In Twilights Shadow

Posted on 18 Sep 2026 @ 2:09pm by Captain Alexandria Somers
Edited on on 19 Sep 2026 @ 5:24pm

2,953 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: General Sim Postings
Location: Various
Timeline: A Few Decades before current events

[ON]

Timeline: Stardate 237208.01 - Stardate 237211.23

A young Marine Corporal, Alexandria Lynne Somers, was not long turned seventeen standard years and had just finished intensive Marine training. She had the passing marks to enter Starfleet Academy and come out as an officer, but she wanted a grittier life, much to the dismay of her parents. So,o some days after graduation from SFMC basic training, Alex was called into the Aide to the Chief of Marines' office on Earth for a new assignment. As a young, impressionable Marine, Alexandria entered and smartly saluted and only lowered her hand when the Major returned it. She noted a Fleet Officer with a black undershirt standing at the back of the Major, and to her right was another young Marine, one she recognised as her friend from basic training. At this stage of her career, she always had a buzz cut hairstyle; not long after graduating, she had gotten used to it, so she kept up the habit.

“Privates Alexandria Somers and Annabelle Graves, both graduated top of Marine basic training and both with close friendships and influence,” Donohue began.

oO Both so young, must still be teenagers Oo Donohue thought to himself and checked their files. Both had not long graduated, and now they had been assigned to him, but their scores were in the top five percentile. He re-read Somers’s file and privately wondered why she was a Marine and not at the Academy.

She was from a well-to-do family, very influential, a daughter of an ambassador and yet here she was in the Marines. Then he looked at their ages; Somers was seventeen and Annabelle eighteen. Oh, what is Starfleet doing! They are assigning kids jobs that seasoned vets would have trouble doing Oo he thought alarmingly to himself.

Alex looked at the Major and inhaled as she spoke “I suppose being picked for some Special Operations duty our families being influential, moved us to the top of the list, yes, Major?” Somers asked, and heard Annie inhale in surprise.

The Major raised an eyebrow and showed a small smile “I see, Private Somers. Your penchant for bluntness and brazen speech is still with you. Why did you make such a comment?” he asked, and he knew that Somers could be analytical when she wanted to be and methodical; it's what made him wonder again why she declined Starfleet Academy.

She began to tick things off her fingers, “First, there is that Starfleet Intel agent standing behind you are looking all broody and serious; the fact that you pulled two graduates from SFMC basic combat school and pulled us into your office to boot. *pause* A personal meeting tells me it's important, and that black shirt there *points at the Intel Officer* tells me it is something that Intel wants a team to take something out but does not have the manpower or resources to complete this task,” Somers said.

The Intel Officer took notice of this young Marine for the first time; he studied her. She looked back at him, unblinking and with a small knowing smile, locked eyes; now it was a battle of pride. Looking intently at the Agent but with amusement in her face.

“Agent, whatever you are, I am a Diplomat and a retired Colonel's daughter; you really think you can outstare me?” Somers asked, in a playful tone. The Major and Annabelle observed this in silence as both shared a puzzled look and both looked at each other and shrugged. The Major watched Somers tilt her head to the side, making the Intel Officer follow. She moved her head the other direction; he also followed. It was a good thirty minutes before the Major spoke.

He was feeling helpless but understood the pride of the young Private before him; she was what would be termed an Alpha-type female “Okay, both of you, stop it!” Donohue loudly exclaimed. Both looked at him, surprised and said at the same time, “Huh!”

Alex knew she was winning the staring battle and was surprised when she heard a loud shout, “HUH!” Being suddenly brought out of her silent staring battle with the Intelligence agent, who had the same response and said it at the same time. The Intelligence Officer was helpless looking into the young Marine’s blue eyes, and he felt himself tilting his head one way then the other; it was like she mesmerised him. Suddenly, he was brought out of the staring contest with a loud voice: “HUH!” Agent Simms said in surprise as he looked at the Major.

“I see we are both as good as each other; well played, Agent,” Somers said with a friendly smile directed at the SFI agent. Annabelle giggled as the Intel agent cleared his throat and gave a shallow respectful bow of his head at Alex. “Young graduates and Intel officers, this is not going to be a good team-up!” Donohue said exasperated, “Now where was I?” “About to brief us, Sir,” Somers said innocently, looking at the Major. Oh, I so like playing with Starfleet Intelligence Officers, oh, Alex thought to herself.

“You will both be promoted to full Corporals as of now, and thank you, Corporal; it was a rhetorical question,” the Major said, giving Somers a disapproving look and a raised eyebrow.

Alexandria gave him a shallow respectful nod and a questionable comment: “Of course, sir, mouths shut, ears open,” she said as she wondered why she always got off easy; to this day, it still puzzled her. Some of the things she had said and done, she always seemed to get off lightly, and it should not have been that way.

