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Chapter 19 - A Message and a Declaration

"One more thing."

"Oh?"

"I love you, Lakeisha."

=/\=

The athletes received Mack's message on their PADDs, as they toured or dined or worked out or just rested, wherever they were. Slowly, they began to return to the Kreetassan System, and the Cookie, or they would just go straight to Andoria.

One, a Section 31 operative, broke away from another and contacted Harriet Caul directly.

While on leave, I tested any number of Federation citizens. I have not found anyone else with an anomalous radiation band who you have not accounted for.

My research has otherwise been fruitful. I may have located the supplier of the parts that Szish used, in order to build an ionization diffuser. That person is a Borothan.

Caul sent a return message.

Your priority now is to determine what other technology is on Dana MacKenzie's ship. Take images, scans, and notes. I want to know as much as possible. There will be a meeting in about six months, on Lafa II. We will meet there and exchange information.

=/\=

On the Enterprise-E, Marty, Geordi and B-4 went over the Kreetassan data. This time, they were joined by Michael Daniels, who commented, "Strange that we're related, eh?"

"Definitely," Geordi said, "I mean it's not as if we look too much alike."

"It's all branches of a pretty tangled tree," said Marty, "I'd love to see a diagram."

"Perhaps one can be constructed for your meeting in six months' time," suggested B-4.

"That would be good," Mike agreed. He turned his attention to the radiation band cycling data. "So, what am I looking at here?"

"We're seeing the numbers fluctuate," Geordi explained, "and here," he brought up two readings on his PADD's screen, "When we compare the Denab System and the Kreetassan System readings, the findings very nearly match."

"Same source?" asked Mike.

"That's our guess, too," Marty confirmed.

"Got it," Mike said. "The big guns, they think our family will have some sort of a, a connection with them?"

"I'm sure they don't really know," Geordi stated, "but they're hopeful."

"I can't shake the feeling that they're just clutching at straws. Do they really think this Mirror Universe is going to come crashing through?" Mike asked.

"Well, they've been here before," Marty clarified, "the Mirror, that is. But it required some special conditions. They'd need a wormhole, or a simultaneous ion storm in both universes, or they'd need to be Calafan, at a location in their system called Point Abic."

"Or have a spore hub drive," Geordi added.

"That, too."

"However," B-4 stated, "assuming a working ionization diffuser could reliably cycle to the correct radiation band, and could hold that position with any degree of stability, then the denizens of the Mirror could readily come here."

"It could be at any time they wanted, and from anywhere," Marty declared, "It would be like building a portable wormhole."

"If their motives weren't the best," Mike said, "well, that's gotta be no good."

"It would be perfect for an invasion," Geordi said. "They could conduct a sneak attack, from anywhere. Dana's ionization diffuser – if we could upgrade it and calibrate it just right, we might just be able to deflect this. We could turn the tables on them."