Information Overload

Logan left the Bridge of the Hellcat to get something to eat. He headed back to the small mess hall, which doubled as a briefing room. As he walked through the door, he noticed Rahel sat alone.

"Hello Rahel." He announced. "Would you like anything from the replicator ?"

She looked up at him and managed a smile. "Hot herbal tea. Sweet." She replied.

Logan pressed a few buttons on the control panel and a mug herbal tea appeared on the pad. He moved the mug aside and ordered a black coffee for himself. Carrying the two hot drinks, he sat down opposite Rahel and took a sip of his coffee.

"I've been meaning to talk to you, but I never got the chance before we left." Logan stated. "I've been looking into your adoption back on Kritarus."

Her brow arched in surprise, as she was in mid-sip. Slowly she swallowed the hot, sweet liquid and then set the mug back down. Her heart began beating a little fast as empathetically she was picking up vibes from him. "You found something ?" She asked cautiously.

"I've found the adoption records, but there's nothing that we don't already know." Logan replied. "It just gives the date, your adoptive parents names and addresses and the facility that you were placed with. Unfortunately, the facility where you were placed was destroyed in a fire six months after you were adopted, along with all its records."

"Did you happen to check for any other adoption on that day ?" She asked, not sure how she felt, but knowing that these people had been responsible for that facility's destruction. What she didn't understand was what was so important about herself and her sister. "I mean, there must be some records that must exist somewhere . . . The records couldn't have just been in that facility." She added, taking a sip of tea.

"There could be records elsewhere, but I've had trouble finding the people who owned and ran the facility. So I started to delve a little deeper." Logan continued. "I started by looking at all the adoption records from just before the lab fire until the facility was destroyed. I found several young children, all non-Kritarus who were adopted through the same facility. As far as I can tell, you were the only child adopted within a month of the lab fire. After you, there were just two, an eighteen month old boy, who had been in the facility for over a year and a six month old girl. So far I've not been able to trace any of the adoptive families or the children."

An image of her sister's face came to mind. "The six month old . . . It's her." Rahel replied with certainty. "Our ages were always guessed at. They could have said we were months apart if they had wanted to . . . But it's her. I know it is. I can feel it !" But then she thought about his other words. *The other children.*

"What were they doing ? Adopting children out ?" She asked, puzzlement in her green eyes. "It doesn't make sense. Why ? Why would they do that ? And why leave my sister and me in a fire ?" She shook her head. "I don't understand any of this . . ."

"Neither did I until I made some contacts with people I know as Starfleet Intel." Logan stated. "But so far all they've come up with it some details on who owned the house and the lab and it wasn't the mysterious Doctor Drakara."

"So just who was it then ?" She asked, knowing all of this was leading her down a path she wouldn't return from.

"Your Doctor never officially existed, there are no records of his birth, his death or any education or medical training. The house and labs were owned by a couple that I have managed to trace back to Earth. They inherited it about fifty years ago, but never visited it." Logan announced. "They weren't even aware that it had been destroyed. So I went back into the history of the property and that's when things got puzzling."

"Puzzling how ?" She asked. She knew there was more that he hadn't told her yet and because he was working toward what he knew slowly, she began wondering just what it was he knew and how *bad* it was. Just what were the secrets surrounding her life, she wondered. Who was she ? Who was her sister ?

"The house and the lab were formally owned by a company called Gene-Tec. They specialised in bio-engineering, mainly replacement organ transplants and some animal cloning. The company was older than the Federation and was shutdown in 2310 after it was discovered that the company was working on human cloning. All the company assets were ceased and sold off, but there are no records of the property being sold or rented. But the couple I found on Earth did have the proper deeds which stated that the property had been sold in 2310, one month before the company was shutdown, but not to whom." Logan answered. "It was another dead-end, or so I thought."

"Or so you thought ?" Rahel echoed, as her mind was a buzz with everything he'd just said. Bioengineering, human cloning . . . The lab . . . the fire . . .

"I started to look into what happened to the people from Gene-Tec after it was closed down." Logan continued. "Many of the top brass and the leading scientists, were charged with crimes against humanity and most are rotting in Federation maximum security prisons. Other companies or alien races picked up many of the minor scientists. I received some additional information about an hour ago, which I've not looked at yet. That's why I was taking a break."

"I'd like to look at that information with you." Rahel replied as she took another sip of her tea, refusing to let her mind go down one particular path of thought. But she had to know the truth. She had to know who or what she was, but she stopped herself before she could continue that thought. She had to know who she was, she thought and just left it at that. "Logan, thank you for doing all this research." Se said, managing a soft smile for him.

"It's important to you and I'm your friend, I want to help." Logan stated. "So I asked for all the information, both text and images on Gene-Tec. That's what's hopefully on this."

Logan produced an iso-linear chip from his hand and moved over to the computer console. Rahel followed and watched as the data flashed past on the screen, as it was downloaded into the console. There were around a thousand pages of text and about the same number of pictures. Suddenly Rahel asked Logan to stop the download.

"Go back a couple of pages." She asked.

Logan did and an image of a small group of people appeared on the screen. The image was of the house and lab on Kritarus, Rahel was sure of it. The people were very small and when Logan tried to zoom in, their faces blurred. They could only make out eight people, five males and three females.

Logan attempted to clear up the faces, starting with the male in the centre of the picture. If the image was a 'family photo' then the guy in the middle would most likely be the leader.

As the image cleared up, Rahel's face dropped. "That's him." She exclaimed. "That's Drakara…."

