Interrogating the Bingo Players

Posted on Tue Jul 23rd, 2024 @ 1:44pm by Captain Remy Johansen & Lieutenant Eirly Andersen & Lieutenant JG Xalanth

1,797 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Menagerie: side stories & mischief making
Location: USS Astrea Deck 5 Interrogation Facilities
Timeline: MD Alpha, After Astrea Bingo

The Captain deliberately kept silent during their walk to the interrogation facilities where she would pass the pair off to her two most senior officers in the Security Department. She had refreshed her memory on their names from the PADD that Ensign Patterson had handed her, and bits of their personnel files were coming back to her. Both were less than a year out of the Academy and above average performers both in academics and on the job - just the type of person who was usually attracted to the game. These types of officers had the unfortunate burden of being bored early in their careers before the more meatier assignments start coming their way.

Eirly arrived on the scene and brushed a stray hair off her jacket as she greeted everyone who was already there with a nod before looking over at the Ensigns standing together looking downright sorry, "Captain, Lieutenant. What trouble do we seem to have on our hands here?"

Xalnth waited outside the interrogation facilities for the captain to arrive. "Well well well, aren't we in trouble." He said to the two ensigns. He'd already removed their ability to draw weapons from the ship's armories.

Remy tapped a PADD. "Apparently, there's a game of Astrea Bingo being played on board. Let me make a copy for you, then I'm going to go meet with Commander Spello and Chief Kayto while the two of you handle our ensigns here."

The Captain placed the two compact phasers on a console and stepped over to an LCARS terminal, and copied the contents of the PADD into a file that Andersen and Xalanth could access.

"Thank you, Captain." Eirly raised a brow and moved to the console as she watched Remy walk out. Looking at the data she muttered under her breath to Xalanth, "Are you seeing this? How did they think they could get away with something like this?" She herself had had a similar opportunity to play bingo but had chosen not to and didn't regret it in the long run.

The lizard rolled his eyes as he looked at the list. True he had done some truly stupid things in his time alive, but this was something else. " How do you want to play this boss?" He said quietly and well out of earshot of the two idiots.

Eirly replied just as quietly, "I'm all for playing the good cop bad cop kind of scenario," and a glance back to the Ensigns saw them standing there nervously not knowing what was in store for them both, "What would you do in this situation?"

"Sounds like a good plan. I'll go with the bad cop the whole reptilian look always helps with that." Xalanth replied quietly.

Eirly just grinned: she knew the two Ensigns wouldn't know what to make of Xalanth, even if he was one of the nicest guys on the ship. "Shall we do this?"

Jayl and Patterson stole a quick glance at one another, before turning their attention forward. They were standing shoulder to shoulder awaiting their fate. No one really knew much of anything about Andersen or Xalanth. Perhaps they should have figured these things out before getting caught doing something stupid.

Xalanth walked over to the two slowly flicking the phaser between his figures as he did so. " I take it neither of you two has actually ever been shot with one of these before have you?" he said coldly.

Ensign Jayl shook her head in short rapid movements. "No sir," she responded. Her throat was dry and her voice cracked.

Ensign Patterson continued to stand at attention, unsure if the question was hypothetical as he had not been told to speak.

" Ensign Patterson what is the first thing you're taught about handling a phaser at the academy," Xalanth said turning to the silent ensign his yellow unblinking eyes staring deep at him with a primaeval look that always seemed to terrify mammals.

"That they should only be fired when necessary as a defensive mechanism, and nonlethal force is always a first resort." The ensign kept his head forward and tried to not focus on the piercing looks the Dragonian officer was giving him.

" Exact words of the text. The text that every Starfleet officer should know when they start weapons training. Hell, my seven-year-old daughter knows them. So why were the two of you playing at cowboys and Indians in the corridor?" the lizard said in the same flat tone he had been using.

Ensign Patterson fought against the corners of his mouth turning up. Despite being terrified of the Assistant Chief, hearing the Dragonian talk about Cowboys and Indians painted a humorous picture in the ensigns mind.

James coughed to cover up his reflex to laugh. "An experiment, Sir. A poor lapse in judgement. It won't happen again."

Eirly, who'd been keeping quiet to let the new Assistant Chief take the reins for a bit and show what he can do, raised an eyebrow and smiled sweetly before she stepped forward. Everyone may think she was a bit of a pushover and that she was all sunshine, cupcakes and rainbows, but it was mostly for show. "A poor lapse in judgement? Really? That's the best you can come up with?"

