Whatever Happened ... Pt 2

1.8


"Hi." Dax came to stand by her friend in the Infirmary.

"Hi." Kira replied, not taking her eyes off the figure in the bed.

"How are you doing?" Dax watched her, concerned.

"Fine. Why?" Kira gave her a funny look.

"Well, it must be awkward for you."

"Why?"

"Come on Nerys, you may be able to fool some people, but you can't fool your friends. We all know this must be hard for you." Dax gave her a stern look back.

Kira sighed and looked back towards the bed. "There's been no change. He's still out."

"That's not what I mean and you know it. How are you coping with all this?" Dax eyed her.

"I'm not the one in the bed." Kira shrugged.

"No, but you are the one who feels partly responsible about putting him there."

"You've been talking to Odo." Kira guessed.

"Nope, just plain old observation. And some wisdom about the circumstance you're in."

"What would you know about not fulfilling promises? By not fulfilling mine it could have got him killed." Kira glared at her friend, showing her wounds.

"My promise got me killed, remember? I promised my wife Nilani Kahn that it would be a routine shuttle flight. My host body came back to her in a box." Dax said. "I remember how hard it was seeing her again when she came to the station a few months ago."

"I'm sorry, I forgot." Kira looked down.

"But now it's hard for you because you don't know if it is him. And it's even harder knowing that you're not the one he's calling out for."

Both women were silent.

"You're right, I shouldn't be getting so personally involved." Kira said.

"That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying we all understand how you cannot be personally involved. And we're here for you." Dax put her hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Thank you." Kira gave her a smile in return, which then disappeared with the next question. "Do you think he blames me?"

"No, I don't think he does." Dax shook her head. "And I don't think that's the reason he's calling out for someone else."

Just then Bashir brushed past them on his routinely rounds. He walked over to the bed to check his patient.

"How is he Julian?" Dax asked.

"He's signs are stable, he's just asleep at the moment. He should be awake today." Julian smiled back at them reassuringly.

"Can you tell anything more about him?" Kira asked.

"Not yet, I'm sorry." He shook his head.

"We'd better report to Ops and begin the day." Kira said to Dax.

After one last look, Kira turned and left, with Dax following.

"Good morning." Troi smiled to both women as she passed them on the Promenade.

"Hi." Dax smiled back, but Kira kept walking. She gave a nod, which was all Troi expected from her.

Troi entered the Infirmary to begin another day's wait.

"Good morning. Any change?" she asked Bashir, sitting on the stool by the bed.

"No, he's still sound asleep." Bashir smiled back. "He had a lot to catch up on."

"I'm not surprised." She said.

Bashir disappeared into his office and Troi struck up the similar banter from the day before.

"The guards are still here. I suppose you could think of it as a compliment that they see you so dangerous. And I thought it was just a talent with the women in your life." She smiled down onto his sleeping face. "My mother was always impressed with this skill of yours, you always had her heart."

"But what about yours, Imzadi?"

Troi jumped off the stool in fright as Thomas Riker's eyes opened to directly to meet hers.

"Shhh, I don't want anyone to notice I'm awake yet." He whispered, half closing his eyes again to appear that he was still sleeping.

"Why?" she lowered her voice, which trembled with the rest of her body.

"I've been listening to the conversations around me. Why do people think I'm not who I am? I escaped the prison camp to warn you about the plan of replicating me and other people. How did you hear of it before I arrived?" he asked her, his eyes holding onto hers.

"We were contacted by the Dominion who warned Starfleet of a renegade duplicate of Thomas Riker who was half programmed to assassinate certain people in Starfleet Command. They warned us you would have no loyalties, since you fought their programming and held hostilities toward us." She whispered back.

"What?!" he exclaimed in shock.

"Counselor, is everything alright?" two of the guards came over.

"Ah yes, everything's fine, thank you." she lied nervously back. "I'm just talking to him again, hoping he'll hear."

"Very well." They nodded, but regarded her strangely and went back to their posts.

"I knew it was too easy." Thomas continued.

"What was?"

"My escape. They let me escape, because they led me back on a lie back here. They're still playing with me..." he moaned bitterly.

"Are you saying you're Thomas Riker then?" she asked.

He just looked at her. "Imzadi, it is me. Can't you sense it?" he inconspicuously from the guards caressed her hand with his finger.

"Please don't." she snatched her hand back as if he were fire.

"Imzadi... Deanna, I did nothing but dream of you these past two years in my cell. When I found out what they wanted to do with me, all I could think about was escaping to warn you." he looked at her desperately.

