Ensign Larkin 2.0

Posted on Thu Oct 15th, 2009 @ 12:37pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant JG Lucy Carter

2,997 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: The Shining Truth
Location: USS Normandy
Timeline: Current

ON:

Admiral Brice Carleton sat aboard the Normandy, his flagship, scratching at his forehead for something like the fifth time in the course of an hour. On the desk before him were seven PADDs, each displaying some extraordinary piece of information pertaining to the man in a guest room, two floors below him, and despite their presence he was still no closer to sorting out this puzzle than had had been when he’d picked up that man two weeks earlier. He could do nothing but hope that his two soon-to-be guests would be able to shed some more light onto the matter.

As if on cue, his XO’s voice filtered into his ready room. “Admiral, we’ll be arriving in Earth orbit in ten minutes; the Archimedes is already there. They’ve hailed us, and their party is ready to come aboard when we reach them.� It was a little unusual for an Admiral to take his ship out on a mission, let alone when that mission was simply to collect one man and bring him back to Earth. The circumstances surrounding this situation, however, had brought Carleton to the conclusion that this was something he needed to do himself.

“Good,� he replied, after tapping his commbadge. “Meet them in the transporter room, and bring them to me immediately.�

*** - Normandy Transporter Room- ***

A relatively tall man with a charismatic glint in his eye stood near the pads as two officers from the Archimedes materialized. He was just as eager to get to the bottom of everything as the Admiral. “Ahh, Captain Kerr, Lieutenant Carter, welcome aboard. I’m the ship’s XO Devlon. I’m sure you’re probably quite curious to find out why you’re here, so I won’t keep you waiting.�

“That would be agreeable, Mr. Devlon, if you could. Both myself and Counsellor Carter are rather bemused as to the reason why we have been summoned here on our precious Shoreleave.

Carter nodded her agreement to Kerr's statement and, offering her hand said "nice to meet you, sir."

The Trill shot a look to Lucy and narrowed his eyes back onto the First Officer. “Shall we, then?�


*** - Carleton’s Office - ***

Carleton looked up from his desk, as the chime to his door signaled the group’s arrival. “Enter.� Kerr, Carter, and Devlon filed into the room. “Captain, Counselor, please have a seat. Thank you, Commander Devlon, that will be all for now.� Carleton waited for the clearly disappointed man to leave the room before continuing. “I apologize for asking you both to meet with me here without any explanation, but once you know what’s happened, I’m sure you’ll both understand the need for discretion in this matter. Before I begin, I wanted to ask you two a question. I’ve read the reports, but they are a little unclear. What exactly happened to Kevin Larkin? Is he, in fact, deceased?�

Carter knew that in such cases, honesty was the best policy. "Yes, sir," she said sadly. Lieutenant Larkin had been under a good deal of mental pressures in the past few weeks, which I was unable to help him with. I am so sorry to report that he took his own life." She held back the tears very well. She had to.

“My Counsellor’s quite right, Admiral,� Kerr spat out, more offended now than confused. “With all due respect, Admiral, what is this about? You have dragged both myself and Lucy here from time spent with our families to question me on the death of a... well, a friend! Anything I have to tell you here can be read in the report I submitted last week.�

"Captain!" the Admiral's response was harsher than he'd normally have made it, but he needed answers, and his patience was wearing thing. “I understand that this must be difficult for you; I’ve lost a few friends in the line of duty myself, but understand that I would not have called you here if I didn’t feel your direct input would be needed.� He paused, somewhat unsure how best to proceed. “Recent events have given us serious reason to question the accuracy of your reports. Not that I am trying to accuse you of anything, but we have a major contradiction on our hands, and the only solution that we have is dubious at best.�

The Admiral settled back into his chair; his clear look of strained contemplation had only grown. “I’m not quite sure if there is a diplomatic way of telling you this, so I’m simply going to say it. Sitting two decks below us is a man that we picked up from Outpost 482 two weeks ago. He claims to be ‘Ensign’ Kevin Larkin: the Assistant Chief Science Officer of the USS Dragoon, who was abducted in an attack on that vessel by VISTA and has been held in their prison for the past two and a half years.�

The look on both Kerr and Carter’s face fell almost instantly.

Carter was simply stunned. "What? With all due respect, Larkin died out there in space. This Ensign is clearly mistaken!" Her voice cracked only a little and she regained composure in a second.

