Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: 19 Feb 2004 16:34:18 -0800 In: alt.startrek.creative From: djinn@djinnslair.com (Djinn) TITLE: The Lost Years: Sins of the Past (Slayer Series) AUTHOR: Djinn CONTACT: djinn@djinnslair.com http://www.djinnslair.com SERIES: TOS RATING: PG-13 CODES: Ch, K, U, Others PART: 2/3 SUMMARY: The fifth in the Lost Years series. This follows "Release." Uhura sat back with a sigh. Something wasn't adding up. Again. It seemed that whenever vampires or watchers were involved, something never added up. She accessed another database, began to cross reference the deeds she'd dug up in the central property registration. "This doesn't make sense," she muttered. "You wanted to see me?" Kirk poked his head into her office. "It is Saturday, Nyota. Or are you trying to impress the new boss." She laughed. "The new boss is probably out sailing right now. I'm working on a personal project." She pointed at her chair. "Sit." His eyebrows went up at her tone but he did what she said. "Do you mind telling me what am I doing here?" She smiled. "Waiting for Christine. I don't want to have to tell this twice." "Tell what twice?" "Uh-uh. You aren't getting a preview." Footsteps sounded down the hall, unusually hard and fast. "Somebody is not in a good mood," Kirk said softly. Uhura nodded, resisted telling him that Christine had seemed in a fine mood when she'd left his place earlier. Christine strode in, her posture rigid, her face set. She saw Kirk and seemed to relax just a bit. He stood up. "What happened? Emma give you a hard time?" "Oh no. Emma was a sweetheart. David gave me a hard time." "You found him?" Uhura asked. She'd sure missed a lot in the few hours since graduation. "He found her a long time ago." Kirk pushed an edge of her bandage that was peeling up back into place. "Found her, nearly turned her." He and Christine shared a long look. "So just a normal day?" Uhura said, hoping to ease the tension that was building again. Christine smiled, "Yep. Just a normal day." She moved past Kirk, took the other chair. "On top of dealing with him, I found out that the watchers have people following me." Uhura nodded. "I know. I followed one today who was trailing you. When you went to Emma's." Christine turned a surprised look on here. "You followed me?" "Well, technically, most of the time I was following the man who was following you." Uhura frowned. "When he stopped at the corner, I sort of pretended I was lost." At their joint looks of consternation, she said, "Well, I never get to help. He didn't know who I was. And he was British and dressed in lots of tweed. Pretty much screamed watcher. I left him there and doubled back. Then he walked away while you were at Emma's, went back toward downtown and met up with three other watchers." "Then what?" Kirk asked. "Then they went into a restaurant. I guess for breakfast?" Uhura shook her head. "I've been checking the leases and deeds on the businesses off the alley where they met up. But I'm not seeing anything out of the ordinary. No offshore ownership, unless you count the Tachikawa-Nogura corporation as its own country." She laughed, realized neither of her friends seemed amused. "Nogura?" Kirk asked. Uhura nodded. "The company owns the whole block and hasn't leased to anybody new in over a year. I checked some other blocks in the area; business seems stable in that part of town." Christine sat back. "You say this person following me only went as far as Emma's? And that he was dressed like the quintessential watcher?" Uhura nodded. "And the people he met up with. Tweed central." Christine shook her head. "The watchers did have someone following me. Wharton killed him, left him for me as a present." She saw Kirk begin to comment and held up a hand. "He had information about me and about all of you. He was either following me or just a very big fan. He was also special ops--watcher special ops. They don't wear tweed. They blend." "These guys didn't blend." "Silver's en route still. I can't believe these are his people." Christine pulled out a small personal data padd, called something up and held it out to them. All of Christine's friends and colleagues were listed. Christine clicked on Uhura's name. A picture came up. "I took this off the dead guy. They know who you are, Ny." "But this watcher didn't," Kirk said. "Or he did." Christine frowned. "Maybe he wasn't following me. Maybe he just wanted Ny to think he was and report