PNPC Charlie McQueen: Reluctant Truths (tag: Vescori)

[Kayla Drex]

((USS Eagle, Deck 5, Small Office)) 

Charlie: This is stupid good, Mr. Knife, er ... Blade. Thank you. 

Vescori: You are welcome, Charlie. And it is Blaidd, not Blade. It is Welsh, means wolf. 

Charlie: And to answer your question, I really wasn't trying to get onto this ship! Honest! I got swept along with a group of school kids. By the time I had a chance to break away again, the door was already shut again. 

Vescori: Yeah, that group of school kids. Fitzsimmons mentioned it. I understand that you tagged along and that I could and probably should bark at the teachers and those on duty at the main airlock for being way too lax on their duties simply because all they saw was a bunch of mostly harmless kiddos. But that still begs the question why you boarded the ship. And why nobody pointed you out as a stranger. 

Charlie: I can go unnoticed pretty easy when I want to. I didn't - and still don't want to get anybody in trouble. I was trying to get off the ship so nobody would get in trouble. 

Vescori: Is that so? I tell you what I think... you approached the kids, either because you wanted to go onto the Eagle, or because you needed to disappear for a while and a Federation starship is a nice hideout place. I also think that none of the other students pointed you out to security or their teacher because you had at least one friend among the group. Probably someone in high standing with the other students. ::Blaidd tilted his head, eyeing her from head to toe.:: Considering that we picked you up at the auxiliary airlock on Deck 3, it probably is someone living in the quarters nearby. This should make it fairly easy to find your confidant among our crew. 

Charlie: I didn't. It's just like, you know, I can blend in and stuff. I'm not gonna say anything that gets anybody in trouble. 

Vescori: Relax, Charlie. It honors you that you want to protect your friend. Thing is, I want to protect your friend, too. And not just your friend, but the rest of the people on the Eagle, as well. To that end I - and my mates from Security - need to know who comes and goes and why. Else we find the storerooms picked clean, the engines sabotaged and the computers compromised. 

Charlie: ::starting to cry a little:: I wasn't going to steal anything. I'd never betray the Federation like that. I came to this starbase to be closer to Starfleet. I'm not going to sabotage anything! 

Vescori: ::The big man shrugged, not quite sure if the waterworks were genuine or Charlie's way to play grown-ups. Blaidd didn't like to be played at all.:: Perhaps not, but I am sure you can see that we can't leave it to happenstance. Not everyone out there is inherently good and law-abiding, kids and grown-ups alike... Fitzsimmons also said that your parents are no longer with us. I am very sorry for your loss. So, do you live with a relative or guardian on the base? Is there someone I can contact to pick you up? 

::More tears streamed down her face.:: 

Charlie: I don't have anyone. I'm not going into the Child Services system though. I can take care of myself just fine. If you just let me off, I can take it from there, Lieutenant. 

Vescori: So you think sitting here in this office trying to fob me off with half-truths and bravado is going to convince me of your successful independence? I am not asking for much, Charlie, just the truth. You know that all passages through the airlock got recorded with a timestamp, right? You want me to spell out in numbers for how long you've been aboard the Eagle before you ran into Fitzsimmons? 

Charlie: I'm not just some kid, you know. I'm Charlie McQueen, Daughter of Edwin McQueen and Lenore - only daughter of the house of Breivim. She was and now I am the Keeper of Last Light of Cataria. 

Vescori: ::The big brute smirked as he crossed his arms.:: Splendid! So if your mother did a good job, she taught you that with power always comes responsibility: If you truly are Charlie McQueen, Keeper of the Last Light of Cataria, I dare you to own your actions! Be accountable for your own deeds. Let truth and honor be your weapons of choice. 

Charlie: ::looking down at her mug:: Fine. I'll tell you what I can.

::Charlie was still thinking about Katya. She'd been exceedingly kind to Charlie. It would be a poor repayment to land her in the soup.:: 

Vescori: So let us start over then: Did you accidentally got mixed up with the students or was that a deliberate action on your part? 

Charlie: I did that on purpose. I was trying to get away from some guys I thought were looking for me. Turns out they weren't who I thought they were. I wasn't trying to get on the ship though. I was just trying to blend in long enough to get past those goons. You gonna search me for plasma bombs or something? I wasn't lying y'know. I'm not a spy. I'm not a bad person.

Vescori: ::The man laughed and shook his head.:: No, I don't need to search you. You think with all those scanners at my disposal I wouldn't already know what is inside that bag of yours? Fancy thing, computers. These days, you can't open a door, ride a turbo lift or use a replicator without leaving a digital footprint. 

Charlie: Well if that's what you're thinking, you won't find records. All I have in the bag is food, and it's not even from a replicator, so there.

:: Charlie was momentarily please with her bit of sass. Then she realized she'd made a potentially big mistake. If he did look at the food, he'd have a solid lead. How many people on this ship made homemade Russian food? She fought back the look of dismay at her slip-up. ::

Vescori: Despite what you think, I am on your side. I don't want to make things hard for you... but some things are like toothache: Nobody likes to visit sickbay, but when the alternative is constant pain, facing the music is the better choice. It might go with some initial pain, but soon enough things will get fixed and you got a chance to heal, Charlie. ::He carefully reached out, patting her shoulder, the strong hand surprisingly gentle.:: Will you tell me a little more about your reasons why? Things do not happen in a vacuum. And two actions that seem to be the same on paper can be something else entirely the moment motivation and circumstance come into play. 

:: Gentle though his touch was, Charlie jerked away. Nobody had touched her since her parent's deaths, and she wasn't comfortable with this attempted show of connection. She decided though, that at the very least they weren't going to jettison her into space. Still, as she began to tell more of the story, she was careful to avoid giving so much as saying, "she" or "her." Charlie wasn't going to give Blaidd any more information about who had helped her than she absolutely had to. ::

Charlie: ::sighing in resignation:: Ok, so, I got into the group, and one kid noticed I wasn't part of their pack. They also noticed I ... didn't smell great. It had been a long time since I've been safe enough to even clean up and change clothes. I asked if I could get some food, and they said they'd get some leftovers. Then I realized how much trouble we could both get in by me being on-board, and needed to get out right away. That's when she oO dammit Oo wrapped it up with me to take with, I tried sneaking out, and got caught. ::beat:: Now you know everything.

Vescori: response

TAG/TBC

____________________

 ~ Charlie McQueen ~

(simmed by Kayla Drex)
USS Eagle, NCC-74659
Writer ID: E239510KD0