Season 16: Episode 1: Perfect Replicas

[M'Nia]

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

When to doors to engineering opened, a couple of the more jumpy engineers opened fire. When Lek saw that it wasn't an assault, he began shouting.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! Stop shooting you knuckleheads!"

The shooting did stop and that gave Lek time to see someone that looked like the Captain and someone that looked like M'Nia. Unfortunately, he didn't know either well enough to challenge them like he had with the fake Rayek and he didn't know how he would know if they were the real ones or clones.

"Okay, I know who you look like, but that doesn't mean much. Neither does your voice print or any access codes you might have. However, from what I understand, tricorders can detect traces of genetic drift in clones. If you are willing to drop your weapons and be subjected to a scan, we might have a way forward."

"Umm, well I'm game. Captain, up to you?" M'nia said. She trusted lek and knew they'd be safe in his hands.

[Rayek trLhoell]

rRayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck Six - Battle Bridge]

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

Lek's hearing was acute enough to detect changes in pitch and timbre in a person's voice and Lek knew this was not Rayek. It was frightening how much this clone knew, but despite the fifty kilo head science dunsel that had brewed up this replica, it didn't know every thing.

"Good guess whatever you are, but critical piece of information you are lacking is that I didn't pay ten strips of latinum for the wedding gift I gave to Rayek, I made the ship in a bottle by hand. The ship is moving via thrusters and that's enough to get us away from the station. There will be no impulse and no warp until I hear from the real Rayek or the real Captain Tekin. Both systems are rigged to explode if you try to force your way into engineering or override my personal lock out. So, to quote an expression from a classmate of mine at the Academy. 'you may go bugger yourself with a splintered rake.'" 

The replicant silently cussed the ineptitude of the informant that had provided the background details of Rayek's relationships after their escape from the Thinker station. That was twice that the lack of proper intel had revealed his true nature to Starfleet. No matter.  The information the Ferengi provided gave him an idea.

He cut the comm to Engineering, not wanting to risk the Ferengi figuring out what he was up to by the background noise.

Despite the engineer's warning, rRayek began doing exactly what the Ferengi said he wouldn't be able to do.  He would either trigger the explosion... hopefully taking out the Ferengi at the same time... or surprise the engineer with his hacking skills.

As he did this he called on Tekin's clone.

"tr'Lhoell to Tekin.  I'm going to try hacking Lek's Engineering lockout.  Either I'll succeed or the Discovery will be a useless hunk of metal to us.  The transporter inhibitor will fail if the latter happens... be ready to beam me to the yacht."

[Tekin Nevir]

Vila had calmed enough to think more clear-headed.

Ha! That's what he thought. She was good at tactical planning, and she had one, for sure. For now, she was holding steady with Ops. "Dem, what's the plan? Implement it FAST because I have some unfinished business to take care of," she said. She was planning a hunting trip. Only her game wouldn't be Hesperats, it would be clones.

She clicked on to her Comms and radioed the real Captain. =/\=Sir...as soon as we get the Yacht out of the sky, meet me in Security. Remember our holodeck thing? It's time to implement that but in real life. The younger Bajoran was going to learn the Guerrilla tactics that had saved their people.

M'nia, made her way to engineering alongside the captain, not knowing what she would find, she had grabbed a phaser. She more than likely would need it. The doors opened up and they was fired upon. She followed the captain.  "Sorry captain but looks like right now I'm all you got. Cmdr lek. It's M'nia and the captain. Are you ok?"

[USS Discovery - Deck 11 - Main Engineering]

The Bajoran fired back, taking down a few of the people who clearly didn't belong on his ship.  He was still under fire, but it wasn't as bad as it was earlier.  He sighed at Vila's call, and tapped his badge.

"Vila, if this is some fantasy of blowing away your Captain..."

"Understood.  Once I am done in Engineering, I'll be there.  But don't get used to ordering me around, Lieutenant." he said in a slightly teasing tone, as he fired back in the corridor.  At least this was better than having his ship ripped apart.

Thankfully, the cavalry arrived, and the Captain breathed a sigh of relief.  With the current threat ended, he gratefully pulled himself back and nodded. "Thank the Prophets... let's go."

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

When to doors to engineering opened, a couple of the more jumpy engineers opened fire. When Lek saw that it wasn't an assault, he began shouting.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! Stop shooting you knuckleheads!"

The shooting did stop and that gave Lek time to see someone that looked like the Captain and someone that looked like M'Nia. Unfortunately, he didn't know either well enough to challenge them like he had with the fake Rayek and he didn't know how he would know if they were the real ones or clones.

"Okay, I know who you look like, but that doesn't mean much. Neither does your voice print or any access codes you might have. However, from what I understand, tricorders can detect traces of genetic drift in clones. If you are willing to drop your weapons and be subjected to a scan, we might have a way forward."

"Umm, well I'm game. Captain, up to you?" M'nia said. She trusted lek and knew they'd be safe in his hands.

While he was relieved that Lek seemed okay, the phasers pointed at him was honestly not something he was comfortable with.  But... Lek was smart.  And with his suggestion, the Captain lowered his rifle and laid it on the ground, as well as his phaser.

"I know for a fact that you haven't been captured, Lek, so I'll trust you not to shoot me outright.  Go ahead and test me, but do it quickly.  My other self is currently firing on the ship."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Clone Tekin Nevir
[USS Tyson - Captain's Yacht of the USS Discovery]

"Jalat, we have an incoming ship... its another Starfleet vessel.  We're running out of-"

The ship shuddered as it was being impacted, which confused the occupants of the yacht. Discovery's shot were relatively low powered, and at this distance they couldn't use a higher power if they wanted to.  Which meant...

"Dammit, the station's defenses are active.  I would have thought they would have more important things to worry about." Nevir growled, tapping the comms on the ship to reach Rayek... but the clone rang him first.

rRayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck Six - Battle Bridge]

The replicant silently cussed the ineptitude of the informant that had provided the background details of Rayek's relationships after their escape from the Thinker station. That was twice that the lack of proper intel had revealed his true nature to Starfleet. No matter.  The information the Ferengi provided gave him an idea.

He cut the comm to Engineering, not wanting to risk the Ferengi figuring out what he was up to by the background noise.

Despite the engineer's warning, rRayek began doing exactly what the Ferengi said he wouldn't be able to do.  He would either trigger the explosion... hopefully taking out the Ferengi at the same time... or surprise the engineer with his hacking skills.

As he did this he called on Tekin's clone.

"tr'Lhoell to Tekin.  I'm going to try hacking Lek's Engineering lockout.  Either I'll succeed or the Discovery will be a useless hunk of metal to us.  The transporter inhibitor will fail if the latter happens... be ready to beam me to the yacht."

"Make it quick!  We have the station firing on us and another Starfleet vessel on its way in!  Did not expect to fight off both ships and stations in something only slightly bigger than a shuttlecraft."

[Lek]

"Umm, well I'm game. Captain, up to you?" M'nia said. She trusted lek and knew they'd be safe in his hands.

[USS Discovery - Deck 11 - Main Engineering]

While he was relieved that Lek seemed okay, the phasers pointed at him was honestly not something he was comfortable with.  But... Lek was smart.  And with his suggestion, the Captain lowered his rifle and laid it on the ground, as well as his phaser.

"I know for a fact that you haven't been captured, Lek, so I'll trust you not to shoot me outright.  Go ahead and test me, but do it quickly.  My other self is currently firing on the ship."

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

Since this Captain had shown trust, Lek was inclined to do the same. Whispering to Lieutenant T'Farr. "Cover me." Lek stepped from cover with a tricorder. He stepped up to the two and ran the most extensive scan he could to try and find any signs of genetic drift in their DNA. When he didn't, he shrugged.

"Well, if you aren't the real deal, the fifty kilo head that created you really knows his stuff. What are your orders Captain? We're on the clock because a fake Rayek just cut comms with me. Knowing how conniving Rayek to be, I'm sure he's up to something. Not that he can. The warp and impulse systems are not only rigged to explode, they are disconnected from the ship's computer. Just needs a few connections to reconnect, I didn't get into active sabotage like last time, but he can play jiggery pokery all he wants, the engines are solidly locked down."

