Give him back (Interrogation)

Posted on Fri May 1, 2020 @ 10:34pm by Lieutenant Si'Lar Trellis & Lieutenant JG Natalie Cross

2,788 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Main Brig
Timeline: Back post : Doors of Perception, MD 17
Tags: Intelligence, Yeoman Toussant, Archangel, Human First

For a moment, Natalie stood outside the door leading to the main brig. She took a deep breath, and exhaled. She felt like a child being thrown into the deep end, and trying to swim. Today was suppose to be her first day off since arriving at the station but the universe had other plans. She took another second before entering the main brig area.

Number of security officers were inside, none which she had met yet but she looked in their direction. "Where is he?" She asked wondering where she could find the Petty Officer.

Chief Petty Officer Sudale' was standing by the door leading to the interrogation cell. He had been standing guard ever since he had gotten word of what was taking place. He couldn't believe that a fellow Starfleet Officer had been deemed a traitor. How was it possible that someone would just throw away the oath they took for their uniform. He didn't know why Petty Officer Walters had done whatever it was that he was accused of doing. All CPO Sudale' knew was that there were a lot of other Security Officers that wanted to get their hands on PO Walters.

CPO Sudale' looked at Officers red tunic before looking up at her. He did not immediately recognize her; however, such a thing was not unexpected. On a station this big it was not surprising to run into various officers cycling through their typical tours of duty. However, he did find it odd that she would come alone without a Senior Security Officer.

"Ma'am?" CPO Sudale' asked as he stood upright and address the Officer. "How can I help you?" He asked.

"I am looking for Walters. I am here to have a chat with him about "what the hell was he thinking?"" She replied approaching CPO Sudale'. "We haven't met yet, I am Lt. Cross, the new Chief Intelligence Officer."

CPO Sudale' stopped. oh boy, a spook. . .. The Senior NCO did not know what was going on; however, he was smart enough to know that if an Officer had come down, and an Intelligence one at that, it was significantly above his pay-grade.

"Yes ma'am, I'll just need to hold on to your sidearm. We don't know what the hell is going on, but we don't want to give him the chance to get out or cause more problems." CPO Sudale' said as he stepped to the side and activated the door, leading to the Petty Officer's cell.

Natalie retrieved her phaser handing it over. As the door open, she looked over at Sudale'. "Close the door behind me." She instructed taking a step inside the cell.

Petty Officer Kevin Wallace looked up at the red-tunic Officer as she was granted entry into his holding area. He was surprised, he figured it'd be another Security Officer coming in to beat the information out of him. Much to his chagrin, it wasn't. He figured Captain Soran probably wanted the insult to be as bad as the injury so she sent in a Human to interrogate him. Figures. . .

Natalie looked over at Wallace, and smiled. A friendly feminine smile. In a different situation it could have been mistaken for a flirtatious smile. She said nothing at first looking around the cell and after a couple of more steps, she looked in his direction. "Hi, I don't believe we've had a chance to meet yet." She extended her hand in his direction. "I'm Natalie, and you are Petty Officer Kevin Wallace, right?"

Kevin's foot tapped nervously as he watched the Officer approach him and introduce herself. He wasn't sure what game she was playing, but he knew enough to know that Officers always have something up their sleeves. Especially this particular Intelligence Officer who had been sent in by the Trill to interrogate and maybe even torture him.

He raised his chin and gave her a defiant stare in her eyes. "In accordance with the Seldonis IV Convention on treatment of prisoners of war, I'm obligated to only provide you with my Name, Rank, Service Number, and Date of Birth." He through a waivering voice as he tried to remain calm. "Wallace, Kevin, Petty Officer, Service Number JI-575-3118 OEI, 7 March 2371!" He said quickly.

She smiled at him and his response to her introduction. He was playing the good soldier and she was okay with that approach. She almost expected it. In no way, would he spill his guts that easily. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kevin." She retracted her hand seeing how it had gone ignored. "So, Kevin tell me something. Who are we at war with?" She asked sitting in a chair across from him.

"Who else?" He said, his voice waivering slightly. "The war against Humanity that's been going on since before I was born." He said insubordinately. "Just look at this station, we're treated like second-class citizens and then we're punished when we try to stand up for our own self-worth!" He said as his eyes shifted from the table before him and back up to the Intelligence Officer.

His words brought her to a brief conversation she had with Lt. Tessaro when she first arrived. Just be careful of the Radon Corporation. Lt. Tessaro warned her.

"A while back I read an article about a man called John Frederick Paxton. Are you familiar with him and his work?" She asked, but waited for no answer as she continued. "A new era is at hand… an era that will expose the concept of inter-species unity as an absolute and vicious lie. An era that will witness the advent of a human-centric consciousness that will place our world before all others. As of this moment mankind casts off the shackles of alien interference and now determines its own fate." She paused, but finished the quote in her head. "Terra Prime, forever..."

"Have you ever heard that?" She asked, now pausing and allowing him to answer.

"Of course I'm familiar with Mr. Paxton and his Terra Prime movement." The Petty Officer said with reverance in his tone. "But Paxton didn't wasn't facing the same level of aggression that we are. Look around you, Humanity founded the Federation and here we are being treated as if we're supposed to beholden to Vulcans, Klingons, or some other kind of ridge-face alien." He said, his eyes darting between her and his hands on the table before him.

"If Humanity doesn't take action to determine its own fate, then we'll be nothing more than a subjegated species like the Remans." He said, referring to the species the Romulans had enslaved for countless decades in their mines.

"You will probably find this hard to believe, and that's okay. I will just talk and you can listen." She took a deep breath looking past him at the bulkhead behind him. "I was captured, I was tortured, and I was left to die because a group of non-humans decided to encroach into our space. I spent number of years recovering from that and guess what...."

She looked back at him. Looking him in the eyes her own filled with tears. "I'm never going to be the same." She sniffled holding back from crying. "I haven't told many people this so considered yourself one of the special ones."

She took a deep breath. "You are probably wondering why I am telling you this....well it's simple, I understand what you are saying. If Federation didn't allow other species to look down upon us. If they didn't allow others to treat us as second rate citizens maybe that would have never happened to me and I wouldn't have lost years of my life fighting to get back what I once had."

She couldn't hold her tears back anymore. She started to cry and quickly got up. "Excuse me...." She managed to get out as she rushed out of the room closing the door behind.

Kevin watched as the woman broke down in tears. Her vulnerability caught him off-guard. Maybe he was too rough with her when spoke with her. He thought that she was just some shill for the Trill Commander seeking to due some alien's dirty work. Maybe she understood where he was coming from and what he was trying to do for his. . .their people. . .

Natalie took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and exhaled. She cleaned her face up and walked over to a replicator. After getting a glass of water she wondered over to a chair and took a seat. She wanted him to sit there. Alone. Unsure of what just happened. And hopefully thinking he might have an ally in this. She sipped on her water, and passed time.

Kevin jerked himself awake with a start. He looked around and realized that he had dozed off and was still within the small confines of the interrogation room. His eyes searched the area and realized that he was still left alone.

"Hello?" He asked to no one in particular.

"Hello!!!?? I'm entitled to speak to my legal representative!" He shouted.

Door to the interrogation room opened. Natalie stepped back inside. She avoid eye contact with him and looked a little disheveled which was a complete change from her first arrival. She took a deep breath and sat down in the chair. She said nothing for about a minute then finally looked at him. "I apologize about that sudden outburst. It's been hard. Living this way. Each day is a battle." She sniffled and fought back the tears. "While I was out there I received word that Yeoman Toussaint has been found..." Her eyes teared up. "Unfortunately...." Her voice cracking a little finding it hard to say. "Dead..."

Kevin felt a slight jolt run down his spine as he took in the news. "H--H he's dead?" He asked the Officer. "H-h--how exactly did he die?" The Petty Officer asked, trying his best to maintain a strong appearance. Claude wasn't supposed to die, that was not a part of the plan. When he gave the others the location of Claude's quarters, information that was normally restricted to non-starfleet personnel, he thought that they would just rough him up a little and put fear into him. It was never supposed to go beyond that and it certainly wasn't supposed to result in him being killed! His breathe became more ragged as he tried to comprehend what was happening.

Natalie nodded. "Yes...dead." She looked at Kevin. Looking him straight in the eyes. Her eyes filled with tears and sadness. "I don't know the exact details. It is still an active situation, and details are sparse. However, I've also been informed that number of security officers, your bothers and sisters in arms, have also lost their lives today trying to rescue him." Natalie wiped away the tears out of her eyes.

