JL | Danielle Atarah, Kalina Zett | You did WHAT??

Posted on 241709.28 @ 11:46pm by Danielle Atarah

Mission: Reconciliation & Reconstruction [Fleet Plot]

“I’m… I’m sorry, you’re... you're going where?” Zett stared at Dani, her eyes wide and confused as she followed the smaller woman around the apartment. Dani shrugged and opened the drawer, sifting through her t-shirt collection, throwing a few into the bag at her feet.

“I am going to the beta quadrant to get Ivanova back from the past.”

Zett stared at her with an expression that was clearly “I don’t think we speak the same language here” and was not too far from the truth.

Dani smiled and walked over to the standing closet, opening it wide. “Relax, Z. It’s just for a short time, until we get the Vindicator back through whatever space rupture they managed to get themselves stuck in.”

“You-- I-- You--” The Trill stuttered in confusion, staring at Dani, leaning back at the dresser for balance. “Danielle.”

“Stop worrying, Kal,”Dani muttered light-heartedly, her head inside the big closet, “I’ll be fine, it’s not like it’s the first time I will be on a Starfleet ship with Starfleet people around me. Where are my blue sneakers? Have you seen-- oh. There they are.”

"You're not in starfleet anymore." Zett pointed out.

"Yes!" Dani exclaimed, grinning, "which means I can wear whatever the hell I want!" She leaned further into the closet and pulled another pair of pants, tossing them onto the bed, still holding the sneakers in her other hand. Zett swallowed, rubbed her forehead, and shook her head.

“Danielle, stop.” The Trill sighed, walking over to the woman, putting an arm on her shoulder. “Stop packing. Look at me.”

Dani turned, holding the pair of sneakers in her hand, and looked up at the Trill.

“You have got to be kidding me.” The Trill started, looking at the sneakers, and then the bag, and then up at Dani, as if her brain was still trying to process the entire situation, and failing to make sense of it.

“What?” Dani looked at the shoes in her hand, “they’re nice, I--”

“I’m not talking about the fucking sneakers, D.”

“Right," Dani snorted, shrugging, "Look, Kal, I can’t not go. She’s my friend, she’s stuck, and I can help.”

“They can do that without you.”

“They probably can’t, actually. I’m the one with the device on the Vindicator ship.”

Zett’s breath caught. “You.. told them?”

“Yeah.”

“You told them you have a surveillance device inside a starfleet ship.” Zett stared, unbelieving. Dani glanced up at her and continued packing.

"Why does everyone call it a surveillance device?" Dani grunted, shaking her head, "it's a communication node, and it was meant to make sure Ivanova has a backup plan in case she's in trouble. And guess what!" she turned around on her heels, exasperated. "She is in trouble. And it is there, to help her."

"It-- You---” Zett stuttered again, her brain once more trying to catch up. “Dani, you went to a fucking Admiral to admit that you placed an illegal survaillance device in one of the goddamn flagships of the fleet, and now you’re going to go outside the fucking quadrant -- outside the safety of our reach, Dani -- and on a ship full of Starfleet admiralty. What the fuck did you do.”

Dani sighed and turned to sift through her bag again, shoving the shoes inside it, clearing some space for more items.

“What did you want me to do, Z? A ship is out there, stuck in some spacial phenomenon, and I was the one with the key. Starfleet couldn't do anything for two weeks already. I couldn’t not help.”

Zett grunted. “You didn’t have to admit to fucking treason while you’re at it.”

“It’s not treason,” Dani muttered, annoyed that everyone seemed to consider her gift so goddamn terrible, when it, clearly, was what saved the goddamn day, as it was intended to. “At worst, it might be espionage, if they actually want to stretch the definition and ignore the--”

“Dani!” Zett exploded, pounding her fist on the dresser. It shook in its place, and Dani sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“I couldn’t lie, Kal, and I couldn’t not go. If I have to pay for this, I’ll pay for this.”

“Oh, you will, will you?” Zett glared at her. “And what about me?”

“None of this points to you or the organization, Kal, I’m not that careless”

“I’m not worried about the fucking Syndicate, Dani.”

The smaller woman sighed. “What about you?”

“Once again, just like last time, you are making this decision for the both of us. For all of us. You and your noble fucking ideas and your friends -- instead of talking about it, finding the way to get things done right, together, you go gallivanting ahead, sacrificing yourself like a fucking martyr for the cause of friendship and morality, as if you’re the only one affected.”

