Rumors and Allegations

Posted on Sun Jun 4th, 2023 @ 5:35pm by Commander Steven Greco & Lieutenant Tollan Yara & Lieutenant Commander Keishara Davaris
Edited on on Mon Jul 3rd, 2023 @ 10:42pm

2,369 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Prologue: Centre Predominate
Location: USS Moore - Sickbay
Timeline: MD: 014 0730

Steve rounded the corner and walked into Sickbay. He received word from the doctor that Lieutenant Amarok had awaken and was finally in a state the doctor felt he could answer questions about the assault. “Report.” He called as he walked across the room.

Kei turned to face the Commander as he approached. She could sense his frustration and annoyance at the situation. He too had advised for closer protection so that this very incident would not occur.

"At approximately 2020 hours last night Lieutenant s'Lovok was attacked in shuttle bay 2. The attackers are believed to be 3 security, or those in yellow uniforms, and 2 marines." Kei began. "Lt. s'Lovok was called to the shuttle bay to assist Lt. Stewart and Chief Dulay in repairs to our shuttles when the attack occurred. The chief did not see the attack himself, Lt. Stewart saw the end of it, yelled at the attackers who are at this moment are in the wind." She placed a PADD down. "S'Lovok is to wake up soon I am told. I am just waiting for the doctors report on his injuries."

Greco nodded at the woman’s words as he looked at Amarok unconscious on the biobed. Hearing Stewart’s name caught his attention and he focused on what Keishara was saying about the attack. He circled so the doctor would see they were having a private chat before interrupting them. “Is that the official report or what really happened?” He asked the security chief with meaning. The situation was tense and it was a small ship, people would talk and he wanted the truth right out the gate.

Kei arched an eyebrow. "That is what has been reported to my staff and I." She stated simply. "Whether that is a true reflection of the events I cannot say until I have more evidence to go on." Kei looked around for listening ears and prying eyes. "Shuttle bay 2 has had no active security ayatems for months. Those that attacked the s'Lovok wore yellow and green uniforms but those are easily replicated, and they wore no comm badges but some device that seemed to distort their bio signs. If I wanted to sow discord and distrust in our security on this ship I'd 'dress up' to do it. You can also add to the fact the crewman I put in charge of s'Lovok's surveillance was having a comfort break at the time of the attack." Keishara sighed.

"Evelyn's reaction was to berate me in front of those in attendance by saying I failed in my duty to protect him... and she's not wrong." She huffed. "If we'd been allowed to put people on him this would not have happened, but I honour and respect the Captain's orders. Only you and I know the other measures suggested and it will stay that way, but this should not have happened Commander."

Steve heard the shift in Kei’s tone and nodded. “Agreed. But you did all you could to convince the Captain, Keishara. Don’t beat yourself up over this. What matters now is we keep our resident Romulan safe.” He said with a warm smile and gentle, but professional, touch on her elbow to reassure her.

Kei did tense slightly at the sudden touch of Commander Greco. She knew what he was doing, and it was appreciated if not a little surprising. "Clearly keeping him safe will be more difficult than anticipated, but I will increase security around him and use people I know I can trust to look into this attack." She was harsh on herself, had been for centuries now and that wasn't going to change overnight, and definitely not with comforting elbow squeezes.

Steve saw the El-Aurian tense and immediately moved his hand away to make her comfortable before giving another slight smile and nod of understanding. “Doctor?” He asked as he turned back around.

Yara walked out from the office, where he was waiting since Greco arrived. He was experienced enough to know when there needed to be a moment for morale. “Yes, Commander, thank you for coming. I have finished treating Mister s’Lovok and you will be happy to learn he will make a full recovery.

The Trill led the XO and Commander Davaris to the biobed. “The lieutenant suffered three broken ribs, a fractured vertebrae, a ruptured spline, cranial bleeding in his frontal cortex. In short, he’s lucky to be alive. If Lieutenant Stewart and Chief Dulay weren’t there he’d likely bleed to death.” He grabbed a hypospray and pressed it to the Romulan’s neck.

Amarok slowly opened his eyes but only a little, the light was hurting. He attempted to shrink away from the light but his whole body ached so much and he groaned loudly.

Tollan eased Amarok back on the biobed. “Try to relax, Lieutenant. You just went through quite the ordeal.”

Kei wondered if he'd even got any hits in before he fell to the floor. She knew of the five that attacked but even at that Kei would still have drew some of their blood.

"Did you see any of your attackers? Gender, species? Height? Any identifiable markings?" Kei just went straight in and asked. Her bedside manner was not the best.

Steve gave Kei a warning look. “Davaris…” he said quietly as a reminder to back off a little and give the man moment.

It took a moment or two or three for Amarok to fully adjust to the light of Sickbay, he blinked many times. The white was quite harsh, he hoped he'd never see it again. Quite unrealistic wish but still remained. He slowly glanced around to find the Chief of Security talking to him, the First Officer giving her a glare and a medical officer who'd helped him lay back.

He coughed twice, clear sign he was parched. A quick attempt at a swallow and moistening his lips Amarok spoke up. "Sorry Com.man.ders," he said, "once I knew what was to happen." Amarok was getting better at speaking now. "I." He swallowed. "Attempted to defend myself but failed and so was more concerned with minimizing the damage as best I could then details of the attackers."

"Can I have some water?" He asked.

Keishara huffed and looked at Greco as if to say 'What? He's awake isn't he?'. She rolled her eyes and went to get a glass of water for him. As she approached she handed it to him.

"So, you saw nothing helpful?" She asked glancing down at her PADD. "No defensive strikes, scratches?" He looked at the Doctor for the hope of any Dna. "Smells, sounds?"

