The Sighting

Posted on Sat Feb 16th, 2013 @ 8:00pm by El'Shar Blackhorse & Lieutenant Commander Marie O'Donnell & Captain Li Hawke

Mission: The Struggle Within
Location: LCDR O'Donnell's Quarters
Timeline: Current

It was quiet in Marie's quarters as she sat looking at the response from the Temporal Affairs CO. She had replied to El'Shar's retirement submission and authorized it to take effect in two days. She had also gone ahead and authorized Marie's promotion and letting her go out on her own as a TA officer instead of an aide. She held the PADD and just kept looking at her named listed there. "Lieutenant Commander Marie O'Donnell," it said. Just reading it over and over brought a large smile to her face.

It was getting late so she turned on some music, got some wine and a book to read a few chapters before she turned in. It was something she'd done for years now as it calmed her down and helped her get to sleep faster. Tonight it only took forty-five minutes before she started getting drowsy and her eyes started trying to close on her.

"Marie," a male voice called out, "we're going to have to keep this a bit more under wraps. I love our relationship but I'm the XO. It's just not right."

She dropped the book and her wine glass spilled over as her head popped up, her eyes flew open and she stood to look around the room. "Who the hell is that?" she demanded.

"Yeah, I really enjoyed that special little thing you did last night," the voice continued. "I wasn't sure if I would last much longer when you started that!"

There was a laugh that sounded very familiar to her as she slowly walked to the private office area of her quarters. In the chair in front of her console she saw the familiar form of Commander Spencer Kaye, her former XO before she was accepted into temporal.

"Spencer!?" she gasped. "What--how...what are you doing here?"

The man kept talking to the console as if someone were there and, according to him, it was supposed to be her. Marie kept calling to him and when she finally approached him, he stood and walked away from the console. As he neared he didn't slow or stop at all and walked right through her.

She froze, unsure of what had just happened. Finally, she spun around but Commander Kaye was gone. Her body began shaking, goose pimples rose all over and her knees became weak. Finally, she tapped her communicator.

"Marie to El'Shar, I--c-can you come to my quarters..."

El-Shar had been lying in bed half asleep when the summons came. She nearly missed it because the voice had been so soft. "Computer, replay that last communication." It did and she knew right away something was wrong. "Marie? What's wrong?"

There was no answer.

"Marie, if you can hear me, I'm on my way."

El-Shar threw on a long, flowing robe. Her hip-length hair, braided, fell down behind her as she dashed out the door. Luckily, Commander Sakkath had placed their quarters very near to each other and in mere moments she was at her door.

She thumbed the chime but nothing happened. She chimed several more times. Finally, she beat on the door. "Marie? You have to let me in!"

Just as El-Shar began to summon security staff, the door slid open and there stood Marie, as white as a sheet, sweating profusely and seemingly scared to death.

"Oh, honey! What happened?" El went to her and helped her over to the couch to sit. "Marie? You have to talk to me. Tell me what's going on?"

"Ghost," was all she could get out in a barely audible whisper.

"A what? A ghost?" El looked around the room then back at Marie. "Have you been drinking?" she asked, spying the wine glass on the floor.

Having her former senior officer with her seemed to have a calming effect on Marie. Her color started to return and she finally spoke. "I didn't even finish one glass," she said, "and he just appeared. He was in my office talking...to me but...not me."

"Wait, whoa...who are you talking about, Marie?"

"Spencer," she replied. "Commander Spencer Kaye, the one I told you about that was my XO?"

"Ah," she said. "Yeah, I remember. But he was here?"

Marie nodded silently.

"Computer," El announced, "advise the current service history of one Commander Spencer Kaye, Kilo-Alpha-Yankee-Edward," she said, spelling the last name out phonetically.

A few moments later the reply came. Kaye, Spencer. Rank, Captain. Commanding officer, USS Defender, currently assigned patrol duties in sector 332, Alpha Quadrant.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Marie and then stood, walking to the office area. She then checked the rest of the rooms and found nothing.

"Whatever it was, Marie," she said, coming back to the couch, "it's gone now. It couldn't have been Spencer since he's all the way out in the Alpha Quadrant." She looked back at the glass on the floor. "Are you sure it was just one glass?"

"I didn't even finish the one glass!" she demanded. "I'm not drunk, El, have medical check me out!"

"Okay, okay," she said, rubbing her arm. "Easy. I'm just checking. Look, my schedule is pretty clear for a while. Do you want me to stay here on the couch tonight? You know, just in case something happens again?"

