We Need Information

Posted on Thu Jul 20th, 2023 @ 7:07pm by Commander N'Garzi Zora & Lieutenant Commander Michael Ki & NVeid tr'Rehu

Mission: Wrath of the People
Location: Vespae Station: Medical Wing
Timeline: MD07
1659 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

Zora walked into the medical wing and looked around for her officers. She had been in all sorts of medical facilities in her time with Starfleet and the Diplomatic Corps, this place had a feeling closer to the latter. It didn't have the finished look of a Starfleet sickbay, it was more rough and ready, a bit utilitarian. It was a practical place, not one for show, though the emergency triage element had ultimately added to that assessment. She imagined that the room was more chaotic a few hours ago, but her people had got things under control and things were starting to wind down.

Spotting the human and the Romulan, Zora made her way over to them. "Report," she said, no time for pleasantries when everything seemed to be going south so quickly.

As Ki was busy with a patient, NVeid turned towards the XO. "We have the bomber," he said simply, "we tricked her into treatment before she could depart. She came in with two other wounded, a Cardassian and an Andorian."

"Where is she now?" Zora asked, looking around the room unsure exactly what she was looking for.

The Romulan nodded over to a warded off area. "We have her sedated for the time being.

"What about the Cardassian and the Andorian?" Zora asked. She followed the Romulan's gaze and saw they too were being held, guarded by security officers. "Good," she said with a curt nod as she made her way towards the woman.

Zora entered the small room where there was a woman with bright red hair lying unconscious on the bed. From the tale the two doctors had just told her, she expected the woman to be bigger, but she wasn't that much taller than Zora and asleep like this she looked as though she wouldn't hurt a fly. "Wake her," she ordered.

Nodding, NVeid pressed a hypospray against the woman's throat then stepped back to give the XO room.

Zora watched as the woman's eyes stirred, the security officer in the room trained his phaser on her, just in case she tried anything. She waited until the woman came around properly, and then tried to get off the bed, only to be held in place by her restraints. "Probably best to stay lying down," Zora said, her arms folded in a way that the pirate could clearly see the phaser resting on her hip.

"You have no right to keep me hostage," Freya said as she pulled against her restraints some more. She was determined, Zora had to give her that.

"We both know that isn't true," Zora said, no hint of humour in her voice. "I'm Commander Zora of the USS Athena, I believe you met my colleagues earlier," she said as she stepped to one side to reveal the two doctors.

Freya's mouth twisted into a cruel smile, "how's the nose?" She asked Ki.

Michael stood at a console that monitored the woman's vital signs. In truth he did not fully understand why he needed to be present for this interrogation however, he had orders. Ki thought that he may have orders but those orders did not include speaking to the patient. So he simply did not say anything. In fact he did not even acknowledge that the woman was in the room.

"We have evidence that you sabotaged the station," Zora cut in, not wanting things to get too off-point. "And that you helped the mothership with the assault, not to mention you attacked my officer," she held her hand out in Ki's direction. "We need to know where your base is and what the big plan is?"

Freya eyed Zora. She looked the Starfleet officer up and down, well as much as she could whilst she was strapped to a bed. The woman was small, but there was fire behind her dark features. As intimidating as she wanted to be, the great thing about dealing with Starfleet was their moral compass, they wouldn't do anything illegal or untoward, otherwise they would be kicked out. So she stayed tight-lipped, offering no information.

Zora's stance didn't change and her eyes never left the woman on the bed. She knew how to be patient, a trait that was inherent to her people and one she had grown and developed during her time in Starfleet and the Federation. She knew when to put pressure on and when to wait. From behind her, she felt a slight movement, as though one of the doctors were about to interrupt. She held up her hand, stopping them from whatever it was they were about to do.

"I will ask again," she said, her voice a bit louder than before. "Where is your base and what was your plan? If you think this is a game of poker, you'd be wrong, I don't play poker." Freya's eyebrow arched, just a little. Got you! "Do you think they're going to come for you? Apart from the fact that you're a liability to them now, I'm willing to bet that the Athena has found your base by now and they're all in custody."

Freya let out a short bark of a laugh. "If you truly believed that you wouldn't be questioning me about the location of the base. It's a good job you don't play poker Commander, you have revealed all of your cards."

"Oh but I do truly believe this," Zora replied. "The Athena and her crew are more than capable of tracking down some two-bit pirates who don't have a clue what they're doing or who they are messing with."

"And it will be a great prize," Freya bit back.

Zora nodded slowly, starting to put the pieces together. "I see," she said slowly. "Attack the base, steal some meaningless supplies, wait for them to call in the reinforcements, and then you stage the real attack. Not a bad plan, except you didn't know that the ship that would be sent was going to be a Prometheus-class starship. A bit more bite than you can handle."

"We'll take her!" Freya said. "Especially since our base is hidden and we have more firepower than you can believe. But since you believe that they're all in custody, there's no need for me to answer further."

"On the contrary," Zora said, happy that the woman was leading her exactly where she wanted to go. "When we hand you and your accomplices over to the authorities, the fact that you cooperated will go in your favour, stay quiet and you will fall out of my good graces, and believe me you don't want that."

"Starfleet threats," Freya scoffed.

"No threats here," Zora said with a grin. "Let's see," she reviewed the PADD she had tucked under her arm. "Sabotage, conspiracy, danger to life, using explosive materials, theft, attacking a Starfleet officer, need I go on? You're looking at life in a penal colony. The question you need to answer now is which penal colony would you prefer?"

Freya shifted in her bed. She looked the officer in the eyes, looking for signs of some kind of bluffing.

"Give me the information I need and you will get a fair trial with a Federation judge. I will even use my sway to make sure they go easier on you. Test me and I hand you over to the Klingons, or maybe the Breen. The survival rate at their colonies is 34%, maybe."

Freya stayed quiet, it was a bluff, it had to be.

Zora's grin turned into a full smile. "I can see you trying to work out if indeed I am bluffing so I'll let you in on a secret. The reason I don't play poker is because I don't know how to bluff, in 150 years it's the one skill I could never master. So the decision is yours."

The two women stared at each other, waiting for the other one to back down. Zora knew she wouldn't and time was running out for the woman with the red hair. "Fine, the Breen it is, Doctor," she said as she turned to face Ki, "prepare for..."

"Wait!" Freya shouted, almost falling out of the bed. "I'll cooperate."

Zora turned back to face the woman, "start talking then."

After speaking to the woman Zora made her way back to the main medical area with the two other Starfleet officers. "If what the woman said was true we need to make our way back to the ship as soon as possible, they could be in danger."

Ki nodded his agreement. "We have no reason as of right now to doubt what she said. So, I would agree a return to the Athena is warranted right now."

"She mentioned that they had a ship in one of the docking bays, maybe we need to borrow it," Zora said, a mischievous look in her eyes. "I bet it will have all of the details we need, including the tactical information on their mothership and the location of the base."

"That sounds like a job for Lieutenant O'Connell," Michael said with a smile of his own.

"Agreed," Zora said as she tapped her combadge, "Zora to O'Connell. I'm sending you information on a ship in one of the docking bays. We need to acquire it as soon as possible. Olon isn't going to like it but we can't take no for an answer, understood?"

The man agreed before the com-line went dead. "You two finish here," Zora said to the human and Romulan. "But be ready to depart as soon as the engineering bods get that ship ready to go, I'm not leaving anyone behind today."

"Understood! Our work here is just about done anyway." Michael looked forward to being away from all of this and back in his own Sick Bay. Although he did enjoy the help that he was able to render.