The Major rolled his eyes as he saw the Intel Officer smiling oO well, at least someone is amused Oo Donohue thought. “Okay, I will let Agent Simms brief you on this. I need a coffee.” With that, the Major went over to the replicator as the SFI Agent indicated for both women to sit. When they were, he began So that is his name Oo Alex thought to herself.

“Starfleet Intelligence External Ops Agents brought this data back. It is a Romulan Tal Shiar research base, but it is in Romulan space, so it will only be Tal Shiar and some Rogue Section 31 Agents there, we hope!” he paused to let the impact of that sink in.

Then he dimmed the room and activated a view screen on the back wall of the office; on the view screen, the visuals moved towards a well-armed alien facility. It was partially built inside a mountain, and the visuals panned around the outside of the facility, showing the guards that were on the outside; occasionally, a trail or something would flash. What they both saw was a research facility, and all they could see in the way of guards were Romulans wearing old-style Tal Shiar uniforms and some humans in black outfits could also be seen; this intrigued Alex. Eventually, the visuals ended, and the lights came back up, and Alex looked to Simms.

Alex was interested in how they got the images, but she had more questions about what was actually inside. She knew getting anything stealthy into there was nigh on impossible, so she simply said: “Okay, sir, give us what details you can, etc.” Somers said and looked in the direction Simms was looking; Annie had raised her hand.

After the show ended, Annie had some concerns; it was not so much the guards and such, it was how the information was gathered “Sir, how did you manage to get such a close recording of the building?” Annabelle Graves asked.

Agent Simms looked at Annabelle and raised a right eyebrow. He did not like answering too many questions like this, so he simply said, “Trade secret,” Simms replied with a small smile.

Alex looked first at Annie, then to Simms and back again before she spoke. *Shrugging* “It is probably one of their stealth probes; it is the only thing that has something close to a cloaking device. While not actually a cloaking device, the probe is of some special reflective material that acts in the manner of a ship's cloak. Of course, not only does it have stealth tech like signal jammers and anti-scan, but it is also fast and virtually undetectable if you do not know what you are looking for, but they are only used once before they self-destructed if that is what it actually is,” Somers commented, looking a little smug at her answer and getting a strange look from the Intelligence Agent.

The Major and Simms shared a look of concern at the young Marine's guess; Simms was the first to speak in the wake of that comment. “I would like to speak to you before you leave here, Corporal Somers” Shrugging in a reserved but carefree manner “Yes, sir,” Somers said, wondering what she had done this time and if she was going to get away with it again.

Agent Simms looked at the pair “Okay, if all snarky comments are done with, I shall continue. *pause* You will both receive a full mission brief from your assignment Commander, but you are not the only marines I have briefed in this fashion. *pause* The compound is heavily defended by Romulan Tal Shiar Agents, and recently we found out that there are some Rogue Section 31 elements at that base too. As the image attested, we tried asking S31 about it, and we were stonewalled, normal for Section 31, but it was a Vorta cloning facility at last count,” he paused to inhale before continuing.

“Now the cloning tanks have been reverse-engineered, and there is now one Romulan and a Reman one; these are the templates. From what we can ascertain, they are going to combine the DNA and characteristics of both. As the Reman DNA is very similar to Romulan, the combination process will be no problem, but it seems they have figured out a way to avoid clone degradation and insanity not a problem in Vorta Clones, but prominent in other type clones,” Simms said and paused again to let what he said sink in.

Now she was concerned: if the Tal Shiar had this ability, then they could wreak havoc, but it suddenly dawned on her why S31 rogue agents were there. S31 had a deny-all-knowledge strategy in place; they wanted the information too, and faking agents going rogue was just one way of doing that “Sir, where did the Romulans find the cloning cylinders?” Somers asked, concerned and rightfully so.

With that, Simms continued with the briefing. “You are not the only one to ask that. It seems they captured a Dominion Vorta Cloning facility during the end of the Dominion War; now they figured out how to recode the cloning units to accept Romulan DNA. Hence, a Marine team is being formed, and should you get captured, Starfleet will deny all knowledge of participation. You will be given non-descript combat outfits with no badges or insignia or rank; you will be given non-Starfleet weapons and communications devices,” Simms added. He noted Somers took this in her stride; her companion, however, was not as at ease.

Annabelle was greatly concerned. While Alex grew up in a family of military people, she did not; none of her family had joined Starfleet. She was the first, and as such, she was worried. Alex looked over at her friend, who was very agitated and concerned “What are you saying, Sir?” Annabelle asked.

