Third Mission, Part XV

Posted on Nov 08, 2019 @ 2:06am by Chloe Nielsen
Edited on on Nov 08, 2019 @ 2:06am

Mission: Section 31

“Third Mission, Part XV”

Location: USS CAMELOT
SD: [2.19] 1103.2007
Scene: CO’s Ready Room-> Main Bridge

[[Bridge to Captain.]]

“Go ahead, Commander,” Anaqueen replied, placing a PADD that she was reading down. Earlier in the evening, the Trill along with the Chief Counselor, had visited MacNeil’s family in Riivenvale to update them on the search. The Camelot had received information from the local police that a sighting of MacNeil and the Free Nuimons materializing at the bottom of a cliff near the docks, made by a Nuimon woman in Sailya, Rohirr. Unfortunately they had disappeared before she could get a better look.

But Ana had another reason for the visit – one she had to be discreet about- and that was to speak with Kate’s biological mother, Dahlis Alenvin, a former Chief Consul. While Lieutenant Hex was busy comforting the rest of the family, the CO spoke with Alenvin in private and ended up having a fruitful conversation. Dahlis had provided some useful insights on handling the council, particularly Hollande, with discretion, providing the Trill some ideas. So the next step was to meet with the Chief Consul without stirring suspicions amongst others, especially the Dominion and the Syndicate.

[[Captain, we just received a request from the Chief Consul’s office.]]

Ana raised an eyebrow, her interest peeked. “What kind of request?”

[[Chief Consul Hollande wants to meet you on an urgent matter.]]

The Trill frowned. “Did she provide a reason?”

[[No, Captain,]] the ExO replied. [[The message was sent by an aide on her behalf, requesting a private audience with you as soon as possible.]]

Taking a quick look at a news report on her screen, the Captain sighed. Hollande’s already low job performance approval had taken a nose dive to about nine percent – apparently the lowest approval rating for a Chief Consul in Nuimon history. She stood up and made her way towards the door, which parted, allowing her to enter the Bridge. She spotted her first officer stand up from the command chair.

“Captain,” Azula said as the Trill walked down the steps. “The aide also mentioned Hollande is waiting in her office right now.”

“Okay.” Ana nodded. “Commander, send a response informing them that I will be heading there right now.”

“Captain, in light of the assassination attempt against your life in the very same building a few days ago, I strongly recommend against going down there.” The human woman sported a concerned expression. “Why not have the meeting over a subspace call?”


“Duly noted, Commander but I made my decision to meet the Chief Consul in person,” Spankryz said in a firm, matter-of-fact tone. She knew her ExO was right to be concerned after all the assassination attempt did happen in that same building, however Hollande’s request for a meeting had presented itself with an unexpected opportunity. An opportunity to try convincing the Chief Consul, floundering in her popularity, to minimize consultation with Djiktra.

“Understood, Captain.”

“Besides,” Ana added, assuring the younger woman. “Lieutenant Hex and a security escort will be accompanying me.”

“I’ll contact Hex and have him meet you outside the Chief Consul’s office.” Sol nodded. “Also, Commander Cato informs me that all the Federation citizens on the planet – who aren’t hostages- are making preparations and told to be ready for a possible departure in 13 hours… in case the negotiations with the Free Nuimons fails.”

“Well, let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.” The Captain began feeling a sense of dread when her thoughts shifted to Mirror Kate and the bio-weapon. What her ExO and others weren’t aware was that if Nielsen was unsuccessful in her mission, then this world could likely descend into chaos, possibly even a civil war. Unfortunately, the agent had no idea when the weapon was going to be deployed and that deeply worried the CO, enough to begin draw up contingency plans, except they had no idea how the weapon functioned and even be delivered to the whole planet.

“And Captain,” Sol said with a slightly dry tone. “The local time in Ciris is close to 0300 hrs.”

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Location: Simlran, NUMINO
Scene: Jungle

The second sun has set and it was now 2200hrs – not a suitable time to be out in the jungle in the tropical continent of Simlran. Well, not when a mad scientist had just launched another test of her bioweapon, causing the rainforest to be illuminated in a sea of glowing bright blue light – an eerie sight to behold.

“Chloe…” Then an eerily familiar male voice came from behind her and the agent paled, her eyes widening as she slowly began to turn around. “Wait, it can’t be…you are dead.”

Standing before her was a tall light skinned human man with short black hair, wearing a black jumpsuit. He raised his left arm covered in blood, extending it towards her. Chloe blinked and noticed the man’s face was now bloodied. She then glanced around her surroundings and drew out her phaser, spotting a Jem’Hadar soldier charging towards her. She shot at him, disintegrating the grey skinned being. The agent glanced around and noticed her surroundings had changed from a glowing rainforest to barren land, containing nothing but rocks and Jem’Hadar troops running around.

**No, it can’t be. ** Chloe had a confused look in her eyes. **I remember this place. ** Then her eyes widened and her grip on the phaser tightened. This place wasn’t Simlran. But how did she end up here? **This can’t be right. This place. I was here ten years ago but… ** Then her surroundings and the man vanished, the human whispering out her name. Chloe whirled around, aimlessly pointing her phaser and noticed she was standing in the middle of a wide road, a crack zig zagging across it. Surrounded by rundown buildings, Nielsen realized she was now in some kind of abandoned city. She furrowed her brow, having a familiar feeling.

**Wait a minute, I’ve been here before but my assignment on this planet was also a decade ago. ** Two different planets – all in a span of a moment. Chloe wondered, why she was brought to places that she had visited during the Second Dominion War. Then she heard a scream, making the agent turn on her heel. Chloe nearly let out a gasp, when a humanoid woman staggered towards her, the latter’s long, dark hair flying in the wind and blue flames suddenly erupted, forming a circle around them. Then the blonde noticed the other woman’s eyes blazing with anger as she pointed an accusatory finger at the agent.

“You lied to me…” came a harsh voice, filled with burning anger mixed in with betrayal.

