100726.15
William Lindsay found himself rushing to keep up with the impossibly long strides of the old friend he knew far too well.
"For the love of God, O'Sullivan, wait!"
“God?” Keiran scoffed, slowing his steps not one whit. “Thought you were an atheist.”
“A technicality. Who else can I expect you ta listen to and show you’ve still got some sense of reason left in that thick Irish skull?”
Will managed to overtake Keiran at last, spinning and grabbing firm hold of him by the front of the shirt. He wished he could physically shake him back to reality, but the look in O’Sullivan’s eyes gave him pause. It sent his mind back to the day they’d first met, all those years and years of linear and non-linear time ago- a day in which O’Sullivan was in an eerily similar frame of mind.
“Let. Go.”
“Keiran, for Christ’sake, think with yer brain for a minute! You can’t just go tappin’ inta the computer. Detention logs, least of all. Why not just take over the comm system and announce we escaped!”
“That Moreno let us go, you mean.” Keiran corrected. His fingers were poised over the panel- he was this close to using every trick he knew to determine the location of his wife and Captain, yet something in him knew that as much as he hated to admit it that Lindsay had a valid point.
He hesitated. The last thing he wanted to do was waste another moment of precious time by having to fight off a security detail with his bare hands.
“We have to establish priorities here,” Lindsay thought aloud, his eyes shifting back and forth as quickly as his thoughts. The ambivalence in his own words startled him and he inhaled sharply, wishing that by doing so he could pull them back from thin air.
Too late, he thought. His tongue had betrayed the conflict in his mind as to what had to happen next and worst of all, he’d said entirely the wrong thing to his very best friend.
Keiran’s reaction was swift and certain: Will found his feet dangling as the giant Irishman suspended him above the deck by the collar of his shirt.
“I have but one priority here, see? To get Liis away from Brody, if she’s still-“ Keiran couldn’t finish the thought, he couldn’t bear to contemplate that it may already be too late to save her.
“Keiran,” Will gasped, struggling for breath. “My…friend-”
“Listen to me, you,” Keiran rumbled, inching Lindsay up even higher, "Friend. This is where you show what you are, real quick. Being a friend to you is what got Liis into this mess, so either you’re a friend to her now and you’ll help me find her first or you’re a friend to me no longer.”
He released Lindsay as quickly as he’d snatched him up, dropping him to his feet. “If you’re not gonna help me, William, then get the hell out of my way.”
“You…O’Sullivans. Always…go for the…throat.” Lindsay backed up against the wall, choking the words out between coughs as his fingertips elevated to the bruised flesh of his neck. “Not so easy," he turned plaintive eyes up toward the man who had taught him all he was proudest of. “If Poseidon is lost, then Liis dies too.”
“What makes ya think the Poseidon ‘ll be lost?” There was coldness to the anger in Keiran's eyes that simply demanded Will stop focusing on anything but saving Liis.
For a moment Will paused, still struggling to catch his breath after feeling O’Sullivan’s mighty grip. His mind raced ever faster before he spoke a single word he knew that all the resequencing in the world wouldn’t have stopped Keiran from recognising instantly. “Lemuria.”
The look on Keiran’s face passed rapidly from what it had been to a sort of bitter understanding. Lemuria had been a city that they’d visited on one of their earliest jumps together. It was at that time a paradise of technological advancements that made the modern Federation look like the dark ages by comparison. It was ruled over by a father and son, each vying bitterly for supreme control.
Their mission as TI agents had been to correct a historical inaccuracy and save the life of the son, and they’d succeeded at it easily. Today however Lemuria lay in ashes, slowly destroyed by savage neighbouring lands and by conflicting itself while the father and son were too blinded by their own struggles to notice.
“I don’t bloody care what Brody or Moreno let happen to this ship,” Keiran answered, acknowledging the comparison Will was trying to make. “Only thing I give a damn about is that we get Liis the hell out before it happens.”
Will knew Keiran was being entirely sincere that he didn’t care even slightly about the fate of a single person on this ship except Liis, which surely included Will himself at this point. He also knew that if Keiran was capable of greater clarity in this moment, he’d realise Liis’ fate was inseparable from everyone else’s.
Forcing back his keen awareness of Keiran’s ability to crush his windpipe in a single blow, Will stood taller and spoke more harshly than he had been, no easy feat for any man while under Keiran’s threatening glare let alone for the man closer to him than any other.
From the very first word, Keiran looked poised to rip Will from the ground again and propel him into next week without need of time-travel technology.