“I – I don’t understand, Admiral,� Kerr continued, placing a consoling hand on Lucy’s shoulder. As if the poor woman hasn’t been through enough, lately, he thought silently. “‘Ensign’ Larkin was posted to the Archimedes when I first took command of her... I – I hand-picked his service record out of hundreds. I promoted him by rank and station and he served me well until the end. This can’t be true. This is im-�

A shadow seemed to darken Kerr’s eyes as he spoke, a single thought pushing its way slowly yet malevolently through his mind. And then he cursed. “VISTA! Did you mention VISTA?�

“Yes, I did. Ensign Larkin, if that is indeed who he is, claims he was abducted along with several other personal and equipment from the Dragoon shortly before VISTA destroyed it.� There was more to Larkin’s claims, but the Admiral was loath to continue. He wasn’t sure if he simply didn’t believe the man, or if he didn’t want to believe him.

“Where is this man? I want to see him. I want to talk to him!�

For a moment, Carleton did nothing. He was hesitant to comply with Kerr’s request, but eventually concluded that it was probably the best way to get to the bottom of these matters. Tapping a small panel on his desk, “Commander Devlon, please bring our ‘guest’ to my office.� After allowing the channel to close, he continued; his voice was much softer now. “I should warn you: there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that this man is telling the truth. As I said before, I’m sure that this will be difficult for you.�

Kerr shot a glance of confusion, anger and grief to Lucy as he stood there, both of them awaiting someone they had never met. And yet someone both knew very dearly.

Mere minutes after the Admiral’s order, the doors to his office parted to reveal quite a sight. The man standing there was almost the spiting image of the one who had been running the Archimedes’ science department since the start of her mission. He was clearly a bit undernourished; his hair was longer and his face was covered by a recently trimmed beard. He certainly gave the appearance of a man who had indeed been imprisoned and only recently released. Taking in the stares he received, he spoke in a weak, but still almost identical voice, “I take it you two are Captain Kerr and Lieutenant Carter.�

“K-Kevin?� Kerr stammered, visibly shaken with a look that betrayed the ill feeling that welled within his belly. His face drained of colour, and the darkened spots that ran down the sides of his face seemed to also reduce in their intensity. He looked intently on Admiral Carleton, then to Lucy and then back to the stranger that stood before him. “I just don’t understand how this can be possible. You look just like him.�

"Kevin!" cried out Lucy. "Are you all right? What's happened to you?"

“What happened to me?� the ghostly apparition parroted back in confusion. A moment later, a he turned on Carleton with realization. “You didn’t explain it to them, did you?�

The Admiral sat up in his chair, “I felt it would be prudent to…�

“You still don’t believe me, do you?� an uncharacteristic interjection came from Larkin.

“Ensign, I feel that your story is a bit too fantastic to…�

“Excuse me, Kevin,� Kerr broke in with, a stern and angered expression locked tightly in his brow. Kerr narrowed his blue eyes onto the superior officer before him as he sat comfortably behind his desk and trembled with rage. “I mean you both no disrespect, but what on Earth is going on here?� The Trill then locked eyes with the Admiral and forced his gaze down on him, attempting to heed no malice toward the frightened friend that he had just interrupted. “Now, Admiral Carleton, I have never in all my years been privy to such bumblings concerning such a delicate situation as this. Now, I have remained unchallenging while you requested both mine and my Chief Counsellor’s presence here, during Shoreleave, and followed orders to report aboard your ship. I have stood along side this woman, whom is in my charge, and watched her fragility deepen as you have dangled this revelation in front of her… So, you will both explain EXACTLY what is going on here NOW! Is that clear to you, Admiral?�

After a moment of silence, Larkin spoke, “Admiral, may I have a few minutes alone with these two?�

“I don’t care who tells us what’s going on as long as someone does immediately!� Kerr blasted.

The flustered Admiral began to object, but, for reasons that perhaps even he didn’t understand, he stood from behind his desk. “Ten minutes. No more,� and with that he left.

Once he was gone, all attention turned back to the newcomer. He studied Kerr and Carter for a few moments in silence, unsure of exactly how to explain everything to them. Any way he went about it, they probably weren’t going to like what he was about to say. Sitting down in the Admiral’s seat, he tapped all of his fingers in quick succession on the desk. While this man looked and sounded like the Kevin Larkin who had served aboard the Archimedes, there was something of a distinctly different feel to him.

“First, I want to say that I’m sorry that you and your crewmates got mixed up in all of this, but, appearances and logic aside, I want to assure you that neither of you have ever actually met me,� he placed special emphasis on the final word.

“Kevin, we don’t really understand. You served with us, befriended us. You don’t recall any of that? Nothing?� Kerr interjected, thoroughly confused as what was unfolding.

"Of course we have met you, Kevin" said Carter. "Don't you remember out chats on the Archimedes? The food we ate?"

