Dawn of Forever, Part XVI

It had taken a little digging, but Annika had managed to find a recent medical scan of the Oracle in the computer's database. Ben Skywalker brought her the equipment she'd need; nothing that could be used as a weapon, of course. Still, the discovery inside the stasis chamber was too much for her to run away from without knowing what was going on. She ran a medical scan of the body inside the box for comparison.

"Is it dead?" Ben asked as Annika started examining the results.

"Yes," Annika said. "Although I can't spot a cause of death... but then, I'm not a doctor."

"But it is a living thing, yes?" Ben asked. "Not a droid or hologram."

"It's organic," Annika said. "There's glass embedded in the hands. Looks like defensive wounds. But it was just superficial damage."

"So, the question then is," Ben offered, "whether this is the real Janeway, or the Oracle."

Annika nodded. "I thought that's what you'd like to know. Genetically, they are the same, so this isn't a cosmetically altered cadaver."

"Could one of them be a clone?"

"That's what I'd be most inclined to think," Annika said. "Let me look things over first."

Ben nodded, knowing he was out of his element without a map. He was not technically-minded outside the limited area of weapons. He was more interested in taking people apart than putting them back together. "A clone would explain a great deal... Force users don't clone well; they tend to go mad."

"Like the captain."

Ben nodded. Molly had been shocked just at the sight of the body, but that hadn't mattered to Ben; it was the idea that he faced an enemy that suffered the mental skewing of a clone. Anger, hatred, passion fueled the dark side, but so did madness. "Can you tell how long the corpse has been dead?"

"No, a stasis chamber would halt all life -well, death in this case- processes. There's no way to tell."

"Isn't there some kind of recorder or something on the box?" Ben asked. "Some kind of data."

"No," Annika said. "First thing I checked. I'm afraid it..." She stared for a moment. "Now that is very interesting."

"What is?"

"This thing," Annika said, pointing to a white solid amidst the haze of the various soft tissues. "It makes no sense."

Ben squinted at it. "Some kind of prosthetic?"

"It's a jerry-rigged hip pin," Annika said. "You won't find any med supply store or replicator that will make one."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because I made it," Annika explained. "Years ago, when we were experimenting. There was an accident, the captain was hurt, I had nothing to work with, so I used my nanoprobes to improvise a pin... I grew it inside her body using my tubules. You can tell because there's no trace of surgery; not even the best regenerators can remove all trace of an operation, there's always going to be some minor misalignment. Even if you transported it in, it would still affect the tissue in a different way than this. This person was operated on by someone who has highly-sophisticated control over Borg nanoprobes and possesses assimilation tubules, and can you guess how many such people there are in the universe?"

"Just you and Sebastian," Ben said, looking between the two images.

Annika shook her head. "Even Bastian doesn't have that kind of control."

"Coming up short," Ben mused as he still looked at it. "What a surprise."

Annika turned on him. "You want my, help? Never mock my son!"

Ben was about to laugh, but he held himself in check. Like it or not, the Borg was useful to him, and trying to bully her into helping him would be dangerous. Better to just humor her. "Fair enough. So, not a clone. What is she then?"

"Not a standard clone," Annika corrected, turning back to the readings. "But there is such a thing as a transporter clone; that could reproduce the pin..."

"Can you tell if that's what happened?" Ben asked. His knowledge of transporter technology was limited as well, although that was more because of its absence from his own galaxy.

"No," Annika answered. "A transporter is designed to reproduce an exact copy of the original; if there were any differences, then people would change over time with transporter use. However, the biggest problem with this is that transporter cloning is virtually impossible. In all my readings on it there's been one accidental success and thousands of failures, and the failures are very unpleasant, believe me."

"Wouldn't that explain the glass? Something blew up during the transport?"

"No, that's not what usually happened, and besides, they were defensive wounds, remember? It would be a miracle if the captain managed to create such a clone, but then, she's grown so powerful. She could..." Annika trailed off as she looked over some of the readings. "Her midichlorian count is different," she said softly.

"Does that mean anything?"

Annika looked between the two readings. "Well, it might. Midichlorians are what make the whole Force process workable, and the captain had to artificially stimulate their growth in an effort to develop her powers to this degree. It indicates that if this were a transporter clone, that the cadaver would have been from many years ago."