[Malik Grippen]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Station - Operations Center

Rayek was tempted to point out that Starfleet Intelligence reported to Starfleet Command or at least a few of them.  But the Risan's point was taken, the second officer felt all of the Federation had a right to know.

Rayek was less certain.  His time among the Tal'Shiar - yet another secretive organization, had shown him that some good work could be done from the shadows... and that sometimes people didn't want to know where the technology came from that could save lives.  If by studying the replicants and learning about the cloning technology, Starfleet was able to come up with a defense against them - kinda like what Vadok was attempting, then yeah Rayek was okay with that.  Apparently, the Risan was not.

When Malik ordered a Mai-tai, Rayek rolled his eyes and continued working on the controls getting access to the defense buoys.  Rayek was already in the process of targeting the Yacht when the Risan 'gave the order' to fire.  In his periphery, Rayek took note of the Risan sipping on the Mai-tai.

"Mr. Grippen, throw your career away all you want, but while you are on duty with me you will refrain from drinking alcohol."

The buoys fired on the yacht.

[Station, Operations]

Malik had already finished the drink by the time the Romulan asked him to stop. He checked the communications terminal, "New message from the Zheng He, they've increased speed new ETA is 45 minutes. Something or someone must have spooked them. Perhaps SI have gotten a message to them."

[USS Discovery, Bridge]

As Clone Vadok:

The situation on the bridge was now lost. Rather than dying pointlessly, the clone of Vadok Alvarez the last remaining conscious clone on the bridge dropped his phaser and surrendered. This would allow Dem to regain control of the bridge.

[Lorut Vila]

She blinked once as Dem walked away. What the HELL? Oh, well.

Quickly, she implemented the first part of her plan. She rerouted essential power to sickbay and engineering, and then killed internal power to the rest of the ship. She deleted the stopgaps she'd installed, replaced them with codes specifically written in ancient Bajoran, and then clicked off, disabling her console-and thus, the rest of them, as well. Across the ship, you could hear cries of "what the hell?" as computers stared blankly back at their users.

Ok, assholes, attack us NOW. 

She paused long enough to rearm herself, "borrowing" a phaser from one of the console seats as the Battle bridge exploded into chaos. She pulled herself to her feet. Quietly, she creeped along the corridors towards the clone Romulan. "Commander," she said, the phaser cocked and ready. "Fancy seeing you here. I assume that your Ferengi friend saw through your façade and that's why you're here?" She shook her head, a small smirk on her face. "He's many things, but stupid isn't one of them." Indeed, he was an intelligent man, even if his personality reminded her of a snail. "I hope you're up on your ancient Bajoran," she said. She clicked her comms on.

=/\=Can I get security to the Battle bridge? I have the clone in my sights. He's about to fire on the real Commanders tr'Lhoell and Grippen.

She clicked off, then opened a second channel.

=/\=Captain, if you could hurry, please, that'd be great. I can handle myself, but not the entirety of the Battle bridge under whatever mind control they have going on here. She was good. But she wasn't that good.

"What'll it be? Is today the day we both meet the Prophets?" She asked. Most of it was bluster. But the leftover bits of trauma that Vila hadn't had time to readdress with therapy when they set sail was bubbling to the surface. Six months had been a healing time. But it would take a lifetime of work. A backslide here and there was understandable but she wouldn't have that option if she were dead. She knew this. But she also knew she was tired. 

[Rayek trLhoell]

Commander Rayek tr'Lhoell
[Station - Operations Center

[Station, Operations]

Malik had already finished the drink by the time the Romulan asked him to stop. He checked the communications terminal, "New message from the Zheng He, they've increased speed new ETA is 45 minutes. Something or someone must have spooked them. Perhaps SI have gotten a message to them."

Rayek's eyes narrowed as the Risan downed the last of his drink.  The Romulan knew he would remember this moment when it came time for the man's next performance review.  Then dismissing what couldn't be changed Rayek redoubled the buoys attacks on the yacht, though he was careful to have the defense system avoid 'friendly fire' towards the USS Discovery.

News of the sooner arrival meant that much less time to deal with the situation themselves.

The Romulan turned towards the station Commander.  "Commander, do you know if your scientists ever determined a way to tell clones from original?" he asked.  That had been a medical concern shortly after the first replicant incursion on Katra.