“Lied?” Chloe blinked, feeling the heat radiated by the flames.

“You promised to take me away.”

“Yes I did…”

“Yet you abandoned me and let them burn me,” she wailed. “I am dead because of you.”

“No, no…that’s not true.” All of a sudden, emotions – buried for years – had now stirred within her. She was now drowning in guilt as the mask of calm over her visage had unravelled. “I had every intention of taking you away with me…It’s just that…we didn’t anticipate the enemy ambushing us like that…”

“Lies!”

Before Chloe could speak, she was interrupted by explosions erupting all over the place. Projectiles were spotted hurling down towards them, smashing into the buildings and the ground beside her. Orbital bombardment. A battle had taken place in the planet’s orbit between Starfleet and the Dominion. From what she had recalled, this planet had been completely destroyed in the end.

Her surroundings shifted again, just as the agent stood up. Chloe sighed, still shaken up from that last encounter. But then everything became quiet and she now stood in an empty corridor. Gateway Station. “What is this? Why am I reliving painful memories from the war?”

“Hey sis, what do you think,” came a familiar male voice.

**No it can’t be. ** Chloe’s expression paled as she slowly began to turn around.

------------------------------------

Kate watched in shocked silence as the rainforest lit up, enveloping the area in bright blue light. **How is she doing this? ** She began shivering, feeling a cold chill down her spine and gazed down to notice her hands shaking. From out of nowhere, a fog appeared, surrounding her. Kate felt fear slowly creeping within her. What was going on here? How did this fog suddenly appear in the middle of a rainforest?
Then her ears picked up monotone voices, droning in the distance and a surge of panic shot through her. “No….no…” The voices grew louder and Kate began pacing around, trying to find a way out but then became dismayed. She dropped to the ground on her knees and then froze, looking up as her eyes widened – the glowing blue orbs radiating fear.

[[We are the Borg…]]

**No. ** It was like living a nightmare all over again. **This can’t be real. ** After all, there were no Borg on Numino – well not the collective kind. Kate felt her heart race as she shot up to a standing position. Was it the drug that Mirror Kate injected into her before sending her out? Was she having a hallucination as a side effect of the drug? “That mad lass!” She lamented.

[[…You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.]]

Kate blinked, spotting moving red dots breaking through the thick fog. She could hear the drumming of footsteps and could see outlines of bipedal figures marching towards her. “No…No I cannot be assimilated again.” Panic surged through her again as the doctor turned on her heel and began running as fast as her legs could carry. Then her surroundings suddenly changed. The fog had disappeared and in its place was a blizzard with strong winds blowing in her directing, carrying snow and ice along with it. Kate shivered from the biting cold, considering she wasn’t dressed appropriately for the sudden change in weather. But then last she checked, she was in a tropical rainforest.

[[Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.]]

**Most definitely a hallucination**, Kate thought grimly. But it wasn’t just any hallucination – she was reliving one of the most traumatic experiences from her past. She continued running, her feet knee deep in the snow. Then she slipped and fell, face first into the snow and as she attempted to get up, her eyes widened. “No…” Tears began streaming down her cheeks. “No…” She watched with horror as Borg implants began appearing over the back of her hands. “Please, please, let this nightmare end…”

[[Resistance is futile…]]

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Location: Ciris, NUMINO
Scene: Chief Consul’s Chambers

“Captain,” Anuita Hollande greeted, standing up from behind her desk and approached the new arrivals, a weak smile gracing her lips. “I am glad you can see me at such notice.” The Chief Consul gestured towards the two chairs facing her.

As Anaqueen sat down, she didn’t waste time coming straight to the point. “What do you want to see me about?” She took a quick sidelong glance at a young dark skinned male officer sporting a turquoise collar. Lieutenant Hex, the Camelot’s Chief Counselor and a Haliian from the slight bulge and indentation above his eyebrows and a thin crevice between his eyes, running down the bridge of his nose. Haliians were telepathic but their abilities were limited to a person to person empathy so Ana knew the counselor would be able to focus on sensing Hollande’s emotions. Although, from what the CO observed, one needn’t be an empath to figure out the Nuimon’s current emotional state. The resignation in Hollande’s green eyes and the dark circles around them, not to mention her worn down appearance indicated she seemed to be teetering close to the edge.

“I need your advice,” Hollande said, her voice mired with doubts.

“My advice?” Ana raised an eyebrow.

“Captain, both myself and my predecessor, Yesper Breg, used to have regular chats with Captain Gates,” she said. “And he was so helpful to us, offered very valuable advice on everything and on numerous occasions was instrumental in changing consuls’ minds on votes.”

Spankryz set her jaws, now mildly annoyed. From reading the various mission reports on the USS BLACK SEA, the starship that was regularly assigned to assist Adeyami and her scientific team, the Trill found the senior staff, especially its CO and ExO, were too heavily involved in exerting their influence on local officials for their own interests. In fact the reports indicated a rather frosty relationship between the Black Sea senior staff and the Science Guild in particular, which it seemed had worsened from 2429 onwards, coinciding with the rise of the Neo-Essentialists. It was no wonder some bad feelings lingered between the Science Guild and Adeyami’s group and a growing distrust existed amongst many Nuimons towards the Federation.

“What kind of advice, Chief Consul?”

Hollande let out a sigh of frustration. “Help me, Captain. What should I do? Do I comply with the Free Nuimons’ demands?”

“Look,” Anaqueen said after a moment’s silence. “I understand you have a very difficult decision to make but we still have a little over twelve hours till the deadline so I’d advice against making any decisions in haste, not until we have exhausted all our options.”

“Captain, I am not sure I can wait for another twelve hours.” Anuita sighed, a look of dismay in her eyes. “I am now under pressure from the other consuls and the public to step down immediately and allow the council to nominate my replacement.”

“Have you consulted anyone else on this matter?”

