The Two Faces Of Eve

Posted on Dec 27, 2016 @ 7:14am by Lieutenant Eve Dalziel
Edited on on Dec 27, 2016 @ 7:14am

Mission: Aftermath

“The Two Faces of Eve”
(Continued from “Rock, PADD, Phasers, Captain, Tribble”)

=/\=

Location: USS ANUBIS
SD: [2.16]1204.2157
Scene: Sickbay

The Counsellor of the ANUBIS found herself quiet as she searched Doctor Doyanne’s face for any signs of how the examination was proceeding. The solid ground of her home among the stars was suddenly unstable and uncertain. Captain Morningstar had tried to break the news to her gently, but nothing could have prepared her for the knowledge that she was a creation of Richard Edgerton, the deceased leader of the Neo-Essentialist movement.

After what felt like hours, the scanning devices that surrounded Eve as she lay on the biobed raised up and Lillie’s voice chimed in. “All done.” The medical officer had been skeptical of Eve’s story, but the Cardassian born woman was the most serious she had ever been in her approach to the situation. Lillie pulled up a display of both the current data as well as the records Eve had given her. Unbeknownst to her, they were those of the Eve Dalziel stationed aboard the PHOENIX.

Eve tied her long, dark hair back in a ponytail. “You’re looking for any differences between the two profiles, no matter how small.”

“Relax, I’m the Doctor here,” Doyanne gently countered, seeing the clear stress on Eve’s face and trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to put her more at ease.

“Well, okay, Let’s start at the top, then.” The highlighted blonde examined the brain scans, trying to discern any anomalies or energy patterns that fell outside the norm. “This looks promising. There’s no sign of tampering, or brain-washing in either sample.”

Eve felt a bit of relief. “What about the brain waves themselves?”

“The brain waves don’t match, but that’s completely normal. Even identical twins’ brain activity changes as they age… or in this case, brain waves taken from the same person in different stages of their life don’t match.”

Eve hadn’t wanted to skew the Doctor’s findings, so she didn’t explain the sample’s origin beforehand. The Cns looked sheepish. “That’s why I’m not the medic, I guess.”

Lillie grinned and went to peruse dimensional scans of each internal organ, then the circulatory system, then the skeletal structure. “All systems are functioning within normal parameters.”

The dark-haired woman let out another small sigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Erik. She’d shared enough conversations with the man to know his honesty. You couldn’t just generate that kind of trust overnight. But the scientist in her, however underdeveloped, wanted some tenable proof that she in fact was the duplicate, and not the woman serving aboard the PHOENIX.

“Aha.” An edge crept into the CMO’s voice as she found something of interest. “There’s something at the cellular level. It’s a unique pattern of degrading matter.”

“Degrading? Like I’m going to die?”

“No, nothing like that... But there are some ramifications. The cells from the current sample are degrading at about one tenth of a percent more quickly than those from the original sample.”

“Can you explain this in a way that I can understand?”

“The average lifespan of a Cardassian is 96 years for women and 98 years for men. So to put that in perspective, your median lifespan potential would only decrease to 95.904 years.”

“Oh.” Eve tried to sound happy about the news that she wasn’t going to turn into a puddle of goo on the Sickbay floor, but to her this was the smoking gun that corroborated what she’d been told.

“I only have one question- what happened to you? To cause this?” If the crew had been exposed to something, it was more likely that it would have affected all of them, not just the Counsellor.

Dalziel sighed again. It was time to come clean. “It isn’t a before and after, Lillie. One is for the real Eve Dalziel, and one is for her replicated copy. That would easily explain the cell deterioration.”

Lillie looked puzzled, then a little upset. “You’re a clone?”

“Apparently I am. The Neo-Essentialists liked to dabble in genetics when they weren’t building Weapons of Mass Destruction. But I needed to know for sure.” Her gray eyes looked gratefully at Doctor Doyanne. “Thank you, Lillie.”

“You’re welcome,” Lillie said weakly as Eve left, somehow feeling she had not helped the Counsellor in a way she would have wanted to.

