Romulans In Distress Stardate 2260.04

Everyone studied the information Kirk provided them. Amara, of course, already knew about the Borgs, but she still skimmed back over the information to ensure she hadn't missed anything. Everyone then listened to what Jim said. Scarlett was both horrified and fascinated by these Borgs. They were unlike anything she had ever heard of before. 

Fiona looked at Kirk. "So, we're helping the Romulans to defeat them?"

“Yes,” Kirk answered without hesitation. “It doesn’t matter what they were doing with them and hopefully they’ve learned not to put their hand in a hornet’s nest. We’ll be traveling at high warp to catch up to them and I want department readiness within one hour. Issue phasers to everyone and rifles to all security. Scotty, we will need to put our shields and phasers in a constantly modulating rotation. Nathan, this goes for hand phasers. There will be no stun setting. If we can disable their ship, I will conduct an away team and go over there so we can attempt to learn more about them,” He said. “But if we can’t disable them, then they at least won’t harm anyone else,” he said. “Dismissed,” Kirk said. “Not you Bones and you stay too Fiona,” Kirk said and McCoy went and sat back down.

Kal knew Elyse would be calling a meeting of her own with those of her department. He followed her into the turbolift. There was a smaller conference room on deck 6 where she preferred to talk to everyone. This sounded very serious and if some people fell in battle, others would have to step up. Kal was troubled and he didn’t like the look of these Borg at all.

“Talk about creep factor, they remove body parts and put on cybernetic implants,” he said as they arrived on deck 6. He looked around and didn’t see anyone nearby as they approached the conference room.

“I’m thinking of leaving the Enterprise,” he said as she entered.

Fiona was about to stand up and head back to her station when Kirk suddenly asked that she and Dr. McCoy remain behind. She glanced at Leonard to see if he knew anything about this, but he shrugged as he sat back down. Fiona folded her hands in her lap and waited for Kirk to speak.

Elyse left the ready room and knew that she needed to call a meeting of those in her departments to discuss what needed to be done. Kal headed with her up to a smaller conference room on deck 6. She was still thinking about those Borgs and what they could do to someone, when Kal's statement pulled her out of that headspace. She was shocked by what he said and she looked at him.

"Are you serious? Why?"

As she turned around Kal’s lips were on hers and his hands went to her hips. There was no testing to see if she would accept him or not, the passion in his lips was strong. As if he had wanted to do that for months, which he had. He could sense her startlement but she didn’t stop him immediately. Even so he felt her arm move to pull herself back from the kiss. He looked right into her eyes.

“Because I’m hopelessly in love with you Elyse. I tried to tell myself that we had gone down this road but something’s changed. I felt alot more in that kiss than I did before. I feel alot more for you,” Kal said. “I want you Elyse, I want to know that it’s just not just some crazy, infatuation that I am feeling for you,” He said. “And this thing with the Borg sounds dangerous. I want to know if you feel anything for me,” He said.

Elyse was rather startled by Kal's kiss...however, she did not pull back right away. The kiss was passionate and Elyse could feel all of Kal's feelings for her in it. She slowly began to pull back and she saw him look into her eyes. She wanted to stop him from saying what she knew he was going to say, but she couldn't. Hearing the actual words made it very real.

Elyse looked back into Kal's eyes and she knew that she could no longer deny that she had feelings for him, because she did. She always had...she knew that now.

"I do have feelings for you Kal," she finally said. "I have since we were together at the Academy, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm very happily married to a man I love. Do you not love Fiona? Would you not stay for her?"

Kal frowned and his heart raced with the huge chance he had just taken right then. “I do have feelings for Fiona and I know you love McCoy. But I can’t get you out of my head...I think about being with you all the time,” he said as they looked into one another’s eyes. “I...just need to know...I mean...no one would have to know Elyse,” Kal said as he looked at her. ‘There, it was out’ He thought. He was being very truthful with her right then. His hands were still on her hips but they weren’t as close as they had been. Love and desire for her was ruining his calm.

Elyse blinked at what Kal said as the reality of what he was suggesting settled in. She felt his hands on her hips and she saw the way his eyes looked at her. She couldn't deny to herself that there was a feeling of desire there and for the briefest moment Kal would think that she might give in. However, the moment passed and she slowly stepped back away from him and felt his hands slide off her hips.

"I can't do that Kal. If anyone found out it would ruin everything...my career...your career. It would ruin my marriage and your relationship with Fiona." She looked down. "If you continue to press me Kal I'm afraid I might eventually give in and so I think we need to maintain a professional relationship only. I...I'm sorry."