Dani blinked.

“Listen to me carefully, Danielle. This will not be like last time; this will not be you taking on some fucked up notion of brave fucking sacrifice and going away to join Starfleet for 15 years so you can save the rest of us. I will not let that happen again, do you understand?”

Dani swallowed, shaking her head in protest. “It’s nothing like--”

“I am not going to let you go and ‘pay’ some price Starfleet and the Federation set on your head just because you exposed yourself as part of a stupid sacrifice to help your friend. That won’t happen this time. I will go to war with the entire fucking Federation if I have to, do you understand me?”

“Please don’t…” Dani started, her expression more than a little worried. Zett’s expression remained serious.

“None of this matters if you’re rotting in a cell somewhere.”

“Geez, Kal, it won’t come to that…”

“It fucking might, D!” Zett exclaimed, and Dani sighed, her palm up again, appeasing.

“Look, I may have screwed up--”

“May?” Zett cut in, and Dani raised her arm, taking another breath, continuing.

“I may have screwed up and admitted to things that are too late to take back.” She bit her lip and stood straighter, looking up at the Trill. “But if this was the only way to get Rochelle back, then that's a good reason for it, even if I do end up paying for it." Her voice softened a bit, and she looked up, her eyes pleading. "I know you don’t understand it, but this is the way things are for me. You’ll just have to trust me.”

“I do trust you,” Zett stared at her, unmoving, unrelenting, fear and worry mixing with the fury on her face. “I don’t trust them.”

“I trust Rochelle. And Andrea. And I trust that despite the absolute morality bullshit that Starfleet touts as gospel, the people I’m going to go with are also human beings, so to speak, and they have family on that ship, and I’m hoping they remember that whatever they think of my methods - I help getting them back.”

Zett said nothing for a moment, staring at Dani quietly. Dani sighed, and continued her quest for clothing, throwing items into her bag carelessly as she roamed through the bedroom, trying to ignore Zett’s eyes boring holes in her back.

“I’m sending the Bristol with you.” Zett finally said, and it wasn’t a question.

“I figured you would.” Dani nodded, tossing socks into the bag that started to bloat from the weight of the items in it.

“I don’t care it’s your ship and crew, Dani, they’re going to get you out of there and back here at the first sign of trouble even if it means tying you up the entire fucking way.”

“I know.” Dani nodded, finally looking up at Zett with a small smile. “I know. They won’t have to.”

“They better fucking not, Dani.”

Dani’s smile expanded, softly, slowly, as she turned and stood in front of the Trill, looking up at her.

“Everything will be fine. I’ll go, I'll help get Rochelle back." The smile expanded a bit, her hand reaching upwards to touch Zett's face, gently, "I’ll be the hero, and we will end up with friends in high places, who instead of remembering I placed a "surveillance device" on one of their ships -- with good intentions, mind you! -- they will remember I saved their children and friends and family. It's a win win, you'll see.”

Zett sighed. “I want to be wrong, Dani.”

“You are.” Dani smiled and leaned closer, kissing the Trill softly on her lips. “You don’t know them like I do.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” The Trill whispered.

Dani nodded and dropped her bag on the floor; it landed with a soft thud and an accompanying clang as the strap followed. “Well, I guess I’ll have to prove you wrong.”

The Trill smiled, but there was not an ounce of happiness in there. Worry swam in her face.

“We just got ourselves settled here, Dani,” she sighed, pulling the smaller woman closer, “and now this… this threatens everything.”

“It won’t.” Dani smiled back at her. “Trust me, Z. Even if things don’t work out like I plan, you know me.” The Trill’s head tilted a bit, her eyes narrows, the smile softened, just a bit, as Dani’s smile expanded lopsidedly.

“I always have a plan.”

Zett chuckled dryly and wrapped her arms around Dani, pulling her in. “You better come back safe, little girl. Someone needs to keep me in check.”

“I will.”

“If we need to spring you out of jail, D,” Zett closed her eyes, “Smith will be the one to plan it..”

Dani snorted, “now that’s the best reason so far to come back.”

Zett chuckled back, but the chuckle ended with a sigh, her arms squeezing harder, her face burying itself into Dani’s neck. She nodded, hoping the woman knew what she was doing… but also planning some backup plans of her own.

--

Danielle Atarah
Earth Syndicate

Kalina Zett
Earth Syndicate