SEASON FOUR

EPISODE 8: MIRROR, MIRROR

By: X-C

SPACE: THE FINAL FRONTIER. THESE ARE THE VOYAGES OF THE WWF TITANPRIZE. IT'S MISSION: TO EXPLORE AND ENTERTAIN NEW SOCIETIES AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS.  TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO WRESTLER HAS GONE BEFORE!

TITANPRIZE CREW:
Captain Vincent K. McMahon
First Officer, Commander Shane McMahon
Chief Engineer, Commander Stephanie McMahon
Chief of Chiefs, Commander Linda McMahon
Chief of Security, Commander Kane
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Taker
Communications Officer, Lieutenant Rock
Counselor Al Snow (assisted by H.E.A.D.)
Diagnostics Officer, Lieutenant Commander Jericho
Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Commander Austin
Transporter Chief, Lieutenant Commander Debra McMichael
... And many more!

WWF TITANPRIZE-CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM

    "Captain's Log, Stardate 061275.00. This message is to be encrypted, Priority Command McMahon, Vincent Kennedy, Security Level Alpha 7. En route from Starbase 50549 following an investigation of the recent sabotage attempts on the TitanPrize, Commander Kane and the ShuttleCraft Tombstone have disappeared from Federation space. Long-range scans by Lt Commander Jericho have picked up a slight quantum flux at the last known coordinates of the Tombstone."

    Captain McMahon looked into the vastness of space that stretched beyond his oval window, wondering where among the stars and cosmic debris his Chief of Security might be held. It had to be a criminal attack; people simply didn't blink out of existence....

    "I have appointed Lieutenant Bradshaw to Kane's post. I have also been instructed to assemble an away team consisting of my daughter, Commander McMahon-Helmsley, Lt Commander Jericho, and the newly promoted Lieutenant Hardy. They will take a shuttlecraft to the last known location of the Tombstone and conduct an in-depth search and scan of the surrounding space."

    Captain McMahon's face darkened like a storm cloud.

    "Wrestlefleet has told me of their suspicions, suspicions I am not at liberty to repeat on this frequency. If they have any merit whatsoever, God help my daughter, god help us all..."

    He closed his log book and prepared a brief for the top secret Wrestlefleet Mission he was about to sacrifice three of his finest young officers to, a brief he would deliver in a few short hours. Two words rang ominously through the captain's mind.

    Suicide mission.
 

SHUTTLECRAFT- DADDY'S LITTLE GIRL

    "It's rather ironic, when you think about it." Lt Commander Jericho kept a perfectly straight face as his fingers flew over the navigational controls of Stephanie's prized and prissy pink shuttlecraft.

    "What's rather ironic?" Stephanie looked bored as she blew on freshly painted fingernails.

    "Well...last week you were almost killed." the Y2J Unit reminded her. "By a giant crab."

    Lieutenant Hardy started choking violently, his efforts to suppress laughter at his commanding officer's expense wholly unsuccessful.

    Stephanie whipped her head around, her eyes like phaser fire. "Do you have something to add Ensign Hardly?"

    "Er, no ma'am."

    "He's a lieutenant by the way." Jericho said. "You recommended his promotion after he saved that sizeable backside of yours from an angry Aerialian....did I mention that was a crab?"

    "You are hereby ordered to stow it, Lt Commander Jericho." Stephanie sulked. Idiots. She was forever being surrounded by idiots. Not even attractive idiots. "And you Lt. Hardly-if you even breathe loudly, I will demote you so fast your rainbow head will positively spin."

    Jericho turned and winked at the young lieutenant. "PMS you know."

    Lt Hardy had to admit, he marvelled at the blatant disrespect Jericho showed for Commander McMahon-Helmsley. What was even more startling was that the Y2J Unit never spent any time in the brig, nor had he been stripped of rank, despite Stephanie's constant threats to do both.

    "I wish I knew what this whole mission was about." Stephanie said with a sigh. "I wasn't even allowed to tell Hunter about it, and all we're doing is rescuing that big red retard Kane."

    "You don't tell Hunter about the young ensigns you break in either." Lt Commander Jericho said dryly. "What's the big deal?"

    "I think Commander McMahon-Helmsley is right." Lt Hardy piped in. "If this is a simple retrieval operation, why can't I even give my own brother a single detail? I think I hurt his feelings."

    "My word, you are a twit Hardly." Stephanie shook her head. "Rule number one-if you wanna rise to the top of Wrestlefleet, you can't concern yourself with insignificant details like people's...feelings."

    "And Stephanie Rule Number Two." Jericho added. "You can always get more work done on your back."

    Stephanie suddenly felt overheated, her blood boiling in her veins. "YOU WILL NOT INSULT ME IN FRONT OF AN INFERIOR OFFICER, YOU LOUD-MOUTHED, FOUL, SMIRKING-"

    "Commander McMahon-Helmlsey!" Jeff's voice shrilled in her ear. "There is a severe quantum flux off our starboard bow! It's increasing in intensity by a factor of ten every second!"

    "Ensign Hardy, I suggest you shut that damn trap of yours!" Stephanie snapped, unable to reign in her fiery temper.

    "He's right." Lt Commander Jericho's eyes were riveted by the screens in front of him. "The amount of quantum flux being read by our scanners indicates an incredible temporal distortion."

    "A wormhole?" But even as she was reading the bizarre data being spit out at her, Stephanie knew a mere wormhole could not tear space-time apart like this.

    "No." Lt Hardy shook his head. "The gravitational pull is too powerful. I cannot reverse the direction of the shuttlecraft-we're going in."

    "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Stephanie murmured in awe, as the fabric of space-time began to unravel before all their very eyes. Pale blue streams of liquid light flowed outwards from a glittering violet cloud that seemed vibrant with an infinite amount of stars and translucent all at once. The sky itself began to bend and roll in massive waves towards the shuttlecraft, crests of yellow radiation splashing in the blackness.

    "Clearly, the viewscreen is not a mirror." Jericho commented as he diverted all non-essential power to the shields. The reverse thrusters simply didn't contain enough power to battle the immense gravity that was sucking them towards the distortion's event horizon.

    "Will we be destroyed?" she asked, ignoring his comment... for now.

    "Possibly the shuttlecraft will be crushed by the intense pressure of gravity." Jericho replied matter of factly. "Possibly we will be thrown into a temporal loop that we'll be stuck in for eternity."

