Innocent Until Proven Chatty

Posted on 15 Feb 2015 @ 7:43pm by Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Chief Petty Officer Pax Inyo
Edited on on 15 Feb 2015 @ 8:47pm

1,404 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Security Office
Timeline: MD43 0020hours

ON:

Pax led the way into the security office and motioned for Mott to take a seat. She looked a little less serious now.

She stepped away and replicated a tray of little subs and fried sides and an iced tea for both of them. When she set it out she grabbed up a sandwhich first and started into it, catching the onions and chewing for a while.

"You know," she said pleasantly, her mouth still half full. "You know how many rugs I've bloodied over the years?"

"I don't know," Olsam said, still eying the sandwiches and trying to decide which one was the most delicious; eventually, he just picked his top three. "If you're anything like me it's probably been dozens."

"So look," She said, "I'm going to be plain with you. You're not in any trouble. You can get up and go at any time. We can't hold you without real evidence of a crime or accusation and there's nothing yet. A ruined carpet is not a crime."

"Oh, okay," Olsam mumbled through a full mouth. He shrugged. "I didn't think so. I mean, I'm not an attorney, and I don't know the civil and criminal codes completely. But it didn't seem like a crime. I thought maybe I had circumvented some rug laundering laws or something."

"But I'm hoping, if you don't mind, to just have some sandwiches and chat and let you relax, because one way or another, Gyce is going to question you. I don't know if you'll get grilled or given the friendly good cop routine, but you should know that the more you talk, the more likely you are to implicate yourself. You don't have to talk to her if you don't want to. you can just politely let her know that you'd like your rights to be respected."

Olsam lifted a hairless brow. People were often telling him he didn't have to talk. In fact, almost everyone seemed to encourage him to talk less, it was just usually not in such a legal context. He had a hard time following the advice, but in this instance it seemed a little more important than usual. "Implicate myself in what? I didn't do anything wrong. I don't think." Suddenly, he looked concerned and stopped chewing. "What if I did, and I just don't know it?"

"Well that's the thing. Even if there's no crime, someone eager to find a problem could take things you say out of context or misunderstand them in another light. 'anything you say or do can beheld against you.' " She made little quote mark motions with her fingers. "Sometimes it's just how you appear. Talkativeness is a great trait between friends, but when some investigator is looking for a notch on their belt, it's better if your mouth is too full for comment." She dragged some fries through the sauce and passed the basket to Olsam.

"Hmmm," Olsam mused, stuffing literally a handful of fries into his mouth. "You know, I've been investigated by the Starfleet Ethics Board like a hundred times. They're just like that, so eager to find a problem they go looking for trouble." He cut his eyes to look at the door, wondering when Gyce would show up, then looked back at Pax. "Don't I look guilty if I just sit there and say nothing? I always thought you're supposed to say everything cuz if you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to hide but if you don't say anything then it seems like you have something to hide because you are technically hiding things even though they're not criminal things, right?"

That made Pax's head spin a little. "You already acted jumpy and nervous and over shared with Gyce, so my advice is probably a little too late any way." She sipped the iced tea. "Honestly, accidents happen, and it's not going to matter unless whoever bleed on the rug officially reports it or turns up dead. I mean the only thing Gyce could possibly try to pin on you is making off with a carpet that wasn't yours."

Olsam gasped. He had made off with the carpet, but it was in the line of duty as a medical professional. That wasn't theft, was it? Maybe technically, but was the Federation not guided by a justice system that was compassionate and reasonable? Surely they could see that he was no hardened criminal; he was a heartless murderer of little more than pastries and the occasional live squidplox. "Hmm. I guess I should keep quiet, huh? Maybe I should request legal representation; my sister is the Assistant General Counsel to the Bolian State Council for Justice & Ethics. Or maybe I should just stay quiet. Sometimes, if you're quiet, people forget you're there."

"That should be sufficient in this case. I don't think you'll need to call your sister." Pax leaned her elbows on her knees and chewed a while. She loved it when a hot pepper surprised her and followed it with another sip of iced tea. "I gotta say, I ran into way more Bolians than I'd ever seen outside of Bolius when we were docked. Anyone you knew?"

"I dunno which ones you ran into. I hope they didn't argue with you. If they did, they were probably some of my family visiting during shoreleave. Especially if you ran into my Uncle Gork." Olsam rolled his eyes. "Aunt Sheera told him he'd gotten so fat he was generating his own gravitational field and pulling in innocent bystanders, so now every time someone runs into him she cackles and he gets upset and starts turning purple and there's a big argument, usually in public." He inhaled deeply and then heaved a sigh, as if everything about them tried his nerves. "47 of them were here. They broke my things and used up all my replicator credits."

Pax was stunned. "Wow. They all came to see you?"

"Yes, all of them. I've been avoiding them for like 15 years so they finally managed to force the visit. And then I had to pretend to be married to two women and keep that up for weeks on end and...ugh... It was a mess," Olsam groaned, speaking as if this was something that happened to everyone. He cut his eyes to look at her and then slowly nodded, guessing it might need a bit more explanation. "I'm the oldest, so I was supposed to get married first and be an engineer. But I wanted to be a doctor, and I don't really care about getting married. It just seemed so important to them. So I asked Lieutenant Commander Stace and Dr. Voutilainen to marry me. They were pretty good wives, I guess. Mostly. I think Norvi probably hates me right now. It was...uh...kind of intense, I guess. For a non-Bolian. 47 Bolians is a lot of Bolians."

"Ohhh," Pax rolled her eyes as she finally put two and two together. "So you and the other doc aren't really together. It was some kind of rouse?"

"Yep," Olsam confirmed. "Can you imagine me actually married to either one of them? I don't know if I could handle it. Some days it's almost too much just trying to be a doctor, much less be a husband. Apparently, you have to do stuff, like cook and clean and go on dates and talk. It's ridiculous."

"Well, I guess it's worth it for the right person. At least that's what they tell you."

"They also tell you washing your hands prevents disease, but that's a total lie, too," Olsam snorted, turning to look at her with wide and slightly crazy eyes. "The pathogens are in the air. If 'they' had any sense at all they'd tell you not to be so worried about getting married and to stop breathing if you don't want to get sick and die."

"Interesting..." He was slightly freaky with his eyes bulged out like that. "I never get really sick. Sniffles here and there. I'm told my immune system is boss." She noticed Gyce moving about and heard other voices. "Well that was quick." Quickly she polished off her second sandwich and wiped her hands and face clean.

OFF:

CPO Pax-Inyo
Master-at-Arms
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

RSS Feed