Cracked Reflections
Posted on Thu Jun 18th, 2026 @ 10:47pm by Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant JG T'Lar & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Remal Kajun
2,677 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Pirates!
Location: Badlands
"Every mirror tells two stories. One belongs to the face before it. The other belongs to the face staring back."
I.S.S. Sunfire – Bridge
The silence that followed the Bristol's escape lasted only a few seconds. Long enough for everyone to understand what had happened. Not long enough for anyone to comment upon it.
The tactical display continued tracking the fading sensor distortions left behind by the emergency warp jump. Across the viewscreen, plasma storms rolled through the Badlands in great burning rivers of gold and crimson while the dimensional portal vanished slowly behind them.
A sensor officer broke the silence. "Captain, we have a warp trail."
Remal's attention shifted immediately. "Source?"
"The Bristol." Fingers moved rapidly across the console. "They're leaking drive plasma. They suffered significant damage before the jump."
Bonnie's smile returned. "Bleeding all the way home."
The sensor officer nodded. "Yes, Commander."
Remal stepped toward the tactical display. The projected trail glowed brightly across the map. The Federation vessel had escaped the battle, but escape and survival remained very different things. "Speed?"
"Warp four." A faint satisfaction settled across the bridge.
Remal studied the display for several moments before speaking, "We can still catch them before they leave the Badlands."
The bridge immediately shifted into motion. Targeting solutions began updating. Intercept vectors appeared. Tactical officers exchanged calculations. The hunt had simply entered its next phase.
Then another voice interrupted. "Captain, not all attack craft have returned." The bridge quieted again.
The tactical display showed several friendly contacts still weaving through the outer plasma storms. Nothing serious. Nothing unexpected. A few damaged craft. A delayed recovery. But every minute mattered now.
Remal's eyes drifted toward the chronometer embedded within the command display. Thirty-five minutes. Marshal Kaylen's deadline continued to count downward.
34 and 53 seconds.
34 minutes and 52.
The Bristol moved farther away with every passing moment. A younger officer finally spoke. "We can launch immediately and recover them later." The suggestion died the instant it reached open air.
Bonnie's eyes narrowed.
Remal stood motionless for several seconds. The calculation was obvious. Leave now and increase the chance of catching the Bristol. Wait and risk losing precious time. One path favored success. The other favored loyalty.
His expression hardened. "The moment they touch down, take us to warp."
The officer hesitated. "Sir?"
Remal finally looked at him and spoke through gritted teeth, "No man left behind." The words landed heavily across the bridge. "We are not savages."
Silence followed. Bonnie's grin returned. A small one, dangerous, but genuine.
The bridge resumed its work. Above the command chair, the countdown continued its relentless march toward zero. Thirty-four minutes.
And counting.
U.S.S. Bristol – Bridge
"Captain, reading enemy vessel has our location and is beginning pursuit," The Tactical officer announced as the bridge crew had all but counted their chickens prior to hatching.
"Damn," Bozeman said softly, aware that those around could hear. They had been so close to being able to escape the Badlands and lick their wounds as they warped home.
"Estimated Time to Intercept?" He asked as the tactical overlay once again appeared on the viewscreen. He did the maths - 5 minutes, give or take. The Sunfire wasn't broken; his ship was very much so.
"4 minutes 45 seconds. We won't have full shields or weapons by then," The tactical officer replied shortly, working the panel as though possessed. "Estimated shields to be 70%, phasers and torpedoes 80%."
"It'll have to do. Helm, push her as hard as she'll go." He sat back grimly in his command chair; they were outgunned, but not outsmarted. Yet.
"Bring the Vulcan and the Starfleet Duplicate to the bridge. They may be useful." Bozeman rubbed his chin. Perhaps it was time to play more fire with fire.
U.S.S. Bristol – Brig
T'Lar paced back and forth, wondering if they'd made their escape but doubting they had.
"What is happening? Did we get away?" she asked the security personnel, cognizent that they were probably just as clueless as she was.
Jennifer sat quietly on the bench, taking in the subtle feelings through the ship's infrastructure. "Doubtful, but we're not being actively fired upon" She mused as though she were reading the weather. The forcefields remained offline and the guards were vigilant, weapons still trained on their prisoners.
One of them returned to the console and pressed a few controls before conversing quietly to his coworker.
"Captain wants both of them on the bridge"
The guard shrugged and picked up two sets of restraints, tossing them to the prisoners. "No funny business"
"Restraints? Seriously? If we were going to make a move we'd have done it already." T'Lar said, snapping the bracelets on. "There... do you feel safer now?"
"It's not for my benefit, it's for the Captains." The guard said simply, weapon still trained as he checked the manacles himself.
Jennifer put her own restraints on without complaint, knowing the protocol and offering her hands for inspection.
"This way" the guard motioned towards the door, Baldric flinching as his phaser touched the small of her back. The memory of the agonisers still too fresh.
T'Lar complied without any further commentary, though she wondered just what the captain wanted with the two of them on the bridge. She'd played the only cards she had available. Now it was up to the sheer will to survive and guile of the man named Bozeman to get them all out of this alive.
They were escorted to the Bridge, which sat damaged at the top of the saucer section of the classically designed starship. Bulhkeads and conduits lay smoking on the deck, carpeting singed and walls bloodstained. They had taken a beating - but they had survived. The Captain apparently wanted to know why.
"Ahh the prisoners" He commented as they emerged from the single functioning turbolift on the ship.
"Commander Jennifer Baldric- Mission Specialist - USS Sunfire" Jennifer parroted, coming to a parade rest in front of the Captain. She would have stood at attention but her hands were restrained behind her back.
"So you claim" Bozeman said slowly, as though trying to find some way visually to tell her apart from her Mirror self. "You also claim to have been replaced and your counterpart is enjoying downtime on Earth with the rest of your crew."
He paused and regarded T'Lar. "And the defector. Tell my why you chose you abandon your crew and request asylum?"
"It should be no secret to the Federation," T'Lar said, "that unlike your universe in my universe Vulcans are treated at best as second class citizens, little better than slaves in most cases, and even more so for those of us in positions of power. Your position is never secure, you are never fully trusted and you live in constant fear of betrayal, the end result of which is always death. I held a very high position as an intelligence operative and was greatly feared, but with that fear came hatred and jealousy. Our Captain did little to quell inter-crew rivalries; in fact he seemed to enjoy watching us plot and scheme and out maneuver each other. It's a game to him. And to be perfectly honest, the things they made me do in order to survive finally became too much for me to take. I have been looking for an opportunity like this and your Commander here convinced me this was the time to take the chance. So I took it. But let it be known, if you want to interrogate me, I will only be debriefed by Lieutenant Jacob Rosen on the USS Sunfire. That is non negotiable. Assuming we survive and you get us out of here, that is. My reasons are my own."
Bozeman rubbed his chin thoughtfully, acutely aware that his ship was leqking antimatter and it was only a matter of time before the mirror Sunfire found them. "Your data packet worked, got anything else that will keep them off our tails while we get out of here?"
T'Lar had given that some thought.
"Unfortunately, by now they've probably remodulated the shields so any advantage you might have had to attack their engines or weapons systems is probably passed. There is one possibility however. If you can somehow divert a plasma wave filament to impact the Sunfire it could do considerable damage. We took a severe hit from one such strike when we first entered the Badlands several weeks ago and it disabled the ship for several days and killed seven crewmen."
Bozeman nodded and raised a hand to his tactical officer, indicating for them to make the necessary changes. "Costly in terms of set up, lets hope they dont find us first. " he turned back to Jennifer. "So how am I supposed to believe you're the real Baldric....i conveniently have noone to check it with" he inclined his head, and motioned to the Vulcan conn officer. "Ensign T'Ran could perform a mind meld to confirm your story."
Baldric froze, her skin paling as the fear response gripped her tighter than she had anticipated. "They...she....tortured me, melded with me...abused.." the words tumbled out.
"I'm afraid she's telling the truth," T'Lar admitted.
"In order to retrieve information vital to both of our survival I was forced to take the drastic measure of a forced mind meld with her. She resisted a great deal, making the experience extremely traumatic for her. I would advise against trying another meld as you can see the mere mention of one has already triggered a post traumatic stress reaction. If you doubt her veracity, you may have your Vulcan perform a mind meld on me and my memories of the events should suffice to verify she is who she says she is. I make no guarantees that your officer will not herself be troubled by what she sees, however..." the mirror universe Vulcan cautioned.
Bozeman looked between the two, one a Vulcan defector, the other a supposed officer who has been replaced by a mirror counterpart. Could he risk his own officer to prove their stories?
"Captain, Plasma activity increasing - we can't stay here" The tactical officer snapped, overriding any emotional discord that was currently being played out.
"Get us out of here" He replied grimly, knowing that the Sunfire was most likely going to find them.
I.S.S. Sunfire – Bridge
Dean sighed and shook his head a little bit. Now he was what? A frigging glow stick? "I suppose we better," he slipped off of the biobed to stand up.
Sarah walked with him, mainly to ensure that he actually made it to the bridge without collapsing - golden glowies and all. Secretly, she was pissed that he had the unique abilities and she was only charged with making them - making him better and more useful to the mission.
