We Don't Tolerate Disloyalty

Posted on Sun Mar 17th, 2019 @ 4:14pm by Lieutenant Commander Kazyah Linn & Lieutenant Reno “Reno-gade” Van Straten

1,037 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Season 1 Interlude I (E2.5)
Location: Brig - Overwatch
Timeline: Prior to Mission 3 briefing

Abril ran down a corridor, though she wasn't sure where it was leading. For now, her biggest concern was to find a way off this station and away from the psychopaths that ran this place. Each LCARS display she passed taunted her with information that she knew she wouldn't be able to access. Even if she already had clearance to use the systems, using it would be a dead giveaway to where she was, and she was hoping to use stealth to her advantage.

She rounded a corner and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw a door labeled "Runabout Hangerbay". She stepped to the door, but the sensor didn't trigger, causing it to remain firmly in place. She frowned as she pushed against the metal, hoping to will the entry to open. After a roll of her eyes, she tried pressing on the panel next to the door, but instead of gaining access, a shimmer of blue light surrounded her and the environment went black.

---

The scene came into view and Abril's heart sank as she saw the familiar surroundings of the brig and Lieutenant Commander Kazyah Linn standing on the other side of the forcefield. She set herself into a frown and crossed her arms over her chest but said nothing.

"Welcome back," the man said, but not much else.

Abril didn't rise to the occasion and remained silent.

"Did you honestly think you'd be able to escape?" he asked grabbing a chair and dragging it in front of her cell. He turned it backwards and sat down, resting his arms on the back. "You don't even know where we are, much less how to find the nearest Starship. And you think your credentials would let you waltz into anywhere?" Kaz chuckled to himself, "It's actually a bit humorous how stupid you can be."

"I knew they wouldn't," Abril finally said. She didn't want to engage with him, but she couldn't sit back and allow him to insult her intelligence.

"Ah, so trying to open the door was just an accident? Oops you slipped and your fingers input your security code?"

Abril blushed but said nothing.

Kaz shook his head. "I had a very simple task for you. This man is a traitor and deserves the punishment he's going to get. All you had to do was follow through and you'd find yourself in a great life here aboard this station. But now you've thrown that away. And what did you benefit?"

Before the woman had a chance to speak, Kaz stood, "Nothing. You gained nothing. In the end, he is still going to die. But you..."

Kaz stood, pushing the chair aside as he turned towards the other brig cell. Punching in a code, the forcefield fell and he pulled a phaser rifle from the duty officer's station. Raising it he raised the setting and pulled the trigger. A burst of light flew from the weapon and hit the Lieutenant directly in the face throwing his head backward against the wall behind him. Blood and gore splattered the wall along with the scorch marks from the energy blast as the man's body slumped forward and fell to the ground.

"Do you understand why this is so angering?" Kaz asked, turning to Abirl, who had a horrified look on her face.

"We don't tolerate disloyalty. Not from you, not from Van Straten. Not even from myself. We pledge our lives in service to the Federation and we go where we are needed. And we do what our superiors tell us to do. That is our life, that is the pledge you took when you became an officer." Kaz set the rifle down on his chair and stepped to the woman's cell.

"You are the worst kind of officer, Abril," he said, his voice lowering to almost a whisper. "You think you know better than those above you. And you have no issue questioning authority and choosing what orders you will and will not follow. That's dangerous, both on this station and within the fleet."

He pressed a button and the forcefield between them disappeared. "That's a shame, really," he said, stepping into her cell. "You had so much potential."

As he took another step, Abril retreated two, pressing herself against the wall. Normally she would consider herself strong and able to withstand any threat, but after seeing someone killed in front of you, that confidence begins to waver. She swallowed hard as she started to try and think of a way to defend herself.

"I brought you here to put your skills to good use." Kaz took another step. "You were being underutilized in your former role. You weren't being challenged. Here, you could have flourished and really been able to challenge yourself and be better than you were." Kaz shook his head, looking down.

Abril saw it, the opportunity she was waiting for. Balling her hands into fists, she lunged forward towards the man.

A split second passed as Kaz moved slightly to the left, throwing Abril's attack off balance. Throwing up a hand, he grabbed her by the wrist, twisted her around and threw her to the ground. "Don't try to think you can best me, little girl," he said. "Few have ever had that opportunity."

He released the woman and walked back towards the chair. "At this point, there's nothing you can do. Your fate is sealed and no one will miss you." Picking up the phaser rifle he turned to face her as she was getting up from the ground. "You've already been declared dead. Transporter accident, how tragic. And I'm the only one on this station who knows who you are and that you were even here. Such a shame this couldn't work out."

He raised his rifle and without a second thought, pulled the trigger. As the body hit the floor, Kaz set the rifle back on the duty officer's station and walked out of the room where the brig officer was standing.

"You may want to clean that up," he said to the Brig officer. "I will be restoring the monitoring systems in that room in twenty minutes. And you wouldn't want to miss that deadline."

 

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