Editing The Sevant Murders (section)

==Back On the Ship==
===Sevant Finds out Who the Murderer is===

(USS Nimitz - Guest Quarters - Lt Cmdr Sevant -  0745)

Caladryll looked at the quarters, just standing inside the doorway. They were not his quarters, they were not inherently painful in and of themselves. Soon enough he would have to enter back into his own home, confront the shadows that lingered there, confront the loneliness that now presented itself for him with his family dead and cold. 

He took a deep breath, still struggling to bring his emotions under control now that his mate and children were dead. He was the last of his family line, the rest having been ripped from him. No matter how strong he had been, no matter how much he had tried to protect them, they had been pulled from him. He had been utterly powerless to do anything about it, stuck on some alien world that hadn't wanted him to be there anyway.


The enunciator beeped behind him, but he ignored it, instead letting his thoughts wander down the paths they had been taking for the last several hours. The enunciator beeped again, most insistently. Sevant shook his head and turned to the door, "Open." he said quietly. Standing right before it was one of the very last people he wanted to see, though it was her job to see him. 

"Counselor," he sighed, "Not today."

(reply Winters.)

Sevant let her talk as he was hardly paying attention to her. His gaze was fixed somewhere over her shoulder, at the next door across the corridor. He shook his head when he realized she had stopped talking, and looked over at her face. "I'm sorry, bu not..." he suddenly broke off as he caught the barest hint of a thought from her. He wasn't highly telepathic unless dealing with his now-dead family, but strong thoughts he could pick up easily enough, and Mrs. Winters-Dark had gone through her own pain very recently. A face drifted past his mind, and a name...
Someone he didn't know, but the mental connotations of what he picked up were unmistakable. She knew the killer was locked up, she knew s/he had been caught. 

It was enough. 

Sevant's face melted into that of pure anger, fury personified. He shoved passed her without another word, sending her sprawling, and took off running down the corridor with a howl on his lips. The murderer, the killer... The person who had done away with him family had been caught.
Sevant meant to find him, and rip him/her limb from limb.

===Sevant Confronts the Murderer===
NRPG: Going to make this exceptionally difficult on you, Aaron :OP

The Brig isn't on our deck plans, have to remedy that. For now, I think it would be near the security center... Deck 7. If I'm blind and it is there, or it should be somewhere else, then the deck can be changed in the compile... 

RPG:
(USS Nimitz - Turbolift - Lt Cmdr Sevant - 2406.03.12.0907)

Sevant growled as the turbolift slowly came to a halt. "Computer, continue to Deck 7."

[Turbolift Control has been locked down on the authority of Lieutenant Stolev, unable to comply.]

Caladryll balled his fists and ground his jaw for a moment, "Computer, override Lt Stolev's orders, authorization Sevant Seven Omega Seven.
Continue to deck 7."

The turbolift was compliant, and immediately began moving again. But, if Stolev was any kind of good officer, he would find another way to do away with Sevant, perhaps by removing him from command on security concerns. He had been a Security Officer himself, there were ways to stop that from ever starting. "Computer," he growled a moment later, "Strip Lieutenant Stolev of all Security and Computer clearances. Reset him to civilian level five. Authorization Sevant Seven Omega Seven."

A couple seconds passed, then [All Security and Computer Command Codes for Lieutenant Stolev have been reset to Civilian Security Level Five.]

The Half-Vulcan's grin was pure joy at those words. It never once crossed his mind that he had woefully overstepped his authority, only that he had removed a large bolder from his path of vengeance.
Lieutenant Stolev wouldn't be able to get back his computer access before Sevant himself reached the brig.

He nearly gave a whoop of victory, but the doors opened to Deck 7 before he could open his mouth. Once they had, he was all business again.
Sevant bolted out of the turbolift and took off at a dead run for the Brig. He ignored every officer he passed, regardless of what they said or how they moved. He knocked over a couple in his haste to reach the brig, but didn't stop to see if they were all right. He was the epitome of Vulcan passion and rage, a figurehead of everything the Vulcans had left behind when they followed Sybok and put their feet on the path of Logic. He was anger personified, and he would NOT be stopped. 

