335: Undone: Part Four

by Jariel Camen
80614.2300

. . .continued

-=Three years later=-


“Good morning.” Keiran whispered, so as to not wake her. He kissed the sleeping Zanh Liis on the forehead, and slipped a shirt on. They had just celebrated their first anniversary, and he intended to let her sleep in this morning.

Keiran was going to walk to town this morning, to pick up groceries for the week at the market. He had installed a replicator in their home, but still enjoyed making a fresh meal two or three times a week.

He sat on the edge of the bed and slipped on his boots. There were storms in the forecast and these rural hills in Ireland were outside of the weather modification grid, so he wanted to get to town and back early.

It took him an hour to get down off the hilltop and into town. He pushed open the old wooden door to the market, and there, faithful as always, was Timothy.

“Mornin’ Keiran.”

“Aye, mornin’ Timmy. What’s fresh today?”

“A little of everything, carrots, potatoes, steak, lamb, what’s your pleasure?”

“Get a few cuts of steak together for me, will ye?”

“Sure enough, Keiran.”

Timothy disappeared into the rear, as Keiran began rifling through the vegetables to figure out just want he wanted to make. He heard a rumble of thunder in the distance, a sound that always awakened in him memories of the first time he and Liis had made love, in the meadow where their house now stood.

She had pined for Jariel Camen for some months following their return from Bajor, but eventually her love for Keiran had grown, and later she would take his hand in marriage.

Vox had warned them about leaving Temporal Investigations, and Keiran had his own reservations about what it could mean to the timeline, but Liis was just so damn wonderful he just couldn’t bear to live with himself if he hadn’t given their love a chance. The truth was being in love with her was even better than he had imagined, and he was curious if that Kai on Bajor ever wondered just what he was missing.

“How be these, Keiran?”

Timothy came through the door from the back and held two cuts of steak over the counter for Keiran to inspect.

“Aye that will do it Timmy, wrap them up.”

Keiran waited, as the sound of rain began to pound on the roof and the wind howled outside.

“Storms are blowing through awful fast, thought they were not supposed to start for a while.” Timothy noted, as he began bagging up Keiran’s groceries.

Keiran felt a knot in his stomach, as he wondered just how strong the storms were supposed to be today. He picked up the bag and tossed a few coins of the counter for Timothy. A gust of wind rocked the building violently, as Keiran braced himself to keep from falling. A bolt of lightning shot across the sky and a thunderclap again shook the small market.

“You best be getting back to that wife of yours.”

“Aye.” Keiran dropped the bag and ran out the door into the pouring rain. Timothy tried to stop him, but Keiran was already gone.

His heart raced, as he ran back up the hill that led to their home. The fast moving storm was already beginning to move off and his pace quickened as the wind died down and the pouring rain turned to a drizzle. As he reached the top of the hill, the clouds were already beginning to break, and a shaft of sunlight shown down into the meadow.

The meadow, where their house had once stood.

“No. No. Liis. LIIIISSS!!!” Keiran cried out in agony as he ran across the clearing. The home he had built them was now just a twisted pile of planks and furniture scattered across the ground. His heart threatened to burst from his chest as he ran to the field of debris.

He called her name over and over as he tried to sift through the debris to find her, then suddenly, he just stopped and dropped to his knees.

He caught a glimpse of her, lying beneath the wreckage, and there was no doubt anymore.

She was lost.

Keiran buried his head in his hands, as the sobs coursed through his body. He opened his eyes long enough to look at the suddenly clear blue sky, and cursed that the sky that had taken Zanh Liis’ life just moments before was now evolving into a clear and beautiful day.

What felt like an eternity was probably fifteen minutes of suffering for Keiran O’Sullivan. He sobbed until he was simply too exhausted and in pain to cry any more.

Behind him he heard the soft sound of footfalls approaching him. He did not need to turn around and look to know whom it was, or what he was going to say.

