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As Ensign D’Aav stepped out of the shuttle, he thought This is because I slept with the Commander’s sister. He’d spent the entire trip trying to figure out why he was being transferred to Starbase 80 and decided it had to be that. He didn’t do anything wrong, except maybe if you count the times that he was late for his shift, but that’s not that big a deal. He’s usually only late by a few minutes. No, he decided, this had to be punishment for the Commander’s sister. Finally, an officer approached him.
“Uh, Ensign D—aav.” The officer prompted.
“Yeah” Why is this guy looking at me like that? “What? You’ve never seen a Caitian before?”
“Yes, yes, of course” the flustered officer replied. “I just.” He stopped and took a deep breath. “We better get you to sickbay.”
“Sickbay?” D’Aav asked, his whiskers pricking up. “I’m an engineer. Shouldn’t I be meeting the Chief engineer first?”
“Chief eng--i?” He stopped abruptly and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I was just told to bring you to sickbay.”
Just great, D’Aav thought as he was led through the station. Bad enough I’ve been transferred to the worst station In Starfleet, the first thing I have to do is get my physical. I HATE physicals!” Meanwhile, he couldn’t help but notice the way people kept looking at him as he walked by. They all stared as if they’d seen a ghost. What’s wrong with these people?
Finally, he made It to sickbay. “Ensign D’Aav?” asked the human male officer who approached him. He must be the doc.
As if on cue, the man introduced himself. “I’m Dr. Jeffrey Cooper, Chief Medical Officer of Starbase 80. Can we step into my office?”
D’Aav sighed heavily as he followed the doctor. “Can we just get this over with, Doc?” Suddenly, he saw movement from one of the biobeds. He turned. Oh, another Caitian. Cool, he thought for a moment. That is until he recognized the patient.
“Ensign” the doctor said, gently, when D’Aav abruptly stopped walking. “I think we should come in my office. We can talk there.”
“What the?” D’Aav blurted out, his eyes widened in shock. “What the hell’s going on??”
“Ensign,” the doctor said, more forcefully “We can talk in my office.”
As he was led towards to the office, D’Aav looked back at the person on the biobed—a Caitian playing with a ball of string who looked exactly like him.
“Sit down.” The doctor said.
“Who is that guy?” a flustered D’Aav demanded, still standing. “He looks just like me!”
“I’ll explain in a moment.” The doctor replied. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“No, I don’t anything to drink! I want to know who that guy is!” D’Aav yelled “I don’t get it. I assumed I was being transferred here.”
“Ensign, please, sit down.” Dr. Cooper said again. Once the ensign complied, he continued. "You’re not being transferred. You’re here because I needed a baseline for comparison.” The doctor took a deep breath. “The patient on that biobed is from the Mirror Universe.” Before D’Aav could interrupt, he continued. “I can’t go into much detail, but he stowed away on a Terran ship headed for our universe. When he was discovered, it was decided that the best course of action was to let him remain here.”
“What the hell. The Mirror Universe?” an incredulous D’Aav blurted out. “You mean the place where everyone’s evil?”
“I don’t know about everyone, but yeah.”
The stunned ensign stood up and went to the office window. After watching his counterpart play air guitar, he turned and said “He doesn’t look particularly evil.”
Dr. Cooper sighed. “We don’t know what he was like, originally. All we know is that he was experimented by,” he paused a moment, “a completely unscrupulous doctor. Those experiments left him with significant brain damage.” He walked over to the ensign who was still trying to process what was going on and put his hand on his shoulder. “I need to take scans of your brain to see exactly what damage was done.”
D’Aav stood there a long moment. “Can I talk to him?”
“Sure.” The pair left the office and walked over the biobed. “Dave.” The doctor called out. “Someone’s here to see you.”
Dave? D’Aav thought. His name is Dave???
Dave stopped playing his air guitar. “Sure, Coop!” he said happily. When he saw D’Aav, his eyes widened and a huge grin came across his face. “Hey, you look just like me!”
“Well, I’ll give you two some privacy. “The doctor said. Putting his hand on a stunned D’Aav’s shoulder he added, “I’ll be right over there.”
“Uh, huh.” D’Aav replied. He blinked his eyes a few times and focused on his counterpart. "So, w-w-why are you here?”
Dave shrugged. “Sick, I guess.” He paused and then quickly elaborated. “I mean, I was sick at first from the injuries but then I got better but Coop wanted me stick around for more tests. Which is weird, because I feel great…”
“Okay, that’s enough!” D’Aav interrupted. “I get it!” He took a breath. “So, what do you do around here?”
