Star Trek: Defiant

"Imperial Entanglements" - Part Two

Written by Kamiana Tyrrel

The USS Defiant, the next morning

Well, there was nothing for it. She could hardly expect to blend in if she'd had her own, now could she? They hadn't even allowed her to bring her dagger--these Federation types didn't carry such things as a general rule.

Now would be the hard part--having to mingle with these people until she had accomplished her purpose here, without them realizing she wasn't the Kamiana they knew.

She left the quarters and made her way to the Sciences Section, settling into Kamiana's workstation just the way she would have (at least she thought it was).

Though she couldn't help but look appraisingly at the various crewmembers who went by--some of them had possibilities, if she were to manage things right. She might be able to get some useful information out of them, and why shouldn't she enjoy herself a bit into the bargain?

Which one, though?

Clark? No. His counterpart in her own universe was insufferable, almost like a puppy dog the way he was always after her. She wouldn't subject herself to that here.

There were plenty of others, however...perhaps, if she played her cards right, she'd get close enough to one of the senior officers to really learn something.

She paused as the turbolift before her opened, and two men stepped out. Marinus, and Mak. Now there was one she'd have to steer well clear of. If he was anything like the Intell Chief on her own Defiant...!

She flashed both men a cool, appraising smile and turned away, to continue her explorations. While she had been told this ship was not that different from her own Defiant, she still felt better confirming that for herself.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the ISS Defiant...

Where was she? The last she remembered, she'd been in her quarters--but then what? Her thoughts were jumbled, she tried to sort them out, to think...what had happened?

She was standing in some sort of enclosed booth, her wrists held to the sides by some sort of clamps...what was this? There was nothing like this on Defiant, not that she'd ever seen.

"Ah. Our 'guest' is awake at last," came a familiar voice. Familiar--and alien, both at once. There was a coldness, a cruelty, in the voice she'd never heard before--it couldn't be...

"Captain...?" she whispered, not believing what her eyes, her mind, were telling her. The leering man who stood grinning wolfishly before her could not be Captain Jeffrey Bridges, and yet--and yet it was.

And standing next to him, a woman in a uniform that was almost too tight for her. A Bajoran woman who licked her lips hungrily, tickling Captain Bridges' shoulder with six inch fingernails while she regarded Tyrrel.

"I'm glad to see your memory wasn't damaged. Yet. There is much you can tell us--and you will." Bridges nodded at someone Kamiana couldn't see from where she was. "Just a foretaste, my dear."

An instant later pain exploded through her...she couldn't keep from screaming...

* * *

On the USS Defiant...

She'd have to be careful now, to not trip any failsafes, before the special program had been triggered. Captain Bridges--her Captain--had told her of it--and her work with the computers last night had served to confirm that a similar routine existed in the computer here, and that the trigger codes matched.

Sending one person across the dimensional barriers was one thing--but to seize all of this Defiant's crew at once made it necessary to take the ship itself, and for that a much larger, artificial, crossover point was needed.

Her task was to make sure that this Defiant reached the designated rendezvous point. When it did, its crew would be exchanged and then the Empire's conquest of this universe could truly begin.

She opened the access panel and set to work...

A few minutes later, on the Bridge, Lt. Cmdr. Mackowick noticed something.

"Captain!" he called out. "There's an unplanned course change being entered into the navigation system. It's not coming from me--or from aux control, either."

"Lock it out. And trace it." the Captain replied. "Security stand by."

Mackowick's hands flew over his controls--to no avail. "Captain, I can't. Whatever's caused this has locked me out. It won't recognize any changes I try to make."

"Computer." Bridges responded. "Command access. Identify."

"Working. Identified. Captain Jeffrey Scott Bridges, Serial Number SC 197 262 834 CE."

"Release control of the navigation console."

"Unable to comply."

"Explain."

"Navigation subroutines are under priority override seal. Cannot release until programmed destination has been reached."

Priority override seal? Bridges thought. Only Starfleet officers of Captain rank or higher could use that code. And it wasn't used often, once triggered it could not be deactivated before the ship reached the desination programmed into it. Not, that is, unless they wanted to risk destroying the computer and leaving themselves dead in space.

"By whose authority?" he demanded.

"Captain Jeffrey Scott Bridges." came the flat mechanical response.

"Security, get down to the computer section now. Myah, you too. We're not getting this ship hijacked again if I can help it." Bridges ordered. "Keep trying to find a way around the lockout." he told Chad. Not that he knew of one, that was the whole point of the override...but they had to try.

Matute and Myah left the bridge, accompanied by the security team.

Meanwhile, belowdecks...

Kamiana slipped out of the core, into the Jeffries Tube, then after several minutes of very fast crawling she emerged into an empty corridor. She ditched the tools she'd used into a disposal chute, then quickly smoothed her uniform out and straightened her hair before stepping into a main corridor (where she'd likely be seen).

Now to get to her alert station before anyone wondered why she wasn't....though she could always say the turbolift had malfunctioned. With the computer seemingly acting up, that would be accepted.

She allowed herself a slight smile before schooling her features back into a reasonable approximation of the expressions she'd noted on the crewmembers around her.

* * *

On the ISS Defiant...

The physical pain wasn't the worst, though, it was being so close to "Bridges" and "Rael"...and weakened by the pain it was hard to shut out their thoughts, so twisted and filled with vile images she was on the brink of becoming ill...

It didn't help when "Rael" leered at her--oh, by the Singing Spires, that look...the emotions behind it--she almost wanted to retch at the vileness.

Rael's smile became almost lascivious as she licked her lips. Trailing her long nails across Bridges' shoulder, she cooed, "Give her to me, Jeffrey. Give her to me and I'll make her talk...you know I have my ways, so much more enjoyable than even the Booth. I'll even let you watch, and play with me when we're done with her." Her eyes added silently.

"Now, now, my dear, there'll be plenty of time for that." Bridges replied, his voice lending layers of meaning to the words.

Tyrrel was fighting a losing battle, between the aftereffects of the physical torture and the effort of trying to block out the cesspools of depravity which seethed from the minds of the other two.

"Right now...we need to know what she knows. Those nanites that those foolish Federates loosed upon themselves--may be of great help to us, if we can control them."

"I...I'll tel you...nothing..." Kamiana moaned.

"Oh, won't you?" Bridges laughed. "Perhaps you need another...lesson."

And with that her every nerve burst into flame as the Booth reactivated--she couldn't keep from screaming...

* * *

On the USS Defiant...

They were now helplessly on their way to who knew what--though the Science staff were working around the clock to find a way around the programming.

And right in the middle of them all...

Kamiana smiled slightly as she made one final adjustment to a new program to be fed into the system. The result of several days of work by Lt. Cmdr. Wolfrom and the staff, it was intended to isolate the command override program and disengage that program's control of ship systems.

This actually had a chance of succeeding, she thought, as she surveyed the lines of encoding. Which was precisely why it could not be allowed to. Fortunately, ensuring that was a simple matter of transposing a few data bits. A basic enough error, that wouldn't be detectable as anything deliberate.

She entered the coding change, then forwarded the program to Lt. Cmdr. Wolfrom's terminal. Once it was in the system they'd never get navigation unlocked before they reached the crossover point...

That was still a few hours away, though, and her shift was now over.

It was time she had some fun on this mission...

Eight-Forward, that was the place.

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