Through The Mirror - Part I

Posted on Tue May 17th, 2016 @ 7:50pm by Lieutenant Riley Sukotav & Lieutenant Seren Hawke & Suresh & Vic & Niro & Lieutenant Commander T'Rowl N'Riss C.Phil & Ensign Leela Carter & Ensign Reva Madhava

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: Krenim Space

* EFS Kohana *

The doors to engineering opened of their own accord as Vic and N’Riss approached and his image appeared on the small door panel. “Okay that’s a little creepy,” he muttered. They stepped through and he wasted no time. “Alright Reva, what couldn’t you say over the comm?”

She glanced from one to the other then went to a console and pulled up a screen showing the star field around them. “We have an issue, and it’s more than just the Borg.” She pointed to a couple of points on the chart and said, “These shouldn’t be there.”

Vic looked at the display and frowned. “What the hell are those? The closest planet to us should be several light years away along this heading.” He touched the panel and highlighted an area of space that now appeared empty.

“They’re suns. They should be here, here and here,” she pointed to other spots. “Now, if we account for time drift, knowing that the Krenim can do that, ...it would mean we’re hundreds of years in the past.”

“In the past…” Vic repeated. “So where are the planets?”

"Admittedly, accounting for that kind of time drift from a navigational standpoint is not difficult," N'Riss said as he let loose a prominent purr. "Whether I would prefer to do so or not is another situation entirely. Could it possibly be that we have gone back so far into the past that by this point we have not yet perceived the creation of those planets? They were formed on a certain date, murrrrr. Maybe we are before that date."

“I can’t find them, actually,” Reva admitted. “Plus, these other readings,” she showed them a few other scans, “are off. The last time I saw readings that were off this way, I was on the Hammond in the universe Suresh came from.”

“So it could be a...side stream?” Vic frowned. “That’s just great. It would explain why Six is all messed up though.”

“Six is messed up?” Reva turned to look at them. “I heard her call, but the sensors were going nuts... oh... and that could all be tied together.”

"It probably all has to deal with the transmissions that she was receiving before. Is there any word on that now?" Considering where they had ended up traveling, N'Riss wasn't so sure what might have happened with that.

“Marie heard her call and found her unconscious in your quarters. She’s in sickbay and still out. The EMH says her implants are out of phase and there was evidence that Six was contacted by the collective. That’s all I know,” Vic replied.
“She was receiving from the Borg. The ship is tied to her,” Reva said, turning towards the consoles. She started keying in commands, her fingers flying as she put pieces together. “Ah... here!” She stopped and showed them what she was looking at: a stream of commands into the engine and shields. “This is what had me running to try to appease the ship. The engines were building up toward overload and their output was erratic; at the same time, the shields ran through several frequencies and the phasers fired. And here’s the blip where when we crossed through a rift of some sort.”

“A rift.” Vic rubbed his face and grumbled. “It had to be a rift. As soon as you know something yell. Seren is with Marie who is looking into this if you need them. I’m due to go off shift in a few. I am going to check on Six, grab a few winks then I’ll be back.”

Nodding and naturally purring as he paid close attention to the aforementioned rift, it seemed as though N'Riss were at least initially trying to think up some sort of answer to the problem that they were presented with. "I would let you know if I can think of anything either. Usually I would offer some suggestion at this point, but the extent and influence of rifts is something that is not easy to predict with any sort of regularity."

“You can say that again,” Vic commented as he departed.

* The Bridge *

The doors opened and Seren returned to the bridge. He excused the officer at the conn and had a seat before addressing Leela. “Marie is still working but it seems there is definitely some sort of time irregularity moving through the ship.”

“Rifts... it had to be time rifts,” Leela Carter grumbled. She was about to say something else when the bridge door opened and Reva stepped out.

“Janus has taken over in the engine room. We’re going to run a couple of simulations to see if we can narrow down a couple of weird things on the ship,” the engineer said as she moved to a console.

“Weird things?” Carter’s brow rose slightly as she looked at Reva.

“Oh, just some readings that are off. Nothing big. We’ll work it out,” Reva smiled, diminishing the problem.