back to me. To make me trust the watchers even less." She sighed. "I think this could be David. He could have hired some actors. He's trying to make me doubt the watchers." "You've never been much of a fan," Uhura said quietly. "No. I never have." Kirk leaned back, shaking his head as he said, "I still don't like the Nogura connection." "His family is richer than god, Jim," Christine said, "and the family corporation owns a lot of property. I think it's just coincidence." He didn't look convinced. "Can you take me there?" he asked Uhura. "Sure. But..." She looked at Christine. "We'll all go. Maybe they're still there." Christine made a face. "I knew someone was behind me today. I knew it but I kept shrugging it off as nerves." "You doubled back enough times. The guy was good at hiding." He had been good. Maybe too good? "He was better than I'd expect an actor to be. He seemed to always know where you'd be." "Let's go check it out." Kirk stood up, the picture of command. Christine nodded, tried to move past him but he stopped her. "One question," he said. "Did you fight him?" She nodded. "And he ran off?" "That's two questions." He touched her arm. The gesture struck Uhura as very possessive. "Humor me," he said, his face deadly serious. "He walked off. I was in over my head. From the very first minute I set out after him. I went by the watcher book and by all rights, I should be dead now." She looked down. "I can't fight him the old way. Not with stakes or swords. That's what he keeps telling me is wrong with the system. And I think it's time I listened to him." She pushed past Kirk. "Come on. Let's get out of here." Uhura glanced at Kirk, who just shook his head then followed Christine out. Uhura closed down her search screens, erased all history of what she'd been looking for, then hurried out after them. ------------------------- Kirk watched Christine as she hurried ahead of him. She clearly was angry, and more than a little shaken. He walked faster, caught up with her and said, "So what happened?" "I told you. I found David." He didn't like how easily she was using the vampire's first name. "And...?" She closed her eyes for a second, then let out a long sigh of air. "Chris. You said he was right. Just tell me what happened." He touched her arm again, letting his fingers rest against her shirt--his shirt. He smiled. He wondered if David had been able to tell it wasn't hers. He hoped so. She put her hand over his, her skin was cold--not vampire cold but chilled, as if she'd had a shock. "I figured out where he was hiding...actually, he wanted me to figure it out. I went in alone. The way a slayer does. Armed with my pointy little stick." He waited. "He makes so much sense, Jim. About the watchers, about how things are with the slayers, with how wrong the system is." "So you talked and then you let him go?" She shook her head; her hand tightened over his. "I didn't. I told him I couldn't let him hurt Emma. He was not impressed with my threats. When he turned away from me, I threw my stake at him, right into his back. And it was the most beautiful throw, Jim. It was hard and it was dead on target." She laughed, an odd bark of hoarse laughter. "He was wearing body armor. And do you know I felt like he was cheating?" She turned to look at him. "That's idiotic. He was just being smart." "So then he got away?" "Oh, no. We fought some. Kicks and blows and more of me trying to poke him with the pointy stick. Until he pulled out a phaser--or a version of one anyway. Shut me right down." He swallowed hard. "Why didn't he...?" "Turn me?" She laughed, the sound even darker, more bitter than before. "He's not done with me yet. And he wants me to want it." "Do you?" She looked at him, and he saw surprise in her eyes. "No. Jim, no, I don't." "But you sound like you agree with him." "I find his methods abhorrent. But his message? I can't say he's wrong. Do you remember when we went after Marcus? We used flamethrowers. Why don't we use those routinely? Why don't we have even better weapons. Small things, easy to patrol with, lethal. We should be studying vampires, finding out how to track them, how to kill them more efficiently--like Spike said the Initiative used to do." "The Initiative?" "Soldiers. Back in Buffy's time--late twentieth century. Turned out their leaders were actually trying to make human-demon hybrid soldiers, which was a completely bad idea. But they made some headway in less stupid areas, spread