Slowly slow catch a Bolian...

Posted on Sun Sep 6th, 2020 @ 12:33pm by Lieutenant Commander P’rel M.D
Edited on on Mon Sep 7th, 2020 @ 6:48pm

Mission: The Shadow of Arachne
Location: Brig
Timeline: MD-01. Prior to SitRep
1254 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

“Cowards make the best torturers. Cowards know fear, they understand fear, and they know how to wield fear”.

====

ON: Brig.

Brill sat in the brig, it was dimly lit from a perpetual red alert and the faint smell of burning hung in the air. The explosion of the Pico had overloading so many systems on the Athena, that it was a wonder the ship was even still here; but ultimately that was what ‘they’ wanted. A testbed. Athena would serve as the horrific warning shot from the former Typhon Pact members to the Federation; simply destroying a starship wouldn’t do or they’d have ended at the Pico. No, these Breen officers wanted something far more cruel, and far more impactful.

His thoughts were broken when he heard the forcefield shut off, and he looked up to see a young man in a Starfleet uniform; he was predictably wearing the yellow of a security officer as one would expect in a brig, though quite surprisingly he smiled at Brill who involuntarily smiled back out of habit. Brill wiped his cheeks from the dampness of his intermittent sobbing as the young Trill spoke to him; “Hi - Brill right?” his arm extended to the Bolian.

“Y-yes?” Brill answered nervously, extended his own arm cautiously. The Trill took it and shook his hand, gently pulling to indicate that Brill should stand.

“Hi, I’m Tim - if you’re up to it I just need to ask you a few questions?” The man known as ‘Tim’ stood back and gestured across the small room to an interview table with chairs on opposite sides. “Can I get you anything?” he asked in a warm manner, as the two stepped over to the furniture.

“Oh. Um.. no. No thank you.” Brill replied nervously, a hand pulling the closest chair out from under the table as he warily kept his eyes fixed upon Tim.

“Oh fine” Said Tim, as if any response Brill gave would have given him further cheer; “Just Bolian tonic water and some Terran Pakora’s then”. Tim picked up a bumpy, brown looking morsel from a plate that he picked up from the small replicator behind him, and placed it into his mouth. “Mm. These are delicious.” he said between bites. “About the only Terran food I can stomach really…” another bite of another of these things called ‘pakoras’ “...which is odd considering that they’re very rich and spicy”.

Brill perked up, he adored spicy Terran food; one of his fondest memories of his time at the Academy was spending weekends in places like China and India and sampling local foods, he’d even volunteered with Federation relief efforts during a viral outbreak in Vietnam, in large part so he could indulge in his love of flavoursome Terran foods. “Oh well…” he said eagerly, “yes, yes I suppose I might.... If you don’t mind?”

Offering the plate to Brill, Tim shook his head - “not at all”. Sitting himself, Tim took a sip of water and said “you know, I loved it on Earth. So many spicy and flavoursome foods. I’ve spent a lot of time in places like India, China, that kind of thing - I mean don't get me wrong, Klingon food can blow your head off, but then that’s just spice and pain isn’t it? You can’t actually taste the food”.

Brill nodded excitedly in agreement “oh yes” he said, taking his third pakora, “yes absolutely of course. Yes, without the flavour of the food itself there doesn’t really seem to be much point. Tell me have you ever been to vietnam?”

Tim silently shook his head again, “tell me everything” he said, leaning back.

Brill expected to have had to answer questions, he’d half expected Romulan mind probes or bright spotlights, but this gentleman was far more pleasant. “Oh. Well. I was part of a disaster relief team. I’d volunteered for extra credit as a second year cadet, and really I’d only joined to meet people, and, anyway, well one time we were sent to vietnam and…”

Tim nodded along as the Bolian relaxed into a chattier, more characteristic version of himself; he already knew everything the Bolian was saying so he wasn’t really paying close attention. Brill’s personnel file had him marked as an enthusiastic, outgoing and likeable guy; now he was relaxing it certainly seemed that the file was accurate. Whatever had made this man turn into a saboteur, it must have been significant and he made a mental note of that point. Lieutenant P’rel would have to take over at some point soon, but his own experiences of questioning suspects would have to do for now, given that the Lieutenant’s number 2 was in sickbay. His job at this point was to relax Brill, get him chatty and relaxed, disarmed and in a good mood.

Brill pulled at his uniform collar, “ooof it’s getting hot in here isn’t it?” he asked, realising it was probably the half a dozen pakoras he had shovelled in his mouth in between telling this fellow all about Vietnam. As a blue blooded lifeform, he was generally more comfortable in colder environments anyway; probably the reason he liked spicy food so much was the experience became a whole body sensation rather than just a taste.

“Computer.” Tim replied, “lower the ambient temperature by four degrees”. A barely audible hissing sound emanated from nowhere in particular as the air was replaced almost immediately by a cooler environment. Having found a context and a verbal tool, Tim took his first run at digging a bit deeper; “So, how was the food in your last assignment? Get much chance to eat this kind of stuff?”

“On the Pico? No.” The Bolian responded, giving his head a couple of shakes, “no I wasn’t really there long before - “ his words stopped dead, as a nauseating wave came over him. They were all dead.

“Before?” Tim enquired, not deviating from his upbeat mood. His eyes locked onto Brill’s, using the juxtaposition of intense staring and relaxed conversation unsettle Brill.

Brill looked down, ashamed visibly upset; “Well. Um. Before I got involved in...well, all of this. I - “

Seeing his que, Tim stood up suddenly. Brill wanted to speak and now was good time to leave the man. The information he would give at this stage would likely be limited, and require a lot of time to drill into. Putting the prisoner on the wrong foot however, snatching away an opportunity to speak to someone he had built rapport with, was an excellent tool in inducing unuease and increasing malleability of someone. Next it would be Lieutenant P’rel’s turn, she would play a much harder role, all with the purpose of making Tim seem more appealing. The next time Tim came in to speak to Brill, he would likely get a decent amount of information out of him. Hopefully enough to work with, but more hopefully than that was that they would survive the pursuit of the Breen destroyers long enough to use the information.

“I actually have to go” Tim said, cutting Brill off. “I think Lieutenant P’rel will be along soon.” he abruptly turned and walked out of the brig, nodding to the custody Chief in the corridor to indicate that he should rejoin the prisoner.

OFF:

Petty Officer Timzan Reon.
Custody Investigations Crewman
(NPC)