by William Lindsay and Dane Cristiane
90327.16
Concurrent with Cafe Chatter
-=USS Serendipity=-
90327.16
Concurrent with Cafe Chatter
-=USS Serendipity=-
Dane wasn’t wasting a second as he charged through the corridors of the Sera. Captain William Lindsay had requested his presence within a time window which seemed to be closing faster than the accepted rules of temporal mechanics would allow.
Not too long ago Dane would simply have decided that a deadline like this was to be taken as a suggestion; that if the person who made it had made it too short then it was their own damn fault if he was late.
Recent events, namely his experience with the paradox and especially his time on Bajor, had changed that perspective.
Though he was still fairly peeved at having his poker game interrupted, even if it did get him away from Landry Steel, he realised he had no time to brood right now. Lindsay wasn’t just part of TI, for the moment he was TI and Dane knew he could kiss his chances of one day becoming a full agent goodbye if he did anything to get on his bad side.
Showing up on time was not an easy task. Though the ship was virtually deserted it seemed that all the remaining crew had decided to take a very slow stroll through the halls and none of them would willingly move out of his way quickly enough. At first he’d been polite about it and tried to just step around them but as the minutes had turned to seconds he’d taken to dodging them and then yelling what barely qualified as an apology over his shoulder. There were thirty seconds left before the three minutes Lindsay had initially given him were up as he rounded the corner and barely missed the dazed crewman standing there. Dane spun around and through the door into the transporter room.
“Energize,” he said as he ran onto the platform. He took the chance to catch his breath, deeply in and exhaling. Three breaths later he realised he realised he hadn’t gone anywhere as Crewman Parrish cleared his throat.
“To where, Sir?” Parrish meekly asked.
“To Captain Lindsay’s location,” Dane said with exasperation. “He said you’d have the coordinates.”
Parrish seemingly very slowly pressed some buttons and looked down at his panel. He found the selected information and contently replied, “Yes, here they are.”
It’d been a second and Parrish hadn’t done anything so Dane snapped, sounding much ruder than he’d intended “Then energize!”
In an instant which felt like an eternity he was rematerialized on the Earth. He didn’t allow himself time to take in his surroundings as he set his mind to scan solely for TI directors. There were none in front of him so he turned a full 180 around and found himself mere centimetres from the face of one William Lindsay.
By reflex he quickly stepped, almost jumped, back away to a more socially acceptable distance.
Lindsay didn’t even seem to have registered Dane’s appearance. Will was staring vacantly though him with a face that was almost vicious in its lack of emotion. He was clothed in full dress uniform, standing with perfect posture and hands locked behind his back. There was a tone of seriousness in his eyes and a PADD tucked under his arm. There was something of a military bearing about him and Dane didn’t understand what was going on.
“Sir, I…” Dane began and seemingly without provocation Lindsay interrupted with a tone somewhere between formally polite and barking an order at him.
“Ensign Dane Marion Cristiane you are hereby requested and required under the direct authority of the Interim director of the Department of Temporal Investigations to oversee an emergency delivery of vital cargo of Vegrandis Caledonia Mulier to a localised non-terrestrial location.”
Lindsay yanked the PADD out from his arm and slapped it down into Dane's hand then returned to his initial position. "You are not to reveal the details of your potentially life threatening mission to anyone and will face severe penalties if you do so."
Lindsay continued while Dane began to look through the PADD.
"All there is, is a location and a time, sir."
Lindsay blinked at him as if the rest should be obvious.
"I'm to...be at this location at the appointed time to pick up the item?"
"Very astute. Tell me, Cristiane, has someone aboard the Sera been tutoring you in the fine art of stating the obvious?" Lindsay did not appear to blink, or even breathe. He simply glared.
"Well, I,"
"I shall have to have a talk with O'Sullivan about you." Lindsay warned menacingly, expelling a short burst of air from his lungs in the form of an irritated sigh.
"Captain O'Sullivan is the finest-"
"Captain?" Lindsay laughed once. "Captain O'Sullivan still, is it boy?" Lindsay raised an eyebrow. "Stating the obvious with a minor in boot-polishin'. You keep this up and yer goin' ta go far."