“Damn it, O’Sullivan, listen to me! Ya felt the ship shakin’ before like a rusty gate in a hurricane. So ya know full well that Poseidon’s been under attack from something a hell of a lot bigger and meaner than she is.”
“The point, William.” Keiran snapped, growing angrier with the passing of every second they wasted while still standing here chatting rather than out taking direct action.
“Meh point is that you can bet it’ll come back. If Brody and Moreno are at each other’s throats when that happens, or they’re busy chasin’, us then this ship will be destroyed, Liis and all.”
In spite of the fury within, the faintest hint of recognition in Keiran’s features revealed that part of him knew Will was right. Still, a larger part of him simply refused to accept any course of action that did not involve immediately coming to the rescue of the woman he loved.
“We are not just sitting by while Brody does God knows what…” Keiran started. For the first time Will was hearing the real fear Keiran felt.
Will inhaled slowly and straightened his uniform, trying to get back some sense of order to himself.
“That’s not what I’m suggestin’.”
“William,” Keiran paused, an expression in his eyes unlike anything Lindsay had ever seen before as together they quickly disabled the lock and crossed the threshold of the room they'd sought. His enormous hands clamped shut into fists that twitched at his sides. His eyes spoke of a thousand different things but his lips suddenly seized.
“Keiran?” Will prompted at last, “I don’t have to remind ya we’re runnin’ short on time.”
“Don’t let me touch him.” Keiran said, his voice shaken by rage in a way Will had rarely heard. “If I touch him, am goin' to kill him, and I don’t want to live with having taken any man’s life in anger. Not even Tucker Brody’s.” He continued looking Will dead in the eyes. “No matter what you have to do for the love of God, Will, stop me.”
The request grabbed Will by the throat and choked him more fiercely than Keiran ever could have with his bare hands.
“My word, Keiran,” he stammered. “I give you my word.”
Tucker Brody’s head was throbbing in that way that makes a man wish for nothing more than to spend a quiet night in a dimly lit room, possibly with an alcoholic beverage.
The more he thought about everything that had transpired on the bridge the worse his head seemed to become. He had no time for pain though, even his own. He would and could not allow himself the luxury of taking a break. With all the loose ends still left to tie up, there just wasn't the time.
He arrived back at the door to his quarters, intent simply on changing his uniform before he once again ventured out to continue with his plans. The anger he felt before slowly mutated into a less vicious animal with each step he took, as his adrenaline seemed to drain away.
As he stepped inside he didn’t bother to turn on the lights, managing in the process to miss the large mass waiting in the darkness. He muttered to himself slightly, cursing for his mind to be clear as he continued inward and the door snapped shut behind him.
He immediately moved to the tall, narrow chest of drawers where the spare uniform he’d replicated was stowed. Instantly, he realized something was wrong.
These quarters were supposed to be a quiet place away from the noise of the obstacles in the world. Yet pausing for just a moment he picked up on a sound; a heavy, rapid breathing that bled from the shadows.
Before he could turn to see where it was coming from, it was too late. His entire body spun and slammed up against the wall that had just a moment before been behind him.
He didn't have time to react--the next thing he knew he was airborne. His chest met the tower of drawers just before his head hit the wall. He began to wheeze, crying out in pain as he felt several of his ribs crack upon impact.
He couldn’t speak the name of his assailant but he was sure he knew who it was. It burned into his brain even as he fought to stay conscious. O’Sullivan…
“Jesus, Keiran! Lights!” Will called, blinking as his eyes fought to adjust. He rushed to put himself between Keiran and Brody. “You said…”
“Have changed my mind.” Keiran announced, the words twisted with dark satisfaction. His loss of control truly frightened Will now-- his friend may end up with Brody’s life on his conscience one way or another before they left this room if he didn’t intervene.
For his part, Brody was still attempting to summon the strength just to speak. His breath rattled ominously in his chest and he spat, trying in vain to remove the taste of his own blood from his lips.
“Stand down, O’Sullivan,” Will warned.
Keiran was no longer aware that anyone was in the room except himself and the man who had abducted the woman he loved. “Her clothes are here, you bastard.” He took a step closer to the collapsed, physically broken doctor as the man summoned every last ounce of his resolve and fought his way to his feet. “Where the hell is my wife?”
“It’s where she thinks she is,” Tucker wheezed the words out slowly, pain evident in his features though he refused to give in to it. “That’s all that matters.”
“Son of a bitch.“ Keiran rushed forward and Will no longer had any choice but to act. Again he stood as tall as he could, a futile exercise when dealing with someone of O'Sullivan's stature, but a change in posture that was necessary nonetheless if he were to succeed in making his point.
