A Present For Gilroy

Posted on Wed Oct 21st, 2015 @ 10:48pm by Lieutenant Commander Gilroy & Ensign Six of Ten

Thanks to her resistance to being arrested, Xerena hadn’t just been escorted to an interrogation room, given a cup of water and left to stew. Instead, she was booked into the system, stripped of her civilian clothing and jewelry, given lovely new, orange, duds and tossed into a cell to stew. Gilroy left her for a few hours and, from the reports from the Brig Officer, the woman was boiling mad and kept going on about how they didn’t know who she was; that they’d pay for keeping her in the Brig.

No less than four hours after he’d arrested her, Gilroy finally entered the Brig and stood before Xerena’s cell; she was sleeping. “Hey!,” he called to her, “Xerena, ready to chat?”

“Oh now you want to talk?” she mumbled. “Gothefuckaway.” She remained curled up on the bunk, her back to Gilroy.

“One more chance. Let’s chat now, Xerena,” Gilroy said gruffly.

“Or what?” she demanded as she sat up. “You’ll torture me until I do, Klingon? That’s your thing isn’t it?”

He frowned. “Torture? Really? What Federation are you used to dealing with?” Shaking his head, he gestured at the officers waiting for his signal, “Get her out of there and cuff her to the table in Room 3.” The two moved forward as the force field dropped.

Despite her relaxed appearance, the instant the force field vanished, she lunged from the bunk and towards the front of the cell, trying to dodge the two officers, who grabbed at her. She fought them like a tiger, growling and biting at the hands that reached for her.

She knocked one of the men down and bit the other hard enough that he withdrew, holding his injured hand and grimacing. Gilroy, who had stepped back but kept his eye on the woman, debated whether to engage with her or... his decision was nullified by the Brig Officer’s action: the woman pulled her phaser and stunned Xerena. When Gilroy looked at the Brig Officer, she shrugged and said, “Commander Zeferino said not to take crap from anyone down here.”

“Good philosophy, Chief,” Gilroy said then reached down and picked Xerena up. He hauled her into an interrogation room, set her in a chair and cuffed her to the table. “You,” he pointed at the injured officer, “Get to Piper and make sure they give you an antibiotic. No telling what this one is carrying. You,” he pointed at the other, “Go get the Brig Doc.”

As they scrambled, Gilroy went to a nearby replicator and came back with a cup of coffee for himself and the Brig Officer. He took a seat opposite Xerena and waited.

It took several minutes for Xerena to come around, which she did slowly. She realized she’d been hit and was now cuffed. She also realized she was drooling. “I want a lawyer and I want to file a complaint for brutal treatment,” she spat at Gilroy. “I’ve done nothing but come see my husband. You can’t treat me like this! Do you want to start an incident with Romulus??”

“An incident with Romulus? In case you haven’t noticed, we’re a long, long way from Romulus. Plus, I really doubt that you’re a favored citizen of Romulus. In fact, we pulled your records from Romulus and from when you used to live here on the Station... I don’t think you’ve ever been a favored citizen. Just before you left SB900 a few years ago, the Chief of Security went missing. Parts of him were found, but they never did locate his head. Those questioned at the time reported that you were having an affair with him. Yet here you are, claiming that you’re here to see your husband.” Gilroy sat back.

“I had nothing to do with Victor’s death,” she growled. “I also didn’t leave voluntarily. Suresh kicked me out, even though I was carrying his son at the time. You see how he treated me then? I forgave him though. It’s all in the past. I just wanted to get back here and see him. Why would I try to harm him?”

“You didn’t bring his son to see him? The kid would be... four? five? years old. A great age to introduce him to his father,” Gilroy waited to see what she’d say about that.

“No, not that it’s any of your business,” Xerena snapped. “Having a child around isn’t exactly convenient when you’re here to work out a broken relationship is it?” She leaned back away from Gilroy. “So when do I get out of here? I have things to do and a marriage to save with a man who just needs to remember how good it was and ditch that Borg toy of his.”

