Nearly two hours after Devores orders to 'take some time off, the Bridge crew reassembled in the Briefing Room, at the behest of their newest addition, ASHER.

The crew looked haggard, tired, and worn - it was definitely the 'worst of times'. They walked in, one by one, getting into their established chairs and placing. ASHER, by contrast, stood next to the display screen at the front of the table, waiting with that stony face, red eyes surveying them all.

Finally, Devore looked around, cleared his throat and looked at ASHER. ASHER simply stood there, continuing to gaze at the assembled silently. Devore cleared his throat again, raising an eyebrow. "Well?" He spoke.

ASHER nodded. "I thank all of you for coming to this briefing - I have reviewed the logs of the past few days, and find your actions to be quite adequate."

Devore's eyes widened in disbelief, and he half rose out of his chair, "ADEQUATE? Listen here, mister..."

Barker held up one hand, trying to calm the captain. "Sir, please....from ASHER, that's quite a compliment. Believe me."

Devore reluctantly took his seat, his arms crossed over his chest in a classic 'I'm waiting' gesture. ASHER simply waited for the exchange to stop and continued on.

"While investigating the anomaly we just escaped from, I initiated a multi-phasic quantum scan." Chu creased his brow in confusion - he'd never heard of such a thing. ASHER seemed to pick up on that, nodding to the science officer slightly as he continued. "The technology is still somewhat...experimental. It is designed to take advanced sensor readings of the mirror universe in relatively short expanses of time. Starfleet needed the technology when it discovered that it could not reliably open long-term gateways into the mirror universe. When..."

"Hold on a minute" interjected Devore. "What's Starfleet got to do with any of this? Are you telling me the Fleet has been trying to spy on other realities?"

ASHER shook his head, a barely perceptible move of his head. "Not Starfleet as a whole. Before I go any further, I must inform all of you that you are now under a strict security restriction. Anything you hear in this briefing is considered classified."

The Captain and the rest of the crew nodded slowly, if a bit reluctantly. ASHER continued.

"After Kirk and his crew returned from the mirror universe, they made detailed reports to Starfleet Command. After reading about a universe filled with people that looked exactly like they did, and filled with an unerring desire to conquer, Starfleet became somewhat paranoid - understandably so. Worried that they might attempt a take-over of THIS universe, Starfleet created a top secret project to monitor the Mirror Universe - Project Sign."

"I worked on Project Sign for nearly 3 years, gathering and researching information on the Mirror Universe. In that time, I previewed a report made on Stardate 440101.5, by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, at the time in command of the Enterprise - D..

"The report detailed an encounter with the Mirror Universe, in which an alternate Enterprise transported Picard's ship into THEIR reality, with plans to take it over and return it to our universe, replaced with a mirror crew - the first of many take-overs in a covert invasion of this reality. However, Captain Picard was able to not only return to this reality relatively unscathed, but also devised a way to keep Starfleet's counterparts from emerging in THIS galaxy using the same technology."

"This lesson is all well and good, Ensign, but I fail to see why it is necessary." Spoke up Taline from his seat.

ASHER nodded at him. "A good question, Lieutenant." ASHER held up a small isolinear chip for the crew to see. "This is the feed out results from the quantum scan I initiated on the Interphase. It contains somewhat detailed information from another, mirror Leviathan on the other side of that anomaly. The scan was able to do a passive tap into their ODN network. The resulting recordings are....interesting."

Devore sat for a moment in silence, staring at ASHER with a sort of morbid interest. HE swallowed, nodded, and sat up straighter. "Well, then, Mister ASHER, lets see it."

ASHER nodded, slipping the iso into a slot, and stepping back as the screen came to life.

"The first thing you should notice is the time index - it records nearly 15 minutes of information, although the Interphase records its own time in the anomaly as 10.438723 seconds. I hypothesize the difference is due to the gravitational extremities located in the anomaly"

The screen showed an empty corridor, looking no different from on their Leviathan. Soon, the view changed to another hallway, with crewman in it, going about their business. Their uniforms were odd - one piece, more or less duplicating the look of the familiar two pieces, but the collars were cut uncomfortably high, and the uniforms colours were extremely sombre, the maroon gone a dark blood red, the gold gone a greenish brown.

A few crewmen wore sashes of silver or gold material around their waists, an odd and barbaric splash of brilliance against the darkness. But odder, and more ominous to the crew, was the fact that every one of the passing crewman was armed. Phasers mostly, large intimidating looking ones. But knives as well, and one crewman, a gray skinned humanoid Devore couldn't identify right off the bat went by, wearing an unsheathed, almost machete like blade at his side.

