Chapter Six

"I'm surprised. It's actually quite nice here."

Captain Drake and Doctor Sarn had gone straight to the promenade levels on leaving the Shadow Wing. They had spent almost an hour strolling the large, open market space, browsing through various little shops, and now they were sat in a comfortable café, eating a light lunch. He wondered how Alex was doing, but he didn't let himself worry.

Sarn was better company than he had expected. She hadn't objected to window-shopping, she had bough a few things for herself, and she had conversed with him. He had been under the impression that Vulcans didn't engage in idle banter, but Sarn showed him to be wrong about that. As a rule, he liked neither scientists nor Vulcans; scientists were boring, Vulcans were arrogant. Since Sarn was a Vulcan scientist, he had expected to like her about as much as he would like eating glass. When she had first come aboard his ship, he had been fully prepared to dislike her.

She had won him over.

"The Cartel strictly enforces its laws," Sarn replied.

That was true. The not-so-secret owners of Mansfield would not permit any laws to be broken on the upper levels of the station. Above the docking bays, the Federation law book was enforced with the utmost rigour. Down below, where Alex was, was another story, but the habitation sectors were amongst the safest places to live anywhere in the Federation. The Cartel also spent a fair amount of its money in making the habitation decks pleasant-looking places to live, and there was a permanent civilian population aboard the station, who preferred life here to going it rough on one of the new colony worlds.

Sarn had one of her purchases on the table. Drake glanced at it and said, "I still can't believe you bought that."

The Vulcan picked up the yoyo and turned it over. "I expect Alex can show me how to use it."

"Give it here. I had one of these when I was a boy. They were a big thing when I was at school. Now…let's see if I can still remember how to do this…"

It took a couple of attempts for Drake to get the yoyo to go up and down smoothly. On his first, it unwound too fast and ended up spinning round and round at the bottom of its string. Sarn raised an eyebrow, and deep in her eyes Drake could have sworn he saw a flicker of laughter. Second attempt, and he got the yoyo to go up and down a couple of times before loosing control of it.

"This is embarrassing," he muttered as he wound the string again. "I used to be able to do all sorts of tricks with one of these."

"Perhaps Alex can show you how to use it as well," suggested Sarn, a little cheekily the captain thought.

"I just need a little practice."

About ten minutes later, he agreed that he needed Alex to show him how to use the yoyo properly, and put it down.

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Kana was still in control of their body, and enjoying herself. She could sense their friends up on the promenade level and she was making her way up to meet them. This wasn't particularly enjoyable in itself, but she was taking quite a convoluted route in getting there; one that required her to fight her way through the packed docking levels, and positively demanded that she thrust to the floor, stamp on, hit, and generally be physically and verbally abusive to anyone who got in her way. Which was quite a number of people, as it turned out.

She wasn't quite sure what she was going to do when she got back to her friends. She liked Drake and Sarn, although not to the same level that Alex did. She would probably talk to them for a while, and then let Alex take over.

A quiet, little voice called, "Hey."

Kana wondered if Alex would really take them to Risa. Despite what she had said aboard the Shadow Wing, she would quite like to visit that pleasure world again. She was pretty sure that she had liked it there last time. Pretty sure, because she couldn't actually remember much of what had happened. When Alex hadn't been partying, getting very drunk, and waking up in strange beds, she had been partying, getting very drunk, and waking up in strange beds. Consequently, neither of them was entirely sure what they had actually done over there.

She had no plans to stay sober or celibate if they went to Risa this time (what was the point of inhabiting a human form, one capable of enjoying all these experiences, if you didn't make full use of it?) so she wouldn't remember much of this visit, either. Which would necessarily demand they took a third trip later. It was a sacrifice Kana felt she could make.

"Hey. Hey, you."

Who the sod was that person talking to? And, for that matter, why wouldn't they just answer? It would shut the kid up!

"I'm talking to you, silly!"

Okay, that sounded suspiciously like it was directed at her. Kana turned around to find out who it was who was doing all this shouting, and perhaps shut them up. There was a little girl, wearing a simple aqua dress, her blond hair falling around her shoulders.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, silly."