Hollande nodded. “Well, Glina came to see me, uninvited, as usual.” Her tone was dry – it was obvious the Chief Consul wasn’t fond of the Dominion Ambassador. One thing Ana noticed was the local population seemed to distrust the Dominion even more than the Federation. Most Nuimons had also taken an intense dislike to the Klingons just from the little exposure to them. The more militaristic the group, the less appealing they’d be to the peace-loving Nuimons. “She offered a swift way to end the crisis by sending in Jem’Hadar troops to take down the Free Nuimons and rescue the hostages.”

Ana set her jaws, bristling but she wasn’t surprised. “I am assuming you haven’t accepted the offer.”

“No, I told Glina the council will have to approve the plan first and they won’t.”

The Jem’Hadar would have just killed all the terrorists and maybe inadvertently some hostages, thereby worsening an already volatile political situation. “Chief Consul, regardless of whether you step down or not, our priority should be saving the hostages.” The CO took on a firmer tone. “My crew and I have sat back, allowing your government and police to take the lead in the hostage negotiations but time is running out for the hostages and if I am being honest, your people have hardly made any progress with the Free Nuimons.” She was displeased that the Nuimon government had been dragging their feet in their attempts to resolve the crisis and their refusal to permit the Camelot to play a more active role, considering most of the hostages were not Nuimons – many of whom were Federation citizens, frustrated her. But she chose to let them take the lead, believing the Free Nuimons might be more responsive if an off-worlder wasn’t part of the negotiations. However, time was running out and the Camelot would need to step in, take over if need be.

“What do you suggest, Captain?”

Spankryz sighed. “I suggest…” She was interrupted when an aide burst into the room, his expression filled with excitement.

“Chief Consul, the information guild has just released this latest news broadcast and you need to urgently see it.”

“Turn on the viewer,” Hollande ordered, turning her attention to a rectangular shaped screen at the far end of the room.

Ana followed the Chief Consul’s gaze, when the viewer flickered to a young Nuimon man seated behind a desk, his mouth moving rather quickly. It was a news broadcast by the planet’s Information Guild. The news was likely very important enough for the guild to not wait till the morning. As the news anchor began speaking and a 3D image of Yesper Breg appeared in the background, the CO had realized the guild was about to broadcast the recording of Breg confessing his collusion with the Lady and the Free Nuimons. The very same recording that Chloe Nielsen had shown her.

As she watched the broadcast, Ana noticed the agent had done some tweaking. The guild’s tech used to authenticate holo-recordings weren’t advanced enough to detect tampering by groups with more advanced technology. The Captain wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or disturbed at the ease and level of sophistication of the tech used by Starfleet Intelligence to tamper with evidence and still make the information look authentic. Numino was still technologically behind the Federation.

When the broadcast was over and the viewer turned off, the Trill noted the shocked expression on Hollande’s face. But that shock soon turned to outrage when the Nuimon stood up with fists clenched.

“What a hypocrite!” Hollande fumed, pacing back and forth. “Since I took over, Breg and his supporters had called me a ‘traitor’, a ‘sellout’ and spread all kinds of lies about me – when all this time, he was the actual traitor – him and those Free Nuimon terrorists, conspired with off-worlders for their own self-serving agendas!”

Anaqueen nodded in silence, understanding the anger radiated by the Nuimon woman but knew Hollande wasn’t completely blameless for the current political situation in Numino. No one, except Hollande’s own ambition, drove her to aligning with a Syndicate operative and ousting Breg, thus in turn causing a rift in their political and personal alliance. During the Trill’s earlier conversation with Alenvin, she had learnt from the former Chief Consul the full story regarding both Breg’s and Hollande’s political careers.

[[Chief Consul,]] came the voice of the aide.

“Yes, what is it?”

[[I received a message from the Chief Secretary that a council session has been scheduled for 0900hrs and the agenda is to discuss your removal from the position, followed by nominating your replacement.]]

“Did the other consuls not watch the broadcast?!?” Hollande snapped.

[[I am not sure…]] That was the end of the conversation.

The Captain sighed. A council session to discuss ousting Hollande. She wasn’t surprised. Breg’s confession would turn public sentiment against the Free Nuimons and exonerate Hollande of using off-worlders to assassinate the late Consul, however it didn’t mean the Chief Consul’s own popularity would improve. After all in many Nuimons’ view, she had betrayed them with her decisions and her close association with Djiktra – at the exclusion of others - didn’t exactly help either.

“So the other consuls still plan on getting rid of me even after Breg’s confession.” The Nuimon sat down, sighing.

“If I understand correctly, it is the Chief Consul who set the order of agenda.”

“Yes.” Hollande nodded. “I have sole discretion on what resolution gets priority unless it is an emergency, which automatically receives top priority.”

“So a motion of non-confidence made against you is considered an emergency?”

Anuita shook her head. “No, it is not. I can push it down to the end if I so desire but as far as I know there are no other motions to discuss in this upcoming session.”

“But resolving the hostage crisis is considered an emergency, right?”

“I believe so.” Hollande’s eyes lit up. “What do you suggest, Captain?”

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Location: Simlran, NUMINO
Scene: Jungle

**No, it can’t be. He has been dead for years…** Chloe stood, a shocked look in her eyes as they fixed on a tall human man with short, dark blond hair and a lean build. He was wearing a Starfleet issued flight suit, worn by members of a fighter squadron. A smile graced his handsome features and like her, he too had blue grey eyes. The agent couldn’t believe her senses– her little brother who, like the other two individuals, had been dead for a decade. What was going on? She thought, feeling a surge of emotions within her. As an intelligence agent for close to fifteen years, Chloe had learnt to compartmentalize her emotions to focus on the mission.

“Came to see me off, sis.” He smiled.

Chloe blinked and then her expression became awash with panic. She then rushed towards him and reached out for his shoulder. The fighter pilot stood nearly half a foot taller than her. “Do you really need to be in a rush to go on this particular mission?” She heard herself ask him, recalling she had done the same thing about ten years ago.

“Chloe, not you too.” He sighed. “I know Soph’s already upset with me and thought you of all people would understand.”

