Ming, Ciara, Karissa, and Will stood in the shuttle bay of the Ronin as they
waited for the inbound shuttle to land. Klaxons sounded, the door opened, and
a small shuttle set down in the middle of the landing zone. As soon as atmosphere
was reestablished in the shuttle bay, the four went down to greet the shuttle.
The door of the shuttle opened, and the pilot stepped out. "Lieutenant Darryl Flynn, flight officer," he announced himself. "I know I'm a little early but I managed to catch an uncharted tachyon flow on the way over from the Parnassus."
"Quite all right," Ming said. Though he was not the senior officer present, he was nonetheless in charge of the research project. "I am Lieutenant Ming Wang, Chief Science Officer. Allow me to introduce Lieutenant Commander Karissa Bentara, Ship's Counselor; Dr. Will Hancock, Chief Medical Officer; Lieutenant Ciara Tierro, Assistant Medical Officer. We wish to thank you for your assistance."
"Not at all!" Flynn said, smiling. "If you could point me to the mess hall, I'd like to get something non-replicated for a change!"
Ming laughed, and gave the flight officer the directions.
Following Flynn off the shuttle was a woman who looked for all the world like a younger version of Karissa--so much, that all four of the Ronin officers did a double-take. Karissa was shocked almost speechless--as if she were trying very hard to suppress something--upon seeing her younger double. In fact, she was: a deep, atavistic urge to strike out and kill! Ming and Ciara both would swear later that they heard a low growl coming from both women.
The younger officer had a determined look on her face as she kept her hand on the phaser at her side. "Lieutenant Shara Mikori, at your service," she said. "Captain Covarrubias and Major Pennington thought it might be a good idea if I accompanied Private Benson to the Ronin. He has been known to be, shall we say, unpredictable..."
Her remark was punctuated by the exit of PFC Robert Benson from the shuttlecraft. The man was huge--over two meters tall, and with a mass over 135 kilograms--and seemed to dwarf not only Mikori, but the shuttle. His face was craggy, with his nose pushed back and his ears elongated not unlike a Vulcan's. The man also seemed inordinately hairy, but there was something wrong with the hair, as though it didn't belong on a human...Ming noticed the shackles on the man's hands immediately.
"This, fellow officers, is Private Benson. Say hello to everyone, Private."
Benson looked over the others. "Uh....hello...." He seemed utterly confused about the situation.
"Ms. Mikori," Karissa asked, still a little unnerved at seeing a near double of herself, "is this man aware of his situation?" She could read Benson and could tell very easily there wasn't much going on upstairs. According to the medical records Ming had received, Benson had an IQ of around 80--just barely making him eligible for enlistment in Starfleet.
"He knows he's been sent to a new ship. His mind functions on a very simple level. Benson sees things in terms of absolute right or wrong, with no deviation. In his mind, this is punishment," Mikori explained, talking about Benson as though he weren't there.
"First of all, let's remove those shackles," Ming ordered. "This man is a human being, and he is to be treated as one." The two more senior officers in the entourage nodded approval.
"Uhhhh...are you sure about this?" Mikori asked.
"There isn't anything Benson is capable of that the four of us can't handle," Karissa explained.
"Okay..." Mikori released the shackles.
"I free now!" Benson exclaimed, smiling. His smile revealed fangs. Ancestors--what did they do to this man!
"Private Benson, I'm Lieutenant Wang, your new commanding officer," Ming said in as friendly and non-threatening a manner as he could manage. "You're here because I asked Major Pennington specifically for you, so you can help me." Good--let him know he's not being punished.
"I can help you?" he asked.
"Yes, you can help me a great deal," Ming said, smiling. "And these other officers as well. I want to run some tests on you--"
"NO!!!!! NO TESTS!!!!!" Benson said, rushing at Ming. Ming responded by grabbing Benson's arm--which was almost as big around as Ming's leg--and twisting it behind his back.
"Oh--should've mentioned that. Benson doesn't like being examined. He was in the brig for assaulting the Parnassus' medical officer," Mikori said matter-of-factly.
"Relax, man! No one is going to hurt you! I'm not a doctor--I'm a scientist! Different kinds of tests! I promise!" Ming said, straining to hold Benson back.
"You promise?" Benson asked, relaxing. "Blueshirts lie to me before."
"I promise," Ming said. "These blueshirts don't lie!"
"Okay," Benson said.
"Ciara, why don't you take our friend to the mess hall and get him something to eat. Then we'll show him around the lab."
"Won't you come with me?" Ciara asked, as though speaking to a child. "I'll get you good stuff!"
"I like good stuff!" Benson said, following obediently.
"I'd better follow, just in case," Mikori said.
"Why don't you report to Lieutenant O'Neal in Security, first," Karissa suggested. "Ms. Tierro's a Tanzaran--I doubt Benson would be able to hurt her much," she said.
"You do have a point," Mikori conceded as she headed to Security.
Ming sighed. "How a man like that made it into Starfleet is beyond me!"
"His responses are very child-like; I'd say he has the emotional responses and maturity level of an eight-year-old. And they put him in combat?" Karissa asked, horrified. More horrifying than that, however, was what she had just witnessed.
"Apparently that's the only area in which he does well," Ming said. "It's in his off-time that he's a troublemaker."
