Miss Manners

Posted on Thu Jun 21st, 2018 @ 1:56am by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Commander Fiona McCray
Edited on on Thu Jun 21st, 2018 @ 1:59am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Future Tense
Location: Interview room somewhere on Earth
Timeline: 2285
Tags: Jones

Breakfast had been served, and she had been escorted from her cell... they were small guest quarters, but the doors did not open when she approached them, and tinkering with the systems produced an armed guard in her doorway. She was isolated from the others and unable to communicate with anyone save who they allowed her contact, which so far was her 'interviewer'.

So while they may have called them quarters, Fiona called it a cell.

She was escorted to the small windowless room where she had previously been 'interviewed' and she sat down in the interviewer's chair, with her back to the door, just to be difficult. No sense in making it any easier on them, she reasoned. Screw 'em if they can't take a joke... she was a prisoner of her own fleet. Compliance was not high on her 'to do' list.

The door swished open behind her and she heard the interviewer chuckle as he saw her seated with her back to him. He paused then strode into the room, peeking around from the opposite side of the table with a wry smile. "I think you might be in my seat there, Lieutenant Commander."

Fiona slowly looked up from the PDD she'd been fiddling with. It was a closed unit full of nothing but fiction and holos. She quirked an eyebrow at the interviewer then slowly and deliberately leaned back in the chair and propped her feet up on the table. The outdated uniform promptly slid up to nearly indecent heights but she'd remembered to wear the scants beneath it- a lesson she'd learned the hard way back in her Academy days. "You can think whatever ye wish" she said drily then went back to reading. At least today she wasn't being totally silent.

"Lieutenant Commander Fiona Mary McCray. Fifth generation Starfleet... your great grandfather worked in the Utopia Planitia shipyards assembling the very first NX model, and there've been McCray's working in, on or about Starfleet vessels ever since. Youngest of six, the little sister to five Starfleet brothers and Starfleet parents... some shoes to fill there. Yet you dove right into an engine room and never came up for air. And here you are... breaking the laws of physics, time and space just to be difficult."

"Ain't you supposed to be dead?"

Fiona's lips twitched slightly. "I'm Scottish... I'm simply upholding a national tradition," she looked up and shrugged. " Aren't ye supposed tae have a handlebar moustache and a long black cape?"
She set the PDD down on the table and crossed her arms.

That brought a taut smile to her interrogator's face... one that didn't reach his eyes, but broadcasted insincerity. "Fraid I'm not the bad guy here, Miz McCray. I didn't show up out of the blue claiming to be twenty years outta time, miraculously delivered by a freak accident from a certain demise."

Fiona held up a hand. "Lieutenant Commander... its Lt.Commander McCray," she said tersely, then shrugged. "And can the bullshit aboot claimin' tae be. You've pointed oot thet I have a family tradition with tha Fleet and everyone kens that a full DNA workoop is done on all Fleet personnel. SO ye know I'm who I claim to be"

"Now that is true, I'll grant ya that," he said, pacing back and forth behind her. "But then, you could be a clone. Or an overlay of genetic material. So DNA is a good test but it ain't the end-all be-all, and we both know that, now don't we... Lieutenant Commander?"

Fi's cupid's bow lips pursed and she gave a soft snort. "Why don't ye stop beatin round tha boosh an' joost ask me straight oop what ye want tae ask. I'm not gettin any younger, an ye're lookin a bit long in the tooth yerself," she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just come right out and ask? Now what kind of mustache-twirling villain would I be if I did that, just lay my cards on the table right out? Nah, I like my way better. I'm feelin ya out, Fi... gettin' ta know you, gettin' a feel for ya beyond everything that's in the service jacket and the medical scans and the company you keep."

Fiona's eyes narrowed slightly at the diminutive use of her name, then she smiled slowly " Ah yes, tha company I keep. Somehow I think thet's tha whole crux of tha matter," she said as she stretched slightly, "Now we're gettin somewhere."

The man in black paced around to the front of the table, his hands clasped behind his back, his demeanor casual, but when he spoke, though his voice was soft, his sharp eyes were watching for her reaction. "What can you tell me about Siivas McKenzie?"

Fiona toyed with one long red curl and smiled guilelessly up at him. "Dr.McKenzie? I kin tell you thet he's not Scottish... at least, not by birth. I kin tell you thet he always warms his speculums before doing exams... which believe me is a grrreat kindness. He's always treated me with kindness an' respect tha few times I've come in contact with him. Other than thet I dinna kin anything aboot tha man other than he's the Chief Medical Doctor aboard the Bonnie... and he was there shortly after our shuttle crashed. I remember little flashes of that. He was verra gentle, concerned." She shrugged and regarded her interrogator from beneath her brows. "He's always acted like a doctor around me... thet sums up my knowledge oov tha man."

