Interview or Interrogation?

Posted on 01/09/2022 @ 8:46pm by Lieutenant Hiro Yoshida & Lieutenant Isabelle Mattix & Lieutenant Kaylee Serra

1,760 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Mirror’s Edge
Location: Security

Kaylee walked alongside Hiro, feeling a bit down at having to bring him in, duty was duty though.

"We definitely need to get to the bottom of this, Hiro and right now we need to eliminate the obvious and then get to what really is lurking in the shadows. I know that you are not guilty of what the so called evidence is saying you have done." she stated, a few feet away from the entrance into security. "I have to take you into the interview room, though."

Kaylee added, as they stepped in through the door way. "Hang in there, we will prove you to be innocent." giving an encouraging smile, accompanying him to the interview room where she knew Samson and Isabelle would be waiting.

"Yes.., of course." Hiro said as he walked into the room, still trying to figure out what was really going on. He wondered why Kaylee seemed so convinced he was innocent. Of course he knew he was, but she needed evidence and that was something she did not have.

"Please have a seat, Lieutenant," Craig said to Hiro, motioning to the chair across from him. Craig knew Hiro quite well at this point, but a bit of formality was good in legal proceedings. He'd found that suspects often opened up a bit more after a beverage, so he inquired "Tea? Coffee?"

"No, thank you. Just tell me what I'm doing here." Hiro looked Craig straight in the eyes. "What is going on?"

"Very well," Craig said as he took his seat, looking a bit somber, "We have some questions about recent events on the station, Lieutenant. The quicker they get answered, the quicker this... this interview will be over. Let's start at the beginning. Did you ever cross paths with Dr. Salar before his death?"

Kaylee moved to where she stood against the wall to watch the interaction and wondered where Isabelle was at. Would she be here inside or will she be watching from another perspective.

Hiro shook his head a few times. "No, I didn't. I had hoped to talk to him at the conference, but he wasn't there at the time of his lecture. Later I found out he'd already been dead at that time."

"When did you find out about his death?" Craig inquired.

Kaylee was getting way too many mixed emotions here. Normally she'd be able to separate her personal feelings but... perhaps she was too close to this. She walked up to Samson, and whispered in his ear.

Hiro was about to answer but Kaylee indirectly prevented him from doing that. He wondered if something had changed.

"Sir, it might be best for me to not be a part of this. And I may not be able to tackle this objectively. There are some circumstances involved. I will talk of this later on. Perhaps have Lieutenant Mattix come in instead."

Isabelle was watching from the observation room, trying to pick up on cues from Hiro. He was being straight with Samson, his body language wasn't suggesting a man who was guilty. Still, that didn't mean he was innocent but it was a good sign. She furrowed her brow when Kaylee whispered to Samson.

"Very well..." Craig said to Kaylee. Turning to Hiro, who hadn't had a chance to answer the question, he continued, "Forgive us, Lieutenant, but we'll be just a minute." He stood up and motioned Kaylee toward the door before heading outside. Seeing Isabelle standing outside, Craig said to her, "Ah, perfect. Lieutenant Mattix, I need a replacement for Lieutenant Serra for the rest of the interview of Lieutenant Yoshida. Could you join me?"

Kaylee moved to where she could observe, to get a sense of things. She was also feeling like she may have complicated things, just that, Kaylee felt she made the right call.

Isabelle glanced at Kaylee for a moment to try and get a read on her before she looked back at Craig and nodded, "Of course. Any particular strategy you're going for or just straight forward questioning?"

The body language that would be picked up and could be seen on Kaylee's face was conflicting emotions and at the moment self doubt. She gave Isabelle a nod, and silently mouthed 'I'm sorry'.

Isabelle gave Kaylee a half smile and waved one of her hands, she wanted to make sure this was above board. If it didn't look right it could cause trouble and Isabelle was a natural party. She hoped Hiro wasn't guilty, but she would follow the evidence. She turned back to Lieutenant Sampson waiting for his answer.

While Kaylee was watching from the observation room, she got a message from Chientaka, the Lurian female who owned Elysian Dreams. It seemed that she wanted to talk to Kaylee. Or anyone from security. She was wanting to know when she could reopen her business. Or was it still an open crime scene. Kaylee gave a slight sigh, that still needed to be taken care of as well. So much to be taken care of, including what was going on with Hiro.

