Stardate: 60922:2240
Title: Souvenirs 
Author: Executive Officer Abigail Winters
Time: After "Impressions"
Scene: USS Relentless


The cold wet nose, the loud purring and the oppressive staring eyes could only mean one thing - it was early morning and Loula had run out of food. Abby remained determined not to give in and give up her precious sleeping hours to meet the demands of her furry friend.

Loula, obviously highly trained in the art of getting the human out of bed before the alarm clock goes off, was not put off by Abby retreating further under the duvet. Instead she launched phase two of her cunning assault.

"Meow." Walking across Abby’s duvet-covered body the cat seemed to hit every sensitive and weak spot possible.

"Ok! You win! I will get up and feed you." The morning battle was won by the feline species and Abby started her day half an hour early.

~

Abby sat in her chair on the bridge watching ‘their’ universe pass by. Captain Khavok had spoken with Admiral Foster via secure link when they had jumped back to their universe and had briefly outlined the mission's amazing discoveries. The new orders were to return to Starbase 9 immediately.

Returning to Starbase 9 filled Abby with anxiety; their last visit had shown the Starbase to be a hotbed of corruption and discontent. Returning, however, would give the crew the opportunity to see that the previous escape action had been justified and that the Admiral approved. 

The door to the bridge opened and Clayton arrived for his shift. He nodded to the XO as he made his way to the tactical computer terminal. He was closely followed by the Captain.

"Report, Commander." The Captain asked as he sat in his chair.

"Engineering is currently going over the ship but there doesn’t seem to have been any damage or undue stress on her in the jump from the other universe and the science department is looking at the information we exchanged with our other selves. Maxine is working on a matrix of parallel universes." The XO was interrupted by the Captain’s combadge bleeping.

[Captain, I have found something you need to look at.] Ensign Adams said.

The XO accompanied the Captain to deck 9’s cargo loading area to find Adams and another security guard looking at an alien device. Both the Captain and the XO looked at the device.

"Shall I call Maxine and Kal?" The Captain nodded and Abby sent a message via com-link.

The Chief Engineer and Chief Science Officer arrived at the device at the same time. After several minutes of scans and Kal just generally poking it, the Captain called them away from the device.

"What it is?" Alex asked the assembled crew.

"It appears to be some kind of recording device. It appears to be sending a signal with the information it is gathering." Maxine spoke first.

"It’s a security threat it is giving away our position and internal communications. It must have been planted by one of the others in the alternative universe." Adams had his hand resting on his phaser and Abby was pretty sure he was thinking of ways of destroying it.

"Maxine, can you generate a disruptive field that will stop the communications getting through whilst you and Kal take it apart and learn more about it?" The Captain asked.

Maxine had a frown on as she thought about it.

"It should be possible." She went to a nearby computer terminal and started to tap away.

"Captain, we should get our shuttles out scanning the exterior of the Relentless just as a precaution. And perhaps we should see if there are any vessels nearby picking up this signal?" Abigail suggested.

"Good idea. Adams I also want the rest of the ship searched inch-by-inch." The Ensign nodded.

~

The last hour had been a frenzy of activity. Shuttles had been deployed to visually scan the Relentless and Maxine and Kal had worked tirelessly to understand the equipment. The long distant scans had come back negative to the presence of any vessel picking up the messages and no more devices had been found.

A long senior staff meeting concluded that the device had now been switched off and was now isolated. The science team were eager to pull it apart to study what kind of technology it incorporated.

Piecing together conversations each of the crew members had had with their counterparts gave an idea as to the motive of the device. If the other universe could no longer explore universes themselves they would vicariously live through others. The underhanded method of planting the recording device left everyone uneasy and it became clear that meeting other doubles was going to test who we think we are and what we could have possibly become...


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Commander Abigail Winters
Executive Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
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