Chapter
Two
The captain
frowned: "What do you mean: disappeared?"
The short ensign said: "I have
no further information, sir…The Wolf and the Imperial are gone,
along with the rebel ship."
"And you have no explanation?"
The captain said through clenched teeth.
Beads of sweat began forming on the
ensign's forehead: "Uh…No, sir…"
The captain smiled: "Then…Maybe
your level of competence would change if you were dead meat rather than
alive…"
The ensign took a step away from the
captain.
"Get rid of him…" The
captain said with a bored flick of his hand in the ensign's direction. "By
any way possible, I don't care…Just get him off this ship."
Two security guards came and brought
the ensign away.
"Helm!"
The captain barked. "Follow the exact same course that the Wolf and
the Imperial took to chase that rebel ship…I will scan every inch of
this sector if I have to…"
* * *
Kline watched as the senior members
of the mirror Valiant entered the observation lounge in a single file.
He recognized the faces of his crew amongst these savage rebels, Eskina,
Stevenson, Reeves…
Kline's own crew was staring in
amazement at their mirror images as they sat down at the opposite end of the
table, almost making the meeting look like a dual between two universes.
"Captain," Kline smiled.
"Welcome aboard."
"Thanks, captain."
The mirror Sutter said. "And also thanks for saving our asses back
there."
"So…" Kline began.
"I'd say we have a rather complicated situation on our hands…Wouldn't you
say so?"
"Yeah…You can say that
again." Mirror Sutter said. "Pretty darned weird…" She glanced
at Commander Sutter who was sitting next to Kline.
"Well…One thing we have to do
is to get organized…" Kline said. "We have to find a way to send you
back to your own universe, that's the only thing that matters at the
moment."
"It probably has to do with the
ion storm." Stevenson said.
"Brilliant observation…"
The mirror Stevenson said with a smirk.
Stevenson gave a dark glance at his
double before continuing: "We know that the three ships were firing at
each other when they entered the ion storm, my hypothesis is that it was that
weapons fire that somehow 'ignited' a passage to our universe…"
Kline noticed that Burnel was
staring with wide-eyes at someone from the mirror crew, he followed her gaze
and his eyes fell upon a beautiful young woman with blond hair and that had a
resemblance to Sylvia but not enough to be her mirror double.
"Miss Burnel?" He said.
"Is there something wrong?"
Sylvia shook her head quickly:
"It's nothing, sir…It's just that…I noticed my double wasn't part of their
crew…But that a double of my sister was…" She pointed at the blond woman.
Kline noticed that Reeves seemed to
wince when Sylvia mentioned her sister; he wasn't going to ask why. He said:
"We'll all have chances to talk to our 'doubles' another time; we have to
concentrate on the task at hand…"
"Of course captain…"
Burnel said quickly.
Kline sighed: "All
right…So…John, you were saying that weapons fire was probably the cause of the
phenomena that sent them into our universe. Do you know if we can re-activate
a…a 'portal' back to their universe using our own weapons?"
Stevenson shrugged: "I'll have
to go through the sensor logs, it's gonna take some
time."
"Take all the time you
need." Kline said; then he turned to the mirror Sutter. "Does any
member of your crew have specialties in weaponry?"
Sutter smiled: "My second
officer, John Stevenson is our weapons operator, there's no one better fitted
for the job."
Kline nodded: "Stevenson,
you'll work with…with Stevenson to try to find a way to use our weapons to send
them back to their own universe."
Stevenson nodded with a sigh,
the mirror Stevenson just grinned.
"All right…" Kline nodded.
"I'll have Mantion work with you." He scanned the crew of the mirror
universe and located the double of Mantion. "You don't happen to be a
weapons specialist as well?" He asked with a smile.
The mirror Mantion shook her head.
"Oh…" He nodded.
"Then what is your specialty?"
She frowned and the mirror Sutter
quickly said: "She can't talk, Captain Kline. She had no tongue."
Kline said: "Oh, sorry."
The mirror Mantion smiled at him,
gesturing that it was nothing.
"Okay then, dismissed."
Everyone stood up and walked towards
the exit of the observation lounge, just before they left, Kline said: "I
suggest you…you get to know yourselves while you have the time. You won't have
a second opportunity like this."
The mirror Sutter, Sutter and Kline
were the three left in the observation lounge: "I'm curious." Kline
said to the mirror Sutter. "I noticed that there were neither doubles of
me or of doctor Tarses in your crew, do you have an explanation?"
The mirror Sutter nodded: "The
doctor died during the attack of the two destroyers…As for you, Captain, I've
never seen your face before."
Kline nodded: "I
see…Well…Why don't you two girls get to know each
other a little better? I think I'll go and get a cup of black coffee." He
smiled and left the lounge, leaving the two Sutters
alone.
"So…" Mirror Sutter said.
"Your first name's Janna too, right?"
Sutter nodded: "That's
right."
Mirror Sutter smiled: "This is
weird, don't you think?"
"Pretty…" Sutter said.
They didn't say anything for a few
more seconds, and then Sutter pointed at the scar that ran along her double's
neck: "Where did you get that?"
Mirror Sutter ran her fingers along
the scar: "I was fighting a bunch of Klingons, those nasty bastards fight
with knives and swords…I managed to get rid of them with my phaser but one
Klingon managed to hit me."
"Ouch…" Sutter said
sympathetically. "And…How about Dan?"
Mirror Sutter raised an eyebrow:
"Dan?"
"You know…Daniel Sutter."
"Oh!" Mirror Sutter
chuckled. "Him…"
Sutter frowned: "What do you
mean: him?"
"My last husband…"
"Last?" Sutter
blinked.
"Well…The latest one, I
mean." Mirror Sutter smiled. "He's dead, like all the others."
Sutter was horrified:
"How many others?"
"Oh…" Mirror Sutter waved
her hand dismissively. "About twenty…"
"Twenty!!!"
Sutter's jaw dropped.
"Rounded off towards the
bottom…" Mirror Sutter corrected with a raised finger. "They all died
at the hands of the
Sutter said nothing.
"Pretty darned shocking, ain't it?" Mirror Sutter grinned.
"Pretty darned…" Sutter
frowned.