O Brother Who Art Thou?

Posted on Wed Dec 12th, 2012 @ 6:38am by Captain Li Hawke & Admiral Ricky Wegener & Commander Sakkath & Commander Oralia Zeferino

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: Alternate Dimension SB900

* * * Deck 221 - Copernicus Center, 12th floor (aka Galileo Center on our 900) * * *

Rick, Lieutenant Darwin and three of Sakkath's people were put together as a small unit to begin probing the outer parts of the station. They were going to start clearing downward, starting with the decks immediately below the now-secured area checking for any remaining Archadians and also for any surviving crew that may need medical attention.

They exited the turbolift, weapons drawn and slinking down the corridor like a crack commando team.

"This is ludicrous," Rick said. "We have computer control. I'm turning on the damn lights. If nothing else, that will surprise anyone that's left and probably even make them pop their heads out to see what's going on." After waiting a beat to ensure no one objected, he said, "Computer, activate lighting on this level, sections..." he looked at the wall to remind himself where they were, "...108-Alpha down to 308-Delta."

The lighting crackled to life, in several places down the corridor. In other places, it remained dark, particularly in doorways. “Great. They can see us; we can’t see them,” Darwin grumbled and moved down the hallway, nodding for one of Sakkath’s men to go into the first room off the corridor.

Rick arched an eyebrow at his lieutenant and began down the corridor as well. He took the second room with a female ensign and cleared it. "This is gonna' take a while," he said as he stepped back out. "No less than two to a room for quarters," he said. "We'll all take big rooms, like the Gallery section down that way," he said, nodding down the corridor.

The Admiral was correct: the search took awhile. The team was hot and tired, but pressed on down the corridor, checking each room as they went. Just as Darwin and his chosen petty officer came to the main doors of the Gallery, a phaser shot nearly caught the petty officer in the arm. Both Darwin and the PO flattened themselves against the wall on either side of the doorway. “Admiral! Toss me a grenade!”, Darwin called.

Rick and the ensign with him, whose name he'd learned was Natalie, charged the remaining distance down the corridor as Rick underhanded a concussion grenade. He saw Darwin pull the pin and lob it into the room. As he arrived, he pulled the pin on his own and tossed it in as well.

"Fire in the hole!" he yelled as the group took cover in the corridor. A large THWUMP, followed by a blast of white light, followed by the second grenade doing the same, announced that they had both successfully detonated. "Go! Go! Go!" he yelled.

Natalie entered, then the petty officer followed by Darwin and Rick. Phaser fire rang out from his team toward the end of the room. Rick found a target and shot, missing with the first volley and hitting the woman, dressed in Archadian military attire, in the side of the head. She dropped like a stone. As she fell, four more popped up, their weapons rising.

"Cover!" he bellowed and dove behind a desk.

Darwin grabbed his petty officer and hit the deck with him. He then elbow-crawled over to the Admiral and said, “Sir, I’d really appreciate if you’d go back into the hall.” He didn’t wait for an answer, he’d been watching the phaser lines and, when the moment was right, rose up enough to fire on the Archadians. A female scream rang out across the room as Darwin retook his folded up position beside Wegener. “Seriously, hallway, Admiral!”

"Kindly shut the hell up and kill those bastards!" Rick yelled. "I'm not here for shits and giggles, son!" He rose and fired twice, not hitting anyone, but noticing something odd in the corner. Popping up for a few more shots he confirmed his suspicion. "Is...is that a man over in the corner?" he said aloud. "I thought all Archadian military were female?"

The figure in the corner noted the hesitation in Rick and ina flash, popped up. He met Rick’s gaze and shock passed over his features, only for a moment. Then he fired.

Rick had popped up again, but saw the face of the man firing back at them. He stood up. “Nahi?” he called. Phaser fire flew past him as he stood there, the realization of who he was looking at hitting him like a ton of bricks. The room went silent around him and he could only stare at the face of a man who had been dead for years, at least in his universe. Nahi’s phaser raised at him and the beam sliced across Rick’s arm just as he felt himself being dragged back down to the deck.

“ADMIRAL!” Darwin shouted as he hauled the man back down behind their scant cover. “Now that the shits and giggles are over, Admiral, how about you stay the fuck down? Try not to get yourself killed while we’re here, okay? Stay down! Medic!”, he shouted again, glad he’d insisted that at least one of those with them had some medical triage training. As the medic crawled forward, he grabbed a stun grenade from the Admiral’s Ensign and lobbed it, surprisingly gently, towards the far end of the room.

Rick yanked his arm away from the medic. "Charge them when it goes off! Take the male alive!"