Ben nodded, although it was only to not appear to be ignorant. "There's also the other possibility," he said. "We know she has no problem reaching across universes."

"Alternate universe?" Annika asked, then shook her head. "Not a bad guess, but no." She took up a tricorder. "You're familiar with the idea of a universal constant, right? Well, you can use that to tell if something's crossed the threshhold. You, for example, have six different minor variations from the rest of the matter in this room; you're not from the universe. The cadaver, however, is perfectly in sync, as is the still living version. No, one thing we do know is that both are from this universe. They belong here, cosmically speaking."

"So, it's probably a transporter clone," Ben said.

"I wouldn't say 'probably,' but I would say it's the only answer that at least falls within the realm of possibility. Let me run some more tests-"

"In the morning," Ben said.

"I can function without sleep," Annika explained. And it gives me the chance to find a means of escape, she thought.

Ben, of course, was no fool. "We are going to bed," he said.

"If that's what you want," Annika said coyly; she may be getting up in years, but she was still an attractive woman, and she'd use that fact if she had to. This was the first time she'd been allowed some kind of freedom outside her cell. Whatever distasteful task was required was worth it, since it offered a chance for some future plot.

Ben gave a lopsided grin. "I killed Luke Skywalker." Annika's grin faded like a cloud blocking out the sun. "Yeah, thought that might shut you up. You're not charming me, right?"

Annika glowered at him. "You are a bastard," she rumbled.

"All the more reason to put me back where I came from," Ben said. "Now move."

Annika shut down the equipment and marched out of the lab, Ben close behind her.

"No, no!" Han said, getting up from his chair and stepping to the center of attention. Nellim stopped and deferred to him. "The attack is already planned, the Rebel Alliance is sending in everything. This is not your fight."

"[This is our world,]" a Rodian said. "[Who are you to come in here and tell us we can't fight for it?]"

"You've got more important things to worry about than fighting for your planet," Han said. "You've got to fight to protect your families and neighbors. The Vong have slaughtered the locals more than once before pulling out. Your job, priority one, is to get your people to places of safety and make sure that no Vong decides to take out their frustrations on them."

"[Mr. Solo is correct,]" Nellim said. "[All that we did was to ensure that our people were kept safe. This is when they need us the most to do that job.]"

"Good, all right." Han pointed towards the flickering holo-display of the city before them. "We need to identify safe refuges for these people."

"The stadium has large capacity and solid construction-" someone began.

"No, it's too tempting a target. One shot from a coralskipper and you'll have thousands dead. We can't keep all these eggs in one basket. Underground is good, especially if it can be easily defended. You've got to get organized, plan out the details, but be ready to toss them at a moment's notice. But above all, you have to make sure that no matter what happens, those people out there think you're in control. You panic, they'll panic. They see you're on top of things, they'll be that much more likely to listen and stay calm."

"[Stick close to your own neighborhoods,]" Nellim said. "[The familiarity will be a comfort, and the people will know you, trust you.]"

"Good," Han said. "All right, those of you who haven't handled a blaster before, or haven't had much experience, you're with me. The rest of you, get started on the plans. We have got to be ready to move the entire population of this city the moment the Alliance arrives. Move."

The group started breaking up. Kilana caught Han's arm as he went by. "Did anyone ever tell you you're a natural leader?" she asked. "Because you are."

Han's face became a little downcast. "Yeah... yeah, someone did once." He pulled his arm away. "Let's get some work done."

Annika was dropped off insider her cell. Ben at least had the decency not to throw her in there, but she doubted it was anything other than not alienating someone he needed for the moment. "'No Sith can manipulate time itself,'" Ben remarked.

"Pardon?"

"That's what I said to the Emperor, or whatever it was that was passing for the Emperor," Ben said. "And he said 'Can't they?' And I didn't get it... I didn't get that he was warning me of what I had aligned myself with."

"His ways were often subtle," Annika said. "You'd find there are many advantages in a soft touch, but then that's something you Sith never understood."

"Why do you provoke me?" he said with an exasperated sigh. He made an off-handed gesture that knocked Annika off her feet.

"Because you've destroyed my family," Annika shot back. "You know what that's like?"

Ben grinned but there was no humor in it. "Only too well. The Emperor was the Oracle's counterpart, wasn't he? He could stop time, he did stop time, right before the end. His grasp of it exceeds even her dark powers."

"You could look at it that way," Annika admitted.

"She's done all she could to further her cause," Ben said. "She tells everyone everything they need to know to use situations to her advantage. Did he do the same?"

"No," Annika said. "No, he knew better than that."

"I think you're lying," Ben said. "Don't make me extract the truth from you."

"Not what the Oracle does," Annika said. "Not this puppet-master thing she does with people. He always let people make the decisions he knew they had to make."

"So he didn't even warn them?"

Annika's eyes were downcast. "Yes, he did," she said quietly. "But he always gave hope. He was good at that."

"What did he tell you?" Annika didn't answer, just stared at the floor. "Tell me." Force lightning crackled around his hand.

"That I'd lose him again," Annika said, and there were tears in her eyes as she looked up at Ben. "But I'd find him again."

"Nice," Ben said contemptuously. "He get the same message?"

"No," Annika admitted. "When the time came, when his son needed him, he'd be there to save him."

"Lucky for him," Ben said, the earlier deal forgotten. "The little half-breed needs all the help he can get."

Annika gave him a look full of daggers. "He stopped the Oracle's plans," she said. "He confronted her and won. That's more than you ever have." She hit the wall and dropped hard to the floor.

Ben lowered his hand. "Don't provoke me," Ben warned. "I need you... don't make me break you." Then he sealed the door to the cell.

The shuttle dropped out of hyperspace and floated alone in the void. It was one of those gaps of deep space that Garak favored, where the nearest star was no different than one half-way across the galaxy. Garak leaned back in his chair, arms folded behind his head. "Pleasant view," he said because it's impossible for Garak to shut up.

"Who's our contact, Garak?" Lando asked, not even bothering to hide his annoyance. Being away from his business was bad enough, being anywhere near Garak was far worse; add them up and you got a recipe for Pissed Off Lando Stew with extra bile.

Garak smiled and then looked over at Lando, a technique he probably long ago perfected to cause maximum infuriation. "You'll find out soon enough." An alarm sounded and Garak glanced down. "Ah, there she is." Garak sent out a coded signal; the other ship gave a response. Apparently satisfied, he lowered the shields.

"What are you doing?" Lando demanded.

"Our next stage of the trip is with them," Garak said. Before Lando could protest they were materialized off the ship. Waiting for them was a blue-skinned Twi'lek girl, who was at the helm, and-

Lando hesitated as he took it in. He'd met Kathryn Janeway on more than one occasion, but that had been a long, long time ago. Nevertheless, there was something familiar about her that had nothing to do with looks or voice. It wasn't the Force or anything like that, just an old scoundrel's instinct for trouble. It was Cloud City all over again. When she spoke to him she seemed polite enough, but underneath, he could feel that same sense of... confidence, but something much more. It was like egotism backed up with fact; she was better than everyone else, and while she wasn't going to bring it up, everyone would know it. If they didn't, they'd learn it the hard way.

Lando could feel it in his bones: she was a Sith.

The ship disappeared back into hyperspace again. "Mr. Calrissian," the Oracle said as they traveled, "you will continue to supply ships to the Imperial military; do not worry about the money, you will be paid in full for every fighter that comes off your assembly line. I don't want the Empire thinking you're conspiring against them."

Lando crossed his arms. "Am I conspiring against them?" he asked.

"Some would call it that," the Oracle said. "You have engineers, mechanics, competent men and women that can perform a thousand minor miracles. I'll need them. Actually, Mr. Garak will need them."

"You still haven't told me what I'll be getting out of this," Garak pointed out.

"More than you ever dared dream, Garak," the Oracle said. "And you'll find it.... here." The ship dropped out of hyperspace.

Garak strained his eyes. "On that moon?"

The Oracle offered a faint smile. "That's no moon..."

"Oh my God," Lando said slowly in words just barely audible.

"Take us in," the Oracle said. "Let's take a better look at this battlestation."

Go To Part XVII
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