21: Running Out the Clock Part One

Running Out the Clock: Part One
Captain Zanh
71210.14
--=On Aertok=--
(One hour before the Auction)



Zanh Liis understood that she was finished.

She had fought it for as long as she could, but the darkness was gaining on her.

It would overtake her soon.

She stopped trying to find comfort in memories of the past. Instead, she tried to reconcile the path she had chosen, all those years ago. For all the agonizing she’d done along the way over how she was going to live her life- had she made the right decisions?

The pace of Liis' flashbacks accelerated; hurrying through time spent at the Academy, years when she had nothing but her hunger for flight to live for. She became a test pilot and moved quickly through the ranks in the Research and Development. She was still flying combat missions during the Dominion War when she was twenty-five.

One seemingly normal afternoon during that time, news came in the form of a letter from home. The first sentence of that letter shattered her reality completely with brutal efficiency.

--=Flash=--

“Vedek Jariel is dead.”

Prylar Shamira announced, without any previous introduction or salutation. “He was killed trying to get the last of the children from the orphanage into underground shelters during a Dominion attack on the province.”

Liis flipped the paper over frantically, desperate for additional information. The reverse side of the page was blank- there was nothing more.

She sank to the surface of the bunk in her quarters. Her few possessions were spread out on the mattress around her, including the one that she treasured most.

It was a small picture of him, taken during the last Peldor festival she had celebrated at Altaan. Camen’s were eyes bright, and so alive in the image. She had taken it out to look at because it was nearly Peldor again, and there were so many things she wanted to remember tonight.

She could not imagine living a life in which she would never see that light again.

She set the picture down, and then calmly withdrew her phaser from its holster.

She adjusted the weapon's energy level low enough so as not to immediately set off the building's internal weapons sensors, yet just high enough to sever her brainstem.

She didn't want the medical staff to discover her in time to intervene.

Without shedding a tear or a moment's hesitation, she put the barrel into her mouth.

"You don't want to be doing that, Zanh Liis."

An unfamiliar voice spoke to her, and she stopped just short of pulling the trigger.

Two men stood beside her bed. They were wearing uniforms she had never seen before. Dressed in black from head to toe, with morose expressions that matched their attire. Liis’ first thought was that either they were there representing Death itself, or they were the local undertakers and had to be telepathic, ready to swoop in like vultures.

Vultures yes. Undertakers? Almost.

Liis leapt up, turning the phaser on them. “Bloody hell!” She gasped, sucking in deep breaths of air as fast as she could as the shock wore off. “Who are you?”

“Our names aren’t important,” the taller man replied. “We are sorry to hear the news about your friend.”

“How could you know about that?” Liis grabbed the letter up off the bed and held it against her chest protectively, still leveling the phaser with her left hand. “I just found out about that.”

”We know a lot of things that would surprise you, Zanh Liis. Like the fact that Vedek Jariel died was an unhappy accident.”

“Accident?” Liis raged, as she raised her right hand to tap her badge and call for security. “The Dominion slaughtered him!”

“Your combadge has been disabled, don’t bother,” the tall man warned her, “and yes, it was an accident, due to a defect in the timeline. He wasn’t even supposed to be at Altaan. If he hadn’t been there, he’d still be alive.”

“Wait, did you say the timeline?” Liis stepped backward and shook her head. Surely she must be hallucinating. “I’m going to ask you one more time. Who the hell are you, and what do you want from me? Either you start talking or I start shooting.”

”The phaser won’t work anymore, either.” The second, shorter man, who had been quiet up until this point, said simply. “Sorry.”

Liis decided to test that assertion, and squeezed the trigger.

Nothing happened.

She tossed the phaser aside, and sank to the floor, suddenly feeling sick.

“Isn’t twenty-fifth century technology wonderful?” the man smirked, holding up a small device in his hand. Liis simply stared straight ahead in silence, in no mood for this, whatever this was.

“This must be very confusing. Let’s start over.” The first man stepped closer, extending his hand. “My name is Broun. This is Verin. We represent Temporal Investigations.”

Liis ignored his outstretched hand and laughed derisively. “Bullshit.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“If you’re temporal agents, then I’m the tooth fairy.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Broun replied, no hint of humor in his voice.

