Starfleet HQ: CNC Office

San Francisco, California

Earth


─•~:~•─


For all the chaos that was happening above Titan, and for all the bare panic there was on Earth, the only sound Mark could hear as he walked briskly back to Dougie's office was his own pounding—and broken—heart.

Outside the picturesque windows of HQ, any object that could fly was making a mad dash to the sky as Earth desperately tried to evacuate its people if Vanguard, Repulse and—to Mark's surprise and relief—Courser failed to stop the Borg Diamond in space.

He briefly remembered some news stories he had seen on the extra-net about 18 years ago after Starfleet was savaged at Wolf-359 attempting to stop a Borg Cube bent on assimilating Earth.

Mark paused outside the office and took a final look out the window.

If there was one thing that Dougie did right in his life, it was the Fleet Rearmament Program. The 75 Starships of Home Fleet still above Earth assisted the 598 ships of Task Force 57 in moving millions of people a minute off the planet, and the expanded – and rearmed – ESD was able to coordinate the thousands of shuttles and independent ships also above Earth, valiantly picking up the people missed by Starfleet.

Vanguard or Repulse alone would have shot through Hansen's Battle Group just as easily as the Cube had, and the 763 total ships in orbit right now were all far better equipped than any of the forty that still floated in pieces around Wolf 359.

Even if Auntie Lynna failed, the Borg would be in for a stiff challenge trying to assimilate Earth for the third time in living memory, and Mark took some small comfort in knowing that the chaos he witnessed 18 years ago wasn't nearly as bad, this time.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the doors to the office, and prayed silently to himself that he wasn't about to experience his own Wolf-359 in a few moments.

Alesha ran over and took him close in a tight hug, which for Mark's part he returned sincerely.

It was a nice feeling to have something that felt real today, even if it would only last for a few seconds.

"Hey," she said in her drawl that Mark now knew was a lie, "I know I ain't supposed to be here right now, but I had to make sure you was okay, Mark. Kitty's beamin up some kids from a special school in Helsinki right now, so I got a few minutes before I gotta get over to Venus."

Mark let her go, and did his best to keep his face clear, even though every fibre in his being was screaming at his mind to just shoot her and get it over with.

"You could at least say Hi back. Shit Hun, I'm sure yer stressed to high fuck right now, but everythin's gonna be just fine." Alesha said with a smile that was also likely a lie.

"Yeah, you're right Alesha, you really shouldn't be here right now," Mark replied, his voice almost breaking with both sadness and anger.

"Is somethin wrong with ya, sweetie? You can talk to me, ya know that," Alesha said reassuringly, while Mark's trained eye watched her right hand trying to subtly reach for the phaser hanging at her waist.

He turned away, so Alesha wouldn't see his tears, or his own right hand reaching for his holster, "You, really, shouldn't be here right now."

Her hand picked up speed, but Mark's was faster.

He turned again and pointed his assault phaser squarely at her face, and let his voice break fully with anger, "Because I really don't want to be the one to shoot you."

Alesha's hand stopped, and she put a look of shock on her face, another lie, like her accent, "Mark, whatcha doin? That's a loaded phaser ya got pointed at me..."

How can she sit there and keep fucking lying to me like that?! His mind screamed.

Mark squeezed the trigger and let a blue beam shatter the glass of Dougie's trophy cabinet as he screamed back, "Stop! Stop FUCKING lying to me!"

He took a step backwards and wrapped his other hand tightly around the assault phaser, adopting a proper Weaver stance as he kept screaming, "Did you really think I wouldn't find out?! How fucking stupid do you think I am, Alesha?! Is that even your fucking name or was it another lie like everything fucking else?!"

'Alesha' screamed back, but still tried to keep to the lie, "Mark, what in fuck's name is you on about?! Put the damn phaser down or yer gonna -"

"Stop!" Mark screamed, losing his composure and stance as he walked towards her and seized her by the back of her purple hair.

Judging from the way she yelped, the hair pull hurt, and pain felt more real than anything else at that second.

He lowered the barrel of his assault phaser barely inches from her face and kept screaming, "Lie to me again, and I'll shoot you stonedead right here, right now!"

With his left hand, Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out an ISO-chip which he held to Alesha's face, just beside his barrel, "Kitty recorded the whole fucking conversation, Purple. We know, fucking, everything. Was this your plan from the start?! Fuck me for two years, make me fall in love with you, and then shoot me in the back when I wasn't looking? How far back does it go, Alesha, Purple, whatever the fuck your name is?!"

Mark pulled her down to her knees and kept his assault phaser on her temple, "Tranbir Nine?! Risa?! My time in the Academy?! Were you in on Project White Noise too?! Did you get my Marines killed?!"

