by O’Sullivan, Zanh, and Blane
81015.20
-=/\=-
-=Deck 8, USS Serendipity=-
-=1900 Hours=-
81015.20
-=/\=-
-=Deck 8, USS Serendipity=-
-=1900 Hours=-
Buzzing with activity and radiant in candlelight, Illusions Lounge had never seemed so alive.
At the Admiral's request, Trick and Angus had pulled out all the stops to make tonight truly special for all in attendance.
An incredible assortment of food was on display, enticing and ready to be enjoyed.
Bottles of perfectly chilled champagne waited beside the delicate, hand-cut crystal flutes meant to serve it. The stemware, arranged into a towering pyramid, rose majestically into the air atop a table dressed in flawless, Egyptian blue linen.
"Nervous?" Liis asked gently, wondering if he was having last minute doubts about the announcement he was about to make.
Keiran tugged gently on the chain around her long, graceful neck, smiling as he thought about what she'd said earlier. That she intended to keep his ring close to her heart until the moment she returned it to him at their wedding.
"Not a chance." He assured her. "I can't wait to tell the world."
He raised his voice, asking the assembled company for their attention. Slowly the group came to order as their Captain prepared to speak.
"I want to thank ye all, for all you've done for Starfleet, for History..." he paused, "And for me. No Captain was ever more blessed than I." He looked down, then up at Liis as he tried to keep his composure. She reassured him with a glance, entwining her fingers with his as they held hands.
"I know you'll all have fine careers, and more importantly, I hope happy lives. Want you to know that I'm very proud of you. Every single one of yis." Random memories of the times they'd spent together played out in his mind as he spoke.
"You all know what it means to be TI. The struggles, all that we sacrifice for the job. Things that no one else can fully understand. That's why we have been more than a crew, we've been family." His voice wavered. "And as family, you have known better than an’a’one that there were things, and people, that have been missin’ from my life for a very long time."
He reached out, his left hand caressing Liis' face before he turned back to his crew.
"I want’cha all to know, sometimes things do manage to work out in the end. I…I asked Captain Zanh an important question today, and I'm happy to tell ya..."
A beautiful smile dawned over his handsome features.
"She said yes."
Cheers went up around the lounge.
"So, the lot of ya, help yourselves to the champagne." Keiran concluded, as Liis rested her head against his shoulder.
"Tonight, we've a hell of a lot to celebrate."
-=2100 hours=-
After the last of the food had been served, people began to break off into smaller groups.
Some danced, some talked. Others just stood back and watched their friends as they gathered together as a whole for the very last time.
The doors opened, and only one person in the room happened to look up and take note of who it was that had just joined the party.
Their eyes locked across the divide, and one man nodded slowly to acknowledge the other.
The first made his way to the bar, whispered something to Trick, and received a wink and a smile in return.
A moment later, the man took hold of the large, frosted mug of genuine ale by its slippery handle. Hands shaking from nervousness and the pain of all he'd endured, he tried not to slosh the contents onto the deck with varying degrees of success as he made his way through the crowd.
In the far corner, Dane stopped speaking to the man he'd been in conversing with, waiting.
Within seconds the mug was set down onto the table in front of him, and a hand was held out toward him in what he hoped was at least a gesture of truce, and at best, an overture of friendship.
Dane stood up.
He grasped the younger man's hand, accepting both his unspoken apology, and his thanks.
Without making a sound Carrick retreated, seeking out another man in the crowd to whom he owed an apology.
His father.
-=/\=-
Keiran and Liis were holding court at the center of the room, his hand never straying from hers. He was both keenly aware of and preoccupied by her presence, no matter who else tried to garner his attention.
All night, the Perseids crew had been trading stories of their Jumps and other various job related adventures.
Ordinarily there would be great caution shown and hesitance to speak of such things out in the open. However, given that Zanh and O'Sullivan were both officially retired from TI and the rest from Perseids were due to go in for resequencing tomorrow, the prevailing sentiment in the room seemed to be ‘What the hell’.
Liis glanced over and was trying to read the chronometer on the far wall when she caught sight of Carrick. Her breath turned to ice in her lungs as she bit her lip and waited to see what he would do.
