USS Culver City was on her way back to Derganix, carrying two newly-captured Ferengi shuttles in addition to the one she had taken previously.  Thus far, the trip had been uneventful, and at this point it was nearly over.

On the bridge, Lieutenant Commander Varyn K’lev sat in his command chair, reading on a PADD a report from Lieutenant Pelix, the ship’s chief engineer, on the removal of a Breen energy dampener from one of the shuttles the ship had recently captured.  The removal had gone smoothly, and Pelix recommended providing the weapon to Framheim Station on Culver City’s way out of the Expanse when her mission here was done.  A sudden alert, sounding from the Ops console, pulled him away from the text, as Lieutenant (jg) Ri Mali Sa No Tiza consulted his displays.  “We’ve got an incoming message from Derganix,” the Xahean ops officer said.  “Text only, from the Irrawaddy.  They say that USS Soval has arrived in orbit, and advise us to check in with her when we arrive,” he looked up.  “Looks like there’s gonna be a peace conference, and we’re invited.”

K’lev nodded.  “Be good to end this thing without any more shooting,” he said, relieved.  “Tell them we’ll be there, and that we’ll check in with Soval when we arrive back at Derganix.”

As Tiza bent to his console to send the reply, K’lev turned in his chair to glance at Lieutenant Ophelia Lotharys, his first officer and science officer, raising an eyebrow and making a bemused face.  He then tapped a control on his chair’s armrest console, opening an intercom channel.  “Bridge to sickbay,” he said, “Hilava, you had a chance to swing by the brig and check up on our passengers?”

“Yup,” the junior-grade lieutenant replied, sounding a little worried.  “My last check a couple days ago, they all seemed to be doing well, but they looked… scared, though I’m not sure why, and they didn’t say anything.”

K’lev nodded.  “Thanks for letting me know,” he said, sharing a concerned glance with Lotharys.  “If you would, please write up your concerns and send the report to me.  Bridge out.”  The channel closed.

K’lev shared another worried glance with Lotharys, checked the chronometer on his chair’s armrest console, then stood.  “I’ll be back shortly,” he said to Lotharys.  “Ship’s yours.”

With that, he turned and entered the turbolift, the doors swishing closed behind him; as he left the bridge, Lotharys stood, crossing to the command chair and taking a seat.  After the door closed, he looked up.  “Brig,” he said; in light of Hilava’s report, he needed to see how things were in the brig for himself.

The turbolift ride was fairly uneventful, which gave K’lev’s mind time to race.  Why would they be scared?  Tight spaces, maybe; but what’re the odds that they all’re scared of the same thing?  Not good; what’s going on on my ship?  He thought to himself.

When the lift arrived on the deck, K’lev strode quickly through the corridors; in short order, he found himself entering the brig.  It was an austere room, with a small desk facing cells down both walls and a side table for the security staff on duty to eat at, along with a small closet door off to one side; there were six cells in total.  The desk was manned by a third-class petty officer, with a crewman sitting at the table; both stood up quickly when their commanding officer entered the room.

“Oh!  Sir, um, did you need something?” the petty officer asked.

K’lev shook his head.  “Just checking on things,” he said, though his rapid pulse belied that.

As he started to walk down the row of cells, he saw that all but the near pair of cells, two of the three on each side, were occupied, each containing the a pair of crew from Culver City’s two newest prizes; three held two prisoners each; and the fourth held the ranking sub-daimon.  Interestingly – and worryingly – none of the prisoners met his gaze as K’lev looked at them; while he was no expert in body language, they seems to him to be not so much embarrassed at being captured, as afraid of something.  That was not all; there should have been seven prisoners behind the cells’ containment fields, but there were only six, as the sub-daimon was not in his cell.

Also missing was the third security officer who was supposed to be on duty.  K’lev turned to the petty officer.  “Where’s Ensign Vaalk?” he asked.  “And Sub-Daimon Tez?”

The petty officer – Wallace, K’lev finally remembered – took a moment to answer, which only made K’lev more anxious.  He turned to Crewman Olgierdsson, raising an eyebrow.  The crewman withered under his commanding officer’s inquisitive gaze, eyes darting towards the closet door just as K’lev heard a noise – a muffled, but higher-pitched sound of some sort – from behind it.  The Orion turned and tapped the door’s access control; it did not open, the lock engaged.  K’lev felt a roiling feeling in the pit of his stomach as he entered his override code into the door controls, unlocking the door and then opening it.

What he saw when the door opened made K’lev’s blood run cold; Sub-Daimon Tez was backed up against a wall, with Ensign Vaalk standing over him, a fist raised.  A medkit sat open nearby, some of its contents laid out for use.  The sound of the door drew both of their attention, and Vaalk froze as his eyes met those of his captain, caught in the very act of striking a prisoner.  K’lev felt his hands shaking in fury as he saw what was going on.  “What.  Are.  You.  Doing?” he asked in a deliberately slow voice.

