"My.. your me! Part 1"

By security officers Anna Gartner and Neil Bolitho
along with 'Alias' Mirror universe bounty hunter.

Bolitho skidded to halt quite difficult actually on the federation non slip carpeting that adorned the Galaxy's corridors. Cautiously Neil raised his type 2 phaser making sure the setting was on heavy stun, before peering around the corner.

Silence except for the occasional hiss and pop of damaged circuitry and conduits as well as an empty passageway greeted his eyes. Neil took in a deep breath. And carefully stepped out in to the corridor his phaser held out in front of him, his eyes sweeping every shadow, every nook and cranny.

Bolitho was ready, about as ready as he could be to meet the intruders and take them on…....when the stubby end of a phaser rifle was jabbed into his back.

Neil winced,swallowed and closed his eyes slowly, preparing for the bright flash of pain and then the approaching darkness.

"Relax Neil!" Came the playful voice of his partner Anna Gartner from behind him. Neil almost wet himself in relief that it wasn't his last moment. Relief was quickly followed by anger. As he whirled around to face her." Funny Anna, very funny!" Snapped Bolitho. Who was at the same time feeling quite sheepish at how easily Anna had snuck up on him.

"What if I had heard you and fired before I knew who you were!" Continued Neil.

"No chance." Smiled Anna baiting Bolitho along.

"What do you mean no chance?" Balked Neil

"No chance in hell that you would have heard me Neil, besides if by some small, minute infinitesimal miracle you did hear me, Your trained to identify your target first before you fire on it, and well you know I'm too cute to be shot by the likes of you!" Anna smiled quite sarcastically while handing over a Type 4 Compression phaser rifle. "I stopped by an armory on the way here and picked up these."

Neil groaned quietly to himself knowing full well, she was right. Neil accepted the rifle and did a quick check of the charge and the setting. "Any idea of what we are up against?" Questioned Neil opting for the quickest way out!

Anna hid the smile that crossed her face after partnering Neil Bolitho for well over a year now she knew just how far to goad him. "None!" She replied checking her own rifle for the umpteenth time.

Neil watched her with slight amusement. "Nervous?"

The blonde glared at him and nearly sneered but suddenly confessed. "Yes."

Neil almost swallowed his tongue. His tough as nails partner admitting she was 'afraid'. "Okay, now you're making me nervous. What's wrong?"

"It's just a feeling…" Anna stared up ahead to the darkened corridor."Like someone just walked over my grave. I can't describe it, something is out of whack here."

"Anna, I can't say it enough. Sometimes you scare me."

The blonde glanced to him with a somber look. "I scare me too. I'll take point."

"Lead on." Neil followed his partner closely behind, before pulling out a tricorder. He laughed quietly to her. "I just hope we're not fighting ghosts."

"Neil, there is no such thing as monsters."

The security officer glanced to his right down a dark corridor seeing nothing. He looked forward again. "So, what do you believe in, Anna?"

"Monsters."

Neil threw a 'look' at Anna which in it self was nothing new, Bolitho had never been able to quite understand his partner anyway. Although he respected her and admired her and called her friend, he had never , ever been able to fathom out the person that was Anna Gartner Neil's though process wondered to the time she had rejected his advances, telling him she never thought of him as anything but her security partner, then she went off with that 8ft tall lizard Kalln! 'Nope' Figured Neil 'He would never be able to figure out Anna'

Bolitho cleared his head with a small shake and followed Anna's lithe form down the passageway. Hefting the rifle in one hand and pulling out a tricorder with the other. Neil began scanning the surrounding areas in front of the advancing security team.

Neil,his eyes flickering from the tricorder to his partner in front of him almost jumped in the air in fright when the tricorder beeped at him. Anna hearing the nose froze and with hand signals asked Bolitho where the potential threat was coming from, Neil quickly analysed the reading from the tricorder and signaled back to Anna.

*1 lifeform approaching* *heading South* *12 metres and closing*

Anna quickly whirled into position, Neil readied his rifle and aimed at the coridor junction from where the potential threat would emerge.

A figure materilised out of the smoke, Neil sighed in relief recognising the uniform and immediately began lowering his weapon. Anna growled not as forgiviong as Neil still had her rifle to her shoulder and with a curt "Here" caught the Ensign's attention.

The Ensign dressed in the colours of Enginnering was startled to see the two security officers and reacted as such. Anna lowered her weapon grabbed hold of the unforunate engineering officer and pulled him into the corridor practically slamming him into the wall.

Neil steped past Anna and peered around the corner from whence the crew member had appeared. Meanwhile Anna with her usual tact was questioning the Ensign at the end of her rifle.

"Where are you from?Enginnering off course." Replied Anna peering down at his uniform. "How many intruders did you see, who are they what are they , strength, numbers, weaponary?"

The Ensign had turned ashen faced from the phaser rifle rammed into his throat." I...I didn't see anything, I heard the firing and the screaming and I ran, I'm so sorry, but I ran from my friends, my colleagues...." The Engineering officer began weeping uncontrolable.

Neil glanced back from his vigil and whispered to Anna. "Let him go back the way we came.” Neil nodded to Anna indicating with his finger that he wanted to get down to main engineering as soon as possible.

Anna gave a wary look at the Ensign and roughly pushed him away from the two security officers. “Go that way.” Gestured Anna. “Keep moving until you you encounter more of our people, they will help.” Said Anna softly trying to encourage the Ensign to head for safety.

Neil had been keeping one eye of the Anna and the enginering officer, they had just rescued and one eye down the passageway holding his tricorder in front of him. ‘Strange?’ Thought Neil to himself.’He thought he would have met all the engineering staff by now, what with all their cross training they had been doing recently, with Neil, Anna and Tim having to rebuild a shuttle from scratch?’ Neil absentmindly shrugged to himself and watched the Ensign nod shakily and began moving away from the security duo.

Anna turned to face Neil a small smile on her face that told Neil that she was ready to kick someone’s butt. Neil smiled back and turned his attention back to the corridor just as a flash of white exploded squarely in the centre of Anna’s throwing her forward into Neil’s arms, Bolitho dropped his rifle to catch her.

Neil stared incredulously down into Anna’s eyes seeing the pain welling in them before slowly lifting them to look at the swagering Engineering officer. Who now held a disruptor aimed squarly at the spot between Neil’s eyes!

“Yes! "The Butcher was right." The engineer smirked evilly. "This universe is filled with bumbling fools."

In that moment, Neil waited to die holding Anna’s limp body in his arms, when he felt Anna's body tense suddenly swiveling and lunging in his arms before the engineer screamed aloud.

Anna then dropped out of his arms as their attacker staggered backwards dropping his weapon with a knife buried in his left thigh.

Not wasting his only chance, Neil leapt forward grabbing the engineer and delivering an opened hand chop to his throat. He didn't care to control the force the blow, Neil just wanted to stop him and he was furious that this bastard had shot his partner.

The man dropped to the deck grasping at his throat, his eyes bulging, pleading before falling still. Neil stared down at him wondering, what is happening here? Being attack by our own crew?

"Neil…" Anna whispering weakly behind him.Neil whirled angry at himself that he had forgotten about Anna. Neil stepped forward to check on her about to verbally thank her for having a fascination with carrying small pointy weapons. However he stopped dead in his tracks. Just down the corridor, with Anna between them was a dark armoured figured with red glowing eyes. It held a Klingon assault rifle that was levelled directly at him.

With no weapon in hand his rifle lying on the floor where he had dropped it and his type 2 holstered at his waist. Neil summed up his available options, the disruptor aimed at him was unwavering. Bolitho had little choice but to raise his hands to signal his surrender.

"Don't move Anna, we're in trouble.""No - Fucking - Shit!" The blonde groaned in agony on the floor. Her long blond hair covered half of face and Anna didn't have the strength to reach up to clear it away. Slowly, the armoured figure moved towards them but it appeared to be focused entirely on Neil. Studying the mysterious intruder, Neil could see it's armored form looked very feminine. When it finally spoke, it's voice although synthised sounded also quite female.

"As I live and breath, Neil Bolitho." She said, raising her weapon to takeaim. "There is a god, I get to kill you a second time."

'Not again.' Neil thought as he stared down a barrel of another disruptor for a second time in less than 2 minutes. Bolitho tried to stall. "You know me. Do I know you?"

She laughed. "Probably not but does, Anna Gartner mean anything to you? "Neil looked bewildered. "Yes, she's my friend and is laying right at your feet." Neil mentally kicked himself for perhaps saying too much.

"Ha!" The dark figure laughed. "Nice trick."

"It's no trick --- I'M RIGHT HERE!" Anna hissed up at the armoured female. Neil watched the armoured figure start at the sound of Anna’s voice and slowly she looked down at Anna. The figure seem to scrutinise the blonde security officer, but then she knelt down nect to her. All the time keeping the disruptor pointed at Neil. She reached out with her other gauntled hand and brushed the hair from Anna's face.

"My – " The figure gasped. "You're me!"

Hints and Whispers
by LCDR Endris Gakor, wounded

*** Cargo Bay 2, Triage ***

Dr T'Prea worked on Gakor, trying to stabilize her wound. Learning of the injury, Dr Lemur made himself available to help, suppressing the pain of a leg wound to do so. The Vulcan did take time to staunch his leg to prevent further blood loss. One of his first actions was to locate gravy-colored Tellarite Blood and feed it to Endris through an infuser unit. T'Prea accessed the computers, and replicated a type 3 artificial heart as well as surgery implements. It was a good thing too, for minutes later replicators were locked out when the command codes were scrambled.

The two surgeons had to proceed with the open heart surgery without the benefit of anesthetic. Luckily they managed to salvage a hand full of bio beds from Sick Bay and a few engineers had been above decks before the take over in engineering. These were working again. Before the first cutting, one of the orderlies located some either. It wasn't as strong as modern medical supplies, but it would have to do in this pinch.

Gakor's vital signs improved a bit after attention, but she managed to mumble "Bay 1, Supplies" before pain from the procedure put her back under. Having been aboard some years, Lemur recalled medical supplies were stored in Cargo Bay 1, and the bio beds and other gear removed from Sick Bay for the war game drills were also stored there. Had the emergency not been so pressing, the Vulcan was sure logic would have reminded him of this before.

But that mistake could not be corrected now. He asked a medic to organize a team to go retrieve the equipment stored there. Enough manpower was found to get the vitally needed supplies, and the detail left 5 minutes later, along with a phaser to cut through the locked doors.

T'Prea could not believe the amount of damage to Gakor's heart. An orderly came over, delivering a suction pump cobbled together from parts of 3 broken machines. The Rube-Goldberg contraption managed to suction out the liquid pooling and obstructing the surgeon's view.

Valiantly, the pair of Doctors tried to connect the new heart to Endris, but the rip in her chest had done too much damage. The Tellarite's vital signs were sagging, and went flat.

*** Death ***

Technically, Endris was dead. Her vital signs failed to register to any degree. Strapped to the bed for her own protection, the Doctor felt cold and hungry. *What is this place?*, she wondered. Before she could assess things further, she noticed a bright light in the distance. Hanging from trees, meat and other treats tantilized the Cuisine lover to take an involuntary step in that direction."Snacks!" she exclaimed.

Before she reached the zone of light, a swirling mass appeared, and Endris saw the Hoglipped woman she saw in her earlier Orb flashback. While the Doctor sometimes wished she had never seen one of the Bajoran relics in the first place, these visions had a peculiar way of helping things reach a pleasant conclusion at times. In this case, the Butcherous lady began to speak, fondling a long whip in the process.

[My journey of revenge has ended. You shall be next, my pet.]

Endris dreamed someone resembling Commander Shtik appeared next, but he was covered with blood, and the remnants of his uniform were in tatters, as if he were some sort of pirate fighting to his death.

[Loss has occurred, yet more can be taken.]

Gakor shivered. She felt these constructs were evil at some intrinsic level. This was soon proven, as she saw an image of Jamie York's fatal plunge from the balcony in engineering. Gakor wondered why an image of death was included, but then remembered the piece of molding which had punctured her heart. Had she died before the organ could be replaced? With such damage to Sick Bay, it was certainly possible....

Another voice interceded. This time, Gakor thought she saw Karyn Dallas. It was hard to tell at first, because for some reason the human had sacrificed her mobility chair.

[Come back to us. Your journey is not over.], she said pleasantly.

Dressed in her leather body suit, the Butcher would not have things that way. She chimed in another tirade. [Starvation! Die already! I can add you to my list of prizes...]

Endris felt this vile thing could not win. Stepping away from the light, she vowed to fight back. Her mental presence returned to Cargo Bay 2 and reentered her body. The last of her spectral out of body experience saw the team returning from Cargo Bay 1 with extra medical equipment.

Dr T'Prea noticed Gakor was dead, but refused to accept it. She ordered a hypo of Cordrizine injected in her superior. The strong stimulant kicked into the Tellarite, and vital signs returned! It looked like Gakor was going to make it through this rough procedure after all...

Based on STAR TREK created by Gene Roddenberry
Story by Lieutenant Suder - Assistant Chief Engineer

"Pinned Down"

Suder had realized that there was an intruder alert. It might have been an advantage that he was in his quarters taking a break from work, otherwise, he could have been killed in Engineering. He had lost contact several seconds ago and was jogging down a corridor, hoping to see someone. Just a couple of people that he could gather up and perhaps storm the position of a strong hold that the intruders had no doubt occupied. Suder had a thought that Engineering was one of them. But there was no way he was going to storm that by himself, not even if a couple of officers were with him.

Lieutenant Suder arrived at a junction. As he decided to turn right or continue, he heard a door hiss open and a junior officer ran out. Ensign Richards stepped out, phaser rifle aimed at Suder. When the Ensign saw it was Suder, he lowered the weapon. "Ensign, have you heard anything?" Suder asked. "I just heard there was an intruder alert. I've been staying at my post just incase someone attacked." Richards replied. "You did good kid." Suder said. "I'm twenty." the junior officer replied.

Before Suder could reply, a bolt of energy passed in front of Suder and sliced into the wall, causing a small burst of flames explode out from the wall. Suder pushed Richards aside and dived out of the way of the following incoming bolt of energy. Richards landed with a bit of a thud behind a wall. Suder rolled into cover and checked his phaser rifle. It was ready to use. Several more phaser blasts came plumiting by, tearing into the wall. Suder quickly glanced over the corner of the wall, down a long corridor. The right that Suder was going to make, what a mistake that would have been. There were two people. Suder didn't recognise them, nor did he care. They were attacking him and the junior Engineer and something had to be done.

Suder fired a few snap shots around the corner, but he too only hit the walls. More phaser blats came firing passed the two Engineers. All of a sudden, the blasts had stopped. Suder looked around the corner and found the several intruders led across the deck. Smoke crossed the deck and from the middle of the mist, a figure appeared. It was Lieutenant Gillings. "You know how to make an entrance." Suder said as he stood up and walked towards his friend. The junior Engineer followed. "I heard they took Engineering, I thought I'd meet up with you and take things from there." Gillings said. "Well, now that we're all here, let's get Engineering back. We'll meet with the Chief or Security at Engineering and take it back." Suder suggested.

Everyone agreed and they decided to take Engineering back from the intruders. Whether they would survive or not was a different story, but they would do their best.

"Imposters Of Grandeur"
USS GALAXY
Commander Deiran Casey
W/ excerpts from "Ever Dance With The Devil…"
& "Delivered Revenge" both by Captain Price

*** Bridge, USS Galaxy ***

Casey wasn't sure things were over as he watched Captain Price give a sigh of relief, the Captain shifted in his seat and gave orders to the Bridge crew to get repair teams to the most damaged parts of the ship. Through it all Casey had his eyes glued to the readouts on his command console.

"Maybe not Captain. Something's happening in Engineering," Casey said. It was really beginning to concern him, "Sensors are reading phaser fire in Main Engineering sir," Casey said the words and couldn't believe them himself. Who in the world would be firing phasers in Engineering?

["Kay to Bridge, Engineering has been captured. Everyone else is dead or unconscious. I suggest having a big security team meet at the entrance armed with as much weapons as possible and try to storm it. Don't aim for the warp core. I'll meet you there. Kay out."] the Chief Engineer's voice was unmistakable.

"Shall I lead a team into Main Engineering Captain?" Casey asked.

Casey could see Lee was upset, but waited for the orders to take back Engineering, "What the blazes is Neno doing?" Lee exclaimed.

"It appears he hasn't given up sir. I'd say he's trying to take over the ship," Casey explained, practically frothing at the mouth for a chance to get down there and get a phaser on the man's forehead.

Both men then noticed the warning tones emanating from the Bridge Engineering station. Deiran walked over to check out the unmanned station, "Someone has tried to flood the entire ship with Anestine gas sir. Only the commands have not been acted upon . . ."

Deiran couldn't understand why the commands were not enacting, but he was happy they weren't. Casey then used a few commands on the console using his Command override access as First Officer. "Lieutenant Commander Samara has activated some kind of illegal security lockout program that I didn't know about. It's randomized all access to the computer and ship systems," Deiran stated in an annoyed tone, "I wonder what other security programs Kay has implemented that I don't know about? I'll have to have a talk with our Chief Engineer when this is all over." Deiran smiled. Always fun to give Kay a hard time.

"Well, whatever it is, I think she just bought us some valuable time. Had that command been processed immediately, we would all be unconscious now and the ship would be Neno's 'mate," the Captain Pointed out.

Just then a ship wide hail came through.

["G'day 'mates. This is Captain Price. It's all right. The intruders in main engineering have all been neutralized. The ship is back under control. All hands, stand down from intruder alert. Captain Price out."]

Deiran and the Captain did a double take at each other for a moment.

"What the hell?" both men stated in jinxed unison. Deiran looked as if he was listening to a ghost as he heard Captain Price's voice and saw the same man standing right in front of him and his mouth wasn't moving.

"Interesting ventriloquist trick there sir," Casey said with a bit of a smile.