“It’s…” Chloe felt her heart racing, panic building up inside her. “Because…because you will die so don’t go…”

“It’s my first mission after graduation…be happy for me, sis…” Then he just burst into flames, quickly disintegrating into dust.

Nielsen froze, shell-shocked until her knees buckled and she was kneeling on the ground, burying her face into her hands. **No, this can’t be happening. ** Why was she reliving all those painful memories from the war? Then she began hearing soft eerie child-like voices.

“Pain…go away…here…this will…make pain go away.”

Chloe lifted her face, her eyes widening. A sudden craving began taking hold of her senses – a craving she hadn’t felt in over four years. A small packet was hovering over her, a tear forming in the middle and yellow powder rained down on her. Chloe’s eyes fixed on the raining powder, feeling a temptation to grab a handful and make the pain go away.

“Take it, Chloe…” The voices came through the sprinkled powder, inviting her to give into temptation. “It will make the pain go away…make the pain go away…”

“No…no…” Chloe waved her arms around attempting to push the packet away but it wouldn’t budge and the powder continued raining down. Nielsen began shifting backward in a kneeling position but the packet kept coming closer as if it was taunting her. “Take…pain go away…take…pain go away…”

“No.” Chloe continued resisting until she felt her head banging on something hard. “Ouch!” She yelled out in pain and then it was like she had woken up. Nursing the back of her head with her right hand, the blonde’s gaze moved around. The agent was back in the Simlran rainforest and realized she had banged her head on a giant purple rock, glowing in the darkness. She blinked, feeling confused. “What the hell just happened?” Then she glanced around and noticed the jungle around her was lit in glowing bright blue – well except for the area under this purple, glowing rock.

Then realization hit her like a ton of bricks. “Of course, I was hallucinating.” She glanced around and remembered the Camelot sensor reports that had indicated the presence of psionic energy, emanating from the flora, in this jungle. Chloe narrowed her eyes, standing up. “It makes sense now. MacNeil’s experiment somehow involved manipulating psionic energy to make her subjects have these hallucinations, likely extracted from our memories.” She eyed the rock, arching a brow. “But how did I wake up? And why am I not having these hallucinations again when the experiment still seems to be running?”

An ear-piercing shriek. Chloe whirled around, her eyes widening. Facing her a few feet away was a large plant-like creature – its long, dark spindly body resembled that of a tree trunk with thin vines snaking around it before some of them began making their way towards her. The agent’s gaze moved up the body to its head, which looked like a withered flower but flowers were pretty and this one was really ugly. She noticed the vines emanated a bright blue glow like the rest of the jungle flora. One of the vines was spotted swatting a rock, which flew in the opposite direction.

“Well, now I know who woke me up,” she said, giving her arm a sidelong glance, noting with disgust, some kind of purple slime sticking on it. She had deduced the creature had likely encountered her and whacked her towards this rock.

The flower head bloomed – well its withered petals parted and the agent caught glimpses of multiple little bright blue dots within it. Then the creature let out another shriek, inching itself towards her but stopped an inch from the rock. Chloe raised an eyebrow. For some reason, the creature didn’t seem keen on moving any closer and then she glanced back at the rock.

“The rock. It doesn’t like the rock.” The creature shrieked again, when her gaze shifted around. “And for that matter, as long as I stand near this rock, I don’t have these hallucinations, which means that purple rock emanates a natural energy shield that blocks and repels the psionic energy.” Then an idea struck her. Pulling out a type 1 phaser, the agent aimed the weapon at the rock and a red beam streamed at it. She had planned on cutting out a chunk of the rock to use as sort of a personal shield while she navigated through the jungle to find Mirror Anaqueen, when something else or…someone caught her attention.

“What? No way, what’s she doing out here?” Chloe blinked, spotting a tall humanoid woman – her eyes glowing bright blue, standing still in a catatonic state. “Kate MacNeil.” She didn’t have to use her Section 31 issued tricorder to determine which MacNeil it was, considering Mirror Kate wasn’t going to volunteer herself as subject in her own experiment. And Kate was in trouble unless the blonde acted fast. Tapping on the wrist band, containing the embedded tricorder, she activated the special lens –a thin film found snug over her corneas. The lens began displaying information gathered by the tricorder, which would enable her to navigate through the treacherous terrain.

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“No! Please! Don’t assimilate me!” Kate screamed, watching in horror as her entire body was covered in Borg implants. Then her surroundings shifted – gone was the blizzard and in its place was the ruins of a dead city. The Scot blinked, glancing around and noticed she was no longer a drone. “Where am I?” Then her eyes widened in horror. “No…” came a low whisper as she began staggering backwards. “No, No…NO!”

An Orion woman materialized, her long black hair flowing in the wind and extended her arms toward the half-Nuimon. With her were two green skinned children – a boy and girl.

Kate waved at them, calling out. “Grace! Here!” But then she blinked at the presence of her children, Hamish and Josephine. **What are they doing here? They weren’t even born…well not until after the war. ** As Grace and the children began walking towards her, a pair of shadowy figures appeared in a fog, which seemed to have suddenly materialized. Kate blanched, enveloped by fear, when out of the fog came two genetically engineered monstrosities –both looked to be hybrid of Nausicaan, Klingon and some kind of animal or reptile DNA mixed in. The creatures growled, raising their hands with long claws as they loomed over Grace and the children.

“No! No! Leave them!” She screamed, when the surroundings changed again. The half-Nuimon now stood in the middle of a beautiful garden, adorned in her wedding dress with a white cloak and a sash displaying clan MacNeil’s tartan colours. She turned around and sighed with relief, when Grace stood beside her, also in her lovely wedding gown. To her surprise, she saw Hamish and Josephine beside them – looking quite adorable in their outfits but…they weren’t born at that time. So what were they doing here at the wedding? A beagle, a white chipmunk, a grey tabby kitten/rabbit hybrid and green parrot were present. A small monkey/alien bird hybrid was hovering above, flapping her multi-coloured wings.