The door slid shut and Eve leaned against the wall, visibly shaken. She took a PADD out of her pocket, hesitating only a minute as she looked at the contents. It was a request to leave the ship immediately and begin a medical leave with an undetermined time frame. She closed her eyes and activated the transmission. Right now it seemed like the only way to sort things out. Eve then turned and pressed her pale hands against the metal door. “I think this is goodbye,” she whispered.


=/\=

Location: EARTH, San Francisco
Scene: Koniki’s Office
Time Index: After the events of Sarah’s Post “Change Vs. More of the Same”

Eve entered the office complex, Captain Smooshy in tow. The pug’s dark eyes looked more expressive than usual and his body trembled with what she was hoped was excitement. Dalziel had thought about dropping the service and comfort animal off somewhere first, but the request sounded more urgent than the typical. Especially when she found out it was a meeting not with the Board of Inquiry, but the newly appointed Chief of Intel.

An all-too-eager assistant, Ensign Zippel, wasted no time in ushering both Eve and the dog into an office which looked more like a temporary stop than a permanent location. With the decimation of Paris, people had scrambled to make these spaces available and habitable. Eve resisted the urge to call the young officer Zippy, secretly wondering if she had been hanging around with Kass too much.

The Admiral was a sculpted rock of a man; muscular, broad-chested, and imposing. “Why do you think you’re here, Lieutenant?”

She smiled thoughtfully and took a seat. You could always tell the Intel lifers by their penchant for cryptic conversations. “I’m not sure. The future of the PHOENIX is uncertain… I thought you might be contacting me about a job. But I’m a great second guesser too.” Smooshy stood at attention at her feet, watching the Admiral closely.

Koniki didn’t seemed to mind that she was at ease, or even that she had brought the adorable canine with her. However, he was busy wearing the carpet thin behind his desk by pacing back and forth. “Several years ago, while you were still serving with us, there was an unseen wrong committed against you. Your return to Earth has necessitated full disclosure of this matter.”

“I guess it would be hard to communicate with us while we were ‘going rogue’ out there at Elandipole and with the rebel fleet- but you said this predates that. But… I’m still alive, which for most sentient beings is considered good news.”

“Correct. Your life was not taken, but something was stolen from you: your DNA.”

Eve crossed her arms as if in protest. “Who, and why?”

Admiral Charles Koniki, a man she had never met before, until now, had spent most of his time with her staring at her and growing increasingly uncomfortable. He didn’t seem to appreciate her attempts to diffuse the situation. Now, the pause he took was equally awkward. “Richard Edgerton gathered DNA samples from agents and operatives without their permission. You were one of those agents.”

It was her turn to feel ill at ease. The man was dead and he still continued to horrify them. “That alone wouldn’t need to be communicated by a private meeting in your office. Why did he take them?”

“This was the precursor to what you and the rest of the away team saw on LAVENZA II. He wanted to replicate those people he felt had the ability to become his personal soldiers. His tactical side was just as immoral as the rest of him.”

“Was he successful?”

Koniki had a relieved but still concerned look. “Yes... and no.”

Eve knew that she was originally recruited into Intel for her combat prowess. Reading between the lines Koniki was giving her, combined with the choice she had made to leave the active field for appointment on a starship, she felt the anger rise within her, gnawing at her psyche. “Where is she, Admiral? She is alive too, correct?”

He finally sat down. “She’s been hiding in plain sight aboard the USS ANUBIS.”

“Wait- you *knew* about this?” She hadn’t expected her voice to be so harsh, and neither had the Admiral.

He grimaced. “By the time it was on my radar, it was impossible to stop his pet project. Placing her under my jurisdiction- it was the only way to keep Edgerton’s hands off of her. He had planned to ‘recondition’ her to answer his commands.”

Eve began to understand Koniki’s behavior a little better. Edgerton’s comments in the underwater bunker also were now very telling. “Does she know?”

“Yes. Captain Moningstar, her CO, informed her.”

