"Team Playing"
(previous post the concerning "Rage")
----------
Stardate: 60321.2100
Setting: Unknown room
Susan sat in the chair and harrumphed. Alright. So David didn't want to be a
team player. That was one thing. But did he have to put the whole mission at
risk while he was about it?
**That's not fair**, Susan told herself. He was in character, after all. And
he was trying to save Lea while keeping up the act. And he had been through
one hell of a lot. Nevertheless, this wasn't exactly the way Susan had
pictured spending her first mission.
Griko chuckled under his breath once Matt had left - rather hastily - to
inform Zulot of David's promise of news within an hour, "Well look at you." He smiled. "Mind telling me what's up with this 'bounty' business? Finally get yourself caught?" For a second he looked skeptical, "I hope that we
weren't part of the deal?"
"No." Susan said in the icy tone she had come accustomed to using for Sol,
"*you* weren't part of the deal. *Simmons* was. I told Brell you had a job
that could get him a lot of money... I hoped he'd take the job instead of
me." She lifted up her cuffed arm hopelessly.
"Kreedar Brell? Let you off? Sol... I thought you, if anyone, would know
better."
"Well you can't blame a girl for trying." She said stiffly, letting her own
grumpiness leak into her character. It was bad enough that James had given
her the task of making sure that David didn't mess things up - she had stood
small enough chance in the first place - but cuffed to a chair? David
probably knew what James had told her to do just as he knew she'd spoken to
him. How? Well he was a SFI agent wasn't he?
"I'm sorry." She apologized to the Cardassian, remembering that he was
supposed to be a friend of Sol's, "This whole trip hasn't gone the way I
planned."
"Yeah, I bet me selling you off to a Talarian didn't help matters..."
Susan actually laughed at this - if somewhat darkly, "That? Oh, that was the
highlight."
Time ticked by slowly. There was no sound from the other room and Griko was
pacing back and forth like a lion confined to a cage. Eventually he said
quietly, "You know, I never understood it. Why did you leave us, Sol? We
were such a team?"
Susan remembered the conversation she'd had with Matt, once again thankful
for it even though it had almost gotten her into trouble at the time because
she didn't know what he was talking about. Sol was certainly not the
character that Starfleet thought she was and she became more and more
difficult to play convincingly.
Susan sighed and looked at her cuffed hand, "I didn't leave out of choice."
she explained in what she hoped was an apologetic tone.
The Cardassian lifted his eyebrows, he wanted more details. Naturally. From
what Susan had figured out so far, Matt, Griko and Sol had been a team of
pirates... or mercenaries... or both. They had been partners. Naturally
Griko would want to know the details of her departure. The problem was,
Susan didn't have those details. What Matt had told her, he'd already
believed she'd known so the details were sketchy to say the least.
Susan shrugged, "Matt and I had a.... disagreement."
The Cardassian looked skeptical, "Really? He never said anything to me?"
"Yeah... well..." Susan explained as shortly as she could, "It was
personal."
The Cardassian's eyes widened at this, "You? Matt? Personal... I never
guessed..." He wasn't stupid. He may have been the scum of the universe, but he wasn't stupid scum.
Susan became fascinated with the cuff, not daring to meet the Cardassian's
eyes, for fear that her uncertainty would be betrayed, "Well..." She
explained, "When it ended we naturally couldn't work together. So I left."
"But you decided to work with us again?" He sounded disbelieving. Naturally.
It had been what Matt had asked as well, obviously he hadn't believed she'd
forgive him that easily. Predictably, he looked skeptical, "This bounty
hunter... he wouldn't have anything to do with your revenge on Matt would
he?"
**Scum minds think alike** Susan thought to herself as she looked up ready
to answer by making up some kind of desperate story and hoping the
Cardassian would believe her. She was saved when the door burst open and
security officials flooded the place.
"What the hell?!" Griko jumped in front of the door trying to block their
entrance, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" He shouted at the
personnel, "These are private quarters!" His shouts fell on deaf ears as the
security men surrounded the place. Suddenly he seemed to realize that Susan
was not screaming in terror... or reacting at all. She was in fact, just
sitting watching complacently, certain that this was Simmon's way of dealing
with the problem she had been to him about. Griko, however, interpreted it
differently.
"You!" He turned on her, "You did this! You betrayed us to..." His eyes fell
on Sabrina who was standing in the doorway in her Starfleet uniform. When
Griko's eyes returned to Susan, they were filled with a rage she wouldn't
have expected. "Starfleet! You've been working for Starfleet! *This* is your
revenge?" His eyes were wide with shock. Susan didn't respond.
Griko took this as affirmation, "That's low, Sol. That's real low."
His eyes darted around the room and he seemed to notice the two men coming
at him, he sprung into action, but not before calling to Susan. "You'll pay
for this! I promise, you'll pay!" Susan wouldn't want to be Sol the next time she met up with Griko.