"But these thoughts could have been duplicated with the replicant." Troi turned tearful. "We're going to need more proof than that."

"Who? Starfleet or you?" he asked, hurt.

She just stared down at him tearfully, confused, not knowing what to do or say. All she could sense from who ever it was lying on the bed were feelings of love and longing flowing out to her and enveloping her.

"Imzadi please, believe in me." He was tearful too. "Help me. Don't doubt me now. Not with all I've been through. I know I've made my mistakes, but believe me, I've gone through hell for my pay day."

His hand took hold of hers and held onto it tightly, as he still stared up at her.

"Stop it." She tried pulling away.

"You're so beautiful. Different from when I last saw you, but in such a beautiful way. I feel like my dreams have come true to be able to touch you again." He wouldn't let go of her, he couldn't let go of her.

"Stop it!" she cried out.

"Counselor?" the guards came forward and saw what was happening. Immediately they sprang into action by grabbing the other Riker and painfully forcing him to let her go.

He cried out and tried to retaliate, but he was then forcefully pinned to his bed.

"Doctor!" one of the guards called out and Bashir ran out.

Instantly he had a hypospray in his hand and he injected it into the other
Riker, who then fell back into unconsciousness.

"Are you alright?" Bashir turned to Troi.

"Yes." Troi sobbed, and turned and left the room.



1.9


"You spoke to him? Alone?" Riker practically shouted at Troi in surprise.

The three of them were in the Captain's Ready Room, Riker, Troi and Picard. The couple were standing as Picard regarded them both from his position in his chair behind his desk.

"Will, please..." Picard began but Riker cut him off in his barrage against Troi.

"Why didn't you report that he had gained consciousness?"

"He asked me not to..." Troi tried to explain but Riker interrupted again.

"He asked you not to and you obeyed his wishes?" he asked her incredulously.

"Commander!" Picard stood up before Riker could continue on this way.

There was a moments silence as Riker adjusted his stance and took a deep breath, but his eyes were on Troi.

"Captain, if I'm to establish a rapport with the person in the Infirmary to extract information from him..." Troi began irritated.

"Yes, I know Counselor, you need to instigate a relationship with him. And you are not being reprimanded for your conduct. I called you both in here to see how you both are handling this situation. And I've received my answer with out even needing to ask the question." Picard's stare drilled into both of his officers. He focussed on Troi. "Dr. Bashir informed me of the state you were in when you left the Infirmary."

"Sir, it won't happen again." Troi retorted stiffly.

Picard softened by the mask she was trying to put on for him. "Deanna, Will, I know this isn't a healthy position anyone would face in your situation. I know this is hard for the both of you. I've put in a request to have Rena Solon join us in this investigation."

"Thank you sir." Riker gave a nod of appreciation to his Captain, but Troi looked like Picard just slapped her.

"Sir?!" she glared at him, taking Picard by surprise.

"Deanna, you wanted a full telepath's help, who better for the situation than a Betazoid psychologist?" Will smiled at her.

"Are you taking me off this assignment, Captain?" Troi asked Picard.

"Not at all Counselor. Will told me it was in fact your suggestion at soliciting the assistance of a telepath." Picard told her, not understanding her behavior.
"Thank you Captain but it is not necessary." Troi said quickly. "I can handle this alone."

"What? Today showed just the opposite!" Riker said in surprise.

"Will, please, do not countermand me!" Troi now glared at him.

"Fine, Deanna. But you shouldn't talk to him alone, you should have someone present." Will glared back. "That man can't be trusted!"

"That should be my decision!" she snapped at the stifling feeling he was giving her.

"Commanders, please!" Picard stood up. He had had enough of this bickering. "Counselor, Rena Solon is already on her way, at the bequest of Starfleet Command and I believe that if you work with her she can prove a great help to this situation. And Commander, the Counselor will not be interviewing the Riker alone as he is now being held in a detention cell under the supervision of Worf and station security chief Constable Odo." Picard stated.

Riker seemed happy with this, but Troi inwardly fumed and felt her respect as a Counselor was being compromised.

"Dismissed." Picard sat down and watched the two leave. Riker walked out satisfied, but Troi sauntered out rather unhappily.

She went straight for the turbo-lift, and was further annoyed to see Riker follow her in.

"What the hell was all that about?!" he immediately growled as the door shut behind them.

"Deck 16." Troi told the computer and the lift came to life. She regarded Riker, a little disturbed. "I could ask you the same thing."

