by TC Blane and Zanh Liis
90623.14
Awhile after Down Cold
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-=USS Serendipity=-
For the better part of an hour, the crews of the Serendipity, the Zenith, and the Alchemy had been searching the schematics of the Domox ship, trying to isolate the controls for the life support system.
Like searching for, not a needle, but instead a fine sliver of glass in the proverbial haystack the work was intense, it was painstaking and it was maddening.
Zanh Liis finally rose from her chair and tilted slightly backwards, trying to restore blood flow to the straining, tense muscles of her back. "Status?" She asked, simply to break the haunting silence that had begun to weigh on all present.
“Shields are holding.” Pax reported as he floated between stations, making his way to the damage control monitor.
“Repair crews have assessed the hull damage. Minor, no breaches. Repairs to internal systems are progressing on schedule.” He glanced over again at the tactical monitor. "Still no sign of the enemy.”
“Thank you Mr. Briggs.” Liis replied. “Keep looking.”
Suddenly TC Blane was at the captain's side. “A moment of your time?” He asked softly.
Liis blinked, and then glanced at him sideways. “Now, Thomas?”
TC nodded.
She paused for a moment before allowing TC to lead her to a somewhat quiet corner of the bridge. He knew she would not want to leave for a moment under current circumstances, so a corner would have to do.
“What is it?” Liis asked as she kept a wary eye on the viewscreen.
“I’m getting disturbing reports from the security officers posted in main engineering about our Chief Engineer's behavior.” She took note of the deep concern etched across his face. “They are saying that he has not emerged from his office for quite some time, even during the fighting. That he's not working at all on trying to exploit this potential weakness in their ship even though-"
A pained expression crossed the captain’s face, and she interrupted.
"He's busy."
“Captain, I know Rada is under an intense amount of personal pressure, perhaps it is best if he is relived from duty for the time being?”
Liis sighed and folded her arms across her chest. She had hoped to avoid this conversation.
Salvek was too busy still trying to figure out how they might be able to collapse the portal to have it with her himself, as she had expected he might.
Additionally, the Vulcan was struggling to remain focused considering that the Alchemy had just reappeared in harm's way, with his wife in command.
With her Executive Officer unable to question her decision to leave Rada where he was, she had truly hoped that the Angosian would've emerged from his world of equations and theories by now so she wouldn't have to try to explain this to Blane.
She was his captain, and she knew that she could simply say that the decision was made and not up for discussion and he'd have no choice but to drop the subject. The worst he could do, for now, was to file a formal protest.
But Liis kept thinking that even if he did object that strongly, that protest may never reach Command because their time was running out and she was certain that the Domox would soon return with reinforcements.
She felt that if anything could help turn the battle in their favor, short of Lassiter changing her mind and bringing the whole of the fleet with her-- if she ever did show up herself-- was whatever it was that was rattling around inside the head of Rada Dengar.
Blane waited a moment for her to gather her thoughts before forcing the issue. At last, he felt he had to repeat himself to impress upon her the seriousness of the situation.
"Captain, Dengar should be here at a time like this. On the bridge. He is not."
Liis looked up at him finally, her eyes clear and calm.
No, she didn't have to discuss this with him. But the man wasn't just her Second Officer, he was her friend, and she would give him the respect that he had long ago earned.
She chose to answer him by posing a question. "When was it, Thomas?"
Blane tilted his head, confused. "When was what, Captain?"
"Your personal day of reckoning?"
Blane opened his mouth to speak, but did not. He was not sure his response was appropriate.
His day of reckoning was long ago, in what seemed a different life. Yet it still echoed in his mind and dreams as if it happened yesterday.
"Captain," Blane hesitated still, responding softly. "That was a different situation..."
"How was it different? Was it dangerous? Was it a situation where others were depending on you? Could it have cost them everything if you were wrong?” She became aware now that her voice was no longer a whisper, and that her words had caught the attention of those around them.
Her eyes warned them to return to their work, and so they did.
