1063: Desperate Times

By Dane Cristiane and William Lindsay
100316.12
Following Friendship

-=Sickbay, USS Serendipity=-

Taking the Doctor's mobile emitter from Lair Arie's small, incomprehensibly blood-stained hands Dane felt his throat constrict tightly. It was as if the stark reality of the sight was wringing away his very ability to swallow and then starting on his ability to breathe.

Where as once not so long ago he'd have disregarded the child's words completely and, even worse to him now, believed that they had no merit because she was only the spoiled 'brat' of the ship's idolized First Officer, now he listened to every one, nodded, and immediately planned to do just as she said.

She looked so much to him in this moment a perfect miniature of her mother- a woman whom he had come to hold a healthy respect for whether she was in command of a mission or brandishing a bottle of beer as an improvised weapon.

The Lair women- full or pint-sized version-were to be taken seriously under any circumstances. In times of danger, their often seemingly unnatural wisdom could be the thing that saved your life: your greatest wisdom would be to defer to it.

The moment Arie’s instructions were completed Dane was already bolting to the door and shouting back a command of his own as he did.

"Tam, stay here with Arie until I send someone back for you."

Hearing his words over the now fading alarm, Tam stood as tall as he could, and though Dane couldn’t see it had he done so then he’d have found a little pride in the fact that at least to this child he was someone to be looked up to.

"Aye, sir." Tam answered, as he prepared to do his duty.

The importance of doing his own duty could never have been clearer to Dane then it was as he heard Arie softly pleading, "Please hurry."

Her tone reflected even though he couldn’t see her that her as he exited the doorway that her eyes had found their way back and she again watched the life continuing seeping like water though a sieve out of her mother.

Dane had taken off at a speed that said he was determined not to let even a millisecond of time be wasted. However he hadn't reached even the turbolift before he was stopped, as he accidentally ran into someone there. It was someone who was wearing khaki shorts and a brightly printed Hawaiian shirt and sandals but whose face he had neither the time nor interest to see.

He barely bothered to bark an apology as he tried to continue on his way, but the man he'd slammed into held him fast by the shoulders with surprising strength.

"Dane! What the hell is going on around here?"

Looking up Dane suddenly took in who it was and reacted with relief and gratitude. "Trev!"

Dane hadn't immediately recognized the man whom he'd gotten to know during their participation in the 'games' on Sibalt as part of the Alchemy team- a man who even now according to the ship's computer was supposed to be on Earth taking shore leave like so many others. "I thought you'd-"

"I almost forgot something,” Trev quickly explained, clearly seeing Dane wasn’t in the mood for a long story about why he was here. I had to make a stop before I left."

In truth, Trev had wanted to stop by Counselor Tryst's office to try, once again, to invite the man out for dinner during shore leave. However all things considered his romantic life, or rather lack thereof since he met that man, was no longer the most pressing of his immediate concerns. He seemed to be having a difficult time believing what he was about to say.

"Then the ship started lurching around and now...we are not in normal space, Dane."

While in the past Dane’s immediate response would have been to fire off a surly shot that began with the word ‘no’, continued with an expletive, and then concluded with a mocking reference to the person making the ridiculously obvious comment by the name of the famous literary detective who lived at 221B Baker Street, now he simply gave something akin to a nod but that clearly stated he had no time to explain what, if anything, he understood about what had happened.

"Take this." Dane pulled Trev's hand from his shoulder and then quickly pressed the Doctor's emitter into his palm. "You have got to get McKay back online."

"But what happ-"

"Kellyn is injured!" Dane interrupted, his breathing and patience both getting shorter, "and I cannot know at this point what areas of the ship will remain secure for very long. You have got to do this quickly, quietly, and you can't go to Engineering."

"Why don't you just set me on fire and ask me to do the hula while you're at it," Trev retorted, not believing Dane knew what he was asking.

"You'd be dressed for it!" Dane barked, suddenly the very image of his former frustrated self though for very different reasons, as he tried to explain no more than he had to. "Listen to me because I am only going to say this once." He lowered his voice and leaned toward Trev's ear. "The ship has been taken by force and brought wherever we are. Rogue Temporal Investigations agents are involved and there are about half a dozen of 'em in our brig..."

Trev still didn’t understand. "But what does this have-"

"They have taken the Captain," Dane snapped and now Trev clearly understood his reaction. "O'Sullivan and the director of TI too."

Trev's eyes widened as Dane continued.

"Arie and Tam are in Sickbay with Kellyn. She hit her head when the ship was thrown. She's hurt. She needs McKay but something is wrong with him. That's where you come in."

Trev tried to take in all that Dane was saying as he looked down at the emitter again. He now saw something he hadn't observed before. He gasped, "Is...is that blood?"

"Kellyn's." Dane grimaced, not wanting to have to think let alone to speak the words. "You have to take this back to Sickbay and fix him."

