By Ensign Landry Steele
100301.13
Immediately following NUTS
-=Captain's Ready Room, USS Serendipity=-
100301.13
Immediately following NUTS
-=Captain's Ready Room, USS Serendipity=-
"Now that the history lesson for the day is over," Blane began, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at the two Ensigns before him, "Spill."
"Sir?" Dane blinked. Landry was the one that TC was really focusing on, though. Everything about her body language was suddenly wrong; she would not meet his eyes. Warning klaxons began to sound in his ears.
"Anything and everything you know about Brody." Blane commanded. "Now."
"I really don't know much about him, but I do remember hearing the voice. He's got a very distinctive voice." Dane said. "Only recently he recorded several video files for orientation of rookie TI agents, talking about stress of the job, that kind of thing. Required viewing for people like me."
"So you don't personally know the man? Never worked with him, here or anywhere else?" By 'anywhere else' Blane meant any possible alternate times that they may have seen or lived. With these TI people, even the youngest ones, he'd learned you couldn't ever just take anything as read.
"No." Dane answered honestly. "I do know however that he has some kind of grudge against our Captain. Anytime his name comes up..." he sighed. "I've never seen a look in Zanh Liis' eyes before like the one I have seen when anyone has casually mentioned Tucker Brody. Or the look in Keiran's when he wants the subject changed right away. That's all I know, I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful."
Blane nodded. "If anything else comes to you, Dane, I want to know immediately." TC redirected his glare toward Landry. "Steele, you're remarkably quiet. You worked at TI Headquarters for some time. Vox' assistant, no less. Surely you know something about this guy."
Landry remained silent, starting to twist a strand of hair nervously around one finger as she stared off into the distance.
"Ensign, I am waiting."
"There's nothing I can tell you, Sir." Landry finally answered. She stood taller, an expression of defiant resolve taking over her features that Blane had never seen in her before. She looked in the moment like a stranger to him, and he really wanted to know why.
"Can't or won't?"
"Can't, sir."
Dane was now looking down at his boots, feeling very much out of place in this conversation that seemed clearly meant to be held only between Blane and Steele. "Sir," he interrupted, as he realized that he did actually have good reason to.
"What?"
"It occurs to me that Dr. McKay may know more about Brody's relationship with Captain Zanh than anyone else. He's been her personal physician for a long time now. Since Counselor Tryst isn't here, if there's anyone aboard she has talked to about Brody I'd be willing to bet it'd be the doctor."
Blane tapped his combadge. "Blane to Sickbay."
There was no response.
"I hope his program wasn't compromised. Dane, get down there. Find out what's going on and get the doctor to me if you have to carry the smoldering remains of his emitter with a pair of tweezers and hotwire it into the Captain's stereo system, I don't care. Just find a way, I need to talk to him."
"Yes sir." Dane paused at the door. "There is one other person you may or may not want to consult."
Unsure who was still aboard ship during shore leave, Blane's eyes questioned who that might be.
"Ashton Ledbetter," Dane replied, wincing involuntarily.
"Noted."
At the mention of Ledbetter's name, Landry's eyes flashed fear and she now folded her arms and began rocking back and forth on her feet. Yes, Blane thought, she was definitely hiding something.
"Find him too and send him up here." Blane sighed, glancing around the room at every little thing in it that reminded him of his Captain and wishing the last words they'd spoken to each other hadn't been quite so angry. He used her one word call to action to dismiss young Cristiane. "Go."
The door closed behind Dane and TC spun on Landry with a renewed frustration. "You'd better think very carefully about what you're doing, Steele."
"Sir?" she answered weakly, with a tone that made TC's blood boil.
"Don't do that." He snarled. "Not with me. You can play dumb with everybody else around here that you want to, but we both know you're not the airhead you pretend to be."
Upon hearing the first three words, Landry's mind snapped back to an earlier point in time; to thoughts of another man who had used those same words with her on exact the same subject.