Eve wondered if the news would have felt better to her if she had received it from Kane. But honestly, she couldn’t even imagine that right now. “And my next assignment hasn’t come in yet.”

“Scuttlebutt is they will reactivate the PHOENIX shortly and you’ll likely be aboard. But don’t say I told you that.”

“Is that all?” she asked, staring through him to the view outside. Nothing seemed clear, other than two lives had been changed forever. Smooshy had started to try to jump up in her lap, and she obliged him by picking him up and examining his soulful eyes. He stuck his tongue out and wiggled it at her.

“I’d like to offer my sincere apologies, Lieutenant.”

“It’s not necessary, Admiral. She’d either be dead or psychotic if you hadn’t stepped in.” She gently placed Smooshy on the floor and made sure she had his leash secure.

“Are you going to be alright?” He asked.

She looked at the Samoan man, but in her mind’s eye she saw the lifeless form of Richard Edgerton aboard the Red October. His mind and body had been ravaged by a couple of the millions of people he had done wrong to. Somehow, given what she knew now, it didn’t seem like enough of a punishment. “I don’t know, Sir. Get back with me in a few months on that.”


=/\=
Location: Dalziel home, outskirts of San Francisco
Scene: Living Room
Time Index: 90 minutes later

Eve had taken the dog for another long walk after leaving Koniki, working on sorting out the circumstances, but as she told the man herself, this was going to take longer than an afternoon.

“Mom, Dad,” Eve called out. “Is anyone home?” She unlatched Smooshy and let him run through the house unfettered (well it was more of an amble) as she hung the leash on a small hook in the foyer and passed through the space into the main living area. She’d already planned on the family dinner before her shore leave was over, but now she actually had something to talk about. She needed to reach out to the ANUBIS as well before they shoved off, to see if her double wanted to meet. “I need to tell you something-”

Two people stood to greet her. One of them was her adoptive father, Seamus Dalziel. The other was… herself. Eve stared long and hard at her own image. It was strange, but it wasn’t like looking in a mirror… it was more of an out of body experience… like she was spying on herself. Other than the hollow pip on her collar indicating a rank one below her own, they were identical.

“Dad… I can explain.”

“There’s no need,” Seamus answered, a sense of wonder creeping into his Scottish brogue. Apparently the other one of them had been there long enough to fill him in. “I’m just grateful the both of you are alright.” He held a dishtowel in his hands. “Your mother will be along in a little while. I need to get back to this leg of lamb and to set another place at the table.” He went back to the kitchen with a bounce in his step.

“He seems… happy?” The PHOENIX Eve said as she sank into a side chair.

“I never knew how much of a family man he was until I saw the look he gave me when the number of kids he had was doubled.”

“It’s only a matter of time before he starts in on you with the grandkids speech.” She looked at her ANUBIS counterpart again, taking in the stress that she’d likely been placed under. “Are you okay?”

“Can’t you feel me like a telepath or something? I mean I’m just a chip off your block.”

“I don’t think it works like that.”

“It would be mighty useful if it did.”

“Yes I agree. But you’re just a facet of our collective personalities… as am I. You know environment plays as much of a role as genetics. I mean a secret Intel ship?” Eve shook her head. “That Koniki knew what he was doing. The one place Edgerton wouldn’t be able to get to you and the fleet at large wouldn’t know about you. I guess I should have thanked him.”

“I’m not the real Eve Dalziel. I’m an impostor.”

Eve knew where the negativity was coming from, but didn’t agree with it. “No. Impostors *intend* to deceive. Neither of us knew we weren’t alone in the world anymore. Besides, this is my fault.”

“How do you figure?”

“I decided not to kill any more people. Edgerton wanted his assassin. My fault.” She looked across and saw a flicker of a smile on the other Eve’s face. “What?”

“Obviously we still agree on that.”

They looked at each other, sharing that point of commonality. But it wasn’t meant to last. “Wait,” the replicated Eve said, “What makes you so sure I wouldn’t have been able to fight off Edgerton and his plans? You’ve rarely doubted yourself. Why doubt me?”

