by Avery Breaux and Lair Kellyn
Hours After By Default
80629.0830
Soundtrack: Gimme Shelter
-The Rolling Stones
-=Sickbay=-
Hours After By Default
80629.0830
Soundtrack: Gimme Shelter
-The Rolling Stones
-=Sickbay=-
Avery Breaux double checked the readouts on his computer screen, just to make certain one last time with his own two eyes.
Serendipity was definitely in her own layer of space.
Within two hours the small transport ships would be well within transporter range. Three ships, just as always. Breaux smiled at the precision of the renegades he'd worked with in the past.
Turning the care of the Captain over to the LMH once again, he stepped outside of Sickbay under the pretense of gleaning a different perspective on Liis' case.
He was well beyond the fatigue stage-now he was so tired, he couldn't be tired.
All he could was forge ahead to finish his task.
He moved slowly down the corridor. He'd told the med staff he'd be back in a couple of hours.
He moved instinctively toward the arboretum.
He found Lair Kellyn laying on her back on the grass, tools spread out around her as she enjoyed a quiet moment after finishing emergency repairs to the inner hull.
*Gods know everyone deserves a quiet moment after all we've just been through.*
She beamed when she saw him. Her pleasant approach was met with a solemn look, and she sat up.
"Avery?"
"Kellyn," he dropped heavily down onto one knee on the lawn beside her, diving right into the conversation. With true friends, there was no need for opening pleasantries when you had something you needed to say.
"This struggle with Zanh Liis. The entire struggle," he was referring to his own personal struggle with living in the confines of the Starfleet edict, and the struggles Lair had herself endured. "It forces us to choose."
She looked at him quizzically.
"Sorry, haven't had sleep in some time." He paused and then added confidently, "I think you and I are kindred spirits somehow."
Her expression told him that she knew full well what he meant.
"In many ways," Kellyn replied, wondering where all of this was going. "Avery, if-"
Before she could finish, he had already returned to his feet. She jumped to hers as well, confused even still as he reached out and clasped her hand in both of his.
"Thanks for listening." His grasp tightened around her long, delicate fingers. "Thanks for being my friend." He looked around at several of the flowering trees before glancing back at her. "I have to get back to Sickbay, I'll let you enjoy your moment of solitude."
"O...kay. See you later."
She began to gather up her tools, still perplexed by his behavior. She didn't have time to think about it now, though; the rest of their conversation would have to wait until later. The list of micro fractures to the hull was long, and the energy of the engineering staff, running short.
As Avery looked back at Lair Kellyn from the doorway of the Arboretum one last time, he could only hope that at some point in the future she would understand his decision.
She certainly didn't have to agree with it, but if they were soul mates of a sort, she would be able comprehend his reasons, even if no one else could.
-=Sickbay=-
Zanh Liis became aware of her surroundings. Slowly.
She'd been close to waking up more than once, but couldn't quite complete the journey until now.
She could have sworn at points she heard Jariel speaking to her. Rather, reading to her. Passages from her favorite poem, Locksley Hall by Tennyson.
*What an odd thing to dream.*
Finally forcing at first one eyelid open and then the other, Liis groaned. The lids were practically fixed shut with a crystalline residue that burned her eyes upon contact.
The remnants, she imagined, of what must have been tears.
She was alone.
For this, she was grateful. For an instant before she opened her eyes she feared who may be standing there, awaiting her return. She was too spent to put on a happy face at this moment or to pretend that she was okay- for anyone's benefit.
As she stretched her arms over her head a motion detector alerted the LMH, who was standing nearby and going over her latest test results again.
"Wakey wakey..." Dalton McKay drawled, a slow smile crossing his face. He patted her on the hand before beginning a neurological exam of her pupillary light response and other reflexes. "Good to have you back. Can you tell me your name?"
"Liis," she strained to swallow, her throat parched as she blinked, eyes struggling to focus in the brightness of the lights. "Zanh Liis."
McKay procured a glass of water and held the straw to her lips so she could drink. She sighed, thanking him with her eyes.
"Do you know where you are?"
"Sickbay," Liis rested her head back against the pillow, pushing the water away now. "Serendipity."
"Two for two," McKay offered encouragingly. "Tell me, Zanh Liis, what's the date?"
Liis thought for a moment. Her eyes rolled upward toward the ceiling.
She didn't know the answer to the question.