“Salvek is dead.” Jonas Vox declared, as he came up towards Keiran, standing about five meters behind him. “The Romulans tried to abduct him from his ship and got a little carried away.”


Vox moved to stand next to him now. Keiran stared straight ahead, wondering why in the world he should care about the damn Vulcan, but knowing exactly what Vox was trying to say.

“She wasn’t there to protect him.” Vox said.

Keiran noticed the storm had taken his home, but spared his shed behind the house. He walked around the debris and up to the door if the shed. He flipped the latch and opened the door slowly.

It was still there.

A hand carved crib. He had built it in secret, working early in the mornings while she slept. “Just tidying up the yard.” He would always tell her when she asked where he had been all morning.

“For when she was ready?” Jonas asked.

“No, for when I was ready.”

Vox found the reply cryptic, knowing how Keiran felt about Liis.

“I wanted to be sure I had all her heart, that nothing of him was left there before I ever asked. I was never entirely sure. I wasn’t ready to bring a child into the world until I knew for sure that chapter of her life was completely closed.”

A small breeze kicked up, and swung the door shut.

“He’s always been there Keiran, it’s the natural course of time. Even as we stand here there is a man on Bajor who loves his wife but every day after treaty negotiations and prayer services, he wonders to himself for just a moment if he shouldn’t have just given her more time.”

Keiran looked towards the sky, as Vox waited for the next inevitable question.

“How many times have we had this conversation?” By that Keiran meant, how many times has his relationship with Zanh Liis ended in them being together, and her eventually dying.

“Just one other time, and the circumstances were completely different then. This is the only time we’ve had this conversation here. In all other timelines, including the proper one, Salvek lives and Liis and Camen are eventually rejoined.”

“I’m sorry.” Vox added, rather unhelpfully. Jonas was making the point perfectly clear that however much Keiran loved Zanh Liis, the timeline dictated that Zanh and Jariel were meant to be together.

Vox slipped his left hand under the right cuff on his uniform, and pressed a hidden button. A small time jump ship decloaked nearby.

Keiran saw the ship, and took a running step at Vox, grabbing the man by his collar and lifting him off the ground.

“How can you even suggest...”

“You can kill me Keiran, but you and I both know you are going to get on that ship and set things right, and I’ll be alive once you do.”

Keiran set the Admiral back down again.

“And you and I both know the only fate worse for you than watching her love him, is leaving her here like this, cut short before her time.”

Keiran nodded, and Vox walked over to the ship. He retrieved a PADD and a single isolinear rod. He handed the PADD, which displayed a Federation starship schematic, to Keiran.

“This is the USS Savior, commanded by Captain Alexi Demitriev in 2377. This ship is out of its proper place in this timeline. We don’t really know why, could have been something that happened thousands of years ago. Doesn’t really matter, we know how to correct it. In the proper timeline the Savior is only a minute or two away from this transport vessel.” Vox tapped the PADD, displaying another ship. “The Swift. In the proper timeline pirates attack this transport vessel but the Savior immediately intervenes, and destroys the pirates. The transport continues on its way to its destination, taking one Fleur Le Marc along with it.”

“However, in this timeline, the Savior is about five minutes away. By the time they come to the rescue, the transport vessel has already been fired upon, and its engines are destroyed. Fleur Le Marc and the rest of the crew from the Swift are taken aboard the Savior and dropped at the nearest planet, Bajor.”

Keiran nodded slowly, understand exactly what he had to do. Fleur was never meant to go to Bajor, meet the Vedek or marry him. Deep inside Keiran understood that also meant that Zanh Liis was never meant to have a life with him, either.

He took one last look at what was left of this life, before it ceased to exist. Vox handed him the isolinear rod.

“This contains all the command codes for the Savior, appropriate to that time.”

O’Sullivan entered the small ship, and activated the controls.

-=2377, bridge of the USS Savior=-


“Keep scanning. The Ferengi saw them just an hour ago, they can’t be that far off.” Captain Demitriev, drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. He loathed search missions, and finding these damn pirates was as tedious as a needle in a haystack. So far his operation officer wasn’t coming up with anything, and Demitriev wondered if they might have a cloaking device.

