[AU] Fracture

Posted on Mon Jun 22nd, 2020 @ 11:10pm by Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri-Smith & Lieutenant Commander James Smith
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:02pm

Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Splinter Group Territory (Deck 2)
Timeline: Fourteen hours after “Jumping To Conclusions”

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Cailus Griffin & Lieutenant Krysia Kaleri & Lieutenant James Smith
Mission: Divided We Fall
Location: Splinter Group Territory (Deck 2)
Timeline: Fourteen hours after “Jumping To Conclusions”
Tue Aug 14th, 2018 @ 4:28am

By the time Cailus was able to leave the others and return to the splinter group territory, he was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. He had been awake for over 24 hours now, having spent several of those hours watching over the dying captain since the incident, and yet more hours dealing with other matters afterwards. Cailus wanted nothing more than to go home and lay down beside his wife, but there was still one more thing to be done.

Thus Cailus approached the improvised checkpoint on Deck 2, the point in the corridor that marked the boundary between the two groups’ territory. On his order the gold-shirted security officers had set up a permanent armed guard there after the captain’s shooting, just in case, and now it was manned by the solitary, tiny Ensign Yugrid. The Tellarite girl huffed in relief at seeing Cailus approach.

“Lieutenant,” she said in greeting. “No activity here during my shift, sir. Nor during Asuko’s shift.” She blinked, snorting in confusion as Cailus wearily pulled his phaser from his belt and handed it to her. “Sir?”

“I am going in there, Ensign,” Cailus explained emotionlessly. “That phaser would invite more violence than without. If you hear a commotion, sound the alarm, but do not under any circumstances leave your post unmanned Is that understood?”

Yugrid reluctantly assented, and Cailus duly moved past her and the boxes that made up the rather inadequate border. He didn’t hesitate as he walked around the bend in the corridor until he saw a couple of people talking in the hall.

“I’m here to talk,” he told them with confidence borne of weariness. “I am unarmed and not a threat. Please tell Mr Smith and Mrs Kaleri that I want to see them.”

Krysia was sitting with baby Aurora when the knock at the door told them that Cailus was here to see them, getting up she waited for James before taking Aurora with her & handing her over to one of the others before the two of them walked over to where Cailus was standing. “How is the Captain?” She looked at Cailus concernedly.

Not in the mood for compassion, having none left to give, Cailus shook his head slowly. “Dead,” he said simply.

“What!!” Krysia looked at James her concern was for him as she knew how much Nyx meant to him. “I’m so sorry James...”

James felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. Despite the differences he had with Nyx he was still his oldest friend and they had been through a lot together. Stepping away for a minute to compose himself he continued to listen to Cailus.

She turned her attention to Cailus, “We didn’t see eye to eye but I’m sorry to hear that. His.... murderer is still under arrest in his quarters if you want him he’s yours!”

“There’s more,” Cailus said coldly, crossing his arms as he fixed James and Krysia with a penetrating, hostile look. “You’ve had plenty of time since the shooting to talk to the others. I need to know if anyone else one knew that Rochester had a weapon.”

Krysia looked at James then back at Cailus she’d never had reason to suspect him, “Rochester was a loud mouth but there was no reason to think that he’d kill anyone!” Krysia looked at Cailus, “if you’re looking for someone to blame then blame me! I was the one who talked to him after his loud mouth outbursts to try and calm him down, he was an advocate of us having enough food especially Aurora... I didn’t realise he’d actually go and do anything about it.”

“I know that you didn’t,” Cailus said with a dangerous, quiet tone, his eyes tracking to Smith. The former intelligence operative would know better than anyone with his training. “I am asking if anyone else did.”

Shaking his head James said, “He gave no indication that he was a violent person, I strictly forbid the use of violence and all weapons are kept under guard. If I had known he was unstable I would of confined him to his quarters and ordered a medical evaluation.”

Krysia looked at Cailus astonished that he'd be suggesting James would know anything about what Rochester was doing. "Hold on a minute Lieutenant I don't appreciate you suggesting James would know anything about that!" she looked angrily at Cailus, "can't you see that James is as upset as you! the Captain was his friend!!"

“And he was mine,” Cailus said coldly, without mercy or compassion. “Regardless, the man is dead. His wife is a widow and his daughter has lost her father. My job is to ensure that to investigate the murder and ensure that nobody else dies as a result of this, in either group. I won’t give anyone a free pass just because they’re feeling sad.”

"Like I said if you're looking for someone to blame then it's me you need to blame! I'm the empath here & I..." she paused for a moment thinking back to her last talk with Rochester, "...I AM to blame..." she looked at James then back at Cailus, "Last time we spoke Rochester mentioned some plan he had... I didn't pay much attention to it because he was always going on about things like that..." she shook her head, "if I'd have paid him proper attention..." she looked at James, she could feel his pain at losing Nyx she wasn't sure if he'd now be mad at her for it.

“Has anyone else exhibited disruptive behaviour?” Cailus continued relentlessly, glaring at them both. He was bulldozing them and knew it, but tired and hurting as he was, Cailus was in a wrathful mood. “Has anyone talked about hurting someone, breaking the rules, stealing from the garden?”

"I...." Krysia looked at James, "I don't think so.... I don't really remember."

Smith was starting to get a bit irritated looking at Calius he said, ”No one can get anything unless they come to Krysia or myself and as far as I know no one has shown any signs of hostilities or recklessness. If anyone were to disrupt the peace here and I found out about it I would probably shoot them myself.”

Smith shook his head, ”We have been in this bubble for far to long we may never get out but we still need to coexist together and maybe start healing old wounds. Nyx and I had discussions about bringing us back together.”

"You talked with Nyx about that?" Krysia looked at James, "you never told me that."

James looked down for a minute to get his thoughts in order, “Nyx approached me during one of your duty shifts, we were truly able to talk and started to repair old wounds, we felt that a reunited crew would be best, but we felt we needed to wait for the right time to get both sides together and mend the fences. We felt that only together could we get through this trial and maybe someday find a way home.”

Looking between Smith and Kaleri patiently as they talked, Cailus nodded in agreement, although his arms were still crossed. “I hope that you still feel that way tomorrow,” he said tersely. “At 1100 hours, I’ll be talking to everyone on the Bridge, including as many of your group who want to come. Anyone who wants to come back shall be permitted to do so without reprisal or punishment, with the exception of Rochester. We’ll deal with him afterwards.”

Krysia nodded and looked at James before turning back to Cailus "We'll be there and I'll try and encourage as many of our people to come as I can, but I can't promise anything."

Looking at Cailus and Krysia he said, “Let’s do this for Nyx, I believe we can only survive together and we owe it to him. As far as Rochester goes he will not be going anywhere. What he did is a court martial offense and should be dealt with in a way that we are able to."

"Good," Cailus said gruffly. He stood there in awkward silence, looking between the Smiths, before nodding curtly. "Until tomorrow, then. We'll be conducting the Captain's funeral service as well. Good night."

Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heel and departed down the corridor, uncaring of whether it was rude or not. Cailus was past being polite. He did briefly stop at the security checkpoint, where young Yugrid maintained her guard.

"How did it go, sir?" she asked curiously, glancing down the corridor from whence he had come. "Are things going get better with them?"

Following the Tellarite's gaze down the corridor, Cailus was impassive, his mind focused on the Smiths' willingness to mend fences, but also the volatile and hostile people that they led. "We'll see, Yugrid," he said quietly. "We'll see."