"Some Espionage of Her Own..."
(Previous post "Cute and Fuzzy")
--------------
Stardate: 60329.1800
Well, that was almost everyone. Susan assumed that Maya had told David about the party and since the rather odd encounter with Serenna, Susan had managed to inform Prav, Uxtar, Nico and Elan. The only person yet to be informed was Elizabeth Halliwel. Susan was beginning to think that this would be nearly impossible.
The counsellor had stood outside the HATHOR's sickbay for the past half hour, waiting for the ensign to emerge from where the computer had located her. The problem was that when she did emerge, Susan was certain that Lea would follow. She was uncertain, however, how she was going to explain her own presence outside the door. She thought about marching into the sickbay making up some reason she needed to see the ensign, but knowing the room's size, she realized that marching, in and of itself, would have been a difficult thing to accomplish. And if Susan just arrived, seemingly without purpose, as drifting in might denote, Susan was sure her friend would become suspicious.
Alright, so Susan hadn't served on an intelligence vessel for very long. And she didn't know all of the tricks of the trade. However, having an admiral - and a very strict one at that - for a father, was training enough as far as she was concerned. She had gained ample practice in this art through living alone with the man. It wasn't the alone part that had been the problem as much as the fact that 'the man' was very worried about his only daughter's safety. If Susan hadn't used sly and cunning means, she would not have had much of a life.
Now she stood in the shadows, waiting to pounce on a poor unsuspecting ensign and drag her into the deserted quarters next door before the CMO was any the wiser. The corridor was so narrow that Susan could lean her back against the one bulkhead and prop herself up with her feet on the opposite one. She wasn't sure how this lack of space would contribute to her kidnapping of ensign Halliwel and was busy doing complicated mathematical calculations in her head when the doors to sickbay slid open and she heard Lea's familiar voice.
"That was good ensign. You could do with more practice of course, but
all in all I'm impressed."
Susan ducked into the shadows, pressing herself up against the wall and
wondering if Lea would have enough space to pass without bumping right
into Susan. She edged along the wall until she was in the doorway of the
room next door. She placed her hand on the panel that would open it (having
made sure that the door *would* open during the half an hour she'd waited).
She then held her breath.
"Thank you, sir." Susan heard Halliwel say politely. From the shadows
she saw a strange expression pass over Lea's face at the title, obviously
unaccustomed to it, and stifled a laugh. The title was something the
doctor would have to get used to now she outranked quite a few people, Susan
included.
There was no time to enjoy this thought. Lea was approaching and Susan
concentrated on making herself as flat as possible in the alcove that
was the doorway. Her timing had to be perfect.
"Of course," Susan heard her friend continue, "it will be difficult
working in such a small space. Hopefully we won't have to..."
She didn't hear the rest of Lea's sentence because she was otherwise
involved in pouncing on Elizabeth.
In one fluid movement Susan reached out of the shadows and grabbed the
ensign by the arm, at the same time slamming her hand (silently) on the
panel that opened the door. Before Halliwel had time to react Susan had
her hand over her mouth and had dragged her into the room leaving the door
to hiss quietly closed behind them.
She knew she'd made a mistake when she found herself slammed against
the opposite wall of the room with an enraged aCMO, quite free of any
bounds, facing her. "I forgot," Susan said ironically, "Your brother's trained in the martial arts."
"What do you know about my brother?" Elizabeth demanded.
Susan decided that the safest (and quietest) way to play this was
casually. She shrugged as she righted herself and pulled her uniform straight.
"Only what it says in your psychological profile."
The other ensign's eyes narrowed as she peered at her assailant in the
dim room, "Ensign Mei?" She asked uncertainly.
Susan grinned, "One and the same."
"Why the hell did you pull me in here like that? I thought you were some undercover Tal'Shiar agent or something."
Susan couldn't help but laugh, "I must admit it wasn't my brightest idea." She rubbed the shoulder that had been slammed against the wall, wondering how she was going to explain the bruise to Lea if she went for treatment. "Though I must say the likelihood of finding a Tal'Shiar agent in NEW ALEXANDRA is pretty slim."
In the dim light Susan could see Elizabeth looking down sheepishly, "I
suppose you're right. Still." She looked up, "You nearly gave me a
heart attack. What's this about?"
Susan sighed, "Actually after all of that it probably won't seem that
exciting. I needed to get you away from Lea for a few minutes."
Briefly she explained about the party.
Halliwel looked slightly shocked, "You went through all of that just to
invite me to a party?"
Susan nodded, "What else was I supposed to do? Come and find you in
sickbay? I'd have to wait until you got off work later and by then you might
have other plans."
"Ensign Mei, are you asking my new aCMO out?"
Susan gasped and looked up to see Lea standing in the doorway with her
arms folded sternly. The smile on her face, however, was a give away that
she wasn't seriously angry. She stepped into the room, "All this talk about
'plans' could make someone suspicious you know."
Susan gulped, how much had she heard? "How long have you been standing
there spying on us?" Susan countered.
Lea laughed, "Well I was right in the middle of lecturing my new
assistant when I turned around and saw she wasn't there. It took me a minute to figure out that the only place she could have gone was into one of these
rooms... And as I approached, who should I hear but my friend Susan talking
about waiting until my aCMO got off work... So spit it out. What are you up
to?"
Susan sighed, there was nothing for it. She stepped forward past
Elizabeth, "You caught me. Games up." She ignored the other aCMO's surprised look and continued, "Elizabeth and I were planning on taking you out tomorrow
night for a drink to celebrate your promotion."
Lea sighed, seemingly regretting spoiling the surprise. "That's really
nice of you Susan, but I'm on duty from 19:30."
Susan winked at Elizabeth as she said, "That's alright, we'll do it
early then. Don't worry, we'll make sure you get back to sickbay in time for
your shift."
--------------- 2005 post #533
Setting: USS HATHOR, Corridor outside SICKBAY
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
