Hanging in the Balance

Posted on 08 Dec 2015 @ 9:54pm by Jynn & Lieutenant JG (SoghHom) Jynn

2,035 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: KCA Secret Base - Cell Block
Timeline: MD11 - 0400 Hours

ON:

“You're going to try and replace me with some shoddy lookalike,” Jynn questioned to the men who had barged into his cell. He thought he was free from the harm of any more interrogating, but now it seemed the deal had changed. That shifty Terran interrogator had duped the duper! “I mean, I've heard and seen that the Terran Empire's forces are not always the smartest, but come on! You didn't even get the tattoos right!”

“What in the blazes is he talking about, T,” the mirror image of the captive whispered to the man with the questions.

"I have no idea what he's blabbering about either...I don't think he knows that there's another player in this game." He grabbed the alien Jynn by the front of his tunic and dragged up up, bringing their faces close together. "We're not Terrans," he hissed, "and my tattoos are none of your business. They're private, not for anyone but my bedmate to see. And you....I have other plans for you..."

“Wait, so you're not replacing me with that”, Jynn said as he sort of drifted off. There was something about his doppelganger. Something definitively Deltan. He could sense it as he stared over at him. Was it really? Could it be that the body that for the most part looked like him was actually him? The him that was staring back at him with what felt like the same thoughts? He shook his head and jostled the thoughts away for a moment to try and answer the more important question at hand. “Then just what plans do you have for me? Only a few things can spring to mind when two Deltans are stuck in the same room together,” the primary (or at least that's what he thought he was) Jynn questioned as he drifted off once more.

Tyrion glanced sideways at the Deltan from his own universe. "He's useless," he growled, releasing him. "Go ahead, you have your moment with him...before we have to let him go. I do have some final business with him, when you're done." unconsciously, he cradled the bundle under his cloak.

“Moment,” questioned the more free of the two Deltans to his partner. “Let him go?” He turned to look at his mirror. “My plan for you is for you to stay with me,” he replied with a grin. “Don't tell me it hasn't been on your mind since the moment you saw me.” It was all of about one to two minutes ago now, but he was certain the two Jynns were on the same page. “I want him, Tyrion! Can we keep him,” he asked as a nine year old girl would a lost puppy.

"Keep him?" Tyrion laughed. "That's dangerous my sweet Jynn." He felt the emotions of both, and the two of them were very potent in them. "He must be returned, let them deal with him. I'll find you a suitable pet to play with. I have a lovely Trill servant you may like. Or a Vulcan...you may choose and keep him or her, I promise." He patted the free Deltan on the shoulder as if consoling a child, then turned to the captive Deltan. "As for you, there's something I want of you in exchange for your freedom...once my friend here has exchanged a few things with you...and he's very eager for you to stay, you see. But I can return you to your ship, except I want something in return."

“What is it I could possibly do for you,” the Jynn of a more peaceful universe questioned curiously. Through all the emotions in the room, especially from himself, he had found it quite hard to concentrate on any one feeling but there was something off about the other man. Something strange. Like he was hiding something, literally. “I have nothing to offer and I have been severed from all that I know. Is there anything I can do at all?”

"Your universe is safer than mine," Tyrion explained, while keeping an eye on both Deltans. "While I was a servant, my second master had something to hold over me. He presented me with a child, nine months after impregnating an Orion slave girl with my DNA. Had I known beforehand, I would've spared the girl this grief and agony. She did not survive this ordeal." He produced the small bundle from under his cloak and handed it to the more stable Jynn. "Take my child to your universe, and you are free to go. Unharmed. Her name is Dania, and you must get her to safety. Find her a safe and loving home."

“But,” he began as he looked at the infant, the Betazoid, and his other self. Not everything he told that interrogator had been a lie. He was afraid, terrified even. This new universe was certainly a lot less hospitable at the moment than he had hoped but even his own universe was very unwelcome. He was stuck with nowhere to go and there was a part of him that felt like the only comfort he could get would be from himself. The one standing in front of him.

But he was being selfish. This whole time he had been and now here was an opportunity to be otherwise. He could save a life where his own was probably worth nothing in either dimension at this point anyway. He thought about it and the options almost made his head explode.

His other had noticed. He gave Tyrion a nudge that was significantly less playful than it normally would have been and spoke in a low, grumbling tone to him and his other self. “His place is here with me where he can be safe. Jynn, I feel your pain. Stay here with me and I can make it all go away. You will be safe and you will be loved. I promise.” He then turned to address Tyrion directly. “Can't you just pawn it off on some other interloper? This is a breakout! I'm sure there are more prisoners who would gladly do your bidding.”

