Copy Kathy
The doors to Sick Bay open and Doctor Annika Kramer walks out. Her affect is blank until the doors close. She looks back to the doors and shakes her head before turning to face Captain Beringer and First Officer Ythysi. “Bad news or good news first?
The other officers look at each other before responding as if communicating with facial expressions first. Kathryn replies, “Bad news, I suppose. It’s better to get that out of the way.”
Annika sighs. “She has no idea how she got here. It’s as if, in a blink of an eye, she was on the bridge and then in your quarters.”
Kathryn crossed her arms.
Anthi’s antennae twitched slightly. “And the good news?”
“She is a perfect copy of Kathryn, physically, mentally, biologically, psychologically, even chronologically. Frankly Captain, if you died right now, no one would know the woman in Sick Bay,” she thumbed to the doors behind her, “is not … you.
With one hand, Kathryn rubbed on the rank pips on her collar before responding. “The bottom line is she is here and we need to do something about it.”
The Andorian First Officer spoke quickly. “On the face of it, we can’t ethically do anything. It’s not like this was caused by a transporter malfunction or some trick from Q. That would be relatively easy to solve, so to speak. Besides, we would have heard from Q by now, I’m sure.”
Annika put her hands on her hips. “Well, we can’t keep her here either.”
Shaking her head, Kathryn asked, “How’s the rest of the crew?”
“No one has reported further symptoms for two days.”
Nodding, Kathryn said, “so, she is the remaining issue.” She turned to Anthi. “The warning markers were deployed around Xerosia, correct?”
“Yes, sir. Once we recovered from the hallucinations, the buoys were launched. The crew has been submitting reports of their experiences since then.”
Kathryn paced a few steps in the hallway. “The second sentient planet the Federation has encountered and this happens. As if it is trying to send a message to-.” She stopped and turned to the other women.
“The question is, what are we going to do with her?” Annika was scratching her head and didn’t notice the gleam in Kathryn’s eyes.
“I have an idea. But it’s personal and selfish.”
Anthi looked back to Kathryn. They stared at each other for several seconds before Annika looked up and tried to join the silent conversation.
+++
Several minutes later …
The doors to Sick Bay open and Captain Kathryn Beringer walks in. Her affect is blank until the doors close. She looks back to the Doctor and First Officer and nods her head before turning to face the other Kathryn Beringer. “Bad news or good news first?
Sitting on a Bio-Bed and wearing standard medical fatigues, with her long burgundy hair let down and flowing over shoulders, Kathryn smirked. “Bad news, I suppose. It’s better to get that out of the way.”
Captain Beringer smiled. “I knew you would say that. Mind if I call you ‘Kathy’, it will help with the conversation?”
Kathy kept smirking, “It’s what I was going to ask you, actually.”
Anthi crossed her arms. Annika placed her hands on her hips.
Kathryn continued. “Okay, the bad news is we cannot determine how you got here. According to Doctor Kramer, there is no reason you should be here and, thus, we have no way to figure out how to … send you back –“.
“So,” Kathy interrupted, “you need to figure out what to do with me.”
“Yes. But, if you are me, then you know everything about me. Everything.”
The two women stared at each other for several seconds until Kathy broke the silence. “I can’t read your mind.”
Kathryn crossed arms behind her back as if to stand in relaxed attention and leaned forward at the waist. “As you know, there are a handful of people on board, you trust intimately, who know your … our past very well.”
“Yes, and two of them are in this room.”
“Exactly.” Kathryn spoke in hushed tones. “Duty as a Starfleet Captain prevents you from doing some work you really want to do.”
Kathy narrowed her eyes. “Then why stay in Starfleet?”
Kathryn narrowed her eyes and grinned. “In the grand scheme of things, you can do more in the chair, than away from it.”
Looking over Kathryn’s shoulder, Kathy could see Anthi and Annika had not moved. Clearly, a plan had been hatched by the three of them and Kathy was the catalyst. “Specifically meaning?”
The Captain looked back to the others in the room and then back to Kathy with a mischievous look in her eyes. “We do have a Black Talon suit.”
Kathy briefly looked stunned until the realization behind the statement dawned on her. Kathryn was suggesting she be in two places at the same time: one as the dutiful Starfleet Captain, the other …
“Let me be crystal clear about this. You’re thinking I could take the Black Talon and ‘hunt’ Syndicate members to satisfy a vendetta?!”
Kathryn didn’t move. “Correction: making a dent in the slave trade. This is our passion, our motivation to be where we are and joining Starfleet was the ‘high road’, so to speak. As a reminder, you tread the ‘low road’ and it was hard, real hard.”
Looking skeptical, Kathy asked, “So why suggest I go back to that life?”
Kathryn reached up and touched the rank pips on her collar. “It would be a lonely life to be sure. You remember what it was like before joining Starfleet: the constant insecurity, fear, hate … and satisfaction. Frankly, you don’t have to be a killer, not like you wanted to be or thought you could be. Finding slavers and reporting them should be enough.”
“C’mon, you remember reporting to the authorities was never enough!”
“True, but this time you’ll have some support.” She smiled and spread her arms wide as if to show off some fashionable piece of clothing.
Kathy smirked, the idea and its many possibilities was settling in her mind. “Unofficially I presume?”
Kathryn looked smug. “Look at it another way: as official as I can make it.”
---
Cast for crew:
Kathryn Beringer / Kathy - Rachel Nichols
Anthi Ythysi - Katheryn Winnick
Annika Kramer - Abbie Cornish
