Downward Run

Posted on Fri Feb 15th, 2019 @ 3:12am by Commodore Jane Saulitis

Mission: Run Afoul
Location: Brig, Deck 5
Timeline: MD 12 0800 Hours
1145 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Jane entered the Brig having called Lieutenant Rai to meet her there. Wilfred had said something about someone wanting to confess and she'd dropped everything. In front of her Stef and Beata were in a cell and the forcefield was back up. "I'm here." She said simply. "What's all this about?"

"Ensign Lauryl would like to speak with you," Stef answered, appearing mostly calm but feeling far from, "I did not consider it wise to let her come up to the bridge by herself." Not only did he consider it unwise given he had sensed her not feeling well, he simply didn't want her to face this alone. She had no-one, no family to fall back on, this was the least he could do, couldn't he?

From the entrance to the Brig, Jex spoke, "Do you have any idea what Lauryl wants to discuss with us?" She did not sense any deception from Stef, only a need to protect. However, Jex did not trust either of them very much right now. The evidence was still being built. Someone had gone through careful care in order to keep their trail covered.

Drawing a protective arm around the young woman sitting next to him, Stef nodded. "Yes ma'am, I do. But it is not for me to tell you. All you need to know from me is that while I am not happy with how she went about it, I harbour her no I'll feelings and I understand." He nudged Beata. "It is up to you now," he told her.

"I . . . I want to confess to something. It was I who falsified orders so that Stef would bring the bomb into engineering. I planted the feathers and egg there after he showed me his chickens in the arboretum. Someone's been blackmailing me to do these things, though framing Stef was my idea because then he'd be safe in the brig. He, this man, didn't care who I framed as long as the job got done."

Stef turned his head to look at her, brows raised. "Egg?" he queried curiously. "What egg?"

"One I found in the arboretum." Beata replied to him, keeping her eyes down on the Captain's shoes.

"Why is this person blackmailing you?" Jane asked, keeping her voice soft but strict.

"Because," she sucked in a breath. "I killed someone several years ago."

"In self defense," Stef added sharply. "You told me he hurt you and would do so again."

Beata nodded, "That is true, He had hurt me once and I was afraid of him. I didn't even mean to kill him. It just happened and then recently someone started leaving me messages that they would reveal that I had murdered him if I didn't do what he asked."

Stef said nothing as he waited for the security chief to speak up. Instead he drew Beata closer to him, as close as his still smarting torso allowed him to. For a Vulcan, this was extremely uncharacteristic behaviour but he didn't seem to care.

Letting out her breath, Jex rubbed her mouth with her hand before she spoke. There were about a dozen questions rolling through her mind. At times, she wished that she were full Betazed so that she could really dive deep into a person's feelings and intentions. Now, she sense only Stef's strong sense of being a protector. "Do you know who this blackmailer is? Is it a member of the crew or someone outside the ship?"

"I think you should tell her if you know," Stef encouraged, "it makes your case stronger should it come to that."

"I don't know his name, but he's on the ship. I've never seen his face, I just hear a voice. And I can hear him moving around in the room. He always picks the meeting places, they're always empty quarters or rooms that hardly anyone ever uses." Beata tried to think of what else she could tell them that might help their investigation, a small detail she may have overlooked.

A male aboard the ship. That certainly did limit the scope of her investigation, but not enough to peg anyone down. Jex thought for a moment before opening a compartment in the Brig's armory. She produced a tiny round device that looked like a pip on a Federation uniform. As she handed it to Beata, she said, "Replace your pip with this. The next time that you are in a room with this... blackmailer. Tap your pip and a security team will be there in seconds."


Beata took it, though she wasn't wearing her uniform so she couldn't put it on at the moment. She carefully held it in her hand and nodded at the security officer then looked back at Stef and finally at the Captain.


"We'll deal with your actions later, though if you help us I'll put in a good word for you." Jane replied then looking to Wilfred she said, "Both of them are free to go."


"Yes Ma'am," she said straightening up, though the forcefield was already down. Maybe now he could go back to his quiet existence. He carefully tried not to look at Jex.


"Thank you Captain," Beata replied, feeling only slightly better than when she'd come bursting into the brig.

"Captain," Jexasi interjected. "To me, the plotter seems to have put everything on his blackmail of Beata. Now that we know about her past, he would need to find another method of attack." Looking apologetically to the both of them, she stated her intent, "For his own protection, I would suggest keeping Stef here for protection. We have dedicated security and a force field, anywhere else on the ship would have a slight delay in response time... if the perpetrator would want to use him to get to Beata. He would not be a prisoner."

Stef had been in the process of getting up, his arm still wrapped around Beata, fully intent on returning to sickbay to continue his recovery there. At Jex's words, he sank bank down on the cot. "That seems logical," he replied quietly, though the disappointment on being stuck was plain on his face. "I would have to agree."

Jane thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Hopefully this will end soon and we'll all have our ship back." She stated to Stef.

The teenage Vulcan nodded solemnly. "I hope you catch him captain, and if I have to be bait, I will gladly do so."

"Hopefully, we can catch him soon," Jex nodded. The to alleviate his fears, she followed up with, "Keeping you here is to avoid you being used as bait."



Commander Jane Saulitis
Commanding Officer
USS Majestic

Lieutenant Jexasi Rai
Chief Tactical/Security Offcier

Crewman Apprentice Stef
Yeoman/animal caretaker
Pnpc lhaes

Ensign Beata Lauryl
Operations Officer
USS Majestic


Ensign Wilfred Wexler
Brig Officer
USS Majestic