[TheNoir] "She Who Rules the Roost."
- From: MaureenENicks@xxxxxxx
- To: thenoir@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2004 16:13:04 EST
"She Who Rules the Roost."
M.E. Nicks
It was becoming an all to familiar call. M.E. had been sitting on the bridge
when Anais called and told her she needed to come down to sick bay. As she
walked down the corridor she quietly prepared herself for another round with
Shane and Bella. She honestly didn’t know what to do about them. They
obviously
weren’t going to see things her way and were going to give her a hard time
no matter what she said, especially Shane. This normally wouldn’t have
bothered her. She really didn’t care about Shane or what he thought, but she
generally liked Bella, and she didn’t want anyone to get hurt on this job.
She wasn’
t however willing to back down on the Anita issue.
The doors to sick bay hissed open as if they had anticipated M.E.’s mood.
She looked around for Anais, surprised to see Bella was no where in sight, but
even more surprised at the sight of Anita on the bio bed. M.E. hurried over to
her and Anais and just looked down at the woman’s broken body. She was black
and blue and swollen all over, there was a partially healed open wound on
her neck, and her breathing seemed labored. M.E. had to fight back her
emotions.
“She’s going to be fine. A little sore, and mostly liking seeing red, but
there’s nothing there that can’t be fixed.” Anais told her. “Well,
physically
anyway.”
M.E. looked up sharply at the older woman. “Don’t you start with me to,
Anais.” M.E. warned. “What happened?”
Anais didn’t respond right away, but when she did her voice was firm yet
soft. “Cervin brought her in. I don’t know for sure who did this.”
“I do.” M.E. spat. “I know exactly who did it. I told him not to touch
her.
I told them both I would deal with her, to leave her alone. I strapped her
into a chair and kept her there for nearly two hours for beating Bella. I
handled it!” M.E. nodded as if she’d just made a decision and then stepped
back
to allow Anais to finish working on Anita.
Stepping over to the comm system M.E. opened a channel to Cervin and John. “
There’s been another assault. Shane went after Anita after I had already
dealt
with her crimes against Isabella. He also went against my orders. This is my
goddamn ship which means he follows orders like everyone else. I want him
picked up and thrown in the brig until further notice and with no visitors. If
he gives you a hard time offer him one of the escape tubules and an empty
torpedo launcher.”
M.E. closed the comm before Cervin could talk her out of it. She expected
her orders to be carried out no matter how much he disagreed with them or
disliked them. She then walked back over to Anais. Anais, like herself, had
been
with Noir since it’s very first lunch. She’d even been both Captain and
Commander for a time. She was also the only on out side of herself and Alex who
handled the Noir’s finances. “Have you made the changes to the pay roll
program
I asked you to make?”
Anais didn’t look up from sealing Anita’s cuts. “Yes. I‘ve added Anita
to
the pay roll and I also rerouted her first pay off to the ship‘s account just
as you said.”
“Good. That’ll pay off the mess she made in the corridors and for any
supplies you needed to use to treat Bella. I have two more changes for you to
make. Half of Bella’s pay goes to the ship’s account for that phaser mark
in
your wall. All of Shane’s can go into it to pay for Anita’s medical
care.”
Anais looked up. “He’s at pearl level. That’s far more then I’ll use to
treat her.”
M.E.’s eyes flashed angrily. “I don’t care how much he thinks he’s
entitled
to. It all goes into the ship’s account and not his. I will not have a
vendetta played out on my ship. One way or the other people will learn that she
who pulls the purse strings around here rules the roost.”
“Alright. I’ll do it as soon as I’m finished here.”
M.E. watched as Anais finished treating Anita and then slip off into her
office to make the changes to pay roll. M.E. pulled up a stool and sat at
Anita’
s bedside. She brushed some of the blood tinted blonde hair from the woman’s
forehead with one hand while holding Anita’s hand in her other. Anita’s
hand
felt so limp, weak, and lifeless, so much unlike who the woman really was.
“I can’t say I didn’t see this coming.” M.E. whispered. “I should
have
tried harder to stop it. Please, Anita, please don’t make things worse and go
after him. Show him your better then he is, better then who he thinks you are.
Let the rest of them see what I see in you.” M.E. continued to sit there
caressing Anita’s face. “Sleep well my friend. I’ll be right here until
you wake
up. I promised you a safe place to call home. I’ve promised everyone that. I
guess I need to try harder to see it happens. I’m so sorry, Anita.”
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