The End's Beginning
Posted on Oct 13, 2014 @ 8:35pm by Captain Siobhan Reardon & Thomas Varn & Lieutenant JG Kyle Calhoun
Edited on on Oct 13, 2014 @ 8:36pm
Mission: Absolute Power
“The Ends Beginning”
(Continued from “Mama”)
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Location: EARTH
Scene:Villa Bonviva, Garden
SD: [2.14]0901.1420
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I had been what seemed an eternity since Thomas had been disturbed and found himself upside down in a tree and now the silence that once filled the peaceful garden area had been disturbed as well, "stop being stubborn, people want to help you for Christ's sake!"
Thomas looked over to Sylvia his eyes heavy with numerous thoughts and emotions, "I don't know what you want me to say. I don't know what you want me to do!"
Her arms beginning to shake from frustration Sylvia looked around for something anything before finding a small nut like object tossing at him, "I want you to be happy. I want you to decide to be happy."
Thomas sat there his face still looking at the ground as his mind began to mull over the aspect of being happy. He knew what would make him happy and he knew that he could never have that or at least it appeared that way to him. How could he? How could he risk jeopardizing the one person the one person that matter most to him. How could he?
"You did that," he said softly as his mind began to race through memories, "why did you do that?!"
Sylvia stopped the sudden outburst taking her off guard before allowing her to regain control and once again be on the offensive, "don't change the subject!"
Thomas threw his hands into the air, "I'm not changing the subject! You did that and it was incredibly dangerous why did you do that?!"
“What did I do,” Sylvia shouted moving closer to Thomas the frustration growing.
“Why did you do it,” Thomas shouted back neither realizing that the argument had formed into a stalemate of sorts.
Reaching down in frustration picking up a vine like limb Sylvia reached back and struck Thomas with each word, “shut, up, and, tell, me, what, I, did!”
As the vine struck Thomas’ wing with each swing causing the science officer pain his face slightly distorted as he winced. Sylvia breathing heavily now stopped looking at the vine with spots of red now littering it before dropping it. Thomas’ eyes closed as he knelt there controlling his breathing felt the twinges of pain.
It was at this moment that Sylvia moved slowly to Thomas and began doing anything she could for his wings. The damage was superficial in most places; but, it still hurt to touch or be whipped with a vine. Reaching out stopping her hands looking around for something to help only to find nothing at all.
“You came to find me,” Thomas whispered as Sylvia sat close to him, “you risked everything and came to find me when we disappeared. Why did you do that?”
Sylvia’s hand touched Thomas wing and she whispered softly, “because I care.”
Thomas looked up turning taking Sylvia by the hand, “why did you…”
“Because I love you,” she stated looking down at the ground.
If there was a sound that were attached to the last straw that was holding Thomas’ emotions back it would sound as if a dam were breaking and a wall of water was flooding the local areas. Taking Sylvia’s hand Thomas looked at it holding it in his before looking into her eyes. If someone were to ask what exactly took place in this moment, neither Thomas nor Sylvia could explain it the only thing that could be said would be by those that found them.
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Scene: Dining Room, Bonviva Villa
Time Index: The day before Crichton is taken into custody, later in the evening of “Repairs of the Heart”
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(Let the fun begin XD muwahahahaha)
It was evening now, the inky navy color spread through most of the sky, with a band of periwinkle where the land met the horizon, the stars twinkling as if they had no idea of the commotion of the events in the garden earlier. A once generous portion of tiramisu was on the plate in front of Siobhan Reardon; truth be told it was her second helping. A delicate glass of sparkling moscato graced the table setting but even though its bubbly fruitiness complimented the rich dessert well, it was mostly untouched. It was easy to see where the woman’s real vices fell.
Xana had kept the meal and the mealtime banter going at an acceptable pace, ignoring her friend’s relative silence, but now that Drey and the kids were playing in the other room, it was time to coax the redhead back to herself. “Sio…” Xana began, both women hesitating as the older woman brought a large forkful of tiramisu to her pink lips and swallowed it like a trencherman.