Steve clinched his jaw in annoyance at the Security Chief. This wasn’t an interrogation. The man was the victim of an assault. “Commander, take it easy.”

"I am 'taking it easy'." Kei replied to the Commander. Her questions were simple, she just wanted any leads that didn't consist of colours of uniforms.

Steve only let out a slow sigh through his nose before turning back to Amarok. “What exactly do you remember, Lieutenant?”

"Lieutenant Stewart asked me to come-" he paused and drank some of the water that the Chief Security Officer gave to him. "Thank you," Amarok smiled. "And look at the shuttles as engineering was busy. I took only a step or two into the shuttle before someone body shoved me out of it. Soon I found myself surrounded by... humans. They all seemed to be human as I began to feel threatened and all I could focus on was my own safety." He said as he tried to go through his memories slowly and it did seem the attackers were only human or appeared to be.

"Perhaps my combadge could have recorded voices as the computer is always listening?" Amarok offered, he frowned. "I am sorry that I'm not yet able to fully examine what I saw. Everything happened quickly." He finished and glanced away from them all as he went back over what happened, it continued to be enough of a blur that he wasn't sure of the sequence but he was certain only humans appeared to be his attackers.

"Unfortunately combadges are not used in the capacity." Keishara shared with Amarok. "That would be an infringement on the privacy of the individual and against several laws." she wished that wasn't the case sometime and she knew that in the past badges had been used in a rather illegal fashion, but not this time.

Steve looked at Amarok, having more patience than Keishara. “Do you remember them saying anything? It doesn’t matter if you think it’s important. Any information would help at this point.”

He didn’t want to tell the Romulan that they had little information to go on other than a group of gold and green uniforms ran from the shuttlebay after being caught beating the man.

"Oh so criminal activity is covered by privacy laws..." Amarok muttered loudly. "Yes they were very vocal with their hatred for Romulans." He said now somewhat angry. Though he dove mentally into those religious teachings, he didn't really have need for growing up, for the first time. He begged the Elements to help.

"Bit of a loaded answer Lieutenant." Keishara frowned. "No, criminal activity is not covered by privacy laws. You imply that we should then listen to all conversations that could be liked to crime or violence on those that wear combadges?" she asked rhetorically. "Sounds like that is what you are saying. How would you feel if we listened in to all your conversations? The innocent, the private? What if you were walking down a corridor and said out loud how much you hated your boss and you'd love to teach him a lesson?" she asked again. "Conversations are subjective. Look, I understand your frustration but I cannot listen in on com badges without higher authorisation which requires evidence, or probable cause. There are of people on board who are 'vocal' of your involvement here, but I cannot justify a warrant on the basis of personal viewpoints or beliefs without actionable intelligence." she took a breath.

"I can't promise you I will find them, I don't do promises, but what I will do is assure you that I will look into this fully to try and track down those that attacked you. No-one should feel unsafe on board a Starfleet ship, nor should anyone be attacked going about their daily life."

Steve bit down on his opinion and looked at Tollan and Amarok before addressing the Romulan. “Is there anything in the meantime you can think of or that we can do to help you through this? I’m sure this is troubling for you as much as it is for all of us.”

"Lieutenant Commander, it is not as grand scale as you think it is. You have the time and location of the attack do you not? Isolate the combadges in that location at that time and you have your criminals unless they were either Engineers, Security or assisted by Security to cover their tracks." Amarok said simply. "For the record I no longer feel safe on this Starfleet ship and I was going about my day then attacked." He glanced over at the Executive Officer as he thought about the combadge isolation protocols and how he'd investigate.

"I request permission to arm myself for self defense Commander, as I feel I cannot trust Security which has clearly been compromised." Amarok turned back to Keishara. "Before you get offended and your pride injured at the thought that Starfleet personnel could be anything but enlightened, I want to clarify that I will trust you, and the rest of the Senior Officers."

Steve glanced at the doctor and security chief before turning his attention back to Amarok. “I do think that’s the best idea, Lieutenant. However, I will speak to the captain about heightening the security around your quarters and the science lab.”

"Thank you Commander," Amarok said though kept his eyes on Keishara for her response.

"The scale is not as it may appear Lieutenant, nor your solution so simple." Kei began. "As I have said, just because they wore yellow uniforms does not mean they were security, engineering etc. Uniforms can be easily replicated so I will look into replication records to see when some have been created recently. As for badges, if they were smart they wouldn't have worn them. I certainly wouldn't have if I was going to attack someone." Kei thought it would have been very stupid to spotlight themselves. "This is nothing to do with my pride and I am not offended." She bowed her head a touch in deference. "I am glad you trust the senior team, and I will get to the bottom of this. There are always ways criminals slip up, it's not like I'm dealing with Moriarty here. I'll get them."

Amarok raised an eyebrow like a Vulcan at Kei's admission. Though he frowned at something she said. "Moriarty?" He asked as he glanced up searching his memories for the name. "Ah that famous hologram?" He asked seeking confirmation. He swung his feet off the bed and began to get to his feet.

Tollan looked at the Romulan. “I am going to release you to your quarters for the next few days, Lieutenant. Get some rest. After that you should be free to return to your duties.” He said just as much to Greco as Amarok.

Steve nodded in understanding. “Don’t work, Mister s’Lovok. We will get to the bottom of this.” He gave the science officer a reassuring smile before turning towards the exit with Davaris and walk for the bridge. “I want surveillance around the clock and security positioned outside the Science lab and his quarters. And I want an engineering team getting all security systems working by end of the day.” He ordered quietly. He saw Keishara nod in understanding.

Despite both of them advising the captain against lax security, this situation was still an embarrassment. He was going to make damn sure nothing like this could happen again.

 

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