190: Tying Loose Ends Into A Noose

By TC Blane and Zanh Liis
80306.00
After Loose Cannon

-=Conference Room One, USS Serendipity=-



TC Blane sat with Zanh Liis in the main conference room of the Sera, having left Zander Blakeslee in command of the USS Gauntlet.

He had transferred over to the Sera via shuttle. Both ships were still en route back to the nearest starbase, but some things could not wait until they arrived there.

Both officers stared quietly at the table before them. A stack of PADDs sat between them, piled high upon the shining surface.

“So, how do you want to play this?” TC rumbled softly.

"Quick and brutal would be my first choice. Of course, if you prefer slow and torturous, I'm good with that."

"By your leave, Captain." TC replied, leaving the final choice to her discretion as he stood up behind her.

Admiral Vox entered the room, and Zanh's eyes held a much different look as she gazed at the man now than they had the last time TC had seen them in the same room together. The easy rapport they had shared was destroyed; twisted, mutilated beyond recognition.

Whatever their relationship was now, it was plain to see that it was nothing that it had previously been.

"Admiral." Zanh began, standing up slowly from her chair.

"Captain." He gestured for her to keep her seat. Zanh waited for him to sit as well before taking her chair again. "Will you be joining us, Commander Blane or are you going to continue doing your best impression of a statue?" Vox added, trying to lighten the moment. He knew that this conversation was not going to be pleasant, whatever the outcome.

"Negative, Sir. I will stand." TC replied, maintaining his stone-faced expression.

"What's the occasion, Zanh Liis?" Vox asked next.

"Family reunion," Zanh replied. "Mr. Blane, if you please?"

TC nodded, and he tapped his badge. "Blane to Communications. Put that transmission through in here, Ensign."

[Right away.] Dane Cristiane acknowledged.

A moment later, Jonas Vox observed the face on the screen, and turned a whiter shade of pale.

The woman before him was Tyra Do'Chal.

Do’Chal’s image blinked only once at the sight of the assembled officers before speaking. [So, I see I’ve been invited to a party.]

TC exchanged looks with Zanh, and took her silence as a cue for him to speak.

"Are you missing an admiral, perchance, Captain Do'Chal?”

Do’Chal’s eyes flicked back and forth between the group before a thin smile drew across her face. [As a matter of fact we are. You wouldn’t happen to have seen him?]

"Oh, I saw him." Zanh dove in, unable to hold her tongue a moment longer. She had been seething with anger toward this woman ever since TC's uniform had changed colors overnight and Zanh, by calling in a few favors over the course of her own private investigation, found Captain Do'Chal at the end of the trail. Do'Chal had been the one pulling Blane's strings all along in order to press him back into her service against his will. Now, she would pay for it.

"Do you want to know what I saw?" Liis ramped up, drawing a deep breath before continuing.

"I saw him attack and ultimately cause the destruction of the USS Executor, nearly damning her entire crew along with it. I saw him cut through my ship and steal my prototype. I saw him shoot my Chief of Security in cold blood before attempting to kill several other members of my crew, not to mention myself. For an encore, he caused a nearly disastrous core overload on the Alchemy and if it was not for my Executive Officer, the only one us who would still be alive right now would be you, Captain Do'Chal. So now that I've answered your question, you can answer mine." Zanh spoke through tightly gritted teeth. "What do you and Admiral Vox have to say about the fact that you sold Sera and her entire crew down the river?"

Do’Chal glanced down at Vox then back to Liis and TC. [Do you have him in custody?] She responded, ignoring Liis' remarks, and her question.

“Not exactly.” Vox replied.

[Damn.] Do’Chal looked back to Liis and Blane. [I am sorry for the deception, Captain Zanh, but Spangler is a dangerous liability. We have been trying to capture him and his crew for months. He killed over a hundred and twenty people when he blew up Celestial. We have reason to believe that he has attempted to raise funding for his transwarp project from sources that are much less than friendly to the Federation.]

