Fallout

Posted on Mon Dec 24, 2018 @ 4:19am by Lieutenant Annora Tessaro

663 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Doors of Perception
Location: Holodeck 12
Timeline: 22:57 hours/ Day 2

On:

...”The room suddenly grew quiet so I turned around to see our lead instructor standing in the doorway.”

During the pause in Annora’s story, Crewman Ancharski interjected. She’d been engrossed in the story from the start.

“What happened, did you get in trouble?”

Chief Petersen had gathered most the senior security staff along with a few junior members to celebrate Annora’s promotion. A larger party at Poseidon's Palace was planned for later that week. As the evening progressed, those left began swapping stories from the various service schools they had attended.

“Surprisingly, very little was said. She started at everyone for a solid minute before telling us to carry on. With that, she spun on her heel and exited the room. Once she left, we all scrambled to put the room back in order and carry on with studying. While I’m sure the other instructors had a good laugh over it, us cadets never faced any repercussions from the incident.”

Jalinka was about to speak, when Annora’s combadge chirped.

“Sorry to bother you ma’am, but you’ll want to turn on the news. The previews promised an interesting lead story.”

“Thank you Ensign, I’ll check it out. Sam, switch to channel four will ya?”

The room grew quiet as the holographic bartender changed the feed on the monitors. While it wasn’t unusual for Security to monitor the news, it was rare for those reports to warrant any action.

"Daniel Reyes, FNN security correspondent for this sector is no stranger to hard interviews..."And there you have it. When asked a reasonable question, Commander Ryan has no qualms, no hesitation. He attacks. As the humans say... I think he doth protest too much."


As the station cut to commercials, Sam turned down the volume.
“The station’s XO decking a reporter, that can’t bode well for PR.”

The ice-cubes rattled as Annora set her drink down on the table.

“No it does not. When I talked with Mr Reyes this morning he stopped short of outright accusing the department and station Brass of covering up Commander Ryan’s involvement in the Ambassador’s death. I finally told him to bring any legitimate concerns to Internal Affairs before ending the interview. I sent a message to them and Commander Ryan about the interview, then went on with my day.”

As the news came back on Petersen asked the question on everyone’s mind.
“So what now Lieutenant, how do you want to handle this? Justified or not, I doubt the Commander punched Mr Reyes unprovoked.”

The security chief smiled a bit as she picked her glass back up. She thought back to her training and past experiences regarding the press.

“I’m betting someone put Mr Reyes up to pushing the story. It’s been several weeks since the murder, and he’s just now pushing the cover up theory? From a legal standpoint, we did everything by the book regarding the case and clearing Commander Ryan. If he continues to push just this one side of the story, then we’ll go on the offensive. We’ll go to a rival news network with our rebuttal. If nothing else it will allow our version to be heard by the public. As for Commander Ryan.”

She paused to collect her thoughts.
“Any disciplinary actions are above us, however we should at least get some information on what happened. In the morning, I’ll request he come down to the Security offices to give an official statement. That way we have it on file should Mr Reyes try to press charges. And, remind all members to direct any press inquiries to the central office. With that settled, let’s get back to the festivities. Mr Yao, another round of synthehol! Ancharski, I know you’ve only been in a short time but I’m sure you have a story or two to tell.”

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