Asking Questions...

Posted on Tuesday, 1 December 2020 - 12:40pm by Lieutenant JG Maximus Mackenzie

Mission: Operation: Ouroboros
Location: USS Standing Bear | Tactical Office Breifing Room
Timeline: 2393

ON:

Mac walked into the Tact Sec briefing room. Grol was seated there sipping water. Mac took a moment to observe the man and saw the way that his hand shook as he held the glass.

He sighed, "Hey Grol." He walked over and sat down bringing up a blank document on his PaDD. "How are you holding up?"

Grol shrugged. "I don't even know. I just finished with Starfleet Security. I spent five hours in the brig."

"Yeah I know. It's standard procedure until they clear you."

Grol said nothing but the man looked horrible. Mac stood up and walked to the replicator ordering a hot tea. He took it to Grol. "Try this, it's better then water."

Grol accepted the tea but still looked miserable.

"Okay from the top. What happened?"

"I was doing some work for Commander Soral and was about to go see him when Commander Stillwater called me. He said that he wanted me to get wine for him. I went to the personal storage units and got cleared by Ops. They opened the locker and I got the bottle."

Mac made a few notes. "Did you watch ops as they pulled the bottle?"

He gave a nod. "Yes. I watched them closely. It's a very good bottle. I kept telling them to be careful and not drop it!"

Mac's lip twitched. Grol would. "Alright what happened next?"

Grol sipped his tea. "Well.... I took the bottle and beamed down to the station. Those dolts at Starfleet HQ sent me to the wrong building so I ..."

Mac's head shot up. "HQ? Didn't you use our transporters?"

"No. They transported me and took their time! I must have been in the buffer for like five minutes! Anyway I headed to the other building and gave the wine to Stillwater and left to go find Soral."

Mac made a few more notes and his eyes met Grol. "Between where you transported down and the Commander did you stop, loose sight of the bottle?"

"Well no...not exactly."

Mac's head shot up. "What do you mean not exactly?"

"Some ensign, careless man! He bumped into me and I dropped the bottle. He, thankfully, caught it. I smacked my head so hard I thought it would crack. Anyway, the man was nice enough to help me up and hand me the bottle back...it couldn't have taken but a moment so I took the bottle back and off I went."

Mac made more notes. "Okay. Why don't you go back to your quarters and rest, I think we're done for now."

"DLT."

"Excuse me?"

"This is where you say don't leave town."

Mac chuckled. "You read way too many detective novels." He stood and walked around placing a hand on Grol's shoulder. "It's going to be alright. I promise you that."

Grol gave a nod. "I'll pretend I believe you."

Mac smiled, "It will be. Go shower, rest, okay?"

Grol gave a nod. "Alright." He stood and sighed. Heading out he hurried to his quarters, fed Luna, stripped and showered and changed into a new uniform. He had no intention of sleeping but exhaustion got the better of him. As soon as he sat on the sofa his head fell back and he was asleep before he knew it.

Mac on the other hand stayed to finish his notes and then headed back to see Soral. He had a theory, now did they match with the XO's...well two theories really.

OFF: