Captain Tilmana sat attentively in the captain's chair as the reports came in, his fingers fidgeting with the mouthpiece of his rebreather. No, Lieutenant Commander Sri had not been found yet. No, they didn't think she was still at the train station. No, they didn't know why she had left. In between reports he gave instructions. Increase sensors and operate on frequencies that the Uwda will not detect. Do not send a search party yet, but have Dr. Fenna prepare disguises after she has completed her assessment of Commander Syvok.

As she leaned on the right side of the captain's chair, Juliette smiled. He was so engrossed in finding her he could not see her - watching, listening, savoring the roar of power that hummed through her, toying with the idea of snatching away his rebreather to see what kind of energy his annoyance gave. The mention of Commander Syvok in sickbay piqued her curiosity, so she carefully wove her way through the flurry of activity on the bridge to wait for the right moment to slide into the turbo lift with another officer heading for medical themselves.

Much to Juliette's annoyance, Dr. Fenna was already done with whatever Syvok required and was now haranguing Ensign Angh as she carefully adjusted his Uwdan disguise. Juliette carefully maintained her emotions and hid from the Napean's formidable empathy within Dr. Fenna's palpable frustration and searched only enough to determine that neither Syvok nor his Sklan was in sickbay.

She quietly entered the into the strict austerity of Syvok's quarters. The room was dark, lit by a single golden candle; the air spiced with a dry incense that reminded her of the blistering rocks under the Vulcan sun. Juliette gracefully lowered to her knees across from him. Syvok, free of his Uwdan disguise, knelt on a thin mat, his dark brown hands clasped in front. While his meditative technique was nearly perfect, but Juliette could feel the turmoil that belied his stoic exterior.

Juliette frowned contemplatively as she carefully examined him. Where was his Sklan? Its presence had been glaringly apparent in the staff meeting, but now, both it and its umbilicus was hidden. It could not hide forever on the Oppenheimer, but then again, neither could she. She left Syvok to his struggle, realizing the time for quiet searching was over.

The physical center of the Oppenheimer was on deck 34 just past the aft side of the saucer strut. Juliette stood in the middle of the corridor as the brisk traffic of crewmen unconsciously parted around her without notice. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she pulled her awareness into a small, dense pearl, clenching it tighter and tighter until she suddenly released and exhaled. It expanded rapidly outward, demolishing all pretense of stealth. Usually, her feeble attempts at telekinesis were accompanied by a painfully intense backlash. Now, the force was a smooth side-effect that force pushed nearby crewmen off balance as her awareness reached the edges of the ship. All those with awareness, those like Bonin, Telanta, and Syvok, resonated against her projection. She recognized all those that resonated but one, and when she determined its location, stormed down the corridor, her fists clenched tightly while an icy rage built into her with each step. Of course.

Her quarters were exactly as she had left them – the scattered collection of Uwdan recordings, the list of waiting messages from Betazed, the blue-veined Deferi tea set still on the floor next to the small tray of biscuits. But her quarters were already occupied. The Sklan sat pale and golden-haired in a meditative position on the chaise. Her robes were cut in the Vulcan style, but trimmed in the vibrant plum of House Sri. Her hands were sheathed in pale blue gloves. She could barely contain her disgust.

"I didn't know you could change to look like me. Is that something you learned from taking over Syvok?"

"I cannot change my form. I've always been Juliette Sri." She said, looking at her with a solemn expression for a moment that became a warm smile as she indicated the seat next to her.

She rejected the invitation and obstinately stood her ground, shocked by its bold lie. "You have not!" she snapped.

Her simulacrum merely looked back at her for a moment, then said calmly, "I am Juliette Sri."

"No! I am Juliette Sri!" She shouted. "I'm the Third-"

"Scion of House Sri," they finished together.

"I'm Chief Science Officer of the –" she started,

"of the USS Oppenheimer!" again, said as one.

"Shut up!" Juliette shouted desperately.

The other continued calmly. "I spent much of my childhood on Vulcan, learning to control my abilities before they killed me. My mother is dead; my eldest sister is now matron. Lara died in service to Starfleet. I miss her."

