Personal Log - Dani Atarah, Kalina Zett, and Andrea Levine - Reunions and Families - Earth, Pt V

Posted on Sat Aug 30th, 2014 @ 5:11am by Danielle Atarah

3,332 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Are You Touched?

A woman walked through the door with the double stroller, and the door latched, locked, and sealed, like every evening. Soon, the guard will show up, checking to make sure the nightly curfew was implemented, but in reality, checking to make sure one particular tenant -- the one who did not leave the house today, or the previous day, or at all since this whole mess started -- is inside.

That was their reality now, for the past couple of months. A curfew that was enforced with brute force, armed soldiers all over the streets, and a house arrest, threatening to drive that special tenant a very special type of crazy.

"We spent a day in the park, watching the ships go by," the older woman said gently, pretending some normalcy, and pulled the two toddlers out of the strollers and onto the toy-covered floor, where they picked themselves up, waddling, and made a b-line to their mother's feet.

Andrea Levine nodded, gave her mother a brief hug and knelt to the floor, picking her two children one after the other for their kisses. "Oh," she smiled, sniffing at her daughter's diaper, "what is that? Someone needs a diaper change."

"We really should stick to the potty training," her mother tsk'ed and walked off to the kitchen. Andrea smiled at the toddler in her arms. "What do you think, Madison? You think you can start potty training? You're a big girl now, you and your brother." And they were. Almost two, now. They were growing up way too fast.

"I can change her diaper," a small voice chirped from the doorway to the kitchen, and Andrea turned to face her eldest daughter with a smile.

"That's okay, Anne, I'll take care of it. I think Maddy and Cooper and I," she kissed both toddlers and smiled, "could all use some mommy time. Can you help your grandma set up the table?"

The girl nodded. "Schlompi and I already finished setting it up!"

"You didn't let that rat climb our dinner table did you??" The older woman, Andrea's mother, gave Anne with a horrified expression.

"He's not a rat, grandma," Anne retorted, and Schlompi, who climbed up the girl's leg to be picked up let out a surprisingly human-sounding bark. Both toddlers laughed in Andrea's arms, and Madison, almost two, mimicked the bark with a toddler's voice, cracking both of her siblings up in gales of laughter. Andrea's smile widened.

And then the doorbell chimed. Anne froze, squeezing Schlompi in her arms. The twins on the floor blinked in surprise, noticing the shift in attitude in the room. Cooper looked up at his worried mother, babbling a whiny stream of incomprehensible syllables. Andrea sighed, allowed her mother to take over the child caring rose to her feet.

"Stay here," she muttered to no one in particular, intending it for all, and walked to the door, readying herself once again for the evening ceremony. They checked she was home, obeying the house arrest someone decided to impose on her. Like clockwork, just before dinner time, consistently. Every. Damn. Day.

"Hello Lieutenant," she nodded impassively at the man at the door.

"Commodore Andrea Robin Levine, personal identification number Romeo Alpha 2 2 0 Charlie 4?"

"Yes." Andrea bit back a sigh. He asked this same question every single day. You would think he would remember already.

He nodded curtly and handed her the PADD. She already knew what to do; her palm touched the PADD's surface, staying there a moment until the lights turned green, and then lifted, as she waited quietly for him to finish.

He pressed a button and looked at her curtly. "Curfew begins in fifteen minutes. The residents must stay inside the house until curfew ends at 7 in the morning. You, personally, must not leave the house under any circumstances during and after curfew. If you leave, you will be arrested immediately, and your household will be confiscated as ordered by Federation west-coast control. If there are any problems at any hour of the day, you should contact Federation Command Center and explain your need."

It was the same speech every evening, too, and Andrea, for the life of her, could not imagine a single case where calling 'Federation Command Center' would be a good idea under the current circumstances.

"Lock your doors," the man finished abruptly and turned on his heels to walk down the paved path towards his vehicle. Andrea didn't wait to see him go; she closed the door and locked it, latching the inner mechanism and verifying it was sealed. A forcefield would be activated on top of it, as it has over and around the entire property, giving her very little room to escape from spaces that were a complete box. Only a portion of the back yard was inside the field, but that had to be enough for her to go outside a bit, look around, and get some much needed fresh air.

