Eurydice in the Pit, Chapter Five

"Stories often have happy endings. It's life that throws you for a loop."

-Dr. Ira Graves, "The Schizoid Man"

---

It was the itch that woke her.

She had lain in the darkness for an interminable amount of time, drowning in the cold waters of unconsciousness. Slowly, the nerves of her left leg began to wake, pins and needles dancing along it's length, forcing her subconscious mind to rise up into the light.

With effort, she forced her eyes open, wincing against the glow of the fluorescent lights above her. Her hand lifted of it's own accord to rub at her face, brushing her shoulder length hair out of the way. A headache was starting, it's repetitious thrumming pounding at her temples. A groan escaped her lips as she pulled herself to a sitting position, squinting at the room she found herself in.

Smooth metal walls, some with flickering light sources, stood at her four sides. She herself was seated on a cot, a silvery blanket covering her from the shoulders to her feet. Unsteadily, she pivoted, placing first one foot, then the other, on the floor, pushing herself to her feet, preparing herself for the expected backwash of pain.

Nothing except the itch.

She frowned, patting at the leg. She knew it had been broken, along with several ribs. Reaching beneath her leather jacket, she pressed on her ribcage, feeling nothing except a dull ache when she pushed down. She'd had broken bones before, and she knew that they didn't heal this quickly, or heal without the muscles atrophying. She glanced down at the cot. How long exactly had she been unconscious?

And where exactly was she?

She had been hunted by the Jem'Hadar, she could remember that, along with the beating they had given her. After that, the details were fuzzier. She had a vague memory of a man racing towards her, holding her as the Jem'Hadar vanished around them, and then nothing but darkness. Darkness and a voice telling her that she would be alright. Everything's going to be okay...

Unsettled, she reached down and grabbed at the holster she kept on her right thigh, feeling it's emptiness. Her phaser must have fallen out at some point. She was unarmed.

Slowly, she stepped towards the door to the room, reaching out to push it open. With a hiss and a grinding noise, it slid open about halfway before catching. She jumped back, watching the door try to close, but just grinding back and forth over the space of an inch or so. Stepping into the space, she pushed it open all the way, watching it slide into the wall and stop with an electronic sounding beep. An automated door. Even if it was faulty, it raised the question again. Where was she?

Trying to stay as quiet as possible, she walked down the hallway, passing what looked to be a darkened transporter room. A quick glance showed her that it was inactive, circuits of a type she had never seen strewn about the floor. Was this how she had gotten here? A transporter?

Would she be able to use it to get out again?

The hallway ended when it reached what appeared to be a control room, a series of consoles surrounding two chairs. A large screen dominated one wall, darkened at the moment just like the consoles. Overhead lights flickered slightly, but the man in the center of the room didn't even seem to notice.

He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, circuit boards and opened conduits scattered all around him, a micro-tool kit at his feet. He was dressed in a torn and dirt-streaked black and red uniform, brown hair mussed with several days worth of beard on his face. In his hands, he was fiddling with a small silver disc, using the micro-tools from the kit to make adjustments to the inside.

A small puff of smoke rose from the disc, and the man jerked as it burnt his hands. "Dammit!" he screamed as he threw the disc across the room, watching it bounce against the screen. "Dammit dammit dammit!" Rising to his feet, he winced slightly and kicked an exposed circuit board.

His voice was familiar, jarring loose the memory of the man who had saved her from the Jem'Hadar, his voice soft as he told her that things would be alright. She cleared her throat, and watched him slowly turn to look at her. "Might work better if you didn't throw it."

She couldn't explain the look on his face as she spoke. It was the look people had when hope was kindled, and then crushed almost instantly. His face was white, and it was as though he had seen a ghost. They stared at each other for a long moment, and he shook his head, looked away, and when he looked back, the expression was gone.

"You're awake."

She looked around and shrugged. Whoever this man was, he didn't seem to be a danger. "I was wondering about that myself. Not sure if I'm awake or hallucinating." Taking in their dingy surroundings, she frowned. "Of course, if I'm hallucinating, even I should be able to come up with something better than this. How long was I out?"

The man turned around and began picking the circuit boards up off the floor. "Three days or so. I was starting to get worried."

Three days? If she had only been unconscious for three days... "My leg was broken..."

He nodded and answered without even looking at her. "In three places. You also had four broken or cracked ribs, and a little internal bleeding."

That made no sense. "If I was hurt that badly, it should have taken months to heal, not to mention the physiotherapy."