-=Flashback, 2387 current timeline: Office of the Director, Temporal Investigations=-
She heard the sound of his familiar voice approaching and hurried to close the Mahjongg window on her computer terminal. There was nothing going on today, nothing to make the time go faster and so she'd hoped playing a game or two would make the day end more quickly.
She thought that working as the Assistant to the Director of the agency would be an exciting, swashbuckling job. Yet she'd been here almost two weeks already and was yet to see, let alone buckle a single swash.
Instead all she did was type up letter after boring letter to Admiral after boring Admiral on behalf of the illustrious Jonas Vox and then nag him half the day to remember to sign them with his thumbprint so she could actually send them off. Why he insisted in dictating them to her- a live person- when the computer was perfectly capable of taking down his words and converting them to text, she could only chalk up to his obvious desire to be the center of attention all the time.
He was laughing now, and there was another man talking and laughing along with him. Landry scooped the empty Twinkie wrappers from the surface of her desk and stuffed them into the top drawer. She ordered the computer to reopen one of her previous work screens to appear busy and it flashed into existence just as the doors slid open.
"I'm telling you, it was beautiful. You've never seen anyone look quite so humiliated." Jonas Vox chortled. "You should have been there."
"A shame I missed it," his companion replied. Landry looked up and the moment that the unfamiliar man looked at her, she felt as if her brain, her body, and her heart were instantly and simultaneously beginning to melt.
"So this is your new assistant?" The man asked.
Jonas nodded. "Landry, this is Doctor Brody, one of my closest and most trusted consultants here at the agency. Doctor Brody, Ensign Steele."
"So this is Landry Steele." Brody repeated. Her name rolled off his tongue in a way that made Landry's hair stand on end. He grinned at her and moved toward the desk, extending his hand. "I've read your file. We're told to expect big things from you."
"Yes, big things." Vox interrupted before Landry could answer. "If only she'll remember to take the gum out of her mouth before answering incoming subspace transmissions from the brass."
Landry looked down at the desktop, embarrassed. Brody finally released her hand and came to her rescue, attempting to shift Vox' focus and lighten the mood. "We have to try to get in at least a full eighteen holes next week, Jonas. I'm getting rusty."
"A doctor getting rusty at golf? That is an emergency." Jonas headed for the door to his office. "Have Landry write it into my schedule. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to water my violets." He disappeared, and Landry thought for a moment of telling him that he'd already over watered them again this week but she was still too flustered by the way Brody continued to look at her to speak.
The moment Vox was gone and out of earshot, Brody took her hand again, much more tightly this time. He stroked his fingertips over her palm as he leaned down, so close to her that Landry felt her heart go into reverse for an instant. His voice was low and level as he murmured, "Don't do that."
"Do what?" she finally managed to whisper.
"Pretend to be so much less than you are." He smiled at her again, a different, knowing smile. "I have read your profile, Landry. I've seen your test scores, but what's more I know your history." He paused, letting her wonder just how much he really did know about her.
Landry was at a loss as to what to say or do. She may never have met him before but she'd certainly heard his name- his reputation preceded him. If the rumor was true and he really had unlimited access to medical records and personnel files of everyone in the Agency, she didn't doubt he knew a lot. He continued now and she was once again unaware of any thought other than how much she liked the sound of his voice.
"You're brilliant, and you were very much sought out to take up the very specialized work we do here," he drawled. "Don't play that down. It'd be a crime to hide how intelligent you are from the world, but even if you feel you must to play a part, at least don't deny it to yourself. Don't let anyone get to ya." He winked at her, and then his expression changed. "One of the most destructive things I see in my work is when a person is denied the chance to live up to their full potential." For a moment a frightening coldness clouded his eyes. "Nothin' will make a person more bitter in the end than being denied their chance to do what they were really born to do. You can be anything you want to be. Remember that."
"I," she stammered. She shook her head, as his hand squeezed hers again. She didn't know what to say.
He grinned broadly and shook his head. "Of course. I understand."
Landry wondered exactly what he meant, but was still too tongue-tied to ask him to elaborate.
