Showdown on the Flight Deck

Posted on 03 Nov 2025 @ 2:14am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Emily Carter & Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

2,555 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Imposters Among Us
Location: Flight Deck
Timeline: July 8, 2390 || 1330 hours

Camila came to a halt on Deck Eight and ran to the Captain's Quarters, drawing her phaser as she entered the Security overrider on the door and barely waited for it to open before she entered with the phaser leading the way. "Joey!" She called as she swept the phaser from left to right, then saw Cadet Corwin on the floor along with a vase. She tapped her combadge again and then saw a combadge on the floor near the young woman. "You sneaky bitch," she muttered and requested a medical transport for Eden.

Once the young woman was beamed out, Camila grunted. "Computer, locate the bio-signature of Lieutenant Commander Joelle Geisler and initiate a site-to-site transport to her." She ordered as she readied herself for transport and brought the phaser up once again.

The flight deck was a storm of motion—crew members shouting, evacuees rushing toward shuttles, the roar of engines warming up for launch. Joey stood still in the middle of it all, a pocket of eerie calm amid the chaos. Alison clung to her neck, face buried in her shoulder, while Jameson whimpered softly against her chest. Their small bags were slung over Joey’s shoulder, and Rico and Pequeno sat obediently at her feet, their leashes looped around her wrist.

She didn’t move when the shimmer of a site-to-site transport lit up the deck. Camila materialized with her phaser raised, eyes scanning, breath sharp and ready for confrontation.

Joey cocked her head, studying her.

Alison whimpered louder, her little fingers curling tighter into Joey’s collar. Jameson’s eyes were wide, darting between Camila’s weapon and his sister’s tear-streaked face.

"You're scaring my children," Joey said as she took a slow step back, her tone calm but edged with steel. “Is it common practice to point a weapon at the innocent, Commander?"

Rico growled low, sensing the tension. Pequeno pressed closer to Joey’s leg as if trying to protect her and the twins, low growls coming from him as well.

Camila didn't lower her phaser in the slightest. "Lieutenant Commander Geisler, you are under arrest for sabotage of the tricobalts. Please don't make this difficult." She flicked her eyes to Rico and Pequeno. They were trained Starfleet K9's; well, Rico was, but Pequeno had been taken out of the program after his handler officer had been killed in a attack on the ship. Rico, however, had been Joey's K9 for a long time and wouldn't likely answer to a Security command from her.

Joey smiled.

It wasn’t a warm smile. It wasn’t even polite. It was the kind of smile that came from someone who knew exactly how far they were willing to go—and had already made peace with it.

She took a slow step backward, her boots scraping against the deck plating as she edged toward the nearest shuttle. Alison whimpered against her shoulder, her little voice barely audible over the chaos of the flight deck. Jameson clung tighter, his wide eyes locked on Camila’s phaser. The twins were trembling, their fear palpable.

Pequeno moved beside Joey, ears perked, tail low. Rico, however, moved like a shadow—silent, deliberate, teeth bared just enough to show intent. His growl was low and constant, vibrating through the air like a warning. He didn’t need Joey’s command. He was waiting for it.

Joey’s voice was calm, almost gentle. “You’re pointing a weapon at a mother holding her children, Camila. That’s not a good look.”

And now, they were beginning to draw attention.

Camila made a snap decision upon seeing Rico move and fired a level one stun at him and another at Pequeno. "Stand down, Commander!" She ordered as she brought the phaser back up at Joey.

Joey froze as the twin bolts of light struck Rico and Pequeno, sending both dogs crumpling to the deck with soft, stunned whimpers. The sound of their bodies hitting the floor was drowned out by the sudden, heart-wrenching cries of Alison and Jameson, who clung to her with renewed terror. Their sobs were raw now—loud, panicked, and piercing.

She dropped to one knee, arms tightening around the twins, whispering soothing words into their ears. “It’s okay, babies. I’ve got you. I’m here. You’re safe. I promise.” Her voice trembled, but she forced it to stay steady—for them.

Her eyes lifted slowly, locking onto Camila with a look that could cut through bulkhead plating.

“You’re dangerous,” Joey said, her voice low and venomous. “You just fired a weapon in a crowded evacuation zone.. put my dogs down when all they want to do is protect us. With my children in my arms, might I add.”