Keiran had finally been persuaded to share a story of his own with everyone and was in the middle of telling the tale.
He held his audience spellbound as he regaled them with the details of one of the many narrow escapes that he and Liis had pulled off during their days as Jump partners.
"I knew it had to be the end," he rumbled ominously, focusing his vision on the front row of listeners one person at a time.
"There was just no way out. I was surrounded. The remote
transporter was offline, and more troops were arriving by the second. I was certain that Zanh Liis was already captured, or worse." He visibly shuddered.
"I began reciting my Catholic prayers. Quick as I could. Just as I finished my first, and I figured last, Hail Mary,” his eyes flashed, widening for dramatic effect.
"...I heard the most beautiful, blessed sound over the din, echoing all around me."
He sighed softly, sentimentally; as though he was about say he'd heard the sound of angels singing, or something equally idyllic.
Instead, his wit came through in all its glory as he delivered the punch line with precise, comedic timing.
"...The unmistakable trompin’ of size ten Doc Martens."
His audience burst into laughter.
Liis could only smile softly, shaking her head as she watched him.
She was simply unable to believe her good fortune, and the way that she felt as he instantly made her knees go weak with a single glance and a knowing wink.
She was hypnotized by his every move no matter how small... head over heels in love with him.
"Her fekkin’ beloved combat boots were pounding the living hell out of the deck, and she howled like a... like a..." He couldn't help but stop to laugh as he saw Liis' expectant,
questioning expression and struggled to come up with an appropriate simile.
"...Like a really pissed off cat!”
“That is also what it sounds like when she sings in the shower.” Ledbetter announced, displaying with his usual deadpan expression and monotone.
Zanh shot him a look and Keiran tried to control his laughter so that he could go on.
"No comment. An'a'way..." Keiran's broad shoulders shook as he wiped tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes.
“With the sound of it, she completely unnerved my would-be executioners. Meantime, she detonated a charge, creatin' a smokescreen. Somehow, she got past the confused and very unhappy Romulan guards. I felt her grab a handful of the front of my leather jacket, and then-"
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a very familiar face a few meters away, and stopped cold.
"Then?" Swenson prompted anxiously, perched on the edge of his seat.
"Then I knew." Keiran's tone was entirely different now, tears of another sort forming in his eyes the instant he saw his son. "That ev'rythin' was goin' to be all right."
Liis released his hand and gently nudged him forward. She inclined her head toward Carrick, her expression clearly telling him how proud she was of him for coming here.
The boy lowered his eyes in understanding, and then raised them up again to meet his father’s.
"If you'll excuse me, I,” Keiran rumbled softly, "I'll have to tell ya the rest a bit later on then." The crowd silently parted so he could pass by.
Carrick led the way to a quiet table in the corner at the opposite end of the room, with Keiran following a step behind him.
"Things are looking up." Liis heard a familiar voice over her shoulder, and turned around.
Polished up like a new penny and dressed to the nines, there stood TC Blane.
He marveled at the happiness radiating from Zanh as she smiled.
"Yes, they are." She took a deep breath. "Thomas, I have a personal favor to ask of you."
He stood at Parade Rest, waiting for his Captain to state her wishes.
"I'd like you to stand up for me at my wedding."
TC was stunned to say the least. He was not sure what to say.
"Um, Captain, I am flattered," he shifted. "Are you sure that you don't want Commander Salvek to do it? You've known him longer than me."
"Maybe so. But you've been there for me and for Keiran like no one else since all of this began," Liis said softly, "I know it's only a small gesture of our thanks, asking you to do this. But it would mean a lot if you would. To us both."
TC smiled a rare, broad and toothy grin. "In that case, I would be honored to stand up for you."
"Excellent." Zanh nodded and clapped her hand against his back. "First thing when we get to Cork, we'll see about getting your dress fitted."
She widened her eyes mischievously in jest. "Organza. Off the shoulders, and exactly the same shade of blue as your eyes."
-=/\=- Zanh Liis
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Captain Keiran O’Sullivan
Former CO of the USS Perseids
and
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Captain Keiran O’Sullivan
Former CO of the USS Perseids
and
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer USS Serendipity NCC-2012