They entered the Bridge to see the dead Ferengi still in the corner, and Remal lounging in the centre seat as they hunted the Bristol. The Woolloomooloo was dead in the water; now the hunt was on for the second Federation ship - the one which housed the traitor and their prisoner.
The golden light spilling faintly from Dean's hands reflected off nearby consoles in soft pulses. It was not bright enough to illuminate the bridge. But it was bright enough to go unignored.
Remal noticed their arrival immediately. Unfortunately, he was in the middle of hunting a Federation starship. The captain sat in the center chair, one elbow resting against the armrest while tactical displays drifted across the screen before him. His attention remained on the pursuit for another second before he slowly turned his head.
He looked at Sarah first, then at Dean. Then on Dean's hands. One eyebrow rose. Behind him, Bonnie finally looked away from her console. The moment she saw the glow, her fingers stopped moving entirely. She blinked, then frowned, then blinked again. "What did you do?" she asked Sarah.
Bonnie pointed directly at Dean's hands. "More specifically, what is wrong with his hands?"
Finally, Remal's gaze settled upon Sarah. "Report."
"I made him better. Blended his DNA with the same we got from their Batel, added a few herbs and spices" Sarah retorted with satisfaction, as though she had elaborated the entire process to be simpler than it actually was.
"Behold, our new Beholder. Not sure if he can do the bending of space and time, but the glowing hands suggests the uptake of DNA was successful'
Bonnie stared at Dean for another few seconds. "Or he's the new Toxic Avenger."
"Maybe, he's better than he was though. You gotta admit" Sarah said proudly.
The pursuit of the Bristol continued across the tactical display behind him, but for the moment his attention belonged elsewhere. Remal's eyes traveled slowly across Dean's frame, studying him with the same careful consideration he might give a newly acquired weapon system. The Empire had risked lives, and an interdimensional operation to acquire Batel's genetic material. Now the result stood before him looking mildly confused and faintly radioactive.
Interesting. Potentially useful. Potentially very dangerous. The combination tended to attract Remal's attention. He circled once around Dean, hands clasped behind his back. The golden light reflected softly across his face. "We need to test this power."
"Tell me, Mister House." His gaze drifted briefly toward the glowing hands before returning to Dean's eyes. "What is it you are capable of?"
USS Bristol – Bridge
The plasma storms snapped back into existence. One moment the Bristol had been forcing its way through distorted subspace, every system aboard the vessel protesting the abuse. The next, reality reasserted itself with brutal suddenness. The ship lurched. Several bridge officers grabbed their consoles as inertial compensators struggled to absorb the transition. Warning klaxons immediately joined the chorus already echoing through the battered vessel.
"Captain!"
Bozeman was already on his feet. "Report."
The operations officer stared at his display in disbelief. "We're leaking drive plasma." Another alarm joined the first. "The warp core is overheating."
The bridge seemed to collectively hold its breath. Then engineering finally answered the question everyone was thinking. "Automatic shutdown initiated. The core scrammed itself to avoid an implosion."
Bozeman closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. The gamble had bought them distance. It had also crippled their ability to run. Outside the viewscreen, the Badlands churned around them in violent rivers of plasma and ionized gas. Somewhere behind them, an Imperial warship was hunting. And now, the Bristol had nowhere left to go, and no way to get there.
I.S.S. Sunfire – Bridge
The pursuit had momentarily taken second place to Dean House and his newly acquired talents. Momentarily. A sharp tone cut through the bridge. The tactical display shifted as fresh telemetry flooded across multiple stations.
"Captain."
Remal looked up.
A nod towards the tactical display, "The Bristol."
The display expanded. A faint ribbon of ionized particles wound through the Badlands like a scar carved into space itself. "We've located their plasma trail."
Bonnie's expression brightened immediately. "Blood in the water."
Another officer looked up from his station. "They just dropped out of warp."
The bridge grew quieter.
Remal moved slowly from the command chair and stepped toward the tactical display. His eyes followed the trail through the storms. "Time to intercept?"
The tactical officer performed a quick calculation. "Nine minutes."
Remal studied the projection. Warp travel inside the Badlands bordered on insanity. Plasma currents distorted subspace. Gravitic shear could tear a vessel apart without warning. Yet the Federation captain had chosen the risk anyway. Which meant he was frightened. Good. Fear created mistakes. Fear created opportunities.
The glowing hands of Dean House faded from Remal's attention as completely as though the man had ceased to exist. Ahead lay a wounded ship. Behind lay the portal. And between them stretched a trail of blood through dark water. Like a shark following blood, the I.S.S. Sunfire adjusted course and accelerated.
TBC
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