80220.14
Hours after The Plot Thickens
-=Captain's Ready Room, USS Serendipity=-
Keiran O'Sullivan was taken aback again by the view as he entered Zanh's ready room and found her leaning casually, with one arm elevated, against the view port as she took a moment alone to gather her thoughts before returning to the main bridge.
Something about her just. . . haunted him.
"What have you got for me?" She asked softly, as she turned toward him.
O'Sullivan stepped closer and handed her the PADD containing all of his findings from the security sweep.
He and his crew had gone over every centimeter of the Serendipity with a fine tooth comb- beginning the moment the Alchemy left.
"Son of a. . ." Liis mumbled dejectedly, as she scrolled through the list of devices that his team had found and disabled.
The list was maddeningly long.
She held the PADD in her left hand and tapped it against her right repeatedly as she tried to form the words to speak again.
"I know, Captain." O'Sullivan assessed her feelings on the matter clearly, for they matched his own. "To think that so much insidious thought and covert planning went into the installation of such varied and thoroughly redundant networks of surveillance. . ." He sighed. "Boggles the mind. Also brings me to only one possible conclusion."
"That more than one group of people is interested in what goes on aboard this ship." Liis finished his thought aloud as she let the PADD drop down onto coffee table beside her. She folded her arms defiantly and stared once again out the window. "You're certain we got them all this time?"
"Aye. As certain as I'm standing here."
Zanh's head moved up and down slowly. That was all she could ask of the man.
"Thank you, Keiran. Be sure to keep everything you found as tightly secured as you can. We are going to need it all."
"Who do we trust, to plead our case to, Captain? Or make our protest to? If we don't know who is behind it all. . ." He wondered if she had information that she was withholding. As Captain that was certainly her right.
Somehow, he didn't have her pegged as the sort who would do so unless it was absolutely vital and so decided to press the matter. "Do you know?"
"We're going to have to wait." She spat the last word as if it were a curse. "See how the hand plays out," Zanh continued softly. "Right now, we can't trust anyone who is not aboard this ship. Thank you, Keiran. You've done well."
O'Sullivan knew her words meant that he was dismissed, but he remained a moment longer. He took a breath but before he could say anything else, a series of panicked, repetitive chimes at the door preempted his words.
"Come in, already!" Zanh called, thinking surely that only Dabin Reece could be behind such an assault on her ears. She was surprised to discover that it was not Reece who was begging her attention.
[[Captain,]] Vedek Jariel rushed past O'Sullivan, with barely a nod in his direction to acknowledge his presence in the room. [[I'm sorry to intrude, I held off doing so as long as I felt that I could, but I have got to talk to you.]] His fine features were shadowed by sadness. [[We have to get to the Alchemy. Right away.]]
"We're going as fast as we can, Jariel," Liis began, rubbing her temples. She knew that Camen was not a man given to fits of panic, and his insistence troubled her. "What's is it?"
[[Alone.]] Camen signed, and Liis looked to Keiran again, who was still silently standing by, lost in his own thoughts.
"Thank you, Lt. Commander. Keep me apprised. Dismissed."
O'Sullivan regarded the Vedek a moment before slowly complying. "Aye, Captain."
[[What?]] Liis signed, as soon as she and Jariel were alone.
It had become her habit to speak to him in the same manner by which he spoke to her, especially since they'd returned from Bajor. It just seemed so much more . . .comfortable. For them both.
Much more so than the sound of her spoken words hanging in the void between them, leaving Jariel unable to respond in kind.
He hesitated, knowing his next words had to be among Liis' most hated of all time. Whenever he said them, little good seemed to come of it.
[[I had a vision.]]
She swore softly in Bajoran, turning away. She resumed staring out of the window. He could read her signs as they were reflected back to him off of the transparent aluminum.
[[Grace? Blane? Cristiane?]] She asked.
Jariel's shoulders slumped, his earring jingling softly as he shook his head sadly. [[Lair.]]
"God damn it!" Liis snarled, pounding her fist against the window. In her frustration she reverted to the spoken word.
"Not again! I can't keep that woman breathing to save my OWN life!" She held her head in her hands and sank to the couch. "We can't tell Salvek. Not right now. I need him to be here- I need him to focus. What can we do, anything?"
[[We just need to get to the Alchemy as soon as possible.]]
"I'll retake the helm, alter our course, try to shave as much time as I can off of the trip," Zanh replied.
She rose quickly and moved toward the door, and Jariel caught her arm as she walked by. He stared at her a long moment. This particular vision bothered him, not only because of the way he'd seen Lair but also because of who else had been in it and how she'd been portrayed to him by the Prophets.
He wanted to confess to Liis what he'd seen, but he stopped, knowing that his need was not what was important now. He would have to wrestle with whatever the vision meant on his own- she was needed on the bridge.
She saw his struggle reflected in the depths of his dark brown eyes, and bit her lip. "Can I help somehow?"
He shook his head again. [[I must pray.]] He concluded. [[If you need me I'll be,]] he thought about the altar in his office but somehow it didn't seem to offer him much comfort.
[[I know where you'll be,]] she assured him.
They both knew that he'd be kneeling in the garden, by the weeping angel sculpture. She put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him closer and placing a kiss upon his cheek.
He disappeared through the doors, and Liis closed her eyes and sighed. "I hope someone hears you, Jariel."
She squared her shoulders, inhaled sharply, and then strode back onto the main bridge.
"I'm tellin' you, boy, it's busted!"
The familiar twang of the voice of Dr. McKay boomed across the bridge as Liis quickly ushered Toby Ellison back out of his seat at the helm and refined Sera's course herself.
"I'm fine!" Reece protested, pulling his arm away from the tricorder with which McKay was scanning him.