“Let’s hope so. Weirdness out in this area worries me.” Seren’s console beeped, interrupting him. “I’m picking up a ship approaching. In visual range,” he informed the bridge and tapped in a command. “Onscreen.” He looked up and muttered a curse. “What the hell--?” Onscreen was...the unaltered Korenna.

Reva perked up and stared at the ship. She sent a quick message to Janus to hold off on their tests. “Well... that would confirm we’re in a different universe, as if we needed confirmation.”

“Oh, Li is going to kill me for this when I get home.” Seren looked over to Leela then. “You wish to hail them? I’ve opened a channel.”

“All right, then we’re talking to them.” Carter nodded and spoke up, “This is Leela Carter, Captain of the Kohana, hailing the Korenna.”

The main viewer glowed to life and looking back at them was Niro. He looked back at Leela and a slow smile spread over his face.


“Well, look who we have here,” he drawled. “Good thing it’s you sweetheart, I was about to blow this Borg abomination outta the water, so to speak.”

Sweetheart? Carter wasn’t the only one wondering about that. “Niro,” Carter said, staring at him. “How... interesting to run into you here.”

Reva, too, stared at the man on the screen. She gasped when she saw a second man on the screen, behind Niro. In their universe, that man would have been more likely to kill Niro than be found on his ship.

Niro’s attention was caught by Reva and he looked to her now. “Problem, kiddo?” He pursed his lips a moment. “You bring up a good question. What’s a bunch of Fleeties doing on a Borg ship? I suppose this explains a few things, though.” He glanced over his shoulder and he and the man behind him seemed to have a silent conversation. Finally the man turned around and this time Seren gasped. The man was Riley. He didn’t seem too pleased to see Reva.

Reva glanced at Carter, who addressed Niro, “Just what might this explain?” Why isn’t Riley in uniform? Leela hoped either Seren or Reva would catch that thought, not knowing that Reva was only a touch-telepath.

No idea, Seren replied. “Hello Riley.” He greeted the Riley on the screen aloud.

“Seren.” Riley glanced at Reva only an instant, then looked away. “It explains why we haven’t seen you recently, though there was a rumor that you were locked up on the Krenim homeworld.”

“All an ugly rumor, as you said.” Seren flashed a smile. Behind him the doors opened and Vic stepped out. “Sorry I’m a few minutes late.” He saw the screen and smiled. “Hey Riley, I see we got the comms back.”

“Shields up,” Niro ordered. His face changed as he looked at Vic. “That’s a strange crew you’re carrying, Lee. The Orion I can understand, but him? And both of them?”

On the Kohanna, Leela glanced at Vic then Reva, wondering just what they’d stepped into the middle of. “Yeah... well... Reva’s a fine engineer. And Vic?” She shrugged. “Necessary.”

“Generally, yes,” Vic answered. He’d barely finished speaking when another face appeared and it was not a happy one.

“You are never necessary.” This time it was Suresh who spoke. “Did you bring her too?”

Vic looked to Leela and shrugged. “Bring who?”

“Six. Since you two were so inseparable.” He waved the question aside. “You know what, never mind. You two deserve each other.” He murmured something to Niro and stepped out of view.

“Ooo... someone’s a sore loser,” Reva muttered, loud enough for Leela and Vic to hear.

“Reva,” Leela admonished her. “Niro, it’s been so interesting running into you. It’s time for us to go; we have things to do, places to go. I’m sure you know how it is.”

“You do have somewhere to go.” He glanced back at Riley and once more, the communication was silent. Moments later, the hum of a transporter was heard. An orange glow appeared and in an instant, Leela was gone.

Seren let out a stream of curses and banged on this console. “N’Riss to the bridge. Emergency!”

* EFS Korenna - Alternate Universe *

Niro was still lounging in the captain’s chair when Leela appeared on the bridge. Once she took solid form, he rose and took her hand. “We’ll be in the ready room.”

Suresh nodded and took the center seat as Niro led Leela off to the ready room and the door closed.

Leela didn’t let Niro lead her easily; she fought and cursed him till the door shut behind them. “What is wrong with you?”, she demanded of him.