Now Dane was really confused and what was more, growing rapidly distraught. "Sir, I don't,"
"No. Of course you don't. But you will." Lindsay spun and turned away. "Be at the appointed location on time. Not too early, and for the love of all that is good and holy, not late. Remember, speak of this to no one."
"But Sir, how am I to beam from the ship again without authorization of the Captain?" Dane was worried, thinking of how any sneaking around on his part without taking his CO into his confidence would directly result in her thinking he was returning to the dark path he'd only recently repented from. He didn't want to screw up his chances of making it at TI, but his loyalty to Zanh, and even more so to O'Sullivan, ran too deep to override.
"You leave Zanh Liis to me. No one else needs to know." Lindsay replied quickly.
"So you will tell her that,"
"I will tell her what she needs to know and no more. Don't worry, Ensign. I am not Jonas Vox. Like you I have the O'Sullivans' best interest at heart. Trust me."
Dane cringed involuntarily. The fastest way to make him distrust someone was if they asked, outright, for him to trust them.
"Remember. Not a word to anyone."
"Aye Sir." Dane turned, bewildered.
"Wait," Lindsay called. "The PADD. Give that here." He held his hands up and gestured for Dane to toss it to him.
Dane tossed it up but instead of catching it, Lindsay drew his phaser and summarily blew it to bits.
Dane jumped, heart pounding, unprepared for the sudden weapons fire. "Did you...really have to do that?" He blurted, his hand moving instinctually to his chest to try to still his racing heartbeats.
"Aye." Lindsay replied succinctly. "I did. After you have the item in hand I will contact you."
"How will you know when I have it Sir?"
"I know everything." Lindsay widened his eyes, and then touched his badge. "Lindsay to Vanguard, One to beam up."
As Lindsay dematerialised it occurred to Dane that he still really had no idea what his mission was. He finally had the chance to take in his location and quickly scanned his surroundings for some clue as to why Lindsay chose to meet him here and to what this was all about. He saw a lot of green. He was standing in a green field surrounded by green trees with just the general feel of green as far as the eye could see. All he was able to conclude from this was that he wasn’t able to conclude anything from it.
For several seconds he simply stood thinking and allowing his heart rate slow, unsure of really what he was supposed to do now. The confusion was overtaken by a warm calm as it occurred to him exactly what he should do; he smiled. He’d just been given his first official TI mission and that was definitely something worth smiling about.
He beamed back up the Sera with what Crewman Parrish noted was a much more relaxed demeanour that when he’d left. Rather than return to the Poker game he decided his first stop would be his quarters. He’d been blessed with a photographic memory and so wouldn’t forget what little information he had so far. He didn’t have to leave tonight and so intended to spend the rest of it ensuring he was prepared with every available piece of information about where he was going.
The importance of preparation was something O’Sullivan had taught him and Dane had the feeling that he’d be using a lot of Keiran’s lessons in whatever it was that he was about to do. He remembered Lindsay’s description of this as a potentially life threatening mission and felt proud as he realised that whatever it was it had to be important.
He didn’t want to use the ship’s computer for his research because his actions left far too many fingerprints and he didn’t doubt for a second that there were still people around who would be suspicious enough to keep track of what he was doing. He knew a few methods of covering his tracks but he wasn’t about to risk them on this because he'd learnt to work on the assumption that there was always someone around smarter than him and so someone smart enough to uncover them.
He knew O’Sullivan considered Lindsay a friend and so even if he did seem slightly insane Dane would trust him when he told him not to tell anyone about this, at least for now. He swore to himself though that if anyone above the rank of Lieutenant Commander asked him any direct question he would not lie to them for Lindsay’s sake.
All he’d been given was a set of coordinates so he decided a map of the Earth was as good a place to start as any and as luck would have it he did have one stored on a personal PADD. They corresponded to a rural area in the north end of Scotland. The map went into a reasonable amount of detail including a satellite view; this was open farm land with only a few insignificant buildings or at least had been at the time the map was made. He couldn’t see anything of any consequence but felt like he was looking at his destiny down there.
-=/\=-
Captain William Lindsay
Interim Director
Temporal Investigations
and
Ensign Dane Cristiane
Clueless TI Intern
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Captain William Lindsay
Interim Director
Temporal Investigations
and
Ensign Dane Cristiane
Clueless TI Intern
USS Serendipity NCC-2012