Chapter
Five
Obviously, the mirror Kline was as
surprised to see himself on the bridge of the other ship as the other Kline was
to see his own double.
"What the hell is this?"
The mirror Kline demanded. "Who are you?"
"I'm Captain Alan Kline of the
Federation starship Valiant." Kline said as evenly as he could.
"And you are?"
"Captain Kline of the Dauntless…"
His eyes fell upon the mirror Sutter. "Well, well…Here's where you have
been hiding, rebel scum! I demand to know where my two other ships are!"
"If you mean the ones that are
destroyed…" Kline said. "Then I'm afraid that they've been
destroyed."
The mirror Kline clenched his
teeth: "I don't care if you look like me…I don't care what all this is
about…All I care about is killing all of you…Prepare to fight."
His face blinked off the screen.
"The Dauntless is
raising shields." Mantion reported. "And arming weapons…"
"Shields
up!" Kline ordered. "Evasive maneuvers, Burnel!"
"Aye!"
Burnel's fingers danced over the console, the metallic fingers of her bionic
right arm making frenetic "click" sounds every time they struck the
terminal.
"They're firing!"
"Brace yourselves!"
The mirror Akira-class ship
fired phasers at the small Valiant. Burnel managed to slalom through the
beams for a few seconds, but finally, despite her efforts, the Valiant's
shields were struck.
The Dauntless was obviously a
lot stronger than the other ships that the Valiant had faced
earlier. Kline said: "Report!"
"Shields holding at eight-five
percent, captain." Mantion said.
"Return fire, aft pulse
phasers." He ordered.
The glowing phaser pulses were fired
from the aft banks of the Valiant and the struck the forward shield of
the Dauntless.
"Minimal damage…" Mantion
said.
"Great…" Kline muttered.
The Dauntless fired again,
this time it was torpedoes that slammed against the shields and exploded. The
phasers from the enemy vessel added themselves to the fiery fury and the Valiant
shook violently.
"Shields are down to eighteen
percent!" Mantion said with surprise in her voice.
"Get us the hell out of
here." Kline told Burnel. "Do your thing, Sylvia."
It was the first time he had called
Burnel by her first name, she smiled and said: "Yes, Alan."
The Dauntless did not show
any mercy, despite Burnel's best efforts, the shields of the Valiant fell…
"Sir!"
Mantion said. "We're being boarded!"
"Execute boarding defense
protocol seven!" Kline said.
"Aye."
Mantion turned on the intercom and said: "This is the bridge, to all
crewmembers, execute boarding defense protocol seven. All crew members must be
armed and move only in groups of three or more. I repeat…"
Suddenly, there was a bizarre humming sound
and three columns of light appeared at the back of the bridge.
"They're beaming in!"
Reeves said.
The three columns of light became
three men with phaser rifles; they were about to fire…
Suddenly, there was a blur of
movement…
The mirror Eskina was standing
behind the three men, he grabbed the center one by the hair and slammed his
fist into the back of the man's head. Then, he pulled a knife from one of his
many pockets and managed to plant it into both of the men in less than a
second.
The whole crew stared at the
boarding team from the Dauntless that was lying on the floor. Then they
all looked up at the mirror Eskina who was wiping the blood off his knife.
"Hell…being an assassin is
handy…" Eskina said, staring admiringly at his double.
* * *
Stevenson ran with his double and
the rest of the engineering room to the weapons locker of engineering, he
passed out hand phasers to everyone and said: "Everyone stay together, we
don't want anything to surprise us."
The engineers put themselves
in a circle, watching every corner of the room with attention.
"Hmmm…Looks like nothing's
here." The mirror Stevenson said.
"They'll be here…Everyone
always wants to come to engineering." Stevenson said.
The mirror Stevenson snorted:
"I'm sure they do…After all, it's the most important place on the ship, right?
Because you're here, right?"
Stevenson frowned: "What in the
world are you talking about?"
"You probably think your
engineering is so precious that everyone wants to take it…The truth is that
your too overprotective of your secondary part of the ship that…"
"Watch out!" Stevenson
fired his phaser.
The beam struck the man and he
crumbled to the ground.
"He was aiming at you!"
Stevenson said. "Weren't you paying attention?!"
Mirror Stevenson grinned:
"Believe it or not: No."
Stevenson sighed: "I'd hate to
be like you."
"But you are me!" Mirror
Stevenson said.
