[You're gathered in a formal hearing room in SAB HQ. Angel is seated at a table in the right side of the room] [The rest of the witnesses, including Mai, are on the left.] [There's another table, slightly elevated, in the front, behind which Eckerd is going to sit.] [Feel free to not yet be at your positions as you walk in.] [Start] * Ben is sitting down among the witnesses. Today's grey suit is noticeably nicer than the ones he normally wears; he isn't expecting it to get blown up. * Angel sprawls across her chair, a short cigarette with a glowing ember at the end cradled between her fingers. As per usual, her red and black leathers cling to her form, and her short black hair is irreverently spiked every which way. * Tim is sitting as far away from Ben as he can get and still be at the same table, somebody seems to have forced a suit on him and while he doesn't look very comfortable in it, he's a lot calmer than he was last time Ben saw him. * Ben glances over at Tim, then looks back at Angel. He puffs his cigarette. He looks a his watch. * Eckerd comes in from a door in the back, right on schedule. She sits down in the front, she's in fairly strict formal attire, slightly more so than usual. The date is September 8, 2020. Time: 1400 GMT. * Ben frowns and adjusts his watch backward one minute. * Tim watches Dame Eckerd. This hearing to into the conduct of Ms. Angel Crosse in the death of an Indonesian citizen is officially opened. As this is not a formal legal hearing, I'll start with Ms. Crosse's explanation of why she acted as she did. * Eckerd looks over to Angel. * Angel looks around at the nigh-empty room. She stands, grounds out her fag, and approaches Eckerd. His citizenship was unimportant, first of all. All I know is, she wasn't English. I had the option of testing on an English citizen, and decided to preserve the King's subject. * Eckerd nods. "Duly noted, you may proceed to explain why the test was necessarily conducted in that manner." Given the situation, I felt the need to make sure I knew exactly how to defend myself and the rest of my team. Preservation of my team is primary every time I venture out, whether for SAB or for my own business. Computer programmers say "test the wires first." The basic idea is: Test the most obvious means first. Why try the tricky, obscure stuff when you haven't even tried to see if the fucking thing is plugged in? * Mai for the record is also in a formal black suit, doesn't seem like she's really accustomed to wearing one, she looks a tad nervous. The same applies here. I've never faced a werewolf before. Since we had easy access to silver ammo, I made sure I had that, to match superstition. * Eckerd nods and is quite emotionless. * Tim rubs his face, and tries very hard not to say anything. If you can't take out your opponent in what is usually an lethal way, why even try to incapacitate them? Is that a rhetorical question? Of course. * Eckerd nods and allows Angel to continue. * Mai looks like she also has a few ideas what the answer to that question is. As both of these men can attest, after verifying the validity of common sense, I attempted to try less lethal positions, as they are known to be on normal humans. * Ben is watching Eckerd, not Angel, trying to follow her reactions. I was prevented from finding anymore information regarding the interaction between silver and this breed of werewolf by that man (she indicates Tim). * Tim nods slowly. And since I don't miss, any further shots would only have been lethal if the presence of silver in the system was lethal. That was the next test I intended to perform. * Eckerd glances over at Tim. "Let it be noted that Mr. Shimiru agreed to that description." * Eckerd then goes back to watching Angel. Ben's not getting much of a read. Long story short, I was trying to protect myself, my team, and the uninfected locals. Test the obvious first. Fuck! If the wolf I tested on got enraged and broke loose to attack us, I sure as hell wanted to know I could stop him. * Angel raises her hands to punctuate the last statement, as though it should be obvious to everyone. Then she turns as she lets her hands fall, and saunters back to her chair. She sprawls back across it, pulls out a pack of fags, taps it out, and lights up. * Ben turns to Angel for a second, giving her a slight nod, then looks back at Eckerd. * Eckerd looks over to Angel. "First a few fairly obvious questions for clarity. Did you believe the woman in question to be an imminent threat?" * Ben's eyes dart to Tim. His reaction to Angel's answer might prove interesting. No. I asked Ben to choose one for me, since they were all equal to me. * Tim nearly headdesks, but catches himself. * Ben, having seen the reaction, returns his gaze to Eckerd. He takes a long drag on his cigarette. (headdesk? Is that a meeting of two inordinately hard objects?) (...Yes. ::also resists the urge to grabs JNS by the ears and slams him