"You wanted help with this assignment so I was the one who requested it to the Captain. Now that you're getting it, you just totally turn around and bite the hands that try to help you!" Riker said angrily.

"Will, I appreciate your efforts to help me, but I'm starting to feel suffocated by your presence! At first when I turned around, I always found you not far behind, but now you're hindering my work in this investigation!" Troi retorted, equally annoyed.

The two each glared at each other with eyes that could have burnt through the titanium plating around them.

"Will, are you jealous of Thomas?" Deanna asked him, her eyes not leaving his.

"What?" Riker tried to laugh it off.

"There is nothing to be jealous of. If it is the real Thomas, I'll explain to him about us. But if it isn't the real Thomas, than you have nothing to gain from your over-protective behavior." Deanna tried the reasoning approach.
Riker continued to glare at her.

"What ever you say Deanna." He said coldly, and was the first to march out when the lift arrived, leaving behind a troubled Troi.



1.10


The next time Thomas Riker opened his eyes again, he thought somehow he had been re-captured by the Dominion. His head was spinning and his muscles were aching, and he dazedly glanced about himself and found himself back in a cell.

"Oh God..." escaped from his heavy chest, and he was not a religious person.

Slowly he sat up and eyed his surroundings warily. A typical Grey, Cardassian style holding cell, with only a hard, built-in platform against the wall for a bed. The only indication that he was back in Federation territory he had were the Bajoran and the Starfleet guards posted outside the force-field.

He stood up and wandered over closer to get a better look past the force-field. All he saw were more Grey, Cardassian style cells and more Starfleet guards. He rolled his eyes and rubbed his face.

"I'm sick of anything Cardassian now, maybe I should have gone to a different Space Station so I would have had new walls to look at." He grumbled to himself.

His hope was fleeting from him again. In his mind, he had basically flown the coop, to find himself in a new cage, or, jumped from the frying pan and landed directly into the fire. "But how could this have happened? I came here to warn them..." he paced restlessly. "Why has my life been spent so far in prisons or isolation?" The memories of he as a child running down a wide open grassy field to a massive lake of his childhood in Alaska on Earth seemed untrue now. "Maybe they aren't even my memories anymore." He fell back onto the bed and kept his hands over his face. In his mind he was trying to remember the feel of the Earth's sun on his face once again.

He was a sight of weariness, so thought Deanna Troi as she entered the Security area and saw him in his cell. Her heart nearly went out to him, but she held herself back. So she made contact with him the usual way.

"Hello."

Riker started in surprise and looked at her with such haunted eyes, that she nearly lost all of her trained objectivity.

"Hello." He replied unsurely.

"How are you feeling today?" she tried being cheerful and smiled at him.

"Guess." He retorted, looking away from her and fixing his eyes on the ceiling instead.

She could feel his hurt, that she had disappointed him greatly in her lack of trust of him.

"Do you need to see Dr. Bashir?" she asked, concerned.

"No." he said coldly.

"Can I get you something?" she offered. "Are you hungry? Have you eaten yet?"

He froze for a moment. "I haven't eaten anything here yet..." he realized. "I haven't eaten anything for days... now here I could probably order anything I want... hang on, I'm a prisoner here. I'd probably get standard prison rations, but they'd be better than the Cardassians." He thought to himself, but then he sat up and looked at her again. "I am hungry."

"What would you like to eat?" she tried smiling at him again.

"Look at her, so eager to try to please me to then try and trick me by telling her I'm not whom I say I am. But who else can I be?" he thought to himself again, bitterly, before speaking to her. "What can I have? Maggoty bread and polluted water?"

That wiped the smile off her face. She knew he didn't trust her now, and that made her heart flinch. "If I remember correctly, you enjoy two pieces of bacon, two eggs, a grilled tomato and two pieces of toast with black coffee in a morning." She said.

His eyes widened and his mouth watered at just the sound of all of that. She smiled wider.

"I see I'm correct." She turned and left for a moment, but before doubt could settle on him at her offer, she returned, holding the tray of food. Even through the force-field his nose tingled at the smell of that bacon...

A guard let the force-field down as another had his phaser-rifle trained on him as Troi entered with the tray and walked over to him.

She placed the tray in his hands, their eyes joining. He was surprised she'd even come this close to him again after what had happened in the Infirmary.

"Aren't you scared I'll pounce on you again?" he thought longingly to her, wishing she could hear his call to her.

