<USS Avalon> Problem Solving

Problem Solving
Lieutenant Commander Elissabeth Marksbury, 
Junior Lieutenants Patrick McEntire and Susanna Jameson

 

Handing James the cup of coffee, she leaned against the edge of her desk and 
faced him. "I just didn't appreciate it, was all." 

"You were tired, right?" James asked casually. The coffee smelled nice, as far 
as replicators could make them.

"That's not the point, James, and you know it. You went behind my back and got 
me kicked off the Bridge. Regardless of your intentions, I didn't like it. And 
Liss. You were calling me Liss. On duty. In uniform." She shook her head and 
then took a sip from the mug.

Perking a confused brow, "Not like the whole bridge crew heard me. But don?t 
worry, next time, it'll be Commander. And I won't go behind your back... I'll 
just have Manson excuse you the next time." He sipped his coffee.

"Don't be like that. Please. I'm not... hell, if I were reprimanding you, you'd 
be here at attention, not having coffee with your friend." She sighed, not so 
sure of her ability to handle much of anything anymore. "I was just asking. 
Please don't be informal with me in front of others, especially on the Bridge, 
and stop thinking that you have to take care of me all the time. You don't."

Maybe I want to, the thought ran through James' head. He gulped down the coffee 
and then shrugged, "I'll keep it in mind. Honest." 

"Jameson to Marksbury, you got a minute sir?" Came the voice over her com-badge.

"Of course. I'm in my office if you could give me five minutes. Or is it more 
urgent than that?" 

"Five minutes will be fine, sir." 

Setting the coffee on her desk, Lissi passed a tired hand over tired eyes. "And 
here I thought I might get to go home." 

"You're a Commander, no rest for the leaders."

"Thanks for the compassion," she said, dryly. Tipping her head slightly to the 
side, she added, "Thanks, though, for listening. I... just wonder if I know how 
to handle things the right way. But since we?re not yelling at each other..." 
Offering a small smile, she said, "Now, out. Gotta see what Anna wants." 

James gave a light laugh as he got up and placed the mug back into the 
replicator slot. "Have a good night, Liss. I mean, Commander." James cracked a 
smile before leaving.

"When it's just us alone, it'll always be Liss to you." She swallowed and 
turned away as she heard the door open and close again.

* * *

Clicking off the comm-link, Anna turned to Mac and smiled.

"Five minutes okay with you, Mac?"

"I guess so," Mac answered uncertainly. He was starting to wonder if maybe this 
wasn't the best idea, bringing in another outsider on Josh.

"It's either that, or we sedate him for the rest of his life. Permanent mind 
altering drugs. Counseling sessions. The works. I don't have a miracle cure, 
but Lissi knows her stuff, she can help us."

Mac looked at her, horrified, having heard enough covert ops horror stories to 
wonder whether or not she was kidding.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Anna had to laugh at his _expression. 
"We're not bloody monsters, you know. Trust me, okay?"

"Oh, I do. Trust you, I mean." Mac clarified quickly. "I really do. It's 
just...I've seen some that were monsters in all of this. Way too up close and 
personal."

"Sweetness, I won't let anything bad happen to Sport, I promise." There was 
still a little twinge when she used that name, but it was helping to associate 
it with Garrity. Maybe it's just transference, she thought. Maybe I don't care. 

* * *

"Come in," Elissabeth said, looking up and expecting Anna. She was surprised to 
find someone else with her. "Good evening." 

Pulling her wooly around her again, Anna smiled tiredly. "Evening? It's more 
like morning." Indicating Mac should take one of the seats, Anna took the 
other. "It's about Joshua Garrity." 

Mac cringed. Couldn't she have sort of left it hypothetical? At least at first? 

Elissabeth studied the two for a moment, slightly confused. She was running the 
friend of Anna's through her memory, trying to place him. Once Garrity's name 
was spoken, it clicked. Engineering. McEntire. Nodding, she smiled, "Okay, at 
least you're not gonna make me drag it out of you. But first, I don't think 
I've been properly introduced to Mr. McEntire here." She held out her hand to 
Mac. 

Mac took her hand carefully. "Patrick McEntire. Most just call me Mac. Thanks 
for seeing us."

"Anna knows my door is always open." She sat back down in her seat. "Tell me 
what I can do for you." 

He glanced at Anna, hoping she'd take the lead here since she knew Marksbury 
better. 

Nodding briefly at Mac, Anna relayed the situation as far as she knew it. She 
left nothing out, aware that if Marksbury was to help them then she needed to 
know it all. Finally, she concluded with, "He's going to run himself to death 
at this rate. If you can't help, I'm going to have to go to Roan about it." 
Inwardly she flinched at the anticipated reaction of Mac, but she didn't care.