into the table::) * Eckerd nods. "Did you take any efforts before this test to determine if Indonesian officials had already determined whether a silver bullet to the heart could kill this breed of werewolf?" (JNS?) There was only one person present who spoke a language I understood, other than the translator. Both were elsewhere at the time, and I was led to believe that time was of the essence. (I have a bad habit of shortening peoples nicks to three or four letters. and I can never remember how to spell jnespuxah anyway) (I am nothing like Angel :P Just ask Greg ^_^) (He isn't. I'd avoid him if he was. :P) (Yeah. Angel's kinda hot.) (oh! frell off, ugly!) * Tim scowls. ( :P ) * Eckerd nods and comments dryly. "I'll take that as a no." She then continues. "Please elaborate on your specific reasoning as to why the threat was so imminent as to preclude summoning your translator." Did I say there was an imminent threat? Sometimes my mouth does things without my knowing about it. Usually after a lot of alcohol, if you know what I mean. * Angel licks her lips and winks at Ben. * Ben gives a small smile in return. * Tim rubs his face again. What I THOUGHT I said was that I was led to believe time was of the essence. Meaning, get what info you can, and fast. (Heh. Well, if it's any consolation, RDM, Tim's got most of the SAB on his side.) (I know he does, he knows he's got at least some of it) The target could be on the loose on the island, or may have even left the island. * Eckerd shakes her head. "I apologize, you did indeed specifically said that 'time was of the essence,' would I be interpreting you correctly to say that you thought the time pressure was sufficient that you could not spare the time to summon your translator." * Tim bites his tough to stay silent after Angel's last comment. * Ben takes the cigarette out of his mouth, and flicks it, raining ash down onto the table. He then returns it to his mouth. You would indeed. Every moment counts when an infection could be spreading. And if SAB were to call for what info we had, I wanted to have a sure way to stop it, should someone stumble across the primary carrier. And under similar circumstances, if a British citizen was the only available test subject, would you have acted in a similar manner? * Ben raises an eyebrow. * Tim looks at Angel. (Music swells!) * Mai seems somewhat disturbed by the question itself. Well, let's take a look at that situation... * Eckerd nods and waits. Only one available test subject? Doesn't look to me like there's much risk of the infection spreading. We were several days behind the primary carrier, and there's only one victim turned? Not a big risk, in my opinion. * Tim shakes his head. So, considering there's only two werewolves out there, and no one else has been harmed, I see no reason to shoot the one British citizen we happen to have captured. So, if, for example, the chemical weapon used had been more successful and only left the English citizen and several dozen more dead werewolves, you would not have killed that citizen? If we already had an effective weapon that was reliable, there would be no reason to look for another. And frankly, wolfsbane looked like an allergic reaction on the wolf we tested with it. Allergies tend to piss me off more than incapacitate me. Last question, if you were launching such an investigation in your private practice, and you deemed such a test to be beneficial to your or your team's chance of survival, would you act similarly? (You obviously don't have the right allergies. Mine fucking lay me out.) * Mai grips her hands tightly together but stays quite quiet. I only operate in the UK with normal humans. I know what takes them down. Moot point. * Eckerd nods. She looks over to the others. "Do you disagree with any of the facts of Ms. Crosse's testimony, not her judgments yet, just the facts." ? A few... * Mai also nods. Eckerd watches Ben for a moment. * Angel scowls at Tim. "Are you calling me a fucking liar?!" 'To the best of my recollection, Ms. Crosse's recitation of actual factual occurences is accurate.' * Tim over at Angel, "No, maybe just a little unobservant." * Eckerd glares at Angel. "Ms. Crosse, while this is not a court room I will ask that you maintain decorum." ('But while this IS a courtroom, I won't.') Well, say your piece. I can't say I'll stick around to be slandered, but we'll see what you've got to say. * Eckerd nods at Ben's comment and looks to Tim. "Please go on." * Tim nods at Angel, "She said that there wasn't anybody around who spoke english, but Pathogen was in there and she speaks it, and at least one of the people chained to the walls spoke it as well, but I doubt if he would know what had and hadn't been tried." I would agree to that. That fucking ghost-nurse? She was trying to HEAL them! * Eckerd looks over at Ben and Angel. "Regardless, is Mr. Shimiru incorrect?" I said there was a British citizen. Do you think I checked his ID? He spoke English! But he couldn't help me. I asked him first! * Eckerd nods. "Anything else Mr. Shimiru?" With the facts...no. * Eckerd looks to Mai. I'd add that given the kill rate of the chemical weapon used and the fact that the remaining lycanthropes on the island were successfully subdued before total conversion of the island, that it is factually incorrect to say that there was not an effective weapon available. * Eckerd scans the rest for agreement or disagreement. 