Troi may not have heard the words, but she felt their power. She quickly turned and walked out again, with the force-field back in place.

A little disappointedly Riker turned and sat on his bed, but his stomach rumbling averted his attention. "I can't believe it, human food!" he could feel his digestive system almost jump in delight! Ignoring the cutlery on either side of the plate, he gorged the food down with his hands. The first in was the bacon, then the tomato, then the eggs, and finally the toast.

Troi stood and watched. She was almost disgusted by the sight, but her pity was in the way. She watched him start to slurp down his coffee, but then stop to savor its' bitterness.

"Drink as much as you like, I can always replicate you more." She spoke up.

He looked at her, his sensations being interrupted. "Why? So I'll blurt out from a high of caffeine that your suspicions about me are right?"

"What are my suspicions about you?" she asked him.

"Oh don't treat me like one of your patients." He glared at her.

"It's a simple question to answer." She shrugged wryly. "I didn't know you had developed empathic powers down in the prison camp so that you would know what I'm feeling."

"You don't think I am who I say I am." He said angrily.

"But I do."

"What?" he looked at her in surprise.

"I do believe you are Thomas Riker. But at the moment, for security precautions, Starfleet has to wait for the evidence to tell us you're not." Troi said evenly.

"Oh of course, I'm innocent until proven guilty." Riker chuckled sarcastically. "Starfleet seems to have taken a new stance to people thought innocent until proven guilty. Are all suspects locked up until the findings? Or am I just the only fortunate one?"

"You are in that cell because of what happened in the Infirmary. To some people that was not the act of Thomas Riker." She told him.

Riker stood up and walked over to her. All that was separating them at that moment was the force-field that kept him from reaching out and touching her. It was not the only charged thing between them at that moment.

"And what do you think, Imzadi? Before you said you didn't know who I am, now you say you do but you're waiting for someone else to tell you I'm not. It sounds to me that you're still confused." He said softly to her, trying to meet her eyes, that kept skipping away from his. "Let me touch you, let me be with you again... and you'll know it's me."

Now she looked at him coyly. "Is that the only way you can think of?"

"It's the only way a man who's been imprisoned and tortured who's longed and dreamed of you constantly can prove something... even if only to himself. That the one woman who kept him sane really does exist and that he's not the one insane." He said in a tight voice.

"There's something I should tell you..." Troi wandered a little distance away, trying to blink back the growing tears.

"Now what?" he inwardly blanched.

"I'm engaged."

He stared at her, dumbstruck. "To who?" he blurted out.

"Don't you know?" she smiled again at him, tearfully. "I think you can guess."

He stared at her, hurt and pain wringing out his heart and a searing, burning, vengeful anger clawing at his mind. "No... not HIM..."

"Yes. Him." She said softly. "Can you see me with anyone else? Even when it was with you, in a way it was still him."

"NOOOO!" suddenly Riker went into a maddening fury. He threw his mattress off his bed and against the force-field which spat it back at him.

The guards readied their weapons.

"Thomas, please stop! You'll hurt yourself!" Troi cried, coming closer again.

"I AM NOT HIM! I WAS NEVER HIM! I WILL NEVER BE HIM!" he raged.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that, I'm sorry! Please calm down, you know you're different, I know you're different. You are not the same person." She said hurriedly.

He collapsed onto the metal bed frame and covered his face with his hands again. "I am not a clone of him. I am not unnatural. I really did grow up in Alaska. I am not a clone or copy of anyone. I am myself..."

"Let me in." Troi ordered one of the guards.

"But Counselor..." the Starfleet guard objected.

"I'm in command here, do it!" she snapped at him. "What is it with everyone lately to constantly underhand me?" she wandered to herself.

The guard quickly obeyed, then he and the other security personnel took aim as a precaution.

Troi slowly walked over to the distraught figure on the bed, and knelt down beside him.

"Thomas... I'm here for you." she put her hand on him. But he wanted more than a hand. She was suddenly engulfed as he held her tightly to him. He finally had her in his clutches and right then he would not have let her go. Her ribs began aching at the pressure.

"Please... please... don't doubt me now. If you doubt me then I'll start doubting myself." He murmured tearfully.

"I don't doubt you, Thomas, I don't doubt you." she stroked his back. "I believe in you."



1.11


Thomas Riker was escorted by four Starfleet security officers to the Conference Room. Inside awaited him Counselor Troi, Capt. Picard, Capt. Sisko, Major Kira, Dr. Bashir, Dr. Crusher and his counterpart, Com. William Riker. He had to force back his hatred that threatened to swell up, and from the look on Com. Riker's face, he was probably doing the same thing. Troi noted this uneasily.

