“Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes”.

Mary T. Lathrap. 1895.

 

Separated through the passage of time and the impossible distances between realities, the lovers came together in a crushing embrace, their bodies pressed together, physically yearning for the other – as if merging so could erase the chasm of loneliness that has afflicted them when they suffered to be apart.

From her cot in the holding cell, Lieutenant Commander Deassomi Dai commented.

“Well this is awkward.”

Dr Gallian Makon ignored the captive Betazoid, her lips crushed to those of Gul Yomat Ghallir, standing on tiptoes to be enfolded in the arms of her towering lover.

Tani rolled her eyes and tried to diplomatically cast her gaze elsewhere, but in the confines of the Brig of the Klingon vessel, the choices were harrowingly scant.

Eventually the lovers split apart and Dr Makon regarded them coolly from over Gul Ghallir’s broad shoulder.

“What’s the matter commander, don’t you have love  – where you come from?” She challenged Deassomi.

The Betazoid scientist shrugged diffidently.

“Sure we have love, if you lucky to get it.” Deassomi commented with habitual laconic dryness. “But in our Universe, lover-boy there is one of the most reviled terrorists that our society has ever apprehended. Forgive my mawkishness, it’s just a bit of a mind – bender seeing anyone tussle – tonsils with Gul Yomat Ghallir.”

Gul Ghallir broke away and frowned mightily at his captives, safely ensconced behind the shimmering red – security forcefield.

“Their Universe?” Yomat Ghallir turned back to Dr Makon with a questioning look on his sharp, grey features. “Gallian my love, what in the Prophets name is she talking about?!”

Lieutenant Isono shot a questioning look at her superior and mouth an incredulous “Prophets?”

Deassomi just shrugged again. Being a literal ‘captive – audience’, she was content to let events roll out and consider their import in this strange new world.

Gallian Makon, looking worn from her ordeal, but with a determined set to her lips, smoothed a hand through her iron – grey hair and touched the Gul’s arm with a intimate hand.

“Yomat, these people….the ship you found me in…” The Scientist shook her head, even for a woman of science and reason – the odyssey she had embarked upon and the revolution it had birthed, were almost to surreal for even her to countenance. “They’re from another plane of existence….another UNIVERSE!”

Utterly perplexed, the New Marquis commander took a tentative step back and turned to peer suspiciously at  Deassomi and Tani in their cell.

“Another……Universe?” Ghallir’s gaze was cold and calculating.

“Yes! “ Dr Makon enthused. “Identical in every way, except the most important of all….in their Galaxy – the Terran Empire has never existed!”

The ramifications of a revelation of such import were scarcely hard to credit, but Yomat trusted Gallian implicitly. Regardless of his feelings for her, she had provided her worth to the New Marquis when, she herself, had defected from her role as an Officer in the hateful Terran Empire – bringing with it her brilliant mind and honorable intentions.

He would trust her to the end of this Universe and any other she cared to name.

“And these people?” He peered at the prisoners.

“Officers of the United Federation of Planets Starfleet.” Dr Makon confirmed as she joined him at his side, entwining her arm behind his back and molding herself at his hip. “Analogous with the Empire in every discernible way, technological – parallels in shipbuilding, weaponry and martial capability – but dedicated to peaceful exploration, altruism and diplomacy – if you can believe that?” She laughed bitterly, aware that the side of the Mirror they inhabited was an anathema to these ideals.

The Gul looked incredulously at the pair, noting that Deassomi was of Betazoid lineage and Tani obviously a Terran.

“But how is it that they are here? How are you here, you went searching for that ship months ago and then just…disappeared?”

Gallia spun Gul Ghallir around and took him in both arms, her gaze urgent and intent.

“Yomat! That ship is the most important object in this Universe or the next, right now ! “ The Scientist urged. She turned, explaining her journey – so that both Yomat and the Starfleet officers could understand what was at stake.

“My love, that ship, somehow, has the ability to tear its way through the meniscus of space/time that separates this Universe from the one these people inhabit ! The Gallian Makon of their Universe obviously solved the equations that eluded me and managed to advance the Stutter-warp theory to the point that they managed to produce a workable prototype! “ She put her hand to her head, reveling in the possibility.

