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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, avatar picture etc. are the property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks to my amazing beta EntAllat.

Music: Girlfriend in a coma by The Smiths

"On screen," Reed commanded. The tension at the bridge of the Defiant rose. The image on the screen became clear. A unique kind of wormhole, beautiful and different than anything Charles had ever seen, appeared. It was the spatial interphase.

Sooner than Charles had imaged, they were face-to-face with the gateway to another universe. Putting everything aside, he had worked day and night with his team, enhancing Defiant's shields, creating a cloaking device, calculating how to enter in - and travel through - the interphase, making a new sort of transporter device designed specially for this mission.

He had tried to focus on this unique project. With all his might he had buried his qualms about what they were about to do. He had to do this. He was a servant of the Terran Empire and he had to protect Lizzy. And T'Pol, though he didn't like to think about her. But at times, mostly when he was alone in his bed, his doubts had begun eating him from the inside.

That morning they had gathered on the Defiant. The small crew consisted of Major Reed, three guards - including Cole, the very talented pilot Gustav Hess, their transporter experts Hunter and Gardner, shields expert Hemingway, and, from his own engineering crew, Rodriquez. The soldiers Reed had picked were always at his side. They helped his quest for power that had already led to his promotion to Major.

They started their journey fully cloaked. The trip was tedious, but when they finally came eye-to-eye with the gateway to the other universe, everyone was on alert. The pilot maneuvered the ship into interphase and with ease the Defiant went through. It was completely dark. They had to rely on sensors only. Relief and pride welled inside Charles. He had done it. They went through safely.

They traveled for a couple of minutes, when he noticed a new development in the interphase. "The energy density is degrading at the threshold out," he reported. "This could endanger the stability of the threshold." Hemingway reported also that the shields were down forty per cent.

As they entered the threshold, the whole ship started groaning and moaning. Several systems went down. Life support was at its minimum. Sensors weren't functioning like they should do.

"Shields are down seventy-five per cent, sir," Hemingway shouted. "We're not going hold much longer."

"We need to abort the mission," Charles told Reed. "The ship is going to be destroyed if we continue."

"We've almost reached the end of the threshold," Hunter reported.

Reed only seemed to hear what Hunter had said. "As soon as we're out, scan for our test subject, bring him in at once and go back to maximum warp, before the threshold collapses. We can make this work."

"With all due respect, sir," Charles protested, "The threshold is destabilizing more every second. We better turn around and forget about this."

"We have the technique and the opportunity," Reed said. "The test subject is important for the Empire."

Tucker stared at the transporter, a machine, built by him for this purpose. He knew this ship and crew was capable of achieving the highest. Still, he didn't like Reed's new plan. "We don't need him."

"He's a genius who knows ships like the Defiant as well as the back of his hand. We'll use him. That's an order," Reed replied sharply.

The ship was finally through the threshold and had entered the other universe. All had become quiet around them.

Reed turned to the two engineers standing by the device. "We have a lock on him?"

"Yes, sir," one of them replied. "However, there are two identities. We can't separate them. They are united, intertwined."

Perplexity flashed over Reed's face. Then he grinned nastily, with a dawning awareness. "That's even better. We get Tucker's girlfriend as well. Engage."

Before Tucker's eyes, two people materialized on the platform. He saw his own naked form, holding a female in his arms. A blanket lay half way on top of him, wrapped around one leg. His counterpart had no deforming scars and both eyes were intact; he looked up in shock, tightening the grip on the woman as if wanting to protect her. She looked so much like the person whose smell, curves, and soft skin plagued his own memories. This T'Pol had short hair and a softer expression than the T'Pol of his universe. His counterpart was to be envied.

The world had changed. Trip Tucker had been celebrating his love for T'Pol and their recent marriage, when suddenly he felt a strange buzz, and a vibration throughout his whole body. He could feel himself being dematerialized and when it was through he wasn't in his warm bed anymore. He and T'Pol were on a cold floor, and they're weren't alone. Eyes were watching them.

"So much for privacy," he muttered. Luckily his bed blanket had also been transported. He pulled the sheet and covered both him and T'Pol. He felt the floor shake slightly beneath him, and recognized the vibrations of a powerful - but straining - warp core. He heard the moaning and groaning of a ship in need. A man called out that the shields were down ninety per cent.

"We've been transported," T'Pol said, still in his arms, stating the obvious. "We're on a ship now."

"And we're in trouble," Trip added.

T'Pol searched his face. "But we're in this together," she replied.

"Stay where you are," a man shouted at them, as T'Pol slid closer to Trip. He counted three men standing over them, with phasers pointed right at them. From their uniforms, it was clear they weren't Starfleet. He could also tell that the ship had at least the capacity of warp eight by the sound of it and, he wryly noted, they were capable of transporting two persons at once. So this ship was technologically more advanced than anything in Starfleet. With that, he could also rule out Terra Prime.

Around them was chaos, Trip heard noises like something in space collapsed with great force, reports being shouted, loud cracking sounds at where the hull used to be. The ship moved with great difficulty, like they were pulling away from a gravitational field.

"We're almost through the threshold," a man shouted.

Then, suddenly, the shaking, moaning, cracks, and other loud sounds ceased. A deep silence fell. Only the sound of steps, of a man walking back and forward, was to be heard.