"Problem, gentlemen?" The Captain inquired wearily.
Zanh seemed to use fewer and fewer words to make herself understood, Blakeslee observed from his vantage point at Tactical, the more concerned she was about a situation. Something had happened- or was about to happen.
"Commander Reece has a broken wrist and he won't go to Sickbay to get it fixed up." McKay responded.
"Well, excuse me, Dr. MagLite! I'm kinda busy at the moment," Reece winced as he tried to demonstrate that his wrist was working normally. Instead, it hung there, limp and swollen at the end of his arm.
He switched to working with his left hand as he managed his duties. "I'm trying to back up the information that we have on Beta-626 and encrypt it. The wrist has to wait. Step off." Reece concluded.
"Captain," McKay protested.
"I'm sorry, Dalton," Liis gave a wave, not turning around to look at him as she kept working at the helm. "I have to agree with Reece this time. I need him where he is. Is there any other reason that you're here?" She didn't have time to waste on needless banter.
Salvek's ears perked up as he watched the exchange. He observed the change in Zanh's already distressed disposition and took note.
*She is concealing something from me, * he thought.
"Matter of fact, there is." McKay's tone conveyed that he was insulted by the question. "I'm here to try to make sure ya'll don't shine in the dark like glow sticks at a roller rink by the time this crisis is over."
He moved from person to person, distributing another dose of medication via hypo to each bridge officer. "Fine. I'm finished. I'll just go back to Sickbay." He was fishing for an invite to stay and watch what was going on, but Zanh took him at his word.
"If we need you, we'll let you know."
McKay stepped into the turbolift, determined to take it to his destination to demonstrate again that he was every bit as real a being as any organic member of the crew. "Don't everybody thank me at once." He griped, as the doors slid shut.
Salvek rose from the command chair and approached the helm. He leaned close to Zanh, whispering with his lips mere centimeters from her ear.
"Captain?"
"As you were, Commander." Zanh's eyes communicated a stern warning, as did the tone of her voice and her use of his rank, that he best not ask. He blinked in surprise, and she winced.
"Not now, Salvek," she whispered, her expression turning apologetic as he stepped back a pace.
"Aye, Sir." Salvek replied, calmly returning to his seat.
Another two hours passed without a sound, aside from the hum of the engines, the beeping of consoles and the necessary departmental updates spoken amongst the bridge crew.
"Captain," Zander Blakeslee's voice pierced the air at last. "There's a vessel ahead."
"Alchemy?" Zanh asked hopefully, already knowing in her heart that they could not be so lucky.
"No. . . Yes!" Zander struggled to decipher the muddled readings he was receiving. "Wait. . ."
Reece moved from Science to Tactical and took a look as well. "Uh oh."
"Could you be a little LESS SPECIFIC?" Zanh growled sarcastically, tired of hearing the crew speak in incomplete and completely unhelpful sentence fragments.
"That is not the Alchemy." Reece gasped, as Blakeslee fought the atmospheric interference and won, and a clear reading reappeared before them.
"We're being hailed." Ensign Tenney announced.
Zanh clenched her jaw shut and hissed her words out between grinding teeth. "On screen."
[Captain Zanh?] An unfamiliar man in a black-collared uniform came into view, searching the bridge for Zanh. He was not expecting to see her sitting at the helm.
"Yes," Zanh saluted him casually, keeping her seat. "Can we help you somehow. . ." She took note of the bars on his collar ". . .Admiral. . .?"
[Dylon Spangler, Special Operations.] The man informed her. [We are taking command of your ship. Hold position, drop your shields and prepare to be boarded.]
Zanh actually laughed out loud. "I'm sorry. It sounded like you just told me that you were commandeering my ship."
[There is nothing wrong with your auditory function Zanh Liis, even if your judgment is impaired.] Spangler replied with a smirk. [Please, Captain, comply. Do not make us inflict any damage upon your vessel in order to secure it. We are simply following orders.]
"Whose orders?" Zanh demanded. "I wasn't notified of any orders demanding I relinquish command of my ship. So, until I receive and can verify such orders, I-"
"Captain, we're being hailed again," Tenney interrupted, her eyes imploring Zanh of the need to cut her current conversation short.
Zanh indicated to Zander to kill the comlink to the Spec Ops vessel.
"It's the Alchemy." Tenney added with a sigh of relief that was echoed by everyone around her. Zanh nodded her understanding and the ensign opened the channel.
"Commander Blane, everyone all right over there?"
[No, Captain,] Blane responded evenly. [But we have a bigger problem. Which I am sure you're aware of by now, unless you have not yet seen the very large ship that just situated itself between your position and ours.]
"I have. Have they tried to-"
"Captain, I'm losing the link," Tenney warned. "We're being jammed."
"Damn it! Blane, do not give them the Alchemy! Protect the evidence- we don't want this to blow up in our face," She stressed the individual words, hoping that Blane would understand as she hurried to get the message across.
Tenney shook her head as Blane flickered and vanished from the screen. "Lost them. I'm sorry, Captain."
"Keep trying to get him back, Sue." Zanh locked down the helm and stood from it, allowing Ellison to take it back as she moved toward the center chair. Salvek stood over her shoulder, his hands clasped behind his back, awaiting her orders.
Zanh's lips parted, but it was Tenney's voice that was heard again.
"Captain, now we're receiving two hails, one from the Spec Ops ship and one from. . ." She tried to comprehend the message through the interference as the Spec Ops ship fought to keep the other signal from getting through. "It's the USS Executor."
"Vox's ship!" Reece exclaimed.
"What the hell is really going on here?" Zanh growled, as she pounded her fist once against the arm of her chair, and all around her considered the possibilities.
-=/\=-Captain Zanh
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012