“And their Gallian managed all of this 25 years ago, can you credit.” Dr Makon looked slightly bitter that the achievements of herself had diverged so markedly from that of her late Mirror – Universe counterpart. “Where I progressed with work within the field of  Heuristic Artificial Intelligence Matrixes, that Dr Makon was less of a success.”

She laughed shortly. “It seems that good fortune and ill exist in equal, but diametrically opposed values in each state of existence – but what is positive in one, is uniformly negative in each “Mirror Universe.”

“Mirror …Universe.” Gul Yomat Ghallir tried the concept on for size, obviously struggling to make these events fit the frame of his world-view.

“It’s as good a term as any and empirically apt.” Deassomi (ever the consummate scientist) rejoindered, swinging her legs from the cot and approaching the glimmering security field, caught up in Dr Makon’s tale.

“Although in our Universe, the Stutter-warp effect was wildly unstable – killing Dr Makon and the test – flight crew and presumably ending up here…”

“I discovered the latent Warp – signature from Hull – 3185, and to my amazement, recognised the output parameters as a successful Stutterwarp transit – along with a raft of anomalous data that I know now is attributable to the passage of the Test Article between realities. Somehow that flawed process has generated a hitherto unlooked for side effect.” Dr Makon nodded, approaching the prisoners – the disparity between their states of liberty momentarily forgotten.

“But something went wrong?’ Deassomi prompted.

Gallian nodded regretfully.

“Unfortunately I wasn’t the only person that register the entry of Hull-3185 into our realm of existence. “ Gallian shook her head ruefully. “An Imperial Starfleet Vessel, the ISS Albion also detected the Stutter – Warp emission and closed to intercept. Her Captain, Samantha Hyland, is as a ruthless and amoral example of cruelty that the Terran Empire has ever spawned.”

Deassomi and Tani shared a glance – their own Captain Hyland was the very antithesis of this character assessment.

As Gallian spoke, Deassomi could feel the empathic emotions emanating  from the Mirror – Universe scientist and knew her tale to be true.

“I knew that I couldn’t let technology as revolutionary as that aboard Hull – 3185 fall into the hands of the Empire. With the means to leave this Universe for another, they would be able to spread their domination of hate and subjugation to countless billions. So I made the fateful decision to jump the ship.” Gallian admitted sadly.

“And it took you away from me to this other world.” Yomat commented ruefully.

“I was stranded aboard that ship for months as it jumped endlessly. Once I had discovered the fate of her crew, I was able to bootstrap some command protocols to the AI that their Gallian had created – “Sanctus” – (laughably primitive compared to my own achievements) and was able to finesse the warp – output to incrementally steer the ship back towards the Antaari – Nebula, and home!”

Deassomi smiled, her theory of why Dr Makon was so desperate to chart a course towards the Nebula was now paying dividends.

“Well my love.” Gul Ghallir interjected, “It appears that Captain’s Hyland hasn’t relinquished her desire to obtain the Alien – vessel. Our long-range sleeper – probes report that a vessel conforming to the telemetry of the ISS Albion has been engaged with another that – until now – we though was another Terran Empire Vessel. Certainly anomalous, but it’s not uncommon for those vermin to occasionally prey upon their own.”

“The Valley Forge!” Tani sprang from her own bunk and joined Deassomi at the edge of the containment. “Captain Hyland hasn’t abandoned us !” She grinned with evident relief.

“Captain Hyland?” Gul Ghallir rounded to Dr Makon with a quizzical raised eyebrow.

Gallian shrugged.

“In their Universe, their Captain Hyland is in command of an Excelsior II – class Heavy Cruiser, the USS Valley Forge.” She explained.

Yomat sighed unhappily.

“Then you both have my condolences.” She spoke to the Starfleet officers, “Against an Inquiry – class Interdiction Cruiser, your Captain Hyland is quite outclassed – she and your crew and most likely dead.”