"The hell you are," Mac said, standing up, suddenly furious at her threatened 
betrayal. "Look, I told you this in confidence, as a friend, and you agreed 
that was how it stayed."

"I am a medic. If he dies because you wouldn't let me go to Roan, then what?"

"Woah, hey," Elissabeth intervened softly, standing as well. "Let's calm down 
and not argue. Getting emotional isn't going to help your friend." 

"He won't. You really think I'd let that happen? I've served over three years 
with him, been through hell and back and I'll be damned if I'll let him get 
hurt. I'll figure this out." He shook his head, furious with himself for 
talking to anyone but Josh about it. "Look, just drop it. I'll handle it." 
Angrily, he headed for the door.

"Okay, that's enough. Mr. McEntire, stop." Lissi stood and moved around the 
desk. "Anna, thank you for your desire to help and your discretion." She 
sighed, thinking quickly. "But I'm ordering you not to say anything to anyone 
else about this for the time being. Understood?" 

A war raged inside her: loyalty to Lissi and doing the right thing. 
"Understood," she said through gritted teeth. 

Mac breathed out slowly and nodded, sitting back down. He couldn't believe 
she'd even suggested going to someone else like that. But then, she didn't 
understand. How could she? He'd known Josh for years and still couldn't swear 
he understood all of it. 

Once the tension in the room dissolved, Elissabeth smiled at Anna, "Just so you 
understand, the order was to relax the situation a bit. Not to cover up 
anything. I know you're conflicted, trying to do the right thing. But if we 
can't even get to the problem because you two are bickering over it, then I 
can't help at all." She waited for the nod to show that both of them understood 
her intentions. 

Once she had both their attention again, Elissabeth looked back and forth 
between them. "I'm not really sure why you've come to me instead of Counselor 
McKinsley, but I appreciate the trust that it infers and I want you both to 
know that I want what's best for Mr. Garrity as well. So, let's not let our 
emotions get the better of us and we can all work together, right?" Way to be a 
hypocrit there, Liss, she thought. 

Anna nodded once but said nothing, simply looking at Mac to check there were no 
hard feelings. 

Mac cringed at the idea of trying to drag Josh to a counselor, knowing that 
would definitely not be in his best interest, or the counselor's either. Santa 
Ana's counselor could have attested to that. He noticed Anna's glance and 
nodded. "I know," he told her quietly. "You're worried. I understand, believe 
me. It's okay." He offered her a weak smile. "Let's just see what other 
options, short of braining him, we three can come up with, okay?"

Returning his smile, Anna said, "Yeah, let 's do that." 

In the meantime, Lissi had been bringing up Joshua's profile on her console. A 
lot of it was classified. She had the clearance to access some of it, but not 
all. "So, Josh has a very difficult time with counselors, well, people in 
general, looks like. And you think going to McKinsley would do more harm than 
good, I take it?" 

Mac nodded."Yes, ma'am, I do." Oh, yeah. He could almost guarantee it.

Looking at Anna, she asked, "But you're afraid of what from a medical 
standpoint? What's the worst that could happen with Josh's current behaviour?" 

"If he continues to work the hours he's been logging?" Anna frowned and lifted 
her right hand, checking symptoms off on her fingers. "Lack of sleep leads to 
the obvious tiredness, withdrawn behaviour, breakdown of mental processes, 
paranoia, immunity to sleep-inducing drugs, severely irrational behaviour, 
hallucinations, and eventually death." 

Bringing up the logged hours for Engineering, Lissi commented, "It says here 
that he's working perfect hours, but you're both saying it's not true? 
Falsifying military documents is a serious accusation." 

"Well..he's working all his hours. He's just...well...sort of choosing, if you 
will...to take his breaks...and meals...and, well, sleep periods...in 
Engineering. And ...when he can't sleep, see...he's never slept well... he kind 
of...does things...to make himself more tired. Stays busy. At least, that's how 
he explained it once." Mac knew how lame it sounded, especially from him, but 
he wasn't about to just sit there and buy trouble for Josh if he could avoid it.

Interesting way of looking at it to avoid trouble... "And if this is his usual 
pattern and he's always come through before, why are you so concerned this 
time?" 

"He usually at least lays down awhile. Tries to rest." Mac admitted. "He hasn't 
in days. He's become more withdrawn, if that's even possible." He looked at her 
frowning. "It's hard to explain how it's different, ma'am. It just is."

