"Getting the Business End of a Shillian"
(previous post "From Bad to Worse")
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Stardate: 60326.1550
Setting: US ANUBIS, Black Hole
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{NM: From Sabrina’s post}
"Care to talk?" Pravat inquired, his effort having been the best he could do not having been a Cns. Leading a armed assault on an enemy position while under fire and severely outnumbered and outgunned was proving to be far easier than approaching a single unarmed woman whom seemed lost in her thoughts.
"What?" Maya replied as she looked across the table to Pravat who had just sat down… obviously her thoughts had been on something light-years away from this place.
"You look like you have seen a ghost." The Enaran dryly chuckled trying as best he could to get the Shillian to open up, instead what he saw was a look in the eyes of the scientist that said that he had been correct… she had seen a ghost, or at least that had been the only way for her to explain to herself what she had seen earlier on.
{Mine}
She looked at him a moment trying to figure out how she could explain to him what she had witnessed but quickly decided against it assuming that the Marine would only think she was crazy.
She shook her head and looked back down at her drink. "It's nothing," she said, uncharacteristically short.
He wasn't buying her answer but he was torn with his response. He knew she was upset about something but he was afraid to pursue the matter and end up in another argument with her but the look on her face convinced him that he really needed to do otherwise. He would just be careful with how he expressed his feelings about the CEO.
"This has to do with David, doesn’t it?" he said, failing to keep his tone neutral.
Maya's head shot up and the earlier look had changed. "It doesn't have anything to do with David, well not directly. I mean, well if it was possible I saw what I saw than it would have some impact on the charges brought against David. Though with all the charges against him having one dropped probably wouldn't make any difference but maybe the Captain would be so uncompromising in her pursuit of this court-martial." She paused and then looked at the 1st Lieutenant before continuing. "But I guess none of that would matter to you since you already have him tried and convicted."
Prav should have been taken back by her statement but after their last conversation he had been expecting it.
"I don't have him tried and convicted but I do think he should be tried. I'll leave the conviction up to those on the panel," he said trying not to be confrontational.
"He should be tried at all! It wasn't his fault because he wasn't in control," she said rather forcefully.
The last thing he wanted to talk about was David's so-called defense but he didn't see any way out of the conversation without appearing rude and as much as Prav differed with Maya about David’s culpability the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her feelings.
"So what did you see that might help David?" he asked, already regretting the question.
She looked as if she was going to go into some long explanation about something but then caught herself and simply replied, "You wouldn't believe me."
"If it is about soul displacement and body possession, no I probably wouldn’t," he said apologetically.
"No, it isn't, or maybe it is. I don't know," she said. "I don't know what I saw, whether I believe my own eyes or not. I mean, it could have been someone who looked like her. I was standing far away and looking through several layers of glass. I know it can't be her but then, who was it that I saw?"
Prav was completely befuddled. "Who do you think you saw?" he asked.
She looked down at her glass again and said softly, "Enaii."
Prav shook his head; sure he had heard her wrong. "Maya, you know you had nothing to do with her death. You have to stop beating yourself up over it. If anyone is responsible it's…"
She didn't let him finish. "If you say David, I'm going to throw this drink on you!" she said, lifting her head and looking him right in the eyes.
He held her gaze and leaned in slightly toward her. "Maya, David is guilty and Enaii is dead, we just have to move on."
She stood up from the table, knocking the drink over in the process. "You are wrong," she shouted at him. "And I'm going to prove it if it's the last thing I do!" She turned and stormed out of the lounge ignoring or not noticing the eyes of all the other patrons on her.
Prav looked down at the table and set the glass upright again before standing up to leave himself. "I knew I shouldn't have come in here tonight."
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Matt Kelly (downwitmal@yahoo.com)
Writing for: 2005 post #419
1st Lt. Pravat
MCO
USS ANUBIS