“The Kevin Larkin you knew was an exact duplicate of me, created by a machine which the Dragoon discovered two days before we were attacked by VISTA. They must have had a spy onboard, because very shortly my theories about what the device could do became public knowledge aboard the ship. And we were attacked. Myself, along with the machine and several others members of the crew were taken by their strike teams. After some ‘convincing,’� he paused momentarily, a look of sadness fleeting through his eyes for only a moment. He began again, hesitantly. “After they threatened to kill some of my fellow prisoners, I decided to continue my research and make the device work.

“Device?� Kerr questioned, his own scientific curiosity overpowering him. “What was this device, Lieu… Kevin? And why did VISTA want it so badly?�

“You see, what made this device so useful to VISTA was that it doesn’t simply copy the genetic material of whatever you provide, it copies and allows manipulation of the subjects mind state. It allowed them to take the DNA of any Starfleet officer and create a flawless sleeper agent which is virtually undetectable from the original. In fact, it doesn’t even know that it isn’t the original. As you’ve probably already guessed, they decided to test this device with my DNA. They staged the destruction of the Dragoon several months after it had actually been destroyed, and deposited my replica, a man who was virtually identical to me except for his programming and lack of knowledge of all this, in to a shuttlecraft for the Federation to find.� Silence fell in the room. “Look, I know it sounds ridiculously, like the plot of some cheesy science-gone-wrong novel, but it’s what happened.�

Kerr and Carter stood there, open-mouthed. Larkin was indeed right. To both their scientific and medical minds this plot seemed almost… science fiction. The ability to clone humans had been around for years, and advanced genetic re-sequencing decades before then, but the thought of this haunted them both. It smacked of the invasion of the Dominion Changeling agents throughout the Federation and Starfleet. Now that VISTA was in possession of this technology, and with its evident success, Kerr’s body chilled.

“It seems strange,� Kerr began, looking over the face of a man he thought he knew. “You look and act so alike to our Kevin. And yet, you are so different. Have you spoken to Command about where you go from here? Where we go from here? If Admiral Carleton has his doubts, Command will certainly want to verify your story before anything happens… and then there’s the issue of the crew. My crew. Your crew. To find out the man they had grown close to wasn’t who they really thought her was… I’m not sure whether that would bring them comfort, or worsen their grief.�

Carter had remained silent throughout this last exchange, not daring to wish that her friend had come back to life. Now, her thoughts collected, she said "Kevin, I am so glad you are still alive. You don't know this but you and I became well acquainted on board our ship. Even if the person I met isn't actually "you" then any clone will surely have the same characteristics as the real person." She smiled at him. "I really am glad to see you."

Larkin smiled; a hint of the clone's shyness poked through the slightly more forward personality of the man before them. He wasn't entirely sure what to think of what the counselor had just said. He agreed with her logic; if she and his clone had been friends, then he would likely enjoy her company as well, but the simple concept of someone he had never met 'knowing' him so well was unsettling.

"Command knows everything that I do: specifically that one can detect the replicas if you know what you're looking for: a very minute, consistent variation in DNA patterns. I suspect that the device's creators probably put it there to prevent just what VISTA was intending to do." He smiled, a bit more genuinely this time. "I never mentioned that to VISTA, of course. Hopefully this will never be a problem again.

"I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself, though, to be honest with you. I've been wondering if, maybe, it would be best for everyone if I left Starfleet and started a new life entirely. Your crew would never have to know the truth, and I have certain misgivings about having anything to do with my other self's life."

“Never have to know?� Kerr replied, almost astonished at the thought. “They should know, Kevin! A lot of people lost a dear friend… or at least thought that they did. You shouldn’t turn your back on that.� Kerr paused. He took in a breath, held it in his lungs and expelled the spent oxygen slowly. Changing his tone and lowering his voice to a soft, friendly manner, Kerr continued. “I know that the Archimedes wasn’t your life, essentially, Kevin. But there are people on that ship who would argue with you otherwise. Two of them, standing before you now.

“If your clone was anything to go by, the Fleet, and Science, could use another talented officer. And so could I. I have an opening for a Chief Science Officer now.�

Carter reached out a hand to Larkin and said, "Please, Kevin. We have all missed you."

The incredibly familiar stranger considered what they had said at great length. There was wisdom in the captain's words, and the counselor clearly cared enough to want what was best for him. Perhaps that was what was best for everyone, after all. "Maybe," he started slowly, "maybe it wouldn't do me any harm to at least see what's there for me. I'm not making any promises that I'll stay, but I'll come with you."

Carter smiled broadly at him then the Captain. "I am so pleased, Kevin. I can't wait for you to come home."

Kerr simply smiled. “Good,� he said. “I think it a wise choice. I’ll speak with Command and run it by them. Get right back on the horse, and everything…�


OFF:

---

Captain Coltan Kerr
Commanding Officer,

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Lucy Carter
Ship’s Counsellor

AND

The return of Ensign Kevin Larkin (2.0)
Chief Science Officer

 

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