Stardate: 70531.1500
Title: Wishful Thinking
Author: Zanh Liis
Scene: Arboretum
Time: Following "To The Rescue"
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Zanh exited the conference room and headed back onto the main bridge, where she found Salvek relaying orders concerning the gear that his officers needed to take on the away mission. He paused as he saw her approach. He knew she had a stop to make- to speak to that one extra person that he believed she had in mind for N'Dura's team. He nodded to her.
"I just need ten minutes," Liis said softly. "You have the bridge."
"He will go, Captain. Do not worry about asking him." Salvek knew Jariel Camen well. If there was trouble on Bajor and he could help in any way, he would not hesitate.
"It's not the asking that I worry about." She whispered. "It's the going."
She moved into the turbolift without meeting his eyes again. "Arboretum."
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All the work was finished, and the results were more amazing than Jariel could even have hoped.
Everyone had put their hearts and paghs into this and it showed. He knew that the crew would find hours of joy, comfort, and reflection inside this space they'd all built together, in good times, and in bad.
He was the only one left here now, everyone else had either been recalled to duty or gone on to other leisure activities. He'd talked with Lt. Baux about her idea of a picnic social to 'warm' the place, and looked forward to the event which was scheduled for tomorrow.
He heard the distant rumble of thunder, sounding so real that he had to remind himself that it was the way that the computer had been set up to warn him that he had three minutes until the irrigation systems 'rain cycle' kicked on. Unless he wanted to get wet, he'd better go into one of the greenhouses, or perhaps rest a moment on the swing which sat beneath the gazebo near the rose garden.
"Jariel?" Liis shouted, traversing the vast space of the arboretum as quickly as she could. She didn't have a lot of time, she needed to find him now.
He puckered his lips and whistled, the sound drawing her attention to his location. He smiled at her as she approached, but the smile dissolved as soon as he saw that the color of her uniform and the number of pips on her collar had changed since he'd seen her, just hours before.
The 'sun' had begun to set now, and the overhead lighting took on the eerie glow of twilight. Fiber optic 'stars' appeared as if on the horizon, and even though she knew that they were merely wires and artifice, Liis wished that she could stay here with him and just watch the imitation of night fall quietly over his gardens, where everything was peaceful, perfect, and safe.
[[Captain?]] He signed, his expression one of concern.
"Acting only. Gilmore is ill, Camen, but that's not the worst of it. I- I have something I have to ask of you."
[[Anything. You know that.]] His hands motioned with fluid grace, the words even more touching to her being spoken this way. [[You have but to ask and if it is in my power. . .]] his hands clasped together behind his back as he waited for her request.
The sound of thunder rumbled again, and simulated lightning followed, as the environmental controls ramped up the humidity. [[We're going to get soaked,]] he warned, and he grabbed her hand in an attempt to lead her beneath a large tree. Liis shook her head.
"Doesn't matter. Please, listen." The rain started to fall, and he saw her shudder slightly as she began to feel cold. "The Plains- they're devastated. The villages, everything is gone. A funnel, it. . ." she stopped, and shook her head again. She didn't even have to ask him if he would go, she knew the answer. "I wish I could go with you. If Gilmore were," she let the sentence die, half spoken. It was useless to say the words, she thought, when they represented wishes that could not at least for the moment, come true.
He brushed drops of water from her face. [[We both know your place is here. Do not worry, we will do all we can. When do the teams leave?]]
"As soon as possible."
[[We'd better go then.]]
He looked above a moment at the man-made rainstorm, and wished again that Bajor had a weather modification net. He had worried that someday, something like this might happen. They hurried back toward the exit, but on the way Jariel stopped Liis momentarily.
[[There's something I want to show you. Look here.]]
He pointed to a small, flowering tree, off by itself in a corner. She cocked her head to the side.
"Can't be." She recognized it's idosyncratic branches immediately, and knew that if she moved around the side of the trunk and turned her head upside down, she would find hidden beneath the largest one the small inscription of their initials that he had carved there while they were still but children at the orphanage in Altaan.
It was something he would have had no memory of, if not for the Orb experience which had claimed his voice. "But how did you?"
[[Vedek Timal still owes me a few favors.]] He wanted her to have this brief second of happiness, to help steady her for the rough journey ahead. She nodded. He knew how much it meant to her, even though she couldn't let her feelings show now.
With no time to fully appreciate the gesture the pair continued on, stopping just inside the doors to shake the water from their hair before leaving.
"No doubt that the irrigation system works." Liis remarked, shivering. She was glad to see that the rain obscured the sorrow written on her face, and she put her emotions aside again as they moved toward the lift. "Please, Jariel. Be careful down there."
[[Always. I just got here, I have no intention of cutting our reunion short.]] he stepped backward into the lift, holding her gaze.
[[May the Prophets guide you, Liis]] He winked, adding, [[Or, should I say, Captain Zanh?]]
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Zanh Liis
Acting CO
USS Independence NCC-90791