The Wretched Masses - Season 1, Episode 3

[Finn Moreno]

[Interrogation room]
Finn saw the little bit of sand he was standing on being washed away by a current if accusations and data disks.
So he decided that now was his time to walk.
If I recall that right I'm not being charged with anything so you can't really hold me. I've had enough of this shitty theater you're playing here. Find out whoever gained access to my quarters. I'll see you then.
With that he made his way to the door.

[James Bryson]

[Interrogating Room]

With just a slight nod of his head, Jeb gave Winslow the silent message to block the door and halt the suspects escape. With that done, Jeb stood and called to Moreno's back.

"For someone who's claiming innocence, you sure seem resistant to assist." Jeb began. "Let me put it to you bluntly, Mister Moreno. There has been a crime committed on this base and you have been implicated. Now, I must run an investigation. I will do that with or without your help but make no mistake about it, you will not be allowed to leave the Katra during this investigation. That can be accomplished in one of two ways. You can be confined to quarters as we discussed OR I can impound your ship. Your choice. Either way, you don't leave."

Jeb clamped his hands behind his back as he waited for the man's response.

[Finn Moreno]

[Interrogation room]
It might have seemed like it but the words didn't fall on deaf ears. Finn was busy staring at the security officer blocking his way.
He was fuming. What the hell was happening here?
So he turned to face ensign Bryson and growled at him.
I'm angry because you're going to confine me even though I haven't done anything. Ask my crew how good I am with proframming stuff!
There was one last resort...
Why the hell not. How bad could it be?
When was this rhing activated? I was at a card game from 8 until almost midnight...lower deck, a place called the dungeon. I think you'd know it.
And they surely had no cameras there.

[James Bryson]

[Interrogation Room]

Jeb never understood why people never wanted to help themselves out by cooperating with an investigation to clear themselves. They always just wanted to argue and claim innocence and expected to be released. Just once, he wished someone would be like, "Okay. I'll just wait here and you do what you need to do." Today was not going to be that one instance.

"Well. As you heard Lieutenant Winslow say, the entry logs for your quarters have been erased. So that knocks out using those records to see when you left and someone else may have entered. And I'm very familiar with The Dungeon. So much familiar in fact, that I also know they have no cameras and anyone I tried to speak with would be less helpful than you have been."

Jeb took his seat again. "In order for us to determine when the program was launched, we will have to get with Engineering and start back tracking it. That's part of the investigation. Hence us needing some time and you needing to stay aboard the station."

[Finn Moreno]

[Interrogation room]
Suit yourself.
Finn commented unhappy with the outcome but at least not completely condemned yet. They'd still investigate.
Can I call my crew to let them know I'm not going to be around and they have to cancel our next run in three days?
Maybe this guy was just doing his job, hopefully he'd do it thoroughly.

[James Bryson]

[Interrogation Room]

Finally. An agreement. Jeb thought.

"Yes. You may contact your crew and inform them. After that, if you're ready, Lieutenant Winslow will escort you to your quarters. You will have an escort should you decide to venture out to the Mess Hall instead of using the replicator. But that's the limit of your venturing. No clubs, no shopping and definitely no gambling." Jeb told him.

[Finn Moreno]

[Interrogation room]
"No fun, gotcha." Finn dryly commented but he knew there was no room for debate here.
So he made an unhappy face and nodded.
"Escort me...and just so you know. I will not touch that replicator. Not even for a glass of water. It might start producing whoknowswhat."
Of all the things he could have been arrested for, he certainly didn't expect this.

[James Bryson]

[Interrogation Room]

"That's your prerogative." Jeb said to Moreno's statement about the replicator. He gave Winslow a second nod and the Lieutenant keyed in the code to open the doors.

Winslow stepped out first and motioned for Moreno to follow. "After you." he said.

When they were on their way, Winslow made sure the guard that was waiting outside fell in behind them. "This is Ensign Pesha. She will be in charge of the detail that will be rotating in and out as your escorts." They made their way to the lift and stepped inside when the doors parted. "Is there any where you need to stop on our way to the quarters?"