“So we’re back to that?” he asked in disbelief. “You’re worried about getting caught? God damnit Elyse, When you were on that ship...When I thought I’d never see you again...You took a risk then, a big one and I’m asking you to take one now. Or do you intend on just letting me ‘deal with how I feel’ on my own? Ofcourse I don’t want to hurt Fiona or McCoy. Do you know how hard it was for me to be honest like this with you?” He asked and took her hand and pressed it up against his chest. His heart was racing and his face was flushed. Kal wasn’t one to sound so desperate and helpless but he did now. “I’ve tried to just put this aside. To lock it up and throw away the key but I wake up dreaming of you,” Kal said. “I wake up wanting to make love to you,” he whispered.

Kal was tearing Elyse's heart to shreds. She found that she was hating herself for not giving in to him and she didn't like that. "No," she said much more firmly now as she looked at him. She pulled her hand back. "No, Kal. Your feelings are your own and I won't deny them, but I won't contribute to them either. Either you're going to have to learn how to just be my friend, or we need to only socialize professionally."

Kal looked at her in disbelief. Didn’t she know how he felt? The hurt in his eyes was strong and he wiped sweat off of his forehead. “Alright,” he said and turned and left her there. He had to get away from her. Far away and yet they’d have to work side by side together. She broke his heart pushing him away and part of him understood that. A small part. He heard her call for the meeting on the overhead but he didn’t care. He wasn’t going to be there. He knew what needed to be done. ‘Screw her and her sensibilities!’ She would make him suffer alone.

The conference room began to fill up but it was Lucia that noticed Kal’s absence. “Where’s Kal, she asked?”

———————-

“Fiona I will need you to work with the Romulan Navigator. They know how to track their own ship and if we get separated so will we,” he said. I’m sending you over there to get up to speed...will that be a problem for you?” He asked.

Elyse hated hurting Kal...it broke her heart, but wasn't going to do anything to mess up the great thing she had with Leonard. She loved him deeply and she didn't want to hurt him. Despite what Kal said, she knew that if she did give in and sleep with him that she would never be able to look Leonard in the eyes again. 

She wasn't surprised when he didn't show up for the meeting. She sighed and looked over at Lucia. "He's elsewhere," was all she said. Once everyone had arrived, she began to go over the information that Jim had given them and what all they would need to do.

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Fiona was rather nervous about going over to a Romulan ship by herself, but she knew that this was important and so she didn't intend to let Kirk down.

"No, Sir. I can do it."

Kirk had Amara inform Thelai that they’d help them. The enterprise returned the hull fragments to space and Fiona was transported aboard the Romulan ship. A female Officer was there to greet her. “I am Senior Centurion Eraika, you are Lieutenant Moran? You will follow me and do not touch anything unless you are given leave to, is that clear?” She asked her. They were actually about the same height but the woman was thinner than Fiona was. The Romulan ship looked new but it was dimly lit and panels and lighting glowed Green and Violet. She was taken to the bridge.

Their bridge had Captain Thelai up above everyone else. He looked down at them as they entered. “Senior Centurion, you will afford the Lieutenant every courtesy. Today we are not enemies but allies,” He reminded her. Eraika’s expression darkened but she didn’t refute him either. She showed FIona to their Navigational array. A chair was slid over for Fiona and together they sat. Eraika went over the Vilara’s propulsion systems and what she would do to track the Warp field decay. Their ships used a sort of artificial singularity as a warp core so tracking their ships was not easy but she showed her how.

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Kal didn’t even look at Elyse as she sat down. They had been here before after she threatened him after he had taken her command codes so he could use the Holodeck. But this seemed remarkably worse then that. Kal had no right to ask Elyse to risk her marriage and her career just to satiate this infatuation he had for her but Kal was a man of passion and he could infect others, sometimes as if he were a force of nature. He was worried about Fiona being over on the Romulan ship but that only added to the mixed bag of negative emotions he was feeling just then.

Amara reported that they needed to keep Fiona for a while but they wanted to get underway. Kirk looked back at her and nodded. After Amara gave the go ahead, they saw the Nestal begin to pull away.

“Pursuit course Kal,” Kirk said. “I sir,” Kal said as they went to warp.

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The Kzinti ship fired everything they had at the oncoming Romulan ship but their attacks did not seem to have much effect. The Kzinti were a cat-like race of humanoids and their ship was only a transport vessel hauling cargo. “Why are they attacking us!” The Captain growled. “Captain, our shields have failed! They’ve got us in some kind of tractor beam!” His pilot said. “Abandon ship! All hands, abandon ship!” He said before he was cut off. Another voice came over their shipwide intercom.