Mark violently threw her across the floor, "Answer me, you fucking bitch! Was it all fucking lies to you?!," and Work-Mode allowed a single tear to drop from his eye with his last words, "I loved you!"

Alesha calmly stood up, made a point to take her phaser from her waist with her left – and weak – hand, and threw it on the floor, away from either her or Mark.

She took a deep breath but started crying anyway and answered back in a quiet voice, with her real accent that matched Mark's own Canadianism, "My name really is Alesha, at least my first name is...and I love you too, Mark. I didn't lie about those two things"

"Fuck!" Mark screamed as he pounded his fist on Dougie's desk, shattering the glass surface with his bare hand, "Why fucking you?! Why not Red, or this Gold bastard, or fucking anyone but you?!"

Alesha wiped one of her tears away, and calmly answered back, "Red's name is Amy. And because she's dead. She was on Irix yesterday. She spaced herself so...so you wouldn't capture her. Gold's name is James, and I have no idea where he is right now, except that he's not on Earth. The extraction team...is busy, and because I knew, or hoped anyway, that I'd catch you with your guard down"

She finally turned to look at Mark, with her face stained with purple mascara, "So, what now? Will you shoot me? Can you shoot me, Mark? I do love you, I never lied to you about that. Do you think you can shoot someone you love? Do you think I only had one phaser?" as her hand began reaching for the backup tucked into the small of her waist.

Mark snapped his fingers, and five XOF "Ninjas" dropped their opti-camo cloaks and loudly pulled back the charging handles on their 118A carbines.

"You really think I couldn't shoot you, or that I'd come alone?" Mark asked in turn, quietly.

She sighed, and instead raised both hands in the air, "The truth? No. You would shoot me. And you'd have at least five or ten of these Ninjas in the room with you, as both witnesses and backup. Your psych profile, your tactics studies, all say you would. And I'd like to think I know you too"

In a moment that shocked her, considering that the info-package she read stated that the Ninjas never spoke in the field, an operator looked at Mark and asked, with a feminine voice and a Swedish accent, "Orders, Overlord?"

Mark sighed deeply, and finally lowered his phaser, though he didn't holster his weapon just yet, "We can't trust anyone here. She might have backup. Get her on a Raptor and lock her up in a detention cell at Camp Nath. In irons, and with a pair of L-13 force-fields in place. And I want no less than six rifles on her at all times, no exceptions. She so much as twitches, shoot her."

The Swedish Operator nodded as she let her carbine hang loose and reached for a pair of restraint cuffs. Before the cuffs could be applied, Alesha shouted, "Wait, Mark!"

"I'm done listening to your fucking lies today, Alesha." Mark said, reaching into his left pocket again and turning away.

"Kayla Kaimeao! She's at a facility just outside of Taber right now. There're only six guards there, and I vectored off their extraction ride before I came here, but I can't guarantee that given all the chaos above our heads right now." She shouted while she tried to struggle against the cuffs.

Mark turned and started walking towards her, right hand on his assault phaser and anger in his eyes, "I fucking told you-"

"I'm not lying!" Alesha cried desperately, "Evelyn Chiba, her Governess! She beamed herself out to Camp Nath, so they cut off their subspace and QC transmitters. Try to raise the camp if you don't believe me!"

The Swedish Operator raised a hand to her helmet embedded transmitter and shook her head, "She's right. I can't raise the Camp or any call-sign in South Cal"

"Sandhurst?" Mark asked.

The Swedish Operator raised a thumb in response, "Transmitting five by five"

Mark took the object out of his left pocket and pointed to the door, "Get her, the fuck, out of here and back to Nath. Call Sandhurst and get an assault element together for this location in Taber, but don't engage until my order, and my order only! I'll take a couple guys from Five Tribe and sweep Rain's house first just in case this is another bullshit lie."

He tossed the object, a small blue box, at the operator before turning for the door, "She can look at that inside the cell, let her lying fucking brain try to comprehend that."

"It's not a lie, Mark. Kayla's not at her house, and she's alive. For now, anyway." Alesha said in tears.

"And neither was that," Mark said as he shouted one last order to the Swedish Operator, "Open it, and then get her fucking out of here."

Swedish Operator opened the box and showed it to Alesha. Inside, set in blue felt, was an engagement ring, with a blue band and a purple gem – Alesha's favourite colours – and a single note tied to the ring.

Alesha let another tear fall from her eye – the same tear that fell on her copy of the framed picture from Her and Mark's date at the Indy 500 – as she read the note.

Will you marry me, Alesha? – Mark