She heard throat clearing, directing her attention forward, where a tall human man with black hair and rugged looks in navy blue robes stood. He held a large book in one hand. “That’s the bounty hunter, who kindly volunteered to perform our ceremony as a last minute replacement…Raxl Dreyton…yes I think that was his name.” The auburn haired woman felt something brush by her leg and Kate let out a chuckle, spotting a small chimpanzee running around, carrying a basket and tossing flower petals. **Mary Sue, well she lives at the sanctuary now. **

Snow began falling…yes she remembered the snow during her wedding – a very thoughtful gift from Jake Crichton, who was Gateway’s Chief Engineer at the time. Then a tall blue skinned woman with long, flowing white hair appeared beside her, wearing a full-length midnight blue gown and whose lips curled into a warm smile. Kate blinked, returning the smile. “Xana?” Xana Bonviva, her best woman, who had also taken care of the catering, reception and a major help in planning the wedding. But Kate hasn’t seen the Bolian/Italian for years.

“Kate!” Grace cried, followed by her children.

“Mummy!”

Kate turned around and let out a blood curdling shriek as a mob of angry humans, carrying energy weapons, appeared beside her loved ones. **Neo-Essentialists?!?** She screamed again when Borg implants began appearing all over her body. “NO! NO!”

Then came a chorus of monotone voices, running in a loop.

[[We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile…]]

Then suddenly she was now back in the jungle, having realized she had woken up from a horrible nightmare. She then felt strong arms dragging her backwards, which really snapped the doctor out of her stupor. “Wait, is this real or am I still dreaming?” She turned her head, noticing a tall slab of rock, glowing a light purple colour, towering over her. “Where…”

“You’re safe for now.”


Kate turned around, realizing she was sitting down on the ground, and spotted a blonde woman leaning against the rock. She narrowed her eyes, recognizing the woman. “Wait, I remember you…that hiker me and my family rescued back in the valley.”

“Yes.” Chloe nodded. “And I guess we’re even now that I rescued you from becoming dinner.” The blonde helped the Scot up.

Kate could hear herself breathing rapidly and her heart beating against her chest. What all she had gone through were hallucinations? How and why her mad doppelganger put her through this torture? She eyed the Section 31 agent with suspicion. “How are you here?” she demanded. “When we parted, you promised to check in at a medical centre and your twin told me that you were resting in Ciris. So how are you here in Simlran?”

“Kate,” Chloe said. “I will answer your questions after we have moved to a safer location. There’s a cave about fifteen feet from our position and my trackers spot no sign of any nocturnal creatures in the area.”

But Kate remained obstinate, still suspicious of the blonde. “How can I trust you? For all I know, you work for that mad lass and she sent you here to bring me back to her lab.”

“By mad lass, you mean the other Doctor MacNeil and no, I don’t work for her.” Nielsen sighed, taking a quick peek behind her before speaking with a matter-of-fact tone. “Honestly, Kate. You don’t exactly have an option unless…” She narrowed her pale blue eyes. “You want to die out here, either by starvation or killed by one of those creatures because when I first encountered you here, you were in some kind of trance and would have been eaten by this giant, ugly arachnid if I hadn’t pulled you away.”

Kate leaned against the rock, her shoulders slumped. “Alright, I’ll go with you,” she said with resignation.

“Good call. Now…”

Chitter. Chitter. Chitter.

Kate froze, feeling like her heart stopped. Once again, she was gripped with fear, her hands and legs starting to tremble, her heart rate and breathing rising. “I am not liking the sound of this.”

Chitter. Chitter. Chitter.

The noise grew louder and Kate could hear her teeth clatter. The auburn haired noticed the other woman who stood still, the latter’s expression a sea of calm. Both women remained silent for another moment until a thin, long and hairy spindly leg with a sharp end, stomped on the ground, barely an inch from MacNeil, who jumped away, letting out a blood curdling scream and nearly knocking into Nielsen.

“Let’s go,” the blonde urged, handing her a small piece of the purple rock. “This should protect you against the hallucinations.” Another hairy leg appeared beside the first one, alarming the women. Chloe offered Kate, her arm. “Hang tight.”

Kate nodded, holding the rock in one hand, while grabbing onto the agent’s left arm with the other. Then the two women began running as fast as their legs could carry them and could hear loud stomping and chittering noises behind them. MacNeil was feeling a shortness of breath, struggling to keep up with Nielsen’s pace as the agent dragged her forward, and cutting through the dense undergrowth was no easy feat. The Scot as she was running, started feeling the ground softening under her feet. She peeked behind her shoulder and her eyes widened in fear. “Oh look at the size of that beastie.”

“Hey, I suggest you don’t look back.”

But Kate didn’t heed the blonde’s words immediately as her glowing blue eyes fixed on a giant creature, resembling a hairy spider except it was dark blue in colour. On its hemispherical head, she could see the many eyes that looked like tiny light blue dots and an enormous mouth that could devour about a dozen shuttlecrafts. Then her gaze moved to the legs, which also seemed to radiate a bright blue glow and guessed the number of legs to be about twelve. A scary sight to behold and sent chills down her spine. Then she was slapped on the arm by the blonde and Kate turned her attention forward.

“Don’t look at it,” Chloe chided as she slid behind another slab of purple rock, pulling Kate along with her. The two women panted heavily, even though they didn’t run very far – the high humidity in the jungle wearing them down. Behind the rock the creature was chittering. “We’re about half way there.” Then the agent’s head was spotted snapping to the right as if something caught her eye. “There she is.” The blonde pulled MacNeil closer before pushing her forward, forcing the doctor to release her arm. “The cave’s straight ahead. So don’t stop until you get there.”

MacNeil blinked in confusion. “What are you doing?”

“I need to save someone,” Nielsen replied, making a quick turn to the right.

Kate could see at the corner of her eye a Trill woman with long, silver hair, standing in a trance, much like she had been and spotted Chloe dashing towards her. She gasped, noticing the creature stopped right before turning its enormous body to the right, shooting out white sticky threads at the Trill. She sighed, taking off in the direction of the cave.

