From: 96906700afk@nene.ac.uk
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 1997 22:21:05 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: USS CHESAPEAKE: Shortcut to hell

>By the time the door chime rang, all the women were in uniform.
>Oz looked nearly as disreputable as they all thought him, sopping
>wet and tied to the door of the shower room. The Vulcan called,
>"Enter," just as the door slid open anyway. The man who strode
>in was better armed than the women and seemed tense enough
>to use any of it on a hairtrigger. Oz breathed very quietly.
>
	A marine.  No, make that A Marine !!!  What the hell did one of
those uniformed excuses for an ape on board of the CHESAPEAKE ?  Not that
he dared ask.  He knew marines.  Well, soldiers in general.  You didn't
talk to them, you didn't look at them, and you stayed away from them as
far as possible.  You never knew when they might decide to juggle hand
granades.  Or your balls.
>"Galia, T'sharet; what's the trouble?" David's eyes flickered to th
>man tied to the door, but his attention stayed on his lieutenants.
>
>Galia tried to get her voice working and failed. Smoothly, so smoothly
>that it took close attention to notice the protectiveness behind her
>Vulcan calm, T'sharet took over for her. "This man fell out of the
>airshaft into the shower room, sir. At an inopportune moment. We
>had little choice but to assume he had chosen the moment and the
>location deliberately, and act accordingly."
>
>Oz started to protest, "I was just chasing a lab rabbit..." but the MCO
>threw him a look that made Oz feel lucky the man hadn't killed him yet.
>"Shut up. I didn't ask you."
>Oz shut up.
	
	It was the sensible thing to do.  A greater man would have dared
to defend himself, but Oz knew better than to anger somebody who made a
living from killing people.  You only did that if you had a death wish, or
were out of reach.  Neither applied to him.
>
>David turned to Galia, murmured in Hebrew, "Are you all right?" The
>woman gulped, nodded a little. Two of the other women came near,
>hesitantly, and touched her shoulders as though they were touching
>a wound.
	Curioser and curioser.  This was strange behaviour for marines.
And why did he aske HER whether she was alright ?  She had been the one
with the knife.  And the fear in her eyes.  Just WHAT was going on here ?
And, did he really want to know ? Actually - no.  Right now all he wanted
was to be gone.  Away from here.

>
>Leaving her to them, David asked T'sharet, "Anyone hurt?"
>
	*Yes.  Me.*, Oz thought.  *How about taking those restraints off,
you big nicompoop ?  Oh, damn, I hope he isn't a mindreader.*
>"No. Not even the intruder. My troops behaved with great restraint,
>sir."
>
	As if.  Oz nearly snorted, but caution and a healthy dose of
self-preservation stopped him.  No need to attract attention.
>"I can tell. He's still got his balls attached. It's more restraint than
>I would have used."
	Great.  Just what he needed.  A man-hating ape with a gun with a
castration complex.  Perhaps he should mention this to the cute counselor.
If he ever saw her.  If he made it out of here alive.  Right now he
doubted it.
	The man walked over slowly, until he stood close, very close, to
Oz.  All the redhead could see were those big boots, with steelcaps.  And
they were clean and polished enough to use them as a mirror.
	"Identify yourself !", he barked.
	This caused Oz to burst into tears.  Sobbing he pleaded for mercy,
his life and his health.
	"Shuddup and identify youself !", the man barked disgusted about
the intruders cowardice.
	"Ens. Ozwald O'Graeach.", Oz sniffed, the flow of tears stopping
slowly.  "I'm the FCO here.  If I'm still on the CHESAPEAKE."
	"ID number ?", the man barked.
	"'xuse me ?", Oz asked surprised.
	"Your Personal Service ID number, man !"
	Oz blinked.  His eyes were dry now, apart from the water that was
still running into his eyes from his hair.  "How the hell should I know
?", he blurted out confused.  Realizing he was antagonizing a man close to
homicide, he tried a softer tone.  "Why, should I know it ?"
	"You bloody well should, if yo are who you claim to be, man !",
the marine barked.
	"Look, if you untie me I'll go and learn it right away.", Oz
suggested, resulting in a snort from the MCO.  
	"Well, how about taking my feet off that doorknob, then ?", Oz
asked.  "I really hate dangling like this, you know.  My neck hurts.  And 
my legs, and back, and arms."
	"Don't push your luck !"
	Oz's mouth snapped shut.  He had to be careful.  Here he
was, caught, tied, and likely to be quartered.  Somehow he was having a
feeling of deja vu.  And he had never liked deja vu.  He went back into
cry-mode.
	"  Please don't hurt me, pleeeeeaaaaase !", he sniffed, tears
not so much running down his face but rather spurting.  "I didn't mean any
harm, only, I lost this rabbit, an'...an' I promised I'd get it back, and
then I was lost, an' when I found it I fell, and I was so scared an' -
sniff - an' - sob..."
	David tapped his combadge.  "1LT Shacher to CMDR. Brennan.  We
have a situation here that requires your presence.  Please meet me in the
ladies shower room of the Marines quarters."
	Oz groaned silently..  That was asking for trouble, gettting the
FO here.  Still, it was better than being left alone with a bunch of
maniacs.  
NRPG:
Well, let's see - he's pissed off the MCO (obvious reasons), the SciO
because of the rabbit, and the FO for similar reasons as the MCO.  And
about one platoon of women thinks he's a perv.  Not bad for a days work.
It IS a good way of meeting ones fellow officers, I guess...
 Love
Fabian
Ens. Ozwald O'Graeach, USS CHESAPEAKE, FCO
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"When the going gets tough everybody leaves"
"The universe is a big place, probably the biggest."
"Anything that begins well ends badly
 Anything that begins badly ends worse"
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