by Dane Cristiane
80728.19
...continued from part one
-=Crew Quarters, USS Alchemy=-
80728.19
...continued from part one
-=Crew Quarters, USS Alchemy=-
*****
"Don't even." Liis put her phaser down, and grabbed him by the shirt, lifting him up from the bed with strength that shocked the callow youth. "Don't you dare 'Captain' me. You tell me exactly what you intended to do with that letter or I will make you sorry."
*****
"Okay!" Dane's voice cracked, as he tried to maintain his intestinal fortitude. "I was ordered to do this! To find out if you remembered anything about O'Sullivan that you didn't-"
Liis released him, and the cot creaked as his weight dropped back down onto it. He didn't have to finish and tell her who had ordered him, she knew damn well who could turn Dane into a marionette with the slightest effort, if the right promises were made.
"How high did Vox have to go before you were willing to sell me out, Dane?"
Zanh turned away, truly wounded by the young man's actions. She knew he had problems, from the start when she'd met him years ago on DS23. She had known he had the potential for great darkness, given the life he'd been subjected to.
She had only hoped, that in time, he would finally learn to trust her.
Dane expected her to yell, and wished that she would. Hell, he'd have preferred that she pound him to a pulp rather than simply stare off out the viewport, arms folded and back turned on him as she was now.
"What did he have to offer you to get you to betray me?"
"Betray you?" Dane scowled, standing up and taking a step toward her, arms folded defensively as well. "You're one to talk! You lied, Zanh Liis. To everyone, including Vox. And you accuse me of betrayal?"
"WHAT DID HE OFFER YOU?" Liis screamed, flying back toward Dane and slamming him up against the wall. His head ached as it made impact with the unforgiving surface, and his ears began to ring. "Tell me, or I can't be responsible for what happens next."
"A transfer, okay?" Dane sputtered. "He promised to get me the hell away from you."
As much as this revelation did not surprise Zanh, it did injure her.
She released him again and moved toward the bunk, gently reaching out to touch the scattered pages of Keiran's letter.
"Well, I hope it was worth it, Dane. You've cost me the one thing that I had to..." She stopped, determined that Dane would not see her shed a single tear over Keiran- or over what he had done.
She didn't know how much he'd read, but for her own part she sure as hell wasn't going to volunteer a damned thing as to what the letter contained.
Without a moment's hesitation, she removed a small, silver toned device from her jacket pocket and flipped it open. A flame ignited and flickered from it.
She gathered up the pages and envelope; at the last minute deciding it was safe enough to spare only the empty shell one keepsake for herself.
She set the envelope back down onto the bed and moved quickly to the corner wash basin.
The metal of the small sink still displayed the charred marks created by the last piece of correspondence she had incinerated in it.
She applied the flame from the lighter to the pages, and it quickly began to burn.
Dane's eyes flashed. With the letter destroyed, it would be his word against hers, and the Admiral would have no concrete evidence upon which to indict her.
As he watched the paper turn to ash, he knew he'd failed, in every conceivable way.
"I only wanted," Dane blurted, shaking his head.
"What did you want?" Liis whispered bitterly, observing as the remnants of the letter turn from ash to muck as she turned on the water and washed them down the drain. "Did you get it?"
"He said that if you remembered it was a danger to O'Sullivan." Dane looked away, ashamed. He'd read enough of the letter to know that if she had a choice, Zanh Liis would never do anything that she thought would endanger the man.
"He promised me that if I got him the information he needed, that it would be for the best."
"Best for you. Because he'd give you that transfer to..."
"...to O'Sullivan's command," Dane replied miserably, assuming that Zanh already knew that Keiran had his own ship, somewhere. "He was going to transfer me to the USS Perseids."
"What did you say was the name of his ship?" Zanh's eyes did fill with tears now, she was helpless to prevent them. "Say the name, Dane."
"Perseids." He repeated slowly, with confusion. "I don't understand, I thought you knew,"
"Everything? I don't know everything, Dane. I never claimed to." Liis sat heavily down onto the bunk and took her head into her hands. "But I do know one thing. I'm done with you."
Suddenly, that idea frightened Dane. He'd failed Vox, that much was certain. He knew that he had no right to expect anything different of the Bajoran now, but somehow, he had fooled himself into thinking that he could do no wrong in her eyes that was so serious that she really would give up on him.
"Zanh Liis,"
"Get off of my ship," she demanded, looking up at him through bloodshot eyes. "Find your own way back to TI, and you better think long and hard about what you're going to do once you get there."
Her expression was cold as ice as she pointed toward the door. "If you're still alive when Alchemy gets back to Earth, then you can come and tell me what you decided to do. Get out."
"Zanh Liis, please. I,"
"Get. Out."
Dane was as white as a ghost as he stepped toward the door. "I thought that what you remembered had something to do with your past work," he offered in an attempt to justify his actions. "That you were hiding something that would endanger O'Sullivan in this timeline. I didn't realize that,"
She didn't move or speak.
"If I'd realized how he felt about you, Captain, how you felt about each other, I never would have,"
She remained still as a statue.
"I understand now that," he stammered, then he finally gave up. The fact was that nothing he could say would justify his actions; to her, to himself, or to O'Sullivan, should he ever happen to meet up with the man again.
What would Keiran think of him, do to him, if he knew what Dane had just done...
"I'm sorry," he offered at last, sincerely, as he moved through the doors. "I'm so sorry, Zanh Liis."
For a moment, Liis felt nothing but sheer panic. But then, she felt an eerie calm take her over. She slowly inhaled, and exhaled several times.
She methodically set about returning the rest of her belongings to their place inside her suitcase, pausing for a moment to run her fingers over the wax seal on the envelope from his letter. She finally put it inside the case as well, and closed the lid.
Standing, she returned her suitcase to the locker and secured the door.
She then closed her eyes, and shoved down every associated feeling she had as to what had just happened. Even after all she'd been through, her ability to shut off her emotions with such clinical coldness still comforted her.
She knew that given his limited personal resources, it would take Dane a good long time to get back to Earth- and that she very well may beat him there- even with staying on Betazed the next few days and counting the Alchemy's return time.
That being the case, she knew exactly what she was going to do when she got there.
The moment she got back to Earth, she was going to march straight into Vox' office, and ensure that neither he, Dane, nor anyone else had anything to hold over her head when it came to Keiran O'Sullivan, ever again.
----------------
Dane Cristiane
Taking the long way home from Betazed
USS Alchemy
Dane Cristiane
Taking the long way home from Betazed
USS Alchemy