"Open a ship-wide channel 'mate," Lee responded, to Casey the man still seemed a bit bewildered as he heard his own voice give commands he did not give. That was just Deiran's impression.

Deiran tapped the controls over on the Tactical arch, "Can't sir. Kay's lockout has affected all systems. Either that or they have rerouted bridge control down to Main Engineering."

"Is there any way to keep the ship from being taken over from Main Engineering 'mate?" Lee asked almost knowing the answer.

Deiran shook his head from side to side, "No sir. Kay's program slowed them down, but given enough time, they will take control of all systems from the Engineering deck. . . If we let them," Casey paused a few seconds,"I suggest we remedy that when this is all over sir, so this won't happen again."

Lee nodded. He seemed to be formulating a plan in his mind.

Deiran felt it prudent to repeat his question, "Shall I lead a team into Main Engineering Captain?"

Just then the high pitched sound of a transporter beam was heard as it locked onto Captain Price and whisked him off of the bridge.

Deiran's jaw dropped as he saw the transport beam whisk his CO away. Nothing worse than a powerless feeling like seeing your Captain disappear before your eyes. Deiran then quickly went into command mode since Lee was no longer with them, "They've already accessed and reprogrammed the transporters! No time to loose. I'll take that as a 'Yes' and get a full security team down to Engineering right away. Lieutenant' Brandis, you have the bridge," Casey ordered hurriedly and started for the jefferies tubes, as the turbolifts were still out of order.

Casey stopped in his tracks and remembered that Lt. Commander Albrecht was also on the Bridge, as Casey undid the latch to the Jeffrey tube entrance he turned his head and called out, "Mr. Albrecht I'll need your capable mind on this one," he said with a smile and started for Main Engineering, Albrecht followed closely behind the XO.

It wasn't long after that Matthew convinced his security officers of the trick Neno played with Captain Price's voice. He'd have to ask Neno how he did that one, when he was behind bars of course.

"What's your plan Matt?" Casey asked.

"Me? I thought you had the high rank here Commander?" Matthew replied a bit shocked.

"Aye, but I'm just here to get my Captain back and to make sure my luck spreads to the rest of your team. You plan it, I'll lead it. How's that for delegation of purpose?" Deiran answered with a smile. He loved to catch people off guard. Normally, Matt's suspicions would be right in assuming Casey to plan, lead and take charge, but with experience comes maturity.

"All right then Commander," Matt turned and motioned for the leaders in his team to approach.

A few minutes later the plan had been devised and they were ready to strike, with Casey at the head. For years Casey had been running every type of simulation: security, tactical, Ops, even engineering and science sims, as a Commander he had to pass all of them and keep himself on top of things. So he was NO STRANGER to working with Security in this respect. He'd already won a Medal of Honor for rescuing comrades, no one could question his ability in times of peril and in a firefight. Fact was that Casey liked the danger of a firefight, the rush of adrenaline when you're faced with death and beat the odds no matter the cost. Yep, that was Casey's drug. The only drug in his world.

Casey and the others stormed engineering and quickly had the imposters on the run. The action was quick, centered and most important of all gave every man and woman a huge adrenaline rush, nothing like a few phasers pointed at you to get the blood flowing.

When it slowed down and they were beginning to clean up the rags, Casey and Albrecht were met by Captain Price, or who they thought was Captain Price. They were not prepared for what was about to happen.

"G'Day 'mate. Glad you could join the party," one of the Price's stated as the two men leapt to their feet and began circling around the Engineering deck as Security gathered around unsure what to do.

"So you're the one that was addressing my crew 'ey 'mate?" the other Price asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing 'Captain' . . ." the first Price stated just as both men began to grapple each other and proceeded to come to blows.

"What should we do Commander?" Matthew asked, "I can't tell them apart," The Chief of Security asked.

Deiran shook his head. "Like the hell I know, I'm just as stunned as you. . . Give me a sec to just figure it out," Deiran paused and stared at the two Lee's. Then he turned back to Albrecht, "You take the rest of the security team and secure Engineering, then hunt down the rest of the intruders. Leave the Captain's here to me."

"Aye Commander and good luck," Albrecht replied, signaling to his team to move on out.

"Pity about your girl. She was a nice kisser," one of the Captains said, Deiran couldn't tell which one, as they were moving around too quickly.

"Pity this 'mate," the other Captain stated as he head butted his counterpart, sending him to the floor with a disoriented crash.

The sitting Price checked the gash on his head, and tasted the blood. "Good one 'mate. I'll 'ave to remember that." He then looked over at Deiran, "Commander, stun this imposter 'mate, so we can finish ridding the ship of the intruders."

Deiran furrowed his brow as he held his phaser rifle in his hands. He honestly wasn't sure who was who, or where he should be pointing his weapon. "My god!" Casey stated as he took in the sight of two Lee's before him.

The other Price was tired from the fight, panting as was his counterpart. "Belay that order 'mate. He's the imposter. Throw him in the brig. The Butcher is getting away."

Deiran moved his phaser again and then back again. Deiran had known Lee Price for years, almost 5 in fact, ever since Lee visited the Academy looking for Academy cadets to man his revamped Starship. Deiran had spent many hours, days and years with the man. Few things could confound Deiran Casey, but this puzzle was a bit difficult. He could guess and just shoot one. But, then shooting your Captain wasn't exactly a prudent course of action. This was beginning to really disturb him, he couldn't tell the two men apart. They both appeared to be the Captain to him.

"Damnit!" he said out loud, clearly confounded and upset, not liking the feeling, looking to either man for a clue.

"Clever move 'mate. But the Commander isn't going to fall for that. He's the imposter 'mate. Don't let 'im trick you." the sitting Price stated.

Deiran's phaser returned to the standing Captain. The constant jousting back and forth with his phaser rifle was becoming monotonous, "Maybe I should just stun you both and work it out later!" the Commander said evenly.

The sitting Price spoke first, "That sounds like you 'mate. Always looking for a way to move up the chain of command."

"Not by stunning my Commanding Officer, I may be ambitious but I'm loyal," Casey replied.

Deiran's eyes squinted as he tightened his grip around the phaser rifle and pointed it evenly at the standing Captain Price. *That is the imposter* he thought. Only the real Captain knew how important obtaining a command of his own was to Deiran and his family.

Lee could see that Deiran had made up his mind. He could also see that Lieutenant Commander Albrecht's security forces had succeeded at retaking Engineering and that the Butcher's pirates were either dead, or retreating to other areas of the ship.

"Commander, this has all been about the mirror universe and revenge by Hoglips the Butcher, using those pirates," the standing Price said, "She's getting away while we waste time here. I feel like I'm standing before you naked here Deiran, something I would rather not repeat a second time 'mate."

"Aye sir," Deiran said in reply… In that instant, right then and there this was his Captain Price and that the seated 'Captain' was the mirror imposter. Moving his phaser to the side, Deiran stunned the sitting baboon sending him to la-la land. "Later!" Deiran said to the unconscious Price.

Captain Price lowered his hands and took a few steps towards his First Officer, "Nice choice 'mate." Lee nodded as he took a hand phaser.

"Sir, next time please make sure you keep your doubles to yourself. That gave me a headache," Deiran smiled.

"Toss him into the brig and continue to secure the ship and gather up the intruders. I'm going after the Butcher," Lee ordered and then made his way up the ladder onto the catwalk near the warp core and proceeded to try and follow where the evil Endris Gakor had gone. He wanted to be the one to bring her to justice…

Both Commander Casey and Lieutenant Commander Albrecht watched the Captain leave like a man with a mission. Across the deck they could see the murdered body of Jamie York and Deiran knew beyond a doubt that he had selected the correct Captain to stun.

"So... when exactly did you see the Captain naked Commander?" Matthew whispered.

Deiran left the question unanswered as he went over to Jaime's body, having Matt come with him, "Make sure she's taken care of ok?" there was a sadness in Casey's voice as he spoke. He knew Jaime for years, always saw her on the Bridge and then when the Captain started dating her he thought it was the best thing to happen on the ship since Lara was born. He felt a camaraderie with Lee, and he took Jaime's death much harder than he would have suspected. He had no idea how he would help Lee through this one… but he would try.

Deiran turned to Matthew, "get those damned pirates off this ship!" he said, clearly upset at losing Jaime and for the entire ordeal. "I don't care if you get science officers to help but get this situation neutralized please Mr. Albrecht… I'm going to get Kay and get control of the ship back to the Bridge," Casey calmed down and added,"Good job Matt," then slung his phaser rifle over his shoulder and walked away.

"Life is Precious"
by Ens. Brooke Ames, MD

Brooke watched Tim for awhile but once she knew that he'd be asleep for hours, she left to check on sickby and the triage area. Everyone was busy, running around, helping the wounded and others that died were taken someplace else. Help was scarce so Brooke dived right in and helped as much as she could. Brooke felt really bad for those who had lost someone in this horrible mess.

As Brooke walked along the corridors, she felt someone grab her ankle which freaked her out at first. She looked down and it was a crewman and he was hurt. Brooke pulled her ankle from his bloodied hand. She knelt down and the man spoke with a very weak voice. She examined his wounds but there was nothing she could do, his injuries were beyond repair. She cradled his head in her lap. "Tell my wife and kids that I love them." With tears in her eyes, she answered, "I will do that. Anything else?"

It was too late, all she got was, "Yes , tell them...." It was to late, he passed away. She laid his head back on the floor and sat near him until someone came by and took him away.

She couldn't take it anymore. She needed to be by Tim's side. It made her realize that life was very precious. She went back over to Tim, took his hand, and kissed him. She whispered in his ear, "I love you."

Jake Olson pressed a hypo home in his neck, his daily dose. He went back to equipment management with out a second thought. He was busy doing the basic leaving doctors free, but was wearing down.

"I don't need this," he muttered under his breath. His physical body was interfearing with his life again.

He was forced, finally, to take a rest. He had to obey the orders of a superior who saw the shaky hands.

Kirk wasn't pleased that his one key to sanity was snoozing in a corner. He also resented what he considered coddling of Jake. Kirk was also tired. But he wasn't given respite.

Kirk continued with work, complaining to anyone who'd stop a moment to listin. One or two told him to shut up.

A meeting of Minds
By Mr. Kiths
And Ensign Peter Lockhart
And Lt. Cmdr Shtik

Kiths stood in engineering, watching the confrontation between Hoglips and the 'real' Captain Price. He knew before they even started speaking that the Captains bimbo was dead, even if he did cooperate. He also knew that that would enrage the Captain and prevent the pirates from having any chance of capturing the Galaxy. Hoglips was a fool, and didn't see this, but he did. Already, he was sure that a large, well armed and trained security team would be forming outside the main doors. So he decided to leave.

Looking around quickly, he decided on a small doorway, leading deeper into engineering. If he could leave that way, before security sealed all the exits, he might have a chance of escape. He decided to take it. However, before he could move, a moan at his feet told him that things might be taking a turn for the better. A hostage, though it might hinder him speed-wise, could open doors and lead the way, especially a security officer.

Peter moaned slowly, trying to think what had happened. Then he was shoved up roughly, not knowing who or why, and ordered towards a door. Slowly, it came back, and he turned to see 'Commander Shtik holding a phaser on him.

"Move or die." he said.

Peter complied, and both slipped quietly out of engineering, whilst the butcher continued her tirade. They entered a small service area, moving through it quickly to a jefferies tube. Kiths ordered Lockhart to climb, and he reluctantly started making his way up to the next level.

Peter's head was starting to clear, and he wondered how to get out of this mess. Unfortunately, the best opportunity he had, whilst climbing, was to kick down at the commander, superior officer or not. Unfortunately, being the rather poor officer that he was, he didn't think about that until they were on deck 35 and moving quickly towards another jefferies tube.

"Why are you doing this commander?" Peter asked. "I didn't think you were bucking for a promotion that badly. Hell, if you'd hung around, I'm sure Commander Casey would've turned up, and you could've offed him, moving up some more." Peter was taking a risk, but he reckoned he was dead anyway, if Shtik got to where he was going.

"Quiet. If you want to live, I'd cease your chatter. Here, head for that turbolift." Kiths said.

"We both know I'm dead, commander, so as my last request, I get to bug you until we get to the shuttlebay." Peter remarked.

Kiths had already determined to kill this annoying officer. He knew of a way to break his neck, so that he died slowly over a period of five minutes, in agonizing pain. However, for the moment, it seemed this officer had decided he was a regular comedian. "I said, be quiet if you want to live."

Peter sighed. Oh for the joys of a dull security office during Delta shift. He yawned, loudly, at the thought of such, realizing he'd been without sleep for a good sixteen hours now anyway.

"You tired of life? Believe me Ensign, I can help you solve that problem." Kiths said. The only reply he got was another yawn. How he wanted to slay this Ensign, but not yet. A phaser on kill was far too quick, and this man had done enough to deserve 'special' treatment.

Peter was surprisingly calm. He was one of those people who thought they could never die, even if others died around him. He wasn't even thinking of a plan, hoping that someone else would get him out of this. Besides, he knew that the main shuttlebay was well guarded, and 'Commander Shtik had no chance of getting away. The notion that he could be caught in a crossfire escaped him.

"So why are you doing this then 'Commander?" he asked. He got no reply, as they reached the hatch, and he was ordered in.

"Head down to deck 38" Kiths said, still holding the phaser on the Ensign.

Peter suddenly began to grow worried. Deck 38 didn't have the shuttlebays, it had security. Why go there? It would only waste time, and once Albrecht saw the damage there, he'd have Shtik's guts for a necktie.

"Worried yet Ensign?" Kiths said, noticing that the officer seemed heavily preoccupied. "Trying to plan your escape?"

"I'm wondering what's for tea." Peter quipped back. "Mulich said he'd make me Lancashire hotpot."

"Move!" Kiths snarled, shoving the idiot ensign through the hatch and down to the deck beneath them. Kiths quickly followed.

This part of security was empty at the moment. Most of the security force were gathering either in engineering, various armories or other key points within the ship. It was generally assumed that no serious threat could come from this small office and storage facility. But Kiths had done his homework and knew exactly how to carry out his escape.

"You took us right to security, there's a bold plan." Lockhart quipped. "Planning on locking yourself in the brig so they don't find you?" Kiths silenced the annoying human with a hard slug to the gut. The security officer crumpled to the floor with the breath knocked out of him.

"Stay down." the vulcan ordered as he placed the phaser safely out of the human's reach. Quickly, Kiths pulled a space suit out of a storage locker and put it on.

The pair were suddenly distracted by the sound of approaching footsteps echoing through the empty deck. Kiths, grabbed the phaser and yanked Lockhart back to a standing position.

"Shut up and act like I'm your Mr. Shtik or I promise you you'll be the first to die." Kiths whispered in his ear. Both captive and capture paused nervously as the footsteps drew nearer. When the figure finally rounded the corner and took in the scene, he was surprised, but not fooled, by the tableau displayed by the imposter.

"Lt. Comdr. Shtik," Peter Lockhart's voice cracked with sarcasm, "I believe you know Mr. Shtik." Peter gestured at the space suited evil counterpart.

"He's a regular crewmember here on the Galaxy, you know."

"Ensign Lockhart, logic would suggest that you were being coerced into taking part in this deception." the real vulcan science officer stated.

"Shut up! Both of you!" Kiths pulled the phaser out where it could be seen by both of the starfleet officers.

"I've already made a deal that we could bug him since we're going to die anyway." Peter offered with a smile.

"That would be logical." Shtik stated

"Fuck logic and shut up." Kiths screamed as he waved the phaser between the two of them.

"Given that logic is an intangible concept, it would be physically impossible to..." Shtik started to state.

"Shut up! Both of you!" Kiths was becoming driven hysterical by the two annoying comedians from this universe. There was a moment of silence as Kiths continued to snap together his suit.

"I find it surprising that you would abandon the rest of your invasion group?" Shtik finally broke the quiet nervousness.

"Damn right. They had their chance to make it worth my time. They blew it so I'm out of here."

"How are you going to get off the ship from here. It's a long walk to the nearest airlock." Lockhart chipped in.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Kiths raised the power on his phaser. "I was down in engineering when the damage reports came in. I happen to know that the hull is breached on the other side of that wall." He gestured with his phaser.

"And you're just going to swim back to your dimension?" Peter theorized.

"Oh don't you worry about me." Kiths snarled, "With all the starship wreckage out there, there's got to be a functioning shuttlecraft somewhere. I know a trick or two, I'll survive. I'd be more concerned about you two." Kiths reached up and snapped the helmet in place.

The room suddenly exploded as Kiths blew out the wall with the phaser. Immediately the security office and all it contained were flung into the void of space.

Shtik, still standing in the doorway was able to catch hold of it, pull himself back into the hallway and slam the door shut to the vacuum. Without wasting a millisecond, he pulled himself up and raced down the corridor to the nearby transporter room. The vulcan frantically began to operate the device's sensors and discovered the two bodies floating away from the exploded bulkhead. Kiths had shoved Lockhart's unprotected body away from his and they were both moving slowly away from each other and the ship. Shtik would be unable to get a lock on both of them. And the seconds available would mean he would only be able to retrieve one of them.

Within 15 seconds of being blown into space, Ensign Peter Lockhart found himself reappearing on a transporter pad with Lt. Comdr. Shtik operating the controls.

"Waking up again."

Lt Tim O'Connell
Ens Brooke Ames MD

Brooke had fallen asleep, still holding Tim's hand. She didn't notice Tim's stirring. She was so exhausted, physically and emotionally. Not even the sounds of moaning patients or the scuttle of busy feet could wake her.

Tim held her hand, he stirred more and squeezed her hand gently. His eyes didn't open, but his hand encircling hers squeezed it gently

That seemed to wake her up. She whispered softly to him, "Tim?" She waited for him to respond.

He groaned in pain as his eyes slowly opened, "Brooke?" he asked softly.. "y...you shot me?" his voice heald concern and a little fear.