“Temporal Investigations is a myth!” Liis stammered. “It doesn’t exist.”

“Maybe not officially. At least, not yet.” Verin replied. “But I assure you, it’s as real as you are, and to put it bluntly, Lt. Zanh, we’ve been sent to recruit you.”

“Recruit me? I’m just a fighter pilot. What would you want with me?”

“First of all, you’re hardly ‘just’ a fighter pilot, Zanh Liis. Your record is noted.”

“Yes. Every time I shoot off my mouth, someone takes note of it.” She scowled. “I’m a screw up who can fly a plane and shoot straight. That’s all.”

“That’s because you haven’t found your true calling yet. Flying is all well and good, but there’s only so much one fighter pilot can do, right? Besides, we also heard that your career in that field is pretty much over, since the final medical reports have just come in from your post-surgical evaluation and your spine is completely trashed.”

“That’s it.” Liis rose from the floor slowly, losing the tenuous hold on her temper that had been slipping since the moment they arrived. “I don’t know how you know that. No one knows that. It’s classified.” She reached out to grab this “Broun” by the collar, and found that she couldn’t touch him when she tried. He seemed to be protected by some kind of force field.

“We told you, Zanh Liis. We know things you can’t even begin to comprehend.”

“Now you’re really pissing me off!” She growled. “Can’t you leave me in peace? If you know that Vedek Jariel is,” she couldn’t say the word, “you also know that I do not want to be talking to anyone right now.”

”No, you want to get back to the business of committing suicide. We’re here to offer you an alternative.”

“Alternative? My career is over. My life is over.”

“Your new life begins right now.” Broun insisted. “Just sit back down, shut up, and listen for a minute.”

Something in his voice, or perhaps just the fact that she’d already given up on everything else, made her do as he instructed.

"If you join us, you can not only save the Vedek from his unfortunate, premature death but you can also help Starfleet in the war effort," Broun continued. “Which, I’m sure you realize, is going very badly.”

“It couldn’t be going much worse.”

“Exactly. That’s because there have been serious fractures in the timeline as it is supposed to have occurred. People have been making bad decisions. Desperate choices that have created rifts. Infractions of the Temporal Prime Directive, right and left, and they’ve all added up to one big mess.”

“It’s our job to clean up that mess. It’s meant to be your job too.” Verin further explained. “Why not fight in the war in a way that will really make a difference?”

“I’ve already made all the difference I can.”

“Did you make a difference for Jariel?”

She averted her eyes. The one person she’d have done anything to protect had died in an attack on the one place she thought he’d still be safe, on Bajor.

“I still don’t understand how,” her voice cracked. “Bajor signed a non-aggression pact with the Dominion. They were supposed to be protected. They were supposed to be safe.”

“You can fix this.” Broun murmured, tempting her once again. “If you correct the error in the timeline, the non-aggression pact holds and there are no attacks on Bajor during the Dominion war.”

“At least not until the very end,” Verin corrected.

“Yeah, but by then Jariel is long gone from the planet, and, you’re convoluting the issue. Knock it off.” Broun snapped back.

Even through their bickering, the point they were making held Liis’ attention. She leaned forward, considering.

"Think of it, Zanh Liis.” Verin whispered, leaning closer. “What line of work is more noble than that of trying to prevent the needless suffering and senseless demise of many?"

"You can consider the restoration of the proper future for your friend a happy fringe benefit," Broun pressed, as Liis still appeared unconvinced. "While you take on bigger tasks for the greater good. That’s much more productive than blowing your brains out, don't you think?"

"There must be many more likely recruits for this kind of work than I am. Why me?" She was more than a little suspicious.

"You're the perfect candidate for the program. You have no family, no connections. No one will question where you've gone, or ask when you're coming back. You can move through time with a level of anonymity that is hard to achieve, and you have the skill set that we're looking for," Verin replied.

Liis picked the useless phaser up again, staring at it. She tried to process what they were saying but all she could think of was Jariel.

She reached up to her ear and stroked the chain of her earring. It was actually his. They had exchanged earrings the morning she left Altaan to leave the Academy- so they would always feel connected. As far as she knew, he had continued wearing hers until the day that he-

"If I do this,” She spoke again at last. “Jariel might live?"

"If you do this," Broun vowed, "he will live."


=/\=Zanh Liis