Interrogation

Posted on Sun May 30th, 2021 @ 4:50pm by Lieutenant Xalanth & Lieutenant JG Miaxi Etaalu

3,017 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 110 - An Endeavor in Discovery
Location: Brig
Timeline: MD3

Xalanth was humming to himself as he sat down in his office chair. It felt good to be back. Placing down a holo projection of the scan of his next daughter on the desk the lizard couldn't help but feel happy.

Still, now he had another issue to deal with, but he had a lead at long last. Sending out a message for his second in command he waited for her to arrive.

Miaxi was on her way to the brig for some interviews. She had stopped and gotten some food, and put a copy of the report she had shown the commander and given the admiral on a PaDD. She had also checked on the backgrounds of both the XO and the captain. She reflected, as she turned around to report to Xalanth, that she must have just missed him.

She entered the office, looking much more serious and tired than the last time he had seen her. Her voice, however, was upbeat. "Welcome back, Xalanth. You called?"

" Greeting Miaxi it good to see you again. You've done a good job while I've been gone i'll make sure to be a few good words in your record. " The lizard said happily as he gestured her to sit. " Any updates on the slavery issue we've stumbled across?" He inquired.

"A little." Miaxi slid the PaDD over to him. "I was on my way to interview the XO and captain of the freighter when you called. I have orders from Admiral Bremer to get everything they know."

" That's good. I have another lead to add to the evidence we've got. May be worth seeing what the XO and captain know." The lizard replied.

"That's good to hear." Miaxi said. "We need every lead we can get."

"Believe it or not it's from my brother-in-law Galerius Laelius Carus. He and his urban cohorts raided a villa in Magna Rome on tax evasion and found three Starfleet personnel chained up for sale in the basement. He's handed them over to the federation embassy and they've all been identified as Starfleet personnel reported as missing or killed in action." The lizard explained with a grin forming on his face at the last bit. " And guess which freighter had recently visited? "

Miaxi looked excited. "Ours." she said, looking unfocused for a moment. She had written down that freighter name half a dozen times. "The Jakra. Three, you say? I'll have to check with the engineering team and see if they've found any more hidey holes." she reached across, took the PaDD, and scribbled a note on it. "I need some caffeine before I do these interviews. Are you going to come along? And do you have the names of the personnel your brother in law rescued? They could come in handy." she stood up and moved to the replicator. "Do you want anything?"

" Dragonian brandy and of course i'll come along though i'll need a drink beforehand. I have the personnel list here all female may i add." the lizard replied his voice not bothering to hide his anger at this situation.

"That makes me want to throw up." Miaxi announced. "I'm so glad they were rescued before anything happened to them and the psychological damage was compounded." she turned to the replicator. "One espresso and one Dragonian brandy." she ordered, and carried them back to the desk. "Not that what happens to the men is any better." she added as she sat down and downed the drink in one. She made a wry face. "Not my favorite, but it's a good quick shot of caffeine when I don't want to stop for a long drink. I think it might be a good idea to look up a list of how many personnel are missing from the recent war."

" I never tasted caffeine till i reached earth. Home only grows a little veg considering it's 90% desert." The lizard replied. " We also executed slavers by dumping them out in the deep desert. Nothing lives out there except the marauders. " The lizard said as he drank his homeworlds drink slowly. " You can taste the sythahol despite what my mates keep telling me."

"I always thought you could taste something different about it, but it never bothered me." Miaxi replied with a shrug. "There's something poetic about dumping slavers in the middle of a desert. It's a shame the Federation doesn't agree, because I have a feeling by the time we're done, there's going to be a lot more people for the penal colonies." she thought back to how angry the admiral had looked. "Talk about jumping in at the deep end. We might need to find a bar for some of the real stuff after we question those two."

" Well, i'm brewing up some of the proper stuff for the kanvar festival. I'll save you a bottle or two. " The lizard replied as he finished his drink. " Still let's go and get some answers. I say we start with the xo claim the captains trying to pin it all on him."

"That was my plan as well. I'm glad we're on the same wavelength." Miaxi said, standing up. I thought that captain was a little too high strung, and that maybe her XO would give us answers a little more easily if we could manipulate him properly."

" Well let's go and get started. I'll let you lead this one." the lizard said as he lead the way to the interview room. Inside was a very angry-looking Ferengi sitting as far back in his chair with his arms crossed. He looked over as the door opened giving a scowl. " The grand nagus will hear of this outrage." he murmured out.

"Yes, quite the little outrage you've perpetrated. So many slaves to answer for, never mind the other illegal things we found in that hold." Miaxi made a tutting sound. "Too bad she had to keep screaming about the Grand Nagus." she copied his pose, sitting in the chair opposite and crossing her arms. She couldn't read his emotions, but she was willing to bet he was scared.

