From: Jamie LeBlanc (plainsimplegarak_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Apr 20 2008 - 20:49:27 PDT
“Somebody Hates Me” (Continued from “Trinity”)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Location: GS2
Stardate: 2.80420.2350
Scene: Security Holding area
~*~*~*~*~*~
“I just made an enemy of someone
I don't know
And they are upset about somethin’ that I must have
done
It really doesn't make much sense and
I've got no statement in my defense
I know, no matter what, no matter who, no matter what
I do
Somebody hates me…”
~Reel Big Fish, ‘Somebody Hates Me’
~*~*~*~*~*~
Lieutenant j.g. Kierelli Saunders reviewed the PADD of
information the security team had given her before
bracing herself to enter the security offices. The
half betazoid was experienced at questioning suspects,
but something about the ever-growing pile of bad
information or botched protocol made her uneasy about
this whole affair. The fact that the majority of the
station was frazzled and looking for answers to why
martial law was instated put no small amount of
pressure on the woman’s thin shoulders.
Second Lieutenant Daniel Waterhouse was already
inside. There was an expression of exhaustion in his
face, which translated to a cold snappishness in his
tone as he repeated the same string of questions he
had been harping on for over three hours. “So you
said the saboteur was a founder?”
The little man sitting at the other side of the
table flashed his green eyes upwards. “No. I have
said exactly the opposite five times. I don’t know
what he was, but he was not a founder. There was no
liquid fluidity to his movement like they showed on
those informational videos ‘the Dominion and You.’ It
was a jarring transformation, but still. He started
out as Clooney St. George and ended up as a
Nausicaan.”
“Did he have a holoprojection pack that you could
tell?” Waterhouse asked. He kept trying to see if he
could catch the Cardassian hybrid in a lie, but they
kept running around in the same circles over and over
again.
Zel sighed. For the first hour or so he had
started this all calmly, explaining exactly what went
on. That was before he realized that they simply
didn’t believe him, and he had to tell the same story
over again five times. They still didn’t believe him,
and he was starting to run out of nerves. Slowly he
lowered his shoulders and rested a hand on his
temples. His head ached – throbbed in fact. He could
hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears and with every
rush of blood through his body; pain flared up behind
his temples and flashed across his eyes. The aches
spread dully downwards, flaring again in the chest,
and at the palms of his hands. He had taken himself
to perching awkwardly on the chair to try to minimize
the pain spreading down past his shoulders. His eyes
were slightly cloudy and ringed in dark circles, and
still he strived to make his answers civil. “Sir… I’m
sorry that as he was trying to beat my head into the
wall that I didn’t have the chance to do a complete
inventory of all devices on his person. But as I said
before, he had the mass of a Nausicaan.”
Waterhouse turned, his cheeks growing red. “Then
how do you explain…” he trailed off as Lt. Saunders
held up a hand.
“Daniel, why don’t you sit down and take a break?
Let me ask the questions for awhile.” Her voice was
soft and pleasant. The young marine nodded, pacing at
the back of the room as Kierenni took a seat. “I’m
sorry Mr. Rohan..” she started.
“Zel.” He corrected, as if on autopilot.
The Lt. took in a small breath and smiled. “My
apologies, Mr. Zel. We’re just trying to get to the
root of the matter here.”
Zel lifted his gaze to catch hers evenly. “I
thought I told you. I followed an Orion trader named
Peldig Nelo, and from his quarters came someone who
looked like Clooney St. George. They were accessing
the computer relays on deck 21.” He sighed and
launched into his in depth explanation for the seventh
time.
Kierenni nodded, absorbing it all, trying to read
any hidden emotions as the small man spoke. When he
finished she let her eyes fall on the PADD in front of
her, and frowned. “Well, Mr. Zel; the station has no
records of a Peldig Nelo ever coming on board Gateway.
He isn’t in the computer banks at all.”
The Cardassian’s jaw dropped a little at that.
Slowly that statement sunk in. “Of course he isn’t”
he muttered darkly. “Can’t you ask the businessmen on
the Promenade. He hung out at Schroedinger’s Cat.”
“We are checking in to it” she murmured back,
“but it doesn’t explain how you started following
him.”
Zel swallowed. “He wanted to buy my inventory –
all of it. In my line of work, you don’t just make a
transaction like that without getting a little
suspicious.”
“And why you confronted him without alerting the
authorities?” Lt. Sunders pressed forward.
Zel sighed. “Look, Lieutenant… I’m obviously not
a Starfleet officer. Curfew was instated, and I was
breaking it. The Marines already hate me.” That
earned him a glare from Lt. Waterhouse in the corner.
“No one would have taken me seriously, I would have
been carted off to the brig anyways. I figured at
least I had a shot of stopping him.”