She slapped her hands over her ears, the painful ringing at prevented her from hearing that thing repeat her litany. She shouted down what little sound crept between her fingers until her throat burned. "No! No, no no!" She pulled her hands away to hear her own shouting. "I'm Juliette Sri I am!" as she reached throughout the room. The cups and saucers of the tea set rattled and flew as porcelain missiles toward the others. At the last moment, their trajectory bent away from their target to shatter loudly against the walls. Her PADD exploded against a console on the wall. The smooth glass surface became a delicate web of cracks. When there was nothing left to throw, she hurled herself - to hit her, to pull her hair from its head, kick her teeth down its throat. But her lunge was halted as her muscles refused to obey.

"No!" She cried out, startled and angry. She could not move as the other held her in place. "I have…all their power...how?"

"I am master of my mind and body. You don't have all their power. You have all their pain. All their frustration and anger. Theirs, and mine."

She regained enough control over one hand to reach up to her face."This is just...a mask. I'm Juliette! I'm Juliette." She dug with her nails despite the pain, desperate to tear the mask that separated her from the truth.

"Stop," she said sadly, "You're hurting yourself."

She pulled her hand back, the nails bloody, her cheek burning. Her frustrated tears of rage burned in the red furrows. "I hate you."

"I know."

"I hate you. I hate your thin voice. I hate that you're weak. I hate how you can't touch anything."

"I know," She calmly repeated as she rose from the chaise and pulled off her gloves. Were her fingers actually so delicate and pale?

Juliette writhed in terror, turning her face away from those terrible hands. "Let me go!" Her voice was raw and jagged between sobs. The fingers were cool and soft against her bloody cheek. She shrieked.

"Please! No, it's all that I have!"

"No, it's not. You have me."

"I don't need you. I never needed you! I'm the Scion of House Sri. You came on this ship with Syvok after stealing his identity. I won't let you take mine!"

"I never stole Syvok's identity."

"I saw you right next to him!"

"I wasn't close to Syvok. You were."

Her breath froze as she pictured their placement in her mind. There was Syvok, and Juliette and the other – shadowy and indistinct then, but still visible to her. It had leaned closer to them both hands resting on…her breathing returned, frantic. "No, no no. please. I hate you. I'm Juliette. I am! I am."

"You are. You're just as much Juliette as I am. I love you. I need you. I can't be without you." Her eyes glanced downward.

Her head was free to follow its gaze. Hundreds of fine, delicate fibers sprang from her arms and arched gracefully back beyond her vision. Then she saw the sallow twisted vine of umbilicus between them. Her breath caught as her eyes slid along its length. Her eyes caught the black eyes of the other. "We could-"

The other shook her head. "No, There is no removing it."

"Then there is only- Her legs gave out and she sunk under the weight of realization. "Please," she begged, hating being so weak. "I don't want to die."

Her other knelt beside her slowly, her robes billowing on the floor. "You won't. I won't let you. I can't let you." Her fingertips felt light and delicate as she gently she forced their eyes to meet. "Tell me why I didn't attend mother's passing."

"You already know."

"I need you to tell me."

"I can't. I'll destroy you."

"We can't rebuild unless you do. Tell me. Please."

Juliette looked into her other's eyes and saw her apprehension. The words tumbled out of her. "You were afraid! The emotions would have overwhelmed you, and you would have lost control. It was too much, and you were too weak. You've always been weak. You failed your house, and they pity you." She hated saying the words, hated her for having to say them.

The other didn't look away from the truth, but her breath stopped for a moment. She nodded. Her cheeks were wet as she brushed away Juliette's tears. "Thank you." She tenderly kissed the Uwda forehead, and embraced her, pulling her tight muffling her terrified despairing whimpers against her shoulder, pulling her tighter and tighter until Juliette was gone, and only Juliette remained.

With nothing to lean on, she fell forward, her whole body shuddering, her hands splayed on the carpet, stung by shards of broken pottery.

I am master of my mind and body, she thought between desperate gasps and continued to shake.