-----------------------------------

“….it cannot be,” Mirror Anaqueen said, leaning against a steel grey wall, hugging her knees, pulling them closer to her chest. “They can’t all be dead.” Tears began streaming down her cheeks. The last she had heard before the SHIV’s ill-fated trip to the other dimension, the freedom fighters were losing, their numbers dwindling but not gone. Ana had always believed as long as there were even a handful of the Free Trill members left, the fight would go on. So what had she just witnessed? Those hateful parasites wiping out and slaughtering every last freedom fighter, including her. That couldn’t be right. Yes, they had the upper hand, especially after getting help from the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance through lies claiming the Free Trills allied with the insurgents against the Alliance. But it had been over a decade since she left her home dimension so maybe the parasites had won in the end. Ana blinked back her tears, her body convulsing in fear and hoped her fellow freedom fighters still had a chance to overthrow the parasites’ totalitarian regime.

Her surroundings flickered away, the empty room replaced by a luxurious suite with a large, oval window overlooking a desert planet. Ana’s eyes widened, getting up and wiping away her tears. Her mouth curled into a wide smile. “It can’t be. This is the suite at Casperia Pleasure Station. The suite I shared…” Her voice trailed at the sound of a familiar voice that made her heart skip a beat. Her limbs tingled at the exhilaration she was feeling. She slowly turned around and her mood brightened, when an attractive human woman with long blonde hair was approaching her.

Ana could listen to the loud beating of her heart as she too began moving towards the blonde, the Trill’s eyes fixed on her. “It’s really you, Chloe?” She asked in a low whisper filled with longing as the two women stopped moving.

The other woman nodded. “Yes.”

“Not Miss Bossy?”

“Who’s Miss Bossy?” The blonde gave her a sly grin. “It’s been ten years, Ana.”

“Chloe…” Anaqueen was breathless, wrapping her arms around the slightly taller woman. “You haven’t changed a bit and are as beautiful as ever.” Soon their lips locked and the Trill kissed her former Terran lover with great fervor. “I want to be with you and will go with you to TERRA,” she spoke in between kisses. Ana had never been to Earth and in her euphoria at the moment thought it was some kind of paradise when in reality it wasn’t.

The Trill was so immersed in her passionate reunion that she didn’t notice a hand circling around her throat. Then in a split second, passion was replaced with dread, when she realized it was a man’s hand around her neck and suddenly withdrew. She let out a gasp, her eyes widening in fear. Her former lover was no longer there and in her place was a tall, handsome Trill man with short light brown hair and sharp blue eyes burning with intense hatred. Adorned in a gold and blue suit, he displayed a regal demeanor. His grip on her throat tightened.

“Spankryz…” she choked. “How…why?”

“I finally found you,” he said in a menacing voice, lifting her up as Ana began feeling the life being squeezed out of her. “Thanks to your Terran lover.”

“No…” She croaked. “You lying parasite. Chloe would never betray me…”

“But she did…” He laughed. “You are a pathetic fool to think an arrogant Terran would ever love you.”
“You lie…”

“Now I will have my revenge for your rejection.”

“No, you bastard. You…” Then with a sudden jolt, she was now wide awake and back in the jungle. Reaching out to feel her throat, the Trill blinked, confused and then felt something sticky on her fingers. Ana furrowed her brow, her gaze moving down and noticed her torso wrapped in a white ball and then froze at chittering noises behind her. “No…”

“Anaqueen!”

“Chloe?” The Trill called back, suddenly elated, when she heard shots behind her, followed by a gurgling shriek and loosening of the white thread around her. The parasite was wrong. Chloe would never betray her.

“Hurry,” Nielsen urged, grabbing the Trill by the elbow and dragging her way. “Let’s head off, while the creature is distracted with the Jem’Hadar troops.”

Ana smiled to herself, allowing the agent to pull her away as the two women began running. “I missed you, Chloe,” she said, still thinking it was the blonde’s mirror version.

“Uhm, what?” Chloe arched a brow, perplexed and then sighed. “Come on, Anaqueen. There’s a cave up ahead. We should be safe from the creature.” Behind them, they could hear guttural screams from the Jem’Hadar soldiers.

A scowl marred the Trill’s features. “Oh, it’s Miss Bossy.”

“Good to know you came back to your senses.” Chloe grinned.

----------------

Kate was nearly out of breath as she staggered past the entrance of a wide cave, surrounded by purple rock – the same one as those slabs that mysteriously kept the creature away and prevented her from having the hallucinations. She leaned against the wall, sliding down to a sitting position on the ground and exhaled, feeling the energy drain out of her. Her clothes and hair stuck to her skin, drenched in sweat. She tugged at her sleeve, noticing dark patches of moisture all over it. **I hate humid weather. ** She just sat there, closing her eyes and breathing heavily.

[[Hello lass.]] Mirror Kate’s voice broke through MacNeil’s comm badge, still hidden inside her pocket.

The Scot frowned, a burning ire rising within her. “So lass, you called to check up on me to see if I’m still alive.”

[[Yes.]] The mad doctor’s voice was cold, yet there was a hint of gloating. [[I am happy to hear that you are still alive.]]

“I see, so you can torture me with more of your wretched experiments.”

Mirror Kate didn’t response, changing the subject. [[So, what do you think of Matilda?]]

“Matilda?” MacNeil blinked. “Another subject you hoped I’d meet here? How twisted!”

[[Well, she’d have eaten you,]] the doppelganger said casually, [[if that annoying blonde hadn’t interfered. In fact she is becoming quite a nuisance depriving my precious Matilda of her dinner.]]

“Matilda…” Kate’s mouth dropped, now speaking in a hoarse whisper, unable to contain her shock. “That…ugly horrifying spider creature…You named it…”

[[Ugly?!?]] Mirror Kate snapped. [[How dare you?]]

“Because well…” Kate sighed, realizing how livid her alternate had become.

