Stardate 52037.6

     The Captain was walking toward Sickbay.  He hoped to get this over with
as quickly as possible.  As he rounded the corner he saw the Doctor run out of 
sickbay and yell, "Wait! Come back!"
     Mason asked, "What's the matter, Doctor?"
     "I.. I looked up and Bruder just walked out the door!  She went that way!"
     Mason ran after her.  Maybe this was what he needed to get her off his
ship, one way or another.  But when he rounded the corner, no one was there.
     "Computer, locate Ensign Bruder!"
     "Ensign Bruder is not on the ship."
     "Was she beamed off to the planet?"
     "Unknown."
     "What was her last known location?"
     "Sickbay."
     Mason didn't like it when things didn't go his way.


     On the planet, Chaz, or.. the alien appearing to be him, smiled.  That 
Federation crap they called technology was so easy to screw up.  He could have
done more, but he didn't want to confuse them too overly much.  He looked at 
his creation.  Yes, she had come out perfect.  In front of him stood the former
Ensign Etely Bruder, of Earth.  Now the creature that stood in front of him was
that indeed, a creature.  The alien had used those nanoprobes and made the 
greatest soldier ever, and it was so easy!  True, she was Borg, but then again 
she wasn't.  She obeyed only him, and she didn't look Borg on the outside, and
she had different personalities he could turn on.  One just happened to be 
Etely Bruder, and she would serve his purposes perfectly.
     His whole plan had been going perfectly.  Stowing away on the Equinox had
kept him from being detected by the one race he knew would be out to stop him, 
and all those stupid Starfleet people thought he was that boy the whole time. 
But he had to hurry, for the plan had been taking longer than he expected, and
he hadn't much time left.
     What the alien didn't know was that he was already out of time, for he
messed up big in one area.  He had neglected the fact that the real Chaz Mason 
was half Vulcan, and Vulcans are very hardy creatures.


     Chaz opened his eyes to find himself in a dark room on the alien's ship, 
long before he was supposed to wake up.  The alien also hadn't anticipated that
Chaz would have even slight telepathic powers, for that was how the ship was 
ran.  So at the very first thought of Chaz, the dark room ended and he was in 
a highly sophisticated spacecraft.  It was small, and there were no controls.  
     Chaz wished he was home, outside of Vulcan, and in seconds the small ship 
was there.  
     His eyes opened wide, and he wished to be near Earth.  In a flash he 
was there.
     He wanted to know who had this technology.  So it took him there.  But the
thing he saw on the viewscreen was the Equinox.  His dad's ship!  He wanted to 
talk to him.


     Captain Mason walked back towards the Bridge after losing Bruder.  As he 
entered the Bridge, a small craft appeared on the viewscreen.
     "Who is that?", he commanded.
     "It's an unidentified vessel, sir," said the Ensign at the Conn, "It's not
in Starfleet records.  Wait.. they're hailing us, sir!"
     "On screen."
     There was Chaz, the real one.  Only problem was, no one knew there were 
two.  Mason was about to order that the Equinox lock onto the ship with a 
tractor beam and beam Chaz out, but Chaz anticipated it.
     "Lock on with a tractor beam."
     "Sir, the tractor beam is off-line!", said the Ensign.
     Man, Chaz thought, this ship must really enhance my mental powers!  He 
felt the hostility towards him, coming from the Equinox.  So, this ship's owner
must not be good.  I have to have a good weapon against him.  And there it was,
in his hand, and immediately he knew how to use it!  This was unbelievable.  
So, he wanted to meet this alien, and in a brilliant green light there he was, 
on the planet.
     And there was the alien, who looked just like Chaz himself, working on an
Ensign that showed no signs of life, even though she was standing up.  The 
impostor slowly looked over at Chaz with wide eyes, blinked a couple of times, 
and looked down at the familiar weapon Chaz was holding.  This couldn't be 
happening.