“You’ve obviously not ever met our Captain Hyland.” Deassomi commented dryly, “She has an uncanny knack of getting into trouble it’s true, her service record attests to that truth. But she has an equally anomalous ability to think outside the box and turn a defeat into victory – with startling regularity.”

Despite himself, Yomat Ghallir found himself smiling wryly.

“With such a resounded endorsement, your Samantha Hyland sounds quite a woman. Maybe the Prophets see her and smile upon her with favour?”

Deassomi decided to park trying to reason why an Cardassian officer was espousing Bajoran mysticism – but reasoned that there was probably a myriad of things that did not directly correlate from this Universe to her own.

“But why does this “Terran Empire” version of Captain Hyland seem to desperate to obtain Hull – 3185?” Deassomi reasoned. “Surely, if she fully understood the import of what the Stutter – warp drive can do (even unintentionally) – then surely she would have alerted her superiors and there would be a veritable fleet of their vessels scouring this volume in search of the ship?”

“The Terran Empire, though still an egregious threat, is not the power it once was.” Gul Ghallir explained levelly. “An internal schism, instigated by a Vulcan called “Spock”, saw the Empire take a more ‘relatively altruistic’ worldview for a short while, before the back-biting contempt and rampant xenophobic became resurgence and a coup restored the Empire to its original status Quo. But they are weakened by infighting and that instability had fractured the regime into competing factions.”

Then the Gul’s face took on a darker aspect.

“In such a state, they are ill – prepared to counter the threat posed by the ‘Hive – Continuum’ – although we find ourselves as equally imperiled by such a persistent and implacable foe.”

Deassomi frowned.

“Hive – Continuum? Don’t you mean the Borg?”

“Borg?” The Cardassian freedom – fighter frowned, struggling with the unfamiliar term.

“In our Universe, the Borg are a partially synthetic species, who utilize nanotechnology to enslave and assimilate others’ biological entities. in an ongoing attempt to evolve and perfect themselves. In the world we know they have subjugated countless billions in their drive to evolve.” The Chief Science Officer stated with bitterness.

The Cardassian shook his head and went on to explain.

“The Hive is an insectoid hegemonistic swarm – species. Unable to create technological advances of their own, they seek to assimilate those with the necessary sophistication into their collective by means of a powerful biological mutagenic strain – effectively robbing all that it is forced upon from their individuality – they become part of the hive. When a Hive “Tet” appears in a system, it spells the end of the individuality of every being with it – they are implacable, remorseless and (so far) unstoppable.

Tani looked absolutely dumbfounded at this terrible parallel to the nightmarish Borg of their own Universe.

Deassomi, however, looked resolute.

“Gul Ghallir.” The Betazoid spoke calmly, but with great import. “I realize that you don’t know us and have about as much motivation to trust us as we do you.”

The Gul folded his arms.

Deassomi continued, “But it seems to me that our differences are not what divides us, rather that our uniqueness is the best weapon we have to counter the forces that threaten everything we know and love.”

“What are you proposing?” Ghallir cocked his head to one side, intrigued at the proposition unfolding.

“Gul Ghallir, I don’t doubt that the Terran Empire is just as bad as you say.” Lieutenant Commander Dai reasoned.

“But if what you say about this “Hive – Collective” is true, and I fear that it is, the means for the Hive to subjugate not only this Universe in it’s entirety, but my own Universe as well – is currently under tow by your vessel.”

“Gul Ghallir, Dr Makon.” Dai pleaded for reason. “If the Hive are able to access our Universe and combine their hegemony with that of the Borg – Continuum in ours. It will be the end of sentient life in both continuum! I propose that you release us, so we can pool our efforts, rescue the USS Valley Forge from the ISS Albion and find a way to defeat all of our enemies – together!”

For the longest time, Gul Yomat Ghallir (‘True – Way’ Terrorist in her reality and ‘New Marquis’ Freedom – fighter in this one) considered Deassomi’s words and the fate of both Universes hung tenuously in the balance.

Then.

“Lower the Forcefield.”