A successful retrieval?

Posted on 15 Sep 2022 @ 7:26am by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Commander Amelia Fox & Lieutenant C'Tora Kuroka & Lieutenant JG Harper Matthews & Lieutenant Syvar MD

Mission: Through the looking glass
Location: Transporter room 3
Timeline: MD3 Evening
2516 words - 5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

The transporter effect diminished leaving Amelia, Harper and the security detail on the transporter pad. Amelia was carrying the PADD and her eyes immediately focused on the Captain who was standing waiting for them.

"At ease both of you," Jon said. He knew it was late but had been concerned about this one. "I don't see her. No joy then?"

Harper quickly unclenched herself from the attention position, as did her team. She began to fix a stray hair or two behind her ear and as the adrenaline began to wear off felt the strain on her muscles and the sting from the laceration to her face.

Amelia sighed as she shook her head. “I’m afraid not Captain. She wasn’t there and the informant escaped. She had left a… welcoming committee for us in the shape of 5 assailants wielding swords. We did get some assistance from your doppelgänger.”

'You looked cute all scruffy.' Harper projected out so Jon could hear from inside her own mind. Still, her composure was kept so you wouldn't think she was thinking those thoughts at all.

Jon cocked an eyebrow in surprise. Both at his girlfriend suddenly being able to project to him and what she said. Scruffy and apparently doing backyard deals on the Maelstrom according to Ethan. Not worrying at all. At least he had been an ally in this situation he mused.

"He had your similar style of cryptic comments..." Amelia added. "Before he left, he mentioned something about going to find a Goddess.."

“Goddess. They seem to have abandoned the Betaziod people in this reality from the Intel J’Tan furnished us with. How’s he going to find one? Do you think maybe Methalinas existence has affected multi realities?” Of course, the XO couldn’t answer that one. No one really could. Jon just had a theory.

Amelia continued "Well, at least we didn't come away empty-handed." She showed Jon the PADD. "I've scanned it. It's definitely Starfleet issues, this year from Earth and it has her DNA on it. The cellular decay shows she handled this less than 12 hours ago."

"Question is, how did she get her hands on our technology?" Harper half asked.

“Well, one of my Intel officers I sent off on a mission is back. I wonder if he’s any idea,” Jon suggested. =^=Reynolds to Lieutenant Smith. Sorry to cut short your return but I need to pick your brains. Can you join me, the XO and the security chief in the conference room please=^=

=^= I will be there soon." Ethan answered quickly.

Amelia shifted uncomfortably, glancing at the Captain before turning back to Harper and they started walking out of the transporter room and boarded the turbo lift. "Actually Lieutenant, you're probably not aware of all the facts. Now please understand all this is confidential. After our last encounter where Mirror Fox supposedly blew herself up in a shuttle explosion which was not the case. She poisoned the water supply of Ceti Beta IV. The Merlin responded and she tried to commandeer the ship, but was unsuccessful and settled for taking Captain Jones hostage. She, unfortunately, escaped again but later was captured by Captain Jones's daughter and Lieutenant Teague when they were returning to the Merlin." She took another breath, getting to the awkward part "Now everybody knows that she was pregnant and it was believed that the father of the child was Commander Datari after she extracted a DNA sample from him. This is not the case..."

Jon blinked several times. “Syvar is the father. That was obvious as you took the kid in. Look no one wanted to pry so you don’t have to go into this stuff number 1 unless it’s going somewhere else ….. oh she’s trying to get the child back is she?”

"That's a lot of information to sink in," Harper replied. "This is why I don't like mirror/alternate universes. They always give me a headache."

Amelia nodded acknowledging the Captain's correct assumption. "Mirror Fox was told she lost the baby during childbirth and as far as we know, she accepted this fact. Also, she was supposedly confined to a Federation penal colony on Earth. Captain Jones delivered Ahara to us and she will be raised with her sister as our daughter." She finished her story as they entered the conference room.

Ethan soon arrived, clad in his normal uniform. He gave a nod to those gathered and quietly sat at the table. There were signs of weariness in his eyes.

"Captain, I take it you want to be present when we watch this recording?" Amelia turned to Jon.