“And yet your actions allowed him to escape.” The
young Betazoid hybrid reasoned lightly.
Despoite his headache, Zel threw his hands up in
the air. “You know? Screw this telling the truth
thing. I’m going to go back to chronically lying
about everything because at least then people believed
me!” He let his hands fall into his lap as Waterhouse
and the two security guards flanking the door tensed,
hands on their weapons for a moment.
It left Zel and Lt. Saunders staring at one
another across the table, grid locked.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Habitat Area
Moorit stared into the mirror, preening. Unlike
most humanoid species he wasn’t combing his hair nor
brushing his teeth. He was studying the image on the
screen, and making fine tweaks to his new appearance.
Finally satisfied with his new shape, he ran a
hand through the carefully cut bush of black hair that
covered his head, and grinned. The chameloid rested
his chin on a hand, feeling the stubble of five
o’clock shadow that decorated the bottom, pleased with
the result.
The strong face of Alex Towers grinned back at
him in reflection, looking very pleased.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Ops
“Lieutenant, what is the status on station
repairs?” Anaqueen Spankryz rocked very slightly on
her feet as she waiting for word from the Chief
Engineer.
[[The physical damage repair is almost completely
finished. Engineering teams were dispatched as soon
as these malfunctions started happening. Severed
conduits, overload damage, all of that repair work is
finished. That leaved sweeping the computer system
for virus and data damage.]] Jacob Crichton’s voice
was slightly tired, but held a hint of pride. While
many departments were dealing with internal failings,
he could at least stand on the fact that his engineers
had performed efficiently and admirably.
The Trill nodded slightly. “Have you found the
source of the power failures?”
There was a pause and she could hear the
shuffling of PADDs in the background. [[Of the seven
power outages, we positively traced four of them to
damaged power relays and conduits, all of which have
been repaired. The reason we’re sweeping the entire
computer system is because we can’t find a physical
cause for the others. It might be an embedded command
in the subroutines, draining power from one section of
the station and overloading another. I will keep Ops
updated on our progress.]]
“Please do. Thank you, Lieutenant.” She murmured
before closing the COMM link and turning towards
Eishnala Kor. “Is there any evidence as to what the
saboteur was looking to achieve?”
The Andorian woman straightened a bit, her
antennae tense. “That is difficult to tell, sir. The
malfunctions were fairly randomized, not targeting any
specific system. It almost looks as if the physical
sabotage was more aimed at keeping the engineers busy
rather than any specific damage.”
Captain Spankryz let her gaze fall towards the
viewscreen, and she let her thoughts settle for a
second or two before speaking. “It feels like someone
is trying to play a game of deception on the station,
constantly misleading us while they work towards their
goal.”
“Well, it seemed to work with Major Towers.”
Eishnala replied coldly. “Despite the security
measures, the sabotage continued.”
“Have there been any malfunctions since the
suspect was apprehended?”
The Andorian shook her head. “No. Not a one.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Security Offices
Lt. Trella Pandalora watched the questioning of
the sabotage suspect on her viewscreen as she read
tried desperately to sort through the piles of
extremely disorganized reports she was left with from
the past week. She straightened up as her door chime
rang, and cast a gaze across her desk as a young
Tellarite Ensign walked in, his arms full of more
PADDs. He took in a short breath and waited for
permission to speak before launching into his report.
“I can’t find any record of a Peldig Nelo on any
of the manifests, security checkpoints or even the
Federation database, but several of the merchants can
report dealing with an Orion trader that matched the
given description.” He said quickly, only stopping to
take a breath after he was finished speaking.
Trella nodded lightly. “You can set those down,
Mr. Taken.” She gestured to the PADDs. “Were you
able to get any information from the medical
department about the possibly of a shape shifter on
board?”
Taken sat, giving a slow nod. “When the
situation first came up, the Marines completed a
detailed bioscan, searching for Clooney St. George’s
DNA. They didn’t find it on board. While under
Martial Law, they conducted an extensive series of
blood screenings on all civilian and Starfleet
personnel on record, including Mr. Zel Rohan, and
every one checked out as non-Founder.”
“But we have already established that whoever
this Orion trader might be, he was not on record.” The
Vissian security chief felt her expression crease into
a frown. This entire situation was an administrative
nightmare of forgotten protocols and bad decisions.
“Alright, what about medical scans? Our suspect
claims he was shot with a disruptor before he received
any electrical shock, can we confirm or deny that?”
The Tellarite shifted slightly in his chair. He
hated being the messenger of more bad news. “There
was never any full medical scan done, and disruptor
energy particles dissipate within 8 hours, and he has
been incarcerated for over 16 hours.”
