Is this going to be a problem
Posted on Thu Nov 10th, 2022 @ 11:49pm by Cassandra Frost
Edited on on Sat Nov 12th, 2022 @ 10:57am
1,593 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
The Hunt Begins
Location: JAG Officer's Office - Deck 6 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD001 1800 hrs
Tags: @cassie frost, @LCDR Kelly Miller, JAG
Walking along deck 6, Cassie was taking a trip around the ship to see the various places her new position might take her too. With her new position as the Criminal Apprehension Officer as well as the head of the ESU, her responsibilities could take her not only to those areas of the ship under the perview of security, but also those pf the science and legal offices.
Stopping infront of the JAG office, Cassie took a deep breath before walking in through their doors. The last time she’d met a JAG officer, they’d sent her to prison so she wanted to make a good first step with these officers who she’d be working with.
Kelly was at her desk, face buried in files. She was *always* at her desk, and if she wasn't? She was in the Gym or sleeping. Her life was very small, but she didn't mind it, really. She murmered to the replicator on a table behind her. "Replicator, coffee, please." After a moment, and without moving her body or face, her arm snaked behind her and snatched the hot bean water that would, hopefully, make her brain connect the pieces that much faster. She was suddenly aware of the presence in the room, and a brown eye looked up, followed by her right eyebrow.
"Can I help you?" She asked, not putting the file down just yet. It was a security thing, really, at this point in her career-a proverbial wall that kept her safe-literally and figuratively.
Cassie was about to intoduce herself when she saw who was sitting before her, the very JAG officer who had convicted her of the crimes put against her. Taking a deep breath, Cassie did her best not to jump across the desk and choke the hell out of this woman, instead choosing to try and be diplomatic. After all the JAG officer didn’t seem to recognise her right away.
“Hey there LC, I’m Cassandra Frost, I’ve been assigned here as the Criminal Apprehension Officer, so I figured as we’ll probably be working together for a while I might as well introduce myself”
The woman's voice-the speech patterns and tone-sent something astir in Kelly's brain. She flipped her mental Rolodex and settled on a face. OHHHH. This might be...interesting.
"When did you get out of jail?" Brilliant, Kelly. *That* was all you could come up with? She placed the file carefully down in front of her. Good thing she was sitting because she wanted to run. Hide out in sickbay or something until this had passed. "Well. I suppose you'd be good at that. Sit down." It wasn't so much a request as an order, but it was tinged with something that Kelly recognized as..anger.
“Well it seems you lot couldn’t do your job without me” Cassie replied as she took the seat. Doing her best to keep her temper under control, she did her best to act professional. After all, they were going to have to work together and ultimately their job was to put the monsters hiding in the shadows behind bars. Taking deep breath, Cassie decided to jump straight into what she hopped might be the easiest path to a working relationship between them, “look, I know you don’t like me and I’m sure as hell not your biggest fan, but we’re going to have to figure out a way to make this work. Now, seeing as I’m the Apprehension Officer on this tub, I’m going to be bringing a lot of cases down here for you to deal with on the Legal side of things. So If you want, I can just work with your partner and we can keep our contact to a minimum”
If Kelly were any other woman, you'd be able to *see* the irritation and dumbfoundedness she felt. LUCKILY, she had, long ago, perfected a poker face. Not even an eyebrow raised in suspicion. She answered carefully, keeping her voice neutral and even, not allowing to drip with venom. What the HELL GOOD WAS a justice system if it didn't even matter if they just let...common criminals out early?! And the sheer hubris in not contacting her? It was against every law code *she* could think of.
"I am fine to work with you, provided you've *actually* learned something from your time on that prison ship." Kelly never believed that Earth's justice systems were much of a rehab but at least some of the Fleet ones were, and most of the extraterrestrial ones she'd come across were, too. But really, recividisim was up to the individual at the end of the day, and who's to say now that Cassie wouldn't return to her old ways, given enough money or promise of power, or whatever the hell was her excuse before? "But I'll discuss it with my partner this afternoon, at any rate." Especially because if he KNEW that Frost was here and hadn't told her, he was a dead man walking.
“And what exactly am I have supposed to have learnt? Perhaps something like not to leave the Starfleet fan club?” Cassie asked sarcastically. This was probably the last way she should’ve reacted to Kelly’s statement, but that chip on Cassie’s shoulder had some rather sharp edges to it.
Kelly's brown eyes narrowed. Her younger self would've read the woman the riot act AND wrote her up for insubordination, but she was older now, and more even-keeled, or at least, she was trying to be.
"I actually meant the whole vigilante thing, but don't let the CO hear me say that." She'd been born into the Starfleet-her father had been a Fleet doctor and her mother was a Fleet nurse, so it was in her blood. She [b]DID[/b] realize that not everyone was, though, and while she had illusions of Federation exceptionalism, she also knew that things weren't perfect, no matter how she'd though it was when she was a child.
"Why are you here?"
“That would be a question for Admiral Ford. He’s the one who gave me this chance. From what I’m told, he thought I would be suited for this line of work” Cassie answered, giving a shrug, “Maybe he’s up to something or maybe he just doesn’t like Captain Kidd.”
Kelly had to stifle a giggle at that. Some people thought that women were too emotional, but it seemed often that the inverse was true. "Oh, trust me. He'll hear from me as soon we're done here." Her partner, too. If Frost was smart, as soon as Kelly was done with her, she'd head over there and let him know his goose was cooked. "But more to the point, why are you HERE? In my office?" Was it to taunt her? To attempt to have some kind of reconciliation? She was willing to hear the woman out, but it had better be good, because time was being wasted, and the recent attacks meant her caseload had doubled, seemingly overnight.
"I guess I was hoping we could be at least civil with one another as we're going to be working together to put these scumbags away where they belong. Maybe I was overestimating my chances and I should just leave the inter-department coordination to Lieutenant Benson" Cassie explained, before taking a deep breath, "I also thought that if I was the one to extend the olive branch, as such, that it might look good on my part. Again, it seems I was mistaken"
Kelly's arms remained crossed over her chest, and her face was still expressionless. She WAS starting to bend a little, though, but she'd be DAMNED if she'd let Frost see it. Her arms moved, picking up her coffee and draining it before she spoke.
"We can work together, I believe. But we'll never be friends." Kelly didn't have friends. She was nice enough but she was still so broken from her husband's death that she was a mere shell of the woman she'd been even the year before. "So. Thanks for coming by. Good to see that the rehabilitation system works, even if I've had my doubts."
Cassie gave Kelly a shrug, “at least you’re willing to give me a chance. It’s more then I expected from some Starfleet officers” she said before standing up and holding out a hand, “well, until Starfleet decide if I get my commission back or not, just treat me like a civilian contractor”
Kelly nodded. "I can do that." She shook the woman's hand, and then nodded once. "If you don't need anything else, back to my cases I go. Please close the door behind you." She picked back up the manila folder. She couldn't concentrate, though-this new development threw a monkey wrench into things.
Giving Kelly a nod, Cassie turned and walked out of the JAG office. Th be honest, that had gone better than she had expected it to. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be as bad an idea as she’d thought it would be when she was taken out of her cell on Earth. Only time would tell.
A Joint Post By
Cassandra Frost
Criminal Apprehension Officer/CO ESU, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Commander Kelly Miller
JAG Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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