by Zanh Liis and TC Blane
Following Scars
Soundtrack: Sympathy, by the Goo Goo Dolls
-=The Tryst Residence, Betazed=-
Following Scars
Soundtrack: Sympathy, by the Goo Goo Dolls
-=The Tryst Residence, Betazed=-
Zanh Liis nodded to Salvek and Kellyn to excuse herself as she spied a familiar figure at the back of the yard, over by the entrance.
She was anticipating some sort of smart remark from TC Blane concerning her choice of coiffure- but she figured that even though she was doing her best Lady Godiva impression, no one could truly fault her for it.
Hairstyles were not specified by Betazed tradition and she was, after all, completely disrobed beneath.
Zander Blakeslee turned a shade redder when he saw the Captain approaching. He still didn't know Zanh that well, and he took this as his cue to leave Blane for now.
"Sir."
"Chief."
TC suddenly felt uncomfortable standing in front of his Captain in his current state. Still, he resolved not to let her know that as he once again folded his arms across his chest and observed her attire.
"That what would be what we Humans call, 'cheating'." Blane informed Zanh, now gesturing with an open hand to indicate her newly lengthened locks.
"What Trill call it too, apparently. Dabin Reece practically deafened everyone declaring that I'd circumvented the rules." Liis said with a shake of her head. "However, it is what we Bajorans would call 'making your best effort'
."
"Do Bajorans really call it that?"
"This one does."
"Speaking of Bajorans...aren't we missing one?" Blane looked around for the Vedek, curious if he too would follow the fashion of the day as dictated by tradition.
"He's...not going to be here."
TC's brows furrowed together in concern but he did not press the issue. The Captain would talk to him about it if she wanted to. He would allow her privacy on the subject until then.
"I think he's gone home for awhile," Liis leaned closer, still very aware that the sound of any voices in a room full of telepaths was apt to draw undue attention. "He's been through so much too, I hope that," before she could finish her sentence, a nervous voice cracked behind her, going up an octave in tone between the first word of his strained greeting and the second.
"Captain Zanh?"
She recognized the voice instantly, but was still surprised to hear it in this time and place.
Her eyes flashed, and Blane's previously pleasant, expressionless demeanor changed instantly as his eyes locked on Zanh's again.
Prepared to turn around and lift Cristiane up by the bare scruff of the neck to remove him from the premises, Blane's arm flew up into the air.
Liis reached out, unaware that she had tossed back her hair extensions to get them out of the way in the process, and grabbed his wrist.
"Wait. This ought to be good." She turned slowly toward Cristiane, who fought to keep his eyes level with her face. "What are you doing here?"
"I was given an assignment. I completed it." Dane answered contritely, handing her a PADD. "The Meaning and Importance of the Articles of the Federation. By Dane Cristiane."
Zanh accepted the PADD, her eyes unmoving.
She was unimpressed.
"And you feel this helps your cause because..."
Blane noticed the concerned glances of several other guests around them and knew that the tension between them was causing a disturbance.
"Captain, we should move this discussion elsewhere," he whispered.
Zanh nodded for Dane to walk away from the gathering ahead of her. She waited for Blane to follow him before falling into step behind them.
Dane walked around the front of the house, now deserted, and they stood beneath a tall, elegant tree and continued their dialog.
"I thought you were arrogant but I guess I was wrong. You're suicidal." Blane commented as he glared at Dane. "You should have left when you had the opportunity."
With TC in the buff it was easy to see his veins pulsing on his neck and biceps. Liis also noticed for the first time the tattoo on TC's upper back.
As she processed the image etched into his skin and tried to keep her composure, she also noticed the scars crossing his skin.
Instantly she thought of the scar she bore on the back of her own left shoulder. She knew why she'd kept it instead of having it surgically corrected; she wondered now why Thomas Blane had kept his.
"Wait," Dane pleaded. "I know I don't deserve to say a word to either of you. I know that I deserved to be thrown out the airlock just like you said, Commander,"
"So now you want to be flushed, I can still accommodate you." TC returned.
"What are you after, Dane?" Zanh asked suddenly, hands on her now very apparently shapely hips. "Are you trying to play some sort of sympathy card here? Trying to make me feel guilty for leaving you at the mercy of the man you sold me out to?" Her displeasure with him was still very much evident.
"Because you have worn out the 'stray puppy' routine, I have no further illusions of you as the lost boy I found on DS23. You're a man now. I thought I knew what kind of man, deep down. But it seems I was wrong."
