We Need to Talk
Posted on Thu Nov 7th, 2019 @ 10:26am by Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant JG Lillian James & Lieutenant Sera Williams
1,947 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Canary
Location: Luka's Office
Timeline: MD 2 : 1102 Hrs
The walk to the command center was a long and silent road. In her hands, Sera carried the evidence that could turn the colony upside down. As they stood outside the proximity sensor's range, Sera nodded toward Lillian. "We have to do this, it's the right thing," she said in a soft voice, mostly to herself than anyone. She was nervous, but she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. With a final breath to calm herself, she took the last steps into Luka's office.
"It is the right thing to do but it doesn't make it any easier," Lillian replied as she followed Sera.
"Captain, do you have a moment? We really need to talk," Sera stated as the two officers entered the room. There was not really much else to say other than that and she had never had to report on a member of the senior staff at any of her postings.
Luka looked up from his work. He had sent Davna off on a break of sorts, as she had wanted to walk his dog. It only seemed apt to let her stretch her legs, and let Lugh walk his restlessness away.
"I have enough moments. Is everything alright?" he asked curiously.
"Um.... Not really sir," Lillian replied nervously, and continued to not look at Captain Mahone but at the floor.
"It's about that secret assignment you gave me," Sera replied, looking to make sure Davna had closed the door. "We... uh... think we found something important," she added. As she talked, Sera handed over the PADD. In it contained the evidence they had found including a device that emitted tachyon surges, the weapons locker that pointed to it being the source of the device, the command codes that were used, and that those codes belonged to Lieutenant Winslow. She was not an investigator, so she decided to let the evidence speak for itself.
Luka took the PaDD, reviewing its contents for an awkwardly long moment. He read it over again. And again. Then he squinted up at the pair. He looked first to Sera, then to Lillian, then back at Sera again. "... How sure are you two of all this evidence?"
"Based on just what is on the PADD sir, I've very sure. His codes were used last on the weapons locker that was stored in Engineering. Putting the evidence together with what I know about him sir, this just doesn't add up, and other than bringing this to you I"m at a lost on how to proceed." Lillian replied as she shifted from foot to foot and still not meeting his eyes.
"A tachyon spike is what caused the destruction of the Io," Sera added. She took no joy in implicating Winslow, but she chose not to say anything about the person. Nodding at the PADD is Luka's hands, she continued, "The locker definitely contained the device used to create the spike and those were the last codes used on the locker."
"... Shit." Luka leaned back in his seat, scanning the PaDD with an intense stare for another few moments. "Lieutenant Winslow has been with us since..." Well, since before Luka boarded the Io. This was going to be messy. "I want to be absolutely positive without a shadow of a doubt every single avenue before we proceed." He paused. He was no expert on security investigations, but he didn't want to jump to conclusions. Even if the evidence was pointed against the security officer. "How would you proceed if this was not your superior officer, Lieutenant James?"
Lillian thought for a few moments, "If he was not my superior officer, and I did not know him. Then I would go back and check the statement was to see what his alibi was, then see if there is evidence to support it if no evidence is found then bring him in for at least some more questioning. But since this is being done in secret, it's might be better if we were to detain him before word got out about the investigation and or he would try to cover his tracks.
I don't want to arrest him without the evidence to support it, but we can't have him confined to his quarters either, because there might be evidence there. Is it possible sir, to place him in different quarters under confinement with the same restrictions as confining him to quarters? I don't want to tip him off of what we might be investigating though, but since you have somewhat of a personal relationship with him, he might agree to confinement if you were to ask him saying that we need to get to the bottom of this and for him to trust your instincts on this. We would have to limit his visitors to a select few unless it was official business, and I would have to include you in on that list sir, as well as myself.
"I would like to keep Lieutenant Williams to help with the investigation, but I'm not sure who I would put on guard detail though, I don't want to use anyone he has had contact with for fear that they would not act as professionally as the would if he was a stranger to them," Lillian said and then ran her hands over her face, this was not a situation that she wanted to have.
"I want as much of this investigation to be above board as possible, but I am open to ideas if either of you has them though," Lillian said as she looked at each one, trying to convey some sense of confidence that she didn't actually have.
