OK, everybody, remember when a contingent of Terra Group, standing in line during Celebration III, came up with the first idea of a "Terra Group Mirror Universe"? It turns out that, along with the copy Kristy had in her notebook, Josh Cochran kept the idea and started his own description. I took the two, added to them, went to a very dark place in my mind, and this is what resulted. Josh says he'll likely do a crossover story at some point, if he can figure out the mechanism (since the wormhole idea isn't the one we're running with) and who's going, so it was worth it to establish the characters. Josh also has the latest version of the characterizations, in case anyone's curious. All I can do now is thank the powers that be that it's likely Emily won't ever see this... Terra Command: Parallel Lines by scifantasy Major Scifantasy, Terra Command, walked into his office. His secretary, Emily Janson, looked up--then stood up ramrod straight, put her hands behind her back, and stared at the floor. "Sir." Sci waited a few seconds, long enough to let Emily strain a little. "Sit," he said calmly. She did so, hands flat on the desk, and continued staring downward. "Any messages?" "Not at this time, sir." "What's your schedule for today?" "Clerical work from now until 1200, lunch from 1200 to 1300, communications shift from 1300 to 1500, marksmanship training from 1500 to 1600, unarmed combat training at 1600, sir," she answered. "Good. Be back here at 1700." "Yes, sir." As Sci walked back out of his office, she raised her head again and went back to her work. ------ Captain Doctor Kristy Henscheid turned at the beep at her laboratory door. Slowly, she dropped a hand to her service disruptor. "Who is it?" "Sci." Kristy tapped a few keys on her computer console. "DNA confirmation?" Sci, obligingly, placed a hand on the reader. A needle jabbed out, piercing Sci's skin, and extracting a drop of blood. She checked the DNA against the record and nodded at the confirmation. "Open," she called. The outer door hissed open. Sci walked in, and it closed behind him. He waited at the glass inner door for Kristy, who made sure it looked like him, and pressed the open button. As Sci walked in, Kristy came to military attention and saluted. Sci returned the salute and nodded, and she dropped out of attention. They didn't shake hands, but there was an almost friendly familiarity between them. "Good to see you. How's the latest project?" "See for yourself." She turned partially--not presenting her back to him, of course--and pressed a button. The steel shutter before them rose, revealing a short furry creature, about three feet tall, with a pair of black, feathery wings and a horn protruding from its head. "The Ewokornasus," she said with a flourish. Sci's expression didn't change. "In...teresting. Can it fly?" "Not yet," she said. "This generation doesn't have sufficient wingspan, or light enough body weight. However, since I managed to splice the Tribble Modification into this one, and I've been feeding it the latest version of the All-Creature Growth Hormone, it's already gestating. By the next five generations--call it two weeks--I should have one which can take off." "And the horn?" "Well, if you're creating a combination of an Ewok and a fictional creature, you might as well give it a horn, too." She gave him a crooked grin. "Makes sense. Run any new requests for materiel through my office, as usual." "For now I'm all right. Nick and Josh"--Sci didn't smile at the tone of her voice, but he nodded inwardly--"have been keeping me well stocked." "Good. And Darth Ept?" Kristy smirked at Sci's nickname for their resident dark Jedi. "He's a lot less subtle than he thinks he is, and much more malleable, too. Even Force- users can be played," she said with a sultry smile. Sci didn't react. "Good. How are his plans with Becki?" "World conquering?" She scoffed. "They're still tied up in the planning phases." "You mean tying each other up," Sci said levelly. "That too. Becki's much better than I am at the seduction game, but she has a...hard time focusing when the two of them try to plot together. I've been working Josh; I think he's starting to accept that you and I aren't a threat to him." "Good," Sci said, and half-turned. Kristy, recognizing the dismissal, now did turn her back to Sci. He followed suit, and exited the lab. ------ Captain Josh Nolan slid a pawn forward. "You know he's going to turn on you." Sci moved his knight. "Only if he's stupid." "Exactly," Josh responded. "Kristy's been helping change his mind. I don't care who's in charge of the planet. If Cochran manages to succeed, I can work for him as well as I'm working for the New Empire." "NEI won't take kindly to that," Josh said as he pushed a bishop into attack position. "NEI knows where my loyalty lies." Sci moved a pawn to block. "With yourself." "Exactly." "But you trust Kristy." Another pawn. "No. But she and I share goals." "You aren't going to move?" "I'm in no rush." "Anyway. You share goals?" "I like my job. She likes that I let her do her job." Sci moved a rook. "Now you move." "And besides, Kristy has her own issues." "Tell me about it." He pushed his queen out. "No, you tell me. You're the one caught in the middle." Knight to threaten queen. "She won't say anything, because she doesn't want to admit that either of us can have any power over her." The queen went back. "And he?" Bishop to threaten the king. "Isn't much at stringing sentences together." King to a more defensible position. "Speaking of Nick, any word?" Rook forward. "He's having a lot of fun breaking up the cell. I think he's eschewed weaponry entirely." Queen to block. "Good man. And what about you?" "I like my disruptor." "Not what I meant." "I know." "So?" Knight forward. "Not interested. It's too normal. Unless. Hm. This has potential...the joys of the trinity..." Queen takes rook. Pawn forward. "Checkmate." Josh's jaw dropped. "What?" "I was playing one chess game. You were playing three." ------ Sci was walking through the corridor when his comlink chirped. "This is Sci." "Sci? It's Brad. I'm inbound--should be there in fifteen minutes." "Oh, good," Sci said. "Any luck?" "I got him, but he was injured in the struggle. Can you have Sylvana stand by in the hangar?" "Will do." He clicked off with Brad, then opened a comm channel. "Emily." "Sir." "Have Sylvana meet me and Brad in the hangar in fifteen minutes. And prepare Medical/Interrogation 1. Remind Sylvana that we're meeting Brad, and engage the hangar false wall." "Yes, sir." Sci took a deep breath, and as he let it out, he shed his carefully- controlled image. Letting a huge smile spread across his face, he took off at a jog for the hangar. ------ Agent Doctor Sylvana Lorrdain met Sci in the hangar. She nodded at his smile. "Brad Protocol?" "Of course." The two of them watched as Brad's airspeeder landed in the hangar. Brad emerged first, walked over to Sci, and saluted. Sci returned the salute. "Well done, Lieutenant." he kept the grin on his face. Brad walked over and gave Sylvana a quick hug, then turned back to Sci. "Everything went fine. We had a bit of a fight--I think he may have broken a bone. But I brought him back alive." "Well done!" said Sci, putting as much sincerity as he could into his voice. "He's unconscious inside. Need any help?" "No," said Sci, "I think we have it." Sylvana nodded. "We'll take him to Med/Int--I mean, Med 1." Brad cocked his head. "Med/Int? What does that mean?" Sci kept the smile on his face as he thought fast. "Medicine-slash-Internal Surgery. It's just the full title, but it's easier to call it Med 1." "Oh," said Brad. "That's all, Brad. Feel free to go to the mess, or to head out to see Alison. We'll call you if we need you for anything." "OK. I'm going to grab some food, then go see her. See you later!" Brad walked happily out of the room. Sci's face instantly recovered its blank expression. He slowly turned to Sylvana, who shivered. "It was an accident!" she protested. "I know. But accidents are unforgivable for the Brad Protocol. We'll deal with your punishment later; this man's information is too important." The two of them took a repulsor-stretcher to the airspeeder and extracted the occupant, a human male whose arm bent in a way no arm should. Sylvana recoiled, but they got the body onto the stretcher. ------ Emily stood in the observation room of Medical/Interrogation 1 as Sci and Sylvana entered. They put the body on the table, and Sci turned to Sylvana. "Fix his arm." Sylvana nodded and opened a nearby drawer. "Of course. Any subject must be fully healed before interrogation. A bacta infusion should do the trick." "No." "What?" Sylvana froze. "Fix his arm. Surgically." "You mean, cut his arm open? All the blood..." She shuddered, her fear showing on her face. "You almost broke the Brad Protocol. Brad is too valuable an agent to lose, and we must keep secrecy. If he found out what actually happened in here, he would leave at best, try to kill us at worst, and either way we would lose an important asset. Your punishment is to fix this man's arm yourself." "But..." "And if he dies, you die. Slowly. Painfully. I suggest you learn from your brother's fine example...and not screw up. It would be a waste to have to hang another body from the hangar ceiling." She froze at the mention of Arrek, but rallied quickly. "But..." "Tell you what. If you succeed, I'll let you try interrogating this man yourself. I'll watch from the observation room." She brightened a bit, but still looked terrified. "Yes, sir." "Get to work." Sci exited into the observation room. Emily instantly resumed her earlier posture. He waved her to a chair. "Any news?" "Not at this time, sir." "Think