Chapter Text
La’an meant to dive back into those computer files, scouring the Terran La’an’s records for some more information that might help. She couldn;’t focus, though. Her eyes moved across the screen, seeing the words but not reading them, forcing her to backtrack over and over just to read a sentence or two. Her mind wasn’t present. Too much worry, fear, and anger. Maya really had gone and made a mess of everything. La’an tilted her head back and caught sight of the specimen jar…or maybe she hadn’t. She reached out to pick up the jar and examine the two creatures within. They were just starting to move again.
“Well, well, well.” a familiar male voice taunted from behind her. La’an sprang to her feet and almost fumbled the jar in her hands.
“Careful not to drop it,” Q teased. “Those Ceti eels will be fully awake soon, and they’re nasty little creatures.”
La’an set down the jar. Her stance was tall and rigid and her eyes narrowed on Q. “Get out. Now.”
“Threatening an omnipotent being? How quaint. I find it so charming that humans still have that primitive instinct to react violently to that which they don’t understand. Humans, Terrans, Augments, all of them really the same at their deep, dark little core…and it’s become apparent that you are no different from any of them.”
“Whatever little mind game you want to play this time, I’m not in the mood for this, and I certainly don’t have the time.” La’an placed the jar on the desk and turned her attention back to the computer. She was even more distracted than before, but still made a good show of skimming the screen and ignoring Q.
“Don’t you, though?” Q asked as he stepped closer. “You have to carefully consider the next steps of your strategy, and I am here to offer assistance.”
“I am more than capable of doing that on my own, thanks.” Still La’an did not look up, even though she was sure it must be obvious she wasn’t retaining a single word.
“I find it curious…” Q continued on regardless and began to pace the room. “...That no matter how much you try to convince yourself that you’re better than the Terrans you’re slowly becoming more and more like them.. You were so committed to finding your way out of here without taking a single life, yet here you are giving serious consideration to a very lethal, very brutal solution.”
La’an looked up from the computer, but still did not turn to face Q. “A few deaths of carefully selected individuals versus all out violence with the odds stacked sorely against us.”
“Ah yes, a few lives lost and filed away under ‘acceptable risk.’ Do you know who else held such a cold, calculating regard for human life.”
“Stop it Q. Ultimately, more lives will be saved.”
“It’s too perfect. ‘The ends justify the means.’ A favorite slogan of every conqueror and dictator throughout history, including none other than Khan Noonien-Singh.”
La’an rose to her feet and turned to face Q. She was surprised to see how close behind her he had been standing all this time. “I know you’re trying to break me down, but it won’t work.”
“Maybe it already has. I think living among Terrans has made you more like your famed ancestor. Or maybe it’s only bringing out something that was already lurking deep inside you.”
Her blood boiled for just an instant before she forced herself to calm down. He wanted her to lose her temper, and she wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction. “Keep talking as much as you please. I’m not engaging in this anymore.”
“As you wish, La’an Noonien-Singh. Whatever choice you make, I hope you can live with all the repercussions.” With a flash of bright, white light Q was gone.
Just like the night before Reese arrived early to the meeting, but this time he was not the first person to gather in the cargo bay. Two commanders had arrived first, and even though they outranked him, they greeted him with a Terran salute as if he was their superior. He could feel his ego grow, and a slight half smile curled in the corners of his mouth. He really was doing great work for the Empire.
At 2100 almost everyone had arrived. Everyone except for Ensign Fitzpatrick. It was only to be expected that some might realize they didn’t have the stomach for what needed to be done, he could only hope that Fitzpatrick had the sense to keep her damn mouth shut. He was ready to begin when the cargo bay doors opened one more time. On the other side stood Ensign Fitzpatrick with a large group of people behind her…they were augments. He counted them as they filed into the cargo bay. One, two, three...all ten augments present at his meeting and ready to join his cause. Oh, how the tables have turned!
“Welcome, esteemed guests!” Reese called out with open arms. “To what do we owe the honor of your presence?”
“A common goal.” The augment who spoke up was a middle aged woman. “We aren’t going to Terra Prime unless we can be assured the place in the ruling class that we were promised, and with the way things are going on the ship, we need a pro-Terran crew to ensure the completion of that goal.”
