A Different Approach

Posted on 24 Aug 2018 @ 4:19pm by Lieutenant Junior Grade Wyndsor Emerson, Ph.D. & Lieutenant Junior Grade Eira Cortez

Mission: Ka Hakaka Maikaʻi - The Good Fight
Location: Brig, USS Hawaii
Timeline: 3 Jan 2389, 1100 hours

Wyndsor looked up at the screen in response to the alert on her com console, which popped up in the middle of her clinical dictation. These alerts were fairly standard and could reference anything from personnell changes to medical emergencies, and in this case, notices concerning detainees in the brig.

Counseling personnell were informed of such circumstances in case the behavior which landed people in the brig represented a bigger problem that needed to be addressed therapeutically. In some cases, chronic brawling, for example, could be an indication of PTSD or a substance problem.

Frowning at the name blinking in front of her eyes, she couldn't imagine any of those circumstances could apply here. Concerned, she decided to make her way to the brig to find out more.

Eira had just finished talking to Cassidy and had just watched him walk away, only just starting to feel the unfamiliar feeling of hope or excitement or whatever it was, creep into her soul. As she slumped back to the ground with her legs folded, that new feeling got replaced with the all too familiar feeling of dread and anxiety over what was coming next.

She closed her eyes and mentally tried to center herself but could feel the stare of the same security officer Cassidy had spoken to earlier staring at her. "You keep staring at me and I promise it won't end well for you." Eira said softly with a slight edge to her voice. She was snapped out of her concentration by someone new coming into the brig.

Wyndsor nodded her thanks to the brig officer who had accompanied her, catching the last words Eira uttered. Recalling information she had read about an earlier conflict between the intel officer and another member of the crew. In fact, it had been Wyndsor's intention to meet with Cortez about the incident before learning she was in the brig. "Everyone safe here?" It was her way of asking if things were okay, obviously knowing being in the brig was not okay.

"Of course everyone is safe here." Eira stood up and looked at the newcomer. Judging by the uniform, she looked like a counselor. "I'm only here because of a few wrong decisions. But who are you? I haven't seen you around the ship before?"

"I'm Doctor Wyndsor Emerson, the Chief Counselor," she replied by way of introduction. "I thought we might get to know each other and perhaps talk about some of those few wrong decisions?"

"What do you want to know about me? That I like butterflies and hacking into top secret computer systems?" Eira held the counselors gaze, "How much of my file have you actually read? I'm not meaning to sound crass, I'm just more curious than anything."

"Honestly, as I recall there wasn't much to read, considering most of it was listed as classified. Still, I don't remember seeing anything that would suggest you would be capable of such betrayal. I guess you could say I was curious too. Does this have anything to do with what happened earlier? I understand you were in quite the altercation and it nearly caused an interstellar incident."

"So Mr Jones and I had a disagreement that led to an act of self defense, simple as that." Eira shifted to her other foot because her knee was starting to hurt. "As for what happened in the case of the other Captain and his crew, there's a lot more going on than a lot of people, save for Cassidy; I don't trust many people."

"I can respect that it's difficult for you to trust me, if that's the case, but it also seems to me you can't get in a much tougher spot overall. If there's more going on here, would you consider telling me or someone else?"

Eira waved her hand in dismissal, "To be honest, I could: I could be held captive by forces unknown, I could be dead, or I could be completely alone and my brothers dead." It was starting to hit her the more she thought about it that if the latter happened, she really would be alone and that by itself scared her. She didn't know her parents, all three kids grew up in foster homes.. "I'm secretive because I don't want anyone else caught up in my problems. I believe that everything will eventually fix itself."

Wyndsor's surprise was obvious. "I can't imagine anyone's death being a fix for anything." More gently, she offered, "Whatever is going on, I'm sure we can come up with a solution, but if you won't talk, we can only assume all of this is exactly what it looks like."

"Ok fine." Cortez held her hands up in defense and resignation, "Then what do you propose we do, counsellor? Mind you, I assume the new Chief of Security has got something planned for me too."

"I'm sure he does," Emerson agreed, "but once you've given him facts to corroborate, we can all get to the bottom of things for this investigation. Why don't you start from the beginning?"

Cortez sighed and sat back down to stop her knee throbbing, "My brothers and I have always been really close to each other. I looked out for them even though they're older, and they've always protected me. No matter what. After school finished, they went one way and I went the other, but we still had everything: we can lie, cheat, steal and do whatever necessary to survive. It's how we work." She shrugged. "I joined Starfleet and went into Intelligence because it was something I thought I'd be good at, and then they chose me for my second undercover mission, to which I can't tell you about."

"Three years. I've done things I'm really not proud of, and been put in situations I wouldn't want anyone else to be in if they had a choice." She could feel her voice starting to rise but willed it be calm because Eira knew it wouldn't do her any good to look like a complete nutcase. "My brothers, Aiden and Dustin, got themselves mixed up in some sort of shit and now they're being tortured for it. My name and details got thrown in during their interrogation and now I'm being blackmailed into co-operation. Otherwise they both die! If I co-operate, the tiniest chance of a normal career and life goes down the drain because I've betrayed my Captain and his trust. If I don't co-operate, whoever it is holding my brothers and torturing them will have the chance to kill them. So what do you think I'm going to do with these choices presented to me?"

"As for Ensign Jones, the supposed Klingon warrior? That was my smart mouth doing all the talking and the actions that followed happened in pure self defense, because that's the way I've learnt to operate: someone comes at me all angry, the wall comes up and I go with the moment. I've made a friend out of Lieutenant Rafe Cassidy, but even then I'm holding him at arms length away from me so I can't hurt him." Cortez hung her head and stared at the ground. There was still a lot more that she could say but the counsellor really only needed to know the basics of it all.

If she had any doubt Cortez was telling the truth before, Wyndsor didn't any more. Of course, she knew her instincts weren't infallible, but Emerson's gut told her what she was hearing and seeing was genuine. Cortez didn't appear to be so hardened she was beyond help, and the more the other woman talked, the more Emerson was convinced she was looking at a woman who had experienced significant trauma and was reacting out of confusion and impulse.

"I honestly don't know what you're going to do. I won't pretend to know you well after such a short conversation. What I can say from where I'm standing is, you can't do much cooperation with them from a cell, so it seems to me, your best chance for helping your brothers and yourself is to cooperate with us here. I realize doing so will require you to trust someone, something I'm gathering will be one of the hardest things you've ever done in your life, but now I ask you, what other choice do you really have given where you're already sitting and what we know?"

"Yeah, I know I don't have any other choice." Eira sighed and added, "What do you propose we do?" She just wanted out of there.

"I think we need to speak to the Captain directly and go from there. Are you willing to share what you just told me or perhaps allow me to convey it on your behalf?"

A moment of thought and Eira looked at her, "I think it's time to come clean with everything," she smiled a bit.