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Unknown Spacestation
Clone labs

Everyone... what is the last thing you remember?  I need you to answer one at time.  There's reason to believe the Away Team has been cloned by Thinker agents, as such, I hope you'll forgive me my intrusion...

Vila nodded. "I remember transporting over. It was...bright. And that's all..." she said. She hoped more would come back to her; it would help. This would set her back, though, in her tenuous "recovery."

She and M'Nia moved, and together, they were able to get enough power for Vila to run the replicators, issuing five flight-suit uniforms. Once she and M'Nia were dressed, she killed the power to the remaining pods, and the rest of the labs. A quick round of phaser fire ensured that it would STAY off-the clones here would have difficulty rerouting power until the wires were fully fixed, buying them time.

"I've sabotaged the wiring," she said. She passed out the replicated uniforms.

"I am not getting into the air vents," she said. It wasn't a matter of keeping clean or anything. She just preferred to fight her way out-it's all she knew. Anything else seemed...like giving up. On the other hand, she was tired. With a sigh, though, she climbed in behind M'Nia. But as she did so, she made some quick plans. She opened a channel on her Comms to the Captain-the *real* one. Captain, any idea what class station this is? She asked. As an Ops officer, she knew the schematics of most things-not the same way that an Engineer might, but any opportunity to sabotage would buy them time. While we're in here, I can pull wires and such. It'll buy us time... She said. Louder, to Grippen, she spoke.

"Anyone want to spare a comms badge?" She said. She had an idea...if she could rewire one quickly, she could use it as a conduit and overload the systems as they left, setting fires all around the station.

Finally, they arrived at the Transporters, and she slipped through the floor. She saw Grippen at the panel.

"Want me to?" She said. "Where's the Commander and Lachlyn?" She looked around. Finally, she got to work on her improvised explosive. If she still remembered how to do this, it should work.

{Alien Planet}

Vila began her descent, carefully counting the beat as she went-one, two, three, four. RIght side first-her dominant side-then the left. Vila was many things, but stupid wasn't one. She was very careful and deliberate as she made the climb down.

The creature simply watched on passively as this newcomer entered its home and took its food. There was plenty to go around anyways. It watched as Vila descended down the tree and slowly began to follow after her. Curious as to who this newcomer was to its territory.

Vila took no notice of the creature-her attention was on not making an absolute fool of herself. The words from Helga, though, startled her for a moment.

Don't forget the leaves. We need to those to carry the water.  Also can you see any sign of a creek or waterfall?

Vila called down. "There may be something at the South end of the island, but I can't tell for certain what it is," she said. She plucked a handful of leaves.

"Yes, Dem, to answer your question, you can filter water through citrus fruit rinds," she said, jumping the last foot and landing perfectly. "So. Let's go see what we can find?" She said.

{unnamed outpost, science}
Vila had realized that she had overstepped her position, "ordering" Grippen to wake the Captain, though she'd meant it as merely a suggestion. She waited for Rayek's reply.

I hope so Lieutenant. I hope so...

So did she; even though she had done a lot of work to fix things, she still had a part of her that was the guerrilla, and while that would never die, she also didn't savor the idea of having to put a phaser hole through anyone's brain.

I think that would be wise.

Vila nodded, and moved out of the way so Grippen could find the others.

"When I was with the Resistance, they taught us some first aid," she said. "Plus what I learned at the Academy," she said. She removed a strip of the cloth from her own medical gown, and placed it on the man's flesh wound. "I need more tools," she said. "I don't like the feeling that we're sitting ducks," she said. She was placing her faith in this Rayek...with the knowledge that she may live (hopefully) to regret it.

Vila moved along then, to M'Nia and the still-sleeping Lachlyn.

I would suggest not replicating our usual uniforms.. to prevent confusion if we encounter more clones...

Vila raised an eyebrow in questioning, but soon realized what he meant. She nodded. "Good idea, sir. We can figure something out, I am sure." Something that would be easy to move in with plenty of pockets for picking up discarded weapons, tools, and etc along the way. "Are you ready?" She asked the Caitian, indicating a bank of Replicators in a nearby storage room-likely where hyposprays and such were replicated. She'd figure something out-she always did.

