The Path Not Taken: Closing Time (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 11 Jun 2024 @ 8:40pm by Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor

4,276 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, Earth
Timeline: Early 2396

For those who wish to catch up on the story so far:
Transfer
A Day in Okinawa (Part 1)
A Day in Okinawa (Part 2)
A Day in Okinawa (Part 3)
Dinner with the 'Enemy' (Part 1)
Dinner with the 'Enemy' (Part 2)
Dinner with the 'Enemy' (Part 3)
Dinner with the 'Enemy' (Part 4)
Dinner with the 'Enemy' (Part 5)
Dinner with the 'Enemy' (Part 6)
The Interrogation (Part 1)
The Interrogation (Part 2)
The Interrogation (Part 3)
The Interrogation (Part 4)
An Unwelcome Guest (Part 1)
An Unwelcome Guest (Part 2)

--

Early 2396 - 4 years after the deletion of Cold Station 31 files, several weeks after the previous entry.

[ON]

The chaos of Vialluh’s impromptu ‘visit’ slowly eased over the days that followed. The couple entered into a stalemate of sorts. No lies were told, but no further questions were asked either. It was most likely because neither would like the other’s answer. Sera’s rising irrationality had abated…at least for the present. And last night had been the first reasonable night’s rest she had obtained in weeks.

It gave her back a modicum of discipline. She was able to get up before Montgomery and was waiting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and a steaming bowl of oatmeal with chopped nuts and dried fruits to accompany it.

”Good Morning.” Sera greeted in Rihannsu. She held a mug in her hands close to her chest. It was also a cup of coffee, but a secretive part of her wished it was the pale blue liquid that had insidiously become a desired part of her day.

"Y'hhau, e'lev," Vala replied, his tone still a little groggy from sleep. He glanced from the breakfast to his mate, then arranged his features into a small smile. It had been a trying time, but things had been… better of late. He made to sit down, lightly touching her shoulder as he walked around to the chair.

Sera nodded and took a seat across from him at the work table they often used as an impromptu dining spot. Fvillhu jumped up on it and made the rounds, rubbing against Sera’s arm and then stepped over to Montgomery where he reached out a paw as if to draw the man in. The cat had demands that would be met.

“Do you expect to be home at your usual time, this evening?” Sera asked as she took a sip of her drink.

"Uhm…" Vala said vaguely, his mind still sharpening as he reached a couple of fingers towards the cat, batting at its paw, "I expect so…" His tone was quite vague. He shook his head a little as Fvillhu batted his fingers, then reached for some coffee, "Why do you ask?"

“I was simply attempting…tiny talk?” Sera replied in Federation standard as she raised her mug and swallowed a mouthful of the bitter brew.

A little smile ghosted over his lips, “Tiny talk? Yes I am familiar.” He looked up at her. They would be okay… wouldn’t they? “What are your plans for today?”

“I am uncertain…There are no outstanding errands that need to be run today. I will most likely remain home.”

“Very well,” he nodded idly, “More exciting than whatever the department of xenogeology has in store for me, no doubt.”

“And your…colleagues? Are they well? Although prudent, that they have not visited again is…disappointing.” Sera sighed, more to just bleed off energy versus making an inarticulate statement, and stood, picking up the cat who was now trying to get into Montgomery’s breakfast.

“Same same I suppose. K’ratak is as jovial as ever, S’anra sanguine, Imin… somewhat imperious. It is a frustrating time. It feels as though we are in some kind of infernal orbit. Never staying, never going…” He ate a little oatmeal.

“I will make the stew you are fond of.” Sera had been doing that as of late; making Montgomery’s favorites. Having not much of an appetite, it was logical that at least one person would enjoy the meal. Fvillhu butted her hand with his head and she began stroking him lightly with her fingers.

Vala nodded, “You do not wish for something more appealing to you?” He took another spoon of breakfast. S’Ers-a was not wholly herself these days. He longed for a relief and some liberation from the weight that sat so heavily upon them.