"They weren't my brothers and sisters!" Kevin replied aggressively. "They may have wore the same uniform as me, but they serve a completely different cause!" He said, slamming his fist down. "I'm fighting to protect our kind, not for some bureaucracy that sees us as disposable labor and cannon fodder." He said.

"What happened to Claude was a.....it was an accident! It was never meant to go that far, it was only supposed to send a message." He said, barely keeping it together.

"Claude was a damn errand boy for that Trill!" Kevin shot back. "It was disgusting just watching him serve as her lapdog. Even after that damn freak bar owner killed that boy in her shop, the Soran didn't do a damn thing about it! Everybody just went along like nothing happened, like the boy's life didn't even matter!" Kevin said, his eyes beginning to water slightly.

There was a lot to unpack there. "What happened to that boy was very unfortunate, but what happened afterwards, might have been criminal but I don't know. I wasn't here. I wish I was." Natalie slowly put her hand out laying it flat on the table and towards him inviting him to take her hand in his. "I would have helped that boy get the justice he deserved!"

"And what happened to Claude was unfortunate too..." She said, looking him in the eyes. "He did not deserve this. Had all his life in front of him, and now that's been taken away. Just like that boy that lost his life that night in the bar....and then didn't get the justice he deserved. We can't allow that to happen again,." She paused momentarily allowing those words to full sink in. "How do we fix this...?"

Kevin stared at his own hand, shaking uncontrobaly as he thought about the young Yoeman being found dead. Kevin saw some truth in her words about Claude, how he didn't deserve what happened to him anymore than what happened to the boy in the Box of Delights. "I--I don't know." He said, slowly raising his eyes to the woman.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way...when they came to me...they....ju...they just said he was gonna be held somewhere, just to...just to teach Soran a lesson. They told me that he wouldn't be killed, hell he wouldn't even remember what happened afterwards!" Kevin forced out of himself.

"I'm sorry..." Natalie sympathized with him. "I can help fix this...it won't bring him back but it will help him find peace in the afterlife, and I'm sure his family will also be able to find some sense of peace...but I need to know who is they? What is their plan? I need to be able to make them pay for doing this.... Sending a message is one thing but this is unacceptable...I can't allow them to do this again...and I need your help in making sure it doesn't...so help me, please."

"I--I--I'm not sure. I never met them. A friend of mine over in the Entertainment Complex on the Promanade told me about away to help. . .you. . .the Human Cause, putting Humanity First again." He said.

"They said I wouldn't have to hurt anybody, just provide a few pieces of information here and there. Nothing related to fleet movement or anything seirous like that." He said. "When I figured out they were looking for Claude's info, I figured the'd just scare him a little. . .the uppity prick always thought he was so high and mighty just because he was the errand boy for that Trill." Kevin said, his anger begin to get the best of him.

"But I didn't kill him!" He said, forcing his fist down on the table.

Natalie instinctively leaned backwards as his fist found the table in front of him. She looked at him. She felt bad for him. This could destroy him. But, she needed more from him. "I'm sorry." She said once again gently putting her hand over his fist that slammed the table. "You and I together can make this right. Please tell me about this friend of yours. Do you think they can help me find the ones responsible for this?"

"All...all I know is that her name is she works in Engineering or something. She hangs out at the Dilithium Chamber sometimes. I think her name is Qu'trell or something or other." He said, fatigure beginning to set in as the adrenaline began to ebb from his body. **

"Ar---are we done yet? I'm starting to get tired." He said.

"Alright, I will let you rest." Natalie made her way back to the opposite side of the desk from him. "Food for thought, Kevin. I am your only friend now. I will look out for you, but if I find out that the information you gave me is false. That you've led me on a wild goose chase. Then, I will be back, I will open these doors, and let those out there waiting to rip you apart in. Starfleet no longer wants you. You've betrayed that oath. Your new found friends will no longer want you after I tell them that you are supplying me with information about them. So, play nice with me and I will play nice with you." Natalie gave him one last glance before stepping out of the room.

Petty Officer Wallace did not say anything in response, but merely put his head down on the table.

---

Kevin Wallace
Petty Officer
DS5

Lt. JG. Natalie Cross
Chief Intelligence Officer
Deer Space 5

Relevant Backposts:
- https://ds5.sim-metry.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/539
- https://ds5.sim-metry.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/593
- https://ds5.sim-metry.net/index.php/sim/viewpost/1257

 

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