'Questions and Answers'

by Lt. Logan Castle, Lt. Comm. Janice Hargen, Lt. Lorelei

[with additions by Lt. Kaitlyn Brennan]

<Stardate 47307.16- 13:07- Main Bridge>

Lt. Comm. Janice Hargen watched Lt. Kaitlyn Brennan leave with haste. She smiled to herself. She had seen the look in Brennan's eyes when she had stood up to defend her and the engineering team. She knew that Brennan hadn't initially liked her - she didn't have to be an empath to sense the distrust in her, but now it seemed as though she had gained some trust from her. A good thing to have in her assistant.

Janice had never quite liked authority, so she tried to make sure that she was anything but that. And if Starfleet had decided that she was ready to take the other end of the ball and chain, the authoritative side, just to beat some sense into her, she was determined to turn it around and beat them with it instead.

She moved to follow Brennan to the turbolift, but Lt. Logan Castle touched her shoulder to get her attention. She flinched away, her shoulders immediately tensing, giving him a narrow-eyed look, which immediately faded from her face. Although she wasn't happy with what he had done in the staff meeting, she couldn't condemn him for one mistake. She looked from Kaitlyn to Castle, then back to Kaitlyn as the turbolift closed, losing Brennan from view.

"Commander," Castle spoke quietly on the Bridge. "I intend to conduct these interviews immediately."

"I hope you'll give me a few minutes to go to Engineering so that I can direct my department on a few matters," she asked in a reasonable tone, trying to convey that she had no hard feelings towards him.

"Sure. Of course. I'll wait for you," he replied. Janice stepped up to the already responding turbolift and stepped inside.

"I'll be down to Sciences after I am through in Security," Castle said to Lt. Eve Mallory. Eve simply nodded. Castle smiled minutely, then turned to the Deltan Counselor Lorelei, who was already staring at him.

"I'll need you present for this questioning, please," Castle said to her. She nodded sagely and walked behind him as he approached the turbolift.

Lorelei could sense something was disturbing the Security Chief even before the meeting had adjourned. She didn't 'see' anything in his mind that allowed her to identify his distress, but she 'saw' a confusion of unquotable circumstances.

When they walked into the turbolift, Lorelei faced the taller man, instead of facing forward as one ordinarily would. Castle gave her a sideways glance. "Yes?"

Lorelei's eyes were large and concerned. "What troubles you?" she almost whispered the words.

Castle's look became somewhat stern. "What concerns me," he said with some annoyance. "is that I have two people who are suspects in something that might not be a crime and an attempted break-in at a highly sensitive site that does not seem to be related. These two instances are almost too coincidental NOT to be related, but I can't see the connection."

"Perhaps they are not related and perhaps the incident in Engineering is not a crime. It might simply be a defect in construction," Lorelei rationalized.

"Yeah, well, I would be more inclined to believe that if En. Charon had not mentioned a similar engineering mishap only minutes before I heard about this latest one," Castle sighed.

"So, because of that, you suspect En. Bryant," she concluded. "Because Charon wouldn't have mentioned it if he was guilty of doing it yet again."

"Either that," Castle responded, "Or he IS guilty of the same crime and is taunting me. Daring me to prove it."

Lorelei thought that perhaps Logan was a bit paranoid, but she didn't feel that kind of pressure from him.

"So, who will you question first?" she asked.

Castle remained silent while he thought about it. The turbolift doors opened and he allowed Lorelei to exit first. As they walked down the corridor to the Security Offices, he almost responded twice. He didn't make up his mind until he stood before the office doors.

"Bryant," he finally said.

"If you don't mind," Lorelei said quietly. "I would like to fetch my recorder for this. Please do not start without me."

"Sure," Castle said distractedly. "But, be quick. We have a departure deadline."

Lorelei nodded, then left.

-------

Janice arrived in Main Engineering, looking around curiously for Brennan, who she expected to be there. She was no where in sight. Janice frowned. *Where could she have gone?*

Shrugging, she looked around engineering. Officers were busily working everywhere, making Janice smile with the efficiency that they were working with. She stood in the corner, just observing for a couple minutes, seeing how everything ran without her hovering over them. Finally, she decided to wave over one of the officers... *Ensign Robert Delagi, I believe....*

"Yes, sir?" Delagi asked. Janice could barely catch the nervously. All that could run through his mind was trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

"At ease, Ensign. I just wanted to commend you on your work over the past day." The ensign straightened with pride at the comment. Janice smiled. "How is the work going?" she asked.

"Fine, sir...." His voice trailed off and he looked a little uncertain about that comment. Janice frowned. *He won't even look me in the eye....*

"What's the problem?" she asked gently.

"Well, sir... We seem to have been getting some unusual readings from the coolant tank..." he began, stammering over his words.

"Such as?"

"It looks as though the damage done to the tank may have been... intentional..." The last word came out as a mumble, which even Janice with her enhanced hearing could barely make out.

*Now what?* she thought worriedly. *I can't tell them what happened - the Captain would have a fit, not to mention Castle. But I hate to hide something from my crew - especially when it is something as obvious as this. They all must already know. You get to notice things when you work on a piece of equipment. I don't know what to do....* She sighed unhappily. *Well, when all else fails...*

"I'm impressed, Ensign. It seems I do have quite an engineering crew here." She smiled, easing Delagi's tensions quickly. She could see him physically unwind as she said that, but then a confused look passed across his face.

"Sir?"

