Alekhine's Gun

Chapter 21

The day started like all others had for the last several weeks. Amanda rose and padded off to the kitchen, where she went about bringing her pot of water to boil to prepare her morning tea. She turned on the Vid-comm and settled down into her chair at her desk to begin sifting through the day's communications.

But an hour later found her still sitting at her desk, eyes glued to the comm screen as she, along with probably most of the city, watched a live feed from the floors of the New York-based stock exchange.

Bright red numbers going in a declining order filled up the screen as traders ran to and fro across the floor. The declination started slowly, and then began moving faster and faster, as if it were a countdown to….

Suddenly it dawned on Amanda what she was seeing, and more importantly, what those numbers meant.

Currency, retirement, savings…it was all being systematically wiped out. Each number was a person, a family, a hope and a dream…

Panic was not an emotion she felt very often, but the magnitude of the sell-off was disturbing on several levels. Money was certainly not her main concern and she had made sure to diversify her own portfolio to avoid losses such as this, but she was well aware most people had very little…and what little they had…they were losing…

But why? What had led the markets to begin to tumble as they had?

A few blocks away there was a loud explosion with so much force it caused her building to shake, and the alarms to go off. She was thrown to the floor as horns began to blare across the city. The fire alarm in her apartment began to sound, making her ears ring. Amanda rose to her feet, holding her hands against her ears in an attempt to mute the sound. Quickly, she made her way to the bedroom where she threw on a pair of sweats, a t-shirt, and tennis shoes. Grabbing her communicator and purse, she left the apartment and joined the rest of her neighbors rushing down the stairs.

Outside, she was able to see more. People poured out onto the street from the surrounding buildings, some talking on communicators while others looked up to the sky to see a black plume of smoke coming from somewhere nearby, Amanda felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and a flash of fear as she noted the direction….

There was yelling, and pointing, and chaos all around. Police hover cars and cycles zoomed overhead in the direction of City Hall, where the blast and ensuing smoke had come from. Sirens and horns continued to blare.

She had to get out of there.

Only a few minutes had passed but there were now more people in the streets as Amanda turned and began making her way away from the center of the chaos. Three blocks down and two across, and she was finally able to clear the worst of the congestion. She found herself in a side alley and used the opportunity to flip open her communicator. There was no way she could get back to her apartment, and even less of a chance of getting across the bridge with her flitter still in the parking garage. She wasn't as much frightened, as she was concerned. While flipping open the device, she crouched down and put one hand to her ear as she made the call.

.

.

The embassy reverberated from the shock wave of the blast, causing all of its 400-plus inhabitants to clutch their ears in pain as the walls vibrated with a pulsating sound like a tuning fork all around them. After a while the ringing subsided and the Vulcan staff, all at once, began moving to their respective offices to learn what had happened.

Sarek had just been emerging from his suite when the explosion happened and took off in a run down the hall, where he met Silek, and together they crossed into the embassy chambers and took the stairs four at a time directly to Sarek's office.

Sakketh was already at work triangulating the blast site and watching the vid-feeds for answers when they burst in.

Soon, they had them.

It appeared that early in the morning a large crowd had broke through the palisade surrounding San Francisco's historic city hall, which now housed the office of Earth's president and cabinet-level officers. They had stormed the grounds and stood protesting when, in the middle of their protests, a bomb of some sort had gone off. It wasn't yet known how many people were injured, but the blast had only further added to the chaos as people ran and riot police began to clash with those fleeing the blast site.

The previous evening Sarek had authorized the withdrawal of 2.5-trillion credits from Earth's holdings, an amount that was only a quarter of the 10-trillion Vulcan had invested. The result had caused the markets to reach the tipping point. Sarek had expected civil unrest- it was the natural outcome of economic uncertainty. But this…

He had not anticipated such violence on such a scale. An event such as this had not been seen in over 150-years…

Beep…beep…beep…beep….

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his personal comm and flipped it open. Instantly he heard static, along with screaming and what sounded like a roar…

"Sarek! It's Amanda…"

At the heightened level of her voice, every moment thereafter seemed to go in slow motion.

She was yelling above the noise, with the sirens growing ever louder.

"What is your location?"

"Wilmont…45th….alley."

He was out and moving again before she had even finished the last word.

II

Amanda had set her communicator to homing so Sarek could find her. More people had streamed into the streets now and it seemed that the excitement was at a fever pitch. She didn't know what had happened, but people were talking fast and loud over the increasing frequency and volume of the state emergency vehicles roaring by.

She feared the worst, having overheard the snatches of conversations.

"Explosion….City Hall…"

The alley she was in was less crowded but still noisy and she hoped Sarek would reach her soon. Stepping out meant going back into the fray and was dangerous; people were too, when they were confused, agitated and angry.

In her short lifetime, she'd never seen violence like this, and the realization that she wasn't as safe- that they as a people weren't as safe as everyone had assumed- brought a crushing wave of reality that chilled her to the core.

The sound of phaser blasts and the acrid smell of smoke and fire in the air only fueled her increasing sense of fear even as she worked to remain calm in a sea of escalating madness.

.

.