Two security guards were standing in front of the brig when he arrived, they were not part of the normal contingent. 

~Someone guessed where I was going.~ he thought with something akin to glee. 

"I'm sorry sir..." one of them said as he moved forward with his hand outstretched, as if to grab him. Sevant would have none of it, he grabbed the arm of the only somewhat suspicious officer and twisted it.
Gracefully he moved forward, and twisted the arm behind the officer, forcing him to twist on his feet lest the arm be broken. The woman was in the act of pulling her phaser, until Sevant shoved the incapacitated man directly into her. He had trained and commanded many of the security team, he knew these two by name and had often inquired about their well being and families. That knowledge worked against them, who would think their former Department chief would simply attack them?

Sevant continued shoving until both had hit a bulkhead, completely taken by surprise and caught flatfooted. He ripped the phaser out of the mans hip holster, and turned calmly into the brig. The doors slid open easily, and the customary Brig warden was on duty. Although, instead of sitting behind a desk, he was standing in front of it with his hand on his phaser. Sevant had his own weapon up in a flash, before the Wardens phaser could make it more then halfway out of the holster. 

"Leave," he growled. 

"Sir, I can't do th..."

Sevant shrugged and pressed the button. The phaser was only on level one, it knocked the officer back several feet and knocked him out. But, it wouldn't keep him down for long. It didn't matter, Sevant only needed a few moments. "Comnputer, lock down the brig."

[The Brig has been locked down.]

There were several officers that would be able to open the brig doors over his command, but it would still take them a bit of time. HE only needed a few seconds... 

He stepped over the fallen officer, pausing only long enough to kick away the weapon, and started looking through the containment cells.
Considering the normal nature of the ship, they should all have been empty. However, this wasn't a normal day, and two of the cells were filled. One with an old man, who looked at Sevant with very keen interest... 

... The other with a man in Science or medical blue, who wasn't looking at much of anything but the ceiling. Sevant's blood howled at him as he tapped the button which brought down the forcefield. The man looked up, cringed slightly as his eyes saw the phaser and then the face of the wielder, and then he deliberately laid his head back down on the pillow.
"The murder of your wife and children was to keep my own alive, but now even they will die because of my actions to stop the people that ordered the death. One woman's and one child's blood, people you have never met, do not redeem the blood of your entire family. Perhaps, if you require it, my own will pay the difference." the man said flatly. 

Sevant looked down at the phaser, and dropped it. When he looked back up, the prisoner was looking at him with a featureless expression.
Sevant's breath came in huffs, and his heart pounded in his ears. "A phaser would be far to good." he eventually said, his voice feral. 

He lunged forward, grabbed the man by the collar, and picked him up one handed. With all his Vulcan strength he tossed him into a wall several times in a row. The man screamed in pain as Sevant turned him around and laid a punch into him with all his strength. He heard a rib or two crack at the force as he pulled back again, then hit him bare-knuckle in the already bloody face. 

"I WOULD, I DID, KILL FOR MY FAMILIES LIFE. BUT I DIDN'T MAKE THEM SUFFER, KILL ME ALREADY IF YOU MEAN TOO!" the man suddenly bellowed as he grabbed at Sevant's arm and started beating it. 

Sevant reached forward and grabbed the mans throat, and pushed him against the bulkhead. A strangled breath erupted from his mouth, but another did not follow as Sevant increased the pressure. He looked at the killer, his FAMILIES killer, and thought about the words that he had just said. 

