#6 Sacrifice

Posted on Tue Jan 31st, 2023 @ 12:14am by Lieutenant JG Jamie T. Kirk/AKA: "Jim"

Mission: Vanished
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Current

ON:

Kirk sat on her biobed with the head of the bed in a sitting up position. Silk had ran his tests, and left as he gave her a look that said they would talk later; about everything.

~You did well, Jim. I am impressed~

-I did what I had to. The story is weak and will be discovered, so my time is limited-

~Tsk, tsk, tsk. Ye of little faith~

-How do you mean?-

~While driving the car-you, I did access the messages and created one. Bouncing it around for several light years until it will appear to have come from Rigo IV. It is nice to see it is still viable here. In my reality Rigo was destroyed and its populace enslaved to serve the Empress~

-Destroyed? Wholesale?-

~No, no. The colony was destroyed, then rebuilt into a prison mining colony to mine the erinadium there. I led the fight and secured favor with Empress Rogue. It was a Kirk, after all, that caused Spock to revolt against the Terran Empire. Though we are not related, that name still brings forth hatred and wrath~

Kirk smiled to herself at that. It did not bother her that anyone might see since people tended to grin to themselves in thought all the time. But, without the inner voice Kirk's eyes got a mischievous look to them, a focus on what she could accomplish with this alter ego speaking to her. What else was there to this? As she had these inner thoughts she realized that the voice was not responding. Was it possible that her own inner thoughts, to herself, were not open to this beings observation. Something to consider, if she decided to fight against it. But, right now, that was not her intention.

-what do you do over there, on your side of things?-

~I am a scientist and a warrior. A soldier for the Empire with the intellect of a genius. Why?~

This was it, thought Kirk to herself. Again, no response. She could work this around to her benefit. -I want to give myself over. To you. That is the goal, correct?-

~Why would you do this? I mean your Federation no good will~

-I have my reasons, and they shall remain mine. Your influence over me is limited, I have come to realize. Trust, you said. Well, me telling you this is my way of securing a trust. An alliance if you will-

There was a long pause before the voice came back to her. Perhaps she was conferring with superiors on the other side...wherever that was.

~If you do this I will be in control. I will be you. You will have no control~

-I want you to see that how we do things is not considered weakness. It is strength in numbers, in allies. Friends and family that will die for you/me. Do you have that kind of strength or do you prefer mistrust and assassins always waiting to slip a knife in your back when you least expect it?-

Again, a long quiet.

~I take it there are conditions?~

-Of course. Despite your love for the use of the word in my favor, I am no FOOL-

There was laughter in Kirk's mind.

~Well done. You are as strong as I am. So, what do you ask in return?~

-I get to be awake, in your place, while you become a reality in my body. If not I will fight you every step of the way. I have no Empress ready to kill me but you do if you fail. So, I save your life with success and you leave me to observe how you function. Who you are-

Another pause in the mental voice, which Jim took as her thinking it all over. Jim kept her thoughts secure in her own subconscious, which she realized she could access. It was a rush to feel that, to know that. Perhaps there was something to this Force that Green always talked about, since the Commander had given her a saber without hesitation. Perhaps she felt something inside Kirk that she knew would grow.

~I accept your terms. Prepare yourself. Any tricks and I will end you and suffer my own consequences~

-Oh, stop it already. I said I would and I mean it. Do your thing. Add a bonus and I will completely hand you the wheel-

A sigh was heard.

~Do tell~

-All your knowledge is my knowledge, our knowledge. You open that up to me while I rest in the den of my mind and I am all yours. If not you will struggle to gain absolute mastery-

~That will happen anyway, love. But, I will accelerate the process. Fair enough?~

-Fair enough-

Kirk, looking like just another tired patient, put the head of her bed back down to the lying position, wriggled her body a bit to get comfortable and then dropped her mental defenses. Reaching out mentally she coaxed her alternate self to join her. There was a piercing pain in the center of her face, the third eye, as some called it. Red flashes and blue light speed fields passed before her subconscious vision, atoms splitting apart, her own mind passing through a quantum realm of some kind. And then, just as suddenly as it had all happened it ceased and Jamie Kirk passed out, falling into a deep slumber. She lay there sleeping all night while her new 'spirit' worked through her body to access control. As promised there was a plethora of knowledge sent her way, and all of it would take time to sort through, even if done at the speed of a thought. The transferred lay within her new body, content to have succeeded, already working on a way to gain total control and take over this body. She had found her escape, a way out of the Terran Empire. Unfortunately, it required the sacrifice of the alternate self. She had to burn the old Kirk out somehow, and in time she was sure that that piece of the puzzle would reveal itself.

So, Jim Kirk slept all night, warm and cozy in Sickbay, with no one the wiser as to what was truly happening. Her body back in the Mirror Universe would either whither away or be destroyed, which was fine by her. She did not plan on going back.

OFF: