by Lair Kellyn
90819.20
Following The Forgotten Ones
-=Sickbay, USS Serendipity=-
90819.20
Following The Forgotten Ones
-=Sickbay, USS Serendipity=-
"And I'm telling you that I am not ready to release you yet!"
Kellyn looked up, hearing Lance Hartcort's voice emanating from some unseen location nearby. She soon discovered that he was behind the curtain at the opposite end of Sickbay from Rada's bed; the one which was currently housing Admiral Gemini Lassiter.
"Then I'll leave AMA." Lassiter barked. "You said until we reached Earth, Doctor Hartcort. We have now reached Earth."
Wren and Tam, who were still frozen where they had been standing for several minutes now, jumped at the sound of Lassiter ripping the curtain back. The Admiral was once again in uniform, and she was definitely on her way out. Just as quickly as they'd looked up they turned their eyes back to the window and their eyes back to Rada.
"I'm noting in your medical records that I'm completely against this," Lance warned, grumbling.
"So note it." Gem turned back to him, trying to at least pretend to be grateful to him for saving her life when in fact, she wished she had just died on the bridge of the Gauntlet the moment she'd heard Nicholas was lost. The moment her heart had broken, literally and figuratively. "Thank you, Doctor. You are most...
competent."
Lance struggled not to laugh at the insult masquerading as praise. Still he knew that this was the closest thing to a complement she'd bestowed upon anyone since he'd met her. "You're welcome." He replied flatly.
Kellyn instinctively stood taller, squaring her shoulders as Lassiter approached. One look into the woman's eyes told her that she was next on the admiral's list.
I hope she won't keep me waiting long, swinging that gigantic ax of hers. Kellyn thought. Or was it a sickle?
"Lair. I need to speak with you immediately."
Kellyn actually laughed. Lassiter didn't disappoint.
"Is something funny, Lair Kellyn?"
"No, Sir, not in the least." Kellyn shook her head. She noted that the rank-conscious admiral was no longer referring to her by the title 'commander' and had a feeling that she knew why. In the time she'd known Gem Lassiter, she'd come to quickly understand that this was a woman who never did or said
anything unless she had a reason.
"If you'll accompany me." Lassiter instructed, and Lair looked once more at Wren and Tam, deciding to leave them to their moment of grief in privacy and not interrupt to say goodbye.
"Aye, Sir."
Gem led Kellyn directly into the nearest empty conference room. As soon as the doors closed behind them, she pronounced judgment.
"Lair Kellyn, due to your inability to follow orders and keep the prototype USS Alchemy away from the battle between the Serendipity, the Zenith and the Domox, you are hereby stripped of your rank as a Starfleet Officer and your position as the Director of Research and Development for The Alchemy Project."
Lassiter reached out and began to unfasten the pips from Lair's collar. Lair jerked away, stepping back and raising her hands in protest.
"I can do it myself."
Lair ripped the pips free of her shirt and then grabbed Lassiter by the hand, placing them into her palm. She was angry to find that her cheeks were flushing with color and she was forced to fight burning tears that stung her eyes. Not because she hadn't expected to lose her rank, that much was assured the moment she'd taken Alchemy back to the fight and she didn't regret that decision for an instant.
It was losing her place with the Project that she was hurt by. To be cut off from the work, from her ability to help Salvek in pursuit of his goals, that was what injured her. Still, she didn't want to give Lassiter the satisfaction of knowing it.
She stared at Lassiter, biting the inside of her cheek to help keep her from starting to cry, as she slowly removed her combadge and set it down on the table. "Am I dismissed, Sir?"
Lassiter blinked. She couldn't understand these people, not at all. For a group who claimed to be so devoted to the work they'd been given, not one of them so far had seemed to put up any sort of a fight against being taken from it. First Zanh, and now Lair? Maybe they just knew, as she did, that any fight would be a waste of energy because they couldn't justify what they'd done.
If they'd managed to save the crew of the Zenith, it would be different, Gem thought, justifying her own actions to herself all over again. Everything would be different.
"Not yet. It is my duty to inform you that you may file a formal request for a review of this decision and that you may be granted the opportunity to explain yourself to a board of inquiry and retain your position if not your rank."
"I'm informed." Lair curtly replied, still glaring at Lassiter. "Is there anything else, Sir?"
"No." Gem said, tugging down on her tunic to straighten it. "Nothing else. Dismissed."
"Wait. One thing." Lair held Lassiter's eyes and refused to let her look away. "The crew who served on the Alchemy. They were only following my orders. They should not be punished. They should be commended for bravery. But failing that, at least they shouldn't be penalized."
"They won't be."
Lair nodded. At least some good would come of her taking the heat for this, it seemed. Satisfied, she left without another word.
She wandered down the hallway after exiting the conference room, entirely unsure where she was going. She reached up to tap her badge to check on Arie's current location, and then remembered she was no longer wearing it.