Sera dipped her head. “I have not had much of an appetite of late. I do not mind.”

With a contented cat in her arms, she reached out and smoothed a lock of hair that had come out of place on his forehead. “I will see you this evening, then, adun.

He blinked, “I will return as quickly as I am permitted.” Exhaling slowly he stood up and made ready to leave.

—

Sera watched Montgomery at the door as he walked down the path and turned right at the open gate that marked the end of their property and was out of sight. She smoothly shut the repaired front door, and made her way to the office.

Her days now started immediately after Montgomery left for work. After the last device puzzle had been completed, another did not follow. Instead, there were instructions which then progressed to various missions. Deliver a package, surveil someone for a purpose and report…menial tasks such as that. Today’s subspace communique appeared to be no different. Synopsis: Take the cloak and the holographic disguise and go to San Francisco, obtain a briefcase, and deliver it to a specific address in Paris.

After reading the step-by-step directions and committing them to memory, Sera then stood and moved the workbench and pulled the biometrically sealed box from the small hiding spot under the planks and obtained the required ‘tools’ for this assignment. She returned to the bedroom and donned a black and gray textured ak’shem-ai--a traditional bodysuit that allowed for ease of movement and very little bulk along her skin and slipped on her old Starfleet issue boots…and looked at the reflection of herself in the mirror near the entryway as she engaged the personal cloaking device. It was…disconcerting to see oneself haze out of visibility.

Fascinating.

Slipping out the back door, Sera walked around the property and out the opened front gate, in the same direction that Montgomery went just a few minutes prior and went to work…

–

Hours later, Sera’s mission was completed. She walked through the open front gate to her property and entered the house via the side entry into the garden. Once inside the walls of her concealed garden did she decloak, having made it back to the house a full 17 minutes before Montgomery was slated to come home.

“Sand,” a voice said softly from the shadows of the deck, “Ever the betrayer of the personal cloak novice.” There was a slight creak as the figure stood up from where he had been kneeling. No doubt Sera would have already recognised his voice. Imin smiled at the female vulcan.

“In cities it is easy to get around unnoticed. Rain can be tricky but… there are ways.” He moved slightly closer to the steps, “The countryside is worse - mud in particular is most frustrating.” He shook his head, “But sand is the worst offender - there is nothing to be done about those little indents that one must leave behind.” He raised an eyebrow, “Hopefully I am the only one who noticed.”

Sera stilled as she stopped in the middle of her zen garden and stared up at Montgomery’s Romulan colleague. She managed to resist the urge to look behind her at the sandy footprints that no doubt littered the garden just as Imin had described…and one person noticing was one person too many.

“What are you doing here, Imin? Generally it is considered incredibly poor taste to enter a home that is not yours unannounced.”

She tilted her head expectantly and waited for an answer. Depending on how this played out…well, Sera hoped it would not come to that.

”Indeed it would, and I would of course never dream of such trespass. I came by and, noting that no one was home, I thought Rh’vaurekorn and yourself would not begrudge an old man taking a seat in your garden as I waited.” He gave a smile that showed his teeth, ”He will be home soon in the near future, no doubt."

His calculating eyes never left Sera's, "Did he help you with that device?"

“Is that an attempt at humor?” Sera replied with an ease that went no further than her words. “Rh’vaurekorn’s strengths do not lie with technology.” She walked across the rest of the sands and stepped up onto the covered deck and opened the sliding door to the main living area of the home and gestured for him to enter. She didn’t trust any of this…

“Would you care for some tea? I am afraid I only have matcha…Aesollh is now impossible to come by, and Vulcan goods have also become quite scarce.” Sera inquired, placing a large iron kettle filled with water onto the flame and turned to face him as she leaned her back against the counter behind her.

"These are trying times," he glanced at her personal cloaking device, "for us all." He walked inside, keeping an eye on Sera. "Tea is fine, unless you have something… stronger?" His eyes shone a little and he maintained a sanguine expression.

