Day 09 [2355 hrs.] When time stands still (Thus Ends...)

November 03, 2019, 09:17:15 PM

«WHEN TIME STANDS STILL (Thus Ends...)»
STARDATE 57580.3
MARCH 19, 2381
2355 HRS.

[ LtJr. Kelleshar sh'Zenne | Shuttle Bay Support | Deck 24 | Vector 3 | USS Theurgy ]
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(Ducote lines kindly provided by @Top Hat )

The shuttle bay door took longer than usual to open in front of Shar. Or, so it seemed to the young Andorian. Everything unfolded too slowly, as if time had thickened into a dense material, something akin to honey, while her brain was still working at normal speed. Everything proceeded in slow motion, too sluggishly, leaving her far too much time to watch, horrified, as her whole plan crumbled. She had been plotting all this for several days, but there were still so many things that could go wrong, so many details that she could not control. Something wouldn't go as planned, as had always happened in Shar's life and, this time, she would see that error play in slowmo around her, without being able to do anything to solve it.

Then, the gate opened before her with a hiss. Across from her, the bay was almost empty. Three shuttles waited neatly in their parking lots to be used, and a small group of officers headed in her direction, chatting animatedly with exhausted faces. As soon as they crossed the threshold, the bay would be empty and she would have a few minutes to carry out the plan and everything would be over. Everything was going according to plan. It would be fine. This time it would work out.

Shar tightened her grip on the toolbox she was carrying, which rattled loudly. Afterwards she waved to the officers. They barely gave her a glance and a tired nod. Why should they wonder about her presence? She had the right to be there. There was nothing weird in her walking in the bay. Perhaps she had planned one last check before the end of her shift. Or the first before starting the next.

The door closed behind them and Shar was by herself. The Andorian sighed. Her hands were shaking. She inhaled. She exhaled. And she moved on. In just a few minutes she had gone around the wide chamber and stood next to the shuttle closest to the space port. She left the box on the floor and knelt beside the shuttle door. Then, she pulled a sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of her jacket. Two spins here. A couple more over there. The side panel opened with a dull click. The Andorian looked at the circuits now on display for a moment, then opened the toolbox.

There was nothing inside that was to be expected. Instead, there was a civilian outfit, the dark leather suit that any worker from the Andorian Mining Consortium would wear. Shar took it out without too much attention, exposing a handful of electronic devices, a Type 1 phaser and what she was looking for. However, the Andorian did not take it immediately, but spent a few seconds caressing the surface of the small stasis chamber that contained the reason she was about to do all this. Betray the ideals she had devoted to, the promises she had made and to her fellow crewmembers, her people. For a future. For her future, and his.

She held still for a while. Once she plugged the device into the shuttle, there would be no way back. She hardened her heart and pulled her fingers away from the stasis chamber, and closed them over the device next to it - the thing that would hide her departure from the Theurgy's sensors until the autopilot returned the empty shuttle to the ship. The Andorian extracted it and prepared to install it in the shuttle without realising that, in doing so, her fingers had activated the PADD that lay at the bottom of the toolbox, sending a prewritten message to the only crew member of her old vessel for whom she still had some respect.

Absorbed in her task for the next couple of minutes, she only subconsciously heard the sound of the bay doors opening across the bay. It was still too early for the next shift to get back in here, but the sound of a single set of boots ringing off the deck was what brought her attention back to the present. She tucked herself down behind the stern of the shuttle, leaving the craft's bulk to shield her from sight, as the footsteps ceased roughly in the middle of the open space. They paused there for a moment, but whoever it was didn't announce themselves nor call out. Then, they resumed. They were coming closer.

Shar held her breath. Whoever it was might not see her, might leave her to escape, might-

"Shar."

Ducote, she recognised, her antennae curling. How had- she looked down, at the blinking SENT icon on her wakened PADD. And of course, once he was here, he could sense her location without having to see her.

"I've been trying to talk to you all week despite your avoiding me, and now you were just going to leave without saying goodbye?"

The words were hard, but his tone didn't match. He was... almost sad? Shar looked up at him, but as he leaned on the hull of the shuttle his gaze was on her toolbox. At what was in it. The hybrid jutted his chin at the stasis unit. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It is," she confirmed, not seeing any point in trying to lie about it or cover it up. "I'm taking it home," she declared, daring him to tell her not to. He shook his head, as if declining her challenge. Ducote just sighed.

"While we could really use your skills here, I don't blame you for wanting to go. I doubt this ship's destiny is truly a happy one, and you have your people to consider. And, for my own part... I'd rather one of my crew have a better chance at living through our ship's destruction."

She stood to face him, frowning with suspicion as she searched his face for deception. "You're not going to stop me?"

In reply, he moved one of his hands from behind him, and brought out a bottle filled with clear liquid. "Vodka. Vasiliev's brand. Keep you warm on the journey."

The 'initiation' to the Endeavour Ops department was infamous among that ship's crew, consisting as it did of an impromptu drinking competition with the Chief in his quarters. It wasn't officially sanctioned, of course, because almost invariably the man's partner ended up getting their blood scrubbed in sickbay afterwards; he would never stoop to drinking synthehol - his was always the real product.

"They'll ask you where I went."

"I never saw you leave. I'm in my quarters right now, in fact," he deadpanned.

Shar nodded earnestly as she took the bottle from her former XO's hands. She clutched it against her chest for a moment before she placed it on the floor, next to the toolbox.

"I just need a few hours. I've found a carrier that will take me to Federation space... soon. The shuttle will return to the Theurgy once I'm far enough from Aldea," she explained. No matter how little time she had served aboard that starship, she wouldn't leave them without so many needed resources. Every small craft was essential.

Ducote nodded, satisfied. It would be harder to let her go if there was to be an even greater cost to her departure. The Andorian shifted her weight from one foot to another, her gaze locked firmly on the rivets between them.

"It's been quite a journey, hasn't it," she stated, without really expecting an answer. The young Andorian turned her gaze away and ran her hand through her short hair, bristling it even further. "Take care of Sh... of Ensign ch'Xinya for me, please. He won't understand it at first, I know that for sure. Maybe he will, over time..." she added, slightly cocking her head. She really hoped so, but she had serious doubts that the young chan would ever forgive her. She wouldn't, if their positions were swapped.

Shar sighed and brought her hand to her chest. For a minute, she fumbled with something there and finally extended her hand in front of her. The Andorian's slender fingers closed tightly on the combadge one last time, before she placed it in Ducote's palm. The XO looked at, his shoulders slumping infinitesimally - as if handing in her badge was the final confirmation of her intent, that there was nothing he could really say to stop her.

"It has been an honour to serve under your orders," she stated frankly, looking into his eyes again. She hesitated for a second as she looked away once more. She knelt down anew and closed the toolbox, then grabbed it and the bottle, cradling it in her free arm.

"Tell the Bea... Commander Tiran that I'm sorry about the capsule... and the Versant Bridge... She'll know what I mean," she added lastly, as her cheeks flushed purple. "She... she will know," she whispered cryptically.

Ducote just looked at her, his tired eyes narrowing in minor confusion, before he nodded. "I'll tell her. Godspeed, Kelleshar sh'Zenne," he offered in farewell as he stepped back from the shuttle, clearing the way so she could launch.

Minutes later, a shuttle with only one crewman deserted from the lower bay, invisible to everyone's gaze but for a pair of full black eyes that watched as it disappeared into the blackness of outer space.

FIN