California Dreamin'

Posted on Sun Apr 16th, 2023 @ 2:10pm by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: Wrath of the People
Location: California, Beach
Timeline: MD4
3134 words - 6.3 OF Standard Post Measure

The sun was bright and the warmth in the air enveloped them like a comforting hug as Finn and Quinn transported to the top of the beach. "First one to the water gets to claim the best wave," Finn challenged her dad and the two split off for the water like a couple of wild animals. Her face radiated pure joy. Something that hadn't been present for a long time, but things had taken a turn over the past few weeks back home. A turn for the better.

Finn's feet hit the water first and she splashed around, feeling a sense of solace as the water embraced her. As much as engineering had once felt like home, so too did the ocean. She danced around and noticed off in the distance an oddly familiar shape. P'rel? The intelligence officer was the first thing that came to mind. But why would she be here? Finn wondered for a moment before deciding that she must be mistaken and turned back to face the water.

"Finnley" P'rel willed, mentally projecting - no, desperately clawing - for the young woman in the water; it was by no means a certainty, but the Katric imprint left behind in the human may have been sufficient to retain their telepathic bond. Her eyes fixated on the partially submerged engineer, the Vulcan was pleased when the former's head turned once again in her direction. How much did Keating know at this point was presently a mystery, and of course a significant complication was the eminent Colonel Keating barely a hundred metres from Finnley - a fiercely competent marine by all accounts, perhaps even so far as blindingly loyal to Starfleet. Captain Bennett's phaser sat clipped in the rear waistband of the Earth Ecological Survey uniform she had liberated from a technician working on some kind of unfamiliar salinity regulation device. Hopefully unnecessary, but a Starfleet Colonel protecting his daughter...a phaser was certainly a fair precaution to take. Noting Keating's attention, P'rel slid down into the long beach grass out of view to await Finn.

Something nagged at her mind, like someone calling her name, but that was impossible. Right? Finn looked back towards the shore again to see the P'rel like figure slip into the grass and somehow she knew that it would bother her to not check it out.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to go take a quick break and look into something," Finn said to her father before paddling to shore. Considering they had just recently arrived, Quinn noted the break as a strange behavior and nodded in acceptance, but kept a close eye out anyway.

Finn slid into the grass just as she'd seen their visitor do and then gasped. "It is you!" She pointed at the intelligence officer. "What the hell are you doing here? And why are you hiding in the grass like a total creep? You could've just come out and introduced yourself you know," Finn said with a mix of shock and bewilderment.

"No" the Vulcan replied, "I could not...". She studied Keating's face for just a moment, there was genuine confusion there, annoyance perhaps, exasperation even. Though their last conversation had been well intentioned, it had ended without a satisfactory outcome; still, P'rel would have expected a different greeting if the engineer knew what was going on. This immediately led the intelligence officer's thoughts down a different path; why didn't Finnley know? It was entirely plausible that for sanity's sake, she was keeping away from media broadcasts though that wouldn't explain why her parents would be - and in such an instance, why would they keep the news of the bombing and Kane's arrest from Finnley? Was Colonel Keating part of this conspiracy?

Without warning P'rel lunged forward and gripped Finnley behind the neck with her left hand and rapidly found her katric points with her right hand, with such a recent meld it was a simple process to project almost a data-packet of memories into the human's mind. The speech, the bomb, her interactions with Captain Bennett in the orbital habitat, her own fugitive status, everything from the past day telepathically uploaded to Finnley. Having achieved the transference, P'rel released her grip and supported her friend back to the ground as they both knelt facing eachother; the human processing the sudden input of memories, the Vulcan earnestly awaiting the response.

Though his vision was obscured by the grass, Quinn noticed some sort of unusual ruffling in the area that Finn had entered, followed by stillness and that was enough to pique his interest. He made sure to sneak up from a lesser detectable angle and got close enough to see there was another figure hiding with Finn. A Vulcan. It didn't look as though his daughter had been physically harmed in any way but the expression on her face was clearly one of discomfort and he didn't like that. He hadn't brought a weapon with him, so instead, he decided to worm his way through the sand to a spot behind the stranger and wait for his moment to lunge.

Finn sat on her heels in shock. The bombing was awful on its own and the fact that they were holding Kane responsible made it even worse. How could they? The shock slowly turned to anger. Kane would never do something like this. And what were those strange readings P'rel had gathered?

"What? When?" Finn tried to make sense of it all as the memories swirled in her head like a tornado of madness. "So they really think Kane did it? Is he ok?" She looked at P'rel with a mix of hope and sorrow over all that had happened, but as she did she spotted a figure leaping toward the intelligence officer. "No, stop!" She yelled, but it was too late.

