Was it Love?

Posted on 29 Jan 2016 @ 7:39am by Lieutenant Benice Gyce Ph.D. & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D.
Edited on on 31 Jan 2016 @ 10:29pm

1,398 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo - Briefing Room
Timeline: MD 10 - 1300 Hours

[ON]

The briefing room seemed a neutral ground enough. Her last interrogation with Tuula was not one either of them looked back on kindly. A meeting in the briefing room also meant Tuula's peers would not be quite so keen to connect the dots.

While Gyce awaited her summoned guest, she poured two glasses of ice water and pulled out her data padd and stylus digi pen. Once she heard the door swish open she looked up and then pointed to a spot that previously was reserved for a lounge chair. Right across from Gyce, with the detective's back against the windows and facing the doors.

"Thank you for coming Doctor," Gyce nodded curtly and pointed to the empty slot. "I took the liberty of making the accommodations in here more to your liking."

"Yes, thank you," replied Tuula in a less than enthusiastic tone as she pushed herself into position. Given how their last encounter went, she wasn't exactly thrilled to be in a room with Gyce, no doubt the subject of one of her little investigations. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure?" she asked, caution in her voice.

"I am sure you have not heard," Gyce began while she started to write notes in her padd, "but I have taken over Commander Stace's investigation into Lieutenant Jynn's broken oath of celibacy."

Those brown eyes of Gyce's looked upon Tuula inquisitively. A reaction of any kind to see how deeply Tuula was or was not worried about her lover.

Tuula's heart sank at the news. She had known Stace to be a reasonable woman, and had built up a relationship with her while they both pretended to be married to Dr. Mott. Gyce, on the other hand, was the opposite. A hard-nosed authoritarian, one who had definitely not gotten off on the right foot with Tuula.

"I see," she replied, trying to conceal her disdain at the situation. "So, you're the official bedroom police on this ship now?" she asked, referring to this and the earlier incident with Mott.

"I police anything that looks amiss. It's my job to assess if a threat is or is not present. Doctor Mott acting aloof and refusing to answer anything while carrying a bloody rug clumsily in front of me? Reason to assess," Gyce corrected, unphased by Tuula's remark. "This case as well, doesn't make since. At least, not when most the ship knows about your infatuation with Doctor Mott. So naturally, when I heard you broke regs twice to lay with a Deltan, I was shocked."

"Technically, I never took an oath of celibacy. But that's neither here nor there. Olsam is dreamy, sure, but it's like he doesn't even know I exist," said Tuula, a hint of frustration in her voice. It felt like no matter what she did to get his attention, Olsam was either uninterested or oblivious. Or perhaps he thought of himself as out of her league. Either way, the strain of unrequited love was starting to get to Tuula.

"In the meantime," explained Tuula, "I have my own needs and desires. When I saw Jynn playing with the knife in sickbay, I was swept off my feet." She glanced down at her chair for a moment. "Well, you know what I mean."

"Many people break the inter-species relations regulations in this fleet," Gyce spoke with bittersweet understanding. A little more understanding than she would like. "Thing is... there are certain species we don't touch, at all, if we wish to keep serving in the fleet. You as a doctor, should know why Deltans are off-limits. So I ask, why lay with him the second time? You knew it was against regulations. Why did you ignore them?"

"The second time..." Tuula took a deep breath. "Initially I just wanted to talk to him. I had learned that not only did he have relations with another colleague, but that colleague knew of our first encounter." In truth, it was more than just talk that she wanted to do; it was why she had brought out the riding crop and cattle prod. "But once I got him handcuffed to my bed, one thing led to another..."

Facepalm.

This was why Gyce became a detective. Let the flatfoots deal with the weird hooker cases. Such a crazy admission led her to jotting it down as well, much to her unamussed frown.

"Doctor..." Gyce cleared her throat, then took a sip of her water before she looked at the medical officer grimly. "Were you aware of Lieutenant Jynn having difficulty with his celibacy training, before you initiated this themed bedding?"

"I needed to understand," said Tuula in a meek voice.

"What I know, is that he believes he loves you," Gyce revealed carefully. "And you bedded him a second time, risking his possible exile from his people... Not an act of love at all."

Tuula clenched her fists in anger. "You don't get it, do you? I needed to understand him, and he needed to understand me. Opening ourselves up to each other, sharing everything. We ventured into the deepest recesses of each other's minds. And you know what I found there? I found that Jynn is a good person. He's sensitive, caring, and dedicated to his duty. Starfleet is his life, and to run him out of the fleet would destroy him. I know him better than you can possibly imagine, and I know that whatever he did, he doesn't deserve that."

"So you handcuffed him..." Gyce was careful here, as much as she could be, considering she could see Tuula was angered. "Cuffed him so you could understand him. Why not just do so without cuffs? What made the cuffs necessary at all?"

Tuula sighed and shook her head. "I can recommend you some reading material from the database of romance novels if you are interested, though as a medical professional, I would advise you to be careful and take certain precautions when introducing toys to the bedroom."

"Let me rephrase the question," Gyce spoke sternly. "Did Lieutenant Jynn consent to being confined to your bed?"

"Yes," replied Tuula in an insistent tone. "Well, sort of... it's complicated."

Facepalm again...

"At this time Lieutenant, I must inform you of the Seventh Guarantee of the Constitution of the United Federation of Planets," Gyce informed. She was not happy. Now a third sexual misconduct case was on her lap and while she would like to get as much information as she could, Tuula's right of silence had to be made clear. "Anything you wish to say at this point could very well be documented into a criminal case file that might stay on your officer's record and become public record. Now that I have read you your rights, do you still wish to proceed?"

Tuula paused for a moment, realizing that Gyce's attention began focusing on her and it was perhaps time to end this before she dug herself and Jynn in deeper. "Not particularly," she countered, "and unless you have anything else, I have patients to tend to."

Gyce nodded. She would have to poke the bear known as Jynn, again. That was for another time, however. For Gyce would have to analyse the answers and reactions of Tuula some more to know where to go next.

For now, she ended with, "You may. Though I must inform you that this is the second time you've been involved in a sexual misconduct case. While ambiguous in this one, and a bystander in the latter, should I see you again for a third case like this one? Protocol states I must arrest you and run an official investigation on all cases combined... That is not meant as a threat but a plea for you to figure out what's troubling you and try to keep out of said trouble."

As Tuula rolled herself out of the room, Gyce was not sure if she should be sympathetic to her counterpart or ruthlessly just in pursuing that new case. Unrequited love caused people to do stupid things, and Gyce had no doubt Mott's ignoring of Tuula helped plot this course of self-destruction upon Tuula.

[OFF]

Lieutenant JG Benice Gyce
Chief of Security
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Tuula Voutilainen MD
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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