Chapter Text
Cey stared at the open panel before her. She'd been working to get this section of the deck online for nearly an hour now. It was tedious work, but it needed to be done. She estimated another twenty minutes before she was finished here. Then on to the next project.
She sighed. What had she gotten herself into?
"You should have just stayed away," she muttered to herself.
But how could she have? She'd thought a lot about Enterprise while she and Sor had gone and put Rolik to rest. She had thought about them out in the Expanse, risking their lives to stop the weapon - the only ones between the Xindi and Earth.
Except they weren't the only ones, were they? *She* was out here as well and she had just as much invested in their success as they did.
So she decided to find them again and to help in any way she could - as soon as she and Sor had rendezvoused with the Andorians.
//
Shran hadn't been pleased when they'd finally reached them - and he'd let her know it.
"You wouldn't be taking out your failures on me now, would you, Commander?" She had asked. She knew they'd failed in securing the weapon for themselves.
Now, Andorians were rather easy to deal with once you understood them. And understood them she did. They tended to respect those who stood their ground, those who were combative without being disrespectful. She was currently toeing the line.
His antennae moved up and outward. He hadn't liked her comment.
"You want to talk about failings?" He asked darkly, closing the distance between them. "Why don't we talk about how you're late with this now *useless* intel," he slammed the disk she'd given him on his desk, "and how you got one of my best men killed!"
Her eyes narrowed. "That wasn’t my fault," she said, emphasizing each word as she spoke, “you can blame that on the Xindi.”
She and Thelano had been good friends. She would have given her life to save his. For him to insinuate otherwise made her blood boil.
She found it difficult to keep the anger from her voice. "He gave his life to save ours. Don't you *dare* think I take that lightly."
Shran regarded her for a long moment before he straightened himself. "Good," he said.
There was no hint of levity to his tone. She knew he hadn't forgiven her.
She let out a silent, angry breath to calm herself.
Shran walked behind his desk and picked up a carafe of Andorian Ale.
"At least the Xindi haven't made you soft," he remarked, uprighting two small glasses.
"My people are resilient," she said.
It was an understatement. And she was making a point. It would take much more than anger-laden voices and unvoiced threats to unnerve her.
Shran grunted as he poured the first glass. "As are mine." He took a breath, pausing before pouring the second. "I think that's why we get along so well, you and I." He gave her a dark, mocking look.
She was able to resist the urge to roll her eyes, though she did let out a disapproving breath. "If by get along you mean are constantly at each other's throats, then yes, I suppose that's true."
The look on his face was that of mild amusement.
"Is there a difference?" He asked, handing her the glass.
She forced a bitter laugh. "I suppose not."
"A toast then." He lifted his glass. "To getting along."
//
After her short stay, she had continued on alone. Shran had, eager to be rid of her, given her Enterprise's last known heading.
Sor hadn't much liked the thought of her heading out on her own, but his first and only duty was to the Imperial Guard.
It hadn't been too difficult following the trail from there. The stealth capabilities of her ship coupled with the use of the subspace corridors made the task significantly easier than it otherwise would have been.
It had taken her some time to catch up, but intercepted messages and transmissions from various Xindi ships had kept her on course.
When she finally found Enterprise, they were captainless and nearly dead in the water.
Now they had Xindi allies and were within arm's reach of their goal. All they needed was a working ship.
Getting things back into basic working order had proven difficult. In the process, she had sacrificed parts of her own ship - those that were compatible with Enterprise's systems, anyhow.
That hadn't included much, but it had been enough to ensure her ship wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
She looked down at the hyperspanner in her hand and sighed. She needed to get back to work.
//
Nearly an hour and another repair passed uninterrupted.
"Cey!" Came an excited voice a ways off to her right.
She looked up to see Ensign Mayweather headed towards her, a large grin on his face.
"Did you hear?" He asked when he was closer.
She smiled inwardly. Travis was an excitable individual. She was tempted to attribute it to his young age, but she knew he'd seen and experienced enough for that not to be the case. It simply was who he was. She found it endearing.
"Hear what?" She asked, turning back to the panel. She was nearly done with her task.
"About the other Enterprise!" He said.
She half-smiled. The other ship was the reason she was the only one left working on this deck. Most had taken an early lunch to go find out what had become of their other, future, selves.
"Yes, I've heard," she muttered, moving closer to the coupling that was currently giving her trouble.
He leaned against the wall on the other side of the panel and tilted his head towards her.
"Isn't it amazing?" He continued. "And they're letting us take a look at our personal records. We can see if we ever got married, had kids, grandkids..." He paused, expectant. "So do you want to come with me?" He asked.
She halted her work for a moment and turned to him.
Normally she'd have found the friendliness strange, but this was Travis. When she had returned to the Enterprise, he'd been the only one who didn't seem to have misgivings. In fact, he'd greeted her as if they were old friends.
She knew it was likely because she had saved his life, but a part of her appreciated it all the same.
"Go where?" She asked.
"To have a look at their records, of course."
She let out a laugh of a breath and turned back to her work.
"Oh, come on," he pleaded. "Aren't you curious?"
She spared him another glance and grinned. "I would be if there were anything for me to see in those records."
"There might be." His smile was wide and halfway convincing.
She tilted her head towards him and raised a brow. "You're charming, Travis," she conceded. "But you and I both know that if we were to get stuck in the past, I wouldn't stick around."
He shrugged but didn't lose the grin. "You never know."
She gave him a look that said otherwise.
He laughed and nodded. "Ok. Ok. Well, I'm headed to the mess hall with Hoshi afterward if you feel like joining us." He pushed himself off the wall and raised his hands and shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. "You know, in case you'd like to create a reason to stick around."
She motioned to the still open panel before her. "I've been at this all day. All I want is a shower and a nap."