    "Do you have any good possibilities?" Stephanie demanded. "Because the last thing I want is to spend forever with you two losers."

    Dizziness washed over the three, preventing Jericho's sarcasm from seeing the light of day. The shuttlecraft was pulled into a tight death spiral as the gravity of the distortion claimed it, Lt Hardy's head banging against the metal wall and knocking him cold as the ship lurched violently. Stephanie felt a sharp dagger of pain slice through her ribcage as the internal gravity failed and she was impaled on a shard of steel that was torn loose from the control panel, her lifeblood oozing out as the blackness creeped into her head...

UNKNOWN SHUTTLECRAFT-UNKNOWN SECTOR OF SPACE

    "Captain Jericho?"

    The voice, coated in a slow southern drawl, seemed to be coming from a million miles away.  Stephanie's hand moved slowly to her chest, where just seconds ago she had felt a piece of the ship pierce her heart, allowing her one last breath to realize she was going to die...

    "Captain Jericho? Are you asleep?"

    A hand touched her shoulder. She flinched awake and stared into the concerned eyes of Ensign Matt Hardy.  Ensign Matt Hardy? Where was Lt Commander Jericho, who had been at the helm with her? Where was that damn rainbow-haired lieutenant?

    "Matt?" Stephanie blinked in disbelief as she gazed out the viewscreen. The shuttlecraft, which was curiously un-pink, was being drawn into the TitanPrize shuttlebay by a tractor beam. The pearly gray skin of the mighty ship was streaked with black burn marks, mangled strips of metal dangling from various decks. The forward nacelles were blown wide open, Wrestlefleet personnel hovering around them in open space, tethered to the ship with thick black wires. It looked like a war-torn relic, and it was clamped to a Starbase to boot.

    "The TitanPrize...."

    "I can assure you Captain, repairs are going as quickly as greased lightning. The TitanPrize needs to be at the front in a matter of days." Lt Commander Hardy said.

    The front? Stephanie rubbed her eyes. The front of what? And dear lord, how far had the standards of Wrestlefleet fallen? The stars on Hardy's uniform indicated he was a fully decorated Lieutenant Commander.

    "Did you just call me Captain Jericho?" she asked, suddenly realizing what had just come out of the young man's lips.

    "Aye sir." Matt grinned. "I know you and Commander Jericho argued your heads off about whether you should be Captain Jericho or he should be Commander McMahon, but in the end, you were just an old-fashioned girl." A quizzical frown flitted across his features. "You do remember that, don't you? You took an awful bump during the battle at Carrelia 8. Maybe you should have your head examined again."

    Stephanie waited for Jericho's witty retort, but there was silence. Where was he?

    "I'm fine Lieutenant." she mumbled. Stephanie was totally unsure as to whether she should play along in this twisted little drama.  She looked behind her-young Jeff was crumpled in a heap, a scar across his forehead, his hand gripping an injured side where his uniform was soaked with blood. "Jeff? Tell me you're going to live."

    "Jeff?" Matt eyes doubled in size.

    Lt. Hardy groaned and pulled himself into a sitting position, cringing as burning pain seared his gut. He almost fainted as the interior of the shuttlecraft spun around him. "Matt?"

    Lt Commander Matt Hardy promptly passed out cold.

WWF TITANPRIZE-UNKNOWN SECTOR OF SPACE

    "We don't need a babysitter, Ensign Hardy." Stephanie's exasperation was mounting as Matt lead her and Lt. Jeff through Deck 9, which housed the crew's quarters. "Jeffrey and I know this ship like the backs of our hands."

    "I'm sorry." Lt Commander Matt didn't sound too darn sorry. "But you did try to impersonate Captain Jericho, right up until a bio-scan revealed your quantum signature didn't belong to our little pocket of space-time. Hard to trust someone who does that."

    "Well pardon the hell out of me." Stephanie hissed at him. "I've never been to a parallel universe before-I'm not familiar with the etiquette!"

    "It's not a parallel universe exactly." Lt Commander Hardy corrected her, as he stopped before one of the doors, opening it with a few taps on a control panel. "This is just one of the many multi-verses that inhabit the fabric of space-time. It happened to be connected to yours through a temporal distortion, and it also happens to run parallel to the universe you originated from."

    Jeff felt comforted that his "brother" seemed to know so much about the complex subject of space-time travel. Surely it meant he and Stephanie could be sent back to their own universe. "Can you transport us back to our TitanPrize?"

    "These will be your quarters." Matt gestured to a basic, nearly spartan room, his eyes avoiding Jeff almost willfully. In fact, he seemed to cringe whenever Lt Hardy opened his mouth. "You will not leave until further notice. I hate to do this but....not all the visitors that come through the temporal distortion are friendly."

    Stephanie refused to budge from the hallway, a hallway that was eerily quiet. "You didn't answer Lt Hardy's question." she said quietly. "Can you send us back?"

    "Commander McMahon-Helmsley." Lt Commander Hardy clearly had trouble turning the phrase. "I'm sorry. We can't spare the ships to even attempt to send you back. Furthermore, we don't have possession of the technology. If your people have it, fine, let them come and get you. As of now,  you will remain here until the acting captain determines whether you would be fit to join the crew."

    "Where is this Captain Jericho?" Stephanie asked, not exactly eager to confront this double of hers, a double which had apparently attached itself to that freakish bot.

    "I fear she became trapped in the distortion when the arrival of your ship created a massive flux in space-time." Matt explained calmly. "And no, we don't have the means to free her either. If she gets out, it'll be luck. Captain Rikishi will brief you when he's ready."

    "Wait!" Commander McMahon-Helmsley wailed. "Can't I at least have my own quarters?"

    Jeff rolled his eyes. Only Stephanie. If only Jericho had been here to appreciate the little tantrum. A pair of crewmen brushed by him, the blood draining from their faces, their stares so open it was disconcerting. Their eyes lingered on Lt. Hardy until they disappeared into a turbolift.

    "Considering how many soldiers we have living aboard the TitanPrize, that is not an option." Lt Commander Matt cracked a smile at the frivolous little commander. "You're lucky you're not staying in one of our fine suites in the brig."

    Stephanie wanted to weep as the doors swept shut, sealing her and the Aerialian Liuetenant even deeper inside this horrible, completely luxury-free little universe from hell. "You're sleeping on the sofa, Hardly."

    "What do you know?" Jeff grinned at her. He'd taken about enough of her abuse, and if they were now on equal footing here...."The Stephanie from this universe has made all your secret fantasies about Lt Commander Jericho come true!"