"Naturally" ASHER interjected " The scan could not read directly from the ships optical fibre communications with the amount of time and distance it had. But the comsystem RF backups are running concurrently, and even quite marginal leakage could be read without to much trouble. I theorise that would change should the ship have had had its shields raised."

"If they weren't up" Taline spoke, "Then they feel safe, or at least undetected."

ASHER nodded. "I would concur. I regret that since this scan was passive, it was unable to direct the what locations of the ship it viewed. With random factors operating in our favour, we should be able to return to a given established view later, should we encounter our doppelganger"

Barker shook his head. "Basically Captain, ASHER is saying we'll need luck on our side."

For a few seconds the screen was empty again, showing a nondescript corridor. Then it changed again, to a different hallway, this one ending in a turbolift access.

"I am uncertain whether the scan we are seeing was being directed by someone onboard the ship or was an automatic function." ASHER said. "One thing is certain - this Leviathan has far many more visual sensors than our own does. There are the usual video pickups associated with personal view screens and data readout systems, as well as the basic security areas like Engineering, and the computer cores.....but also many more, spread throughout the ship, even in crew quarters. Moreover, those appear not to be under the control of the occupants. The implications are...distressing."

"No kidding" Devore said softly as the view changed - Engineering this time. Crewman moved about their work with what seemed to him more intensity than necessary. No one he had so far seen on this ship seemed able to move about with any kind of ease. But why would they, he thought - When anyone might be looking at you, anytime, to see if you're doing your job...and your not.....He shook his head, clearing it of such thoughts.

"IN reviewing the Leviathan's crew manifest, I have so far located 44 crewman who's presence is duplicated aboard our own ship, and only 5 who are unknown. This would be closely approximate..."

The view changed and ASHER broke off midsentence, and began to gaze with everyone else. It was the Bridge. AT least the shape was the same, the general structure. But there were differences. It was darker. There night? Thought Devore, then shook his head, doubting it. Panelling and furnishings were in the same sort of gunmetal gray as their own vessel, with lines of pale grew used as highlighting more than anything else. The computer alcoves around the upper tier were different too. The Engineering station was about as it should have been, but Mission Ops and Science were much reduced, and combined with the Engineering.

Every other station in the upper tier from starboard lifts to the main viewer, was now part of a long sweep of weapons control consoles, with crewman standing at them, unerringly vigilant. Taline stared at those consoles, with tree upon tree of power readouts; he thought of the kind of phaser and photon power this ship could bring to bear, and felt like shuddering. It was not just the emphasis on weaponry; it was combined with the general look of the bridge, for though dark, it was much more luxurious than the Leviathans.

The centre seat was more of a throne than anything else, comfortable looking and plush. Whoever sat there was to clearly meant to enjoy it. Just as plainly stated was the fact that you were also to enjoy the deadly power at your fingers. The broad back of one crewman had been turned to him until now, while he studied a science readout. Now he turned towered the viewscreen, back to the security console, also much larger there. Devore raised an eyebrow - it was ASHER, but without the characteristic stony face. This ASHER seemed even colder, with a sort of sneer across his face.... Arrogance, Barker thought.

He glanced over at ASHER, who was looking at his counterpart with an expression of which Barker could tell nothing.

"ASHER" Devore said softly. "Can we get audio?"

ASHER shook his head. "Unfortunately, audio appears to have been on a different channel than what the scan picked up."

Barker opened his mouth to say something, then shut it again as the door to the captains ready room opened. The shock that went through him, even though he had been expecting to see this image, was horribly unsettling. I don't walk like that! Was his first thought. Well, possibly, he himself didn't - though now he had his doubts - but this Barker plainly did. The man who had come out of the ready room now stood for a moment looking at the main viewer, then turned to one of the crewman at the weapons console and snapped some question or order.

The crewman turned and answered quickly. Barker looked at his duplicates face and now DID shudder; he couldn't help it. Their faces were identical - this was the same face he saw when he shaved in the morning. But regardless, he hoped he never saw this face on himself. There was a curl to the lip, another of those worn in frowns, that made this Barker look like a thug. Barker looked at his counterparts face and tried to imagine what could make a mans face - HIS face - into something like this...then shied away from the prospect. Instead he turned his attention to the mans uniform. It was different again, but in a new way. It was sleeveless, the black vee yoke that normally ran over the shoulders cut to leave his muscular arms bare, and the short tunic was belted at the waist with another one of those gold weave sashes, supporting a big nasty-looking phaser on one side, and a ceremonial looking dagger on the other. The knife seemed to be a recurring motif, in uniforms and - Devore noticed with shock - even on the doors to the turbolift, where the Starfleet delta was etched into the panelling - a dagger neatly impaling it.

