Deception

Posted on Sun Apr 26th, 2026 @ 5:13am by Commander Kevin Lance
Edited on on Sun Apr 26th, 2026 @ 5:14am

893 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Into the mirror
Location: Mirror Universe
Timeline: Several days after Warped Reflection

on:
{Orion, Mirror Universe}

“You will be happy to learn that this little charade is also at an end.”

Kevin look up from the book that he had been reading. The Captain of the Emperor’s Guard, a man who had never volunteer his name and Kevin had not bothered to learn, entered the room. As expected from the surly tone of address, he was alone. In his several days of loosely guard captivity, Kevin had come to the conclusion that most of the guards and administrative staff that he had come into infrequent contact with were under the impression that he was the Emperor. Only this commander and a high level administrator that served as a chief of staff seemed to be in the loop as to Kevin’s true identity.

The Emperor, along with Captain Nachthauser and Jason, had disappeared soon after that first meeting. Kevin came to the conclusion that he was being held as bait for this Angel of Death that others referred to, someone who was the Emperor’s mortal enemy, while the real Emperor was off on some other nefarious activity in the Chuck Norrus. Taking the boy seemed calculated to draw Mira towards himself, a prescient stratagem as she would tear a hole in the galaxy to recover her child, but nothing that Kevin had been able to do was sufficient to discover where the Emperor had taken the babe.

Aside from the captain and the chief of staff, who treated Kevin with a distain tinged respect in public but contempt in private, the rest of the people that he met, mostly guards and administrators, treated him as if he were the Emperor. They seemed confused and borderline alarmed at Kevin’s treatment under house arrest but none questioned his identity. The fact that he wasn’t actually the Emperor must have been a close held secret.

“I confess that I have no idea what you mean,” Kevin replied languidly has he made a show of turning his attention back to his book.

“The Angel of Death,” the Captain relayed with get relish, “Had been spotted approaching Orion in a Klingon vessel. Quite her style.”

“You spotted her approach?” Kevin queried without looking up, “Must not be a very good assassin.’

“She is exquisite,” the Captain countered, “Letting her target know that she is coming is part of modus operandi. Rest assured, when the final blow lands you will not see it.”

This concerned Kevin but he suppress an outward response with a veneer of a blase expression.
The Captain continued. “She will undoubtably find and kill you. We have left a critical path to you open and unguarded. She will find and kill you, then we will descend upon her.”

“If she is as good as you say,” Kevin countered, “will she not see through your ruse? Kill me without getting caught herself?”

The Captain shrugged, “Killing her is secondary to your purpose, a bonus if you will. The main goal is to distract her while the Emperor completes his final mission.”

“Which is?”

The Captain was about to continue when he caught himself and smiled. “I have said too much already. Just be satisfied that you are playing your part in the ascension in the Terran Empire’s greatest ruler.” And what that, the Captain tuned to leave.

But before he was able to reach to door, Kevin was able to close the distance between them and wrap a length of fiber optic cable, acquired from behind a wall plate in the quarters, around the Captain’s neck. The surprise was almost complete but the Captain had taken the precious moments between awareness and reaction to draw his phaser rather than take evasive action. From his superior position behind his adversary, Kevin was able to avoid the wild shots from the weapon while applying continuous tension to choke out his opponent.

It was only a matter of second for the Captain’s anger to transition to fear as the pressure on the fiber optic cable cut into his skin and closed off the carotid arteries in his neck. He dropped the phaser and clawed at the cable in a vain attempt to get his fingers underneath. To Kevin, it seemed like a lifetime that he struggled to maintain sufficient tension but it was barely more than a half score of seconds before his victim slumped forward, unconscious.

Kevin could hear the guard outside, hammer on the door, through the sound of his heart beating in his ears. The Captain had secured the door to be able to harass Kevin undisturbed but that decision would now be the death of him. Unwilling to take the time to kill the Captain through asphyxiation, Kevin release his victim after a minute and grabbed the phaser from the floor. Before the man had a chance to regain consciousness, Kevin fired a lethal shot into his head.

The adrenaline coursing through his veins gave his hands a pronounced tremor that he had to forcibly suppress as he took the neural agitator from the dead man. After another moment to compose himself, he unlock and opened the door to his quarters.

“I am betrayed!” he proclaim to the two alarmed guard outside of his door, “The Captain attempted to assassinate me.”

:off

Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris

 

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