That will not be tonight, though. She took a breath, settled herself for her family, and turned, walking briskly to the kitchen.

* * *

"It's this house," Zett gestured at the two storied house with the large grassy yard at the other side of the street, and Dani nodded, remembering the Levine household. It looked more or less the same as it did the last time she visited, about a year ago, except for the atmosphere around the street which seemed to be 20 degrees lower than anywhere else.

A large, black vehicle sat idle in front of the property, and Zett, dressed in dark black suit that resembled uniforms just a little too much for Dani's taste, walked over to it and knocked on its side door.

It opened with a whoosh, exposing two large men and a smaller woman sitting inside, guns on their laps. "Yes?"

"You're Adams?" Zett didn't waste a minute and gave him the instructions PADD. Three coins of gold pressed latinum stuck to it on the other site. The man picked the PADD up and looked at it casually, slipping the coins into his palm.

The money was not strictly necessary. Cardello's syndicate has paid significantly, and bribed more higher ups than these mere foot soldiers, to verify the officer inside that house did not join the group of executions that took the lives of a significant number of her peers. Zett and Dani were cleared to come visit, and Dani, for a brief moment, wondered how much this visit is going to cost her, but the thought only stayed for a moment. Cardello clearly knew what strings to pull.

But it never hurt lubricating the pawns. Zett smiled at the man in the big truck and nodded to his companions politely. "The papers are in order," Adams nodded, pretending it was all official, the coins expertly hidden in his palm. He will likely share them with his companions, one coin each. Or maybe not, but that was no longer Dani's or Zett's problem.

"Do you need an escort?" The other man asked, probably smelling another bribe at the inside.

"No," Zett shook her head quickly, "You all are staying here. This is a private matter."

The three looked at one another, wondering, probably, how much that starfleet woman owed the syndicate. They probably thought that her debts were quite significant, to warrant not only preserving her life, but a private meeting.

"Right, right. Well, you have until noon, when the shift changes. You'll have to deal with the others when we leave."

Pay more, that is. Zett nodded. "We won't be in that long. Let's go," she glanced at Dani and turned towards the rock-paved path to Andrea Levine's house.

* * *

Morning was Andrea's most favorite time. While breakfast could be a little hectic, especially on days where both her mother and her sister were staying the night, it also kept her surrounded by her family, and having something to do. The long stay inside the house, the long separation from the people she loved, from Logan -- it all threatened to drive her mad. The one bright light that kept her focused and sane were her children.

"Mom!" Anne yelled from the living room with the annoyance of a preteen, "Cooper keeps taking my PADDs!"

Andrea shook her head. Even petty bickering between her 11 year old girl and her baby brother were symbols of some normalcy. She tried to avoid a smile when her daughter stomped in through the doorway, holding her little brother by the arms so he can waddle in and sit, somewhat baffled, on the oak floor.

"Here. You stay here, Cooper, play with your own toys. I have homework to do," she showed the child her PADD, "Homework. can you say 'Homework'?"

"Hoe... ohk." The baby muttered, and reached for the PADD, a playful grin on his face. Anne snatched it away and shook her head. "No, mine. This is mine. That's yours," she pushed a small plastic toy shuttle towards him and his attention shifted almost immediately. "Ugh." Anne muttered, and Schlompi, wagging its tail at her feet, repeated, "uuhg," and both Cooper and Madison -- who was only a few feet away, playing by her mother's side -- giggled merrily at the big rat. Anne stomped off, but Schlompi, wagging its tail, stayed a moment and licked Cooper's leg quickly before rushing to catch up with his young mistress.

Andrea watched that exchange with a smile, drowning in blissful normalcy, laughing along with her children.

"Moooom," Anne's voice called, whiny, from the livingroom, and Andrea had to sigh. It wasn't like Anne to be whiny, but being mostly locked up in the house had affected the girl too. She, unlike herself, could go out during the day, but Andrea wouldn't let her go anywhere on her own. The only way for the girl to go out and get some air -- and some basic interaction with outside world -- was with either her aunt or her grandmother picking her up for their walks. Lately, those came almost daily, as it was getting pretty clear the girl is getting stir crazy almost like her mother.

"What is it, Anne?"

