew. Tell them what happened. It's a good crew. They deserve to know."
I look at Spock and he looks at me. This is not a good idea. It would cause widespread panic. He inhales and nearly rolls his eyes.
"Captain, no disrespect intended," the First Officer rushes to catch the Captain "but you must surely realize you can't announce the full truth to the crew. You're the Captain of this ship. You haven't the right to be vulnerable in the eyes of the crew. You can't afford the luxury of being anything less than perfect. If you do, they lose faith, and you lose command."
"Yes. I do know that, Mr. Spock." He hands the furry specimen to our logical friend. "What I don't know is why I forgot that just now."
Spock's eyes morph from surprise to a mixture of worry, panic, and determination.
"Mr. Spock," Kirk pauses in the open doorway, teetering as if woozy. "If you see me slipping again, your orders – your orders are to tell me."
"Understood, Captain." He replies and a very unsettled Kirk walks away. Spock turns to me, adjusting the animal in his arms.
"It's a good thing you weren't duplicated." I reach out to pet the docile fur ball in his arms. He says nothing but looks utterly appalled at the thought. I smirk. "I think I'd be the only one who could stand you even then." His lip quirks. Scotty is absorbed at the other end of the room so I venture a flirty smile. "Walk me to my cabin?"
I don't think he registers the flirt. That or he pays it no mind as he gestures a confirmation with a tilt of his head and I lead the way out. I chuckle lightly when I realize he still has the dog-like creature in his arms.
I stoke the animal's pelt as we cruise down the corridors. "They grow on you, don't they?"
He arches a diagonal brow and I cast my eyes in the direction of the soft creature in his arms.
"Ah," he says as if he knew what I had been referring to all along. "I am giving Mr. Scott a reprieve from the specimen. I shall be returning it shortly."
"Right." I give him my most serious face. "Allow Scotty to focus his efforts."
"Yes."
"How kind of you."
He does not reply to my teasing but the look in his eye acknowledges its existence.
Stardate 1673.1
Captain Kirk makes an announcement over the intercom. What makes this announcement different is I can see it on my computer screen. "This is the Captain speaking. There's an imposter aboard the ship. A man who looks exactly like me and is pretending to be me. This man is dangerous. Utmost caution is to be observed. All crewmembers are to arm themselves. The imposter may be identified by scratches on his face. Repeat. The imposter may be identified by scratches on his face. Section chiefs, assign personnel to the search. All search parties report to Mr. Spock for assignment."
The Captain's face flicks off and the screen goes black. I amble back to my bed and wonder about the people stuck on the planet below – the days are longer there. It has been a full Earth day, but it is barely nearing sunset below. And the descent of night will be followed by the descent in degrees.
Kirk's voice crackles over the intercom again. "All hand phasers must be set to base cycle, stunning force. The imposter is not to be injured. Use minimum force. Repeat. The imposter is not to be injured. Use minimum force."
I return to my thoughts. I've been awake for over twenty-four hours, although it doesn't really feel like it. Doc sent up a message to Spock telling him to get me to sleep. I sigh. I don't feel tired.
I am beginning to nod off when a knock on my door has me crawling out of bed. "Yes, who is it?"
"Mr. Spock."
I unlock the door and he steps through.
"There's been an attack near this corridor. The imposter has taken a crewman's phaser. Be on high alert." He turns to leave.
"What? I don't get a phaser?"
"No. Only authorized personnel are permitted weapons. You are not a crewmember."
"Not even you can authorize it?"
"No."
"Alright. I'm still coming though."
"It would be unwise."
"Why?"
"Neither of us is prepared to incur the Doctor's wrath if he discovers you are not following his orders."
"We'll be fine. Come on." I start down the hall.
"This way."
I turn on my heel to see his arm signaling in the opposite direction.
"Where are we going again?"
"Engineering lower levels."
I have no idea where that is. "Lead the way, good sir!" I wave my hand with flourishing bravado as I take a bow.
He shakes his head as if wondering what planet I really hail from.
A/N: Haha. I'm such a dork. Ugh. I love me xD
So real quick guys: from the beginning I have debated whether this fic will be rated T or M. It all was (and is) dependent on how Spock's and Echo's relationship pans out. That said, there is still a very real chance this fic will become rated M later on. Then again, it may not. Just thought I should inform you guys on this before we get any further into the story. Out of curiosity, who would be put off and who wouldn't mind/be happy if it were to evolve into M? Feel free to private message your opinions if you're shy. This is not a vote however, it's however the story weaves itself, okay (:
Vulcanlover12: Yay! I'm glad you liked the previous chapter so much. Especially the Uhura interactions :D And the reason I omitted the song he was tapping his fingers to was so the reader could insert whatever song their imagination thought was best suited. Haha, but I think E.T by Katy Perry is an awesome suggestion. Like, yes! Lol.
L'alchimiste de Castille: Yes! I'm so glad you think my fic is adorable. And you like my OC (me) too. Hehe :DDDD And yes, the slow burn is delicious I think, lol.
Cecilia'sNotebook: YAAAS! You fangirled! YAAAAAAAS! :D Mission complete. Thank you for your encouragement and love!