"That's interesting to me," the interrogator replied, raising his index finger in the air and wagging it as he spoke. "I woulda thought you woulda known him better. Had a deeper relationship with him. After all, he resigned his active commission in Starfleet as soon as you 'died', and by all reports, he looks exactly the same today as he did twenty years ago." He paused to sit on the edge of the table, putting his hands together in his lap.

"You know he once survived a spatial anomaly by putting himself into suspended animation for nearly sixty years? Damned if it doesn't look like he did the same thing just so's he could be there with a great big Deltan ship so's he could catch you and oh so gently lower you to the ground when you decided to rejoin us in the linear timestream."

"Funny he would do all that for someone who claims to barely know him. Doncha think that's funny? I know I certainly do."

Fiona shrugged. "Doctors are odd ducks. They get very attached to their patients," she said with a smile. "My father is... or was... a doctor. Since I'm being blocked from any communications or current events I'm not sure if he's alive or dead," she shook her head and sighed. "I barely know the doctor... I was fairly new to the Bonnie, so other than a few professional encounters and bumping into one another in the hallways there wasn't mooch contact between us. He stayed oot my engine room and I endeavored to stay oot oov his sickbay."

Her lips pursed again and she chuckled " As for the relationship you're pussy footin' around... I'm not tha doctor's type."

"Really? Pants wearing gal like you, I figured you'd be just the kinda filly he'd wanna go shoe shopping with, Fee-ohna." He fixed her with a 'good old boy' grin that made him look suspiciously like a politician for a moment as he awaited her reaction... and got none. He dropped the smile as quickly as it had come up. "How about that pussycat pal of yours, whatsername, Luna?"

"Se-lune." Fiona gave him a chillingly pleasant smile "and she's Caitian... only friends kin call her pussycat an' get away with it. She's one hell of a pilot. All around nice person and good tae have around in a crisis"

Her eyes narrowed at him and she studied his craggy face closely. "Next?"

Cocking his head at her he shook it for a few seconds then stood up. "You're mighty defensive of your friends, Miss McCray. Quite loyal... that's admirable, I suppose. Any particular reason you're so defensive of the housecat with thumbs?"

Fiona had seen Char toss her hair a thousand times, so she tried it on for size and it fit fairly well. She gave the interviewer a truly wicked smile. "It's... tha furrrr. So soft" she gave a little shudder and sigh.

Snickering, he nodded. "Like I said, pants-wearin femme like you, best gal for a fella to go shoppin with. So who's on who, or do ya trade off?"

Fiona spread her hands and shrugged. "Oh, it's joost a big round robin. You know how we girls are... pillow fights get oot oov hand..." She'd been called a dyke from the moment she'd picked up a wrench- this was nothing new nor original.

"You want to skip the part where you try tae make me loose my temper by throwing slings at my sexuality thet are a couple oov centuries oot oov date?"

"Hm? Sorry, I was still picturin' that pillow fight. That busty Romulan gal get in on those too?" he asked casually.

Fiona's expression didn't change. She was one hell of a poker player.

"Since we're rolling around in your fantasy land... sure... why not? You got us. We'd slipped off tae the mountains fer a little interspecies romance."

"It was tha stoof oov best-sellin porn holos" she shrugged, "until the men with guns showed up."

The man in the nondescript black coverall leaned in across the table, placing his palms flat against the surface, and his eyes hardened. "So you know."

Fiona shrugged, "I would hae thought it was obvious. Vulcans don't smile."

"And you never reported it. Romulan, on your ship, infiltrating Starfleet, access to our technical schematics, blueprints... command codes... and you never somehow thought to arrest her, forget about maybe point out that she was a spy?" He stood and began slowly pacing as he spoke. "Slip your mind? Or maybe you thought your best judgement was called for and you just made a command decision for the rest of us, was that it? Seeing how you obviously know better than, oh, the rest of the fleet?"

Fiona applauded slowly, "Nice badass act...a little oover tha top in spots boot on tha whole, nicely nuanced," she sighed.

"Yes... I knew that Char was Romulan because she told me. I'd actually started doing research on Vulcans because her behavior wasn't adding oop. She was too likeable. Moost Vulcans are pricks an awfully damned proud of it." She shrugged and continued, "No, I didn't report her because I saw no evidence of any behavior that wasn't in the best interest oov the Fleet."

"She was an excellent Science officer and first officer. The captain knew thet she was Romulan and he wasna burnin oop tha comm station, so why would I? She... told me. It was a confidence between friends and it was hard for her to come forward and give me thet trust. I'd be a piss poor friend and an even worse officer if I betrayed that in a moment oov panic."