“Hang out.” Dave responded.
D’Aav shook his head. “No, I don’t mean here in sickbay. I mean what do you do on the station?”
“Oh,” Dave said in a tone that suggested he just realized what he meant. “Just hang out.”
D’Aav rubbed his temples. “I mean, your job. What do you do here?”
“Oh,” Dave said again the same exaggerated tone. “Whatever they tell me to do.”
D’Aav suppressed a growl. “You’re wearing a uniform. Aren’t you a member of the crew?”
“Oh, yeah!” Dave said happily.
“But you don’t have a specific job?” an exasperated D’Aav asked. “You’re not an engineer?”
Dave thought for a moment. “Not usually.” He perked up. “But sometimes they let me reorganize the isolinear chips.”
D’Aav rolled his eyes dramatically. “Do you remember where you came from? What you did before?”
Dave thought for a long moment. “I don’t think so. I don’t know. “ His whiskers perked up in curiosity. “Do you remember what you did before?”
“YES!! I was an engineer on the San Clemente!!” D’Aav snapped. “Forget it!” He then walked back over to Cooper. “What the hell is wrong with him?”
“I told you.” Cooper responded. “He has significant brain damage.”
“So, now he’s like that?!” D’Aav blurted out. “He’s like my kid brother! Worse because at least my brother knows what’s going on!”
Coop sighed heavily. “The damage from the experiments resulted in significant cognitive impairment and, we suspect, personally change.”
“You think?!” D’Aav bellowed. “I’m an engineer! Okay, maybe I’m not the best, but I’m fairly decent. Then there’s that guy who, “ he stopped abruptly when he saw Dave wave at him.
“Ensign,” Coop said, gently. “I understand you’re upset. Trust me, I know exactly what it’s like to meet your Mirror Universe counterpart. But that’s all he is, he’s not you.”
“I know that.” D’Aav said. “I just thought he’d be like me, only evil. I didn’t think he’d be like that.” he turned to Coop. “Are you going to try to fix him?”
Cooper sighed. “I think it might be too late for that. Right now, I just want to see exactly what was done to his brain in case anyone else out there received the same experiments. Will you help me?”
D’Aav looked at his counterpart for a while. “I guess, yeah.”
************ ************************* ********************************************* ****
After the scans were completed, D’Aav found himself face to face with the base Commander—an intimidating Andorian named Ch’Thane.
D’Aav jumped off his bed and stood at attention. “Sir!”
Ch’Thane sighed, irritably. “Relax, ensign. Don’t hurt yourself.” He continued. “I’m here to thank you for helping Dr. Cooper with his scans. I’ll be putting a commendation in your file, though, or course, I’ll be leaving certain details out for security reasons.”
D’Aav beamed. “Thank you, sir!”
Ch’Thane looked at the ensign, pointedly. “It should go without saying that your counterpart’s presence here needs to be kept a secret.”
“Yes, sir!” D’Aav said, proudly. “I will be the model of discretion, sir!”
Ch’Thane barely suppressed an eye roll. “Of course, you will.”
D’Aav hesitated a moment. “Sir, if I may ask. Why did you keep [pointed to Dave] him on the station? Wouldn’t it have been better to send him to some kind of facility?”
“Where he could be poked and prodded by Federation doctors?” Ch'Thane asked, disdainfully. “Besides, when he arrived, we “ he paused a moment, “we didn’t know about the brain damage or the experiments. He was a simple stowaway, and we surmised that his condition was natural. [with a haunted look, he added, looking at the doctor] Though sometimes I wonder if his condition could have been repaired if we had known.”
Coop thought a brief moment, then looked right at the commander. “Maybe? But I doubt it. The damage is so extensive. Frankly I don’t think it would have made a difference when it was discovered.”
A sad look passed over the Commander’s face, then just as quickly it was gone. “Well, Ensign. You’re free to return to the San Clemente.”
D’Aav was stunned. “You mean I get to go back?” he asked with a huge grin on his face.
“Of course, you’re going back” Ch’Thane said, brusquely.” This was only a temporary assignment. If you’d bothered to read your orders, you would’ve known that.”
“Oh,” D’Aav responded. “Sorry.”
On the way back to the San Clemente, all D'Aav could think about his counterpart. It was freaky. Meeting a version of you that is kind of like you, but not really. He wondered again what Dave was like in the Mirror Universe. Was he one of the evil ones or was he simply like him—trying to get by.