111: Nothing Lasts Forever

By TC Blane and Zanh Liis
80118.00
Current: The Morning After Heroic Hearts

--=Personal Quarters of Commander TC Blane=--



TC awoke a full two hours early for his duty shift. He finished showering and shaving with well over an hour left before he needed to report. Now he sat on the edge of his bed still wrapped in his towel staring at the uniform that was draped over the opposing edge.

It was only a uniform but in his mind it equated a prison. He was locked into its service against his will, his freedom of choice stripped away. He dreaded putting it on. He sighed and picked up the uniform and began to dress.

He glanced at his profile in the mirror. The black collar brought back the memory of every reason he had left Special Ops. Now here he stood, once again in its service.

“Temporary.” He muttered to himself as he glared at the man in the mirror, caught between his actions of the past and his eventual actions of the future.

Still he had thought about the deal he had been forced into accepting with Captain Do’Chal. He would do the duty that he had been assigned.

He was to protect The Alchemy Project, continue with his duties as Chief Operations officer, and provide feedback on the progress to Special Ops Command. His direct commander was to be Captain Zanh but he was not to report to Vox. He shook his head, he was in a pickle.

He turned on his heel and headed out of his quarters.

=^= Bridge =^=

The lift doors swooshed open and TC stepped onto the bridge. He glanced around looking for the captain but did not see her. Instead he saw Commander Salvek seated in the center chair.

The commander turned at the sound of the lift door and upon seeing TC’s new wardrobe raised an eyebrow.

TC straightened his stance and made his way to the captain's ready room and pressed the door chime.

"Yeah? Zanh called, inviting her visitor to enter. She was catching up on reading Sera's technical specs when she heard a familiar voice address her.

"Have a moment, Captain?" TC asked, his voice and his posture stiff.

"For you, Thomas, I have. . ." She stopped cold when she looked up and saw the color of his uniform. " . . .two." She finished her sentence slowly.

She set down the cup she had been holding between her hands, and instantly sat straight up in her chair as if poised to jump out of it. "What's all this?"

He approached her desk and handed the PADD containing his reassignment documents to her.

“I have accepted a new posting as Special Operations liaison to the Sera.” He stated flatly. “I am charged with protecting The Alchemy Project from all threats. I will continue to function under your command, as well as continue my duties as your second officer and operations chief.” He stood at attention in front of her desk.

She stood up slowly and approached him. She didn't know which troubled her more, the change in his assignment, or the change in his demeanor. Overnight he'd transformed from the man she knew into someone who seemed a total stranger to her.

"At ease, Commander." Her own blue eyes searched his as he continued to stand still as a sculpture before her, only with his arms clasped together in front of him now.

"What is this really about, Thomas?" She shook her head. "Vox? Me?" She paused. "I know Jonas hasn't made a lot of friends throughout the Fleet with his personal management style."

She frowned. "I'm not going to win any popularity contests either, given my colorful career path. But taking you. My second in command, and putting you into. . . this?" She gestured to his uniform helplessly. "Can't someone else be the," she looked at the PADD and read through the rhetoric quickly. "Special Ops Liaison to the Serendipity?"

He knew that she understood clearly what the position entailed. He was to be their spy.

Blane did not answer.

"Have I done something that leads you to believe I'm not to be trusted by Starfleet? That I need a babysitter? Or worse," she shook her head. "A conscience?"

"No, Captain."

"Then why, Thomas?" She moved toward the desk and picked up the spyglass he'd given her as a Christmas present. She extended it, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly as she looked out the window at the stars through it. "We're hours out of space dock, and already," she stopped short of finishing the thought that already, things were changing.

He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “I am not at liberty to answer that question.” He gulped and in an uncharacteristic move, averted his eyes to the floor.

Of everything that had happened, this part was the worst.

“I can assure you that I will continue my duties as you have come to expect of me.” He stared up into her eyes. “Until hell freezes over.”

