AN: Salutations and bienvenue! Time to finally get off that cliff I left you all on the last chapter! And what better way than with the classic Star Trek message. Cue the computer lady!
Last time on Star Trek Endeavor:
He moved away from the console, no one noticing the small device he placed on the side of it.
"A fleet of Undine ships have entered orbit and they are launching an orbital bombardment!"
"It looks like the Borg just abducted that Undine."
"But that's pointless. Undine can't be assimilated. Unless..."
"If they are able to return it to the collective and assimilate it, just imagine what they can do with Undine Drones!"
The Borg Sphere went to warp with the Undine ship following a millisecond latter
"I will be in contact with you soon to discuss ship movements and search patterns. Quinn out."
"Is everything alright Six?"
"That depends, sir. How long have you been using future technology for your own gain?"
And now the continuation:
The room was deathly silent after Six's accusation, the only sound being the hum of the ship and the gurgling of Zevil's fish tank.
"What are you talking about Lieutenant Commander?" Zevil asked, his voice going cold and angry, trying very hard to remain calm and act normally when internally he was panicking. He had been so careful throughout his career as a Delta Recruit, careful to keep his people from the truth, but it would appear he wasn't careful enough.
Six scowled at him. "You know very well what I am talking about, Admiral." She tossed a padd that she had been holding behind her back onto his desk. "That is a written record of all the times I have observed you use futuristic technology to gain information that no one else could recover.
"You would then use that information to collect advanced and alien technology that would earn you commendations and further your own career. It also has a record of missions that we have been involved with that have instances that could have been avoided if we did not go after these devices or waited for your data collection tools to finish their work." Six was now glaring at him as her voice gained a level of ice that would challenge his 'Captain voice'. "Missions where Starfleet officers died."
That was like a stab to the heart for Zevil. On his Delta Recruit missions, he had tried to keep his people safe and alive, but in situations where you are either actively fighting or defending against enemy combatants, there was no sure way to get everyone out alive.
"This is certainly a very detailed report." Zevil said in a voice that belied his inner turmoil, but a part of him was also relieved at someone finally knowing what he was doing, however the angry and disgusted look in Six's eye tempered that relief.
This had been his worst fear when he accepted his future self's request to become a Delta Recruit, that his friends, crew, and fellow officers would look at him with anger and disgust at his manipulation of the timeline.
He couldn't let the first person to find out what he was doing hate him for it. 'Especially not Six.' He thought with renewed determination. Six meant something to him, something he really hadn't the time or the courage to analyze during the war with the Klingon Empire.
"I assume you are going to send this to Admiral Quinn and Temporal Investigations?" he asked, still trying to think of a way that will help him without violating the Temporal Prime Directive.
Six's glare softened minutely, "Yes, but I wanted to give you a chance to either confess or explain yourself." Her glare was gone, and in its place was something much worse to Zevil, a betrayed frown with sad eyes. "You saved my life, I owe you that much."
"Thank you." Zevil said solemnly. "I wish I could tell you everything, the Temporal Prime Directive forbids me from divulging what I know, but," he said quickly with a raised hand to try and ward off the return of her angry glare, "I can at least clear my name of personally profiting off the time line, all I ask is that you sit down and give me your hands."
Six eyed him suspiciously, but ultimately sat down. "I have set up numerus programs to automatically send copies of that report if I am not back in my quarters in an hour." She said as she extended her hands to him.
Despite the tension in the room and the nature of the situation, Zevil chuckled. "I would expect nothing less from you, Six." He said with a sad smile as he took her hands and made them take hold of his wrists, palm facing the underside of his wrist, and did the same to hers. "But it won't be necessary. Now, I'm not sure you know this, but my people have their own version of the Vulcan Mind Meld, but instead of sharing memories, it shares emotions. We call it Valix's Truth.