So any ideas on how to get back on the ship and take care of our clones?

Though the question had been posited to Malik, Lorut took the opportunity to respond. "We fight our way out," she said, simply. "We get up to the Transporters by any means necessary, and you all ship back. I blow the damn station up," she said. This time, she was going to do it ANYWAY, even if she had, up to now, been trying to do better. 

She looked up at Rayek, who was trying to reason with Clone Tanner. "Sir..." she said, tossing Clone Vila's phaser in his direction. "If she turns, give 'er the Cardassian treatment. Come on, Catgirl," she said. 

{Alien Planet
Up a tree}

Vila nodded, forgetting that Murphy and Helga couldn't see her.

Okay, Be really careful up there!

"I will," she replied, concentrating carefully on placing her feet and hands where they would be the most balanced. "There's berries up here!" She replied. "Grape like fruits, but red," she said. "I can toss some down if you two can gather them. I'll be quick," she said. She scaled the tree a bit more.

"Auuugggh!!" She cried out-not out of fear, but surprise. "Oh my gosh, there's something up here," she called out. "An...animal." She smiled lightly at the creature. "Hello. My name is Lorut Vila. I promise I won't bother you if you don't bite me. I just want some of these berries. I promise to leave enough for you to eat, too," she said.

The creature just watched her as she tossed down a handful of the berries, along with the stems and leaves. She didn't know what would be edible or not. "Do you want to come along?" she asked the creature. It could be useful to them, if it were friendly.

She raised her voice a little back down to Murph and Helga.

"I am coming down," she said, beginning her descent carefully. Too much time up here could be more dangerous-if she got too comfortable, she risked getting sloppy-and then getting hurt.

Station Lab
Clone Pod Lorut Vila

Her brain was still a little fuzzy but she quickly realized that whatever was happening was urgent, and without care or concern to her current appearance or physical state, stood up, a bit shaky on her feet.

"What is happening?" She asked aloud. She looked around. She had realized that the phantom her standing over her previously was a clone. But why?! She quickly reached for the dead...woman's (?) phaser, and then looked to Grippen. "Commander...wake the Captain. I will tend to the other Commander. Any idea where our clothes are?" She looked down at the gown she wore. At least this time she was covered.

She approached Rayek carefully. "Are you the real Commander  tr'Lhoell?" She asked. "Should I wake the Captain?" She asked. "We need to leave. If I can find a replicator, I can...find our uniforms. I can show you all how to blow this place up..." she said. Her mind's inability to connect the dots was irritating, and she was fighting her natural inclination to slip back into old habits of "shoot first and ask later" and her general malcontent.

"Lieutenant M'Nia, can you help me turn on the Replicators here?" She asked the Caitian. "If we can get those up, even for a moment, I may have enough power to figure out how to turn the pods off..." 

Vila slung the rifle over her right shoulder-her dominant side-and waited.

If you say so, ma'am.

Vila simply nodded once. "I do," she said. She could handle it-she PREFERRED it. She knew most people wondered why she'd chosen Ops over security or a tactical role or something, but her real career had been computer sciences and she loved that almost as much as she loved this kind of thing. She had always been a bit more cerebral, something you'd learn if she let you get to know her.

They began forward.

I'll take point sir, if you don't mind.  We need to find a source of running water - a river or waterfall.  The pond we can see from the clearing won't do as it'll have far more bacteria and parasites.

"We can always clean the water," she said. "Boiling it over a fire should do the trick." She had picked up many life skills over the years-most out of necessity. "We could also run it through fruit peels," she said. "Keep alert to anything that would fit that description," she said.

"Everything looks clear so far."

As they moved out, she was keeping good track of the topography of the area-it was mostly flat, so far, and dense with trees. She was tense and alert-danger could lurk-but also wasn't picking up anything too out of the ordinary in her gut.