She stood, cradling the twins, trying to console them. “Tell me something, Camila. Did you start drinking again? Because no one sober would ever do anything like this. No one in their right mind would fire a phaser with toddlers so close.”

Camila’s jaw clenched, but she didn’t let the words sink too deep. Joey was trying to get under her skin—she could feel it. The accusation, the tone, the moral high ground. Classic diversion. And Camila wasn’t about to fall for it. Her stance remained solid, phaser unwavering, even as the shouts and murmurs of nearby officers and evacuees began to swell around them.

“Enough,” she said sharply, her voice carrying the steel of command that had once drilled a dozen green ensigns into proper officers. “You don’t get to hide behind your kids and your badge anymore, Geisler. The evidence is clear. You tampered with the tricobalt payloads, and you cost us a lot of good people.”

She took one deliberate step forward, keeping her weapon centered on Joey’s torso—low enough to avoid the children, but high enough to make her point unmistakable. “I didn’t want it to come to this. But you made that choice when you ran. When you brought them into this.”

Her eyes flicked down for a split second toward Rico and Pequeno—then back up. “Your dogs will wake up in a few minutes. They’re fine. You, on the other hand, need to put those children down and surrender. Don’t make me escalate this any further. You know I will if I have to.”

Camila’s voice softened—not with mercy, but with conviction. “Starfleet deserves better than this, Joey. You used to, too.”

Joey didn’t respond right away.

She looked down at Alison and Jameson, their tear-streaked faces flushed and trembling. Jameson’s little hands clutched at her uniform, while Alison’s sobs had quieted into hiccups, her eyes wide and searching. They were terrified—of the noise, of the phaser, of the tension between the two women. Of everything.

Joey crouched slowly, gently settling the twins onto the deck. She brushed their hair back, her voice soft and steady. “Hey, hey… look at me,” she whispered. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. You’re safe now. I’m right here.”

Alison sniffled and nodded, curling into her brother’s side. Jameson wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, still watching Camila warily.

Joey lingered there for a moment, letting them feel her presence, her calm. Then she stood, her arms came up slowly, palms open, unarmed. Her eyes locked onto Camila’s, no longer defiant—just tired. Resigned. This whole ordeal had finally taken its toll, and the love she had for the twins was what kept her from fighting. They didn't deserve the trauma. They didn't deserve the fear.

It broke Camila's heart a little to see the other woman with her children, but she had to follow through. "I promise you that they'll be taken care of. Once Eden gets out of Medical," she added, keeping her phaser trained on Joey. "I'll see to it that Harvey knows you didn't put up a fight, too."

Joey watched as the security officers gently pried Alison and Jameson from her legs where they clung, their cries rising in pitch as they reached for her, tiny fingers grasping at air. Rico and Pequeno were lifted next, still groggy from the stun, their leashes trailing like forgotten ribbons. The twins’ sobs echoed across the flight deck, cutting through the noise like a blade.

Joey’s chest rose and fell with a shaky breath. Her eyes followed them—her children, her dogs—as they disappeared into the crowd. And then, slowly, she turned back to Camila.

There was a tear in her eye. Just one.

She cleared her throat, steadying herself, and held out the leashes and bags with trembling hands. “I won’t make this worse for them. I won’t be the reason they remember this day with more fear than they already will.” Joey said as her arms dropped to her sides, empty now. “So no restraints. Not in front of them. That’s the only thing I ask.”

She looked Camila in the eye—no defiance, no venom. Just grief. And a quiet, unwavering dignity. “Do what you have to do.”

Camila briefly wondered if the twins would ever want to see her again or even talk to her, but she had a duty to perform. "Lieutenant Joelle Geisler, I hereby place you under arrest for sabotage. Please come with me." She gestured towards the exit. Then she stopped. The crew were still doing an evacuation and it hadn't stopped. "Was this part of your sabotage?" she asked.

"I refuse to speak in our present location," the Intelligence Chief said as she moved with Camila toward the exit.

Harvey exited the turbolift accompanied by another round of operations and science personnel. While everyone was focused on the current happenings and evacuating the ship, Harvey was focused on one thing, and that was finding the woman impersonating Joey Geisler and the kids she had in tow.

