<USS Avalon> "Frustrations and Brittle Control"

Frustrations and Brittle Control
Senior Lieutenant Commander Anthony Manson
and Lieutenant Commander Elissabeth Marksbury, 
with Lieutenant First Class James Monroe


Monroe walked out of the turbolift onto a quiet Bridge. Well, not exactly 
quiet, there was small chit chatter, just the usual. Anthony was on in charge, 
noticing the guy had taken the left seat instead of the center. Turning his 
head, he saw Alder manning Ops and Phillipa at the Helm. The view screen was 
on, stars streaking by at velocities faster than light. James then turned, 
heading toward his station where Liss was at Tactical. 

"Hey Liss," he greeted quietly with a smile. 

She nodded and offered him a small smile, though it was with a little effort. 
That confrontation with Cross had drained her a bit and she was struggling 
through a regular duty day as it was. "I've only been here four hours. You're 
not up for another four, you know," Elissabeth said, not looking up from the 
console.

"Actually, because you're supposed to take it easy, I... changed the schedule 
and you're off at lunch... now." James? smile went a little wider, "Take the 
time off. You're not missing much on the Bridge." 

"James, you're my second, not my baby-sitter." Her mouth was set in a small 
line, though not as determined as usual. She was tired, not that she would 
never admit it.

"And you know how stubborn you are." He gestured with his head, "Come on, out 
of my station." 

"My station," she corrected, still not looking up.

"Actually," Anthony turned his head towards her, Marksbury's station a clear 
view from his seat, "it's his shift. He cleared it with me. Besides, you're 
going to be late for our lunch." He gave a smile as he walked over to her 
station. 

She looked back and forth between the two of them, a little angry. However, her 
body rallied on the side of her protectors and instead, she smiled. "No fair 
ganging up on me."

"Slip of the mind," Anthony replied, smile turning a little wider. "Come on, 
let's go. Or you're cooking lunch." 

James gave a sound between a smirk and a chuckle but suppressed it knowing Liss 
would glare at him, "You heard the boss. Have a good lunch."

"I can't cook," she shot back. "Besides, after you leave, I'm the senior 
officer. It?s what I took that test for, after all. I need to stay."

"Actually, because you're off duty and I'm headed for the lunch we agreed on, 
Alder is in charge. Now, you wanna go? Or did you really wanna cook?" 

Looking at Monroe, she promised, "We'll talk about this later." Then turning to 
Anthony, she sighed, "I think my cooking would make me sicker than I already 
am." Shaking her head slightly, she followed him to the turbo-lift. 

Anthony's smile had lessened a few degrees as the doors shut, "That look you 
gave Monroe is enough to tell me you're gonna set him straight about something. 
Am I right?"

"Not really. I just don't like him babying me. Too easy to fall into... 
familiar patterns."

"Oh... that..." Anthony shrugged, "Just don't give him a hard time. I already 
knew you were a little under when you got on the Bridge. If not, I wouldn't 
have cleared it otherwise." Both exited the turbolift and entered the mess hall 
moments later.

"Anthony," she exclaimed softly. "You should know me better than that. I have 
no intention of giving James a hard time about anything..." As they took a 
seat, she looked across the table to her friend. "I still... care about him a 
great deal, you know. Things like that don't just go away overnight."

"Yeah, but you said 'babying me', that's enough to know you will say something. 
Just in a nice way," Anthony teased. 


"What's that have to do with anything? I mean, what I said. Why would... Oh, 
nevermind," she said, with annoyance as she picked up a menu and tried to find 
something that the thought of eating didn't repulse her.

"So why are you so... agitated?" Anthony asked lightly. Her emotions were 
surfacing more than normal. Of course, he didn't nit pick at her emotions or 
her mind, but Marksbury usually had it cool and under control. Today, however, 
seemed less than cool and felt like brittle control. 

Elissabeth looked up into Anthony's eyes suddenly. Taking a deep breath, she 
asked, "That obvious?"

"More than usual," Anthony shrugged, "and it may not be James. It's something 
else. I dunno, I don?t mean to pry."

"It's okay," she said softly, looking down. "I am bothered...and it's not about 
James. I met Lt. Cross this morning."

"Oh," Anthony's voice became dry. "I got to talk to Lt. Quinn. Real good guys, 
they are."

"I don't like this, Anthony. Not at all. I mean, Cross isn't the issue. Oh, she 
tries to be all intimidating, but I just pulled the rug out from under her. 
It's what they're trying to do that upsets me."

