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"Ma’am, incoming transmission from the other ship." a young soldier said over the intercom.
"I'm on my way." Commander Stacey said as she raised from her chair. The rest of the people followed her. This was the first contact they have ever had with the clone of their ship. They got to their stations as they entered the bridge. Brett went to tactical, Ashley went to navigation, Kat went to sensors, Jessica to communications and Mary-Kate went to operations. The operations station was used to co-ordinate all on-ship activity. Since her ship was destroyed, Mary-Kate was now stationed aboard the Colossus permanently.
"On screen" Commander Stacey said. Jessica pushed a button on her console that let them see the bridge of the opposing ship. It's like on Star Trek when they talk to eachother.
What they saw shocked them. A female officer in the background fainted. Everybody rolled their eyes and got back to the situation at hand. What they saw was a mirror image of them.
"Who is that hansom devil at weapons?" Brett smirked
"All I see is a mirror image of you Brett." Ashley taunted.
Brett didn't want to dignify the comment with an answer. Besides, it was his job to give those witty replies.
"Attention enemy vessel." the mirror Commander said. Everyone on the real Colossus looked at the screen.
"This ought to prove interesting..." Brett said
"How is that?" Jessica wondered
"It's not everyday two massive ships engage eachother."
Commander Stacey got up and walked a few steps towards the view screen.
"Ma’am! The enemy ship is powering up weapons." Kat commented. Brett wanted to power up his weapons too. He had an itchy trigger finger. His mirror image was smirking since he could use the weapons and not him.
"Must be pick on Brett day" he said under his breath.
Commander Stacey nodded to Brett. Brett got an evil smirk on his face as he powered up all weapons and locked them onto the enemy ship. His hand was inches away from the nice big red button with Fire written on it.
"Kids." Jessica said.
"Big boys play with big toys." Both Bretts said in unison. They looked at eachother and smiled.
The evil Commander Stacey got up "You have 1 minute to surrender your ship to us. If you do not, you will be destroyed."
"May we have a few minute to talk things over?" the real commander Stacey asked.
"Very well, you have 2 minutes" and with that the mirror bridge disappeared from the view screen.
"Suggestions?" Commander asked the bridge crew.
"We can get into our fighters and..." Ashley started
"No. Going out there will be suicide" Brett said
Ashley raised an eyebrow. "And you have a better idea."
"Any idea is better than going out there and getting ourselves killed." He said
Ashley crossed her arms and looked away.
"Look, this ship has an incredible amount of firepower. Properly configured, it can take out a whole pack of fighters in one shot." he noted
"Can you re-create that configuration to hit one ship?" Commander Stacey wondered
"If I do, we have one shot, then we will be without power. The power generators will overload and burn out."
"Can we destroy them with that one shot?" Jessica asked.
"Don’t know. If we do, we might not survive the explosion of that ship out there. Shields would be down."
"Aren't you the bringer of good news today huh Brett?" Ashley said
"Just don't start with me." Brett shot out at her
"Well s-o-r-r-y" Ashley said with extreme emphasis on the sorry
"Look people we don't have the time for this. We have less than 1 minute to find a way to get out of this alive" Commander Stacey said, she was a little upset. The stress she was under was incredible. She was going to decide the fate of over 10 000 people in the next minute.
"Sorry" Ashley and Brett said in unison.
"Ideas, anyone?" Commander Stacey said
"Put our heads between our legs and kiss our butts goodbye?" Kat said
Everyone looked at her with murderous looks. "Couldn't resist" Kat said.
"Mary-Kate, can you check to see if the Colossus has any weaknesses?" Jessica asked
"Why not ask Kat, she has sensors." Mary-Kate answered
"Not them, us. Since they are a mirror of us, they have to have the same weaknesses right?" Jessica tried to show the logic.
"Let's hope so. Hold on." Mary-Kate said as she started to check the ship for weaknesses
"30 seconds" Kat pointed out.
Commander Stacey was now pacing back and forth. She didn't know what to do. There was no logical thing to do now, or was there? And idea came to his head.
"Ok people, this is what we are going to do!" he said to get everyone's attention. "Mary-Kate, you keep trying to find a weakness. Brett, you get to live your dream, fire all guns at that ship. Just make sure we don't lose all power after the first shot. Everybody got it?" Commander Stacey said.
Jessica went over to help Mary-Kate find the weakness faster. Brett had a twinkle in his eye that only a kid would get when he finally gets his hands on the forbidden candy. Kat was deep in thought about something. Ashley was about to ask what was the matter when the viewscreen showed the evil Colossus bridge once again.
"What is your reply?" the evil Commander Stacey asked the real Commander Stacey
"Bring it on" Brett said as he push the magical red button which let the firepower of the mighty ship roar towards the enemy. "OH MY GOD THAT FELT GOOD!" he shouted out
"Feel better?" Ashley joked
"Hellz yes!" he said
Ashley, along with everyone else, looked at him funny. Brett just went back to pushing the nice red button.
