[ussgeorgetown] Finding a Connection by Chief Petty Officer Nan Ecitsuj, Lieutenant Aileas McKay
- From: TKilyle@xxxxxxx
- To: ussgeorgetown@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2005 10:26:05 EST
Finding a Connection
by Chief Petty Officer Nan Ecitsuj, Lieutenant Aileas McKay and 5 of 12
Nan didn't like the idea of being in officers' country unexpectedly although
he knew Senek would say that he was always welcome and, therefore, not
unexpected. But he wasn't looking for Senek and he certainly wasn't going to
lie
about it if he was asked.
"Excuse me, Chief, are you lost?"
Nan turned around to see an ensign, his face somewhat bruised, there behind
him. "No, I'm not lost, Ensign..."
"Butler, John Butler. I thought maybe you were lost since this isn't the
enlisted quarters deck."
Nan stared a moment. This was no higher ranked officer and he didn't think
Butler was more than a year out of the Academy. He shook his head in
exasperation then just walked away toward his destination, ignoring the
ensign's
protests. He pressed the chime outside her door. Considering what he'd seen
and
what she'd said, he didn't know if he would be talking to Five or to Aileas so
he simply didn't use her name.
"It's Nan Ecitsuj. I'd like to talk to you if you have a moment."
Her Human eye flicked open while the implant started its morning ritual of
scanning the room, checking for intruders and analysing the bio-signatures of
the room. Consciousness slowly crept in as she realised that the unit had not
fully completed its cycle.
"Computer, why has my regeneration been interrupted?" And then she heard the
Chief call through the door's comm. "Come in, Chief."
Nan stepped inside slowly, not sure of what, or who, he would find. Spotting
5 of 12 in her regen unit, he raised a white brow but all he said was, "Good
morning. I didn't mean to interrupt you."
"My cycle was not complete but your interruption is not unwelcome." A
strange kind of fluttering was building in her stomach, but 5 of 12 put it down
to
the premature end of her sleep. "What is it that I can do for you, Chief?" she
said as she stepped away from the unit.
Usually, he offered people smiles at first greeting but he was too wound up
over Mr. Menkara's message. He held his personal PADD out to her. "I...did
some checking last night. Actually, I called Senek's father. His parents live
on Vulcan and I thought maybe Mr. Menkara would be a better one to poke around
rather than Senek. I found out some interesting things."
Taking the PADD, 5 of 12 quickly scanned it. Several times during the
process Aileas shuddered inside her, drawing further away from the information
and
the meaning that it held. "Why does this affect you so?" 5 of 12 said aloud to
her internal companion.
"Why? Because there's a family out there who doesn't know where their son
is, who doesn't know what became of him," Nan began and then, in a softer
voice,
he added, "I don't know what became of him and it's making me sick."
"Neither do I," came the reply in a shaky voice with a slight Scottish lilt.
"I want to." Aileas looked up at Nan and used Five's pool of strength to
stop herself crying. "What can we do?"
Nan tilted his head at the change in voice and wondered at it. Aileas, he
realized. "May I sit? There's something else I had in mind and I think it's
going to make you angry." If it had been Senek's quarters, he wouldn't have
asked but something was making him ask. He just didn't know what.
Waving him to the only chair in the room, Aileas returned to lean against the
unit. "I don't anger easily, try me." She was trying her best to keep a
quiver out of her voice but failing miserably.
Nan found it odd that there was only the one chair in the room but who was he
to say what made other's comfortable. Instead of the chair, he gracefully
lowered himself the floor and offered her a simple shrug.
"I sit on the floor a lot at home," he explained. Taking a deep breath, he
looked at her, at the ocular implant and the bright green eye. "I will
understand if my presence nauseates you after this, ma'am. I...I have to
investigate
further but a thought occurred to me. They didn't tell me anything and they
wouldn't allow me talk to anybody. They keep telling me my prostheses fail
because I'm too hard on them. If no Ninitchik has ever been assimilated--thank
the Blessed Winds--then they were experimenting, using captured Borg as a
parts depot."
"They...they did what? But..." The weight of his statement hit her in the
stomach and she slumped slightly against the wall. "Sechen."
Nan scrambled to his feet and approached her. Gently, he touched her
shoulder. "I don't know it for sure but why else would the implants
malfunction so
often? Because the Borg know nothing of Ninitchik. I don't like being alive
at someone else's expense." The thought really did make him sick.
