Cloak and dagger – A friend in need
by Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope

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Title   A friend in need
Mission   Cloak and dagger
Author(s)   Soghla' Marie St. Helene & Soghla' Terri (Tell) Hope
Posted   Tue Oct 29, 2013 @ 11:19am
Location   Cargo bay
Sad, sad music floated to Marie. She was coming down to the cargo bay to collect eggs but she stopped. The sound of a single violin nearly made her cry, it was so achingly bittersweet. Marie knew immediately who was playing; it could be no-one else but Tell. She also knew why Tell was playing; it could only be because of the incident in the mess.

Marie’s heart went out to the engineer but not in the sense it might have done only a few hours earlier.

She resumed walking but making clumping sounds to give Tell warning of her approach.

Tell had her eyes closed and was lost in the music until an unfamiliar sound forced her to open one eye. The chickens had gone quiet as soon as she had started to play and if it was a space mouse, well it wouldn't live long. The noise got nearer and the engineer reluctantly stopped the as yet unnamed and unfinished rhapsody she had been playing. Her mood instantly changed when she saw who it was.

"Don't start on me, Marie. I'm not in the mood for you." Tell held up her bow inches away from Marie's face. "I'm holding a lethal weapon and I am quite happy to shove it up your ... left nostril."

Tell's violin was made from a skeleton of a certain creature, so was the bow. She wasn't kidding when she said it was lethal.

“Boyfriend troubles?” Marie asked. “Seems like we were both on the wrong end of Klingon advances. That Klingon Marine made me an object of derision. She abused me, knowing full well that I would not retaliate. I want to take her down but how do I do it? I can’t attack her. Either she’d kill me or she’d pretend I was returning her advances and just heap more scorn on me.”

When Tell said nothing, Marie thought about leaving her to her misery. But that meant Marie would be left with her own misery. As the old saying had it, misery loves company, so Marie sat across from Tell and crossed her legs.

“Look, Tell,” she said, “I’m not here to heap insult on injury. You’ve made your attitude to me perfectly plain. Even I can see you’re not interested. I wish it was otherwise, I won't hide that, but that is the way of it. But I’d still like to be your friend. These Klingons need to be taught a lesson but we can’t fight on their terms. Therefore we need a different strategy. When it comes to that, I figure two heads are better than one.”

Tell's eyes had turned from a soft blue to a strikingly grey opalescent colour. Even in the dim light of the hold they revealed an inner rage and turmoil. Why couldn't I be left alone, thought Tell. I was doing fine before you came.

"What makes you think I need your help?" she snapped. "I'm old enough to look after myself."

Marie recoiled from Tell’s bitterness. “Yeah, you’re old enough. Sorry I butted in. I only came down here to collect eggs. Don’t flatter yourself that I came looking for you.”

With that, she strode over to the hen’s cage, flung some grain and galley scraps at them, picked up the eggs and stormed off. She did not offer Tell so much as a backward glance.

Tell watched her walk away unable to say anything to her. Then the musician picked up her bow and harshly played it across the eight strings of the violin. A discordant chord echoed around the vicinity of the hold it was harsh and jarring to any who heard it because of its lack of harmony.