2200 HRS

The door chimed in Liam's guest quarters aboard the Centurion, and he looked up from his data PADD. "Co..."

Before he could even finish the word, the door hissed open and Anabelle marched into the room, stopping halfway between the couch and the door. Her brow was furrowed and her eyes were dark and blazing with fury.

He jumped up from the couch as she entered.

"HOW DARE YOU, Liam Henri O'Riley!" She was breathing contempt at him, balling her fists. "How dare you come waltzing back into my life like this... after all those years... and acting like nothing is wrong!"

Liam was dumbfounded.

She glared at him with fiery rage in her eyes, waiting for him to make a response.

After he found his voice again, he muttered, "It's not like I received a warm welcome from you."

"You expected a warm welcome?" Anabelle glowered. "And what for, I might ask? It's not like you left me anything warm to remember."

He sighed and shook his head. "Suppose I didn't..."

"All these years... all this time... waiting for you to just say something... writing a letter, sending a card, saying your sorry...," she agonized. "But, not a word... no, not ONE word from you!" Her expression changed to sorrow, and her eyes filled with tears.

"I don't know what to say, Anabelle," Liam lowered his head, "I have no excuse."

"I LOVED YOU! I loved you more than anything or anybody in this universe," she sobbed, as tears started to run freely down her face.

As much as he wanted to, he could not make himself look at her...

=/\=

In no time, the USS Washington had completely circumvented the target object's flank, shortening the distance between the two ships. All the while, acting as if still sweeping the area for something they had not found yet. Lt. T'Karn had confirmed that the object indeed was a cloaked vessel, as they were moving closer.

"Tactical, lock on photon torpedoes," the Captain commanded.

Lt. Cmdr. Okamara followed orders promptly.

Dean Lowe, the Security Chief, looked surprised. "Shouldn't we use quantum torpedoes, sir?"

"No! I'm not wasting my best weapons on this kind of scum," Captain Daniel Lowe sneered. "Now, let's see who we got here. Lieutenant Hellenski, open a channel."

The Captain squared his stance. "Alien vessel, this is Captain Lowe of the Federation Starship Washington. Identify yourself," he started with a commanding voice. "We have photon torpedoes locked on your position. Do not attempt to escape!"

There was no answer.

"Alien vessel, this is the USS Washington. Identify yourself, or you will be fired upon," Dan repeated more aggressively.

Again, there was no reply.

The Captain clenched his jaw. "Alien vessel, this is your last chance. Identify yourself!"

But there still was only silence.

Daniel Lowe turned toward his Tactical Officer, Kiashiro Okamara, and winked. "Commander, it seems that our quarry likes to play games. I have no time for that!" He made sure he spoke loud enough to be heard over the communications channel, putting a menacing edge to his voice. "We will end this right now! Fire photon torpedoes."

"Yes, sir!" Lt. Cmdr. Okamara answered loudly, understanding what his Captain was up to. "Firing n..."

"NO! STOP!" A deep voice came over the speaker. "We don't want any trouble. What do you want, Federation vessel?"

"Looks like we're getting somewhere now," Dean whispered in the background.

"Identify yourself!" The Captain demanded again.

"This is the Karemman warship Graethar," the gruff voice replied.

"And, who am I speaking with?" Daniel pried.

"General Maldok Zzarak."

"That's our guy," Dean whispered again.

Captain Daniel Lowe took a deep and slow breath before proceeding. "General," he began with a bit of contempt in his voice, "we are in search of the Federation shuttle Conciliator. It has failed to rendezvous with us this morning and we have been told that you had a run in with a shuttle matching its configurations."

"Who is your informant, Captain?" Zzarak asked with a harsh tone.

The Captain took a moment to consider if he should surrender that information, and then finally decided to go ahead and continue with a somewhat diplomatic approach. "A Rakhari named Varscahn Lah'nk."

"I didn't know that the Federation has dealings with outlaws," the General remarked scornfully.

"General," Dan disregarded the remark, "I have no time to play games, as I have already made clear! Did you, or did you not have an encounter with a Federation shuttle this morning?"

"We did," General Zzarak finally admitted. "We tried to... persuade the Ambassador on board to make it clear to Starfleet Command that their presence in this sector is not welcomed."

"Did you fire upon the shuttle?"

There was a moment of silence, and everybody was holding their breath.

"The Ambassador... could not be reasoned with. She was... extremely hardheaded," the General began.

"You should try being married to her," Daniel interjected. "Stubborn is her middle name."

