By William Lindsay and Keiran O’Sullivan
100227.23
Following Projection
-=Headquarters of Temporal Investigations: Earth=-
100227.23
Following Projection
-=Headquarters of Temporal Investigations: Earth=-
Life at Temporal Investigations was just as it should be.
Tucker Brody sat in his office. He was smiling to himself, smugly regarding the power he now possessed but more importantly that he had truly earned.
A celebratory glass of scotch, syntheholic of course, had been poured and he nursed it as he allowed himself just a few moments to feel happy and revel in the realisation that Lindsay would never get time to finish his investigation now that he had to start from scratch.
He even went so far as to place a hand behind his head as he leaned back in his chair, and the hint of a smile he’d been wearing spread into a full fledged grin.
More than hard work and most definitely more than honesty, he knew he owed all his success to being calm and in control and that made him think of how far from either he’d once been. He’d been so emotional and so young when he’d first started out in his studies of psychiatry and psychology, just wanting to help those unable to help themselves.
Of course a lot of things had changed since then- about the world and so about him as well. His voice was no longer as gentle as that young man’s had been and was now rarely perceived as being quiet. The distinctive twang he’d always spoken with, a remnant of his Texas upbringing, had remained and if anything was now stronger. Once, when it spoke of his innocence, the accent could be recognised as endearing but that quality too had gone the way of young Tucker’s sandy blond bangs; trimmed away for the sake of practicality to a more sensible appearance.
He did still help people though, and he saw nothing wrong with the choices he’d made. It was just now he chose to be most helpful to those who were in a position to help him back. It was true that other kind of help had given something this didn’t, but for the life of him he could no longer remember what it was.
In any case, he was sure he was more content now by far that he’d been then.
Many hours had passed since he’d gotten rid of Jamieson and it seemed he’d also done so with Lindsay, O’Sullivan, and even more joyfully Zanh Liis.
None of them had returned to the Earth in that time; he supposed they had no reason. Of course to know their energy had been dispersed in the empty vacuum of space like Jamieson would have been comforting but then again Brody wasn’t greedy. He was already quite comfortable now.
Comfort was in fact a common state amongst the staff of Temporal Investigations. Some of the most comfortable people in the galaxy were in this very building right now. Peterson was drinking a coffee brought to him by a senior officer who was smart enough to know not to stand up to him, just as many similar young men too enjoyed the taste of power that the efforts of Brody and many like him had reaped.
There were always outliers of course; people who just didn’t quite seem to belong. Lindsay obviously was one of them and so were Mitchell and Denise, both of whom right now were very worried indeed. Brody wasn’t worried though; he could deal with them all when Vox came back and returned things to normal.
It seemed like nothing could go wrong.
Only then something did.
Unbeknownst to Brody, William Lindsay was on the Serendipity and had been making plans and arrangements that were almost all in place.
He was to the point where with a single word he could plunge Brody’s world into chaos.
Now finally he uttered it.
In an instant the master clock Polaris; the very heart of Temporal Investigations, went dark and the lockdown washed outward from it like a wave.
Had it truly been a heart then the events that followed its seizure would have been no less devastating on the body as a whole.
Like row after row of dominoes, one room after the next was tipped off balance; knocked down and plunged into darkness as all but the minimum of emergency lighting was lost.
Computer interfaces cut out before their users’ eyes.
Communications collapsed, and transporters went offline.
The smugness rapidly dropped from Brody’s face as he heard the frantic warning call screamed throughout the building that there was danger here.
His eyes went wide.
Something was very wrong.
In the distance he heard sickening sequences of clicks and clunks; the locking of doors permeated by the whirr of computers and other machines forced to cut out not by choice but because there was no power left to sustain them. It was growing louder, getting nearer and there was only one reason this could possibly be happening.
Temporal Investigations was being shut down; they were being trapped here, and the sudden rapid clamor of hurried footfalls outside his walls told him he was not the only one who knew it.
