Quantum String Cheese Theory Part 1

Posted on 23 Jan 2013 @ 7:49pm by Lieutenant Lilou Zaren

2,520 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Main Engineering, CEO's Office
Timeline: MD01 - 0900 hrs

[ON]

Jeremy sighed as he left the turbolift. It was only hours earlier that he first encountered the Chief Engineer and that conversation had left him feeling as if it had not gone well. It wasn't something he could figure out, because she agreed they'd come to an understanding regarding a lack of gossip, yet something about it still nagged at him.

However, his investigation into Graysan brought him down here as Jeremy noted he came to Engineering and seemed to have an animated exchange with the Chief Engineer. He got the video feed and saved it, as part of his case file on Graysan, but hadn't had a chance to clean it up and really listen to it yet. He hoped he could get some cooperation out of the Chief Engineer regarding what it was that Graysan had wanted in Engineering.

He made his way to the Chief's office, remarking how much simpler and easier his life aboard ship was becoming because of the wrist PADD. Just before coming to the office, however, he stopped and checked his uniform. The compression sleeves he was wearing hid the bandage quite nicely. He would hate to have a repeat of that previous conversation.

"Ensign?" he asked, coming to her door.

Sidi snuffed at the door and gave a low growl. This was chase-prey. He wondered if she would run again. That would be fun. He would run and catch her! However, why was Alpha coming here again if she were prey. Two legs were weird.

Lilou's head snapped around at the Security Chief's voice and the growl of the dog that accompanied him. Fortunately, she'd gotten up to make a note on the 'fix-it' board, or she'd have been sitting on the ground at eye-level with the creature that wanted to eat her. What. Is. He. Doing. Here. Her mind whirled, but her expression remained unmoving. Maybe he'd changed his mind and decided he might as well just arrest her for using her brain after all. "Lieutenant," she replied.

"I'm here as part of an investigation regarding Petty Officer Keyval Graysan, I believe you know him?" He frowned at Sidi. Apparently the dog had a good memory for people he wanted to bite. He still couldn't figure out why this particular person though. She'd done nothing to deserve it, except for running. Which, Jeremy supposed, was enough.

Sidi allowed Alpha to do his blah-blah stuff while he looked around. More importantly, while he sniffed around. So many interesting smells here. Especially from the big glowing thing in the center. Very interesting that. He would see if Alpha would let him get closer when Alpha was done with the 'blah-blah' barking.

Lilou bit the inside of her cheek to keep from demanding he take the dog out of her department. It helped that the words he said sent her internal monologue a-clattering. Petty Officer Keyval Grayson... who... what, the Andorian? He's investigating the Andorian? More. He's investigating the Andorian and he's asking me? More. He arrested Crewman Athlen and is now investigating a petty officer? Does he have some kind of vendetta against non-coms? Or... didn't he say people were accusing him of having something against other species? Back again. He's asking me about him? I met him once. Her stream of consciousness brain blinked. How does he even know that I met him the once? "Ah... I know his name and rank. Yes."

Jeremy frowned as he held a sigh. "You had a conversation with him. It appears that conversation was...animated. What was the topic?"

Her conversation was... He had vidfeeds. Of course he had vidfeeds. When it had been Kestra in charge of those vidfeeds, Lilou had felt safer. Now, she actually had to suppress a shiver. "You couldn't hear it?" she asked.

"I haven't fully reviewed it yet. It also won't give me intangibles, such as your impression of him and his reason for being in Engineering. Do you often have arguments with Ops crew?"

"If there's sound on your video feed, I'm sure you'll have both my impression and his reason for coming in," she said in her most encouraging tone of voice. She wasn't trying to be difficult. She certainly didn't want to be. But she also didn't want to be responsible for something happening to a non-com who, for all intents and purposes, hadn't done anything wrong but show up when she didn't have time for him.

Sidi turned back to the chase-prey as Alpha sighed. He sat, but he waited. She was trapped in her den - her smell all over the place but overlaid with that of an older male - and she didn't have anywhere to run but at them. Sidi waited.