The door hissed open. Ensign Telanta and Lieutenant Bridgeway, phasers drawn, looked warily into the room. "Who's there?"

Juliette held up an arm weakly. "It's me. Don't shoot."

Bridgeway looked around the room while Telanta stared at Juliette. "Wait, how did you get here?"

Juliette fumbled for a response. "It's .. difficult to explain."

"You're injured," Telanta said as she reached out with her presence.

Juliette gratefully took the support. She wiped her eyes, her cheeks still wet, and managed a weak laugh. "Aren't we all?"

Telanta's expression held confusion and worry. "Lieutenant Commander, Lieutenant Bridgeway showed me your holo-program. Is the thing still on the ship?"

"It never left. It's..always here."

"Sir?" Telanta asked warily.

Juliette shook her head, groping for a simpler answer. "It's…we're in no danger. No..immediate danger." She looked at her gloves on the table and wished she could wear them. The shards of the Deferi tea set speckled the carpet. She hoped nothing was so broken that it could not be repaired. "Ensign, I should examine everyone who was away on the planet. I think there is an influence that must be stopped- no, managed - before it goes too far."

"Yes, sir. I'll let everyone know."

Bridgeway coughed politely.

"Sir?" Telanta asked.

"Ensign, just who the devil are you talking to?"

oOOoo

Juliette opened her eyes to a cafe of listless Uwda and their terrified Sklan. Her touch, this time, was gentle as she surveyed the damage. Perhaps there would be some variation in the flavor of distress the Sklan inflicted on the Uwda - unknown terrors from those stars they had so long ignored, but they would heal and, in time, return to their normal.

She hid amongst a quiet copse of trees. The throbbing started at the back of her head and erupted in her eyes. She tapped her com badge. "Sri to Oppenheimer."

"Lieutenant Commander. Ensign Telanta said we'd be hearing from you."

"I have the data we came to get, sir. Permission to beam aboard."

"I anticipate a fascinating away report in my future. Does that mean I have precognition?"

"I'm sure we could run some tests, sir."

oOOoo

At Juliette's request, there was tea in the ready room. Even Bridgeway drank it.

Dr. Fenna asked, "Is this a reward for having to read your report?"

"Was it really such a chore?" Sri asked. "I did try to make sure the section on the psilosylene enhancers was exciting enough for you."

"The section on ego breaks was a little long. You could have just kept it to bi-lateral personality." She kept staring at the constellation of blood clots in Juliette's bloodshot eyes, framed by the light pink of her skin, scrubbed free of Uwda modifications - her own face at last.

"That's just about the two sides of the ego – the dark and the light. Bilateralism doesn't talk about how they complement each when in balance."

Lieutenant Tran shrugged. "All too technical for me. I'm still struggling with the idea that the Sklan are the manifestation of a split personality among latent telepaths."

"I can attest," Syvok said, "that is indeed the case, and that the longer the split occurs, the greater the polarization of the halves." After a moment of silence, he quickly switched topic."I find most Betazoid tea too flowery for my tastes. However, this is surprisingly palatable."

Sri accepted it as a compliment. "I have always been partial to the 2409 cutting of the Jestral leaves, and make sure there is a copy in the replicator. My mother was invited to that cutting by the Eighth House of Betazed. It was a great honor, and reminds me of her."

Captain Tilmana said, "I'll see to it our new operations officer keeps it out when the replicator programs are cycled."

Dr. Fenna frowned at Juliette. "New Operations Officer?"

"I'm taking on other duties."

Tilmana said, "Ship's Counselor is a demanding task. Are you sure you want to remain Chief Science Officer as well?"

Bridgeman looked at Juliette. She briefly shrugged.

"I'd certainly like to give it consideration, sir."

"Your report was very thorough, Lieutenant Commander, but I did not see any recommendations for further action."

Lieutenant Commander Juliette Sri cradled her teacup in her hands as she quietly looked out the viewport, marveling at the stars the Uwda found so uninteresting. "I do not think any are necessary, sir. This is something the Uwda will have to work out themselves."

End Notes:

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