[Juraan Ren]

[Katra Station - Promenade - Outside the IDIC]

NPC Cathy Daniels
[Katra Station - Promenade - IDIC]

After her initial arrival, there had been a small worry that Juraan would be upset,  She was interrupting his date afterall.  But Juraan didn't seem upset at all, in fact he smiled at her.  Ha!  She knew he hadn't really been wanting to date that totally fake woman; fake because no one smiled that much or made such lingering eye-contact without some ulterior motive.

Cathy had hoped that her presence at the table might unsettle Tamani enough to get the woman to show her true self in front of Juraan, but the Bajoran woman was more self-assured than Cathy had estimated.  It would take more to fluster this one.

At the woman's offered meal suggestion, Cathy made a bit of a face to show her dislike of the idea before turning to Juraan.  "What would you suggest? You know my tastes."

Juraan turned his head to back at Cathy at that unexpected reaction. He eyed her for a moment and thus missed Tamani's reaction to Cathy dismissing her suggestion like that. The Bajoran woman had raised an eyebrow in slight offense.

"Well, they have a Bolian 'Century Burger' here ... the patty is made of aged meat, with some veggies and hot sauce on it." Bolians were known to have a liking for aged meat and often their dishes sounded rather unappetizing to non-Bolians. Juraan suspected that the IDIC staff had named the dish in a way that was acceptable for a broader range of people. But he did not know what actually had happened to the meat used in that burger. All he knew was that despite the thought of 'old meat' Bolian food generally was delicious - if you didn't ask to much about the details.


"That would be mostly brown, how you like it", Tamani commented pointedly.

[Finn Moreno]

[Somewhere on Katra]
Finn was as annoyed as he could possibly be. So when he was asked where he wanted to stop or go, he simply muttered. "My ship so I can get the fuck out of this shithole.
Katra had suddenly become a lot less pleasant for him.
"I have to contact my crew.
He waited for permission and then radioed Juraan.
Juraan. Listen closely. I'm being detained for some bullshit they want to pin on me. You and Cathy have to cancel our next run and get the work on the loading machinery done. 
Hopefully he wasn't interrupting anything more important that his usual pub tours.

[James Bryson]

[Katra corridors]

[NPC Lt Winslow]

Winslow looked totally unimpressed with Moreno's language and his desire to vacate the Katra. When he asked to contact his ship, the lieutenant pointed to the comms on the wall. "Knock yourself out." he said.

He stood by but watched closely as the freighter captain made his call.

"If you're ready." he said as he extended his arm indicating that they needed to go.

The lift ride only took a few moments before they were on the correct deck and headed down the corridor to Moreno's quarters.

"For what it's worth, we aren't trying to "pin" anything on you. We just want to get to the truth as I'm sure you do as well."

[Finn Moreno]

The truth will hopefully get me out of these quarters and not into your Brig.
By now Finn had understood that all his anger and frustration dud nothing good for him and he'd better find a way to help.
So before he actually stepped inside the usually quite nice quarters he said
Please ask my crew about my technical abilities. And also go the the poker place and ask how long I've been there. You'll see that I'm not lying to you. I was going to make Katra my home base. Why would I play such a prank on people here?"
He then took one more step inside so the man could lock the doors after they closed.

[James Bryson]

[NPC Lieutenant Winslow]

"Jeb's not a bad guy. He'll do everything to find out what really happened no matter who or where it leads to." Winslow said to Moreno. "I can promise that he will speak to your crew and the poker place."

Moreno stepped inside and Winslow keyed in the code to secure the door before turning to Pesha.

"Food is the only reason he's allowed out of there for now." he told the young Barzan female.

"Aye, Sir." came the reply.

Winslow left and made his way back to the Security Office and Bryson. He walked in to find him sitting at his console.

"He maintained his innocence all the way up to me locking his door." Winslow said. "Any luck from Engineering pin pointing the time that the program was released?"

"Twenty two hundred hours." Jeb answered.

"Wow. That was pretty quick work."

"Yeah. Well. I already had the information before we brought him in. He just kept pissing me off so....." Jeb let the end of the sentence just hang in the air.