    Stephanie wiped the grin of Lt Hardy's face, punching him in his sore stomach, thankful that the Sickbay in this universe did not have such powerful painkillers...

THE SMACKDOWN-PARALLEL UNIVERSE

    Lieutenant Hardy could have heard a pin drop as he entered the Smackdown, and not because it was half-empty either. Eyes locked with his and then dropped to the floor quickly, whispers dropped a notch in volume, faces paled. He and Stephanie had been freed days ago and been given the rank of ensign, but there were few TitanPrize officers that would speak to Jeff unless they absolutely had to...

    "I really should thank Captain Rikishi for letting me out of that hellhole." The now-Ensign Jeff dropped into a chair across his "brother", smiling. As usual, Matt would not smile at him. "Sharing a bathroom with Stephie was like torture."

    Lt Commander Hardy stared into his drink, as if the foam held some deep secrets about the meaning of life. "Captain Rikiski would like to know about your universe's encounters with the Nytron."

    "Nytron?" Ensign Jeff laughed. "They're incompetent little rebels on the border of federation space. They have no sense of organization, no sense of direction, and lack the weapons to do any damage to Wrestlefleet, as they so desire. They mounted a revolution not too long ago, but were driven back by the WWF TitanPrize, their ships seized and stripped. Several Nytrons were executed as an example to anyone who might attempt such a rebellion in the future."

    "My god." Lt Commander Hardy shook his head in disbelief.

    "You're fighting a war with the Nytron, aren't you?" Ensign Jeff asked bluntly.

    "I'm afraid so." Matt replied sadly. "Guess we're a little transparent here."

    "I just know you big brother." Ensign Jeff explained, with a wistful smile.

    "I am not your big brother." Matt's voice grew rock hard and frigid. "You ain't nothing but a Wrestlefleet officer from another universe who just happens to share my brother's DNA."

    Ensign Jeff could only blink.

    "Our battles with the Nytron have not been as successful as yours." Matt continued on as if the awkward exchange had not happened. "This is the last free sector of Wrestlefleet space left, and we are in danger of losing it."

    "How could the Nytron dominate like you this?" Ensign Jeff nodded gratefully at the waitress who set an Aerialian cocktail in front of him.

    "To make a long story short, one day they discovered how to create artificial temporal distortions more powerful than wormholes." Lt Commander Hardy said flatly. "After all, wormholes can only take you from Point A to Point B in space. A temporal distortion of a certain magnitude can send you to other multi-verses."

    "Wrestlefleet couldn't steal the technology?" Ensign Jeff could not grasp the reality of his federation having such incompetent intelligence.

    Matt shook his head. "You have to understand, my Wrestlefleet considers it unethical and dangerous to tamper with space-time; we would never even approach such an anamoly if we came across it. The Nytron kept their discovery a secret, as well as their discovery of how to manipulate distortions and wormholes already in existence."

    What did they use them for?" Ensign Jeff was starting to feel ill, as he already knew the logical answer.

    "They travelled to other universes, stealing advanced technology, pressing citizens of unprepared worlds into military service." Lt Commander Hardy explained. "By the time they began the war against Wrestlefleet, their power was so awesome, there was little or nothing we could do to stop it. When we found a counter for one type of attack, they either compensated quickly or had another little gem of a weapon up their sleeve."

    "This final stand then..." Ensign Jeff frowned. "It's a losing battle right?"

    "Certainly." Matt shrugged the impending doom off, but then for him, it was an everyday fact of life. "If they catch you, you will  either be summarily executed or, if you're a good enough soldier, pressed into service for their side."

    Ensign Jeff was certain he was inside a nightmare. "I guess if you're lucky, you get the chance to turn your phaser on yourself."

    "Right." Matt smiled, but it was a forced one. "Official Wrestlefleet policy is to now kill yourself before you allow Supreme Commander Russo to get his hands on you."

    Supreme Commander Russo? Jeff pushed his drink away. Wrestlefleet, his Wrestlefleet had imprisioned that snivelling, traitorous bastard months ago, after yet another failed Nytron coup. "Matt?"

    Lt Commander Matt was rising from his chair. "I suggest you start referring to me as Lt Commander Hardy, Ensign. This is still Wrestlefleet."

    "Lt Commander Hardy then." Ensign Jeff sighed. "What happened to me...here?"

    "Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Hardy, Special Ops, died in the line of duty six months ago." Matt said, keeping his voice neutral, although his eyes glistened underneath a thin layer of moisture. "The Nytron had tried to blow up our Warp Core with a specially made explosive device-a bomb that was triggered by the mixing of matter and anti-matter. It couldn't be transported out of Engineering without exploding, so my stupid noble brother took it aboard a shuttlecraft. The device blew before we could transport Jeff out of the ship, and....well....he didn't suffer."

    Ensign Jeff remained silent as Matt walked away from the table. No wonder everyone reacted to him as if they had seen a ghost. They had.

COMMANDER JERICHO'S QUARTER'S-PARALLEL UNIVERSE

    Stephanie was chilled as she stood outside of Commander Jericho's quarter's on Deck 9, literally. Due to the war, the TitanPrize powered down at nightfall, diverting energy away from the environmental controls and funneling it to Shields and Weapons. The civilian pajamas that everyone wore were also dreadfully plain-she was thankful nobody in her universe could see her so unfashionably dressed.

    She took a deep breath and fingered the button on the control panel that would announce her presence. She had to know....had to meet this Jericho...

    "Come!" Same cocky voice anyways.

    Stephanie stepped inside the room, and breathed a sigh of relief. Now this, this was more like it. Superior officers, even in a time of war, had well-decorated quarters with soft lighting, plush furniture, and little personal touches that made it seem like home. Her eyes fell on a picture of her, no not her, this universe's Stephanie and Commander Jericho on what was clearly their wedding day. Dear Lord.

   Commander Jericho was seated on a sofa, working at a padd that rested on a glossy, marble-topped table. "Stephanie?" His smile was amused. "Where did you get those unfortunate pj's?"

    "I-uhhh" Jericho wore more stylish, silvery colored sleepwear, his top left open down to his navel. Stephanie shivered. Even the fake Y2J Unit disgusts me to no end, she told herself.

    "Well I guess it never hurts to try something...new." He studied her intently. "Though I don't get why you felt you had to knock."