P'rel slammed into the sand, having only just sense the attack in the fraction of a second before it hit. She pushed her right leg to the side to make a lever to push up from, but the assailant was sufficiently skilled in blocking such a move with his own body weight. Colonel Keating, no doubt, P'rel concluded; someone she could easily incapacitate with him having barely a third of her own muscular strength, but someone it was probably best not to injure if she wanted to obtain Finnley's help.

"Who are you?!" Quinn's gruff voice spoke out as he tackled the Vulcan to the ground and then did his best to pin her there.

"A crewmate, dad, from the Athena. Lieutenant P'rel specifically. The one who rescued me," Finn said with a look of utter embarrassment from the mishap.

"Oh," Quinn quickly moved aside. "My apologies. But what in the world are you two doing crouched in this grass? It looks suspicious as hell."

"Clearly" P'rel returned pointedly; if a tone of voice were a phaser beam the Colonel would have been vaporised. She brushed down the sand from the civilian uniform and took the Colonel's hand as he reached to help her. Seizing her moment, she yanked him closer and sank her dominant fingers into his neck, catching his body weight as he passed out and lowering him gently to the ground. "Forgive me Finnley. But this will be become a clear necessity when I have asked of you that which I must".

"I can't say he didn't deserve it, but I'm very interested to know how knocking out my dad became a necessity. I know his approach wasn't exactly polite, but really?" She waved her arms at an unconscious Quinn in exasperation. Then again, if she thought about it, this outcome was probably the most predictable one had she ever imagined a meeting between P'rel and Quinn. Realizing there wasn't much she could do about her father's situation at the given moment, Finn sighed and sat back on her heels. "Tell me more about what happened at the academy."

Looking between both Colonel Keating and Finnley with a distinctively disinterested expression in respect of the former, P'rel gently kicked one of the Colonel's feet off the other one, so he didn't awake with a leg cramp. "There is little else to convey" she stated. "Except, of course, that the Captain is innocent..." she took a deep breath in. She missed this. Planetside work; real air, real plants, real sounds. Having shared minds, in that moment P'rel made the conclusion she'd been building to slowly for a while. Finnley was able to be trusted. "For some time now, the Captain and I have been aware of a conspiracy at the highest levels of Starfleet; elements from Cardassia, the Klingon Empire, and Typhon Pact remnants are involved. This is how the clones were able to operate. I believe there is a mission at hand here, to get rid of the Captain; a mission which failed in the Titania system, to destroy us all".

"Why? Why would they want to get rid of Kane? Is he being held somewhere? What's to keep them from getting to him now?" Finn's mind swirled with possibilities, completely forgetting that her father was still passed out next to them. "What were those strange readings you got by the way? It was a blur in the memories." She almost ended there until the most important question surfaced. "Wait. Why the hell are you here? Shouldn't you be trying to get him out?" Finn spit-fired the round of questions, trying though somewhat failing to keep a hushed voice.

Glancing around as if they were being watched, P'rel inadvertently mirrored her friend's hushed voice, yet another synergetic sign of melding. "I am trying to get him out..." she began, "though that will not be achieved from the farcical process of supposed court justice. I am, in any case, a fugitive wanted on suspicion of aiding the Captain". She thought it best to warn Finnley, at least give her a chance to run a proverbial mile. "And I must call on you once again to fight through divided loyalties, and to challenge your perception of that which is morally correct".

Finn just stared blankly at P'rel for a moment. She had a nagging feeling regarding what the Vulcan was going to ask her to do and she wasn't entirely sure she was up to the task. Then again, she couldn't just let Kane rot in jail without trying to help. "What do you need me to do?" Finn asked hesitantly.

P'rel looked at Keating in the eyes, conveying how serious she was. "There is no telling how many people, and how deeply, this conspiracy goes. I need you to be my eyes on the inside. I need you to offer yourself as a prosecution witness, and try to send the Captain to prison zealously". She watched for Keating's reaction, knowing from their intimate connection that asking her to betray Kane, when she was already in so much conflict, might be the final straw and one step too far.

This was a joke right? Finn thought before realizing that P'rel conveyed nothing but an utmost serious expression. Plus she'd never known the woman to tell a joke. Her jaw practically dropped in shock. "Let me get this straight. You want me, to offer myself as a witness to the wrong side and actually try to put the Captain in jail. You want me to betray him. After everything else I've already done to screw him over?" Between the clone, her own engineering screw-ups and then leaving the Athena, this would just be the cherry on top. She nervously chuckled. "No."

"You must", P'rel countered as if it were physically the only option available in the entire universe. "There is a far greater conspiracy here than that which is solely focused on the Captain. I need someone inside. I need to have an indication what they're thinking, where they're going; and you can only provide that if they believe you are committed to Kane's guilt". She stepped forward and took her arm; "this is saving the Captain, not betraying him".