The enemy ship was caught off guard and was rocked hard from the 3 or 4 beam turret shots. The good guys still had the view of the enemy bridge. The last rip of weapon's fire made Jessica's console overload and explode, the shrapnel flew and she fell to the floor, dead. Brett saw this and couldn't believe it. Even if it was an evil Jessica, he still felt as if he killed the real one.
"Keep you mind focused Brett" Ashley yelled out as they were hit by a beam turret shot.
Her voice was so distant to him. He couldn't push the button. He would cause the deaths of a part of Ashley, Kat and everyone else on the ship. Another shake sent him back to reality. If he didn't fire, the real people he loved would die. He raised his hand over the fire button, took one more look at the enemy bridge and fired again.
"I've got it! Hit their main power grid with all guns!" Mary-Kate said
"Will we survive the blast?" Kat asked
"Let's hope so."
Brett locked onto the spot Mary-Kate said and fired with all guns. A few consoles blew circuits and sparks flew. As the shot finished, the lights went out as the ship lost power. The bridge had no way of knowing if it worked. All they heard was a thud. The only lighting was the backup lights. Everyone just looked at eachother and prayed.
A violent shake sent people through the air then tumbling to the ground. Things overloaded and small explosions were the result. Ceiling boards came loose and fell down on the people below. People were screaming as the ship continued to shake under the force of the shockwaves from the evil Colossus blowing up. The power of the backup generators kept the red lights flashing and sirens blaring as crash after crash was heard from debris of the exploding enemy ship with the Colossus.
Commander Stacey woke up with a bad headache. She was knocked out after being thrown around the bridge. She had a few cuts and bruises. Brett got up, feeling a little dizzy. He had a big gash on his forehead with a stream of blood on the right side of his face.
"Is everyone alright?" Commander Stacey said. This was the queue for the bridge crew to say if they were ok or not.
"I'm ok" Jessica said as she cradled her arm "I think I've broken my arm though"
Mary-Kate answered. She also had a few bumps and bruises.
Kat couldn't walk on one leg, but was alive.
Ashley didn't answer. When no reply was heard the crew looked around. They were getting frantic since every second meant either life or death for their close friend. Commander Stacey found her under a fallen support beam, it was lying on her stomach, preventing her from breathing easy. She was unconscious, but was breathing enough to stay alive. This could change at any second. She motioned Brett and Mary-Kate to come and help her.
Brett and Commander Stacey went to lift the support beam and Mary-Kate got ready to pull Ashley out of the way.
"One... two... THREE" Commander Stacey counted. When she reached three, she and Brett tried to lift the beam with all of their might. After a few seconds, the beam started lifting. Mary-Kate pulled Ashley out once the beam was high enough. The two let the beam come crashing down once Ashley was safe and clear.
"I'll get her to sickbay" Mary-Kate said.
"I'm coming" Jessica as she went for the door. The power hadn't come back so the doors didn’t work as well as they could. A lot of damage was done to the ship. The full medical staff, atleast those that have survived the explosion of the enemy ship, were on duty fixing everything from cuts and scrapes to broken limbs to life threatening injuries. One of the latter cases was Ashley who was still unconscious. Jessica examined Ashley and upgraded her condition to stable. The only thing that Ashley could use right now was rest and a lot of painkillers.
Commander Stacey had the crew of the bridge running around getting the damage and casualty reports. Since Kat couldn't walk, she was assigned to Mary-Kate's station so she could co-ordinate the efforts throughout the ship. Brett made his way down to engineering to see if he could help get the power back online.
Commander Stacey went down to see how things were going. People were running left and right. People were shouting things to eachother and a few damage control officers were putting out the last of the fires. The Commander found Brett connecting some wires.
Brett connected the wrong ones and it gave him a zap, burning his fingers slightly and sending a few sparks into the air. Brett slammed his fist into a nearby metal panel, denting it slightly.
"Repairs not going as you planned?" Commander Stacey said.
"Just tired I guess. Been a long day" Brett said as he rubbed his hand which he had hurt when he hit the metal panel out of frustration.
Commander Stacey noticed that Brett's cut was not looked at and fresh blood was on the side of his face. "Maybe you should get that cut looked at. It looks pretty bad." she suggested.
"I'm fine, besides, I can't stand waiting around in sickbay for someone to help me. They are probably swamped as it is. I'll go later." he shrugged.
"Fine, just as long as it doesn't interfere with your work." She said with dismay. Although she didn't approve of Brett's choice, she couldn't force him unless it was absolutely necessary.
A few more sparks went into the air as another zap was heard. This time the lights came on and a power up noise was heard. Brett tapped his headpiece to talk to Kat.
"Power's back on." he said
"Yeah, I kind of figured that out when the lights went on. Good work" she answered. There was a built-in radio in the console that allowed her to talk to anyone on the ship.
"I agree, good job. I'm going to check out sickbay to see how things are going." Commander said
"See ya later" Brett said. Commander Stacey looked at him. "Uh.. ma’am." Brett said as he saluted. Commander just grinned and walked on.
