House Arrest

Posted on Mon Jun 19th, 2023 @ 3:04pm by Lieutenant Ty-Yak Novo & Ensign Peter Novak & Lieutenant Shinobu Miyake
Edited on on Tue Jul 4th, 2023 @ 10:18am

1,220 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Mission 3: The Peace Ship
Location: Deck 5: Lt. Novo's Quarters
Timeline: M3 MD04 (2268.6.14) 1300

Funky alien music sounding similar to "Blue Monk" but played on a synthesizer with steel drums and perhaps a garbage can thrown in for good measure, provided the soundtrack for Mr. Novo's quarters. The ship's psychotic chief engineer was lying on his bunk, buzzing. Ever since the Midway had been sabotaged he'd been under house arrest. There wasn't much he could do except inject some more treatments, although at this dosage level they were causing more harm than good. His turquoise eyes were admitting a slight glow.

The door chime sounded, alerting him to another regularly-scheduled checkup, which has been ordered as part of his house arrest to ensure he wasn't making contacts with... the Romulans, was it? Not like Security even believed he was in contact with them in the first place, if that grumpy Japanese bitch they had placed in charge of the department was anything to go off of.

"Come in," he said and then grumbled, "Not like I have much of a choice to say no at this point." He sat up and tapped the computer interface which turned off the noise.

The doors snapped open and- speak of the devil- the bitch herself strode in. To her credit, she had made crystal clear to Novo that she didn't believe for a second that he'd done anything wrong- but until they could find sufficient evidence that proved someone else had overloaded the warp core, her obligation as a member of Starfleet Security was to monitor his behavior and ensure he wasn't making contact with the Romulans.

Which, as much as Novo hated to burst their bubble, but they were in for a whole lotta nothing. Romulan? He could hardly put a face to the name. I mean, other than conjuring up some images of a ancient human who was raised by wolves, killed his brother over a property dispute, and then went on to found Rome... sounded like a classic Florida man story, but that was a matter for another time. Where was he? Oh, right, the bitch.

"How are you doing, Lieutenant?" she greeted with a sad smile. "I mean, probably about the same as when I asked you last time, but I'm obligated to check."

"Just sitting here wasting my time," Novo responded annoyed, "When I should be spending this time putting the ship back together... I'm guessing since you're here you're nowhere near finding out who did it..." He paused, "No one knows this ship better than me," he added, more than slightly agitated. His blue eyes glowed as they often did, but his irises were buzzing. Novo was not human, but of an unknown race. He was a man without a past and without a home, other than the Midway.

"Trust me, Lieutenant, this is just as hard on us as it is on you," the bitch sighed as she drew up a chair. "In case I haven't made it abundantly clear, I'm not happy in the slightest that I have to detain you; you've been glowing with nothing but praise for Starfleet these past few years, and would probably be the last person on this ship who'd have any reason to undermine this mission. It's clear to me you've been framed for all of this, but you think a higher-up who doesn't know you that well is going to take that at face value? Hell, if the only evidence we had was pointing towards you, the Admiralty would likely be chewing Captain Faust and I out for not detaining you."

"The only evidence against me is being in the wrong place, at the wrong time and in the wrong position," Novo responded. He walked towards the desk. "I didn't do it," he said as he pounded his fist onto the walnut veneered table. He then looked back at Shinobu, "But I do make the perfect patsy though..." He added.

"Sadly, you're not wrong," the bitch remarked. "From an outsider's perspective, you're intelligent, hard-working, and dedicated to this job, but you're also neurotic, unpredictable, and have on at least one occasion, showed up for a shift while under the influence of narcotics, which Captain Faust and I were willing to overlook. Hopefully no offense, but negative traits such as those make you a prime target to frame."

She rested her hands on the table. "Come to think of it... do you know of any crew members that seemed... suspicious to you? Like, say, anyone who would deliberately want to see you written up by Captain Faust?"

"No one I know of, but we did pick up a dozen new engineers at the starbase," Novo responded, calming down, "I haven't vetted any of them really. If any of them had Romulan sympathizes I wouldn't know. Two are Vulcanian, but most of them seem to have less patience for Romulans than Humans." He started to pace in his cramped cabin, "A group of the new officers were messing with the warp drive control systems, but they were implementing changes to the dilithium intermix chamber to boost efficiency which I had ordered..."

The bitch perked up at that. "Did you happen to get their names? Or what they looked like?"

"One had a mop top and I think his name is Powers," Novo responded, "The other two I'm not sure about." He continued pacing, "Itami may know..." He added.

The bitch made note of this before getting up and ducking her head back out into the hallway, where Peter and another security were posted to stand guard over Novo's quarters.

"I want a comprehensive review of our personnel records, see if you can turn up anyone who goes by the name of "Powers"," she instructed. "Also, comb through the security footage and see if you can locate a group of three working around the warp drive control systems prior to the warp core overheating. One of them should have a mop top; Lieutenant Itami may be able to identify them for us."

"Of course lieutenant," Peter responded, the stocky young man took his leave and headed down the hallway.

"Can I go back to work now?" Novo asked.

"Well, let's see..." the bitch muttered, pulling out her PADD and quickly skimming over the duty roster. "You're currently not scheduled for another ten minutes, but seeing as you've been on good behavior- not like we doubted, anyhow, we're just following basic protocol- I suppose I could let you return to work early, provided you're kept under the direct supervision of a security team at all times. I'll put a note in for Captain Faust about letting you return to work early."

"Ok, works for me," Novo responded as he quickly bolted towards the door.

The bitch glanced over towards the one remaining Security guard.

"Do me a favor and keep a team on him until the end of his shift?" she requested. "Even if I'm 100 percent certain that he didn't do it, I'm hesitant to be leaving him unattended while he's under the influence of narcotics."

"Of course lieutenant," Peter responded before walking to the wall communicator across the hall to relay the orders. Hopefully the security measures would be unnecessary, but no one could be certain of that.

 

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