“Never any medical scan done?” Trella felt her
brows crease. “Was sickbay completely un-staffed when
he was brought in?”
“Mr. Zel was not brought to Sickbay, Ma’am. The
Marine on duty called in a nurse who took a
preliminary tricorder scan, and upon finding no
critical injuries, he was brought directly to a
holding cell.” Taken swallowed dryly, positive that
this news wouldn’t go over well.
“What were they thinking?” Lt. Pandalora asked,
shaking her head, incredulously. “That is completely
disregarding proper protocol.” To her credit, she
directed her anger at the doorway rather than her
officer. She never did believe in shooting the
messenger.
The young ensign sighed a bit. “The marine
report states that because there was a power outage in
sickbay, and no level 4 force field could be
generated, if the suspect had been a shape shifter, he
could not be contained.”
“Somehow, I highly doubt a Founder would succumb
to either a disruptor blast or a electrical shock,”
Trella muttered. Looking up towards Taken, she had a
slight look of sour amusement on her face. “Remind me
to go over to the Marine offices when this is solved
and give them a lesson in proper protocol and why it
needs to be followed.”
“Yes Ma’am” he nodded, not quite sure if she was
serious or not. “I do have some good news…” he added,
as if he was desperate to give them some good news.
“Doctor Poe said that Lt. Varn is recovering well, and
with his help she may be able to modify the internal
scanners to do a bioscan for any other known races
with shape shifting ability beyond the Founders.”
“Well that is a start. Thank you, Ensign.”
Trella gave a slight nod, starting to pore over the
information he had brought. Taken hadn’t even gotten
out of the office when the chime rang again. Lt.
Pandalora looked up, biting her bottom lip. She
hadn’t expected anyone. “Come?”
Standing on the other side of the door was a
well-dressed older civilian, holding a single datapadd
in his hands, like it was something precious. Trella
vaguely recognized him, and it took her a few moments
to place his name. “Mr. Giles?”
The Pet storeowner nodded lightly. “Lieutenant,
I had heard you were looking for information on an
Orion named Peldig Nelo…and that you’re holding the
toyseller as the saboteur?”
Trella perked a brow and nodded slowly. “True on
both accounts. I take it you have some information
that might shed some light on the situation?”
Anthony Giles gave a slow nod, and pushed forward
the file he had saved from the day he watched Zel dig
up Nelo’s file.
~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Engineering Access hallway
Two Dopterian engineers had finally finished
repairing the last of the overloaded power circuits
and were starting to carefully pick up their tools
when they heard footsteps approaching. Looking up,
the sturdy form of Major Alex Towers approached,
looking stern.
“I have orders to investigate this section for
any evidence the saboteur left behind. I need you to
open up that access panel.” He pointed to the conduit
they had just sealed. The younger of the two
engineers frowned and started taking a wrench back
out, as the older finished putting the tools away,
staring at the marine with a wary glance. Major
Towers smirked, waiting until they had cleared out of
the way before he started reaching inside the access
panel.
As the younger engineer stared to make his report
on a PADD, the elder moved off, hitting his commbadge.
“Sir?” he murmured quietly.
[[Yes Petty Officer Reainis?]] Crichton’s voice
came clearly through.
“Are the marine officers given clearance to be
investigating the circuitry we just repaired?” he
asked in a timid tone.
The human’s voice sounded dark. [[They shouldn’t
be… which officer are you dealing with?]]
“Major Towers, Sir.”
In the background the Petty Officer could hear
Lt. Crichton requesting the location of Major Towers
from the computer. The answer was plain. [[Major
Towers is currently in the promenade level Marine
offices.]]
Reainis turned, a second too late, he watched as
‘Major Towers’ shot his younger companion cleanly with
a disruptor blast and then turned the weapon on him.
He could hear Crichton’s voice calling [[Reainis? Are
you allright?!]] as the weapon sizzled across his form
and his vision went black.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Scene: Security Holding Area
The vast majority of Zel’s nerves were shattered
and the ones that were left were frazzled nearly to
the breaking point. After two additional hours of
questioning Saunders couldn’t find any evidence that
Zel’s improbable story wasn’t, in fact, true, and she
had left to speak with Lieutenant Pandalora, leaving
the Bajoran hybrid alone with the ever suspicious
Second Lieutenant Waterhouse.
“Why would you sell your entire inventory of toys
to a man you didn’t trust?” he asked snappishly.
Zel shook his head, playing with the water glass
that sat in front of him. “I just wanted to be rid of
them,” he murmured, dully.
Waterhouse folded his arms across his chest.
“That’s a pretty poor business practice.”
“Well, maybe I’m a pretty poor businessman,” came
the sour reply, chased with a sip of water to drain
the glass.