"He got us back to the Federation, his cortical implants weren't adapting to
being separated from the Collective but I kept telling him that once we got
home, Starfleet would find a way to save him. They were going to save him."
She sounded childish even to her own ears and she felt Five's irritation at her
humanity. But there was something else hidden in it: grief. "I don't
understand." Looking over at Nan, a flash of anger burned her mind. "What can
we
do?"
Nan moved his hand from her shoulder, shivering with what felt like cold.
Feeling cold was not something he enjoyed. It told him he was sick...or hurt.
He found he couldn't look into her face, knowing that the cause of her pain
was part of him.
"I am so sorry...Aileas...5 of 12...both of you. I didn't know anything
about this until you told me," he said softly. Hurt, he realized. It was
definitely pain and it was not the physical sort. "I can only ask the team
that
helped me...made me...Oh, Blessed Winds, this is all my fault..."
"How is it your fault?" Aileas watched Nan with worry, reaching up to touch
his arm tentatively. "How can this possibly be your fault?"
He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "It's...if I
hadn't gotten into that accident, maybe they wouldn't have started this
infernal experiment. Maybe then, your friend would still be in the Story, like
you."
"Chief...Nan...if it hadn't been you then it would have been someone else.
Sechen would be honoured that he is a part of such a wonderful, caring,
compassionate being. He was..." A sly smile crept over her face as she leaned
on
the wall next to Nan. "He was a Vulcan, the epitome of it. We spent hours
arguing points of logic or discussing science, philosophy or tactics. He is in
the Story, he is in you."
Nan opened his eyes and looked over at her, one of his usual smiles starting
to form. "It's Nan," he said simply. "assuming you don't have a trespass
problem like that kid in the corridor. Five...Aileas...I appreciate this. I
really do. Feeling sorry for myself is not something I enjoy. I wanted to
tell
you this because he was your friend. You deserve to know. I could also use
some help."
"You have it, anything I can do, just ask." A sudden thought occurred to
her. "Which kid are you talking about? And what do you mean 'a trespass
problem'? You are free to visit a friend whenever you choose."
"Out in the corridor, on my way here, I ran into an Ensign Butler who had the
idea that I was lost because I was in regular officers' country. I left him
talking to the wind but he seemed the rather obnoxious sort for a Human," Nan
replied with a shrug. He smiled rather warmly at her, his pearlescent blank
eyes twinkling again. "You know, Senek and I are good friends, something else
you and I have in common--friendship with stubborn Vulcans--and he says the
same thing but there is still that semi-prohibition against fraternization.
Some people take it rather seriously. I don't. I'm sort of glad you don't
mind
my visiting."
"The rules are designed to prevent conflicts of interest in stressful
situations. But then," a mischievous twinkle lit her eye, "rules are meant to
be
broken." Giving his arm a very light squeeze, she pushed away from the wall.
"I
am afraid that I'm rather rusty at having guests though, you have been here
for a while now and I haven't even offered you a drink." She was babbling, she
knew she was, but she couldn't seem to stop.
"Don't worry about it. Stay here and talk to me unless you need something
yourself. I'm too wound up to eat or drink anything anyway," Nan admitted,
even
as he felt his face flush slightly. "I...I'm good at breaking rules. We may
have to break some or at least get rather disrespectful to find out what we
want to know."
"Respect is gained through honesty. I'm not quite sure how murdering someone
to harvest their body parts is being honest." She was angry now; she wanted
to kick things, throw them violently across the room and stamp on them until
they died. A cold thought crept up inside her. That is why I would not allow
you to furnish our room, Aileas. "This is just so frustrating! What can we
possibly do all the way out here?"
Nan sighed slightly and looked over at her. Unconsciosuly, he took her hand
as he spoke, taking a measure of comfort in her presence, not all phased by
her Borg self. "I think the first link in the chain is to talk to Counselor
ch'Thane. His charan, one of his male parents, was part of my team. Captain
ch'Thane was also the one who seemd the most approachable. I'm hoping the
counselor can set me up...set us up a meeting."
"God but this is making me feel sick." She squeezed his hand and laid her
head on his shoulder, trying to find some kind of reassurance just from him
being there, another warm body in her room. "So you don't mind if I go with
you?"
Nan leaned his head on hers, her warmth chasing away some of the cold he felt
inside. "No, of course I don't mind. I'd rather you come with me really.
