Subject: Grail:"The Great Brightness"-'Tangled Webs Unravel'

'Tangled Webs Unravel'

A joint post by:

Lieutenant Logan Castle

Lieutenant Commander Janice Hargen

Ensign Tifa Charr

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<<Stardate: 43707.31: 03:38>>

<<Security Office>>

=^=Hargen to Security. I'd like to report a break in.=^

Castle sat at his desk and shook his head. This was a call he had

anticipated. `Tifa.', he said in a whispered hiss.

"What is the location, Commander?", Castle asked thin air, already

knowing the answer. `My quarters.', he anticipated the response.

=^=My quarters.=^=, Janice replied. Castle grimaced.

"I'm on my way, Commander.", he responded and closed the channel.

Then he opened another. "Castle to Charr. Ensign, meet me on Deck 8,

turbolift 3 immediately."

=^=Of courrrse, lieutenant.=^=, she replied in her purring accent.

Castle sighed and left his office.

<Deck 8- Officers Quarters>

<Turbolift 3>

Tifa Charr was already waiting for him as he rounded the corridors bend.

Her tail had been making lazy side-to-side motions a moment ago, but it

seemed to rise when she turned at his approach.

"Tifa...", Castle spoke softly, looking around as he did. ".. your little

break in has been discovered." He held up the repair kit that Tifa had

lifted. "We're going to have to come clean on this. Especially if we need

to admit to it to prove your theory."

They started walking as Tifa answered.

"Actually sirrr, I was counting on her discoverrring it. You see, the only

clue I left behind was the missing kit, and the fact that it harrrdly took

herrr any time to find out about it only supporrrts my theorrry. As forrr

coming clean, we don't need to do that rrright away, do we? I would like

to hearrr her explain how she is convinced of a brrreak-in when only a

banal rrrepair kit is missing." She smiled as her tail raised up in

victory.

They got to Janice Hargen's quarters and pressed the door chime.

The familiar 'Come' invited them in. Inside, the room was practically

empty, except for a couch and the chief engineer herself. She looked

slightly nervous and Tifa crinkled her nose at her 'neutral' odor.

"I take it, Commander, that you would also like to report stolen

furniture?" Logan asked, looking around at the bare room.

Janice managed a small smile. She had already anticipated that her bare

quarters would look rather odd - unfortunately, she had discovered it

_after_ she had spoken to Castle, when there would be no time to replace

them. No matter. "No, I was attempting to redecorate. This bland

Starfleet furniture has been driving me crazy."

Logan surveyed the room curiously. "Then what _was_ taken?" he asked.

She wiped her hand over her face tiredly. She couldn't suppress the

turning in her stomach and the rapid fluttering of her heart after Castle

had asked her. Just the thought of it made her hands shake. Someone else

knew. Someone else must know. It was the only explanation. She eyed the

Caitian curiously. It didn't require an entire security team to

investigate a break in.

"It would seem to be nothing, really," she began, betraying no emotion in

her voice. Janice didn't especially like Castle. Ever since he had torn

apart her engineers in the brig just for the sake of his own sadistic

pleasure, Janice hadn't felt much need to remain in Castle's presence more

than was absolutely needed. But he was necessary - to find out whom knew

about her. She had to approach it calmly, coolly, or risk blowing out

again. And more than her quarters would suffer the next time, she knew.

"It was a small, black box, about this big," she continued, spanning the

box's dimensions with her hands. "It had a few engineering supplies that

I liked to keep in my room for emergencies, for when there wasn't enough

time to run to Main Engineering, or when I am in the saucer section when

the ship separates. It really means very little to me, but I am

absolutely sure that I didn't misplace it," she added, anticipating

Castle's probable next question. "I always keep it in one specific

location. It isn't so much that it is missing, but that it means that

someone has been in my quarters and overridden my lock. And I don't like

that idea one bit." Janice's jaw was set tightly. "Not one bit," she

repeated angrily.

Castle took a deep breath. This was going to be ugly, but he was convinced

enough of his officers convictions to proceed with his gut

feeling. That Janice Hargen was a superior officer meant less to him at

this point than the fact that she might be a machine who might tear them

apart once he had blown her cover. He produced the small repair kit from

behind his back.

Janice's eyes went wide as she locked onto Castles. There was barely

restrained panic and an involuntary whimper escaped her lips.

"There isn't a single positronic jack on this entire ship, Commander,"

Castle spoke carefully as he opened the case and produced a platinum

tipped filament. "So why would anyone need a positronic interface

connector? And before you go through the trouble of answering that, let me

ask you: Why is your blood a silicon base?"

Janice folded her hands in her lap, her face much calmer than what she

felt. She prayed for anything to interrupt them, but she knew that

nothing would. She had to think quickly - but even an android's perfectly

mechanical mind would have trouble trying to cover this. She forced

herself to sit still, to calm the sudden urge she felt to begin wringing

her hands helplessly, to start crying hopelessly, to drop dead of fright.