'I'd like to reply to Mai's point, though we're really getting into subjective judgment calls here.' * Tim nods at Mai. 'The Indonesians weren't being forthcoming requiring the chemical.' There were more coherent werewolves in that room than I have bullets in a clip. I'd call that ineffective. * Tim doesn't manage to hold himself back this time, "Did you SEE the grave out front?" * Eckerd nods and looks back to Mai. "Anything else?" * Mai shakes her head. I also said "reliable," if you'll recall. Even one werewolf surviving the chemical weapon could mean the death of my entire team. We release it at a charging wolf, and it keeps coming, mauling first the person with the weapon, then everyone else... That's neither reliable, nor effective in my opinion. * Tim rubs his face and mutters something about healers. * Eckerd nods again. "This leaves the question of her judgments. Mr. Carmichael, I'll start with you. I'd also like to know your understanding as to your authority to use force when lacking specific instructions." * Ben stands up and walks around the table to stand facing Eckerd. * Eckerd calmly watches him. * Tim turns his head away from Angel to look at Ben. 'My understanding is that, lacking specific instructions, S.A.B. teams are to use their own judgment in regard to the amount of force appropriate in a situation, including lethal force. Subject, of course, to later reviews such as this one.' * Angel looks pretty smug, sure that Ben will back her. * Ben pauses, taking a drag on his cigarette as he awaits Eckerd's response. * Eckerd nods. "When not dealing directly with situations of imminent threat, do you believe that there are any laws or codes of conduct that apply?” 'The level of threat would be a factor to consider in deciding the amount of force appropriate.' * Eckerd frowns for a moment but then nods. "Proceed with your statement." 'Thank you.' 'First, if I may, I would like to state for the record that the mission parameters did in fact not specify anything regarding the amount of force we were or were not to employ.' * Eckerd nods. * Tim nods, but doesn't look happy about it. 'Our mission was to gather intelligence which was to be used in attempting to halt the progress of the lycan infection throughout the population and the accompanying loss of live that would entail.' 'One obvious facet of that mission would appear to be determining the lycans' vulnerabilities.' * Eckerd doesn't interrupt. 'Initial testing revealed that surface contact caused no more than a small rash. The next step was obviously to introduce silver into the system of a lycan and observe the results of that.' 'I should take a minute here to explain something, in anticipation of a question you asked Ms. Crosse.' Proceed. 'No, we did not inquire as to whether the Indonesians had done similar tests.' * Eckerd nods. 'The Indonesians had proven less than forthcoming about the chemical weapon used. They had a large number of captive lycans, the plans for whom were less than clear.' * Ben pauses to take a drag on his cigarette. * Mai gets a worried frown at that. * Tim waits for him to finish. 'It is not unheard of for countries to use lycans, or other similar creatures, for their own purposes.' * Eckerd nods again. 'The Indonesians had a weapon against these creatures, but they weren't sharing it with us. Put bluntly, I had to assume that they might not want us to know the vulnerabilities of the lycans they controlled.' * Eckerd continues to not interrupt. 'It was therefore necessary for us to gather our intelligence on the subject firsthand.' 'Ms. Crosse indicated that she wished to perform such a test and asked me to select a subject.' (*swoon!*) * Tim rubs his face. * Eckerd nods. * Mai wrings her hands a bit. 'I selected one, largely at random though avoiding those who had demonstrated the ability to communicate with us as we may have required further information from them.' (I'd hate to see Angel and Ben's offspring. :P) (It'd kill both parents and then starve :P) 'At this point, Crosse shot the subject through the heart. It died instantly.' ( Nah. It wouldn't starve as long as it had parent left to eat. ) (That's only good for a couple of weeks) * Eckerd keeps watching Ben as he testifies. (renticide would be the least of the child's worries...) 'While I understand Ms. Crosse's testimony that she believed the most pressing objective, given the circumstances, was to determine whether it was possible to kill one at all, I was concerned that she had conflated the data results to obscure the effectiveness of silver.' 