"Family Feud"
Previous Post: "Plan of Attack" by Julian
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Stardate: 60321.1105
Setting: TANGIERS ORBITAL, Enaii's Suite
It had taken only moments for the woman to fall asleep, she was accustomed to having to grab sleep in whatever few moments she could muster, still, it would have been very nice to have slept longer.
"ENAII! WAKE UP!" Instantly, the woman's mind awoke, though her eyes remained closed. She recognised the voice, but she really hoped that she was mistaken.
"ENAII!!! WHERE'S TALIA?!?" the voice of her partner was frantic, and so sighing, she rolled over and opened one eye to look at the woman.
"Settle down," she grumbled, she really doubted she'd be able to get back to sleep now.
Sabrina came over to the side of the bed and shook her with both hands. "Talia's not here!!!" she exclaimed urgently, all the worst-case scenarios running through her mind.
Enaii pushed her wife off of her and pulled the blanket up over her head, "Talia's fine, she's with the masseuse."
"THE MASSEUSE?!?" Sabrina exclaimed, not believing her ears, "You left her with a STRANGER?!? Some pervert has our daughter and you're *sleeping*?!?"
The Intel Operative growled and flipped the cover off of her, it was apparent she would not be allowed to sleep this day. "Tanis is neither a pervert or a stranger. He is a Risean," she said as if that made it all better.
"A Risean!" the Orion-looking woman admonished, "And how exactly does that make it better?!?"
Enaii was up and getting dressed. "In the entire history of Risean culture there has *never* been a single case of child neglect, abuse or abandonment. Talia is perfectly safe with Tanis. Do you think I would ever put my daughter in danger?!?"
"She is *our* daughter Enaii, and I don't think you'd do it intentionally, but you left her with a *stranger*! You have no idea what's going on right now!"
Fully dressed, the Intel Operative turned to face her wife, more than a little irate. "Like it or not Sabrina, Talia *is* half Risean, it is her culture and a part of who she is. I will not deny her the only chance she has to experience the life Liana would have wanted for her."
Sabrina stopped, suddenly stunned. Enaii so seldom spoke of Talia's only other biological parent that she sometimes forgot the woman ever existed. "I'm sorry."
The Operative had already regained her composure. "Certainly you did not blow cover for this?!?"
"I hardly think my cover is blown…"
"No?!?" Enaii snapped, "You are here, in my quarters, no doubt you let yourself in using *my* codes, and you think no one noticed?"
Sabrina rolled her eyes, "I'm not stupid Enaii, I made sure no one was around."
The Operative pressed a button on a nearby computer console, bringing up images of over 20 different hallway locations on a panel nearby. "Stupid, no… But you are naïve. There are 23 official intel operatives from various governments on this station at this time. All of them overseeing an undercover team, and none of them ever making contact with the members of their team. You can be certain all 22 other operatives have a recording of *you* letting yourself into my quarters, and now know that you are a member of my team. Your cover is blown."
The Executive Officer's jaw dropped slightly. "I… had no idea."
Enaii's shoulders dropped, she was still getting over her debriefing and this added stress wasn't helping. "Look, there's no harm done. You'll just have to stay with me from now on, it's not safe for you to work alone anymore."
Sabrina looked sceptically at her wife, such compassion was not at all common from the woman.
The Operative sighed. "It'll be like a family vacation."
"Hardly," the Executive officer countered, finally remembering why she came here in the first place. "Ensign Summers is missing."
"You brought everyone together in a public place for a missing operative?!? I can't believe how foolish this is."
Sabrina shook her head, "No, of course not. We got together because David overheard that there are Tal Shiar operatives looking for Captain Simmons!"
Enaii's head snapped back to glare at the woman in disbelief. "Were they *looking* for an Andorian?!?"
"No…" Sabrina answered, taken aback by the forcefulness of the woman's reaction.
"They are *now*," the Operative hissed in utter contempt.
The Executive Officer shook her head, "There were hundreds of people at that breakfast…"
"AND HOW MANY OF THOSE HAD YOUR FANCY ANUBIS INVITATIONS?!?" Enaii shouted, causing Sabrina to jump backwards, she had never before heard the woman raise her voice. Calming down, the Operative took a few moments to collect herself, Sabrina didn't dare speak during the silence and kept perfectly still. Blowing a stream of air through her pursed lips, the irate intel agent finally spoke. "It was clearly a mistake to bring a team so naïve to the ways of intel into a situation such as this. The Tal Shiar likely leaked the information to Mr. Dawson on purpose, in the hopes that this would happen. Captain Simmons is more in danger now than if the information had been ignored. There are only three men that got that invitation, all they need to do now is figure out which one of them he is."
Sabrina's jaw dropped, she had been clueless before, but now it made so much sense. "We've reduced the odds from one out of thousands to one in three…"
"One in two," Enaii corrected, "They already know Mr. Dawson is not the Captain, somehow his cover was leaked and they knew he was a part of the team."
"That's why they leaked the information to him…" Sabrina muttered. "What do we do?!?"
"Nothing!" Enaii hissed. "We do *nothing*. We have a mission, we will complete it."
"But James! And Lea!" The Executive officer countered.
The Operative scowled, "Captain Simmons is a wise man, he would have to put himself in a situation where capture was possible, I doubt he will do that. As far as Ensign Summers, she is an acceptable casualty."
"There are *no* acceptable casualties Enaii!" Sabrina snapped.
"For crying out loud," the Operative growled under her breath, she did not know if it was her devotion to her wife that made her weak, or the recent debriefing she had endured, what she did know was that in her right mind she would not be doing this. "Fine, we'll wait for Talia to get back, then we'll go see Sam."
The executive officer had no idea who Sam was, but she was content to trust in her wife's idea that somehow this person could help. "It's settled then," Sabrina announced as she walked into the lounge area of the quarters in order to order lunch, determined to make the best of an otherwise bad situation.
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Writing the hopes, dreams and future of:
Lieutenant Commander Enaii - Intelligence Liaison Officer
And if you see no reason for giving thanks, rest assured that the fault is in yourself. 2005 post #198
Lisa Mac Isaac {lisa_mac_isaac@hotmail.com}
USS ANUBIS
~~Chief Tecumseh 1813