“If that is what you desire.” Sera responded simply. The urge to imbibe more kali-fal gnawed at her insides, but she had been trying to abstain…Sera had thought ahead to the future and Vulcan was not known for having sizeable quantities of mind-altering substances. It was not preferable, but it was logical.

She walked around the work table that was used as an impromptu spot to eat and padded into the main room to the low cabinet along the wall. Sera pulled out the half-empty bottle of kali-fal and brought it back into the kitchen and pulled down a glass and poured him a small serving and placed it before him. She may have also looked at the pale blue liquid with a subtle expression of longing.

“Why have you come?” Sera asked bluntly. Her duties as a hostess had been satisfied. He had been offered a drink. Now to the point.

Imin carefully picked up the glass and nodded to Sera, "Rhaarhno," he said by way of a toast, then sipped the drink. He took a small device from his pocket and set it on the table. It clicked a few times. He gestured to it, "For privacy."

"S'Ers-a I feel I can be honest with you. Ours is a small community, now more than ever. We are bound together by the machinations of others whom both of us have had less than pleasant encounters with of late." He gave an expression of distaste, "I was bored of my ever restricted 'work'," he rolled his eyes momentarily, "at Daystrom so I had taken to… keeping an eye on our little group. For their safety of course," he took another sip, "and mine."

He carefully scrutinised Sera's expression as he continued, "When I came to Bise again I wondered how you might be passing the time since your… encounter with Starfleet intelligence, and now I suppose I have part of an answer."

Sera raised a brow at Imin in an expression that was quintessentially Vulcan. “Fascinating.”

“And you have come all the way here to share this…why?”

"I thought, perhaps, you might wish for some assistance or another," his tone was cool and easy, but laced with depth of thought, "I do not mean to be overly critical but your work is a little sloppy. You are lucky Starfleet intelligence so consistently underestimate those they are meant to keep an eye on. They have small minds." He took another draught of the blue liquid.

“I would have preferred you not come into the knowledge of my actions. Plausible deniability is…was…preferred.” Sera watched as he took another robust swallow of the blue liquid and Sera swallowed unconsciously, wanting nothing more than to pour–no.

It had not taken long for the want for the drink to become a near need for the drink. Why suffer now, when there would be suffering later, once on Vulcan. If we even go to Vulcan.

Mind made up, Sera walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a glass and poured herself some kali-fal. Just one serving. That’s all…

Typing back the glass, Sera swallowed a mouthful of the potent beverage. The burning warmth of the intoxicant felt like an instantaneous balm to her tattered katra.

“Well…as deniability is not an option now…what words of wisdom have you, Imin?”

Imin watched her drink. She had become quite the expert since the dinner party. The stresses of all of this were clearly beginning to leave their indelible mark.

"I do not know," he began, his tone crisp, "what machinations you are involved with, but I will warn you that slack jawed intelligence agents are not the only forces that seek to observe the movements of us, the 'enemy'." He straightened himself up in his seat, "Wars bring out more… competent intelligence assets within the Federation. They will undoubtedly have their eye on you. You will have to leave less tracks," his eyes flicked over to the sand.

“Like who?” Sera asked, suddenly curious. Oh, she wasn’t about to tell Imin anything about what she was up to…that was ‘family’ business. However, she had never considered herself worthy of any type of scrutiny…but that was rather naive, wasn’t it? The glass in her hands thunked on the table and Sera began to pace. This was beyond her.

"Those that look at the Federations already tarnished values and scatter them to the wind in order to achieve their goals," he watched her agitation, "A shadow organisation where the ends always justify the means. You can't have imagined the Federation were above such things?" He gave a humourless smile.

Sera opened her mouth to reply, but his declaration was either fact or fiction. It did nothing to change her course.

“I only use the cloak to leave the property…and once out on the path I step within the sandy divots already present.” Sera returned to the worktable finally and decided that she had enough of this topic and changed directions.

“We do not have a holovid here, and my computer permissions have been essentially…disabled. Has anything significant occurred recently? Rh’vaurekorn is reluctant to discuss these events with me.”

