Interrogation: Marley

Posted on 02 Nov 2016 @ 2:28am by Lieutenant Commander Temerant Bast

1,396 words; about a 7 minute read

The interrogation room was a small room, barely ten square meters. It was dark and damp, and very sparse - there was nothing in the room save for a chair. However, unlike the holding cell where they had all been confined, there was a hint of technology here. The faint hum of some sort of technology could be heard, and although the room's periphery was very dark, there was a bright spot in the center, illuminating the chair, where the Hunters pushed down their guest.

Jane Marley, former acting Chief of Flight of the USS Cochrane slumped down in the chair that she had been led to in yet another damp, dark room. She sighed and waited for more aliens to come to hurt her more or worse and resolved that she would do her best, as she had on the bridge of the Cochrane to resist. She looked at the ugly alien that sat silently across the table from her and wondered what was going to be done for her, but in the meantime, she kept her silence as well.

The Interrogator looked at the woman seated across the table. She was trying her best to look defiant and strong, but he could sense her anxiety and fear.

"Who are you?" he asked simply, projecting a feeling of amused curiosity at the woman.

"Marley, Jane, Lieutenant Junior Grade," she said, which was all she had planned on saying.

"Marley Jane Lieutenant Junior Grade," repeated the Interrogator. "Where do you come from?"

"The cell your people dragged me to and from after stunning me unconscious," Jane responded.

"Indeed," said the Interrogator, not even mildly amused. "But before that. Where do your people come from, Marley Jane Lieutenant Junior Grade?"

"Marley, Jane, Lieutenant Junior Grade," she repeated, determined to not give the alien anything he wanted.

The Interrogator smiled, baring his serrated grey teeth. He stretched out a gnarly and twisted finger, capped with a pointed fingernail that looked more like a claw, and raked it across her chin.

Suddenly he plunged himself inside her mind. He sensed her fear, and fed off of it.

He projected an illusion inside her mind. Suddenly they were no longer alone in the room. There was a giant tar'nok in the room. Standing at three meters in height, the quadruped animal had green fur, long razor-sharp fangs, and serrated claws. The animal growled as it came close to her and sniffed the air around her, and smelled her hair, blowing its fetid breath in her face. Its mouth was wider than her head.

This got a reaction from the young Flight officer in the form of a scream that could chill the blood of most sane people. Of course, sanity had very little to with it and she pushed the chair backwards until it fell on the floor, then she scrambled away from the beast and headed for the door, a litany of denials spewing from her mouth without taking the time for a new breath.

The Interrogator dug his claws deep into her thigh. He noticed with mild curiosity that her blood was a deep crimson in color, a few shades darker than his own. But in her mind, it was the creature digging its fangs into her leg.

He shook his hand, to mimick the creature trying to tear her leg off.

"Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop!" Marley screamed as the beast sank its fangs into her. "Please!!!"

"I can restrain the beast!" whispered the Interrogator in Marley's ear. "But you need to tell me what I want to know. Where are your people from?"

"The Cochrane!" she cried out as she felt her blood pouring out of her leg and felt the hot breath of the creature against her skin.

The Interrogator dug his claws in deeper. This was the easy answer - that much he already knew. But from his brief exploration of the captives' minds, he had glimpsed a vast empire, an alliance of planets, and he was very much interested in hearing more about it. "That's the name of your ship," he said. "But where does it come from?"

"S-s-starfleet!" Jane screamed. "We're Starfleet!"

"What is Starfleet?" asked the Interrogator.

"Starfleet is the principal means for conducting deep-space exploration, research, defense, peacekeeping, and diplomacy. Please make it stop," she begged him.

The Interrogator was rapidly losing patience with her cryptic responses. Starfleet was a means of conducting exploration and research, defense and diplomacy? "What planet do you come from?"

"Make it stop!" Marley screamed as she tried to writhe away from the beast. "I'm from Earth!"

The Interrogator plunged himself deeper in Marley's mind, and knew all that Marley knew about Earth. He saw Starfleet Academy, Spacedock, and the seat of the Federation Council. He saw Marley's birthplace, her hometown, and where she liked to go with her parents on summer vacation. He felt her pain from when she had climbed a tree when she was eight, fallen and broken her arm. He felt the warmth of her mother's touch, and the comfort of her father's arms.

He waved away the beast from her mind, and lifted his fingers from her thigh. His first objective was accomplished. He would let her rest for two minutes, before carrying on his interrogation.

Jane gasped and held her to leg to try to stop the bleeding and looked at the alien. "Please...no more."

"Why is your ship here?" replied the Interrogator, with nothing in his voice but contempt for the weak woman in front of him.

"I don't know," Jane said honestly. "We were fighting another ship and....we're here."

"The other ship that got away?" asked the Interrogator.

"I don't know," she said. "I know one was destroyed. No one tells me anything. I'm just a junior grade Lieutenant who got shoved into the role of Flight Chief. Please let me go."

He had to get more information on their ship. If she was the flight operator, she would be able to give him details on their maximum speed and maneuverability.

He pushed her deep inside her vision. Now any trace of capture was repressed from her memory. She was back on he bridge of her ship, sitting at her console. The Confederate ships were chasing after them.

Her commander was standing behind her. "Take evasive action," he ordered.

Marley's fingers flew over the helm. "Initiating Omega," she said and maneuvered the ship in a complex, stomach-turning series of rapid turns which would make it difficult to track of follow.

The Interrogator took note of the ship's apparent response time and maneuverability, keeping in mind that these were subjective under the circumstances. He conjured up more Confederate ships in the scenario, intent on capturing the little ship.

"Fire all weapons!" ordered the Commander.

While she had been trained at the Academy in the basic courses, Jane's real focus had been flight and she always imagined the Tactical officers as big, hulking brutes with sneers on their faces pawing at the consoles while firing weapons of unimaginable power. She knew the basics of phasers and torpedoes, but they were made ridiculous in her mind and she almost had to laugh if she wasn't terrified of the battle taking place and wanted to concentrate on getting the ship away from them.

The ship shook around them as they caught fire from the approaching Confederate ships. "Return fire!" ordered the Commander again.

Once more, Jane's mind supplied her ideal situation for the Tactical officer and made the hulking brute slam the console while firing incredibly powerful phasers which sliced through anything in front of them while torpedos spread from the ship in waves of destructive fury, annihilating everything in their path.

The Interrogator took note of her perceptions of the ship's weapons, and quickly extracted from her mind every bit of information she had about how the weapons worked.

He was now finished with her. He placed his hand on her forehead, and sent a mental overload, like a sledgehammer hitting her mind. She was instantly knocked unconscious.

He motioned toward the door. One of the Hunters stepped in the cell and picked up her inert form. He carried her back to the cell and tossed her on the ground, like a rag doll, amid her fellow prisoners.

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