“It wasn’t doubting *you*, as much as it was not knowing Edgerton’s abilities at that time. The man biologically bombed a city! He could have lobotomized you back then for all I know. I could ask you why you’re treating yourself as the lesser of us. That’s not in your vocabulary either.”

“I decided I need some time… and I’m taking it. I left the ship.”

“You did *what*?”

“You heard me. I resigned my position and requested an immediate leave. My job aboard the ANUBIS was based on a lie.”

“No, it was based on a unique set of circumstances. Admiral Koniki, for all his subterfuge, was trying to save your life. To continue our purpose. If you hadn’t known about this, you’d still be there. That’s the only thing that changed.”

“It doesn’t matter. I know now. I’m grateful... but anguished. And I can’t close the door once it’s been opened. Neither can you.”

“Arguing with myself is exhausting.”

Her counterpart rolled her eyes. “News flash. I’m *not* you, you said so yourself. I just look like this. We’re not identical any more. That stopped the moment I opened my eyes and started thinking and acting for myself. We’re more like twin sisters.”

“That still doesn’t explain why you left your assignment.”

“Connect the dots. We’ve given nearly our entire adult lives to Starfleet and *this* is how they repay us?”

“Have you been watching the news? One man’s actions don’t speak for a whole group. Humanity is struggling with this right now-”

“We’re not Human.”

“Cut the crap, Eve. We were raised by a Human father and a Bajoran mother. Since when did you start identifying with the Cardassians so strongly?”

The former ANUBIS Eve looked as though she was caught in a lie. “I don’t. But maybe it’s time we think that ejecting Earth from the permanent Council wasn’t such a bad idea.”

Eve was smart enough to know when a political discussion shouldn’t be started. “So, besides throwing your career away, what are you going to do with your life?” The harshness of what she said made her instantly regret it. “I’m sorry, that was wrong.”

The overreaction rolled right off her doppelganger’s back. “Don’t you think one of us working for them is enough? Just think of the possibility that I might get to explore all the other things you can’t do if you’re tied down to a ship.”

Eve paused. She was intrigued by the idea, but not so much in her double’s absoluteness. “I don’t think you’re going to feel that way forever.”

The cloned Eve raised an eyebrow in defiance. “Just watch me.”

The PHOENIX Eve nodded, slightly amused. She recognized the stubborn streak of her replicant. “I’ve always wanted a sister. There’s just one thing.”

“I doubt there’s only one thing, but what?”

“What are we going to call you?”

“Eve B? Eve Two?”

“I suppose I should have asked Mom and Dad for a middle name.”

“As you recall, we were almost named Dawn.”

“Yes, it was either going to be Eve for evening or Dawn for morning. But Dawn Dalziel? Ugh.”

“I think I’ve found a way around that. How about Zora? It’s from a Slavic word that means “dawn” or “aurora”.”

“That’s sneaky. But I like it.”

“Oh do you? I’m surprised.” The comment was dripping with sarcasm.

“You shouldn’t be.”

Seamus laughed, and the two of them turned to look at him as he stood in the kitchen doorway.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“Long enough. You might consider Sulwen as a proper name, it’s Scottish for ‘Bright as the Sun’.”

The two Eves turned back to each other, thought for a few seconds, then shook their heads. “Zora.”


=/\=

Location: EARTH, San Francisco, Starfleet HQ
Scene: Board of Inquiry
Time Index: The next morning

Eve Dalziel entered the interview room, not sure what to expect other than questioning.

There were three people waiting, a tribunal. The Andorian, R’Shee; a petite Asian woman by the name of Mizikawa, and one Commander David Gilvari, a man with brown hair, a well-shapen beard, and a sense of authority over the other two.

“So, Lieutenant, how did you come to be assigned to the PHOENIX?” Her record didn’t seem to match the others in the sense that there were no ties to questionable activity or the Neo-Essentialists.