She wasn't sure what was going on in his head right now so she proceeded with caution. "It wasn't me, just someone who looked like me."

She hadn't lied to him ever so he bellieved her, "it wasn't you?" he still had a suspicious look in his eyes and he stared at her.

"No Tim, it was an alternate Brooke. What do you remember about what happened?" She needed to know before she could figure out how to proceed.

Tim looked puzzled, "I was in a corridor then you came up... I gave you a phaser and we moved up through the Jeffires tube Then we got in to a holodeck then it get foggy."

"She was going to kill you." She repeated the events to him, "We figure that you hit your head at some point. But don't worry, you're going to be fine." She left out the part about her running in with no plan and throwing herself at the evil Brooke so as not to worry him again.

He looked at her then tried to sit up, he had to get back to work now. But his head was still throbbing and he could barely sit up. "Got to go, Engineering" he said.

She held him back from a sitting position, "Hold on there Tim. You're not going anywhere. Engineering can get along without you. You just lay here for a bit more then we'll talk about you getting back to work." She wasn't letting him out of her sight no matter what.

He looked at her then wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Stay with me?" he asked quietly.

"I'm not going anywhere. It seems you have a knack for getting yourself in trouble. You and me are sticking together like glue."

Tim smiled, "Or getting myself hurt." He looked at her, "what was she like?" he asked quietly.

I don't really know. I didn't have time to talk to her but I really believe she was crazy in the head. Her Tim must have doine something really terrible for her to go as far as killing him. I kind of feel sorry for her. I just wish that it didn't have to come down to her dying." Brooke really didn't want to think about it anymore. It was bad enough that she ended her life...almost like killing a part of herself.

Tim looked at Brooke, his Brooke, "Next time we stop we're getting married no objections." He kissed her nose.

"You get no arguement from me. I swear that there are forces out there that just don't want us to be together. It doesn't matter though. We are going to be together...you, me and the baby no matter what."

"If we have to steal a runabout we're getting married, there is no way I'm gonna let you go." He kissed her cheek gently.

"I don't think we'll have to go that far. As soon as this ship gets put back together and things have settled down, then we can ask about getting married. Sound ike a plan?"

"A plan." he said, "now can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, anything." She smiled, "What is it?"

"It feels like 3 Naussicans have been using my head as a punching bag. Do you have anything for a headache?"

"I'm sure I can find something." She stopped another doctor who brought her a hypo of pain meds. She looked at him as if the next question was worth a great deal of points, "One thing before I administer this, you do remember that we are going to be parents, right?"

Tim kissed her gently, "yea, mom." He grinned, "I can't wait."

"Okay just checking." She pressed the hypo to his neck. "This should help." She started massaging his temples for just an added comfort.

Tim grinned, "so do I have all my marbles?"

"Yeah, I think so. You had me worried there for a while. One of these days Tim, you're going to give me a heart attack."

Tim looked at her and gave her an irrevrent grin, "Only if I can give you mouth to mouth."

She put her arms around him, "Yep, you must be feeling better. Now that's the Tim I know and love."

Tim hugged her back and kissed her gently, "Yeah I'm back and I'm bad... I just have to stop ending up in medical facilites."

"I agree. So what were you saying about wanting to go to Engineering?"

"Intruders in engineering." Tim said, "I was on my way tehre when i got distracted."

"Oh, I see. You need to stop getting distracted, that's all."

"It's a habit of mine." Tim grinned, "Now don't you have other patients Dr Ames."

After having someone die in her arms which was heart wrenching, she wasn't crazy about getting back to work but with the amount of medical people injured or dead, she really needed to. "I guess I should go and help even though I'd rather take care of you."

He read her emotions pretty well, "what's wrong Brooke?"

"Look, it's nothing. Things just come with the territory." He didn't need anything else to worry about it.

He slowly sat up enough to look in her eyes, "want to talk to me, for better or for worse?"

"You know me too well. I couldn't help someone earlier and it's just a little hard for me. I've never really had anyone die in my arms like that. What's even worse is that I have to contact his family and deliver a message. It makes you realize how precious life really is."

Tim reached for her to comfort her, "I'm sorry Brooke." he said softly, "and here I am complaining about a headache."

"It's okay, really. I can't let something like that stopme from doing my job. This ship needs me. We've lost too many people."

"One person is too many." he siad softly, "but you're a good doctor Brooke."

"Thanks, I really appreciate your confidence in my abilities." She was still worried about leaving him, "If I go, will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine. Just check in now and then and remember when I get out of here, white teddy again." he grinned knowing he loved that outfit on her.

She smiled as she shook her head. "You're definitely feeling better. Okay, I think I can arrange that."

"THe white teddy?" he grinned teasing her.

"Yes, the white teddy. Now let me get back to those who are really hurt.

"I love you Brooke."

"I love you too." She gave him a soft, tender kiss. "You stay put. No going back to work or you'll put up with this Brooke Ames wrath."

Tim smiled as she walked away, damn he loved her. Of course now he needs to get out of sickbay. "Tim," he said quietly, "you are spending way to much time in sickbay."

"Tube Chase"
By Lieutenant-JG Mikala Pailaka

***USS Galaxy, Deck 36***

Mike hurried down the corridor towards Main Engineering, a few paces behind Commander Casey and Security Chief Albrecht. He clutched his compression phaser rifle tightly, his mood a mixture of excitement and apprehension. This was the type of action he had longed for back when he was stuck with starbase duty, but now that he was in the thick of it, he was beginning to have doubts. With the exception of himself and Casey, the rest of their grim faced assault group were gold collared professionals, trained security officers who performed counter-intrusion and hostage rescue as a matter of course. Mike on the other hand was a helmsman born and true. He had performed exceptionally under fire against the Griffin, setting up precise attack patterns and maneuvering the Galaxy to keep its strongest shields pointed towards the enemy. But the battle to come would be in close quarters and without shields. His massive, well muscled frame, an asset in the gymnasium, would simply make him a larger target when the phaser fire started flying.

Casey brought the team to a halt outside the doors to Main Engineering. Everyone took a moment to relax and catch their breath while The XO and Albrecht discussed their final plan of action. With the turbo lifts offline, they had to hand over hand it down thirty five decks, leaving even the best conditioned amongst them slightly out of breath.

"All right everyone." Said Casey. "Ensigns Bradley and Mason will run the door override. As soon as its open, we go in with a standard delta dispersion in one second intervals. Albrecht's group will flank left. Chen's group will flank right and my group will storm the center. Everyone stay tight and watch your fields of fire. I don’t want anyone sweeping their buddy's head with a live phaser."

Mike allowed himself the hint of a smile. He should have known that Commander Casey would spearhead the attack himself. Everything Mike knew about the man in their short acquaintance since his arrival on the Galaxy indicated that the XO was a hard charger who thrived on danger. Mike was a closet adrenaline junky himself, but he preferred cliff diving and seat of the pants flying to fire fights around a reactor core. "Shakka." He told himself. "Just hang loose, watch your back and the Commander's and do what needs to be done."

The doors shot open with a hiss and the teams stormed in. Almost immediately, the battle was joined. Mike followed Casey's lead and kept his head low as he dashed for the cover of a nearby console. He winced as he felt the heat of a phaser blast came within inches of his ear. As the sounds of energy vaporizing metal filled the air, Mike began to hear the first screams of agony from the wounded. In such close quarters, it was impossible to tell if it was the enemy or their own team. Mike scanned the room, searching for targets. He spotted movement from the catwalk on the opposite side of the room. A phaser blast blew out the LCARS panel in from of him. He rolled to his left and came up in a kneeling position and scathed his phaser along the catwalk where he saw the shot emanate from. His quarry doubled over backwards, his hand flying to his smoking face. He twisted like a rag doll, and then plunged over the catwalk railing to the deck below.

Mike lowered his phaser and stared at the body, his first 'kill' since joining Starfleet. No, he told himself, that was not exactly true. He'd been in combat before, at the helm. His actions combined with that of the rest of the bridge crew, had brought about many deaths. But it had never been so personal before.

"Don't stop Lieutenant!" Casey yelled to his right. "Keep pouring it on! Go, go go!" Casey dashed forward, gaining ground as the intruders fell back. Mike stood and braced himself behind the smoldering console and provided covering fire as Casey, Albrecht and Chen lead the advance. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted movement coming from the Jefferies tubes. A pair of intruders were attempting to outflank the security team. One of them reared back his arm and prepared to toss a grenade. Mike shouted a warning and opened fire. His shooting was far from dead on, but it did the trick. His volley clipped the wrist of the grenadier, whose hand, along with the grenade, vanished in an incandescent flash. He fell to the ground, screaming and clutching at the severed, cauterized stump. The remaining attacker returned fire. Mike ducked as the shots passed over his head.

"Every man for himself!" a female voice shouted. It sounded vaguely familiar. From the reaction the remaining intruders displayed, it was almost certainly their leader. The enemy began to fall back and scatter. Mike heard a commotion behind him and turned to see an astounding site. Two Captain Prices, locked in combat with one another. One of them muttered something about the mirror universe.

"Awe!" Mike muttered. "Is that what is behind all of this madness?" He turned his attention back to the battle, just in time to see his target scrambling into one of the jefferies tubes. "No you don’t!" said Mike, dashing after him. He kept his head low and moved fast, trusting in fate to protect him from the scattered phaser fire that was still being exchanged between security and the retreating enemy.

Mike went head first into the tube , got stuck, and realized that he'd have to leave his rifle behind. There simply was not enough room for it. He quickly discarded it and removed the small hand phaser from his belt. And continued forward on his hands and knees. He moved quickly yet cautiously, his weapon pointing forward. Forty meters down the tube, he came to a t-juncture. He listened carefully. He detected the faint sounds of boots clambering down rungs from below. He quickly followed, making his way down to deck 37.

The ladder ended two feet from the floor. Mike hopped out and looked around. He was standing amongst the massive generators that provided power for the Galaxy's environmental support and waste management. The drone of the machines provided an unsettling level of white noise that kept Mike from detecting any other background sounds. He looked around carefully, trying to find his quarry, but could see no one. Slowly, he wove his way between the generators, sweeping the point of his hand phaser left and right. He paused sniffing the air. Something was smoking. He rounded the corner and came across a morbid site. There had been a numerous hull breaches during the battle with the Griffin. Apparently, environmental support had not been spared. There were three bloodied corpses on the ground next to smoldering machinery. Shrapnel from the hull, in all likelihood thought Mike, spotting the gaping breach, now held in check by the structural integrity fields. Curious though, while two of the bodies were in gold engineering jumpsuits, the third corpse wore medical blues. He knelt down and examined the body. Warm blood was still pooling around the slashed throat.

"Damn!" he shouted, throwing himself to one side as he sensed movement from behind him. He felt a jolt of pain sear across his right arm, causing him to drop his hand phaser. He rolled over his shoulder and pushed himself up to a low crouch and faced his opponent.

The man was dressed in a Starfleet uniform, but the leering grin and psychotic glint in his eyes told an entirely different story. The killer's knife was freshly coated with Mike's blood, and he waved it at his new victim like a talisman. "Like my handiwork?" the man grinned. He kicked Mike's hand phaser out of the way and stole a glance at the dead medical technician. "Did you know her?" he asked. "Oh, please say that you did. It would make killing you that much sweeter."

Mike clutched his wounded arm, trying to staunch the bleeding, but to no avail. He flexed his fingers, wincing at the pain but happy to see there wasn't any nerve damage. "I don’t know who you are, but I'm going to give you just one chance to give up."

The murdering pirate laughed out loud. "Surrender to you? You must be joking! You think I find your size intimidating? You're just a big slab of soft flesh to me and Betsy here." He said, indicating his long combat knife. "The only real question is whether I do you quick or make it last!"

Mike realized he was running out of time. It couldn’t be long before shock from blood loss set in. It was time to act. He began slowly walking towards the pirate.

"Hold it right there!" the man snarled. "Did I say that you could move?" Mike ignored him and took another three steps forward, bringing himself within striking range of the blade. "I'm going to gut you like a fish if you don’t freeze!" the man threatened.

"You talk to much." Said Mike. He feinted left, then spun right, out of the arc of the first slash. The tough pirate, no stranger to hand to hand combat, reversed his grip on the knife as he continued the motion of his slash, bringing the blade around in a fast series of arcs. Mike managed to block the next two attacks, delivering open hand strikes to the pirate's stomach and kidneys, but his opponent managed to weather the blows and caught Mike across the cheek with the tip of his blade, then thrust downwards, slashing Mike across the thigh.

The pain was intense and it was all Mike could do to keep his eyes from wincing shut. He tried for an arm bar on the man's knife arm, but his attack patterns were too rapid, he couldn’t establish the hold. The pirate spun and slashed at Mike's throat. Mike threw himself backwards, tucked and rolled. As he came to his feet, he felt his left leg buckle and noticed another gaping wound. His opponent had scored again during his retreat. Visions of his melee on Risa began to filter into his mind.

"You've been doing this for a while, haven’t you." Said Mike, trying to distract him.

"All my life." Said the pirate with a hint of cruel pride. "So don’t feel so bad about getting worked over. Our little dance will be done soon enough."

"This isn’t working." Mike told himself, as he fought to maintain his balance. "I'm a grappler, and there's just too much room here for a knife expert to maneuver. Time to switch gears."

Without warning, Mike ran straight at the pirate, his arms poised as if to throw a tackle. The man sidestepped and prepared to deliver the killing blow, and was caught off guard when Mike tucked and rolled twice, then scrambled to his feet and raced for the Jefferies tube. He threw himself inside, banging his head roughly against an access panel, and began to crawl rapidly away, leaving trails of blood in his wake.

The pirate was quick to recover and dashed off in pursuit. Within moments, he was right behind Mike, his knife probing for a target. "This won’t save you." He said.

"Guess again." Said Mike, lashing out with a vicious kick. With no room to dodge, the pirate could only partially deflect the kick with his arm. The blow hadn’t done any real damage, but it distracted the pirate long enough for Mike to twist in place and press the attack. Unable to resort to the slash, the pirate attempted a series of thrusts. Mike caught his opponent's blade arm by the wrist, and redirected the thrust up and over his shoulder. Twisting with all his might, he forced the pirate to drop the blade. For his efforts, Mike received a brutal blow to the jaw from the pirate's free arm that left him momentarily dizzy. The killer pressed the advantage, delivering a series of punches to Mike's open arm wound, causing Mike to go momentarily blind from the pain. Mike recovered and responded with an open palm strike to the bridge of the pirate's nose that caused a cascade of blood and a satisfying howl of pain. Mike followed up by snaking his legs around his foe's midsection, executing a scissors lock. The pirate grunted and responded with a flurry of blows to Mike's face and head.

The floor of the tube was pooling with blood. Mike could feel his strength draining away. The pirate had managed to roll sideways and partially break Mike's lock. The man's hand reached out, trying to recover his blade. Mike grabbed his wrist and tried to prevent the maneuver, but in his weakened state, the burly killer was quickly overpowering him. He needed to improvise, and quickly. Mike abandoned his grip on The pirate's wrist completely and scrambled forward. Just within reach up ahead lay a small maintenance utility kit, no doubt abandoned by some engineer when the battle began. Mike reached into the kit and fumbled around for anything he could use as a weapon. His hand closed over a small plastic cylinder. The pirate roared in triumph as his hand closed on the blade's hilt. "It's over, fool!" he shouted in glee.

There was a quiet hiss, followed by a look of shock on the pirate's face as Mike sprayed a healthy dose of Tetrelubisol directly into the killer's open mouth. The effects were rapid and startling. The pirate lurched backwards as if hit by a bolt of lightning. He dropped the knife and began tugging at his lips and tongue with his hands. The color began to drain from his face and a series of choking gasps issued from his throat. Seconds later, his body began to thrash back and forth and his eyes rolled back into their sockets. His spine arched at an impossible angle as a thin red foam bubbled from his mouth. Then, as quickly as it started, it was over. The pirate's body went limp and never moved again.

The battle over, Mike fought back a wave of nausea. He forced himself to move, working his way back down the tube. It took him nearly twenty minutes, but he managed to work his way back to a T-juncture and half climbed, half fell down to Deck 38 below. He vaguely recalled that the deck contained the security offices and cargo bays, which had no doubt been converted into triage centers after the battle with the Griffin. "I will not go into shock. I will not pass out" he repeated to himself like a mantra. But he found it harder to convince himself with every step.

When at last he made it to an access panel, he pulled it back and rolled through the opening, landing roughly on the carpeted floor eight feet below. The pain from the landing blended into the agony of his other wounds. The edges of his vision were beginning to grow dark. Through the pounding sound in his ears, he heard a voice. It sounded a thousand miles away.

*** ***

Lieutenant Mikala Pailaka
Chief Helmsman, USS Galaxy
AKA
David Friedland
ICQ# 5805168

"I think we might have another problem"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

Lee held his phaser tightly in his hand as he half crouched, half waddled through the cramped jefferies tubes that exited the Engineering deck. He knew Hoglips the Butcher had arranged for his mirror universe counterpart to be present in order to slow down the pursuit of the criminal master mind. And the deception had worked. The Butcher had managed to slip away through the many jefferies tubes on the ship. Captain Price paused in one of the cross junctions and stood still, listening for the sounds around him. The gentle hum of the warp core echoed through these chambers because of the close proximity to the main Engineering deck, which made listening for other sounds difficult, but not impossible. Turning his head in the direction of a metallic sound, Captain Price decided to head in that direction in pursuit of Yeoman York's murderer.

***

*** Main Engineering ***

Deiran turned to Matthew, "Get those damned pirates off this ship!" he said, clearly upset at losing Jaime and for the entire ordeal. "I don't care if you get science officers to help but get this situation neutralized please Mr. Albrecht... I'm going to get Kay and get control of the ship back to the Bridge," Casey calmed down and added, "Good job Matt," then slung his phaser rifle over his shoulder and began to walk away.