Reese nodded. “And you will have everything you were promised. May I ask your name?”
“Suzette Ling. I was one of the original augments who fled Terra Prime and survived for two hundred years aboard the Botany Bay lost in space.”
Reese nodded. “Impressive. Am I correct in assuming that the older augments are the original crew and the younger ones were born on Ceti Alpha V?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then allow me to apologize for the injustice done to you, for both generations were wronged.” Reese moved through the crowd, standing close enough to Suzette to address her personally. “One group who ruled the world only to be suddenly forced into exile, and their children, who should have been royalty, grew up knowing nothing but a difficult, primitive life,”
“No need to apologize. You weren’t responsible for any of our hardship. In fact, we owe you our gratitude for taking measures to correct those injustices.”
Reese turned and walked back to where he could more easily speak to the entire crowd, hands clasped behind his back and his shoulders straight. “We need to take the ship back from that Vulcan.” He glanced back to Suzette and the group of augments. “Your assistance would be greatly appreciated. Allies with enhanced strength and intellect would give us an undeniable advantage.”
“We can take control of the ship easily,” Suzette answered, giving a sly look to her fellow augments. “Some of us very nearly took the Enterprise. We’ve learned from our previous mistakes, and that time we didn’t have the assistance of the ship’s crew.”
“Very good. Our first goal is to kill the Vulcan captain. We may need to take care of her first officer too. I don’t know where Vasquez stands in any of this, so I’m not ready to reserve judgment.” Reese paused to let his words sink in and watched as the gathered crowd gave silent nods of approval and understanding.
“There may be a few complications,” Suzette interrupted. “The crew was meant to be kept in the dark about this, but there was ... .a contamination.” Perplexed looks all around. “Admiral Noonien-Singh and Maya Noonien-Singh, an augment, have doubles of themselves aboard the ship. They were allowed to live because we thought they would be valuable allies, but it seems they might be working against us. I know this seems far-fetched, but this is the reality of our situation.”
“Then kill the doubles too,” Reese waved a dismissive hand and shook his head “Simple solution.”
“Not quite. The admiral may have been compromised. It’s unclear if the admiral working aboard our ship is the real admiral or the duplicate.”
“Then kill her regardless. If she’s not the real Admiral Noonien-Singh all the more reason to get rid of her out of an abundance of caution, and if she was the real one, I think it’s a worthwhile risk. We need a worthy emperor, it doesn’t need to be her even if the whole thing was her idea.” Reese sighed.
Suzette shook her head. “Such simple thinking, but I should have expected that from an inferior being. I hate to admit this, her genome is so diluted that she has none of Khan’s enhancements and is no better than you or any other common Terran, but we need Admiral Noonien-Singh. The Terrans will see us only as outsiders looking to conquer. I know our tale of returning from centuries past to reclaim our rightful place is hard to believe. We need the backing of someone who the Terran Empire will accept, someone who has a respectable position and the surname of history’s greatest ruler. Even if this isn’t the real La’an, it would be preferable to coerce her to cooperate with us rather than kill her.”
“Duly noted.” Reese replied. He looked back to the crowd, addressing them as a whole again. “We now only have three days to achieve our goal. We are still on track to reach Terra Prime, so T’Ralia is clearly committed to keeping up her charade. Time is limited. I want T’Ralia and Vasquez dead before our meeting tomorrow night to give us enough time to shift our focus to seeing this coup through to completion. Work in teams. Vulcans have the upperhand in strength, and we don’t know what measures she’s taking to protect herself.” One last time he looked to Suzette and the augments to give them their orders. “I leave it to you to decide what to do about the Admiral, regardless of which version of the woman we’re actually dealing with.” And again he looked toward the whole crowd and felt a swell of pride to see that they all had inspired looks of confidence on their faces. “These are your orders. Have faith, take action, and with any luck the next time we meet we’ll have a new captain who values tradition and will keep us on track to restoring the Terran Empire to its full glory. Long live the Terran Empire!”
“Long live the Terran Empire!” the entire crowd repeated in unison. Reese gave a proud nod of approval, and as a sign of farewell they saluted him, again, in unison.