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.