[[Matilda is not ugly,]] Mirror Kate argued. [[She is enlightened, intelligent with great survival instincts and is quite adorable, really.]]

MacNeil smacked her forehead, letting out a growl.

[[When I first met her, she was a wee bit arachnoid and vulnerable to predators so I genetically engineered her to make her strong and be able to survive in these harsh conditions,]] she droned on. [[Pity, when she transformed, she ate three of my assistants but the poor thing was very hungry so who could blame her.]]

Kate felt her stomach churn, the bile rising up to her throat and was filled with disgust. Shame on her doppelganger for her callousness, regarding the deaths of others. She tilted her head at the sound of voices and footsteps shuffling inside and sighed with relief, spotting Nielsen enter with Mirror Anaqueen in tow. As Chloe helped the Trill down, gently having her lean against the wall, Mirror Kate kept talking.

[[I detect the blonde and my old friend Anaqueen are here with you.]]

“MacNeil?” Chloe raised an eyebrow. “So the crazy doctor is tracking our biosignatures.”

“That bitch,” Mirror Anaqueen growled angrily, furiously tearing out the spider webs off her. “I am going to kill her.”

[[Well, Anaqueen, we have a lot of catching up to do and I have some new drugs for you to try.]]

“Bitch?!? You will die.” As Ana attempted to get up, Chloe pushed her back down.

“Easy there, Ana,” Nielsen chided. “You need to rest for a bit.”

“You’re so bossy,” Ana grumbled, glaring at the agent and pulling out white threads stuck in her hair.

Kate sighed, noticing both women looked worse for wear and like her, their clothes and hair wet from all the sweating.

[[The blonde, I think I should just simply kill her. The Lady warned me she was going to be a nuisance,]] Mirror Kate said in a derisive tone. [[And she’s right as after all, she’s enlightened like me.]]

MacNeil studied the Canadian woman’s expression and to her amazement, the agent didn’t flinch at Mirror Kate’s words and even looked amused. **Odd. My doppelganger threatened to kill her and she finds that amusing. Who is she? **

[[I think I will feed you, blonde to my precious Matilda after all it was you who nearly starved her…well until those Jem’Hadar showed up.]]

“Lassie!” Kate yelled, unable to take it anymore. “You are certifiably mentally insane, did you know that?!?”

[[Well…]] Then there was nothing but static.

Kate blinked. “What happened?”

“Don’t worry, I activated a sensor blocker,” Chloe informed, her finger hovering over her wrist band. “It will mask our biosignatures, which should prevent MacNeil from detecting us.”

“Who are you?” Kate inquired, addressing Nielsen and spotting Mirror Ana. “And how did Anaqueen’s doppelganger end up here?” She raised her voice. “What the bloody hell is going on here?”

Chloe inhaled in a deep breath, meeting the hybrid’s gaze.

-----------------------------------------------
Scene: Underwater Laboratory

“What happened?” Mirror Kate demanded, when a Nuimon man ran towards her.

The lab assistant gulped, twiddling his thumbs. “Well, doctor. Apparently, something in the jungle is…blocking our signal and we lost track of them.”

“That blonde nuisance,” Kate growled, slamming the table with her left hand. “The Lady did say she was rather crafty.” She bent forward, petting her husky puppy, which whined at her touch. The doctor picked him up and held the little pup in her arms as she stroked his soft, white fur. “Well, I am going to show the blonde that she is no match for my genius. Oh I will definitely show the lass.”

The puppy howled, wagging his tail.

“Doctor,” the assistant reported. “We ran a diagnostic on all the devices set up in Ithlirin and everything is in perfect working condition.”

“Well, that’s excellent news.” Kate smiled. “So that means we are still on track to activate the weapon at 0630hrs here, which would of course be 1130hrs in Ciris – a time when many will be out and about.”

----------------------------------------------------
Location: Ciris, NUMINO
Scene: Chief Consul’s Chambers

“Well, Captain,” Hollande said, smiling as she followed the Trill CO and the Haliian Counselor out of the room. “I hope the rest of the council will vote to accept your proposal to resolve this crisis and save the hostages.”

“I hope so too.” Ana nodded. “As per the proposal, Lieutenant Hex and another member of my staff will join the negotiations team and attempt a different tactic.” The Trill didn’t say the next part out loud. The addition of Hex and another Camelot officer to the negotiations table was merely a ruse, while the Nuimon police in cooperation with the Camelot security teams would be planning a rescue operation in secret. The resolution also stipulated the council grant the Planetary Police the powers to request assistance from anyone as they saw fit for this particular crisis only. Lt. Cmdr. Cato, the chief of security, was currently meeting with the Police Commissioner, who unlike some government officials, was more than eager to work with Starfleet to end the crisis.

“This plan would also minimize the loss the life,” Hex added.

As Hollande was speaking with an aide, Ana sighed, having decided not to try dissuading the Chief Consul from interacting with Djiktra. Regardless of the success or failure of the plan, Anuita Hollande’s tenure as Chief Consul was finished. The other consuls wanted her out. The public had been clamoring for her resignation and Breg’s confession hadn’t changed that view. Spankryz expected in the next few hours, public opinion would be strongly unfavourable towards the Free Nuimons.

The Trill’s comm badge chirped and Spankryz tapped on it. “Spankryz here.”

[[Captain, Lith here,]] came a female voice.

“Yes Lieutenant?”

[[Sensors have detected elevated levels of psionic energy from Simlran between 2200hrs and 2215hrs local time,]] the Camelot’s chief science officer reported.

Ana raised an eyebrow. “Same area as the last time?”

[[Yes, Captain.]]

So that mad scientist was running another experiment. Ana frowned. The bioweapon. Was she testing the weapon and if she was, then Spankryz feared the Lady and Mirror Kate planned on deploying the weapon sooner rather than later.

“Everything okay, Captain?” Hex inquired, sounding concerned.

“I’m fine, Counselor.”

[[Captain, there’s something else.]]