Finn made a noise of utter frustration and buried her face in her hands. Could she really do this? Betray and disappoint everyone she cared about, again? Then again doing nothing would be like a betrayal too. Just thinking about it made her feel like her heart was splitting in half. She lingered there for a moment before willing the sour emotions away. P'rel had made it clear that there was no other choice. "Fine," Finn reluctantly replied.

"Finnley..." P'rel began again, aware of the magnitude of what she was about to ask; especially given the human's reaction already; and even more so from the intimate knowledge the Vulcan had about her guilt. This may mentally destroy Finn, and end her career, but there was something so much larger at stake here; and she knew that logically it was entirely worth a handful of careers and mental stability. "...you will need to lie..." furthered. "They must have a senior officer on Kane's staff who will testify to his more...hostile...tendencies. You must portray that you believe he did this..." her eyes lingered on Keating's for a moment, as she saw the emotional explosion within. "You must also indicate that you believe in my complicity. I won't lie to you Finnley..." P'rel paused, watching the pain wreak havoc over Keating's face as if it were a cliff being ravaged by violent ocean waves; "...even when we exonerate Captain, you might be charged with perjury for lying in court..."

Only days ago had Finn tipped the scales of despair and started to come to terms with everything that had happened over the past months. The light had just started to seep through the darkness that had plagued her mind and now she felt it start to creep back in. Lies. Betrayal. She had been so good at it before, back on that planet. It was only natural that she be the choice to commit such treachery again, right? Then again, if they did exonerate the Captain and she was tried for perjury, then it would be a stain on the family name. Another stain.

"I understand the risks. I'll do it." Finn replied, jaw set with determination. There was no other choice. Her career was already on the verge of destruction anyway and what good was a family name if she let an innocent person go to jail just to keep herself out of the mix? Even if it did mean taking on a role of deceit and betrayal. "Now help me get him back to the house," she pointed towards her father still lying in the grass-covered dune, "and you can tell me everything I need to know."

"I am afraid that not would not be congruent with the image we must portray..." the Vulcan replied, grimly. "Finnley, when you need to contact me, place flowers in your bedroom window..." she held her arm out to grip Keating's, she squeezed slightly to convey her reluctant affections.

Finn shook her head. "Anyone that knows me knows that I never keep flowers. I'll move my surfboard so that it covers the corner of my window. We can meet at Hendry's beach. Follow the coastline north about a kilometer and then look for the rock formation that resembles a rhino. Right around the corner from that is a cave hidden in the cliffside. It's difficult to find if you're not looking for it and I surf at Hendry's beach enough that my being there won't seem suspicious." Finn paused. "I'm not looking forward to this, but if I'm going to do it, we'd better be careful to make it look convincing. Is there anything else I should know?"

P'rel initiated a further squeeze of Keating's arm and nodded to indicate she understood. Without warning she yanked Keating closer and slammed a fist into her solar plexus, released her arm and used that hand to sharply jab the human's face on the cheekbone, where it leave an obvious bruise. The concussive force knocked Keating backwards and she was unconscious before she hit the ground. Kneeling beside her, P'rel lifted Finn's right hand and used the woman's fingers to claw at the Vulcan's arm leaving DNA traced beneath her nails as if they'd violently fought. "Plenty" she replied, as she again took Keating's facial Katric points beneath her fingers and accessed the human's memories.

As she moved through, P'rel found what she visualised as an empty shipping box; opening it she placed within it everything she knew about the readings taken from Narek's injured body, including the only way he could have picked up that particular radiation signature. Digging deeper, P'rel clearly pictured the face of the security officer who had whisked away her tricorder, and placed that within the container as well. As she closed the box, the Vulcan mentally whispered "cthia" as she coded the lock on the box. P'rel didn't yet know what to do with the knowledge, but it was a very real possibility that she would be killed within the coming days, and it was vital to impart the knowledge to another - and even more vital that the recipient of that knowledge not consciously know they possess it.

Once Keating heard 'cthia'; a Vulcan term for self control and balance and not something which would likely come up in common conversation, then the knowledge would activate and Keating could continue to expose this conspiracy even with P'rel herself dead. Exiting Keating's mind, P'rel rose and looked at bother Finnley and Quinn. This would likely be the final time she ever saw the one person - the most unlikely person - she had come closest to calling a friend. It was almost a logical certainty that the far more powerful and resourceful conspirators would soon catch up with her and eliminate the threat, leaving only Finnley to be activated by a word likely to spoken at whatever small funeral rite P'rel was afforded. From that point, it would be down to the human to finish the job or else be killed as well, which was itself highly likely.

Looking with regret to the engineer, P'rel suppressed the guilt that she probably sentenced both herself and the promising and so young human to death. This was bigger than Kane however, and themselves, with this deep conspiracy risking the entire ninth fleet area of operations and the millions of lives within it.

She only hoped that such balanced feelings and thoughts had transferred to Keating. By the hand Khaless as the Klingons would say, Finn was going to need that balance in the coming days ahead.