<USS Avalon> "Deceptions"

Deceptions
By Lieutenant Commander Anthony Manson
and Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury


When Elissabeth left Melanie's, her first instinct was to head straight to 
sickbay to speak with Commander Manson, but she knew it was too early. Instead, 
she had returned to her quarters for a couple hours of much needed sleep. She 
had to keep her focus. By late morning she had returned to her office and paged 
Manson. He agreed to meet her there. 

It didn?t take long to get to her office, but he didn't have time to think 
about what he was going to answer to every question Marksbury might have. He 
sighed, he'd have to make it go along with his first answer and work from there 
to form one big gigantic lie. Anthony tapped the chime. 

She stood and walked to the door, causing it to open. Lissi stared at him 
intently, trying to assess his condition. "How do you feel?" she asked softly, 
gesturing for him to come in. 

Anthony shrugged, "My knee feels a little awkward. And my hand - the swelling," 
he raised his left hand up, "hasn't gone down just yet. Other than that- and a 
slight headache- the doctor did good by me."

"I'm glad to hear it, Commander. You were rather out of sorts yesterday. Here," 
she touched the back of the chair, "try and get comfortable. I'll make this 
quick. Just required, you know." 

"I know," Anthony nodded as he took the seat. He shifted uncomfortably, 
"Sickbay beds really do pamper you." 

She moved around the desk and tried to get comfortable. "So, why don't you just 
tell me what happened," she offered, setting the PADD on record. 

He looked up, giving his natural face. Better than neutral, especially if he 
could lie with his eyes to make it convincing. "As you know, we had lunch. I 
was on my way to the bridge. I was just there, standing, waiting to get to the 
bridge when the lift shuddered. The lights went out and I was about to tap my 
combadge when I was hit several times." 

"So the lift didn't stop on a floor and allow anyone in? It just stopped and 
someone was there?" 

"Yeah, a man. Definitely male. While I was being beaten, he stated something 
about me being of 'no use'." Anthony looked at her and frowned slightly, making 
it look as if he were in deep thought. 

"So you think you were definitely his target? Did he address you personally? 
And did you recognise his voice by any chance?" She knew he wouldn't. If he did 
know who it was, she was sure he wasn't talking. The question was, why? 

"I don't know why I would be a target, I mean, what have I done? I've served 
this ship to the best of my ability," Anthony looked at her confused and tilted 
his head. "And I can't remember if he addressed me personally. It happened 
really fast and all I could think about was defending myself." 

"And did you hurt him? Leave any telling marks?" 

"I managed to throw in a hard punch," Anthony held his left hand out. "Wonder 
if I hit him at a bad angle, my hand has never swelled up like this before." 

"Do you remember anything else he may have said, made reference to?"

Anthony shook his head. 

She sighed, knowing there was more to the story. It was gut instinct. And yet, 
she couldn't push, no matter how badly she wanted to, because she feared some 
sort of surveillance. If she were going after this guy, it couldn't look like 
she were going after him at all. "Well, honestly, Commander, with such little 
information, there's not a whole lot I can do. If you want me to launch a full 
investigation, I will, but I can't see what good it would do. We don't have any 
evidence or witnesses, the turbolift surveillance chose a wonderful time to 
malfunction... I just don't see us getting any closer to answers. Not unless 
you were to remember something more." 

"I..." Anthony looked at her surprised. "I?m sorry I can't be of anymore 
help... couldn't you just leave this as an open investigation? Something to 
work on slowly? There's got to be something you can do."

"On your order, I'll open an official investigation. We can order diagnostics 
of the lift, I can try to begin wading through the very long list of possible 
suspects and perhaps you can vocally ID them. We'll do our best, sir. I'll put 
Lt. Dareth on it right away." She hated playing dumb. Absolutely despised it. 
But whatever was going on was truly beyond her at the moment and she was taking 
every precaution necessary until the mystery was solved. "I would like to 
assign you a security escort as well until we confirm that it was or was not an 
attack on you specifically." 

"Only if they don?t get in between me and my duties and life outside work, it's 
fine." Anthony nodded, knowing the complications had smacked him in the face 
sooner than he expected. 

"Well, that's only if you order it... if you feel as though you are in danger. 
If you believe this to be a random encounter..." she let the sentence trail 
off, knowing that Anthony was setting up his own trap here. If he felt he were 
in danger then he knew she would know something else was up. Of course if he 
didn't, it would play into her hands of pretending to dismiss the 
investigation. She had security on him anyway. He just wasn't aware of it. And 
hopefully it would remain that way. 

He shook his head, "Do what you think is best, but I won't mind a security 
escort." 

"Very well. I'll have Lt. Dareth look into it. The preliminary stuff could take 
several days. We'll let you know when we have something. In the mean time, I'll 
make sure to have security with you at all times. They are very 
non-interfering. And if they annoy you, just let me know and I'll follow you 
around myself." She winked at him to let him know she was teasing. Meanwhile, 
she was thinking, Thank you, Commander, for proving my theories correct. "How 
about I walk you wherever you were going? I heard Commander Sierra got in last 
night, so my giddy little power-trip has come to a conclusion. I just know that 
he's going to want to see me sometime this morning and tell me all about what 
I've done wrong in his absence." She chuckled slightly, attempting to lighten 
the mood. 

"Actually, I?m headed back to my quarters." Anthony got up, "And you can pay 
your debt now. By walking me there and then to wherever Sierra is."

"You got it, Commander." She stood and offered him her hand.


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