Peace Offering [BACKPOST]

Posted on Thu Jul 24th, 2025 @ 8:53pm by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: Character Development
Timeline: MD7 (from Pandora's Box)
3507 words - 7 OF Standard Post Measure

"Xav?" Finn rang the chime on Xavier's door, but there hadn't been an immediate answer. "I have rum. I know you can't avoid me if I'm holding a bottle of rum." She said, hoping the doors would open in response.

The door flew open almost instantaneously, but the tall Betazoid blocked the way, his arms braced on each side of the doorframe. His hair was damp and clung to his forehead, blocking part of his eyes. He was desperate for a trim, a decent one, not a holographic barber or a DIY job he had fallen prey to. He wore nothing but a towel, which was wrapped firmly around his waist. "That better not be replicated."

"Oh, rum and a show?" She gave Xav a once over. "Who knew a girl could get so lucky in one night?" Finn laughed and pushed past him into his quarters. "You know I would never replicate rum," she said as she replicated two empty glasses and proceeded to pour herself one. "I'm offended that you even uttered the thought. Anyway, you're going to need clothes. We aren't staying here to drink. I have a much better idea," the smirk on her face she felt was sufficient enough of an indication that whatever she had planned would be intriguing.

Xavier raised an eyebrow as he took one of the rum-filled glasses from her and finished half of its content in one gulp. "That smirk tells me you're not going to take no for an answer," he said. "Give me a few minutes to do something with this," he continued as he pointed at his wet hair, trying and failing to shake some of the longer strands out of his eyes. Finally giving up, he headed towards the bedroom, but not before he pulled off the towel and threw it towards Finn.

It wasn't long before they were standing inside one of the holodecks, Finn still clutching the definitely-not-replicated bottle of rum and her glass, and he holding his now empty one. "What is this place?" He asked as he studied the program she had selected.

"Port Royal, obviously," she said as though this was the most recognizable place in the holodeck database even though it very clearly was not. She poured them both a refresh of rum before walking forward, towards a vast array of ships docked nearby. "This, my friend is a new program I just received. From what I understand, we're supposed to join up with a group of pirates and sail out. Eventually, someone is murdered on the ship." Finn stopped, leaning in towards Xav, to mutter. "Bit of an obvious plot for a pirate ship if you ask me." Then she shrugged and continued to move forward, sipping her rum all the while. "Anyway, we're supposed to figure out who did it. You know, a classic murder mystery but with rum and pirates. What could be better?" She lifted her glass in a cheer.

Xavier watched the pirates as they busied themselves on the deck of the ship, clearly getting ready to set sail. He sipped on the rum that Finn had poured for him as he took in the scenery with a grin. "I could do without the wooden limbs and scurvy but I think I'm going to enjoy this one." He clinked his glass against Finn's as they made their way closer to the ship. "I want an eye patch," he said as he caught the eye of one of the pirates. "And a parrot."

Finn chuckled into her rum and glanced sideways at Xavier. "Careful what you wish for. Knowing your luck, you'll end up with a peg leg instead of an eye patch." Then she paused, pretending to seriously consider something. "Although, I'm totally onboard with finding you a parrot. Mostly because I just want to watch you argue ship wide power allocations with a bird that's yelling 'where’s my cracker, you scallywag?'"

Xavier stopped walking and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Scallywag?"

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It wasn't difficult to find passage aboard one of the pirate ships. Honestly, most crews were desperate for anyone with four working limbs so they signed on to work for 'The Dead Siren'. It was one of the few ships with an open position for Gunner and with her natural affection for explosions, Finn felt it was a good fit. "How many canons do you think they'll let me fire before walking the plank?" She asked Xavier as they boarded.

"I thought the point of this was to solve a murder, not destroy a fleet's worth of ships," Xavier said as he took the bottle of rum from her, intending to fill their glasses again. He held it up to the light and shook the bottle slightly. "I'm more worried we'll run out of this before the fun begins."

As soon as they boarded, the holodeck scene shifted. They were on the ship, moving silently across the water, like a ghost slipping silently across a pool of black glass. It wasn't long before the wind picked up, violently. Only half a minute passed before it was 'all hands on deck' manning the masts and generally trying to keep the ship from listing straight into the water.

