"Portals? Great, just great," Bones snarled. He scowled at Uhura. "We're already on a planet we know nothing about with a bunch of aliens that want to kill us and kidnapped our navigator. Of all the things that could go wrong, now we've got portals."

"They can't exist on the ship itself," Scotty muttered to himself, his eyes squeezed shut as he thought. "As long as we stay in here, we'll be okay."

Dr. McCoy sneered. "Yeah, with the homicidal aliens with the planet-destroying bombs. Great plan."

"Shh!" Scotty hissed. He pulled out a tablet and scanner the area. "I'm getting readings of life forms all over the place." He peeked around a corner, then looked back at his tablet.

Sulu held his phaser tight. He'd usually preferred to stay behind the scenes and sit back during missions, but this time he was ready. "We'll take them out," he said in a low voice.

Uhura looked at him in surprise, then nodded.

"Nae, this can't be right. It says there are two right on top of us." Scotty squinted at the tablet and rotated it this way and that. "That cannae be right."

After a moment of listening, Sulu pointed upward. "On the roof."

"Ah. That'll explain it, then." Scotty crept forward. "If I were them, I'd probably be keepin' the wee lass in the-" He didn't finish his sentence. Klingon shouting from around the corner broke out. Stomping followed. The noises led away from the Enterprise crew.

"She must be escaping," Uhura whispered.

"Then let's go!" Sulu turned the corner. Several yards ahead of him, three Klingon guards were thundering down the hallway toward a huge gaping hole in the ship. Outside, a smaller figure -Anya! - was moving away from the ship. "There she is!" he exclaimed. "Set phasers to kill!" A wild shot ricocheted off the hallway from behind him. "What the hell was that?" he snapped.

"I'm a doctor, not a soldier," Bones groaned as he leveled the weapon and fired off another shot.

Two of the Klingons in their way had fallen. Anya was still running away from them, toward the boulders.

"The landmines!" Uhura called out. "Anya! Stop!"

Anya seemed to slow, but a Klingon launched itself from the top of the ship, its outstretched arms wrapping around Anya.

Sulu roared. His feet carried him forward without his brain having to order the move. Anya hadn't even hit the ground. She never did. She simply disappeared. Sulu fell to his knees. "What? No!"

Scotty looked at his screen and shook his head. "I can't detect it- I- I don't know where she went."

"Hey, Jim," Bones spoke nervously into his communicator. "Do we know where these portals go?"

"No, why? You force some Klingons into one? Good work, Bones!"

"No, Chekova just went through one."

Anya sat in the window seat and watched snow swirl outside. It was Christmas. She didn't know which year. Somewhere in her parents' house her family, plus her boyfriend and Pavel's girlfriend were chatting merrily. It was surreal. She'd needed an escape to work through the situation.

Last she'd known, she was on the USS Enterprise, on her way to the bridge to have Dr. McCoy look at her injured foot. (To make her further question her sanity, her foot showed no sign of trauma now.) She'd been beamed somewhere: a version of the Enterprise that had been blown up to the point that she could not fly or function. Anya hadn't known whether it was the past or the future, but now she was in some alternate dimension where Pavel was alive. It was too much to try to think through.

"You're quiet," Pavel commented from behind her. "Does your head still hurt?"

The interruption to the silence made her jump. "No, actually."

Pavel moved a pile of pillows and got comfortable next to her. "Zen vhat ees it? You haff been wery strange since yesterday." He traced a pattern in the mist on the window.

Yesterday. Anya had been certain that when she went to sleep, she'd wake up back on the right Enterprise in the right time in the right dimension. Instead, she'd woken up in her parents' house in her old bed with Jim Kirk sleeping shirtless next to her as if it was something that happened regularly.

"Anya."

She sighed and glanced up. Looking at Pavel had been painful and strange. He'd been dead for months, or he was where she'd come from. She half expected him to morph into a Klingon or for his flesh to fall off. It was simply too good to be true that she found a dimension in which he lived. "Brother."

"Seester. Are you and ze keptain fighting? He theenks you're being weird, too."

"No," Anya replied. She looked back out the window. Fat, fluffy snowflakes were lazily floating through the air. "I'm just in ze wrong dimension, I theenk."

Pavel sat up straight. "Vhat?" Worry flashed across his face. "Vhy? All of us? Everything here seems fine – I-"

"Just me," Anya corrected him. She hadn't meant to say it, but at least Pavel hadn't laughed at her.

"But eef you were in an alternate dimension, we could be, too. We were all on ze ship together." Pavel looking out the window, his mind clearly formulating theories and calculations.

"Just me," Anya repeated. "I can't explain, but I guess I'm here now." She frowned. "I hope ze crew isn't looking for me back in my dimension." Since finding herself in this pseudo-Russia, Anya had learned that in this dimension, she and Pavel both served as navigators for the USS Enterprise. They worked different shifts. How someone would have convinced her to give up teaching at the Academy, she wasn't sure. Clearly something had worked out much differently.

"Zat makes no sense. Eef you were from a different dimension, zere would be an Anya Prime here already." Pavel blinked at her. "Are you sure? Zis could just be your concussion-"

"Perhaps," Anya shrugged. "I don't know. I can't explain eet. Don't tell ze keptain or decter," she added quickly. "Or mama and papa! I don't want anyone to think I'm crazy." She frowned. "I'm glad you're here."

"So een zis other dimension – am I with Cat?" He smiled and raised an eyebrow.

Anya swallowed and nodded without looking at him. "She ees wery much in love with you in zis dimension, and ze other, Pavel."

