The Aftermath

Posted on Sun May 22nd, 2022 @ 4:21pm by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Commodore Jacob Kane

Mission: Ares Ascending
Location: USS Athena - Bridge
Timeline: MD-2: After the Battle
687 words - 1.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Finn slowly made her way down the corridor, headed towards the lift. Although the injuries she sustained might have actually slowed her down, Finn's feet dragged more so because of her plan than any pain. If she could arrive at the bridge after the station had been destroyed, then she could write off P'rel and Tolbarr as unfortunate casualties and that was two fewer people to worry about cluing in on her clone status.

"Bridge," Finn commanded as she entered the turbolift and braced herself for the movement that followed. When the doors opened, she stumbled out yelling, "Stop firing!" before looking up to see that her timing had worked out exactly as she had hoped. Debris and chunks of the former station were strewn across the viewscreen. She kept her sinister grin hidden, replacing it with a look of shock.

"P'rel...she had beamed down to the station looking...looking for Mr.Tolbarr. Internal comms were down, so I tried to get here as quickly as I could." The clone looked to Kane, hoping he believed every word that she had so well rehearsed on the way here. It was mostly the truth anyway, those made for the best lies. P'rel had beamed down to the station looking for Tolbarr, the only real fib was Finn arriving as quickly as she could.

Kane felt the colour drain from his face. He'd been assured they were all back on board. Weren't they? Had his eagerness to be rid of the facility - his hope at spiting their enemy - blinded him to that? His eyes immediately flashed to Zora, and back to Keating. A moment of quiet pride at their victory was now heavily weighted by this news.

"They were...on station?" He had to ask it, although he knew the answer.

"We were all...on the station...in a shielded section," Finn said doing her best to act as though she were struggling slightly to maintain her composure. "P'rel found me...and said Tolbarr was still missing. I pointed her to where I had been taken in hopes that she might find him there. She...she wouldn't let me go with her to help. I thought she had time...or that I could get here quickly enough...to save the station. I'm so sorry."

Kane frowned. P'rel had always been one to shirk the usual Starfleet traditions, but going back for Silnan? Perhaps there was some sort of sense of duty there. "Well." He looked uncomfortably around the rest of the bridge. "No doubt she won't have been the only casualty today." It was unlikely, given the force by which he had ordered the facility destroyed, that there would have been a chance of survival. "We'll mourn when we have the respite to do so." He glanced at Keating. "Perhaps you should see yourself to sickbay, Lieutenant?"

Sickbay. The word itself almost made her sick. Why hadn't they thought of that when they went to make it look like she had actually escaped? "If it's all the same, I'd rather just go clean up in my quarters and get to engineering," the clone replied, crossing her fingers and hoping that Kane was in enough shock that he would just nod it off. There were technically no differences, biologically, between her and the real Finn, but you never knew what might show up on one of those medical scans. There was always the possibility that something was missed in the replication process.

"If you're sure." He said it dismissively, trusting that his Chief Engineer knew her limits. The ship hadn't really taken significant damage in the brief melee, but she more than likely had that classic engineer thing of wanting to make sure it was all pristine. "Damage report to me by the end of the day?" he said, phrasing it as a statement more than a question.

"Yes, sir," Finn replied, internally letting out a breath of relief. So far so good. Two crew members lost and everyone else seemed blind to her presence as an imposter. Perhaps this wouldn't be as hard as she thought.