[JP] Lt. JG Sienelis & PO2 Johns - Finagle's Law (Part I)

[Jo Marshall]

((Brig, USS Gorkon))

::The admiral had left them behind, turning on her heel and walking out of the brig doors. With a bright but momentary shimmer of amethyst, the forcefield snapped into place over the bulkhead hole, sealing Valesha and Chris inside. The light mist of the evening with flecks of orange wisps in the ensuing night that had been so warm and inviting on the beach were immediately and noticeably absent in the cold, sterile cell.

::She said nothing, wrapping her arms around herself, as much a means of self-comfort as it was to ward off air that felt chilly after the planet. Grains of sand skittered across the pristine floor of the cell as she padded off to one side, leaning against the wall. The colour had finally started to ebb from her cheeks, but her gaze remained low and distant, the Romulan withdrawing into herself.

::Chris wrapped his hand around his wrists - one after the other - likely trying to wipe away the heaviness of the cold, magnetic cuffs on his burning skin. Hazel eyes looked through the field at the cobalt SCPO behind the desk. Armour of the professional donned, Frorr wasn't the kind of Bolian to mess with. Her movements were purposeful and controlled; every step and word a calculation.

::Lamenting a wasted night was the furthest thing from his mind. His dark brow remained as furrowed as it had since the Admiral and the Mazerite had arrested Valesha so publicly, with worry lines creasing into the corners of his young and reddened eyes. Awkward hesitation sat heavily on his shoulders, weighing them down, until he hazarded a glance in her direction, voice cracking as though he hadn’t used it to great lengths recently.::

Johns: I'm sorry, Vee.

::She didn't answer straight away, a frown gathering like thunderclouds. Valesha was vacillating between fury and despair; not just for herself, but with the man she was currently sharing a cell with.::

Sienelis: I really don't know whether to hug you or smack you right now.

Johns: Can I choose?

Sienelis: Given your excellent decision-making on the beach?

Johns: It got me here, didn’t it?

::He exhaled a humourless laugh and looked back out of the forcefield. She scowled toward him, arms creeping a little tighter around herself.::

Sienelis: Exactly. What were you thinking?

Johns: You, in here alone, isn’t something I could live with. Not after… ::He paused, jaw set, orbital socket flaring with a phantom twinge.:: Not after that.

::Whatever answer she might have been expecting, that certainly wasn't it, and she had no idea how to respond. She watched him for a little while, her dark brows furrowed, mouth pinched shut. Then she heaved a sigh, untangling her arms to run both hands over her face and through her hair. The strands stiffened by sea salt pulled the corners of her lips down, a reminder of the oblivious happiness of a few hours ago.::

Sienelis: Chris, if I'm going down, I don't want to take anyone with me.

Johns: You’re not going anywhere.

::A meaningless sentence, because of course she was. It was simply a matter of when. His eyes narrowed, as though a million thoughts in scattered fragments wandered aimlessly without direction in his head, chewing through the layers of the last hour.::

Johns: What is all this, Vee?

::There was another long pause from the Romulan, which she concluded with a heavy exhale. It was the same question running through her own mind. While she had a little more insight into some of the particulars, it wasn't helping her to make any more sense of it.::

Sienelis: The D'Mhaii was our refugee ship. ::It was all the explanation she could bring herself to offer, at least without introducing the sudden need to evacuate her stomach contents, and he of all people would know the significance of it.:: And I'm not a spy. I'm just a scientist.

Johns: You don’t need to know you’re a spy to be one.

::Valesha immediately blanched, turning her gaze away from him to look at... well, anything else at all. She settled on the opposite wall, a small protruding wall panel whose purpose eluded her, while her arms crossed back over her chest. Shoulders hunching in, she swallowed, jaw set, heat prickling around the edges of her eyes.::

Sienelis: Thanks. I'll be sure to use ignorance as a defence. ::She stared, not daring to blink.:: Did I accidentally kill my mother, too?

TBC

--

Lieutenant (JG) Valesha Sienelis

Science Officer

USS Gorkon

T238401QR0

&

PO Second-Class Christopher Johns

Operations Officer

USS Gorkon

G239304JM0