Ghost Sighting

Posted on Sun Jul 10th, 2016 @ 12:25pm by Captain Li Hawke & Admiral Ricky Wegener & El'Shar Blackhorse

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: IKS cha'Do

* IKS cha’Do *

Li had decided that pacing the bridge was accomplishing nothing and at El’Shar’s urging had finally departed to the galley to get something to eat. It accomplished two things - it stopped the stomach growling and also stopped driving El crazy. That last thought made her laugh as she settled on a stool at the counter that sat in the center and began to eat. She was only a couple of bites in when she heard the sound of the transporter and then heard footsteps coming down the stairs to the galley.

“...in a moment, El,” Rick was saying as he walked into the galley. “I want you and Li to hear this at the same time.” He stopped short seeing Li mid-face stuffing. With his eyebrows raised he said, “So we get zapped over to parley with the Borg and you decide to eat, huh?” He laughed. “I guess we all deal with stress in our own ways, right?”

Li finished chewing and nodded. “I skipped eating when I got up and El sent me down here before I wore a path in the deck plating.” She looked Rick over and lowered her fork. “So what happened?”

“The short version is that she wants to work with us,” he said, taking a seat across from her and making room for El next to him. “They are just as concerned with the Krenim as we are and have promised a tentative peace with us for the foreseeable future.”

“Peace? With the Borg?” El’Shar replied. “I’ll believe that when I see it.” She’d taken Rick’s hand and was squeezing pretty hard, her concern for his safety now obvious to him at her touch.

Li’s eyes narrowed at that news. “Well, it’s been done before, with Voyager for a brief period. The fact that they are willing to work with us says a lot about how serious the Krenim threat is.” Li took another bite and when done, she continued. “Who is ‘us’? This ship? The station? Our allies in this?”

“I don’t know about our allies, but this ship, the station and our people, at least. She did say that the ship was going to return soon through the rift, so we didn’t have to concern ourselves about going in after it, but that the Krenim were launching ships toward 900 soon and that our best bet was to let them arrive and allow the base defenses to go to work, along with any other ships in the area, to include the Borg.”

Rick shared a glance with El’Shar before speaking again. “Li…” His voice broke a bit. “He’s on their cube, Li. Darwin and I...we saw him.”

“Saw who?” She set her water bottle aside as she asked the question.

He sighed. “Sakkath.”

Li’s hand jerked, knocking the bottle over. She grabbed it quickly to right it, glad the cap was on tight. It took a moment for her to process what Rick had said, then she relaxed. “His body you mean? We knew they had taken in the shuttle that was transporting him.”

“He’s a drone, he’s not dead. Or they’ve somehow managed to reanimate the deceased.”

“A...drone,” Li repeated slowly. Somehow it wasn’t making sense in the cloud of fluff her brain had become. “He was dead. I felt him die,” she said quietly. “And now he’s a drone. Not dead?”

El’Shar took her hand across the table. “We’ll figure it out, Li,” she said, then turned to Rick, “Won’t we.” It wasn’t a question.

“I’ve already made clear my intention to have him returned to us,” he said, hoping that would suffice. He, and the others, knew that actually convincing the Queen to return him, or stealing him away, would be extremely difficult. “But for now, we have a ship and crew to recover and a few ships full of crazed Krenim to fight off. We need to get word to 900 to begin preparing for an attack so they’re not caught off guard.”

Li seemed to be lost in the news he’d just delivered. “That’s why she didn’t want me over there.I get it. So he wouldn’t see me. But then, he’s part of the collective, would it matter? Would it even phase him? Why revive him?” Suddenly a new thought occurred to her and she focused on Rick and El’Shar. “What does this mean?”

“I wondered that myself,” Rick replied. “It can only be one of two things. She’s smart enough to realize that he has a wealth of information about Starfleet that they could farm for their purposes, or…” He hesitated before continuing, “Or she’s doing it just to fuck with us.”

“Both. There was an incident some years back….” Li stopped and shook her head. “The perfect way to strike back, huh? I can’t sense him at all. What if he doesn’t want to come back?”

“If he doesn’t,” El’Shar chimed in, “it must be because of the nanites. They may have modified their ability to influence, or even cancel out empathic or telepathic abilities. But I think we can all agree that he would want nothing more than to be away from the Borg.”

“She won’t let him go.” Li pushed her plate away and turned her attention to Rick. Her usual, forthright manner was gone and now, it was just Li, looking to him for direction. “What am I supposed to do with this? What about Max? What about how hard it was to move on with my life? I almost lost my mind getting past the loss of Sakkath and now I find out he’s not so lost? What the hell?”

“I don’t know what to say, Eyas, other than that I will be with you every step of the way.” He looked to El’Shar and back to Li. “Both of us will. But I will get him back, one way or the other. He wasn’t just a good husband to you, he was a good officer and someone I could count on even outside of work, a friend. If he wasn’t dead, and we can remove the Borg influence, we will. And if they’ve just reanimated his body as a ploy to mess with our heads, then at least in getting him back we could honor his wishes for burial and let him rest.” He squeezed her hand. “But we will figure this out, Li. We always do.”

“She brought him back,” Li murmured. “We’ve done it before, why not them? Now they know everything he knows. Which means they could breach all security and command protocols if they get to the station. We have to warn Oz and have her initiate the emergency protocols.” She reached up with her free hand to rub her temple. It was easier to focus on work at the moment. “I don’t know what to do about the rest. I am supposed to be getting married as soon as we return.”

“We can change the security and command protocols now that we know they have him, Li. That’s not a major concern. But right now we need to focus on getting your brother and the rest of the crew back, and then defeating the Krenim.” Rick was slipping back into ‘admiral mode’, trying to get her back to focusing on her duty and putting her personal life on the back-burner. “I’ll notify the station about the pending attack. You, El and Darwin need to focus attention on the rift and, once the ship returns, work on damage control. Hell, we may need to send someone over to pilot it home if something has happened to the crew.”

“Darwin...yes, of course.” She rose and carried the remains of her meal to the recycler. “Call Oz. You two can take it easy while you have some time. We’ll stand watch for now and notify you when the Kohanna returns. I’ll be...on the bridge.”

She left in such a hurry, both El’Shar and Rick were a bit confused. He slumped back in his chair, however, and closed his eyes. “I don’t know what to do, El. I really just have no idea where to go from here.”

Leaning in she put her head on his chest. “Just like you told her, honey, we will work it out.”

“I can’t leave him there, but I don’t really want to bring him back in case we can save him and it just causes more strife for Li. She’s been through so much, but if he’s actually alive, so has he.” He groaned in frustration as he smacked the back of his head against the wall behind him. “Damned if I do, damned if I don’t and not happy with either result.”

El thought for a moment. “If we can save him, we must. Li is an amazing and tough woman, and can figure out what to do after that point.” She lifted her head, kissed his cheek, and stood. “But the call is yours to make and we will all do whatever you say.”

He opened his eyes and saw her standing with her arm out to him. Taking it, she pulled him up. “Now go. Send word to the station. I’ll make us something to eat. I could feel how hungry you were while Li was eating.”

Nodding, he walked slowly to their quarters and sat in front of the small console. “Computer, priority alpha message to Starbase 900, commanding officer’s eyes only. Establish contact.”

As the computer worked, he closed his eyes again and sighed heavily. “Well, Oz, you’re gonna’ love this shit.”

--------------------------------------------
Admiral Ricky Wegener
Feeling the Stress of Command

El’Shar Blackhorse
Unwavering Support

Captain Li Hawke
Spooked