The ensign lowered his fist.  “Ummm…” he started to say.

That mere sound was all it took to smash through the floodgates that held K’lev’s anger at bay; in two steps, he crossed to the larger Vaalk, grabbed his arm, and yanked him away from Tez, stepping between the two.  Breathing hard, he then swatted at his combadge.  “K’lev to the Hilava and Lotharys.  I need both of you to join me in the brig, now,” he said.

He then returned his attention to the disgrace of a Starfleet officer that stood before him, not even waiting for a reply from either his executive officer or his chief medical officer, though both confirmed they were on the way.  “You wanna explain to me what’s going on here?” he demanded.

Vaalk seemed to shrink back in the face of K’lev’s ire, but held his nerve enough to answer at least semi-defiantly.  “They took down the Blythe, and shot down some of her escape pods, too, and we left that unanswered; they’ve gotta pay for what they did!”

K’lev began stalking forward, jabbing his finger angrily at Vaalk as he all but pushed the taller ensign back into the brig’s main block area.  “The shuttle that did that’s already been dealt with, and it wasn’t theirs.  But even if it was, that does not give you the right to strike a prisoner!” he said; by the time he had finished, the normally soft-spoken Orion was shouting.

He then rounded on Wallace and Olgierdsson.  “Did you two know about this?” He demanded.  “And don’t lie to me!”

The two looked down, ashamed, as K’lev kept stalking forwards.  The door to the brig swished open as Hilava entered, stopping short as she saw the situation unfolding in front of her.  “Sir?  What’s going on?” she asked.

“The sub-daimon’s in the closet,” K’lev answered in a deliberately measured voice, trying to stifle his fury for the moment.  “This one,” he jabbed a finger at Vaalk, “was beating him; your instincts were spot on.”  As Hilava put a hand over her mouth in shock, the lieutenant commander kept talking.  “I want you to take all of our guests to sickbay, and give them comprehensive evaluations.  Record every injury or recent sign of medical treatment, work with Lieutenant Ghimir to take statements from them, and put it all in a report; I need that report on my desk ASAP.”

Hilava nodded.  As she moved to assist the sub-daimon – Tez visibly wasn’t fond of the idea of a female Ferengi doctor treating him and his crews, but wasn’t about to complain about the help – Vaalk found his voice again.  “I had a friend on the Blythe, who nearly died; they can’t be allowed to get away with what they did to her and her crew!  Capturing their shuttles isn’t enough, they’ve gotta pay!”

K’lev’s mismatched eyes flashed in fury.  However, the arrival of Lieutenant Lotharys spared Vaalk perhaps a more harsh reaction from K’lev.  “What’s going on?” she asked, seeing the clearly tense situation.

“We’ve got a problem, Ophelia; this one,” he actually did jab Vaalk in the chest with his index finger this time, “decided that holding our guests to face trial for piracy and trafficking in illegal weapons wasn’t enough, and they,” he indicated Wallace and Olgierdsson, “sat by and did nothing to stop him.”

“What did they do?” she asked, dreading the answer.

“I caught Vaalk beating a prisoner.  Wallace and Olgierdsson are complicit through inaction; they should’ve stopped him or reported him, but didn’t.”

Lotharys, now understanding – and agreeing with wholeheartedly – K’lev’s ice-cold demeanor, rounded on the trio as well, tapping her combadge.  “Lotharys to sh’Livo.  Send a security team to the brig, to take the team here into custody and escort our prior prisoners to sickbay; we’ll also need a new detail for the brig.”

The voice of Lieutenant (jg) Tyrisa sh’Livo emanated from Lotharys’s combadge.  “Yes, ma’am, right away,” she said, catching on from Lotharys’s tone that this was an incredibly serious moment.

“Thank you,” Lotharys replied, then tapped her combadge again to close the channel.

K’lev stepped forward to stand in front of the trio of security officers.  “You all are under arrest,” he said, taking the combadges off of their chests.

A scant two to three minutes later, the door opened again and a security team, a half-dozen strong, entered the brig.  “Three of you, join Lieutenant Hilava and escort the Ferengi prisoners to sickbay,” K’lev ordered.  “The other three, put these former security officers in cells, then take up watch here.  Harm a hair on their heads, and you’ll end up in a cell too.”

The security team stood to their duties with the precise professionalism that K’lev had expected.  Three joined Hilava in escorting the Ferengi prisoners to sickbay, while the others marched the prior brig watch into cells and then took over.  Satisfied – for now, at least – K’lev and Lotharys left the brig, heading back to the turbolift to return to the bridge.