He shrugged. "Med kit in the transporter room. The power cells were getting low, but the bone-knitter and the cellular-regenerator still had enough power to fix you up. Mostly, anyways. I'd be careful about any heavy lifting for a while."

"Okay, I guess that answers my first question. Think you can answer the other million or so?"

He fell back into one of the chairs, "Shoot."

"Where are we?"

"San Francisco Memorial Bunker, about a thousand meters beneath the surface. Give or take."

She felt her jaw drop, and she looked around. "The Memorial Bunker...? So this is where Jean-Luc Picard..."

"Fought off the Breen attacking Earth during the Dominion War. Yeah."

She walked around, her fingers running over the consoles. "This place has been lost since the bombardment of San Francisco. How did you know where it was?" She turned and looked at him, "Who are you?"

A brief look of sadness flickered across his face, as though the question itself had answered one of his own with something he hadn't wanted to know. It was strange, it felt as though he knew her somehow.

He got to his feet and looked at her, pain evident on his face as he answered her. "My name is Alex Carver. I'm a lieutenant in Starfleet, and this is going to sound strange, but it's the truth.

"I'm from another reality."

And Selene Weller could only stare.

-----

Tal waved hello to the two burly cargohands standing at the airlock hatch. Both merely seemed to glance at him as he walked up. "Hey guys. What's going on?"

No answer.

"Having fun? I mean, you've been in orbit of Vulcan for a week now, you had time to get down there? Sure, it's kinda hot, but the women... whoo. Those pointy ears..." Both cargohands looked down at him, giving him the look he'd reserve for a particularly ugly bug. Didn't stop him, though. He threw his arms around their shoulders, one at each side. "The things those women can teach you. I mean, sure, they're all "Logic and Manners and Cold Shoulders" when you start, but, oh my, what they can teach you once they warm up to you. I knew this Vulcan woman once, what was her name? Oh yeah, T'Pren. That was it. T'Pren. Nice pair of ears on her, y'know what I'm saying? Y'know?"

Neither seemed impressed. Tal shrugged and forged on. "Anyway, once we got 'acquainted', the stuff she taught me. Wow. Has all sorts of uses. I mean, one of the things she taught me was how to do this."

Tal watched as he pinched the nerves at the base of their necks, both men dropping to the floor as their eyes rolled up into their sockets. Kordath and Nyssa stepped around the bend in the corridor, walking up behind him as he turned and started working on the hatch's lock. Both looked down at the unconscious guards, surprise on their faces. Nyssa looked at Tal. "I didn't know you knew how to do that."

Tal shrugged as he plugged a small device into the lock, watching it cycle through combinations. "Hey, that T'Pren taught me all sorts of stuff. She was pretty cute, too. If you've got a thing for pointed ears." He grinned over his shoulder at the Romulan.

The handheld unit beeped, and the airlock hatch unlocked. Unplugging the computer, Tal tucked it back into his coat pocket as Kordath swung the hatch open. Together, the three of them walked through and back onto their ship.

-----

The hatch to the bridge creaked open, and Aldair winced at the noise. Looking over his shoulder at the source of the sound, he watched as Serra Asuka stepped through and closed the hatch behind her. Aldair frowned, the Intelligence agent hadn't been seen since she had left the meeting in the mess hall two hours ago, locking herself in her quarters after ordering him to put Icarus under guard. With a critical eye, she made her way around the bridge, staring over the shoulders of his crew and evaluating their work. He bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep from scowling, finding the pain preferable to dealing with Asuka.

Her circuit of the bridge complete, she stepped directly up to him and stared down at his seated form. A battle of wills began for the command chair, a battle he lost when he remembered the signed orders giving her command. With a wave, he stepped aside, allowing her to sink into his chair. "Is everything satisfactory, ma'am?"

"Well enough." She barely glanced at him with her reply. "How long until we are ready to depart Vulcan orbit?"

"We're receiving final clearance now. We should be underway within half an hour."

"Good. And the Icarus?"

"Will be in tow the entire way. We can't spare a crew for her at this time."

Asuka's eyes flicked upwards at his face, and Aldair bit down even harder on his cheek. He hadn't actually done anything against orders, he had simply... neglected... to act in complete accordance with those orders. If Asuka had given a reason for abandoning Selene better than just "because", perhaps he would have stepped up security around Icarus' hatch to stop the inevitable theft.

Of course, she hadn't, so...

Asuka refocused her attention on the readouts in front of her. "Very well, Captain. If a crew cannot be spared, they cannot be spared."