The grenade blew and Rick was up like a shot. "GO!"

Darwin yanked the Admiral back down and gestured to the others, “GO!” They went and, in moments, the phaser fire from the far end of the room was silent. “Okay, now, you can get up.”

Rick was furious. He grabbed Darwin's uniform shirt and yanked his face down to his own. "If you dare do that again, Lieutenant, I will shove my fist into your mouth so far that you'll be shitting my fingernails for a week! I give you an order, you had damn well better do it!"

He let go of the shirt with a shove and stood, walking to the far end of the room. "Medic, check this man," he said as he stood over Nahi.

Following close behind the Admiral, Darwin held his tongue about the man’s tirade. It would be just what he needed: fall through to a different dimension, then let the Admiral get killed. Sure, fun all around. He and the petty officers checked the other bodies - all were dead. Coming back to where Nahi was being treated, Darwin looked him over and spoke to the Admiral, “We’re clear here. What was he doing fighting with the Archadians? He’s Starfleet, isn’t he?”

"He's Li's brother," Rick said quietly. "He's been...dead, in our universe, for a long time." He was still shocked to see him and even though he'd been much younger when Rick had last seen him, he knew that this was Nahi. He looked exactly like his mother. "I..." he paused, remembering the day he'd been told about Nahi's death. Swallowing hard, he finally said, "Secure him. I don't know who he is here, but it's obvious he's not on our side. We'll need to take him back to," he almost said Li, "Sakkath."

Nahi ignored the other officers as he growled at the medic and yanked away from him. His gaze was focused on Rick, eyes black as night, his expression icy. “How is it that you’re still standing, Rick? I killed you two days ago.”

His words felt like a kick to the gut. If things had felt surreal earlier, they were even more so now. But he had to remind himself that this was not his universe. Maybe the Wegener from this place hadn't had the relationship with the Hawke's that he'd had himself?

“All will be revealed,” was all he could muster. “Computer,” he called out, “erect forcefields just past this area.” Turning to Darwin he added, “At least no one else will come back here. This will keep us from having to check these rooms again.” He started to walk away, but stopped. With his back still to Nahi he said, “Make certain that he is bound. We’ll get back to this later. For now, we have to get back to the arboretum.”

Looking at the man the Admiral had called Li’s brother, Darwin nodded to the two petty officers. They bound the man then hauled him to his feet for the march back to the arboretum.

As the other three went on, Rick stopped Darwin a bit behind them. "Lieutenant," he said, "about your actions back there...I know what you were doing, and I appreciate it. But in these circumstances every hand with a weapon is needed. I can't cower in the shadows while everyone else puts themselves in danger. But in the future, if we're in that situation again, orders are orders. An active firefight that we're already engaged in is not the right time to begin worrying about my safety. It's too late by then."

“All due respect, Sir, these folks don’t need additional cannon fodder. They need to see you leading. Not freezing in the middle of a firefight, gawking at some guy.” He nodded at the singed sleeve of the man’s uniform, “That would have been a lot worse if I hadn’t hauled you out of the way.”

"That sort of thing happens when you start seeing ghosts from your past, Lieutenant," Rick replied. "There's no point in me being part of these search parties if I'm not going to do any work. You had a chance to voice your concerns when I was clearing the rooms, which could have been equally as dangerous. You can't have it both ways, Lieutenant. And I won't say it again--when I give you an order, you will obey it."

Realizing he wasn't exactly making the situation any better, he thumped Darwin on the shoulder. "By the way, you do good work. I'll have to talk to Oz about you when I get back."

“Thank you, Admiral,” Darwin nodded.


The Arboretum

Following Darwin and the Admiral’s departure, Li had gone to check on Suresh. He reported that one of ‘his’ contacts was passing the message through the wormhole, though they’d seemed curious as to why he was suddenly helping the Federation. He’d fed them some story, resorted to making it an order, and that was that. Li now retraced her steps back to the central area and approached Sakkath.

“How may I assist you?” This was all business and her tone made that obvious. This commander had made his feelings where she was concerned very clear and so she kept her distance, waiting.

"You can begin running the biofilters," the Vulcan replied without looking up from his terminal. "This will proceed more smoothly if we have definitive Archadian locks. I will continue to optimize transport time and improve the tracking sensors, since our soon-to-be guests are unlikely to stand conveniently still."

“Consider it done,” she answered. Turning to a free control panel, she began to tap in the commands. A few seconds later, the readout began to light up. “There we go,” she said with satisfaction. “You should be seeing them in several sectors, Commander. Begin transporting when ready.”

