<USS Avalon> "Cause and Effect"

Cause and Effect
By Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury
and Junior Lieutenant James Monroe

 

Monroe made quick strides to Lissi's quarters. He had pretty much ignored his 
surroundings. How could she do this to him? To the team? They weren't ready, 
and she had tossed them into the frying pan with little hesitation about it. 
They crumbled quickly, and they were all subjected to a realistic event they 
just were not equipped to handle just yet. 

It was a tad ingenious, he had to admit. To make them walk in cold and handle a 
situation they had little influence over. He shoved that thought aside. He hit 
the chime, waiting on her response. 

Elissabeth had returned to her quarters after the last session and tried to 
relax. It wasn't easy. Seeing the looks on everyone's faces... they had rallied 
well, but the failure of the mission hurt them all. And to find out they had 
been duped wasn't setting well with some of them. But it was for their own good 
and she kept reminding herself of that.

At the chime, she stood and crossed to the door knowing that it could be any 
one of her team coming to talk. And she wasn't the least bit surprised when 
James stood in the door with fire burning in his eyes. 

He skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point, "Tell me it wasn't 
a test on how prepared they were. Because if it was, it was one hell of a 
botched test."

"It wasn't a test," she said softly, looking up at him. "And hello to you too." 

"Mighty funny, Liss, it seemed like one. It certainly felt like one, and after 
the little revelation that they were deceived, it might as well have been one," 
Monroe glared at her. "What the hell was the point of this anyway? If you're 
looking to see if they can work as a team, all you needed was an evaluation and 
I would've told you that." 

She turned away from him, angry. She appreciated James' take on things but she 
didn't appreciate being constantly questioned like this. Lissi walked over and 
sat down on the arm of the couch, partially to keep from pacing. She remained 
calm though she felt anything but.

This time she hadn't a doubt in her mind that she was right. "Would you feel 
more comfortable doing my job, Lieutenant?" she asked him sincerely. 

"Do you always get formal whenever I question you? Or did you think I won't, 
just because you're in charge?" He replied bluntly, he wasn't leading a team 
for the sake of it, and he wasn't about to back down and lead his team blindly. 

Taking a deep breath and choking off her rising ire, she told him, "Sit down, 
James." 

"No, thanks, I'd rather stand." The doors wisped closed behind him as he folded 
his arms and rested against the wall.

"Of course you would," she said rather smartly. "I asked you to sit so that we 
could talk like actual adults instead of a shouting match. I never know if 
you?re here in an official capacity or not... And you know one of the reasons I 
chose you was because you will stand up to me. So, did you come here to get 
answers or just vent your frustrations and emotions at me?" Her question was 
genuine and she looked at him with a great deal of compassion. 

"Last I checked, Liss, I wasn't shouting at you. I was hotly questioning your 
motives." He gave her a look with eyebrows raised. 

She stood and walked over to him, stopping right in front of the wall where he 
was leaning. In an almost uncharacteristic display of care, she reached up and 
touched James' cheek. "I don't blame you for being upset, angry. But I had my 
reasons and I'll gladly tell you every single one of them, but I'm not going to 
do it with you radiating this much anger... because you're not even listening 
to me at that point." 

He frowned at her, feeling her warm hand on his face. Normally, he'd go soft 
all over her by the fact they were close like this. But this wasn't the time at 
all, instead he softly replied, "You can start now, Liss, cause I?m not going 
anywhere until I get what I came for."

Dropping her hand back to her side, she muttered, "And I thought I was 
stubborn." Taking a moment to collect herself, she continued, "Okay, I needed 
them to understand that it wasn't a game. That it isn't all training exercises. 
The majority of that team is green, never having any field experience. They 
needed to understand what the consequences of their actions would be. I didn't 
set this up for them - us," she corrected, "to fail. In fact, the computer was 
programmed for random encounters on the main mission. But I wanted them to 
think it was real, to feel it was real, so that any problems we did encounter 
could be analyzed and dealt with as if it were real. People?s decisions aren?t 
the same when they know their life isn?t at stake. I think it's the most 
valuable lesson they've learned so far and the one they've taken most to heart 
- including you." Once she was finished speaking, she wrapped her arms tightly 
around herself before walking away again. 

"So making me face a situation where you die is just a way to make me do what? 
You're lucky I swallowed up enough to get them moving again."

"I had no intention of dying in there," she nearly whispered, stopping, but 
still facing away from him. 

He sighed, too frustrated with this. Pushing away from the wall he walked over 
to her and wrapped his arms around her body, "Then you're going about it the 
wrong way. Either that, or you need to make sure the team can handle it first. 
You said it yourself, they're new, with no experience." 

She turned in his arms and leaned into his embrace, knowing that he needed her. 
"I'm sorry I hurt you, but sometimes the best way to learn is to be thrown in. 
I'm not going to do it repeatedly, I'm not trying to torture them. It was just 
a glimpse of what is out there. James, you have to understand that we have very 
little time left and I had to do it. The thought of taking the team anywhere 
without them having had that experience is frightening. But now, they know what 
is out there, they know what can go wrong and they know how to overcome it. 
Like you did," she added. 

"I hope you?re right. Cause heaven help us if anything happens." Monroe just 
held her tighter. 

Looking up at him, she asked, "Don't you feel better knowing that they know 
what to expect? Imagine if today had been our mission," she shivered slightly 
in his arms. "And that was the point." 

"No, I?d rather not. Cause you wouldn't be here at the end of the day," he 
simply stated. 

She stared into his eyes and knew how much he cared for her, how much her 
"dying" affected him, even though he wasn't saying as much. She cared about him 
a great deal and she hated to see him hurting like this. Lissi tiptoed and 
kissed him softly on the cheek. "I?m sorry that it hurt you. That wasn?t my 
intent."

He smiled weakly, "And you say I have an affect on you." He leaned down and 
kissed her sweetly, then with more need. He loved this woman, respected her, 
desired her. And she responded to him. 

Slowly moving her towards the bedroom, he broke away long enough to say, 
"Computer, lights off."


                
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term'

Other related posts: