Hair Brained Schemes - Part 1

Posted on Tue Jun 21, 2022 @ 2:37am by Civilian Hydel Turvan & Lieutenant Jason Haines

2,472 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Si vis pacem, para bellum
Location: Pangae, Cardassian Compound
Tags: Pangae, Cardassians, Portals

[ON]

Jason flipped the heel of his boot back into the place securing the small compartment in it. Both heels of the boots his father had given him, had a little compartment for little tricks if captured. They were lined with material to make them seem solid. He took the pill that he had taken out of it and popped it in his mouth. It would help resist some questioning techniques he might go through, and he was sure the Cardassians would use some of those techniques. So, with the tricorder relay he setup to relay info to Alanna in place and his pill popped, he started his hair-brained scheme as his mother would probably call it.

Jason had made sure he was dirty, his beard and hair, that had grown out some, unkempt, and had scratches all over his arms and legs to live up to his role, just a recluse who had been in the woods. At least he wouldn't look Starfleet. Walking stick in hand, he came out of the woods and headed for the compound that the Cardassians had evicted the Starfleet personnel from.

As he did, he swore he heard George's voice say, "Are you sure about this?"

"No, but it's too late to turn back", he muttered to himself.

No sooner had he gotten 50 or so yards outside the tree line a pair of rifles were trained on him.

"HALT RIGHT THERE!" Came a loud voice from 10 yards away. The owner of the voice slowly rose from a crouching position and made his way to the disheveled human. The second Cardassian kept his weapon aimed directly at him as well.

"DROP THE OBJECT IN YOUR HAND AND FALL TO YOUR KNEES, IMMEDIATELY!" The lead Cardassian said as he continued to make his way through the tall grass towards Jason. "IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" He barked.

Jason did what he was told. Tossing the walking stick to the ground near him, he sunk down to his knees.

"Who am I?", Jason asked with a bit of a snort. "I am the one who is going to help your boss take the prize he is seeking."

He half expected to get the butt of a weapon to the back of the head, but he had a certain way he wanted to play this. If he got beat up a little in the process, so be it.

"Just kill him and save us from having to do any paperwork!" Shouted the still-crouched Cardassian, keeping his weapon trained on the Human.

The Cardassian Gil closest to Jason approached him with caution and began to pat him down. "Your forces have withdrawn, your supplies are depleted, and we control your starbase. . .I'm sure you'd say anything right about now, Human." The Gil said the final word with obvious disgust. "State your purpose now or else we'll just leave your body here in the forest for the wildlife to consume." He said as he placed the muzzle of his disruptor at the base of Jason's skull.

"Yes, you are right about all that", Jason replied, "but I know the one thing you all don't have and that is control of the portals. If you did, all humans would have been eradicated or enslaved by now. I can help your boss get control as I have a score to settle with Starfleet. Now, as you can see, I have no weapons, so it's not like I am here to lay siege to the compound. And think about it, if I am lying, Turvan will kill me and you can just slip back to patrol duty. If I am telling the truth, you two are the ones who brought him the keys to the castle. A promotion would be in order, wouldn't you say?"

Both of the Cardassian Troopers remained silent for several moments after Jason finished talking. It was no secret that Gul Meran Denat was receiving *considerable* pressure from Legate Turvan to get physical and operation control over the portals on the planet. So far the Cardassians stationed on the planet had spent most of their time clearing out traps and dealing with small reprisal attacks from the scattered Federation beligerants. If this Human had any useful information, then Gul Denat would absolutely want to extract it from him.

The still-crouched Cardassian spoke first, "Bring him..." He said tightly as he slowly rose to his feet. The Cardassian Gil behind Jason restrained him with restrictive links forcefully yanked him to his feet and began pushing him forward through the field.

"If you're lying, I promise that we will keep you alive long enough to *beg* for us to kill you. . ." He said through clenched teeth as he jabbed the muzzle of his disruptor into Jason's lower back to drive the point home.

