Hell of a time to be in jail.

Posted on Sun Nov 18th, 2012 @ 9:48am by Elijah "Eli" Samuels & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: brig
Timeline: current

As the forcefield shimmered into place, Eli slumped to the bed. As jails went, this one wasn’t so bad. No where near as bad as that time the Romulans threw him in a holding cell awaiting transport to Remus to work the mines for running guns to those rebels on Xanitla. That had really sucked until he escaped.

Of course this was just for the night, then he could get to work finding somewhere to crash besides the small bunk back on the JR.

“Speaking of which, this bed ain’t half bad.”

Closing his eyes, Eli drifted, only to jerk awake as the red alert sounded.

The station’s security decks came alive with frenetic activity as the klaxons sounded. Even the Brig officer on duty near Elijah’s cell showed signs of being anxious, as if he, too, wanted to be involved in the activity. Instead, he had the short straw duty of the day: to sit and watch the detainees, in case something happened with one or the other.

The officer took to pacing, going around the short, circular hallway. Just as the klaxons were finally silenced, he passed Elijah’s cell again and glanced in, making a visual check on the trader.

While it may have been more years that he wanted to count since he'd been a Starfleet officer, Eli was still able to recognize the difference in tension that came from a drill and when it was the real thing. This appeared to be the real thing if the set of the fellow on the other side of the force field shoulders was any indication.

"Hey buddy. Mind telling me what's going on?"

He did, but after a moment's hesitation, he realized there wasn't any reason not to tell the guy what was happening. "Seems the Admiral and the Exec have disappeared. No idea where they went to. Just 'poof!' Station-wide search, just in case they got beamed somewhere's."

Once an engineer, always an engineer. Eli's mind began racing with possiblities.

"I guess you've alreay checked transporter and shuttle traffic? Anyone look for transphasic traces?"

Then it dawned on him that he wasn't an engineer any longer. In fact, he was only a prisoner.

With a slight shrug and a hrumph, he stepped back.

"Orrrr....I could just sit back down here."

"I haven't, but I'll bet the Commander is on top of all that. She's the acting Exec now." The Brig guard said. He turned away from Elijah slightly at the sound of someone coming along the hallway. "Oh, hey, Lieutenant Darwin."

"Chief," Darwin greeted the officer then thumbed open Elijah's cell. "Mr. Samuels, I'm Lieutenant Darwin, Special Investigations. You're in luck, the Orion lived. Or, perhaps that's bad news, since you're likely not his favorite person. Don't worry, though, he's in the Brig now. Just down the hall, actually. Wanna tell me what business caused the scene in the bar?"

Eli gave the Chief a slight nod by way of greeting, then gave a slight shrug.

"Let's just say his employers were less than thrilled with my delivery services."

"And now you have an Orion you nearly sliced to death. Good trade, trader." Darwin chuckled and shook his head. "Did you steal their shipment or conveniently have it 'confiscated'?"

Eli ran his hand through his long, ragged hair.

"Well, it's like this. I run a delivery service. While I may not ask that many questions, I do have principles. One of those is I'm no slave runner. So, when I open some containers in my hold to see what the Orions had me running and find a couple of chicks in stasis, it made me upset. So, I revived them and cut 'em loose. Apparently, pleasure slaves are worth a lot more than I thought. Who knew? Anyway, figure you know how the story ends."

"Ah, I see. Well, the evidence is clear - you defended yourself against a threat and you had no duty to back down. Accordingly, you're free to go, Mr. Samuels," the Lieutenant dispassionately watched Elijah, still trying to read him and get a sense of what was with the guy. He couldn't, though.

"Just like that, huh?", Eli gave a slight shurg. "Don't recon I'd argue with that."

With that he stepped out of the deactivated holding cell, slipping his hat over his unruly hair. It was time for Eli Samuels to start getting the lay of the land here, find a place to lay his head and see what all the commotion had been over.