Live Long and Prosper

Posted on Tue Feb 7th, 2023 @ 6:23pm by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: Character Development
Location: Officers Quarters.
Timeline: On approach to Earth.
1443 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Chiming the door alert, P'rel eyeballed the round ended sign upon the door in front of her. 'Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating. Chief Engineering Officer. Deck 5 S.21 B'. A fierce irony if ever there was one to be had in that moment, the Vulcan thought. Having accidentally discovered a now vacant position of Chief Engineer when reviewing rotation assignment background files, the Vulcan had immediately made her way to Keating's quarters. The past months had been a trial, to be sure, though one she did not wish to see the Engineer lose out to - either personally or professionally.

"Who is it?" Finn asked as the chime rang, unsure she wanted any company in this moment. She had just finished rage packing the last of her belongings, still annoyed by the fact that Kane had denied her request for resignation. It wasn't fair. She knew what she was doing was the right thing, but there seemed to be roadblocks at every turn. Why did doing the right thing have to be so hard?

"Lieutenant P'rel", the Vulcan answered whilst noting that Keating blindly invited her unknown guest in. Perhaps she wanted to be left alone, although humans often went out of their way to provide that image to others when they needed company the most.

"I'm sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment. It'll have to wait for later." Finn shouted back through the door. The last she needed right now was to deal with the once enemy that she now shared a bond with. Though their mind meld had certainly ended, Finn felt as though she knew the woman more than she knew most and that P'rel knew many of her innermost feelings too. It was a weird sort of vulnerable feeling that she hadn't quite come to terms with yet and she wasn't sure she wanted to at this point with her intention of leaving Starfleet.

That is not acceptable, the Vulcan concluded; "Computer, unseal this door; authorization P'rel two two gamma red". The door immediately unlocked and slid open, revealing Keating mid way through slinging a duffel bag across the room to join the small pile of the other two on the floor near the door. Without skipping a beat which may have conventionally been filled with an apology for the invasion of privacy, she simply stepped across the threshold and announced that "as I understand it, there will not be a later....".

"Have you no respect for privacy?" Finn's words spat out like lava, so hot you could almost hear them sizzle as they reached the ice queen Vulcan. "And who said there wouldn't be a later? Last I checked my attempt at a resignation was denied."

"Yes." P'rel replied bluntly, turning and pressing the release to close the door behind her; now alone she and Finnley would have some privacy. It was a deliberate misinterpretation of Keating's words, with the idea of throwing in a chaotic element to permit P'rel to bypass Keating's clearly adversarial mood. "You did, as a matter of fact..." she resumed, "I simply noted that Captain Kane had rostered for a replacement Chief Engineer. Though I had presumed you were transferring, I did not anticipate an attempt to resign". P'rel didn't ask a question, she simply left the statement for Keating to grab hold of and steer the conversation.

Finn took just a moment to calm down from the unwanted intrusion into her quarters. Getting emotional would only serve to backfire in any conversation with P'rel. "First of all," she pointed to the door, keeping her voice as level as possible. "You know that's not what I meant. As you can see, I'm clearly busy and I don't appreciate the unwarranted intrusion. Secondly, what I'm doing with my life is, quite frankly, no concern of yours. Maybe I am transferring. Maybe I'm planning on coming back after shore leave. Or maybe I'm planning on deserting. Either way, the choice is mine. Now, was there something you needed?" She asked, having said her piece. She had thought about throwing in the fact that she had labored over the decision and knew she had picked the right path but didn't want to get tangled up in more conversation than was necessary.

"There is little doubt as to your intention" P'rel replied flatly; "we have shared minds Finnley, you forget that I understand your thought processes as innately as my own. You are intending to resign." she stated. Taking a step closer, the Vulcan held out an uncharacteristically affectionate hand and lightly touched Keating's arm. "But why?". Though she knew much of the likely content of the young woman's answer, P'rel concluded that a verbal excising of the reasons may be sufficient to talk her round; Commander Savin would be proud, she mused.

P'rel's arm conveyed a feeling of understanding or care, either way, it was exactly what Finn didn't want at that moment. She recoiled her arm and shot the Vulcan an icy stare. Everything in her wanted to lash out. To give P'rel a verbal beating for barging in and sticking her nose in her personal affairs. In some ways, she missed the way it was before, when they were enemies. At least it was easier to get rid of her then. Now that they shared a connection, Finn found herself unable to lay into the intelligence officer with all the rage that was pent up inside.

Finn took a step back. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but please, just leave me alone." Her voice had changed from anger to a more hollow tone.

P'rel weighed her options; on one hand Keating very much sincerely wanted to be left alone and perhaps the Vulcan should acquiesce to that wish; yet on the other hand the young woman had done nothing wrong at all, and the guilt she was running from was entirely misplaced. Perhaps, she decided, she should say as much; "Your departure from Starfleet would be a loss, to both the organisation and to yourself. There are no logical reasons for this course of action, Finnley..." she said, more posing a question in her tone, wondering if the engineer would bite and offer some reasoning verbally.

How could she say that? Finn thought. After all the damage I've done? She sighed and turned towards her bags, piling them in a corner. "I understand what you're saying, but I don't agree with you, and with all due respect, you won't change my mind. Now please. Leave."

Regarding Keating with a look of some skepticism, the Vulcan was unsure if she did in fact want her to leave. Humans were so fickle and riddled with contradictions when it came to emotion, after all. "Finnley, I shall leave" P'rel concluded verbally, "though you should know there will be many on this vessel who shall feel your absence at least as much as your presence. I am among those people."

How she could feel that way was beyond Finn's comprehension. She'd gotten the closest thing P'rel had to a son killed and beyond that almost killed countless others. How could anyone feel anything but joy in her absence? Finn wondered, but kept her thoughts to herself. It was clear that no amount of discussion would change either of their minds. Instead, she merely nodded in response to P'rel and continued piling her bags.

"Finnley" P'rel interjected once more, looking with a mixture of both concern, confusion and yet a level of understanding; not that she agreed with this ludicrous decision but having spent time mentally merged with Keating, she had an appreciation for her, flawed, logic. She parted her fingers on her left hand when Keating looked up; "Live long, and prosper".

Finn hesitated. She still couldn't come to terms with the fact that P'rel didn't seem to hold anything against her, even though Silnan's death was so clearly her fault. Yet her continued insistence that she shouldn't leave did help to dull some of the pain, even if Finn didn't want to admit it. She slowly picked up her hand, the one without replaced fingers, and made the same gesture. "Peace and long life."

P'rel's attention was certainly and visibly grabbed by Keating's return of the traditional idiom; perhaps, she mused, some substantial level of Katric transferrance had taken place. If that were so, then equally perhaps Keating would in time find it within herself to blend P'rel's logical control of emotion into her own, and make a sense out of all this madness. She hoped, in any case, that Finnley would find the peace she was looking for.