The female assassin laughs a little, her words hitting Keely hard.
Keely is outraged at her words, and she pulls the dagger out of her back, quickly and painfully, then lunges at the woman. The woman screams loudly and terrifyingly as the dagger plunges into her chest. She falls to the floor, landing on the dagger. This pushes it in further, hitting her heart, and killing her.
Keely stumbles back two steps, whispering, “Liar.” She shakes her head, making herself every dizzier. Blood begins seeping out of Keely’s mouth but she continues to look at the woman.
Savar and the other Vulcans arrive in the doorway. They look around the room, attempting to determine what happened and what to do. They do not see the trickle of blood from Keely’s mouth yet.
Keely looks up at them; her eyes are tired, pained, sad and weak. She’s ready to collapse but does not want to. Only sheer will power holds her up for the moment.
Doran breaks the silence. “Doctor Calahan, may I ask what is...” He trails off as he sees the trickle of blood. He sends Sorot for medical help.
Keely lifts her hand weakly to her mouth to wipe the blood. It’s already filling her mouth and lungs.
Savar walks forward, tapping his commbadge. “Transport package alpha.”
As Keely begins coughing up blood, a medkit appears. Savar opens the medkit, grabbing the medical tricorder, and moves to scan Keely and the other woman.
Keely’s knees give out as exhaustion sinks in. She falls first to a kneeling position, then to the floor as she passes out completely. She lands on top of the woman she killed, her blood pouring and mixing with the assassin’s. The Vulcans can see a nasty stab wound in her back as her garment is cut cleanly through and almost completely blood-soaked.
Savar looks up at the Masters, reading from the screen. “Knife wound in the back. She’s losing blood, and the wound is not healing. It is unlikely that she will survive unless we transport her to a medical facility.” He points to the other woman on the floor. “The other is dead.” He looks up at Doran. “I’m going to have to transport Keely.”
Keely can hear Savar, but she’s too weak to respond. She can barely open her eyes to look at Savar for a moment.
He taps his commbadge. “Runabout Nexia, transport Doctor Calahan and myself to medical facility Obsedan. Transport the other two lifesigns in this room as well.” He looks down at Keely, whispering, “Hang on. We’re going to get you help...”
His words are cut off as the familiar tingle of the transporter grabs the two. They arrive moments later in the medical facility. Nurses and aides are instantly in action. A gurney is brought out and Savar lifts the Doctor, placing her on the gurney. Doran and T’Lynn materialize after the Starfleet officers.
As Keely is taken into emergency care, she summons the last of her energy to communicate telepathically with Savar. ~Watch... your... back... they... come... for... you...~ The others look over with questioning looks on their faces as Savar says, “I know.”
Savar looks over to T’Lynn. “I assume this is where the other two of the trio are.”
Doran answers. “We can assume that. The woman dead had red blood. Although she wears the clothes of a Vulcan, she is clearly not Vulcan. Such effort that is wasted on evil. If it were used for good, think of the outcome.”
As the Vulcans discuss and contemplate, the doctors heal Keely’s wound and internal damage and set up for blood transfusions. But another thing entirely is going on in Keely’s mind..
Several hours later, the four are sitting outside of a recovery room. A medical officer comes out of the room and comes over to them. “She appears to be doing better. She will be weak from the loss of blood for a while. I would recommend a day here if not more.”
“Is she awake?” Savar asks.
“Not when I left, no, although she may awaken at any time.”
T’Lynn stands up almost immediately to go see Keely, and Savar is not far behind. They enter the room and go to her bedside, where it appears she is resting peacefully. Her body may be, but her mind is working...
She wakes up in a room. She recognizes this room. It’s her room at her Grandmother’s house. But they were just on Vulcan. She stomps her foot as she realizes what has happened. She collapses on the floor, much weaker than she thought she was. The last time she reached out to Savar drained her. She just lies on the floor with her eyes closed, knowing she should rest. She only hopes that Savar is left alone and that whoever stabbed her is stupid enough to think he succeeded.