"I'd like to take you to dinner," he said.
"But, Doctor Brody," Landry shifted in her chair. He was still leaning so close that she felt the temperature in the room seem to rise.
"Tucker."
"Brody, um, Doctor. Tucker..." Landry's cheeks flushed in a way that Brody found instantly alluring. She was so young, so impressionable. She had such potential. Under his tutelage she really had the chance to become something great.
Yes, he thought. In time, everyone at TI would know the name Landry Steele, and they'd know that he had made her the woman she was. "What time does that good ol' boy finally let you out of here?" He nodded toward Jonas' door.
"Sir, really," she furrowed her brow. "I thought there were rules about these things."
"Oh, there are." Brody released her hand and waved his dismissively, and laughed softly. "Rules are for other people, Landry. Not for people like us."
The way he said her name made her head spin. She shook it from side to side and tried to focus. "Like us?"
"People who know better."
She shivered.
He was so sure of himself. He was so incredibly handsome and polished and something about his accent made her absolutely weak in the knees. What could be the harm, she wondered, in just one dinner? "He usually finally lets me leave at about seven if I'm lucky."
"Let's hope you're very lucky tonight then." He again flashed confident, bright eyes at her. "I'll pick you up at your place at eight, then." He tread a quick path to the door before she could protest in any way. "Think about what you'd like to eat. Whatever the cuisine, I'm sure I know just the place to take you to give you an evening you'll never forget."
The moment he was gone, Landry dropped her head down onto the desktop with an audible thud.
What the hell had just happened here?
-=End Flashback=-
"STEELE!" Blane had no more time for her stalling, and even less patience. "I am only going to say this once." He stared through her. "Your duty is to this ship and our crew. We are under attack, and if you are intentionally withholding information about the man who clearly is behind the abduction of our Captain and our ship I will see you court-marshaled."
"I can't." Landry said, her voice heavy with regret. "I'm sorry, Commander Blane, but I just can't help you."
"Then you leave me no choice." TC reached out and snatched her combadge from her tunic. "Ensign Steele, you are relieved of duty and will be kept in the brig until- no, wait." He realized that putting her in the brig could be the worst possible thing to do, with more than half a dozen of Brody's lackeys down there to conspire with to help him if she was so inclined. "You will be confined to quarters and under guard until this is over."
"Aye sir." Landry stared down at the floor.
"Damn it, Landry!" TC bellowed. He was trying to give her every chance to change course and she just wouldn't budge. "Don't make me do this. Do the right thing. Tell me what you know."
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Sorry to disappoint you, Sir." She truly was, but that was no consolation to the man who carried the weight of command.
"Yeah." TC's jaw set like stone.m"I'm sorry too." He exhaled a heavy sigh. "You had better pray no harm comes to any of our people because you won't talk, or I swear," he slammed his fist down in frustration against the top of Zanh's desk. He pointed toward the door finally. "March."
"Sir, you have to know that whatever he's done, he thinks that he's doing the right thing," Landry's voice quivered as she fought to speak. It was important, if nothing else, for him to know that Tucker always thought that he was doing the right thing, even when he was at times dead wrong. "He's not a monster."
"Unless you're going to tell me something helpful then I don't want to hear it." Blane concluded. He put a hand on the back of her shoulder and pushed her forward and out through the door. He gestured to the nearest Ensign from Security. "Escort Ensign Steele to her quarters," he barked, "and do not let her out or anyone else in unless I give the order first. Understood?"
"Understood, Sir," the confused young woman answered. "Ensign Steele, if you would?" She nodded toward the turbolift.
All eyes on the bridge were trained on Landry as she slowly moved into the lift and then disappeared, never once looking up from the deck plates.
"What happened?" Mellice asked.
"She's holding out on us," Blane replied angrily. "And she has no idea just how big a mistake that is."
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Ensign Landry Steele
Temporal Investigations Intern
The Alchemy Project
Temporal Investigations Intern
The Alchemy Project