Ascent of Lies

Chapter 6

A COLD BAND OF metal pierced into Fujita's wrists. Small droplets of blood ran down the bruised skin, where the sharp chains had cut her. The Admiral slowly became aware of the aching all over her body as she was waking up. She was lying on a cold stone floor that was filled with dirt and dust, even a patch of blood was visible here and there.

When Fujita opened her eyes, she saw nothing at first. She felt the darkness closing in on her, freezing her brain. However, she did not give herself time to be overtook by this ancient reflex and snapped herself out of it.

Carefully, Fujita pushed herself into a sitting position. She felt a sharp pang in her stomach where the Emperor had stabbed her, but she shook her head and pushed the pain to the back of her mind where it would not disturb her, a trick she had learned after years of hurt and abuse as child and young woman. The wound was closing up, no need to worry herself about it.

Then she looked around. Her eyes were growing accustomed to the poor level of illumination in the dungeon in which Fujita was locked up, and she could gradually make out more of her surroundings.

The room that held Fujita captive was about five by five meters in size, and the walls were made of massive stone. One wall was made up entirely of old-fashioned iron bars. It might not seem like a very impressively build cell to Fujita, but it definitely would succeed in doing its job.

Suddenly, the Admiral's eyes caught sight of a movement on her left. She turned around, and to her astonishment, she saw a man slumped against the side of the wall opposite to her. He seemed to be studying her, his eyes fixated on her. She could not make out much of his physique, but one thing stood out: he was wearing a mustard-and-grey Starfleet uniform.

The figure must have noticed that Fujita had spotted him, because he stood up and cautiously walked toward the Admiral. While he was walking, Fujita noticed a limp, but that did not take down much of the slender yet dominant air that was visible in his demeanour.

"I didn't mean to startle you", the man said once he entered a comfortable speaking distance. His voice was much smoother and more boyish than Fujita had expected, and she raised an eyebrow.

"That's quite alright", Fujita said. "What's your name?"

The man said down next to Fujita. "Ensign Aelius Valentino, sir. Excuse me for being so straight-forward, but aren't you Admiral Diru?"

Fujita nodded her head in response. "That's me. And please, no ranks. Just call my Fujita. I mean, it's not like I could court-martial you for it." She looked at the characteristic black Betazoid eyes and uttered a comforting smile.

"Of course, si– Fujita. Can... can I ask you; how did you get here? I– My ship– Isn't this the Mirror Universe?" The last two words Valentino spoke with an air of disbelieve, with a sense of respect even.

"That's right", Fujita uttered. 'This is the Mirror Universe, and I came here looking for you. Or, well, that is assuming you come from the Green?"

"That's right, sir."

"Fujita", Fujita said.

"Fujita, sorry."

---

There was nothing more boring than being locked up in a cell. Not that the half Human half Betazoid man Valentino was bad company, he was not the best, but Fujita had put up with worse. However, cells where not the most fun place to be in, especially not with space-mice crawling the floor and a crisis going on.

It had been almost seven hours since Fujita had woken up here, plenty of time to get to know her fellow prisoner. He was an engineer of the Green, fresh out of the Academy. The Green had been doing research on an anomaly in the Damara-system, when the ship had been boarded by aliens and the crew had found themselves scattered over the planet where Fujita currently found herself at. Valentino had been stranded in the city near the Presidential Residence together with another number of Ensigns who had been working in Engineering, and the ship's Chief Engineer Lieutenant-Commander Nora Owen.

Not knowing where they had been and on what treacherous ground they were finding themselves, the group had moved to the Presidential Residence as soon as they had found out of its existence, hoping to find answers. They had not. Instead, the bunch had been thrown into the dungeons, being slaughtered one after the other when the Emperor found they were not cooperative enough. Commander Kalliopeia had been sent to fetch her captain Fernando Ramirez. The Ensign had been left behind as assurance that she would finish her job.

The only thing that Valentino and his fellow officers had found out in this place, was that they were been stranded in the Mirror Universe, the alternative dimension in which the world as Fujita and the other inhabitants of the Prime Universe had been mirrored. The Terran Empire had been the main power for centuries, led by a Human tyrant who aggressively oppressed anyone who opposed their rule.

Fujita was familiar with the Mirror Universe, a bit too familiar to her liking. Years ago, when she had still been married to James Kirk, she had found herself stranded on the mirrored counterpart of her husband's ship the Enterprise, where she had met her own counterpart. It had been an encounter she had not forgotten even over a century later.

Fujita heard shuffling behind her and turned around, getting out of her slumber of thoughts. "Had a good sleep?" she said to her cellmate.

Valentino did not answer.

"Alright. No time for a good chat and morning exercise, we have to get out of here", Fujita said.

"It's no use."

Fujita pulled up an eyebrow. "Not giving up, are you?"

Valentino looked up as the Admiral. "Fujita, I've tried. Unless a miracle comes along, there is no getting out of her. I'm an engineer, fixing and breaking things is my job."

Fujita walked toward the iron bars holing the two inside. "Well, I can't promise I'm the miracle you're asking for–" She turned around. "But we won't find out unless we try, will we?" With that, she started analysing the lock of the cell door.

Valentino sighed and walked up to Fujita. "I don't suppose you have a hairpin on you?"

"Why what would I carry around that for?"

With her fingers, Fujita followed the iron bars and the lock that held the door in place, looking for weaknesses in the metal. She could find any. Then she took off her combadge.

"What are you doing?" Valentino asked.

Fujita held up a pin that she had taken out of her combadge. "No hairpin, but I'm an engineer too you know. I've always said these uniforms need pockets, but this'll do, too."

Suddenly, the two heard an unfamiliar voice. "That won't do, ma'am, you better put it down."

Fujita quickly put away the miniature optronic coupler. "Who the hell are you?"

"My, my, that's not how we address a guard now is it, Admiral Diru?"

Fujita was taken aback. She had not expected her identity to be known to the guards, who knows what else the Emperor might have released about her.

The guard came closer to the cell holding Fujita and Valentino. The Admiral could make out some of his dark complexion, and– Fujita was startled when she noticed the pointed Vulcan ears of the man. He did not sound like a Vulcan at all. It could be his mirrored side that hid his logic, yet Fujita knew this had not been the case with any of the other Mirror Universe Vulcans that she had met.

The Vulcan man was no standing directly in front of Fujita. He put a hand on one of the bars and said: "Oh, how glad I am that the Emperor put you scum in jail, nothing is worse than having a Starfleet officer on the loose." While he said tis, he threw something into the cell. Then he quickly walked away. "I hope we won't be seeing much more of each other, ma'am."

Then he was gone.

Fujita turned around toward what the man had thrown on the ground. It had landed in the middle of the small prison, a glimmer shining on the muddy floor. She picked it up. "A miracle after all."