Kana didn't like being called silly. Dismissively, she snapped, "I don't know you."

"I know you. Both of you."

"What?"

The girl smiled enthusiastically. "She's the host. She's funny and clever, and she loves you. She flies spaceships. And you…you're the Dark Soul. You have lived so long and done so much, but being her other soul…that's your favourite thing."

What the hell? This thought passed through Kana's mind, and, realising that it wasn't doing a lot of good in there, she expressed it aloud, "What the hell?"

"Did she…? How does she know that stuff about us?"

"Oh, I know lots and lots of things. I'm Susan."

The two Nains looked at each other. "Did she hear me?" Alex wondered.

"Yes," said Susan.

"It seems that she did."

"That's impossible, isn't it? Would you like to explain to me how she can hear me?"

"Yes. I'd love to."

"I can hear lots of things. Voices, and thoughts, and feelings, and – "

"You're telepathic?"

"Yes!" Susan clapped and danced excitedly.

Alex looked doubtfully at her second self. "That's impossible, too, right? Humans can't be telepaths."

Kana shrugged. "Maybe. There's a lot of unused potential in the human brain. With a bit of genetic tinkering, it would be possible. Hell, get me a fertilised egg and a few bits from the sickbay and I'll give you a demonstration. Boy or girl?"

"That's illegal."

Modification of the human genome had been illegal since the mid twenty-first century, and the final fall of Khan Noonien Sign and his Augment supermen.

Susan shook her head sadly. "Doesn't matter to some people."

With nothing particularly clever occurring to either of them, the Nains just looked at each other again. "Okay. This is getting a bit weird."

"I'd noticed."

"Why can we never go anywhere without weird shit happening to us?"

"I assume the higher powers enjoy having a laugh at our expense. Bastards, the lot of them."

"You know that for a fact?"

"Sure do. I've met most of them. I wouldn't invite them to the pub with us."

Susan took Kana's hand, startling the woman more than somewhat. She found a pair of pleading blue eyes staring up at her, and that startled her as well. "They're coming. I can sense them. They're near. You have to help us."

"Who is coming? Who are us? And let go of my hand."

Susan ignored the last two commands, but she provided an answer to the first: "Green men. Orions."

"Oh good," said Alex dryly. "I love those guys."

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"Where can she be?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should ask someone. They might have seen her."

"No!"

Sarn's ears pricked up at the sounds of an urgent debate: two people, a human male and female, looking for someone else. Judging from the emotion in their voices – particularly the woman's – a child was the object of their search; one of theirs, who had gone missing.

"Doctor?" Said Drake, noticing the shift in his science officer's attention.

"Those people are in distress, Captain."

Although he was on leave, his Starfleet training came to the fore: always answer distress calls. "What kind?"

"It seems that they have lost a child."

The captain was on his way over to them immediately. He studied the couple as they approached. From dozens of small clues in the way they acted towards one another, he worked out that they were friends, not man and wife; still close though, as he and Alex were, but in this relationship the woman definitely looked to the man for strength and guidance. He was a rugged individual, not too dissimilar from Drake himself, although the captain was willing to bet that his leather jacket and combat pants weren't a disguise. He noticed Drake's approach more quickly than the woman, and alerted his female friend. By the time Drake and Sarn had reached them, the two concerned guardians were facing them.

"I'm William Drake," he announced. "My Vulcan friend, Sarn, couldn't help overhearing your predicament."

"It's none of your concern," said the woman, firmly.

"Just trying to help."

"We don't want your help."

"Yes," said the man more gently, "we do. I'm Lance Riker, my friend is Miranda Pauli. You said your Vulcan friend overheard us?"

Sarn nodded. "I did."

"Then you know that Miranda's daughter has disappeared?"

"We do."

"She must have wandered off somewhere while we were looking through the promenade –"

"I told you that was a bad idea!"

"Maybe you've seen her? She's about this tall…blond hair, blue eyes…light blue dress. Human."

Drake shook his head. "I don't think I have."

"I have not," said Sarn.