"Whoa there, cowboy. I need to get tools from Engineering if I'm going to-"

"Those little kids are in Sickbay and the only adult present is bleeding all over them! You have to fix McKay there!" Dane insisted. "If you come across anyone else while you're there, have the children moved somewhere more out of the way. I've got to try to find a nurse or something for Lair in the meantime. But there's something else I have to do that's really important and-"

"If it's going to help the people on the bridge then go do it." Trev instructed, pushing him forward. "I'll take care of Lair and the kids as best I can."
"But I promised Arie," Dane objected.

"Will you be able to keep your promise to Arie if things get any worse? No? I didn't think so.” Trev argued, already headed down around the corner and into Sickbay, and calling back over his shoulder. “I outrank you and I say go. So GO!"

-=Sickbay=-

"Lieutenant Sterling!" Arie jumped up upon seeing him, her shaking hands dropping the dermal regenerator that she'd been trying to use on her mother.

"I'm here to help, Arie," Trev assured her, as he set the emitter down for a moment and scooped Kellyn up into his arms. Quickly but with care he put her back onto her bed then turned to Tam. "Mister Elton,” Trev addressed the boy as he would an adult because no child should ever be in this situation. “I need a medical tricorder. Quickly, now."

"Yes sir," Tam answered as he ran from the room. His steps were speedy and he returned a moment later with a tricorder in his hand and he then placed it in Trev’s.

"She needs a nurse or a doctor," Arie stammered, as Trev began running the tricorder over her mother. "You're an engineer."

"People can be more than they seem sometimes, wouldn't you say? I'm also a field medic," Trev explained, in an even tone trying to calm her. Never once did he take his eyes from the patient except to look at the tricorder’s readings. Either source could tell him her condition wasn’t good.

"Okay. I am going to need to take a few risks to stabilize her condition." Trev glanced over at the girl. "Do you trust me, Arie?"

This was clearly not an easy question for Arie to answer. To trust someone any other day was far easier than to trust them with something as precious as the life of her mother.

Arie bit her lip and considered her options for a moment. She knew that they were dangerously limited and time was ticking away. "You are a friend of February Grace, are you not?"

"I am," Trev answered. "For a long, long time."

"Then that is endorsement enough for me,” Arie decided. “Please, help her."
Trev looked down at the controls on the biobed and found to his dismay that they weren't working.

"Damn. Let's try another one."

He picked Kellyn up and without even being told, Arie gathered up the tricorder and the regenerator and followed him. He placed Kellyn down on another bed but still found that it wasn't working.

He refused to let this stop him.

"Well, we're just going to have to do this the old fashioned way," he decided, as he rifled through drawers and gathered some more instruments; beginning to press small electrical leads to Kellyn's head.

As he did so he watched as Arie began to turn pale; so pale he feared she might pass out. He knew he had to distract her now or he’d have double the patients and half the assistance.

"Lair Arie, I have a job for you. Would you help me?"

Though her wide eyes remained fixed on her mother, Arie nodded that she’d help if she could.

"You and Tam. Go into the bag I was carrying and get out the small cloth roll that is inside. I want you to open it and tell me the name of every item in it. Can you do that for me?"

Arie continued to stare, frozen, at her mother.

"Arie!” he urged, his voice taking on a much harsher tone of authority to snap her back to her senses. “Hurry!"

His words woke her and channeling all her Vulcan training Arie moved quickly. She unzipped the stylish leather bag and roughly searched through it, finding among its contents the roll of cloth that Trev had asked for. She hurriedly untied the strings that held it shut and inside she was surprised by what she found.

"These are tools," she said, uncharacteristically stating the obvious in her panic.

"No good Engineer goes anywhere without at least a few tools." Trev explained simply.

Even as he was still tending to Kellyn's injury he was already in his mind beginning to work on the Doctor's emitter; and that was why he was having Arie recite exactly the tools that were in the kit again. He needed to remember exactly so that he could imagine improvising with them to try to bring McKay back online.

Whatever was happening, he took it that Dane had good reason beyond just wanting to have those here looked after for not wanting him to take the Doctor to Engineering. Trev wasn’t just any Engineer; he was an Engineer not on the official crew roster and that could be important.

Knowing as he already did that Engineering was a primary target any time a starship was under attack, he could only surmise that Dane thought it wise to keep an Engineer that no one knew was still aboard from being discovered unless absolutely necessary. His instinct told him Dane was right.

"Start naming them off." Trev said once more.

"Then what happens?" Tam asked, with a little curiosity and a lot of confusion. "What happens when we're done?"

"Then you two are going to help me reactivate Doctor McKay."

-=/\=-

Dane braced himself and drew a deep breath as he finally approached her door.

He knew that there was only one of two ways this could go.

Plan A was dangerous on its own but he really hoped that in the end he didn't have to employ his plan B to get into Landry's quarters. If he did he was going to have a hell of a lot of explaining and apologizing as well as likely community service to do later.

As if he didn’t have enough problems, it was then he saw who it was keeping watch over her door.