"You assume correctly number one," Jon answered.

Amelia nodded, accepting the Captain's position. "Very well, but I would also like Syvar here also."

Jon nodded. "Get him up here. I'll sort some coffee. I have a feeling this will be a long one."

Amelia touched her comm badge. "Fox to Syvar. Can you join us in the conference lounge please?"

"Will take me a few minutes commander," the Vulcan answered formally, "I'm just settling the twins, but I'll be there shortly." It took him indeed a few minutes to arrive and he cast them all an apologetic look. "Sorry sir," he told the captain, "fussy twins again, but the holonanny is looking after them now."

Amelia went over to Syvar, slipping her hand into his and giving a brief squeeze before removing it again. "I was contacted by someone on the Maelstrom. It seems She managed to escape and has been in this universe while we've been here. She left me a message." She held up the PADD. "I thought you should be here to hear this."

Though his eyes sparkled briefly but angrily at the mention of the other Fox, his face drained of all colour at the mention of her escape. He staggered towards a seat and heavily flopped down into it. "What?" He managed. "How?"

Amelia shook her head. “We don’t know. Maybe this will answer some of those questions. I’ve scanned the PADD and confirmed that it came from our universe and it had her DNA on it. The scan also shows she handled less than 12 hours ago.” She turned to Jon. “There appears to be a single file on it, some kind of message. With your permission Captain, I’ll play it through the wall monitor. I’ll isolate it from the rest of the system just in case there is something nasty on there we’re not detecting.”

Jon nodded. “Yes, permission granted.”

Amelia worked the control panel and then stood back so everyone could see.

She took a deep breath. “Begin playback.”

The screen lit up with Mirror Fox, once again in a Starfleet Uniform. “Hello there Amelia. It's me! Yes, as you might have guessed, I've escaped from the dreary penal colony that Melody Jones deposited me in.” Her tone was overly cheery and it was giving Amelia the creeps.

Her face quickly lost its smile and her tone turned icy. “Now, I know what you've done. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? I still have friends on the outside you know. Well, people who owe me. You've stolen my child, Amelia. You and that Jones woman have robbed me of my own child. I often warn people never to cross me and now, you're going to find out why.”

“She's going to kill me,” Amelia muttered to herself in shock.

She chuckled on the screen. “Now you're probably saying to yourself that I'm going to kill you, well that's not the case. Well, not straight away anyway.” Fox from the screen said. She smiled again, but this was not a friendly smile, it was sinister.

“Now I know that overbearing Captain of yours will be watching this with you. Hello there Johnny boy.” She waved from the screen. “This is for sticking your nose in my business. Say Hi to your son for me, I’m going to be seeing him real soon. I’m making a list of all the fun things he and I are going to do together. He’s going to need lots of cheering up after I murder his parents and that cute girlfriend of his.”

Amelia looked at the monitor in disbelief. “She’s gone completely insane!”

"Johnny boy . . . . . Well, that's not going to happen. Eddies prepared anyway if she ever pops back up," Jon stated firmly. He had been teaching him to box and hon his empathic skills since the last encounter. And Tia was far far away. "Nor is she going to get to you number one. Not on my watch."

Mirror Fox continued. “As for you Amelia, what I’m going to do is I'm going to take your life and burn it to the ground. I'm going to find everything and everyone you love and take it away from you and when you've got nothing, when you're empty and hollow, then we will be the same and then... and only then will you have my permission to die.

Now, imagine my surprise when I find out that the Andromeda has vanished and I get word from my Universe that it has appeared near the Maelstrom, Oh how lucky am I?”

On the recording, Mirror Fox picked up another PADD and started typing. “I'm going to show you what I've been up to.” On the screen, an image appeared of Melody Jones, Sansa and Draxx and a human male she didn't recognise appeared standing near a log cabin. Mirror Fox's voice came over, narrating. “This was taken on Ba'Ku. Don't they look happy? And I hear Melody has given birth to twins. And young Sansa has got herself a new man… Such a happy family… Oh well, I'm going to kill them all. Very slowly.” Mirror Fox then reappeared on the screen, putting her hand to her breast in mock shock as if responding to Amelia’s shocked expression “Not the babies, obviously, I’m not a monster. No, I’ll sell them to the highest bidder. People always need slaves in my universe, no questions asked.”