"Please, sit down Thomas." Sisko said genially, indicating the chair at the end of the table.

After a wary glance at all of them, Thomas Riker obeyed.

"I've arranged new quarters for you after this meeting at Counselor Troi's suggestion. It mustn't be pleasant escaping one cell only to wind up in another." Sisko said deeply.

"No it isn't." Thomas Riker stated.

"But you must understand that in this situation we have to judge and scrutinize your actions closely. So far our medical tests on you have come up with nothing conclusive." Picard told him. "In our point of view we are stuck in the middle of two people pointing the finger at each other with no evidence to indicate which way we should be leaning."

"I don't understand that." Thomas stated.

"And why not?" Will retorted.

"What exact proof has the Dominion given you? It's my understanding that they just told you a mad Clone out to assassinate all in it's path is coming your way. So theoretically anybody could have escaped across the boarders only to be arrested because they believed their greatest enemies lie." He glared at them all.

Sisko and Picard exchanged glances.

"Well then Thomas, what proof do you have for us?" Sisko asked him, sitting back and watching him.

"When I was brought to somebody called Weyoun, he mentioned that his scientists had noticed a unique cell division, a sped-up process of mitosis that they could use to study and to create more people. He said that by studying this effect, it may be possible to just replicate duplicates of people by transporter technology." Thomas explained to them. "I was then taken to a laboratory where samples were taken from all over my body, and they didn't exactly use any pain suppressants either."

He noticed most people in the room flinch at that idea.

"Yes, your mistreatment has shown in your medical examinations." Picard said sympathetically.

"So isn't it warrant enough that I'm telling you the truth? I have no agenda here. I didn't make all that effort to escape just to tell you lies. I just want to return to Earth, to my home in Alaska." Thomas snapped.

"Why Earth?" Will Riker now scanned him with obvious suspicion.

"I just said, I want to return home." Thomas sneered back at him.

"But you have hardly any family left there." Will stated.

"But our father's house is still by the lake." Thomas shrugged.

"Ah, you want to start fishing again. Or you just want to be on the same continent as Starfleet Headquarters so you can just beam over there and assassinate a Federation Official or two." Will accused.

"That's not it at all!" Thomas stood up.

"That's enough Number One!" Picard ordered.

"If none of you believe me just shoot me right now! You're as bad as the Cardassians at playing your little games!" Thomas yelled at them all.

"We are not in the habit of shooting our suspects, Mr. Riker. If you would sit down again, we'll try to continue this in a more civilized manner." Picard said dryly.

"I am not going to spend another day in a cell." He said strongly.

"I don't remember telling you you would." Sisko's expression didn't change, and his eyes held onto him. "Do you want to validate yourself or not?"

Reluctantly Thomas obeyed a second time.

"This mitosis you mentioned." Dr. Crusher spoke up. "I noticed the same thing in my original scan of you back on the Enterprise D. If they are using this in the creation of duplicates, did they mention any faults that might occur?"

"No, they did not." He sighed.

"If the speed of mitosis was doubled when the accident created you, there might be a chance that the next duplicate's mitosis would have even tripled." Bashir thought aloud.

"That's what I was wandering." Dr. Crusher nodded with him. "And if that's so, we might be able to detect them by running level 3 scans at the DNA level."

"But if they're creating duplicates from duplicates since you escaped," Bashir looked at Thomas, "then the mitosis will continue to double and triple its speed."

"And that could accelerate the aging process!" Dr. Crusher finished his thinking.

"Exactly!" Bashir cried animatedly.

"If your scans are absolutely identical to the ones you performed those years ago doctor, including the speed of mitosis, than this is Thomas Riker?" Picard asked his physician.

"Yes, that's right." Crusher nodded to him.

"Congratulations on being you again, Thomas," Sisko smirked.

Thomas Riker looked visibly relieved, so did Troi and Kira.

"Thank you sir, but I don't recall a time I ever stopped." Thomas smirked back.

"Wait! This is not conclusive!" Will Riker called out unhappily.

This turned all eyes on him.

"Why not Commander?" Picard gave him a funny look, including Troi.

"What if this theorizing about speeds of mitosis or cell division or whatever you want to call it is all wrong? And we release a dangerous man into the Federation?" he asked them all incredulously. "And when Starfleet Command asks why, we tell them we got excited about genetics?"