She accessed the nearest companel and located Arie who, as it turned out, was happily helping Dabin tend to new baby Sophie while February caught up on some much deserved rest. Arie begged for a sleep over, and Dabin, grateful for the extra pair of hands, begged just as fervently for Kellyn to allow it.
Perfect, Kellyn thought. "You can stay, if you're really helping."
"Oh, she's really helping." Dabin insisted. "In fact, we may just have to rent to own. Reece out."
Kellyn knew that Salvek would be busy for several hours on the bridge as he adjusted to his new duties as Captain, and so she knew exactly what she was going to do with her time.
She thought about what she'd just lost, she thought about Wren and Tam and all that they and Rada had lost even though he didn't know it yet.
She headed straight to Illusions Lounge without a moment's hesitation.
Sliding onto a bar stool, she immediately got the attention of Trick London as he looked at her and realized that key parts of her uniform were missing.
"Good evening, Commander Lair..." he said with confusion.
"Not anymore."
Trick inhaled, and held up a finger in question. "Not anymore 'it's a good evening'? or 'not anymore 'Commander'?"
"Both." Lair droned.
"What'll you have then, love?" Trick asked.
"Frankenmuth Pilsner." Lair requested. "In the bottle. If you have it."
"Have just restocked, actually, being that we're in the neighborhood." Trick removed the cap from the bottle and set the beer down before her. She held it up, considering it carefully before she took her first swig.
London, who always kept a glass of club soda nearby when he was working, raised the glass toward her. "Proper ladies should never drink alone. What'll we drink to?"
Lair laughed. "That's your first mistake, London, calling me a proper lady. You've seen what I can do with one of these things." She was alluding to the fact she'd defended herself with an identical bottle by hitting Dane Cristiane over the head with it, in this very room on a night that seemed an eternity ago to everyone involved except, perhaps, Cristiane.
"Precisely. This is why I will never risk insulting you by referring to you as anything less. Besides," London said thoughtfully, "one must also remember that you are the Captain's wife."
Hearing that term used in reference to her, Kellyn's mouth fell open. She hadn't had a moment to consider that was what she was.
She had thought of herself, up until a few minutes ago, as what she'd been all of her professional life: an engineer. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, she had nothing to engineer, and she was 'the Captain's wife'.
What else would she become, or worse, what else would she cease to be?
"So, what shall we drink to?" Trick prompted again.
Kellyn raised her bottle and stared past him, at her own ghost-white reflection in the mirror behind the bar. "To the crew of the USS Serendipity."
Trick laughed nervously. "You say that as if it doesn't exist anymore."
"It might not exist for long." A male voice spoke up behind Lair, and she and London looked up to see Dane Cristiane standing over her shoulder. "Give me one of those." Dane requested, gesturing toward Lair's beverage.
"Looking to get even? Take your best shot. Would be the perfect ending to a perfect day." Lair teased him a little, knowing after what they'd been through together on the Alchemy that he'd want no such thing.
"Just don't like to see a friend drink alone." Dane replied, sliding onto the seat beside her. Trick put another bottle down on the counter, and as Dane reached into his pocket to pull out some latinum to pay for it, Lair grabbed his hand.
"No. This one's on the Captain's wife."
London nodded. "Right then. I'll put it on your tab." He knew that his presence was no longer needed, and so as any good barkeep, he knew to make himself scarce now. He vanished, and Dane nodded his thanks to Kellyn as he watched her run her fingers up and down the condensation covered neck of the amber colored bottle before her.
"Let's drink to something else." Dane suggested. Talk was already circulating; people who had seen Lair in the halls between Sickbay and the lounge without her pips and badge had immediately commenced painting a vivid picture by way of gossip and rumor.
Dane didn't want to believe them, but he saw for himself now that it was true, and from the fact she was where she was and doing what she was doing, he knew it had to be worse than anyone yet understood.
"To what? The end of my career?" Lair asked. He gestured for her to pick up her bottle again, and she sighed deeply before slowly complying.
"To the crew of the USS Alchemy." He said softly. "The tough little ship that put up a hell of a fight."
"I'll drink to that." Lair went to tap her bottle against his as she knew was the custom, but he yanked his back at the last moment, leaving her puzzled.
"To one thing more." Dane added.
She tilted her head in curiosity.
"To better days," he added distantly, finishing his thought.
Kellyn blinked, the familiar stinging sensation resuming behind her eyes.
"For all of us," she agreed.
She held her bottle steady as Dane's moved forward; the resounding clank of glass a signal that he wished for those days just as much as she did.
---------------
Lair Kellyn
Starfleet Research and Development
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
-=/\=-
NRPG: I'll retire when I'm dead. ~LK
Lair Kellyn
Starfleet Research and Development
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
-=/\=-
NRPG: I'll retire when I'm dead. ~LK