Subject: FRONTIER: The game's up
SD 71014
>"That should hold them off for as long as we need," Keanu said,
>feeling a touch of pride at his idea.
>Leana relaxed visibly. "Anyone for a drink?" she asked.
Keanu looked at her, "How can you think of drinking at a time like
this?" Keanu asked with concern.
"It's easy," Leana replied. "I've not had anything to eat for hours."
Keanu felt his stomach rumble, he hadn't eaten for hours either. With
the adrenaline starting to subside he was rather hungry. Keanu went
over to the replicator, "Larish pie, hot." A small dish appeard in
the replicator slot.
"What's Larish pie?" asked Ishara.
"It's a... bit like a steak pie except it's Cardassian." replied
Keanu. "Do you want to try it?"
"No thanks, I can't stomach Cardassian food." said Ishara. "Besides,
I'm not hungry."
Leana ordered a Sem'hal stew, some Bajoran dish Keanu had never heard
of. The forcefield over the door sparked as someone tried to walk
through it. "We should try to formulate a plan of action," Ishara said
as Keanu and Leana sat down to their meals.
"I always think better with a full stomach," Keanu said.
The light outside the windows seemed to get darker, "Did you see
that?" asked Leana.
"Yes," replied Houston, "the light dimmed in amplitude by
approximately 12.74 percent." The star light outside elongated as the
ship jumped into warp.
Houston went over to the computer and punched up a schematic of the
ship. "I have a plan. If we were to cut through that wall behind the
bar, there should be a access tube leading to the transporter room."
Leana handed Houston her phaser. She aimed the phaser at the section
of the wall, and fired. The wall started to turn red.
THE OTHER FRONTIER
Angus and Leana shared a passionate embrace in darkness of the
bedroom. His jumpsuit was unzipped and the top half hung about his
waist, she was in a similar state and she pushed Angus down onto the
mattress as his communicator chirped, [Angus, I need to see you on the
bridge immediately.]
Angus clenched his fists in frustration, "Damn!" he said, he tapped
his comm-badge, "Yeowl herr feurher!" he snapped.
[Cut the crap Earthman, this is important,] replied Patrick.
Angus stood up and sorted his uniform, "I'm sorry but we'll have to
continue this later."
As he walked out the door Leana shouted after him, "I'll be waiting
right here."
Angus ran to the turbolift and soon he was on the bridge, "What's the
problem?" he asked.
Patrick was standing behind the Tactical console his brow creased with
concern, he spoke quietly as if not wanting anyone bar Angus to hear,
"I've found a glitch in the long-range sensor array, it looks like it
was configured recently, from on the bridge, but whoever did it
covered their tracks pretty well so I can't tell who it was. And to
make matters worse we're getting power fluctuations all across the
board."
Angus nodded then asked quietly, "Do you have any idea at all as to
who could have done it?"
"I have a couple of suspicions," he replied, "follow me." He turned
and walked into the ready room with Angus in tow.
Once the door had shut Patrick sat down on the captain's seat and
raised his feet onto the table.
"I think..." he thought for a moment, then seemed to deviate from the
subject. "Have you noticed anything different about Leana recently?"
Angus seemed lost for words for a moment before replying, "Well... she
has been acting a little..." He was clearly uncomfortable about
whatever he was trying to say, "She's been quite... She has been
rather more enthusiastic about my company than normal," he finally
stammered.
"Anything else? Differences in mannerisms?"
"She isn't wearing the earring that she normally does if that's any
help." Angus replied.
"A different earring? Are you sure?"
"Yes, positive."
"Then that means I'm right." Patrick seemed to be talking to himself.
"You are? About what?"
"It was just a wild guess at first but I think this proves it. Angus
you *are* aware of a parallel dimensions involvement in this Kzinti
affair?" He continued before Angus could respond, "I think that
somehow the *other* Frontier abducted the crew on the bridge while you
were all on the planet, and then replaced them with their alternate
counterparts."
"That's an impressive theory, but how do you know? And what has
Leana's earring got to do with it?"
"You may be aware that Leana and I were at the Academy together."
"No, I didn't..."
Patrick cut him off in mid-sentence, "We can talk about it another
time, this is important. That earring means more to her than life
itself, it's the only thing her mother ever gave her. Belive me, she
only has that one earring."
"You mean..."
Again Patrick cut him off, "She's not Leana. Or at least not *our*
Leana. I'm not sure about this, who was on the bridge while you were
on the planet?"
"Leana, Houston, Keanu, Ishara and Cralk, so what do we do with them?
How do we prove it for that matter?"
Patrick rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Quite frankly dear Angus, I
don't have a clue."
2-BACKWARD
Joanna judged that her drinking companion had become quite pliable.
As McVyker downed yet another glass of tampered drink she said, "Would
you like me to walk you back to quarters, Lieutenant?"
McVyker was momentarily confused, then she got the idea that maybe
she'd had a bit too much to drink. "Sure, that would be great." Her
mind was fuzzy with the alcohol; she still wasn't entirely sure *how*
she had become drunk from drinking synthehol. It never occurred to her
that it had been tampered with.