"Yeah, they want Ketchum's career handed to Starfleet on a silver platter. That 
was apparent, considering Quinn quipped about Ketchum being unstable." Anthony 
restrained from outwardly showing his frustration at it, though some did slip 
out.

"Cross tried turning everything around to Ketchum and his 'emotional 
decisions'. I sent her out my office door in rather a huff." She offered half a 
smile, "Should have seen the look on her face, though." After placing her order 
to the server for some very light soup, Elissabeth turned back to Anthony and 
lowered her voice another notch. "I just can't stand the thought of those 
questions going around the crew. They're trying to undo Ketchum and I'm not 
going to stand by and watch it happen." Anger flashed in her eyes. "But I don't 
know what to do. So, yeah, frustration."

"The only thing we can do. Defend him. Quinn made the same remarks. Hell, he 
had to aggravate me as well, something about me being the acting XO a mental 
lapse in Ketchum's judgement." Anthony?s frustrations burned in his grey eyes, 
"But you know how lawyers are. They'll get to your emotions just so you slip 
up. Problem for them is that there is no slip up. Everything is justified in my 
opinion." Anthony's salad didn't seem appetizing, instead he went for pork 
chops.

"Well, she didn't get the better of me... I kindly pointed out that she had no 
real right to be questioning me anyway because I have no bearing on the 
investigation by technicality. She couldn't refute the logic." Taking a small 
sip of the broth, she asked, "So this Quinn guy is going to be around bothering 
me, too, isn't he?"

"Just like Cross might bother me. Like everyone that was on the bridge. 
Frankly," Anthony replied, as he shook his head, "they weren't here. They don't 
know the circumstances." 

She nodded, agreeing. "I've never... questioned Starfleet before, but I can't 
say I understand the reasoning behind giving someone top secret orders and as 
they carry them out, get slapped in the face by an investigation because 
someone doesn't like how it was done."

"That's not it, exactly. They question it based on Yeoman Forester's death. 
They think destroying a ship was excessive... to say the least. And we both 
know that ship got what came to them."

"You don't have to convince me, you know. I was there. I saw those snarling 
little faces as they delighted in trying to kill us... " Her voice faded away 
as she remembered the details in colour and picture, oddly enough without 
sound. Eyes glazed, Elissabeth stared right through Anthony as though he 
weren't there. 

Anthony gave a reassuring smile, "I know. So, we've done all we can. Now we 
rough this out." Anthony frowned, "Avalon to Elissabeth - you there?" He waved 
a hand in front of her. Her emotions were replaying a mix between anticipation, 
fear, anxiety, anger and commitment. Somewhere there was a definite dark spot 
of despair, and it looped, causing Anthony to stop from picking up anymore than 
was safe for himself, "Hey, snap out of it." 

Blinking rapidly, her gaze focused back on Anthony and she was visibly shaking. 
"I - I gotta go." She stood up and started for the door. 

Anthony got right up and went after her. There was a renewed energy that drove 
Marksbury to her feet, "Elissabeth, what's wrong?" 

She stopped, shoulders sagging almost imperceptibly, looking slightly confused. 
"I don't know. I just saw... everything. I've never had it happen..." She was 
clutching her hands together to stop the shaking. 

Anthony frowned, "I don?t know what to tell you, Marks. But I do know I told 
you that at least all of you are home - and that's what matters."

"Not all of us." She swallowed and moved slowly back to their table, trying to 
calm down. Once seated again, she confided, "Ketchum asked me to do the eulogy 
for John."

"Oh. That's gotta be very hard."

"I don't know if I can."

"I'm sorry, Elissabeth, I don?t know what to tell you. Even when Alder lost his 
family, he..." Anthony left it as is. Some memories were best left buried.

"He what? I don't mean to pry, not at all... I've just never had to do this 
before. I don't even know where to start. Anthony, I've never had 'connections' 
like this with people under my command. I actually care a great deal for both 
my teams... And before... they were just my sub-ordinates." She shook her head, 
wondering if that made any sense at all.

"So go with what's right. Not something formal. It's your team. They became 
like family," Anthony replied. 

She nodded and smiled slightly. "They have. And thanks, I think I will." After 
another couple of bites, Elissabeth looked up at Anthony, "And now I really do 
have to go before my stomach decides to reject what I've eaten. Sorry. They 
tell me it'll go away, but so far..." She stood. "Will you send James to see me 
when he finishes his shift?"

"Yeah, I'll tell him." 

She offered him a crooked grin, "And tell Alder no teal. I mean it." It got a 
smirk out of Anthony as she turned and walked away, leaving most of her food 
untouched.


                
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