Hate Thy Neighbor

Posted on Wed Nov 1st, 2023 @ 12:52am by Lieutenant Didrea Zade & Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Athena :: Brig
Timeline: After 'And Behind Forcefield Number Two Is...'
1564 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

An awkward silence had settled into the brig after Zora left. Nayisa felt a pang of guilt for getting Zade thrown in the brig as well, but she was confident that she had kept a more serious charge at bay. While Zade denied it, the news of a recommendation that she be handed off to Starfleet security lingered like stale air in the cell. Turning to face the wall separating her from Zade, Nayisa asked, "ok, what the hell was the Starfleet security thing about?"

Zade stared at the door Zora just disappeared behind, a sense of dread in her stomach. You haven't saved your friend, you have condemned her. If that wasn't a kiss goodbye to her career, she didn't know what was. Her brain began to freely overthink, imagining herself never being able to serve on a starship again, imagining the pit she would undoubtedly fall into. God, her decision was stupid. Why did she even go along with this? Why did she let Nayisa rope her into this?

The voice from the other cell gave Zade something to direct her bubbling anger toward, and she glared at the wall. "Zora was putting words in my mouth. When will you learn to shut up, Nayisa?"

Nayisa was slightly taken aback by the response. Savin definitely saw this coming, and perhaps it was Nayisa who underestimated Zade's ability to try and stick to the rules, even if they'd end up hurting the Trill. "I was trying to help you, Zade."

Zade felt frustrated. She was frustrated at herself for being so stupid, frustrated at Nayisa for the situation they were in, frustrated at Zora for manipulating her words. There was so much frustration, and she needed to let it out. "Help me?? You could have helped me by not making this worse!!"

"If you had done as I said, we wouldn't be in this situation." Nayisa rubbed her temples as she worked through her own frustration. Zade needed to stop thinking so damn much. "But noo, you just had to barge into my office-"

"That is not your office!"

"-and issue an arrest for a dumb reason!" Nayisa finished, forcing her way through the interruption. The last time Zade was this angry was when the intelligence officer had to lie about the lead on Darius a few years ago, and that prompted about two months of ignored calls. "I told you that it would be fine as long as you didn't do the one thing you ended up doing."

Zade began to pace, something to let out the energy that was rapidly building. She knew that there were brig protocols for more violent prisoners, and she didn't want them enforced just because she was irritated. It meant she couldn't do anything aside from pace and flex her hands. "Oh yeah, and keeping something like this a secret is supposed to be the right thing to do," she shot at the wall, sarcasm heavy in her voice.

"Literally, yes!" This was precisely why she kept Zade unaware of her job. Nayisa knew that she wouldn't like it, and would fight against it, and yet the inner optimist hoped that maybe she'd changed. "God, how have you not gotten it yet, Zade? It is literally my job to keep secrets, and if I don't then crap like this, or worse, happens."

"So you'd rather keep a secret than do the right thing... no wonder you keep getting demoted!" It was harsh, Zade knew that, but she was so angry with everything right now that she wasn't thinking about what she was saying. She was using anger as a shield, to hide how scared she actually was at what was going to happen. A frustrated knot formed in her throat, and immediately Zade turned her back to the forcefield so the one person who could actually see her couldn't fully see her vulnerability. She hated that enough frustration would eventually make her cry, and she clamped her eyes shut to try and keep her emotions in check.

Ouch. Zade did have a point; almost all of Nayisa's demotions were because of some bureaucratic nonsense, a silly technicality even though she did do her job. It still hurt to hear it from her friend. The silver-haired woman let the silence settle, feeling a little bad for the poor security officer that had to listen to them fight. With a gentle sigh, she took a seat in the floor with her back to the wall separating her from Zade, and leaned back while closing her eyes.

The silence allowed Zade to get some control of her emotions, at least enough to not let her own frustration betray her. She looked up at the ceiling, just in case her eyes wanted to try leaking. "Why did you even ask me to join you, Nayisa? What reason did you have to ask the chief of security, of all people, to help you??"

Whatever answer Nayisa gave, she knew Zade wouldn't like it, so she didn't say anything, hoping that Zade was just asking rhetorically and letting out her frustration. There was also uncertainty in what Nayisa wanted to say. Part of it was out of trust, but there was also an advantage to choosing her. Being in security meant she should be more observant, looking for traps and other things that would give them a disadvantage. Nayisa could come up with all kinds of excuses to justify why she picked Zade, and she knew that none of them were the right answer.

The lack of response, which was desired before, irked the Trill now. "Well???"

"I needed someone I could trust," Nayisa responded. Ugh, she did want an answer.

Zade grumbled some rather offending Trill in response, turning to face the wall Nayisa was hiding behind. "I've heard enough about you needing trust, Nayisa! You spent all this time asking me to trust you, but you didn't think that I would expect the same in return." The knot in her stomach was nauseating, not at all helped by the anxious tension in her body. Her heart was racing, her mouth dry. She could practically feel her pulse in her hands each time she clenched her fists. "You didn't trust me with the knowledge that P'Rel asked you to do this, you didn't trust me enough to tell me what you were looking for, and you don't even trust me enough now to tell me the truth!"

"Lieutenant, please refrain from yelling," the rather uncomfortable brig officer interrupted. He really didn't want to jump into this argument, and it felt weird to give his boss --former boss?-- an order, but rules were rules.

It took every ounce of willpower to not tell the brig officer to piss off. Zade instead glared at the wall, panting slightly from the verbal jabs, trying to envision what Nayisa was doing on the other side. She didn't actually care what Nayisa was doing. She wanted to see if her friend felt remorse, anything, for how this turned out. The moment of silence was long, the sharpened words suspended in the confined space of the brig, making the air itself quietly ring. Eventually, the fatigue that followed the rush of emotions made Zade slowly move to the bed and sit down.

Nayisa, who had opened her eyes to stare at the floor, grimaced at Zade's response, even though she was completely right. She did expect Zade to accept the level of trust Nayisa was giving her, and she understood why it didn't seem fair. "You're right," she exhaled, hoping to soothe the brutal tension in the air. "I asked you because I trust you, yet I didn't trust you enough to share everything. You can believe me or not, but I didn't tell you everything because I couldn't risk this knowledge being spilled and making things worse for you, for Kane, the ship... I hoped that by staying more need-to-know, it would make this less stressful for you." There was a pause before Nayisa added, "Dee, I'm sorry, I really am."

Zade didn't want to talk to her anymore. Pushing her shoes off of her feet, the Trill laid down on the bed to stare up at the ceiling. She didn't care if Nayisa's words were true. It didn't matter. Zade was fairly convinced that Zora was probably writing a 'discharge without reinstatement' order right now. It was reasonable to think that she might never see Nayisa again, and maybe it was a good thing. If Zade lost her career over this, she wouldn't forgive herself, and she certainly wouldn't forgive Nayisa. The Trill turned over to face the wall, yet again hiding her emotions from the brig officer.

"Stop talking to me, before I ask the brig officer to mute your cell."

Of all the things Zade said to Nayisa, that last one surprisingly hurt the most. It was the same cold, finished tone that prompted the last cold shoulder. Taking in a slow breath through the nose, Nayisa stared at the seams on the opposite wall, reconciling with the knowledge that she may not be forgiven this time. Trust was a hell of a thing to rebuild, after all.