We're going to need to figure a way to carry water.  The leaves at the top of those tall trees look large and deciduous.  They might hold nearly 100 mL if formed into a shallow bowl. But getting at the leaves might be a dangerous climb.

"Indeed," she said. "But.." she said. She had climbed many trees in her girlhood. "One of you spot me?" She said. "I'll do it." She began an ascent up the wobbly tree. It reminded her a bit of the Spring grape "trees" on Bajor-before they were destroyed by the Cardassians. "They're like grape vine plants," she said, carefully balancing her weight between both legs and one arm. She was bigger than she was at seven years old, of course, but she wasn't by any means a "big" person. It should be fine.

Real Vila:
As the air cleared from Rayek's accessing the filters, Vila's mind began to work better. Her brown eyes opened cautiously. Where was she?! Oh no, it was Crell's "hospital." She panicked a moment, writhing around. After a moment, her mind realized that she wasn't there. It was...different. More clinical. A starship. Or base. The Federation! She glanced around again. The others were beginning to rouse. "Captain?" She said, cautiously, quietly, in Bajoran.

Clone Vila:

Lieutenant? Are you okay?

"No," she said, her eyes flashing and her tone in its usual state of coldness. "I am at a loss as to why the Federation has, once again, allowed atrocities to happen under their watch," she said. "Once we figure out what's happening, I am tendering my resignation. Things need to be dealt with and the Fleet's rules won't allow me to do it MY way," she said. She moved forward, towards the Vila that lay on the biobed. The woman wasn't sleeping peacefully-some things never changed. Though she didn't look as tortured as Vila would've expected...more like...unsure. Hmm.

Commander is not my name, rather it is my rank - but I understand your caution....I've experienced this once already - as such I am more than willing submit to the necessary medical checks to confirm that I am who I believe I am.

Vila shrugged. "You should be more careful about trusting people," she said, simply and evenly.
Finally, the "real" Vila was awake. They stared at each other, and Vila raised her phaser.

In a moment, a sound startled her and everything went black. What the HELL?

Real Vila:
Vila cried out as her...clone? Apparition? Nightmare? crumpled in front of her. She let out the shrillest scream she'd ever uttered. "Why did you kill her? Me?" She asked, struggling to sit up. "Someone help me!!"

Vila was...shocked. Dumbfounded. Verklempt, even. Her brown eyes darted from Romulan to the figure on the biobed and back to the Romulan.

"That fucking..." she stopped speaking when she realized that her language was a bit...suggestive for the company of her CO. Oops. "Excuse me," she said. "Was this...Mrs Tekin? I TOLD them..." she wasn't making sense. Her head was spinning, and she felt...strange. She had all day. Like when she'd been pregnant but was about to vomit. Nauseated but unable to expel anything.
Something in her brain clicked into gear. She was being called to the Alpha Quadrant. Home! She wanted to go home!! But her gut overrode her brain. Goddamn that-she'd always had a bit of intuition-she believed that's what had kept her alive so long. She shook her head, but spoke aloud. "NO! I cannot go home yet!"
Inexplicably, she moved forward, through the door. Her phaser was still raised, but she now had it trained on her...clone? Alter? She didn't know. She saw the others lying there-Grippen, and the Captain, and M'Nia. All breathing, but none awake, as far as she could tell. Her sleep seemed more fitful than the others-well. Some things never changed, she supposed. She turned around. "Commander. If that's really your name," she said, "I am going to wake her up," she said. "YOU," she said, turning to Lachlan. "YOU will guard my six, and if you miss, I will kill you, understood?" She said, moving towards...herself. Quickly, she tapped her foot to the sound of a familiar Bajoran drumbeat, and brown eyes fluttered.

Vila who was still engulfed in her illusionary-hell now found herself back in the alien clearing with the rest of the away team. The shift in perspective was jolting, and she felt her stomach muscles heave as her mind swam trying to work out what was real and what wasn't.