"Where our minds and our voices lie to ourselves and each other, our emotions do not." He gave a shrug, "We can of course deny those emotions, but that doesn't make them untrue. Now close your eyes," She did so as he did the same, "and open your mind. Accept my truth and hear no lies."
Six wasn't sure how to open her mind exactly, but she removed all distracting thoughts from her mind and pictured herself opening a door. It worked and at once she was hit with a whirlwind of feelings: a great metaphysical weight on her that made her think if she failed the galaxy would fall, pride in the skill of her crew and ship, guilt of lying to her friends and crew, a small bit of anger at her father for simply doing what she knew was her calling, and a warm sensation in her chest at holding the hands of the woman she-
"Sorry, I forget how overwhelming it can be to non-telepaths," Zevil says in a chagrined tone, "Let me just pull back a bit." The feel's lessened, but she could still feel them.
"This is how you feel?" she said breathlessly, still effected by the force of those feelings. She had only begun to truly understand her own emotions and now she was feeling someone else's. Not just someone, but her Captains!
"All the time." Zevil said sadly and she could feel it too, it was a cold feeling inside her heart. "But let's get going. First, let's establish a base line: my name is Xavius Vexius Zevil, I am a Fleet Admiral in Starfleet, and I actually like the taste of Gagh." At every word he said, Six felt that they were all true. "Now for lies: I am a twenty-foot-tall targ named Benny and I like to tango with Gorn male's dressed in drag." She already knew that was untrue, but she could feel as well.
"I believe I have a firm grasp of how this ritual's functions." Six said with confidence before she asked her first question: "Are you using future technology and fore knowledge?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever used this technology and fore knowledge for your own personal gain?"
"No, but I have been tempted to do so for my crew's and the galaxy's gain, because it would mean less lives lost and more saved."
Six was relieved that she felt only truth coming through. "If you are not using this future technology for yourself, then why are you using it to find alien technology?"
"Without going into details that would violate the Temporal Prime Directive, there is a war coming that will involve a race we only know very little about. A division of Starfleet has hand selected operatives to gather any information and technology about this race that we can to better our chances." Again, all of it was true, Six felt no lies. She was so relieved at this and angry at herself.
How could she believe that, of all people, Zevil would try and profit from something like this? He was a good man and a fine Captain that cared for his crew and the people of the Federation that they were charged with protecting.
"Admir- Xavius, I am sorry." She said solemnly, glad that he would know her words were true. "I should have never have even thought that you would do something as despicable as that. If you feel that I have betrayed your trust and that you would prefer I served somewhere else, I would underst-" she was cut off by Zevil tightening his hold on her wrists, just enough to get her attention and to stop her from rambling.
"You had every right to question my motives of using the technology, especially if I was sacrificing the crew's safety for my own ends." He said earnestly, "I couldn't ask for a finer Second Officer and friend. I have been holding on to this secret for a long time and it has weighed heavily on my conscience and I'm glad, of all the people to find out about it, that it was you."
Six could feel the truth of his word mix with something else that she couldn't really comprehend, but it made her feel lighter for some reason. "Besides," he said, and she could feel the mirth that was coming off his voice, "where else would I find someone as spectacular at your job as you are?"
That brought a rare smile to her face. "I would wager Seven of Nine could perhaps be my equal in competency," Six said, voice slightly prideful and smile still on her face, "but I doubt she is interested in a Captain as brilliant and foolish as you, sir. I believe that Commander Utprut and I are the only ones qualified to keep you in line and alive."
Zevil laughed, and just like that, the tension and hostility that started this meeting was gone. "Then I am a very fortunate man." He said as he tried to remove his hand from Six's wrists and break the connection, but her grip tightening on his wrists this time made him stop. "Six?"
"When we first connected, the last thing I felt before you drew back your feelings was a warm feeling involving holding my hands." She stated in the soft voice she used when she was dealing with her feelings. "What exactly was that feeling?"
