Good News First? Or Bad News First?

Posted on Tue Mar 9th, 2021 @ 10:41pm by Major Ashley Rogers & Sublieutenant Renee Hernandez & Centurion Nancy Gable & Lieutenant Hatham tr'Krotash

1,578 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Chapter III: The Hunt is On
Location: Medbay Ourainavassa
Timeline: 238702.06

Ash and Hatham headed to the Medbay, keeping their eyes peeled for Ash's alternate universe counterpart. She was hoping that they would beat her to Gable so that the other Ash didn't surprise the doctor. When they arrived, Ash looked around suspiciously, "Anyone home?" She breathed a sigh if relief when she didn't see Commander Rogers.

Gable got up from her desk at the call - Rogers' voice in medbay, that was never good... Coming out of her office she spotted both Rogers and Hatham and eyed them both carefully. "I don't see any obvious breaks, stab wounds, or contusions... no claw marks either, so I assume you didn't try to double team T'Ango." She crossed her arms, one brow lifting. "What do you need?"

Hatham exchanged a glance with Rogers, and gave a small sideways nod as if to say 'Go ahead. You're the senior officer... '

Ash took a breath and said, "You might want to sit down for this... so, do you want the good news first or the bad news?"

"If you have bad news, I think I'll stay standing. In case I need to hit something," Nancy said, but leaned back braced on the door frame. "Might as well have the bad news first."

Ash looked over at Hatham, "There's a Mirror Universe Terran version of me that is walking around this ship... but she is here to help us... we think. However, the problem that brought her here has to do with a mysterious Tal'Shiar station orbiting Hobus with 4 massive singularities that may cause the end of every universe in existence. But... uh... Hatham... what's the good news again?"

Nancy blinked, brows rising as her mouth fell open during that recitation. "Yes, there had better be some good news."

"She revealed herself so we know she's here?" Hatham offered uncertainly.

"THAT'S the good news??" Nancy shook her head in disbelief. "Tell me there is some way to tell the two of you apart that doesn't require scanning for tiny optical variances?"

"So.....about that... we are.... very identical. She does wear a Starfleet uniform... and goes by Commander Rogers?" Ash responded. "She's also going to be manning the Ourainavassa while we go take on Vulture..." She looked over at Hatham again, he is definitely not the first person she would call if she ever needed an emotional support Romulan. Maybe they should have coordinated how to let Nancy know.

"Yees... so, actually there was more bad news there..." Hatham looked a Gable's expression which was both shocked and verging on active volcano about to blow. "Believe me, I just learned all this too and I am every bit as uneasy with this as you - if not more. That's why we'd like to have some back up plans, like anesthezine gas in case she needs to be neutralized."

Gable scowled. "If she's a Terran version of Rogers, you're going to need something stronger than that to take her down before she wreaks havoc," she snapped. "Just how long do we have to set this all up?"

"We leave 0900 tomorrow morning," Ash said meekly.

"WHAT???" Nancy exploded. "That's -"

Then the medbay door opened and a very angry Renee stormed in and looked at the Ashley Rogers standing in front of Nancy and just unceremoniously punched her in the face, "When the hell were you going let me know there are two of you?!? And that one would have the audacity to hit on me!!"

Ash yelped in pain as she felt her nose getting broken, "I was getting around to that..."

Renee then took a breath, "That actually felt much more satisfying than I thought it would..." She looked at both Nancy and Hatham, "My apologies for interrupting..."

"All you interrupted was me punching her first," Nancy replied tersely, though she somehow felt very slightly less hacked off knowing Ash hadn't informed even Renee yet.

Ash looked at Gable, "Hey doc... I think it's broken..."

"Of course it is," Nancy snarled, grabbing a hand osteoregen and stalking over. She moved Ash's hand and placed her fingers in position to straighten it. "This will hurt."

Ash stifled the urge to react to the pain of Nancy resetting her nose, especially with Renee standing there and also Hatham. Definitely did not want to give her ex the satisfaction or show weakness to her Security Chief.

Renee glared at Ash, "You deserved that."