"You have to understand, Mr. McEntire, that I have a great deal of belief in 
the strength of an individual. Time and again I've seen people do things I 
never thought possible, myself included. I would like to see Mr. Garrity work 
through this on his own." She paused and took a deep breath. "However, I've 
also learned when to listen to someone's friends, because often times they see 
things that the individual does not. And this being a particularly traumatic 
series of events in Joshua's life... this may be a time when he needs the help 
of his friends. Zachary Garrity was his only family, am I correct?" 

Mac nodded. Zack was it.

"And how many others in his life has Josh gotten close to? Just you, Mac?"

Again, Mac nodded. He couldn't think of anyone else offhand, anyway.

"Okay." Elissabeth tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling, waiting for 
inspiration to strike. Looking at Mac and Anna, she grinned, "It's time for a 
little covert operations." 

"Sir?" Anna said. 

Mac looked at her, completely lost. "I'm afraid I'm with Anna on this one, 
ma'am. Covert operation?"

"What I need is a seemingly legitimate reason to have Mr. Garrity pay me a 
little visit. Maybe I can accomplish something by speaking to him. But, of 
course, we don't want him to know why, correct?"

"Right," Mac nodded, "Best bet would be a work order, ma'am. Something 
challenging. He's taking the harder ones himself." 

An evil grin spread across Anna's face. "Something challenging, eh?"

"But wouldn't that just have him here working and not an actual reason to 
talk?" She thought for a moment longer, "Ah, I think I've got it. Technically 
not my department, but I think I could get away with it. Let's see... I've been 
comparing work schedules to authorization codes used at certain times of the 
night and am noticing some discrepancies with Mr. Garrity's. It concerns me 
from a security standpoint. That good enough?" 

Mac tried not to laugh. Unless Josh had already thought to cover his tracks, it 
would. "I hope so, but you might want to actually run it first. Just in case." 

She smiled, "I'll have Lt. Dareth look into it first thing in the morning." 
There was a moment of silence and she looked at the two. "Are you feeling any 
better? I feel like this is a good first step and we can decide what to do from 
there, if need be, right?" 

Anna nodded once, feeling a little like a spectator at Wimbledon.

Mac nodded as well. "Thank you, ma'am. I appreciate your help." Standing, he 
added, "I best get back to work. Permission to be dismissed, ma'am?"

"Of course," she smiled. "And Josh is very lucky to have a friend like you." 
Standing, she watched Mac head for the door. "Anna, could you stay just a 
moment?" 

Anna sat still and Mac left quickly. 

"Is everything okay, Anna?" Elissabeth asked, walking around her desk and 
leaning against it like she did with James. 

"Okay? What do you mean, sir?" Anna shifted a little uncomfortably in her seat, 
feeling Lissi's presence so close but knowing she couldn't reach out and touch 
her.

"You seemed a little uncomfortable at times. And a little too enthusiastic to 
tear something apart for Josh to fix," she grinned. "Needing some holodeck 
time?" 

"Maybe." Stifling a yawn, Anna rubbed her eyes with the balls of her hands. 
"Most of the time I can't think straight unless I have three large cups of 
coffee inside me. I can't eat, I hardly sleep. I don't know what's wrong. If 
I'm not careful, I'll end up like Mr Garrity." Sport. "Tonight was the first 
time I'd managed to get to sleep early in days. Then the environmental controls 
in my quarters played up, freezing me to my bed. I hate the cold. I fucking 
hate it."

"Do they have it fixed? Do you need a place to stay for the night?" She knew 
better than to ask if Anna had any other friends to stay with.

"Nope, not fixed. Mac will get on it, I'm sure, but I have a shift starting in 
a little less than two hours, so I'm just not going to bother sleeping." Again, 
she thought with more than a little bitterness. If she was completely honest 
with herself, she knew what was wrong. But she just didn't want to think about 
it right then.

"It's not that late, is it?" Looking down at her wrist chronometer, Lissi bit 
back a curse. "Wow. Time really slipped by today. No wonder I'm so tired," she 
laughed. "Come on. There's a sofa in my quarters that has your name on it. At 
least you can get a nap, considering we'll be up at about the same time." 
Placing her hand on Anna's shoulder, she guided her towards the door.

"Thanks." Echoed conversations with her father haunted her as they headed to 
Marksbury's quarters. The latest one had been a doozy, but she suppressed it 
again and walked on. 

Sighing slightly, hoping Anna would take it for exhaustion, she wished there 
was more that she could do for the girl. Something was bothering her, that much 
was obvious. But there was only so much one person was able to fix. And she was 
just one person.


                
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