“Mister Moresi, are you quite prepared?” Sakkath questioned. The Bolian, quite a bit thinner than she had been when all of this began, bellowed ‘aye’ in response, motioning for her men to ready their weapons as they spread out around the transport zone.

“Then let us begin,” Sakkath said. “Energizing!” It was with a distinct, flooding sense of satisfaction that he slid his hands along the transporter control, pulling in the first of their prey.

The group had exited the turbolift and were walking toward the middle of the arboretum to find Sakkath. Rick, however, was charging ahead to try and find Li first. Some sort of warning had to be given, especially about the side her brother had chosen in this reality.

“Lieutenant,” Rick said, “hold him here for a moment. I need to talk to...” he looked at Nahi and then back to Darwin, “...someone.”

He quickly found Li. “We need to talk,” he said, pulling her by her elbow away from where Darwin and Nahi stood. “We found someone. It’s...”

“Nahi,” she said. Her black eyes held his, and for once, it was impossible for her to hide her shock from him. “I don’t know what to say to this..it’s been three years and...” She took hold of Rick’s arm. “Bring him here! I need to see....oh...something’s wrong.” Reading Rick was not her normal habit but his expression was dark and the emotions rolling off him were intense.

He held her arms as she looked into his face. “He’s not your Nahi, Li. He’s something else. He killed me--or, the other me, here. He’s allied with the Archadians. I don’t know what the hell is going on here, Li, but I had to come and tell you before you found out by meeting him.”

“Bring him to Sakkath,” she said and turned to go back to the commander.

“I had planned on that, but...you know he’s going to want to see you, Li,” he said. “I’m sure, by now, he’s read everyone’s thoughts on this level. He’ll know you’re here sooner or later.”

“Then we’ll see what happens but Sakkath’s not going to face this without me there.” SHe continued walking, leaving Rick there.

Just down the path, Nahi looked up at Darwin, anger in his face. “What sort of trick is this? She’s here but I saw her die myself. I was there!”

Resisting the urge to deck the Betazoid, Darwin suddenly grinned, “Guess you can’t trust everything you see, can you? C’mon, let’s get him to Sakkath.”

“I certainly don’t trust you. You’re not the Darwin I knew.” Nahi’s voice was harsh. “Though I have to admit, you seem smarter than he was. You’re still alive.”

Now Darwin did hit the man, hard and right in the jaw, before hauling him up by his shirt and demanding, “Did you kill me, too? Or did you just kill the Admiral? Who else have you betrayed?”

“Maybe you should thank me instead.” Nahi rubbed his jaw. “I opened the way for you to get Amber back. A child could read how much you still want her. He’s gone, why not step in?”

“Mike?” With impeccable timing, Amber was there, brows drawn downward as she stared at the scene before her.

Darwin glanced at her then shoved Nahi back towards the two petty officers. “Take him to Sakkath,” he growled.

Rick returned as the two men brought Nahi up. “Commander Sakkath, we found this individual on one of the lower decks. He was fighting with the Archadians.” Rick showed him the phaser hit he took on the arm. “Got this little jewel from him as well. He admitted to being the one that killed your Wegener.”

Sakkath turned his head only slightly at Rick’s voice, but fully when he let loose his so-called jewel. The Vulcan’s mouth was agape for a moment before he realized just who he was looking at. “Nahi?” he breathed, and in doing so had the good sense to shore up his mental defenses. “You,” he pointed indiscriminately to one of the officers behind him, “continue with the transports.”

The Commander left his station and moved closer to the Betazoid. “It really is you,” he confirmed, as though willing himself to believe what his eyes were showing him. “I don’t understand... why?” The fact that his brother had been paraded before him as a traitor was taking time to sink in.

Li had been standing by Sakkath’s side as they brought Nahi out. And though Sakkath moved closer, she was rooted to the spot, looking at a man she’d lost three years before, still in shock. Nahi met her eyes and inclined his head, then after a moment, a slow smile spread over his face. Though he and Li were silent, it was clear something passed between them. Her eyes widened and her hands clenched to fists at her side. Nahi’s smile remained, but he slowly shook his head, then looked to Sakkath.

“I have my reasons, my brother,” Nahi replied to Sakkath. “She was supposed to be removed, taken off the station to safety. Why was she down there?”

"So, you collaborated," Sakkath deduced, stepping away and turning his back to Nahi. "She was where she needed to be, doing what she does best." His voice was a mixture of pride and anguish.