Imin raised an eyebrow, "Many things, S'Ers-a, many things," he sipped the last of the blue liquor from his glass. "The Federation does not fare well in this war," he fixed his gaze on her, "Bolarus was lost, and it's a retreat on many fronts." He lowered his voice in a mock show of secrecy, "and word is that the Rihannsu intend to attack Earth itself."

His eyes glinted, "And what troubles Earth has had. Its facilities and infrastructure have come under attack from within of late, I'm surprised you didn't catch news of such things as they have so often coincided with your… outings."

Sera slowly stopped pacing and looked to Imin, tilting her head slightly. “Correlation does not necessarily imply causation, Imin...Nonetheless, your visit here has demonstrated that my movements are being observed…I will cease my meanderings.”

"There are no such things as coincidences," he responded with a knowing look, "and whatever you are doing… I am not here to stop you, just to ensure you consider being more… careful."

He stood up slowly, straightening out his clothes, "I should not detain you longer. Unless you believe Rh’vaurekorn would appreciate seeing me?"

“Rh’vaurekorn usually finds it agreeable to see his…friends. There will be more than enough stew.” Sera pushed away from the worktable and made herself busy by walking over to the pot over the low heat of the stove, lifting the lid and stirring the dish filled with root vegetables and the type of meat that Montgomery was fond of.

"Well I could not turn down such a hospitable offer," he smiled glancing at the pot, "You are a proficient cook as I recall."

“It has been an…interesting skill to cultivate.” Sera answered as she stirred the contents of the pot and replaced the lid. At least with Imin in attendance there would not be any left-overs of this particular dish.
–

Moments later Fvillhu chirped and the front door slid open, revealing Vala looking somewhat drained from the day's proceedings. He took a few steps forward then stopped, glancing to S'Ers-a and then over to Imin.

"Oh…" he stammered slightly, "S'ers-a I had not realised we were going to have company…" He trailed off and ran his hand through his hair, "Imin, Shaoi dan," he bowed his head in greeting.

"Jolan'tru, Rh’vaurekorn, you do not look well," Imin replied with his usual directness.

"The work is…" He exhaled sharply, "...unsatisfying." Vala said with a dejected tone, before sweeping Fvillhu from the floor into his arms and moving towards the seating area, "Have you been here long?"

"Minutes. Only enough time for a small kali-fal," Imin smiled, nodding towards his glass, "Perhaps you will join me for another?"

Vala glanced from the glass to the bottle finally to S'Ers-a - had she begun drinking again? He idly stroked Fvillhu a couple of times then let him slip from his arms, stepping to the table and refilling Imin's glass, "I will have one with dinner. I try to moderate myself, as much as I can." He glanced over to S'Ers-a, "May I assist you, e'lev?

Sera shook her head. “There is nothing to be done. The meal is complete. I was only waiting for you to return and indicate you were ready for the end-meal. I shall serve it now.”

Bowls were pulled down from a shelf and two hearty servings of the stew were divided up. Sera brought them over to the table and placed them in front of Imin and Montgomery. Not wanting to raise anymore questions, she pulled out a bowl of cut fruit from the stasis unit and took a seat next to Montgomery.

Sera listened as Imin and Montgomery bantered back and forth - discussing work, mostly - and she was content to listen. Perhaps they would discuss matters of the war?

After pleasantries and complaints about work there was little else to occupy them but such matters.

"Holovids are full of news of victories here and there," Vala commented, inhaling the rich scent of the bowl in front of him, "But those that willingly speak to me at the lab are less certain of a favourable outcome." He ate a spoonful of stew, then continued, "I'm told the Rihannsu plan to attack Earth directly and that a host of worlds have fallen already…" He glanced somewhat knowingly at Imin, "There are rumours that defensive plans were revealed through espionage. Little surprise I suppose."