The other Barker sat down in the centre seat and looked at the front viewscreen thoughtfully, said something to the single form manning the helm console - Brayden McCaffee. Barker couldn't clearly see Brayden's face from this angle, but the ensign turned slightly and made some answer. Apparently satisfied, Riker sat back in the throne like chair, pulling at his lower lip.

Devore shifted in his seat. "Anyway to tell where this particular scan was being run from?"

ASHER once again shook his head. "If the scan were reading this signal from the optical com network; it would have had headers about signal origin and so forth. However, the RF network is used for emergencies only, and therefore is devoid of headers."

ASHER stopped again as the turbolift doors on the screen opened, and someone came in. Barkers jaw dropped, and his eyebrows raised in interest.

"Hmm..." intoned Dakul.

An unknown woman stood there, a little behind ASHER, coolly looking over the bridge. Its not just the faces that change, Devore found himself thinking, as much in horror as in wonder. THIS woman - she stood erect and dangerous looking, not trying in the slightest to minimise the effect. She carried herself like a banner, like a weapon, an unsheathed knife.

"Not the usual uniform,' ASHER noted, managing to sound casual.

"You're right about that," Devore said. The only thing this woman's uniform had in common with Starfleet standard was the colour of tactical. The harness - there was to little of it to be called a top or even a bodice - seemed to be made of ornamental woven gold, like the sashes. More woven metal, greenish brown this time, bordered it, and the bordering met and gathered up at the left shoulder to support the delta and dagger insignia. From the father, over the shoulder, fell several folds of the green brown material, the gold interwoven into it, down to about waist height. The right shoulder was bare, as was the woman's midriff. Then, quite low on the hips, the skirt began - the same green brown metallic fabric again, flowing gracefully down just above the tops of the woman's knee high boots. A phaser hung holstered on the skirt, and a neat sleeve on the right boot held a dagger..., which ASHER was beginning to think, was standard for officers.

Barker was staring at all of this with near blatant astonishment....Devore could hardly blame him. As they watched, the woman stepped down to the command level, then turned to Barker with a look that a barbarian queen might give a hopped up commoner that dared sit in her chair.

"ASHER...?" Devore almost whispered.

ASHER nodded slightly. "She has a counterpart in our universe. I accessed Starfleet's roster, and found a visual match moments ago. In our universe, she is named Julia Oakenshield..." ASHER paused "A Betazoid. However, she is only an ensign in our reality, while..." ASHER drifted off, gesturing to the very bright three pips on the plunging neckline of the harness.

The other Barker simply leaned back for a moment, smiled lazily and looked at her slightly. The thought that seemed to be behind that look actually made Chu go hot with embarrassment - he was irrationally glad that this woman wasn't on his Leviathan. After another moment, his duplicate tilted his head to the side, said something, and watched for Oakenshield's reaction.

She made none - her lovely face seemed frozen. But Barkers face changed abruptly, He got up in a way that suggested he was trying not to look hurried, but was. Oakenshield watched him get up, and let him stand for a moment, just watching. Their eyes locked again, and again, the other Barker was the first to look away.

Then Oakenshield stepped forward and sat in the centre chair, like a queen enthroning herself, and looked at the viewscreen a long moment, then at Barker. She smiled - an expression of pleased threat and absolute masterly, an expression like poison over ice.

Barker's heart seized inside of him. The screen dissolved into static.

Devore cursed softly under his breath "Is there any more?"

ASHER shook his head. "No sir. I emerged from the anomaly here, and lost the feed."

Devore nodded. "Chu, you and ASHER start working on a way to get a probe through to the other side of that anomaly out there. When we go back...and we are going back...I don't want to go into this blind folded and handcuffed."

Barker nodded, and ASHER simply stood there, eyebrow raised. "Yes Captain" The intoned at the same time.

The rest of the command crew filtered out, leaving Devore by himself, contemplating the dead viewscreen. He sighed. He hadn't seen himself in that recording - it seemed Barker was his first officer there, if in fact he WAS captain in that reality. But he dreaded...no, feared, really FEARED what he would like when he did see himself.

"This..." he whispered softly, " is not a good thing."