Lance's and Miranda's spirits drooped. "Well," said Riker, "thanks anyway."

"We'll help you look for her," offered Drake.

"No!" Said Miranda, fear filling her. "No, absolutely not!"

The two Starfleet officers couldn't keep from exchanging glances. That woman was acting very strangely. Who, when they had a missing child to find, didn't want help in searching? Most people would have contacted station security and had a team of deputies sent out. On a Cartel-run station, that might not be the best course of action, but something about her almost paranoid level of worry made Drake suspect that she wouldn't have done so even on one of the starbases. Was it really her daughter that those two were looking for? And if it was, what else were they hiding?

Lance remained calmer and more reasonable than his female companion. "We wouldn't want to put you out."

"It's no trouble."

"Then we'd be glad to have your help. Four pairs of eyes, we've got a better chance of finding her."

"Right," agreed Drake, noticing that Miranda still seemed far from pleased.

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Kana was leading the way, Alex following behind, taking Susan by the hand. Although no Orions had yet appeared, the two Nains were taking the threat very seriously. The Syndicate was ruthless, well-organised, and excessively trained in the art of murder; if they were coming for this child they could strike at any time, from anywhere, and the Nains might get only a split-second's warning. That Syndicate cruiser was in Alex's mind. Docked to the station, hundreds of Orions aboard, any of whom could be working on Susan's contract.

She had no doubt that what the child had told her was true; neither of them did; and she and Kana had silently agreed to get Susan off the station as quickly as they could. There were too many mysteries around this girl to let them go unsolved: who had made her? How? Why? How had she come to be on Mansfield? How had she known to look for them? Why were the Orions after her?

Susan, although quite willing to talk away about nonsensical things, was very unwilling to give the Nains the information they wanted. "You'll like Lance. He's handsome and brave. He loves Miranda, but he won't tell her. He thinks she met someone else. It eats away at him. Miranda would notice, if she wasn't so scared all the time."

"What is she babbling about?"

"Kana! Susan can hear you."

"I am fully aware of that."

"Lance and Miranda," said Susan, apparently not offended in the least by Kana's sour attitude. "They are the ones who rescued me. Miranda brought me to Lance, and Lance brought me to you. And you will save me."

"You…um…you have a lot of faith in us."

"I have known all about you and the Dark Soul forever. I know that you will save us. All of us."

Something ominous in the way that she had said that made Alex check, "You mean Lance and Miranda as well, right?"

"I mean everyone."

"And what, pray tell, do you mean by that?"

Susan put a finger to her lips. "Shush. Can't tell you. Not yet. Not for a long time. Things happen in an order. Sometimes, I see them all jumbled up. What will happen before what has happened."

"You're clairvoyant? You can see into the future?"

"No. Not really. I see little bits, from time to time. I can't control it. Not like I can the reading." Susan frowned. "You're frightened."

"I'm not."

"Not you. The Dark Soul."

She was right, Kana did look spooked. "What is it? What's worrying you?"

"Let's just say that I don't like the idea of the future being predictable and leave it at that."

Alex signalled her agreement with a nod. Whatever was really bothering her friend, she would respect her privacy.

The other Nain slunk to the end of the corridor and peered around, checking the joining passageways for signs of an Orion – any Orion. She beckoned the others on, and they turned right, heading towards a cluster of turbolifts. Alex's plan was to get up to the promenade level. No matter how powerful the Syndicate felt itself to be, it wouldn't dare break the peace in a public place. That would lead to a war between the Syndicate and the Cartel, and neither side could be confident of victory; they wouldn't risk it, no matter how important Susan was to them. As soon as she had found her friends, and Susan's, they would all head to the Shadow Wing and run like hell.

The question was, where to run to? Starbase Two would be safe, as would the ship, but both were days away, and Orion hunters flew in much faster ships than her old Shadow Wing. She doubted that they could reach Starfleet in time. Where else to go? None of the nearby systems could protect them from the Syndicate, and Alex was loathed to call on anyone else's help anyway. She and Kana could handle everything themselves; they always had. Between the two of them, they could defeat anything. If her friends hadn't been with her now, she could have let Kana take care of this problem.