It didn't take long to spot them, and Joey was clearly surrounded by security, including the ship's chief of security. In a moment, his concerns about what to do vanished. He remembered the mission, to win at all costs. It couldn't go down like this.

Harvey pulled a phaser from the nearby weapons locker and approached the security detail with the weapon hidden behind his back. "What's going on here?" he asked.

Alison and Jameson squirmed violently in the arms of the security officers holding them, their cries rising to a fever pitch as they caught sight of Harvey. “Dada!” they both screamed, reaching out with both hands.

Their tiny legs kicked, their faces red and soaked with tears. The officers struggled to keep hold of them as the twins fought to break free, their panic now fully unleashed.

Joey’s eyes snapped to Harvey the moment he stepped onto the flight deck. Her breath caught in her throat—not because she feared him, but because she knew what he represented. Their mission. Their deception. Their endgame.

She looked back to Camila, to the twins, then returned her gaze to Harvey. Her voice was quiet, but resolute. “Commander di Pasquale has arrested me for sabotage,” she said, the words tasting bitter in her mouth. “Apparently, I’m the reason the tricobalts failed.”

"We have proof that Lieutenant Commander Geisler sabotaged the tricobalts and placed the blame on Lieutenant Frex," Camila said, not lowering her phaser from Joey. She hoped the Security officers with the kids and dogs would be able to contain them, and would retrain them if they didn't.

Shit, thought Harvey. One of them had been caught, and it was highly unlikely that Harvey would remain undetected for long. He had only a moment to consider alternatives, and whether or not he should defend Joey or continue to hold onto his facade.

But he didn't get much of a chance to decide. He felt someone push him from behind. A unknown force also tried to pull the phaser from his hand. Harvey focused on trying to keep the weapon as he lunged forward to keep control of the weapon. As soon as he was two steps forward, he swung around, and aimed the weapon at his attacker. "You!"

Emily raised her hands slowly. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded.

Joey didn’t wait.

The moment Harvey spun toward Emily, distracted and off-balance, she surged forward with everything she had. Her boots slammed against the deck as she closed the distance, her shoulder driving into his side with enough force to hopefully knock the wind out of him.

“Camila!” she shouted, voice sharp and cutting through the chaos. “He’s the one responsible! Not me!”

"What!?" Harvey demanded, just as she collided with him. Did she really just volunteer him to take the fall for this? Harvey fought to keep his mind clear, especially knowing that Joey's ultimate goal was to take the children and escape with or without him. But none of that mattered as he now felt his life was in danger. He fought to keep his grip on the phaser, to keep it from slipping into her grasp.

He staggered backward, and raised his weapon to fire. "You... bitch..."

Things were heating up so fast that Camila didn't know what to do. First, Emily had shown up and revealed that Harvey had a phaser and then Joey attacked him. She thumbed her phaser to a wide beam and fired, sweeping all three of them with a low level stun. "Cease and desist!" she ordered.

Joey didn’t even have time to react as the wide-beam stun hit her mid-motion, her body seizing for a split second before crumpling to the deck in a heap. Her limbs slackened, her head lolled to the side, and the last thing she saw before her vision went dark was the terrified faces of Alison and Jameson as they were being taken from the flight deck with Rico and Pequeno.

Both Harvey and Emily were struck by the phaser blast and fell to the floor. As Harvey started to lose consciousness, he could hear alarms sounding all throughout the flight deck. His eyelids closed while the large hangar doors started to close, trapping all remaining small craft inside the ship.

Camila called several Security personnel over as she saw the bay closing and gave a nod. Someone was finally doing something right. She had them gather up Emily, Harvey and Joey, wondering why Harvey had had a phaser and why Emily jumped him and why he had called Joey a bitch. She would have to ask a lot of questions to get answers and that would start in the Brig. Once they were gathered, she initiated another site to site transport with everyone straight to it.

"Auxiliary Control to Commander Di Pasquale," came Lieutenant Kemm's voice under the comm. "Security teams are needed on the Flight Deck to take Commodore Geisler and Commander Geisler into custody."

"I have them," Camila responded after she materialized in the Brig with the Commodore and Joey along with the other Security personnel. She wondered why Kemm was ordering them into custody instead of Reynolds, but things were chaotic enough. "Let's get them in the Brig," she said and began the process.

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