T’Lynn breaks the silence in the recovery room. “Savar... something Keely once told me. She said that in troubled times, her mother would hold and rub her hand. I would do it, but you seem to be closer to her, and it may work out to your benefit, since Keely doesn’t trust you as much as she should.” Savar nods, and reaches down to rub the top of her hand. T’Lynn nods approval, and the two share a glance, realizing that they are Keely’s family, since her own abandoned her.
Keely gets up, looks around, and sees all of the familiar things. She feels curious, and much better, so she walks around looking at the pictures. Everything is as she remembers it. Of course it is, she chides. This is your mind. She goes over to the door, noticing the lock. It figures. Now I’ll have to spend another year in here, just like last time. How lonely that was... and scary. She sits on the bed, sighing. Suddenly, a light surges through the door and surrounds Keely. She resists at first, but then she feels something. She isn’t sure what, but someone is trying to give her something to hold onto to help her back into the real world. She relaxes, letting herself be pulled along.
Keely’s eyelids flicker open then shut again, and then all is still. However, both T’Lynn and Savar have noticed.
Keely opens her eyes again to see a porch, and people. They’re waving. Why? She doesn’t know, but it scares her. She wants to go back inside, but she cannot.
The hand that Savar is rubbing twitches suddenly. Savar lets go. Keely’s entire body tenses, then relaxes, and she begins speaking in ancient Celtic.
T’Lynn leans down. “Keely?”
Keely makes a soft scream, then opens her eyes. She sees Savar first, then turns to see T’Lynn.
“You awaken. What happened?”
Keely smirks. “You like stating the obvious almost as much as Savar here.” She still feels weak, as is noted by her soft voice.
“Sometimes it is hard to see the obvious, and it must be pointed out. Right now, I guess the obvious is that number two is dead, and number three is... unknown.”
“I woke up in the room I was in when I was four. Remember me telling you about my coma, T’Lynn? Then... I woke up here.”
“I remember you telling me about that experience, yes.”
Keely starts to nod, then makes a small yelp of pain as her hand shoots to her neck.
“Maybe you should rest with minimal movement,” T’Lynn suggests.
Keely’s eyes widen all of a sudden, and she turns to Savar. “Are you undamaged? Did you catch the man who stabbed me?”
“There was a man as well?”
Turning back to T’Lynn, Keely comments, “I wish to sit up, not lay here.” T’Lynn nods and walks around the bed. She comes across a control panel and uses it to move Keely to an almost sitting, but still well supported, position.
“All we found was the body of a woman,” Savar clarifies.
“Yes, I was going to stab the woman for killing the aide when a man came up behind me and stabbed me. I turned to look at him, but he had fled. All I could catch was that he was Trill.” She turns and thanks T’Lynn.
“Unfortunately, no, we didn’t catch any such person. We’ve heard nothing about a male Trill. T’Lynn, I’m going to go contact authorities to be on the lookout for a male Trill.”
“Savar, there’s something else you should know. I would not have seen him unless he had wanted me to. Do you understand what I mean? It’s another clue. A clue from Jepoth.”
“A clue? Any idea of its meaning?” Keely frowns no.
T’Lynn argues with going to authorities. “Savar, you know he could be anywhere by now... even off the planet. He may not have docked a ship, but simply beamed down for the time period necessary.”
“I’m still going to report it. He may still be here.” Savar leaves the room.
Keely thinks to herself that this is going to turn into her Academy days all over again. Now everyone will find out. She sighs.
“How do you feel?” T’Lynn asks Keely.
Keely looks back, raising an eyebrow. Then her gaze softens and she drops her guard. “I’m scared. I don’t want anyone else involved. There have been too many people hurt already. If Savar or you were to be hurt...” she trails off, shaking her head slightly.
“I understand. After your experience, it’s okay to be upset or afraid.” Keely sighs again.
The door opens again and Savar walks back in. Keely looks up at him, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve contacted the authorities. They have seen nothing. Port authorities have also been contacted. They know of no passenger list containing either a female Betazoid or a male Trill. However, they will continue to look. It is most likely that they merely beamed down for the time it took to perform their task.”
Keely rolls her eyes. “These are professionals, Savar. You think they would take a public transport? More than likely, it was a cloaked Klingon ship.” She sighs, then realizes she called him Savar. She’s done it before, but never so easily...
To be continued...