Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Sausage and Scuttlebutt

Posted by Lieutenant Casela Synthi-er (Counsellor / RTF) in Sausage and Scuttlebutt

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Sausage and Scuttlebutt
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

OOC: November 2020

IC:
=^=Synthi-er to Cobb. I need you in my office, Please.=^= Cobb would be able to tell, she was rattled by something.

=^= On my way, lass. On my way. =^= came the reply.

Something had happened. Cobb had grown to know Casela well enough over the past few months to almost take that calm, controlled demeanour for granted. Which made it all the more unnerving when that control slipped. As it had in her message just then.

Grabbing a bottle of aldebaran whiskey, he made his way quickly to the counselling deck and, without knocking, used his own clearance to access her office.
“What is it?” he asked, his eyes searching the room for her. “What’s happened?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

She was pacing her office, and despite being a decent sized office, as far as they went, the size of an office did not lend itself to pacing unless it was Cobb’s ready room. Upon entering and the door closing she pulled a small device out of her pocket and hit a button, the room sealing itself from unwanted ears and eyes. She paced a few more times before finally coming to a stop by her desk. “It’s…well it might be a matter of ship’s security.” And of course that would mean that she should have contacted Cmdr Raauhl as well. But she was trying to keep those lines firmly clear. Should she have, or wait till she knew for sure. And honestly she was rattled, never in all her years, even with Mad Man, had she ever been this rattled and pissed off. If this wasn’t just a weird coincidences. If someone had taken her cousin and was using her to their own gain against Casela, heads were going to roll in unique and painful ways.

Zachariah nodded, then silently procured and filled two glasses from his bottle. “Go on, lass,” he attempted to reassure Casela that she had his full attention, despite the presence of a newly-topped glass.

“This is what’s wrong.” She spun the computer interface on her desk around. There was a picture of Casela, but with startlingly blue eyes, maybe a bit younger. But the name said “En Juliet Anders, Security, USS Leviathan.” Casela hadn’t reached out to her contacts yet. It would bring notice from people and she didn’t want Shadow Man looking at her right now, not with the crew and so many that could be used against her. Not until she got the go ahead from Cobb.
Lt Synthi-er, CNS (totally rattled and stunned to inaction)

Placing his hands on the desktop, Cobb leaned in close to fully scrutinise the image, his eyebrows rising rapidly as he absorbed each detail in turn. Then, settling into a vacant chair, he indicated towards the image with his glass before commenting, “I saw her name on the intake roster. Didn’t have an accompanying image though. I think you’d better start at the beginning, Cas. Who the hell is Juliet Anders and, more importantly, what does she mean to you?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Casela didn’t take the drink, not now, she needed her head about her. “I don’t know who Juliet Anders is. But that woman is Juliet Arur. She is…was…” no she was certain of this point, “IS my cousin. We lost her after the occupation. We…we had news,” and she’s up pacing again. The limited space and inability to act, to do something about this irritating her, agitating her. “There was force of Jem’hadar set to head past their home. I went to get them, I went to get her. I don’t know if my uncle and aunt would have come with me, but Juliet…I had to get her.” More pacing, the room getting smaller due to her lengthened pace. “I…I missed them. They were gone, I couldn’t find out where they went. Not then. After…after we found out my uncle and aunt … died. But Juliet, she was gone. Several worlds took our orphans when family couldn’t be found. We don’t know how she ended up in that group. But she never ended up in the rescue orphanages.” She turns suddenly, her fist impaling the wall violently. The rage would be familiar to Zachariah, so similar to the story of Ashlyn Trenton. Except of self loathing, something has turned that rage outward. “I have no idea where she,” she points at the picture, “came from or why she is here. I know it’s her, I would know her mind anywhere, but she does not know me.” She turns a dangerous gaze towards Cobb. “I am concerned that someone has sent her here because of me. And that puts the ship at risk. It’s possible she does know me but is very adept at hiding it. She may not know she was sent here for me, she…I don’t know. But.” She would love nothing more than this to be a happenstance of fate to have Juliet returned to her, but her history, her job, her time in Star Fleet, simply who she is, the threat of Shadow Man makes her unwilling to take anything for granted.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

At the punch he was on his feet, moving quickly over to Casela and placing strong hands on her shoulders, partly for comfort and partly to restrain her from inflicting further damage on his ship. Or herself.
“Easy now, lass,” he soothed, “take a breath and let us work through this logically. Have you talked to this woman and found out what she does know yet? There is nobody better placed on this ship to unlock the secrets of the mind than yourself and your team. Now we can take steps to protect the crew from her presence, if it becomes warranted. And we can take equal steps to protect her from…well, we will cross that bridge if it becomes necessary.”

