<USS Avalon> House Calls

T'Leara wiped away the last of the tears, and removed the torn and bloodied 
uniform, with no other thought than to scrub the scent of the marines from her 
body and, hopefully, clear her mind in the process.
 
Blood... I hate seeing blood on this ship. Adrian's phaser was drawn as he 
moved down the corridor and stopped in front of someone's quarters. He knew 
what the color of the blood meant, but he checked anyway. "Computer, whose 
quarters are these?"
 
"Ensign T'Leara, Science." The computer's smooth voice responded. 
 
"Computer, override lock on these quarters, code Alpha-375962B." His response 
came.
As the door clicked, he asked one final question. "Computer, how many lifeforms 
are inside these quarters?"
 
"One." Was the response.
 
Adrian, sighing with a mix of relief and frustration, tapped the comm. "Ensign, 
are you there?" 
 
The door slid open, and what appeared to be a sprawling ivy plant seemed to 
gesture him in. The trail of blood continued through the quarters beyond the 
sleeping space, where torn and bloodied clothing lay in a heap upon the floor, 
to the bathroom, where the sound of the shower could be heard. 
 
He stared at the plant for a moment, then nodded his thanks. "Ensign T'Leara, 
are you there? Do you need to be taken to sickbay?" He spoke into the bathroom, 
not wanting to enter and invade her privacy. 
 
The shower cut off quickly, but no response was immediately forthcoming. 
Finally, after several long moments, she answered quietly. "I do not believe 
that would be wise."
 
The bathroom door opened and she emerged, wrapped in a silky flowing robe. The 
bruises stood out starkly against her face and on the few exposed portions of 
her neck and shoulders. Her right eye was swollen nearly shut and her lip was 
split, as well.
 
Few things nowadays gave Adrian a shock, and this was not going to be one of 
them. He put away his phaser and pulled out a tricorder to scan her. "Who did 
this to you, and why?" 
 
"They were Taggert’s men. And yours. They are...aware...of our earlier 
discussion." T'Leara answered, moving unsteadily toward the nearest chair, 
which the ivy quickly pulled out for her. 
 
Adrian moved over to the replicator as the scans came in and tapped in a few 
codes in. After a few moments a few hypos and other items appeared on the 
table. As he scooped them up, he did his best to not show his rage from her 
remarks. "Apparently Taggert's reach is quite far. Were there further... 
threats?" 
 
At each mention of Taggert’s name, the abnormally large Venus flytrap to the 
right of the desk seemed to growl. T’Leara, obviously accustomed to this, paid 
it no heed.
 
"Provided this incident remains unreported, so too shall our discussion." She 
answered tiredly, reaching with still shaking hands for the cup of tea the ivy 
held out to her. She sipped the tea and swallowed hard, clearly still 
struggling to master the emotions that threatened to resurface in spite of her 
best efforts. She looked at him a moment, her liquid gold-green eyes serious, 
then laid her head back against the chair as if she were simply too exhausted 
to hold it up any longer. Very quietly, she added, "Taggert has long since 
assumed I was a threat to his project, and correctly so, but he will have no 
reason to classify you one so long as the breach is not reported." 
 
His motions were smooth as he moved over to T'Leara and applied one of the 
hypos onto her arm. "Well, Taggert is going to be a fair bit harder to deal 
with, but these men of his who he's got among my men will not be. Don't worry, 
they won't know I know anything about this, but I'll find out who they are and 
deal with them accordingly." His rage shook his voice as he placed an ooze over 
some of T'Leara's wounds. If there was one thing he hated, he had to be members 
beating up on each other.
 
She forced her eyes open, and shook her head slightly. "If there is any 
indication you are aware of this, they will report our discussion. Taggert will 
target you. I would prefer that be avoided." She told him, blinking back 
against the dizziness. Raising her still shaking hand to her forehead, she 
fingered the dark bruise there gently. "Better we leave him as few targets as 
possible."
 
"They won't know, so no worries about that." Adrian said, starting to control 
his anger. "This isn't how marines act, and this is particularly not how my 
marines act. You think they'd learn after Burges..." He trailed off to himself 
as he finished patching her up.
 
She frowned, trying to determine if she'd missed something. "Burges?" she asked 
curiously.
 
Adrian finished the last pieces of ooze on her wounds and applied another hypo 
before responding. "About a month or so ago we had an issue where some of the 
marines thinking it'd be fun to put one of the operations officers into the 
pit, which our combat ring. Needless to say she got beat up a fair bit, though 
gave the marine a beating too."
 
"We had a meeting." He said as he disposed of the hypos. "And I knew who the 
ringleader was. Called him out, and shot him."
 
"Efficient if somewhat extreme," T'Leara commented. Drawing a slow, deep 
breath, she stood, swaying slightly on her feet. The ivy helped her balance as 
she gathered the cup and made for the reclamation unit. "You would do well to 
remember, however, that these two...they are Taggert's, not yours. Not really. 
I do not doubt he would take it personally were you to simply call out his men 
and shoot them." She leaned heavily against the wall rather than heading back 
to the chair. "Besides, you may still find them useful on your mission, if only 
to throw ahead of you should you offend the...weapons...you are seeking."
 
"Oh, I have no intention of shooting them, I'll leave that to the enemy." 
Adrian grinned evilly as he rose and headed for the door. "But either way, rest 
up. I'll be needing a science on the mission once we start looking for these 
weapons." His last words were a bit more serious as he turned back from the 
door to her. "Are you going to be alright?"
 
T’Leara nodded slowly, blinking heavily as the hypos took effect. "I assure you 
I will live, Major." Very quietly she added a sad and sincere sounding, "Thank 
you." 
 
The ivy gathered up the torn and bloodstained uniform, removing the pips from 
the nearly shredded collar before dumping it unceremoniously into the 
reclamation unit, then reaching several tendrils toward the Vulcan as others 
slithered in to turn down her bed.
 
Strange, not gonna lie. He thought to himself as he exited her quarters. Now it 
was time to refocus, and play the waiting game.

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