    Stephanie heart sank to the bottom of her slippers. He thought she was Capatin Jericho. His wife. But how.....Then she remembered what Captain Rikishi had told her. Chris had been away at another Starbase repairing Wrestlefleet warships, called away because he was the brilliant Chief of Engineering on the TitanPrize. Rikishi had no intention of briefing anyone he didn't have to about the arrival of the parallel universe Wrestlefleet officers, in a time of war, they were lucky to get any soldiers they could get. Besides, the arrival of people through the temporal distortions that plagued this universe was no longer shocking.

    And she had also been warned to stay away from Commander Jericho when he arrived that night, at least until Rikishi had found the appropriate time to inform him of his wife's fate....after all, this Jericho also tended to be highly emotional and hot-tempered, and the acting captain didn't want to send Chris over the deep end.

    "Credit for your thoughts, Stephie." Jericho was arching an eyebrow at her.

    "How did the repairs go?" she asked casually, pushing her hair out of her eyes and sinking onto the couch next to him. She wasn't going to toy with him of course. This wasn't the Jericho that had enraged her for so long....

    "Fine." Jericho pushed the padd aside. "Now I can worry about getting the TitanPrize back into battle. Where have you been? I thought you would've been waiting here with open arms."

    "Uhhhh..." Stephanie blushed furiously. This was getting out of hand. "I was on a walk. You know, thinking about things."

    "I see." He grinned, touching her hair. She froze, not wanting to seem rude by just jerking away. "Not only are you a Jerichoholic, you're also a workaholic too."

    "You must be tired." Stephanie inched backwards, until her back hit a pile of cushions. Where was that dopey twit Lt Hardy when a girl needed him? A few days ago, he was tagging after her like a puppy dog to keep her out of trouble, at Lt Commander Hardy's request. Apparently, Matt wasn't as dumb as he looked.

    Jericho laughed, and not that mocking, snide little laugh that used to set her teeth on edge. "Not that tired, Steph. What is it with you and this little game of playing hard to get?"

    Game. Oh man, if Hunter could see her now, he'd toss Jericho out an airlock, parallel Y2J or not. She did have a husband after all, although he seemed like such a distant memory when Jericho's lips were so agonizingly close to hers....

    "What's the matter with you Stephanie?" The way Jericho was looking at her, it made her almost want to laugh out loud, wondering what the real Y2J would look like in this cozy situation...almost. "You kiss me like it's our first kiss or something."

    "I'm sorry." Hunter was far away, everything real was possibly lost in an unreachable string of space-time. "I've just waited for this for so long."

    "I've only been gone three days Stephie."

    What Jericho didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

ENGINEERING-PARALLEL UNIVERSE

    "Ugh, how tacky." Stephanie muttered, as she took her seat at an engineering console next to Ensign Jeff's. "I'm wearing the same outfit as you Jeffrey."

    "We're stuck in a war we can't win, and you're worried about a little social mistake?" Jeff just shook his head and focused on his data, or at least he tried to focus. Stephanie was grinning like a fool next to him, and his eyes were seeking out something, someone that he had no reasonable right to expect to be there.

    "Looking for Lita?" Stephanie's goofball smile took on a nasty edge.

    "No." Jeff's face flushed crimson. "Just seeing who else from our TitanPrize has a parallel. Would you believe Christian is our superior officer here?"

    "Truly I wouldn't." Stephanie frowned at her monitors. "This sucks. I should be running this place, not analyzing teeny tiny little fluctuations around the disruption like a common ensign."

    "God forbid you should work at something that could get us home rather than be in a position of power." Jeff said, his tone dry. "And newsflash Stephanie-you are a lowly ensign."

    "Captain?"

    Stephanie's neck snapped up so fast she thought for a moment she had given herself whiplash. Commander Jericho was gawking at her, at her lowly ensign's uniform. She wished a black hole could have opened  up beneath her station and swallowed her whole.

    "Chris..."

    Lt Commander Hardy had followed on Jericho's heels and was glaring at her so hard his gaze could have burned a hole through her chest.  "That is not Captain Jericho, sir. That is Commander Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley, a visitor from a parellel universe. She and Ensign Jeff there came through the temporal distortion a few days ago."

    Jericho eyed Jeff uneasily as he scanned Stephanie with his tri-corder. Indeed, her quantum signature did not belong here. His hand was trembling so hard he could barely holster his tri-corder. "Where is my wife, Lt Commander Hardy?"

    Matt gulped. "I'm-I'm sorry, sir. Your wife became trapped in the distortion when their shuttlecraft came through. As far as we can tell, she's caught in a temporal loop and will probably only be freed if their people come to rescue them."

    Commander Jericho stared at his wife's double, but his eyes flared with such fire that it was hard to rate his level of anger. Matt could only guess at what damage Ensign McMahon had caused impersonating Captain Jericho.

    "Shall I have her placed in the brig, sir?" he asked.

    "No." Jericho's voice was icier than a glacier. "We can't afford to have someone with engineering experience out of commission, even if that person is a filthy, dirty, nasty, skanky, brutal, bottom-feeding trash-bag ho."

    Stephanie felt a pang of homesickness.

    Jericho wheeled out of Engineering. Lt Commander Matt glowered at her.

    "Damn," Ensign Jeff shook his head at her. "You are a slut, aren't you?"

    Stephanie pouted and stared straight ahead, disappointed that Jeff Hardy wasn't quite as naive as he looked...

WWF TITANPRIZE-CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM

    "Captain's Log, Stardate 061283.00. It has been four days since my daughter and her away team were pulled into the temporal distortion. Lt Commander Jericho re-emerged on this side of the anamoly in Stephanie's shuttlecraft, apparently due to a bizarre quantum flux during entry. Truth be told, I don't care why he ended up here, my only concern is bringing my little darling home to the TitanPrize."

    Captain McMahon pursed his lips, wondering if he should plunge ahead. To hell with it.

    "Lt Commander Jericho has proven most useful in studying the distortion, and his readings have confirmed the suspicions of Wrestlefleet. An unknown alien race in another universe has access to dangerous temporal technology. For whatever reason, they have chosen not to emerge in this universe."

    A quick beeping noise alerted him to a visitor.

    "Come."

    The door silently slipped open and Ensign Lita and that damned Hunter Hearst Helmsley tumbled through in their efforts to get to him first.

    "What the hell is going on?" Captain McMahon demanded.