"I would kill for my family," Sevant rasped to the blue and bloody faced man. "But you didn't give me the opportunity. You took them from me, when I couldn't defend them. You stole my only light from this world,"
He kept squeezing, with all the strength of his grief. "My only reason to live now, is to see you suffer..." his voice broke in a barely contained sob as the mans would-be epitaph ran through his mind again.
He found those words, and Vanyssa's words informing him of the murder, mixing together. He couldn't think strait, he hadn't been able too since he had learned... 

His shoulders slumped as the killer passed out from lack of air, and Sevant let him drop. His eyes never left the mans face as he backed up and bumped into the cot. He sat, eyes wet from tears and hands trembling both from adrenaline and grief. The man had killed for his families life? Was that possible? Wouldn't he have done the same? 

But this man KILLED his family! He deserved to die! 

But, Sevant didn't move. His hands continued to tremble as the Brig Warden and several other security guards rushed in to the cell with their phasers pointed in his direction. They warned him not to move, and Sevant almost laughed. His hands wouldn't obey his commands, they kept shaking. Maybe the guards would be merciful and shoot him dead for his lack of cooperation in such a simple matter as not moving! 

He closed his eyes, and slowly covered his face with his hands, no longer caring what went on around him.



===Sevant in the Brig===


(USS Nimitz - Deck 21, Brig - Sevant - 0925)

"Please come with me sir.  You've done what you came here to do.  It's over." 

~Yes, it's over.~ he thought with fatalistic certainty. 


"I will be with you and Commander Sevant in a minute Lt. Stolev.  I have to make sure that Collins is not going to expire on us."  

"He wont." Sevant muttered, mostly to himself. Caladryll forced himself to relive the last several moments, the sound of cracking bones, just how many times had he thrown... Collins?... Against the wall? Sevant finally decided it hadn't been enough times to actually kill him. He felt a momentary heat of anger at the thought that the killer was still alive, but it disappeared quickly in light of everything else. 

He rubbed his face again, trying to come to grips with what he had learned. Was it true? If it wasn't, then Collins had just managed to escape the justice he so richly deserved, Sevant was sure he would never have another opportunity. The Security Chief would see to that. Which reminded him, He looked up and muttered, "Computer, reinstate all of Lt Stolev's Security clearances."

[You do not have the authority...]

Sevant closed his eyes. Everything had already been stripped of him, he should have figured that.

"Commander Sevant, I am here to help you" 

A Woman knelt before him and held his hands. He gasped as psychic signals passed through her into him, with nothing to be done about it.
Vulcans were strongest when touched, and his mind was wild at the time.
She must have noticed, the input suddenly cut off, leaving him alone once again in his mind. 

He didn't respond for a long many moments. He continued through his broken logical process, trying to make sense of everything that had happened in such a way that he would be able to function. Everything he tried failed, however, his thoughts were circular. 

Eventually, however, the enormity of what he had just done hit him.
Waves of fear, regret and the certain knowledge that he had just ended his career washed through him, he had managed to sabotage the one thing he had still possessed after last night. And for what? What was it he had thought to gain... The suffering of another man was not what he had expected.

He pulled his hands away from the doctor. "Leave me," he managed to croak. "I am aware of the consequences, leave me here." He looked up at Stolev, then over at the ACMO. "Leave me, now, and tell the Captain I would speak with her when she has the time."

===Rivers Meets with Sevant, Resignation Offered===



(USS Nimitz - Deck 21, Brig - Sevant/Rivers - 1107)

"Sevant?  I'm sorry  couldn't get here earlier. D*** meetings, you know how they drag on. I was intending to come afterwards anyway, but Kestra said you asked to see me?"

Sevant didn't respond for many moments, his eyes closed and mind awhirl, stray thoughts and roaring emotions  ripping him in five different directions at once. He managed to compose himself with a deep breath, at least with  the outward appearance of calm, and looked up from his hands. "The timing is of no consequence," he said in his  deep rumble.
"I have nothing but...time."