"You drop that bottle of rum, Xav, and I'll make sure you go swimming after it," Finn chuckled as she grabbed a line to tie down.

Xavier gave her a questioning look but did grip the bottle a little tighter, knowing that Finn was not joking.

About fifteen minutes passed before the weather suddenly shifted once more. The dark grey clouds rolled away to be replaced by blue skies and the seas quieted. That peace didn't last too long when the ship's first mate came running up from below deck.

"Listen sharp, you scurvy lot! The quartermaster's been cut down below deck. We've got a killer among us lads, and we'll not rest until we've got the bastard!" His eyes were sharp as he scanned the crew, including the two Starfleet officers masquerading as pirates.

Finn shrugged, took another swig of the rum straight from the bottle (their glasses were lost tragically to the sea during the storm) and looked at Xavier. "I guess things are about to get interesting. What do you think? Investigate the scene then start asking questions?"

"Wait a second," Xavier said as he bowed his head a little, his arm cradling his stomach. He wasn't sure if it was the rum or the choppy seas but he needed a bit of time to find his feet. "They really should install some inertia dampeners on this thing," he finally said once he was sure he wasn't going to see his rum in reserve. "Let's go below deck and solve this mystery."

"Oh, sorry, didn't know that you didn't have good sea legs," Finn chuckled before commanding the computer to lighten the quell the sea motion.

"Sea legs? I was pretty much born in an EV suit," Xavier said, rolling his eyes.

Below deck, they found the Quartermaster's body, lying on the floor next to a storage container filled with the spoils of their latest raid. His throat was cut, clean. Finn knelt down to inspect the body. "I mean, there's no way he tripped and fell on a knife...wait, what is this..." She picked up a note on the ground nearby and handed it to Xavier to read while she continued to look for additional evidence.

"It looks like a suicide note," Xavier said as he turned the note in every direction to try and decipher the terrible handwriting. "I think the killer is trying to throw us off the scent. It was clearly written by someone left-handed, but the QM is clearly right-handed." He pointed to the body. The quartermaster's scabbard was on his left side, which meant his sword-drawing hand, his dominant hand, was his right. "You found anything?"

"Just this," Finn said, tugging a scrap of dark fabric from the dead man’s hand. "Maybe he ripped it off whoever killed him. If we can match it to someone and if that someone happens to be a lefty, we might have our killer. After that, it's just a matter of finding probable cause. Though I'm not sure probable cause really means much on a pirate ship." She gave a crooked smirk. "Time to start poking around with some questions..."

She paused, a new thought flickering across her face. "Oh, speaking of questions. Did you get a surprise visit from the counselor in ops? He cornered me in engineering asking about power systems. I told him that’s more your wheelhouse, but he claimed he’d already stopped by your department. Then he said he wanted to ‘learn more about engineering.’" She raised an eyebrow. "Either he’s genuinely curious or he’s fishing for something."

A dark look crossed Xavier's face. It was a mix of anger, annoyance, and regret. "Yeah, he came by," the Betazoid said but offered no further information. He considered telling Finn what had happened between him and Savin but was somewhat ashamed by the way he acted. "I think he's definitely fishing for something but I'm not quite sure what."

"Any ideas on what he could be looking for?" Finn asked, already heading for the top deck where most of the crew had clustered. "I'll be honest, I shoved him off on Ensign Fenn and made him give him a tour of engineering. I felt a little guilty about it, but I was busy. And you know how much I adore someone digging through my emotional toolbox. He claimed it wasn’t a counseling visit, but let’s be honest, when a counselor says 'just here in a personal capacity,' that’s basically code for 'surprise therapy session.'"

"No," Xavier replied with a sad shake of his head. "His telepathic defences are stronger than you could imagine. I think palming him off on Tey was smart, hopefully he drives Savin mad, and he gives up this silly idea of just popping into our departments without warning." He smiled sadistically. They reached the top deck and he looked around at all of the suspects. "Where do we start?"

Finn eyed the deck, looking between the various crew members before she spotted someone with a jacket that looked roughly to be the same color as the material that was found in the dead man's hand. "There," she pointed to the man across the deck. A gruff looking pirate with a peg leg and a scruffy beard that didn't look at all like he wanted to talk to anyone. "But first, a little liquid courage," she snatched the rum bottle back from Xavier and took a long swig before handing it back with an expression that said 'don't make me drink this by myself'.