the expertise. It was all lost during the wars, I guess. Or the watchers didn't want anything to do with it. But the Initiative had machines that could track the pheromones that certain demons give off. We have nothing like that. We have swords and crossbows and holy water." "And that's all you had on Gotterdammerung. All those slayers--" "That was different. The Orb would have turned fire against us. But if it hadn't, we could have leveled them with a phaser canon. Or at least done some damage." He nodded. "And we would have. We would have done all those things. Anything you wanted, I would have ordered up for you, you know that?" She smiled, a soft smile that he liked to think was only for him. "I know you would have. But the watchers, they wouldn't have done it. They don't do it even for the youngest slayers. They cling to the old ways. Have ever since they reconstituted the council after Buffy died. Spike said that Giles just gave up then. Packed it in and took Dawn with him and went to live by the sea. Never went near another slayer." He wasn't completely sure what she was talking about, but he let her go on. It was better to have her working it out, even if he didn't understand it all. "Giles might have changed things." She shook her head. "We have to think of another way to stop David." She touched her leg. He saw that she'd jammed a stake in her pants pocket. "How?" "That's what we have to figure out." She smiled at him gently. "How fast can you learn to throw lightning bolts?" He smiled. "I may like to compare myself to a Greek god, but I'm not quite there yet." She laughed. Her expression lightened. "Well, then we just have to find some weapons that will help." He nodded. Christine turned to look back at Uhura, who had been trailing them in silence. "Much farther?" "About two blocks," Uhura said. Kirk slowed until she caught up with him. Christine walked on ahead, her step no longer so heavy, so angry. Uhura smiled at him. He thought he saw approval in her eyes. "Not that I don't like being included in the Slayer fan club, but why did you invite me today?" Uhura's expression grew grim. "Because I saw her neck. And how you weren't with us at graduation...and how she felt about that." He looked down. "That's over now. We--" She touched his arm, shook her head. "I don't need to know. All I want to know is that nothing bad is going to happen to her." "We won't let anything bad happen to her." Uhura shot him a look. "No, _we_ won't." Then her expression grew lighter, teasing. "But I think you carry a bit more weight with her these days than I do." He smiled. "I'm her Captain." "Oh, is that what it is?" She laughed. "You...approve?" He was surprised at how much her opinion mattered to him. Surprised and disappointed in himself a little. It didn't matter if Nyota approved or not. He couldn't have Chris, even with her friend's blessing. But he still wanted to hear what she'd say. "She's my friend. I want her to be happy. You make her happy." He smiled. "And she makes you happy too, doesn't she?" Uhura looked at him softly. "It's nice." It was nice. It could be nicer if-- "She does." He tried for his lightest grin. "She's my friend." He thought Uhura looked disappointed in him. "My friend," he said again, firmly. As if daring her to argue with him. She looked down. "Len was your friend, too." He felt a pang. "How is he?" "He's fine. He's working with a medical relief team. Won't be back for weeks." She shook her head. "You shouldn't have to ask me how he is. You should be able to ask him." He could feel his mouth tighten. He knew she was right. But it hurt. McCoy could ask him too. It wouldn't kill him... He stopped that thought. Death was all too prevalent in this brave new world of slayers and magic. Chris turned around, looked at them. "Everything okay?" Uhura nodded, left him behind and went to join Christine. "It's just up ahead." He followed them, trying to do as Weasel had shown him--open himself to the energy around him without dropping his guards. Tried to taste the air, feel the energy, the dynamics, the personalities, the evil and the good. Weasel had told him that every event, every person, every word said in anger or love or hurt left a flavor, a tang that colored and scented the energy left behind. He had to find a way to read it, to find the four people Uhura had seen and-- The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly went into high alert. He looked around. "Chris." She