    "My apologies sir." Lita gasped, out of breath. "Lt Commander Jericho has discovered something of importance and sent me to tell you, so he could continue his work."

    "And what do you want?" Vince nailed Hunter with a hard glare. His daughter wanted to marry a lowly rebel turned waiter, fine. When that lowlife barged in on him during a time of crisis, that was a whole different game, so to speak.

    "Jericho has the answers to getting Hardy and my wife out." Hunter snapped back. "And I damn well want to be in on it."

    "It's risky." Lita said quickly. "Lt Commander Jericho has seen a pattern to the fluctuations of the distortion. They are small and slowing down, as if the aliens want to close it off to our universe."

    "Why don't those damn aliens just come through?" Captain McMahon asked gruffly. He didn't respect an enemy that hid like a coward, waiting for a moment of weakness to strike.

    "It's possible that despite their advances in space-time travel, their weapons can't compare to ours." Lita offered. "But we can't know for sure.  What we do know is that we need to take a shuttle in there immediately and cause the distortion to widen so that Commander McMahon-Helmsley and Lt Hardy can return with us."

    "I want the damn thing shut when it's over." Captain McMahon ordered.

    "Sir....Jericho has found a ship of a different quantum signature inside the distortion, along with the Tombstone. Both ships seem to be caught in a loop. To free Commander Kane and to bring Stephanie and Jeff back through, we'd need to sacrifice the other universe's ship." Lita waited, wondering if Captain McMahon would really go that far....

    "Explain." he said tersely.

    "If we directed our phasers at the parallel ship's warp core, we could trigger a massive matter anti-mattter explosion that would enlarge the distortion rapidly, sort of like the death of a giant star." Lita told him. "As the matter cooled, the distortion would collapse and be sealed off forever."

    "So what you're saying is..." Captain McMahon formed a tent with his hands, as if he were deep in thought. "Stephanie and Jeff would need to realize immediately that they were supposed to come through the rift, assuming they even could."

    "Yes." Lita nodded. "I volunteer myself to pilot the shuttle."

    "I just bet you do." Hunter muttered. "I bet you'd love to accidentally seal the rift before my wife came through. I'm on to you, you little Aerialian bi-"

    "I assume you want to be on the shuttle?" Vince directed the question at Hunter.

    "I want to pilot it." Hunter said firmly. "You know my history-I don't follow the Wrestlefleet school of flight. I can send that shuttle into the rift easy and blow that other ship out of the sky."

    Captain McMahon pondered for several seconds. Could Hunter be trusted on this mission, even if his wife's safety was at stake? He did have a selfish streak a mile long. Then again, as a renegade, Hunter had been a skilled, daredevil pilot and a mean shot with a photon torpedo. He levelled his gaze at both.

    "Ensign Lita, you will be on board the Shuttlecraft Jakked for engineering purposes. Hunter, you will pilot the craft. And I expect you to put personal differences aside-there's just too damn much at stake for petty bickering."

    "Aye sir." Ensign Lita nodded. She would not dare sabotage Stephanie's chances of making it over, not when she knew Jeff would be on a shuttlecraft with the little tart.

HOLODECK 4-PARALLEL UNIVERSE

    Stephanie knew the planet well; it existed in her own universe. It was Marek-5, small, rocky, and lashed by brutal mountain winds and fierce thunderstorms. As a member of this universe's sprawling Nytron Empire, it was also gutted with massive bomb craters, cliffs had been shorn off by powerful lasers that didn't exist in her world, puddles of toxic chemicals oozed at her feet, smoke floating on their polluted surfaces.

    "I don't understand how this is supposed to help me, Commander Jericho."

    "You've been driving the crew nuts asking what happened to the Vincent K McMahon of this universe." Jericho said. "Aboard this TitanPrize, we keep our history through holographic logs  maintained in tiny dilithium crystal chambers that are difficult to destroy. The Nytron have become skilled at breaking our coded data, so this is the only way our past can live on."

    The gusts of air were biting through her ensign's uniform. "Pretty soon, the past is all Wrestlefleet will have isn't it?"

    So...the young ensign knew about the Nytron sphere that would intercept the TitanPrize in 5 hours and 7 minutes, a sphere so thickly shielded that the still unrepaired ship could not determine how much of an aresnal it was packing. Three shuttlecraft had already attempted to pierce the protective layer around the massive Nytron vessel, only to have their photon torpedos deflected back in their faces. The final showdown would indeed be be Wrestlefleet's last stand, barring a miracle.

    "We don't have much time to waste." Commander Jericho wasn't fond of the deceitful twit he had brought to the Holodeck, but there was no need to press the point that she was going to die in a time and place not her own, for a purpose she had no passion for, no reason to lose her life for...."The men walking towards us are Admiral McMahon and Captain Taker, formerly of the WWF TitanPrize. McMahon had suspected the captain of sharing secrets with the Nytron and betraying the federation. Taker was being transported to Starbase 666 to stand trial for treason when the shuttlecraft crashed on Marek-5, killing the two ensign pilots instantly. "

    Stephanie watched her "father" stagger to a rock and lean against it, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his face bruised, his proud admiral's uniform torn. Despite a severe limp, the near seven foot tall form of Captain Taker still intimidated.

    "Commander Jericho." She turned to face him. "I hope you'll accept my apology...for the way I lied to you." Stephanie practically choked on the words.

    "Ensign McMahon-Helmsley." the Commander sighed. "There's really no time for this..." His voice trailed off and a sad smile crossed his handsome face.  "Besides, you just look too damn much like her for me to stay angry. As long as I can look at your face, she's not really dead, you know?"

    Stephanie nodded. He had accepted that her double was forever trapped in the temporal loop and moved on. It was war, it was the end; there was no other way.

    "I hope the Jericho in your time appreciates you as much I appreciated my Stephanie."

    Stephanie regretted the laugh that burst from deep inside her, it just seemed so damn insensitive. "Forgive me, Commander. In my universe, Jericho and I, well we...I just totally lo- hate the guy! We're always at odds, if you know what I mean?"

    Jericho nodded. "I think I do. I'll leave you to this. Don't take too long-you'll be needed on the bridge soon."

    "Dammit Taker, just finish this." Stephanie spun around as her "father's" voice labored to get words of anger and rage out. "Take that phaser and just shoot me to hell! Come on dammit! Don't you have the grapefruits to burn a whole in your superior officer, or are you just a coward who can only sell out Wrestlefleet to those time-travelling bastards?"