I don't listen to gossip she said last night. Jeremy frowned. Everybody lied, of course. It was just part of th galaxy. "Ensign, I'm not sure why you're being difficult, but I'm investigating whether or not this petty officer is part of another plot to attack the Galileo and steal information. The last attack resulted in the kidnapping of Lt. Cho and the near death of one of my officers. While you may not care for me, I hope that you would consider how, if Graysan was here in Engineering, that could be their target next time. How would you feel if one of your personnel was the one hurt or kidnapped and you knew you could have helped prevent it by simply cooperating with my investigation?"

Lilou blinked twice in rapid succession, taking an automatic step forward. "Cho?" she asked, stricken. "Kiri was kidnapped?" How had she not known about this? And Kiwosk had mentioned SFI operatives on the ship... she'd thought he was talking about a potential eventuality. SFI operatives had kidnapped Kiri? Attacked the ship? Almost killed a security officer? He'd been so casual about the whole request... and now Stone was here chastising her as though she should have known all along? What the hell was going on? "Is she- what are you doing here? Go find her, are you- she's just a kid. She's fresh from Academy. You have to get her back."

"Lt. Cho is no longer in danger," Jeremy said. "However, I wish to prevent another incident and your cooperation would help with that endeavour. So if you could stop being so dismissive and help safeguard the ship from future attacks?"

"Dismi-" Her fear for Kiri had temporarily dislodged her tongue guard. "I met him once, in passing, I was busy, barely paying attention. I thought you'd be better off getting your information directly from your own source if you could, since you seemed to- By the spirits, you are just... you sweep in here. Into my department. Into my office. You bring that... I'm sorry. You bring Sidi. After what happened. You bring him into my work space. Where there's highly sensitive equipment. While he still looks like he'd rather eat me than look at me. You do all of that, and I say nothing. I am calm. But you tell me that my friend was kidnapped-" Fear to fury. She breathed it out, flattening her hands on Quinn's desk, and bowing her head. "And you call me dismissive." She laughed, hollow, under her breath. "Fine." She gave up. He could call her what he liked. Think of her what he liked. She didn't know what to do with most people. He was... far, far out of her range of potential communication. "Everything I do, I do to protect this ship and her crew, Lieutenant. If I thought she was in danger, in any way, I would say something." She sank, exhausted, into the chair behind the desk, and it didn't occur to her that she was sitting in Quinn's chair for the first time. "What did you ask? Arguments? No. I don't often have arguments with Ops. I didn't have an argument with Grayson. I barely remember his name. He wanted a tour. I was busy. That was it." She met his eyes. "He plays the alto sax, apparently. You could have learned all of that by just listening to your feed." If you have one, she thought. Please, don't have an audio feed in my department.

Jeremy listened as he took notes, satisfied that she apparently decided she wanted to cooperate. While he was recording using his wrist PADD, he wanted to make sure to have the notes to help him recall his own thoughts and impressions of the conversation of the time. He couldn't rely just on his memory. "Did his behavior strike you as odd? Suspicious?"

Not a word. Not a single solitary word in response to the complete disregard for her she'd openly expressed having noticed. Lilou fought the urge to shout in frustration. Instead, she rested her elbows on her desk and her chin in her hands. "It would be unfortunate for someone to repeat a speculation regarding behavior they have only guessed at," she answered him quietly.

Sidi shifted, smelling the difference in the room. He grew tired of waiting. Chase-prey needed to run. He wanted to run and catch.

"I did not ask you to speculate on his behavior. I asked for your impressions of his behavior. Was it out of the norm in your experience? Did it strike you as suspicious? Why were you so upset wtih him?"

"My 'impressions of his behavior' are speculations. As I said, sir, I only met him the once. I do not know what 'the norm' is for him. I do not know what 'the norm' is for anyone. I was not upset with him. I was busy. I had something like eighteen different reports to fill out at the time and assignments to dole out for minor requests ship-wide. I work here."