Zanh came to the sad realization that if he was keeping something from her at this point in their relationship, after all they'd been through together in the past year, then he definitely had a reason.

She also knew that the day might come when she would also be forced to withhold information from him, and she hoped that he would react to it much as she tried to react to this bitter pill now. Swallowing it whole, and only slightly choking on it.

"I am certain that is so." She closed the spyglass now, one hand pressing it down against the other until it was again neatly compact.

She sat back down at her desk and pretended to busy herself with her computer, to try to minimize somehow the monumental shift that had just occurred in the balance of her world.

"I have no doubt that no matter the color of your uniform, the color of your blood is," she paused, "true blue. She sighed and for a moment stared at the desktop and his gift once more.

"There isn't anything I can do to get you out of this? Because if I can,"

“Negative.” He shifted his weight. “I’ll find my way.”

"Thank you for telling me this yourself.” She knew that it had to have been difficult for him, and that he definitely could have let someone else do it. She did not want to prolong his agony, and so finally released him.

“You're dismissed, Commander Blane."

As he turned, he stopped. He seemed to want to say something more, but he didn't. Zanh took the moment to look up at him once more as he glanced back at her over his shoulder.

"Remember two things," she offered. "One, that I also will continue to do my job just as you have come to expect, and two," her meaning was unmistakable as she formed her next sentence.

"I pay no heed to the men behind the curtain. It's a lesson that a good friend taught me once. The Great and Powerful Oz may be able to pull our strings and make us dance to his tune, for a little while. But every Oz has his weakness, and nothing lasts forever."

She wanted so badly to encourage him somehow, hoping that perhaps this was an arrangement that they could eventually find a way out of, together, even though she couldn't seem to help him now.

Blane looked back towards the door as she finished. "You know where my loyalties lie. Should you ever need to call upon them, all you have to do is say the word."

He spun around and looked at her taking a step back towards her. “I hope that you know where mine are. I will always do my duty.” His frustration was becoming evident as his voiced raised. “I will always protect my ship, my shipmates, and…” He paused realizing that he was losing his cool. “…my captain.”

He inhaled deeply before turning back to leave. “Always!”

*I know, Thomas, * she thought, as she felt a dull ache in her chest, watching him struggle. Her stomach twisted into a knot as frustration enveloped her as well.

She knew that whatever it was Special Ops was holding over him, it had to have been his worst nightmare realized if caused him to accept this fate, even temporarily.

As Blane made his way out the door, Salvek was on his way in. The two almost collided, and Salvek tilted his head quizzically as he once again regarded Blane's change of attire.

Seeing the obvious discomfort in the man's eyes, he did not ask the question that the new uniform begged. Instead he merely lowered his eyes and gestured for Blane to go ahead past him.

"Commander Blane."

"Commander Salvek."

Salvek's gaze moved toward Zanh's desk, seeking to find her. He observed she had rotated her chair away from the door. She was staring out the window, and opening and closing the small spyglass in her hands, again and again.

"Captain," Salvek gazed at her reflection in the view port as she stared back at him from it.

"What is the meaning of Commander Blane's uniform?"

"If I know TC Blane, if I know him at all," Zanh began slowly, "he only accepted that black collar because it signifies the noose that Special Ops wanted to put around someone's neck besides his own, for something. Something he can't see his way clear to get them out of at this time," She leaned forward, letting her head fall into her hand a moment.

She was overcome with guilt and worry, but knew all she could do was stand over his shoulder at a distance, and keep her eyes open for any opportunity to help him.

"This shall. . ." Salvek hesitated. "Complicate matters considerably."

"I just hope to hell that it's nothing I've done that has put him in this position.” Zanh’s low voice rasped softly as she gently rotated TC Blane’s gift in her hands. “That he's not staring at the hangman only so I'd be spared the trip to the gallows in his place."


Commander TC Blane
Second Officer/Chief of Operations/Special Ops Liaison
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

And

-=/\=-Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012