His body began moving steadily backward as O’Sullivan’s hands plowed into his chest, determined to go through Lindsay if he had to.
“William, am warnin' you...” The look in his eyes told Will his fear had taken over completely now- he would no longer listen to sense.
Will had to appeal to his emotions- but first he had to get his attention. To that end he muttered two words- words that Brody heard but Keiran did not. “Forgive me.”
He pulled back his fist and struck Keiran hard, a rapid barrage of punches meant more to try to make the man think than to knock him off his feet. Keiran stumbled just a step backwards, staring blankly as blood began to trail from the corner of his mouth. Will had only struck him once before- that time in anger. This time was different.
“Keiran, stop! Think of Liis!”
“Yes.” Brody sneered, emboldened by observation of dissension in the ranks of even the most loyal of the TI ‘faithful’. “Think of Liis. Your wife, withering away as I did everything I…could…do,” he paused again, forced to fight for oxygen as even the smallest movement brought more excruciating physical pain with it. “...to break her.”
The expression of suffering that flickered across Keiran’s face was one of such unspeakable horror that William Lindsay could stand no more. “Enough!” he cried, as he turned on Brody and began himself to pound the man into the far wall.
Keiran was frozen in disbelief for several long seconds, until a clanging, clattering noise was heard. Something small had fallen from Brody’s jacket pocket. It rolled across the floor and into the base of the bed, where it stopped, glimmering in the light.
It was one of Liis’ wedding rings.
Keiran's eyes flashed as he saw it and every single thought in his head ground to a halt save one. “Where is she?” he demanded, moving closer to Brody again. “Answer me!”
Will’s heart raced in his chest as he stopped and stepped back- finally regaining control of himself as he realized he didn’t want Brody’s life on his conscience either- but only because he didn’t want to have to try to explain later to one Zanh Liis O’Sullivan why the doctor wouldn’t be prosecuted and sent to prison instead.
“Holosuite.” Brody groaned in agony.
“There’s just the one?” Will asked, as he watched Keiran drop to a knee and reverently retrieve Liis’ ring.
O'Sullivan's hand shook as he crossed himself, praying silently before enclosing the ring tightly in his fist.
Brody managed a weak nod as the room spun around him.
O'Sullivan was in such a rush that he was halfway out the door before Will called him back.
“Keiran! If he’s done what we think he’s done, you may need them all to convince her you’re real.” He knelt down beside Brody, frisking him to find the two remaining items that needed to be returned to their rightful owners. Sure enough in the interior pocket of Brody’s jacket, he found Liis’ diamond band, and Keiran’s signet ring.
Keiran hurried over, sweeping the rings out of Lindsay’s hand, then picking up the pile of Liis’ civilian clothing from the bed where he’d found it. He nodded to his friend, unable in this moment to find anything to say that would be of any consequence. They were all still in danger here, there remained much work to be done.
William Lindsay could only think of one thing to say; he employed the simple, one word command that Zanh Liis was best known for. “Go. I'll catch up to ya in a second."
"No." Keiran objected. "You-"
Brody groaned again. Everything he’d fought for was slipping away. The last woven strands of his life were unraveling now, he could only hope that something of his plans could still be salvaged, somehow.
Lindsay growled, knowing that Brody’s wordless exclamation had a purpose. “I’m listenin’.”
“Pass code,” he rasped.
“Oh yeah, hey, Keiran- wait, need the code. How complicated is it, Brody?”
“Simple.” Brody said. “Just. A name.”
Brody’s first attempt to speak that name was drown out by the droning voice of the ship’s central computer.
[Warning. Temporal Drive will engage in ten minutes.]
Brody’s eyes flashed. There was a chance that things could work out for him, yet. Still, in this moment he needed O’Sullivan and Lindsay to let him go- and the best way to do that was to give them, for the moment, the illusion at least that they’d won.
He repeated the code word again, and this time both men heard it.
“Don’t let him outta y’er sight, Will,” Keiran instructed as he rushed to the door.
“Oh no ya don’t, I’m goin’ with you.” Will was on his heels but Keiran gestured back to Brody.
“What’ll he do if-“
“Keiran,” Will said more forcefully. “Nine minutes.”
Without another word, both men took off running through the halls, headed back in the direction they’d come to get to this room.
They had passed the holosuite on their way, not knowing all the while that it was not only Zanh Liis’ prison, but also her personal Hell.
Captain William Lindsay
Interim Director
The Department of Temporal Investigations
and
-=/\=- Keiran O'Sullivan
Security Liaison to
The Alchemy Project
NRPG: I’m back. Did you miss me? ~ZL