<USS Avalon> "And it Keeps Getting Worse..."
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 16:30:28 -0800 (PST)
And it Keeps Getting Worse...
By Lieutenant Commander Anthony Manson, Senior Lieutenant Alder Shimbrodus,
and Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury
"Thank you, Ensign," she said, having received a hypospray of strong analgesic.
Lissi turned to leave when something else caught her attention. Alder
Shimbrodus was standing next to a bio bed across the room. Moving to the side,
she could see it was Anthony sitting on the bed. She stepped up to the bed,
having come up behind Alder and no one saw her approach. "What in the hell
happened?"
"Nice to see you too, Elissabeth," Anthony replied with almost no voice. His
head was still spinning, he knew there had to be more than just a bad bruise on
his knee. Maybe a fracture. And lying down was hurting his back to the point
where he couldn't take it anymore.
"What happened, Commander?" she tried again. He looked like hell. What could've
happened in the hour and a half they had been apart?
Alder looked at him, knowing that this was one of the many circumstances they
talked about could happen. Alder didn't look at Elissabeth, instead he had a
calm face and kept quiet. Anthony noticed it. "It's complicated, Marksbury.
More than you realize."
"Try me," she said, stubbornly, crossing her arms.
Anthony shook his head. He closed his eyes, it became hard to focus. Alder
looked at her, "How 'bout we give him time to recuperate? Doctor Roan should be
in soon, and she'll have him up by the morning."
"Has Lt. Dareth been here for a statement?"
"Yeah, Anthony?s taken a beating and can't concentrate. And so far, Lieutenant
Dareth got my statement and that of the Ensign that spotted Anthony when the
turbolift doors at the bridge opened," Alder replied reasonably.
"Okay," she conceded that much. Looking at Alder, she asked, "So why don't you
tell me what happened?
"I found him like this when the Ensign caught my attention. Anthony was out.
Took a beating, as you see. That's pretty much it."
Lissi grimaced with the pain in her head that just seemed to double for a
moment. "Okay, I'm trying to be really considerate and understanding here. But
it's my job to know exactly what happened, Lt., and you know that. So, please,
can we cut the song and dance?" She was grinding her teeth to bite back the
roaring pain.
"What song and dance? That," he pointed at Anthony's bruises, "is exactly what
happened."
Taking a deep breath, she said, "Let me make this real simple then. We had
lunch one and a half hours ago. The commander left to return to the bridge.
Where did he go and who was he with? I can see the effects of what happened but
I want to know exactly what happened. Is that clear enough, Lt.?" She didn't
like being given the run around. And especially by someone she considered her
friend, even if by association.
"And just exactly how do you think I would know? If you remember, I was on the
bridge. I don't know exactly what happened," Alder replied hotly.
Until Alder was nearly yelling at her, she didn't realize just how angry she
was. She stopped and took a deep breath, blowing it out very slowly. "I
apologize, Lt. I feel like my hands are tied and it frustrates me." She turned
to regard Anthony on the bed, reaching for his hand.
The ring dangled on one of his fingers. It was covered in dried blood.
Anthony's focus had come back, but he wasn't thinking clearly this time around,
"Alder, I said I'm fine."
She offered him a wry smile. "I think I missed an ample opportunity to pay off
that debt, didn't I?"
"Huh?" Anthony looked closer, "Oh, you're not Alder. Yeah," he smiled slightly,
"yeah. For that you can clean the warp nacelles." The ring dangled ever so
slightly, and then fell onto the floor. "The ring."
She picked it up immediately and placed it in the palm of his hand. His fingers
were too swollen for it to possibly fit right now. "I'm so sorry," she
whispered. Could anything else possibly go wrong in the next 24 hours? "We'll
get who did this, Anthony." She gave his hand a very gentle squeeze.
"Yeah.. yeah, we'll get him," Anthony trailed off as his eyes rolled back.
"Alder."
Alder was right behind Elissabeth. "I'll be here for a while."
She relinquished her grasp of Anthony's hand to Alder and stepped aside. Lissi
looked up at Alder with a great deal of compassion in her eyes. Placing her
hand on his arm, she meant to give an understanding pat, but it just hit her
what Anthony said and instead she grasped his upper arm. "Has he said anything
else like that?"
"Like what?" Alder turned to her with a frown.
"Nevermind. Call me when he's coherent, please. The sooner I can talk to him,
the more he's likely to remember and we can catch whoever did this."
"I will."
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