“We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ship. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our won. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile,” the voice said though it sounds like a thousand voices speaking as one. A bright green beam shot out from the Romulan ship and it began to cut into the hull of the Kzinti ship.

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Hours later….

The Nestral and the Enterprise came out of warp. “Captain, the Nestral is hailing us,” Amara said. “Put them on screen,” he said. “Is that what I think it is?” Kirk asked. The screen shifted to what was left of a ship. “Yes Captain, it looks like they were here just a couple hours ago,” Thelai said. “We’re ready to transport your navigator back,” he said. “Thank you,” Kirk said and Thelai nodded to his Operations officer who had their transporter room beam her to the Enterprise.

“No survivors Captain,” Scarlett said. “It’s..it was a Kzinti ship,” she said with a sigh.

As Elyse took her seat back on the bridge, she noticed that Kal didn't even glance over at her. She could sense his frustration and anger, but she didn't respond to it. They were engaging in a very dangerous mission and they all needed to be on their toes. She couldn't allow what was happening to affect her ability to do her job and so they sat there in silence for hours as they followed behind the Nestral. 

Several hours later they came out of warp and Amara received an alert that they were being hailed. She put Thelai up on the screen and they could see what was left of a ship, floating out in space. It had been cut in the exact same manner as the last ship.

Scarlett scanned for any survivors, but there were none. She was able to identify it as a Kzinti ship. She felt incredibly sad knowing what had happened to them. Fiona was beamed back to the Enterprise and she returned to the bridge. "I have learned everything I need to know in case we get separated from the Nestral and need to track them," she informed Kirk.

They head back into warp and Fiona was actually able to pick up the trail of the Vilara as she modified the ship’s sensors and reprogrammed their navigational computer to follow the warp decay signature. An hour passed and Kirk let certain people head off to get showers and eat. Kal and Fiona were in the officer’s mess but Kal had barely said a word to her all day. She knew him to be moody sometimes but nothing like this. Something had upset him today, that much was obvious. He had ordered resquenced bangers and mash but it tasted like sawdust in his mouth. Being rejected like that by Elyse had unsettled him. He hated feeling like he felt.

On the bridge Elyse had shifted her console to include piloting the ship. Kirk looked over at her after he signed yet another report and the Yeoman stepped away. “Elyse, did Kal seem...odd to you today?” Kirk asked plainly. He smiled over at her. “He said he has a new Holodeck program,” he said but couldn’t recall what it was about. He looked over at Amara. “What did he call it Amara…’Fun in the sun?’ He asked her. “I wonder what that’s about,” he said.

“Late 20th century...I know there’s water involved and sand,” Scarlett said as she turned back to them. “I noticed he seemed upset too, that one is easy to read,” Scarlett said. “Unlike some others,” she murmured as she turned back around.

Fiona knew Kal well enough to know when he was being moody and when there was something much more serious going on. This was definitely the latter. Kal always had an appetite and when she saw him push away his plate of food she sighed and looked at him. "What's going on Kal? You're not at all yourself."

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Elyse glanced at Jim when he mentioned Kal not acting like himself. She considered Jim a very close friend, but she couldn't talk to him about what had happened. "Perhaps he's overly tired," she suggested. 

Amara was excited to try the new holodeck program. She and Jim liked the beach and they enjoyed water sports as well. She began to think that after all of this that they would need a break and chance to relax.

"There's...something important that we need to talk about Fiona. But I'm afraid of what it could do to us...both as a couple and maybe friends too," Kal said. he sighed. and looked down at his hands. They were alone for the time being but he felt that now wasn't really the time to talk about it all. He was afraid of her decking him too if he did tell her. Why did life have to be so hard? Was it against the rules to love more than one person? He asked himself. He closed his eyes as he tried to get a hold of his emotions. He wasn't going to lose it in front of her. He couldn't! He thought as he opened his eyes. The look of deep concern fell over her face. And then he just got up and stepped away from the table. He heard her get up and follow though. Once Fiona got the bit in her mouth, it was either live with it or risk getting your fingers bit off, sometimes.

Kirk's eyebrows raised up slightly, Elyse knew what was wrong and wouldn't say. He hoped it wasn't serious and likely it was something Kal had done.

Fiona was deeply concerned about what Kal was going to tell her. She waited quietly for him to speak, but he didn't. Then, he suddenly stood up and stepped away from the table. She wasn't going to let him get away that easily though. She stood up and followed him. She walked after him.

"Kal, what's wrong? Why won't you talk me?"

