Interrogation

Posted on 18 Aug 2025 @ 7:14pm by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Story Teller

1,900 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Imposters Among Us
Location: Security Holding Area
Timeline: July 7, 2390 || 1800 hours

The meeting with the other Captains and Commodore Geisler had gone smoother than expected, but during the whirlwind of debriefing the Commodore and then coming up with a plan to go after G90B, the two Karemma prisoners that they had brought back with them had simply been thrown into the brig and forgotten about. Now with the task force under way, she had time to see to them.

They hadn't been inclined to talk on the runabout on the way back other than to curse and threaten them, but Camila had hopes that their time in solitary would soften them up a bit. She gave a nod to the Warden on duty at the Brig, entered her authorization thumb print on the PADD and headed into the holding area. The Karemma had been deliberately kept apart and prevented from speaking to each other, so neither was aware the other was still there.

Now Camila paused and waited for Joey to join her, interested to see what kind of Intelligence tools she would bring to the table to aid in their investigation.

Joey approached Camila, dressed in her all too familiar uniform complete with the Intel equivalent of a tactical belt. There were a variety of things attached to it, but she wasn't sure what, if anything, would be used. "I hear that we have some guests that need a little attention," she said as she took a sip of the coffee she held in her hand. "Shall we proceed?"

"Yes," The ombre haired woman said as she headed to the first Karemma's cell and stood on the other side of the forcefield. "Prisoner One. Stand and state your name and intent in this universe."

Prisoner One was laying down on his back on the poor excuse for a bed, which was nothing more than a thin pad on a metal slab that extended out from the wall. His hands were folded underneath his head, which served as nothing more than a makeshift pillow. He made no acknowledgement to his captor that arrived, nor did he flinch at the sight of Joey. He remained perfectly still, staring up at the stale ceiling.

Joey gave an internal sigh of relief when he didn't show any kind of recognition. "You can make this easy on all of us and answer the questions asked," she stated, not wanting to push too hard. "Just answer thins to the best of your ability." It was no secret that most grunts weren't privy to top plans.

"He'd rather die than give up D'Rimo," Camila said. "However, you can bet that D'Rimo doesn't even remember him or his companion. At least he had the decency to chose death before dishonor when I offered it to him." She lied casually to let the prisoner think his comrade was dead.

The Karemma was not emboldened by her lie, not that he recognized it as a lie. His head turned, and in one very quick motion, he spat on the floor. It was at that moment that he realized who was standing next to the now-ombre haired woman who he spent days with in the cramped spacecraft. The prisoner regained his composure quickly, concealing the moment as a simple headshake before looking back up to the ceiling. "Then kill me quickly and get this over with. Your death will come soon enough."

"No one is dying here today," the Intelligence Chief said, looking toward Camila before looking back to the Karemma. "What is your name?" What harm could it do telling someone who had a direct line to D'rimo and just might be able to help?

"The way I see it, he doesn't have any rights," Camila said. "There's no proof that he even exists outside of this Brig. I could all the air sucked out until he's left gasping for breath...and leave it like that."

A deep laugh emerged from inside the cell. While the Karemma did not change his position on the bed, he did turn to face Camila. "You humor me. You assume because I look like him and took an order from him that I dine with him. No. My rank is what you Starfleet would call an Ensign. Bottom of the ladder. Why should he share his plans with me?"

And that... was exactly what Clone Joey knew to be the case. There weren't many that knew what the plan was. D'rimo kept those cards fairly close to his chest, and only revealed small increments when giving out orders. She was privy to most of it, but even then, there were things she didn't know. "That's what I was afraid of. Why would someone reveal their plan to a lowly grunt who, case in point," She gestured to the bed before continuing. "runs the risk of being caught?"

"Unfortunately, you're right," Camila said. "They were just guards on the runabout and got taken down easily. D'Rimo is going to go down just as easily. We know how to hurt him and what he wants now. He won't have a safe little hole to hide in once we get done."

The Karemma laughed. "You can't hurt him." He laughed again, keeping his head pointed upward at the ceiling. "No, no. We've destroyed your friends and your ships. And we're turning whole colonies against you with supplies we've pilfered from your wreckage." He sat up, swung his feet off of the cot, and faced both women outside the forcefield. "You even try to destroy us, you'll find unwelcome ports all around your precious Ha'dara system. Don't think you'll be able to freely roam the stars when that is done.