"I believe we've been traveling through a worm hole," T'Pol said softly.

"I thought of that too," he said, "So the question is, where are we going, who're these people and what do they want from us?"

"Status report!" The shouted command cut off whatever T'Pol was going to say in response. The voice sounded familiar, almost like Malcolm Reed.

"The ship is in bad shape, sir," a male voice answered. "Major damage to the hull plating, warp core is holding, but also damaged. It's going be a rocky road home."

There was something very familiar about that voice. Through the bond he could feel T'Pol was shocked and intrigued by it. Maybe she knew who this man was.

"Ensign Johnson, bring our prisoners to sick bay," the same man that obviously was in charge shouted. "And get them some clothes. Guards, you go with them. Put them in the brig afterwards."

A little stiff from laying still on the cold floor, Trip and T'Pol managed to get up together and still stay, mostly, covered by the blanket. A young man, perhaps as young as sixteen, stood before them. "Follow me," he said.

As he and T'Pol shuffled down the bridge in the direction of sickbay, Trip got his first good look at the crew..

With a shock, he saw that the man standing in the middle of the bridge - obviously the leader here - didn't just sound like Malcolm, he looked like him. Trip tried to get a better look without being noticed. This man's face had a much more aggressive expression, and a goatee - he couldn't be Malcolm.

Another quick glance, before they were shoved into the turbolift, and he saw a woman who strikingly looked like Anna Hess, only she had short hair and a much older look. He also noticed a woman that could be a dead-ringer for Amanda Cole.

Once they were in sickbay, the ensign got them two overalls. As Trip and T'Pol got dressed, the men talked voices so low that he couldn't hear what was being said. Laughter followed their conversation.

T'Pol gave him a small poke. "Did you hear what they said?" she whispered. He shook his head. Vulcan hearing was much better than Humans, so he figured she had. "They talked about the fact that you look so much like Commander Tucker," T'Pol revealed.

"That's because I am Commander Tucker," he whispered back a bit annoyed.

"I have a theory," T'Pol continued, speaking softly. "They spoke of a Commander Tucker who had been in an accident, and they joked that he had the same taste in women. When we walked across the bridge, I saw the person they're referring to. He has scars on his face, but other than that, he looks remarkably like you."

Trip didn't like the idea of a double of him walking around. "You're right, something really weird is going on," he whispered back. "I saw something who could be Malcolm's evil twin brother, and someone who could be Anna Hess's older sister. You know, there are some scientific theories..."

"Of parallel worlds on the other side of wormholes," T'Pol finished for him. "Yes. It sounds absurd, but it's a logical explanation given the current information. These people likely aren't clones. They aren't exact copies and what would be the purpose in creating so many individual clones?

One of the guards banged at the door, ending their whispered conversation. As they came out, one of the guards pointed them to the door with his phaser. "The brig is over there."

As they entered the brig area, Trip saw a couple of holding cells. In one of them, a chair stood, amid all kinds of electrical wires. He shivered. He had no doubt that in this universe they didn't shy away from torture.

The guards placed both of them in one holding cell and sealed it. One of the guards stayed, the others left. All was silent around them.

T'Pol sat down on the bench. He stayed close, but remained standing. "I think they're after you," T'Pol whispered. "They want to use your engineering skills. That's the best explanation."

"Maybe you're the target," he answered back in a whispering voice.

T'Pol shook her head. "I think I was transported with you by accident," she said. "But I am glad we're in this together."

Her remark, almost emotional coming from T'Pol, was an echo of his own words, a saying that he and T'Pol shared when faced with troubles. He had said it to her when they discovered that they shared a psychic bond. They'd had a hard talk about their relationship afterwards in which many a miscommunication and cultural misunderstanding had been clarified. "We're in this together," he had said to her, "And we have a lot of work to do. But I want to make this work."

T'Pol had agreed and, while their relationship not always went smoothly - to say the least - and being bonded with T'Pol proved more difficult than he had thought, the bottom line was they had chosen each other.

In their darkest hour, when he'd seen their baby girl die, T'Pol had said that even more she wanted to be with him. "We're in this together, and I really need you." She had kissed his eyes, swollen from the tears and even without telling he could feel her love for him.

Just thinking about that moment provoked a deep pain inside of him, as always when he was remembered of his daughter. He had held her only twice and he had wanted to hold her forever. He loved her unconditionally and the thought of her passing caused almost a psychical pain, every time he thought about it. His slip didn't get unnoticed by T'Pol, close to him, who gave him a worried look

The door opened. Their guard straightened himself quickly and saluted the two men who entered. It was the leader of the crew and a man with a disfigured face and one other guard. He had about the same height as his.

The man in charge walked towards the holding cell and inspected them from head to toe.

"Why have you taken us?" Trip demanded to know. "What's your name?"

"I am Major Reed of the Terran Empire," Reed answered. "And we want your engineering expertise."

The other man also moved forward. His eyes went to T'Pol who he examined from her face to her legs. Trip moved automatically closer to T'Pol and looked this man straight in the eye.

He saw a face with two sides. One side was disfigured, the other side was identical as the face he saw every morning in the mirror.

"I am Commander Tucker of the Terran Empire," he said in a voice Trip recognized now as his. "This is a different universe."

Trip stared into the much darker face of his counterpart. We're in trouble, he thought again. Big trouble, and in a much more darker universe.