Xavier rolled his eyes as he took the bottle and took a mouthful. He felt the liquid warming his insides as it slid down his throat. They went towards the suspect, Xavier, treading carefully just in case the ship decided to sway ominously again. Thankfully, it didn't. "Hey friend, mind if we talk to you for a moment?"

The pirate leaned heavily on his peg leg, and squinted at the two of them. "Depends," he rasped, voice like gravel soaked in seawater. "Ye askin' as crewmates… or constables?"

Finn smiled, the kind that said she’d been in trouble and talked her way out of it more than once. “Crewmates, obviously,” she said, casually as if it should’ve been the most obvious answer on the high seas. “We’re just a couple of curious crew members wondering how someone managed to bleed out below without so much as a shout.” There was a short pause as she considered her next words. "Unless you want us to be constables. In which case, I’d have to start using words like ‘investigation’ and ‘chain of evidence,’ and honestly, I don’t think either of us wants that kind of day.”

The pirate let out a low chuckle. “Good,” he muttered. “Constables don’t last long aboard The Dead Siren. We’ve got a habit of losin’ ‘em overboard… clumsy types, y’know.” He scratched his beard, then tilted his head. “Quartermaster weren’t exactly popular. Too many secrets, too many locked doors. Anyone could’ve taken a swing at him. Except me, of course I was up here when the storm hit. Ask anyone. I don’t go below when the seas get rough." Then he leaned in just slightly, lowering his voice. “But… you might want to check his footlocker. He kept somethin’ in there he didn’t want no one seein’. Might be your answer.” He straightened up again. “Or it might just be his extra socks. Man was weird about socks.”

"You seem to know a lot about what the quartermaster had and didn't have, and a lot about his secrets too," Xavier said, trying to keep his tone even and not accusatory. He took another swig of the rum and then offered some to the chatty man. "So tell me friend, what secrets did the QM have on you?"

The pirate took the bottle, drank straight from it, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “On me?” he said. “Quartermaster didn’t have dirt on me, friend. He tried, sure. Snooped around, asked questions, thought he was clever.” He handed the bottle back and leaned in, his tone darkening just a touch. “But there ain’t much leverage to be had on a man with nothin’ to lose. Only thing he ever found was that I hate liars… and I don’t mind cleaning up after ‘em.” He paused, letting the implication hang in the air, then gave a crooked smile. “Besides, secrets ain’t illegal on this ship. Unless you’re bad at keepin’ ‘em.”

Finn leaned in toward Xavier, keeping her eyes on the pirate but lowering her voice just enough. “I don’t think we’re gonna get much more outta this guy. Might be time to check out that footlocker before our friend here starts monologuing about his glory days.”

Xavier let out a short bark of a laugh that was followed by a hiccup. "Yeah, let's go before I get another unwarranted hug," he said as he turned and headed the way they had come, back towards the lower deck of the swaying pirate ship.

Finn arched a brow and gave him a look. “Another unwarranted hug? Wait...who hugged you the first time?" Her eyes went wide as she recalled their earlier conversation about the counselors visit. "Was it the counselor? Please tell me it was the counselor. That man has surprise hug energy and a complete disregard for personal space protocols.”

"Bingo, you got it in one," Xavier replied. He shuddered at the thought of the unwarranted hug. "I understand that emotions were running high," he tried to sympathise. "There's so much grief on the ship right now it's overwhelming, but to hug me, without consent... Stop laughing!"

Finn absolutely did not stop laughing. In fact, she doubled over as they reached the steps, one hand braced on the rail and the other clutching her side. “You got ambushed by the counselor hug style?” she wheezed. "I hope you know, you are never living this down.”

Xavier didn't reply; instead, he jabbed his elbow into her rib.

She stifled down her laughter as they neared the crew's quarters and they made their way to the quarter masters hammock and footlocker. Inside they found a carefully folded, dark cloak. The same material as the scrap in the quartermaster’s hand and tucked beneath it was a small, weathered journal. Finn handed the cloth off to Xavier and immediately started to flip through the book, angling it enough so that Xav could see as well. Inside scrawled with a spidery handwriting were notes about each crew member. Debts owed, secret trades, blackmail material.