Aldair breathed a mental sigh of relief. He wasn't used to being the rebel. How did Selene do it all the time?

"Captain?"

The voice came from Dan Ryter, a young lieutenant at the back of the bridge, sitting at the shipboard operations table. Aldair looked back at him, "Yes, Lieutenant?"

"There's something strange going on with Icarus, Sir."

This time when he bit down, he actually tasted blood. Asuka stood and made her way back to Ryter's station. "'Strange', Lieutenant? Perhaps you can define the word 'strange'."

Ryter nodded his head so vigorously Aldair was sure it would fall off. "Yes, ma'am. She's been cut off from our power system. She seems to be running on her own power now."

Here we go. Asuka frowned and looked up at Aldair, a furious look on her face. "Think you can explain this, Captain?"

Aldair frowned and drew himself to his full height. No matter what he'd done, he wasn't going to let this child insinuate these things in front of his crew. "I don't know what you're talking about, ma'am, and I resent the implication."

Asuka glared at him, and then turned to the woman at communications. "Open a channel to the Icarus." Bev Folson nodded and the channel chirped open. "Icarus, this is Harsesis. Stop what you're doing immediately."

Silence filled the bridge for a long moment, then a voice crackled over the speakers. "This is Kordath. Stand aside."

"Mr. Kordath, this is theft. Stand down."

"We will not the Captain behind. You cannot stop us."

"Yeah, back off, lady, before we make you!"

"Tal, will you shut up and get us outta here?"

Harsesis shook as Icarus retracted the docking port and broke free, cutting herself off and drifting further away from Vulcan's orbit. Aldair watched the smaller ship appear on the forward viewscreen, her engines beginning to glow as she powered up for the jump to warp. Asuka spun around. "Shoot them down!"

"We can't, ma'am! There's still a Khanate ship in orbit. If we fire on Icarus, we'll break our cover. They'll fire on us!"

With a flash on the screen, Icarus jumped to warp, a single starburst appearing seconds later along her path. Aldair wanted to allow himself a small grin, but couldn't afford to. Not if he wanted to save his career. Silently, he sent a thought along Icarus' flight path. Bring her home.

Asuka looked back at Aldair, her jaw twitching. For a second, she looked much older and much more dangerous. A mania seemed to lurk in her eyes, one that she kept barely under control. Her hands started to shake in her anger. "Commander Santos?"

Santos stood, "Yes, ma'am?"

"Please escort Captain Aldair to his quarters. After that, please check the status of the guards at the airlock Icarus was docked at." She walked up to Aldair, and for a second he was tempted to take a step back from her. "You're confined to your quarters, Captain, and relieved of your duties until I say otherwise."

Santos placed his hand on Aldair's shoulder and gently pulled him towards the hatch. "Sir."

As he turned to walk off the bridge, he heard Asuka mutter a single word under her breath, quietly enough that he was the only one to hear her.

Traitors.

-----

The hound hadn't killed him.

Jason woke from the attack in a cell, cool air on his face. A quick look showed him that he was covered in bruises and cuts, some deep, but he was alive. One of the strange Jem'Hadar stood on the other side of the cell entrance, arms folded across his chest, staring. Long white hair fell to the middle of his back, some of it hanging in braids, contrasting with the black leather armour he wore. Silver bands highlighted the armour in places, specifically around his gauntleted fists and the twin energy weapons mounted on his forearms. His eyes nearly shone ice blue, glowing from the ghostly pale face.

"I am Herma'Taklan, Commander of this installation."

A flicker of humour crossed Jason's mind, "Nice to meet you. Great place you got here."

The Jem'Hadar laughed, and Jason fell back in surprise. A Jem'Hadar with a sense of humour? "Be thankful for our installation, Human. Without it, you would be quite dead. Though I must admit, several of my warriors wish to kill you themselves for the deaths of Gal'Makan, Torak and Quor'Maldan."

"Those must be the guys I met out there, huh?"

"They were great hunters, though they seem to have underestimated you and your friend."

Jason stood, rising from the bunk he had been lying on, and walked up to the flickering forcefield that separated them. Jem'Hadar weren't usually considered great conversationalists. What made these ones so different? "Don't know what you're talking about."

Herma'Taklan stepped forward, until he was almost touching the forcefield. "While our surgeons were repairing most of the damage to your body, they discovered some rather interesting things about you, Human. Most notably, a group of inactive nanites implanted in your brainstem."