Her heart rate began to accelerate at the realization and the resulting stress from it, and McKay once again patted her on the arm.
"It's okay. You rest now. Relax. I'll get you another blanket, you feel a bit chilly to me."
As he moved toward the curtain, McKay asked her one last question. "Do you know what your job is here?"
"I..." Liis paused, licking her dry lips again before continuing, "I am the captain of this ship."
McKay grinned with satisfaction. "Damn right you are." As he moved away he asked the nurse to summon the Vedek.
"Wait." Liis called, struggling in a futile attempt to sit up. "Please,"
McKay popped his head back around the curtain, confused. "Captain?"
"Not yet." She pleaded. "Just, not yet."
McKay nodded his understanding while trying to hide his surprise. *At least she knows who the Vedek is,* he thought. He then dared to ask if she wanted to see anyone else.
"Like who?" Liis asked groggily, rubbing her aching eyes.
"Like Salvek, or Mr. Blane, or..." he paused, "Keiran O'Sullivan."
A puzzled expression overtook Liis' features as she considered the last name he offered her for several seconds before responding.
"Who is that?"
As the man she was inquiring about lay still in a biobed behind another curtain nearby, tears formed in his eyes at the sound of her voice and the words that she spoke.
Then another sort of alarm sounded, one that demanded his full and immediate attention.
Keiran looked over at the tray beside the bed. His compass, silent for so long, was silent no longer.
Red light illuminated its face in intermittent flashes. A soft beeping began to rise in pitch and volume even as he fumbled to grab the device and silence it once more- before anyone else saw or heard it.
Once the eerie warning tone was muted, Keiran picked up his combadge from beside him. He cleared his throat.
"O'Sullivan to Salvek."
-=A short time later =-
On the bridge of the USS Serendipity, Salvek was reading an encrypted, text-only message that had just come in from Admiral Vox in response to the rapid-fire bulletin he'd sent to Command. The one informing Vox of the ship's encounter with the Sylph, the resulting damage to ship, crew, and Captain...and informing Vox that Keiran O'Sullivan needed to speak with him in person, as soon as possible.
The Admiral's response was succinct.
[Get the hell home.]
-=Deck Four=-
The distress call from the first disguised Maquis transport came in and the bridge officers predictably scurried about to help those in need. Even as Sera limped along on wounded paws of her own.
Avery moved down the corridor toward the transporter room. He stopped and looked down the long hallway at the flash of Starfleet uniforms. He smiled.
Engineering crewman Halliday came toward Avery, on his way to his next repair job. Breaux raised his hand to stop the young man, "Excuse me crewman, can you make certain that Lair Kellyn gets this PADD?" He smiled.
"Certainly Doctor, I'll see right to it."
"Thank you."
Avery stepped into the unattended transporter room. Making certain the controls were set for his beam out, he set the timer and stepped up onto the pad. Within moments he shimmered into his past life.
The distressed transport began spinning wildly and descending all at the same time. All Bridge focus was on the small ship. The other two transports scattered in different directions at breakneck speed.
The ship in peril held the attention of the Sera's command crew even though the transport was reported. The beam out appeared to go to all three of the ships, but...that couldn't be. The Warp core of the tiny vessel was dangerously close to an overload.
Crewman Halliday found Kellyn walking through Engineering, on the way to return some tools she'd borrowed to Chief Dengar.
"Commander Lair? This is for you."
She thanked him and took the PADD. Flipping it on, she became alarmed immediately when she saw that it contained only one sentence- an old proverb of her people.
"Ideas have consequences."
*Oh, Avery, what have you done?*
Chaos erupted around her as the bridge demanded more information from Engineering about who had beamed without authorization- and where they had gone.
Her heart and spirits sank beneath the weight of the answer to both questions.
"May the Prophets guide your steps, Avery Breaux," she whispered. "We will meet again one day. When we do, I hope that you will remember that you once considered me to be your friend."
With the things he knew of The Alchemy Project, the Sera and her crew...Avery Breaux, the now former CMO of the very ship upon which she stood, represented a very real threat.
Though her world spun out of control around her, Lair Kellyn knew one thing for sure in this moment.
She had to tell Salvek- right now.
---------------------------------
Avery Breaux
Former Starfleet Officer
and
Commander Lair Kellyn
Engineering Research and Development
The Alchemy Project
Avery Breaux
Former Starfleet Officer
and
Commander Lair Kellyn
Engineering Research and Development
The Alchemy Project