Redux

Posted on Thu Dec 15th, 2011 @ 6:20am by Captain Li Hawke
Edited on on Thu Dec 15th, 2011 @ 7:12am

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Li/Sakkath Quarters

Li's entrance into the quarters she shared with Sakkath would normally have been a welcome respite from the world. Not so tonight. Tonight her time here would be brief. Her mind reeled with exhaustion but her body kept moving by sheer force of will. She tried to convince herself that she had been through worse but the argument fell flat. The truth was, she hadn't. For all her time in the field, and all the life-threatening situations, now the stakes were far more personal, the outcome more uncertain, the potential loss far greater.

A deep sadness stole over her, stealthy and quiet-footed as a cat. It held sway for several moments, slowly swirling into anger. How dare he? How dare Rhys, once again, do his utmost to ruin her life? She had no doubt that Sakkath was right. If Rhys was successful, not only would Sakkath be gone forever, but that she would suffer first his wrath, then this obsession, then his revenge. The thought brought a shiver strong enough to make her teeth chatter.

Easy Li, get hold of yourself. Now's not the time to shatter.

First things first. Moving to the computer, she activated her terminal. A few commands entered and she set the computer to work, isolating all Vulcan life signs, at which point it would then narrow those down to Sakkath's to pinpoint his location. Given the size of the station, and the number of Vulcans on board, it would take a while. She directed the computer to forward the results to the terminal in her old quarters. Next was a message to Admiral Wegener, time delayed, to be delivered should she not cancel it within twelve hours. And one last order - for the computer to seal whatever room she might be in at her verbal command with a given code. If things went south, it could keep the problem from spreading. She hoped it wouldn't necessary.

When she reached their bedroom, she pulled out a bag, dropping it to the bed. Turning to the closet, she opened it to remove some casual clothes. As she pulled them from the shelves, she found it suddenly hard to breath. She hoped this was temporary. If not she was not at all sure how she would keep her mind together. Already it was too empty without Sakkath in her thoughts. She sighed deeply, and pulled another shirt out, adding it to the small stack in her arms.

"What are you doing honey?"

Nenita's voice, laced with curiosity, broke into Li's reverie, startling her into a yelp. "Nita, you surprised me."

"Uh huh." Nenita leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms. "And you, darling, jumped like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Where are you going?"

"My old quarters." Li moved to the bed and began tossing the clothes into the bag haphazardly.

"Why? Where's loverboy?" Her tone switched from firmness to worry. "You're not leaving him?"

"It's not that simple. Something's happened...Rhys' energy has taken up residence in Sakkath. He walked out of the Nexus, has blocked his comm badge location, closed our bond. He doesn't think it's safe to be around me. He's right, as hard as it is to admit. Right now I suspect he is holed up here somewhere trying to find a solution before it's too late." She closed the bag, avoiding Nita's eye. She was barely keeping it together, she wasn't sure she could take seeing pity in her friend's eyes.

"Oh honey," Nita's voice was soft. "That explains your earlier order to keep him off Deck 33. We wondered what the hell was going on. Want me to find him and kick some ass? I can't remember the last time I saw you like this."

"No. I have the computer looking and when it finds him, I'll go deal with it. One way or another. Till then, I need some sleep or I'm going to collapse."

Nenita nodded finally. "Alright. But don't give up hope, you know he would do anything to protect you. And to keep from losing you."

"That's what I'm counting on. Do me a favor and don't tell Nick? I don't want him blowing up till it's over. Then I'll tell him."

"Promise." Nita studied Li one last long moment. "Call if you need me, you know I'll be there. And tell Sakkath I said to obliterate the sonuva bitch."

"I will." The sentiment brought a smile to Li's face for the first time in several hours.

"Good, and I expect a full report when this is over." She smiled in answer, then slipped out.

"Computer, turn off the lights." The lights immediately went out and Li left behind Nenita.

* * *

The walk to her old quarters seemed to be the longest of her life. Standing before the door, she realized with a shock that she had not set foot here since first transferring back to the station. That visit has been less than normal. She reached out to rest her hand on the door, opening her senses. Nothing echoed yet. She crossed her fingers, entered the code to unseal the door and stepped inside.

"Computer, lights, thirty-five percent."

The lights came up to a soft glow, revealing a living room bare of all but the standard furnishings. No echoes of Rhys lingered here either, which told her that he had managed to move into Sakkath completely. This struck a chord of fear deep within her, its disharmonious echo sending a faint hairline crack racing across the surface of her stability. Deep breath. It will be over soon, one way or another.

She only hoped that the end would not mean the end of everything she held dear.

Moving on to the bedroom, she dropped the bag on the dresser. One look at the bed brought the past rushing back to the day she had arrived back at 900, the few hours they'd had together before she shipped off on the Berkeley.

"Good morning sunshine." Rhys' familiar voice, deep and husky, wrapped around her.

"Morning. Is that bacon?"

"It is indeed. I figured you would really be craving some after your time away."

"You are too good to me, you know that?" She sat up, barely managing to brush her hair out of her face before Rhys' arms wrapped around her.

"I do try. Welcome home, Imzadi.

How different things had been then. Then she had believed Rhys still loved her, even as she was searching for a way out. But that wasn't entirely true was it? She'd felt, even then, that something was off. Something had shifted, leaving a shadow in its wake that hovered over them, menacing and indistinct.

And then a pair of green eyes had greeted her as she entered the Berkeley's lounge, followed by an accidental touch that had seared both her and Sakkath to the depths of their souls. There had been no going back. The path had been chosen, leading to danger and near-death. And through it all, Sakkath had been her rock, putting himself at risk to save her. History was repeating itself in a tragically ironic revival.

She shed her uniform, leaving herself in a tank top and underwear, then slipped into bed. As she drifted off to sleep, she sent one final message, this one to Rhys. It was a simple goodbye, and it was clearly a promise. And a threat. She let out a deep breath as sleep began to overtake her. Her body finally began to relax, her eyes closed. Just as she was set adrift and began to glide over the waves of sleep, realization shot down her wings and she sat bolt upright in bed.

Suddenly, she knew exactly where Sakkath would go.

Back to the beginning.

It was only logical.

*********
Lt. Commander Li Hawke
On The Brink