"I do know of cases where command codes have been falsified, but there were very specific ways that those codes may have been compromised," Sera replied. "Until we can prove that one way or another, I think that Lieutenant James has to remain in charge of the investigation, as she is the ranking member of the Security Department," she nodded toward Lillian.
"See..." Luka started, before narrowing his eyes at the thought he was having. Then he shook his head. "We need to think about this from more than one angle. We cannot call attention to this. Not... not that this is not how we should proceed, but we also have to think about how quickly the news will spread throughout the colony." It was something he - or more importantly, Diane - would have to worry about, but it was something he wanted everyone aware of. "So if we single the Lieutenant out, we absolutely have to have the evidence to back this up. I agree. I'm not doubting your judgment in the slightest." The statement was only half true. "If Lieutenant Winslow has nothing to hide? Then this will go quickly... but so too would his reputation."
Luka sunk in his seat. "I'll worry about any sort of press or wild accusations that may come from this, but whatever you two do, continue to remain careful with who you tell, and remain as discreet as possible." He felt like that was all he was saying these days. "As for confining Lieutenant Winslow... we could have him restricted to guest quarters in the same building. Different floor, of course... I do think I also concur that Lieutenant James should be in charge of this investigation. You're ranking officer, and you're the one who knows what's going on. And you're much more impartial."
"While I appreciate your confidence in me from both of you, I don't mind saying that I'm in over my head, we may need to bring in someone else with more experience if you deem it needed. Until then I think our first move should be to move Lt. Windslow as soon as possible, and I think I know of a way to keep him in the new quarters without having to post a guard outside his door. Is it possible to rig up a forcefield, even one not expected to hold him, but would set off an alarm of some sort, what do you think," Lillian asked.
"We are all in over our head, and I don't think anyone else is going to come into the colony anytime soon," Sera replied. Not being trained in the finer aspects of crowd control and security, she really could not give her opinion as an expert in the field. "If that's the way you want to go, I could rig up something fairly easily. But," she started, looking to both of them, "If secrecy is paramount in this, why not treat everything as normal outside of our secret investigation?"
Lillian spoke up, "In a normal investigation, I would be talking to everyone one involved in the situation, I would be gathering evidence that is relevant, and then I would be making an arrest. All of which requires speaking to everyone, and making it know that I am investigating and what kind of investigation it is. The word would be out faster than we could blink. That being said, I don't think that Lt. Windslow will run seeing as he's still here after the explosion. But my biggest fear is that he would attempt to cover his tracks if he's guilty. If he were to leave the quarters we put him in then that will prove that he needs to stay in the brig."
"And if this were simply a Starfleet institution," Luka began, tone even, "I would be more likely to give you that leeway. But that's the issue, Lieutenant James. We are within a civilian institution. Putting him under a quarantine already puts his reputation at risk. And what if it happens that there's something else afoot and he's innocent? If we call any attention to this, we've condemned him to that suspicion for a very long time. I don't want to start a witch hunt. We need to be one hundred percent, without a shadow of a doubt positive that he is guilty before we make drastic action. Nevermind that this is occurring without the knowledge of any of the rest of the staff. We have to have absolute proof. You're right, Lieutenant, this is far from the regular investigation, but that means we have to tread very very carefully."
"I understand sir," Lillian replied.
"That being said." Luka paused. "We do need to do something. I'm not content with us sitting on this knowledge and not doing a thing about it. How about this. We block off the section of apartments that he happens to be on, because of a maintenence issue. We can move multiple people to secondary quarters, and it does not call anything to suspicion. This puts Lieutenant Williams in charge, and we can even go so far as to say there's a potential unidentified mold hazard that requires a science officer to assist. That puts you, Lieutenant James, in a good place to investigate and do whatever you need to. It puts the whole section on lockdown, including any personal affects, and frees you both up to find any further evidence. Does that sound like a positive compromise?"
"Yes sir it does," Lillian said as she glanced at Lt. Williams.
Nodding her answer, Sera replied, "Yes, sir."
"Then that's what we'll do," Luka resolved. "As long as we can mitigate the civilian backlash, we should be free to do what we need to." He paused for an awkwardly long time, as if he knew he was supposed to say something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "... D-dismissed?"
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