His words seemed to Susan to echo the vast emptiness she could only guess at that lay within his very soul right  now, and cut her to the core. A hundred platitudes swept through her mind in an instant, only to be as quickly  dismissed. What words can you say to a man who has had everything stolen from him in one fell swoop? She settled  for a gesture instead, and placed one of her hands over his and squeezed it gently. 
 
"I've arranged to have you confined to quarters instead of staying here," she said, though she doubted in his  present state of mind it would make much difference to him. 

"Not necessary," he said after a moments thought. "I'm well aware of my actions." 

Sevant looked back down at his feet for several moments, took another slow breath, and held it for a few seconds.  He wondered momentarily why he was hesitating, he had already thrown away everything he had left.
What difference  did it make if he verbally acknowledged it? He interlaced his fingers, alternately squeezing and relaxing without quite realizing he was doing it, then looked back up at the Captain. "I formally tender my resignation from  Starfleet, Captain. I suspect a court-martial once we reach our destination, I am prepared for such consequences."

He squeezed his hands together until the knuckles were white, "I...
apologize, Captain. Obviously, I was not the  correct choice for First Officer."

Susan looked at Sevant in silence for a moment. She had expected this, knowing him as well as she did. But she  still wasn't completely sure how to counter it. What she did know was that there would be no court martial, since  there would be no evidence. As for the rest... she hoped that she could at least get him to think it over. 
 
"I refuse to accept your resignation, Number One," she began, having taken a short time to collect her thoughts.  "And there will be no court martial, I assure you. You can't have a court martial without evidence and there will  be no evidence." 

~No evidence? There is plenty of evidence. Computer records, personal statements... even the records that I was  arrested.~ He looked up at her blandly, and rapidly gave up the line of thought. Maybe he had already gone crazy  and was simply imagining everything he had done. Or, perhaps he was imagining the Captain standing here with him,  giving him what could be considered 'good news'. 

He finally shook his head slightly, "Why bother." he said, not quite as a question and mostly to himself.

Susan looked at him. "There will be no evidence because under the Admiral's orders the computer and all PADDs on the ship will undergo a complete restore. Hence, no evidence. The reason is to safeguard the ship and the crew from Doenitz, but the records of what you did will be wiped also. In any case, both Counselor Winters and I believe that you were acting under severe mental distress. The question of your competence as First Officer does not, in my opinion, arise since you were on compassionate leave at the time and Lt Nakamura was acting FO." 

Sevant buried his head again as the import of what she was saying went right over his head. "I tried to kill him, should have killed him..." He lifted his head again, and looked at his fingers. "I had him, in these hands. I..." he turned his hands over, then folded them together again.
"But I would have done to someone else, the thing he had done to me.
Maybe he lied though, perhaps... perhaps... " his voice trailed off, though he continued to look down at his hands. 

Susan took both hands in his. "What you tried to do was, by the laws of the Federation and of Starfleet, wrong. But the important thing is that you didn't do it. You stopped, before you killed him. If it helps any, all records we have show that his family has indeed vanished and it is believed they may well have been abducted. That does not, can not, ever excuse what he did to your family, but for what it's worth it seems as though Collins genuinely believed his own family to be in danger if he did not follow the orders he was given. His suspected accomplice has also been arrested and will be interrogated to see if Collins' story holds up." 
 
She looked him right in the eyes so he would understand she meant every word she said. "I know if it were me it had happened to I would want to tear the two of them apart with my bare hands, but Sevant, you must let us take all the proper steps. It may be that Collins and his accomplice can tell us more about their 'employers'; information that could save lives, not just here on this ship but all over the federation.
Information that could save someone else going through what you are going through now." 

Sevant didn't answer for many long, and silent moments. He just looked at his hands and continued to turn them over and look at them. 

Susan was reminded suddenly of Lady Macbeth, and shivered. 
 
"They'll be moving you soon," she said. "And Vanyssa will be visiting you too. She'll help you, Sevant, whether you can believe that now or not. And I'll be there for you too, in any way I can."

(posted by Trout & Liz Gueken)