"He blew your cover?" Sabrina asked. She was notably confused as to why Susan was sitting handcuffed to a chair with a Cardassian yelling blue murder at her.
"Our CEO?" Susan asked, guessing Sabrina was referring to David, "No, he
just chained me to a chair so I wouldn't get in his way."
She looked surprised, "David did this to you?"
Susan nodded, "Hey, I'm his bounty. It didn't compromise the mission." She
gave a weak smile, the last thing she wanted to do was get David into
trouble. Even if he had cuffed her to a chair.
Sabrina gestured for a member of the security team to uncuff the ensign
before rushing into the adjoining room to save David from being stunned.
Free of her bonds, Susan watched the proceedings from the comfort of her
chair, she'd never seen anything like it before and was fascinated. However,
when she saw Lea being helped into the room on wobbly feet, she jumped up to
go and help and together they followed what looked like the rest of the team
through a wall and out into a corridor.
extract from Sabrina's post
"Zulot and T'Preel escaped. passing through that wall gave them the
advantage they needed. we need to go after them." The CEO offered obviously
more than ready to rip the entire TANGIERS ORBITAL into small pieces in
order to locate the 2 men who had just made their exit.
"Negative. This mission is as of right now *over*. We have Ensign Lea. The
rest is secondary and inconsequential." The ILO explained sternly, not at
all pleased with the way this simple Intel gathering mission had turned out.
David appeared more than ready to challenge Enaii on her decision but the
looks that he received from Sabrina, Susan and even Lea made him reconsider.
Before the massive engineer could say anything, the ILO continued, this
time updating everyone's orders.
"Serenna. contact the ANUBIS and have them stand ready for departure as soon
as we return. then help David take Susan, Lea and Maya to the transport
shuttle. Sabrina and I will go an find Pravat and the captain to inform
them of our immediate departure." Enaii announced as she turned away and
left the rest of the group to comply with her orders without even waiting
for either Serenna or David to confirm.
end extract from Sabrina's post
----------------------------------------
Susan leaned forward in her seat, "Serenna?" she asked, hoping that the
sound hadn't been what she thought it had. The Romulan/Terran hybrid looked
up and nodded, knowingly.
Susan was out of her seat before she could think logically. Had she had a
chance to think logically, she may have been scared for her life, but her
first instinct was to get to David before he killed all of them. Granted, a
dent in the shuttle wasn't exactly a death threat... but it was scary
nonetheless.
Susan hurried to the back of the shuttle, as she passed, Maya jumped up.
"I'll come too!" Susan halted for a second and looked at the Shillian/Cardassian. She shook her head, "I don't think that's wise, Maya... if anyone sees you..." The strange mixture of Cardassian and Shillian currently on Maya's features was suspicious, but Susan also felt that a team of "counselors" would immediately make David more hostile, even if they were well-wishers. Maya nodded sadly and sat back in her seat as Susan valiantly went to face the CEO.
----------------------------------------
"Ahh... and the counselor comes when summoned." David said sarcastically,
leaning against the shuttle next to the indentation in the rear panel. There
was something different about the CEO's voice that made Susan halt for a
second.
"Oh, it's you." She said as if she hadn't expected to find him there,
"Thought it was Matt trying to get at my throat."
She was rewarded by raised eyebrows, "And she's creative..."
Susan walked up to the CEO and leaned next to the shuttle beside him, not
looking at him, but staring straight ahead. "What do you want me to say,
David? That I wish you'd had a chance to rip their throats out before the
mission was called off?"
"I don't *want* you to say anything." he growled, "I *want* you to stay the
hell away from me..."
Susan continued as if he hadn't said anything, "Well, I do, David. Really, I
do. But it didn't happen..."
He turned on her then with such violence that she was momentarily afraid
he'd rip *her* throat out, "And *who's* fault is that?" He bellowed, "How
can you say that when *you* went to the captain and arranged it!!!"
"Arranged it? Now just a minute..." Then Susan saw his eyes and stopped mid
sentence. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong, "David... I'm
sorry." She said quietly.
"SORRY???" Susan was certain that they could hear his voice in the shuttle.
Susan fought the desire to run, "I'm an ensign. This is my first mission. I
screwed up." Susan was trying to say everything he was thinking to stop him
from ripping her head off, "Please forgive me, it's all my fault."
He looked away from her again, "Just get away from me." he said quietly. It
was a threat and Susan knew it. If she'd needed any proof that he was the
same man who'd attacked the CO in sickbay, this was it.
--------------- 2005 post #210
Stardate: 60321.2215
Setting: TANGIERS ORBITAL, Dock, inside shuttle
Stardate: 60321.2220
Setting: TANGIERS ORBITAL, Dock
Tallulah Habib {thabib@eject.co.za}
Ensign Susan Mei
Head Counselor
USS ANUBIS
---------------
"Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own." - Adam Lindsay Gordon