Jeremy frowned. "You were not upset with him. Are you generally rude and dismissive?"

Are you? she thought, staring right at him, but thankfully marginally cooler heads prevailed and stopped her from actually speaking the words aloud, although her mouth did open with the "Ah-" part of it slipping out before she could stop herself. She folded her hands and sat up straighter. "I'm sorry, sir. I wasn't aware that my job was to take officers on a tour of the facilities when I was on duty and had actual reports to turn in to Starfleet Command and the captain of this vessel. No one told me that was one of my responsibilities. I will have to take a closer look at the demands of this position. I'm new to it, you see."

"That fails to answer the question I asked. I did not ask what were the nature of your duties. Though, it would be helpful to know if you were obligated to take crewmembers on tours." Jeremy said apparently missing the sarcasm entirely, as he glanced at his PADD. "You state you were not upset with him, which means I must determine if being rude and dismissive is part of your general demeanor or not. If it is, then it explains this:"

He turned the PADD so it could be seen by her, the sound coming nice and clear.

"So my anti-matter/matter mix is off and I need therapy. Ensign Graysan. I'm going to count to five. And when I open my eyes, I want to be alone in my department office with Slak and my blinking consoles and my ratio problems. Maybe, at some point in the future, I will hear your alto sax. But it will not be today. Ready. One."

"If you are not, then I must question the veracity of the statement that you were not upset with him. Which goes back to my original intent as to your impressions of him and his behavior."

Several choice expletives rang out inside Lilou's head. Sound. He had audio recording in her department. "There's that pesky behavioral speculation again, sir," she murmured. "As you informed me, sir, I do not have a right to make speculations on behavior. My observations are flawed. But I did tell you he played the alto sax," she added.

Jeremy glanced at her. "Interesting, how do you know he plays alto sax?"

She looked at him. Just looked at him. "Because he told me. About... forty seconds before that recording you have there."

"So, the only reason you 'know' he plays alto sax is because he told you? You have no other empirical data regarding this claim, such as a recording of him playing, personal observation of him playing, him bringing an alto sax with him during this encounter?"

"It seems like a strange detail to lie about," she replied. Still water. Ripples expanding. Breathe. Breathe. "And as you have video feeds for the encounter, you should be able to tell that he didn't have the instrument with him."

Checking on Sidi, Jeremy shook his head. "You are willing to speculate that he had honest behavior but are unwilling to tell me if you felt his behavior was suspicious. Were you lying when you stated," here he looked at the PADD again, "'Everything I do, I do to protect this ship and her crew, Lieutenant. If I thought she was in danger, in any way, I would say something'," he said, speaking slowly as he read the words off the PADD. "It would seem answering a simple, straightforward question would fall under the parameters of protecting this ship and crew."

Lilou folded her hands in her lap behind the desk and slowly, precisely, pressed the nail of her right thumb into her left palm. "Are you making an official inquiry into my loyalty to Galileo and her crew, sir?"

Jeremy scowled, "Loyalty tests are not required beyond the oath all members of Starfleet take upon their enlistment. I am unaware of anything that states you must be loyal to a particular ship or crew - or even to like a particular crew. My question had nothing to do with your 'loyalty' to the crew, merely the conflicting statements you have made in this interview. However, your fallacious and argumentative response is...interesting." He checked and Sidi watched the woman, but remained where he had been placed. He felt pride in how well the dog was behaving. Though, Sidi still didn't seem to like her very much. Perhaps that was some instinct Jeremy should trust. "It leads me to conclude that you are either hiding some information you may know regarding Graysan or you are being deliberately difficult due to personal feelings toward me. When would be a good time to return for the information you were going to look up?"

[TBC]

LTjg Jeremy Stone
Chief Security/Tactical Officer/K9
USS Galileo

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Sidious MWD7223
Security K9 unit
USS Galileo

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