Only the name that appeared with it wasn't Drakara. It was Mikori. Doctor Bakar Mikori. Rahel couldn't seem to remember where she had heard that name recently, but all she could remember was it wasn't brought up in a good context. Her stomach churned. "I've heard of him recently. But I can't remember where or when . . . I just seem to remember it wasn't in a good context." She replied. As she gazed at the picture again an involuntary shudder ran through her body.

Logan cleared up the next image, the female to Mikori's right. Now it was Logan's turn to look shocked. He looked at Rahel and then back at the screen, the resemblance was uncanny. Rahel said nothing, she just looked at the image of her own face on the screen.

She tried to find a name for the woman on the screen, but there wasn't one. Things were beginning to become frighteningly clear, but she didn't want to believe it just yet. There was at least one possibility still left and she waited for whatever Logan could reveal next. She grip his shoulder gently and tried smiling as if nothing were wrong.

Logan reached across with his own hand and placed it on top of Rahel's. He continued to enhance the image, until he had all eight faces clearly shown. None of the other faces produced a reaction from Rahel.

"The image says that it was taken in 2354, but there are no names of who the other people are, but look." Logan announced.

Two of the three females appeared to be heavily pregnant, including the doppelganger of Rahel. The third was holding a small baby, maybe three to six months old.

For a moment she was silent knowing what this all could mean. "Is there any helpful text that was sent ?" She asked, barely finding her voice.

"Maybe we can cross-reference the images with the other data we've got and make a match." Logan suggested.

Logan started to run a cross-reference of all the data he had. All but two of the images produced a match and Rahel gripped harder on Logan's shoulder as she saw that one of the matches was the image of the woman stood next to Bakar. Logan grimaced with pain and attempted to release her grip. Rahel reacted and pulled her hand away. Logan reached out and took her hand in his and Rahel gripped it strongly. Logan opened up the link and Rahel reeled once more, squeezing Logan's hand briefly as the identity of the unknown woman was revealed.

"Doctor Alice Mikori." Logan stated. "Born on Earth in 2324, she married Mikori in 2350. It says her maiden name was Scott, that's the same as the couple who inherited the house."

"I can't be their child . . ." She said. "If I was, they wouldn't have left me in the fire . . . Unless I'm something . . . I'm . . . not suppose to be . . ." She said almost before she could really stop and think about the words.

Logan put his arm around Rahel to comfort her, just like he'd done numerous times with his sister. However, this felt different and Rahel responded to his embrace by resting her head on his shoulders.

"No mother would leave their child in a fire, whoever or whatever they were." Logan stated softly. "And if she is your mother, I am sure that she would have been proud of her daughter and all that she has achieved."

"Can you cross-reference death certificates ?" Rahel asked. Thought she wanted to believe this woman was her mother, she was beginning to believe something else entirely. She also had a feeling that some of those woman might have become *casualties* of this company, her *mother* among them.

"There's no death certificate on file." Logan stated. "But that doesn't mean anything. We're only looking at the data specific to Gene-Tec, I'll see if we can access the Federation database, but it could take some time."

Logan pressed a few buttons on the console keypad and the request was sent.

"I've cross-check all the names we have, let's see if we can get an information on the other two females." Logan suggested.

Logan brought up the information about the second pregnant female.

"Telara Mikori. Born 2335 on Laconia II, married to Reggial Mikori." Logan read. "Looks like a family affair. The man next to her is Reggial, Bakar's younger brother."

Her mind was trying to wrap around this, but it wasn't working.

"This is not the picture of a happy family getting together for a reunion or something . . . I don't know . . . There is something more going on here. Maybe all this has to do with Gene-Tec. Maybe they all worked at a specific project together . . ." She continued. "Maybe that's what this photo is about . ."

She studied the other faces. She was trying not to think of what this would lead to, but the thought was coming closer. It was taking all her will and mental strength not to bolt to the lab.

"There's no information on the third woman, nor the man beside her." Logan stated. "The other two are scientists, both animal geneticists. They were both cleared of any involvement with the human cloning experiments. If they all worked together, there's nothing in these files that link them."

"Animal geneticists ?" She echoed, as the last of her control began to dissolve. "Logan . . . Oh my god . . . Oh no . . . It can't be !" Almost in a panic, she took off to the lab.

Logan closed the console down and removed the iso-linear chip, before chasing after her. He found her, half crouched over one of the bio-beds crying. He knew as well as Rahel what all the information pointed to.

He pulled her up and turned her around so she was sitting on the bed and once more drew Rahel towards him. At first he just held her, but then he turned his head to the right and kissed her. Realising what he was doing, he pulled away and immediately started to apologise.

"No . . . Don't apologise." She said, as the tears shimmered in her green eyes. Tenderly, she caressed his face. Then, she brushed her lips against his. She wanted his kiss as much as he has wanted to give it and she wanted him to know that. Rahel smiled at him and pulled him back towards her.

Their concentration on each other was broken as the voice of Lieutenant Commander Barker announced that they were about to leave the slipstream and arrive in the Mirisam system.

"I'll get back to the Bridge and see you there." Logan suggested. "And don't worry about what or where you came from, because you are still the most attractive Doctor I love. We'll get to the bottom of this and find out if Alice is your mother and find your 'sister'."

"All right." She replied as she tenderly kissed him again. "I'll meet you there and . . ." For a moment she was silent. "You do own my heart, Logan."

With that she kissed him yet again. "I look forward to continuing this !" She said with a wink.

Logan rose from the bed and briefly kissed Rahel once more. He then headed back to the Bridge of the Hellcat the image of Rahel dancing around in his head. Rahel cleaned her face up and followed a few minutes later.