"I hear you chief", Jason said, trying to keep his natural flippancy towards bully types down.

[Security Station #2]

"We've captured a Federation combatant!" The Cardassian Gil announced as the trio arrived at the Security checkpoint. The assigned Xi'Cadian did an initial scan to ensure Jason was not concealing any weapons before allowing the two Cardassians to escort him into the immediate area. Just as they entered, the Cardassian Gil grabbed Jason by the collar and forced him into a nearby room.

"Wait here." He said unironically considering Jason was restrained and had no other option but to just sit there.

"By all means sir", Jason replied. He sat down and looked around the room. He had been in the Fleet compound once, but that was some time ago. It was typical Starfleet decor. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing and listened trying to hear any nearby voices.

Approximately 20 minutes went by as The Cardassians kept him in the room by himself. Finally, a hiss was heard as the doors slid open and Gul Meran Denat walked into the room, flanked by the Cardassians that originally stopped Jason. Gul Denat's breathing was much more labored than under normal circumstances and there were several large spots of dark green blood stained throughout his uniform. There was also the way he clenched and unclenched his fists that gave off the appearance that he had been involved in a considerably physical task just moments before.

"I was in the middle of a *very* important conversation with a Vulcan colleague of yours." The Cardassian Commander said to Jason. "Whatever you have to say had better be worthy of that interruption. . .for your sake and theirs." he said coldly.

Jason brought his hands together in a steeple manner and brought his thumbs to his chest and bowed his head slightly in a traditional Cardassian gesture of thanks.

"Forgive me Gul", Jason said. "I am afraid your two troopers may have misunderstood who I need to speak with. Legate Turvan is who I need to speak with. He is the only one I am allowed to give this information to. It is forbidden to give it to anyone else."

Gul Denat gritted his teeth as he turned to look at the Gil. "You wasted my time for *this*?" He asked rhetorically, not even looking at Jason as he referenced him. "Find out what he knows, I don't care if you have to paint the walls with the inside of his skull to get it, but find out whatever he knows about those portals. *now*" The Ground Commander said through clenched teeth.

"Let me get this straight", Jason said. "You'd rather go back to beating a Vulcan that can tell you nothing and leave Ping and Pong here to beating something out of me that I cannot tell them, or you, versus bringing me to Legate Turvan and have me tell him what he needs to know and complete the Cardassian victory? Whether you realize it or not, this planet does not just have physical rules, it has spiritual ones as well. Those rules prevent me from telling anyone but Legate Turvan. I thought your race was supposed to be smarter than Vulcans, craftier than Romulans."

Gul Denat cross the distance between himself and Jason in half of a moment. He immediately grabbed him by the collar with his left hand and slammed his closed fist into the bridge of the Human's nose with his right fist the consecutive times before dropping him back against the wall.

"I've come to hate your kind more and more. . ." Gul Denat said through clenched teeth. "You've turned an entire generation of our children into needy dependents of the Federation." He continued. "Every fiber of my being right now is telling me to just peel your flesh apart with a rusty saw. . .but I have my orders." He said as he stepped back and signaled for the Cardassian Gil to grab Jason and bring him into another room.

"Those orders are the only thing keeping you alive right now." Gul Denat said as he stepped out of the room behind the others.

Jason gritted his teeth. The pain in his face told him that he had a broken nose. The blood coming out of his nose and dripping down his face confirmed it.

He gritted his teeth, not wanting to give the Gul the satisfaction of knowing that the punches hurt like hell.

"Nice punch", he said.

The Cardassians weren't exactly sure who Jason was, but they were under orders to detain any and all Starfleet personnel and extract necessary information from them pertaining to the portal complex. Whether those methods relied upon physical, psychological, or any other methods. Gul Denat had decided that beating the man into a bloody pulp wouldn't get him any closer than he was right now. Therefore, he would give him what he was asking for in order to find out just what he knew.