Tyrion's black eyes flashed dangerously. "No," he growled back, "it has to be him. I just know it has to be him!" He turned back to the 'intruder'. "Please...take her and get her to safety. I will make sure you get to your ship safely."

But it's not safe there, he thought in a tormented sorrow that could be felt by the two other empaths in the room. It wasn't directed at either of them. Just pure reflex. It was true, at least for himself, but for the child it probably was safer than this most hostile of places.

All he could do for a few moments was stare down at the child he now held. It wasn't his, nor did he ever even think of having children, but a sort of protective instinct took over. He didn't want to see this shining example of innocence harmed. Clearly innocence was not meant for this universe. A universe where even the genetic progenitor of the artificially conceived child wanted it nowhere in it. It didn't belong here, that was for certain.

“I can do as you ask,” he replied quietly.

“No!” The Jynn of this current dimension did not want to lose his opportunity. “How can you deny this once in a lifetime opportunity? Look, just be with me for five minutes and I can show you everything. Everything!”

But he didn't want to see everything. The primary Jynn had already seen too much. He couldn't take much more. Bonding with himself would only cause a further shift. A deviation that could very well tip him in a terrible direction. One where he did not have to pay for any of his wrong doings. Where he could break his sacred vow infinite times without consequence. It just didn't sound right. He already had so much to fix. He couldn't just leave it all behind.

“No,” he answered back. “I will return. The baby will be safe. But as for myself,” he trailed off as he stared passed the infant and towards the floor thinking about what would happen upon his return. His future seemed as sure as his footing on the deck below him but he didn't want to say it out loud. But the other two knew nonetheless. They could feel what he felt.

Tyrion seemed to ponder something. "What," he mused out loud, "if Jynn goes with you? He seems quite insistent on you two remaining together for some time. What if he goes with you for a little while? And makes sure that you remain safe, because I feel, no I sense, that you're not quite so sure about your own safety when you return to your ship."

“I serve the queen, Tyrion,” Jynn almost snapped back as if insulted. “My service to the Klingon Cardassian Alliance comes before myself, no matter how many of me there may be. If he thinks he's better off heading back to his own universe with your ill-begotten child then so be it, but he can do it alone.”

How odd that something good could come from such a twisted realm. The normally selfish Jynn of the prime universe was perhaps picking up some of this universe's Jynn's devotion to selfless service. That or it could have been him being handed the epitome of innocence unjaded by life, but at this point he wasn't thinking of himself.

“So what do I do? I don't think the captain would simply allow me to smuggle a child aboard. Do I bring the child to you? Well, the other you? Simply thrust this child into his life?”

Tyrion nodded. "Yes, give the child to him. Or leave it on the doorstep of their medical facility. Scans will confirm the child to be his, because he's me. If he has any honour at all, he'll claim the child. And if not, I hope she'll find a safe and loving home elsewhere."

Jynn stared for a few more moments into the infant's eyes. Eyes that showed a face slowly becoming agitated by all the tension in the room. What was he to do? If he left the baby he would just be ruining another life. For a time it was seeming that that was all he could do. He had already come close to ruining two lives, why destroy any more?

“She will be safe.”

“Great,” shouted the Queen's servant with obvious sarcasm. “So how are they going to get out, T-Dog? Do we just open the door and let them show themselves the way out? Or are you going to be their guiding light? Because I sure as hell am not leaving the Queen.” He then turned to face his other self with an obvious look of hesitation in his eyes and a feeling of remorse about the room. “Not even for you.”

"Then you return to the queen," Tyrion snapped, "it's best you don't know anyway. I'm using something covert." He smiled at Jynn and leaned over to kiss his daughter. "Thank you," he whispered, kissing Jynn on his cheek, gratitude flowing from him. "Let's go, we don't have much time...and we need to get out of this block."

Jynn nodded in reply and proceeded to follow Tyrion, setting in motion an acceptance of fate as he did so. He would get the child to safety, his good deed in an otherwise questionable record, and then he would stay in his world and answer for his crimes. At this point there was really no other choice.

Good luck, the Deltan in service to the queen thought in a way that wounded it had every motion behind it all at once, from a most vicious sarcasm all the way to a genuine care and sorrow for his mirror image having to leave so soon. You're gonna need it.

END

Lieutenant JG Jynn
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Tyrion
Crewmenber
ISS Saalm
[pnpc tyrion]

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