Posted by Ensign Ranlei (Engineering Officer) in The Reason behind the madness (side-sim) (Tag Ensign Ranlei)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Simon Starr (Chief Security Officer) in The Reason behind the madness (side-sim) (Tag Ensign Ranlei)

Posted by Ensign Ranlei (Engineering Officer) in The Reason behind the madness (side-sim) (Tag Ensign Ranlei)
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Ranlei sighed, “I’ll have that sear sir if it’s still available.” She said “I was at the base on a two day holdover. So I offered to help the engineers with non priority jobs. The kind of things that personel report but the staff can’t get to so you get a lot of when will you fix me sonic shower the harmonics are giving me a headache type of thing. So last day of the holdover the chief and a couple of off shift guys take me for a drink as a thank you. Chief Anderson. Technician Sparks, and Reactor specialist Nunzio Di Angelo.
We have round and Kartok son of Druza joins us. He builds housing for the civilians. Couple of rounds later Kartok starts reciting poetry to me. And I hear a angry voice turn and. Next I know I’m in a eva suit sir.”, and she stopped talking and hid her face in her hands, “I’ve been so wrapped up trying to figure out what happened and sort out my feelings and fears. I thought I was being enslaved. You know what happens to Orion women slaves? Hòw can I pass a psych eval when I still feel broken?”, and she wiped her eyes took a deep breath and looked up again. “I need to call the base make sure the guys are ok.”, and she would sit quietly after that staring at the wall still not having looked directly at Lt. Starr.

Ensign Ranlei. Engineer.

Simon listened to Ranlei’s words and made a few notes, writing down the various names that she mentioned. “It’s not easy and I’ll see if I can get an update for you on the base - which starbase were you posted at?” he asked the first question to try and make Ranlei feel a bit more comfortable, and if he could get an update on those she called a friend while she was there, that would be even better.

“Also, you mentioned an angry voice, was it a voice you recognised?” he asked calmly, returning to trying to find out what he could about the incident and how he ended up being told they had a prisoner transfer, that was one of their own officers.

Lieutenant (J.G) Simon Starr, CoS

Ranlei finally looked at Lt. Starr. “I wasn’t assigned to the base. I was waiting on the Ardent Angel a runabout to Ferry me to this ship. I like my job. So I helped out at the base. If I don’t keep busy and try to relax men come out of the woodwork. Sometimes, usually the attention is nice. Sometimes not so much. Men tend to expect to much to fast. Price of being born green. Everyone has opinions formed before they even meet me.”, it sounded like a old complaint and well rehersed. “As for the voice. I can’t say. Didn’t recognise it. Nor did what was yelled register. I heard a yell. Flash of green. Thats all. I remember the poetry Kartok was spouting better. But it was embarrassing erotica I won’t repeat. Maybe a bit flattering but he was again assuming to much because of my species.”, she said. “I think I bounced a shotglass off his head just before the yell actually. Kartok’s head that is.”, and she moved a loose strand of hair from her face then started to twirl and untwirl it with a finger.

Ensign Ranlei. Engineer.

Simon continued to jot down important parts of the engineer’s story. He didn’t have much to go on. A possible lead, but at least there were some persons of interest. “You got very lucky, Ensign, that you ended up where you were meant to be,” Simon commented, thinking about everything that led to this situation. “We will definitely want to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Is this your first official posting then, Ensign?” he asked curiously, trying to ensure he covered all possible leads. The way Simon was asking questions, there was a certain hint of concern for the Ensign and the predicament she found herself in. He had a few theories, but he needed something more concrete than his gut to prove it. He was hoping this was just a case of mistaken identity, and that officers within starfleet were not involved. One of his current theories was someone assuming because Ranlei was an orian woman, she was part of the syndicate. Simon knew a syndicate member when he saw one, and Ranlei just didn’t seem the type to be involved in that sort of circle. The other was it was the syndicate that tried to take Ranlei back to Orian to face their lack-luster criminal system.

Simon had reviewed the syndicate as a possible reason Tom had gone missing, performing research at the Academy into what Starfleet know about them, and their culture. “As to what you asked me, their usually treated worse than second class citizens, expected to stand up for themselves when everyone, including your own people are against you. At least, that’s what I’ve read the Syndicate are like. Pirates and mauraurders, but I am also aware that not every orion is a willing member of that group. For example, your a Starfleet officer. I only want to ensure that if anyone is still after you, you know that it’s our job in Security to ensure you are safe from outside threats while aboard the ship. So, the more information we have, the better we can prepare,” he said. Speaking about the Syndicate obviously brought up a sore spot for Simon as he clenched his fist speaking about them, his voice remaining a cold calm as he did so. He obviously wasn’t the biggest fan of their work.

