by TC Blane and Jon Peterson
100730.1300
Concurrent with A Positive Turn of Events
-=Main Bridge, USS Serendipity=-
100730.1300
Concurrent with A Positive Turn of Events
-=Main Bridge, USS Serendipity=-
TC stared at the fading glow of the detonated warp core on the forward viewscreen for several seconds before turning his gaze upon the visibly shaken Peterson.
“So what now?” He asked not even trying hide the sarcasm in his voice.
Now was the time to turn the mental screws. All of the elements of the situation had turned in the Sera’s crews’ favor. TC knew it and so did the TI agents left onboard.
TC folded his arms across his chest, a painful move considering the still fresh phaser burn to his shoulder. “You’re not actually expecting them to come back, are you?”
He motioned towards the very large TI ship looming over them. “As long as they are hovering there Brody is not going to come back.” He looked at the grim looks on all of the TI agents’ faces. “You all know this.”
He turned to face Steele. “All of you know this.” He repeated as he fixed his gaze on her. His ice cold blue eyes conveyed pity for the woman who obviously was feeling more pain then she let show.
He turned his eyes back to Peterson. “So, What now?”
Peterson’s eyes lingered a moment longer, staring at the image before him, his sinking heart and tired mind telling him that they didn’t stand a chance with just him here in charge but his ego, albeit bruised, refusing to let him accept that that was true. “Now…” he stopped and drew in a breath, putting on his most confident ‘Captain voice’ before continuing. “Now we get the hell out of here.”
“And go where?” TC asked incredulously. “Take a look at your sensors. Impulse is still offline. Even with it we’re years from the nearest planet or starbase.”
“He’s right, sir,” One of Peterson’s men added quietly, having read it on his sensor display.
“So what?” Peterson snapped as if simply irritated and not as if he was recognising the truth in what TC was saying. “We have people on board who have technical skills centuries ahead of the technology this ship uses. They can modify the impulse engines to get us there far quicker than you could imagine.”
TC could tell Peterson had no faith in his own words, surely as everyone else could see the same, and he seized his opportunity. He spoke now less to Peterson and more to the rest of the bridge.
“What makes you think you’d have a chance in hell at doing that before the entire crew over there get their warp drive back online? You couldn’t even repair your own ship without our help.”
It was clear to all that Peterson had no answer to this and the exchanged looks between the TI agents seemed to ask if there was even any point doing what he said now. They all feared Brody but there was little Peterson could do to them now he was on his own.
Peterson seemed to be able to sense this. He quickly sounded like he was arguing with the entire crew, unconsciously taking a step away from TC Blane now that he had no Brody to protect him. Without realising it, Peterson’s hand was reaching down to his phaser.
“Then we get far enough away that…that…”
“Grow up,” TC said intentionally scoldingly, when he could see Peterson’s confidence was quickly slipping. To a man who’d seen all Blane had, Peterson’s inexperience and ill equipment for this task was far too obvious. “They’re not coming back.”
Now Peterson was truly beginning to panic. His tone was getting desperate and his words growing ever faster.
“We don’t need them! We still have a Federation starship. There are a lot of people out there who’d want what we can offer. We contact them, they’ll come to us…”
Peterson expected some sort of response and looked around futilely at the eyes of each and every one of his agents hoping for it, when all he was met with was silence. A look of disgust crossed over TC’s so often unreadable features. Some of Peterson’s own men looked at him similarly.
“You would really sell the Federation’s secrets to the highest bidder just to save your own ass?”
Peterson’s spluttered but had no way of arguing against this. TC again stepped nearer to Peterson, making this point as clear as he possibly could.
“There’s only one way out of this and you know it,” TC chided. “You contact that ship and surrender yourself.”
Peterson knew exactly what would happen if he did that. He was still a young man but a conviction of what was effectively temporal treason would mean he spent the rest of his long lifetime locked away in a tiny room without any chance of ever again doing any of the things he so loved.
“No,” he said, suddenly far more stoic. He was not going down that path.
“No, what?”
Peterson did his best once again to ignore TC, stepping away from him once more and turning his back to the viewscreen. Peterson’s words, suddenly defiant and far louder, seemed to violently shake the still and silent air.
“No, we’re not going to surrender! We’re going to fight!”
“You know you can’t win,” TC replied incredulously and Peterson had finally lost all patience.
His hand, until now only resting, angrily drew his phaser and turned to aim it at TC. Seeing TC’s eyes though, and that he was not afraid to risk his own life, he quickly changed his mind and locked the weapon on Landry Steele.