"Uh…" Zevil said eloquently. His brain was now drawing a complete blank, and he wasn't sure if it wasn't that he would know what to say. He knew that he felt something for her, something much more then captain and subordinate and more then friends.
But he knew that he had to focus on the war and his mission as a Delta Recruit were too important to lose focus, and the fact of the matter was that he was terrified of losing someone important to him. 'Like we wouldn't be risking our lives if were not at war?' He questioned himself. "W-well, Six, I-"
"Engineering to Six of Nine." Came the voice of Chief Rupert over Six's combadge, inadvertently interrupting the little tête-à-tête and shocking them enough to pull their hands apart from one another.
Zevil opened his eyes to see Six scowling down at her badge, before her face went back to its usual neutral state and she tapped her badge. "Go ahead, Chief Rupert."
"We're having a few problems with the EPS regulator down here in Engineering lass," came the reply from the photonic Scotsmen, "We could use an extra and experienced hand to sort it."
"Understood, Chief, I will be down in a few minutes. Six of Nine out." She said, tapping her badge off, and stood up to leave. "With your permission, sir, I will go and assist Chief Rupert in Engineering, with a detour to my quarters to disengage certain programs and erase ill-conceived reports."
Zevil nodded, but instead of leaving, Six circled around Zevils desk and, as Zevil turned to her, she leaned into his personal space, barely five inches away from his face. She looked right into his eyes, "I would like a more thorough answer to my inquiry. Traditionally, for humans anyway, that is done over coffee."
"Y-yes, of course." He said marginally shocked at Six's forwardness, but mentally shook himself and regained some semblance of his usual calm and cool self. "I'll meet you in Ten Forward after your shift is done."
"It's a date then." Six gave him a small smile, leaned in, and kissed him on the cheek. She turned around on her heel and left, leaving a flabbergasted Zevil.
Captains Log, Stardate: 86420.45,
It has been five days since Omicron Kappa II and so far, there has been no sign of the Borg and Undine ships. We have been in constant contact with all ships searching for them, as well as searching ourselves, but so far there has been no sign.
Zevil was in the holo-deck, but instead of his usual exercise, he was doing two at once. It was a combination of the orbiting spheres and deflecting knives of his usual exercise with the fluid movements of Mok'bara, also known as Klingon tai chi. It would allow him to improve his focus while calming his mind and sharpen his focus around him. He needed to clear his mind and think about all he had learned recently.
-Flash back-
He contacted Cray and inserted the data miner into the tesseract device, sending all the data he had gathered to him directly. "All right Cray, this information had better be worth the risk I and my people just went through."
"Alright, I am receiving the data now, sir." Said Cray, in a distracted voice as he read over the data. "I don't know if you've had a full briefing on Omega, Admiral, but Omega molecules are extremely powerful and extremely unstable they could be used to power something massive but if mishandled they could cause disaster that would devastate a quadrant."
"When I gained the rank of Captain, I was informed about the Omega Directive and was allowed to see the classified reports on the molecule, including Admiral Janeway and her crew's encounter with it in the Delta Quadrant." Said Zevil. "What does this have to do with the Iconians?"
"It would appear the Iconians know how to control them." Said Cray, his voice and face showing his worry. "If that's the case we could be in even more trouble than we thought."
-End Flashback-
'Bad enough the Borg have a virus that can assimilate entire planets and believe they can assimilate the Undine,' Zevil thought as he deflected a knife that would have struck him in the back, 'but now they are looking into the Iconians to uncover their secrets on Omega. The knowledge that the Iconians have mastered that technology alone is daunting, but if the Borg attempt to replicate their efforts and fail?'
Zevil had to put his musings on hold for a moment, as his training seemed to be paying off, because he sensed someone approaching the holo-deck door. "I thought Vaalm told you to take it easy with the telekinesis?" asked Tyufia a tad reproachfully as she entered.