“What?” she asked innocently, well as innocently as one could with a mouthful of food.
“You were helping, everyone knows that.”
“Then what the hell is going on out there?” Siobhan said rhetorically. “Maybe I shouldn’t have left them alone.”
“From what you said, they needed to talk things out,” The Bolian/Human hybrid said , running a hand through her white hair. “I also speak from experience here.”
Sio grinned for maybe the first time since she had come inside. “I think they’re in love.”
But almost immediately after she said it, her face clouded over with the same discomfort that she had been displaying most of the evening.
“What’s wrong?”
“Everyone deserves to be happy. But sometimes love isn’t enough. I really wished it had been.”
Xana stopped clearing plates and sat back down. “You’re not talking about them any more, are you?”
Sio shook her head. “I couldn’t save my marriage. That’s why I want it to work out so badly for them. But a large part of me knows their destiny isn’t dependent on me. It depends only on them.”
“Not every story has a happy ending,” Xana warned gently. “No matter how much you want it to be.”
“I’m not listening,” Sio replied with a scrapegrace smile as she dropped her napkin off to the left and stood, downing the small glass of wine as an afterthought. “I’m going to check up on them… besides I need to walk some of that dinner off.”
Scene: Bonviva Villa, Garden
Siobhan took a deep breath in. Even though the brilliant greens and other colors in the garden were mostly obscured in the moonlight, the clean fresh smell in the air remained. She had cast the dusty and torn uniform aside in favor of the yellow dress she had worn earlier, well a replicated duplicate, actually. A soft breeze stirred the leaves, her hair, and the dress, as if they were being kissed by the wind. But behind the rustling was a noise, at times strident, at times little more than a murmur. It almost sounded like laughter… or crying. She couldn’t be sure.
She headed towards the large tree that had been the scene of the unlikely reunion earlier, as hastily as the depth of night would allow. The shadows cast mystery on the ground, making it harder to find her way back to the place she was before. The sounds became more foreboding in the dark, like an argument. Those thoughts filled her mind with worry as she did what she could to reach them.
=/\=
Scene: Grand Tree
Time Index: A few minutes later
=/\=
Thomas lay perfectly still, his wings carefully retracted, as he looked across at Sylvia. He stroked her hair, at various times pushing it away from her face and kissing her forehead tenderly. His arm cradled her, and at times he closed his eyes not wanting to believe that she was there in his embrace, but he would open his eyes once again after a few seconds, as if he could not bear not to see her after the time they spent apart.
Sylvia had kept her eyes closed, basking in the afterglow. Oddly enough, it was for the same reasons that Thomas kept his gaze focused on her. They were in various stages of undress, as if being half naked in the woods was perfectly natural.
Finally, she allowed herself to look upon her lover. “Thomas,” she breathed, and he placed a finger on her lips.
“Hush, you’ve said your peace.” He replaced his finger with his mouth as he kissed her so hard she felt it in her knees.
“But what happens now?” she asked pleadingly, her hands finding the warmth of his chest.
“I don’t care so much anymore, as long as we’re together,” he answered back.
“Do you mean it?” she said a little louder than she needed to.
Thomas looked at her with something like joy. It was an expression that Sylvia wasn’t sure if she had ever seen before. “Yeah, I do,” he said after a lapse in the conversation.
“Thomas? Sylvia?” Siobhan’s concerned voice came from the edge of the clearing where the tree was. “Are you alright?”
Sylvia stifled a noise in between a laugh and a gasp. “We’re fine, Captain, no need to chaperone us.” Thomas kissed her in spite of their situation.
“Well I was worried,” the former Counsellor admitted as she entered the space under the tree, “But-” and realized she had stumbled upon the two officers in flagrante delicto. Luckily, the shadows concealed both their semi-nudity and the crimson flush that filled Siobhan’s face. She backed away so that they were no longer in her line of sight.
