Hauk / Hauk’ materialized on the pad and promptly grabbed his head, screamed and crumbled like a marionette puppet with its strings suddenly cut.
Down he went and the transporter officer was suddenly in complete panic mode.
Not because a Starfleet Fleet Admiral was crumbled on the pad in front of him … or was it a Klingon Dahar Master? …. One couldn’t be sure in situations like this.
Hell … maybe it was both?
“MEDICAL EMERGENCY IN TRANSPORTER ROOM 2!” he screamed into his commbadge, even as his hands flowed across his control panel in a professional manner that came from years of training.
He left the Klingon on crumbled on the transporter pad to the security officer who was supposed to be there as escort for the expected pair of Klingons but instead was overseeing the comfort of the flag officer sprawled before them all.
“He’s still alive,” the security officer called out before looking back at the transporter officer.
“What the hell happened????” he asked.
“According to diagnostics, the transporter of origin initiated the transport sequence of the pair making the handoff to our transporter which saw the patterns as basically identical and so registered it as ONE pattern!”
His fingers continued their dance, working the controls to see if the damage could be undone.
“So, the system merged the patterns into one form and the result is now laid out in front of us,” he continued.
“Can it be reversed?” Sec asked.
“I’ve already tried to reverse the transport …. Even used the Tuvix protocols from Voyager but because they were copies of the same damned person … The system can’t lock onto the individual patterns and still only sees the one!”
“We are SO SO fucked!” he added for good measure.
Monitoring the Klingon’s life signs til the medics arrived, the sec glanced back at the transporter officer.
“I definitely don’t want to be in your shoes when the brass … or their families find out,” sec told him.
Before the transporter chief could offer a response, the medical team burst into the room, simply adding to the chaos of the moment.
“There is no … easy … way of saying this,” Admiral Adoy began, “but there has been an accident.”
“Hauk and Hauk’ were beaming from the ceremony to their respective ships when there was … an accident,” he explained.
“Two beamed off one pad, but only one rematerialized on the other end,” he continued.
“Were they able to recover the lost pattern and rematerialize?” Admiral Quinn asked, taken aback.
“Only one pattern remained,” Adoy answered.
“Which one did we lose?”
“Both? …. Neither?” Adoy answered.
At Quinn’s puzzled expression, the Moketian continued.
“From what they’ve been able to piece together so far, the system hiccupped and mistook the two for one individual and combined their patterns into one.”
“Since they are essentially the same person, just from different realities,” he continued. “It went rather seamlessly with both consciousnesses knitting together into one – one that maintains the memories of both individuals.”
“How are efforts going to separate them back into two again?” Quinn asked.
“All signs point towards that being an impossibility, Adoy answered. “Something about the fact they are the same person … albet two different realities … Their patterns are impossible to differentiate and so splitting them back into two is …”
“… not possible,” Quinn finished for him.
“Seems this new version of Hauk has come to terms with it, however, and is shrugging it off.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow as the other Admiral continued.
“He feels both of his old selves would be content with this arrangement as both exist inside him … He is in a sense … both. … All their memories and even their traits were pretty much the same.”
“As they would see and approach things is as he does.”
“Apparently, it … completes them somehow,” he added. “As if it was meant to be this way from the very beginning.”
“Destined to be?” Quinn noted. “How are the Klingons and Hauk’s family taking this?”
“You know Klingons … They shrug off such things and so are content with Hauk’s decision,” Adoy answered.
“And the family?”
“Same … Families feel the person they love continues to exist. Only difference is Hauk’ got his missing eye back … thanks to his counterpart who … thanks to Hauk’ … now sports the scar across that once missing eye.”
“Has Hauk decided what he’s going to do … professionally speaking that is?” Quinn asked.
“Starfleet or Klingon Empire?”
“He will return to family holdings of House of Rha, which he will ‘continue’ to lead … and plans to serve in the Khitomer Alliance … straddling both, Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force via the neutrality of the Alliance.”
“An interesting solution,” Quinn noted. “Not bad. … Going to miss my sparring sessions with Hauk’, however.”
“On that, Admiral,” Adoy said with smile. “Hauk’ wanted me to tell you that he expects on the mat tomorrow and to bring your sword … wanting me to tell you that you are NOT getting out of this week’s session that easily and as before … Holo-communicates will allow you both to continue the sessions via holodecks.”
Quinn laughed, knowing he should have realized he wasn’t getting out of it that easily.
Maybe they both WERE still in that new body created by a transporter gone berserk.