Unanswered Questions

Posted on Fri Sep 25th, 2020 @ 3:54pm by Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Welcome Aboard!
Location: USS Liberty
Timeline: Almost to the Starbase

Tossed unceremoniously into a brig cell with three unhappy Orion soldiers, Cody was still working off his hangover of a double stun shot. The situation could have only been made more tense or more volatile if the Orions knew that Cody was involved in an attempt to steal their booty right from under their noses. So far all that they were privy to was Lucy's role as information spy. She provided the target they provided the muscle. A double cross was a touchy subject.

As he sat on a side bench keeping to himself all he could do was hope one of the Orions didn't have the gaul to ask him the one cardinal prison question. No not the soap question, the 'what are you in for' one. Currently they were keeping to themselves, arguing among each other about their current situation which suited Cody just fine.

Meanwhile, she had had her sit down debrief with the Captain and had found her way to her assigned quarters. As she walked in the first thing she noticed was that her luggage sat neatly upon her bed. "Figures. Next time I'll just travel as luggage. Maybe i'll get there on time and in one piece."

She quickly shed her clothes but took extra time in the sonic shower removing the filth of the day. She then spent half an hour or so going over personnel records to familiarize herself with her small team and the Senior staff which she had only met one, the Captain, thus far.

But when she finally climbed into her nice soft sheets and closed her eyes, her mind fell to one thing and one thing only. Cody Devilrall. His smile, that hair, those eyes were beckoning to her. There were questions left unanswered, questions relating to her directly.

Time passed as she attempted to put him out of her mind, tossing and turning like she imagined her mother doing at the thought of her daughter pining over some bad boy from Fresno. Wait, was he even from Fresno? And why her?

After half an hour of tossing and turning, her drive for answers had gotten the better of her. She threw back the covers, slid out of bed and slipped her uniform back on, though not to code. After hours she knew she could leave off the pips and allow the chest flap to remain open. Last but not least she tossed her mess of hair into a loose pony and quickly left her quarters.

Minutes later she entered the Brig. A Four Cell configuration, one guard. Not even an Ensign but a loley night-watch crewman. Many of the Orion prisoners were asleep, passed out or otherwise grumbling to themselves. But as she entered the waiting chamber, all eyes were on her.

Cody slowly looked up to see her standing there, anger like a fire in her eyes. He tried turning on his charm. “Hey baby, I knew you’d be back. I told you chicks love “The Cody”.” He was smiling and showing his ass as he turned to the nearest Orion. “Didn’t I tell you, they just can’t get enough of me.” The Orion just grunted his direction and gave an eye roll hard enough to be felt.

Cody cleared his throat and turned back to Bonnie, “So what brings you back to me Doll?”

Oh I am so not your doll. She thought but did not say. “I want to know why me? Why did you target me for your little venture?”

He grew slightly uncomfortable at the thought that this conversation could potentially turn a direction he didn’t want. “I’m an opportunist. Your name was on the list as potential, uh, help.” He didn’t dare mention ‘encryption breaker’ just in case the Orions were smart enough to put two and two together.

“Help.” She seethed. “You basically kidnapped me from Fresno just for me to ‘Help’ you? And how did you do that by the way?” I mean, Are you even from Fresno? Or was I a target you had to actually go out of your way to track down?”

He chuckled. “That part was not too difficult actually. Just a simple transporter redirect somewhere obscure. Then wait for the call to come pick you up.” He could see the empty expression on her face. “If it makes you feel more important about yourself, I did shower like I said.”

She gave him the squinted eyes look that told him she was not amused. “So you hijacked my transporter coordinates. It was not another of my incidents where bad luck played a roll?” She was questioning the luck that started her bad day to begin with.

“I mean you can look at it that way. For you it was still a tails moment, but for me it came up heads.” He rocked his head side to side. “Oooor, since I’m the one in the jail cell it seems like that was your heads and my tails. Perspective luv.”

“Perspective. What about them, huh? What is their perspective?” She was pointing at the Orions in their cells, rousing their attention with her growing volume. Cody began to sweat around the collar. “In your scheming grandiose plans to ruin my day, you used them as pawns to get what you wanted.”

He stood and moved towards the energy screen, moving his finger across his throat in a sign to make her shut up. He kept stealing side glances at the Orions in his cell with him. “Iksnay on the lame-blay, okay?” He mouthed.

But she continued, “And Lucy? How could you set her up to fall like that? You led me to believe she was an old girlfriend, but you treated her like a bad penny?” She started to pace as point after point rolled out of her mouth. The crewman was watching her instead of what was going on in the cells around her, his focus lost in the moment.

Cody grew more nervous at the sound of Lucy’s name. The Orions were now intently listening as they knew Lucy was one of their own. How much they knew was the question. He silently prayed for mercy to be swift. “Bonnie, sweetheart, can we discuss this later?”

Wrong. “Sweetheart? Sweetheart. Sweetheart! How dare you use me to gain access to my life, to get on my ship! How dare you use me to steal encrypted plans while these thugs did your dirty work! How dare you call me sweetheart, ugh I feel so disgusted at the thought.” As she continued to pace and talk the Orions began to get rowdy. The three in Cody’s cell began moving towards him.

“That stuff about your ‘Papy’, I bet none of that was true! The shuttle. The fact that you accused Commander Huntley. We were all pawns in your scheme. We were nothing to you!”

Cody was now backing himself away from the Orions and into a corner, trapped like the rat he was, still all the while trying to defend himself. “No, the stories about Papy were honest. Don’t insult Debbie! Huntley is no saint. You meant everything to… me…” The lead Orion thug wrapped his meaty hands around Cody’s throat.

TBC