“Oh, my apologies,” she blurted out. “I thought you might be arguing.”
“Most assuredly not… um, Captain Reardon,” Thomas answered, his voice laced with obvious amusement.
“You might as well keep calling me Sio,” she said, less cajoled than the lovebirds were, but encouraged behind her embarrassment. “I come bearing news.”
“It couldn’t wait?” Sylvia responded, mildly annoyed.
“Sorry, but no. I had to file a report with Starfleet Command to prevent Mister Varn from being classified as AWOL.”
Varn looked briefly panicked for a second. He hadn’t realized how long it had been since his unplanned departure from the medical facility. “Thank you,” he said to the shrubbery.
“You’re welcome,” Sio responded awkwardly from the other side. “But your active duty release has one condition, due to your ongoing need to be evaluated to make sure you fully recover. With all due respect.”
**A condition?** “What is it?”
“You are to be remanded to the custody of Lieutenant Sylvia Warren until such time as you are cleared for unsupervised duty.” Reardon paused, not sure how he was going to take it, but soon after her announcement she heard the melody of laughter cut the night air.
“What if we *had* been arguing, what then?” Thomas asked between chuckling.
“I don’t know,” she responded in exasperation. “I would have locked you in a room together until you came to your senses.”
Sylvia stopped buttoning her blouse long enough to glance at Thomas. “There’s no need to do that now… right?”
“Right,” he said reassuringly, caressing the side of her face.
"Wrong," the quite distinctive and all to amused voice of Cade rang through the twilight, "besides it looks like they'd enjoy it from what I can see."
Thomas shot up sitting in an upright position, "how did? Why are? Get out!"
Turning to Sylvia Thomas tried to smile and give his best we need to become decent look. The only comfort that either took was that it was cade and not anyone else. Cade may joke about it for the rest of their natural lives but they could love with that. It wasn't until Bombs made his entrance through the bushes that Thomas began to get a sinking feeling.
"Yipee we're on an adventure," Bomba stated before being "lead" by Phia to Cade.
Placing the drugged man next to the doctor Phia gritted her teeth, "you are supposed to watch him."
Remaining still Thomas and Sylvia watched hoping noone would see them.
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Location: EARTH
Scene: Office of the Secretary of Temporal Investigations
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Everyone had long since left the secretarial offices and only those that served other functions and duties remained behind; but, tonight Sardak sat behind his desk leaning back in his chair. His fingertips were touching one another forming a prism shape that caused his forefingers to touch his lips. As his head rested against the portion of his chair designed for such a task Sardak’s mind flutter with various thoughts and emotions.
It was true that he did hide the fact that he, Sardak, was very in touch with his emotions; but, this wasn’t the first position he served in that he successfully did hide this fact. There in fact had only been one time that Sardak had ever had his composure and veil ever seen through; but, those days were far, very far behind him. For a Vulcan to have served on a vessel with those that believed in honor and held to old traditions; but, it was there that he found himself, enjoying the time served. It was not often that the memories of these days were recalled; but, tonight Sardak found himself doing thus thanks to a photograph, a single photograph.
At first he believed the image to be an older image from time gone by; but, the stamp was verified as recent, more recent than he would have ever thought. Looking down at the image of the man Sardak took a deep breath before laying the padd down on his desk again, “and just what are you doing here Ensign?”
Sardak had not thought about that day for a long time, in fact he had made a conscious effort to forget it. For Sardak, the years would have been what humans call “kind”; but, to him they had been long and through filled. It was no accident that he was the head of temporal investigations, his original field dealt with temporal mechanics and the plausibility of weaponizing such theories. It may have also had a hand in the accident that lead to a unique, if not complicated, glimpse into the future where against all fibers of the entire crews being, someone was left behind.
