"Sin and the Jellyfish"

[Col. C.E. Harper 0]

"Sin and the Jellyfish"

Harper/Condacin Log 06.28.06

July 12, 2397

Patrolling shipping lanes

 

Harper looked up as the chime to her office rang, and lifted a wrapped object off her desk. "Come." The expected figure entered, and Harper flicked the wrappings open. "I have something for you."

 

"That'd better be what I think it is," the Xenexian commented, stepping closer to the colonel. "Gods know you've had enough time to get it back to me. Is it scratched or dented?"

 

She rolled her eyes. "It's a dagger, Sin," she pointed out, extending the hilt towards Odile. "Not a gravitic caliper."

 

Snatching it, she gave Harper a little sneer. "You should have more respect for it."

 

"At the moment, I have a good deal of annoyance for it." Reaching into a drawer, she produced a long cord, which she proceeded to dangle in front of the petty officer's face. "You remember the terms, I assume?"

 

"Of course I remember them." She batted the cord away as a young Caitian might a ball of thread. "And it's not happening. Sir James can just trust O'd'yl not to kill him."

 

A distinct growl entered the colonel's voice. "I went to bat for you on this one, O'd'yl," she snapped. "The only reason you're getting it back at all is because you had a dispensation on the Kyushu, and I swore up and down that you proved you could handle it then."

 

"Peace-tied, strung-up, dulled..." She took the cord warily, a miserable expression on her face. "Next thing I know, you'll want me to replace it with a little rubber toy."

 

"Do I need to explain the word 'probation' to you, Petty Officer?" Harper replied coolly. "Or the word 'consequences', perhaps?"

 

"I explained the latter to Sir James," she replied, a savage grin across her lips. "He won't be making ridiculous demands of a daughter of Condacin any time in the near future." She ignored Harper's main point as she shoved the dagger into its sheath, flimsily tying the cord around its hilt. "You know, back in the days of old, they wouldn't have been able to repair the nose, and it would have remained broken, deformed. Horrifically misshapen. What a shame it's different now."

 

"You are not increasing my confidence in you, Condacin." Harper folded her arms, frowning at the Xenexian. "Nicknames not withstanding, I am not the little "el-tee" from Kyushu anymore. And I swear to you, one word, one breath of another incident in any way related to that knick-knack gets back to me, and you will wish for the good old days of the Danteri!"

 

"Yes, yes, threaten away. Besides, I punched the chief with my fist. I'd never sully the dagger on his kind." She smiled, pleased with the knife's relocation back to her side. "I prefer a battle of words, and then hand-to-hand. Usually enemies don't get past the second before I pull out my baby." She patted the weapon protectively.

 

Harper's fierce glare did not ease. "I said 'related to', O'd'yl."

 

"Related to. Fine. Then you tell all your boys and girls that you don't want them hassling me."

 

Suddenly reminded of Sin's tendency to make even her friends want to throw things, Harper took a deep breath forced her jaw to loosen enough that she could speak. "They shouldn't, since you're carrying that thing with permission. If they do..." She paused, catching and holding the Xenexian's eyes. "If they do," she repeated clearly, "you are to refer them to the daily orders from stardate 74529.9, and leave it at that. Is that clear?"

 

Her gaze unwavering, she smiled innocently. "I'll refer them to the orders. Peachy. I'll refer them, among other things. Sure thing, Lottie."

 

"Call me that again and your butt will be making the acquaintance of the sparring mats."

 

She glanced downward, mocking fear. "Yes, Lottie."

 

She scowled. "You have a death wish, Odile?"

 

"Perhaps I do. It's so much more fun to court danger than to avoid, it, isn't it? You'd know, Marine girl."

 

"I wouldn't say that," Harper replied, stilling a reflexive glance downward.

 

Ignoring her, she shrugged. "Besides, there are worse things I could call you. Shall I provide examples? Your callsign, for instance, can be changed into lots of interesting things."

 

"If you're going to list 'snake-face' or 'stony' or anything of that ilk, be assured I've heard it," the colonel said dryly.

 

"Jellyfish."

 

A blink. "That is a new one," she admitted. Then a slow smile crept across her face. "Though, as it would mean I was highly venomous, I think I could live with it." The smile changed character to suit the adjective.

 

"Spineless jellyfish," she clarified, a happy little smile on her face.

 

"Gym, 1500, tomorrow."

 

She took on a kindly expression, blinking her eyes with the most innocence she could muster. "Awww, the little Marine can't take a joke? It's your callsign, after all. You should be forced to live with its connotations."

 

"Laugh while you can," Harper advised. "This time tomorrow you'll be explaining the new shade of purple you discovered to the medical staff."

 

She made a clicking noise with her tongue. "You're rather violent, you know that?"

 

"You're one to talk." She smiled, poisonously. "Dismissed, Condacin."

 

Touching the hilt of her dagger, she moved towards the door. "Now you're frightening me. Dismissed... dismissed yourself. Fifteen hundred tomorrow. Don't be late, Jellyfish..." She turned and headed out, just itching to get into the turbolift so she could start spinning the dagger in her hands again.