<USS Avalon> "Dance in Darkness"

Dance in Darkness
By Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury and The Shadow


The darkness was not surprising as she stepped into her quarters. Elissabeth 
was used to navigating in the dark. However, the lack of response from the 
computer when she ordered the lights on, was disconcerting. She repeated the 
command. No acknowledgment. 

Freezing in place, she tapped her com-badge. Again, nothing. 

That's when she felt the prickling sensation of being watched. There was 
someone else in the room.

He smiled in the darkness and watched her soft silhouette stand still. It was a 
wonderful game that he got to play - it was all a part of the job. Quietly, 
without a sound, he moved to the other side of the room. All the while, his 
eyes watched her. She was good, that much was obvious. Somehow he figured that 
his enticing exploits with her would be an intellectual and emotional 
challenge. 

Something... a breath, perhaps?, caught her attention and her head swivelled in 
the direction of the sound. She knew someone was there, but couldn't see a 
thing. Elissabeth remained still, holding her breath and concentrated on 
listening. Still nothing. 

The hair on her arms stood on end and, yet, she waited, not willing to give 
away her position by speaking. 

The Shadow moved behind her, gently running his hand through her hair as he 
walked. Silently receding into the darkness again, he smiled to himself and 
watched her more. It was that alluring sensation of knowing that he could see 
her and she couldn't him. Anonymity was a gift, quite a gift at that. 

She jumped. Elissabeth never heard him coming, never felt him that close, and 
yet he had touched her. She turned quickly and reached out to grasp thin air. 
Knowing now that he could see her, she spoke quietly with a voice that never 
wavered. "Enjoying your game?" She knew all too well, the game being played. 
After all, how many times had she been the ghost in the darkness? 

He moved again, this time his hand tracing a line across the small of her back. 
He cackled silently to himself as he disappeared once again into oblivion. "I 
enjoy it, yes..."

She spun around once again, only to clutch the empty space around her. 
Patience. It was her only option at that point, and Elissabeth had plenty of 
patience. She timed his movements now, attempting to anticipate the rhythm to 
his taunting. 

He laughed, it echoed ominously around the small space. "Why did you have to 
stick your nose where it didn't belong?

"Why are you on my ship?" she countered. 

"That shouldn't concern you," the voice came from the opposite side in which 
Lissi was looking. "I will warn you now, and I will only do this once, so pay 
attention. Do not continue your investigation. If you do, I'm sorry to say, 
that there will be unfortunate consequences." Again, he moved behind her, but 
this time running his hand across her backside. 

She refused to react, no matter how much his taunting annoyed her. 
"Investigation? There is no real investigation." How did he know? In every 
official channel the investigation was a farce. The only person who knew she 
was still after this guy was Fenner. She'd told no one and been very careful. 
The ghost's reach was further than she thought. Lissi admitted to herself that 
she was impressed. 

"Don't play dumb with me," he said, stopping his circular movements, "I know 
what you're doing and you won't succeed. So, to save your precious time and 
mine, just stop what you're doing." 

"So your command is purely to save our time," she smiled slightly, nearly 
enjoying this. It had been so long since she'd played cat and mouse. Only she 
wasn't used to playing the part of the rodent. Let's see how much he'll keep 
talking... 

I'll kill him if you do not stop treading where you shouldn't go. His words 
echoed in her mind as if to respond to her thoughts. It was one of his better 
traits, he thought, knowing that there was nothing anyone could keep from him. 
Do as I say. 

The unexpected intrusion effected her more than any of his previous tricks. Her 
mental barriers were strong and he bypassed them easily. "Your threats mean 
nothing to me," she said softly, keeping the calm facade and stilling her mind 
as not to betray her. 

"Really? It'd be a shame to have to show you that it's not a threat, but more 
of a guarantee. Shall I make Lieutenant Monroe an example?" He laughed enough 
for her to hear him, "Such a pity too, seems like such a nice - and more 
intelligent - individual." 

"Your threats are empty. If I refused your 'request' as it were, and you indeed 
were to kill him, you'd have no leverage left and still, I win. I think you're 
smarter than that." Lissi turned to face him, knowing exactly where he was, 
fairly confident she could follow his movements now that she had his faint 
breathing patterns ingrained into her mind. 

