Seeds of trust
Posted on Sun Oct 12th, 2014 @ 10:31pm by Commodore Kathleen O'Shea & Captain Jey Cleh
Edited on on Sun Oct 12th, 2014 @ 10:34pm
Mission:
Bloodpath
Location: Just outside the TIC
Timeline: Right after Initial Report
As Lizzy left the conference room, Kathleen followed her.
"Stop right there! Would you like to explain that little show back there?" Kathleen demanded.
"What are you talking about?" Lizzy stopped, but didn't turn around.
Kathleen rolled her eyes...a bad habit she never managed to break. "Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about." Kathleen replied.
"The new doctor apparently doesn't like me." Lizzy replied over her shoulder. "It's hard coming to a new place."
"Look." Kathleen said, placing a hand on Lizzy's shoulder. "I understa-"
"No you don't!" Lizzy snapped as she turned around, shoving Kathleen's hand away. The look of anger, and defiance she gave Kathleen was enough to put fear into most junior officers. "How can you possibly understand, Kathleen!?" It was the first time since boarding the station that Lizzy had used anyone's first name. "You don't even know the first thing about me! All you know is what you've read in that stupid Starfleet report!"
Cold air filled the room. "I am giving you a lot of slack at the moment, but I warn you...you are pushing it. Now sit....sit! It wasn't a request.
After giving Kathleen a cold, defiant stare, Lizzy moved back into the conference room, and with her arms crossed, she sat down in the chair.
Kathleen grabbed another chair and positioned it in front of Jey, sitting after a long, silent moment. The temperature moderated as she sat. "You haven't exactly been very approachable, or even social at all since your arrival. I never see you in the lounges or rec areas. So you are right...I don't know anything about you other than your jacket."
"You don't know what it's like..." Lizzy finally said quietly, though the look of anger was still there, it was now laced with a pain that went deeper than anyone knew. "You don't know what it's like to find your parents dead, and realize that if you had been there, they would still be alive." She wiped tears away from her eyes, as she continued. "Is that what you wanted to know? Did you want to know why I'm such an antisocial bitch, or maybe why parts of my service jacket are in complete contrast to the woman you see every day?"
For the first time, Kathleen softened a bit. "First off all, you don't know that by being there you could have saved anybody. Most likely you would have lost your life as well. In the grand scheme of things...that accomplishes nothing. You honor your parents by continuing to live and achieve. That is what they would want for you."
At that comment, the look of anger on Lizzy's face changed to confusion, as she cocked her head only slightly. She remembered her parents had been proud of both of them, but she had always blamed herself for their death, even if her story was only half truth. "How could you possibly have a clue what my parents would've wanted for me?" The question wasn't so much defiance as it was genuine curiosity.
"All parents want what is best for their children. My father and I...well, we have never really seen eye to eye on my career choice. Well, to be honest we don't see eye to eye on most things. But..." Kathleen's eyes took a slight dreamy appearance. "...I know that he loves me even given our differences of opinions."
Lizzy looked at Kathleen quietly for another moment, unfolding her arms, and looking down at her hands. "Their gone now, so it doesn't really matter so much. All i can do is move forward." She looked back at Kathleen, her mascara ruined as a fresh round of tears ran down her face. "I'll make a deal with you. I'll put my trust in you, and be more approachable. All I ask is that you, stop asking questions."
Kathleen's eyes snapped back to their normal piercing crystal blue. "You ask that I stop what?"
"How do I put this delicately...?" Lizzy got a bit of a better grip on herself, wiping the tears off her face, smearing her makeup even more. "People that work for you are keenly interested in me, and asking a lot of questions. If you're not investigating me, then I think they are... Rosaleen for example."
"You must be mistaken, especially where Rosaleen is concerned. I know somebody broke into your quarters a while back, but that is no reason to think there is some organized movement against you." Kathleen watched the woman's eyes closely as she spoke. 'That is unless you really do have something to hide.' Kathleen thought as she weighed her next words. "Besides, we all have our ghosts in our past."
"People here are constantly watching me, and studying me. Every time I turn around, someone is asking me questions..." Lizzy explained. "I don't mean just the off handed, and friendly questions. I'm talking about asking me the same questions in different ways, just waiting for my answer, or some part of it to change... Rosaleen, Allison, Arianna, hell even one of the crewmen down in Engineering is doing it."
