Post 466: Those Who Won't Be Counseled

Stardate:70928.1730
Title: Those Who Won't be Counseled. . .
Author: =/\= Zanh Liis
Scene: The brig of the USS Independence
Time: Following "The Highest Law"

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"Those who won't be counseled, can't be helped." ~Benjamin Franklin
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"You son of a bitch," Zanh's first instinct was to haul off and belt him, but she restrained herself. She was now the acting captain of the Federation flagship- she had to behave like it.

She grit her teeth and unclenched her fist. "You're lying to me. The reason that Alchemy can't be tracked is because of the trans-phasic shielding. It means that Salvek has done his job!"

"I'm telling the truth," Corbinsky insisted, "and if you don't listen to me you will regret it."

"You know, you had me going for a minute there." Zanh shook her head, angry with herself. "You had me believing that maybe you did all this because you do really care about Margolis, and maybe you did have some vague understanding of the history of my life."

She still had a handful of his shirt, and finally released him. "I have been hospitable to you so far. But you will not like the turn that your stay here will take, very rapidly, if you do not tell me what I need to know right now."

"What more do you need? I've already told you what you've lost. Go find it!"

"You also told me that you know where it is," her voice lowered to a growl. "If that's true, then tell me. Now."

"I don't know where it is," he reluctantly admitted, "Not exactly."

"I knew it. I should just hand you over to Temporal Investigations this instant and let them try you for tampering with the timeline. For interfering with the operations of a Federation starship,"

"I know that something catastrophic is going to happen," he interrupted. "Or already has. I also know that what happens to the Alchemy somehow ties this ship, your crew, and myself together in a future that none of us want. Not the way it turned out before, anyway."

"The only thing that ties this ship to you is your stubborn insistence on showing up where you're not wanted." Zanh snapped. "That's it. I'm done with you." She tossed him back toward the bunk and stepped out of the cell, reactivating the forcefield. She didn't look at him as she marched toward the doors.

"Send me back then. If you're so sure that I've nothing to offer you, let me go." Corbinsky taunted her. "Zanh Liis knows all, sees all! She doesn't need help from anyone! So be it. Remove the dampening field that your doctor told you to put around this cell. Let me activate my implant, and I'll go back where I belong. I. . . won't bother you any more."

*Ah, yes.* Liis recalled. *The "Temporal Positioning System" implant- an invention of Corbinsky's that apparently, by his own recent admission, he had decided to test out on himself.*

Zanh thought back to the earlier conversation she'd had with Dr. McKenna after Corbinsky's 'check up'.

A conversation in which McKenna had warned her that Corbinsky would die if they tried to remove this mysterious device, which was affixed to his brain stem.

A dampening field had been their only option to make sure that Corbinsky didn't escape on them and had been put in place before he'd been moved to the brig.

They couldn't figure out exactly how the implant worked, but they knew what it did- it allowed Corbinsky to move through time at will. It also, however, appeared to be taking a toll on his physical health. Every time he time jumped, there were consequences for him afterward.

"So now you're in such a hurry to leave?" Zanh was curious. "Interesting. That means that you've already gotten what you came for in the first place."

"I came here before to see to it that I would have what I wanted." Corbinsky replied enigmatically. "I came here this time to help you. But if you won't believe that, then you can't be helped and I might as well go home."

"What did you do?" she groaned. "What have you altered?"

"One thing, and one thing only." He whispered. "And do not worry, former Agent Zanh, it will not cause any interstellar wars or destroy civilization as we know it. It just means that she's here and not there."

"She," Zanh replied, "Margolis? She's not where?"

"On the Alchemy." He sat down on the bunk and held his head in his hands. "She's here. She's alive. She's not," he seemed incapable of finishing his sentence.

"Xander," Liis approached the field again. "She's not what?"

"I don't know the details, I didn't get to spend that much time with the information in the future before it altered because of my. . ." he paused, ". . . visits to you here. I didn't get a very clear picture. But I know one thing for a certainty. That thing is that if Faustine Margolis had been aboard the test flight of the USS Alchemy, she would not have come home."

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