by -=/\=- Zanh Liis
81006.22
Hours after The Night Sky
-=Holodeck Two, USS Serendipity=-
81006.22
Hours after The Night Sky
-=Holodeck Two, USS Serendipity=-
The first thing Zanh Liis became aware of was the sound of birds chirping in the distance. They had run the Perseids program for so long, it was now simulating daybreak.
She opened her eyes, worried when she realized how much time had elapsed and knowing she must be late, if not very late for that meeting with the Admiral.
She tried to focus, glancing over at Keiran and thinking back to try to remember how they had ended up this way.
She knew for sure that they'd been dancing...
...that was something she was certain she'd remember for the rest of her life.
After awhile he had taken her by the hand, sat down beneath the tree and patted the ground beside him.
They hadn't said a word to each other, he simply enclosed her in his arms as she settled into them, the act as effortless and natural to her as breathing.
Liis rested her head against his chest for just a second, her eyes drifting shut as she listened to the sound of his heart.
Apparently, they had both fallen asleep just that way.
Feeling her move and just as startled as she was by the fact he was waking up beside her, Keiran sat up.
He began blinking rapidly as his sensitive, sky blue eyes adjusted to the artificial daylight.
Once he got his bearings and realized he hadn't been dreaming, he smiled.
He reached out to caress her face, and Liis did nothing to prevent him. He ran his fingertips back through her hair slowly, brushing it behind her earring.
It was then he discovered that this was not the earring that she had been given by the Vedek all those years ago. This one was different, and he had seen it before.
He wondered where, and after thinking a moment the answer came to him. This was the earring Dane had borrowed from her to wear when they'd gone undercover after Avery Breaux on Earth.
This was the earring that belonged to her Grandmother.
He slowly twisted the chain the way that she often did, and Liis' cheeks flooded with color. A Mona Lisa smile played over her lips, and she opened her mouth to speak her first words to him since he'd joined her here.
As soon as she drew in a breath to do so, she was interrupted by a hail emanating from her badge.
[Blane to Zanh.]
*Are you freaking kidding me?* She sighed softly. "Yes, Thomas?"
[I don't mean to intrude...]
Zanh's complexion reddened even more as Blane's tone indicated he had checked and verified that she was not on the holodeck alone.
[Just making sure you're aware of the time, Captain. It's six-forty-five...and our guest does not like to be kept waiting.]
"Thank you, I'm on my way. Zanh out."
Keiran attempted to say something but before he could, she gently raised her hand, begging him not to. If she heard his voice, and they began the conversation that she thought he wanted to begin, she would never be able to pull herself away to make it to that meeting.
"Hold that thought? Just a little while longer?"
He took hold of her hand, kissing the back of it in reply.
Before she had a chance to change her mind, she hurried to her feet and took off, calling for the arch.
Keiran breathed in deeply, taking a moment to look around him once more before rising.
The surroundings may be man-made, he thought, but there was no denying that it was a brand new day, for them both.
-=Bridge=-
Liis exited the lift and was met with excited greetings from her crew, many of whom had not seen her since before the Alchemy's trip to Betazed.
She shook hands quickly, addressed each person by name, and then asked them to forgive her, she had business to attend to that could not wait.
Just before she went in to meet with the Admiral, however, Zander Blakeslee asked for a moment of her time.
Liis listened with widening eyes and shortening patience as Zander described the stunt that the Admiral had pulled the day before, scaring the Engineering staff and her Executive Officer half to death by threatening to dismantle the Alchemy.
Liis began a slow, internal burn and spoke only one word.
"Really."
She folded her arms and rocked her weight back and forth from her heels to her toes then back once again.
"Yes, Captain."
"Thank you, Zander, I appreciate you bringing this to my attention." Liis decided in that instant that she was not going to fool around here. She may have been temporarily relieved of duty for medical reasons, but this was still her command.
It was time to take back her power.
This was her ship, and she was going to make damn sure by the time they were finished talking that Lassiter knew it.
She marched into the conference room where the Admiral sat, drinking a cup of tea and going over more of her never-ending paperwork.
As she saw the captain of the Serendipity appear at last, she slowly spun away from the computer, rose from the chair at the head of the conference table, and inclined her head.
"Captain."
"Admiral."
From her perspective, Lassiter had never met Zanh in person before. She had been aware of her, following her career as part of Temporal Investigations for years. Until today the Bajoran had only been a name on a file to her, not a living, breathing entity.
From Liis' perspective, this was a woman whom she had not only met but talked with at great length on at least one occasion she wished she could forget.
"Recognition is evident in your eyes, Zanh Liis. I take it that you remember meeting me before?"
"I take it that you do not."