"Yeah…That's why I hate
myself…" Stevenson sighed again. "This conversation is getting
twisted…Let's just not say anything."
"Fine with me…" Mirror
Stevenson nodded.
A minute passed…
"Hey…Did you know you have nice
legs?"
"John…"
"Yes, John?"
"Shut up…"
"I was just making a friendly
compliment, don…"
"Shut up."
A sigh: "All right…I'll shut
up…"
* * *
The mirror Kline was fuming on the
bridge of the Dauntless, despite the best efforts of his boarding
parties, the Valiant was still under command of that…that double of his.
He still didn't understand what was going on, but he recognized the
configuration of the ship that had escaped from Gerril
VIII, and if he couldn't capture them, then they would be consigned to the
emptiness of space.
"Sir…All our boarding parties
have been eliminated." The tactical officer said.
The captain grunted.
"What should we do?"
"Prepare to destroy that
ship…" He said.
Suddenly, the Valiant began
moving again.
"What?!"
Mirror Kline stood up and watched the ship move away. "Intercept
them!"
"Intercepting…" The conn
officer reported.
"Prepare to fire." He
barked.
"Target locked…Ready." The
tactical officer said.
Then, the Valiant fired.
The quantum torpedoes struck the
shields of the Dauntless with amazing force. The pulse phasers which
quickly followed also caused much damage on the forward shield of the larger
ship. The conn officer was obligated to turn the Dauntless to go in
another direction so that the shields wouldn't fail.
"How did they get their power
back so quickly?" The captain demanded.
"They still had energy
reserves, probably the auxiliary power." The Ops officer said.
"Great." He snarled.
"Well…Their auxiliary power won't protect them for long…Full weapons on my
mark."
"Aye…"
* * *
"Ready to
launch?" Kline asked.
"Aye, sir…You just give the
order."
"It's given…" He said. "Fire!"
The volley of quantum torpedoes was
fired from the torpedo bays of the Valiant, the blue balls of light
struck the Dauntless with awesome force and the larger ship shuddered
under the impact.
"Their overall shield power is
down to 20 percent…It seems that their shield grid is not as sophisticated as
we were told." Mantion said.
"Well…We thought that
the shields would work well…" Mirror Sutter said. "When we were
preparing the specs we thought the shield grid would offer more protection than
conventional shielding…"
"But the only thing these
shields do is to take a lot of damage once, then loose all efficiency."
Kline smiled. "I must thank you for your faulty design, captain."
Mirror Sutter sighed:
"Anytime…"
"Okay…Fire all
weapons."
* * *
All the weapons fire…
The Dauntless' shields went
down…
They were helpless…
The mirror Kline screamed, he
screamed at the top of his lungs. He was defeated…
"Sir!!!"
The tactical officer grabbed him by the shoulders. "Calm down!"
The captain escaped his grasp:
"No! We've lost! Can't you see we've lost?!"
"Yes, I do see." The
tactical officer said. "But we must accept our defe…"
"Accept!" The captain
laughed out loud, a maniacal laugh. "Accept our defeat?! Are you a woman
or are you an officer? No surrender!"
The captain lunged for his chair and
pressed on a few buttons.
"Sir?
What are you doing?" The conn officer asked.
"Ending it…" The captain's
eyes seemed to be glowing from the insane rage that was taking him.
"Ending it all…"
* * *
"They're engaging the
self-destruct!" Eskina reported.
"Sir!"
Stevenson's voice came in over the comm. "They mustn't blow themselves
up! Our sensor logs show that the phasers used aboard the mirror-Valiant
were the trigger of the inter-dimensional passage. The same phasers are used
aboard the Dauntless! If that ship blows up, we'll have no way of
sending our mirror doubles back!"
Kline frowned: "But how can we
stop the self-destruct?"
"Let me lead an assault team
over there." The mirror Sutter said. "I helped design that ship; I
know my way around it."
Kline hesitated: "Are you
sure?"
"Absolutely."
She said firmly.
He sighed: "Okay…We'll keep a
constant lock on you in case we need to pull you out…"
She nodded.
"I request permission to join
the assault team, sir." Mantion said. "I can take some of my security
officers with me."
He nodded and they began walking
towards the turbolift.
Suddenly, he said: "Wait."
They stopped and turned.
"I'm coming." He quickly
stood up and walked into the turbolift.
"Captain!"
Sutter was about to protest.
He interrupted her: "Sutter…You
have the bridge."
The doors closed.