Daniel shook his head, unwilling to believe the
annoying little man. “You were also picked up in
conjunction with that pornography ring. Is that also
a co-incidence?”
The mention of that caused Zel to snap his head
up, despite the headache. “I was trying to get those
boys out of there. I had no part in that,” he
snarled.
“The reports aren’t exactly clear, are they? Not
when your major witness was that retarded kid.” The
young human replied bluntly.
The Cardassian’s jaw dropped. “LJ is certainly
not retarded. I’m starting to think if anyone here is
an imbecile, it’s you, Lieutenant Waterhouse.
Daniel stared forward, pushing a lock of blonde
hair from his face. “Do not insult me, Mr. Zel.”
“Why won’t you believe me? I have told you
everything I possibly can and yet still I’m some sort
of horrible terrorist.” The little shopkeep spat back.
Waterhouse narrowed his eyes. “You came on this
station at the worst possible time, you could easily
be working for the Dominion… or even be one of them.”
“Oh, please.” Zel rolled his eyes “Not only have
I passed multiple blood screenings, if I was a
Founder, do you think I would willingly pick *this*
face?” he gestured to his own unfortunate heritage.
“I think I would have gone for something a bit more
handsome and less recognizable.”
“Dominion spies could be anyone… anywhere.” The
marine replied, angrily.
Zel shook his head. “You’re not even really
looking for a saboteur, are you? You’re just looking
for someone to blame!”
Offended, the blond man stood up, trying to stare
down the smaller civilian. “I am looking out for the
safety and security of the station, as much as every
other Federation officer. And I still don’t believe
you’re not connected to the Dominion, Mr. Zel.”
“I already told you, I don’t think you have a
Founder on the station. I think you’re chasing a red
herring.” Zel snipped back, his brow ridges creasing
in angry frustration.
Daniel stabbed a finger forward. “You would say
that if you were part of the Dominion, hoping to
mislead us.”
Zel slammed the glass on the table, and it
shuddered under his fingers as his voice rose in
pitch. “Just what do you want me to tell you? I have
given you all the information I can and still you
don’t do anything about it beyond question me more!
You wonder why I didn’t call the marines in the first
place… well this is why! This right here!”
Lt. Waterhouse’s voice fell to a low quiet tone.
“Mr. Zel, the fact that you didn’t report it makes you
guilty, no matter how much truth you are telling.”
“I take that back.” The little man replied in a
dangerously calm tone. “It’s not blame you seek.
It’s blood.” He picked the water glass up in his hand
and rolled it between his fingers. “You want to make
someone pay for the chaos that happened and the fact
that something went wrong and it just might have been
your oversight in the first place that caused it.
Well, I’m sorry… I’m not the one who is to blame. But
if you want blood…” He turned the glass over and
smashed it onto the table, flattening his palm over
it. Shards of glass went flying outwards across the
hard metal top, decorated by a spray of thick red
blood. “Then there you go. It’s blood you have.” He
held his palm up, shards of glass sunk in. “Still
believe I’m a Founder?”
Daniel Waterhouse’s jaw dropped visibly as the
door opened behind him, and both Lt. Saunders and Lt.
Pandalora rushed in. “What the hell is going on in
here?” the Vissian chief asked, staring at the mess.
The Marine swallowed dryly. “My questioning is
over, Ma’am.”
Zel blinked, his exhaustion showing through his
attempt at an innocent expression. “I’m just trying
to prove I’m not a Founder?” he offered weakly.
Trella shook her head a bit. “Well, Mr. Zel,
thanks to Mr. Giles’ information, you are free to go…
I might suggest you make sickbay your first stop.”
Zel’s mouth dropped a bit. “I’m what?”
“Free to go. No longer under suspicion of
sabotage.” She repeated evenly.
“You’re kidding…” Lt. Waterhouse started, only to
be silenced by Trella’s grim stare.
“I most certainly am not kidding, Mr.
Waterhouse.” She was about to turn and remind him
exactly who was chief of security and giving the
orders when the lights in the security center
flickered and died. There was a few seconds of
silence before the lights came back on, flaring too
brightly for a few seconds and died again. The force
fields of the containment cells started to snap on and
off and the internal station controls started to go
haywire. Trella growled to herself inwardly. “I
think you have a saboteur still out there that you
need to catch.”
~*~*~*~*~
NRPG: Oh no! The saboteur’s still out there, and
still wreaking havoc! Feel free to pursue, as y’all
desire.
Justin: if you want to have Zel and Thomas meet up,
please do :)
~*~*~*~*~
Jamie LeBlanc
Civilian Zel Rohan
Free!
GS2
"Why do we fly? Because we have dreamt of it for so long that we must"
~Julian Beck
____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Nov 19 2008 - 03:10:50 PST