Vila doubled over, nearly vomiting into the sand beneath her. What was HAPPENING?!
"What the hell?" She asked aloud, in half Bajoran and half stilted Standard. She was aware of some commotion, and forced her mind to clear. She took a couple of deep breaths in.Seeing what was happening, she trained her phaser rifle on the aliens.
"MOVE AWAY," she said, the tone of voice she had indicating that she was not messing around and would, indeed, fire immediately.

"Enough. Your observation will commence immediately. Our planet will provide all that you require to sustain a basic living during your period of observation. I would suggest you make the most of the situation and forget your previous lives. This is where you will remain now, forever. Live your lives well, we will be watching..."

"Broadshire, move," she said, and let out a stream of phaser fire, directly at the male alien.

It was futile, as, just as suddenly as she'd fired, the weapon disappeared. Well, the one she was holding was. Only time would tell about her boot knife.

She sighed. "I will go along with the Petty Officer and Lt. Murphy. Perhaps I can fashion some weapons. I didn't survive four years in the Resistance for no reason," she said. Improvised weapons, particularly explosives, were the Bajoran's specialty.

"Head out," she said to Murphy. "I'll take the flank." She said. It was better for her to be at the rear to assess any danger before the other two came across it.

Space Station
Science Deck

Stun her, Lieutenant Lorut....

Without an iota of hesitation, Vila fired her phaser at the unsuspecting Trill. "You'll be ok later," she said, as the woman went limp. She moved along, following the Romulan.

They paused as his Comms badge pinged. A moment later, he spoke to her.

Lieutenant Lorut.  Think you can bypass the biometric lock on that door?...If not, find something to wake the woman up again - hopefully she has access.

She gave him a cool look. "How do you think I got IN here?" She asked, but quickly getting to work.

A bit later, after some curses in both Standard and Bajoran escaped her lips, and a few stamps of her feet, the inner door opened to a larger antechamber. As the door slid open, she squinted momentarily against the brighter lights. "What the FUCK?" She asked. She was looking at herself. Kind of.

"What is going on here?" She asked Rayek, but raised her weapon again, on alert.

Vila approached the table, with the same learned caution she ran most of her life now.

"Daddy? What are you doing here?"
She closed her eyes as "he" spoke-it wasn't words, but she understood, nonetheless.
Vila was running ahead of her family, her brown pigtails bouncing as she did. She was sobbing-mostly from fear but also from exhaustion and hunger. The Cardassians had finally made inroads in their more rural village, and the family had gone underground-quite literally. The Lorut property had caverns beneath it, as her grandfather had built the Springwine operation on a former ancient network of aqueducts-now, they were empty and would hide the children, at least.
Daddy, I don't want to go!!!!
You must, Vila. You must stay alive. No matter what happens to me or your mother, you must always just GO.
The child stopped crying, and just nodded. She stopped at a hallway, where the path forward forked off. To the left? Or to the right?
Which way?
Just pick one. Go left!!
Dutifully, the young child ran forward, to the left, towards the darkness and dampness of the unknown. Suddenly, an unknown figure jumped out at her, and she screamed.
Stop screaming, child. Did you think you'd manage to escape Gul F'rar?
She shook hard, trying to get her captors off of her, but she was small and he was big. Soon, her brothers appeared with her mother, bound for transport to a labor camp, and Vila was also bound. In Bajoran, the family shared that their father had gone off to the right, and was either safe or facing a fate worse than this. Vila didn't want to know.
The Bajoran raised her rifle and fired at the walls of the caverns.

[her?]

