<USS Avalon> "The Unexpected"

The Unexpected
By Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury 
and Ensign Sussanna Jameson

Anna shoved her way through the confused covert ops group and exploded out of 
the door. You bloody stupid woman, she screamed in her head, you stupid, stupid 
woman! She should have listened to her dad and just quit and gone back to 
medical school. Hot, angry tears burned her cheeks as she swung round a corner 
and stormed straight into a lieutenant. Muttering apologies and that she was 
fine, she trudged off to the dining hall, thinking that she could get some 
breakfast and then change into her uniform before heading back to Marksbury's 
office.

The food was uninspiring but it gave her something to do instead of feeling so 
useless. She'd missed training because of her own hot-headed ideals. She wasn't 
going to make that mistake again. No more expressing opinions, no more hissing 
fits at commanding officers, just keep my head down and do as I'm told. Maybe I 
can just get the floor to swallow me whole next time I open my big fat mouth!

She pulled her uniform on in the dining hall restrooms and headed over to 
Marksbury's office, thoroughly disillusioned and still angry with herself. 

Elissabeth was pleased to see Anna standing outside her door waiting on her 
when she arrived. She nodded hello and keyed open the door, gesturing the 
ensign inside. Once the door closed, she walked to her desk and leaned against 
the front of it, seeming to take measure of the ensign once again. She crossed 
her arms and waited, seeing if Anna would open her mouth, but she didn't. 
Marksbury asked after a very long moment, "Knowing the actual consequences, and 
that it wasn't a test, would you do it over again?" 

Anna was shocked, she'd expected yelling, she'd expected threats, she'd 
expected being told to shape up or get out. Maybe even wanted, a quiet voice 
whispered in her mind. She lifted her eyes to the lieutenant's, measured her, 
and finally said, "Yes, sir, I would. The punishment is mine, not because it 
may or may not have been a test, but because as his superior officer it was 
mine to take." 

Elissabeth waited a long moment to respond, "Congratulations, Anna. You have 
just earned a great deal of my respect." 

Shocked again, Anna took a step back towards the door. "Sir?" she said as if 
the whole universe had just come crashing down around her ears. 

"You look as though you are about to faint. Here," she pointed to the chair 
right in front of her, "sit." 

"Yes, sir, thank you, sir." She slumped into the proferred chair, feeling 
slightly dizzy and sick.

Elissabeth smile and admitted, "Honestly, I expected you to stick your nose 
into something by opening your mouth and not having the gwe-je deh to back it 
up." 

"Balls? Sir, I may have a mouth the size of Sydney harbour on me, but I always 
have the, um, balls to back me up." Anna grinned, warming slightly to the 
suddenly pretty lieutenant before her. 

"You did the right thing - the morally right thing - once you committed 
yourself to it by speaking. More than once, Ensign, I've been placed in 
difficult situations as such... Sometimes every choice is wrong, just like it 
was wrong to have let Forester walk out that door. Yet it was wrong to have 
interfered because you had to walk out that door instead. It is an incredible 
show of character to not know what to do, but commit to the path you choose 
regardless of the consequences... and when that path is sacrificing yourself 
for another... I didn't realise you had it in you, to be blunt." She paused for 
a breath, unsure in her exceedingly tired mind if she were making any sense. 

"Sir, to be frank, there are many things that I am willing to do that many 
people would not." Anna paused, unsure what to say, what to reveal. She finally 
decided to err on the safe side and finally said, "You can rely on me, even 
though I do have a big mouth and will, always, question your orders if I see 
the need to." 

"I'm glad to hear it, Anna. I don't need a mindless drone following me about. 
There are very few people in that room that would actually question my orders. 
Very few who think for themselves. Those are the people I'm looking for. Those 
who can follow, but those who can think independently as well. Now you have to 
prove to me you can follow orders." She lop-sidedly grinned, "I already know 
you're independent. But zhu tamin ya min zhu yi. You try to wrest control of my 
team and there will be tah-duh gway to pay. Dong ma?" 

"Yes, sir!" Anna grinned. "Understood, the team is all yours, I've no interest 
in removing you from command. Oh, in case you were wondering, Chinese was one 
of the languages I learned at the Academy." She smirked slightly. "I can't 
actually speak it, but I would understand anything you said to me." Something 
suddenly struck her and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Sir? Um, the 
training. I've missed an hour's training. I really had no intention of missing 
it, I tried my hardest to get there and now I've missed a whole hour and..." 
her voice drained away as she realised she was babbling and had probably 
totally lost Marksbury's repect. 

"That was part of your punishment, ensign. You got to miss an entire hour of 
lecture and leg lifts." The sarcasm in her voice was apparent. She sighed. 
"Whomever was forced to walk out that door - my target was the first late 
person to arrive - was punished enough for the dressing down. They were excused 
from the pending lecture." She ran a tired hand over tired eyes. "I'm assuming 
you'd like to return to the team, correct?"

"Yes sir, I would." Anna began to rise but another idea struck her. "Sir? Can I 
ask you a personal question?" Before Marksbury could answer, she ploughed 
ahead. "How do you speak Chinese so fluently? I took several courses at the 
Academy, all of the ones available actually, but I still can't get my head 
around vocalising what I want to say. It's all the slight nuances and the fact 
that a slight change in pronounciation can totally change the meaning." She 
caught Marksbury's eye and smiled shyly. "Could you teach me? I've never heard 
a non-Chinese person speak their language so well." 

"I- suppose I could do that. My father was a linguist and insisted I learn. He 
spoke nothing day and night for weeks until I caught on. It was a tough way to 
learn, but I'm thankful." She paused a moment with the sudden turn around to 
the conversation. "It's probably best you join the others. This morning is all 
basics that you learned at Intel, so try and act impressed with Lt. Monroe's 
instruction." She smiled with a bit of mischeivous twinkle in her eye. 

"Oh, I think I can do that." Anna's grin matched Lissi's. "Any other orders 
sir?" 

"Other than the 'this doesn't leave this office' bit, no. You can go." She 
watched as the ensign turned to leave, but had a sudden second thought. "And 
Anna..." Lissi waited until the girl turned around, "you did a really good 
thing for Mr. Forester. I think with a little discipline you will make an 
excellent leader someday." 


                
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