Kathleen frowned. "I promise you I have no knowledge of this, and..." she closed her eyes for a moment, becoming completely still. An odd feeling flowed through Jeh...almost a hair disorientating. "Rosaleen is curious in a different way, but not investigating you in any way." The feeling disappeared and Kathleen opened her eyes. "I will have to speak to the rest though." While she and Rosaleen shared a connection, it did not extend to those outside of their race.
Lizzy gave Kathleen a sort of searching gaze. "I don't mean to kind of be hypocritical here." She said a bit slower than before. "Do you mind if I ask you a personal question? I promise it's just me being curious."
A sly smile now. "Well, you may ask."
"I don't know how to ask, so I'll just ask." Lizzy explained with a light shrug. "What exactly are you? You look Human, but you're definitely something more."
Kathleen was absolutely still for a moment, as she spent a long time (for her) running through several ways to handle the question. In the end, she decided for the truth.
"Well, the 'official' story is that during a mission several years ago, the crew was infected by nanites and it altered my DNA." A moments pause again. "And that is the truth...but it goes beyond that. What I tell you must be in the strictest confidence. If not, you will bring a lot of attention to yourself that I promise you that you do not want."
"The nanites did change my DNA, but in a way that I would not have ever even dreamed of. It turns out...my mother is not human. She is part of an ancient race that explored the universe eons before humans were even born. She settled on earth...eventually married my father and had offspring...who were completely normal. Normal, except that the DNA of her species lay dormant within us. And it was completely dormant...until I was infected with nanites that contained a certain strand of meta-phasic radiation. It not only awoke the dormant DNA strand, but caused it to take completely over. So in essence, I am no longer Human in any way."
"Wow... that's impressive..." Lizzy said looking away for a moment as she let it sink in. When she looked back, she seemed genuinely interested in a medical sense. "I'm guessing Rosaleen is the same way?" When she realized that Kathleen might not understand why she specifically named Rosaleen, she decided to explain what she'd experienced. "She showed some rather interesting characteristics, when I first met her."
"She is, as well. And she has not quite mastered control either. We are still learning about all of this ourselves. Now then, the problem is...being from a race that has no ties or connection to the Federation, formal or otherwise, neither of us would qualify for service in Starfleet. It was decided, though, that for some reason we were too valuable an asset given our years of training and experience to simply dismiss. So...we became a secret."
"Ok that makes sense. You have my word as a Doctor that your secret is safe with me." Lizzy gave Kathleen a light smile as she wiped at her face again, and looked at the mascara on her fingers with a sigh. "Ugh... Sorry I'm such a mess."
Kathleen stood and walked over to where Jeh sat and crouched down, placing a warm hand on the side of her head, wiping away an errant tear. "Not so much, I assure you. And whatever your secret is...whether or not you ever choose to reveal it...it is safe with me as well. But whatever it is, don't be afraid to actually let a friend or two into your circle. It's not as bad a thing as you fear."
As Kathleen touched her, Lizzy looked down at her, locking eyes. This conversation spoke volumes of the amount of trust the older woman had placed in her. Someone who would do something like that had to be trustworthy... then there was her sister...
"Just give me time, and let me get some things straight in my head first, ok?" Lizzy finally said, low enough that if anyone else had been in the room, the only ones who would've heard it were the two of them. "I promise I'll tell you when I'm ready, but if your friends keep digging, before I tell you, the results could be bad."
Kathleen was still for a moment before responding. "Rosaleen says she will talk to the others, although apparently Allison has tried to make friends with you a couple of times."
Lizzy sat back, pulling away from Kathleen's touch, but didn't look away. "If you really knew me, you'd understand that it's extremely hard for me to trust anyone." she said with a kind of look that just said 'Well see, it's like this...' as she continued. "And with all due respect, Ma'am... I'm terrified of letting anyone get close."
A mischievous smirk spread across Kathleen's face. "Well, you're only human."
"This is true." Lizzy laughed lightly, giving Kathleen a rare and genuine smile. After a moment, she turned a bit more serious. "We need to get help for those people." She said seemingly randomly.
All traces of humor disappeared from Kathleen's features. "We've been here before. The Kzinti incursion...you missed that bit of fun. They did not care who they hit. All that mattered was gaining ground. A lot of innocents were in their way as well. The difference is, this time...I have a lot more options and resources at my disposal. The biggest thing working against us is complete lack of intel...we need to know who and what we are up against. Then we can worry about what their endgame is."
Since the two of them were next to the table, Lizzy reached up, tapping it to light up the console. She brought a grid-like map of the area of Taranok IV on the larger screen. "If we figure out what's jamming our signals, then we just eliminate that." She explained. "The problem is exactly what you say it is... no intel."
"I don't believe that the comms are being jammed so much as they are just affected by the ionizing radiation that resulted from the explosion. If that is the case, within 84 to 90 hours from now communications frequencies should start to clear up." Kathleen studied the map for a moment, knowing that nothing had realistically changed sense they last had studied it.
"That's true, but the problem is that in 84 to 90 hours, whoever is doing this may achieve their endgame." Lizzy said. She manipulated the grid in a way that slowly engulfed the planet in red, and eliminated their own forces from the their last known positions. "So we need to get some real intel, and take action before then..." She looked at Kathleen questioningly. "At the risk of sounding stupid, do we have any kind of equipment that can enhance those comm signals to compensate for the radiation?"
Lizzy realized that her questions, and strategy information might easily fly in the face of what her sister's service jacket said about her, but considering the discussion they'd just had, she no longer cared about those discrepancies around Kathleen. "I mean... without intel, we can't do anything..." She trailed off for a moment as she remembered the transmission sent by Arianna. She had asked the COMM technician to clean it up as much as possible. "The signal from Arianna... I had them clean it up. Maybe it can give us more information... Computer, access communications log, and play back enhanced distress call from Taranok IV."
As the computer played back the message, the enhancements that the technician made did wonders. Parts of it were still garbled, but far more of it was able to be understood.
"To any...ships, or stations, this ... icer D'Tal of the Feder...base 80, requesting ... assistance ... anok IV! The ... being invade ... nown origin! I repeat! ...under attack by an unidentified force-"
The next few hours were spent analyzing not only the recording, but every other scrap of data they had as well, which was pitifully minute. The results were not anywhere near what they had hoped for.
"Well, that really doesn't tell us anything we already did not know." Kathleen observed. "Hopefully with boots on mud, we can start to get some ground truth intel. I don't even have enough data to begin to know what to request from Fleet."
"If the Chesapeake, or the McKlusky get here soon enough, we might not need to request anything from Fleet." Lizzy replied, as she turned off the monitor. "If nothing else, a Starship can provide better combat support in a situation like this one... At least I think it can."
Kathleen paused, looking at the woman as she continued to work on trying to update the maps...an impossible task but she was trying anyway. 'You can't be that inexperienced or untrained. Not in your position.' "You do realize that all a starship is in a planetary conflict is a power projector. It cannot actually participate in any real surface combat."
"Ok..." Lizzy replied, as her mind continued to think about the situation. "What about in orbit around the planet, and in space? Maybe they can't really participate in surface battles, but I know they can in space."
"One Starship does not have the ability to even deny the enemy access to the ground, as long as they are determined to see it through. And this invasion looks to be well underway." She paused for a moment, thinking of her own experiences. "If one starship could stop a war, none would have ever been destroyed."
"Ok I know this will further enlighten you to some contrast between my service jacket, and what you've seen yourself, but I need you to do something for me." Lizzy said with a hint of frustration. She looked at Kathleen, and sighed, knowing that she was digging herself a hole, and hoping Kathleen would keep her observations a secret. "Quick, and dirty... I need you to explain some of the core concepts of this kind of combat scenario as if I know nothing about it."
'Why do I get the feeling there is no 'as if' related to your knowledge base.' Beyond any other issue, she needed an XO that could handle anything if she were to become incapacitated. Kathleen made a mental note to talk to Masters as soon as she had the chance...Eliana might end up having to take over given their current state of affairs. She would make sure the proper entries were made in the computer. "That will have to wait for another time, Captain. I have another meeting to attend to in just a few minutes."
"I knew I should've just stayed in medical." Lizzy said with a sigh. For her, this was a way of reliving the traumatic event in her life, which caused her downward spiral. This time, she had far more resources at her disposal, and she was not about to let this go. "I'll get what I need from the computer, and get back to you after your meeting... After I fix my makeup."
