Two Peas in a Pod

Posted on Tue Mar 14th, 2023 @ 3:23am by Ensign Ziahli Lorel & Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea
Edited on on Tue Mar 14th, 2023 @ 3:29am

Mission: Wrath of the People
Location: Brig
Timeline: MD3: Before shit went down
1980 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

"How are you not bored??"

Nayisa was leaning against the entryway to the brig, arms crossed and watching the young brig officer at the console. She had been there for a few minutes, using her stealth to slip into the somewhat small room. It helped that someone else was leaving when she showed up, so the doors didn't announce her arrival. It was probably a good thing that Nayisa had yet to see the brig, but it was nice to know where things were on the ship. "Did Dee give you a bunch of boring tasks to occupy your time while she goes down to the surface? You don't even have a window, that like... extra sucks."

The only slight hiccup with sneaking up on Zia, and it was easy enough to overlook without some preliminary research, was that she was not very much prone to trusting her eyes nor her ears as a preference over her telepathy. Crime scenes were different, you couldn't ask a scrap of material or the residue from a phaser blast to project any sort of psionic imprint, but people were easy. At least if all you wanted to do was prove they existed. The trouble came when any distinction beyond a surface-level awareness required dedicated concentration; the Betazoid was distracted.

Which was to say that, quite opposed from finding the brig a tedious bore, Zia somehow managed to temper her gregarious nature to utilise the vast tracts of downtime to her advantage. Currently, her attention was split between reading the case notes from archived investigations and a rather compelling novel by Agatha Christie. Having both pulled up on separate padds was a feat of exceptional divided attention, with the only real issue arising if she ever confused her recollection of the two. She glanced up at the spoken interruption and, taking a moment to register the question, eventually smiled.

"There's not exactly a lot to look at," she pointed out. "Staring at the warp-stream would probably just give me a headache."

The silver-haired woman shrugged. "I dunno, I'd personally rather stare at a warp stream than a wall, but hey, to each their own." Giving the woman a smile in return, Nayisa pushed herself off the wall and began to mosey around the space. "So like... what do you do here? I'm usually the one bringing people to and from the brig, I don't spend a lot of time, ya know, in them. Also, I'm Nayisa."

"Oh, you know, the usual." The Betazoid's tone was casual, her willingness to surrender total concentration impeded by the allure of both paragraphs she'd been halfway through reading. "Interrogating prisoners, implementing the torture devices, pulling out fingernails for the Empire." Zia's tone was playful, and a glance upwards was punctuated by a matching smile. "Zia. Currently enjoying some peace and quiet before the next batch of unruly tyrants needs subduing."

Nayisa's smile turned into a grin at the playful tone. Maybe it was just the higher ranks that were all stuck up. "In case you can't tell, I'm bored out of my mind because I've run out of tasks, so I thought I'd venture." As she spoke, she poked her head into one of cells like a museum visitor admiring an interactive art exhibit. Maybe she could find weak points in the cells that she'd recommend get fixed. Her meandering eventually gave her a better view of the console, where Nayisa could see two padds with text resting on top. "You find a good read?"

"Yes, on both counts." With a flick of her thumb against both screens, Zia finally set aside her reading with the acceptance that she was now socialising. It was thankfully something she enjoyed equally as much. She nodded her head towards the powered-down devices. "Have you ever read anything by Christie?" The concept of boredom, whilst Zia could empathise on a theoretical level, very rarely became an issue for the Betazoid. If anything, she thrived on having no set agenda and plenty of opportunity to create her own.

"Mm, yeah! Her books have such subtle details that tell a much bigger story." As one who sought the small details, it was greatly satisfying to see extra details in novels. Christie was truly a master of her storytelling craft. "Which one's your favorite?"

Zia had been wholly prepared to be met with mystified confusion. During her training, it had simply become the luck of the draw that the bulk of her sizeable social group had been far more motivated by active pursuits and the most she'd been able to hope for was a compromised utility of holodeck facilities once in a while to curb her creative impulses. Certainly none of her closest friends opted to read crime novels for fun, which made meeting someone who not only understood what she was talking about but had some knowledge of their own to work from entirely unexpected. The question provoked a thoughtful frown, however.

"That's like asking someone to choose their favourite dessert." The implication being that, for someone with a sweet-tooth, all of the above became the only valid response. "This one," she circumvented the question neatly," is The Secret of Chimneys. So far, it's certainly as compelling as anything else I've read."

Nayisa chuckled as she continued to browse the many options of brig cells. "Fair enough. I haven't read that one yet, but 'compelling' is a good way to describe a book."

"This is not quite the same as reading an actual paper copy," Zia lifted the padd to wave it for a moment. "But then I'd need hot chocolate and pillows and I don't think that request would get past asset control."