Unnamed Station
Science Labs

As Vila entered the science labs, she stopped short. Not much shocked her these days, but this did. In front of her lay bodies. Dead? She couldn't tell. They didn't SMELL dead, and if there was one thing that Vila knew, it was the smell of death. Phaser at the ready, she moved forward slowly. It was eerily quiet, as if this part of the ship was somehow a repellant to the zombified mutineers. She moved towards the ESH computer. In a moment, she had the screen lit up. It would attract attention, but she didn't care. She had come too far now.
She scanned the data quickly, and her sharp mind realized what she was looking at. Why the all seemed familiar. She brought up the auxiliary lighting system, and, her suspicions were concerned.
Bodies. But for what? A cryostasis pod was nearby. Were they cloning? Doing other experiments? The same sort that were performed on her?
She pulled out her PADD and snapped a quick picture. Suddenly, the lights went down again. She'd been found. Fuck.
She ducked into the Pod and shut the door quickly.
She tapped her COMMS badge, hoping desperately it would work. She whispered into it.
=/\=Cloning lab in the science deck. I am ok.
With the message sent, she carefully peeked out of the pod.
A Starfleet officer stood there, in front of the room, trying to turn off the computer she'd just started. Silently, she climbed out of the pod and approached, placing the phaser against the neck of the person. "Tell me what the HELL is going on here, and I won't send you to the Prophets today," she said, her voice even but dripping with a tone that said "try me."
"I have nothing left to lose, so. I wouldn't try me if I were you," she said.

Vila's mind was sharp. Sharper than whatever was happening. She hoped.

"Daddy!" She cried out, excitedly. But then something deep within clicked in, and she realized it wasn't real. She reached for her rifle, feeling it in her hands. She raised it, and blinked.
"What's going on?" She asked, but still staring off into the distance. "You're dead. The Cardassians..."
She went to the ground and took a firing stance.

Space Station
Transporter Room-Corridor-Labs

Vila shot a look at the Romulan commander.

Check out the cause of the yell and phaser fire, and gather everyone together, here...This solo exploring is done.  We move as a team or people can go back to the ship.

Vila snorted but nodded. "Yes, sir," that's what she'd just told the Captain.

"Will this do Lieutenant? Or should I allot more time for me to do your job?...Finish up quickly, I want to move on to the Command deck and put this mutiny down, once and for all."

"Aww, the Commander found a spine. That'll do Commander, thanks," she said, with a fake smile. She stepped out of the Transporter room, weapon at the ready. "I'll find out about the yell. Grippen, cover me," she said, loudly. She sighed. She stepped to the left to turn, but was interrupted by the annoying Romulan yet again.

tr'Lhoell to the Away Team.  Reassemble in front of the transporter room, immediately.

She looked at Grippen. "You go," she said. Like HELL was she going to pass up an opportunity to investigate what the hell was going on here. Even if it meant violating every rule in the book-well. She hadn't read the book, so she didn't care.

She headed down the corridor in the opposite direction, towards the Sickbay from where they came. From there, she made her way quietly, and quickly, to the Science labs, lobbing off phaser fire and the occasional trip of a zombie mutineer as she went. They fought back, but she was quick, and only took a few small blows.

Planet Airspace-Surface

Kindly send a subspace update to Discovery informing them of our arrival and descent to the surface. Mission is proceeding as planned.

Vila gave a curt nod. "Yes, sir," she said, and stepped off to the side to make the Comm.

=/\=Discovery, this is Lt. Lorut Vila. We've docked without incident, and mission is proceeding as planned. Please stand by for further updates.

She awaited a response, and, once received, she clicked off. She looked around. Nice place. A bit like Casperia, perhaps. She and Ben had vacationed there once, for a four-day R&R when he was a junior officer. They hadn't been married long, and she loved it. Beach huts and warm, pristine waters? She'd loved it.

"Give me one of those?" She asked Helga, hopefully, indicating the phaser rifles. After taking one, and securing it over her shoulder, she felt instantly better. Some old habits would die hard. Still, could she be blamed for feeling a little out of place in a new place? Of course not. Personal safety was prudent. There could be Cardassians around. Or worse.

The team moved forward, casually, but at least Vila was on alert. She remained close to the others, not exactly in a two-person set, but more in the sentry spot. She could do that. Perhaps a posting to a security team would've made more sense, but she actually preferred the quiet safety of her console. She just did the combat thing because it came easy to her.

She watched and assisted as she could, helping the Engineers and scientists to set up supplies and a make-shift camp of sorts. From out of the blue, the younger people started to act strangely.

She raised her head to the Commander. "Grippen. What the HELL is going on?" She asked. She unholstered her rifle, but remained calm.