"Looking for a solution?"

"Yeah. We have to get off the station, but I can't work out where to go after that. Even a couple of Orion Hunters would be more than a match for the Shadow Wing, so we can't hope to outfight them. I need a way to turn this around, give us the advantage."

"There's always the Graveyard."

"Of course!"

"Graves? Eww."

So, she didn't know everything, Alex was relieved to find. She had never liked the idea of telepathy; that someone else could peer into her most private thoughts. Although she and Kana lived together, neither of them could look into the other's mind. Their thinking was entirely private, unless they chose to share it. They often did, but that was their choice. A telepath could look into their minds at will; invade their privacy in the most intimate way. Alex didn't like that at all.

"Quiet!" Kana snapped, tensing. "Alex, I can sense an Orion, approaching us from that corridor."

Susan closed her eyes, stretching out with her own extraordinary senses. She nodded. "I sense him, too. He is a hunter. He hasn't heard us."

Alex drew her combat knife and moved silently up to the junction of the corridors, gesturing for Susan to stay back. The girl did as she was instructed, but she was worried, and she looked to Kana. "Shouldn't you…?"

Kana laughed. "Alex is more than a match for one pitiful Orion."

Under other circumstance, the human would have made some sort of reply to Kana's comment, some joke about how flattered she was by her other side's kind words, but now she didn't; she was utterly concentrated on herself, her knife, and her victim.

The Orion stepped into view and Alex pounced. She waited until he had stepped just past where she was crouched and then she leapt at him, stabbing with her knife as she did so. The blade buried into the base of the Orion's neck, and Alex's flight pulled it through the flesh, cutting a deep gouge along the back of his neck. She landed as the massive body began to topple backwards, and with brutal speed and accuracy she plunged her knife into his heart, killing him instantly. The body hit the deck and blood pooled around it. Alex wiped her blade clean on the Orion male's flight suit and returned it to its sheath. Susan had crept up as the Orion fell, and now she was desperately looking anywhere but at the body, her face white and tears in her eyes. Her mind-reading powers gave her a great deal of intelligence, but they didn't make her any more grown up than any other eight year old. She had never seen a dead body before, never seen so much blood before, and she just didn't know how to react. Part of her wanted to scream, part wanted to throw up, another part was glad that he was dead, and a final quarter just wanted to shut down totally, curl up into a little ball and hope that everything would go away.

Alex took Susan's hand and manoeuvred her around the corpse. "Don't look at it," she advised. "Try not to think about it. Come on, we need to keep moving."

Kana floated by her side, and said, "Well done."

"Thanks."

Nothing else impeded their progress to the turbolifts, and Alex hit the button for the main promenade deck. The girl was still in shock, and Alex hugged her to her, trying to calm her down.

"So messy."

"Yes. Death is never clean, Susan. I'm very sorry that you had to see that, but we couldn't let him see us."

The Augment nodded. "I know."

"You weren't that squeamish around your first kill."

"She isn't me."

Kana shook her head. "No. I think it's interesting that despite her power she doesn't have your strength. And there I was starting to think that I had found a better host."

"No chance."

The turbolift came to a stop and Alex led Susan out onto the promenade. The busy, lively atmosphere rejuvenated Susan and before long she was skipping at Alex's side, peering into shop windows and laughing. Kana watched her irritably, finding the child's bounding energy tiresome. She was glad that her host never intended to have children; Alex found them as tedious as she did.

"Kana, where are our friends?"

"Follow me. And try and get that child to as well, if you can."

When calling to Susan didn't work, Alex grabbed her by the hand and pulled her along. The child protested, but Alex was deaf to her.

How many people were enjoying the comforts of the promenade? Fortunately, Kana had placed a red glow around Drake and Sarn, helping her to pick them out from the crowd. She smiled and jogged over to her friends. "Will, Sarn! Having fun?"

Belatedly, she became aware of a man and woman standing with her friends. She smiled at them. "Hi there. Who are you guys?"

"Miranda! Lance!" Susan leapt at them, wrapping her arms around their middles, for that was as high as she could reach.