Whispering again, she continued.
“Because that's how it was for me. But I had to go with what I knew was right. I had to listen to my heart. I had to try."
TC looked away for a moment, reflecting back. He swallowed hard.
“People died because I was right and command was wrong.” He looked into her eyes again. “I disobeyed orders and seven people died. It would have been five hundred and sixty four if I had followed orders.”
He shook his head. “But I don’t see what that has to do with this.” He changed the subject. “Rada is obviously distracted, leaving the critical repairs of the ship to junior officers, but more than that, he's not helping us follow the one lead that we have to go on. He needs to be replaced.”
The changing landscape of Zanh's features and the culminating storm in her eyes told him that she was very much opposed to that course of action.
He held up his hand, the gesture silencing her before she could speak. “For the time being, at least, send Briggs down there. You can continue to make the excuse that Rada is working on some special project and then leave him be to do whatever it is that his is really doing. But we need someone down there in case things go south from here.”
Zanh took a deep breath, and for a moment turned away to gather her composure.
She'd never seen Blane raise a hand to stop her from speaking that way before, and it got under her skin.
From anyone else, such a display would have immediately resulted in their being ejected from the bridge with the order that they go cool off,
If such a gesture came from an officer who wasn't a member of her Senior Staff, the display would've resulted in the order that they pack their bags and enjoy the rest of their career under the command of another captain.
But this was TC Blane, and Liis had learned that when she least wanted to listen to what he was saying, that was when it was most vitally important that she hear him out.
On one hand, she could understand that he was only thinking of the safety of the crew. On the other, she knew that Josiah Barlow and the others had the repairs well in hand. That Salvek, Reece, Briggs, Keiran, and many others were working the lead Vol had given to the best of their ability.
Most of all, though, she knew Rada wouldn't react well in the moment to anyone staring over his shoulder; waiting for him to make a mistake or critical oversight.
Zanh exhaled slowly, then inhaled again. "Briggs." She turned to Paxton.
"Yes, Sir?"
"We'll be right back. Don't let Reece break anything while I'm gone."
"Yes, Sir."
"Hey." Reece objected, his one word protest and the accompanying pout unnoticed by all around him as they continued to concentrate on the tasks at hand.
Zanh led the way into her ready room, and Blane followed without her needing to ask. The moment that the doors closed behind him, she spun.
"Mister Blane, do you think I'm fit to command this ship?"
"Captain,"
"Answer the question." She folded her arms and propped one boot over the other, leaning against the wall. "Am I fit to command?"
"Why wouldn't you be?"
"Because Keiran is over there." She nodded her head in the direction of the view port, referring to the Zenith beyond it.
"He's in danger. Does that render me unfit because I think about it as I'm going about everything else I have to do? That it's running in a loop in the back of my-"
"Keiran is not currently on life support in Sickbay!" Blane thundered suddenly, in an uncharacteristic show of emotion. “And you are not holed up in your ready room like a groundhog afraid of its shadow.”
Liis knew that to the outside observer, it may seem as if Dengar was hiding out of fear. But she also knew that, whatever he'd been afraid of in his life in the past or perhaps even still was, that this time it was determination and not fear that was controlling Dengar’s actions.
Still, she chose for the moment to continue with her previous train of thought.
"There are half a dozen doctors back on Earth including one Tucker Brody PhD who would tell you that I'm unfit to command ever again because of that kind of trauma!" Liis argued. "But I must be fit to command because Thomas Cassius Blane would never serve under anyone who wasn’t. He cares too much about his crew. He cares too much about duty, and honor, and the very moral fiber of Starfleet itself-"
"As does my captain. Though she hates to admit it.” Blane countered. “So it's time to do our duty to Starfleet and this crew and remove Dengar from his."
"It's time to let the man have his day!" Zanh's hand flew upward and her fist smacked the wall in frustration. "He's got to carry out his duty to this ship, our crew, and to his family in his own way."
"You didn't see him on Lethus!" TC blurted suddenly.