she can do it?" "...Sir?" "The surgery." "No, sir." "We'll see." They watched as Sylvana started to cut into the arm, fear of Sci warring with her fear of gore. Her fear of Sci seemed to win out as she began to repair his bone and muscle damage. Suddenly Emily's comlink beeped. She pulled it out. "Emily Janson." She listened a few minutes, then covered the grille. Without looking up, she said, "Alison Sky, sir." "Toss me your comlink." She did. "This is Sci." "Sci? It's Alison!" came a high-pitched voice. Sci would have winced, if he wasn't prepared. Emily did wince, but she tried to keep it small. Sci saw that but ignored it. "Alison!" he said, putting some of the vocal inflection he'd used on Brad into his voice. "How are you?" "Good, good! I wanted to thank you for letting Brad go early. He headed out to meet me. We're going on a picnic." Sci pressed the MUTE button on the comlink and turned to Emily. "Six months of dating, and I think they're up to holding hands. Sad." She said nothing, of course. Sci turned off the muting. "Glad to hear it. Anything else?" "Actually," she said, and Sci sighed silently, "I have a few ideas I wanted to run by you..." "Really?" Sci asked, then re-muted. "Every time she starts in on these ideas for 'agent missions' I reconsider my rule on not torturing except on official business," he said aloud. To Emily he asked, "Any luck on figuring out how to remove her without ruining Brad?" "No, sir," she said. "I apologize, sir." "As well you should," Sci said. "Keep looking." He un-muted the comlink. "Alison, I'm sorry, but I need to run. I'll hear the rest of these later, all right?" "Sure! Later!" Sci tossed the comlink back to Emily and turned back to the window. As he watched, Sylvana finished repairing the arm, sewed it up, and applied a stimulant patch. Sci nodded in approval and pushed the intercom button. "Well done, Sylvana. You may try to interrogate this one. Remember, we want to know all the names he knows, and where they gather." She smiled in relief and pride, and removed a pair of electrodes from a drawer. As the patient began to awaken, she placed them on his chest and shoved the power level up. Sci kept the volume low as the screaming began. The noise was annoying. Sylvana reveled in it, however. She turned off the power and spoke. "Tell me what you know, or you keep screaming. I quite enjoy the screaming, though." Sci shook his head. "She doesn't understand. He's not weak, he just knows not to waste energy staying stoic. She won't get anything out of him." ------ An hour later, as Sci predicted, Sylvana hadn't gotten anything useful out of the subject. Sci relieved her, and he and Emily walked into the interrogation room. Sci administered painkillers to relieve the aches the shock torture had left as he spoke. "I'd like to apologize for my subordinate. She is young, and inexperienced." The man tried to speak, but Sci held up a hand. "Rest. She has kept you in pain for far too long." "Th--thank..." Emily, still looking downward, handed Sci a tool. He calmly continued. "I am in charge now, and I promise you, in far less time, you will have no pain anymore. But first, you will tell me everything you know." He casually took the tool, a large instrument which looked like a scissor, and cut off the man's thumb. The screaming was unavoidable this time, but Sci was able to bear it. It took fifteen minutes. ------ Sci, slowly wiping his hands on a handkerchief, exited the interrogation room. Emily started to gather the tools of the interrogation, but Sci turned back. "Stop." She froze, her head dropping. "Return to your duties. Sylvana will clean up." Emily quickly made her way out of the room. Sylvana had been watching from the observation room, but her body froze up when she heard this. Her eyes grew wide, and she looked at him. "W...w...what?" Sci looked at her mildly. "Clean up the mess." "But..." Sci held up a hand, and Sylvana fell silent. "Sylvana, you have incredible potential. You have the technical skill, even more so than I do. You take pleasure in the work, which I do not. Believe it or not, I would like nothing more than to turn my duties as Primary Interrogator over to you, to focus on the administration of Terra Command. Do you know why I cannot?" She shook her head. "Fear. I have mastered mine. You have not." "Sir, what are you...I know you're fearless..." Sci snorted. It was not a happy noise. "Fearless? Far from it. Everybody has fear, Sylvana. Even me. However. I have mastered mine. I do not let it control me; I control it. "You, Sylvana, you have hematophobia. You fear blood. And that fear controls you. And the only way to master that fear is to encounter it. So. Clean up that mess." ------ Sci continued out of the building, up to the highest parapet of the Royal Palace. There, he stood for a while, contemplating the waves against the