The human grimaced and answered.  "Sort of, Commander.  While our process of cloning displays some genetic drift, the Thinker created replicants do not.  From what I read, the only medical difference that the Katra crew were able to determine was the mapping of the memory engrams between yourself and your double... discovered only because you were under close medical observation for Pa'nar at the time."

It was Rayek's turn to grimace as the Commander spoke openly about his past medical condition.
"At least we have a way of determining who is who with this batch."
.
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
rRayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck Six - Battle Bridge]

Clone Tekin Nevir
[USS Tyson - Captain's Yacht of the USS Discovery]

"Jalat, we have an incoming ship... its another Starfleet vessel.  We're running out of-"

The ship shuddered as it was being impacted, which confused the occupants of the yacht. Discovery's shot were relatively low powered, and at this distance they couldn't use a higher power if they wanted to.  Which meant...

"Dammit, the station's defenses are active.  I would have thought they would have more important things to worry about." Nevir growled, tapping the comms on the ship to reach Rayek... but the clone rang him first.

"Make it quick!  We have the station firing on us and another Starfleet vessel on its way in!  Did not expect to fight off both ships and stations in something only slightly bigger than a shuttlecraft."

The news of another ship incoming was troubling.  It might be best to cut their losses and just attempt to flee and cover their tracks.  rRayek was certain he could, with an hour or two head start, disappear without a trace.  Problem was they might not have the head start at this rate.
.

She blinked once as Dem walked away. What the HELL? Oh, well.

Quickly, she implemented the first part of her plan. She rerouted essential power to sickbay and engineering, and then killed internal power to the rest of the ship. She deleted the stopgaps she'd installed, replaced them with codes specifically written in ancient Bajoran, and then clicked off, disabling her console-and thus, the rest of them, as well. Across the ship, you could hear cries of "what the hell?" as computers stared blankly back at their users.

Ok, assholes, attack us NOW.

rRayek quickly realized that his attempt to access the Engineering controls was not going to work.  It was like the mainline and all sub-routes had been physically cut.  Damn that clever Ferengi!  It was a shame Lek hadn't been on the away team and cloned.

However for all of the Chief Engineering's threats, the Romulan's attempt to access the engines didn't trigger any explosion.  rRayek scowled at the realization that the Ferengi had been bluffing. That had been a waste of time!

Suddenly all the consoles in the Battle Bridge went dead.  In the moment that it took for rRayek to realize that the power had been cut to everything (including the transport inhibitor), the sound of a transporter effect could be heard.  Seated at the Ops console, rRayek didn't have time to hide though he did raise his weapon and readied to fire at the materializing Sec/Tac individuals.

The first wave of phaser fire was exchanged and though the rRomulan was hit, the last lingering effects of his adrenaline shot meant that he alone was still standing at the end of it.

It was time to go.

He had just tapped his comm calling on the clone-Tekin when he heard a movement behind him and the distinctive sound of a phaser powered up.

She paused long enough to rearm herself, "borrowing" a phaser from one of the console seats as the Battle bridge exploded into chaos. She pulled herself to her feet. Quietly, she creeped along the corridors towards the clone Romulan. "Commander," she said, the phaser cocked and ready. "Fancy seeing you here." She shook her head, a small smirk on her face. "I hope you're up on your ancient Bajoran," she said. She clicked her comms on.

=/\=Can I get security to the Battle bridge? I have the clone in my sights.

She clicked off, then opened a second channel.

=/\=Captain, if you could hurry, please, that'd be great. I can handle myself, but not the entirety of the Battle bridge under whatever mind control they have going on here. She was good. But she wasn't that good.

"What'll it be? Is today the day we both meet the Prophets?" She asked. Most of it was bluster. But the leftover bits of trauma that Vila hadn't had time to readdress with therapy when they set sail was bubbling to the surface. Six months had been a healing time. But it would take a lifetime of work. A backslide here and there was understandable but she wouldn't have that option if she were dead. She knew this. But she also knew she was tired.

He remained with his back to her, though he craned his neck around to catch a glimpse of her.

While rRayek didn't understand ancient Bajoran, he was certain that his Tekin did.

