"Something to Celebrate"
Previous was "Getting Put In Your Place Can Be A Good Thing"
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, 'The Black Hole' crew Lounge
"And then she passed out." Nico announced to the Shillian.
Susan glared at him while they all laughed, "You didn't tell me it was
alcohol" she reminded him with a mock frown.
"You should of guessed!" Uxtar stated, "What kind of a celebration
would it have been if we'd used sinthahol?"
The table burst into laughter again and Susan joined them, after all
what's the point in embarrassing yourself if you can't laugh about it
afterwards?
She stopped however, when she saw her rather pale and dazed-looking
friend heading for their table. Susan got to her feet immediately.
The rest of the table fell silent and watched, at once alerted to the
curious look on the CMO's face.
"Are you alright?" Susan asked Lea, concerned.
"What?" Lea blinked, looked at Susan and then smiled. The whole group
began to breathe again at this, reassured that her meeting with their
temporary CO hadn't had the dreadful and disturbing outcome her stunned expression had at first suggested.
"You just looked pale. Are you feeling alright?" Susan was not entirely
convinced that Lea was herself.
Lea nodded and promptly took Susan's chair, sitting down heavily and
still looking slightly astonished.
Knowing that the theft had been unintentional, Susan pulled up another
chair and sat beside her friend. "So, what did she say?"
All eyes looked at Lea expectantly. She seemed to notice this and came awake at once, shaking her head wildly to clear it and beaming from ear to ear.
"You look like you're just been offered a promotion." Prav guessed.
"Or won an award." Uxtar suggested.
"Or maybe she's been subject to some strange kind of hypnosis which has
increased her endorphins, relieving her of stress and making her feel
happy and content with the world around her..." Maya began, waving her hand
experimentally before the doctor's eyes.
Lea brushed the hand away, and cut the Shillian off before she could
really get going. "No." She stated, "Something much better."
The eyes were on her again, but this time she purposely maintained the
suspense, meeting each set of eyes separately before announcing
proudly, "I've been replaced!"
"Replaced?!"
It was Susan who reacted first, but the eyes all reflected her look of
shock and astonishment... all except for Lea's whose eyes twinkled with humor
and glee. "Well... technically I've only been replaced in one department
and one small aspect of my duty..." She looked pointedly at Susan, who then
glanced at the stack of PADDs on the table where they had sat a few minutes
before. "the HATHOR?"
Lea nodded.
"Is there something I'm missing here?" Nico looked from one member of
the medical department to the other. Susan simply sat back with folded
arms, "Well, I never. Maybe I should try protesting about some of my duties
so loudly and..."
"What's going on?" Prav was also looking from one to the other,
wondering what on earth they could be talking about.
"Technically it wasn't *my* duty that I was protesting about. I'm
perfectly happy with *my* duty" Lea told Susan, ignoring the others. Susan
noticed the word's she'd chosen to emphasize, wondering if she was trying to bait the rest of the table by deliberately hinting but not specifically saying
what she'd meant. Susan wondered whether she should put them out of their
misery but when she caught the evil glint in Lea's eye, she decided not to.
"How?" she asked Lea.
The intelligence operative who had come very close to being a COO
shrugged, "A new recruit."
"Good timing." Susan smiled. Then realized that there was a table of
warriors glaring at them and one scientist looking very confused. She
inclined her head to them and Lea sighed, obviously aware that the
chances they'd find this new development as exciting as she did were slim.
"I am." she paused dramatically and then announced, "No longer going to
be the Chief Operations Officer of the USS HATHOR."
There was a moment of silence, then Uxtar asked, "That's it?"
"That's it." Lea confirmed.
"That's *it*?" Prav asked incredulously
Lea nodded.
"But it's a big 'it'" Susan stated, "If you'd had to put up with Lea's
stress recently, you'd understand..."
The doctor gave her friend a hard nudge "ouch!"
"Whoever this new recruit is, I owe him my life!" Lea told them.
"So do we." Susan said, rubbing her side where Lea had nudged her. When
Lea glared at her, she put up her hand's innocently, smiling, "I didn't say
anything."
"Contrary to what our counselor would have you believe." Lea stated
with dignity, pulling herself straight and holding her head high, "I was
entirely prepared to take your lives into my hands as Chief Operations Officer." She glanced at Susan and then the dignified persona collapsed as she
admitted with a smile, "But I'm still glad I'll just be taking them into my
hands as a simple medical officer."
This raised a laugh and Maya asked hopefully, "Is there only one new
recruit? Not that I..."
Before she could continue Lea shrugged, "Maybe the angel Serenna will
seek you out later with more happy news... in the meantime I feel like
celebrating *this* news!"
Though the fierce warriors may not have been too impressed with Lea's
amazing news, they were certainly impressed with the idea of celebration.
"No alcohol this time!" Susan warned.
--------------- 2005 post #495
Stardate: 60328.1840
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