was by his side instantly. "Ny said this was the alley the man disappeared into, before he came out with the others." He nodded. "Lori." "Where?" She sounded like she'd be all too happy to use the old-fashioned methods on her. "No. Not her. Like her." He tried to feel the snap on snap feeling, but it wasn't there. Just the strange rising of his hackles. "Her kind, maybe?" "Her kind?" Uhura looked back and forth. "And Lori who?" "Admiral Ciani. She's a werewolf." Chris waved off her next question. "I'll explain later." She turned back to Kirk. "It would explain why he was so good at following me." She frowned. "But why stop to eat. That makes no sense." "I left right away. They might have just walked through, gone out the back?" Uhura looked down. "I wasn't being very smart." "No, you were fine." Chris shook her head. "Why are there suddenly so many werewolves interested in what we're doing?" She pursed her lips. "Or...is it not us? Is it the watchers they are worried about?" She looked at Kirk. "Do you feel anything else?" They both stared at him as he tried to concentrate. "I feel incredibly self-conscious." He shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go." Christine was staring off into space. "Chris?" She nodded slightly, as if she were working out something. "I have to go see someone." "Not Wharton again?" She shook her head. "Lori said slayer heaven, right?" He nodded. Chris smiled. It was a deadly smile. "I think it's time she and I had that little talk." "Chris." "No. It's time I found out what she wants. And why she cares about that." Uhura shot her another lost look. When Chris smiled, she said, "I know, I know, you'll tell me later, right?" "You shouldn't have missed the big battle, Ny. Catch up's a bitch." Chris smiled. Touched her friend's hand. "Dinner tonight?" Kirk felt a pang of jealousy but pushed it away. He'd had her the night before. Well, not had her exactly. Uhura nodded, then turned to include him. "You like Italian?" He shook his head. "You do too like Italian," Chris said. "No, I mean, you two go, have fun." Chris shook her head, looked over at Uhura with a knowing smile. "You'll convince him to come with us while you walk him home?" Uhura nodded, took his arm and prodded him out of the alley. He turned, and looked at Chris. "How are you going to find her?" She shrugged, shot him a breezy smile. He gave her the look. The one that said, "That's not good enough, Lieutenant." She smiled. Not very intimidated by his stern admiral gig. "Maybe she'll find me?" She shot him one last smile then turned and headed away from him, down the alley. He watched her till she was out of sight. "Ready?" Uhura asked softly. He nodded, held his arm out to her and tried not to think of what might happen if Lori did find Chris. ------------------------------ Christine waited until she was sure that Jim and Ny were gone, then headed back into the alley, walking slowly, carefully. Waiting. A door opened; Lori stepped out. They stared at each other. "Jim didn't know you were here." Lori shrugged. "He's new at this, and he was looking for the energy of those who were here this morning, not for me. He wouldn't have found me anyway. These buildings are shielded." She moved closer. "But I knew you were here." Christine smiled. "Let me guess. You wanted me to know." "Something like that." Lori smiled, the look managed to be both mocking and lascivious. "You wanted me?" "Let's walk," Christine said, ignoring the come on and heading for the street. Lori laughed. "Neutral ground? Fine." She fell into step beside Christine. "You're not still upset about last night, are you?" Christine didn't answer. "It's too bad you didn't want to join in our fun. Jim might not have run from me if you'd been there." Christine shot Lori a surprised look. She'd expected her to lie, to try to make her jealous. Lori smiled and for once, it seemed an honest expression. "I'm trying to win your trust, Slayer. Lying to you would hardly be the way to start, now would it?" "Never stopped you from antagonizing me before." Christine took a deep breath. "Or maybe you need something from me that you didn't before? You...or your boss?" Lori nodded. "It's possible." She touched Christine's hand. A tingle ran up Christine's spine as Lori ran her fingers over the top of her hand. "Feels good, doesn't it?" Lori asked, her voice a soft purr. "You're awfully pent up. It's been a while for you, hasn't it?" Christine realized with a