"I have no intention of dying today." he answered the bold woman and dropped his phaser obligingly. ""But there is no way I'm going back to that station alive."

"Beam me out now, Captain." rRayek shouted as he plunged into the Bajoran's mind openly and painfully, attempting to startle the woman enough to drop her weapon or at least be unable to aim properly during the transport sequence.  He dodged to the left in case she fired anyways.

A moment later, he felt the transporter effect take hold and rRayek withdrew his mind, only to appear on the yacht a few seconds later.  "Get us out of here! Maximum speed while the Discovery's engines and bulk of her systems are offline and powered down."

[Tekin Nevir]

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

Since this Captain had shown trust, Lek was inclined to do the same. Whispering to Lieutenant T'Farr. "Cover me." Lek stepped from cover with a tricorder. He stepped up to the two and ran the most extensive scan he could to try and find any signs of genetic drift in their DNA. When he didn't, he shrugged.

"Well, if you aren't the real deal, the fifty kilo head that created you really knows his stuff. What are your orders Captain? We're on the clock because a fake Rayek just cut comms with me. Knowing how conniving Rayek to be, I'm sure he's up to something. Not that he can. The warp and impulse systems are not only rigged to explode, they are disconnected from the ship's computer. Just needs a few connections to reconnect, I didn't get into active sabotage like last time, but he can play jiggery pokery all he wants, the engines are solidly locked down."

She blinked once as Dem walked away. What the HELL? Oh, well.

Quickly, she implemented the first part of her plan. She rerouted essential power to sickbay and engineering, and then killed internal power to the rest of the ship. She deleted the stopgaps she'd installed, replaced them with codes specifically written in ancient Bajoran, and then clicked off, disabling her console-and thus, the rest of them, as well. Across the ship, you could hear cries of "what the hell?" as computers stared blankly back at their users.

Ok, assholes, attack us NOW.

She paused long enough to rearm herself, "borrowing" a phaser from one of the console seats as the Battle bridge exploded into chaos. She pulled herself to her feet. Quietly, she creeped along the corridors towards the clone Romulan. "Commander," she said, the phaser cocked and ready. "Fancy seeing you here. I assume that your Ferengi friend saw through your façade and that's why you're here?" She shook her head, a small smirk on her face. "He's many things, but stupid isn't one of them." Indeed, he was an intelligent man, even if his personality reminded her of a snail. "I hope you're up on your ancient Bajoran," she said. She clicked her comms on.

=/\=Can I get security to the Battle bridge? I have the clone in my sights. He's about to fire on the real Commanders tr'Lhoell and Grippen.

She clicked off, then opened a second channel.

=/\=Captain, if you could hurry, please, that'd be great. I can handle myself, but not the entirety of the Battle bridge under whatever mind control they have going on here. She was good. But she wasn't that good.

"What'll it be? Is today the day we both meet the Prophets?" She asked. Most of it was bluster. But the leftover bits of trauma that Vila hadn't had time to readdress with therapy when they set sail was bubbling to the surface. Six months had been a healing time. But it would take a lifetime of work. A backslide here and there was understandable but she wouldn't have that option if she were dead. She knew this. But she also knew she was tired.

[USS Discovery - Deck 11 - Main Engineering]

With relief, the Captain picked his rifle back up and slung it on his back, immediately walking to the pool table. "My counterpart is on my yacht firing at the ship.  The station is secured for the moment and we have the USS Zheng He on its way.  We need to restore power to the ship and keep it contained to Engineering for now.  Lorut has a plan to isolate Rayek's clone on the battle bridge." he stated, as he worked to help get full functionality restored before Lorut's plan.  The screens flashed and started showing in a blocky language, which prevented people from being able to read and understand the consoles.  Nevir was frustrated for a moment, but one of the symbols looked familiar.  Then another.  And he realized what it was.

"Lorut you're a genius!  Lek, the language has been changed to ancient Bajoran.  Luckily I can read it, thanks to Hrafn.  Use a binary 47-shift cypher and you should be able to access as normal.  Call out any unfamiliar term and I'll translate it."