"Put him over there." Gul Denat barked as he walked to the console and activated the holo-communicator. Within moments the figure of Administrator Hydel Turvan appeared before the small group.

"Speak. Now." Administrator Turvan said in a short and irritated tone.

Wiping the blood from his face, Jason brought his hands together again in the Cardassian show of gratitude.

"Legate, thank you for seeing me on such short notice", Jason said. "I know you are looking to take over the portals and I can help you with that. Unfortunately, this comes with two conditions. First, I must speak to you alone and in person. I ask you to trust me when I say there is no other way to convey the information and for you to succeed. Second, in exchange for my help, you will leave me and that bitch Captain Soran out of any time or dimensional altering actions. I want her in chains as she has to pay for what she has done to me. You won't need to deliver her to me, just leave things so I can hunt her down. Do this and you will control the portals and the universe for that matter."

Jason stared at Turvan because if he looked anywhere else, the greater the chance the Cardassian would think he was lying. He was of course, but he couldn't give the man more reason to suspect him.

"Clearly you have been living under a rock for the past several weeks." Turvan responded. "Soran is dead. She died during a graceless attempt at leaving Deep Space 5. From what I hear, her burning shuttle lit up the night sky as if it was a meter shower." The Cardassian said with a jovial smile.

"So, I'm afraid that your brutish attempt at revenge will go unfulfilled. However, if you wish to continue breathing without the use of a bio-bed, then I suggest you provide me with some justification for keeping you alive." He said as that smile faded away quickly.

Jason snorted ever so slightly and then with a smile of his own said, "Seen a corpse? Got a complete bio-spectral analysis of the crash site to know she was actually in the shuttle when it crashed? I mean I know with all the finer points of battle your troops might not have had time to do such things, but fair warning, she is a slippery minx. One way or the other, leave me and her out of your time warping plans and I will gladly tell you what you need to know. After all Starfleet and the oh so altruistic Federation need to be put in their place. That said, I need to tell you this in person. If I don't and someone overhears or gains access to the message, what you need to do, will be extremely difficult. I am unarmed and I approached your troops willingly. Why would I come to you and lie when I know it would be the last thing I ever did? I'm young, but not stupid Legate. I will help you, but Soran's and my timeline don't get messed with and either I come to the station and see you or you come here. You have nothing to lose but a little time and you have the Cardassian Union and the universe to gain."

Turvan remained silent for several moments.

As much as it aggravated him to acknowledge so, the Human did have a point. Although he had certainly read the reports regarding Soran's ignominious death, he did not have actual confirmation of it. Her lack of resources at the moment did not mean that she was completely out of his hair. Leaving her to deal with whatever grudge this individual had was a worthy price to pay if it brought him closer to securing control over the portals.

"Fine, I will grant you a brief moment of my time." He said as he looked towards his next-in-command. "Gul Denat, bring him to the station so that I can have a. . .chat with him." He said matter-of-factly.

"Thank you, Legate", Jason said.

His face didn't show it, but he was pleased. He had made it further than he thought he would.

". . .and don't be gentle either." Turvan said with a sardonic smile just as his image snapped out.

"Of course, sir." Gul Denat said with an equally sardonic smile as he raised his disruptor and fired it into Jason's chest, reducing him to a unceremonious crumple.

". . .couldn't we have just used a hypo-spray on him? He'd still be knocked out on the shuttle ride up." The other Cardassian Trooper said as he began to carry the Human towards the shuttle bay.

"Yeah, we could've, but so what?" Gul Denat said without a hint of concern as he re-holstered his weapon.


To Be Continued...

[OFF]

Jason Haines
Cardassian Punching Bag
Deep Space 5

Legate Hydel Turvan
Prefect of the Cardassian Administrative Zone Deep Space 5
Cardassian Empire

Gul Meran Denat
Operational Commander Pangaea
Cardassian Empire

 

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