Regrettable Actions

Posted on Mon May 30th, 2022 @ 8:03pm by [DECEASED] Gil Silnan Tolbarr & Commander N'Garzi Zora & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII

Mission: Ares Ascending
Location: Rondac Planetary Installation
Timeline: During the orbital battle.
1587 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Finn scrambled to her knees as her captors left, though she felt like she wanted to collapse. Her plan hadn't worked. Not at all like she had hoped it would. Tolbarr must think I'm the biggest prink in the universe, she thought as she tore some cloth from her uniform.

"I am so sorry. I thought they would leave you alone if I said you didn't mean anything to me. If I said you didn't matter. I didn't mean it. I had no idea they'd go this far," the engineer begged forgiveness as she tied the cloth around his bloody arm, creating a tourniquet. She did her best to hold it together when she really wanted to throw up, cry and lock herself away from everything all at the same time. Though, she had no room to complain after what Tolbarr had just been through.

"You - you...." Silnan rasped, the pain in his body burning more intensely with every syllable he tried to utter as he gripped his wrist, thick sticky blood oozing out from the perfectly clean wound where once his hand was. All the things he wanted to say to Keating; why, what did you hope it would achieve, do you not care, what were you thinking, just tell them, why did you let them do this to me.... but nothing so articulate could be formed through his suffering. Every fibre of him hurt, and dizziness crept slowly in from the blood loss. "...monster...." he finished, through strained breath. Why had she played brinksmanship with his life, his body? As Keating tended to his arm, he heavily whimpered and tried weakly to pull his arm away from her, sobbing deeply and surrendering instead to her rudimentary medical assistance. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of it and turned his head a little to look; his perfectly detached bloody hand; sat on the floor and discarded like a mere vole on an infestation purge. The sight of it made him groan mournfully, and a wave of nausea bubbled up inside him until he couldn't contain it; a thick mixture of stomach contents and blood erupted down the front of his uniform. He coughed through the acrid taste and looked Finnley dead in the eye "plee, please....end this..." he begged.

Monster. The word stung like a dagger piercing into the heart and Finn froze for a moment, outraged. She wasn't a monster, she was doing the best she could to save him, right? No. No, he was right. She was a monster. At any time she could have just given their captor the information he wanted, but instead, she stood on the side while they had tortured him and acted like she hadn't a single care in the world for his misfortune. Only a soulless louse was capable of such cruelty.

Finn collapsed into a dark corner of their cell, almost in shock as the realization of what she had allowed to happen sank in. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she retreated into the brutal depths of her mind. He had asked her to end it. Should she? Would it be a mercy to kill him so he didn't have to endure anything else at her hand? She could, her father had taught her how to break a neck in one swift movement. It would be quick and painless compared to everything else she had done to him....that she had done to him. How had she become this cold?

Hours passed by and Finn stayed curled up in the corner, tears now slowly streaming from both of her eyes like warm water cascading through a stream. The thought of killing Tolbarr still weighed heavily on her mind, yet she had decided against it. She could fix this, she thought. She'd give their interrogator tidbits of information and then negotiate his release. Her mind played out various scenarios until she heard a faint clanking of metal. Finn wiped the tears from her eyes and scrambled to a standing position in front of Tolbarr. The least she could do was prevent them from getting to him, she thought as their captor rounded the corner to their cell block.

The Cardassian entered, flanked by his two Breen 'friends', their helmets were emitting a shrill piercing sound and it was obvious they were having a conversation with each other. The Cardassian didn't care, they were pawns to him, to be used when he needed them to be. The three officers stopped just short of the cell and the Breen officer on the Cardassian's right placed a small table he was carrying in full view of the prisoners inside. The officer on the left placed a tray on the table and removed the sheet to reveal a very big jug of ice-cold water and two glasses. The prisoners hadn't been fed or watered in hours and the cell, like most Cardassian structures, was probably a little too warm for the human's taste.

The Cardassian saw how the women moved in front of the one-armed traitor; he smiled. "It's a shame you didn't show the same protective instincts before he lost his arm," he said in a mocking tone. "Pity you didn't have the guts to finish him yourself, weak just like the rest of your insidious species. Once again you chose your morals over a man's pain... that's if you regard a 'Cardie' as a person?" His smile grew wider. "You have one chance to help your friend, tell me what I want to know."

"The rumor was that there was talk about this facility having been made operational again, we came to investigate," Finn's shoulders dropped as she said it, having not wanted to utter a single word to the Cardassian. It wasn't much, but in truth, it was all she knew for certain. There hadn't been an in-depth transfer of knowledge as to why they were headed there, but rumors combined with what Finn had seen in their recent assignments made some parts obvious enough. "There. Now I've told you what you wanted, so let him go," she looked their interrogator dead in the eye as she made the demand.

The Cardassian cocked his head to one side. "You really feel that minute level of information warranties your life?" He asked, wondering if the woman was still playing games or if she really was as stupid as she appeared. "You really don't value your colleague at all do you?" He added, as he motioned for the Breen guard to lower the force field.

"You asked what we were doing here, I told you exactly that. We were investigating to see if the facility was operational. What else do you want to know?" Finn steadied herself and waited. She knew this was coming, didn't she? Isn't this always how it ended? You answered the question asked yet they torture you anyway, even if you don't know anything else. At least there was one thing she knew for sure, they'd have to fight hard to get past her to Tolbarr.

The Cardassian held up his hand and as if by magic, the soldier stopped in his tracks. He was trying to determine whether the human was lying or if he had truly broken her will. "Okay, an easy one for you. I need to know everything you know about the Athena, including power output signatures, transponder frequencies, the multi-vector-assault mode, and the creature you're currently housing in your engineering room."

Finn paused, almost dumbfounded by the question. Of all the scenarios she'd sifted through in her mind, she hadn't thought that he'd ask for more than just why the Athena had come to Rondac. She felt like an absolute idiot. And what was she to do now? Betray her entire ship? Or allow her cellmate to undergo more torture, even after he had begged her to end it?

"I..." Finn tried to hold it together, to keep the sickening guilt that she felt from bubbling to the surface, but failed as a tear swept down her cheek. "I can't tell you that...I'm sorry," she whispered to Tolbarr as she prepared to fend off the guards. She knew that she couldn't protect him forever, but she'd stand her ground and funnel every piece of rage that she'd felt inside towards their captors to at least buy him what time she could.

The leg that had been shot didn't hurt at least, but the lasting effect of the blast without treatment now meant that he had lost all feeling in it. Using his remaining functioning leg, he pushed back slowly on the ground, using the elbow of his crippled arm to help slide him along a few feet. He backed away slowly, though as quickly as he could, from what he was sure was an impending intense pain. He didn't know how much left he had in him, everything hurt, his uniform caked in blood and vomit, and dark dizziness was closing in from the blood loss. "No..." he murmured, "please...", he craned his neck painfully upwards to look at Keating, she was facing their interrogators at that moment and couldn't see him, perhaps if she could see his desperately pleading face she would change her mind. "Why...why are you letting them..." he cough painfully again, and deduced that one of his lungs had collapsed, "...letting them do this me...?" his cough deteriorated into sobs.