Grinning, the Betazoid cast her eyes over the console that she was supposed to be monitoring and then stepped away from it. Unremarkably, it hadn't offered her any updated responsibilities to attend to. "So, would you like the guided tour?"

"Ah, you're one for archaic technology, I see," Nayisa joked. Turning to see the woman now away from her post, she shrugged. "Sure, if you're not too busy with all the detective marvels conjured by Agatha Christie."

"Never too busy to walk someone through the delights of Starfleet's premier security facilities." Zia lead the way towards the row of containment cells. "Here we very much have the nuts and bolts of the brig, the aspect of it that lends it its brigness." There was no way to get around it; this was a room full of cells. The Athena's brig, being a front-line warship, was larger than most and rather sleek in design but it still didn't have a lot more going for it. Zia pointed to one of them. "This is my personal favourite, having recently been rescued from a slight mishap where I nearly spent the night in it."

Nayisa followed the woman toward the containment
cells she just looked at, this time taking extra care to inspect them. "Yep, the brig is made of brig," she commented. A snort then came from the silver-haired woman after Zia explained the significance behind one of the cells. "How the hell did you get yourself stuck inside a brig cell?"

"I was working on some forcefield theory." By now, having been rescued by Teyo and subsequently checked up on by Dash, the Betazoid held no delusions that the situation had flown under the radar. Her main priority now was ensuring the correct story got out there, which was honestly about as ridiculous as anything the pair of Trills could concoct anyway. Zia grinned, albeit a little sheepishly. "Apparently I should have run diagnostics to clear out the incomplete file deletion from the last systems' update first."

"Well, if the brig officer couldn't get out of the brig cell, then it sounds like the forcefields were working as intended. Nothing like a classic case of the computer doing exactly what it was told," Nayisa said with a little smirk. "Though I suppose that could have been really bad for you, unless you get frequent visitors."

"Honestly, the only unfortunate aspect of it was that they sent Ensign Kateyo to help salvage my pride, which pretty much ensured the entire department heard about it by lunch." For someone apparently recounting the worst part of her ordeal, Zia didn't really seem that upset about the way things had panned out. "Otherwise, I'd say it was worth the risk. I can also happily report that my cells are quite comfortable. Nap-worthy even, if you're ever inclined to try."

The Betazoid turned then, surveying the rest of the uninspiring room with a sleuth's eye for minor details. "This is the replicator, used primarily for last meals and hot chocolate." She glanced next to the unit, her tour very quickly descending into a mockery of itself. "That's the reclamator. Not big enough for stuffing bodies in, though could probably handle a few fingers." She was being ridiculous but the truth was, the brig was dull. It was streamlined, spartan and functional. Any additional frippery would have just become a security risk.

"Nap-worthy, huh?" Chancing the risk of getting locked in, Nayisa picked one of the cells and sat on the bed. "This is almost better than what's in my quarters," she joked, watching the rest of the tour from the cell. The benefit to a small brig space was that almost the entire room was visible from a given cell, aside from the adjacent cell and maybe the furthest corners of the room. "For a brig, it's not bad. If I ever had to spend the night here, I wouldn't complain. I'd probably even give it 5 stars, depending on how good that last meal is."

"Well, I hope you're not planning on needing to spend a night in here." Which was true though Zia wouldn't have turned down an opportunity to actually put her training to the test. "Preserve your service record, there's literally dozens of other ways we can hang out. Certain holodeck programs, for example. I am yet to make my way through every iteration of Murder on the Orient Express, for example." It sounded like an invitation because it was.

The silver-haired woman wiggled a little to see just how comfortable the bed was before nodding to herself and standing. Yep, the bed was made of bed. Stepping out of the brig, Nayisa turned her attention back to Zia. "I wouldn't turn down a good murder mystery. In return, maybe I can share some of my holodeck hobbies sometime."

"There you go, a much better solution than getting yourself flung down here on purpose." Glancing across the room as the doors hissed open, Zia watched the gold-clad junior officer stop in his tracks long enough to stare back and forth between the two women and then grinned as she turned to her newest acquaintance. "And that's my lunch break. More plotting over food?" The Betazoid spared no thought for how that might sound to the newcomer, who already looked dubious enough about acknowledging that he was within earshot.

The silver-haired woman let out a pfft. "What if I flung myself down here on purpose just to take a nap?" She also looked over at the doors when they opened, giving the newcomer a quick look-over, before turning to see Zia's grin. And of course, Nayisa had to match it with her own as she added, "sure. We planning the murder or the investigation?"

Grinning, Zia turned and walked backwards as she left the room first. "We'll have to see which one seems more appealing at the time."

It was only much later, during an entirely different conversation, that Zia realised she probably could have phrased that better.