“Did it ever occur to you, both of you, that we would have helped if we were simply told of the situation?” TC asked.

Do’Chal smiled. [Come now Thomas. You know Spangler is so connected we could not trust the normal channels. He would have smelled a trap a mile away.]

TC glanced down at Liis and whispered. “Told you.”

"Maybe not." Blane replied to Do'Chal. "Maybe we would have actually been able to do our job if we'd had all the information and he wouldn't have gotten away."

Do'Chal's smug countenance registered a barely detectable hit. [Got away?] She turned her attention to Vox. [Spangler got away?]

"Unfortunately." Vox reluctantly advised.

"Which means, Do'Chal, you blew it." Zanh jumped in once again, with both feet. "Your superiors are not going to be happy when they find out that the entire crew of the Sera knows that the reason they were cut so deep on this mission is because Special Ops stabbed them in the back. Both of you, betrayed us all. Their suffering and innocent blood stains your hands, Do'Chal," Zanh's eyes became daggers directed at Vox as she spoke, thinking of O'Sullivan, Lair, and Grace's injuries. All injuries which could likely have been prevented.

"And yours, Admiral. How do I explain it to them? How do I tell my crew that the very organizations sworn to protect them were the ones they had to fear most in the end?" Zanh rose from her seat and stared into the screen with her arms folded.

"How do I explain to Starfleet Command that we watched a star that had no natural reason to go nova before its time boil over and suck in the USS Executor? What about those one-hundred and twenty souls on your glorious Celestial outpost? You should just thank the stars, Do'Chal, that we were able to save Admiral 'going down with my ship' over here and he can use his position to reign me in. Otherwise," Zanh raged, "everyone would know what has happened here."

She turned away a moment and peered out the viewport." As things stand now, there is only so much I can tell anyone. You might be able to keep some sort of a lid on this. Command has to be informed, that much is certain. Spangler is a threat and he is at large. But who else finds out and how quickly?" Zanh watched with satisfaction as Do'Chal began to twist uncomfortably in her seat. "That's up to you."

[What do you want, Zanh Liis?]

"Let's talk about Yensul."

Do’Chal smiled. [Trying to free your loyal officer from my evil clutches, Captain? I assure you, it is not necessary. He fulfilled his role in all of this as I knew he would.] She smiled. [Just like old times, right Thomas?]

“Sure, the same deceptive, manipulative, and secretive horse hockey that drove me to leave Spec Ops.” He shook his head. “So much fun.”

[Oh come now. It was not all bad.] She smiled slyly. [I recall we had some good times.]

TC shifted his weight. “If you call those good, I would hate to see what bad was.”

Do’Chal’s smiled faded. [Maybe so.] She looked back at Liis. [I assume you would like the Commander released from his service to us.] She glanced at Vox, who simply nodded. [Fine, done. He is all yours Captain Zanh. Is there anything else you want?]

"Yes." Zanh leaned forward slowly. "I want the gentlemen to step out, and your undivided attention."

Blane blinked, surprised, and Admiral Vox, while he was certainly under no obligation to honor Zanh's request, chose to do so. He stood up, and led the way, leaving Blane to nod to the screen.

"Captain Do'Chal," he said, then he turned to Liis. "Captain Zanh."

"Thank you, Thomas." Liis said softly. A few seconds later, the doors hissed shut.

Zanh leaned closer to the screen, lowered her voice barely above a whisper, and said something to Tyra Do'Chal that would haunt her nightmares. Definitely for the rest of her Starfleet career; and likely, for the rest of her life.

After it was over, Zanh emerged from the conference room and nodded once, slowly, to Blane.

She walked past Jonas Vox and then disappeared into her Ready Room without speaking a word to anyone.

--------------------------------------

Commander TC Blane
Second Officer/Chief of Operations
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

and

-=/\=- Captain Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012