It was the hardest decision they never had to make that day. There was no question in their minds he belonged with them but temporal investigations had other plans. This was the main reason he became involved with temporal investigations moving away from weaponry.
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Scene: (Cask and Grill)
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It had been years since he had been in this place. ghosts of cadets lingered around tables and near the bar , he could hear the laughter of a 21 year old Peter, over something that Kat Potter had said to him. 15 years was a long time. He’d lived through two wars, Numerous dangerous encounters with hostile species, the incompetence of some of the Naval Fleet’s finest.
Now here he was. one of those. A Flag officer amongst the cadets as this was still a major hangout for the ACT program and senior level Academy attendees.He took a seat at a table in the corner. a habit hed gotten into over the years so that he could see people coming at him no matter which way they chose. He watched a vulcan enter the bar, and paid him no nevermind. He was here for a low key drink and meal before checking on his home. Who knew the next time he’d be planetside again. The Commandant wanted him on active duty again. He couldn't blame the guy, since shit had really hit the fan it seemed. Didn't matter that 99.9% of the populace of the Federation had no clue as that anything was amiss. You always needed people you trusted. Thats why Admiral Heyting had done what he did. Life had turned into a giant 3 dimensional chess game. Each side maneuvering their pieces for the most favorable outcome. Rumor mill was grinding out that he would be receiving a second star soon, and would be fast tracked to being Commandant in the future. He didn't think the CinC would ever permit that. He was too ‘old school’ for their liking. Some of the newer officers and troops referring to themselves as Federation Maries, rather than the more proper Starfleet Marine Corps. with all the traditions and ceremony that came with it.
Sardak looked around the busy establishment in a conscious effort to locate his “mark” quickly and quietly. He was never one to come to social locale or even try to be sociable, which translated over into his work posture; but, that was a different conversation for a counselor to try and pull out of him. It was as he scanned the back area that he found the face, a face that he had not seen or thought about in such a very long time.
Shuffling through the crowd he stopped at the edge of the area, “is this seat occupied?”
Mav looked at the man. Ears pointed sharply at either side, eyebrows raised in the trademarked manner. Definitely vulcan. Something was familiar about the face though. Something from long long ago, in another life. “If you brought me a drink and aren't looking for interspecies sexual relations, then no it is not taken. If you didn't and or are, then yes it is and you can get lost.”
Raising an eyebrow Sardak took a deep breath, "As I wasn't aware that anything was desired there is no drink and as I have no desire for the other the second is a negative as well Ensign, excuse me old habits, General."
“Ensign. about 50 years out of date there arent you buddy. This is really annoying, but damned if i can't remember you from some place.”
Looking down to the man Sardak nodded, "about fifty years sounds about right; but many things were different then. Allow me to jog your memory, en I mean general. Sardak, former scientist and marine; but, you are a few years or of place aren't you."
“Sardak was a weapons development officer for Delta Company on the USS Hellespont during the Dominion war. One of the few vulcans I ever met that fit well within a Marine structure. And could smile and crack risque jokes. He would be about 90 by now. You don’t look a day over 30. and are far too formal.” Therefore it is logical to assume you are an imposter, the child of someone i knew once, or a clone.”
"Human logic never served you well except when it came to getting into someone's uniform," Sardak stated looking away then back, "But formalities have become my nature now. Seeing patterns and anomalies, as well and you are an anomaly among the staff at Starfleet Headquarters. One I intend to find the reason for"
“I have no idea what you are speaking of. I have been space bound for over a year. I’ve been back planetside less than 3 days. So whatever you are looking for does not involve me. So feel free to go about your business and file the appropriate report to your superiors about whatever it is you are looking for. I am going to sit here, have my drink, have a bite to eat and reminisce. And since you don't have a drink, the seat is taken. Unless there is something else…”
Rubbing his temple Sardak tossed a padd on the table in front of him, "you can verify the data if you'd like but you'll see that I am him and I have very few superiors. The fact that you are planetside at all is the anomaly and with all the parts that are moving now a days someone doesn't appear to care if you stick out; but, hey I'm just the an investigator so what would I know about finding information."