Lieutenant Commander Albrecht nodded and was about to go and give his men new orders when he noticed out of the corner of his eye a flashing warning light on the master situation console. "Commander. . ." Matthew called back stopping Deiran in his tracks, "I think we might have another problem."

Deiran walked over to where Matthew was standing. Someone had sabotaged the warp core reactor controls and had shut the coolant lines completely down. The warp core was in the process of a melt down overload unless something could be done quickly to stop it.

"They are attempting to destroy the ship." Deiran fumed, "The bastards couldn't take the ship, so now they intend to blow it up!"

"Should we try and eject the core Commander?" Albrecht asked.

Deiran was punching some commands into the LCARS terminal, trying to get an update on the warp core temperature levels. "Negative. I'm trying to get a readout on the temperature. . . damned voice interface has been disabled." Commander Casey stated. "I'd better get Kay to take a look at this before we decide to do anything drastic. There may be a way to cool of the warp core before it breaches." Deiran explained. Reaching across his chest, the First Officer hailed Lieutenant Commander Samara.

"Casey to Samara, come in Kay."

["What do you want Commander?!"] came back the hasty reply from someone who was obviously very, very busy fixing the damaged systems throughout the ship.

"K'Eyt, someone has shut down the primary cooling system of the warp core reactor. The indicators show it's beginning to heat up and that a melt down is imminent. I can't get any readouts on the warp core temperature, the LCARS voice interface is off-line."

["I'll be right there Commander. If we can't get the coolant flowing in the next few minutes, we will have to jettison the warp core or the ship will be destroyed."] Samara explained.

"Well let's get the juices flowing then Kay. If anyone can stop this, I know you can. Casey out."

Matthew glanced at the First officer when he closed the channel. "Orders sir?"

"Same as before 'Commander. Let's round up the rest of these pirates and let engineering handle the warp core. I'm going to work on getting the Bridge back on-line."

****

Lee continues to work his way through the jefferies tubes of the ship. He was getting closer to the Butcher, he could sense it, even though he still hadn't caught sight of the black leather clad Tellarite. Moving through the cramped access passages Captain Price wished the computer system and internal sensors were fully on-line and functional. They would make it easy to track the alien intruders, and this Tellarite in particular. But with all the down systems and damaged circuits, Lee had to rely on his Starfleet training in tracking the Butcher and following her scented perfume which he now recognized and used to his best advantage.

In the distance, Lee could hear the screams and crying of children. Most likely from the ship's daycare facility. The Commanding officer shuttered as he thought of the horrible things these mirror universe degenerates would enjoy doing to the Galaxy's children. He quickened his pace.

"Mommy have a boo-boo!" little Adam stated as he reached for the black eye patch and pulled it off of the Butcher's eye. When the young child saw the horrible scar and missing eye under the patch, he started to cry out. "Mommy's boo-boo bad bad!"

The evil Endris bounced her mirror self's child on her hip. She hadn't thought about being a mother herself, and somehow seeing Adam, who resembled both the Endris Gakor from this universe and Matthew Albrecht, caused her to wonder what it would be like if she had decided to have her own child. "Shush, quiet my little dumpling. Mommy is fine. . ."

Adam continued his balling, growing louder and louder until he began to draw attention to the Butcher.

Gritting her teeth, the Butcher smiled and stated, "Stop crying you little shit!, or I'll give you something to cry about!. . ."

Adam glanced at the evil Endris Gakor for a moment and then resumed his crying. "I WAN MY MOMMY!!!" Adam screamed with a passion.

*Snacks! this brat is going to get me caught.* the butcher thought. Since Adam was not going to cooperate with the Butcher, Endris knew it was only a matter of minutes before the warp core of this vessel exploded, destroying the ship and anyone in it's proximity, so any thoughts she had of taking this little brat-ling with her when she made her escape was now a moot point. Placing Adam down, the Butcher turned and exited the childcare facility just moments before Captain Price kicked out the ventilation duct and leapt onto the deck.

Adam was still sitting on the floor crying for his Mommy.

Lee recognized the toddler as being Doctor Gakor's and 'Commander Albrecht's child, and wondered if the evil Butcher would have know that too. "G'day Jack-a-roo. What's the matter little 'mate? You miss your Mommy?"

Adam took three deep breaths and shook his head from side to side. "Mommy is mean. She has bad boo boo on eye!" the little boy cried out.

Lee instinctively glanced around. Still detecting a faint trace of the Butcher's perfume, Lee left the boy crying on the floor and made his way to the nearest exit. Carefully he entered the adjoining room and found Counselor Lance Garcia just getting up and rubbing the back of his head. The Captain grabbed the Counselor's arm to steady him, and keep him from falling.

Lance glanced up to thank whomever had caught him. "Captain. . ." he said in a surprised tone.

"What happened 'mate?" Lee asked quickly.

"I don't know sir. I heard one of the children crying, and when I went to check, this woman burst out and spun me around, striking me over the head with the butt of a phaser."

"Which way did she go 'mate?" Lee asked looking around.

"She went into the other room Captain." Counselor Garcia pointed.

Lee saw that the Councilor was standing on his own two feet before he made his way to the adjoining room. The Captain paused as he tightened his grip on his phaser before swinging around to enter the room.

He could see it was empty, and that the ventilation duct had been pried open. Carefully approaching the open vent, Lee popped his head in to check it out. Looking down the one length of the duct, Lee couldn't see anyone, but turning, he caught a glimpse of the Butcher crawling her way through the shaft.

"Halt or I'll fire!" Lee called out. His warning was received with the evil Endris firing her own phaser back at Lee, causing him to pull his head back out of the air duct. The Butcher had managed to crawl several meters down the tight crawl space and was nearing the main junction where she could easily reenter the jefferies tubes once again.

"Give it up Endris. You can not escape. It's only a matter of time before you are captured." Lee called out.

In the echoy distance, he could hear the Butcher return, "Time is the one thing you don't have Price!"

Not liking the sound of that, Lee tapped his comm badge. "Price to Casey, come in Commander."

["Deiran here, go ahead Captain."] came the reply.

"'Mate, is everything under control with the ship?" Lee asked.

Deiran could tell something had tipped the Captain off to the trouble with the warp core. It was the only explanation for the query to the ship's status. ["We've discovered some sabotage in Engineering sir. The warp core coolant has been bypassed, exposing the core. Lieutenant Commander Samara is working on it now to try and restore the flow to avoid a warp core melt down."]

Lee nodded. The Butcher, unable to succeed in taking over the USS Galaxy, had now decided to try and destroy her instead. "Keep me informed Commander, Price out."

Carefully, Lee glanced his head back into the shaft. He could see the Butcher had cleared the air duct and reentered the jefferies tubes once again. Deciding not to follow her directly through the ventilation system, Lee exited the daycare facility and ran down the corridor to the nearest jefferies tubes junction. He figured he could enter up ahead of the Butcher and cut her off before she had a chance to escape the ship. One way or another, the Butcher's rampage of terror was going to stop. Lee was going to see to it.