Otherwise, the counselor and then the captain will think I'm spinning stories
out of the wind...which I wouldn't do. I don't make things up. It is hardly
even possible to lie in my language," He said. He gave a soft sigh. "Aren't
we a pair...both of us getting so sick over this?"
Frowning at him, she nodded. "Something must be done, anything. I can't
believe I allowed this to happen, I should have taken better care of him, made
sure he was alright. It was just so hard to go anywhere without a permanent
chaperone. They wanted me under surveillance twenty-four-seven." Her
frustration was evident as she stepped away from Nan and started pacing.
Nan watched her pace and shook his head. "I'm no better, my friend. What
sort of a fool allows himself to be kept incommunicado for so long and doesn't
ask why? They only let me teach a bit or work in E&D after the parts were
suitably covered. I never thought to ask. My parents thought I was dead. So
did
Senek."
"Were they happy when you finally told them you were alive?" Aileas finally
stopped moving and looked up into his dark eyes. Her implant recorded his
unique bio-signature so she would know him even with her eye closed.
"Very, though my father certainly managed to take me to task about the
silence, especially since I couldn't quite explain it to him," Nan told her, a
half
smile on his face as he remembered the encounter. "Aileas...Five...does no
one look for you?"
"Not any more." She could remember the last time she had seen her parents
and it made her physically cringe. "My little sister is dead, my parents blame
me for her death, not without good reason either."
"I'm sorry. I didn't come here to upset you. I asked because I wondered why
you thought you might die unremembered. And you won't--believe me." Nan
straightened up slowly and approached her, tilting her chin up so that he could
look directly into her eye and implant. "I make no judgments. I will listen
if you want to tell me or, if you don't, I understand. We've both had enough
pain."
Smiling sadly, Aileas shook her head. This man had such respect for life,
how could he possibly understand that she had killed her own sister. Because
he
understands the Borg, 5 of 12 replied. "She was stationed on the Unity with
me, she knew Sechen, we were all really close and it was like having a home on
the ship." Her voice was faraway, her eye no longer seeing him but
remembering how it was. "The Borg attacked us, assimilated who they could and
those
that they took...they destroyed our individuality immediately. They took us
and
erased us." Aileas began to shake with the images running through her mind.
"Slaine was in Science when they came. They took me first, stealing away who
I was, making a drone from what remained. That drone was sent into Science
and it was that drone that killed my sister. I killed her. 5 of 12 killed
her."
"But surely you know it wasn't something of your own volition...not Aileas'
and, now, not who 5 of 12 is. I can only hope that time brings them
understanding for this. I am even sure that the otherworldly remains of Sechen
and
Slaine would say they understand. You are not who you were. Even in this
short
amount of time that I've known you, I can see that."
"You understand?" Her voice was barely above a whisper but the shock in it
was clear.
"I do," Nan said softly. "Another person might have said nothing about the
implants...or even cared that I was in pain to begin with. Not that same 5 of
12. "
Aileas smiled wider and she felt Five's warmth toward this man too. "Thank
you." She tentatively reached out her fingers to touch the side of his face.
"You are a very nice man." Her thoughts drifted to Sechen and her fury was
suddenly lit again. "We need to do something about this. About Sechen. When
can we see the counselor?"
Nan felt himself flush at both the comment and the gentle touch. Even though
she was angry, he let his hand cover hers and held it there. "I have duty
very shortly. I don't know what your schedule is but I'd say the sooner the
better. Are you scheduled for this next shift or the one after?"
He made a mental note to make sure ch'Thane was going to be available then,
too.
"The next one, I think. I tend to work double shifts because that's the only
way Five and I can agree on what is to be done and how. Otherwise we have a
blazing row and everyone in Science looks at us funny." Aileas giggled at the
ludicrousy of her last comment. "So if you need me, I can just leave one of
my shifts and get someone to cover for me."
Nan couldn't help but chuckle, understanding Senek's initial confusion
before. The uncertainty of the whole situation still had him feeling
physically ill
but she was making him feel warm inside again. "I'll see if the counselor is
available and I'll let you know." He wondered if she would slap him, either
Aileas or 5 of 12, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, he told himself. He
simply leaned forward slightly and kissed her lightly. "Thank you. For
everything."
His lips were soft and warm and she leaned in closer to him. 5 of 12 flooded
her mind, but instead of seizing control, she simply shared the connection
and the sensations. Pulling away, she smiled shyly. "You are perfectly
welcome, my friend." My friend, that sounds perfectly wonderful to me.
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