It was apparent to both men that not only was Zanh angry about what Dane had done, but he had also managed to do something that few people ever got close enough to her heart to be afforded the chance to do.
He had hurt her feelings.
"No!" Dane adamantly insisted, "I'll take my punishment, soon as we get back. I'll be history, I know that."
"Then if there's no advantage in this for you what the hell are you doing standing here?" Blane demanded, as Zanh seemed to be lost in thought and very far away for a moment.
"I want you to make an example of me."
Blane didn't believe a word he was hearing yet he would have had to admit, the idea did appeal to him. "Go on."
"I want you to put me in the brig and make the poster child for what happens to people who don't think their decisions through when working at an assignment as important as The Alchemy Project." Dane continued. "You had faith in me, Zanh Liis. I didn't know what you saw in me back then. I still don't. But I repaid that faith by stabbing you in the back. I deserve to be thrown to the wolves, but before it's done I want to serve as a warning to anyone else Vox might approach in the future."
The young man looked down at his bare feet, truly ashamed of himself. "Keiran expected better of me. Knowing that in the end, I let him down as well is something I don't know how I'm going to live with."
Liis locked eyes with Dane now, searching his soul. "You can look me in the face and tell me that you're willing to suffer not only expulsion from Starfleet but any criminal charges that I choose to place on you? Court martial?"
"I am," Dane concluded, even as he wondered how exactly she could court martial him without dragging Vox into this; something he thought that she was intent on avoiding. "But the Admiral,"
"You let me worry about the Admiral." Liis instructed. "Dane Marion Cristiane, I am ordering that you be placed under arrest and confined to the holding cell on the Alchemy until we return to Earth. Upon arrival, I will let you know exactly what I expect you to do next, and what I have decided to do with you afterward. Clear?"
Dane nodded, standing at attention. "Yes, Sir."
Liis began fiddling around a bit beneath her hair, and she pulled out the combadge that she had hidden there, clipped to the back of the extensions. "Zanh to Alchemy,"
[Yes, Captain?] Sue Tenney answered from Communications.
"Lock on to the bio signature of Ensign Cristiane and have Security throw him in the brig. He is to remain there until I personally order his release. Oh, and give him a uniform when he gets there."
There was a moment of stunned silence, then a hesitant answer. "Aye, Sir."
As Dane prepared to be beamed back and hauled through the ship in his current state of undress, he realized that he was getting exactly what he deserved. He had discovered the most vulnerable part of Zanh Liis and used that knowledge to cause her harm. The truth of what he was would now become apparent to everyone. There was nothing left he could hide.
"Thank you."
"We're not finished." Zanh warned him, and he nodded gratefully.
"Captain," Dane looked truly repentant as he waited for the transporter to lock on. "I really am sorry. If Commander O'Sullivan were here, I'd ask him to do his worst to me. I deserve nothing less."
A moment later Dane was gone, and Zanh and Blane exchanged a glance.
"Did you believe a word of that little speech?" Liis asked.
TC shrugged. "I want to. I want to believe that we can turn around something that Vox has corrupted."
He looked at her. "But I can't take that chance, neither can you," he warned.
What worried him was knowing Zanh Liis well enough to know she was already willing to.
"Interesting tattoo," Liis changed the subject now, as they began to walk back toward the group assembled by the water for the ceremony, which would begin at any time.
"Interesting scar," Blane said, having now seen the one on Zanh's shoulder.
She seemed much less intent on using the hair extensions to cover herself now- after her experience with the Sylph and what Dane had done, there seemed to be no point in trying to hide anything anymore. From anyone.
"Seems we all have them," Liis replied, her eyes conveying respect for Blane and understanding that he had walked a difficult road for the sake of his duties, just as she had. "I guess sometimes, it takes the masks being stripped away from us before we can risk letting others know that they're there."
TC nodded in agreement and sighed. "I'm tired Captain."
Liis was not sure what he meant by the abrupt statement, but for a split second she thought she saw weariness cross his face. Then just as fast as it appeared, it was gone. It was then that she decided to venture to ask the question he had so often asked her lately.
"Thomas, are you all right?"
He simply nodded then quickly changed the subject.
"What do you say to we drink to our scars that are now revealed?" he asked. "After the ceremony I mean, and once we are dressed." He quickly added.
"Sounds like a plan to me."
---------------
-=/\=- Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity/Alchemy
-=/\=- Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity/Alchemy