start that Lori had moved her into a doorway, was pressed up against her. Lori ran her hand up Christine's arm, the tingling sensation moving higher. And lower. "I can help you with that. He won't, you know? You can't ever have him." Lori leaned in, fingers on either side of Christine's head, moving through her hair, her lips close, so close. Magic. Just magic. And sheer animal magnetism. Christine brought her hands up sharply, pushed Lori away from her, then caught and turned her so she fell not out toward the street but deeper into the doorway. Now it was Christine's turn to press against the other woman, to hold her as she first squirmed playfully then struggled. "You like to play games, Lori?" Christine pulled Lori's face up to hers, kissed her hard. As soon as Lori stopped struggling, began to return the kiss, Christine pushed her back. "I don't like to play them. You tell your boss that." She turned away. Lori laughed. When Christine didn't stop, she rushed up behind her, fell back into step with her. "Gods, you're exciting. You know that? We could be good together." She reached out to touch Christine's arm again, but dropped her hand when she saw the expression on the slayer's face. "Or not." Christine walked in silence, ignoring Lori's soft laughter. "Where are we going?" Lori asked. "Not that I mind the exercise, but I thought you wanted to talk." "Where I pick. Not where you pick." Lori rolled her eyes and followed her in silence as Christine led them down to the piers. Finally, Christine walked to the end of one of the less commercial piers and sat down on a bench overlooking the water. Several fishermen leaned against the railing, not talking to each other as they watched their lines. Lori sat down on the other end of the bench. "I'd sit closer, but I am supposed to get some work done here, Lieutenant." Christine remembered that the woman she'd just manhandled outranked her and then some--no doubt exactly as Lori intended she do. Fleet habits died hard. "Yes, Admiral, do explain why you and yours are following my friends?" "Are the watchers your friends now, Christine? We were under the impression you were an independent?" Lori sat back, her expression suddenly all business. "Or at least until your own special watcher showed up. Emily is it?" "Something like that. What do you care if I'm a watcher fan or not?" Lori seemed to consider her answer. "Normally, one slayer here or there doesn't impact our life much. We ignore them, they ignore us. It works. But it is not lost on Admiral Nogura or myself that we owe you a great debt for Gotterdammerung. And you're one of us, Christine. You're Starfleet. Just like Nogura. Just like me." "I'm nothing like you." Lori laughed. "Could have fooled me. That was some kiss." She patted Christine's leg. It was a motherly movement, little of sex about it to Christine's surprise. She hadn't realized Lori could turn it off that easily. "Maybe you're just horny? Your vampire boy toy left town." Lori leaned in, touched Christine's neck gently. "Although it seems you lined up a new one? A chip-free one this time?" Christine looked away. "Your story. I don't need to know." "Are we ever going to get to the point?" Christine said, pushing Lori's hand away from her throat. "This is the point. We are on the same team. You, Nogura, Jim, and I. We're on the Starfleet team. You haven't lost sight of that, have you, Lieutenant?" "Again the rank. It loses its impact after the first time, Lori." Lori's mouth tightened. "Then let's talk about something we haven't brought up yet. Kirsu." Christine remembered what she'd said to Silver when he wanted to talk about Kirsu. "New sushi dish?" Lori's face didn't change expression. Christine met her gaze, kept her own face bland. "Kirsu." "You said that. What is it?" Lori smiled grudgingly. "You say you don't like to play games, yet you play this one so well." Christine shrugged. "Slayer heaven." Lori leaned forward, her voice much softer, pitched so only Christine could hear. "Another dimension. Land of eternal sunlight, eternal daytime. And not precisely fixed in location." Christine could feel her eyebrows going up. The last bit was news. She'd thought the portals moved and Kirsu stayed put. "It shifts to wherever the portal forms. There are ways to use it to go wherever you want to in a heartbeat. You don't need a ship, don't have to waste valuable time traveling from point to point. Just pick a place, and you're there." Lori