Jeb stood and looked at Winslow. He still couldn't believe that Saxon was letting him run Security. With Winslow as his number two, they made one hell of a team. "Let's go interview his crew and the staff at the Lunar Dawn."

Winslow just smiled and shook his head as he followed Jeb out of the room.

[John Saxon]

<Operational Control Centre - Katra Station>

Trying not to fidget, instead forcing his aged back to maintain its rigid posture against its - and probably the Medical Departments - will, Saxon broke the mutual contemplative silence with Captain Solluk. "Ah," he said in a reminded tone, "thank you for approving my recommendation for the Department Head we discussed; I'll make the formal announcement once I sign off on the personnel restructure."

<Elsewhere>

1.64gigaquads of data suddenly began to download to Ensign Bryson's administrative PADD. The source was anonymous, somehow having the access code authority to direct-feed the package past Katra's top-grade firewalls. Artificial Intelligence counter-attack protocols reviewed the content at a speed that rivalled even a positronic matrix, and deemed the content non-belligerent nor harmful to station systems. It was, the control software confirmed, solely a vid-message addressed Bryson personally.

Once opened, the vid would play, showing the face familiar from a short time past:



"This is Jonah Vermont, Auditor for the Interim Federation Council. The Stardate is 76549.7. If you are receiving this message, it is because it was to be transmitted to Station Security after a set period of time - after a period of time and I was no longer alive to terminate" he pulled a gallows-humour smile, quite at odds with his stern features, "the instruction.

"Whilst being evacuated from Space Station Katra, I, to my horror, have uncovered that Captain Finn Moreno, of the Wonderland II transport vessel, registry NBR-261865, is a multiple murderer in the Alpha Quadrant - and likely to-be murder of myself. So I must speak quickly. In 2396 Maylon Yansec, a key prosecution witness in a trial against the 'Emerald Talon', a still-operating hit-for-hire arm of the old Orion Syndicate, was executed at the hands of persons unknown before testimony was recorded. I met this witness in the early days of the trial as part of the Federation Attorney's Office. Security footage uncovered from the area shows an individual fleeting from the scene carrying the weapon the coroner concludes was the murder weapon. This footage is attached. No subsequent trace of this suspect could be found, and no recognition software was able to locate this individual at that time; I believe I know why. This individual has been positively identified by me as Finn Moreno of the Wonderland II. I believe Captain Moreno is a member of the 'Emerald Talon' and is an assassin-for-hire, using the freedom of a civilian freighter as cover. I do not believe his crew are aware of this duplicity; their innocence a useful alibi."

The face turned around, looking panicked at a sound not picked up by the recording device. "I...I think he may have found me… I think I was recognised." Jonah spoke in a more hurried pace. "He cannot disappear again - the collapse of the trial brought about the deaths of a dozen good internal agents and informants. Don't let-..." He looked around again. "I have to go. Jonah Vermont, signing off."

At that, the message ended.

Any subsequent investigation would reveal that Auditor Jonah boarded the Wonderland II on Stardate 76549.4 but no record of his disembarkation or return to New Bajor was ever recorded. Fellow Auditors and colleagues would be surprised to learn this, as they had a vague memory of seeing him at some point, but - if pressed - could not be sure. The Interim Federation Council's office would point to a message to say that Jonah Vermont requested personal leave, using his private communications account on Stardate 76549.73, citing stress over the recent emergency, but no trace would be found on New Bajor nor Katra.

[Juraan Ren]

[Katra Station - Promenade - IDIC restaurant]

He waited for permission and then radioed Juraan.
Juraan. Listen closely. I'm being detained for some bullshit they want to pin on me. You and Cathy have to cancel our next run and get the work on the loading machinery done. 

Juraan received the message from Finn at his communicator they had for a while now. It was a portable small device that made a sound to announce an incoming message. The Bajoran's face darkened as he listened to Finn's words, his eyes immediately seeking Cathy's.

  "What, what?", Juraan asked, confused. "What bullshit are they trying to detain you for? And who is 'they'? The station's security? Where are you? We'll come over and get you outta there." While he was still speaking, Juraan already stood up, ready to go.