"Good." Pavel pulled a small box from his pocket. "I'm going to ask her to marry me tonight." He showed his twin a sparkling diamond ring. "Ees old fashioned, but zat's the kind of girl she ees. I hope she says yes." He sighed. "Mama likes her. Oh, and she likes Keptain Kirk, too."

"How serious are we? In my world, eet is wery new. Do you like him?"

Pavel gave her a look that questioned whether she was serious or not.

"I'm being serious," Anya added. "Whether I'm right about ze other dimension, or I hit my head too hard- I don't remember."

"You and ze keptain started seeing each other ze same time Cat and I did. I'm ze one who suggested eet! So we went on a double date."

"Oh, no. He's not going to propose, ees he?"

"Eef I knew, do you theenk I would spoil ze surprise?" He tutted. "Vhat kind of twin would I be?" Pavel sat back against the window and grinned mischievously.

"Ze kind whose mind I can practically read, anyway," Anya smiled and studied his face. After a moment, she sighed in relief. "He's not going to. Or eef he is, you know nothing about eet." She suddenly realized how thick her accent was becoming. Somehow she'd forgotten that her conversations with Pavel used to start in Federation Standard, slowly and unknowingly devolve into thick Russian accents, then eventually give way to Russian words, phrases, and finally, all Russian. "I missed you," she suddenly blurted.

"Missed me?" Pavel repeated. "In zis other dimension, are we not together?"

Anya looked down again. "No."

"What happens?" Pavel shook his head. "What would happen zat we don't work together?" His face paled a bit. "Does- does one of us..."

"I-I'm an instructor at ze Academy," Anya interrupted. There was no reason Pavel should have to reflect upon his own death. She tried not to get emotional. Even though part of Anya still suspected this was an elaborate trap, she wanted to throw herself ad her brother and hug him tight. "Zat's all," she continued. "I'm just an instructor. Not a navigator."

"And I'm on ze Enterprise? With Cat?"

Anya nodded. "Aye."

"Vhell, vhy are you so sad, zen? I'm sure we talk! Don't we? We must! Where vould my leetle seester be without my adwise?" He chuckled.

"I'm only a minute younger!"

"A whole minute behind, forever." Pavel nudged her leg with his. "Cheer up. In any dimension we are twins. No one can take zat away. Whether we are on ze same ship, same planet, same quadrant, or at opposite ends of ze uniwerse – we'll always be connected." He reached over and slung an arm around her. "I promise."

Anya wiped a tear away.

"Hey, stop zat! I mean it! No matter vhat, I'll never be far away." Pavel reached over and slapped at her hair braid, knocking it over her shoulder. "So unless you're crying because you're stuck with me forever, zen knock it off."

Jim watched as Sulu anxiously paced, swore, snapped at anyone who spoke to him, and generally was an asshole to everyone.

Spock and Jim had made their way back to the away team, who were still gathered just outside the old Enterprise where Anya had disappeared into a portal. Neither materials nor lifeforms disappeared when they moved through the exact space Anya had disappeared from, so Scotty and Spock were busy determining where and how portals were able to move, and where they led to. The rest of the crew had cut through any Klingon who passed by. Uhura hadn't gotten a chance to figure anything out by speaking to them. Dead men tell no tales.

Sulu pounded his fist against the side of the ship. "Where the fuck did she go?"

"Don't hurt yourself," Bones snarled.

"Bones, cool it," Jim quickly said. "Mr. Sulu, you, too. We're going to figure it out. Anya's strong and smart. What's more – she's alive and didn't seem to be injured. We just need to figure out where she went and get her back. Easy, right?" He pursed his lips and hoped the rest of the team had more confidence than he did. Putting on his "captain" face was much easier than dealing with the very real possibility that Anya could be lost to them. His abdomen was clenched tight to try to squish out any unpleasant knots that would have formed otherwise. Panic wouldn't help them. Unfortunately, he nearly laughed to himself upon realizing it, logic was the only way to go. "Mr. Spock, we need to find out a way to find one of these portals and map where they're going."

Sulu snorted. "You know how many places there are in the universe? You want to know the odds that we'll miraculously be able to find her and bring her back?" He turned and stalked toward Kirk. "Why do you look like you don't care where she is?" He gave the captain a rough shove. "She loves you, you know? And here you don't even give a fuck."

"Hey, easy," Uhura called.

Bones and Spock exchanged glances. They both knew better than to get involved. Instead, they simultaneously crossed their arms over their chests and stood back.

Jim recovered and shook his head. "We're down here because I give a fuck." He held his hands up. "Keeping our heads on straight is the only way we'll get her back. We have to think this throu-"

"You never think about anything. You just do. Now when it matters, you're waiting around?" Sulu shoved him again. "You're using her. I knew you didn't care about her." He threw a punch that caught Jim in the cheek. "You think you're just going to love her and leave her like all the girls on shore leave?" He struck out again, this time catching the captain in the jaw. "Fuck that. She's my friend. She deserves better than you."

"Hikaru!" Uhura cried, stepping forward to pull him away.

He roughly shoved her back and locked his attention back on Captain Kirk. "Fuck you. Do something. You're the captain!" He struck out again, but Jim dodged the blow. "Come on!" Sulu hollered, spit flying from his mouth. "Hit me!"

Jim shook his head. Blood dripped from his lips and his left cheekbone was bright red already. "No, Mr. Sulu." He wiped his mouth and a bright red streak stained the back of his hand. "We're not going to beat the hell out of each other. We're going to get Anya back alive."

Sulu's teeth were bared and his lip quivered above them. "Then do something." He stood down and scowled at the rest of the crew. "What?" he snapped.

Scotty cleared his throat. "So. Who wants to do some portal calculations, then?"