Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Brig, Day 2- Disentanglement

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Zef Rollo (Counselor) in Brig, Day 2- Disentanglement

Meeting Zef’s gaze, Faye nodded and rose to her feet. A part of her knew that she should do some more yoga, just to keep moving, but she was so tired at this point.

(snip)

Pretha nodded to Zef that she could come back. Once inside, she activated the force field once more and went to get the drink for Faye. Coming back a moment later, she handed it to Zef and once more solidified the energy wall and went back to her desk to make notes of the shower and the drink in the logs.

Pretha
CRIT Ldr

The counselor noted Faye chose somewhere other than the cot to be. “Feel any better at all?”

“I’ll feel better when I’m out of here,” Faye said bluntly. Her attitude was back- that was likely a good sign.

The comment about crawling out of her skin was a concern. “Faye, you know this is just a room. Its like any other except you don’t have an open door. But there’s a bed, a cover and pretty much anything you want that Lt Oberon can get for you. The problem you’re having is inside of you.” She turned the chair she’d sat in earlier towards where the other woman stood in the corner.

No shit, Faye thought, giving Zef a withering glare through her upwards stretched arms. “You’d feel differently if was your life on the line, trust me. And even the prettiest room can be a prison.”

“I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on. Is there anything you can tell me?”

—Rollo, CNS

Dropping her arms, Calloway sighed and then eyed Rollo. Moving back across the small holding cell, Faye reached down for her blanket, picked it up and folded it lengthwise in half. She set it on the bench and sat down grudgingly. But at least now the sensation was different. Picking up the protein drink, she quickly downed half of it before setting it down, immediately regretting ingesting anything. Her stomach rebelled.

“When I woke up in Sickbay on the USS Atlantis after somehow surviving being chased by two Romulan warbirds across the border, I immediately thought it was a trick. Because it always had been. I still regret taking that poor engineer hostage, but in my defence I was still drugged out of my mind and I didn’t know which way was up.” A deep breath. “But the thing that struck me the most, that settled deep within me and helped convince me I was finally somewhere safe was the fact that they used my name. I was suddenly Faye, or Lieutenant Calloway. With the Tal Shiar I had no identity other than Prisoner, the prisoner. For over nine months, what I do actually remember was a bunch of games and a lack of identity amongst a myriad of pain and a desire to die. The line between reality and some concocted fantasy is much thinner at the moment,” Faye said.

Leaning forward, she braced her arms on her legs and tilted her head ever so slightly, inviting a closer and quieter conversation. “I don’t have time to tell you everything. But… I’m not just Faye Calloway, a scientist specially assigned to the Manhattan, I’m also a senior field agent with Starfleet Intelligence. And Mother Dearest is here investigating a group of officers who have orders with origins that can’t be traced. My primary orders are good, but my secondary? They don’t know where they come from. We don’t have time to get into the nitty gritty of external groups and how they might operate to make this happen, but what the reality is here is that I am being set-up. Any evidence that is concocted will be exceptionally good and hard to prove is falsified. These people are steps ahead and that means I’m running out of time. If I am removed from this ship, it’s game over. No one will see me again.” Faye winced. “So I suggested we get ahead and force the issue by arresting me for different charges. The weapon I fired? Handed to me- I was told to sell it.” Faye’s hands started shaking. “I contacted my handler while I was on the run in the jefferies tubes and he’s on his way, for better or worse. But… counsellor?” Faye looked up at her, eyes welling. “It’s too similar in here to before. The brig is nearly the same size and while I can remind myself of the differences, there are too many similarities and my mind keeps slipping.” She looked down at her grey clothing before looking back up at Rollo. “And they took my uniform…” she whispered, her voice catching. How could she explain that the choice to slip on that uniform meant a promise, one of the few Faye could guarantee she’d keep. That she could have walked away at any point, but she kept slipping on the uniform. A wash of shame flowed over her and she bowed her head tiredly weary of this place she was in yet again. Another prison, but this time of her own devising.

~Faye Calloway, Prisoner

Zef knew it would be an intricate situation that landed Faye in the brig, but she had no idea it would be that bad. No wonder the woman before her had so many personal issues to deal with every day of her life. She’d been through so much. But how to help her immediately? The things Faye had endured would take months, maybe even years, of therapy to deal with.

“From what you’ve said, there isn’t much time to put you in a position where you feel more in control, so we’ll have to be creative.” The counselor got up from the chair and began to pace while she thought of ways to make Faye feel more confident in herself for her meeting with her handler and the Captain, instead of giving in to the victim she was.

—Zef, CNS