“Seems like, for you, having a kid around isn’t reality anyway. Again,” he held up the padd, “Records from Romulus. No records of a live birth for you, Xerena, on Romulus or on any transport between here and there. There is no kid, is there? Just like there’s no marriage and no broken relationship to work out. Why you’re really here is because of what you did in an attempt to get rid of ‘that Borg toy of his’. You drugged Suresh and sexually assaulted him.”

“Assaulted?” Xerena began to laugh. “Ask anyone in Iapetus they’ll tell you. I asked him if he wanted to go back to his place and he said yes. He said it outside his door when he couldn’t keep his hands off me. That sounds like a horny Romulan, not assault to me. Besides what proof do you have that I did any of this?”

“Traces of zomtrazipan, the sedative you used to get Suresh to agree. You should know: drugged consent is not consent. That’s been established law for centuries. Plus, this...,” he held up a plastic evidence bag. Inside was the bracelet she’d been wearing when they’d arrested her. “Suresh bought this for Six of Ten just before you drugged him at Iapetus.”

“That doesn't prove anything,” she grumbled. Hearing him name the drug however, hit home and she slumped in her chair. “It wasn’t my idea you know.”

“But it was your doing, wasn’t it?” Gilroy watched the shift in her.

“What are you planning to do with me?” she countered. “I could give you a name perhaps…..if you’ll go easy on me. I know more about this person than you think, and it’s something you will want to know.”

Security had a better handle on what was happening on the Station than most of the Station residents realized. Gilroy proved that by asking, “Yeah? A name? Would that name be Niro, an annoying Enaran?”

“You didn’t answer my question.” She smiled at Gilroy. “You first.” Her tone has softened as she teased him a little. “Then maybe we can work something out.”

“What do we plan on doing with you? Prosecuting you for drugging and assaulting Suresh and stealing the bracelet. It’ll be a quick trial and then you’ll be sent somewhere to serve your time,” he answered her. “We don’t really need your help to work anything out.”

“You may not need it but you want it,” she said. “I can see it in that rugged face of yours. You want Niro so bad you can taste it.” She leaned back across the table towards Gilroy. “I can make that happen.”

“What do you think you have on Niro that could be better than what we already have on him?” Truth was, Gilroy didn’t have a damned thing on Niro except hearsay and innuendo.

“It was his idea to drug Suresh and make it look like we’d been having our fun in front of Six. The reason he wanted it done is because he has some beef with her and plans to swipe her and hit the road.” She smiled once more. “What do you think of that?”

Gilroy glanced at the officer by the door; the woman slipped out for a moment. “Do you have hard evidence of that? Something I could take to a judge and jury to prove it was his idea?”

“He said it to me directly, and trust me, you don’t want to know what he plans to do with her once he has her. He is one twisted man and that’s saying a lot coming from me,” Xerena stated.

“Takes a twisted individual to see another, doesn’t it? To recap, Xerena, you admit that you drugged and assaulted Suresh, stole the bracelet from him and conspired with Niro to do this, correct?” He wasn’t a prosecutor; he didn’t need to worry about asking leading questions.

“I assume you had poor little Suresh tested so his pet will feel sorry for him and come home?” she sneered. “Maybe you should have his mind tested too, I think he’s lost it.”

“Suresh? Eh. We find it endearing. But you can’t say he’s crazy because he refused to get in bed with you - any guy who agrees to get in bed with you needs his head examined,” Gilroy snidely insulted her then stood. “You’ll be taken back to your cell in a little while. Sit tight.” He left her.

Xerena stuck her tongue out at his back as he left the room. Once the door closed, she cursed softly, then crossed her arms, waiting to see what would happen next. At least Niro would get his fair share of trouble, though she sort of hoped he got away with Six and turned her into his version of a blow-up doll.

*******************************
Lt. Gilroy
Needs a Suit for the Muck Raking

Xerena
Not Going Down Alone