sand. "Beautiful, is it not?" Sci turned slowly. "Hello, Your Majesties." Thayer Atner, King of Mendellia, flinched at Sci's tone, but rallied himself. His wife, Lieutenant Queen Becki Atner, stood behind him, her eyes smoldering. "When did you hear us?" she asked, clearly disappointed to have not surprised him. "You make a lot of noise coming up the steps," he replied coolly. "Ah," said Thayer, clearly out of his element. Becki elbowed him, and he rallied. "Major, I must express my concern over some of the recent actions of Terra Command. We--" "Would this be the royal 'we,' or the effective?" Sci asked dryly. Becki flushed, but said nothing. Thayer continued. "We feel that you are drawing undue attention to Mendellia, attention which is detrimental to both the nation as a whole and our alliance with the New Empire. If you continue down that path, you may find yourself an enemy of the nation." Thayer's voice changed, as he gained confidence. "Believe me, Major, even one such as I can cause you no end of trouble in this country." Sci nodded slowly, seeing the way this one flowed. Becki, and therefore Josh, was the motivating force. She knew how to properly incite most men on the island, up to and including her husband. Thayer was the power-broker, the active force. And in fact, he could cause serious trouble for Terra Command if he had to. Time to kick the legs out from under that force, then. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Your Majesty," he said, his voice not even slightly apologetic. "I would not relish the thought of becoming an enemy of Mendellia. I might have to take matters in my own hands. That can be quite messy, and often fatal." Thayer froze, his brain overloaded by the concept of physical violence. The air seemed to seep out of him, and he stared at his feet, mumbling some sort of excuse, before dashing away. Becki and Sci faced each other for a few moments. Finally Sci spoke. "Check." Becki's eyes flashed dangerously. "You do not want to make an enemy of me, /sir/," she hissed. "It would be most unpleasant." Suddenly her demeanor changed. As if pressing a switch, she went from angry to sultry. "However," she purred, sidling close to him, "we would make powerful allies. Imagine what we could do together." Sci held a hand out, marking his distance. "Madam," he quoted, "no man in his right mind would be alone together with you." The seductive vixen vanished. "Fine!" she spat. "You with your precious plaything. You could be great, but you throw it away to be a petty bureaucrat. Passionless, bloodless, pale...you simpleminded fool!" With that, she turned sharply on her heel and stalked away. ------ Sci found Josh Cochran outside Mike's room. He was just leaving, resealing the door's locks. "Captain," Sci said, smirking inside as Josh spun on his heel, lightsaber flashing out, ready to cut the voice in two. Josh stopped as he looked at Sci, though, and closed down his lightsaber, bringing himslf to a full attention. Sci waited patiently, saying nothing, for a good sixty seconds, then finally said, "As you were." As Josh dropped his hand, Sci looked at the door to Mike's room. "What's the latest?" "He's still not in a usable state...killing Vickie did him in. I'm trying to train him up to fighting trim. He'll never be functional again, but he can be a rather useful weapon on occasion. We'll just need to keep him locked up...and never turn your back on him." "Naturally. I assume Becki has been useful in helping to subdue him?" Josh's eyes slitted--Sci's tone was as even as ever, but the implication was unmistakable--but he nodded. "She's good at her job." "Indeed." "Was there something else you wanted to talk about?" Josh made to leave. "How have you and Kristy been doing?" Josh's thumb twitched toward his lightsaber, but he stayed in control. "Just fine. She's...very friendly," he said, putting a leer into his voice. Sci didn't react. "I'm sure. So's Becki, I note. I just ran into her and Thayer." Now Josh had to curl his hands into fists to keep from attacking Sci. "Did you?" Sci merely nodded. "Naturally, you know the adage to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. If I were you, though, I'd make sure I knew which ones were which." He casually turned and walked down the corridor. Watching him depart, Josh roared, ignited his lightsaber, and drove it into the corridor wall. "You'll get yours, Sci. You'll get yours." Sci's voice wafted down the corridor. "Wasted effort, Captain. Focus on the important targets." ------ Sci returned to his office and poured himself a drink. His chrono read 1659. At exactly 1700, Emily, wearing a white martial-arts uniform and still sweating from her training, appeared in the open doorway, gaze again directed downward. Sci nodded. "Come in. And close the door." The rustle of fabric accompanied the hissing of the door.