<USS Avalon> "Semblance of Structure"

From: "Brad Ruder" <groundzero@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 23:05:19 -0800

"Semblance of Structure"
by Commander Javan Sierra
& Senior Lieutenant Elissabeth Marksbury

"Lieutenant Marksbury, report to my office."

The command startled her from a very deep sleep. Grabbing her badge of the night stand, she replied, "Ten minutes, sir," knowing it was just a debriefing. Sierra had been too busy the day before to see her.

She stood and then sat back down again. The throbbing in head had increased to the point it made her nauseous. Lissi looked at the chronometer and winced. 07:45. She hadn't planned on getting up for at least another hour and a half. After helping Skyler and Melanie sort out their difficulties and coming back only to dance with the Shadow, she hadn't crawled in bed until nearly four in the morning. If she didn't get some serious sleep soon, she wasn't going to make it.

Lissi was thankful for the additional pain medication that Cazook had sent with her, and she took it before grabbing a painfully quick shower. She was dressed and on her way to Sierra's office within the ten minutes, though definitely not looking her best.

He stood and stared at the security offices. The tables looked polished as if they'd never been used, the floor was spotless as if freshly cleaned, the storage lockers were neatly organized, and his office door hadn't been opened once since he left to follow Lol. The PADDs, no doubt endless reports of performance and procedure, were kept in a nice pile on the stand to the right of his door. Very proper. Javan hated saying it, but she'd done good during his away mission. He was impressed.

The only thing that he was sort of irked about was the morale of the group. For the most part they all seemed in good spirits, but from what he could sense they seemed as if they had been run ragged. Javan was never one for caudling his subordinates, but he didn't beat and run them to within an inch of their lives. That was bad, but he admired her professional level. Quite an addition, he thought to himself as he moved into his office to wait for her.

"I'm sorry that it took me so long, sir," she said stepping inside, allowing the door to close behind her. "Welcome back, Commander."

Nodding absently, he motioned for her to take the seat at the front of his desk , "Thank you, Lieutenant, I see that things have been going quite smoothly around here since I've been gone. You gunning for my job?" He smirked slightly, but smothered it under his demeanor as he clasped his hands and laid them comfortably on the desk's surface.

"Always, Commander," she smiled, teasing. "Actually, Lieutenant Dareth has been running security while I've been working with the Covert Ops this week. He's done a rather fine job."

"I see that," he held up a PADD, "although, speaking of your Covert Operations team, I have received some notes from other concerned crew about the team's performance. I have a letter here from a very passionate crewman that her roommate is almost dead because of your training. I skimmed most of it, but I caught something about inhumane treatment." Javan laughed again, sliding the PADD over to her.

"How nice of them to be concerned," she remarked wryly. "Most of the trainees have been dismissed already. I'm down to ten. I was pushing them hard, I admitt, but we're on a tight schedule now. I have a lot of new men and Ketchum informed me that we have a mission coming up within days..." She furrowed her brows, having trouble concentrating. "I assure you that I haven't killed anyone yet."

Javan smiled, "No, I kind of find it warm. You want them to the best that they can be and this is the only way. I'm not objecting to it by any means, but I thought you'd get a kick out of the responses from crewmen." He ran a hand over his neck as he stared down at more reports, "I am sorry that I have kept Hollander and Eckstein from you. They are incredibly talented and very capable officers. They serve your teams well."

"And I've held a spot open for them. Their time in the field has earned them that much... that and your recommendation. I sent them messages to join us this morning at eleven-hundred hours." Lissi stood quietly, waiting to see if there was anything else, slightly thrown off by the fact that Sierra wasn't smirking at her sarcastically by now.

"Have you been briefed on this upcoming mission, Lieutenant?" He looked at her genuinely.

"Not in great detail, sir, but I know what's going on."

Javan nodded. "I'm a bit behind, could you brief me?"

"We are to retrieve a Romulan scientist from some Ferengi opportunists and return him to the Romulans. If the diplomatic solutions don't work, we're authorized to go in and get him." She left out the parts about finding out what the scientist was working on. After all, Ketchum said that information was to be reported only to him.

Javan perked an eyebrow, "And...?"

She blinked, "And what, sir?"

Leveling his gaze, Javan leaned forward, "Lieutenant, I've been doing this job for a very long time. I know that we do not go in and help Romulans by going after Ferengi - two non-Federation members - for no apparent reason. There's more to the mission than that. I would appreciate not being treated like an ensign assigned to the plasma relay coolant system on deck fifteen."

"I apologize that you feel as though I'm not treating you according to your title, Commander. I have given you all the information that I'm authorized to give," she said quietly, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder. She had been assuming for days that she was being watched, but now it was confirmed and she found it to be unsettling. The Shadow would be pleased that he had her on edge, she thought idly.

"I admire your candor, Lieutenant." It would be amazingly easy for him to find out what was going on. Starfleet Intelligence was good at hiding their secrets and their agendas that didn't exist, but he was better than that. "Do you have anything else you'd like to add to the report that you filed yesterday? I apologize for not getting to this meeting until now, but it's right back to business."

"No, sir, I believe I covered everything, including the results of the investigation concerning the attack on Commander Manson."

"It says here that it's still unsolved," Javan looked at her again. "No leads to go on?"

"No, sir. The diagostics of the turbolift indicated no malfunction and the Commander couldn't identify his attacker. We spent days going through crew manifests, trying to pin down suspects, but it proved a fruitless task. On a ship this size, sir, accounting for everyone's whereabouts with a witness... it's next to impossible. Until the Commander remembers more... I just don't see what more we can do."

"Interesting," Javan mumbled, looking through her report again. He felt something from her, but she was masking it well for not being a telepath. There was more to the point, just like there was more to the orders that she received about the mission. He wasn't going to push the issue, though, he'd had enough of that on his mission to Ferenginar. "Thank you, Lieutenant. If there isn't anything else you wish to add, you're dismissed."

"Thank you, sir." She stood and straightened her uniform. "It's nice to have you back." Lissi was surprised to find that she actually meant it.

"It's good to be back."

<USS Avalon> "Semblance of Structure"

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