“She didn’t know,” Li spoke finally, her voice rough as she addressed Sakkath. “He never told her what was to come. Just that he would meet her but circumstances intervened. He missed her and it was too late.” She turned to Nahi now. “So you see what your plans accomplished. So much death, including the one person you wanted to save. How could you??” There was a moment of ominous silence and then Li charged, running at Nahi, swinging for all she was worth. “How could you? You’re not worthy of our name!” She slammed her fist into his jaw, and a swipe across his face left bloody fingernail marks.

Rick leapt forward and pulled her back. “Easy, Li. Hey! Stop!” She was wiry and difficult to control when she went full tilt with something like this. Despite him being her brother, she really wanted a piece of him. “Come on,” he said, walking her back a way. “You’re right, he’s not worthy of your family name. But we can’t beat him to death, either.”

“I can very well fucking try!” She spat out the words as Rick held her back.

He sighed, knowing how hard this must be for her. It was hard enough for him just seeing Nahi alive, but for Li...it was her dead brother come to life, turned traitor and murderer.

For all of Rick’s restraint, Sakkath showed none. His hand was around Nahi’s neck the moment the Admiral stepped back. “I will tear what I need to know from your mind,” the Vulcan promised. “And then, I claim the kalifee. I will not yield her without recompense!”

“You could just ask you know, maybe I’ll tell you.” Nahi spoke with some difficulty. “Or ask your spitfire there, she’s already been in my head.”

Now it was Rick’s turn. He strode forward purposefully and punched him in the face. “You are not the Nahi I grew to know and love! You are a piece of shit. And honestly, I hope Sakkath rips every limb from your body.”

The punch sent him sprawling onto the floor, blood now spurting from his nose.

Coming in on this scene, Darwin stepped in and did the unexpected thing: he put himself between his commanding officers and the man they wanted to kill. To keep Nahi down, though, he stepped on the man’s hand and quietly instructed one of the petty officers to get a clean cloth and a regenerator.

Li spoke again now that Nahi was down. “Sakkath has claimed the right of kalifee. But first, I want to get any information we can from him. It shouldn’t take me long, then he’s all yours.” She fell silent and looked to Sakkath.

Sakkath gave a curt nod, even after the traitor’s neck tumbled from his grasp, scoffing in the process. “If you experience any difficulty,” he said, “say so, and I shall break him.” He spoke no more, but flexed the fingers of his right hand even as they hung behind his back.

All they heard from Nahi was a groan of pain, at least out loud. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He raised his head and looked to Li and black eyes met black eyes, both of them held there, unable to look away.

“Don’t you dare,” she hissed, then spoke to Darwin. “You can keep hold of him while we talk but maybe a bench is a good idea. He’s going to need it.” She turned and led the way down to a stone bench by a tree and stood, waiting.

Taking the cloth the petty officer had obtained, Darwin pressed it into Nahi’s hand and pushed the hand and the cloth against his bloodied nose. Crouching by him for a moment, he said something to Nahi and waved the regenerator before him. His statement and the action caused Nahi’s eyes to widen. Smirking, Darwin nodded to the two petty officers. Together, those two hauled Nahi to his feet and propelled him towards the bench, where they sat him down, hard. Darwin followed.

“I am going to kill him,” Sakkath promised, still flexing his fingers. “He took too much from me. And what Li cannot learn, I can... painfully.” He was sure that admission would be jarring. From what he had gathered, his... counterpart in this Ricky’s timeline was far more adherent to the kolinahr, far less willing to impose himself on another living being.

Rick popped the knuckles on his right hand. “Let me know if you need any help, Sak--er, Commander.” He could refer to his own Vulcan second officer by name, but he barely knew this version of him. “This isn’t my universe, so I don’t feel as much need to hold back where I normally would.”

“You are welcome to have his mindless husk, Admiral,” Sakkath replied, turning his head to face the transport zone. Archadians continued to be rounded up, and he allowed the corners of his lips to curl into a smirk.

Rick harrumphed. “Won’t be any fun, then.”

He couldn’t help himself. He let loose a single bellow of laughter. “Then perhaps you would like to beat him unconscious first. I can take what I need with greater ease if he cannot actively resist.” Without waiting for an answer, Sakkath turned to regard the situation with his insurgents.

It was in that moment that Rick realized something: this Sakkath was one crazy motherfucker. He kind of liked seeing this side of someone he’d gotten to know, albeit from another reality.


_______________________

Commander Sakkath
Defying Reason

VADM Rick Wegener
Feeling “Assault-y”

Lieutenant Michael Darwin
A Master Of Subtle Threats

Commander Li Hawke
Not Feeling The Brotherly Love

Nahi Hawke
Not What Anyone Expected