Chance Encounter
Posted on 08 Jun 2020 @ 7:19pm by Lieutenant Xu Chang Lau & Commander Amelia Fox
Edited on on 08 Jun 2020 @ 7:20pm
Mission:
Mission 4 - Race against the machine
Location: Turbolift
Timeline: MD5 1330
1085 words - 2.2 OF Standard Post Measure
ON:
Amelia had slept better this last night, having being shot by her mirror counterpart the night before, before escaping in a shuttle pod and being killed when she overloaded the engines. The loss of her Mirror counterpart had affected her but she was keeping a lid on that for the time being. After the incident, she had gone to sickbay to make sure the baby was still ok and the Doctor had given her the all-clear so today it was back to work as usual. Having just made a quick inspection of engineering before the first attempt to stop the Planet killer, she was now on her way to the bridge.
She entered the tubolift and spoke to the computer. "Main Bridge." As the lift began to move, she placed her hand on her stomach, talking to it gently. "I know you're still ok in there. you're a fighter, just like me."
The turbolift slowed and the doors slipped open again, this time a slight asian women stepped in. "Lieutenant!" she greeted as she turned. "Bridge!" she announced loud enough for the computer to know that was her destination. She gave the other officer very little thought as she buried herself back in the PADD she held, trying to bring herself up to speed with goings on with Andromeda... So far it made more of a fiction novel than a starfleet report.
Amelia recognized the new face and held out her hand. "Ahhh you must be our new assistance chief science officer. I'm Lieutenant Fox, pleased to meet you."
Startled slightly she turned to look at the Officer fully and noticing the outstretched hand she awkwardly tucked the PADD under her arm before shaking it heartily.
"Lieutenant Xu Chang Lau, although everyone usually just calls me Xu... A pleasure Lieutenant. I'm trying to bring myself up to speed on the goings on... I'm still in disbelief... A planet killer, something to do with an officers doppelganger... Interesting!!!"
Amelia nodded. "Never a dull moment on this ship. Apparently, my doppelganger sold a large number of weapons to the Cetea including the planet killer. She didn't seem to care who got injured. I dread to think about what kind of mother she would have made."
"Your doppelganger!"and then the other nugget of information landed, like pennies dropping one by one. "She sold the planet killer to the Cetea?"
She took a moment to let that information settle, placing her hand on the wall plating of the turbolift to steady her suddenly feeling weak at the knees. Maybe staying on Cardassia would have been preferable. Wading through long dead innocents than this. "Who are the Cetea? Starfleet obviously didn't give me much information before they sent me on".
Amelia steadied the young woman and noticed the color had gone from her cheeks. "Are you feeling ok? You look a little pale. Mind you, I've not been feeling the best in the mornings myself but that's for..... a different reason."
Not only did she have a doppelganger but she was also pregnant. "Ill be fine. I just... I wasn't expecting this. I had a lab position on Cardassia, walking into a combat situation... well lets just say its been a while since I was ship board", she righted herself, feeling a little stronger on her feet now. "So, the sale of the planet killer?"
She went onto explain "Yes, she sold it like she owned the damn thing and they gave her a lot of latinum for it with the instructions to let her know how they got it working. She is..... was my counterpart from the Mirror universe. How she got over here is still unclear. She set herself up as one of the local 'Dons' who control the black market in this region of space. She was part of the local slave and weapons trade. She would have returned to her universe with details on how to get the planet killers over there working to defeat the Alliance."
She took a breath. "The Cetea are a faction of the Son'a who were not repatriated to Ba'Ku after the incident with the Enterprise and Ru'Afu. They seem to blame the Federation and the Ba'ku for what happened are hell-bent on revenge. They attacked and bombed a diplomatic function before we left spacedock and now they get this Planet Killer working but its behavior is erratic so who knows what they've done to it. They also bought enough weapons to start and finish Armageddon."
"They say you should always expect the unexpected while working for Starfleet", colour finally returning to her cheeks and a resolve galvanising her. "So all we need to do is stop a weapon of mass destruction that could easily wipe us all out, track down this mirror universe invader, put an end to the Cetea from annihilating their genetic kin and keep an eye on this weapons cartel in the area? Sounds like it could be an interesting posting here!"
"Well, Mirror Fox escaped from our brig, stunned several crewmembers, including myself and vaporized a security guard before stealing a shuttle and dying when it exploded. So, that's one less thing we have to worry about."
One less thing to worry about she says despite the fact it was a relatively large security oversight. She took a second to take in the first officer, looking into her eyes just for a second. If this was actually the mirror version then she was hiding it well... but that would just start a cascade of second guessing.
"Well Lieutenant, looks like we have some work to do!"
Amelia nodded. “Indeed. Let’s just hope we can stop this thing before any more planets get destroyed...”. It was Amelia’s turn to put her hand on the side of the turbolift as a wave of nausea swept over her. She managed to keep herself from throwing up this time.
Xu took the Lieutenants arm to steady her, seeing that she was looking a little peaky.
"Morning sickness?"
Amelia nodded. "The turbolift is not my friend at the moment. Don't worry, I'll be ok."
The tubolift arrived at bridge level and the doors hissed open. Amelia took a deep breath. "Well, let see if we can stop this planet killer then?"
○● Lieutenant JG Xu Chang Lau
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Andromeda
and
●● Lieutenant Amelia Fox
Executive Officer
USS Andromeda