The colour was draining from Amelia's face and her head was pounding, the sound of her own heartbeat was filling her ears. She started to tremble.

“But I'll get to them later, first there's someone else I have in mind.” MU Fox went on “Amelia, I've set up something really special just for you. The image changed to an outside view of the restaurant that Amelia's family owned.

“Mom... Dad...” Amelia mouthed quietly... Her parents.... her brothers... they were all there.

“Now, I want to assure you this image is live. I was going to make a reservation for this evening, but I don't think there are going to be any tables free...”

The entire structure was suddenly vaporised in a massive fireball and the image turned to static before cutting out, being replaced by MU Fox who was smiling “Ahhh, you have no idea how good that felt.”

She took a deep breath before continuing. “Syvar, I know you’ll be watching this too. Don't worry I haven't forgotten about you. You are going to be my plaything once again. It's either that or I'm going to kill your parents..…” She stopped and corrected herself “Sorry, sorry I miss-spoke there. It's that and I'm going to kill your parents.”

The image started to zoom in on Mirror Fox’s face. “Now Amelia, I hope you're not stuck in my Universe too long because you'll miss all the fun I'm having... As you...”

Her face eventually filled the screen “Oh and by the way, I'm just getting started! Bye for now.”

And with that, the screen went blank.

Syvar sat frozen, almost statue like as his eyes were fixed on the screen. If possible, his complexion had gone even whiter. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't get any sound out, he couldn't will himself to move as fear took hold.

"We need to wrap things up here quickly." Harper spoke. She was almost shell shocked at what had just happened, and she wasn't personally affected by the events that she had just witnessed.

"When will the villains learn that when you go to the trouble of announcing your plans in great detail they never come to fruction. Until we clarify with that was truth I need you to hold it together number one," Jon said calmly. "Lieutenant do every bit of analysis on that message you can. Find me any flaws or indications it's been created falsely he said to Harper.

"And Lieutenant Smith, your contact who got you here," he addressed the intelligence officer, "I am going to need you to ask for some favours. We have no idea when we will be back in touch with Starfleet."

"I will certainly get back in contact with V and figure out a way for us to get back home." giving a glance towards Harper, then back to Jon. He was really worried about the message that was revealed. Was it truthful it was vastly disturbing.

Amelia did not hear them. Her head was pounding, the room was spinning, and she felt sick to her stomach. She was silent for a long time and then, took a deep breath and uttered a scream, the likes of which had only been heard by the damned in the very depths of Hell itself.

The sound of someone whose soul had broken.

This scream seemed to last for an eternity before she could feel her legs buckle beneath her and the darkness swallow her and she lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor.

Harper moved to catch Amelia as she fell, fortunately they had been standing close together. She couldn't blame her, even her heart was in her mouth as she witnessed the video that had been playing. "Commander!" she exclaimed as she cupped her body.

Only when Amelia -his Amelia- screamed, did Syvar move and he shot out of the seat and knelt at her side, almost roughly pulling her unconscious form from Harper's arms. "Amy..." He whispered, holding her close. "I'm sure that wasn't real....it has to be fake it just has to. Security will get right on it..." He looked up at the captain with pleading eyes. "Won't they? I need guards on my family too...and my parents... Please...."

"A security team will be on both yours and my family for the foreseeable future just in case she finds a way onto this ship but first Commander Fox needs to get to sickbay. "Reynolds to Sickbay prepare for immediate transport of the XO and Dr Syvar. I will be down in due course."

" This is Doctor Talios, Sickbay standing by for emergency transport. "


OFF:

Commander Amelia Fox
XO
USS Andromeda

Lieutenant Ethan Smith
Intelligence
USS Andromeda

Lieutenant JG Koven Talios
Medical Officer
USS Andromeda

Lieutenant JG Harper Matthews
Chief Tactical/Security Officer
USS Andromeda

Captain Jonathan Reynolds
CO, USS Andromeda