Lieutenant (J.G) Simon Starr, CoS

Ranlei listened to what the Lt. said, she had meant it as a rhetorical question when she’d asked if he knew what happened to Orion slave girls. “I have never met anyone from my species. I know what people think of them. I have read up on them. There isn’t a lot of concrete data. Only anecdotes, complaints and acusations and a tendency to self destruct rather than be captured. I do know that records of dealings with my species go back a long way. Thousands of years before the Federation. But it’s all the same. Conjecture guesses and accusations. I have no desire to know them better. My birth parents left me and fled a smuggling charge. Didn’t use real names or a actual ship registration. So while I’m green. I still grew up human. Even if no foster parent kept me longer than it took to find a replacement. You know I have a record. At some point your going to look at my history so not going to hide what I was assumed to be. But ever felon is innocent if you ask them. So you’ll have to form your own opinion. Sir.” She said
“My last assignmient was to post graduate studies. Starfeet Intelligence thought because of my species I could be a asset to them. It took a while to convince them I wasn’t about to be that type of person. So I spent a year with them learning how to circumvent every security system known to the Federation. The binders might not of held me if I had not also been in a eva suit. Sorry sir I’m your worst nightmare.” She said with a touch of wry amusement.

Ensign Ranlei. Engineer.

Simon chuckled slightly at the comment. “Trust me, there are worse things I think about regularly,” he said with a sad smile. He thought about all the situations Tom could be in, things that kept him up at night four years ago, but he had accepted as true possibilities in the last few years. One such possibility was capture by the syndicate, considering the ship he was assigned to was last seen near Orion space. He sighed before he continued. “So, based on what you told me, I’m guessing one of two things. Either a case of mistaken identity, which the uniform should have cleared up, and you were taken here assumed prisoner because of your race - which I hope wasn’t the case. Alternatively, the Syndicate wanted you for some reason, probably because of things you know about the fleet’s security systems. It would give them an advantage in sabotage and espionage, that is for sure,” he thought out loud. “Of course, without knowing exactly what happened on the starbase, it will be hard to tell, and there would be no logical reason for me to access such video feeds - so at this point it would probably be best passed on to the Starbase you were helping out at - do you know which one it was?” Simon asked.

Lieutenant (J.G) Simon Starr, CoS

Ranlei played with that strand of hair the entire time the Lt. Spoke and for a long moment after he had finished. “I doubt it’s the syndicate. They don’t seem that well organized. A lot of things indicate what is called the syndicate is a loose structure that keeps one family from accidentally interfering with the others. That much I could tell dispite my being a poor analyst. Intelligence just prefers to let people believe it’s a powerful dangerous entity so normal security keeps their guard up. Of course that is my opinion neither confirmed or denied by anyone.”, she said her voice steadier now.

“In case your curious as to how you convince Intelligence your of no use to them. You just be upright honest and forthcoming. Sir. Sorry I can’t be of more use to you either.” Ranlei offered and started playing with the hair again.

Ensign Ranlei. Engineer.

“Not to worry, sometimes things come back to you when you least expect them to. If that does happen, and you feel it is important, make sure to bring it up with me. In the meantime, I’ll get in contact with the starbase, see if we can find out what happened when you left the bar at the station, and how you left. I’ll keep you informed if I hear anything,” Simon responded. Someone had captured one of the crew, and even though they had yet to arrive here, Simon still felt a sense of responsibility to ensure it didn’t happen again.

“I think that’s everything, just as to which station it was where this all happened, and when possible, we’ll contact them to see if they have any further information as I’m sure they will most likely have their security also perform an investigation into the matter,” Simon continued. As Ranlei was not officially posted there, there was nothing in her service record as to where this happened.

Lieutenant (J.G) Simon Starr, CoS

She stood and nodded. “Starbase 17 sir. Thats the funny part actually. Starbase 17 is where I was born. Lived there bouncing from foster to foster till I was 14. So of course my path to my new assignmient brought me through that base. Of course something more had to happen to make me hate the place even more. Some places are just like that.”, and she faced him “permission to be dismissed sir.”, It was perhaps more formal and fussy about than Starfleet required. But Military academies dealing with troubled teens tended to keep the older traditional practices, and Ranlei had been kept on a tighter leash than most of Drazek Military Boarding Institutes other cadets.

Ensign Ranlei. Engineer.

Simon nodded “Of course, I think we’ve covered everything we can on this matter right now,” he said as he finished writing up the report on the incident, with a recommendation for Starbase 17 to look into the incident on their end to see if they could find who picked up the Ensign in the first place. Whether anything would come of it or not was a different story. He then put the PaDD down as Ranlei left and continued with the rest of the paperwork that came with the job.

Lieutenant (J.G) Simon Starr, CoS