Whispering to the Mirror

Posted on Wed Nov 27th, 2024 @ 8:20pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant JG James Phoenix

Mission: The Gambit
Location: USS Washington - Brig

The Mirror Shran sat in the brig, brooding a bit over being captured. He had attempted to double cross Lovok and the Romulans on this side in hopes that he might slip onto the Washington, but things had not gone as planned. He didn't know that the XO and several of the other officers were the same people that he had once tortured in his universe. Now it looked like he was going to be kept here and interrogated by some high-ranking pink skin. He looked out at the security officer outside his cell, a pink skin female, attractive as far as that went for their species. In his universe she'd make for a lovely concubine for him, but that was there, and in this universe, the pink skins had some sort of strange peaceful empire. It was disgusting in his eyes.

The doors slid open, and another woman entered the room. A brunette with an athletic-ish build. She moved quietly behind the security officer and decked her from behind. Not dead or severely injured. Just unconscious.

She could have gotten away without knocking her out, but that wasn't her nature. In her hand, she had a PADD which consisted of a personal log from a mission that happened a while ago now. Involving both her and Shran's mirror counterpart. She moved in front of Shran's cell and stared coldly into his eyes.

Shran looked her over. "You look familiar. Perhaps you are some sort of reporter here to ask me more pedantic questions." He looked at her more closely, specifically at her eyes, her gaze as cold as a night on Andoria. "I know you. How are you here?"

"Life finds a way" Ashlynn sneered. "I could ask you the same question."

"Opportunity presented itself. It appears you have managed to avoid being discovered."

"800 people aboard this ship. One out of place person isn't going to cause much. Only person I needed to worry about, but he was too easy" she bragged. "But I'm curious. You did kill me and try to kill the others I died around, and now you're helping this universe's lame excuse for Terrans?"

The Andorian looked vexed, and he was getting agitated. "I killed you and yet you stand before me know. How does that make sense? And don't claim to know what I am doing here! I was working with Romulans, not Terrans."

She chuckled. "It doesn't. I don't even know how I survived. One minute I'm lying on the floor dead, the next thing I'm here on this ship" Ash started. "And you were working from the Romulans, but you're here now and you seem to be in quite the predicament. Trapped in the brig, like I once was" she taunted.

"For your sake, you better hope it remains that way. As I recall, I managed to keep you alive with pain for quite some time before you finally expired" the Andorian warned and taunted back.

Ash scoffed. "That may be so, but I'm also not the one that turned and chose to help these humans."

"You keep saying that I'm helping the Terrans. I'm not. I took a chance to protect myself in hopes that I might be in place to eliminate my double here and replace him, nothing more" the Andorian said defiantly.

"Well, you certainly helped them get away from that retched station. Besides, replacing this Shran is a terrible idea" she mocked.

"You know nothing of what happened. And it is only a matter of time before they find you out as well. Using your feminine wiles will only protect and insulate you for so long. These Terrans are not the fools you take them for, nor their various allies" the Andorian replied.

"You underestimate me then. I came back alive, didn't I?" she challenged. "Besides you haven't asked why I'm here yet."

"I'll play your game. What is it you want?" the Andorian questioned.

Ash revealed the PADD she was holding. "I have something you may want a look at. The personal log of James Phoenix, from the events regarding our universe. I think it could prove useful to you" she began. "I'm going to be blunt. I may have died but these Terran's left me there to rot. They didn't even try to save me. I think we could help each other out. I may even be able to help you get in that center chair."

"If you have access to personal logs, what I need is access to log entries and other personal files of my counterpart here. They are discussing transferring me over to some admiral. I don't have much time here" the Andorian replied.

"I'm under the cover of being on leave since my counterpart is in Starfleet. James was too stupid to realize that she is alive" she cackled. "I know she outranks him, but I don't have her clearance level. It might take some time to get that information which we don't-" Ash had a musing. "I can get you out of here. I just need you to fake an injury."

"We need a ship. The Federation have a shuttle called a runabout class based on my study. If one such vessels is aboard this ship, I can make adjustments quickly to mask its engine emissions so that we might make an escape. I know of places we can go where we can be left alone to devise better plans against these people" the Andorian replied.

She crouched down and hovered over the unconscious security officer and grabbed her tricorder and phaser. She then moved to deactivate the forcefield to the brig. "We need to stay vigilant. I believe delta shift is on duty so the amount of any possible resistance, if any, will be less" she said, mounting her tricorder and phaser on her belt.

The Andorian smiled wickedly. "These Terrans are too lax. All the better for us. Let's get to the shuttle bay and see what we can find. Don't fire that phaser unless we have no choice."

The two quickly made their way out and to the shuttle bay, and found exactly what he wants, a runabout. Entering it, he went to the controls and activated the power systems and altered the engines settings. "Power up the weapons. A single phaser blast should bring the forcefield down."

She sat down in the co-pilot's seat and powered up the weapons. "Ready, firing phasers."

The phaser fired on the forcefield, deactivating it immediately. "We need to go now. We have about 60 seconds until the emergency field goes up. If they didn't know something was up before, they know now" she said, alluding to the phasers.

With the forcefield down Mirror Shran activated the engines and rushed the runabout out into space and into the debris field. They used the field to obscure themselves before jumping to warp, unable to be tracked.

After they jumped to warp, Ash kept scanning to see if the Washington had caught on, just in case. "They aren't following. The field is working."

"They won't follow us. They will need to readjust their sensors in a way that isn't standard for them. I've learned quite a bit about this universe and their technology. We are going to a world just outside what is considered Federation space. We will have time to come up with new plans there. Perhaps having you around will come in handy here after all" he said sinisterly. "These Terrans are weak, but you come from a strong stock. Yes, this situation will do nicely."