laughed softly. "Well, it's probably harder than that. But not much harder if a few girls can do it." Christine inhaled softly. "You're listening anyway. That's an improvement." Lori looked around them. "We tried to do this on our own. It's a family legacy, after all, for the Admiral. His family helped create the magic that calls Kirsu down. It's only right they get that magic back." She looked down. "We had what we needed in our grasp. Or my cousin did--until he was killed. We don't know by whom, or if they even knew what they had." Christine forced herself not to react. They were after the amulet? Did they really not know it had been Spike who had killed Lori's wolfy relation? Or were they playing more games? Did they expect Christine to run straight to where she was keeping the thing? Would they follow her? Lori leaned in, took her hand. The tingling was more subtle this time; Christine could almost feel the woman trying to push at her will. She pulled her hand away. "This goes beyond vampires and werewolves. Transcends monsters, Lieutenant Chapel. There are enemies out there, a gathering storm. More than one gathering storm." Christine looked at her, understanding dawning. "You want to use this Kirsu"--she made herself stumble over the name--"as a platform?" "They'd never see us coming. We could take as much or as little force as was needed. Stop them in their tracks." "Them? The Klingons?" Lori nodded. "And others perhaps more frightening." "The Romulans," Christine guessed. "They are our prime worry." Lori nodded. "There are others you've never heard of. We're just now getting the reports in and they are unsettling to say the least." She smiled again. "Imagine that. Something that can unsettle a werewolf, Christine." She didn't like to imagine that. And Lori didn't sound as if she was exaggerating. Christine rubbed between her eyes, where a headache was starting. "Here, let me." Lori gently moved Christine's hands away, then laid her palm on her forehead, the other coming around to rest on the back of her head. The pain receded. "You've been so good at not even acknowledging Kirsu exists," Lori murmured as she kept working on the spot. "We respect that kind of loyalty. And you need to know that we won't harm the slayers. We have no quarrel with them. And there's plenty of room there. For all of us." "One big happy family?" Christine tried to pull away from Lori's hands, but the woman's grip on her tightened. Lori moved closer, her eyes darkened, turned black. Somewhere deep in Christine's mind, she heard, "Help me. Please." Christine stopped struggling, saw something in Lori's expression change. The woman, for just a moment, looked helpless. And very frightened. Then she seemed to pull on the mask of Admiral Ciani again. And over that the mask of the lascivious werewolf. She kissed Christine, her lips pressing softly, her mouth opening. Christine didn't try to fight, was still trying to figure out if what she had seen on Lori's face had been truth or just another ruse. She let Lori kiss her until the woman let her go and pushed away from the bench, rising in a fluid movement. Their eyes met, Lori's shook her head slightly, some sort of silent message that Christine wasn't sure she was receiving fully. "The Federation needs Kirsu. Starfleet needs Kirsu. We can work together. On many of our mutual problems. Our resources are immense. We need people like you...and like Jim." Lori's mouth set in a firm line. "Think about it." Christine watched her walk away. Hadn't this been what she'd told Jim the slayers needed? A more advanced solution to the old ways of killing? And had Lori just offered her a way to make that happen? End part 2 of 3 -- Stephen Ratliff ASC Stories Only Forwarding In the Pattern Buffer at: http//trekiverse.crosswinds.net/feed/ ASCL is a stories-only list, no discussion. Comments and feedback should be directed to alt.startrek .creative or directly to the author. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCL/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ASCL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From ???@??? Fri Feb 20 22:16:44 2004 X-Persona: Status: U Return-Path: Received: from n2.grp.scd.yahoo.com ([66.218.66.75]) by robin (EarthLink SMTP Server) with SMTP id 1aUnCc2Ne3NZFjX1 for ; Fri, 20 Feb 2004 19:15:40 -0800 (PST) X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1977044-13214-1077333325-stephenbratliffasc=earthlink.net@returns.groups.yah