"I can't remote access the yacht. We're going to have to disable it the hard way..." he stated, accessing weapons and targeting his own vessel.  The first couple of shots hit, but the effectiveness was starting to weaken.  And it wasn't Rayek or issues with their own weapons.

"Prophets... two science officers with command access... they know the tricks to evade weapons.  Lek, we need to narrowband the phasers!"

He tapped the comm to answer Lorut.  "I am literally trying to outsmart myself.  Its not as easy as it seems.  He's pulling all the tricks I know." he said, looking over the power systems.  Lorut's plan was initiated and it showed that everything was cut around the battle bridge.  He smiled for a moment but then came to a realization.

The transport inhibitors...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

rRayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck Six - Battle Bridge]

The news of another ship incoming was troubling.  It might be best to cut their losses and just attempt to flee and cover their tracks.  rRayek was certain he could, with an hour or two head start, disappear without a trace.  Problem was they might not have the head start at this rate.
.
rRayek quickly realized that his attempt to access the Engineering controls was not going to work.  It was like the mainline and all sub-routes had been physically cut.  Damn that clever Ferengi!  It was a shame Lek hadn't been on the away team and cloned.

However for all of the Chief Engineering's threats, the Romulan's attempt to access the engines didn't trigger any explosion.  rRayek scowled at the realization that the Ferengi had been bluffing. That had been a waste of time!

Suddenly all the consoles in the Battle Bridge went dead.  In the moment that it took for rRayek to realize that the power had been cut to everything (including the transport inhibitor), the sound of a transporter effect could be heard.  Seated at the Ops console, rRayek didn't have time to hide though he did raise his weapon and readied to fire at the materializing Sec/Tac individuals.

The first wave of phaser fire was exchanged and though the rRomulan was hit, the last lingering effects of his adrenaline shot meant that he alone was still standing at the end of it.

It was time to go.

He had just tapped his comm calling on the clone-Tekin when he heard a movement behind him and the distinctive sound of a phaser powered up.

He remained with his back to her, though he craned his neck around to catch a glimpse of her.

While rRayek didn't understand ancient Bajoran, he was certain that his Tekin did.

"I have no intention of dying today." he answered the bold woman and dropped his phaser obligingly. ""But there is no way I'm going back to that station alive."

"Beam me out now, Captain." rRayek shouted as he plunged into the Bajoran's mind openly and painfully, attempting to startle the woman enough to drop her weapon or at least be unable to aim properly during the transport sequence.  He dodged to the left in case she fired anyways.

A moment later, he felt the transporter effect take hold and rRayek withdrew his mind, only to appear on the yacht a few seconds later.  "Get us out of here! Maximum speed while the Discovery's engines and bulk of her systems are offline and powered down."

[Captain's Yacht - Clone Tekin]

"Gamma emitters are at 100%.  Shields are leveling off at 26%.  But we won't be able to stop that other ship.  We need to get out of here.  Try to get the inhibitors offline."

"I'm working on it. Rayek is in trouble.  I think we're about to lose Discovery."

"Stand by, getting the transporters online.  I'll try to get as many as our people as I can."

It didn't take very long, as Hrafn turned and announced that the inhibitors just turned off on their own.  Then Rayek called in.

"Energizing!" he called, transporting Rayek, and as much of the cloned team as he could.  As soon as Rayek was materialized on the bridge, Tekin turned to Hrafn.

"Get us out of here!"

The yacht did one more strafing run, focusing on the nacelles, and then jumped to warp to who know where.  Leaving the ship and the originals to hover in space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Captian's Log, Supplemental

The Zheng He has arrived to provide assistance, and unfortunately for us, it appears that we learned too much.  There is an investigation to see why the Discovery was sent, since there was too close a connection between us and what was happening on the station. We weren't supposed to be here, which leads us to believe that this was a setup.  While no charges will be filed, I will have to answer to Starfleet intelligence.  Just myself, as I have taken responsibility for everything that happened.

The yacht is long gone, our best estimates lead us to believe they are headed for the Gamma Quadrant. These replicants seemed to have a higher purpose, working genetically for a group called the Thinkers.  They believe there is a galactic threat, which does cause some concern, but the Federation has plenty of problems right now.

Computer, encode this and all associated logs with Intelligence Cyber Beta 4-7.