"He did and I am." He responded, eyes still closed, not stopping his movements or releasing the orbs from orbit. "These orbs weigh less than an ounce and it is quite effortless for me to hold and move them around me. If you've seen Dr. Citte, do you know if Lieutenant Vel is all right?"
"Vaalm says she's fine, she'll be on bed rest for a few days, but she'll live and be able to join with a symbiont when she's ready. Back to you ignoring your doctor's medical advice, I gotta ask: the fact that you're doing Klingon tai chi with your eyes closed while doing that isn't putting any strain on you at all?" He didn't need to psychically sense that one of her eyebrows was raised in skepticism, he just knew her that well.
Zevil gave an exacerbated sigh. "I really am fine, mother." He decided to ignore the childish raspberry she gave him. "I just needed to reorganize my thoughts to see if there was something else we can do to find those damned ships."
"Computer freeze program. Remove training orbs and knives and give me two traditional Tsunkatse falchions." Said Tyufia. Zevil opened his eyes and straightened up as the orbs and knives disappeared. Tyufia held out her hands as the two swords appeared in them. "Let's do what we did at the academy, work out our thoughts as we work out our bodies."
Zevil smiled as she tossed one of the swords, hilt side up, to him. "Alright, but just remember that when you lose to me in a sparring match, it doesn't mean your idea was bad, just your swordswoman skills are."
"I seem to remember beating you several times during those days." She said as she took her uniform jacket off. "But if you want to relive those defeats again, I don't mind."
They both assumed the customary position across from each other, then both attacked at the same time, clashing blades and parrying strikes from one another. "So," said Tyufia, as they jumped back and circled one another. "Tell me what's on your mind, is it just the ships or is it something else too?"
"What makes you say that?" He asked as Tyufia lunged at him with a horizontal slash at his middle which Zevil parried, spinning around as he did so to deliver a slash of his own. Tyufia dropped below the strike in a dodge roll. Zevil looked at her a little impressed as she got up and they circled again. "That was a good move, have you been training without me?"
"Your evading, both the conversation and my attack with that excellent counter." She said as he moved to strike from the left, but it was a feint. He swiftly changed the direction of his attack to the right. Tyufia quickly parried the blow, but each blow was pushing her back towards the wall.
"Okay maybe I was but talking about this is a little difficult for me." He said as they locked blades and were pushing each other to try and overpower the other. "Let me answer your question with one of my own: how do you make your relationship with Tynizi work with our job?"
"Thank the four Deities!" Tyufia shouted in joy as she broke the stalemate and delivered a rapid succession of slashes that pushed Zevil back this time. "You're finally going to get laid!"
"You act as if I've been celibate my whole life!" Zevil said as they neared the wall behind him. Zevil parried the next blow, turned, and, with a burst of telekinetic force, ran up the wall and flipped behind her, delivering an upward slash as he landed. "I dated at the academy!"
"You had flings!" Tyufia said as she parried and then countered with several jabs. "You never committed to someone! You're going to get emotionally laid!" They both stopped sparring as Zevil cocked an eyebrow and Tyufia grimaced at what she just said. "Sorry, I just heard that, and it was incredibly lame, but it still stands. Who is she?"
"Not telling you, now answer the question please." Zevil said as he rushed her with several slashes. "How do you cope with not only both of you having a dangerous job, during war time I might add, and being of a higher rank then her?"
Tyufia was quiet as she parried and danced around his strikes. "My answer to that is fairly simple: life is short, don't waste time thinking of what if's and buts. If you want to start something with someone, no matter their job or their rank, then do it.
"At the end of the day, Tiny and I love each other regardless that we have a dangerous profession, that I'm of a higher rank then her, or even that we're on different ships." They locked blades again, both fighting for dominance.
"And if the rank thing is a real issue for you, then think about Admiral Riker and Captain Troi. They worked together aboard the U.S.S. Titian for years and were married the whole time, had a daughter, and are still together today." Tyufia gave a powerful push, breaking them apart, and, while Zevil was off balance, she dropped down to the ground and delivered a sweeping kick to his legs.