Now, Zanh realized, she was getting to the heart of the matter.
"When Lair was injured, Dengar barely kept it together and she's only a friend. Now we're talking about Wren." He shook his head. "I don't know if anyone could perform under such extreme stress. Dengar is a good engineer, but when the pressure is on-"
"But he did keep it together on Lethus." Liis stated, and Blane inhaled slowly and deeply, his jaw setting as stone. "When the pressure was on, he's never let us down. Has he?"
Blane exhaled heavily.
"Has he?" Zanh repeated. "Has his hesitation to use violence as quickly or as easily as the rest of us ever cost a single life?"
"No." TC admitted.
"Then what am I supposed to do, Thomas? Go down there and demand he weld conduits back together, a job that any rookie engineer can do, just because it looks better for him to be visibly doing it? Or should I let him continue with his work because I think it may be the only thing that might save us from suffering the fate of the Zenith's crew?"
She closed her eyes as a chill ran through her, head to toes. Softly, she added, "If anything can."
Blane was silent a moment, then he ran a hand back across the bristle of his brush-cut hair. "You really think that he's on to something?"
"Yeah." Zanh thought back to that earlier discussion and Rada's equations. "I think that he is. And in the meantime, Salvek is discreetly keeping an eye on the repair teams. But they don't worry me at all. Barlow's almost as old as you and I combined. He'd be running the engineering department of any ship he wanted if he hadn't decided to put his family ahead of getting promoted. He knows what he's doing. We need Briggs here. Because we need every pair of available eyes looking for weakness in that ship."
*Every pair of available eyes,* TC thought. *Exactly why our chief engineer should be working on that task, too.*
"In case Dengar's grand plan is a wash?" Blane asked sharply.
Zanh winced and answered just as sharply. "No. In order to give Dengar every moment possible to see to it that his plan works."
"What is he working on, exactly?" Blane demanded, now crossing his arms over his chest.
"I don't know." Zanh said, simply and honestly.
TC’s raised his eyebrows questioningly. “You don’t know?"
"No. I don't know the specifics of it. What I do know is that he's chief engineer of this ship and I'm letting him do his job. He's working on something that he swears to me can tip the scales in this fight and let's face it, Thomas, it's looking pretty bleak for us at the moment. Starfleet hung us out to dry here, and even if the Gauntlet does ever show up, four ships are going to be no match for the Domox if they bring friends."
Silence condensed heavily in the air between them until the com chirped to life.
[Sickbay to the Captain.]
Liis' eyes, at once vacant and troubled, met TC's. Blane returned her stare, unflinching.
“Yes Doctor?”
[Captain…are you certain that you will not allow me to put my patient into the pattern buffer?]
Liis dropped her head to her hands as she rubbed her temples.
“I'm sorry, Lance, but I already explained to you that it's not my decision to make and Chief Dengar won't allow it. He feels very strongly about this. I won’t violate his rights by overriding his decision."
There was a long pause. So long that Liis thought that Lance had disconnected.
[Then Chief Dengar better get to Sickbay in a hurry. Wren is fading as we speak. She will not survive another ten minutes.]
“Understood.” She said softly. “Do everything else you can for her.”
The channel closed.
Liis' stomach clenched. She knew that Rada did not want to watch Wren die, but she also knew that if he wasn't there...
Blane's lips parted but before he could say anything, an explosion violently rocked the ship.
Zanh bounced off of the wall and forward into Blane, who managed to keep not only his footing, but also his captain from falling and hitting her head on the desk.
There was no more time for discussion, or debate.
The Domox had returned, and this was a day of reckoning for them all.
The clear, eerily calm voice of Paxton Briggs sounded over Zanh's badge.
[Captain to the bridge,] he requested, not knowing that she was already on her way.
--------------------
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
-=/\=- Zanh Liis O'Sullivan
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Commander TC Blane
Second Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
-=/\=- Zanh Liis O'Sullivan
Commanding Officer
USS Serendipity NCC-2012