“The ship’s original Counsellor, Lieutenant Phia, had been gravely injured shortly before the ship was to launch. I was brought in as a replacement. My guess is that I had a similar background in Counselling and Intel.” She still remembered her first meeting with Doctor Cade Foster when she arrived aboard, The severe injury to the woman he loved had put their working relationship in a strained position from the start. Cade’s acerbic wit and her pragmatic attitude had fit together at times better than expected and at other times worse than sworn enemies.

“We are here today to discuss, among other things, Cadet Lynette Ryan and her fitness to continue in Starfleet. What evidence do you have to either support or indict Miss Ryan?”

“Commander Gilvari, have you ever worn a cocktail dress and heels?”

David shook his head. After Thytos’ impromptu strip number he hadn’t thought things could have gotten any stranger. But apparently, he was wrong. “I object to this line of questioning, Lieutenant.”

“Then I am guessing the answer is no.” A smile threatened to form on her face.

“What does this have to do with Cadet Ryan’s guilt or innocence?” His question was delivered with an eroding calm, almost like he was going to explode. His female counterparts perked up a little, interested at this odd deposition.

“That’s how we found Lynette Ryan. She was scrambling around the underwater bunker, in a dress and high heels, accompanied by her cat in a carrier.”

“I trust you have a point here, Lieutenant Dalziel?”

“If she had been an evil mastermind, fully complicit in the Neo-Essentialists’ plans, why was she hiding? Why was she dressed so impractically?”

“Point taken. Do you have anything else?”

“It was her computer expertise that allowed the satellites to be destroyed.”

“It was also her expertise that assisted the Neo-Essentialists to begin with,” R’Shee spat.

David glared at R’Shee, but she did not continue. “Okay, duly noted.”

“I would also like to use this platform to provide a character reference for James Prophecy Barton.”

Gilvari took a moment to access his information. “At this moment, James Barton is AWOL and has a list of charges longer than your arm. His crimes go back much further than those in recent memory. Why do you feel the need to speak for his defense today?”

“I would ask for leniency. Because, we’re all only one step away from an impulsive act. I wouldn’t have believed that as a Cadet… but I believe it now.”

“Why do you say that, Lieutenant?” R’Shee had been mostly quiet during the session, glaring at Eve with belligerence. But this statement stuck in the blue woman’s craw and she felt compelled to respond.

“In the efforts of full disclosure, I have been made aware in the last twenty-four hours that Edgerton cloned me several years ago as a precursor to Project Promethean. Before then, as incredibly devious and hate mongering as he was, I felt due process would be the best solution to see that justice was served.”

There was a pause as the triumvirate let this news sink in. “You don’t anymore?” Mizikawa finally queried.

“I’m certain that if Richard Edgerton wasn’t already dead, you’d find the two of us standing in line to do the job… with thousands of others right there with us. Surely you’re aware of how he was killed. I didn’t understand before how easily a person could snap.”

“Shouldn’t people be held accountable for their actions?” The soft spoken Asian woman continued.

“For the past two years or so his actions in protecting and serving the PHOENIX were difficult, but he overcame those challenges. He doesn’t forget what he did or the blood on his hands from those that died. For the families that he destroyed, I’m not asking for forgiveness, but I’m asking for his good works since then to be taken into account.”

David Gilvari detected no deception on her part, although he didn’t see the same possibility of redemption that Dalziel did. “Thank you, Lieutenant. I have put this on his record. One last question- where would you like to go from here?”

Eve stood up. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to go back to the PHOENIX.”

Gilvari stroked his beard. “Why?”

“Commander, who better to help this crew than someone who’s gone through a small piece of their experience with them? Besides, Edgerton thought I would be a better hitman than a Counsellor. Right now the best use of my time is anything that proves him wrong.”

And with that, she walked out.

=/\=
NRPG: Anubis crew, fear not, for you will have a new Cns soon once I can get the bio together and approved.


Susan Ledbetter
Writing For

Lieutenant JG Zora Dalziel
Unassigned, on leave

Lieutenant Eve Dalziel
Cns
USS PHOENIX