"On the Defensive"
(previous post the frightening "One Last Chance")
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Stardate: 60321.1730
Setting: TANGIERS ORBITAL, 5th floor, Sol's Suite
With a deep breath, Susan checked herself in the mirror again. She
still had plenty of time before dinner, but was so anxious that she had been
unable to sit still and had decided to do something constructive: namely getting ready.
Earlier that day she had bought a burgundy velvet dress for the
occasion. Now she looked at it again, she thought that it may have been a bit
much... but if she and David were going to get any information, she'd have to
rely on her charm... and as she wasn't quite sure how that would stand up to
dinner with an evil Cardassian... looks were the next best thing.
She jumped when she heard the chime at her door. David. He was
obviously as antsy as she was. She strode over to the door and pressed the button to open it.
"You're early..."
But it was not David who was standing framed in the doorway and looking
incredibly ominous. It was Matt.
"Expecting someone?"
Susan made a big show of looking up at the chronometer. "In about half
an hour. What can I do for you?"
Matt invited himself in, looking Susan up and down, "Nice." He grinned,
"I'm not used to seeing you all dressed up. It suites you."
Susan was immediately suspicious. She hadn't known Matt as long as Sol
had, but she'd known him long enough to recognize that grin. Her eyes
narrowed. "What do you want, Matt?"
He raised his eyebrows, "Impatient aren't we?"
There was a slightly sinister lilt to his voice that Susan had not
heard before. Instead of making her frightened, though, it only increased her
curiosity. She glanced at her reflection. "Well, I'm kind of in the
middle of getting ready."
Matt closed the distance between them and put his hands on her
shoulders, "For dinner? You look ready to me."
Susan ignored the last statement, "Yes. For dinner."
"A bit dressed up, aren't you?"
Susan raised her eyebrows, "I'm *aiming* to impress."
"I see." Matt turned around and paced over to the other side of the
room, his hands draped casually behind him, "And I suppose it's the gul that
you're trying to impress?"
Susan was confused for a second, "Yes... who else would I be trying to
impress?"
"I don't know..." Matt pretended to be examining a painting on the far
wall. Suddenly, without warning, he turned and said slowly and carefully,
"The bounty hunter perhaps?"
Susan almost burst into laughter. So this is why Matt was here? Because
he felt jealous... Susan stopped herself from laughing, but could not
suppress the smile.
"Mr. Brell?" She let the smile grow wider, "Why in the blackness of
space would I be trying to impress Mr. Brell?"
"Don't play dumb with me." Matt said in a threatening tone, exposing a
side of him that Susan had never seen. "I saw the way you looked at each
other. And the way he defended you." He came closer and Susan had the urge to
back away, "You didn't just meet him at breakfast did you?"
Susan was completely shocked. Had it been that obvious? When she didn't
answer immediately, Matt grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her so
that they were practically nose-to-nose, "Did you?!"
Susan didn't know what to say. At her silence, Matt flung her away from
him, into an armchair "It was your plan all along, wasn't it? You're the one
whose hiring him! To find me! Only, you're never one to run out on a
deal so you decided that you'd kill two birds with one stone. Get rich. Get
me."
Susan opened her mouth, but Matt cut her off, "Don't try and deny it,
Sol. I've been watching you. You've been buying everything with credits. You
don't have any money. Yet. But when you turn me in to the highest
bidder then your purse will be *lined* with latimum and you'll be able to run
off into the sunset with 'Mr. Brell.'"
He seemed to run out of steam and turned around, head in hands. "I
should of known it was too good to be true. You coming here. Forgiving me..."
Worried that he'd have a nervous breakdown... or kill her... Susan
decided she'd better say something. "Who said anything about forgiveness?"
He faced her, an odd mixture of anger and betrayal on his face, "Who
indeed?"
Susan smiled and shook her head slowly, "Matt... you've got the wrong
end of the stick. I didn't come here with Brell and I didn't come here to
betray you."
Mind working overtime, Susan got up and placed a sympathetic hand on
Matt's shoulder, "I came here looking for Bajoran artifacts and the renewal of
a business partnership. Nothing more." she decided to take a leap of
faith, "we worked well together. Me and you. All else aside, money is still
money."
