Joint Duty Log | Com Levine, Capt Landon Neyes, Cmdr Grant, LtCmdr Neyes, Noah (NPC) | "Immersed In Echoes" - pt V

Posted on Sat Nov 1st, 2014 @ 1:52am by Commander Logan Grant, PhD. & Commander Tristan Neyes PhD. & Commodore Andrea Levine PhD & Captain Landon Neyes

1,977 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: All Hallows’

Watching Landon, or at least this very convincing copy of the man, just about broke Noah's heart. Without Pond actually saying much, it'd been clear just how hard his loss had been on Rochelle — if for no other reason than how fiercely protective his sister was over this woman who carried herself as one who was more than self sufficient. Now he was seeing the other end of the equation. Noah hoped, and prayed to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, that this indeed was the real Landon. True love was a gift, and it wasn't often one got a second go at it when life tried to dash it on the rocks.

"Water, coming right up," Noah answered, heading to the bathroom. Pond had been insistent they don't use the replicator, so he wouldn't. He was lucky enough to find a glass sitting next to the sink and filled it, bringing it back. He offered it to the mystery man that the more Noah heard and saw, the more he hoped would be the real deal.

The words being sent to Landon were enough to calm him, with his breathing steadily returning to normal. The monitors signaled the reduction of his heart rate, and the tension racking his body diminished. Lacking the strength to continue on fighting, or being on guard, he was glad for a moment to finally lower his shields. Months had blurred into days and hours while he had been captured, and death rapped on his doorstep every second he’d been away. Now Vindicator had ‘picked up’ his frail body, a remnant of the aftermath brought by Tr’Bak, and he found being at ease came no easier than staying alive in captivity. Had they found him intentionally? Was it possible they just happened upon the very ship he was being held on? The questions only served to further his anxiety. An unwelcome feeling if he was truly among his crew once again.

Each of the officers, if that was indeed what they were, seemed like they knew about him without actually knowing him. He certainly didn’t recognize a Commander Grant, and he wouldn’t believe the other was his brother until he could see. The woman at his bedside was familiar, and thankfully he was graced with an eidetic memory. Aside from the man who claimed to be his brother Tristan, he felt truth in her words, like someone who had no reason to spit lies at him. Her steady arm touched up against his, like a mother caring for a sick child. She leaned in closer, and hers was the only face he could make out. "Commodore Levine," he said, briefly making out her features.

"Thank you, Mr. Waterhouse." Taking the water from Noah, the counselor carefully brought it to the Trill's lips. He was still too weak to be able to control something as tedious as liquid, and Logan would be damned if he'd let the man drown in a glass. The fact he recognized Andrea allowed the big Kiwi to smile, and cast an approving nod to Tristan and his wife.

Neyes shook his head, confused, "I don't understand. Was this a rescue mission? Why aren't we in sickbay?" They were all just standing there, looking at him like they half-expected him to jump off the bed and attack them. He could feel their own tension, but didn’t understand why they would be so on guard around him. He lay there injured, in some room on the ship he called home. ‘His’ ship… well.

Captain Ivanova. It was her ship now. Five months was a long time to expect them to wait for him, “You assumed I had been killed.” He finally said, a blunt realization cutting at the edges of his tone.

"That's just it... We knew you were dead." Logan's voice was soft, almost apologetic, and it crawled through the heavy air with a message that could only cause pain and misery. "Rochelle watched you be taken by the Symbiosis Commission. Tristan watched you die, watched you be buried and brought Rochelle home a Dear John. Cut scene and enter a Romulan D'deridex stage right that challenged the Vindicator to a duel, was blown to pieces, had sixteen survivors beamed aboard and one of them just so happens to be you. The lost Captain. The one the current Captain grieves to the point of being a ghost herself." He continued, scratching his furrowed brow as he spoke. It had been only a couple days ago that he'd sat with Rochelle over dinner and listened to her separate the truth from rumor. The original plan had been to distract her from a far greater issue at hand, the constructed group effort to eliminate Mikkal from ever being able to hurt her, or anyone else, again. The Vindicator had already lost one Captain, the little firebird was now their precious crown jewel and they'd fight to the bitter end to keep her alive and unharmed.

That train of thought brought about point number two, "We're not in sickbay because of that reason. We need to confirm your identity before we can allow Rochelle to get involved and so far that's proving to be a difficult task. Your symbiont was given to Tristan... That means there's two and that's a bloody impossi--" Logan caught himself, casting a quick look to Andrea who he knew would likely puff up with pride that he'd curried off some of her sharp analytic ice, "It's an improbability and we'll figure out the how and the why. What are the last things you remember of your time with Vindicator?--"

A shake of the mattress was the only warning. Before Logan could even finish his sentence a surge flashed across the monitor above the biobed and Landon was up, alarms signalling a powerful change in his status. Adrenaline coursed into his body, and Landon practically growled. His powerful legs swung around off the edge of the bed and his feet slammed against the carpeted floor of the room. All the medical furniture between Andrea, Logan and Noah, he completely ignored them and pressed a hand against the figure who claimed to be Tristan, then pushed.