Again, looking at her friend, “he is saying, Annie, that should we fail or get captured, we are on our own. As we are currently at peace with the Romulans, a mission like this against the Tal Shiar would be looked upon unfavourably by the Romulans. They may not have any love for the Tal Shiar too, but those Agents are Romulan. Should we survive this, you should watch an old film, Mission Impossible. This is essential: what this mission is, and they hope we will succeed, but we are essentially written off until our return” Alex then paused. “In the End, they want deniability; imagine the political fallout if it failed and it was revealed that the strike team were SFMC,” Somers said.

“Ah! I see a Kamikaze mission, interesting,” Graves responded, suddenly understanding. Again, Simms and Donohue shared a surprised look at Somers' grasp of the mission parameters. Simms was really interested in Alex, but the question was whether she could be coaxed out of the Marines into Starfleet Intelligence. The Agent cleared his throat “Your assigned mission is to go in there and download the data and destroy that facility, and get out, simple as that,” Simms rejoined.

“Obviously there will be some expected friendly losses. For what size team?” Somers asked.

Also looking more closely at Alex Simms realised that she was what her psyche review termed Alpha Female type one if her forwardness and bluntness did not ruin her career, then she would go far, but not as an Enlisted Marine Corporal.

The Major then continued, “It will be a Twelve-man team; two of those members will be tech marines. Expected losses after all anticipated scenarios put the losses at least 3%; that is the estimated projection, Marine,” Donohue answered.

“For such a small team, that is quite high; this mission is obviously more dangerous than we all know,” Alex stated flatly.

“Indeed, Marine, but we both know those are just estimates and that things rarely go as planned,” Simms said.

Looking at Simms, “Is it? I would not know, as this would be my first Black Ops mission. What of the Tal Shiar and Section 31 operatives, sir?” Somers asked. The Starfleet Intelligence Officer looked at Alex blandly “Expendable,” was all Simms said. He knew the mission would be tough, and if the team had clear rules of engagement, then it would make it easier for them.

Both knew what that meant; such a secret op could leave no witnesses. It was not going to be a pretty mission; both women understood this.

“Upon leaving here, you will report to supply stores for your gear and then to a barracks assigned to the team, then you will do some training for the mission. Your Mission Commander will be Major Denning, and the XO Marine Captain Jenkins. *pause* Here is the details of your barracks, and unless you both have any more questions, you are dismissed,” he said, handing a security card and details to each woman, who placed them in pockets to keep them safe.

Both nodded and stood, indicating they had no questions as the lights got brighter; both saluted, and the Major responded, but only Annabelle left the room. Alex noted a look from the Intel Officer, and the Major excused himself.

Simms waited till he and Alex were alone, and then began, “You have a knack for seeing things in a certain way; going by your service jacket, you can be analytical and quite observant and, as shown in this office, blunt and sarcastic, yet you do not do it in malice. I want to make you a proposition, Somers!” Simms said ominously.

Looking at the SFI agent, puzzled, “That is? ’Probably de-mob after the mission for my comments’ she thought to herself bleakly, knowing that normally her comments would be frowned upon.

“I would like to offer you the option to join Starfleet Intelligence as a Planner and Analyst” he watched her closely for a reaction; apart from her eyes widening in surprise, she made no showing of emotion. She was shocked, so much so that she just barely held it together; very few could shock her “WOW! I thought I was going to be in trouble for my comments. I know they were out of order for someone of my rank; will the Major do anything for such comments? But as for the offer, I would need to think about it. Also, I am a little too green at the moment,” she responded. She knew she was stating the obvious, but it had to be said; she expected something further in the way of a reply, but Simms just gave a knowing smile.

Looking directly at Alex, “Do not worry about the Major; he actually found it refreshing. The other members of your team were stuffy and too prim and proper to use the old saying, you were a breath of fresh air, and the Major was pretty much the same at your age.

*pause*

“The offer will remain open indefinitely. When you are ready to contact me via the SFI Office at Starfleet HQ, ask for me, and if I am available, I will respond. Now, if there is nothing further, Corporal, you can go. I think we kept the good Major out of his office for long enough,” Simms finished with a smile. “Yes, sir,” Somers responded, highly curious as to what just happened, but gave a polite and shallow bow “I will think it over,” she said as she made it to the door. “I expected nothing less from you. Good luck on the mission,” Simms said and watched the Marine Leave and the Major return. Outside the office, she met up with Annie “Not here, Annie and not right now,” Alex said. Annabelle knew enough not to push matters, but her friend seemed clearly contemplative. This made her curiosity go into overdrive, but she knew Alex would talk when she was ready.

[OFF]

Major Donohue [NPC: Somers]
Marine Academy Commandant
Sol-Sector – Earth

Agent Simms [NPC: Somers]
Starfleet Intelligence Operative
Sol Sector

Corporal Alexandria Somers
Marine NCO
SFMC

Corporal Annabel Graves[NPC: Somers]
Marine
SMFC

 

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