Sarek didn't take the flitter, knowing all traffic would be shut down. Instead he dropped his heavy coat at the gates of the embassy and took off in a sprint toward Amanda's location. Her home was twelve blocks away, but he covered the distance quickly- ignoring the shocked looks from the humans on the street who noticed the speed at which he traveled.

But he was forced to slow down and thread his way through as the crowd got thicker the closer he got toward Amanda's building. There was chaos all around and the sharp smell of smoke and phaser fire permeated the air. He was following the directional indicator on his communicator that showed him he was getting closer to her….

There.

Ahead and to his left was a sign denoting Wilmont and 125th. He pushed ahead, moving people out of his way as he forged down and around the corner.

The alley was packed with people, but still fewer than were on the streets.

"Amanda!"

His voice carried but not enough and he made his way down further to yell again.

"Amanda!"

"Sarek! Here! Here!"

A slender hand bobbed up and down over the heads and he could see her waving and jumping up and down.

Finally, he managed to reach her.

"Why did you not remain indoors?" he demanded.

The sharpness of his tone caught her off-guard as he grabbed her hand and began pulling both of them back out of the alley and into the crowd to get them away.

"The alarms went off- the evacuation signal. We had to go. Ow! Sarek slow down!" He was moving so fast he was almost dragging her behind him as they fought the surge of the crowd to get away.

They had just rounded another corner when Sarek spotted a burning hovercraft fifty feet away. Upon closer examination he looked to the rear of the flitter and saw a transparent sheen coming from the vehicle that distorted the reflection of the brick on the building it was in front of. There were people all around.

Immediately aware of what he was seeing, Sarek reacted quickly, pulling Amanda forcefully around and into his arms as he yelled at the crowd to get down. His voice was drowned out over the shouts and screams as he pushed the two of them to the ground amid the throng of people.

Amanda didn't even have time to yell before the hovercraft exploded.

All around them were screams, as the crowd scattered and some people fell as a black cloud of smoke and flame began to rise, and metal shards flew around them.

.

.

Sarek felt the blast and the impact of the debris on his back as he continued to shield Amanda from it. As soon as the flitter burst the sound had been so loud it caused a sharp pain in his ears—mercifully, that had lasted only a split second and had rendered him deaf - he hoped, only momentarily. Unfortunately, that did not ease the pain both in his ears and across his back and he was well aware he had been hit by something. Still, the situation did not warrant time to inspect his own injuries as he rose and pulled Amanda up with him.

She was covered in dirt and dust but, upon further inspection, appeared undamaged beyond that. Her hair was caked with mud and she was shaking, obviously frightened.

"We must go." His words came out choked and hoarse but he could only hear the hollow roaring in his ears. Amanda only blinked as he held on to her and began pushing her down the street and away from the scene.

They moved quickly, in and out of the throng until they were only a block from the Vulcan embassy, and Amanda was dragging, her steps unsteady.

More concerned for her physical state than his own, Sarek picked her up and walked through the gate. They had made it back largely unnoticed by the people on the street, all of whom were too preoccupied with the events unfolding blocks away.

The doors to the embassy swung open and Sa'taan and T'Nerual, taking in their ragged appearance, glanced and set about to work.

Sa'taan took Amanda from Sarek's arms and T'Nerual, appraising her brother-in-law's physical condition, quickly called to the on-site physician.

Within moments, both of them were being tended to.

.

.

Hours later, Amanda woke to find herself in a bedroom. The dim light was enough to hurt her eyes, and her head was pounding. When she tried to move, white-hot flashes of pain coursed through her limbs. The sensation caused her to gasp as she flinched.

"You are awake."

With effort, she opened one eye to find Sarek's face looking down at her.

His voice was raspy and hoarse, and it looked like his right check was bruised, the skin an angry shade of green.

She doubted she looked much better.

"It hurts," she whispered quietly, not daring to move her body again for fear of the pain she knew would follow.

"You sustained deep-tissue bruising and a sprained wrist and ankle. I am responsible for your injuries. I …apologize."

Bracing against the pain, Amanda opened her eyes fully to look at Sarek. Ignoring her protesting muscles and aching head, she sat up to face him.

He was currently seated next to her on the bed and for the first time she got a good look at him.

His hair was singed and his right hand was wrapped in gauze. They stared at each other a long while before Amanda inched closer to wrap her arms around his neck.

Sarek winced visibly, and she moved to pull back. He reached up to touch her hands to keep her from pulling away.

"Your touch is acceptable, just do not…squeeze."

She looked at him and moved one hand down his chest, seeing for the first time, that he was not as well as she thought him to be. Her hand traced the outline of another long, hard strip of something wrapped around his chest beneath the plain white tunic he now wore.

Amanda looked down at her own arms, noting she was equally as bruised. Bruised, but not dead.

"You saved me."

"You are my future mate. It is my duty to protect you from harm."

She was filled with so many different emotions and there were no words to adequately express how she felt about him at that moment. Her answer to his proposition from two months prior was crystal clear.

"I accept your proposal, Sarek."

He looked at her inquisitively. And she clarified.

"I'll marry you. My answer is yes."

It was simple response, devoid of any of the embellishments that the foolishness and naivety of young love tended to bring, as they were far from that stage of their lives, but it was sincere, and it was honest, and at that moment, it was perfect.