Ensign Mandel had tactical, at least for the next few hours. He waited nervously, knowing at any time he may be called upon to attack the ship they were looking for, if they found it.

A tall Irish man exited the turbolift, and stepped up to the rail next to him.

“Good evening” Mandel said with a smile.

“Evening lad.” O’Sullivan said, as he slid the isolinear rod into the port on the tactical rail. He tapped the panel before him and the computer flashed affirmation that his command codes were accepted. Mandel found his actions curious and as he looked at Keiran, realized he didn’t recognize him from the ship.

“Do I know you?” He asked.

Keiran turned and shoved the man across the bridge. Mandel fell to the deck with a thud.

“Computer transfer and isolate all command functions to the tactical station and erect a level 10 forcefield around my location.”

Captain Demitriev leapt out of his chair and spun to face tactical. “What is the meaning of this, who the hell are you?”

“Captain I’ve lost helm control, our course is being altered!” The conn announced.

“Red alert! Intruder alert, security to the bridge. Computer shut down the warp drive, authorization Demitriev 17 alpha.”

“DAMN IT!” Demitriev shouted. “Engineering shut down the warp drive!”

[I can’t Captain, we’ve lost everything down here, computer control is gone.]

“GET IT BACK!”

[I need at least an hour to get around the lockouts.]

“Relax Captain, I won’t need yer ship for that long.” O’Sullivan said calmly.

Demitriev drew his phaser and fired at O’sullivan, but the blast dissipated harmlessly against the forcefield.

“We just engaged Warp 9.7 towards coordinates 398 mark 445.” The ensign at the helm announced. Demitriev tried inputting his codes at the helm manually, without any success.

“I’ve got two ships on sensors now.” The science officer said. “One of them just sent out a distress call.” O’Sullivan played the message over the bridge speakers.
[This is the transport vessel Swift. We are under attack by pirates. Request immediate assistance from any ship nearby. Coordinates 398 mark 445.]

“How the hell did you know that ship was there?”

O’Sullivan did not answer.

“Captain he’s bringing our weapons on line, and we’ve just established a lock on the pirate vessel.”

“We’re dropping out of warp!” The helm announced.

Demitriev watched helplessly as O’Sullivan piloted his ship. Apparently this man knew exactly where to find the pirates, even if no one else did.

O’Sullivan set the phasers to full and fired at the pirate vessel.

“Direct hit. They are trying to escape.”

O’Sullivan targeted their engines with the next shot. The small vessel dropped in speed, and listed as its engines went dark.

Keiran moved the Savior closer, and continued to fire. Torpedoes tore through the hull of the vessel, as it began to break up.

He watched, silently, knowing every shot brought his life with Zanh Liis in this timeline closer to an end. The vessel crumbled, and its warp core finally breached, sending what little debris there was left hurtling off into space. As the explosion subsided, Keiran just kept on firing the weapons. Torpedoes and phasers leapt from the ship making orange streaks across the viewscreen as they hurtled off into the vacuum of space.

He didn’t want to believe that ship was gone.

Not yet.

Demitriev walked up the ramp to the railing, just outside the forcefield.

“Good God man, it’s over.”

Keiran lifted his hand off the firing control. He turned to Demitriev, and the Captain noted a face of pure sadness, like nothing he had ever seen.

“Aye, it’s over.” He said softly.

Another hail came in from the transport vessel. [This is the Swift. Thank you for your assistance Federation vessel.]

Keiran retracted the isolinear rod from the console, activated a transporter control hidden beneath the cuff of his shirt, and vanished.

-=Current time: USS Serendipity=-


Keiran’s eyes flew open. He jumped up out of bed, heart racing.

No sooner had he processed his surroundings, he blacked out and fell to the floor.

****************
Vedek Jariel Camen
Ship’s Chaplain
USS Serendipity NCC-2012