"I suppose that it is time to speak to my crew, isn't it? Come on, Robert," she called him, walking towards the center of engineering. He trailed behind her, trying to understand what she was getting at. Upon seeing the Chief Engineer entering, the crew ceased their work and gathered around her. Janice smiled to herself. This was the same shift that she had worked with this morning. Working hand in hand with a crew made them respect you and respond to you more, rather than just giving orders and watching as they do the work.

Janice grimaced as she remembered her past 'Chief' of engineering... he had an awful habit of appearing in engineering with too much alcohol running through his system. Somehow, he had managed to get his hands on real alcohol, complete with its intoxicating effects. He had been Chief in name only - and the Assistant Chief was always content to watch him in the shadows, looking for just the right opportunity to report him to the captain so he could advance. Janice had basically been the ringleader of the engineering department. She had even gone to the senior staff meetings several times due to the Chief's "headaches."

She shook her head, clearing her mind. *Don't think about it... you already know what happens next... it won't ever happen again,* she swore to herself angrily. Instead, she looked at the small group of people before her, waiting for her to speak. She smiled at the crew and began.

"You are an excellent engineering crew, as I have already seen, so I'm sure most of you have noticed the anomalies in the readings during your repairs. As to keep you from drawing your own conclusions, and spreading rumors all over the ship," she added with a laugh, "I feel that not only is it necessary, but it is right to inform you of the details of this repair job. Unfortunately, I doubt that the Captain and First Officer would agree. Personally, I would much rather tell you than keep it a secret, but as it may impede a security job, I am being held in the strictest confidence. Until the time that I am allowed to tell you of the occurrences that led to this repair, I ask that you all keep the events here in complete secret. Is this understood?" Janice looked at each engineer individually, questioning them. Each one nodded without hesitation, including the Klingon, K'tel, who added an emphatic "Yes, sir!" to his agreement.

Janice smiled, relieved. *One less disaster to worry about...* she thought to herself, grinning. "Well, what are we standing around here for? We've got a coolant tank to repair!" she laughed, breaking the thick tension in the room. Smiles broke out across the room, as everyone returned to work. "Ensign Delagi, you are in charge until Lt. Brennan returns. I have to meet with our security chief for a while."

Janice left main engineering, pride filling her heart.

-------

Castle entered the office and saw Lo Pan and Dimitri smarten up. He glanced over and saw Kaitlyn Brennan talking to Jerome Bryant. The man had been crying.

'Damn it,' he cursed inwardly. `If she coached him in any way....' He let the thought die.

"Report," he ordered En. Lo Pan.

"Sir," she replied. "We detained En. Bryant as ordered. When Lt. Brennan requested a moment to converse with Bryant, we lowered the containment field. At that moment, Bryant made an attempt to escape."

"Well, who the hell...!!", Castle realized he was raising his voice. He lowered it. "Well, who the hell told you to lock him up. I said detain him, not arrest him."

Lo Pan looked at Dimitri worriedly, waiting for him to explain. Dimitri responded, "Sir, he resisted our attempts to detain him to quarters. It was necessary to find a more secure place to keep him."

'Resisted?' This was already beginning to look worse and worse on him.

Ensign Lo Pan looked down, her guilt showing. "Sir... Dimitri was being nice. It was my fault that he even had a chance to escape from us."

Dimitri added on quickly, "But thanks to Lo Pan we were able to recover him in no time at all." He was covering for her.

Kaitlyn approached unexpectedly and said, "Don't think too harsh on him, Lieutenant. His actions were purely emotional and not related to our engineering problems. I think there needs to be a counselor present, not a security officer interrogating him."

Her words were biting, and it served only to increase Castle's obvious frustration. She had gotten to him first. He wondered if she even realized the doubt this would cast on her as well...

"There will be a counselor present," he conceded, "but don't think he's going to get out of an interrogation, especially after this escape attempt."

"Tell me," Brennan asked, "Do you really think any man in his right mind would try to escape in such an impossible situation?"

It wasn't even supposed to be an `interrogation'. It was supposed to be a simple questioning. But, Bryant wasn't making this questioning any easier with his attempts to flee, without even knowing what the questioning would be about... it casted him in a very poor light. Unless.... Castle looked shrewdly at Kait Brennan. Unless he was afraid of someone else. And not Security.

"No one said he needed to be in his right mind to perform sabotage," Castle baited. And Brennan's response was even more mystifying.

"No one said it was sabotage, sir." Then, she left. Just like that. Castle watched her go.

Castle almost felt insulted. It was not him who mentioned that it was sabotage, it was the engineers themselves. Well, at least they had considered it a possibility. But now, Brennan completely discounted it. Curious.

"Mr. Bryant." Castle turned to the sulking man. "Come out of that cell. You're not under arrest. I just want to ask you a few questions."

Then, Castle turned to Dimitri and Lo Pan. "En Dimitri. Watch the door and admit Commander Hargen and Lt. Lorelei when they arrive. En. Lo Pan," Castle's eyes became colder. "I want another inventory of the type II phasers. Request an Operations officer to assist you."

Lo Pan nodded somberly as she accepted her punishment assignment. The two security ensigns left together. Castle and Bryant were alone.

Castle sat at his desk, indicating Bryant take a chair opposite. Bryant sat heavily. Castle said nothing. For a long while.

The silence eventually broke Bryant down. "Aren't you going to ask me any questions?"

Castle smiled to himself. `Like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.'

"Not until the Counselor and your departmental supervisor arrive."

Neither said a word until the two women arrived.

<Stardate 47307.16- 13:45- Brig>