23: Favors of Fortune

Favors of Fortune
Lt. Commander Lair Kellyn
71210.20
Following "Unwanted Guests" and before "Remember When it Rained"
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"Commanderrrrr Sallll-veeeekk," Lair Kellyn's voice sing-songed anxiously, after she heard TC Blane's assessment that they were, basically, sandwiched between two Romulan Warbirds. Outnumbered, out manned, and most definitely out-gunned. "I'm getting a little edgy over here. We never got to conduct those war games, we don't know exactly how successful the transphasic shielding is in practice."

"No, we do not, Lt. Commander Lair," Salvek replied, "We will just have to trust that our planning and design theories were sound and implemented properly when the ship translated from schematics into reality."

"So, you're saying we get to cross our fingers and hope for the best?"

"Correct."

Kellyn frowned.

"Actually, great Goddess of Engineering, it might not be that bad," Reece spun round in his chair and faced away from the science station a moment. "I've been doing a little poking around, and I think that we may have lucked into something pretty damn close to a miracle here."

"Well share the good news will you?" Kellyn said, folding her arms as she moved to stand behind Reece and looked at the monitors before him. He brought up a layout of their course, and the results of his sweeps using the newly enhanced Alchemy sensor system.

"That heading that Jariel put us on? Wherever he came up with it, which I personally am dying to know, by the way. Am I the only one who is dying of curiosity about that, or what?"

"We may all be dying of something far worse if we lose our focus from the task at hand to ask about such details now, Mr. Reece. We will all find out, I am certain, in good time." Salvek admonished.

"Yeah, well you're no fun and we already knew that. Anyway, the heading he put us on. Once we settled in here at. . ." Reece cast his eyes over toward Bru, who looked up at him from the helm. She had just retaken her position quietly moments before. Reece also noted that Vedek Jariel stood at the back of the bridge, just outside the turbolift doors, simply listening. "What's our current speed, there, Lt. Grace?"

"Warp 9.7." February replied.

"Your miracle, Reece?" Kellyn growled, losing patience, even though she adored the man, sometimes he just didn't know how to stay on topic.

"Well, like I said, the exact position we're in? The tetryon emissions from the other ships seems to be feeding, and shoring up, our transphasic shielding. In effect, it's like they're extending their cloaks around us."

Salvek rose from his chair and moved to stand beside Kellyn, behind Reece. "Elaborate."

"You see, it's like this. Ship over here, ahead of us, is leaving a wake of tetryon. Ship behind us, is clearing that wake away, but it also has a bubble of similar particles traveling ahead of it. We're riding on the wake of the first, while absorbing the forward output of the cloak on the second. Put that together with your handy-dandy Salvek/Lair original design for transphasic shielding, and it means that we're in the perfect blind spot- of both of those ships."

"They can't detect us when the shields recalibrate themselves? There are fluctuations in tetryon output when that happens," Kellyn remarked, pointing to sensor spikes and ebbs on Reece's scans.

"They're so busy worrying about covering their own. . . tracks," Reece grinned, wiggling his eyebrows so Kellyn would know that he had originally had another word choice in mind, "that we are like a bird on the back of the wildebeest. Meaningless."

*The what, on the, what?* February thought to Reece, trying to follow him.

"We're just along for the ride," TC chimed in, watching the tactical station carefully. "Too minor an annoyance to notice. Like a bird on the back of a wildebeest." He reviewed the data before him and agreed with Reece's assessment. "Any fluctuations in their readings will likely be attributed to the interaction of two seperate sets of cloaking harmonics in the same span of space."

"Then one thing is for sure, we need to stay where we are." Kellyn said to Salvek. "We cannot alter course and lose this spot. If they change speed or direction,"

"Lt. Grace, be ready at any moment to alter course to try to maintain our current position, relative to the tetryon fields emanating from the cloaked ships." Salvek instructed.

"Aye, Sir. One question, though?" February glanced at him sideways. "What happens when everybody stops?"

All on the bridge exchanged glances in silence. That was a very good question.

"I'll work on it." TC interjected, immediately picking up on the future problem that would have to be dealt with.

"Very good." Salvek nodded to Blane. "In the meanwhile. Reece, keep triangulating any possible changes in course, making the assumption that they are in fact also headed to Aertok. Cross reference that information with the coordinates that Jariel gave us, and be ready to give a new heading to Lt. Grace the instant there is. . ." Salvek watched Reece's screens a moment, "a variation greater than ten thousand square meters from our current course and position. In any direction."

"Got it." Reece replied, returning to his work.

"Vedek Jariel," Kellyn called gently, noticing that the man was still standing in silence at the back of the room. "Would you like to sit down? There are several empty stations, you can take your pick of them."

"No, I," he paused, stilling his hands as he noticed that he was still inclined to sign, even while speaking vocally. "I won't stay, I'll only be in the way. I just wanted to,"

He began to circle the bridge, extending his hand to each person as he passed them.

He shook Micah Samson's hand first, then moved to February, and kissed her on the forehead. "To thank you all, for all that you are doing, and will do, to try to save Zanh Liis," he patted Reece on the shoulder, not wanting the man to take his hands from his task.

"It's no more than she would do for any of us, if the situation were reversed," TC Blane replied, as he gave the Vedek a firm handshake, and then clapped him on the back with his second hand to reinforce the gesture of support. Jariel nodded, knowing that Blane was right.

"Liis, she. . ." Jariel cleared his throat. "She means more to me than I can explain. Some of you know that already,"

He locked eyes with Kellyn, who had tears brimming in her own. "The rest of you, as you get to know me better, will know it. But what I want to be sure that you understand is," Jariel had to stop again for a moment as he took Salvek's hand, shook it, and held it fast.

He was sure to make eye contact with everyone present one at a time before he rested his eyes on TC Blane again and released Salvek's hand. "I'm not sure that you know, how much you all mean to her. You're not just her crew. You've become her family."

The only sound in the room besides the Vedek's voice was the beeping of various stations- no one else could find their own to speak. "As someone who has loved her, quite literally, all her life, I don't know how to thank you. But in time, I'll try to find a way." He turned toward the turbolift, stopping to brush tears from Kellyn's cheeks as he walked past. "I promise."

Kellyn threw her arms around her old, dear friend and held him. Everyone else turned back to their stations, and she whispered in his ear.

"I will continue to pray for her, Jariel. I promise." His hands began to shake, and he released her, not wanting to lose control of his emotions again. He lowered his eyes slowly to thank her.

"Walk with the Prophets, Lair Kellyn," he whispered back, "and please,"

"Yes? What? Anything."

"Pray for me, too?"

She couldn't even register a response to his profound request, before he dashed into the lift, ordered it to close the doors, and disappeared from view.


Lt. Commander Lair Kellyn
Chief of Engineering
USS Alchemy NX-53099