Zevil fell, dropping his sword in the process, and landed on his back. Before he can try to get up, he feels the point of Tyufia's blade against his throat. He looks up at her and sees, not the smugness of victory, but the caring eyes of his friend. "Don't you want that?" she asks.
"Point made and earned." Zevil said as he held up his hands in surrender before he accepted the one she held out to him. "Even if you did cheat with that last move."
"Aww, does the little hatching wanna cry after he just used his telekinesis to avoid losing earlier." She said in an overexaggerated baby voice. She smiled as Zevil returned her earlier raspberry with one of his own. "Now let's see if we can't figure out-AAAHHH!"
Tyufia and Zevil yelled in pain, both clutching their heads as they were hit with psychic pain that was accompanied by several images: Borg Drones coming towards someone, an Undine ship exploding, raging fire all around them, the inside of a Borg ship, and a single angry yellow eye with a cruciform pupil.
The images seemed to be on a continuous loop and the pain was increasing even more, so much so the two officers fell to their knees and were slowly blacking out. Forcing through the pain, Zevil telekinetically grabbed Tyufia's jacket with her combadge on it and tapped it. "Z-Zevil t-to t-the bridge! Red alert! Emergency transport to s-sickbay for two at m-my location! Psy…psychic…attack." And with that Zevil blacked out.
The first things Zevil felt when he was coming to, was a hand holding his and slight ache in his head, nothing like the white-hot spike that was twisting inside his brain. "-evere trauma to the parts of the brains that controls their psychic abilities."
'That's Citte's voice.' Zevil thought through the cotton. 'That means Tyufia and I are in sickbay, good.'
"When will it be acceptable to wake up the Admiral and the others?" asked Six and Zevil felt the hand holding his tightened.
'Six, she's holding my hand.' Zevil thought dreamily. 'It feels nice, her hands are surprisingly soft…what the hell did Citte give me?'
"They should be waking up now." Said Citte. "I've given them a neural suppressant and have placed cortical suppressors on them as well to dampen any further telepathic attacks."
"So that's why my head feels like it's in a bundle of Yemul silk thread." Zevil said groggily as he opened his eyes and tried to sit up. With his eyes now opened he saw that Six was using her body to block the fact that she was holding his hand, her face concerned. He gave her a smile and her hand a small squeeze in appreciation and to try to show her he was fine.
"Easy there, Admiral, you've been through a lot so lay back down." Said Citte in concern, moving to push him back down and scan him with his tricorder. Six quickly schooled her features to their normal neutrality and removed her hand from his as he laid back down. "Do you remember what happened?"
Zevil gave Six an understanding look, showing his feelings were not hurt. "Tyufia and I were in the holodeck when were hit with the… message." His eyes went wide at his words and he tried to get back up. "Where is she? Is she all right?"
"No, she is not. She's disturbed and unhappy about being hit with Undine nightmare fuel." Said the lady herself from her own biobed with a groan of frustration. "Did anyone get the registration of the dreadnought that hit you and me, Xavius?"
"It was the Undine that was captured and crew of the ship following them." Zevil said with absolute and grim certainty. "They were screaming for help as the Borg assimilated it and destroyed the ship." He shuddered as he heard the echoes of the Undine's screams in his mind. "It was horrific, but I don't see why they singled Tyufia and I out."
Citte and Six looked at each other before looking back at their commanding officers in concern. "It wasn't just you two, sir." Citte said. Zevil and Tyufia were confused until they took their first real look around the sickbay and saw that all the biobeds were full. "It was every telepath on the ship."
AN: Bum, bum, buuumm! What do you think? It's felt like so long since I've written something on my own with a script from the game to write with, but I think I still have the hang of it. Assimilation will be coming up in the next chapter with a few surprise guests showing up, but till then I bid you adieu!