Sometimes it helped being a counselor. Matt didn't seem convinced that
she wasn't out to get him yet, but at least he'd calmed down. He shook his
head, "It's not going to work, Sol. Not this time. I know that you know
Brell. No bounty hunter is *that* protective over his bounties. Ever heard the
phrase 'bring 'em back dead or alive?'"
Susan breathed a deep sigh and sat down again, "Okay." she said
quietly, "You're right. Damn you, Matt. You know me too well." She hoped David
would understand as she decided to go with the same story she'd originally
intended... with a twist. "I do know Mr. Brell. We met a while back. I
helped him get a bounty and he let me off..."
Matt sat down opposite her and stared at her, stone-faced, "I don't
believe you."
**Okay,** Susan thought, **Let's try that again**. She continued as if
she hadn't decided to change tack, "At first it was just a business thing
and then..."
"Let me guess." Matt said. Then a smile began to creep to the corners
of his mouth, "It grew?"
Susan pouted, not sure she wanted to confirm that without checking with
David first... but decided that if she had Matt smiling, she was on the
right track.
"Briefly." she stated.
Matt nodded slowly, "So... loverboy decided to help you with your
revenge?"
Oh, great. This was *not* going well. "No!" Susan said hastily, "I told
you... you have the wrong idea completely. Kreedar tracked me down this
morning and wanted to know what I was doing here."
"So you told him?"
Figuring that not admitting that would get Susan into more trouble, she
nodded slowly, looking down at her lap. "I owed him one."
"And," Matt sighed. "You owed me one."
Susan glared at him, "Why are you *so* convinced that I'm out to get
you?"
"Because I know you, and I know that you don't simply accept it when
someone hurts you."
Susan stood, hoping height would give her some kind of advantage in
this argument she knew nothing about, "If you were so convinced that I was
out to get you, why did you send me the message and come to great me at the
Arrival's Center?"
Matt held her gaze as a new possibility dawned on Susan, "Unless...
unless you were trying to set *me* up!"
Now Matt also stood, "Now why on TANGIERS ORBITAL would I want to do
that?"
"It's one of the symptoms of paranoia." Susan stated, momentarily
becoming herself, "You'd want to eliminate me before I became a threat."
Matt seemed entertained by this, "Come on, Sol... you and I both know
that if I'd wanted to *eliminate* you, you'd be dead already."
Susan folded her arms, "Likewise."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, as if assessing the threat
that the other posed, then Matt stepped away, "Griko doesn't know."
"What?" Susan asked, genuinely confused.
Matt sighed, "anything. He doesn't know anything. I didn't tell him
anything. He still thinks that you just decided to leave."
Susan cottoned on. Matt was talking about whatever had split them up.
"What do you mean you didn't tell him anything? You mean he still thinks
we're together?"
Susan knew that wasn't true, but was trying to bait Matt into giving
her some indication of what had happened.
"Of course not." Matt said, "He just thinks that it was your decision
to leave. That's all."
Susan took the plunge. "It *was* my decision to leave."
Matt gave a half grin, "Come on, Sol. *Your* decision? You had just
confessed your undying love for me. You can't honestly tell me that it
was *you* that decided to leave."
"Don't flatter yourself." Susan stated, "It was obvious that I wasn't
in the right place and was wasting my time. The word 'undying' suggests that
there's something more than lust. There wasn't. Quite obviously because
*I* decided to leave."
"After I told you that you were nothing but 'entertainment'..."
Susan fought back a smile of triumph. *Now* she was getting somewhere.
"Well I obviously wasn't 'entertaining' enough for you so I decided to move
on."
"I threw you out."
"You did no such thing. You're memory obviously fails you. I distinctly
recall 'flying off into the sunset'."
Matt grinned, "Sunsets." he corrected her. "There were two. We were in
a binary system."
Susan smiled slowly, "So perhaps your memory is better than mine..."
Matt moved towards her, "And perhaps your 'forgetfulness' is your way
of forgiving me...?" he asked hopefully.
"Are you asking for forgiveness?" Susan asked quietly. She was all to
aware of where this moment was heading.
"Maybe..." Matt said, reaching up to touch her cheek.
The door chimed.
Susan was never so grateful.
No surprises this time, it was David who was standing outside. He
looked in and saw Matt. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Not at all." Matt said defensively.
--------------- 2005 post #194
Tallulah Habib {thabib@eject.co.za}
Ensign Susan Mei
Head Counselor
USS ANUBIS
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"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own." - Adam Lindsay Gordon