"He'll need to be kept busy," Will replied. "Someone with that level of maturity doesn't handle boredom well. Find him small, unimportant tasks and let him know he's valued."
"I sensed something else," Karissa said. "A deep sense of longing and loneliness. If Shara's what counted as friendly aboard the Parnassus, I'd hate to think of what Benson's enemies are like!"
"You seem somewhat hostile to Lieutenant Mikori," Will said. "Is there something going on?"
"How would you feel," Karissa started, "If you just saw an exact duplicate of yourself about five or six years younger? Particularly after what I've learned about myself?"
"You think Mikori might be another 'creation'?" Ming asked.
"It seems that way," Karissa said. "No sooner than she saw me than I felt her mental blocks going up and a territorial instinct building. It's almost as though two cats were fighting over the same territory..."
The three looked at each other. Ming tapped his commbadge. "Wang to Tierro, how's our friend doing?"
[Eating like a horse!]
"As soon as he's done, get him to the lab. Get Ms. Mikori to the lab as well. We're going to run some tests."
Ming and Ciara scanned Mikori and Benson with medical scanners, downloading the information to the lab computer. Then, they dismissed the two--Mikori to report once again to Security and Benson to study a PADD Ming had made up for him in advance with pictures of lab glassware and equipment, and phonetic spellings of their names, so that Benson might be able to function as a lab assistant at least at a minimal level.
"This is incredible! Mikori
has all the same feline DNA sequences as Karissa--and nearly
the same artificial sequences! Even the base human DNA is the same, only with
a few minor induced differences! For all intents and purposes, this is a younger
version of Karissa. Whoever designed Karissa designed Shara as well," Ciara
exclaimed.
"If you think that's wild, take a look at this!" Ming said, punching up Benson's DNA sequence on the screen. "Several different species here--grizzly bear, alligator, mountain lion, lowland gorilla, sehlat...whoever designed Benson took the largest, most ferocious animals he or she could find and spliced them onto his DNA! Not only that, but Benson's genetic code had several deficiencies as well."
The two were absolutely horrified. Benson was older than either Shara or Karissa. That could mean only one thing: he was the prototype that failed. "Look at this," Ciara indicated. "Benson has an XYY chromosome pattern. This poor man was set up to fail dramatically."
"We'll have to see what we can do for him," Ming said. "He's suffered enough. Only one problem, though: we need informed consent. Considering what Starfleet's already put him through I don't think any of us could legitimately give consent for him, and he's not bright enough to consent himself."
"According to his personnel files, Benson's parents are still alive on Earth. If we can get a hold of them, that'll solve our problems--and his as well," Ciara said.
"How do you mean?"
"From what I can tell looking over his file, he hasn't spoken to, nor seen his family in seventeen years. Not since he enlisted. He probably doesn't even know how to get in touch with them."
"We'll have to fix that," Ming said. "I'll arrange a message today. In the meantime--Wang to Delveccio," Ming said, tapping his commbadge.
[Delveccio here. What can I do for you, Ming?]
"If you're off-duty, I have a favor to ask of you."
[Of course,] Delveccio said, sensing that his other professional capacity was needed. [I'll be right down.]
Moments later the Jesuit priest-cum-Starfleet engineer was in the lab. "Bob, this is Private First Class Robert Benson," he said, indicating the hulking man sitting in the corner. "He's been through a lot, and I'm sure he could use someone to talk to."
"I see," Delveccio said, looking over the mutant Marine. "Come with me, Robert," he said, smiling.
"Friends call me Rob," Rob said.
"And my friends call me Bob," Delveccio replied. "I'd like to talk with you. Won't you come with me please?" The two men left the lab.
"Smooth move," Ciara said. "What made you think of Delveccio?"
"He's probably the most non-threatening man aboard this ship," Ming said. "Besides, I figured his training might give him an edge neither of us have. And, he wears Engineering red. Benson wears Marine green--not quite the same thing, but I figured Rob would be more comfortable talking to someone other than a 'blueshirt' right now."
Ming tapped his commbadge. "All science personnel report to the lab."
Moments later the lab was full. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new lab assistant," Ming said. "His name is Robert Benson. Officially he's a Marine private, but he's on indefinite loan to us for some research we're conducting."
"Benson is not what one would call highly intelligent," Ciara continued from Ming's lead. "When he's around he will need more or less constant supervision. He does obey orders and can handle most simple tasks. Be sure to watch him around pathogens, radiological hazards, and hazardous chemicals."
"Generally Benson is a nice
guy," Ming said. "But he does become frustrated easily. If this happens,
call me or Lieutenant Tierro immediately. If neither of us are here, then contact
Security. Chances are nothing will happen, but you should be prepared just in
case. Other than that, just treat him as though he were a new alien species
we've encountered, and I'm
sure things will go smoothly. Any questions? Very good--dismissed!"
Six hours later, Lieutenant Flynn was en route back to the Parnassus when he noticed the warp core of the shuttle developing instabilities. He sent off a distress call to the Ronin and to two Klingon ships in the area. Flynn's shuttle vaporized before the signal was received by any of them. Captain Evans dispatched a runabout to the scene of the accident; all indications were that Flynn's shuttle had suffered a catastrophic warp core breach.
An hour after the runabout from the
Ronin left, a small one-man craft appeared on the scene and activated its transporter.
A colony of Nanites was beamed out of the wreckage, ready for its next mission...