    Taker's smile curdled the blood. "Your time to rest in peace will come Admiral." He spat McMahon's rank out, like it tasted bad. "Truth be told, you old dried up son of a bitch, I should one day meet you in hell for your sins against me..and against my family."

    "You stay away from her after I die, damn you!" Vince growled, animal-like. "You've got no right-"

    "I have every right." Taker was so cool, his words could have been coated in ice.

    "You're a traitor." The admiral was mortally wounded, blood trickling out from between his lips as he spoke, every breath grating on damaged lungs.  "You've stabbed everything we were taught to believe in the back.  All you've got in your blood is pure....evil."

    "And so it is in her blood." Taker smiled down at his falling adversary. "That's the problem with you Wrestlefleet lackeys-you just believe everything they cram down your damn throat, like it's the gospel truth. All your loyal soldiers are going to die Vince-the supremacy of the Nytron Empire is inevitable."

    "She may share your blood, Captain." McMahon was gasping his words out now; drowning on blood that was filling his chest. "But Stephanie will never surrender the TitanPrize, not while she's alive."

    "If you have corrupted her that much, Vince..." Taker unholstered a weapon Stephanie had never seen before. "Then so be it."

    It was a disruptor-type beam, she thought mechanically, her mind powering down as the un-reality she was in took a tragic turn. She could tell by the way it vaporized her...."daddy" from the inside out. She screamed, stumbling back, away from the holographic horror that was taking place before her, that would always take place, as long as the moment was crystallized in a tiny chamber that could never be crushed.

    She hit a wall of flesh. "Hardly?" Stephanie's eyes blazed. "How long have you been standing there?"

    "I, um, well." Ensign Hardy sighed. "Whatever happens here, Stephanie, it never happened in our universe."

    The last thing she needed was comfort from this blathering, naive little Aerialian twit. "And what happened to you, Lieutenant?"

    "I died."

    "Oh." Stephanie shrugged as she brushed past him. "Pity then, that incidents in this universe didn't carry over into ours." She gave him a chilly smile. "See you on the bridge."

    Ensign Jeff's hand twitched on his phaser, the knowledge that all weapons were set to kill during wartime the only thing stopping him....

THE BRIDGE-PARALLEL UNIVERSE

    "Oh that's sooo pretty." Stephanie gushed, admiring the steel band that was cuffed around one of Lt Commander Matt Hardy's muscular arms. Her eyes lingered on the glowing blue oval that shimmered at its center. "What is it?"

    Matt jerked his arm away. "I dare say you've touched quite enough on this ship, Ensign McMahon-Helmsley."

    Ensign Hardy smothered a grin. "If I'm not mistaken, that's a transporter device of some sort."

    "Correct." Lt Commander Matt felt a rush of pride that turned into stomach-twisting pain. He had always been so proud of his kid brother, even for something so small as merely catching on to a new technology he'd never seen before. It had been so long since he had felt anything about Jeff, but this wasn't Jeff, just a stranger with his brother's face.

    "Where are you going?" Stephanie demanded.

    Normally Matt couldn't answer a question like that, but with Wrestlefleet about to fall into the abyss..."It's an extremely compact but high-powered personal transporter. It will take me into the Nytron sphere, where I will infect the mainframe with nanites, nanites that will trigger the self-destruct program aboard the vessel."

    "Oh golly." Stephanie groaned. "Nanites." The image of the black-eyed Y2J Nanite was fresh in her mind.

    "They've proven troublesome in the past." Lt Commander Hardy admitted. "But the dynamics of this war have given us no choice. We've studied the Nytron shield technology for years now, thinking that the way to beat them would be to disable their protection, leaving them vulnerable to our weapons. However....we can only create a window large enough for a single person, and now, that's me."

    "You're not coming back, are you?" Ensign Jeff felt his throat start to close. God, his eyes were starting to water.

    Lt Commander Hardy's bleak expression was the only answer they needed.

    "Lt Commander Hardy!" Captain Rikishi shouted to him from the big chair. "Boy, you about ready to back that ass up or what?"

    "Aye sir." Matt grinned. Even with impending doom staring them in the face, the captain maintained his sense of humor.

    "Nytron sphere is within visual range." Lieutenant Angle barked from the helm. "It's true, it's true!"

    Stephanie knew she could concentrate on the engineering station she and Jeff manned, but she faced the viewscreen anyway. Oh my....The entire sphere, still at a distance from the ship, consumed the entire scene; one could not even see the star-dotted space behind it. The Nytron vessel was made of a midnight-gray material that could not be scratched by the weapons being fired by Starbase gunners-phaser fire just raked the shielding and amounted to nothing. Cries of "zero damage" rang out through the bridge. Lights from every color of the spectrum blinked on the dark surface of the sphere, a red seam of chemical fire blazing around the equator of the super-massive vehicle of destruction.

    "So that's what the Grim Reaper looks like." Ensign Hardy was enthralled too.

    "We're in transporter range, son." Commander Bradshaw banged down a beer can on his tactical console. "The window is opening.. Captain! The TitanPrize is within weapon's range-firing on your command."

    Ensign Jeff watched the Lieutenant Commander reach for his specially designed transporter band. He felt his chest tighten. Suicide mission.

    "He's not your real brother, you freakin' marshmellow." Stephanie rolled her eyes at him.

    It felt like an earthquake, spinning the ship at least 360 degrees, only the vessel's internal gravity keeping Ensign Hardy pinned to his seat.  A tactical console exploded in a shower of flame and spark, sending Lieutenant Edge into the weapons array, snapping his neck on impact.

    "What are we being hit with?" Captain Rikishi demanded, as the floor beneath them lurched violently.

    "Unknown." Bradshaw had to shout to be heard over the explosions and shrieking alarms, noises of a battered ship melting into one ominous chorus. "These punk-ass shields are down to 50%, Captain!"

    "WWF TitanPrize! Lower your shields, don't lower your shields, I just don't give a damn!"

    Stephanie's head whipped around, the sound of a voice thick with a primitive New York accent filling her with fury. Russo! That deceitful, sell-out, power-hungry son of a-

    "This is Supreme Commander Russo of the Nytron Empire, and you will be boarded. For your arrogance in defying my power, for your failure to recognize the true depth of Nytron glory, every member of the TitanPrize will be executed. Superior officers will be tortured before I show them the ultimate mercy."