At that he pulled out a modern sleek and thin PDD, and handed it to her with a frown. "Vega 7... that crater there is from one of the Tal Shiar Subversive Directorate's sleeper agents. Suicided in the center of a city of three point four million people with a thermonuclear device. Two million, seven hundred thousand casualties." He tapped a tab and the image changed to the remains of a starship, debris in space. "The USS Armstrong, crew complement of two hundred and seventy-three... and one Romulan 'science officer'. Analyzed an incoming transmission, then explosively decompressed the entire ship. Two survivors... he wasn't one of them.

"I appreciate that you think they're people, Lieutenant Commander, but they're not. They're bombs, disruptors, torpedoes... weapons of mass destruction on two legs that look like allies and usually act like them, but in point of fact they are just waiting for a signal to reach them, tell them what to do, and then they go off." He leaned in close and spoke in a whisper.

"They go off, and they kill a whole lot of innocent people."

The PDD clattered across the table as he tossed it to her, then turned and faced the wall, his hands clasped behind his back.

"So... was it a wife... or a child thet ye lost?" Fiona asked quietly "I figure this amount oov relentless...investigation is a personal vendetta," she shook her head slowly. "They tried tae activate Char on Risa... before she told me everything. They failed. No matter what you might want tae believe the weapons start out as people... actually, they start oot as children."

"They're stripped to the soul and beyond, then reprogrammed. Char managed to break through thet programming and regain herself. She's rebuilt her being from the ground oop and she's a loyal Star Fleet officer. Otherwise the Bonne Chance would hae been in tha hands oov tha Romulans 20 years ago and you and I would no be here having this pointless albeit entertaining conversation."

The pacing stopped and he regarded her with a cockeyed smirk that only took on one side of his face, that looked surprisingly familiar to Fiona. "And you genuinely believe all of that? No chance that she's compromised you, messed with your mind, seduced you by saying what she knew would work on you... you're one hundred percent positive that everything you think about this Romulan spy is all of your own free will and your own volition?"

Fiona snorted. "You've been scannin my brain fer days now... you tell me," she shook her head. "Yes, I'm sure. No, she didn't coerce me intae anything. That's a bit oov a tall order. My family doesn't coax or bamboozle easily."

She shifted slightly in her seat and sighed resignedly. "God's own truth... she wouldn't have had tha time. We've been a mite busy since the moment I stepped foot on tha Bonnie." She shrugged and admitted, "Yes I am aware thet things can be done with drugs and such boot if you've scanned me... and I know you have... you would be able to detect tampering."

The interrogator pursed his lips and chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, then narrowed his eyes slightly. "Let me ask you something, Lieutenant Commander McCray. I'm wearing no insignia... no rank, no uniform... you haven't seen any anywhere since you've been here. What makes you so sure I'm even Starfleet?"

Fiona chuckled " Well... truly... you cuid be anyone... including a Romulan. BOOT you haven't employed extreme measures and if ye were Romulan you'd be trying harder tae convince me thet ye were Fleet," she explained as she tapped the PDD. "Thank understatement for lending your performance veracity."

Nodding, he smiled a close-lipped smile that looked like the first genuine expression she'd seen out of him so far. "Name's Jones, Lieutenant Commander. It's a pleasure to meet you. I do hope you understand why we're putting you through all of this," he said as he offered her his hand.

"Aye, I understand it... boot I dinna like it." She glanced down at the offered hand as if it were covered in shit. "Poot thet away before ye get embarassed. I'm not terribly forgiving and I dinna like being jerked around for weeks," she stared levelly at him. "If you're through poking at me, I would like to see my crewmates and I want to contact my family."

With a look of resignation he rescinded the offer of a handshake. "All right. Be patient, Lieutenant Commander. It looks like things are shaping up and falling into place, and you've helped our investigation along by verifying a few things. We need to proceed carefully with this... it's a delicate matter. You three became a bit known for... well, 'perishing' as you did, and discovering after the fact that we had a viper so close to our bosom so many years later... well, as I said, it's..."

"Put a crimp in yer cool?" Fiona snorted. "Thet viper is a guid woman. Treat her well and you will have the most loyal officer in tha history oov Starfleet and a golden opportunity tae potentially bridge the gap between Romulans and Humans...not today oor tomorrow perhaps boot in tha future she could prove tae be key to showing booth sides thet we can live in harmony."

"It's a tightrope" the petite engineer tapped the table lightly, "and it's a truly unorthodox situation. Standard solutions joost willna work here"

That cockeyed smirk returned, and Fiona realized just why it looked familiar... it was the same expression Char made when she was being a smartass. "Unconventional solutions indeed, Lieutenant Commander. And let's hope for all of our sakes that you're right..."

"I usually am... and believe me, it's a right terrible curse being right so often." The beatific smile was insufferable, as was the comment... but then, both were intended to be just that.

 

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