Casela shrugged, the rage at whatever was going on driving her, tempered only by the memory of her cousin. “Briefly I spoke to her. Watkins did her onboarding. Said she was competent for her job. No evidence that she was involved in what brought her team down. She was hesitant to open up. She wasn’t ready and Watkins didn’t push her. Nothing different from anyone else on this boat. I spoke to her, she denied being Arur. That could be traumatic amnesia, brainwashing, or exceptional training. She is spec ops after all. She doesn’t recognize me at all. Me, the doctor, and you are the only people with access to see she’s Betazoid. I change who I am as needed. She’s changed herself permanently so that people always see her as human.” Casela shrugged at that. If she didn’t change personalities so often it’s what she would have done.

He attempted to lead her back to the desk and the measure of calm offered by seating. “But to enable us to do any of that, first we must find out everything we can about what we’re dealing with here.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

She went back to the desk with him, but leaned against it instead of sitting. “That’s the thing, I can find out, but should I? I’ve already grabbed the displeasure of the brass, of the shadow. IF she’s tied to any of that and I go snooping, it won’t end well for me. I’m okay with that. What I’m not okay with is if they decide to come after the crew to get to me. Best case they recall me and I go. Worst case ....” she left that hanging in the air.

“We could certainly confront it here, but have you looked at her combat record and training?” She pulls it up on the screen. “I’d be going up against my doppelganger, mentally and physically.” The similarities between them was uncanny. And it raised the question if someone had done that intentionally.
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

“Aye,” he nodded at the service record being displayed on the terminal, “I’ve seen. And as the captain of this ship, I have to say, she’s an asset I would consider myself fortunate to have on my team. If I knew no more than what was written there, that is.”

He sighed and gulped at his drink. “It seems we have two choices here. We accept her as presented to us and hope that the gift does not turn out to be a trojan horse. And that would mean you having to live with her being on board and working side by side with her as part of the RTF. Or,” he continued, “we dig. And you’re not the only one with connections on this ship. Maybe, for your own safety, we should hand this one over to Remington, see what he might be able to uncover?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Casela started pacing again, this time just in thought. “I hate being on this ship,” she muttered. Zachariah would understand though, she’d been on her own for so long. The risk to herself was nothing, it didn’t bother her. She’d simply do what had to be done. On board Leviathan she had a very large crew to consider. And she was never one to risk innocent lives, but Levi was different. They were family and it forced her to pause and wait. And waiting for someone else to make the decision that needed to be made was hard. Could she do it? Of course, did she want to? Not at all. She stopped pacing and looked at him. “Before I would have taken my shuttle and just taken care of it, no matter the outcome. Now…” she was tempted to punch something again in frustration but figured Zachariah would put his foot down over this.

“Aye,” Cobb nodded. The weight of responsibility, to have the lives of so many at your fingertips, was a burden that most struggled to bear. Especially when that weight restricted one’s abandon for their own, apathetic existence.

It goaded her to give Remington more information about her and why she did what she did, but…but she’d taken him to Delotha. And that was her greatest secret and he hadn’t betrayed them. She settled into a chair, finally. “You know this bugs me, but you’re right. If there is a paper trail, Remington will find it. Hell he found us didn’t he?”
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS

“I know,” Zachariah winked, a trace of smug satisfaction flitting across his face. “But he’s the best at what he does and right now that is exactly what we need.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Casela nodded from her chair. Cobb looked just a little too smug at her expense, but he was right. “Alright, but in the mean time I can’t promise or even guess what will happen the next time we run into each other. And I’m still the ship’s counselor and if there is something going on with her, well, as you said, my staff and I are very good at what we do.” She got, opened hidden locker in the wall and took out a bottle and a glass and set it on the desk. A bottle of Glenfiddich 21 year old single malt Scotch whiskey. She opened it and poured a glass. “I procured this for you. I hope it’s as good as it was recommended to be.” She handed it to him and then took a seat. “Alright, my problem aside. I was on my way to see you when I discovered Juliet, to discuss our new CSO. I just finished my evaluation with him. I had to sanitize my office after he left. This man is going to need careful watching. Let’s talk about him.”
Lt. Synthi-er, CNS