Jason's hand shot up and touched the back of his neck, rubbing just below his hair. He tried to run a diagnostic, but was met with silence. His eyes darted back and forth as he ordered his nanites to link him with Alex, but they did nothing. His nanites were completely silent, dead. They must have shorted out when First clotheslined him and he had hit his head on the rubble.

He was alone.

The Jem'Hadar arched an eyebrow as he watched Jason rub the back of his neck. "Why would I lie, Human? What possible gain would that give me?" Jason dropped his hand to his side, giving up on the nanites. Without a fully stocked sickbay, he wouldn't be able to repair them. He hadn't been without the nanites since graduating from the academy. Now, without them, his communicator, tricorder and the Starfleet database were gone.

Herma'Taklan nodded, his hair waving with the motion. "Another thing of interest to me. Your quantum signature does not seem to match ours."

Jason cursed to himself. Everything in the Universe operated on a quantum level, the signature unique to that Universe alone. Research had shown that an infinite number of possible alternate realities existed, each one with it's own signature. If they knew that his was different...

Herma'Taklan smiled, "I know what you think, Human, and yes, we do know.

"We know that you are from another reality."

-----

Alex shifted the pack on his back as he and Selene made their way up the stairs, a pair of ancient handheld flashlights guiding the way. The bunker only had two entrances, the transporter and a staircase that connected it with Starfleet Command Headquarters. According to Selene, Command and the Academy had been bombed pretty severely during the Khanate attack on Earth six hundred years ago. Debris may have fallen down the shaft.

She hadn't said much about these Khanate, only that the Federation had fallen during a war with them, and that they now controlled the majority of the Milky Way. He was still having trouble getting used to the idea of a Universe without the Federation.

Not to mention getting used to her.

It tore him up inside, having her standing beside him. He knew that she wasn't his Selene, but she was so much like her that it hurt. The easy smile, the jokes, the sound of her voice. He could almost close his eyes and believe...

No. No, he couldn't almost believe. His wife was dead and the woman standing beside him was a stranger. He had to remember that.

He had to remember that, or he would go insane.

-----

Selene kept her eyes on Alex as he walked up the staircase, her own pack lighter than his. Her ribs and leg were still sore, so he had offered to carry the majority of the weight. They had ransacked the Bunker, taking med-kits, tricorders and phasers, shoving them all into packs and heading up the staircase. Ironically, the six hundred year old phaser she had taken was more advanced than the phaser she had lost on the surface.

Maybe she was the only one who could see the irony in that fact.

Alex confused her, she admitted it readily. He seemed to alternate between being comfortable and uncomfortable with her. One second, she found it easy to talk with him, and the next, he stormed ahead, as though she had offended him.

She hadn't believed him, at first. A Starfleet officer from another reality? Right, and she had a bridge on Romulus she wanted to sell him. He had sighed and picked up the disc he had thrown against the wall. "You see this?" he had asked, "Personal Transport Unit. Good for two transports. How do you think we got down here?" Without warning, the consoles around her had come to life, humming and beeping. He had reached back and rubbed the back of his neck, "Nanites implanted in my brainstem. Able to interface with any computer in ten meters." His face had appeared on the viewscreen, turning to look at her. "Believe me now?"

Yes.

A real Starfleet officer, from a reality where the Federation hadn't fallen. Maybe knights in shining Armour existed after all.

Even if they were slightly used.

-----

Jason stumbled as Herma'Taklan pushed him forward, the hot wind of this place striking him across the face as he stepped out of the installation. Apparently, the Jem'Hadar's Lord, a member of a race called the Khanate, was arriving and they were going outside to meet him.

The complex sat at the foot of what had once been a giant metallic pyramid, which continued to crackle and burn, though not at the intensity it had a few days earlier when he had arrived in this Universe. Clouds still hung low over the city, casting a gray pall over everything. Jason looked around at the crumbling buildings that surrounded him. "Nice, Hermy. Who's your decorator? I just have to have him do my place." A fist struck him in the small of the back and Jason dropped to his knees, wincing with the pain. Obviously, Herma'Taklan didn't want to share his decorating secrets.

Either that, or Herma'Taklan was kneeling as well. Jason frowned, wondering what was going on, when the wind began to pick up. He looked upwards and watched in shock as the clouds parted and an enormous ship settled above the city.

It was larger than anything he had ever seen, easily four or five kilometers in length, and jet black. It's winged form reminded him of a dragon, wings outstretched as it roared. Intricate detail covered it from outstretched maw to the tip of it's tail, giving the impression of scales. Sensor systems swept back from it's forward hull like horns, and it's engines and weapons glowed underneath, the ship's feet and talons. The ship seemed designed to instill terror, and it worked. Jason felt himself shaking beneath it's shadow.