    Stephanie licked her lips, savoring the memory of that fateful night on Kan'y'n-3, when Commander Kane had dragged away little Vincent Russo, for crimes against Wrestlefleet, for treason, for attempting to sell secrets to those insufferable, weak Nytron rebels...

    "And Captain Rikishi...we have disabled your self-destruct sequence from here." Supreme Commander Russo smiled. "You will not rob me of the spoils of war."

    The warning had not come rapidly enough, but Stephanie had expected nothing less from a man who would be a spineless coward in any universe. Nytron soldiers poured onto the bridge, unleashing a barrage of disruptor fire that snuffed out several unsuspecting Wrestlefleet soldiers, including First Officer Sexay. Some screamed bloody murder when they were hit, others fell into convulsing heaps, their bodies twisting and writhing.

    What a terrible way to die...Stephanie thought, throwing herself to the ground and picking off three Nytrons with her phaser. As her beam struck a second wave of the invaders, it seemed to wash over them like water.

    "They must have shield generators on their uniforms." Ensign Hardy whispered to her, as they crawled past Tactical, covered by Bradshaw's heavy weapons fire. "It's already compensated for our phasers."

    "Tell me something I don't know Hardly." Stephanie muttered, as they both punched the trigger anyway, hoping to distract the enemy soldiers, whose sleek, green, aerodynamic shell-like uniforms absorbed the punishment almost magically. It was as if they were firing with phasers set on light stun...."We need to strip the dead Nytron of their weapons."

    "Agreed." Ensign Jeff coughed.

    War wasn't hell, Stephanie thought grimly, as she watched Lieutenant Angle's body being flattened against the viewscreen by a burst of disruptor fire. It was so much worse than any hell she had ever imagined. Thick black smoke so acrid it burned throats and lungs raw was starting to displace the oxygen on the bridge; species with underdeveloped lungs had already fallen over dead before her eyes. Flames were rising from the ashes of infernos the chemical sprinklers had extinguished just seconds ago and live wires snapped at her and Jeff like venomous vipers as they traveled past Tactical. The cacophany of noises were deafening-anguished cries, the ship-wide red alert shrieking like a nightmare demon, the crackling and smoldering of computers like a funeral march in their ears.

    "Captain!" Bradshaw yelled, one hand manipulating  the still-functional Tactical display while the other cleansed his territory of Nytron, who were swarming like fire ants. "There is a shuttle coming through the distortion! It has the same quantum signature as Ensigns Hardy and McMahon!"

    "Yeah, well let's just hope they can pull a miracle out of their-"

    Captain Rikishi was silenced as a Nytron stuck a dagger in his back. Typical Nytron, thought Stephanie, sneering in the coward's direction. Commander Bradshaw assumed the captain's chair after dispatching the Nytron with ease.

    "Guess my trip was cancelled." Lt Commander Matt smiled grimly, handing the two ensigns a Nytron disruptor each. "Maybe we can get into the turbolift and take control of the ship from another computer."

    Seeing just how many Nytron had infected the bridge, Stephanie doubted the rest of the ship was any safer. But it couldn't be any more dangerous than this...

    "Commander McMahon-Helmsley!" Ensign Hardy forgot he was in the parallel universe, as a scream was wrenched from his superior officer, disruptor fire striking Stephanie in the back. "Commander!"

    "Here." Matt tore the transporter band from his arm, flipping the blue gem up, pushing buttons underneath it. "I've programmed it to transport you and Commander McMahon-Helmsley to the Shuttlecraft Raw. These bastards are too busy boarding the TitanPrize to care about some puny little craft entering an unstable temporal distortion."

    "Matt..."

    "Dammit Jeff!" Lt Commander Hardy snapped in exasperation. "It's over! The TitanPrize has been lost. Your people are attempting a rescue and your commanding officer is dying! If you're lucky, the distortion will slingshot you several moments back in time and Stephanie will live."
Matt's expression softened for just a moment. "You're not my brother Jeff-don't think you have to die for me. You'll make it out this time."

    "Maybe." Ensign Hardy fastened the band around Stephanie's arm, her flesh seeming to turn to ice as he touched it.

    "You will." Lt Commander Hardy said firmly, sending a stream of disruptor fire into a formation of Nytron as Jeff set the transporter to activate. "I know you, little brother."

    Ensign Hardy was silent as he watched the battle fade away in a river of turquoise light, silent as a plasma explosion at the weapon's array seemed to swallow Matt alive before everything disappeared....

SHUTTLECRAFT JAKKED

    "The shuttlecraft from the parallel universe will appear in our time again within fifty-five seconds, Hunter." Lita reported briskly, as their own craft hovered around the event horizon of the disruption, out of reach of the severe gravitational pull that had claimed Stephanie and Jeff days ago.

    "No kidding." Hunter retorted, as he ran yet another diagnostic on the weapon's system. He would not miss. He had driven a hard bargain with Captain McMahon-the life of his daughter for the rank of ensign. It was a small reward actually-Helmsley would be given a sliver of his dignity and power back if he succeeded.

    "I just hope you're as good as the stories say you are. " Lita challenged him. "The flight pattern of our shuttlecraft will be highly unstable once it's claimed by the rift. You'll need to be a sharpshooter to detonate the parallel ship's warp core."

    "Oh don't you worry about a thing, Lita." Hunter smirked at her. "I am that damn good. They didn't call me the Game at Wrestlefleet Academy for nothing."

    "I thought it was because you played them all for fools when you rebelled." Ensign Lita said coldly.

    "Believe me you frigid little Aerialian snot, your precious little rainbow-headed love muffin will return to this universe safe and sound." Hunter removed a phaser from underneath the weapon's array, pointing it at Lita's head. "However, if anything were to happen to my darling wife, I'd have to kill you and your little loverboy too."

    Ensign Lita's ears burned underneath her flame-red hair. She had never felt this kind of anger before; it felt sort of like....embarrassment. She shook her head to clear the cobwebs.

    "You can put the phaser down, Hunter." Ensign Lita didn't even flinch. "It's hard to fire accurately inside a temporal disruption when you're holding your co-pilot hostage."

    "Believe me, baby." Hunter moved the phaser so it pressed against her ear. "I can do both."

    "I'm entering the rift." Lita announced through clenched teeth. "We should intercept the shuttle in 30 seconds."

    Hunter was supremely calm as the shuttle was shaken like a ragdoll by the intense gravity. The specially designed thrusters that Jericho had fitted to the craft were barely able to compensate for the violent gravitational flux that was wreaking havoc with them.