"Ok, so the strategy. Hiro...," Craig stopped and corrected, "I mean... Lieutenant Yoshida is one of the senior staff, so we likely can't try to make him reveal that he knows more than he's letting on, since he's already privy to much of the sensitive details of our investigations. Therefore, I've been trying to be more direct with my questions to see how he reacts, particularly when we reveal the bombshell that we've traced back to him. Thoughts?"

"I think that's a good strategy, I'll ask questions where it's needed but you should take the lead as the Chief of Security," Isabelle said with a nod. "I want the truth, no matter where that leads us."

Hiro sat alone in the room and waited. There was nothing else he could do. But while he did so his mind was racing. What had gone wrong, where, how? He still had no clue why was he was here, except it seemed to involve Dr. Salar.

Kaylee responded, "I do agree with that as well." she looked back into the interview room where Hiro sat. "I do trust both of you, in finding the truth. I just well, I couldn't stay involved in there. Conflict of interest. I also received a message from Chientaka, the owner of Elysian Dreams, she is wanting to know when she'd be able to get her place to where she can reopen it."

"Tell her we'll be out of her hair as soon as we can," Craig responded - he wanted to be careful about promising a timeline so as to not rush the investigation of the events of last week. Mentions of the happenings at Elysian Dreams still made Craig shiver, given what he'd witnessed firsthand at what was supposed to be a celebration of Jack's impending wedding. He motioned Isabelle toward the door, walked in, and took a seat across from Hiro. "My apologies for the interruption, Lieutenant. Where were we?" he said with a slight, but polite, smile.

The Asian man across from him didn't reciprocate the smile. "I think a better question would be, where are we going with this?" Hiro said. It was obvious he wasn't enjoying this one bit. "If you all think I did something wrong just tell me why you think so. Get to the point. No beating around the bush. But I want a lawyer before we continue."

For some reason, Kaylee felt a great amount of relief that Hiro had asked for representation. It was something that she couldn't really advise him about. At the moment though she was feeling self doubt. A lot of self doubt.

Isabelle had followed Craig into the interrogation room, before settling in the chair next to his. She was going to let Craig lead but Hiro was quick to ask for a Lawyer. She nodded at his request, "That is your right of course, but this is just a routine interview. If you have nothing to hide, there's no need for counsel."

"Maybe, but I still think it wiser for me to have a Lawyer." Hiro said with a serious look on his face. He was an Operations Officer / Engineer, not a legal expert. Before he knew it he could very well incriminate himself.

Kaylee got a few pings on her padd and frowned slightly then looked back into the interview room. Things were happening on the station that may need their attention. It also looked like Hiro was wanting legal counsel as well. She walked inside, "Since Lieutenant Yoshida has asked for counsel we'll need to take him into a holding cell until counsel is assigned." taking a look at both Isabelle and Samson. "And I am afraid that is all we can do at this time. If you would please come with me, Lieutenant Yoshida." giving a regretful look towards him.

Turning her gaze towards Samson Kaylee stated, "At this time its the best we can do." also directing her attention to Isabelle as well.

"Agreed, Lieutenant," Craig responded. Although he wanted to get the person behind the incidents, he understood Hiro's request for representation. Turning to Hiro, he asked, "Do you have representation in mind or do you wish us to appoint someone from the JAG Corps?"

"Wait a minute." Hiro said while he stood up slowly. His voice was a mix of surprise and concern. "What is this? You're going to put me in a holding cell...on what grounds?? I didn't do anything!"

Craig was surprised nobody had told Hiro about the charges against him earlier - thankfully, he'd at least been told of his rights. To get the formalities out of the way and properly detain him, he decided it was time to drop the bombshell, "Lieutenant Hiro Yoshida, you are hereby under arrest for the charges of the illegal use of an explosive device resulting in injury or death, destruction of Federation property, destruction of private property, improper use of a Starfleet computer system, murder, and conspiracy to commit murder."

Isabelle was stoic as Craig listed off the charges, she wasn't wild about this but she had to follow the evidence. The truth mattered more than anything else and if that truth was that Lieutenant Yoshida was innocent, she would work to make sure that was discovered.

---

Lieutenant Kaylee Serra-Reynolds
Assistant Chief of Security

Lieutenant Hiro Yoshida
Chief of Station Operations

Lieutenant Craig Samson Jr
Chief of Station Security

Lieutenant Isabelle Mattix
Security Investigations

 

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