"The Rat"
by Darian McGee
Pirate On The Run
*Reviewed by Captian Price*

~~~~Main Engineering - USS Galaxy~~~~

Darian McGee watched as Hoglips the Butcher killed Yeomen Jamie York in cold blood. A sinister smile crept across the face of the pirate. He watched the events unfold, and when shooting started, he made a break for it.

Having studied the layout of the Galaxy while on board the now destroyed USS Griffin, Darian knew exactly where he was going, and anyone that got in his way would have hell to pay. Darian carried a type III-D phaser rifle, and a type II phaser at his side. Both set to kill. And on the lowest kill setting it would injure the victim severely, letting them bleed to death.

He worked his way quickly through the Jeffries tubes. Going up decks, down crawlways, through an intersection, he knew exactly where he was going. Nacelle control. No one would ever think to look for an escaped pirate there.

As he entered the control room for the left nacelle, Darian did away with the officer on duty, shooting the poor bitch in the heart. She groped her chest, and then hit the deck, a pool of blood gathering around her.

"Now, what to do..." Darian thought aloud to himself. As he thought, he used his Imperial training to the fullest.

"Computer, erect a level three forcefield around all possible entries to nacelle control, to be released only on my command."

"Authorization code required" the computer stated simply.

"Dammit!" Darian cursed, and smashed his hand down on a computer bank. He already knew that command codes had been scrambled, so he would have to do it the old fashioned way. Prying open the panel that controlled the door, he moved connections and isoleniar chips. It had paid to be an Imperial Officer. Moments later a forcefield was erected around the door. He would just have to guard the Jeffries tube entrance.

"Good." Now all I can do is wait until the situation calms down. Darian leaned back in the chair, looking at the dead woman on the floor. She had two hollow pips indicating her rank, a Petty Officer he believed. Well, she was dead and gone now. Darian checked the charge on his phaser rifle. 98% charged. His hand phaser was at full strength.

He had only used one shot on the phaser. Those damn things ate up power if it had drained it 2% in one shot. Though that was more power than he would need should he run into anymore trouble. Darian McGee smiled a cold, heartless smile. Soon he would kill his counterpart, and help to bring chaos to order aboard this vessel. But Darian McGee was a man of patience. He had endured 'Damnation Alley' and he could endure laying in wait like a rat, ready to spring a trap on the unsuspecting 'goodie' officers at any time. For now he would wait...

"Manual Coolant Restart"
by Lt Cmdr K'Eytyanna Samara,
Second Officer & Chief Engineer
-------------------------------------------------------

Crawling down the Jefferies Tube, Kay headed towards the closest point to the Engineering doors.

Reaching the panel, she hit in the open commands and growled when it failed. Reaching down to her side, she removed her d'k tagh and used it to pry open the panel next to the door.

Examining it, she blew some hair out of her face before snarling.

As she was about to crunch the circuits, her combadge chirped as Deiran's voice came over, [Casey to Samara, come in Kay.]

"What do you want Commander?!"

[K'Eyt, someone has shut down the primary cooling system of the warp core reactor. The indicators show it's beginning to heat up and that a melt down is imminent. I can't get any readouts on the warp core temperature, the LCARS voice interface is off-line.]

"I'll be right there Commander. If we can't get the coolant flowing in the next few minutes, we will have to jettison the warp core or the ship will be destroyed."

[Well let's get the juices flowing then Kay. If anyone can stop this, I know you can. Casey out.]

She quickly started driving her d'k tagh into the circuits, crunching them until the mechanical auto-sequencer activated. The door slid open and Kay crawled out.

Suddenly, bright lights shone in her face and she put her hand up to shield her eyes. Squinting, she picked out into the faces of some Security officers and realised they were the real Galaxy officers.

"Shut those lights off, or I swear you will all spend time in the brig."

The lights shut off and she stood up, ignoring any help.

Kay shook her head and headed to Engineering with the Security staff behind her.

************************

Entering Engineering, she looked around at the damage. The young officers who had served under her had been totally desimated.

Once inside, she realised that some of the Engineers had survived and made their way to Main Engineering.

Moving to one of the terminals, she knelt down and opened the panel.

Counting along the isolinear chips until she found the one she wanted, she started pulling it out and pushing it back in a seemingly random pattern to the Security personnel crouding around.

A few seconds later, she smiled when a green light came on and started flashing randomly.

Turning to Matthew, she spoke,

"I got through to the Binars using a Binar version of morse code, and they are going to start working on remaking the command code tables. If they can get the codes fixed before the core goes ballistic, we can use the command-code shutdown."

Looking up, she saw Lt Cmdr T'Zaq walk into Engineering.

"T'Zaq, start trying to shut off the injectors. I'll try for manual coolant release."

Kay raced over to one of the Jefferies Tubes and started racing down it. Reaching the junction, she kicked in a door and entered the Coolant chamber, ignoring the safety warnings.

A lot of heat was coming from the wall nearest to the warp core, and she expected a lot of radiation as well.

Making her way over to the massive coolant pump, she tore open the access panel and examined the system.

The barbarian scum had managed to stop the computer from providing power to the pump. However, the system looked fine mechanical-wise. Removing some of the isolinear chips, she dropped them to the floor before moving to the back of the pump. Looking around the room, she spotted a piece of bulkhead that looked useable. Using her strength, she pulled it from the wall and dragged it over to the pump.

Depressing the release buttons, she stepped back as the rear of the pump fell off with a loud clang. Lifting up the bar, she wedged it into one of the holes in the pump's internal spindle and put all her weight against it. The thing only moved an inch, and she knew she would need help.

"Kay to T'Zaq, send some people to the coolant control room ASAP."

Pushing hard on the pump, she managed to get it to move some more, and heard the sound of coolant dribbling through the pump. About ten seconds later, three ensigns rushed in, shielding their faces.

"Help spin this damn thing now." The four engineers took hold of the bar and started slowly moving the pump.

*********************

Looking up from the monitor, T'Zaq smiled, as she saw that coolant was slowly being released into the warp core.

"T'Zaq to Commander Casey, never underestimate a Klingon. I have no idea how she did it, but Kay has managed to start a slow release of coolant into the core."

[That is great. Casey out.]

Moving into a quiet area, T'Zaq tapped her combadge,

"T'Zaq to Kay, are you reading me?"

A sharp crackle came as Kay replied,

[Reading you. Too dangerous. Get decontam team down here. You in charge. Out.]

"T'Zaq to Main Shuttlebay. I need a full radiation decontam and treatment team down to Main Engineering. Four cases of radiation poisioning from Coolant Control Room."

-------------------------------------------------------
Lt Cmdr K'Eytyanna Samara USS Galaxy Engineering, 2nd Officer
D'Akana T'Mok (NPC) USS Galaxy Targ

The Dragnet is Closing
by Hoglips the Butcher
alterations / revisions by Captain Price

*** Jefferies Tubes, Near the Day Care Center ***

Hoglips had to abandon the idea that Adam Albrecht and his little mates would make good hostages. The little tike was way too inquisitive about Mommy's Bad Eye Boo Boo, and would blow the evil woman's ruse before she could get away. And she had to act fast. If Engineering did not disable the tampering with the warp core, the ship would blow up in a few minutes. She kept trying the Iconian device she wore like a necklace, but the energy cell was depleted.

No doubt, had she not been preoccupied with revenge, things would have worked out differently. *I must come up with a plan*, she said. Then she heard Captain Price's dialog with Adam, and new that security forces would soon catch her if Hoglips was not very, very careful.

She needed to get to an area with lots of open space so she could easily hide. Gakor tried to access the site-to-site transport, but the only place the pirates had got that to work was from Main Engineering. There were far too many people gathered to repair the warp core to make a trip their feasible.

She was glad that so many systems were presently off-line on board the Galaxy class starship. If the interior sensors were operating, security would have no trouble locating her Tellarite life signs. But with sensors out, that gave the princess of evil freedom to move about the ship with only that blood hound Captain following her closely. Smiling, Endris decided to give 'The General' the slip by dumping a barrel of ball bearings onto the deck. Admiring her work for a moment, the Butcher decided that if she could reach the shuttle bays, she might be able to syphon off some energy to power her iconian necklass and transport away from the Galaxy before the ship exploded. But before she had a chance to act on her 'plan', Captain Price rounded the corridor corner and spotted her, leveling his phaser in her direction.

"SNACKS!" the Butcher whelped as she jumped out of the way of the blast that scorched the corridor wall. The Butcher noted that the Captain's phaser didn't appear to be on the 'stun' setting by the sound and frequency of the phaser beam. Quickly she ducted back into the jefferies tube and hurried along. Traveling to the shuttle bays was no longer an option with Captain Price hot on her trail and blasting away at her. Scurrying along the cramped access tubes, the Butcher smiled as she heard a crash that sounded like a tripping body in the main corridor where she left her ball bearing surprise.

"Serves you right Price, for being in such a hurry to catch up with me." the Butcher mused to herself as she shuffled along the jefferies tube on her knees and elbows. She knew the trip up would only momentarily slow the General and in a second he'd once again be just a few meters behind her in the jefferies tubes. Coming to a junction and unsure exactly where she was located deep in the access ways of the unfamiliar Federation Galaxy Class vessel, the Butcher decided to go down the left jefferies tube. It seemed just a good at the right one, and she knew enough about her orientation to know the left was heading towards the rear section of the Starship, the area where she knew the shuttle bays to be located, not abandoning all hope of reaching there in the next three minutes before the warp core melted down and destroyed the ship.

Little did the Butcher know that taking that jefferies tube would lead her to a dead end, effectively trapping her between a bulk head and an enraged Captain Robert Edward Lee Price when she tried to double back...

= = = = = = =
Lt. jg T-prea
Doctor
USS Galaxy
= = = = = = =

T-prea found herself feeling fatigued...It had been 6 long hours since the devasting accident in sickbay and 3 hours before that she had began working on wounded....Now nine hours into salvaging peoples lives and bodies back together she was feeling the strain....

But as always her Vulcan half was kicking in not allowing for rest... after all it was a sign of weakness to show ones vulnerablity. And as much as T-prea wanted to acknowledge her Vulcan half her human side was weakening.

As she looked around the large cargo bay set up into individual units of seriously injured, the non-serious....the surgical..... treatable, untreatable....and of course the sheet covered dead that were awating to be removed to free up another bio-bed.

T-prea found this emotionaly draining as well....In all her training she had never witness so many casualties at one time.... the amount was massive....and so were the different types of injuries....with plasma burns leading the way on most cases....

T-prea checked on Lt. Elaine Stone...as she heard her moaning for Frank....It was not good bedside manners to acknowledge the wereabouts of one so close to a patient when the wearabouts was only a few feet away in another bio-bed.

T-prea ordered a stronger sedative for Lt. Stone helping her to rest easier. So she could help her body fight back and get well.

Moving only a few beds away she checked up on her husband, Lt. jg Frank Stone...who's injuries were more serious....life threatening. Sedated as well not aware of the wereabouts of his wife only a few feet away....Things were best left this way...at least for the time being....

T-prea knew Lt Stone had a child and wondered of it's safety....and with it's mother in serious condition....as well as it's step- father...should it's natural father be alerted.....

As she pondered this question she took note of Tim and Brooke over in the corner....and headed in their direction.....Knowing of Brooke's condition T-prea was concerned....All this stress wasn't healthy for her or the baby....and Brooke needed her rest.

Approaching them.....

"Brooke....How is Tim doing...?" T-prea asked knowing but wanted to make conversation....

"He's doing better...resting....I just can't bring myself to leave his side....." Brooke responded tiredly.

Seeing the bed next to his being cleared....

"Listen....Brooke....in your physical condition.....I feel you should allow your body the rest it needs....we don't want you and that baby as patients too....

Why don't you lay down here next to Tim and get some rest....I promise if anything changes I will wake you right away...." T-prea said as she pointed to the bio-bed next to Tim's.

At first Brooke seemed unsure...not wanting to let go of his hand....his touch....but realizing that she had their baby to think of as well convinced her to slid up on the bio-bed...Upon laying her head on the pillow Brooke was fast asleep....T-prea took the covers and pulled them up over her.....

Over on another bio-bed lay Brenton Fox....being treated for his injuries....when in came Lt. Mikala Pailaka being brought in by a medic on a hover bed.

T-prea was ready to respond when several others went over to him....Seeing that she was not needed and that he was in capable hands T-prea continued her rounds.....

When she can across Dr. Darian....to her surprise....she approached the bio-bed and the nurse that was attending.

"What is the condition of Dr. Darian...I thought the Dr. was presumed to be dead in sickbay....?" She asked....

"The Dr. is stable...vitals all within normal perameters...." The nurse responded.

"Excellent." T-prea replied.as she walked away to finish her rounds....Seeing several others she wanted to check on....

Neil Bolitho....And Mr. Shtik who was wondering around looking for T-prea suspected was D'tarna...

With the Captain making the announcement....of "Intruder Alert T- prea was all too happy to see that security was on their toes...sending three officers down to protect sickbay....Their present was more then welcome by all....

As T-prea looked around she noticed Kirk working begrudgingly hard....his complaining could be heard from a great distance....

T-prea walked over to him....

"Why don't you take a break.....get some nurishment, then continue....you will do no one any good in this state.....Please...." T-prea pointed with her hand gestering for him to tap to sit down and have some of the refreshments that was brought to them so kindly by the food preperation people.

Looking around now for one last person.....Jake....whom she had caught a glimps of earlier.... She wanted to check on him knowing he is still tiring so easily....But she heard her name called and was needed with an emergency....So T-prea hurried over....

In the mean time....

The dark T-prea found herself left alone in the hallways of this massive ship.....Clothes torn and tattered from the assult that Raesene had saved her from had now left her to fend for herself....

Thinking he was doing her a favor....Finally she collapsed in a corridor....

Being then found by some security guards as they were patroling...

Seeing this female face down on the floor one of the security guards approached her and turned her over....

"If I'm not mistaken...this is Dr. T-prea...." The one said to the other....

Picking her up they carried her to the makeshift sickbay in cargo bay 2. Crowded....people busy doing everything from healing cuts to saving lives the security guards were lead to put whom all thought was the Dr down on a bio-bed....While the real Dr. T-prea was on the other side of the bay attending to a critical patient...

Jake laying in a bio-bed not far from where the dark T-rea now lay awoke to go back to what his was doing...repairing medical equipment....when he passed what he thought was T-prea...

Moving close to the bio-bed and talking to the nurses and medic....

"What happen....please.....T-prea means the world to me...." Seeing her tattered clothes and cut up body he could tell she had been assulted....and by the looks of her lack of clothing in the area of her lower half and the blood he knew she must of been raped....

T-Prea of dark felt the echo of something familiar, of long ago comfort, anything familiar was torn from her years ago. She didn't know who this man was, but she reached out to him. Besides, he wasn't exactly strong enough to do her any harm, the dark side thought caustically.

He had bones that broke like twigs, not even as solid as those of a Human child.

"Link with..." T-Prea's fingers found the contact points of the deep meld on Jake's face.

The Human's arms went about her to cradle her protectively. Those protective instincts seemed strange in some one so frail, and they were nearly Jake Olson's death warrant.

If Jake had wits about him he would have never went into a deep meld as weak as he was, but self preservation was never one of his strong points.

He realized this woman was not the T-Prea he knew and loved, but there was that familiarity and she was so clearly hurting he couldn't push her away even if he had strength to do so.

T-Prea dark was dying, and terrified. Jake held her in a protective embrace, but he was being pulled with her. His grip lessened as the meld became deeper. The Vulcan Human had suffered loss of blood and was in deep shock. Still, the stronger of the two, it was she who led the meld.

The dark T-prea felt the warmth of this strange mans heart....his gentle yet fragile fingers felt tender and his arm around her was comforting....his thoughts were peaceful...and she rested in all of this....drawing it in more and more...deeper....

While on the other side of the cargo bay the true Dr. T-prea was finishing up with a critical patient....As she left the ensign for the nurse to care for she sat down and rested...the first rest she had in over 9 hours....

T-prea closed her eyes and let her mind and thoughts empty...when she got a vivid picture of Jake....giving himself to what looked like a female....

She opened her eyes throwing the thought aside knowing better of Jake...knowing he loved her and only her...

T-prea got up and looked around for Jake...wanting to see him...missing him and wanting to know he was alright...The thing she wanted to do before she had been pulled away on another emergency....

As she began to walk around she started to notice some strange looks coming from some of the medical staff...she wondered if she had something on her face or maybe her uniform was undone....but all was well.

She continued on trying not to notice the strange looks...

As she approached the far side of the Triage area she seen what seemed to be Jake...he was leaning over for some reason....

As she grew closer what she saw shocked her....

And the medical staff stood in shock as well....

T-prea spoke up....

"What is going on here....?" She said rather upset....

Jake was not conscious.

He was dangerously pale as the female held him in a meld. It was the deep meld where one attempted to heal the Katra, or Vulcan sole. Only healers of great physical and mental strength would be able to perform this meld with out risk to their lives. Jake Olson was the very -last- person who should be making an attempt at such a procedure! But present him with a wounded bird and all logic is out the airlock!

This woman knew the risks to Jake as well as T-Prea did! These fools standing around thought it was just a case of 'cheating hearts', and she felt rage that they didn't alert someone to what was going on...

T-Prea went from merely upset to infuriated. She sensed with her mind what was happening, that Jake, in an attempt to comfort this hurt creature, she moved in to to take him into deep meld because he was overly compassionate and this female was taking full advantage, using him to ease the pain of her life, and death.

"Get away from him! Your killing," T-Prea stepped up to the other T-Prea, but was scratched.

The cat fight began...

T-Prea stepped back taken off guard that this female would lash out in such a manner....T-prea put her hand to her face as she could feel the warm blood trickle down her cheek.

And then with all her strength T-prea lunged forward trying to grab the hands of this female who had the man she loved in a death lock.

During the struggle, Jake Olson didn't move. It was disturbing to say the least, and in anger T-Prea backhanded her look-a-like off the bed and away from Jake. T-Prea followed her and gave her a savage nerve pinch to put down this THING and rushed back to check Jake's pupils. No response.

"Code Blue Emergency life support STAT!" T-Prea snarled at the onlookers. As they all stood around confused at the events that had just taken place.

Two medics came over and picked Jake up...he seemed so frail they were so muscular....and afraid they would break him in two.

"Here...over here.." T-prea told them.... "Quickly...!"

As they laid Jake on the bio-bed T-prea went quickly to work....Everyone just stood there not moving...barely blinking....

"No pulse....no respiration....T-prea tried desperately to get his vitals back....He has very little brain wave activity....

Cortical stimulator....T-prea asked....but no one moved....NURSE......!!!! NOW....!!!

With that the medical staff kicked into gear....and handed T-prea what she needed.... Soon the bleeps could be heard on the bio-bed monitor...slowly at first then more to a normal pace....

Once Jake was out of the woods for the most part T-prea sighed in relief...Then turned her attention towards the person responsible..

A strange look-a-like...

As T-prea approached her lifeless body now laying on the floor with a security guard standing over her T-prea couldn't help but wonder where this person came from...why she was here and what had happened to her to turn her into such a vicious person....

Her body had been beaten badly, What horrors has she lived through to cause her to be so wicked....T-prea took her tricorder and scanned her lifeless body....

"I guess we will never find out." T-prea said in a low voice.....

Now turning her attentions back to Jake, taking his hand she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek.....

Jake's eyes opened.....

"T-Prea, are you alright?" Jake wispered. He was too weak to reach out to her. He was confused, could there have been two? Something happened. He couldn't understand, confusion...

T-Prea didn't have the heart to tell him exactly what happened. "It's over, you need to heal." She brushed her hand over his forehead. She felt the awful truth of the other's life through Jake's wide open, bruised mind. "It was just a bad dream," T-Prea found herself lying somewhat, because Jake was to weak, too tender to deal with the horrors of the recent past.

"I love you," Jake wispered before drifting off.

JP
Dr. T-Prea
Lt.jg. Jake Olson

"Battle of Light and Dark"
by, Lt. Comdr. Raesene Hermedhie,
Chief Tactical Officer
-------------------------------------

Raesene knew that he could do nothing while the command codes were scrambled. So staying around on the bridge wasn't one of the better plans. There were enemies afoot, and they needed to be dealt with.

Besides, Raesene could feel the prescence of a dark force on board. And he knew what he had to do in regards to that. Quickly, he gave an order to one of his subordinates to take his place, as he moved to his quarters.

Once there, he grabbed his swords and began to track this dark feeling. It took him only a few minutes to close with the first of the enemy. The one who reeked the most. And he stopped when he saw the man. For it was a dark version of himself.

This dark one saw him at nearly the same time, and both jumped into action at about the same time. Sparks flew as their swords clashed. Back and forth, up and down the corridor. After two minutes, both had small slashes and lacerations. Then, tiring of this game, the dark Raesene increased the force of his actions. But the Raesene of Light was prepared for this, and gave him a good slash across the dark one's right arm, causing him to drop his weapon.

"You win this one," he cried, then made one motion with his left hand and disappeared. Which should not have been possible. Unless... he had a connection to a rift maker. It was possible that he had caused the rift that had hurled Raesene to this place and time. And there was no telling which alternate universe he had gone to. He knew that these StarFleeters believe that there was a dark mirror universe. But Raesene knew that there had to be more than one out there.

Shaking his head, and finding no more of these dark ones, he picked up the dark sword and retired to his quarters to think on this.

Nightmares
WO1 Brenton James Fox- Chief Shuttle Pilot

)))During the Dominion War(((

On leave, finally, from Warrent Officer's School. He was a great pilot but even he got sick of the simulators and the textbook situations. He had finally returned home. To Earth, first stop was back to San Fransisco where some of his friends were still attending the Academy. He had kept close contact with a flame he had, they were still very close, she was on Red Squad. The elite of Starfleet Academy. Last he had heard she was off with her people on a training mission on a Defiant-class starship. He arrived in Frisco only to find out that over 3/4 of that crew didn't make it back. Died in a Dominion Assault. Their Captain fought them bravly but they just didn't make it. Fox closed himself off, said he'd never feel again.

)))Nightmare sequence(((

His instruments were online and working perfectly as his fighter roared around, *I never flew a fighter in training* He jammed it hard around and there, there it was, the ship, a Defiant-class starship. Being assaulted by a Jem'Hadar vessle. He kicked in his impulse engines to full power. He had been waiting for this chance, now he could save her. Suddenly his entire fighter died all power except life support, and he sat and watched as the Defiant-class ship was obliterated before his eyes. He could hear her screaming in the blackness of space.

---Present, awake realm---

Fox felt the hard floor as he ran headon into it. He fell off the bed. He growled at the pain he still suffered. He hid it well as usual. A nurse came to his side but he waved him off and forced himself up on his own, getting dizzy immedatly told him he had a concussion as he sat on the bed.

"Dead-end"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

*** Jefferies tubes, USS Galaxy ***

The Butcher was covered in a film of sweat from the humid climate in the jefferies tubes. Still sweltering in her black leather body suit, the Mistress of evil had unzipped the front of her outfit, exposing much of her buxom cleavage as she wiggled through the cramped access tubes on her hands and knees. When she followed the curve of the small, crawl space passage way, around the bend, she was saddened to discover it ended abruptly at one of the Galaxy's structural gussets.

"Eternal starvation!" the Butcher exclaimed. "I've made a wrong turn and come to a dead-end." Glancing back, the slim figured Tellarite rotated her sweat glistening body and managed to turn around to begin her journey back to the junction where she had taken the wrong path. Within a minute, she rounded the corner where she knew the next fork in the passage way occurred, but was greeted by an angry Captain Robert Edward Lee Price.

"That's far enough 'mate. Your rein of terror on board this vessel has come to an end. Put down the weapon and give yourself up."

The Butcher's eyes narrowed. She began to leap back, protected by the bend in the jefferies tube, as she called out, "The Butcher surrenders for no one Price!"

Laying her back against the relative safety of the adjoining bulk head, the evil Endris Gakor reached her arm out blindly around the barrier and took a couple of phaser shots in the area of Captain Price.

Lee anticipated the desperate move, and easily found hard cover of his own at the T-junction of the jefferies tube. Returning fire, just to let the Butcher know two can shoot blindly, the Captain Called out. "It's no use Hoglips, you are trapped. That jefferies tube leads to a dead-end, and there is no way out. Give yourself up. It's over."

The Butcher was panting now. She sat with her back up against the wall and took in several quick, adrenaline filled breaths that caused her breasts to heave forward. She felt like a trapped animal, with no place to go. Fondling her iconian necklace, she knew her only chance of getting out of this was to find a power source to make the ancient artifact work. But there was so little time. The ship's warp core should be on the verge of a melt down by now.

"At least I will die knowing that I took you and your precious ship with me Price!" Endris taunted stalling for time to think.

Lee called out, "We know what you did to the warp core Butcher. My crew is taking steps to repair the sabotage now. So you see, you have failed in ever way possible. You should surrender now while you still can."

Endris reached around taking a quick 'snap-shot' at the Captain with her phaser. She knew it was unlikely she'd actually hit him, but wanted to keep him at bay at the jefferies tube junction. She watched as the Captain easily ducked his head back behind hard cover.

Endris returned to her safe, back to the wall position. "You put too much faith in your crew Captain. They will not be able to cool the core in time."

Lee took another peak and then placed a couple of phaser shots of his own. He kept them to short blasts, as he didn't want to drain his only phaser cell until after the Butcher was neutralized. When he pulled back behind cover, his comm badge signaled.

"Price here, go ahead 'mate."

Down the end of the echoy jefferies tube, Endris continued to catch her breath. She could hear the conversation clearly.

["Casey here Captain. Kay has managed to repair the damage to the warp core. The melt down has been diverted."]

"That's bonzer news Commander."

["There is a radiation leak in the coolant control room, but decontamination teams have been dispatched."] Deiran informed.

"Very well, keep me posted. Have the transporters been restored yet Commander? I have the Butcher pinned down just a few meters ahead of my current position." Lee asked.

["Internal sensors and site to site transporters are still down Captain. It will be a while be for they are available again. I can put a team on it to make it a priority if you want?"] Commander Casey informed.

Lee shook his head. "Negative Commander, I'm sure Lieutenant Commander Samara has her hands full enough already."

["I could notify Lieutenant Commander Mercury in the main shuttle bay. . . He might be able to rig up one of the shuttle craft emergency transporters and get a lock on the Butcher to beam her to the brig?"] Deiran suggested.

"Do it 'mate. Contact me when you are ready. Price out."

*SNACKS!* the Butcher thought. *They've stopped the warp core breach and now are going to use their transporters to whisk me into custody.* Endris thought between heaving breaths. *Need power, need power, need power, but where?!* she thought glancing around the otherwise unfriendly jefferies tube she found herself trapped in. It was then that she realized, she still had her phaser, but would it be enough to get the job done?

"Blaze Of Glory"
by Darian McGee
Pirate Trying To Get Away

~~~~Nacelle Control - USS Galaxy~~~~

He didn't have much time. Most of the pirates had been captured. Well, Darian McGee was not going out without one hell of a fight. He took a last look around the room, and decided as one final act of anger, to demolish the room. He took his hand phaser and blew up every console in the room. Sparks flied and showered the darkened room. Then Darian dived headfirst into the Jeffries tube.

As he was crawling, Darian went over possible plans. He formulated one, and set straight to work to implement it. Why waste time crawling through Jeffries tubes when you could simply go through them? Checking the charge on his phaser, he set it to a setting that would allow him to cut through the plating of the Jeffries tubes.

He cut his way through the plating, and climbed down to the next deck. Then he did the same thing again, until he was six decks below where he had been. Crawling out of the Jeffries tubes, and into the open, Darian McGee prepared for the worst.

The hallway was empty though. He would pillage the Galaxy until he was caught or killed. But one thing was for sure, he wasn't going back to his own universe. Not ever again, the only way Darian McGee was going back to the mirror universe is in a body bag.

He grabbed his phaser rifle, set it to kill, and walked briskly down the hallway. He turned a corner and saw two security officers coming his way. Both Ensigns it seemed. He fired two quick shots. One caught the officer on the right in the arm, and she fell hard, hitting the deck.

"Dammit" Astrid Salt screamed, drawing her phaser and returning fire. The other security officer dragged her to cover, while laying down phaser fire that kept Darian at bay.

A few more quick shots and he had blown a chunk out of the other officers leg. Leave them be, he thought to himself. I have more important things to do. He continued down on his journey, with the groans of the fallen security officers filling the deck.

As he rounded another corner, he saw a security team, five people, set up, all pointing phasers at his direction. He quickly jumped back as a barrage of phaser fire came at him.

"Shit," Darian cursed to himself. 'I knew I should have killed those other two.'