Without a sound, it hovered there above the burning wreckage, claiming dominance over the ruined city. As he stared at it, Jason felt the tingle of a transporter.

And he and Herma'Taklan vanished.

-----

They had been climbing for almost an hour when the pile of rubble appeared in front of them, blocking the staircase. With a groan, Alex pulled the pack off and stared at the obstruction, irritated. Selene stepped up next to him and shrugged. "Told you there was a chance. Any idea how far we are from the top?"

Alex's nanites reached out, scanning past the debris. "Ninety-seven point three meters. This wall's only a meter and a half thick."

She looked at him in surprise. "How can you possibly know that?" He tapped the back of his neck. "Is there anything that those nanites can't do?"

"Yeah. They're lousy cooks."

She laughed. "Well, nice to know they're not perfect." She pulled one of the phasers they had brought from the bunker and trained it on the rubble. Alex blinked and grabbed it from her hand. "What do you think you're doing?"

Selene gestured at the wall. "Meter and a half thick. That should cut through it in no time."

"Yeah, and cave half the ceiling in on us. Besides, power cell's almost dead, and we'll probably need it more on the surface."

Selene rested her hands on her hips. "You got a better idea?"

"We dig out. Should only take an hour or so, and unless you've got a pressing engagement up there, we've got nothing but time." He set the flashlight down and began to dig at the debris. Selene shrugged again and began to dig at it herself.

"Fine."

-----

The vast room Jason rematerialized in was dimly lit, torches flickering in wall sconces providing little illumination. Arches rose all around him, giving him the uncomfortable feeling of being trapped in the belly of some beast. Herma'Taklan still knelt behind him, head bowed beneath streams of white hair.

Hesitantly, Jason stood, taking in his surroundings. The room was empty aside from himself and the Jem'Hadar commander, a single set of doors reaching two stories high set into the wall at the far end of the room.

Suddenly, the floor vanished, revealing a thousand foot drop to the surface of the city below. With a gasp, Jason fell backwards in shock, landing on outstretched hands. Beneath him, he could see the fires burning, the rubble strewn streets stretching in every direction. Cautiously, he tapped at the floor. This technology was advanced. Very advanced. Possibly better than the holographic technology he knew.

With the grinding of hydraulics, the doors began to slide open. Jason stood and turned towards the sound, watching the shadowy figures on the other side begin to enter the room.

-----

Alex wiped dirt from his sweat-soaked face as he carefully removed another chunk from the rubble blocking their way. So far, they had been at this for forty-five minutes, digging in silence.

Silence was worse than talking.

In the silence, he had time to think. For three days, he had fiddled with the transporter while she had been unconscious, desperate to keep himself occupied. He didn't want to think, not yet anyway. "So…"

Selene looked up, her face filthy. "Talking now?"

"I suppose." He watched her shrug and turn back to the rubble. "Tell me about these Khanate you mentioned. You said they were responsible for the Federation's fall?"

She laughed humourlessly. "You really must be from another reality if you haven't heard of them."

"Guilty as charged." A particularly large piece of rock was lodged in, and he grunted as he yanked on it, feeling it begin to give. "In my reality, there isn't a race named the Khanate. Where'd they come from? Why do they exist here, but not in my Universe?"

She tossed a slab of duracrete the size of her forearm down the shaft, slumping down onto a stair and pulling out a canteen of water as it plummeted. "Oh, they probably existed, just never came to power." She took a swig and handed the canteen to Alex, who sat down on the stair beside her and took a gulp of his own.

"It's a long story, Alex."

-----

Jem'Hadar piled into the room, their leather clad bodies surrounding Jason and the still kneeling Herma'Taklan. Each carried a long, bladed pike on their right, and an energy weapon in their left hands. Easily two dozen of the strange Jem'Hadar entered, snapping to attention on either side of the doors.

An honour guard.

A moment passed, and then a tall figure entered the room, robes swirling behind him, long, black hair pulled back into a ponytail, his tunic open, revealing a well-muscled chest.

Jason gaped. This wasn't possible.

-----

Selene took the canteen back and replaced the stopper, storing their water back in her satchel. She took a deep breath before she continued.

"Have you ever heard of a man named Arik Soong?"

-----

The figure stepped up to the aghast Jason, and bowed slightly at the waist before speaking, his voice rich and accented.

"Welcome aboard the Gilgamesh, Commander Madden. I am Rakiin, Lord of this sector."

The Khanate were Human.