Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell[Station - Deck 1 - Operations Center > > enroute to Cloning lab] (earlier >> present)
Rayek had awoken to the sound of pounding on a bulkhead door. It was familiar sound from his days on Katra when the Dosi had attacked the station. It reverberated in his ears painfully. Maybe that it was that which had woken him.
When he took a glance around to orient himself, he discovered he wasn't in his uniform but rather a hospital gown, seated on the Command seat of what looked to be the classified station Discovery had been assigned to investigate. He had no recollection of how he'd come to be at Ops.
Leaving the command seat, Rayek approached the Operations console which thankfully had been left unlocked and open - at least he had access comms and could contact the ship and Away Team. Yet even as he reached out to do so, the station comm crackled to life with his voice.
"tr'Lhoell to the Away Team. Reassemble in front of the transporter room, immediately."
His hand froze over the comm. What the hell?! Rayek looked over the comm settings and noticed that it had been adjusted to scan for all frequencies with high level encryption breakers activated for good measure.
The comm sounded again, but this time the voices speaking were unfamiliar.
"Sir, we've lost contact with Higgins in the Reactor Room. We don't know if he was successful in disabling the self-destruct." "We need it disabled. The minute that Romulan-replicant gets off this station, he's going to attempt to activate it. It's locked out now using my code but I doubt that will hold him off long. I'm on my way up to Ops, I've managed to find a crowbar. It might help prying open the doors. See if you can find a way to retake the lab; we need to stop the Falleg-replicant from making more clones. I've fought myself twice already - I'm not looking forward to a third time." "Yes Commander, we'll retake it for sure this time." "Good luck, Lieutenant." A dawning realization came to Rayek. Romulan-replicant? His own voice?... oh
Fvadt - Starfleet Intelligence were idiots - trying to study the
Thinker replicants that had attacked Katra four years ago.
Rayek had been told his replicant had died; apparently Starfleet lied to him or had used the remains to create their own version. Rayek clicked open the comm and was about to reach out to those on the comm line, when he realized he could be overheard by his other self. He closed the comm not wanting to give away the advantage of his being awake and onto the situation.
He knew he couldn't just open the doors to Ops and let in the station staff... they would shoot first assuming he was the replicant, or think his explanation was a ploy. No, he needed to regroup with the Away Team. But where were they?
With a determined look, Rayek began trying access the station internal sensors to the Ops console. The station likely had Vulcans, Humans and even Bajoran's a-plenty, but Rayek suspected he and his 'evil twin' were the only Romulans. So he set the sensors to locate Romulan bio signs. Yep... there on Deck Three.
A quick call-up of the station layout showed that same level had the Reactor Room.. and a little further on a classified lab. Rayek suspected that of being the Cloning Lab that had been mentioned earlier. He overlaid the maintenance tunnels schematic on top of the station layout and quickly memorized the route there.
Again his voice sounded over the comms.
"tr'Lhoell to Away Team security. The Bajoran's gone AWOL. Locate her and send her back to the ship."
Rayek had to chuckle... good ole Lorut! He wondered if she had left because she figured something out. Well, perhaps he could meet up with her and together take down his double. Accessing the station comms, Rayek forwarded all comm lines to his
in-ear sub-dermal universal translator and comms receiver.No sooner was that done than he picked up on more comms chatter.
[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Ready Room]
"Tekin to Rayek. I have the numbers you need. 145 out of 175 currently. 15 targets. I'm understanding, but I'm not sure if the away team does yet. But it should be soon, I think. Hrafn is monitoring. I'll continue to secure everything here from the station."
Rayek frowned as he listened to the Captain's message to the replicant. What were they talking about. 15 targets? What didn't the Away Team understand yet? Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Nothing involving the Thinkers was good. Was Tekin knowingly complicit in the replicant's plan? No, Rayek doubted that. From what he'd seen of the Bajoran Captain in the short time he'd actually worked as his First Officer, Tekin was an honorable man and loyal to Starfleet. There is no way he would work with the Thinker-made replicant knowingly.... unless...
"Oh... I hope not." "Understood. We have arrived on Deck One and should have the Operations Center secured shortly. I'll report in then with an update. tr'Lhoell out."
Fvadt! He had to get out of there now. He located the Ops center medkit and tool kit; and then using a simple adjustable wrench, he opened the floor access panel to the maintenance shaft under the Ops center. He slid down into the cramped tunnel and slid the panel back into place. As he crawled down the tunnel, he kept catching his medical gown under his knees. With a grimace, Rayek awkwardly in the cramped space, readjusted it from opening at the back to closing in the front, before continuing on. Much better.
Rayek had made it down to Deck Two.. via the narrow jeffries tubes and avoiding the turbolift shafts since they were active, when another call was picked up.
Cloning lab in the science deck. I am ok.
Excellent! He would be there shortly.
"tr'Lhoell to Away security. You now have a location. Get her out of there before she causes problems!"
The urgency he heard in his doppelganger's voice suggest to him that Lorut was in the right place to discover what was going on. Rayek picked up his pace, crawling as fast as he could. His knees stained the grate-like floor panels behind him green, as he hurried on.
[Station, Primary Cloning Lab, NPC Scientist]
The scientist, a wholly innocent and plain looking trill woman gasped in shock as she was unjustly accosted from behind by the Bajoran. She dropped the padd she had been holding and grabbed at Vila's arms as a reaction before seeing the phaser pressed against her flesh.
"W-w-hat are you doing here! Let go of me! Someone help!"
Rayek, by this point, had moved from the jeffries tube into an actual air duct which would lead him to what he hoped was the cloning lab. The call for help seemed to confirm his assumption. Nearly there! He belly-wormed his way further into the air duct seeking the right exit grate.