She pondered for a moment and looked at Jayl, "What would've happened if you hadn't checked the phasers were set to stun? Or if you would've missed the other person and hit someone not involved in this game, maybe even a civilian? Hmm? What would you have done then? Run away from the scene and not told anyone about it until it was forced out of you or the guilt overwhelmed you?"

Ensign Jayl shook her head quickly her eyes to the floor. "We double checked, lowest settings, Ma'am. We wouldn't have let anyone get hurt. We checked the corridors."

"Yes," Eirly replied with a slight tone of annoyance, "But what I'm saying is, what if you hadn't done that?"

Jayl looked back at Eirly, and over at Patterson and hoped for support. "I mean, that would have been bad, but that was part of the game."

"Why are you just seeming to shrug this off like it's not a serious situation?" Eirly cocked her head in response as she looked at the Ensign. She knew Patterson was already too terrified of Xalanth to do anything but keep his eyes focused on him, so he wouldn't be any support for his friend. "Tell me this: who else, besides you two, are playing this game?"

Jayl shook her head, "I wouldn't know, Ma'am. Usually just ensigns and enlisted. It's tradition on a newly christened ship of certain classes. O-only when we aren't at war, of course."

Funny no one ever thought of asking me. Xalanth thought to himself, though that may have been due to his entire free time being dedicated to his daughters. " Names please Patterson or do you want to be scrubbing out the waste disposal tank with a toothbrush?" The lizard added.

Patterson's cheeks turned red with embarrassment. "I really don't know sir. We just got the list from the Lower Deck's message board. It didn't have a name attached to it or anything."

"Time and date it was added to the message board?" Xalanth replied?

"I saw it a day and a half ago, I think, Sir. Whatever day I put it on my PADD is the day I saw it," Patterson responded. "I didn't pay much attention to the post date."

Xalanth snorted. " Very well. Now for punishment. What do you think ma'am?" he asked his new boss.

Jayl tried not to shift around on her feet too much while she waited for the Security Chief's answer. She was barely out of the Academy. What a stupid thing to ruin her career over. Phasers!, What was she thinking? She wanted to beg for mercy but was afraid to speak.

Eirly simply cocked an eyebrow and shot a bit of a sideways glance at Xalanth while she smiled a close-lipped smile that turned up at one corner. Her eyes, however, gleamed, "I think that an alternating month's worth of holodeck waste collection for both of you, one week at a time starting tomorrow, seems appropriate, along with probation as well." She looked at Jayl specifically when she said the next part, "I have a good standing with Commander Winters so he'll be informed promptly about this incident, and I'll be noting it on both your records." Then she looked to Patterson, "As for you, it's purely bad luck on your part that you got caught by the Captain, no less. She made it a point that she was going to speak with the XO about what to do with you, so I'll leave that up to them."

"As for now though, I am confining you both to your quarters until your next shift starts. Understood?" Internally, Eirly was hoping that punishment wasn't too harsh, but on the outside, she maintained composure because she didn't want to be seen as weak in a position such as this.

"Yes, ma'am," both responded almost but not quite in unison. Game over for them. It could have been a lot worse, they did get caught doing one of the worse offenses of the game. Neither officer moved a step, waiting for the dismissal order.

" Dismissed," Xalanth said as he watched them leave before turning to his boss. " Shooting each other with phasers. You'd think the holodeck isn't a thing. Want me to try and see who's been passing this bingo game around and give them a clip behind the ears?" he asked

Eirly nodded in appreciation as she watched the Ensigns' walk out, "I did like your part about the cowboys and Indians, that was a nice touch. And it would be appreciated if you could do that please, discipline is definitely lacking here and you've got the fear factor I don't, so I have all the faith that you'll get the answers." She smiled at him and added, "Please let me know once you have."

" Will do ma'am." Xalanth said as he headed for the door. He had an idea or two to help get discipline up. Here's hoping the crew would appreciate it.

She watched as he walked out and felt a slight headache coming on, so she decided to make a quick detour to Medical before she took the evidence up to the Captain for her to handle the rest.

---

Lieutenant JG Xalanth
Assistant Chief Tactical Officer
USS Astrea


Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea

&NRCs:
Female Ensign Jayl Fenna, Bajoran Engineering, &
Male Ensign James Patterson, Human General Rotation Command Track

Lieutenant Eirly Andersen
Chief Security & Tactical Officer
USS Astrea

 

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