'In short: we didn't know if the silver mattered or if just being shot through the heart was what killed it.' Understood. 'At this point, I suggested that a shot which would not normally be fatal should be attempted, so that we could more accurately separate the effect of the silver in the system from the effect of the wound itself.' 'Mr. Shimiru,' Ben says after a split second, in which he reminded himself not to call him the kid, 'prevented us from continuing our intelligence gathering along those lines.' * Tim snorts and then nods. 'That concludes my summary of the events under discussion, though I would like to make two additional notes on the matter as a whole.' * Eckerd nods. * Mai smiles faintly at Tim. 'First, Ms. Crosse throughout was active in pursuing a wide variety of investigative avenues which ultimately were crucial in allowing the S.A.B. to contain the threat.' * Tim eyes Ben. (What did Tim expect?) (Nothing less, but he's putting on a bit of a show for the judge :P) * Eckerd nods and glances at Tim and Mai for a moment before looking back to Ben. (I'm not exclusively homicidal! I just one of many tools in my repertoire! ^_^;) (Say that out loud. It'd be awesome.) (Me type gooder today!) 'Second, had I been asked to participate in an op... eration,' Ben stumbles as he remembers to finish the word, 'to combat lycans and been denied authorization to employ lethal force, I would have refused.' (*SNORT* Who's the amateur, again? ^_~) * Tim grins a tiny bit and shakes his head. To clarify, would you have also refused had you been denied authority to use lethal force for experimentation purposes? (Maggie. Ben knows enough to refuse a mission if it's not arranged sensibly.) (Yeah, but we weren’t out there to "combat" them) 'No,' Ben admits. * Eckerd nods. "Anything further?" 'I should also note that, like Ms. Crosse, my impression was that while we may not have been in immediate danger personally, there was a general threat that was pressing and involved potentially massive stakes.' 'Other than that, no. I will, however, be happy to clarify anything and answer any questions.' Thank you. If Ms. Crosse had not, would you have employed for experimentation purposes a level of force that would have been lethal to an ordinary human? * Ben shrugs. 'It would have depended. Had the lycan-in-human-form demonstrated any sort of unusual healing ability or damage resistance during any initial testing, I may have tested its extent.' 'Failing that, I would likely have assumed that what would kill a human would kill a lycan-in-human-form.' * Ben pauses, waiting for another question. Thank you. If you had found that the Lycan possessed healing abilities but standard anti-lycanthrope techniques could suppress these abilities, would you have gone on to experiment with what you suspected to be lethal force? 'Yes. That information could have been vital in combating them.' 'Something, I may add, that I was not the one who would be doing.' 'I was asked to gather intel for the combat team. I wanted them to be as well prepared as possible. For their sake's.' * Eckerd nods. "Duly noted, thank you, that's all I have for you. Mr. Shimiru, please give us your opinion of Ms. Crosse's judgment." * Ben nods, and returns to his seat. On the way, he shoots Tim an encouraging smile. * Tim sits up for a moment and then slouches slightly, "We were sent there to gather intelegence about what had happened, but because of the actions Ms Crosse and Mr Carmichael took, they were kicked off the island. Which kinda keeps them from learning any more." * Ben actually chuckles. * Eckerd nods and waits for Tim to continue. * Mai smiles slightly in surprise. Funny. It didn't keep us from continuing our work. In fact, I was going to leave the island, anyway. And we found the primary carrier. * Ben looks reluctant to chime in, but... 'And I had at least three possible methods open to stay. I left voluntarily knowing that we had agents still on scene, and that they would face fewer obstacles if we left.' * Eckerd nods. "Please proceed Mr. Shimiru." * Tim pauses to glare at Angel before continuing, "Even to find out if silver and wolfsbane worked on people who were changed might save lives later, that's not not enough to justify killing somebody right then. Espicaly somebody chained to a wall for the crime of being in the wrong place at the wrong time." * Eckerd nods and waits. I'm not saying that there is never a good reason to kill somebody, and if they had been attacking us, I would have helped her, but they wern't. Collateral damage. I didn't know there were any weak stomachs in SAB. Who'd have thought? Excuse me for not liking to make messes. * Eckerd raises a hand. "This isn't a debate Ms. Crosse. Please proceed Mr. Shimiru." * Angel makes a peace sign and turns the back of her hand to Eckerd. * Ben sighes. (... c_C;) * Eckerd doesn't feel compelled to note that gesture for the record. She waits for the remainder of Tim's testimony. As for her judgment, I think she just wanted to shoot something, and this was as good an excuse as any other. But that's just my opinion. * Eckerd nods. "Your opinion is noted. Anything else?" Other than my not agreeing with either of their opinions about the reasons we were there. No. * Eckerd nods. "Thank you Mr. Shimiru." She then looks over to Mai. "Do you have anything to add?" * Ben tries to signal for Eckerd's attention. * Eckerd looks to Ben. "Yes Mr. Carmichael, you may speak." 