Ash sighed, "I know... but can we get back to the topic at hand is how do we make sure she doesn't try to steal the Ourainavassa..."

Renee looked at the three people in front of her confused, "Why would she steal the ship?"

"Why wouldn't she?" Hatham asked reasonably. "She's a Terran, part of a human supremacist Empire, says she knows about a Tal'Shiar operation near Hobus and claims it's vital to the universe to stop it. and now she's going to be Tac officer when we go up against Vulture, but I trust her as much as a bankrupt Ferengi in a vault of latinum."

Renee looked at everyone, "Oh, you're giving her the ship. That makes sense."

Hatham pressed his lips flat, trying not to smile at Renee's (completely sensible) reaction. Pity she apparently wasn't interested in men.

Ash was gritting through the discomfort of Nancy putting her nose back together, not doubting that if she wasn't undergoing active treatment, Renee would probably punch her again, "Hatham and I... along with Raven will be on the boarding party, leaving the rest of you to deal with her. So we need to come up with viable options before the mission starts tomorrow at 0900. I mean, it could be worse... we could have left her under Kaol's supervision... can that be the good news?"

"No. It. Can't," Nancy replied, punctuating each word by tweaking nasal structure into place. "Bad enough I thought I had a couple days to prepare for combat, but now there's a mirror Ash to contend with as well."

"If anesthezine isn't fast acting enough, how about poison?" Hatham suggested.

Nancy shot him a glare. "Not that I haven't considered it even for this Rogers, but there a limits to how far I'll bend 'Do No Harm'. At least pre-emptively."

Human moral quibbles... Hatham frowned. "Not pre-emptive, something in a capsule that could be released on signal. It's a Senate level 'special cocktail' approach, but this is a Tal'Shiar ship, right? If you don't want to kill her, maybe just a fast paralyzing agent?"

Renee pondered what she has learned from this conversation, "I offer another solution, in addition to your poison idea... you forget that despite everything, I have been trained by Section 31. I can take her out."

Ash furrowed her brow at Renee, she had never known her to actually embrace taking out someone... and it was even more disconcerting that the someone was essentially her. "What?"

Renee glared at Ash, "You heard me. This Commander Rogers has already tried to flirt with me. Getting close to her won't be a problem... and if it comes to it... I'll take her out. Consider it... therapy."

"That might be a great back up if she does steal the ship," Hatham said, openly smiling at Renee this time. He was liking her more and more. "However, where we need to be able to take her out is if she pulls something on bridge, especially if Raven leaves her in charge. As much as I'd enjoy knowing someone would take revenge, I'd much prefer to not end up dead or in one of Vulture's stasis coffins because she pulled the 'Vassa out of the fight."

"What if I'm on the bridge? You'll need extra help if we are sending the Commander, XO, and security chief on a risky mission," Renee recommended. "I think I can demonstrate some worth in that regard."

Ash continues to just look at Renee, "You're enjoying this entirely too much..."

"Obviously, you may continue planning gassing the bridge or whatever, but I think a personal touch is warranted...." Renee smirked.

Gable chuckled. "Far be it from me to deny you a chance to work out your issues on Ash's doppelganger, but you'd have to sell the Colonel on the reassignment. Also, unless I miss my guess," she tipped a brow at Hatham, "the poison is back up in case mirror Ash somehow takes out several Romulans assigned to the bridge."

"You guess correctly," he confirmed, but nodded politely to Renee. "The offer is appreciated, and I'll sleep better knowing that if she's somehow immune to most poisons - which is not exactly out of the realm of possibility for an assassin - someone will kill her before she can use the ship for her real plans."

"Can that be the good news?" Ash asked.

Renee shot her another glare, "No. There is no good news about this." She then looked at Hatham and Gable while sideeying Ash, "I appreciate you letting me know what going on. If anything goes awry, I'll be sure to do my part. Now if you'll excuse me, there's a Commander that I left in the Mess Hall that I should reconsider getting to know better." Renee then left the medbay.

Ash groaned, "Ugh... my head hurts...."

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