“Is that any way to treat the light of your life?” he asked. “Last I heard was just before you left was, and I quote, ‘keep the bed warm for me’. Why so grumpy?”

“Really? Oh.... I, uh, forgot... so... how long ago was that?” Leela eased off resisting him.

“Four days ago,” Niro answered. “Then you sneaked out of my quarters as usual. You know, your issue with being afraid the Fleet will find out.” He smiled back at her. “Why did you bring those two along? You know Suresh will kill him if he is in reach.”

“Vic? Yeah... well, Suresh sort of needs to get over that. And Riley over Reva, or whatever is going on there.” Leela smiled.

“You know very well what is going on there.” Niro slipped his arms around Leela. “Been missing sleep? Your memory seems to be getting sketchy.”

“Sleep... yeah, I’ve been missing sleep.” Belatedly, Leela recalled that Niro was a grade-A telepath and liked reading anyone and everyone.

“That’s not good for --” The doors opening interrupted him and Riley stepped through. “What is it?”


Riley glanced at Leela, then focused on Niro. “There’s something you need to know. The warp signature of her ship...reads as the Korenna. It’s identical to ours.”

Niro digested that, then looked down at Leela. “Care to explain? Or shall I just dig it out of your head?”

“No... yeah... it’s weird. The explanation, I mean. I don’t think you’ll like it,” Leela said. She paused and looked at Riley. “You look strange with that beard. In our universe, you’re clean-shaven. I think Reva prefers that. Our Kohanna used to be the Korenna, but some stuff happened to it and it got infected with some Borg tech.”

“Six?” Riley asked. There was a note of contempt in his voice. “And frankly, I couldn’t care less what Reva likes.” He turned to Niro now. “What about the rest of them?”

“We need to figure a few things out. Set a tractor beam on this Kohana and then you, Suresh, and I will go over. Armed, of course,” Niro ordered.Riley nodded and hurried out. Once the doors closed, Niro took hold of Leela’s shoulders. “You and I will talk later.”

“Armed? Why are you going over armed? Why are you going over at all? We’re not from this universe; we’re working on returning to where we came from,” Leela spoke quickly, urgently. “We should talk now.’

“Because, we might be able to help. And by we I mean Riley. He used to be the science whiz kid. I’m guessing your clean-shaven version still is?”

“He is. And he’s marrying Reva. Why isn’t yours very happy to see her?”

“Long story, but the main problem is sitting at your conn,” Niro informed her. “Typical Hawke. They think they own the world.”

“Hawke? Oh, Seren.” She blinked and shook her head. “I don’t get the connection.”

That got a laugh from Niro. “Him and Reva are the connection...well, one of them. Riley got tired of standing in line.” He paused and hooked his finger in the neck of her shirt, pulling her closer. “What about you? What’s your story?”

Leela recalled the trouble Reva had had prior to being taken by Fisher. Maybe the one here had had it worse. “Me? I’m... I don’t have a story.”

Niro poked around in her thoughts and his smile returned. “Your Ray will be disappointed to hear that, but I’m not.”

“Niro... you’re not popular in our universe. In fact... I think it’d be fair to say that you’re rather hated by Reva and Six,” Leela warned him.

Niro shrugged. “I could care less about those two. Suresh went off the deep end over that kid and she wouldn’t give him the time of day. She considered him beneath her...a Borg. I tried to tell him he could do better. He finally did but still, with Vic it’s a matter of honor.”

“Well, don’t let him hurt any of my people. They aren’t who he might think they are. I’m going back to my ship with you.”

“You are.” He opened the doors and led the way out to the bridge. “Riley, Suresh, let’s go. Is the Kohana contained?”

A crewman at the navigation console nodded. “Tractor beam in place Niro.”

“Good.” He took Leela’s arm and they followed Suresh and Riley into the turbolift.

“Last time I was in a lift with you, you were handcuffed,” Leela commented.

“Sounds like a good time.” Niro winked at her as the lift descended.

************
Vic
Ensign Reva Madhava
Lt. Commander T’Rowl N’Riss
Lt. (jg) Leela Carter
Lt. Seren Hawke
Niro (alt)
Suresh (alt)
Riley (alt)