'Mr. Shimiru says he disagrees with Ms. Crosse's and my own appraisal of the reasons we were there. I just think it would be pertinent, in considering Mr. Shimiru's testimony, to know what he believes the reason we were there was.' 'Given that both Ms. Crosse and myself took it to be gathering intelligence on the threat posed by the lycans and acted accordingly.' (Oooh, SNAP!) (/nick Ghettified_Angel) ( *falls over* ) * Eckerd nods. "Understood. Mr. Shimiru, please elaborate on where your understanding differed, perhaps specifically in regards to the level of force authorized and time pressure." Right, we had several hours until the moon came up, and despite that, neither of the people who were so concerned about the threat, managed to find out if the people who had been there since at least the night before had tried anything besides the one weapon. (For reasons Ben explained. :P ) * Eckerd nods. (/me waits) And as I said, in their 'haste' they got themselves thrown off. Which shows that no matter how noble they thought their intentions were, they picked the wrong place to do their own testing. I still think that killing the woman was completely unnecessary. (Sorry, much typing and then erasing ^^;) (s'cool) * Eckerd nods. "Anything else?" * Tim gestures at Ben, "I won't even pretend to know as much about werewolves as he does, so I have no idea if the reactions the ones he was testing with the wolfsbane and the silver had to them were the normal ones, but if they were I would have stopped there." Even if they were not I would have gone on to find out if anybody else had acted upon that first. * Eckerd nods and then looks over to Mai. "Anything to add?" * Mai stands up, she speaks with obvious care and an even tone. "I would second Mr. Shimiru's testimony. I'm also thankful he was there, as I'm ashamed to say I'm not sure what I would have done were he not present." * Mai then sits down. * Again, Ben signals for Eckerd's attention. * Eckerd looks over. "Yes Mr. Carmichael, I'll then take any final comments." 'I just want to concede Mr. Shimiru's point that it would have been more tactically prudent to isolate the lycan from witnesses before beginning testing.' * Angel throws up her hands in challenge/disgust when her ally abandons her... * Ben gives Angel an apologetic look. 'Had time not been a factor, and I repeat that I was under the impression it was, I'd have done just that. However, that strikes me as irrelevant to the question of whether Ms. Crosse's experiment was justified; it is at most a criticism of a minor part of the implementation’ * Tim shakes his head at the apparent missing of his point. * Eckerd nods. "I should ask my last question now so Ms. Crosse can add any extra response to it. Had there not been the threat of a global plague, but you still believed time was of the essence and killing the subject would have enhanced the security of your team, would you have done so?" The rest is irrelevant. All you need say is it would enhance the security of my team. * Eckerd nods. * Mai looks fairly disgusted. Any final comments? * Tim shakes his head slowly. It doesn't matter how you judge me. You can't try me in a British court. If I'm barred from future SAB missions, I've still got everything I had before. Do what you think is right. I was justified and right in my decision. * Eckerd smiles slightly at that. "Your opinion on the range of my authority is duly noted." She then drops it. "Anything else?" 'Ms. Crosse's decision was made within the mission parameters and in order to achieve the objective of halting the spread of the lycan threat..' * Eckerd nods at Ben's statement. * Mai doesn't seem to have anything to add. (Alas it turns out that Angel shot a born citizen of the British empire, who because of an existing medical condition couldn't talk) * Tim shakes his head again. Not that I don't respect you. But this hearing is a farce. I did what was allowed by the mission parameters and got the job done. It's nothing personal. You are just the personification of the inanity of red tape. For this hearing anyway. * Eckerd nods. "Also duly noted. Are you done?" * Eckerd keeps a level tone. Eh, why not? Whatcha got? (The comfy chair!) (The huggy coat!) (the what now?) (I was quoting Monty Python.) (You don't know