by -=/\=- Zanh Liis
80317.15
Following Mixed Messages
-=Captain's Ready Room=-
80317.15
Following Mixed Messages
-=Captain's Ready Room=-
By this time, the late shift had taken over the bridge, and with most of the senior staff at the party and the ship in space dock, a skeleton crew was all that remained.
"Captain?" Sue Tenney hurried to stand up from her chair at communications. "Didn't expect to see you tonight. Is anything wrong?"
"As you were, Ensign. Everything is fine." Zanh headed into the ready room without further explanation, and a moment later, O'Sullivan stepped out of the lift. He nodded to Tenney, and then without waiting or ringing the chime, he strode into Zanh's office.
She was standing by the viewport, looking out through the small spyglass he knew had been a gift to her from TC Blane. She was very fond of the little instrument, and always seemed to be fidgeting with it, especially when she was trying to think something through.
Keiran wasn't sure where to begin. He hadn't seen her, not while he was in a fully conscious state, anyway, since their confrontation before they boarded the Gauntlet. He wondered if she was holding on to any ill will from the event, and supposed that if she was going to carry a grudge, better to find out about it now.
"Captain," He began, and before he could say anything more she spun around, the skirt of her dress flaring around her legs. The sight preempted further speech on his part.
"O'Sullivan," She closed the spyglass with one swift motion and set it down on the desk top. "I owe you an apology."
This was not the reception he was expecting. His eyes questioned her and he waited in silence for her to elaborate.
"You were right. I shouldn't have gone on the Away Team. My refusal to listen to the advice of my Chief of Security almost cost him his life," The intensely blue, fathoms-deep iris' of Zanh's eyes were swirling, darkened by regret. "I'm sorry."
"No, Captain," He raised his foot to take a step closer to her, but thought better of it and planted it back to the floor. "It was my own fault I got shot. I was distracted. I was trying to divide my attention in. . .too many directions at once."
"You were worried about protecting me." Zanh announced correctly, and Keiran had to shake his head. For a completely non-telepathic being she had a way of reading people. "And I should have stayed behind. I wanted to collar Spangler myself, after what he did. That was as arrogant as it was stupid." She shook her head, and she took the step forward that O'Sullivan had avoided, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Can you forgive me?"
"Nothing to forgive, Captain. Please consider the matter over and done with."
*I surely want to,* he thought.
Zanh was unconvinced. "Well, you're very kind. But next time, I will try to listen more closely to the voice of reason. All right?"
"Fair enough."
Her hand was still on his shoulder, and Keiran's eyes followed the line of it up her wrist, over the smooth pale skin of her arm, all the way to the off-shoulder sleeves of her dark dress. She looked different to him, somehow. There was a new light around her face and her eyes.
She'd changed her hair. . .
He shook the thought from his mind and tried to remember that he'd come here for a reason.
"Captain, something has come to my attention and to follow up on it, I need to request permission to disembark."
Zanh's brow creased and she withdrew her hand at last. "What's going on, Keiran?"
"May I?" He gestured toward the computer panel on her desk, and Zanh approved. He sat down in her chair and began accessing the security database, unlocking his files and displaying what he'd found so far for her eyes.
Zanh breathed in sharply. She didn't like what she saw. "You think he's going to be meeting with this Captain Nolan?"
"I do. I don't know for what purpose, but with all that's at stake here, for the Sera and for Starfleet in general, we have to follow the lead, Captain."
She was standing over his shoulder, leaning forward to see the computer screen, and he felt just the ends of her hair brush against his face. He quickly closed the files, pushed back from the desk and stood up, moving away and toward the other side of the room.
Zanh sighed, too absorbed in her own thoughts to attribute any meaning to his sudden change of location.
She had just seen TC Blane extricated from the vacuum of past entanglements- she hoped to hell that she wasn't going to have to see Breaux fall prey to any similar circumstance.
"Agreed, but I don't want you to go alone."
"Captain,"
"No." She said firmly, thinking of Blane and the whole Yensul mess once again. "Not alone and that's final."
"Dalca." O'Sullivan requested.
"Sorry. Can't take Dalca. He's been having some kind of issues and our CMO warned me that if his treatments fail he could become unfit for duty. I won't put you, or him, in that position."
"You have another suggestion then, no doubt."
"You need someone who can be believable if your cover is questioned at any point," Zanh replied. In times past she knew she'd be the most likely candidate to accompany him on a mission such as this.
But she wore four pips now, and she had to accept that with the chair, with all its power, also came new limitations.
She was the best candidate no longer.
"Cristiane." She decided.
The expression on his face said it all.
"Hear me out. He's from the street. He's got the right attitude, and he can lie like a rug." Zanh insisted.
"You didn't see him when I first found him. He has a perfectly plausible cover, just mentioning the name of the woman he worked for on DS23, Vaudri Karr, could open many locked doors to you if he's there to provide you the correct details. He just has to make up some excuse for where he disappeared to in the time between then and now. Also, he's been through two years of TI training."
Zanh nodded as she spoke. "Yes. Dane should go, and I have another idea. Take him to Sickbay, have some ridges thrown onto his nose, and pass him off as Bajoran.
"Captain," Keiran tried once more to object, but Zanh would have none of it.
"You just need a second pair of eyes and fingers capable of pulling a trigger to cover your back."
"More afraid the little rat might aim for me on purpose."
Zanh shook her head. "He went to visit you many times in Sickbay, while you were out. He thinks more of you at this point than you realize, or that he's willing to admit. You've given him hell but you haven't given up on him, either." Zanh neglected to mention her own, frequent visits to him in Sickbay- or what had occurred during the last one.
"Neither have you," Keiran replied, alluding to Zanh's actions aboard the Executor.
"Yes, well the little smart-ass kind of grows on you."
She thought a moment. In thinking about Dane going to Sickbay, she began considering something else. "You might want to consider taking Terasha with you as well."
"Sir?"
"She was Andorian Imperial Guard. She may be a Starfleet physician, but she was a soldier first. If I planned to pay a visit to Mother, I think she would be a very valuable asset. Besides, being you're just out of Sickbay, I wouldn't mind you having someone keep an eye on your condition, since you insist on taking this on."
"Aye, Sir. I'll speak to her when she's taking care of the alterations to Cristiane's nose." He thought it was a wonder by this point he hadn't personally done some rearranging to the brat's facial features, given all the guff he'd taken from the punk up till now.
"How will you get there?"
"Captain, the less you know of our itinerary, the better."
Zanh understood.
She didn't have to tell him to be careful, she didn't have to tell him that she hoped that somehow, this was all a mistake and Breaux was innocent of any wrongdoing. He could read it all plainly written upon her face.
"Be careful, Keiran." Her slender fingers twisted the chain of her earring as she spoke, indicating to O'Sullivan that he had gotten to her, somehow, and she was genuinely hoping for his safe return.
"See you soon." He promised. He locked eyes on hers, and tapped his badge. "O'Sullivan to Cristiane,"
[What!] Dane responded angrily, sounding very much like a man who did not wish to be disturbed at this hour because he was doing something much more interesting than working.
"Sickbay. Now."
The sound of Dane mumbling curse words was all that Zanh could make out before he added an irritated acknowledgement, O'Sullivan vanished, and she once again found she was standing in the room alone.
"Before he leaves, I'm going to have to remind that kid to swear in Bajoran."
---------------------------------
-=/\=-Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
-=/\=-Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012