81004.22
Following Just As He Left Them
and Over My Dead Body
-=Bridge, USS Serendipity=-
Gasps arose from those assembled on the bridge as O'Sullivan exited the turbolift. He nodded toward Sue Tenney and Micah Samson, acknowledging each of them before he rang the chime on the door to Liis' ready room.
"Whomever is on the other side of that door had better be wearing four pips." Lassiter warned through the doors before they parted.
The moment she saw O'Sullivan, she rose to greet him. "Captain."
"Admiral Lassiter, 'tis a surprise to see you here,"
"You were expecting someone else perhaps?"
"Aye, I was. Your ex-husband."
"Well it's your lucky day. I'm much more charming than he is."
Keiran strode across the room and offered her his hand. The polite smile he wore faded into a frown as he watched her sit down at Zanh Liis' desk and begin using her computer as if she owned the place.
"Making ourselves at home, are we?"
"Save it, Keiran, I had work to do and I needed a place to do it. That's all." Gem switched off the terminal, rose, and moved away from the desk.
"There. Satisfied?" She would not have cared if her actions had bothered anyone else, not even Zanh Liis herself. But Lassiter had always had a soft spot where O'Sullivan, and his former Jump partner William Lindsay, were concerned.
"As the newly appointed Director in charge of The Alchemy Project, I could take up permanent residence in this room and no one could do a damn thing about it."
Keiran whistled softly. "He's finished? What the hell happened after I left?"
"He started a Cascade, and you were the focal point." Lassiter began rubbing her temples in a futile attempt to help her worsening headache. "That's how we ended up where we are. Fortunately," She walked to the replicator and requested two aspirin. She tossed the pills into her mouth, downing them in one gulp without the aid of a glass of water.
"Captain Zanh and her team were able to rescue Carrick and bring it to an end. But not before," She paused, to see if Keiran had figured out the rest.
"But not before the ACP was created as well."
"Exactly."
"And the Sylph used that Alternate Continuity Paradox to manipulate me, and..."
"And, it appears, everyone on both ships that they trapped inside their so-called Prism." Lassiter shook her head a moment. "It's ironic. You and Zanh Liis spent all those years, made all those time jumps to keep Salvek alive. In the end, in the time we're living in now, he was the one who saved not only the both of you and your crews but your son as well. And who knows what the Sylph might have done if he hadn't intervened."
She approached O'Sullivan holding out her hand expectantly; palm open and facing upward. "Where is your compass?"
For the first time in his career, Keiran was shocked to discover he did not have an answer to that question.
"Don't know. I was," he thought back. "Last time I remember having it, I was on the bridge of the Perseids. It was just before the Sylph vessel arrived..." He paced around the room, taking it in as he tried to remember. "I was holding it, and...then I can't remember."
"Likely you dropped it when you lost consciousness and it was destroyed along with the ship." Lassiter decided. "Which is fine. Saves me the trouble of destroying it myself."
"Sir?" Keiran had taken to staring out the window, but spun now to face her.
"You're done."
"Done as in..."
"Done as in you'll never Jump for TI again. And with your memories of so many timelines intact and the fact that resequencing you again would very likely kill you," Lassiter folded her arms, steeling herself for any reaction he may have to this newsflash. "You can't work for us anymore, Keiran."
His mouth fell open, and he blinked several times as he tried to comprehend her words. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that, yeah?" He rumbled softly. "Would you mind very much repeatin' it?"
"You are now officially retired from Temporal Investigations." Putting a hand up onto his shoulder, she locked eyes on him to reinforce the point. "You're free."
Keiran stumbled a few steps backwards and sat down on the edge of Zanh's desk.
"But,"
"No 'but' this time. It's over."
She turned and made her way back across the room, allowing him a moment and some space in which to ponder this information.
She began examining the shadowboxes on the walls and the nautical tools and trinkets they contained. "That sextant is lovely." She remarked, tapping on the glass of the last display in the row. "A real antique."
She looked back at him over her shoulder as he continued staring blankly into space, his mind racing.
"If you're in need of a suggestion as to where you should take your career from here, you should know that Starfleet considers itself very much in your debt. Not only for exposing the truth about the Sylph's propensity for violence so that we can be prepared to defend ourselves should they make a future appearance, but for saving the crew of the Perseids,"
"I love that crew, you know," Keiran interrupted, his voice tremulous with emotion. "Your girl, included. They mean the world to me. All of 'em." Lassiter's daughter, Gira, was his senior flight controller aboard the doomed TI vessel. "I want no thanks for doing my job. I'd die for any one of them, without a thought."
"I know you would." She cleared her throat, trying to dismiss the feelings associated with the fact that if not for O'Sullivan, she would have lost her only daughter. "From what I'm told, it seems that in another line, you did."
She walked to the bookshelf, and shook her head as she observed from a volume prominently displayed there that Zanh apparently still had a thing for Tennyson. Some things never did change.
"They would do the same for you. My point, Keiran, is that you can write your own ticket now," she continued her rounds of the room until she stood before him again. She picked up the spyglass that sat on top of Zanh's desk and opened it. She looked through it for a moment, then set it down again. "The Zenith is yours, if you want her."
He laughed once, incredulously. "You're offering me the flagship."
