Swept Up Rumor Mill
Posted on Wed Jun 3rd, 2020 @ 6:07pm by Lieutenant Theodore Winslow & Lieutenant JG Cabid
1,513 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Equivalent Exchange
Location: Interrogation Room 4, Command Center
Timeline: MD - 7 : 1028 Hrs
Cabid had combed through the files that Lieutenant James had given to him, as well as the videos that were leftover from the initial investigation that Theodore Winslow performed himself. After receiving such a testimonial from the Captain about the security chief's character, Cabid gathered one very important fact from the whole debacle:
No one had any earthly idea what was going on.
The Captain had butt himself out of the investigation, which was a wise decision seeing as the man was so close to the Io's Captain and most noteworthy casualty. Theo himself had butt out of security altogether while this was ongoing, which left him well out of the loop. And while Lieutenant James was helpful, Cabid couldn't help but feel there was something else he was missing.
Which was why he called Lieutenant Winslow to the Interrogation room in the first place. He wanted to get the man's side of the story, what was going on, and why exactly he would be the primary suspect.
The Security Chief looked around the interrogation room and nodded to the man sat there just waiting for him on the side that he normally sat on. This would not be comfortable at all for him when one he was being interrogated by a lower rank but secondly he had no idea how he had ended up in this predicament.
"Lieutenant." He greeted as sat down heavily in the chair the black eye that he had just visible despite the first aid he had been provided.
Cabid's brow rose and a muttering of Benzite swears came forth. They left as soon as they arrived, and the blue-skinned officer sat upright at the sight of the security chief. "We can be a little more informal. No one's in trouble, I'm just here to ask my questions and see what I can straighten out. Though, I will ask..." He pointed at the eye. "... Did you happen to get yourself in an accident with someone's fist?"
Theo just stared blankly at the man. How could he not be in trouble with the current situation? "Something like that. The someones listened to the rumours that are going around."
"Well, people talk." Cabid took to typing out some notes on the thought. "Hopefully we'll get those to calm down, but at the very least we can see if your name ends up cleared by the end of all this. How about you start by telling me your side of all this? Have they informed you on much about your status as suspect?"
"That they do and get angry enough to cause accidents," Theo said lowly. He ached but what was he to do. No one wanted to help him due to falling from grace if he could get off-planet without it being seen as suspicious he would have. "I know nothing other than I am a suspect and I am under lock down."
Cabid rose his singular brow. "I've had a time trying to find out exactly what they had against you that could merit this sort of pressure. And I think we can clear up a little bit of confusion. Tell me, Lieutenant, did you do it?" Cabid did not by any stretch sound accusatory, merely curious of the man in front of him. "Did you have a hand in the Io's sabatoge?"
Theo stared back at the man just as static as the investigating officer and shook his head. "No, I did not have any have in the Io's sabotage or any other event that would have led to it."
"Well good then. I would be having to deal with more paperwork if you decided to confess guilt right here. At least no one has made you feel like you have. Your assistant chief is a spitfire, by the way." Cabid jovially typed a few notes in. No sense in dwelling on it. "In light of recent events, I'm surprised you've not asked for a JAG representative, nor have I seen proof past the evidence presented that you had any hand at all. As a matter of fact, the Captain's yeoman has come forward to prove you innocent with an alibi to your whereabouts the time the evidence was placed - the evidence, which by the way, seems fairly circumstantial to me. Let me see if I've got Lieutenant James's notes on the matter. But if you don't mind me asking while I look, could you walk me through what a typical day would have looked like for you on the Io?"
"She is something," Theodore commented on. He had not had much time to spend with her before it had all practically kicked off. "Captain's Yeoman?" Theodore was slightly confused by that but let it slide as the question about his routine was asked. "Up by 06:00, gym, shower, breakfast. Get to Security. Go through routine there check overnight tickets, team meetings, senior team meetings, training programmes. Have dinner around 17:00. holodeck or bar." Pretty standard routine to him, he had no partner, no family.
"Ensign Davna has placed you a number of times that match up with the security camera inconsistencies that match up with the timeline for when the explosives were placed. You were not on the Bridge, the Medical Labs, nor Main Engineering during those times. And, during the days in question, your routine is just as solid. Ah, here it is." Cabid pulled out one PaDD from his pile of multiple PaDDs, overviewing the notes he had placed before summarizing. "The largest piece of evidence they have thus far is that your security codes were utilized in order to place these explosives, as well as an inability to determine exactly where you had been during these times. You do not show up on any of the security camera footage that you yourself had recovered during initial investigations. But, as I'm sure I don't have to tell you, that footage is entirely too inconsistent. Upon asking the Captain a few questions, it was Ensign Davna who remembered exactly where you were based on the Captain's schedule."
Cabid gave the man a soft smile as he slid the PaDD across the table. "You were helping Captain Mahone remove himself from a self-quarantine lockdown procedure upon one of the workbees that he was testing outside of the ship itself. You were in a different shuttle that whole time. If anything, the true culprit was waiting for you to not be present in order to plant these explosives. The latter being speculation, of course, Sir."
Theo just looked at the man deeply trying to work out exactly where this was going when he already knew all of this. "It seems I owe Ensign Davna a lot then." he mused sitting back in the chair wondering how his security code got out. He changed it regularly in line with regulations and he never revealed it to anyone. So how had it got out to someone with enough hatred to use it like that?
"Oh I don't think she even wanted me to tell you," Cabid admitted, resting his hands on the table. "But you were going to find all this out anyways, seeing as I'm likely to give this case back to you and Lieutenant James by the end of the week. We just have to push some paperwork through, and I'll let the Admiral and Intel know. They have the final say, but I can't imagine you won't be back to work soon. Or at least to some sense of regularity."
Theo took a few moments to think and consider his words carefully. "I guess that is so but I do know so I will thank." He said sounding so much older than his appearance gave him credit for. "I will appreciate my lack of anything to do than before I return." He was not enjoying the time to himself or anything else but it was a relief for someone to actually believe him now.
Cabid sat back, relieved that the resolution had come and he wasn't about to get punched. Or sworn at in other languages. "Good. I'll make sure this happens swiftly as possible. I'm not sure what we can do about those rumors, but we can at least make sure you're with something to do."
Theodore nodded. There was no more left to say. It seemed he was finally out of trouble and working towards being able to do his job again. "No much I can do either but at least getting my pips and security clearance back will help. Just let me know when I can go back to work." He said simply rising.
"Not a problem, Sir." Cabid stated jovially. He was pleased with his work, even if it did make a few waves. But at least now the right people were back on the right track, as far as he was concerned. "I'll contact you as soon as I possibly can. Good luck out there, Lieutenant. Hopefully those rumors will simply wash themselves right away."
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