Tristan barely had a moment to even react. Despite his freshly healed injuries Landon managed to rise up to stand over him, then reached out. Barely able to even try to defend himself Tristan felt his feet leave the ground and the far wall quickly move up to meet him. With a grunt and a heavy smash, Tristan was thrown against the wall of the room. A few decorative pictures fell down with the stunned counselor, as he cried out in panicked surprise.

"Landon, NO! Stop! It's me!" Tristan scrambled to his feet just as Landon slowly crossed the room toward him. A ringing burst of energy giving him the drive to hop to, ready to face his brother. He was shocked at the look of terrorizing pain and hatred Landon was giving him.

"YOU were joined with Neyes?? I am Neyes. Who are you?!" Shouted Neyes. He went for an shot at Tristan's midsection, his fist barreled under and forward. With air-like fluidity, Tristan deflected the blow with a side swipe of his palms, and spun around the back around Landon. Landon may have been a power-house, but he was slowed and dulled by whatever had happened to him. While Landon tried to turn, Tristan struck the blade of his hand against his brother's midsection, and stabbed three fingers into a muscle in his shoulder. The move was a single, precise strike of enormous accuracy.

Landon dropped to one knee, suddenly barely able to keep his torso from contracting with agonizing tightness. He fell forward and outstretched his free arm to catch himself.

"Hypo!" Tristan cried at the others, motioning to the medical case.

Logan didn't have time enough to react to the sudden force and power exhibited by Landon beyond pulling his wife back and away from the raging bull of a man. Noah was safe, tucked away close to the door, but Tristan would ultimately pay the price while Logan recoiled and surged to go save the other counselor. In what could have been considered a display of great stupidity - given the nature of his lame leg - Logan jumped the biobed, using it as a spring board to launch himself onto the other side. While he didn't have a chance to grab the magical syringe of night night juice, he did have a chance to slide his arms under Landon's and lock his fingers behind his neck. Tristan had put the man down hard and now size and health were on the Kiwi's side when it came to keeping him down, even if his leg howled at him for his athleticism.

Andrea gasped and recoiled, staring at the scene in horror. For a moment, her brain fought between having great sympathy for the raging Trill and having greater sympathies for his brother. But that confusion was short lived; Tristan reacted, and Landon was down, and her husband, in a move she knew he would regret later, and one she intended to discuss with him, quite seriously, when they were not under the stress of immediate irreversible actions, took control.

"STOP!" Logan bellowed roughly. "He risked everything for you! If it weren't for him, you'd probably be held in a science lab right now while Intel grilled your ass! There's two Neyes! The question is why and you're either going to work with us while we try to figure this out and prepare you for the next step in life, or we fucking break Rochelle's heart all over again by having to reveal you, declare you a fraud, and have her watch you taken off this ship again, this time in handcuffs. Do you want that?!"

Rallying at the indirect threats, Neyes struggled against the restraint of the unusually tall man. The wounds to his mind and body were too much. In any other situation, he would have easily freed himself. Now though, he lacked the strength and the want for any real plan to take place. What would he do if he the man confessed to being some kind of Romulan spy? Kill him? Even with the molten rage searing his insides at the thought of someone desecrating his brother's memory, or stealing his identity, Rochelle found her way into his thoughts.

"...I don't." It was an icy whisper if ever one existed.

"Then start acting civilized and work with us! You're a lucky son of a bitch, don't piss this opportunity away." The counselor rallied with an indignant snort, his eyes quickly darted up to Tristan and Andrea, "Now I'm going to release you and help get you back in bed. In return you're going to answer my question. Try something stupid again and the gig's up. No dramas, alright? We'll get through this as a family because like it or not, we're all you've got."

Andrea finally allowed her muscles to relax, her fists unclenching. She knew Logan could take care of himself, especially in situations like these, that seemed to require a special mix of both his heritage and his profession, but that didn't mean she was entirely comfortable watching him jump into the middle of the action. Only now, when things calmed somewhat, did she manage to take a breath and force herself to let go of the tension, sliding back to stand against the farther wall, watching.


==to be continued==

Lt Commander Tristan Neyes
Chief Counselor
USS Vindicator

Commander Logan Grant
Counselor
USS Vindicator

Captain Landon Neyes
Former Commanding Officer
USS Vindicator

Commodore Andrea Levine-Grant
Former Professor of Physics
Starfleet Academy

Noah Waterhouse
Pastafarian Minister
Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

 

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