"There's someone at the door," the girl's whine mixed with the rat's, and Andrea's face paled. She suddenly understood her daughter's whiny tone for what it was: not annnoyance or complaint, but worry. Fear.

Andrea got up from the floor and walked to the play room door. "Anne, get in here and watch your brother and sister. And call your grandma, she's at the other room." She walked to the door wearily, and waited for the girl to comply and close the play room's door after herself.

The house was constantly under surveillance and was being watched; if anyone came to the door unannounced, it was not good news. Andrea braced herself, took a breath to puff her chest back to her authoritative state, and opened the door, expecting the worst.

Colorful curls greeted her beyond the door, and below them, eyes that were full of amused judgment between two neat rows of Trill spots.

"Huh," the woman huffed, looking Andrea over from head to toe. "I expected you'd be taller."

Andrea blinked, surprised and somewhat baffled. The guards who visited her until now were mostly men, and mostly quite burly, an attempt, she assumed, to intimidate her to submission. None of them ever said anything remotely casual, let alone personal.

Her eyes narrowed under furrowed brows. "I'm sorry?"

"Oh cut it out, Kal," another voice joined from behind the bulkhead, and a face appeared, tilted, peering into the house. "She's just as tall as I remember."

Andrea, quite a bit baffled, took a moment to look at the female face that smiled at her horizontally. The woman looked familiar, but the information took a moment to register in the older woman's mind. Until, that is, the face grinned -- a cheesy, teeth-exposing, Bugs Bunny grin -- and Andrea gasped.

"Dani!"

"Let us in," Dani slid towards the entrance, her head tilting back to being vertical, "before we have to pay these guys more of our hard earned cash."

"You mean my hard earned cash," Zett snorted and snuck in, squeezing between a doorway and a shocked Commodore. Dani followed, but while Zett continued inside, Dani stopped in front of her friend, smiling.

"What's up, Boss?"

"I..." Andrea muttered, her attention shifting from Zett's entrance -- lest she open that play room door -- and back to Dani, her brain finally regaining some control of her usually keen analysis skills. "Dani!" she repeated, and gave the small engineer a hug. "Dani, how... what are you doing here... how did you... the Federation coup, the executions... They took over Utopia Planetia on the first day, I... I was so worried..."

"Oh," Dani hugged back, embarrassed and chuckling, "slow down there, Boss. I'm okay. We're good. We managed to get away from the shipyards before it was taken over. I wanted to run here, really," she disconnected from the hug and shrugged, "but that didn't work out."

"It worked out eventually," Zett chimed in and half sat half jumped into the plush sofa in the middle of the room. Something squeaked and she frowned, twisted her back to have her arm reach behind her, and plucked a small rubber ball. She squeezed it, confirming it was the offending squeak, and tossed it to the floor.

"Yeah," Dani nodded and walked towards the sofa to stand near Zett's sitting form. "It worked out. I'm here now, checking up on you."

Andrea walked casually towards the center and stood in front of the closed play room door, as if to guard it. She looked at her old subordinate for a moment, examining Dani's new look, and then stared at her accomplice.

"And who is that?"

"That's Kal," Dani hurried to answer before Zett does. "She's a friend, you can trust her."

"Aww," Zett mocked, smiling, "I'm trustworthy. You shouldn't have, Dee."

Dani waved at her dismissively and turned to appraise her former Captain. "They told me you were alright, but I had to check for myself. How is everyone? The kids?"

"I'm alright," Andrea allowed, her face still covered with suspicion towards the unknown guest on her sofa, "the kids are fine, too. I seem to be on some sort of house arrest," she pointed towards the windows behind Zett's head, "they're always there."

"Better than having them come in for an execution," Zett noted, staring back at Andrea with an unapologetic smile.

"Yes." Andrea allowed, "It is."

"Daniiii!" Anne's voice chirped, excited, from the other entrance to the living room, followed by a double bark of excitement from Schlompi. The girl cheered, ran into the living room -- completetly obvious of her mother's exhasperated look -- and jumped into Dani's arms. Schlompi, panting, wagged his tail so quickly, his entire body was swaying back and forth.

"Hey there little munchkin!" Dani grinned and picked the girl up to a hug. She didn't have to pick her too high, though, and Dani wondered if Anne had grown taller in the past few months. "Look, Zett," she turned to face the Trill on the couch with Anne still in her arms, "it's the ANN-E-MANIACS!" she declared, and Anne giggled, climbing down and picking Schlompi up.