Regulations stated they should stay where they were, but like rats in a burning building men like Brody knew that by the time it all was over they could be dead unless they were to start their running now.
Only one man had the authority to do this, and every psychological instinct told Brody he there was only one reason he would have done it.
That man was coming for him.
He was coming for all of them and the cloak of darkness that was being lowered over the building wouldn’t be raised until he got them.
“Lindsay!” Brody swore the man’s name in panic as he stood and slammed his glass down on the table, not caring that it shattered on impact as he felt his whole world shattering around him.
In Brody’s eyes Lindsay may have been a fool, but Brody still knew Will was smart enough to know that not just Brody but he as well would never come back from this.
There were systems in this building that were never meant to be deactivated and the very second Lindsay turned them back on a full inquiry would be launched; meaning he would be pulled from is duties as the Interim Director.
He would never have done it unless he had to, or unless he had enough on them that running was all they had left to do to survive.
The control over time and space granted by this place had meant they were as untouchable as gods; but as all their technology and the freedom died around them they were becoming mere mortals again.
For the first time in a long time Brody was truly frightened and the quickening of his breath displayed that fear mercilessly for the whole world to see.
His needed to call for transport, but attempting to do so, he quickly found the signal of his communicator was being blocked just as his computer terminal had been secured: entirely severing his connection with the outside world. Violently he threw the badge away because all it could do now was give them an easy way to find him.
He took two steps from his desk before he thought better, turned around and ran back. Rapidly he yanked so hard on the top drawer that he almost pulled it out entirely. He scooped up the phaser he’d kept there but it was no use; it’d been deactivated already.
Forgetting the weapon and swearing again, with a viciously pounding heart Brody began running towards the door. Before he could reach it though the rolling blackout reached him; all the lights around him went blank reducing the world to a dull grey.
The door hadn’t even fully opened before it was locking and he was still trapped on what was clearly the wrong side of it. Without a further thought for the upcoming pain he plunged his arm through the opening, the door cutting into it enough to make him scream in agony before the movement stopped as it though it must be closed already.
Fuelled by fear and pure determination he was able to squeeze one arm through the gap. In spite of his pain and summoning all his strength, he was able to force it open again.
On the outside of the room the screech of the alarm just seemed to get louder, and it was barely even light enough to see.
He looked side to side in each direction, making out only the faintest outlines of people, many his allies running but they clearly had no idea to where.
“Everyone has’ta remain calm,” Brody heard a sickeningly familiar voice rumbling nearby. It was the freshly materialised Keiran O’Sullivan, and he was undoubtedly armed to the teeth and just around the corner. “If we all just…”
Brody didn’t listen or wait for O’Sullivan to finish. He just kept moving as fast as his legs would take him, and so was soon too far away to make out the words.
They were coming for him, Brody could feel it, and he refused to allow himself be captured- ever- but especially not here and not now.
If he could just get to a jump ship then he could go back. He and his kind would simply have to make sure this didn’t happen. They could kill Lindsay before he even had a chance to find them out. However, there was no way Brody could risk leaving that task to someone else. He’d learned long ago that in the end, you could never count on anyone else.
There was panic in the nearby voices of people making them potential allies but with this place erupting into turmoil they could be enemies just as well. Brody knew he couldn’t trust anyone now and so he just kept running faster, almost tripping over an abandoned chair on this floor too dark to make out.
Finally he reached a turbolift, but as he pressed the call button it was abundantly clear it was dead just like everything else here.
So instead he chose to try for the stairs but the door was already locked and at this rate the jump ships would definitely all be locked down before he got there.
In desperation Brody slammed his fist upon it in a futile attempt to force it to open, jarring his already injured arm, before he turned a rapid about face in search of any sort of a new plan.
There was only one thing he could do; and that was to try to run, and to hope contingencies they’d made would kick in.