While it was true that the colonists had been helped, it had been at the cost of Starfleet ships and lives. "So if you're his big brave hero, why destroy Starfleet command crews and let the crews fend for themselves while you tell colonists where they can get free supplies?" Camila asked.

Joey looked towards Camila. "I don't think we're going to get anywhere here," she said, glancing toward the Karemma once again. "I say we let the higher ups decide what to do with them when we're able to get them to Gamma Command."

"Finally, someone says something smart!" declared the Karemma, not at all resisting the urge to begin a very slow clap. "Perhaps there is some hope for your Federation kind yet."

"It's obvious we aren't going to get anything from him," Camila said after a moment of staring at the Karemma. "It's a shame Federation policy on prisoners is so lenient. Otherwise, I'd have the air sucked out of your cell until you were suffocating and leave you like that."

"What do you want to do now?" the Intelligence Chief asked. "This ball is in your court."

Camila shook her head. "It's obvious he knows nothing," she said. "The Betazoids at Command can pick his brain clean."

"That sounds good to me," Joey said, looking toward the Karemma. "Looks like you're off the hook for now, but once you're on Gamma Command, you won't be so lucky."

Camila looked at Joey. "Did you get enough of his voice recorded on those recorders to mimic?" she asked her, loud enough for the Karemma to hear.

"Mimic?" asked the Karemma, hearing the blonde woman talk to the other beside her. "What do you mean, mimic?"

"Intelligence is equipped with all sorts of gadgets that serve all sorts of purposes. Since we've been speaking, I have been recording your voice," Joey replied, but not only was she recording his voice, she was recording all the voices present, hers included.

The Karemma scoffed. "It's just a voice. You can't possibly do anything with that. I haven't said anything of value."

"No, you haven't," Camila agreed as she continued to look at Joey. "Why not give him an example, and add in a few lies in his voice."

"You see," Joey began, pulling the device from the belt she wore around her waist. "It doesn't matter what you haven't said. It's a matter of what you will say." She brought it to her lips and began to speak. "D'rimo, I managed to overtake the enemy vessel and escape. We're currently en route to our previous location and require pickup as soon as possible." With that, she lowered the device once more, then played back everything she'd just said in his voice.

To say the Karemma was stunned would have been a gross understatement. Even for a grunt of low importance, he had a hard time forming a complete sentence after Joey's theatrics. "No, no, no. You... you can't send that! They won't believe that for a second."

Camila turned back to the Karemma and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, we can and will do far worse and you will be the one leading D'Rimo into a trap."

The Karemma just about charged into the forcefield, but he still bolted up and got close enough to the field to pound on the invisible barrier. "You can't do that!" he shouted. "He'll kill all of us!"

"That sounds like a you problem," the Security Chief said. "Unless you tell me everything you know. Now." She still planned to send a false message now that she confirmed the Intelligence devices worked sufficiently to get a rise out of the Karemma, but she hadn't expected how much of one.

"Everything I know?" the Karemma spat back. "You want to know everything I know? What I know is that your kind don't belong out here, but we also know you would stand in our way if we went after the 'shifters directly. The only way to save your own life is to get out of our way!"

Joey clipped the device back to her belt and looked toward the prisoner. "You're wrong," she began, hoping to keep up appearances. There was a ruse that needed to be maintained. "It's you and the others that don't belong here. You aren't even from this universe."

"Shifters? You mean the Founders?" Camila asked, curious. "They haven't seen seen out here since the Dominion War. If they weren't fully wiped out and the Dominion left in complete disarray."

"Shifters. Founders. Doesn't matter what they're called," spat the Karemma. "All I know is that everyone's life is better without their meddling. No matter the universe."

Joey knew he was right, but she still had to maintain her false loyalty to Starfleet. "As my colleague has pointed out, they haven't been seen in some time. Do you know something that we don't?"

"Only that you are about to send us all to our doom," replied the prisoner. He crossed his arms and stood defiantly behind the field, eyes narrowing and burrowing into Joey.

"Then you'll die with us," Camila said. "We have what I wanted. Come on, Commander," she said as she turned her back on the Karemma.

Joey felt his eyes on her, knowing what that was all about. She couldn't necessarily tell him that everything would be okay, but she felt that it would be despite all of the trouble the Chief of Security was causing. Still, there were plenty of things she could do to see to it that things weren't as successful as some might have hoped they'd be. And, with that in mind, she walked out of the brig to get to work.

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