    "Dammit!" Lita scowled down at the console. "The shuttle has full shields! What the-we're being hailed by the parallel universe ship!"

    "Answer it and kindly explain to the unfortunate pilot that they're about to die for the good of Wrestlefleet." Hunter instructed her.

    "This is Ensign Lita of the WWF TitanPrize. Please lower your shields. We mean you no harm."

    Hunter snorted with scornful laughter. The Aerialians were pathetic liars.

    "Lita?" Both Hunter and the ensign gasped as Stephanie's face filled their viewscreen. She wore the red uniform of a Wrestlefleet captain, although her lovely face was streaked with soot and blood. "My god....Lita."

    "Stephanie." Hunter gawked at her. Man, did she look gorgeous in red....

    "That is not your wife, idiot!" Lita snapped. "It's a parallel universe version of Stephanie."

    "Ahhh yes." Stephanie studied the readings on her own ship. "You have a quantum signature that is slightly different than mine. I am Captain Jericho of the WWF TitanPrize in my own universe, and as you can no doubt see, I am trapped in a temporal loop. I assume you want me to disable my shields so that you can blow up my warp core."

    Captain Jericho? Hunter felt a white hot fury burning at his heart. He didn't give a damn if this was in a parallel universe, a wormhole, or a holodeck, he'd make that sleazy droid pay the price for touching his wife in any dimension of space-time!

    "I'm sorry Captain." Lita lowered her head.

    "It's quite alright." Stephanie was all business. "I've been planning to detonate the ship myself so that I could close this rift forever. You see..." She smiled sadly. "In my universe, Wrestlefleet is dead by now. At least I will be sacrificed so that your universe can be saved, unlike so many other good soldiers who died for absolutely nothing..."

    Her eyes lingered on Ensign Lita.

    "There will be another window opening in one minute and five seconds, Captain." Hunter told her briskly, as Stephanie's image started to fade from the viewscreen. He had become much more subdued since seeing the face of the woman he would kill.....

    "Excellent." Captain Jericho nodded. "Shields will be lowered. Fire at will."

    "Aye sir." Ensign Lita replied.

    "And Lita?" Captain Jericho's voice was becoming lost in a storm of static. "Good seeing you again."

    A selfless, dedicated Stephanie McMahon? Lita shook her head.

    Only in a parallel universe...

SHUTTLECRAFT RAW-PARALLEL UNIVERSE

    Lt Commander Hardy was right. The Nytron were not following Jeff or his shuttlecraft into the rift, where they would intercept Captain Stephanie Jericho's shuttle in two minutes. Lieutenant Hardy assumed that the craft from their own universe was there to trigger a catastrophic explosion in Captain Jericho's warp core, a fatal event that would allow them to escape before sealing the disruption forever.

    Ah well, at least Commander Jericho got one last night with his "wife" before she died. Lieutenant Hardy's thoughts were extremely bitter as he felt the shuttlecraft lose the struggle with gravity and fall into the disruption. As long as he lived, all of Jeff's nightmares would be plagued by visions of his big brother being swallowed by white hot flames of plasma. While I escaped. He knew it wasn't really Matt, would never really be Matt, but found forgiving himself...he couldn't forgive himself.

    Stephanie's moaning woke him from the horrible images that flitted through his brain. Jeff stared at the bio-scan of her body, knew that her breathing was merely reflexive now. Radiation from the disruptor beam was slowly being carried through her bloodstream, poisoning every cell in her body, causing virtually nerve she had to scream in pain. He had injected her with mega-doses of sedatives and painkillers, but the radiation dulled their effects. It was perhaps the most agonizing death a person could suffer through.

    "Jeff?"

    Stephanie's voice was a whisper, the energy it cost her apparent as she squeezed her eyes shut after speaking.

    "Commander?"

    "Kill me."

    "What?" Lieutenant Hardy had been afraid she would ask that, that she would suffer with such an intensity that she couldn't wait out the results of the temporal slingshot. But then, she was so far gone that the few precious minutes the slingshot would give her wouldn't matter worth a damn.

    "Kill me...please." Stephanie hadn't realized that such horrific pain could exist in any universe-every molecule of her body, every strand of DNA was being twisted and burned by the disruptor fire that possessed her. She had never wanted to feel death's cold embrace so much...

    "I can't do that Commander." Jeff said, his voice terse. Not even Stephanie deserved to lose her life this way. "There's a chance you could be saved."

    "I need to tell you something."

    Lieutenant Hardy turned his head slightly. Famous last words?

    "Do...you..want to know what happened to...Lita?"

    "What?" Jeff wan't sure he wanted to know.

    "She died." Stephanie's lips twisted into an evil smile, despite the pain that racked her body. "You killed her, blew up a Nytron ship she was attempting to sabotage. She had been exposed, and Captain Jericho ordered you to fire on the ship so she wouldn't be interrogated. You killed your own wife, Jeffrey."

    Stephanie coughed up blood as she laughed. Lieutenant Hardy fired his phaser point blank at her chest, realizing a second too late that she had manipulated him into putting her out of her misery. Witch. He turned back to the viewscreen, in time to be blinded by a devastating matter anti-matter explosion...

WWF TITANPRIZE-CAPTAIN'S READY ROOM

    "Captain's Log, Stardate 061293.00. The temporal disruption has disappeared from Federation space. There is no longer any quantum flux in sector where the rift originated. Commander Kane's shuttle was freed and he has resumed his duties as Chief of Security.  My daughter is recovering from a severe disruptor attack in Sickbay...I have no idea what medical miracle Dr. Taker performed to stop the poison that was flooding her system, but as he told me "McMahon, there just some things in this world your stank ass doesn't need to know." Maybe he's right.

    Captain McMahon frowned at his Log Book.

    "I have been forced to give Hunter the rank of Ensign. Lord only knows how much that will provoke his healthy ambition....

    Jeff Hardy attempted to turn in his Lieutenant's stars for reasons unknown. I refused to accept them.

    Stephanie has asked that I transfer Lt Commander Jericho out of engineering and back to the bridge crew.  Although I would do anything for my little angel, their work together has been so exemplary, I cannot see the logic in this. I know they argue, but for some reason, it seems to make them far more successful when they are at each other's throats. "

    Captain McMahon was about to close his log book when a thought struck him....

    "I am a little baffled by Lt Commander Jericho's request to sweep my daughter's quarters for certain Aerialian sea life...."