"My dear, you seem to be mistaken that I need leverage. The fact of the matter 
is, there are plenty of other things that I could do. Your team for example. It 
would be a mystery as to how the holodecks suddenly overloaded and killed the 
entire Covert Ops team while they were training" He laughed again, building 
with intensity, "Then there's Skyler...wouldn't mind taking her out. And that's 
just the people. Do you really want to go that route?" 

"Ah, but the entire ship beginning to have mysterious 'accidents' like 
Commander Manson would raise a bit of alarm now, wouldn't it? No, I think you 
wish to keep your identity secret enough not to draw that sort of attention. 
It's not everyone on board a ship that has the ability to over-ride the 
computer's memory of site to site transports." 

She was better than he thought and deserved more credit. "Very well done, 
Lieutenant, but I'm not really here. I'm just a Shadow on the wall and an eerie 
feeling of being watched. Even if I was, as you say, discovered, there wouldn't 
be much time to catch me because I would be gone again. It's a never-ending 
cycle. Besides, it's not my ship - what would I care if a couple dozen people 
just dropped dead?" 

She smiled wickedly and took a step closer to him. The tables were finally 
turning, or so she hoped. "And what would I care if a couple dozen people just 
dropped dead?" she asked him in return. 

"Well, it would look mighty suspicious if the dozen or so people under your 
command died without warning. And, then there's the boyfriend-like character 
that would also perish. Seems like enough to make you the object of close 
scrutiny and intense investigation," he folded his arms in the black and 
glared, "Quite an inconvenience, wouldn't you say?" 

Another step. "I do suppose so," still grinning, she took one more step and 
whispered, "but I've gotten out of worse." 

Four quick steps and he was behind her again. "Why do I get the feeling that 
you're more Covert than just being Chief of the Covert Ops department? You know 
too much for your own good to be otherwise." 

Spinning along with his movements, she remained face to face with the Ghost, or 
Shadow as he called himself. Lissi was confident she could reach out and touch 
him if she chose. She knew him now, it was almost intimate, if one chose to see 
it that way. He was her equal at least, or perhaps slightly better... but she 
was not going down in this standoff. "I seem to have piqued your interest," she 
said, nearly amused.

"Slightly, don't flatter yourself." There was a pause where the man in the 
shadows closely regarded her and passed judgement. "You're smarter than I 
thought, but make no mistake about my promises - stop trying to figure it out." 

"There is nothing to figure out. Granted, I don't know who you are, but I know 
enough to know what you are." Another step brought her nearly toe to toe with 
him. She could feel his presence. "Now, my question is, why are you here?" 

"I'm looking for something..." 

"And Manson is connected - how?"

"You're wanting answers to questions you shouldn't ask." 

"Okay, so I don't ask you, but I will ask. You make no mistake about that. You 
are interfering with my job. Therefore, I suggest we reach some sort of 
agreement or spend the next several hours admiring each other's prowess at 
playing the game." 

His eyes traveled her body, voluptuous as it was, but reminded himself that he 
could look and not touch. "You are a formidable opponent and I could admire 
your prowess for a long time," he let his words' meaning linger for a moment 
before continuing, "I only wish that the Commander had been more so. Proper 
training was all he needed. You stop looking and I'll stop hurting people. 
Deal?" 

"How much longer do you plan on playing the Shadow on the wall, the eerie 
feeling of being watched?" She quoted his words back to him verbatim. 

"As long as it takes..." 

"Unacceptable. Give me a time frame. Am I looking at weeks or years?" Though he 
was only inches away from her, he was far from within her reach. There would be 
have to be a compromise and they both knew it.

There was another lengthy pause, "One Week. Acceptable?" 

"Agreed." She stared at the one she could not see and wondered for the briefest 
of instances at different circumstances between them. 

There was an emptiness in the air. A strange hollow echo that could only be 
found when someone was alone, talking to themselves. He heard her agreement and 
parted company with her. 

She was once again alone, in her quarters, and the lights rose to meet her and 
illuminated the playing field that had laid desolate for so long. Where they 
danced in darkness. 



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