-=/\=-
Though no one was more motivated, Brody was far from the only one now in a panic to be free. Mitchell sat terrified with his head in his hands just waiting for himself to be taken too as he wished for this all to be over.
Peterson on the other hand was running and had just become visible to Brody in the distance. However before Brody even had a chance to speak the man began to dematerialise. Soon Peterson’s eyes flashed disbelievingly back and forth as he found himself suddenly beamed into the Serendipity’s brig surrounded by several of his former allies.
Now Brody knew that he’d made the right decision in getting rid of his communicator. With so many lifesigns to scan if Lindsay was coming for him as he undoubtedly would then he’d have to do it in person. However suddenly Brody remembered that Lindsay may not have been all he had to worry about as the undeniable outline of Keiran O’Sullivan was rapidly moving in his direction, with Zanh Liis just a step behind.
In the midst of all this chaos, not everyone was trying to escape.
A frightened Denise Moreno, trapped in Lindsay’s office, hurriedly gathered deactivated PADDs in her arms as if collecting a few precious assets before she began to run from the fire that was consuming her home.
It could have felt no less like her home was burning now.
Voices were barking orders in nearby corridors, and the still screeching alarm was almost deafeningly constant in its repetition of the same angry warning sounds. She just kept repeating to herself that this was supposed to be happening and that everything would be okay; that she’d make it out alright.
Yet the way she jumped with the sound of a transporter beam appearing behind her showed she hadn’t believed her own assurances.
She spun around to see who it was, her heart only returning to something closer to its previous beat as she saw it was just William Lindsay. It only took an instant to realise there was something very wrong with him though; a look in his eyes he’d never given her before and seeing it now she wasn’t so certain.
“Hello, Denise,” he greeted her flatly with controlled but evident anger in his voice. Denise’s heart sped up again.
“Director Lindsay,” she began, her tone clearly flustered as may once have seemed to him perfectly understandable given the situation, Lindsay could now read the truth behind it. “What is all this? What’s happening?”
“We’re lockin’ down TI ‘til we catch the head of the corruption that’s been goin’ on fer far too long.” Will answered simply and honestly. The words themselves weren’t frightening, but Denise didn’t like the way he was looking at her one bit because she could read there was something new and dangerous behind it.
“So you know who he is?” she asked, with forced curiosity barely able to be heard over the underlying fear in her tone. Her eyes flicked towards the nearest locked door, still visible in spite of the low lighting as if contemplating whether it was time to run.
“Come on,” Will replied quietly, slowly raising his phaser up towards her. “This is no time fer games.”
Suddenly Denise’s face was transformed by panic and confusion. There was no way he could know.
“What, you…” she stammered, “You can’t possible think I’m involved with this.”
Will glared at her in silence, unmoving from where he stood, as Denise added what was less a statement than a plea. “I know you trust me.”
“No,” Will said firmly, shaking his head with a look of disgust at Denise’s display of false innocence. “I finally learned there’s only one person here I can trust and that’s mehself.”
Denise’s eyes began flash with something almost akin to the precursor of tears as she attempted quickly to protest, reconsidering her desire to run. Seeing the coldness in Will’s eyes and that there was really no point in doing, she instead shamefully hung her head.
“How long have you suspected me?” she asked, barely loud enough to be heard over the alarm and almost hoping that it wouldn’t be.
“I’ve always suspected you,” Will answered with a fresh rage that said for whatever he may have suspected, the truth still had hurt him. “Since the first day I saw yer application ta assist me I knew there was somethin’ wrong. You said you’d never work fer Jonas but I was only in the job fer six months and it can take years ta get out. So ya had to have a damn good reason for going back on that. Fer wantin’ ta be close to me durin’ the investigation.”
Denise slowly shook her head and gave a sad half smile at her mistake; she’d only asked for the job thinking that it would let her guide the famously distractible Lindsay away from suspecting her. But then, she knew it certainly wasn’t the first bad decision she’d made in her life.
