545: Mad As Hell

by Vol Tryst and Landry Steele
80930.2000
Following More Than Meets the Eye

-=Transporter Room One, USS Serendipity=-


Sitting in the corner of the transporter room and shaking like a leaf, Landry Steele could not believe what had happened to her.

She remembered it, each and every moment of it, but still she could not believe it.

-=Flashback: The Farm, Klaestron IV=-

"I found him!" Dane called as he saw Zanh and the rest of the Away Team approaching.

Upon seeing that the man at the end of the hall had the Human male known as Carrick in his custody, Atien decided that now was her best chance to make a run for it, and took off.

TC Blane bolted, but Zanh called him back.

"Let her go," she instructed, "We don't need her anymore and maybe she'll give them something else to chase..."

"Liisy!" Another voice spoke up now, and the sound of rapid footfalls echoed in the corridor. "I found the dampening field generator! I took it offline, we should be able to execute that remote beam out now."

"God I hope so," Landry pleaded, uncertain still how she even got drafted for this crazy mission to begin with.

"We had better get out of here," Blane cautioned, as they heard shouting at the opposite end of the hall. Blane knew that once the security people discovered they had only found their fellow Klaestron, they would quicken the pace of their hunt.

"Go." Zanh urged. Blane activated a small device, and the next thing she knew they were back aboard Rixx Rewards.

Zanh slid into the pilot's chair and brought the engines online while Blane helped Dane secure the still unconscious Carrick into a seat. "Is he alive?" She feared the answer but had to ask the question just the same.

"We need to get him back to the Sera," Blane advised grimly. "The sooner the better."

"Understood." Liis took the ship out as quickly as possible. So quickly that Landry was certain that the bucket of bolts would not hold together.

She was berating herself vehemently for ever joining Starfleet to begin with when suddenly she heard a voice inside her head that was not her own.

*We mean you no harm,* the voice intoned, in a soft, breathy voice. *We are only here to help,*

-=End Flashback=-

"Ensign Steele? Can you hear me?"

Landry looked up and saw the piercing eyes of Vol Tryst focused upon her. "What?"

"We've been trying to get your attention for the past four minutes," Vol announced. "Are you all right?"

"No," Landry replied, her eyes completely devoid of emotion. repeating the same words she'd spoken earlier. "They used me."

The look in her eyes, the tone of her voice, the combination made Vol feel like someone had just dropped a brick into his stomach. By her own words, it appeared that Vol and Landry now had at least one thing in common.

"Would you come with me, please, Ensign?"

"Where to?" She shot at him, whether it had been her intent or not was unclear.
Vol was about to say Sickbay, but caught his tongue just as he was about to voice the first syllable. Literally, he bit the tip of his tongue. He may have even winced.

"Where would you like to go?"

Instead of answering, Landry began to look around them frantically.

"Reece," She panicked, "Where is Reece?"

"He was beamed aboard the Alchemy with the O'Sullivan boy,," Salvek responded, keen Vulcan hearing allowing him to hear her question from across the room.

"Is Reece alive?" Landry's voice trembled.

"Yes, he is expected to recover."

Landry nodded, the terror in her eyes turning to relief.

"Ensign," Vol prodded gently. "Is there a reason you were so concerned with Reece's well being?"

"Yeah," She droned. "They wanted me to kill him."

Again, Vol heard words that clearly painted a very different picture than he'd expected. His eyebrows furrowed, as he turned to look over his shoulder at Salvek.

Everyone in the room had gone silent at hearing Landry's incredible statement.

"Still advocating their healing ways, it appears." TC Blane shook his head, his voice dripping with sarcasm as the medical staff led him and Dane out the door, destined for a full examination in Sickbay.

"What? I don't..." Vol licked his lips as he looked back at Landry, sitting himself down a few steps below her current perch. This wasn't making sense to the man, he himself had been taken over by one of the Sylph. They were extreme to be sure, but after their last altercation, he had thought some lessons were learned.

Far be it from them to be violent or wish cruel harm against someone they sought to heal, or so he thought.

In the end, it appeared that some of the Sylph deemed certain individuals beyond healing, or believed that the only way to live at peace was for them not to live at all.

But that theory didn't answer all one's questions. Upon further consideration, the only reason he could imagine for the Sylph to make such a desperate decision was if Dabin had been unwilling or unable to cooperate with them.

He knew that no Trill had been effected by the Sylph during their prior appearance. Perhaps the Sylph felt he was such a threat to what they were trying to accomplish that they believed they had no choice but to remove him from the equation, and tried to use Steele as a means to that end.

Before bringing himself back to the present, Vol thought to himself that he could not wait until he would hear the Trill man make one of his lame jokes again.

"So, the Sylph took control of your..."

"Yes." Steele cut the Counselor off.

"But, obviously the Commander is far from a fatal state. So, something must not have gone the way the Sylph wanted..."

"I didn't go the way that they wanted." Landry announced, clenching her jaw defiantly. "They wanted me to keep jamming that hypo into him again and again. They were having a hard time keeping him 'out of the way' as they put it while they did their thing to the others."

"What was that thing that they were trying to do to the others?"

Now, Landry hesitated. "I don't know if I should talk about that yet, before I talk to someone from Temporal Investigations."

Apparently Landry had been too out of it earlier to hear Salvek's remarks that such a team was on the way to their location now.

"Why? Did it involve time travel? Memories of other timelines?"

Again, Landry hesitated. She looked at Vol with a tilt of her head. "Have you ever heard of an Alternate Continuity Paradox?"

Salvek's eyebrow shot up so high it almost seemed to be suspended in air, independent of his forehead.

He stepped between Steele and Tryst.

"I do not know if the Counselor has," Salvek replied, "But I have. Ensign Steele, I believe that you should reserve further comment until after you are debriefed by Temporal Investigations. For now, I would like you to accompany the Counselor to Sickbay and undergo a complete physical examination. Counselor, could you please see to it?"

"By your leave, Commander."

"Am I allowed to say anything to him?" Landry asked Salvek before walking away.

"If you do, choose your words carefully, Ensign. At least for the time being." Salvek admonished.

"Fun." Landry muttered, as she and Vol headed out into the hall and towards the lift.

------------------------
Ensign Vol Tryst
Ship's Counselor
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

and

Ensign Landry Steele
Operations Intern
USS Serendipity NCC-2012