When it rains, it pours. (part 2)

Posted on Wed Apr 1st, 2015 @ 3:58am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Mira Jayna & Commander Thaddius Storm

1,532 words; about a 8 minute read

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

"I have competent officers on board, including my former XO and my current Acting XO, ma'am. We will be fine. I'll send the Commanders and the Ambassador to you immediately. York out." Sam was relieved to have the conversation go as well as it did. Under the circumstances, being told she was not under the orders of Starfleet Command was a blessing. At least until the Admirals could find the traitor. Until then, she was better off as she was.

[NEW]

Suddenly York's door chime rang.

Sam groaned. Now what? "Enter."

Samantha's yeoman entered the room with a PADD in hand approaching York's desk. "I'm sorry to interrupt ma'am. I have something I think you should know. Corporal Sparks was beginning his duty shift when he noticed Sergeant Beckinsale's quarters were open. Something was jamming the door and when he approached it he found it to be an empty alcohol bottle. He was simply going to nudge it in to allow the door to shut but when he looked through the crack he noticed her room was littered in similar bottles...."

She sighed handing Sam the PADD. "And there's more. A suspicious substance was found in a vial on her table. No one has touched anything because I wanted to get this information to you before alerting anyone else. Corporal Sparks has stood down and promised to let us handle this."

Sam sighed and took the PADD. "Next time, use your combadge to alert both me and security. Dismissed."

The yeoman would be replaced as soon as Sam had the opportunity. With something this critical, a report was not the best way to deal with the situation. She tapped on her combadge. "York to Batiste and Bourne. Meet me in Sergeant Beckinsale's quarters immediately."

A moment later she contacted Ensign Sirel. "Kela, provide an escort for Selena Vance, Thaddeus Storm and the Cardassian Ambassador to Shuttle Bay 1. They are to be escorted onto the shuttle and allowed to leave. Meet me in Sergeant Beckinsale's quarters. We've had another incident."

As she walked to the turbolift, she informed Munich he still had the bridge.

Sam arrived at Beckinsale's quarters to see a Marine at the door. "Report."

The man quickly pressed his heels together bringing himself to attention and saluting the Commodore. "Ma'am. Sergeant Beckinsale's quarters are littered with what appears to be alcohol bottles. I noticed it as I was walking by and alerted Chief Kara. I'm concerned the Sergeant might not be well ma'am."

"She is under a lot of stress right now," Sam replied, "But her behavior has not indicated that she has been drinking excessively. I want a thorough investigation of her quarters and the bottles."

Jayna arrived in time to hear Sam's orders. "We're on it, ma'am," she said. "Security should be here shortly. In the meantime, I'm going to take some preliminary readings." She held up a tricorder and camera. "3-D imaging will give us a chance to go over anything we missed."

She stepped carefully into the room and scanned it carefully before setting up the camera.

Corporal Sparks stepped in behind the Lieutenant and began to survey the room. He felt guilty having outed the Sergeant and placing her career at risk. Marines usually kept such things close to the chest, but he was also concerned for a member of the family. He walked to the table where he had spotted a suspicious vial. He kneeled down to bring his eyes to the table for a closer inspection, he could not risk contaminating the evidence. "Son of a..." he began with a sigh. Sparks had seen the substance before and instantly recognized it.

"Lieutenant! Commodore!" he called out. "This little vial here. It's cocaine." he said in a disappointed tone.

"Yes, but recent events make it necessary to check this carefully. There has been enough going on to make this suspicious," Sam said. "Not because Amarylis has been using drugs, but because someone wants us to believe she has."

Sam tapped on her combadge. "York to Jethro Vance. Please report to Sergeant Beckinsale's room immediately."

"On my way." Came the reply over the comms.

A few moments later Jethro Vance entered Amarylis' quarters. His face instantly went pale as he processed the scene. It was an old wound he hoped not to be opened again. He let out a long drawn sigh whilst rubbing his chin. "Not again." Was all he could muster.

"Again?" Sam asked.