Finn let out a low whistle. "He was documenting everything....wait," she stopped on a page near the back at a page titled 'Potential Threats'. "Well, this should be helpful," she muttered. A few names were underlined, but one name stood out. 'Marlow', circled repeatedly. "I'm guessing that's where we should go next?"

"Seems a little suspicious," Xavier said as he turned the material over in his hand. "Almost like someone is framing Marlow. I agree we should speak to him but let's not jump to any conclusions...yet."

They found Marlow in the galley only a few minutes later, hunched over a chipped mug of something that looked like it had been filtered through an old boot. He didn’t look up when they entered, just kept swirling the contents of his cup as if contemplating the meaning of life at the bottom of it. Finn walked up to him without hesitation and dropped the folded cloak on the table in front of him with a satisfying thud. “Interesting color choice, Marlow,” she said, leaning in and noticing how there was indeed a piece of his own coat missing that roughly matched the piece she held. “Problem is, I think it might be one size too damning. Care to explain how a piece of your cloak ended up in the quartermaster’s, dead hand?” She pointed between the piece in her hand and the missing chunk from his.

Marlow’s eyes darted to the cloak, then to the journal under Finn’s arm, his fingers tightening around his mug. His gaze flickered between Finn and Xavier like a cornered animal. “I don’t know how that got there,” he stuttered. “I mean, yeah, we argued… he was always on about debts and secrets, tryin’ to hold ‘em over me. But I wouldn’t...” He paused, licking his lips, his eyes shifting to the doorway considering his odds of escape. “Look, someone’s tryin’ to set me up. I swear it. I ain’t no killer…”

Xavier's eyes followed Marlow's gaze. Realising that the pirate was plotting his escape, Xavier shifted his weight, ready to spring into action should the potential murderer try to run. "Oh, okay, so if you're so innocent, who should we be looking at?" He asked, his voice laced with scepticism. He wished his telepathic powers worked on holographic figures; it would make this so much easier, though he doubted they would work, considering the amount of rum he had already ingested.

Marlow’s eyes flicked nervously between them. “I don't know… maybe Jenkins? Or Redd? They hated the quartermaster too!” he said, a little too quickly. “Hell, everyone hated the bastard! Any one of ‘em could've done it!” He squirmed, sweat beading on his forehead. “I ain’t got nothin’ to do with it, I swear it… why don’t you go bother them instead of harassin’ me?” His gaze darted once more to the door.

Finn tilted her head slightly. She let Marlow's words hang in the air for a second before slowly turning to Xavier, one brow arched. “I mean… that was about as subtle as a warp core breach,” she said. “This has to be our guy, right? I’ve seen better bluffing from a Ferengi trying to sell a warp coil with half the parts missing.”

"As guilty as a shapeshifter's oozy blood," Xavier answered as he folded his arms across his chest. "Marlow, we don't believe you. You're under arrest, or citizen's arrest. I mean, we're gonna make you walk the plank matey," he said in a tone that was meant to sound pirate-like but came out as more southern Bolian.

Before Marlow could state another excuse the lighting in the galley flickered. The ship jolted once, then froze unnaturally mid-creak.

"SIMULATION TERMINATED. FAILURE TO IDENTIFY CORRECT PERPETRATOR." The voice of the ship’s computer echoed through the holodeck as the scene around them dissolved. Marlow blinked out of existence like a bad idea and they were left surrounded by the sterile holodeck gridlines.

Finn stood completely still, staring at the empty space where their suspect had just been. After a long beat, she finally muttered, “This program is complete BS.” Then she glanced down at the bottle of rum in her hand, swirled it once, and downed the last of it. “I feel like we need a refill on this more than we need to find out who murdered the quartermaster.” She held the empty bottle up like a trophy as she looked at Xav. “My quarters?”

"Yes," Xavier said, nodding enthusiastically. They made their way towards the double doors of the holodeck's exit, not even bothering to save the program. "First, Zade takes us to a truth planet, and now this pirate adventure," he rolled his eyes for dramatic effect. "From now on, I'm in charge of the entertainment, cause you two clearly cannot be trusted."