“No, but the Poseidon still can! If they get their time drive to work then they can make a jump back and prevent any of this from happening,” he argued, though his words were more hopeful than faithful. “What happens to this ship doesn’t matter. We just have to do as much damage as possible to that ship out there so they’ll be unable to stop them.”
TC shook his head and laughed at Peterson’s continued threatening gesture towards Landry.
“Are you serious? She had been nothing but a pain in my side since this whole thing started. You’d be doing me a favor. She’s been more of an ally to you than anyone else on this ship. Not a good choice of a target.”
Just then a beeping emanated from the tactical station in front of Landry. She glanced down at the sensor readings. “Their main power systems are back online. They’ll have shields and weapons in under a minute.” She looked at TC and then to Peterson.
TC’s gaze never left Peterson, as his eyes bored into the man as if looking into his soul. Peterson got the feeling that TC was reading his thoughts. It severely unnerved him.
Peterson glanced at Steele and then to TC. His eyes swept around the bridge as he realized everyone’s eyes were on him. Suddenly he realized fully the amount of responsibility that was heaped onto his shoulder by the sudden departure of the Poseidon. Sweat formed on his brow and he felt physically sick.
“Well, you’re the man with the gun. What’s the call?” TC’s voice broke the silence.
Peterson held the phaser higher. “I said we fight.” He glared at Steele. “Fire everything we got at them, NOW!”
From a purely logical perspective Steele knew this may represent Brody’s only chance at the future she wanted for him. She glanced down at the controls in front of her and on autopilot her fingers slowly set the targeting solutions and armed the torpedoes. Only then she stopped, just short of depressing the fire command. She slowly lifted her head and looked at TC, who she noticed was staring intently back at her. She swallowed hard and turned her eyes back to the console in front of her as she slowly shook her head.
“No.” Her fingers moved quickly over the console and disabled the torpedoes.
Peterson’s brow furrowed in rage. “What? No.” He shook the phaser at her. “You have to fire. Shoot them.” He yelled. “Now damn it or I’ll kill you!!”
Steele never looked up from the console as if she had suddenly realized that her path was no longer tied to Brody, that she had nothing left. “Go ahead.”
Peterson stepped towards the tactical station. “You backstabbing witch! I’ll do it myself.”
Twice in a twenty four hour period the team of TI agents had made the same critical error of getting within arms reach of TC Blane and for the second time TC Blane had made the offending agent pay dearly for that mistake.
Before Peterson realized that in his rush to get to the tactical station he had to pass within arms reach of TC, the ship’s second officer had placed him into arm lock, broke two of his fingers in the process of taking away his phaser, and currently had him planted face down on the deck with his knee square in the middle of his back. Peterson could not move and hardly breathe from the weight of TC on his back.
TC picked up the liberated phaser and slowly stood up and away from Peterson who only curled into a ball while cradling his broken fingers. There was a look of impotent spite in his eyes as he stared at TC above him.
“Someone shoot him!” Peterson demanded of his men, but they did nothing.
TC did not raise the phaser and instead let it hang in his hand by his side in a relaxed fashion, his finger resting lightly on the trigger. He turned and faced the rest of the remaining TI agents. Several had by now raised their phasers and pointed them at TC.
TC’s eyes flowed from one agent to another. His ice blue eyes met each of theirs in turn as he silently waged battle of wills against each of them. They knew that they had more weapons, that he could not possibly take all of them out. But each knew that TC would fall one or two of them before they brought him down. Their eyes told him that none of them were willing to be the one to make that sacrifice.
Brody’s abandonment of his men had ripped away their will.
“Landry, disable our weapons, lower our shields and open a hailing frequency,” TC ordered without taking his eyes off of the remaining agents who now one by one slowly lowered their phasers as they each came to the realization that their part in this story was coming to an inevitable conclusion. TC sighed silently within his soul with relief to see that they had come to the same conclusion as himself. It would be foolish to fight a battle that would benefit no one.
Steele had finally raised her head from the console during TC’s struggle with Peterson, if it could be called that, and now she watched the silent battle of wills unfold.
“Steele!” TC’s voice shook her from her daze.
She nodded and her fingers quickly completed TC’s command as the Sera’s crew moved around the TI agents collecting their weapons. “Frequency open.”
“This is commander TC Blane of the USS Serendipity. I have reassumed command of the ship.” He turned and sat in the captain's chair. “How may we be of assistance?”
Commander TC Blane
Acting Captain
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Lieutenant Jon Peterson
Rogue Temporal Investigations Agent
No longer commanding the USS Serendipity NCC-2012
Acting Captain
USS Serendipity NCC-2012
and
Lieutenant Jon Peterson
Rogue Temporal Investigations Agent
No longer commanding the USS Serendipity NCC-2012