Doppelganger

Posted on Wed Mar 30th, 2022 @ 4:12am by Lieutenant Skot Ryder & Lieutenant Tequila Dreik

Mission: 00 -Life on the Line
Timeline: Prior to Everything Current

It hadn't been hard to pull it together. A few comms and her wish had been granted. It also helped that one or two bottles of the Captain's stash had been thrown in to grease the deal.

Even getting access to his quarters wasn't difficult. Emergency medical override codes were a wonderful thing, especially when one really didn't care about being caught.

While she worked on setting the scene, she let her companion roam freely, exploring Skot's quarters, shifting things around, turning things upside down, generally just leaving chaos and havoc in his wake, as he was want to do.

Even her companion was unusually compliant. Charlie donned a uniform that was an exact replica of Skot's, down to the pips and commbadge. He sat at Skot's private desk in his quarters and he picked up Skot's prized coffee mug.

Hell, Tiki had no doubt that Charlie could probably take over as Skot and no one would notice a discernable change ‌in the skill level, *or* the conversational skills for that matter. Just because Charlie happened to be a Chimpanzee, it didn't mean Skot was any more qualified.

Retreating back out into the corridor, Tiki left Charlie at the desk, alternating between swinging the coffee cup wildly above his head and slobbering on it while she made her way into the empty quarters next door and waited.

It had been a long day as Skot was dragging himself back to his quarters. He was looking forward to a long rinse in the sonic shower followed by a fresh pot of coffee and getting caught up on some reading he had been putting off. Skot excitedly entered his quarters and was brought to a complete stop.

His quarters looked like a bomb had gone off. His clothes were strewn across the floor as was all his other belongings including his replica of an eighteenth century coffee press. As Skot continued to scan the chaos that was his quarters his gaze came to rest on his desk and the 'special guest' that was sitting in his chair, with his favorite coffee mug stuck in it's mouth. "What the hell happened?!?!?" Skot yelled all too loudly.

Using her medical override again, Tiki entered his quarters again and headed straight for the desk, keeping a perfectly straight face as she stormed passed a very unimpressed Skot. She sat on the edge of the desk, eyeing the chimp. "Alright, Lieutenant Ryder," she stated, still ignoring the human and addressing the chimp directly. "I need to reschedule your physical, it seems you've lost a bit of weight... and height.." She pursed her lips, her brow furrowing in an expression that might have other circumstances could have been construed for concern. "Actually, you do look a little peaky, are you feeling okay?"

Skot was dumbfounded, "What...the...what..." was all he could stammer out before his gaze came to rest on his now mortal enemy. His eyes squinted into tight slits, "You," he said in a drawn out barley audible tone.

"You," the word was drawn out into a hiss. Tiki glanced around, sightless eyes passing over the human Skot. "Sounds like you have a problem with the environmentals in here, you may want to get operations to look in on that," she stated simply. "Now, as I was saying... I need to reschedule your medcal but you're looking a bit peaky, if you're not feeling well I can see if I can get you in sooner rather than later?"

"I passed my physical last week if you will recall," Skot said in a very accusing tone as he walked over the 'other' Skot and jerked his now dented prized mug from it's hands. "I am rather curious how you got this THING," emphasizing the last word, "onboard the station. You know what? I don't want to know. I don't get paid enough to deal with this."

As Skot snatched the mug, the chimpanzee got visibly agitated, jumping up on the desk and reaching for the mug, screeching as its arms swung wildly in the human Skot's direction.

Tiki shook her head. "You poor thing, you really are just not quite yourself aren't you?" she asked sympathetically. "Computer, transport Lieutenant Skot Ryder directly to sickbay, medical emergency. Authorization Dreik Sigma Nine Delta Seven Seven Tango Three."

Before he could respond, the human Skot shimmered out of sight, rematerializing moments later inside sickbay, still holding the mug, a slew of very uncertain staff staring at him, trying to determine the cause of the medical emergency.

With a grin, Tiki reached out to the chimpanzee, allowing him to climb up into her arms. "Who's a good boy..." she said as she ruffled the top of his head. "You know what, I think you make a better Skot than the real thing," she murmured as she headed toward the door. "Better looking too."

Skot took a deep breath before closing his eyes and letting it out slowly. He squeezed onto his dented mug so tight one of the nurses thought his hand would start bleeding at any moment and tried to stop him so she could look at yet Skot just shrugged her off. He marched his way back to his quarters mumbling "I'm gonna kill her!" the entire way.