Darian blindly returned fire, and he heard the thud of someone hitting the deck. Well, at least he had taken one out. He continued his fire, while they continued theirs. That's when he got an idea. Taking out his handphaser, he set it to overload. An old Imperial trick to take out a lot of enemies.

He came out firing his rifle, and tossed the hand phaser at the security team.

"Get back!" one of them shouted.

The phaser exploded, sending smoke and fire cascading through the hallway. Some of the officers were caught in the blast, killing two of the younger Ensigns. While others were burned severely.

Darian took the initiative and ran. Crossing down the hallways, all through the deck. He still hadn't seen a Jeffries tube.

And when he crossed another corner, he was at a dead end. As he turned around, he heard the charging of phasers pointing at him, and the same security team that he had thrown his 'bomb' at earlier was about 15 feet away from him, all with phasers leveled at him.

He was at a dead end. But he refused to be captured, refused to go back to the hell that was his home universe. Very calmly, Darian raised his phaser, and pulled the trigger...

"Getting to Know You"
by Lieutenant James Chen
ACSO

Chun Wu had watched as the Butcher's plans came of fruition. They took Engineering with a minimum of difficulty, though he'd heard of some Klingon woman making trouble. Chun Wu simply waited. He knew his shadow was security, which meant he'd be coming soon. Chun Wu stood quietly and watched as Jamie York died. He saw the man known as Price weep for her. That was why one shouldn't become attached. It caused too many problems. After Price took the phaser and started the firefight, Chun Wu stayed where he was, phaser in hand. He could feel the other.

Then, the doors opened and the entire team swept in. Chun Wu took cover and watched as they fought. They fought well, moving quickly and neutralizing all threats efficiently. It was there that Chun Wu first saw the shadow in person. He moved in at the front of the team, firing and taking cover. As phaser fire lanced back at him, he simply took cover for a brief instant, ended the threat and continued on. Oh, he was as good as Chun Wu had hoped he'd be.

Chen stood with the others, aiding with the restraining of the mirror universe pirates. He'd watched the scene between the captain and Casey and was a little thrown by the whole thing. He'd heard reports of the mirror universe, of course. He just never thought it'd be something he'd ever come face to face with. Just then, Chen saw a flash of movement to his side. Somebody had just charged past and out of Engineering. Chen followed the blurred object out of Engineering at full clip. Whoever it was was just rounding a corner, speeding into another hallway. Chen followed behind and came around to an empty hallway. Chen raised his rifle and started forward, eyes scanning all around. He felt the sweat pop out on his forehead. He came to an alcove in the wall. He paused, then came around fast and in a crouch. It was empty. Chen took a deep breath and turned, moving on to the rest of the hallway. As Chen past, a small panel in the wall opened and Chun Wu uncurled himself from his hiding position. Repair access was a useful thing in a jam. Chun Wu silently went into the hallway. Chen was only a few feet away. Chun Wu raised his phaser. It would be easy. But it wouldn't be fun. And that was the whole point. Chun Wu set the phaser down, then ran forward. Chen didn't hear him coming. Chun Wu kicked Chen's right wrist, which was holding the handle of the phaser. The rifle was knocked forward. Chun Wu grabbed both ends and flipped it, spinning the rifle in the air. He grabbed it with one hand and threw it aside.

Chun Wu threw a knee into Chen's gut, doubling him over. Then he rammed his elbow down into the back of Chen's head, dropping him to the ground. Chen tried to get up, his vision swimming and his body not responding as well as he wanted it to. He'd never been hit so hard in his life. Chun Wu leaned down and grabbed Chen's hair, clamping a hand over his mouth before he could make a sound. Chun Wu leaned in close. "I am Chen Chun Wu," he whispered. "Son of Chen Kar Sung and student of Hidori Nokuma. I have killed every type of species alive at one point or another. I am here to kill you, James Chen."

Chen started to struggle, and Chun Wu lifted him up. He pushed him against the wall again. Chen hit the wall hard and drew his phaser. Chun Wu clamped a hand on Chen's wrist. He started to twist and the phaser dropped from Chen's grasp. Chun Wu threw a punch at Chen's head. Chen ducked it easily, and kicked out, hitting Chun Wu in the stomach. Chun Wu was lifted off his feet, and his grip released, but other than that, the kick seemed to have no effect. Chun Wu retaliated with a spin kick which Chen never had a chance to block. He hit the ground again, a tooth falling loose from its moorings. Chen tasted blood. He pushed off the ground again, ignoring the pain. He threw a series of punches at his double, who blocked every single one, then kicked out at Chen. Chen dropped onto his back, wrapped his right leg around his double's, and kicked him in the groin. Chun Wu went down hard, his head bouncing against the floor with no more than a grunt. Both men rolled to their feet at the same time.

Chen and Chun Wu launched into their movements. Neither man were able to get past the other's defenses. Neither man gave or took an inch. Chen threw a triple kick at Chun Wu, who blocked all three attempts and dropped to a crouch, spinning around and sweeping Chen's legs out from under him. Chen struck the ground, but pushed up and instant later as Chun Wu stomped on his former position. Chen rammed the heel of his palm up into Chun Wu's gut, wrapped his arm around his double's throat and twisted, throwing him over his hip. Chun Wu hit the ground, but brought his leg up and kicked Chen in the temple. Chen stumbled back and Chun Wu was up again. Chen dodged his attacker's advances, blocked a roundhouse kick to his knee and threw one of his own into Chun Wu's gut. Chun Wu fell back. Chen spun and snapped a solid kick to Chun Wu's chin. Chun Wu's head snapped back and his legs went limp. He fell to his knees, the world spinning before him. Chen looked at his enemy, shock and disbelief dawning on his face. Chun Wu shook his head and looked up, a grim smile on his lips. Chen knew who he was. They were the same. Chun Wu growled and pushed off the ground quickly.

Chun Wu threw a hard forward kick into Chen's sternum. Chen felt the air explode from his lungs as he hit the wall. Chun Wu followed up by striking Chen in the face with an elbow and Chen started to slide to the ground. Chun Wu grabbed Chen by the chin and lifted him up. Chun Wu shook his head. "I was expecting so much more." He sighed and looked back at the others. "I don't think I'll be able to escape this. Well, I doubt any prison you have here could be worse than Nightmare Alley. I'll get out. This place offers so much." Chun Wu stepped back and gripped Chen's throat in his hands. Chen felt his oxygen get cut off. He started to struggle harder, but Chun Wu's grip was too strong. He couldn't get out of it. Chen looked at his killer, the man who looked exactly like himself. Chen could feel himself slipping away. The blood was rushing in his ears.

Chen grabbed Chun Wu's wrist with both hands as the darkness started closing in. Chen focused all his energies and strength then twisted hard, Chun Wu's fingers peeled away from Chen's throat. Chen, right hand still holding the wrist, he brought the heel of his hand down on Chun Wu's elbow. He felt the bone break and Chun Wu screamed. He spun quickly, bringing his left elbow around. It landed solidly on Chen's temple. Chen took the blow and reacted with on of his own, a quick one-two to Chun Wu's stomach. Chun Wu stumbled back and Chen kicked out twice, the first kick landing on Chun Wu's chest, the next snapping into his face, the nose broke and Chun Wu fell back and hit the wall. Chen stood up straight and shook his head to clear the cobwebs. "Expecting anything like that?"

Chun Wu stood straight and smiled. His right arm hung limply at his side. "Very nice," he said. "I underestimated you." Chun Wu came forward, faking a punch with his left hand, then kicking Chen in the groin. Chen yelped and fell back. Chun Wu pivoted and landed a hard kick into Chen's stomach. Then, he brought his foot down on Chen's knee. The joint popped and Chen fell, the pain lancing into his brain. Chen kicked with his good leg and Chun Wu was brought down with a hard kick to the chest. Both men laid on the ground, bleeding and hurting. Chun Wu was smiling. "This has been everything I hoped it to be."

Chen shook his head and slowly started to get to his foot. "Well," he said. "I'm glad you're happy." He sighed as he finally stood straight. "Come on," he said. "Let's get this over with."

Chun Wu got to his feet with a smile. Just then, two of his security officers rounded the corner and saw the two men. Chen frowned at Chun Wu. Chun Wu looked back at the two armed officers, who were pointing their phasers at him. Chun Wu didn't look enough like his shadow for there to be confusion. He'd have to grow his hair out next time. Maybe get his eye looked at. Chun Wu looked at Chen. "I'm requesting asylum."

Chen frowned. "What's that?"

"It is possible that if I'm arrested, I'll be sent back to my universe. I have many enemies in the other universe. If I go back, I will be killed. I want to stay in your universe, James."

Chen shook his head as the two security officers took Chun Wu into custody. Chen snorted. "You gotta be shittin' me."

"Trip to Makeshift Sickbay"
by Lt Cmdr K'Eytyanna Samara,
Second Officer & Chief Engineer
-------------------------------------------------------

Kay barely noticed anything as medical staff in white radiation suits lifted her up.

All her skin was red and touch was painful from the burns. Her throat was dry and sore, and her stomach was doing sommersaults.

Kay tried to make herself remeber, {Next time, I'll delegate and no charge in.}

She had taken a stupid risk, considering she was Chief Engineer and 2nd Officer, but there was nobody else alive and not busy. She could have sent T'Zaq in, but she was needed to cut off the antimatter and matter flows. The remaining staff had no chance of fixing the problem without computers - something she would need to rectify. Unlike Klingon ships which didn't rely on computers, Starfleet believed in computers more.

She was gently lowered onto an anti-grav bed and a hypospray was put to her neck. She fell asleep quickly, knowing that she was on the way to whatever now passed as Sickbay.

-------------------------------------------------------
Lt Cmdr K'Eytyanna Samara USS Galaxy Engineering, 2nd Officer
D'Akana T'Mok (NPC) USS Galaxy Targ

"Making A Bad Situation--- "

By Anna Gartner
(AKA: Alias, the bounty hunter)

**In the lower decks of the USS Galaxy**

Alias cursed silently as she marched down the corridor. Everything was going to pieces and to top it off, she was lost!

The Galaxy's crew was finally started to rally and pushed Hoglips band of pirates out of engineering and down into the lower decks. At this rate they'll run out of places to run.

Suddenly up ahead four uniformed Galaxy crew members appeared down the corridor moving towards her with phaser rifles at the ready.

"Dropped your weapon!" One of them commanded.

"You first." Alias replied, raising her disruptor.

With shield energy to her suit running low, Alias gambled as the Federation crew opened fired, and the gamble paid off. They had their weapons set for stun and the phaser energy harmless washed over her protective armor.

The bounty hunter returned fire with her disruptor set for stun and took each one of them out in turn as they tried to adjust their phasers to a higher setting. That was one thing she learned about this Federation, it was far different from the Federation in her universe. This Federation didn't act like a bunch of cut-throats and actually looked out for each other if her encounter with this universe version of herself and Neil Bolitho were any indications. Not to mention this crew were using their weapons at stun, back in her universe, the stun settings rarely gets used.

She continued on down the maze of corridors where she happened upon several bodies of dead Galaxy crew members. A few had wounds to their chest but a couple were shot behind the head, point blank range, execution style.

~Poor bastards.~ Alias thought. ~You were probably better off fighting to the end than surrendering to the animals that boarded your ship.~

Then Alias heard the echo of weapon being fired down the corridor in the direction she was heading. She hurried to investigate. As she got closer she heard more weapons fire and this time followed by screams and shouts of people. This put Alias into a flat out run.

Turning the corner she spotted two of Hoglips pirates guarding the entrance to a cargo bay. Recognising the bounty hunter, they just nodded to Alias as she pushed her way past them.

Inside she saw several pirates herding a group of captured Galaxy and civilian dressed crew members in the middle of the room. A body of a young slender man in a blue uniformed lay dead at the feet of one pirate who fired his disruptor in the air again.

"WHAT THE HELL GOING ON!" The bounty hunter shouted as she entered the cargo bay.

The pirate lowered his disruptor and turned to her. "Alias." He said with a slight smirk. "I think our chances in getting off this ship has improved with you here."

Alias walked right up to him. "In case you didn't heard me." She pointed to the body of the dead man, who couldn't be no older than a boy. "What happened here?"

"He didn't moved when he was told."

"And he deserved to die?" Alias almost hissed through her helmet microphone, pointing to the body. "He's was just a boy."

"What's wrong Alias?" The pirate grinned in amusement, showing his yellow teeth. "Losing your nerve in killing? You have to be ruthless in dealing with hostages to get your point across."

Alias looked at the terrified group of Galaxy crew members, then to the dozen or so pirates guarding them. The pirates looked almost too trigger happy as they watched the hostages. Then a sight among the hostages caught her attention. A small child being comforted by a woman in a hover chair. She held the little girl on her lap, as the child bawled into the adult's shoulder.

The bounty hunter watched this as she murmured to the pirate. "Are you in charge here?"

"Yes." He replied with a grunt. "And don't you forget it."

Alias struck like lightning, as she lunged at the taller man. Her arms snaked about his neck and snapped his neck before he could make a sound. As the dead pirate's body collapsed to the deck, Alias loudly announced to the remaining pirates in the cargo bay.

"I'm in charge here now! Do any of you have any problems with that?"

The pirates stared dumbfounded at the bounty hunter, then to their dead leader and back to the bounty hunter again but they remained silent.

"Good." Alias nodded. "Now, ease up on your trigger fingers!"

Alias moved to the hostages, while lowering her helmet. "I'm sorry for the treatment you received but this is necessary." She said to them. "If you just remain calm, the rest of us will all get out of here alive. I promise you that, my word is my honour."

Several of the Galaxy crew stared at her face in bewilderment, seeing that the dark haired bounty hunter had a striking resemblance to a certain ship's blonde security officer.

"Valhalla"
Ens. Roman O'Neil, M.D.

*** Cargo Bay 2, Triage ***

Roman had seen many wounded since the first attack by the Griffin, then the boarding by pirates. Such senseless violence and death. Many officers, too far gone to be saved, yet clinging desperately to life, even as their body faded. Their dreams and hopes dashed.

Space exploration was filled with such things. Conflict was inevitable since no one could predict every variable. Gakor was a slave driver but the thought that her evil twin from another universe had caused this was creepy.

T-prea had saved their boss from near fatal injuries and he knew that if she had died, Sickbay would never be the same. The woman had turned the department around after the deaths of Kat and Nilani, when morale here was at its lowest, she had brought it back. If he could have, he would have helped T-prea but his Terran/Vulcan comrade had things in hand.

He looked over at a table where a couple of interns were zipping up yet another corpse for the morgue. Except it wasn't 'just another body'. Ensign Derek Coors had just graduated from the Academy. The Galaxy had been his first assignment, the war games, his first mission. It was over for Derek and many others.

Roman watched them take young Derek out, listened to the moans of others, mercifully silenced by hyposprays administered by the nursing staff. He also noticed Brooke taking the death of her patient badly. Had he had the strength, he would have comforted her but right now he was tired and cynical.

For the past two years, during the War, he treated hundreds of combat related injuries and at times death seemed to be all there was. When he first stepped on the Galaxy after the USS Prince of Wales exploded during the Battle of the Line, he was pressed into service. Many were wounded but after a time, one becomes numb to it. Now back aboard the principal ship of her class, he was treating more wounded. History repeating itself or were they simply condemned to follow this bloody road to the end of time.

His break was soon taken by another victim of the carnage. Another Security ensign chest cavity had been pulverized. His fellow guards had taken the boy in the faint hope he could be saved. Roman did not have a chance. Massive loss of blood and internal injuries were just too much. The ensign tried to hold on and Roman tried to save him. Whether it was a reflex or a conscious action, the ensign grabbed a hold of Roman's arm, leaving a red smear of blood on his sleeve. Both men locked eyes but it was over in a second, the hand went limp.

*Valhalla would soon be standing room only.*

A nurse asked for the time of death for the record but Roman couldn't move himself to look away. The nurse's insistence soon paid off and he answered.

He soon moved to another patient, putting behind the dead knowing that he could only help the living.

"Chalk One Up for the Tac Dep"
Lt.(jg) Timothy Richeson
Tactical Officer, USS Galaxy

***Deck 37***

Roomer had it, deck 37 was filled with the intruders. However, Lt.'s. Richeson and Marc, and Ensign Zarides were about to give up. They had been over almost, every inch of the deck and they had not run into any hostels. "Computer, how many life signs are on this deck?" Alexa Zarides asked in a annoyed voice.

::::10 life forms found:::: came the reply.

"That leaves 7 on this deck. Security says we're the only team here." Richeson chimed in. He had to admit, Zarides was holding up better then he had anticipated. She seemed so lost when the original battle began. That was mostly the reason he decided to put her on his team, so he could keep an eye on her. Tim also admitted to himself that he was probably keeping both eyes on her, she was quite a good looking women. "Computer, can you locate where the life forms are?"

:::Negative, internal sensors are off-line::: The computers voice still bothered Tim. He doubted that he'd ever get used to it. It just keep talking in that cold, emotionless voice. Honestly it just scares the hell out of him when it wakes him up in the morning.

"Wait..." Lt.(jg) Mike Marc said as he stared at his tricorder. Four humanoid's moving this way. Ten meters away."

Tim pulled out his Type II phaser from his belt and set it to maximum stun. Then instructed his two companions to do the same. The three officers ducked into a door way and didn't say a word. Tim kneeled down as Mike and Alexa aimed their phaser rifles ahead.

Alexa Zarides was either not paying a damn bit of attention, or just didn't care that she was rubbing against Lt. Richeson's shoulder with her chest. It continued for a second or two as they waited. Damn, Tim thought.. If she REALLY wanted to do this, why did she hafta pick now eh? He scolded himself for thinking that. It was impossible to know if she was doing it on purpose or not. He decided that he would have to ask her about it... later.