The towering form of Dwan Tubman was creating a long, dark shadow on the wall and floor beside Landry's door, and one very dirty word crossed Cristiane's mind as he saw his plan B go flying out the airlock entirely.

There was no way in HELL he was going to risk what Tubman might do to him- let alone what O'Sullivan would do to him- if it was found out later that Dane had used the hypo he'd palmed from Sickbay to knock the guard unconscious. Even to get a little uninterrupted time with Steele to try to figure out if she still had a brain in that head of hers, if she ever had, wasn’t worth that.

"Ensign." Tubman moved forward a single step upon seeing him, his eyebrow rising at the younger man’s worried expression. "What brings you here?"

"I need to talk to her." Dane said honestly, figuring that he still might crash and burn here telling the truth but if he did he at least would leave with his own head still attached to his body.

"Commander Blane says no one in or out unless he gives the order," Tubman answered, certain Dane was already fully aware of that.

"Yeah, I know," Dane admitted, his eyes shifting uneasily. "But, you know they have O'Sullivan, right? The Captain and Director Lindsay too. The people who brought us here. They've got them all and the only person we can talk to right now who knows anything about Tucker Brody-"

"Did you say Tucker Brody?" Dwan's jaw clamped down tight, and Dane couldn't believe it but the muscles in his massive arms and chest seemed to become even more defined, as he stood even taller than should be humanly possible.

"You know him?" Dane asked with confusion, stepping unintentionally back a pace.

"I know he's not a nice man." Dwan said softly, gently, yet in his unique way that was unmistakably intimidating to all who heard. "I know that very well.” Dwan crossed his arms. “You say Steele knows something?"

"Yeah. I also know if I asked that Commander Blane is gonna say that I can't talk to her. But I'm telling you, sir, if anyone on this boat can get through to her it's me."

"Why don't you ask Commander Blane for permission first? Then we can talk…" Dwan suggested, having a very unsettling feeling about this.

Suddenly now Dane was growing truly flustered, and for just a moment he forgot how frightened he should be of any and all consequences.

"Lieutenant Tubman, sir," Dane said firmly, looking the man in the eye as well he could. "Lair Kellyn is hurt in Sickbay. We've half a dozen corrupt TI agents in our brig and they've taken our whole ship. Commander Blane is a little busy and he doesn't even know about Lair and we just don’t have time for Steele’s temper tantrums."

His words were strong, but so was the feeling deep inside Dwan that this was a very bad idea.

"I'd be disobeying a direct order, son." Dwan shook his head. "I can't do that."
Dane began to protest, but quickly cut himself off and carefully steeled himself again. Dwan was not a man to be dealt with indirectly, so instead he simply made a quiet and honest request.

"Would you at least ask him for me? He might listen to you, sir."

Dwan sighed. He hated this, but he had to admit that if Landry had information about Brody that could help that every attempt should be made to convince her to share it. He tapped his badge. "Tubman to Blane."

There was no response.

He nodded to Dane and Dane tried his own badge.

"Cristiane to Blane, please respond."

Silence.

"Tubman to anyone on the bridge. Acknowledge."

Still nothing.

Dwan's brow furrowed. "Anything could be going on up there."

"That's right,” Dane observed hopefully, “and they will probably need your help a hell of a lot more than they need you to watch over Landry Steele. We've got a decision to make here, Sir, and I'm asking you to think about it and make the one that you think is best."

Slowly Dwan rocked from foot to foot, considering Dane’s words, and knowing he didn't have a lot of time to do it. Finally he stopped, looking down to the waiting man before him. "Are you sure you can keep her out of trouble?"

"Yes,” Dane said confidently. With all he felt he didn’t know about what to do today that was one thing he was sure of. “If I have to tie her to a chair, she won't go anywhere without me. I promise you."

"All right,” Dwan wearily agreed, watching Cristiane’s reaction lest he should be too happy about this permission. “I'm leaving her to you and I'm going to see if I can get to the bridge." Tubman moved aside and pulled a panel from the wall, preparing to make his way through the Jeffries tubes.

Dane said absolutely nothing in response, which was probably the best response he could have.

"Best not trust the lifts unless you have to," Tubman admonished, as he considered the best route to take.

He quickly made up his mind, but before he set off he realised he couldn’t do so yet.

"Cristiane," he paused, his voice dropping and giving a sincere and sincerely frightening warning. "If anything bad happens because you let Steele get out of control, O'Sullivan's gonna take it outta your hide if there's anything left after I get through with it. Mind."

The addition of the last word would've made Dane smile if he wasn't so utterly terrified of the man, as use of it on the end of a sentence like that was a true trademark of someone who had served for any time under Keiran O'Sullivan's command.

"Understood, Sir. Good luck."

Ensign Dane Cristiane
Temporal Investigations Intern
USS Serendipity NCC-2012

and

Captain William Lindsay
Interim Director
Temporal Investigations