Chapter
Three
"Isn't there someplace a bit
more interesting than here?"
"This is engineering, my
friend…The most interesting place on the ship."
Mirror Stevenson sighed:
"Well…It looks pretty boring to m…"
"Will you just shut up,
please?" Stevenson said, exasperated.
Mirror Stevenson shrugged:
"Sure, but only if we go to somewhere with more ladies." He began
staring very indiscreetly at a female ensign that happened to pass by him.
Stevenson grabbed his double by the
shoulder and began pulling him towards the main console: "Hey! Hey!"
The Mirror Stevenson protested.
"We're here to get you out of
this universe and back to yours." Stevenson said to his double. "And
we won't be able to do that if you begin checking out every woman who steps
into this room."
"Okay, okay…" Mirror
Stevenson smiled. "I was just admiring this new universe."
Stevenson rolled his eyes:
"Okay…We need to analyze the sensor data to try to find any anomalies
which preceded your arrival through the ion storm."
Mirror Stevenson nodded:
"Aye."
The same ensign came towards the
mirror Stevenson and said: "Excuse me." She leaned over the main
console to pick up a data padd and quickly walked off; the mirror Stevenson's
gaze followed her.
"Hey!" Stevenson snapped
his fingers loudly, making his double look back at him. "Sight-seeing is
over, we have to work now."
The mirror Stevenson sighed:
"All right…But after all this work can we go somewhere where the view is
nicer?"
"Just shut up." Stevenson
said through clenched teeth.
"Promised?" Mirror
Stevenson asked.
Stevenson said nothing.
"Good." Mirror Stevenson
smiled. "I was sure we could reach an agreement."
Mantion came towards them, holding a
data padd: "Here are the scans of the mirror Valiant's offensive
systems." She handed it to Stevenson.
Mirror Stevenson studied Mantion and
told her: "What are you doing later tonight?"
Mantion looked at him with a bored
gaze and said: "Sleeping." She walked off…
Mirror Stevenson blinked and said:
"Wow…That's exciting…"
Stevenson threw the padd at his
double: "Hey!!! Let's get to work!"
* * *
Greg Eskina was sitting at the bar
of the mess hall with his double.
"So…" Eskina began.
"What's your position on board ship?"
Mirror Eskina smiled:
"Assassin."
Eskina blinked, surprised:
"Assassin? Really?"
Mirror Eskina nodded:
"Professional resistance assassin, one of the best."
Eskina nodded: "Is it
fun?"
Mirror Eskina sighed:
"Sometimes…It depends how you kill the person."
Eskina thought: I don't want to
know. But he still said: "Oh?"
"Yes." Mirror Eskina
nodded. "For quick assassinations, I usually use phasers, although I
personally prefer knives."
"Knives…" Eskina said.
"Yes." Mirror Eskina
continued. "But when I am asked to interrogate and torture someone; that
is much better…"
"Torture..." Eskina said.
"Yes…Torture is like
surgery…You must be patient, precise and do the less damage possible."
"Surgery…" Eskina
said.
"Yes." Mirror Eskina
frowned and stared at his double. "Are you all right?"
Eskina seemed to wake up from a
dream: "Uh…Yeah! Yeah I'm fine."
Mirror Eskina smirked:
"You are afraid of me?"
Eskina chuckled: "No…I'm no
more afraid of you than I am of myself…But it's just what you do that freaks me
out a little."
"It's a nasty
business." Mirror Eskina said. "But a rewarding one…"
Eskina sighed: "I don't
doubt it…"
* * *
The captain frowned…
The readings from Ops indicated that
the three ships he was looking for had entered that storm a few hours before.
"Are you sure?" He
demanded from the Ops officer.
"Positive, sir…The three ships
entered that storm and didn't come out…" The officer answered.
"Maybe they were
destroyed." The tactical officer suggested. "The storm is extremely
powerful."
The captain smirked: "Not
powerful enough to destroy two of our destroyers…"
"Perhaps…"
The captain pondered the situation a
moment, and then took a decision: "Set a course straight into that storm.
Full impulse…"
"Sir?!"
The conn officer stared at him.
The captain lost his patience; he
had enough of the incompetence of his new crew. He took out his phaser and shot
the conn officer, the beam struck her head and she was thrown to the ground
from her chair.
"You!"
He pointed at a security guard stationed at the back of the bridge. "Take
her place!"
The security guard, saying nothing,
quickly sat down at conn and entered the course into the ion storm:
"Course set, captain." He reported.
The captain nodded:
"Engage…"