"Ok, set to maximum stun. Zardies take upper left corner, Mike take upper right, ill take the lower. And what ever you do, don't...." a disrupter blast interrupted Richeson before he was able to complete his thought. But he was able to come up with a new one..."Don't talk to much and lose track of what your doing!" Mike chucked at the sarcastic remark Tim used. Tim knew he had just lost the element of surprise because he talked to much. Oh well... He sure wasn't going to cry over anger/lost opportunities or pain...

Well, maybe pain. "Open fire." Tim chanted. Marc was the first to score a hit on one of the enemies. Tim then fired and hit another in the midsection. The other three pirates began to fall back into the corridor.

Zardies pulled out from the protection of the door way and sent a full barrage of phaser fire at the intruders, killing another one. "YEAH!" she cried out. She obviously was pleased with her ability aim a phaser riffle.

Mike Marc glanced back at his tricorder while Tim and Ensign Zardies laid down cover fire. "Tim, I think the rest of those pirates are heading this way." Mike put his tricorder away and picked up his phaser riffle again. The odds were again going against them. Five intruders against three tac officers...

Alexa Zardies fired another shot, this time missing her target. The man fell to the ground and pulled out a odd looking phaser and shot back, but hitting Zardies in her left hip. She fell do the floor and howled in pain.

"SHIT!" Tim moved forward and grabbed her by her tunic and pulled her back into the door way they were using as cover. He took one look at his comrade and realized she had passed out from the pain. "Aww to hell with this..." Tim's voice trailed off.

Mike looked at his friend with wonder and then fired back at the enemy's. Meanwhile, Tim pulled his type I hand phaser out of his tunic and played around with the buttons, turning the power to overload. In less then a minute, the hand weapon would explode like a old fashion grenade. He threw it into the pack of hostels and pulled Mike down to the ground for his own protection, then jumped on top of Zardies body to protect his wounded comrade from the explosion.

Within a few seconds the phaser exploded. Two of the intruders were blown to pieces from the explosion. The others were burt to a chrisp.

Mike pulled himself up and began to examine the bodies with the tricorder. "All dead." He really didn't need to check, he knew the answer before he even took the tricorder out, but he felt he should be sure.

"Great..." Tim said dryly "Comon we got to get Ensign Zardies to medical." He picked the young women up into his arms and began to walk down the corridor. "Lt. Richeson to bridge. Deck 37 is secure. No intruders remain.."

One Last Ruse to Destruction
by Hoglips the Butcher
revisions by Captain Price

*** Jefferies Tubes, USS Galaxy ***

Hoglips knew Captain Price was not about to back down, having too much at stake. Still, she needed time for the battery in the Iconian Device to recharge. Perhaps engaging in conversation would buy her enough time. Endris thought a minute, then struck upon an idea that just might work.

"Snacks Price! I wouldn't be so confident if I were you! Do you really think one ship could inflict so much damage? I wonder what pirate ship number two is doing right now...", she lied convincingly, seductively swaying her hips.

Unperturbed, Price continued to fire, rupturing a power line behind the rouge Tellarite. "Are you claiming there is another enemy ship hiding in the asteroid belt?", Price asked while trying to get a clean phaser shot.

Gakor tossed out a spanner she had found, forcing Lee to duck. "It's true you imbecilic simpleton! There is another pirate ship in the Eudamii asteroid belt waiting to march a reign of destruction. If you want to live, I suggest proceeding there at once.", the Butcher screeched.

Price wondered why she would make such a startling revelation, so much so he decided to ask "But why would you warn us 'mate?"

Hoglips was not in a good mood, so she practically yelled her retort "Because fool, I appear to be stuck here for the time being. If the Galaxy is destroyed, I die too!"

Lee immediately knew the Butcher was lying. Only moments before she had consigned her defeat and declared she was glad she'd die with everyone on the ship when the warp core breached. Her sudden reversal now didn't make any sense, even in her demented state of mind, unless she was stalling. Then the Captain got a glimpse of something shinny being connected to the ruptured power line. Something rocked the Galaxy, and Price knew the best course would be to check in with the bridge.

Lee tapped his comm badge, ["Helm, what is our status 'mate"]. If there was one iota of truth to Hoglips statement, he wanted to ensure conditions were safe now.

["No problem Captain, we had to swerve to miss a rouge asteroid flung out of the asteroid field. Nothing to worry about sir."] Lieutenant Pailaka reported.

When the Galaxy banked sharply, it knocked the Butcher's phaser out of her hands. *Starvation*, she thought *my phaser was on overload so I could syphon off energy! I will have to trick Price into firing directly on the Iconian artifact...*

Price managed to hold his ground, and was able to get a clean line of sight. He raised his phaser, after adjusting the dial to full power. The information from the bridge confirmed Hoglips was stalling for some reason.

"You are lying 'mate. And your time is up!" the Captain stated as he discharged his phaser. The energy beam struck the evil Doctor square in the chest.

Hoglips got a wicked look on her face, snorting her nose up at him. The gauge was at 90%, and it would soon be safe to transport. "Nourishment Price! Hoglips never surrenders!", she said with a sinister taunting laugh.

Captain Price continued to fire, amazed that the Butcher seemed able to resist his phaser beam. He maintained his fire, and could see whatever force field she had protecting her chest was starting to glow.

From her concealed boot sheath, Endris produced a small Tellarite Cleaver which she threw at the Captain. It ruptured a steam pipe, and Lee was blasted with hot vapor, moving him aside before he got burnt.

Goaded beyond all reason, Price vowed this deluded individual could not go on to hassle others. Focusing his blast on the center of the disc Hoglips wore, he sent a second full power burst directly at her.

The Butcher disappeared in a brilliant flash of light. The white heat was so intense, Lee was flash-blinded for the next few seconds. When he recovered his sight, he examined the area carefully, but could find no evidence the evil twin of Endris Gakor had escaped. He would order an investigation later, and have a team with tricorders comb the area. Even Price was not sure if this was one of her 'fake her own death' tricks, or if she was gone for good, or possibly even exiled.

Glancing around the jefferies tube, no trace of the over loading phaser the Butcher had dropped could be found. Lee presumed that it had exploded, which was the cause of the bright, blinding flash he witnessed.

Seeing his nemesis neutralized, Price rushed for the Bridge to deal with the other problems that developed during Hoglip's delays. Dr Daystrom was probably fuming by now...

*** Later, Cargo Bay 2, Triage ***

Endris Gakor sat up. She had a most curious feeling that something had just happened to her. An hour and a half ago, the medical staff had closed her chest cavity up, and the new heart was functioning correctly. Gakor was naturally tired from the ordeal, and planned to take medical recuperation leave on Bajor. She had already spoke to Matthew about this, and he was supportive and agreed to take care of Adam and the fish while she was gone. Although it might make more sense for a Tellarite to return to Tellar for leave, Gakes had adopted many Bajoran religious techniques into her manor of relaxation. So it seemed natural to request Bajor as a vacation spot. The paperwork was completed and forwarded to the XO for approval, so it was only a matter of time before it was approved.

Based on STAR TREK created by Gene Roddenberry
Story by Lieutenant Suder - Assistant Chief Engineer

"Offensive"

"There's more wounded." Lieutenant Gillings stated as he listened in on the communications throughout the ship. The small device he had created was useful in a situation like this. This way, the enemy wouldn't be able to hear anything that was going on. Gillings held the small device close to his ear as Ensign Phillips and Lieutenant Suder provided cover until they could get their bearings on the situation. "Reports are coming in from all decks. A lot of Engineershave been injuried... Including the Chief." Gillings reported.

Suder ceased his fire for a moment and looked at his friend. "Medical got their hands full." he continued.

"Top snots?" the younger Engineer asked.

Suder and Pual both looked at the kid. "I've learnt a lot from you guys."

"I'm sure I didn't teach you to say that." Suder said.

"You say it all the time Lieutenant."

"Well don't let any of the senior staff hear you say that." Suder paused and looked down the corridor. The enemy was still there.

"I haven't heard anything yet. The command staff must be busy." Paul stated.

Out of the blue, a bombardment of energy came flying past the Engineers. Energy bolts destroyed one of the bulkheads near them.

"They must have got reinforcements." Ensign Phillips said.

Suder quickly looked round the corner and noticed there were six people, all very well covered. He noticed their positions and then hid behind the corner again.

"Paul, give me your sack." he ordered. Gillings handed his bag to the Lieutenant and Suder took out several small objects.

"Sir, that's going to do a lot of damage." Phillips said.

"Tell it to the Chief, and every other officer that's been injuried." Suder snapped as he activated the three small objects. He threw them round the corner one by one.

The three Engineers heard the small balls bounce and then come to a halt. There was the sound of loud foot steps. The enemy was running.

"Ready?" Suder asked.

Both Gillings and Phillips nodded.

There was a loud explosion. The walls shook around the Engineers. Smoke and debris came shooting out of the corridor. Suder rolled out into the open, phaser rifle ready to fire. But there were no people ready to fight back. A lot of damage had been caused to the bulkheads in the corridor. The six intruders lay on the floor, weapons scattered.

"I thought you used phaser grenades?" Phillips asked.

"Stunt grenade." Suder replied.

"Stunt?" Phillips replied.

"Ask me about it sometime." Suder said as he began moving down the corridor. The other two Engineers followed and then came to a halt at the next corner.

They all heard voices but it was too late to act, to hide, to take cover. "We killed them all, except the Chief and-" The intruders saw the Engineers and raised their weapons. Suder threw himself at one of them while Phillips raised his weapon and fired at the second.

"Look out!" Gillings yelled.

A third intruder came around the opposite corner and shot Phillips just as the second intruder that Phillips shot, fell to the deck. The phaser fire coming from all direction knocked Gillings to the ground. He looked at Phillips, he looked stunned, not dead. He turned his head and looked at the attacking intruder. His weapon had jammed and he was running towards the Engineers.

Suder continued to roll around on the floor with one of the intruders. Both strangling each other.

Gillings jumped to his feet and greeted the running intruder with a heavy fist to his jaw. The intruder went down and Gillings continued his attack. He launched himself on to his enemy and began beating him. Smashing his head on the deck and punching him into a daze.

The first intruder punched Suder away. Suder rolled into the bulkhead that knocked him into a bit of a daze. The intruder rose to his feet and took out a small object from his jacket. "Your going to end up like your friends and boss Engineer. Dead!" the man said. He activated the weapon and an electrical charge came shooting out of the small weapon. Suder felt the blast all over his body. As he kicked out in pain, the intruder got caught in his knee. He went down. Suder got to his knees and grabbed hold of the intruders head and smashed it on the deck. He looked over at Gillings and Phillips.

Phillips lay stunned on the deck, Gillings had won his fight. Only it looked like his fight went better. Gillings had only a cut face, Suder had a brusied jaw bone, a cut head and the start of a bruised left eye. That, added to the burns on his hip from that weapon that the intruder had. Suder realized how much pain he was in and fell to the deck. Leaning against the bulkead, he looked up at Gillings. "Get to the lower decks, continue the fight. I'll get a medi-pack and meet you down there." Suder ordered.

"Your sure?" Gillings asked.

Suder nodded and watched as his friend left. The Lieutenant heard several more voices coming from the end of the corridor that they had just come down. Suder quickly looked in the small bag that had the stunt grenades in, but he only had seven of them left, and a few phaser grenades. But he didn't want to use them.

He reached over and grabbed a phaser rifle that was resting next to Phillips. The voices grew louder and Suder tried his best to see threw the smoke and darkness that shrouded the corridor. Two figures became slightly visiable and Suder wasted no time firing his weapon. At least eight blasts were unleashed into the darkness before the power cell had been completely discharged. Suder dropped the phaser rifle and grabbed his hand phaser. He began firing aimlessly hoping that he would hit something as he lay against the bulkhead, to injuried to move.

To be continued...

Based on STAR TREK created by Gene Roddenberry
Story by Lieutenant Suder - Assistant Chief Engineer

" Offensive Part II "

Phillips lay stunned on the deck, Gillings had won his fight. Only it looked like his fight went better. Gillings had only a cut face, Suder had a brusied jaw bone, a cut head and the start of a bruised left eye. That, added to the burns on his hip from that weapon that the intruder had. Suder realized how much pain he was in and fell to the deck. Leaning against the bulkead, he looked up at Gillings. "Get to the lower decks, continue the fight. I'll get a medi-pack and meet you down there." Suder ordered.

"Your sure?" Gillings asked.

Suder nodded and watched as his friend left. The Lieutenant heard several more voices coming from the end of the corridor that they had just come down. Suder quickly looked in the small bag that had the stunt grenades in, but he only had seven of them left, and a few phaser grenades. But he didn't want to use them.

He reached over and grabbed a phaser rifle that was resting next to Phillips. The voices grew louder and Suder tried his best to see threw the smoke and darkness that shrouded the corridor. Two figures became slightly visiable and Suder wasted no time firing his weapon. At least eight blasts were unleashed into the darkness before the power cell had been completely discharged. Suder dropped the phaser rifle and grabbed his hand phaser. He began firing aimlessly hoping that he would hit something as he lay against the bulkhead, too injuried to move...

The smoke was beginning to settle like dust. But the darkness remained. The voices had stopped for now and nothing could be heard. Suder had to assume the enemy was still there, but maybe he had killed them. Suder only had a few stunt grenades left, but now that nothing could be heard, he thought now was the time to rest.

"Fire!" a voice yelled out. Suder forced himself to roll out of the way of incoming fire. He obviously hadn't killed them.

"Wait, it's Sider, we can't kill him!" a voice yelled back.

"It's not the Suder we know!" the first voice yelled back.

Suder hesitated at the talk going on. Who the hell were they talking about? Another Suder? He grabbed another stunt grenade and set the blast radious to full and then threw it along the ground. The ball bounced and rolled across the deck and debris and exploded. A flash of bright green light surrounded the corridors for a moment and then the darkness took control again. Suder saw a body fall to the ground. The grenade had worked. For the most part. There was still one intruder left.

Suder heard something bouncing. He looked to his right and saw a similar device that Suder had been using bounce next to him. Suder thought it was impossible. Suder and Gillings had designed this particuar stunt grenade, how did these pirates have them? The Engineer had to begin crawling away but the blast still hit him. The flash of light seemed to explode in the corridor for a fraction of a second. Suder was thrown forward slightly. He felt unusual. Stunned. Like he couldn't do anything. He heard another device bounce and explode. Only this one didn't hit him. He continued to drag himself down a dark corridor, hoping he would get away from his attacker. There was another bounce and this time, there was a lud explosion. The explosion rocked the deck and some of the bulkheads gave way, falling to the deck. A bulkhead supporting the ceiling came loose and dropped to the floor. Crushing Suder from the waist, Suder yelled out as the dust from the explosion burnt his eyes, the bulkhead putting pressure on his waist, that, combined to the wounds Suder had already recieved.

"Your nothing like the Suder we know." the pirate said.

Suder realized the pirate was standing over him. He went to speak, but was too stunned and hurt to speak.

"But, unlike him, you die now." the attacker said as he pointed yet another weapon at Suder.

Suder pulled his right arm up to his chest and rested it on his communicator. He tapped it gently as the intruder was about to press the button his weapon.

The intruder heard two beeps and turned around. The beeps came from the bag that Suder was sat next to a moment ago. He looked back at the Engineer and was about to yell something when the phaser grenades went off as well as the few stunt grenades that were left. Surprisingly, not that much damage was caused. There was enough force to knock the intruder into a bulkhead causing a heavy thud when his head made contact with the deck plates.

Suder rested on the deck. He couldn't help but look at the ceiling. The darkness was easier to look at. He was about to tapp his communicator again, but it wouldn't work. He had rigged it to activate the grenades. Instead, he grabbed his tricorder, slowly and opened it. Activating it, he tapped in a few commands. He suddenly felt faint. But the tricorder was sending out a signal that another tricorder or internal sensors would detect. Suders eyes closed and his arm fell to the deck dropping the tricorder, allowing it to send it's signal...

= = = = = = = =
Lt jg. T-prea
Temporary CMO,
USS Galaxy
= = = = = = = =

The patients seemed an endless flow but things were slowing down....enough for T-prea to grab something to drink....It had now been more hours then she dare to count since she had sat down and enjoyed a cool beverage or a bit to eat.

The iced tea felt good going down her parched and sore throat. She took a cool towel to her face and wiped away the sweat and grim that had built up....it was refreshing.

T-prea pulled a crate over and turned it upside down to allow it to become a stool for her throbbing feet....As she sat there she looked around at the catastrophy. There must of been about 130 patients there now..and over 100 or so that had come and gone....

She closed her sore, red and swollen eyes when she heard those all too familiar words...more wounded coming in...we have many coming from engineering....with severe plasma burns and amputations....

And we just got word of a medic needed near engineering...seems a ceiling had collapsed onto Suder and he is pinned....they are trying to remove it now....but his lower half is crushed beneath....they need a medic to check him before they remove anything...unsure what to do....

Another voice was heard saying....

T-prea quickly rose to her feet, looking around at the injured piling in....to the already over crowded triage unit that had been set up in cargo bay 2.

All of the Medical staff who were resting rose to their feet as well and began the task of tending to those wounded coming in....

T-prea looked for someone to send down to engineering to handle Suder...She saw Dr. Ames sitting in the corner....Her fiancee was going to be alright...he was now stable and they needed someone to take care of Sauder...all others were busy with critically wounded as well...

T-prea walked over to Brooke....

"Brooke...we are in need of a Dr. outside of engineering....Suder has been critically injured and they don't want to do anything without a Dr. present....please take what you need and get down there ASAP...." T-prea said as she nodded her head and hurried over to the surgical unit that had been set up....

"I've been blown up. Take me to hospital!"
By Ensign Peter Lockhart

Peter moaned convincingly in cargo bay two. What with the stun injury he'd suffered and the partial exposure to vacuum, he was happy to just lie here, doing nothing. He'd already had one of the doctors come and check up on him, but the winning moan he'd given out had convinced her he could stay here for a while longer.