what a huggy coat is?) (apparently not... :() ( Straightjacket. ) First, it is my opinion that the mission briefing given was inadequate in describing the level of force authorized particularly given the seriousness of the threat. For that I take responsibility. * Ben nods. (* Eckerd puts Angel in a straight jacket, and locks her away, she's obviously a danger to society) ( So called because anyone wearing one hugs themselves, I think. ^_~ ) * Eckerd looks at Ben. "In the future we'll take particular care with you, Mr. Carmichael, to make sure we are on the same page." * Eckerd then looks at Angel. * Ben nods again. (HAW HAW Ben and Maggie are in the same boat, now.) (shrugs) (Among our weapons are... Dame Eckerd!) (Ben and Maggie do have some things in common. Probably one reason they dislike each other.) (Yup.) While Mr. Carmichael's point as to the Indonesians withholding information was interesting, it also lacks bearing because you did not take that into account when choosing to employ lethal force. (They take particular care with Jason, too. ;_;) ( o/` ) I find that by not taking any measures to determine if the data could be acquired by other means, by immediately deploying lethal force once experimentation began, and by believing the enhancement of the safety of your team was sufficient justification... (You have won a free all expense paid trip to Bermuda!) (I hear they have nice triangles) (Unfortunately your arms are going to Siberia.) (they're pink!) You showed an appalling lack of judgment, forfeit you payment, and are placed on probationary status." She pauses a moment before continuing. * Angel shakes her hands in mock fear. "Ooooo. Probation..." ('Wear the hubcap of shame.') * Tim pinches the bridge of his nose and rubs. (better than the plutonium rod of shame...) Should you take any further action of this sort on a mission you will be imprisoned. Should you lead me to believe that you will take any actions of this sort outside of a mission, you will be dealt with. I would not place too much faith in your belief in your immunity from my authority." Session Time: Thu May 06 00:00:00 2004 It's not your authority I doubt. It's your ability to put me in a public court and maintain the secret status of this organization and its purpose. * Ben smiles. * Tim shakes his head again. * Eckerd smiles. "You're entitled to your doubts. If you decide to act on them, I promise you you'll quickly realize the error of your ways. That is all, you may go." * Mai looks disappointed. * Ben gets up and walks over to Angel. 'Want to get a drink? Since they just docked your pay, I'm buying.' * Eckerd looks to Tim. "Could you stay for a moment Mr. Shimiru." (Feel free to go Ryan) * Angel walks with Ben. "Whoopty frickin' doo. I'm a-scared of the big bad court system. No lawyer. Fuck 'em." * Tim looks like he was about to say something to Angel and Ben, but then turns to Eckerd and nods. * Ben paces with Angel. 'Yeah. I'd have been worried they might try to kill an agent they were pissed at, but after today, I no longer think they'd have the stomach...' * Ben and Angel exit. Not a red-blooder in the bunch, it seems. I know. I mean, all these tough as nails professional mercenaries, but they can't make the f***ing hard choices. I'm surprised they've stayed alive. * Ben and Angel head off, to continue in a mini some other time. * Tim looks at Eckerd, "You know she's going to do it again...And I am NOT going to be there when she does." * Eckerd speaks to Tim once they're out of earshot. "She won't be put in a position to do that again on a mission without a guardian, and I think her faith in the court system indicates she won't be committing acts like that on her own." I think her faith in the court system simply shows that she agrees with Ben about not doing it where anybody else can see. (Or killing everyone who saw!) (they don't count as else, just bonus targets) * Eckerd nods. "Have confidence that we can see places others can't. Regardless, I held you here to say commendable work on that mission Mr. Shimiru. You still need some polish as an investigator, but you're young and character is more important." * Tim laughs. ( Go Tim! ) * Eckerd then continues in a level tone. "Of course, you've still far from proven that you won't continue your ways as a thief, but this progress is noted. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some paperwork to attend to." * Tim nods and then turns to Mai, "So... what restaurant do you think is the least likely that those two went too?" (McDonalds.) Well, if I can predict where your question is going, I know a nice Chinese place that would never let either of them into the back room. Care to go?" (Heh. She might be surprised.) * Tim makes a sweeping bow, "By all means, please lead the way." * Mai does so, she smiles a bit, looks genuinely happy for the first time tonight. * Eckerd leaves by a back door to get some work done. [End]