"She's your wife?" Maldok Zzarak sounded utterly surprised. "Karemman women are not allowed to be this... obstinate," he declared with obvious pride. "And... yes, Captain. I did give orders to fire at her. But... only to scare her, of course. We did not harm her!"

"Why that..." Dean murmured enraged.

Captain Lowe silenced his son with a flick of his wrist. "That still doesn't explain why we cannot find the shuttle now," he addressed General Zzarak again. "Would you be able to enlighten me on that?"

"I believe," the General started cautiously, "she... encountered a spacial anomaly, as she parted with us. Some sort of... wormhole, I've been informed."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, Captain," Zzarak confirmed tersely, "we watched her leave. But then, a blue vortex suddenly appeared in her flight path. That's the last we saw of the shuttle."

"Is that the TRUTH?" Dean Lowe butted in angrily, not able to contain himself any more.

"Absolutely!" General Zzarak sounded stunned at the implication. "I swear, by my families honor."

"Honor? What would you..."

Dan motioned his son to silence again. "I see. Thank you for your help," he acknowledged calmly. "However, General, I must inform you, that for committing an act of aggression against a Federation representative, I will have to place you under arrest."

"That is where you are wrong, Captain!"

At the same moment, sensors registered a vessel decloaking, several thousand kilometers away, and warping out of the system.

"Captain," the Science officer reported, "I believe... our quarry just got away..."

'What just happened?' Dean was thoroughly confused.

Captain Lowe furrowed his brow. "I thought, you were monitoring the alien ship?" He whirled toward his Tactical officer. "What in the blazes do you have that torpedo locked on to?"

Lt. Cmdr. Okamara shrugged in bewilderment.

"Captain," Lt. T'Karn said excitedly, "we're picking up energy fluctuations from the object, sir. I think, its cloak is failing."

Dan spun back around. "On screen."

A small, yellow dot was flickering in front of the background of countless stars.

"Magnify!"

As the computer zoomed in on the object, the cloaking device completely went out.

"What is it?" Dean asked curiously.

"Looks like some sort of small shuttle," Lt. T'Karn speculated. "Like a Workbee shuttle... at least in size."

"That sneaky crook," Captain Lowe huffed. "He was communicating through that thing the whole time! Distracting us from his ship making its escape."

"That would explain the anomalous reading I was getting while monitoring the object," Kiashiro Okamara frowned apologetically, "I thought it was a sensor echo drifting from that position. A glitch, of some sort, like an artifact of our cloaking device scanning routine."

"Brilliant tactician, I must admit." The Captain shook his head. "Let's hope the information he gave wasn't a ruse, too."

Suddenly the tiny shuttle exploded, snapping the bridge crew out of their bafflement. They all looked up at the viewscreen, where uncountable particles of light burned up and faded into darkness.

The Science officer looked at the readouts on his computer screen. "Hmmm. Looks like it was also equipped with a self-destruct device."

Lt. Cmdr. Dean Lowe caught his father's eyes. "What's our next move, sir?"

Dan rubbed his chin. "Well, I suppose, we need to inform Starfleet Command about this act of aggression and wait for further orders," he firmly looked up at his son, "and we should transmit our new findings to your brothers."

"Aye, sir."

=/\=

Anabelle Sawyer's eyes went dark and her face turned red with anger, as she was standing in Liam's guest quarters.

"Look at me," she demanded. "Look at me!"

He raised his head and narrowed his eyes. "No need to yell," he replied, more sharply than he had intended to.

"Yell? You think this is yelling?" Her voice was getting cold and bitter. "Typical! That's just soooo typical. Men! When you raise your voices it's being commanding, but when a woman does it, she yells! Or, better,... she gets hysterical, right?" She glared at him menacingly. "You coward! You don't even have the guts to have a confrontation with me!"

"I don't want to fight."

"Oh, what a surprise," she retorted with unbridled sarcasm. "You rather run, don't you? Well, maybe I want to fight!"

He just stood there and let her vent her anger.

"You're such a JERK!" This time she yelled. "I HATE YOU!"

"No you don't," he whispered.

Anabelle suddenly lunged at Liam and, raising her fists, pummeled his chest with all her might. After a few seconds, he grabbed hold of her wrists and stopped the onslaught of her rage. She let him, not trying to fight out of his grip.

"This is not going to help," he calmly reminded her.

"I know," she admitted, clenching her jaw, "But I thought it would make me feel good."

"Did it?"

"Maybe... for a second..." she haplessly consented.

He cracked a lopsided smile. "Why don't we try something more constructive than this 'barbaric' method," he suggested.