“In spite of it all I actually liked you,” Will added, scoffing bitterly at the thought now. “That’s why I tried ta get you ta leave before yer name had come up. Still I’d hoped I was wrong. I’d hoped that maybe ya just wanted to help with me investigations. That’s why I had ta test ya.”
As moot a point as it was, Denise’s mind began searching for whatever mistake she had made. Will however explained it for her, irritation in his tone mixed with something only describable as the pain of a man who didn’t want to know the answer to his own question.
“That account I gave you to use to file my plans with Security was a fake. That data didn’t ever leave this office. Only you could have known about it. Only you could have let those men know where ta come ta try ta kill us.”
Something in the hate and anger in Will’s demeanor seemed to cut straight through Denise. She’d honestly never meant to hurt him. She’d never meant for any of this to happen, least of all to tear the Department apart as was happening now.
“I didn’t give the order, you know,” Denise said softly, almost pleading to be believed but it was clear Will had no patience for her excuses or explanations. “I just asked them to monitor you. I wasn’t the one who…I mean…”
Will cut her off, furious that she’d even try to defend what she’d done.
“No, you just sent them there knowing full well might happen! Yer just the one who coordinates their efforts. The one who tells them what to do when they’re stuck. See, I’d been thinkin’ it would be someone else high in power takin’ over when Vox was taken away. Only thing is that none of them had the brains or the know-how about how the agency worked. Oh, they’d have resisted at first but they’d eventually have buckled when it became clear you were the only one who could help them cover their tracks.” Will shook his head in disgust. “The only thing I don’t understand, the only reason I’m here talkin’ to you before this all becomes a matter for official bloody inquiries and sealed records, is why.”
His voice dropped, and the pain she heard in it was more devastating than his anger had been. “Why did you betray everything TI and Starfleet stand for?”
“I have my reasons,” Denise answered, knowing someone with so much couldn’t understand and looking down to the ground because she couldn’t bear to look into Will’s chillingly cold eyes any more. “I’m so sorry, William.”
“This isn’t the type of thing ya can apologise for,” Will retorted as his anger strengthened and returned, and Denise didn’t argue. She hated what she’d done as much as anyone else ever could.
She was actually apologising to him, not for what she’d already done, but for something other than he could have ever imagined. She was apologising for what was going to happen next.
At that very moment, far up above in orbit of the Earth an automated system on an old but powerful ship whirred to life; keyed to transmissions it detected from TI that had been off for far too long.
It had been designed as an emergency security measure only to be taken in case of irreversible disaster; disaster that it now knew had finally happened.
Immediately the cloaked vessel turned to scan the TI building searching for identifying micro transmitters that had been implanted into select personnel.
Of anyone in the galaxy, Tucker Brody couldn’t have imagined anyone he’d have hated more to have him forced up against the wall with his arm behind his back than the person doing it now.
The way that Liis so painfully twisted his already aching limb said she was fully aware of and enjoying the effect it produced. O’Sullivan had evidently decided there was no reason to interfere.
“You don’t have to do this,” Brody insisted, forcing as much composure as he could in spite of his pain.
“Shut up.” Liis scoffed that he would dare try to get out of this now. “It’s over, Brody. No matter what happens now you are going to pay for what you’ve done.”
“No, I’m no...” Brody smirked, as before he could even finish his words he dematerialised before their eyes.
“NO!” Liis screamed, slamming her fist into the wall where Brody had stood an instant before. She cursed loudly in outrage over this sudden development and smacked her combadge. “Zanh to Serendipity. I take it you just got Brody?”
Unfortunately TC Blane had to tell her otherwise.
[No, Captain. We didn’t.]
----------------------
Captain William Lindsay
Interim Director
The Department of Temporal Investigations
and
-=/\=- Keiran O’Sullivan
Security Liaison
The Alchemy Project
Captain William Lindsay
Interim Director
The Department of Temporal Investigations
and
-=/\=- Keiran O’Sullivan
Security Liaison
The Alchemy Project