She felt like a deer, frozen by the sudden blinding brightness of Castle's

question. She couldn't move, couldn't speak. Only one thought could run

through her head. *he knows he knows he knows he knows he knows he

knows...*

Willing herself to regain control, she forced her mouth to open, to say,

almost calmly, "What gives you that audacious idea, Lieutenant?"

Tifa explained how the scan of the floor gave curious results much like

blood until the scan was pushed further than normal. She eyed the

engineer, looking for any reaction.

She laughed, but it sounded forced, strained. "And what in the world

makes you think that was my blood? My goodness, if I were condemned for

every experiment I didn't hold in a lab or in main engineering, people

would think I was a changeling by now." It was only the years of training

herself to cover every little quirk her mechanical heritage came up with,

hours of trying to come up with excuses why she was never sick, why she

only visited one doctor, why she never hurt herself - it was the ingrained

knowledge that telling another person what she was might drive her right

over the edge, that allowed her to come up with such an excuse so quickly.

"And I assure you, I am most certainly who I say I am." She turned to

Tifa, only anger in her eyes.

"When you scanned that mess on my floor," she said, fury flashing in her

eyes as she realized it must have been the Caitian that broke into her

quarters, "did you ever stop to think that perhaps it wasn't my blood? I

am the Chief Engineer aboard the Grail. Don't you think that I have a few

experiments I play with?"

She sat back, eyeing them both, not waiting for an answer by the female

security officer. "And as for why I have a postronic interface connector

- well, I don't know how much of the technical aspect you two understand,

but I have been experimenting with positronic matrices for years now. Not

getting much of anywhere with them, but I do like to keep my mind busy

when the captain isn't pushing the Grail into overload. I'm sure everyone

has their hobbies, Lieutenant," she ended, giving Castle quite an evil

look.

She stood, fury blazing in her eyes again. "I don't need to sit here and

be insulted by either of you. Because all of this inquiry has just been

quite a slap in the face. There is no need for you to be here any longer.

I already know who has entered my quarters, and for what reason. And the

captain will most assuredly be informed of the habits of his security

officers. Good day." She stood, turning her back to them and shielding

the sudden shaking of her hands with her body.

Castle rocked back a little in the face of the gale force fury of his

lieutenant commander. However, since Hargen on her worst day didn't

even come close to Brinn on her best behavior, he simply waited until

she was finished.

Castle shrugged. "That `audacious idea' was brought to me by En. Charr

here. Her senses allow for greater perceptions in certain areas. And to be

perfectly blunt, Commander, the silicon based `blood', simply stated..

smells like you." Castle then put up his hands.

"Of course, Commander...", Castle addressed her calmly and respectfully.

"... as the security of this ship is my sworn responsibility, hopefully

you'll forgive me my tenacity. If I am wrong about this, then you can

expect a grovelling apology, complete with flowers and chocolates.

However....", and he appealed to her sense of responsibility to duty. "...

in the interests of the security of this ship, I am going to have to

request of you a blood specimen. Something you should have been among the

first to volunteer for in the light of your exceptional resistance to

seemingly every malady known to the Federation.

"Again...", and Castle's voice became low, almost apologetic. "If I am

wrong, you will have my undying regrets for the doubt I cast upon you. And

if I am wrong, then hopefully you will forgive what I see, at this moment,

as a potential risk to the security of this ship.

"And if I am wrong...", and with this, a little of his conviction

returned. "... then you have nothing to fear. We all have our

responsibilities, Commander. And I would be remiss in mine if this was not

followed to its conclusion. If you feel the Captain needs to be included

in this, then, by all means, let's get him involved.

"I'm just doing my job. Your fury in the face of my dedication to

duty is most confusing to me.

"Now...", and now his voice was full of authority. "Will you accompany me

to Sickbay for what will only cost you a few minutes of your time?

"If I'm wrong.", he added with finality. And when Janice turned to look at

him, she saw no conflict in his eyes. Only conviction.

Janice's shoulders sagged. She was tired. Tired of fighting everything,

everyone every single moment of her life. Tired of the continual battles

to look normal, to act normal - even to feel normal. She looked up into

Castle's strong, purposeful expression, and all he saw was exhaustion.

She nodded slowly, an old saying suddenly running through her head. *Oh

what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive...*

She wiped her hand over her face, taking a deep breath. Her voice was

quiet, almost lifeless. Castle was good. He was very good. He didn't

take no for an answer. "Okay. But not to sickbay." She ignored the

startled and confused looks the pair gave her and continued. "I don't

want the whole world knowing that I'm being tested for..." she paused,

trying to find the words to express the hell her world had just turned

into. "God only knows what," she finished. "The only areas not being

used at the moment because of the virus testing are the Science Labs.

"Logan," she said, using his given name for the first time. "Both of us

trust Eve, right?" She waited for his slow nod before continuin. "Then

for the sake of keeping this quiet, could we please have her conduct the

test?"

Logan agreed, a curious expression on his face. As they walked out of her

quarters, on thier way to the captain's ready room, he eyed the engineer

curiously. He didn't know what she was up to, but he had a feeling she

was up to something.