Imin laughed, genuinely amused. “It would appear I have finally become predictable, Rh’vaurekorn. Why, the purpose I am even here was to warn your mate that there are more eyes watching us than Starfleet Intelligence…that we should be…careful.”

Sera raised a brow at Imin pointedly, for his statement would no doubt raise questions. He had, in essence, called her out. Feeling Montgomery’s eyes searching her face, Sera turned to him. Fine. What difference did it matter, truly? All of them were in the trap.

“I have been traveling, adun. After you go to work, I have been utilizing the devices I built to leave the island and perform various tasks. Imin has been surveilling us, and came here to warn me. How thoughtful.”

Vala frowned a little and scrutinised his mate. Another deception. Concerning but… it wouldn't do to expose such any vulnerability in front of Imin. He was a friend but he was also old and experienced. It would not do to provide anyone with more leverage than they already possessed.

"I see," he responded with a cool tone, "no doubt these are actions which will secure our safety and eventual freedom." He nodded slightly towards each of them, then admitted, "Imin is no stranger to such things."

“Yes. That is the overall goal, Rh’vaurekorn.” Sera replied blandly. He was upset. He had every right to be. Sera wanted to blame Imin for this, however that was not logical. She was still going around her mate - but she had rationalized that it was for his safety. Nonetheless, if she was apprehended for this, he would suffer anyway. Fvadt. It was unfortunate she had left the half-drank glass of kali-fal on the work table. The urge to get up and down it was a tangible thing, but instead she simply put her head in her hands and softly scrubbed her face.

Imin studied the two sitting side by side, one trying to play off his surprise at the other’s confession while the other appeared to be not holding up well at all having been thrown into the ‘deep end.’ He would have laughed if it was not so…well…tragic.

Imin spoke in a solemn tone…for him. “There should be no secrets between mates. It is why those in the Tal’Shiar generally aren’t allowed to take them.” He took a bite of the stew and mmm’d softly. Vulcan or not, S’Ers-a was an adequate cook. “A word of advice for the two of you - do not keep secrets from one another. If one falls then so does the other. Better to at least know why you have the knife in your back.”

"There is wisdom to that indeed," Vala responded slightly blandly, before eating another spoon of stew. He allowed silence to fall as he chewed, only speaking after he swallowed, "I am given to wonder how much further we can fall," he gestured vaguely to both of them, "All of us I mean. Surely we are all only days from being locked up somewhere less pleasant than Okinawa…"

Sera looked down at the fruit she was moving around the bowl with her utensil and placed the utensil on the table. She was not some undisciplined child to express her mental state so openly…and yet that was exactly what she was doing.

“Perhaps we should not tempt the universe with such questions, adun–” The last word was cut off as Sera felt a very subtle vibration course through her. Although having not been on a ship in over a year, one simply did not cease being an engineer. That came with being very in tune with the senses, for often the first sign of something wrong was a change in sound or a sensation felt ‘off.’

She studied the surface of the kali-fal in Imin’s glass as it vibrated and then slowly started to settle out. “Something just happened.”

Vala's eyes widened a fraction. Terra firma typically did not vibrate, and those times it did were never good. "Ehfai?" Earthquake? "It is not very strong though? I was told we should seek high ground though whenever such events happen - large waves can come from the sea."

He stood and beckoned the others to follow him outside.

It didn’t feel like an earthquake to her, but she erred on the side of caution and stood, following Montgomery and Imin outside. She had read about the large waves he was referring to, “tsunamis,” and inwardly shuddered at such a thought. For a desert born creature, the thought of a ‘great wave’ was utterly incomprehensible to her.

Upon leaving the house the true origin of the vibration became clear - a column of smoke was rising from the horizon to the south. Vala turned around to Imin and his mate, "Daystrom…"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

LMCMDR Montgomery Vala
Chair of Xenogeology
Department of Xenogeology, Daystrom Institute

&

S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Female of Mystery

&

LTCMDR Imin Volskiar
Senior Botanist
Department of Botany, Daystrom Institute
[PNPC Vala and S'Ers-a]

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