Kathleen moved to stand directly in front of Jey. She put her hands on both cheeks...angling it down to where her face only a couple of inches from Jey's. "No...you won't. Lets get things rolling and then we will talk. Promise." Kathleen's hands were warm...not the icy coldness of her touch when angry or annoyed.
"I feel useless right now." Lizzy explained, looking at Kathleen. It was as if the woman's touch was disarming in a way she couldn't entirely defend against. "It's like part of me is missing, and I can't get it back right now... Kathleen, I want to help... I want to be involved, but until we have that little talk, I'm going to need a little help along the way."
Kathleen was about to respond, but her attention was diverted to a new indicator light flashing. Something had just..."Jeh, get that section up and enhanced now!
'O'Donnell to O'Shea, something just happened down here.'
"Stand by...we're looking at it as well."
Lizzy tapped the indicator light, along with a few other buttons on the table to change the display. "What the hell?"
What they saw not far from where Rosaleen, and Andrew were was an explosion.
"According to sensors, it looks like a fuel tanker just exploded in the bay." Lizzy said, as she expertly worked the sensors. She'd learned that skill from all the time she'd spent in what used to be her parents personal shuttle, which she'd flown in when she arrived at the station. "It's impossible to tell the extent of the damage, or casualties from here."
"Medical Intake Center to Command. We have received a request for medivac assist from the planet council. Recommend go for operation."
Without a thought as to any consequences, Lizzy tapped the COMM on the console. "This is Command. Recommendation is approved. You are go for medivac assist. Command out." Lizzy ordered, before looking back at Kathleen. "And it only seems to get worse from here."
In the meantime, Kathleen had reactivated the commlink to Rosaleen. "O'Shea to O'Donnell, only request we received was for medivac assist. Dispatching aid now. You can stand down. O'Shea out." She closed the channel and turned back to Jey. "We are already getting jumpy. Still...I may contact the city council and 'offer' our assistance investigating the blast. It may be a simple accident, but then again..."
"You're kidding, right?" Lizzy asked somewhat sarcastically. "With our luck, it's another attack... Like some kind of distraction."
"It's not uncommon for there to be accidental explosions when loading or offloading fuel from tankers. Several years ago on the Discovery we had that happen with a Type-11A Tanker that was being used to support fighters in an operations." Kathleen remembered that incident all too well...and the six letters that she had to write afterwards.
Lizzy looked at Kathleen for a moment, then decided to side step the remainder of that conversation. "Since I'm having so much trouble right now, maybe I should just dedicate myself to working on the medical equipment." She finally said. In the time she'd been there, Lizzy had given herself a crash course on repairing most, if not all of the smaller medical tools like tricorders, and dermal re-generators. She'd also gotten pretty good at repairing damaged bio-beds. "Last I heard, there was a bio-bed in the infirmary that needed fixing."
"I have a better idea." Kathleen shut down the holo's and monitors. "It's late. Go grab a bite to eat, then take the rest of the night to relax. I think I am going to go down to the site with a small team tomorrow...never hurts to cover your bases. You will be in charge while I'm gone, so you will want to be fresh."
"You know, I think I will do that." Lizzy replied with a light smile. As soon as Kathleen said it, Lizzy had made her mind up that after getting her makeup done, she'd go to one of the restaurants on the promenade to try to be 'approachable' and then go back to her quarters to do some research. "Maybe I will grab a bite to eat in the Promenade first..." She said, as she wiped the remainder of her earlier tears away, and looked at her hands again. "Still gotta fix my makeup first though."
Kathleen smiled and winked at her. "Your beautiful just the way you are. Go find a heart or two to break now."
"Don't want anyone asking why I've been crying." Lizzy said as she moved to leave the room. She stopped just short of the door, then turned back to Kathleen. "Thanks by the way... For everything." Before Kathleen could reply, Lizzy turned, and walked out of the conference room, heading for her quarters.
Kathleen finished shutting everything down, then left the room headed for a quick stop at her quarters, then a quick trip down to the planet. If she hurried, she could still get there in time for a bout or two. Fencing seemed to be a universal language.
Captain Jey Cleh
Executive Officer
Medical Systems Specialist
Starbase 80
&
Commodore Kathleen O'Shea
Commanding Officer
Starbase 80
