Marauding Mirror

Posted on Wed Jul 9th, 2025 @ 11:03am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant JG Kate Kono & Lieutenant JG Benjamin "Ben" Dalton

1,477 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Wounds From the Mirror
Location: USS Washington

As the power went down and the red alert klaxons sounded, Eislyn went to her desk and grabbed her phaser. She wasn't sure what was going on at the moment, but hoped everything was under control. She was supposed to meet with Kate and Ben for a follow up but was uncertain if things would change now that people were scurrying about the ship.

Kate limped into the office with a phaser strapped around her shoulder and she was soaking wet with her comm badge missing.

"Sorry I'm late," Kate said. As she walked closer to Eislyn, it was clear she had been cut by tiny glass shards, and a bruise was starting to develop under her chin. "I lost my comm badge please call Ben and let him know to arm himself. I don't know what's going on but there are some real meanies onboard. Jane is dead." She paused as if she had just now taken realization to that fact.

Eislyn looked confused. She wasn't entirely certain what Kate was talking about, or who regarding this Jane. Likely another crewmember. She contacted Ben and then notified the bridge of intruders. "I suppose this will require us to reschedule this counseling session. We should get you to sickbay. You need medical attention."

Ben was on his way to meet Kate when his comm badge chirped and it was Eislyn saying Kate was there and she was taking Kate to sickbay for some minor cuts and bruises she had suffered. Then all hell broke loose, there were multiple beam in across the ship with intruders trying to take control of key systems. Ben darted and dashed, zigged and zagged to get to Sickbay and Kate. Arriving he looked around frantically and spotted her with Eislyn. Making his way to them, "What happened Kate?" Then in his next breath, "we're being boarded!" I evaded several teams to get here."

"Super mean Bolian in the bathroom. He killed one of my friends," Kate said. "I don't need sickbay. I need to get to engineering. Got to get the internal sensors back online."

"You'll never get to Engineering ...alone. I'm coming with you and maybe we should try axillary control." He suggested.

Sickbay looked like a warzone. Several injured officers were being tended to, the only medical officer currently present was strangely the EMH. Perhaps the worst for Eislyn was when they arrived, Amethyst lay on the ground dead in a pool of her blood. While the blood stain remained, she had transported her body to a stasis unit for proper postmortem later. "Be still" Eislyn noted to Kate as she fought back the emotions and used her limited medical knowledge to treat Kate's injuries.

"Where's Dr. Howard? Dr. Dex? Even Dr. Perrim." Ben wondered aloud as Eislyn did her best to treat Kate. "Do you think they are dead as well? He asked afraid to get an answer. He found a phaser under some towels, grabbed and checked its charge and set the setting to heavy stun.

Eislyn stopped what she was doing for a moment. "According to the computer, Sam, Shon, and Tarja are all not aboard. When we arrived, Amethyst was on the ground dead and there were scorch marks indicating somebody was vaporized over there, but we haven't had time to determine who yet. Dr. Perim and Dr. Del Rio were in quarters and are being escorted by security now. We just have the EMH for now."

"And you should be happy to have me" the EMH chirped as it treated an ensign with multiple lacerations.

Ben said nothing, just nodded, this was bad, real bad. The ship was under attack; people were dead and dying. They had to do something! Defend their ship and fellow crew members. Fight back!

Kate set her phaser to level 7 and then flipped her rifle to bring the power settings right into the beginning of the red. She looked to Ben and Eislyn, "The Bolian I encountered had some sort of weird dark uniform with a non-Starfleet insignia on him. So, I think that's an easy way to tell who is who," Kate said. "Otherwise, we just have to remain really super cautious of everyone. A familiar face might not mean a friend, but an unfamiliar uniform is a really good clue."

"We need to defend Sickbay and the people here to begin with and then if help arrives, we can try to reach other departments like Engineering." Ben replied.

Eislyn looked at Kate's phaser settings. She placed a gentle hand on Kate's, "I understand how you must feel, but if you keep your weapons at those settings while on the ship, you'll only cause more destruction. If your intent is to kill rather than stun, level 4 for both weapons will be sufficient. Also consider, phasers and power packs are not going to be something you just find all over. They are a limited commodity, regulated strictly by security. We don't want you shooting your load and then suddenly being unable to defend yourself. I'm sure the Engineers will thank you for not putting extra holes in the ship as well."

Kate's hands stayed where they were after thanking her for the medical attention.

"If I need an extra phaser, there's going to be plenty on the ground," Kate said. She pulled the comm badge off Amethyst's corpse and reprogrammed it to her own credentials before placing it on her chest.

"The Bolian I fought in the bathroom was on something. He took an overload round to the chest and still kept coming. I had to blow up the entire bathroom just to kill him. If we get any more like him, sickbay is going to be screwed."

"We'll deal with whatever comes our way to the best of our ability." Ben answered firmly. "Listen to Eislyn and adjust your phaser setting."

Kate tapped her collar. "Sorry Ben, not getting us killed today. If you guys shoot and it doesn't do any good, then I'll shoot next. It's faster than changing power levels. If you shoot and it works, I'll dial it down, promise."

Kate held her pinky out at Ben and winked.

Despite the situation, despite not knowing if they were going to be alive in the next few minutes. Ben smiled at Kate. He loved her and that filled him with determination to protect her and the others. His hand went to hers and his pinky interlocked with hers as he gave her an answering wink in return.

"Where is security, anyway?" Kate mumbled. "They have a job!" She sighed and shook her head. "They've already been through sickbay once. They weren't interested in occupying the space so, it probably gives us some time to fortify and prepare, if we're lucky."

"I disagree Kate, I think they are looking for people, Dr. Howard, Dr. Dex, maybe even Commander Raven-Grayson and who knows who else. So we need to get busy and get some sort of fortifications in place." Ben answered.

Kate would have giggled if she weren't so sad and scared. The fact that her Boyfriend disagreed with her despite both recommending to fortify. She instead just smiled a little while prying over a medway bed with a drawer handle and quietly tipped the table over to the carpet with care. She tossed him the handle.

"Don't get killed. Super please? Okay?" Kate said.

Ben moved, slid the bed into a better position. He gave Kate a little smile. "Don't worry sweetie. Have to make you omelets tomorrow."

The EMH walked over and looked at what had been done. "What do you think you are doing? This is a sickbay, not the O.K. Corral."

"Deal with your patients' doctor" Eislyn chided the EMH. "You may have noticed we very much are dealing with the Wild West at the moment. The whole ship is a battlefield."

The sickbay doors opened, and Viviana entered with a security officer draped on her shoulder. Seeing the condition of sickbay, she shook her head and mumbled aloud, "Ay dios mío. I am not being blamed for the condition of this place when Dr. Howard shows up." She moved past Kate and Ben and took the security officer to a biobed which was already occupied. She looked at the EMH, "Alright you glorified computer program, back to work. We have injured people to treat."

Eislyn looked to Kate and Ben, "I think we may wish to find the senior officers. They'll be either on the bridge or in Engineering. Better than just sitting here. They are going to need space to work, not a fire fight at their door."

"Let's try the bridge first..." Ben answered, "maybe they will have some answers."

Eislyn nodded. "I will go with you. Three security officers here, they should be able to handle any hostilities."


TBC

 

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