The two Doctors exchanged an annoyed look.

"I beg your pardon, Will?" Crusher raised her eyebrows at him. She had never been so rudely undermined before, especially from a colleague as close to her as Riker was.

"I assure you Commander, our 'theorizing' is validated. If you have other ideas, we can prove it to you and Starfleet Command." Bashir said coolly.

"Really, how?" Sisko asked, interested.

"We take both Com. Riker and Thomas back to the Infirmary and run a level 3 scan on each of them. It should show us that Thomas's cellular mitosis is twice as fast than the Commander's." Bashir explained.

"Why didn't you pick up on this before, about the different mitosis?" Kira asked them.

"When a person is transported, as you know, their bodies are pulled apart at the molecular level, and this includes their DNA patterns. The elements of DNA, adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine, that form the rungs on the ladder of DNA that are also pulled apart in the process. When DNA molecules replicate, they 'unravel' their rails and each of the rails keep these elements. Starfleet Medical has records of people who have been in the situation of being transported a number of times in a small proximity of time that the effect on the person is their DNA starting to 'unravel', replicating more than usual that the cells go through mitosis double the speed." Dr. Crusher informed her.

"Then it returns to normal in that person after a short period of time. But if a person happened to be created from a transporter accident, then their cellular mitosis would be permanently fixed at a higher speed. Almost like their cells were in a different flux rate." Bashir continued.

"Does this mean Thomas will have a shorter life span?" Troi asked worriedly, much to Will's chagrin.

"Not noticeably, maybe a couple of years shorter? His mitosis rate is still at a reasonable level, that's probably why Dr. Crusher did not raise concern of this from the original scan." Bashir reassured her.

"That's right. But any other duplicates could lose many years from their lives, even if their mitosis is triple the speed, that's already 20 years gone." Crusher warned. "We can go the Infirmary now and show you the difference in the scans."



1.12


Each Riker sat on a different bed, across from the other, exchanging darkened looks, as each Doctor worked on one. Everybody else stood to the side and waited.

"The results are just running through the computer now." Bashir announced, and punched a few commands, and the information showed on the screen in the wall.

Then everyone stared...

"Ah, Doctors, they look exactly the same." Kira spoke first.

"I don't understand it..." Bashir stammered.

"What's wrong?" Picard asked.

"Their cellular mitosis rate is exactly the same." Crusher announced.

"But how?" Troi exclaimed.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but their speeds are both doubled." Sisko stated, reading the results and he turned to Will Riker.

All eyes turned on Will Riker.

"Will?" Picard stared.

"Oh, don't tell me you think..." Will Riker stared back at them all incredulously. "I am NOT a clone!"

"Then how can you explain these readings?" Sisko asked him.

"I don't know!" he burst out in frustration. "You're looking at the wrong man! I'm the original Riker, remember?" He helplessly looked at Troi. "Deanna, tell them!"

But she stood there just as flabbergasted.

"Wait a minute." Picard tried getting a hold of the situation. "I think we need a further investigation into the facts here."

Crusher hit some new controls. "Look at the activity in the cells in his frontal lobes of his brain."

"Yes, I see it..." Bashir leaned in closer.

"Doctor?" Sisko asked. "What is it?"

"There's a slight defect in Will Riker's imprinted genes in his brain cells. Imprinted genes exist in pairs, one from the father, and one from the mother. The gene on the mother's side has been replaced." Bashir announced.

"Replaced?" Picard echoed, trying to follow.

"The detail is so minute a normal scan wouldn't pick it up. It's because we're running a level 3 DNA scan that we're seeing this now." Crusher told Picard. "The mother's paired gene with the father's gene is responsible for many behavioral traits in a person. If you adjusted that gene, you would be adjusting how that person fits into society by his ability to plan and understand language."

"You could program a person. When I was genetically altered, my mother's paired genes were altered more than my father's genes to sharpen those skills. Will Riker's father's genes are now stronger than his weakened mother's genes, adjusting his natural instincts in feeding, fighting and reproduction."

"Could these adjustments be made to a duplicate created by transporter technology?" Sisko asked them.

"That would be the ideal way since you're putting the person together molecule by molecule, you could choose what to leave out or what to put in." Bashir nodded.

"I don't believe this!" Riker exploded. "Deanna, tell them!"

Troi stumbled, "I don't know anymore." She put her hands over her mouth and stared at him in fear. "I have been getting strange emanations from you of late... your sudden proposal, your fierce jealousy of Thomas, your determination to make everyone believe that Thomas is not who he says he is at all..." she moved away from the both of the Rikers.