Andrea swallowed her anger. Anne wasn't supposed to come out, especially with a stranger in the house, but she couldn't blame her, either. Dani was almost family.

Zett raised both eyebrows and leaned back, appraising the 11-year-old. "She's a bit too tall, isn't she?" she smiled, giving Anne a mock suspicious look. "Besides, I bet she can't recite the names of all the states properly."

"Oh, no, you don't know what you've started." Dani shook her head, smiling, and only allowed herself to glance up at Andrea, whose face remained stony -- somewhere between suspicion, worry, and analytical curiosity -- as she continued to appraise the situation with her daughter right in the middle of things.

"Ah! I remember," Anne grinned, then paused a moment to think, Schlompi mimicking her thoughtful expression perfectly, then looked up at the Trill and sang. "Okay! Here goes![1]" she took a breath and sang, "Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Indianapolis, Indiana. And Columbus is the capital of Ohio. There's Montgomery, Alabama, south of Helena, Montana. Then there's Denver, Colorado, under Boise, Idaho.."

Zett grinned, and Andrea took the moment of distraction to pull Dani to the side by the arm.

"Okay, Lieutenant. Out with it. What the hell is going on."

Dani's smile faded, and she nodded briskly. She thought, for a brief second, to say something witty and stupid, but then thought better of it. Andrea was not just any Captain; not just anyone at all.

She took a breath and let it out, ignoring Anne's Animaniacs song and Zett's thrilled clapping at the beat to the song. "I came back to Earth as soon as I could, to make sure you and Anne were okay. My family, too, but they weren't in real danger, not like you, with your post in the middle of Starfleet headquarters, and with you not wanting to run when you were told to."

"Run? The 'rescue' shuttle the night the Federation took over, that was you?"

Dani nodded. "I pulled some strings, I wanted you and Anne off the planet, but you didn't go."

"Anne was in summer camp in Hawaii," Andrea stated angrily. "Of course I didn't go."

"Yes, well, that took some tricks too, bringing her back here. It was supposed to be done faster, but my first contact was confused for a 'collaborator' and got himself shot. I had to get another plan going. There was no way to get you there. And now she's here."

"Yes," Andrea conceded, but her eyes remained fixed on Dani's. "She's here. We're both here. The twins, too."

"What about your family? Your mother, sister, brothers? They're all safe?"

Andrea nodded. "They are. Was that your doing, too?"

"No," Dani shook her head, "no, they weren't really an interest once we got you covered," she finished quickly with a whisper and turned to face Anne again, as the girl finished the song to Zett's enthused claps.

"That's one smart girl you have here," Zett cheered, and Anne bowed. "Must have taken it from her father."

Andrea didn't take the bait. "Anne, how about you go into the kitchen and help your grandma with lunch? I need to talk to our guests for a while."

Anne seemed disappointed for a moment, but complied. "See you later, Dani, and Dani's friend."

"Kal," Zett called after her, "I'm Kal. Or Kali. Like the short form of your state," she winked, and Anne giggled her way out of the living room.

Schlompi, however, remained behind. While his tail was wagging, it was clear the rat sensed Andrea's unconscious distress. He stood next to her, quietly, like a small guard dog, waiting to see if he is needed.

Andrea peered through the living room door to make sure her daughter was away and turned back to face the two women. "Alright, you two," she grabbed the stool and pulled it to the center of the room so she can sit facing the sofa. Dani scratched her head and sat next to Zett, who, in turn, just stared back at their host with the same amused smile she had when she first walked through the door.

"Tell me what is going on," Andrea nodded, resting both her palms on her knees.

And Dani, with Zett's occasional smartsy comments, did.

* * *

Danielle Atarah
Grifter / Thief
Earth

Kalina Zett
Captain
Bristol Supply ship
The Cardello Syndicate

Commodore Andrea Levine
Professor, Starfleet Academy
Tenured Researcher, R&D, Starfleet Command
Federation-controlled Earth

Anne Levine-Planck
& Madison and Cooper Levine-Grant

(All NPCs played by Mooey)

[1] For your enjoyment, and reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNUDDaEOvuY

 

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