Joanna grasped McVyker's hand across the table and helped her to
stand. Then, supporting her with an arm across the back, they made
their way to 2-Backward's exit.
The Bolian watched them leave with a puzzled expression on his face.
He was sure there was something up with the replicator, but
Engineering had already seen to it three times in as many days, and
they hadn't been able to trace the fault at all.
MCVYKER'S QUARTERS
McVyker collapsed into a chair on entering, dizzy and tired. She
looked at the android with as much courtesy as she could muster and
said, "I agree, your blonde hair is very nice and I'm sure Neil will
be very pleased. Now, could you please leave so I can get some sleep?"
She closed her eyes and lay back in the chair. The door whooshed shut.
After a few seconds McVyker realised Houston was still in the room.
She opened her eyes again to see the android sit down beside her.
McVyker struggled with the alcoholic haze, trying to understand what
it was that drove Joanna to ignore a request.
Houston placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "I thought we might
get to know each other a little better."
Despite her disorientation, McVyker knew what Houston was getting at
and when the android moved in for a kiss to the lips she bolted for
the door.
She heard Houston utter a curse behind her but palmed the door panel
and stumbled along the corridor. For a moment she thought she had got
away, but then she felt Houston's arms wrap tightly around her
mid-section and drag her backwards.
"No, get off me! Someone, help!" she called out.
At that moment the turbolift doors opened and Patrick and Angus
emerged, the sight of McVyker being manhandled back into her quarters
alerting them immediately to the fact that all was not well. Patrick
reacted quickly and sprinted towards the pair, breaking Houston's
hold by crashing into her side.
McVyker tumbled to the floor but had the sense to get away from the
android. "I'm alright," she said, "just keep her away from me."
Patrick picked up Houston roughly and flung her against the wall. The
impact would have knocked the wind out of any human, but the android
seemed only surprised at the show of strength.
The Tolstoyan immediately tried to restrain Houston, but she quickly
dodged aside and made a break for the turbolift, sprinting past
Angus while Patrick pursued close behind.
Leana came out of Angus' quarters wielding a phaser, and she would
have got a shot off in Patrick's back if it hadn't been for Angus. He
leapt on her, swiftly disarming her and sending the phaser clattering
across the floor.
She turned and punched him, putting him off balance long enough for
her to get behind him and wrap her arm round his throat.
He gagged for a moment and then threw himself back against the wall,
Leana gasped and then bit Angus, hard. She felt her teeth sink into
the back of his neck, tasted the blood hot in her mouth, he yelled in
pain and pulled himself away from her. He spun round to face her and
saw her teeth and lips wet with blood, a rivulet running down her
chin, he reached up to the wound and felt the blood flowing from it.
Patrick caught up to Houston just as she opened the turbolift doors,
pulled her bodily back into the corridor, and slammed her down onto
the floor. Using his greater weight, he pinned her there. "Don't
make another move," he said, training a phaser on her face.
Houston knew that even she would have difficulty coming back from a
phaser blast to the head, so she stopped resisting. She watched
for a distraction that might allow her to escape.
Meanwhile, the other crew who had heard the ruckus had come out of
their quarters and were in the corridor trying to get to grips with
what exactly was going on.
Angus sat on the ground, a trail of blood on the wall indicating where
he had slid into his slumped position, one hand pointing the
previously discarded phaser at Leana and the other gripping the wound
on his neck.
Cralk, who had recently came from 2-Backward found himself standing
against the wall alongside Keanu and Ishara with Patrick, his face
like a thundercloud, covering them with a phaser. Cralk was
protesting ignorance to all that was going on but kept silent after a
steely stare from Simony.
TEN MINUTES, ONE TRIP TO SICKBAY AND ONE HASTY EXPLANATION LATER
Kzark had vouched for Cralk's not being on the bridge and now that
only left four together in the small cell in the brig. Angus, his
wound treated, and Patrick sat on the small table while Ramsay stood
only inches from the forcefield looking from Leana to Houston to Keanu
to Ishara. "Well?" he repeated "Are you going to tell me what this is
in aid of or do I have to extract it by other means?"
The prisoners conferred for a moment and then Leana walked toward the
forcefield. "We'll tell you this much..." she began.
Respectfully submitted:
Allan MacLennan
[Lt.] Angus Murray, Tac/CSO FRONTIER
Dale Forster
[Lt.] Keanu Maren, CEO FRONTIER
Sam M. Edwards
[Captain] Will Ramsay, CO FRONTIER
[Cmdr] Caroline Ramsay, XO FRONTIER
[LtCmdr] Joanna Houston, 2O/tCMO FRONTIER
"Put your faith in God, but keep your powder dry."
Oliver Cromwell
"Time is the fire in which we burn"
Dr. Tolian Soren
"Rom's an idiot, he couldn't fix a straw if it was bent."
Odo
This was edited on 10 September 2020. The original post had a scene that involved Houston assaulting McVyker. It wasn't particularly graphic, but it bothered me, so I changed it. SE.