“I am semi-retired. I have spent the better part of a year looking for my kid who disappeared. I have never cared if i stuck out. Its part of my winning personality. If you are who you say you are, we spend enough time together a half century ago for you to know i dont like mind games. That gets left to the spooks and Temporal Investigations. So say your peace and tell me what you want. Because all i want is a bit of peace and quiet.
Moving to a wall adjacent to Mav’s seating area Sardak leaned back, “yes I am aware of the distaste that you have for mind games and you are also equally aware of how I trust people. Listen, your presence here troubles me, not in a grab your weapon and defend the homestead troubling me; but, just a larger picture troubles me. I can’t put my finger on it; but, there is something happening in the background here and it is eluding me, which is a problem.”
“Well Mister Vulcan, where should I be that wouldnt trouble you? I dont think you really know anything that is going on and are fishing for information. Spent too much time as a security officer to not recognize leading questions. So once again, tell me what you want from me. Straight up, no covers no false pretenses. Why are you here, and what do you want? Obviously it has something to do with me since you sought me out. What are you investigating.”
Sighing, “I am Secretary Sardak, that is Secretary of Temporal Investigations. My main focus is on, well you know what my main focus is. Yes, I served with you; but, things have changed and are changing. Strange position moves within Starfleet. Advances that don’t necessarily make sense; but, normally would not raise any red flags unless you are someone that looks for it. Before you go off the handle, i’m not here for you or anything about you other than the fact that you are in an area that means to me there are more pieces moving far more than I knew. This was honestly other than an attempt to catch up and let you know i’m out there was nothing more than me dropping some information.”
“Trust me, you haven't told me anything i don't already know. What is your current security clearance?”
Suppressing the need to laugh Sardak shook his head, “high enough to know what I need to and see things that you wouldn’t.”
“Goddamned time spooks. We can all say that. Ive seen things that would get us both executed if i told you about them. But when Admirals are worried about their own safety and take the most powerful starship in the fleet, a ship that could lay waste to even a tactical starbase without breaking stride, as their flagship when they prefered an old style Excelsior before… well things are definitely not right.” Mav thought about it for a minute, then decided he could trust this man a little more. besides he was sure that there was a mole on either his ship or Heyting’s, so word had already gotten out. “They overhauled my ship. a 40 year old destroyer. state of the art weapons and shields, armor, and a cloak. And i think there are things that your own department is keeping from you.” He added, thinking how the Pendragon hadnt been mentioned, and time travel was these people’s bread and butter.
Sardak nodded, “I’m aware of the attempts to hide information from me and several occurrences that are being investigated are taking far too long; but, this hand in my cookie jar will find itself in trouble once I discover who it belongs to. There are also changes that you may not be aware of such as a loss of the values that we hold dear are being purposely forgotten. As a general rule of thumb, my door is open; but, I think you will find a few of last lines of the padd of information interesting.”
“Careful there secretary, you sound dangerously close to being an essentialist there. Luckily you were a Marine, and believe in the edict Semper Fidelis so i am aware of the values you are referring to. And what are these names at the bottom of the PADD. Are these the ones that aren't holding to the Corps values?”
Walking forward heading for the exit Sardak stopped before looking back, “that General is the question.”
“Typical spook answer”
As he passed through the shadows towards the exit Sardak suppressed a smile as with almost a sense of natural reaction Sardak Secretary of Temporal Investigations, the Vulcan with no emotions, reemerged, "why yes yes it was."
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Joint Post By
BGen Bret Maverick
CO USS Acreman
Susan Ledbetter
as
Captain Siobhan Reardon
Currently Unassigned
Justin K. Owens
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Varn
Science Officer
Starfleet
