<USS Avalon> "Cause and Effect"
- From: Lyryn Cate <wistful_fancy@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:50:29 -0800 (PST)
Cause and Effect
By Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury
and Junior Lieutenant James Monroe
Monroe made quick strides to Lissi's quarters. He had pretty much ignored his
surroundings. How could she do this to him? To the team? They weren't ready,
and she had tossed them into the frying pan with little hesitation about it.
They crumbled quickly, and they were all subjected to a realistic event they
just were not equipped to handle just yet.
It was a tad ingenious, he had to admit. To make them walk in cold and handle a
situation they had little influence over. He shoved that thought aside. He hit
the chime, waiting on her response.
Elissabeth had returned to her quarters after the last session and tried to
relax. It wasn't easy. Seeing the looks on everyone's faces... they had rallied
well, but the failure of the mission hurt them all. And to find out they had
been duped wasn't setting well with some of them. But it was for their own good
and she kept reminding herself of that.
At the chime, she stood and crossed to the door knowing that it could be any
one of her team coming to talk. And she wasn't the least bit surprised when
James stood in the door with fire burning in his eyes.
He skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point, "Tell me it wasn't
a test on how prepared they were. Because if it was, it was one hell of a
botched test."
"It wasn't a test," she said softly, looking up at him. "And hello to you too."
"Mighty funny, Liss, it seemed like one. It certainly felt like one, and after
the little revelation that they were deceived, it might as well have been one,"
Monroe glared at her. "What the hell was the point of this anyway? If you're
looking to see if they can work as a team, all you needed was an evaluation and
I would've told you that."
She turned away from him, angry. She appreciated James' take on things but she
didn't appreciate being constantly questioned like this. Lissi walked over and
sat down on the arm of the couch, partially to keep from pacing. She remained
calm though she felt anything but.
This time she hadn't a doubt in her mind that she was right. "Would you feel
more comfortable doing my job, Lieutenant?" she asked him sincerely.
"Do you always get formal whenever I question you? Or did you think I won't,
just because you're in charge?" He replied bluntly, he wasn't leading a team
for the sake of it, and he wasn't about to back down and lead his team blindly.
Taking a deep breath and choking off her rising ire, she told him, "Sit down,
James."
"No, thanks, I'd rather stand." The doors wisped closed behind him as he folded
his arms and rested against the wall.
"Of course you would," she said rather smartly. "I asked you to sit so that we
could talk like actual adults instead of a shouting match. I never know if
you?re here in an official capacity or not... And you know one of the reasons I
chose you was because you will stand up to me. So, did you come here to get
answers or just vent your frustrations and emotions at me?" Her question was
genuine and she looked at him with a great deal of compassion.
"Last I checked, Liss, I wasn't shouting at you. I was hotly questioning your
motives." He gave her a look with eyebrows raised.
She stood and walked over to him, stopping right in front of the wall where he
was leaning. In an almost uncharacteristic display of care, she reached up and
touched James' cheek. "I don't blame you for being upset, angry. But I had my
reasons and I'll gladly tell you every single one of them, but I'm not going to
do it with you radiating this much anger... because you're not even listening
to me at that point."
He frowned at her, feeling her warm hand on his face. Normally, he'd go soft
all over her by the fact they were close like this. But this wasn't the time at
all, instead he softly replied, "You can start now, Liss, cause I?m not going
anywhere until I get what I came for."
Dropping her hand back to her side, she muttered, "And I thought I was
stubborn." Taking a moment to collect herself, she continued, "Okay, I needed
them to understand that it wasn't a game. That it isn't all training exercises.
The majority of that team is green, never having any field experience. They
needed to understand what the consequences of their actions would be. I didn't
set this up for them - us," she corrected, "to fail. In fact, the computer was
programmed for random encounters on the main mission. But I wanted them to
think it was real, to feel it was real, so that any problems we did encounter
could be analyzed and dealt with as if it were real. People?s decisions aren?t
the same when they know their life isn?t at stake. I think it's the most
valuable lesson they've learned so far and the one they've taken most to heart
- including you." Once she was finished speaking, she wrapped her arms tightly
around herself before walking away again.
"So making me face a situation where you die is just a way to make me do what?
You're lucky I swallowed up enough to get them moving again."
"I had no intention of dying in there," she nearly whispered, stopping, but
still facing away from him.
He sighed, too frustrated with this. Pushing away from the wall he walked over
to her and wrapped his arms around her body, "Then you're going about it the
wrong way. Either that, or you need to make sure the team can handle it first.
You said it yourself, they're new, with no experience."
She turned in his arms and leaned into his embrace, knowing that he needed her.
"I'm sorry I hurt you, but sometimes the best way to learn is to be thrown in.
I'm not going to do it repeatedly, I'm not trying to torture them. It was just
a glimpse of what is out there. James, you have to understand that we have very
little time left and I had to do it. The thought of taking the team anywhere
without them having had that experience is frightening. But now, they know what
is out there, they know what can go wrong and they know how to overcome it.
Like you did," she added.
"I hope you?re right. Cause heaven help us if anything happens." Monroe just
held her tighter.
Looking up at him, she asked, "Don't you feel better knowing that they know
what to expect? Imagine if today had been our mission," she shivered slightly
in his arms. "And that was the point."
"No, I?d rather not. Cause you wouldn't be here at the end of the day," he
simply stated.
She stared into his eyes and knew how much he cared for her, how much her
"dying" affected him, even though he wasn't saying as much. She cared about him
a great deal and she hated to see him hurting like this. Lissi tiptoed and
kissed him softly on the cheek. "I?m sorry that it hurt you. That wasn?t my
intent."
He smiled weakly, "And you say I have an affect on you." He leaned down and
kissed her sweetly, then with more need. He loved this woman, respected her,
desired her. And she responded to him.
Slowly moving her towards the bedroom, he broke away long enough to say,
"Computer, lights off."
---------------------------------
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