Post 460: Caught In the Act

Stardate:70926.0100
Title: Caught in the Act
Authors: TC Blane and Zanh Liis
Scene: Ready Room, USS Independence
Time: Following "Strike Out" by TC Blane
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"What next, Captain?" Blane knew what he'd do with Corbinsky at this point, but respectfully awaited the Captain's orders.

"Erect a level 10 forcefield around this room. Nobody gets in, nobody goes out until this man has been thoroughly searched. I will leave that unhappy business to our able Security department. Myself, I'm going to get another cup of coffee. Care to join me, Cy Young?" Liis impressed Blane in that moment with her knowledge of both baseball, and pitchers.

"Indeed."

Corbinsky was beginning to come around, and he realized that the towering Klingon standing over him was about to get to know him in an all too familiar way.

"Is this really necessary?" he objected.

"Yes." N'Dura replied, and she and the other security officers surrounded Corbinsky, and took him off into the corner.

"After this is over, remind me to have everything steam-cleaned." Zanh cringed.

TC took his cup and sipped it. He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. It will kind of give the room a history, you know.” He then yelled over at the doctor. “Don’t worry Doc. She’s a professional.”

He took another sip and turned to Zanh and winked. “I love it when a plan comes together. It is good being devious.”

"Yes, devious, you have a definite aptitude for. He is dying to know how you pulled it off," Zanh smirked with satisfaction at the quality of Blane's work.

"The less said on that," TC replied, "The better."

"I concur." Zanh was standing beside one of the many plaques on the wall dedicated to the work and achievements of her friend, Admiral Jordan Morris, still missing in action on the Starion.

"This room does have history, believe you me." She ran a hand over the plaque, and the name on it, fondly. She polished up the nameplate a little with the cuff of her sleeve, removing a perceived smudge. Then she smiled. "I'll tell you the stories sometime. There are many. Some I've heard even involve a figure who is pretty much legend around here, perhaps you've heard of her yourself. Her name is Lursa."

Across the room, Corbinsky shrieked as N'Dura apparently began searching him a little more vigorously after hearing mention of her mother's name.

"Maybe that story should wait." Blane replied, wincing on Corbinsky's behalf despite himself.

"It'll keep." Zanh agreed. She jerked her head in the direction of Corbinsky and company in the huddle. "As for the doctor, I think that after this a little time in a holding cell so he can think about the gravity of his situation is in order. A very secure holding cell." She qualified the statement quickly.

TC nodded. “I am sure that N’Dura will be sure that he is tucked away comfortably.” He turned away from spectacle and back to the captain. “I’ve already sent word to our doctor to expect a visitor for an in depth scan.”

He eyed Zanh wondering if he really wanted to ask the next question on his tongue. Luckily, N’Dura interrupted. “We’ll take the prisoner down to sickbay now for phase two.”

The Klingon turned and grinned back at the Corbinsky who was rather pale and far from the confident and arrogant man who first appeared in the ready room a short time ago.

Zanh simply nodded and allowed the doctor to be hauled off. The doors closed behind the security contingent leavening only TC and Zanh in the room.

TC finally asked the question that had been on his mind. “OK. Now that we have him, what are we going to do with him?”

Zanh sighed, and crossed the room. She sat perched on the edge of the desk, slipping back into the posture that had been her habit years ago, when she first held the position that Blane held now- and also the one that Salvek currently occupied.

Back before she ever felt she had any right to sit in 'that chair'.

"We have to find out if he's already altered the time line at all purposely, any more than he has already done just by coming here,"she began thoughtfully.
"Damage control is the protocol we have to follow. Minimize the effect that he is able to have while he's here- then send him back and make sure that he doesn't pull any repeat appearances in the future."

"How the hell do we do that?"

"Right this moment," Zanh confided in him, "Your guess is as good as mine, Thomas."

"Did he say anything else to you before we got back in here? Anything I need to be aware of?"

She nodded soberly. "He said that I'd misplaced something I value, only I didn't know it yet." She fiddled with the chain on her earring, another old habit resurfacing and betraying her as a show of nervousness.

"I only hope he was bluffing."

TC scratched his chin. “Well, sounds like you need to have another conversation with him. You’ll have the upper hand this time. He is dazed and confused, we broke the illusion of his superiority.”

He took another sip of his coffee. “Right now he is asking himself if he got careless, or if you know something about his technology that he doesn’t. In any case, he knows his butt is in a sling.”

He took another long sip and then looked at the captain once more, his jaw set with determination. “Now the time to strike, hit him while he is down. He might slip up since we now have him off of his game.”

"You're right." She hopped back up from her spot on the desktop. "There's just one person that we need to talk to first. Just to be sure we have all the insight into his personality that we can get before I go at him again," Zanh concluded.

TC knew exactly who she meant and finished the sentence for her.

"Fox Margolis."

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Lt. (SG) TC Blane
Chief of Operations
USS Independence NCC-90791

and

=/\= Zanh Liis
Acting CO
USS Independence NCC-90791