Meeting the Prisoner

Posted on Sun Jul 19th, 2015 @ 2:44pm by Captain Tim Williams & Petty Officer 2nd Class Charles Rhodes & Lieutenant Commander Ciaran McIntyre

Episode: Orphans
Location: USS Highlander - Brig
Timeline: MD30 1630hrs

Kotan Entek had been aboard the Highlander for less than thirty minutes, and though he was conscious, he had found himself locked behind the forcefield of a Starfleet holding cell, in what amounted to be a fairly small brig. There was a human dressed in the mustard-gold collar of a security officer sat behind the warden's console, leant back in his chair casually reading a magazine whilst he perched his feed on the console's surface. He didn't even glance at Entek when the scientist had tried to speak to him.

The doors to the brig hissed open, and an older human with a wine red uniform and the four pips that clearly denoted a captain walked in, followed by another of the gold-shirts - Entek guessed the ship's head of security, since he was followed the captain around. Not that he could do much to the man from behind a forcefield.

"Uh, Captain!" Rhodes blurted, clearly not having expected the ship's CO to have come in so soon after the prisoner was transferred here. He dropped his copy of the 24th-century equivalent of 'Guns and Ammo' that he had replicated on the deck as he rushed to stand up, brushing the top of the console to remove any marks his shoes might have made. "I.. I'm sorry, sir." he said, not really sure what else he could say, or even if he was in trouble.

"It's forgiven, so long as you let Mac have a read through that whenever he's bored and looking for something to do," Tim replied casually. He was actually glad that the brig officer wasn't another one of those types who just stood there, ram-rod straight and silent, with their hand on their phaser at all times.

"Um... y-yes sir," Rhodes answered, somewhat confused as to the response.

"Doesn't look like my kind of reading material." McIntyre added in barbed tone, giving Rhodes an irritated glance. The captain might be forgiving, but he wasn't feeling it.

"So," Tim said, turning his attention to their prisoner. "I hear you're the Dr. Frankenstein wannabe that's been running amok on our planet. Didn't your mother ever tell you that it's wrong to splice DNA together to get your perfect monster girlfriend?"

Entek was just as surprised by the captain as the brig officer was. He's expected the stern talking-to of a high-and-mighty, up-his-own-arse typical Starfleet captain, not jokes and flippant comments. "I must say, your story of Doctor Frankenstein was a bit of an inspiration to me as a child, even though his techniques were rather primitive," was all he could think to say in response. "My super soldiers are a result of far more sophisticated science."

"Correct me if I'm wrong - and I'm not," Tim grabbed the spare chair from the other side of the room and dragged it in front of the brig cell before dropping himself down onto it. "But aren't super soldiers - or even just soldiers, really, supposed to be, you know, people? We've got one of your things in our morgue and let me tell you, that thing does not look pretty. From what Mac tells me, it doesn't act much better. Skulking around in the undergrowth, chewing on people's limbs. How did you get them to not eat you by the way? It's the first thing they tried to do to us when we got here."

"My super soldiers aren't yet complete Captain, I'll give you that. But they are certainly powerful, obedient, and stealthy. I'm sure Gul Brenor would agree that those criteria would satisfy the designation of a super soldier, wouldn't he?" Entek wondered if the captain would be surprised that he knew the name of the Cardassian commander on the ship sharing the Starfleet ship's orbit or not, but in truth Brenor had been assigned to capture him for a while now, so it was more than an educated guess on his part. He was once again surprised at the captain's willingness to flippantly joke about the death of one of the colonists. "When am I being sent over to him by the way? I presume that he has already demanded I be extradited, knowing that your Federation has been more than happy to accommodate such requests in the past.

"Why? Eager to make a deal with them? A life sentence so you can carry on your work on the behalf of the Union?" Tim's tone had turned slightly more serious. "No, you're not going over to Brenor. I've decided to let Starfleet's JAG department deal with you on Starbase 126. You have some serious charges to answer to the Federation before any extradition requests will make their way through. Personally, I plan on recommending you have your life sentence - but serve it in a mining colony somewhere nice and far away. Maybe the Klingons will let us put you in Rura Penthe." He was pleased when he saw the Cardassian's face drop noticeably, before he reassembled his external visage of outward calm.

Mac sucked in air through his teeth and made a whistling noise as he pushed it back out over his tongue. "Phoo-ee. Rura Penthe sure is nice this time of year. I hear it's only about fifty below freezing in the summer."

"Of course, if you tell us how we can find and eradicate your creatures from the planet's surface, I might be able to convince them to be a bit more lenient with you."

"Don't be ridiculous. The techniques I used to hide my super soldiers from sensors are far too valuable to just give the Federation a way to circumvent them."

"Fine, your choice." Tim shrugged, stood and moved the chair back to the corner of the room. "We've ripped out all of your lab's computers and brought them aboard anyway, and we have the corpse of one of them too, so I'm sure we'll figure it out on our own. Mac; he's all yours."

"As you wish, sir."

With that, the captain left the room.

"So." Mac took the chair and replaced it behind the secondary console. He was much more inclined to stand while he addressed a criminal. Gave him more of an imposing air "Didn't fancy making a deal with the captain then?"

"No deal with a Starfleet captain would be worth the information he wants me to impart." Kotan almost boasted.

"Hell, I don't expect you to. You know you're going down and going down hard so why give up the lives of your little pets just so that us disgusting, milk-fed humans can set up shop on the planet you thought was yours and start breeding."

McIntyre stomped back and forth in front of the cell, rubbing his chin in thought. It was obvious that Entek had about as much contempt for Cardassian life as he did human but there was something in the way he spoke about his... creatures... which made Mac think there was something more than just pride in there.

"You see, the captain's right." A wicked smile spread across the security chief's face. "Our scientists are going to reverse engineer your technology. If it takes a day, if it takes a week, if it takes a month. Hell, if it takes a year, I don't care. You're going to be mining dilithium and getting your greyest, scaliest parts man-handled by desperate Nausicaans while I'm going to be down on that planet, personally putting massive, agonising holes in each and every one of your little pets."

"You won't succeed," Entek said, though his voice trembled with more than a little uncertainty, which showed on his face. "Even your fabled Starfleet engineers and scientists won't be able to find a way around my enhancements, and my computers are encrypted far above any cyphers you've ever come across."

McIntyre stepped past Rhodes to the exit before turning back into the room, taking in the crestfallen face of the Cardassian. "Take some time, Doctor. Really mull it over."