Ana sighed. “Go on, Lieutenant.”

[[Well,]] the J’naii said, [[the sensors have also picked up rather unusual readings from various locations in the Ithlirin continent, including the capital and Riivenvale, near the resort where the hostages are held captive.”

“When?”

[[In the same time period as the spikes in psionic energy.]]

Spankryz tensed as if a dark cloud was forming over her. “Lieutenant, meet me at my Ready Room in twenty minutes.”

[[Yes Captain. Lith out.]]

Ana tapped her comm badge. “Spankryz to Camelot.”

[[Sol here. Ready to return?]]

“In about five minutes,” Ana said, watching Hollande step away from her aide.

[[Well, Captain, I’d feel a lot better if you came back sooner rather than later.]]

The CO nodded, noting the anxiety in the ExO’s voice. “Commander, get Lt. Cmdr. Song and meet me in the Ready Room in twenty minutes.”

[[Understood ma’am.]] Sol then added, [[And Captain, Major Choi informs me she and her team are on standby awaiting your orders.]]

“Understood, Commander. Spankryz out.” As the Trill ended communication, Hollande approached her, beaming.

“Captain,” the Nuimon began in a cheerful tone. “I must say I found our conversation quite useful. Elena was wise to suggest I ask for your input on this entire situation.”

Anaqueen raised an eyebrow. “Chief Consul, are you telling me it was Ms. Djiktra’s idea to invite me down to your chambers and ask for my advice?”

“Yes.” Hollande nodded. “You see how wise she is and why I relied on her so much. In fact, I plan on meeting her later tonight to tell her about our plan.”

The Trill frowned, wondering why the Syndicate operative would suggest something like that. In fact something had been bothering her regarding Elena Djiktra and the Lady. Both women seemed to have surfaced around the same time with Elena counseling Hollande, while the Lady began manipulating Breg after his ouster and the Free Nuimons. A coincidence, perhaps? Two different women whose actions had led to current political instability. Ana didn’t think so. Both Djiktra and the Lady were in cahoots with each other or – the Trill’s eyes widened, having this dreadful feeling. What if both the Lady and Djiktra were the same person? That did make sense, after all as far as she knew no one had seen the Lady’s face. According to Chloe, the Orion Syndicate had nothing to do with the Free Nuimons and Mirror Kate.

“Chief Consul,” Ana suggested – more like insisted. “I prefer if you did not disclose our plan to anyone until after it is presented at the upcoming council session.” If her suspicions were correct, the last thing the Trill needed was the Lady getting wind of their plan to end the crisis.

“Captain, I don’t understand.” Hollande arched a brow, sounding a little offended. “Why do you want to exclude Elena…” She was interrupted by shouts of protest down the hall.

[[Excuse me,]] yelled a female voice. [[You cannot go in there….]] Then came clashing sounds as if something broke.

Spankryz nodded at her security escort in the direction of the noise. The escort, a young humanoid male, turned around and moved a few steps forward, when a short Nuimon woman came rushing towards them, screaming. The guard then moved to stand in front of the CO who glanced behind at the Chief Consul.

“Chief Consul!” The aide ran past the security guard, making a bee line for Hollande.

“What’s wrong?” Hollande inquired. Before anyone could say a word, sounds of footsteps, followed by slashing caught their attention. The Chief Consul let out a gasp, clutching onto her aide’s shoulder.

When Spankryz turned her head forward, she stiffened, her eyes fixed on the pointy end of a thin, sharp, gold blade, hovering by her neck. The blade dripped with blood. Ana’s gaze slowly shifted downwards, when her expression hardened at the ghastly sight below. The still form of the security escort was found lying in a pool of blood on the ground – his neck and torso slashed. The Trill glanced away from the fallen guard and to his murderer, a tall woman – well, around three inches taller than Spankryz – stood, garbed in a full-length, blood stained snowy white robe, its hood pulled over to conceal her face. In her right hand was a short sword with a gold pressed hilt attached to a monofilament blade.

Despite the woman hiding her face, Anaqueen deduced her identity, which fueled the rage building inside her. The Trill glared at her. “You’re the Lady,” she spoke in a harsh whisper. She watched the Lady nod an affirmative. “What do you…” She was interrupted by shrieks erupting from the Nuimon aide behind her. Ana’s eyes flickered to Hollande, who was being shoved towards the Consul’s office by the aide. Then the two Nuimons rushed inside, closing the door and locking themselves inside, leaving the Starfleet officers out cold.

[[I need to get in touch with Elena.]] Hollande was heard shouting from inside her office.

Ana then shared brief eye contact with Hex, who immediately tapped his comm badge.

“Hex to Camelot! We are being attacked. Request Emergency transport!”

[[Camelot here,]] Commander Sol responded. [[We’re getting you out.]]

As bluish hue beams began swirling around the Haliian, Spankryz noticed the same wasn’t happening to her and glanced at the Lady. The Trill then realized with dread that the white robed woman had placed an invisible sensor blocker, localized to her position and thus preventing the Camelot transporters from locking onto the CO. When Hex had vanished, Anaqueen set her jaws and glared at the Lady, demanding angrily. “What do you want with me?”

“A simple chat,” whispered the Lady, pressing her left thumb on a hidden device and the two women became engulfed by an orange transporter beam, thus disappearing from the room.

*************************************************************************************
NRPG: Here’s Part XV. We are getting close to the climax :) And now all three of my characters plus the two Mirror ones will end up in the same location.

Part XVI preview: The Lady has a chat with Captain Spankryz. Chloe, Prime Kate and Mirror Anaqueen bond and then find a way to Mirror Kate’s lab. Mirror Kate is frustrated at her inability to getting rid of Chloe whom she considers a nuisance.

A little fact: Nuimons’ eyes change to a glowing bright blue colour in darkness and that is why you read the same happen to Kate in this post.

~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Chloe Nielsen
Section 31 Agent

And

Special Appearances by

Captain Anaqueen Spankryz
Commander/Dr. Kate MacNeil