"You're right," she agreed with a nod, "I should be able to handle this differently. After all, I am a Counselor."

Liam released her arms and sat back down on the couch. Anabelle lowered herself onto the chair. They sat across from each other for a few minutes, neither one saying a word. Neither knowing how to start this difficult conversation. She inclined her head and stared into empty space in contemplation.

"Why? Why... Liam? Why did you leave me?" She finally said quietly, looking up at him with an unbearable expression of hurt in her eyes. "I never understood that."

His heart was aching, and he shifted uneasily on the couch.

"Why did you step aside for Jacen? Why did you not fight for me?"

He took a deep breath and finally looked straight at her. "Because, he loved you... and he was my best friend. I couldn't do that to him. I didn't want to hurt him that way," he explained. "He never told you, did he? He never told you that he was head-over-heels in love with you from the time he had met you... But he told me. I knew, and I knew before he introduced us that you meant everything to him..." He shook his head. "I never intended to care about you as much as I did. And, I didn't expect for you to fall in love with me... instead of him. I never thought this would all get so complicated..."

"That's why you left? Left without an explanation?" Anabelle closed her eyes and sighed. "I can't believe this. And I thought you didn't care about me... You broke my heart, you know? You broke my heart..."

Liam's shoulders slumped. "Jacen never knew anything about... us, did he?" he asked.

"No, none of it." She shook her head.

"Then, why did you marry him?"

"Because, after you had signed up with the USS Patton, I thought you would never come back. I was hurt and disappointed, Liam. And... he had asked me to marry him. So, I did," she met his eyes. "More out of spite than anything else... It was a terrible thing to do..."

"I wanted to come back," he interjected emphatically, "after realizing how much I loved you! Not one day had gone by that I didn't think of you, while serving on the Patton." His voice was growing more melancholy with every word. "And I... I had finally made up my mind to just face Jacen's anger and tell him all of this. But... then, I've got that message from McKinley Station, announcing the wedding of Lieutenant Jacen Farebanks and Ensign Anabelle Branson." The hurt in his voice reached its climax. He paused to regain his composure and then softly finished, "So... that was the end of that..."

"I didn't know..."

"You couldn't have known," he shrugged, "I didn't give you any reason to believe I would come back."

"...and, I certainly didn't think Jacen would get this crazy idea to sign up on the same ship as you, so he could be with his buddy again," she continued. "But, after all that had happened between us, and all the pain you had caused me, I didn't want to be around you. So I decided to stay on Earth and take some more courses at the Academy, to become a Counselor."

"That probably had been for the best," he concluded.

"Maybe... but I always thought... if I had just been there... that somehow I could have prevented..." her voice trailed off.

"You couldn't have prevented his death. Just as I wasn't able to," Liam stated firmly. "I have gone over that moment a million times, thinking that there should have been something that I could have done different. But... to no avail. There wasn't anything anybody could have done to prevent it!"

"But, why didn't you contact me after his death?" She narrowed her eyes. "I was waiting... waiting for some message, some letter telling me how sorry you were for my loss... ANYTHING... but nothing came. Nothing at all! And, the longer I waited the more I started to resent you."

He lowered his eyes, staring at the floor. "You have no idea how often I wanted to write you, how often I had started a letter... and ended up deleting it. Because... I just didn't know what to say, didn't know how to explain to you that I had let your husband die, that I had watched him die and hadn't been able to do anything about it," his voice cracked, and he paused for a moment, "And, I just couldn't forgive myself for all of it. So how could I expect you to forgive me..."

When he raised his eyes again to look at her, his cheeks were wet with tears.

Anabelle's heart was throbbing and her eyes filled with tears again, too. "You couldn't forgive yourself?" she whispered. "I'm the one who had reason not to forgive myself... You're the one that has no idea, Liam." Her voice quivered. "When I received the message about the attack on the Patton, all I could think about was you! I was more worried about you... than my own husband. The guilt I felt after learning of Jacen's death was unbearable." Tears started to trickle down her face. "How would you like to live with that?"

Liam gazed at her in agony. "I don't know what to say."

"There isn't anything to say about it any more," she replied quietly, wiping her tears away. "We both need to forgive each other... and ourselves."

He nodded.

"There are some definite steps we'll have to take, though, and it won't be easy," she began explaining as 'the Counselor' in her took over. "First, we need to establish where we're at. Second, we need to figure out where we need to be. And third, we need to plan what direction to take to get there."

And so, they continued their conversation, slowly untangling the complicated and twisted mess of emotions that had been constricting them for over seven years...