Jethro motioned Sam to the bedroom for privacy. He took a deep breath before speaking. "Amarylis had a drug problem when she was a teen. The marines was her way to get away from the addiction and get her life back. Rehab was hard on her but she fought for every bit of what she's got. Her pride stemmed from more then her uniform. Becoming a sniper was just as much personal as it was the will of the corps for her. As the bullets went forward, her addiction was left behind. She was sixteen last time she shot up."

Jethro paced a bit as he placed his hands upon his silver hair brushing it to the back through his fingers. "Or so I thought."

"Someone has been leaving messages on the ship lately," Sam said. "Not one of the crew. They directly relate to your daughter and Sergeant Beckinsale. Could this be another of those?"

"If someone is after the two of them it's certainly a possibility. Like anything right now it's all purely conjecture." Jethro replied. The chain of events leading to this moment were following an M.O all too familiar to Jethro.

"Commodore York!" Came a call from the other room interrupting Jethro's chain of thought.

As the two would re enter the main living area they would find the team of marines now joined by Sergeant Beckinsale. Amarylis' blonde hair was in complete disarray contrary to the well-kept style she usually maintained. Her skin was pale and large blackened shadows had formed under her eyes.

"Hey y'all." she said throwing her hands in the air. "Why are you in my quarters?" she asked curiously looking to Samantha.

Sam waved her arm, indicating the bottles and such in the room. "You didn't come back with the away team and Corporal Sparks found this in your quarters." She wasn't going to add that she wondered if Mowrat was responsible for this in an effort to discrecit Amarylis, but it now seemed clear that Sam had been mistaken.

"Why was Corporal Sparks in my quarters?" Amarylis growled changing to a more aggressive posture. "Did you have cause for such a search?"

"No Sarge. There was a bottle impeding your door. I went to check it out and that's when I saw the rest of this." Sparks replied.

Amarylis began to approach the marine. "And you didn't think of reporting this to Captain Bourne perhaps? Instead you brown-nosed to the CO thinking what? she'll give you a promotion or something? Marines take care of their own Corporal!" Her tone turned to a shout as she began to ream out the junior marine.

"Enough!" Sam barked. "You did not return with the away team; an investigation was in order to ascertain if you were wounded, captures or AWOL." She was more than a little disappointed at the Marine's action. "Sergeant Beckinsale, you are relieved of duty and confined to your quarters pending formal charges."

Jayna had just finished her scans and had some paraphernalia in an evidence bag for further analysis. Just in case Beckinsale wanted to make an issue of it, she nodded to Sam and slipped out of the door to take her findings to the office.

Kara passed Jayna in the hall and walked into the open door, shocked at what she saw. She looked at Sam, Jethro and Amarylis. "What's going on?" she asked.

"You tell me Gunny." Amarylis snarled turning to scowl at Corporal Sparks.

"It would appear that Sergeant Beckinsale has picked up an old habit. She will be confined to quarters until Captain Bourne issues formal charges."

Kara looked around the room, stunned.

"Old habits? And what exactly would you know..." Amarylis said storming towards Sam. She stopped and began to snickered when she realized what Sam was speaking of. She looked over to Jethro. "You told her huh? Told her I was some low life junkie?"

She turned back to Sam. "Is that what you think? You gonna have the docs pump me full of needles too? Keep me locked up in some room?"

"Do you want to give me another explanation?" Sam asked.

"Ya it's simple. I'm not a freaking addict!" Amarylis yelled before stumbling to the floor.

"Stop embarrassing yourself Sergeant." Jethro said calmly bowing his head.

"Kara, take her to sickbay, then to the brig," Sam ordered. She turned to Jethro. "You can go with them if you like."

Kara took Amarylis by the arm and tapped her combadge. "Come on, Beckinsale. Let's get you to the doctor."

____
OFF

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Sergeant Sparks
Marine

Lieutenant JG Mira Jayna
Assistant Chief Science Officer

Jethro Vance
Guest

Sergeant Amarylis Beckinsale
Marine

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