"I agree. I think that both Rikers need to remain here in the Infirmary as more tests are done." Picard ordered.

Now the two Rikers exchanged such a look of loathing of the other. Will Riker seemed to morph into a cornered animal.

"You! it's your fault!" Will Riker spat at him.

"Mine?" Thomas scoffed back.

"You were always in the way. I am the first! The original!" Will Riker launched himself from the bed and leapt upon Thomas.

"Stop it!" Picard tried pulling Will back as Sisko grabbed Thomas.

"I love Deanna! I loved her from the beginning!" Will continued, pulling himself lose and wrapping his hands about his other's throat. Kira jumped into the foray to assist Sisko, then Bashir tried helping Picard from keeping Will at bay as Crusher grabbed a hypospray and put it into Will's neck. "Deanna..." he moaned a last time.

Will slumped back into the two men's hold and together they lifted him back onto the bio-bed.

Deanna Troi had remained in the same position the whole time, her eyes never leaving the now unconscious figure.

"What is it?" Kira asked her.

"He had such desperation in him... such fear." She uttered. "Something's wrong" she now stepped closer. "I'm getting no emotions from him at all now."

Picard's eyes widened at what she was suggesting, and Crusher and Bashir immediately ran a Tricorder over Will.

"He's dead..." Bashir said confounded.

"What?" Sisko snapped.

"Get me a cortical stimulator!" Crusher barked at the nurse in the background and she and Bashir got to work.

Deanna stepped back again, her tears lose from her eyes, as everyone else's eyes looked on in shock, including Thomas. No-one noticed her leaving.

1.13


The lone figure stooped over her drink at the bar in Quark's avoided all eye contact with the rest of the patrons by staring down into her drink. A lock of her hair had fallen into her beverage, as well as a few tears, but from her not moving, it would seem that she didn't care.

"Can I join you?" Kira sat next on the stool beside her a little worn for wear herself. "A roktagino." She ordered one of the Ferengi bar tenders.

There was no reply from the figure.

"You don't come here often, do you? I didn't think you were the type to drink. What is that you're having?" Kira asked her, partly amused.

"A tequila." Came a muffled reply from the bent over head.

"Tequila? Isn't that a human beverage?" Kira asked.

"Someone put me onto it."

"Figures." Kira sighed. "It was Dax who put me onto the Klingon coffee. Now I'm addicted to it."

"I'm not addicted to it." Said the small voice.

"What, to roktagino?" Kira teased.

"No, tequila." Deanna Troi finally looked up and at the Major. "You don't like me, do you?"

"You've been drinking." Kira tried not to laugh from the smell on the Counselor's breath.

"It was Zefram Cochrane actually." Troi continued.

"What about Cochrane?" Kira's chuckle escaped her.

"Who put me onto tequila." Troi stated.

"Oh." Kira nodded. "Well, actually, I might join you." she waved the bartender over once more and changed her order.

There was a silence as the two women drank.

"If that wasn't Will, where is he?" Troi turned back to Kira.

"We don't know." Kira looked down, disturbed. "No-one knows. Not even Thomas Riker."

"It's not fair..." Troi began with fresh tears.

"I know." Kira sighed deeply and took another sip.

"It's always one or the other."

"Excuse me?" Kira gave her a funny look.

"At first I have Will. But then Will wants to see other women and then Thomas comes along. But then Thomas leaves me again to chase his career, just like Will did too. Now Will's gone yet again, and Thomas is here wanting things back the way they were." She sobbed. "But through out all of this, where is my real Imzadi?"

"We'll find the real Will Riker, Starfleet I'm sure will launch an investigation and even a rescue attempt." Kira put her hand on Troi's arm.

"And do you know what the worst thing about this is?" Troi continued.

"What?" Kira asked, trying to be as understanding as possible.

"As soon as my mother finds out about all this, she's going to give me a huge I TOLD YOU SO." Troi swallowed the rest of her drink in a massive gulp.

"You're worried about your mother?" Kira couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. She had some sympathy for the Counselor from her own dealings with Lwaxana Troi.

"She keeps nagging me to marry, particularly to Will, and when it's the fake that's proposed, she's... she's..." Troi tried to get off her stool and would have fell if Kira hadn't of caught her. "I'm going to go find him."

"Sure you are, tomorrow morning. But right now you're going to bed." Kira tried helping her stand.

"He was there for me, he's always been there for me." Troi collapsed into tears. "How did... did the other one... die...?"

"The duplicate of Will Riker died from the genetic implant in his brain. He was programmed to die on the advent of his discovery." Kira told her after using the rest of her energy from putting her back on her stool.

The two were silent again.

"Your friends are looking for you. You shouldn't be alone." Kira said softly to her. She indicated over her shoulder, and she looked back to see Capt. Picard and Dr. Crusher enter the bar.

"It's not like the real Will Riker is dead." Troi tried to shrug, trying to put on a brave front again.

Kira nearly retorted, 'but how do you know?', but bit her tongue. Troi seemed to sense this.

"He's alive. I can feel it." The Betazoid gazed directly into the Bajoran's eyes.

Just the strength of that moment made Kira's doubts instantly wash away from Troi's statement.

"Then we'll find him." Kira said strongly. "And I can finally keep my promise."

The two women held a long look, engaged in a new understanding of the other.

Capt. Picard indicated a table and then he and Dr. Crusher sat down, keeping their friend in eye-sight.

"Poor Deanna." Dr. Crusher sighed. "Poor Will. Does Starfleet have any idea where he could be?"

"I think they're assuming he could be on the Lazon 2 colony that Thomas escaped from." Picard said.

"We get one back, and lose the other." Crusher smirked at him in the irony, which Picard shared.

"Capt. Sisko is talking to Admiral Haftel now to see whether we should launch a rescue attempt.." Picard informed her. "And to see who should launch it, the Enterprise or the Defiant."

Dax and Worf now entered, and after a glance at Troi at the bar, crossed over to join Picard and Crusher.

"Sir, may we join you?" Worf asked.

"Please do Mr. Worf." Picard and Crusher smiled at them both.

"Sir, I would like to put in the request that if Starfleet sends the Enterprise into Dominion space, that I accompany you. I am familiar with a large part of that area." Worf told him.

"Granted. It will be much appreciated, thank you." Picard nodded.

Capt. Sisko with Chief O'Brien entered the bar and immediately went straight to Picard's table. Everyone looked up expectantly for news.

"The Admiral wishes it to be the Defiant to enter Dominion space, as she's a smaller, more maneuverable ship, also with the cloaking device." Sisko stated, and Crusher and Picard exchanged glances. "But members of the Enterprise are invited to join us."

"Thank you Captain." Picard gave a nod.

"Did Adm. Haftel really say that?" Dax smiled knowingly.

"Captain's prerogative." Sisko and Picard exchanged small smiles.

"Is there news?" Kira asked, as she and Troi joined everybody and everyone was seated.

"The Defiant accompanied by members of the Enterprise have authorization to search for Com. Riker." Sisko announced.

"When do we leave?" Kira asked determinedly.

"As soon as possible." Sisko said.

Thomas Riker stood at the entrance of Quark's and surveyed the scene. He saw them all seated there, surrounding his Imzadi, who looked somewhat... frazzled...? He watched a Ferengi waiter put their drinks down and then they all raised their glasses to make a toast.

"To finding Com. Riker." Picard said strongly.

"Com. Riker." Everyone echoed, and then downed the liquid.

"Well I'm certainly not needed here." He sighed sadly and turned and left again.

Troi and Kira noticed his departure. Troi resumed her sorrowful stare into her drink as Kira looked baffled.

"Thomas should come on this mission. If we're going to Lazon 2, he would know that planet better than anyone." Kira suggested.

"I've already asked Thomas Riker to join us, which he declined. His main goal at this moment is an early retirement to his home on Earth." Sisko told her.

"It's understandable. In his position I'd expect he'd rather stay this side of the border for the time being." O'Brien said sympathetically.

Troi looked up disturbed. "I don't believe his Twin's life is a great concern for him. The Will Riker that died in the Infirmary today... his anger towards Thomas and back was genuine."

"How would any of us feel with the knowledge that there is an another one of us around, a copy that behaves differently to us." Picard looked at everyone. "And the possibility that more creations of us were being released, everyday."

The group went into a pensive silence.



Thomas Riker shared a drink with no one in his quarters. His solitude and hate still imprisoned him.

He stared into his dark drink, which reminded him of Deanna's liquid dark eyes, and he saw his beloved Imzadi gazing back up at him.

At first his heart picked up a beat as he continued to stare wishfully. But then the eyes melted back into his drink, reminding him bitterly of his irreconcilable separation from his beloved.

He felt utterly alone.