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Elyse could see from the look Jim gave her that he knew she knew the truth about what was going on. She turned away from him and back to her station. She was afraid of telling him and how he might view her if she told him the whole truth. She did truly love Leonard and was extremely happy with him, but it didn't change the fact that she did have feelings for Kal as well.

Kal let her stop him and he looked around them then hit the unlock on the storage room they were near and they stepped inside. He locked it again. This room was for the Chef mostly. He let her push him back against a wall and she had her hands on him as she looked up at him concernedly.

"I love you Fiona...but I love Elyse too," He said softly and cringed. "I'm sorry, you've been nothing but great. But I won't lie to you. I asked her to...I asked her how she felt and she said she has feelings for me but that's it," he said feeling like he wanted to cry. He didn't though.

Fiona knew that Kal and Elyse were friends and extremely close, but hearing Kal tell her that he was in love with her was rather shocking...although, now that that she thought about it, perhaps it shouldn't have been. She had seen the way he would look at her, but she had turned a blind eye to it...not wanting to see what was right in front of her. She felt so stupid and she felt tears come to her eyes.

"Do you love her more than you love me?"

Kal looked miserable but he got up the courage to look at her. "How do you love parts of yourself more or less than others?" Kal asked and finally put his hands on her arms. "Do you think I want to risk losing you?" He said. "If I could ignore it I would have. But I felt like I owed her to tell her...but...but she didn't quite feel the same," he said. "I know it's not right Fiona and it's not fair to you," he said. "But what would you have me do? I've been considering just asking for a transfer," Kal said. "So I can just...put some distance between her and I," Kal said. "But I don't want to leave you...we found one another again after a long time," Kal said.

Fiona didn't pull back from Kal's touch. She needed it more than she could have ever imagined. She didn't know what to say or think at first when he told her that he was considering putting in for a transfer. When she realized that he was asking for her to possibly leave with him she was quiet a moment before speaking.

"I can't compete with Elyse. I must admit that I'm...jealous of your attentions towards her. It's like I lost you as my best friend. I want you to talk to me and look at me the way you do her. Will I be enough for you?"

"We were friends first Fiona. We have history and we shared time looking at the stars," he told her. "Now that we're among the stars, they aren't so peaceful. I'm not certain I want to do this the rest of my life. I'm only certain of one thing, having you in my life," Kal said. "I can't help how I feel but I can talk to you about how I feel, can't I?" He asked. "I know I let this go too far and I should have told you long before now...that I was developing feelings for her," he said as he tried to work this out in his head. "God, there's no way I come out of this without being a selfish bastard...Fiona, it's not about if you're enough for me, it's about if you can forgive me," Kal said.

Fiona looked at Kal and she felt tears come to her eyes. She had been hurt once before by her ex-fiancee and she knew that she would never be able to forgive him for cheating on her, but she knew now that she had never truly loved him and that was one of the reasons she had never been able to forgive him. But Kal...she knew she loved Kal. She had always loved Kal and the thought of not having him in her life again was something she didn't think she could take. 

She looked at him and tears shimmered in her eyes. "Well...at least you admit that you're a selfish bastard," she said with a little bit of a smile.

Kal leaned forward and kissed Fiona and felt her arms snake around his neck. He pressed her to him as they hugged for a pretty long time without speaking. "I'll make it up to you Fiona...somehow," he said softly. He knew after all of this emotion faded, there was be cool thought into what he had just done to her. She would make him pay large. "Ok, we should get back," he said.

Once Kal and Fiona returned Elyse, Scarlett and Spock left the bridge. Spock had made a copy of the Borg information and together they collaborated on it over their meal. Spock had Vulcan soup. McCoy met Elyse for lunch and they sat a few tables down from Spock and Scarlett. McCoy had a burger and baked beans.

"So you'll never guess what Jim asked me to do?" He said.

Fiona knew that a fresh start is what they needed. They needed to get away from the Enterprise and begin anew. She wasn't angry at Elyse...this wasn't her fault, but she knew that Kal couldn't remain around her. They decided not to tell the Captain of their desire for a transfer until after the mission was over. They would be leaving him without a Navigator and Pilot, but Elyse could handle either station until replacements were found. 

Scarlett had a Spinach salad as she sat across from Spock. She studied the information about the Borgs again. "I still don't understand how their 'hive' mind works. Do you suppose they implant a chip into the brain of each Borg that would cause this?"

Elyse was still upset over her conversation with Kal and thus her appetite wasn't there. She had grabbed a salad, but she didn't really eat it...she just kind of pushed it around on her plate.

"What did he ask you to do?"