Marie didn't answer right away, but finally she shook her head. "No. I mean, it obviously wasn't him. I was pretty tired and...well, I probably just imagined it. I didn't sleep much last night and I guess it finally caught up to me."

El half-smiled at her. "Okay, kiddo. But, listen, contact me again if you see something else. Or for anything else. I'll be here in a flash, okay?"

She nodded. El'Shar let herself out and, back in her own quarters, sat quietly for a bit on the edge of her bed.

Marie’s quarters seemed oppressively silent following El’Shar’s departure. Marie’s ears were extra sensitive as she sat, and the least little sound was painfully clear to her. Was El’Shar right? Had she just imagined it? Before any more questions could come, a pair of hands rested on her shoulders, rubbing them in a most familiar and comforting way.

“You always did carry your tension in your shoulders, honey. Everything okay?” It was Spencer’s voice again.

She immediately jumped up from the couch and turned to see him again. “How is this happening? You’re not actually here!”

Spencer reached up to touch his face, then ran his hands over his chest and cracked his knuckles. The soft pops sounded so real.

“That’s funny, I feel like I am. You sure you’re alright?”

“No, Spencer, I’m not alright! You’re not here, you’re in the Alpha Quadrant! And you’re a Captain now, not a Commander.” She backed away, wondering if something had been in her wine or if this whatever-it-was was controlling her mind in some way. “Just stay away from me, Spencer. I mean it!”

She tapped her communicator. “O’Donnell to Blackhorse, he’s back! He’s here now!”

“Wow, you never said that before.” Concern filled his expressive eyes now as he looked at her. “Why don’t you sit down and relax, i’ll get you some of that tea you favor.”

“I will not sit down and relax, you sit down and relax!” Her heart was beating loudly in her chest. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you are not the real Spencer!”

Feeling behind her on the counter she picked up the only hard thing she could find and held it out. “I swear, if you even come near me I will beat you to death with this,” she looked down, “um, cookbook! Just stay where you are.”

That got a laugh from Spencer. “Some of those sauces can be a bit heavy,” he joked.

“You son of a bitch!” Marie said as she flung the heavy book at him.

Just then, the door opened and El-Shar walked in, just missing the book. “Hey! What was that all about?”

“I was aiming at--” she froze. Spencer was gone. “But he was just there!” she pointed. “He even put his hands on my shoulders, El, I swear it! This time he was actually talking to me, not just some non-existent version of me.”

“Okay, Marie,” El said as she crossed the room and pulled Marie close to her. “Whatever it was, it’s not here now. For now, though, you are packing a bag and coming to my room. Go on, march,” she said, pointing Marie to her bedroom.

As Marie packed a few things, El’Shar walked around in the living room. She didn’t feel any difference but that wasn’t exactly a scientific way to handle things. Tapping her communicator she summoned a science team to the room, telling them what had been happening to Marie the past few hours. Once satisfied that they were on the way, she walked back to Marie’s bedroom.

“A science team is on the way up. I told them that you’d leave the door unlocked for their access and that they could contact you and I in my quarters.” She picked up the bag Marie had packed and shouldered it. “I think, once we drop this off, that I’ll take you down to medical.”

“But, El--!”

“No ‘buts’, Marie,” El’Shar replied. “I’m still, technically, your boss for a few more days. And more importantly, I’m your friend. I believe you, but I just want to make sure you’re not host to something that’s making you see these things or under the effects of some hallucinogenic.”

Marie’s shoulders slumped. “They’ll think I’m crazy,” she muttered as she headed to the living room and to the door.

“They most certainly will not, and had better not, at least while I’m there!” With a friendly rub on her back she nudged her out the door and into the corridor. “Come on, let’s go.”

As they walked to El’s quarters, she thought about going back and scanning the room herself, but Marie was more important. She needed to be taken care of after this incident. It was obvious that she was truly scared and shaken.

Once the bag had been dropped in El’s quarters, and both she and Marie had put on something a bit more respectable than sleepwear, they were off to medical. With any luck they would find something small, simple and easy to remove that could have happened to anyone. It would be much easier to explain than ghosts showing up in the Delta Quadrant when, according to Starfleet, they were actually nowhere near here.

*************

Captain El’Shar Blackhorse
Believing isn’t always seeing

Lt. Commander Marie O’Donnell
Seeing ghosts from the past

Spencer Kaye (written by Peach)
Now You See Him, Now You Don’t