"Susan!" Cried the woman, lifting her into her arms. "Oh thank God! We didn't know what had happened to you; we were so worried!"

"I found her down in the docking section."

"What were you doing down there?"

"I was looking for her," said Susan, pointing.

"Why? And who are you, anyway?"

"I'm Alex Nain." She offered her hand, but Miranda wouldn't take it, so she shook Lance's hand instead. "I think I can help you guys out."

Miranda stepped away, positioning herself so that her body was between Alex and Susan. "We don't need help. Thank you for finding Susan, and goodbye."

Alex shrugged. "If you think you can deal with the Orions on your own, you're welcome to try."

Drake, Sarn and Lance all looked at her. The captain spoke first, "Orions?"

"Syndicate," said Alex. "They're after Susan."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Miranda claimed.

"Yes, you do. That's why you're so protective of her. You know that someone is out to harm her. Maybe you didn't know it was the Orions, but you do now. We already ran into one of their hunters downstairs."

"She killed him," said Susan.

"Yes. But there are others."

"Over there," Susan said.

They followed her finger, and there were four large Orion men heading in roughly their direction. Whether they had spotted them and were coming for them, or just happened to be walking their way, was undeterminable. The panic their presence ensued in Miranda was almost overwhelming. She looked like she wanted to flee, and only Lance's hand on her shoulder kept her from doing so.

Alex unsheathed her knife. "I'll use this is I have to, but then we'd have two enemies on our hands, and that would be awkward. My ship is on level forty-one. Let's go."

"My ship is on thirty-eight," said Lance Riker, "it's closer."

"My ship's better."

Riker looked at her with a lopsided smile. "You don't even know what my ship is."

"Don't need to. Come on."

"Trust her," Susan pleaded. "Trust her."

Lance already did, and Miranda could tell. She trusted his judgement. "Let's go."

The turbolifts were nearby, and they reached them safely. There was no one waiting for them on the docking level, and Alex led the way onto her ship. As they boarded it Lance looked around, inspecting the craft's design, its construction, and he remarked, "This is an Orion ship."

Miranda backed up, that petrified fright back in her eyes, but Susan spoke before she could let her imagination run too far away. "She stole it years ago. The Syndicate was very angry with her. They hunted her, and she hunted them back, and they fled."

Drake looked at his friend. "What does that mean?"

"Pretty much what she said. Get strapped down, we're leaving."

Drake followed her into the cockpit, while Sarn showed their new passengers to the common room. The captain sat in the copilot seat and waited while Alex activated the ship's systems and warmed it up for flight. He said, "You didn't answer my question."

"Susan's not an ordinary little girl, Will. She's an Augment. Genetically engineered for telepathy. That's how she knows how I got the Wing: she read my mind."

The captain's eyes widened. "Jesus."

"Had nothing to do with it," said Alex. "But someone made her, and I'd like to know who. I'd also like to know who set the Syndicate on her, and I'm willing to bet that if I can find the answer to one I'll have the answer to the other."

They received launch clearance, and the Shadow Wing lifted into space. Alex wanted to go straight to warp, but she couldn't do so until the ship had cleared the main traffic lanes around Mansfield – if she tried warping before, the chances were good that she would crash into another starship.

Drake had been thinking about what his friend had told him. "How do you know all this?"

"She told me. And she gave me ample enough proof of her telepathy."

"Okay. Miranda…?"

"I think Miranda knows what Susan is. You've seen how protective she is. My guess is that she had something to do with making her."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at it, Will. Lance obviously has no idea who Susan is or what's going on. I've spent about ten minutes around him and I can see that. Miranda, on the other hand, knows exactly what's happening. Also, Susan is a human Augment. That means that we made her, no one else. My guess is that Miranda was somehow involved, that she found out either what Susan was being made for, or that the project was going to be terminated, and she got the child out of there." She suddenly stopped talking, everything falling into place for her. "Those bastards."

Drake, not for the first time, was left behind by Alex's leaps of logic. "What? Who?"

"I know who made her. I know who created Susan. It was Starfleet!"