As he lay there wondering, he thought back to what had happened. Kiths had blown out the wall with his phaser, and Peter had been carried out with him. Luckily, the real Mr. Shtik had beamed him back, and then beamed him direct to sickbay. As he thought about it, he realised that he probably owed his life to 'Commander Shtik. Then he realised he was probably still down there, perhaps fighting other intruders.

Peter felt a twinge of guilt, then did something he'd never done before. He sat up, attempting to move to find out. Then he realised all he needed to do was tap his comm badge and find out. He slapped his chest. No comm badge! Then he remembered that the fat cow "Hoglips" (whom he'd give 'fatlips' to if he ever saw her again) had snatched it away.

"I suggest you don't try to move yet Ensign." Dr. Bellen suddenly said, coming up alongside him. "I think you need to rest at the moment."

"Bollocks I do!" Peter said, lurching up. "I was faking it all along. I need a phaser."

"Ensign, do not reply in that manner. You're injured, you need to rest." she replied, mostly ignoring the obvious abuse.

Peter ignored her, and staggered towards the exit. He'd find a phaser somewhere, he was sure. He was stopped however, by the grinning face of Chris Aaron.

"Get out me face Chris. I have to find 'Commander Shtik! Check if he's okay!" he muttered. Breathing was harder now, and he didn't understand why.

"Look Lockhart," he replied, "I'll check for you, see if he's okay. Dr. Bellen wants you to return to bed."

As he spoke, Dr. Bellen again arrived behind him and started to guide him back to his mattress. "You've been exposed to vacuum Mr. Lockhart. As well as finding breathing harder, you also seem to have suffered a temporary reduction in mental faculties. You seem to think you're a first rate wit."

"I am a first rate wit. Ask Ensign Mulich, he'll tell you! But not as witty as 'Commander Albrecht. He seems to think I've got potential!" he burst out laughing, then coughing as he couldn't manage the laughter. D'tarna Bellen gave him something for his lungs, and left him as he collapsed back on his cot.

"I've been blasted out into space." he muttered to himself, "Take me to hospital." Then decided to get some sleep since he was here. Soon there was a loud snoring from the corner of the triage unit.

Based on STAR TREK created by Gene Roddenberry
Story by Lieutenant Suder - Assistant Chief Engineer

"There"

Suder sighed as he reste dhis eyes. He felt tired. Too tired and just wanted to sleep it off. But several people kept talking to him, that kept him awake. He knew what they were doing, and he couldn't blame them, but a part of him still wanted to rest.

"It worked... The Tricorder?"

"Yes, we located the signal and came here straight away." the Engineer replied.

"Any news?" Suder asked trying to take deep breaths.

"Of what, sir?" a young Engineer asked.

All the Engineers seemed to be kids these days. It made Suder feel old. He thought about his answerand still found it hard to breath, let alone talk.

"Lieutenant Gillings, McDowell, Phillips, Dallas, Samara?" he asked.

"I think I heard something about teh Chief being taken to Sickbay. But I'm not sure about the others. There are a lot of wounded, sir. But then there's a lot fo people below decks that are fine."

"What about Engineering?" Suder coughed out.

"Ours for the taking again." the kid replied.

"Doctors." Suder whispered.

"They're on their way." the Engineer replied.

"I'm sure there are other people in more serious conditions then me." Suder coughed.

"Your always helping people, what about yourself?"

"I'll always do everything I can do to make sure harm comes to no one else. It's my, philosophy... I'll be fine as long as someone's there."

"There, sir?"

"There Ensign. Just there." Suder mumbled.

"We haven't met by the way, I'm Ensign Calloway, I'm one of the Engineers that made it." she explained.

"How many Engineers... lost?" Suder asked.

"We don't have an exact count yet, but everyone in Engineering went down, except for the Chief, who went down fighting, and she'll fight to the end."

"You know her..." Suder said. "She'll never give up. As long as someone as inspiring as her is in charge, we won't lose the team spirit. Even if we did lose a lot of good Engineers." Suder explained. "She's got a strong mind, a strong will... Just like the Chief before her, and the Chief that'll take her place in years to come."

"You, sir?" the Ensign asked.

"No... T'Zaq is next in line."

"But your an assistant Chief too."

"Two assistants, one Chief..." Suder coughed a little more and then continued to rest his eyes. Things could have been worse. He hoped that the Ensign had contacted the Medical staff to get them to help other people.

"The ship can get along with one assistant, one Chief."

"What are you saying?" the young woman asked.

"I'm.... not quite sure." Suder said a little confused. The Engineers laughed and Suder interrupted the laugh with a series of coughs.

"Ensign, find out..."

"Yes?"

"...What happened to the others I mentioned earlier." he asked.

The Ensign tried communicating with people to find out what their condition was. Suder continued to relax. Feeling rested, he felt like he could lay there in the middle of the corridor for quite a while. But sooner or later the Doctors would arrive. Interrupt his rest and take him away. Time would tell. Suder wouldn't mind looking at the ceiling of Sickbay for a while. It would be great compared to the darkness here. Or maybe that was just Suder's vision. Maybe he took a tougher blow then he thought. No matter, he would be sorted out and back in Engineering before he would even know it.

"Suder, Your in Good Hands With Ames"
by (of course) Dr. Brooke Ames, MD and BS giver

Brooke immediately left with all of her supplies. There wasn't much details on his injuries. Making her way through the corridors, she finally got to Suder. She immediately took out her medical tricorder and scanned his injuries. Not only did he have cuts, bruises and phaser burns, a part of his femur was crushed from the bulkhead and breathing in that dust didn't help. He went to say something but she stopped him.

"I know that this is going to sound like a line from an old fashioned B-rate movie but you need to save your strength." She pulled out old reliable, her dermal regenerator and went to work on the cuts and bruises. "I'm afraid that the dermal regenerator isn't going to work on your crushed femur." She could tell what he was thinking. "It sounds worse than it is. I can't tell how bad it really is until we get back to Sickbay. These tricorders don't know everything." She was giving him a little BS but it seemed to work. She proceeded to administer some pain meds and then went to work on the phaser burn.

He seemed to be a little uncomfortable with her working the hip area but she was sure the pain was worse. Once her help came, they immobilized him and took him to Sickbay, Brooke following behind.

"Twin Dragons"
Lt. Elaine Stone
Mistress Elaine O'Hare
Enforcer Franklin Stone (evil version)
Lt. JG Franklin Stone (good guy)

Elaine smiled softly as she brushed her husband's hair across his forehead. He slept peacefully, and she just wanted to spend a little while with him before she reported back to duty. The radiation treatments for his exposure had left him drained and slightly delirous..it would be a while before he would be back on duty. Leaning over, she placed a warm, soft, small kiss in the middle of his forehead.

"I love you, now and always lover."

Frank moaned slightly in reply...even in his state, he could feel Elaine's presence. It comforted him.

Turning from his biobed, Elaine Stone exited sickbay. Although her little diversion in sick bay was needed, she wanted to return to some point of normalcy.

Walking through the corridors, she nodded to the various crew members. Walking right past the evil Frank, nothing registered until she was a bit further down the corridor.

"Huh? Frank?"

Turning herself around, she followed who she thought was her husband to the shuttle bay. She was just about to enter when one of the ship's assistant counselors called out her name. The woman kept Elaine in the corridor for several seconds...Elaine was none too delicate about getting rid of the Ensign as well...Another note to be added to her file, Elaine groaned. Moving past the counselor, she slipped into the shuttlebay. The sight made her gasp, forcing her behind a stack of blue cargo containers to gather her thoughts.

Stone busied himself, dragging dead bodies to a corner of the bay...all the while, Elaine Stone watched in horror. It was obvious that, in the few minutes she had been detained, this man that looked so much like her Frank had brutally murdered four of the Galaxy's crewmen!

She glanced slightly to the left. Raising her phaser, she slowly aimed for the middle of Stone's back. Something was very wrong here. Franklin was in sickbay sleeping, not piling dead bodies on top of each other in the shuttle bay. Elaine forced herself to focus on her target, even thought her knees were starting to get sore from the hardness of the deck plates.

The bay was illuminated normally, and she could see her target easily. However, temperature was another matter all together. A draft from no where flirted across her bare neck. Closing her eyes, she felt her muscles spasm involuntarily for a mere second. The slight shiver woke her up to the grim reality before her.

****************************************************

O'Hare sat in the pilot seat of the shuttle, waiting patiently for her employee to make his entrance. Always one to never leave a mess, Franklin Stone was busy heaping the four bodies of the Starfleet officers into a neat, demented pile.

She sat, sipping her Long Island iced tea casually. Bringing the glass down slightly, her fingers toyed with the small, colorfull umbrella that graced the slender glass. As she lifted the umbrella from the glass, twirling it between her index finger and thumb, she smiled softly.

Their departure was almost too easy. Both her and Frank had acquired security uniforms. How they acquired them would remain a mystery known to only Frank and his mistress. Elaine sunk down into the shuttle's chair. It's comfort wrapped around her in a secure, energizing hug. Her soft smile was still etched on her face, but, there was an abstract hint of anger that glistened in her eyes. The mistress recalled how silent the air was when they had entered the bay. At the same time her eyes flashed angrily, they also shown a bit of pride when her mind thought of her enforcer.

Franklin possessed a calm demeanor when he killed. It was swift, sure and O'Hare received an excitement that was indescribable when she observed Frank in action. She was proud of him, and she loved him also. Not a love of softness and kindness, but a lust of passion. He was hers, mentally, physically, and spiritually. God help the person that came between her and Frank.

**********************************************************

The shot came out of no where, screaming silently as it careened into his back. Elaine felt no hesitation as she had set the Phaser earlier for heavy stun. She had bet the man that resembled her Frank had his dense cell structure also. She viewed with bated breath as he fell prostate to the floor. The resonating thud from Frank's landing had made Elaine Stone jump.

O'Hare heard the thump from inside the shuttle, and in that exact moment she felt ill. She knew Franklin was down, she didn't even need to see his large, crumbled form laying still on the deck plate. O'Hare kept her composure as she rose from her chair. Placing the drink gently down on the helm console, she turned, all the while twirling the small paper umbrella in her opposite hand. Emerging from the shuttle, she smiled coyly. In a soft voice she sang as she emerged from the shuttle.

"Come out, come out wherever you are......"

Upon hearing that voice, a perplexed expression flashed across Elaine Stone's face. It sounded exactly like her! She recalled that playing, almost bedroom type voice when she had been with Franklin the last time before all this started. Her perplexed look dissipated into one of sheer shock as she stood slowly from her crouched position. Viewing her new nemesis, Elaine's fingers slowly uncurled as her form of defense slipped to the floor below.

The steel gray walls of the bay held no color when compared to the two curveous red heads that stood staring silently at each other. Elaine Stone still felt a tad bit protected from the blue barrels that blocked her from her rival.

O'Hare's eyebrows arched slightly, her anger was contained, but was beginning to leak out in small amounts.

"Well, well, my dear. You are quite beautiful, aren't you?"

Elaine Stone kept quiet, her mind trying to desperately to draw some sort of conclusion.

O'Hare glanced sideways at Franklin, and then back at her twin. Her gaze iced over as the paper umbrella fell to the floor. Her high heels could be heard as she walked slowly over to the slumped form of the enforcer.

Stating nothing, she took the tip of her boot and slightly nudged Frank Stone. Feeling the slight nudge of his master, The Enforcer stirred.

"Franklin, dearest. I have one more job for you today love." O'Hare cooed.

Rising ominously, Stone took a minute to steady himself. He hid his surprise well as he saw the double of his mistress. Glancing over, he brought his eyes up to meet O'Hare's.

In a nonchalant tone, as if ordering food from a replicator, she stated. "Kill her."

**********************

The nurse was tired...over worked actually. The panic in sickbay had drained her completely, and she knew it wasn't over yet. She closed her eyes and rubbed them in an effort to bring some life back into them. Taking a deep breath, she opened them again and stared at the empty biobed before her.

The nurse frowned slightly...hadn't that bed been occupied a few minutes ago? Yes...she was sure it had. With that security officer. The one with the thick neck. Stone. Turning slightly, she caught the movement of the door hissing closed.

"Great" she muttered.

***To Be Continued***

"Station"
by, Lt. Comdr. Raesene Hermedhie,
Chief Tactical Officer
-------------------------------------

Raesene hurried back to the bridge, and retook his station there. He needed to be sure that there weren't anymore of these dark forces around. He didn't sense any, but that did not mean they weren't out there.

Besides, as soon as the shift changed, he needed to talk to Helmsman Palika. It was time to begin work on a new set of tactics. These would be named after Andu and Anuirean things of note. It might later expand into the Rjuven/Rjurik sphere, but not for quite some time.

As for the names of the gods... They would only go to tactics worthy of their vaunted names. After all, one did not name a tactic after Ares without it being a good one. Even if they were nothing compared to the one true God.

The names of nations and cities could be useful instead. As for the names Anuire, Andu, and Anuirean, they would go to the best of the best. And those would take a lot of thought. A culture is even more important than the gods they used.

Reaching his station, he set out to watch the trouble that was coming. It always was. And the fallout from this could be quite massive. Fights with a dark mirror were dangerous long after they had been resolved.

"Reflection"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price

Captain's Log: Stardate 49912.31

The crew of the USS Galaxy have managed to retake the ship from the Butcher's mirror universe pirates. Those few deviants that did not fight to the death have been taken into custody by security. They will remain in the Brig until we are able to reach the nearest Starbase and turn them over to the authorities there.

Commander Casey informs me that control has been restored to the Bridge and that engineering teams are working on the damaged systems throughout the ship. No doubt we will need to put in time at a repair facility to put everything right, but we should be capable of warp speed in the next few hours. Deiran informed me of Lieutenant Commander Samara's heroic deed in getting the warp core reactor coolant flowing before a meltdown could occur. K'Eytyanna is presently under observation and receiving treatment for her radiation burns in the emergency triage center in Cargo bay two. My First Officer has recommended that Key't be put in for a citation and I tend to agree with him.

The Butcher is presumed dead. Killed in the blast from her over loaded phaser. No sign of the Tellarite murderer has been found on the ship. And I must admit, I find no remorse of sympathy with her passing.

Yeoman York., . . . Jamie, is dead. I have been too busy to grieve, or even visit my girlfriend's body since she was killed by Hoglips the Butcher.

****

Captain Price held his head down low as the turbolift doors opened to the Bridge. Quietly, he exited and stepped onto the command deck of the Federation starship. His thoughts were on the tragic loss of men and ships this entire exercise had caused. But mostly, his thoughts were of his own personal loss in Yeoman York.

"Captain. I was hoping to get a chance to speak to you,. . . now that things have settled down with the intruders." Doctor Abraham Daystrom approached.

Lee glanced at the designer of the M7 tactical computer system. He knew he really didn't have reason to be angry at the designer. None of this was really his fault. It was the evil Butcher's. But still, Captain Price couldn't help but hold some animosity towards the 'cursed' Daystrom scientist.

"In my ready room Doctor." Lee stated flatly.

Daystrom followed Lee into the Captain's office. He was carrying a padd and could tell by the Captain's tone it was going to be difficult discussing what was on his mind. But Daystrom went ahead none the less.

"Captain, I have been examining the data transmitted by the M7 for the brief time it was activated on board the USS Griffin. Isaac did everything in his power to stop these outlaws once he realized what they were doing. He even saved the lives of some of them by transporting them off the ship before it's warp core overloaded."

Lee stopped and turned to face the Doctor abruptly. "The point Doctor?"

Daystrom paused, but then returned using the Captain's tone. "The point, Captain Price, is that none of this,. . . none of what happened here was Isaac's fault. I want to be sure that is clear and that your report to Starfleet Command states the facts. Isaac,. . . the M7 tactical computer system,. . . was a complete success."

"I assure you Doctor, we will look at all the data and I will report on the M7's performance fairly." Lee replied in a tone that was obvious that he really didn't view this as an important matter.

But Daystrom did. "Captain!. . " Doctor Daystrom exclaimed grabbing the Captain's wrist to keep him from walking away, ". . . Price, you must realize that Starfleet will be looking at your report and deciding on the future of the M7 tactical computer system. Given my family's history, and the unfortunate loss of this latest test, you should understand how important it is to me that Starfleet be made to understand. . ." Daystrom pleaded with a wave of his hands, ". . . none of this was Isaac's fault."

Lee looked at the Doctor with piercing eyes. In the last day's time, over a thousand Starfleet officers had lost their lives. Several starships had been badly damaged or destroyed, and Yeoman Jamie York, the Captain's girlfriend, had been slaughtered in cold blood before his very eyes. And all Daystrom was worried about was how all this was going to look on his record.

The Captain grabbed Daystrom by the throat and backed him up against the office wall. "Listen 'mate! Four starships have been destroyed, with three more badly damaged. Over a thousand men, women and children died here today. . ." Lee hissed, "and one of those was my girlfriend, Yeoman Jamie York! So why don't you show a little compassion and stop worrying about Starfleet Command or where the funding for your next machine is coming from?!" The Captain practically shouted. He then paused and released Daystrom's throat. "I said my report will be fair and complete."

Daystrom rubbed his throat for a minute, thinking of how inconsiderate he must have sounded. "I'm sure it will be Captain. . ." the Doctor said quietly. He then started to leave, pausing at the ready room door, "I'm sorry for your loss Price."

Captain Price stood before the observation window with his back facing Daystrom. Lee crossed his arms stubbornly and didn't answer the Doctor. Instead he remained looking out the portal at the EVA teams that were collecting the escape pods from the Thomas Paine.

Daystrom stood there for a moment, looking as if he would say something more, but he thought better of it, and exited the Captain's office. The doors opened and closed with a swish.

Lee kept staring out the portal. He felt empty and alone. With an uneasy, long breath, the Captain released it slowly. He knew his day wouldn't be finished until he went to Jamie one last time to say goodbye.