"Yes."
"Gem, you know me well enough. I'm not a man interested in power or prestige." Keiran picked up Liis' spyglass from the desk and rotated it in his hands.
*What are you interested in, Keiran O'Sullivan?* she mused internally, knowing the answer full well. "Well, be that as it may, you still have to do something with the rest of your life. You're not ready to retire from the fleet, are you? You're far too young. You'd be bored our of your mind within two weeks."
"Oh, I don't know about that. Would depend," he said, rolling bright blue eyes up toward the ceiling as he considered the idea, "on the life I'd be retiring to." *And who I'd be retiring with,* he thought. "Admiral, you'll have to forgive my bluntness but I'm a man at the end of his patience. I need answers."
She nodded for him to continue.
"I've no compass now, so I can't check it to know for certain. I can't make any other decisions until I know the answer to this one question." He drew a breath to try to ask it, but she answered before he had the chance.
"When I say you're free, Keiran, I mean it. I mean the rules of the past no longer apply to you. Regulations, codes of conduct for Temporal Investigations agents...all are part of your past." She glanced at him affectionately, her weakness for him once again evident. She placed a hand on his arm and tugged at him. "You don't have to fight anymore." She whispered. "If your heart still leads you to her, follow it."
Keiran closed his eyes, taking his head into his hands. He simply could not believe what he was hearing.
"She won't get hurt, or...if I were to," he couldn't finish the thought, the idea of it happening again, unbearable.
"She'll be in no more or less danger from this day no matter what you do, as far as history is concerned. That is what all indications are telling me. Can I promise you that something won't go wrong and she won't be gone tomorrow? No. Can I promise you that you won't be gone tomorrow? I can't do that, either. What I can do is tell you that you've both fulfilled your obligations. You've done your duty from a Temporal standpoint, and your lives are once again your own."
She offered him one last statement as evidence.
"Jonas already confiscated her compass too, you know. Before she left on the rescue operation."
Lassiter took a PADD from the desk and began typing away on it. "Now, whether or not Captain Zanh will reciprocate your affection in this timeline, I can't guarantee either, but,"
"But you're promising me that no harm will come to her as a direct result if I try to find out?"
Lassiter nodded. "So, how do you feel about the Zenith?"
Keiran's head was spinning. "I...need some time to think," he answered slowly. "I have responsibilities to my son, and,"
"And responsibilities to yourself, don't forget those." Lassiter admonished. "As parents, we tend to sacrifice ourselves for our children again and again but sometimes that is not in their best interests. Carrick isn't a boy anymore. He's a man, Keiran. You can't go back and change his perceptions of the past. You can only give him space, give him time to get to know you, and go forward."
"I know."
"He will have his life, and you will have yours. You'll find each other somewhere along the way, I've no doubt of it," Her voice resonated with the hard-won wisdom gained through years of motherhood. "Don't lose yourself trying to find him in the meantime."
"What if..." Keiran again directed those impossibly blue eyes at her; eyes which she observed were alive with a light they had not been when he entered the room moments ago. "What if I wanted to stay here?"
"Aboard the Sera?" She tried her best to make it sound like she was surprised by the question.
Keiran nodded.
"Well, you'd have to take a demotion unless you can talk Zanh out of her chair..."
"I don't want her chair. This is her ship, her crew. I just want to be a part of it."
"And a part of her life."
Again, he nodded.
"And you're willing to give up the chance to command the flagship for that?"
Keiran exhaled slowly, his expression indescribable. "I can't begin to tell ya, Gem," he said softly, "...all that I'd give up for that."
Lassiter sighed. She was clearly disappointed, but again, not surprised by his answer. "Very well, O'Sullivan. You come up with a position that Zanh will agree to, and I'll sign off on it."
He looked up at her and finally, he grinned.
He wrapped his arms around his old friend and hugged her, lifting her right up off the floor.
"Be careful, I'm getting frail in my old age, you know. You might break a bone." Lassiter teased, even as she hugged him back. Gently, he set her back down.
"I hardly know what to do with myself," he confided in amazement. "First time in years I haven't been at the mercy of that damned compass."
"You should start with a good meal," Lassiter suggested, once again slipping into 'motherhood mode.' "And a good night's sleep."
"Thank you," he stumbled toward the door, feeling as though someone had just handed him the moon with a string attached to it and completely unsure what to do with it. "Will you be...talkin' to the Captain herself tonight?"
"No." Lassiter folded her arms angrily. "The damned LMH has forbidden me to attempt it. He said that after she barely survived her last Sylph experience, he was keeping Zanh Liis sequestered under his care until morning and if I wanted to do anything about it I'd have to court-martial him."
She blew an exasperated puff of air from between pursed lips. "How do you court-martial a light bulb?"
She shook her head, hating to admit to herself that she was exhausted anyway. Her earlier exchange with Lair Kellyn had really taken it out of her. "It is getting late, I suppose it'd be best for everyone if we met in the morning. You're welcome to sit in when I speak to her, if you'd like."
"I would, thank you kindly, Sir. Time?"
"Seven hundred."
The grin returned to his face as he left the room, generated by the mere thought of being included in anything that also included Zanh Liis.
Admiral Gem Lassiter
Director
The Alchemy Project