Lassiter confirmed Liis' supposition by lowering her eyes.
"Please. Have a seat."
"I'd rather stand. Sir."
"Suit yourself. I'm old and tired, so I am going to sit." Lassiter replied, sinking back into her chair.
"Not so old," Liis opined, considering that the woman only had a few more than twenty years on her.
"It's not the linear years that age you, is it Zanh Liis? It's the non-linear that sneak up on you when you least expect it."
Liis reserved comment, wandering over to the windows. She stood staring out at the stars as they raced past, her hands clasped behind her.
"Have you spoken to Captain O'Sullivan?"
"No." Liis answered, in her estimation, honestly. After all they had danced, they had watched the Perseids side by side until they fell asleep, but they had not talked.
"Good. He'll be joining us shortly, but I wanted to speak to you alone first. Do you have a theory as to what has happened here?"
"If I had to hazard a guess," Liis turned back toward her. "I'd say that the Cascade progressed further than TEMA initially thought and caused a paradox."
"Good guess."
"An educated one."
"From the preliminary report I've read, which outlines the experiences of Dane Cristiane, TC Blane, Landry Steele, Captain O'Sullivan and the entire Perseids crew...it appears that the Sylph breached the barrier between branches of the Alternate Continuity Paradox. They were able to telepathically project knowledge of events from those alternate outcomes into the minds of those trapped in their 'bubble' as it were. If Commander Salvek and the Sera crew had not been able to free you, well," Lassiter frowned. "I don't want to even imagine what could have happened."
"That's another one I owe the man," Liis marveled with a shake of her head.
"What's going to happen to Jonas?"
"He's already been through the hearings, and he's going to be spending six months in detention. Then another round of resequencing."
"You're not serious."
"I am completely serious. The brass is sick to death of his mistakes, and he can't escape punishment this time. It's time that he was made to suffer a little himself, after all the suffering he's caused others."
"Spoken like a true ex-wife," Liis mumbled, without thinking.
"Excuse me?" Lassiter's eyes flashed fury.
"Apologies. You see, as I told you we've already met. I know that at least, in another 'outcome', you were married to Jonas Vox before he was Jonas Vox. Your daughter is that cute little flight controller from the Perseids. Your son is in the 'fleet as well." Liis watched Lassiter shift uncomfortably in her seat.
Liis had seen her opportunity, seized it, and efficiently knocked the Queen of the Hill off balance. "I take it those facts hold true in the current time?"
Lassiter nodded curtly. "And who told you all these fascinating things about me?"
"You did."
"Ah." Lassiter shuffled several more PADDs and then set them aside.
She folded her hands on top of the conference room table and glared at Liis, her eyes mere slits. "You've got...nerve." Lassiter changed her original choice of words before they left her mouth.
"I? I have nerve?" Liis turned and approached the table. "If I had permission to speak freely, which I don't but, what the hell..." She threw her hands into the air. "I'd say I'm not the only one who has nerve. You come thundering in here, threatening my people, throwing your weight around," she frowned.
"You declare you're in command of my ship, take up residence in my office, all before you look me in the eye or even shake my hand, which, actually, you still haven't done. By the standards of your home world, Admiral Lassiter, one might consider that rude."
"Watch your step." Lassiter cautioned.
"No, I don't think I will. I'm in this far, and I'm willing to wager that I'm still needed here. Otherwise we wouldn't even be having this conversation." Liis continued her tirade without letting up.
"You see, I've been watching my step since the day Jonas threw this assignment into my lap and ran. I have been worried about pleasing him, pleasing Starfleet, and worst of all, satisfying history itself. Now, I realize that I've been going about this all wrong."
Liis leaned forward, palms flat against the table. "I should've been worried about history alone since the beginning and told everyone else that if they wanted me to do this job, I was going to do it my way, or not at all."
Lassiter suppressed a smile as she continued staring through Zanh.
"It took finding out that I didn't know anything I thought I knew for me to realize I've always known exactly what I needed to."
"Excuse me?" Lassiter tried to follow but had gotten lost somewhere along the way.
"Priorities, Admiral. Mine are different now and they're definitely in order. So unless you're really here to remove me from my post and throw the compass back at me, which, I ought to warn you, is one item that I will stomp to all hell if I ever see it again..." Liis' eyes never wavered.
"This may be your Project. But the Serendipity and Alchemy are mine. Unless and until they are taken from my oversight, then I will tend to them, and their crew, based upon the experience I have gained through years of working my ass off and the dictates of only one voice."
"That being?"
"My own conscience."
-------------------------------
-=/\=-Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
(and don't you forget it *LOL*)
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
-=/\=-Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
(and don't you forget it *LOL*)
USS Serendipity NCC-2012