" Slaves?" The officer replied with a sound of surprise, shock, and disbelief as if he believed they were bluffing. " We don't trade in slaves. The federation of planets doesn't allow it."

In response, Miaxi pulled up the pictures of the two they had pulled off the ship, as well as the three that had been rescued from Magna Rome. She had no proof the three had come from his ship, but he didn't know that. "We can count five so far. It's indisputable. Your captain is blaming you. Something about females not knowing how to make enough profit." Her face was set in a kind of half glare, half frown, her tone severe. "Personally, I don't believe her for a moment. She planned this all, set up contacts, and expected she'd have a few apathetic security guards who'd at worst find a few smuggled goods, give her a slap on the wrist fine because of her threats to call the Grand Nagus, and leave you all free to go and deliver your much more profitable cargo elsewhere."

The ferngi paused as he looked at the photo's seemingly trying to keep the panic showing on his face. A very faint. " That cheating bit....." began to escape his lips as he looked around the room desperate to see a way out of this. " You have to, believe me, i had no idea what was in the pods just that we weren't to touch them. " he sputtered out.

" Some fernegi you are. Rule of Acquisition 272 Always inspect the merchandise before making a deal." Xalanth added from his corner which seemed to further cut into the xo.


Miaxi leaned forward. "You tell me everything you know. Where you got your cargo." she sneered at the last word, her voice full of venom. "Where you were taking them. And the goods you were smuggling too. The Federation looks positively on those who cooperate. It could mean less time." she allowed herself a fleeting smile. "Remember, she's blaming all this on you. She could not have gotten those people on board without help." an eyebrow went up questioningly, as if she thought it was his help that had been received.

" Starbase 123." The ferengi blurted out. " I had nothing to do with loading the cargo it was her and the men the federation admiral brought along. I should have jumped ship then." He added bitterly.

"I need names. Descriptions. how many did the admiral bring along?" Miaxi pressed. "Anything you can give me will help."

If there was an admiral involved, the stakes were higher. A chill ran down her spine.

" No name. She was a human female, dark skin with hair in... what's the human word for them deadlocks? " The Xo wondered. " I don't know how many canisters she brought. The captain just paid me one latnium sliver to keep quiet."

Miaxi gave a short nod. She stood up and turned to Xalanth. "What do you think?" she asked.

Xalanth was wondering about all this. A federation admiral involved in slavery? It sounded like a bad holo novel, but despite the federation, society's evil did always lurk just below the surface. " I think he's telling the truth. I'm sure he is aware that if he's lying the federation will have to hand him over to the magna Romans first. Now the magna romans aren't as enlightened as us and though slavery is still legal on their world the slaving guilds really don't like outsiders bringing in competition. " The lizard added. The guilds had a reputation well known as the frengi gulped at their mention.

" I've told you everything i know. That female of a captain knows everything go and ask her." he said with panic in his voice.

"I believe you too." Miaxi had heard little about the Magna Romans since her academy days, but she knew the threat to turn him over to them was a real one. They would not be happy. Besides, he thought his captain really had told them it was all him. "Greed..." she trailed off with a sigh. "We need to move quickly if an admiral is involved. Time to get Captain," she sounded sarcastic, "Yalaca pinned down. But I want to see if I can pin down the name of that admiral too."

" Indeed. There a lot of admirals though it may not actually be one. Starfleet uniform isn't exactly hard to fake. Still, it is troubling thought even still. Maybe the captain will know more." The lizard said as he lead the way as he indicated to the guard to take the Xo back to his cell.

"Good point." she replied. "Let's find out what we can get from her first, and then go report in." Miaxi decided. "I think the best angle to take with her is the Magna Rome angle. She doesn't know we know about those slaves. It makes a good threat. If she thinks she is working with a Starfleet admiral - correct or not - she also thinks she has leverage."

" Indeed both of those could work. Luckily she doesn't know I'd never hand anyone over to them." the lizard responded with a reassuring smile.

"Well no, they're going to stay here until they go for trial. A fair trial." Miaxi said. "With as many of their accomplices as we can catch as possible."

" Indeed. I'll let you do the questioning again." Xalanth said he opened the door to the integration room.

"Thank you." Miaxi said. She hadn't been lying when she said she was good at interrogation. She had been interested in different interrogation techniques, the legal niceties of what was allowed - including reading emotions - and how to use the personalities of the people she was interrogating against them. Ferengi were new to her, but she liked to sharpen her skills.

They switched rooms, and Miaxi wondered if the captain and her XO had seen each other at all. She would have been able to tell from the look on his face that he had told what he knew, and that could make things interesting, possibly difficult. She squared her shoulders and moved the chair to one side, standing in front of the captain. "DaiMon Yalaca, you are in a lot of trouble. I know about your dealings on Starbase 123."

" I don't know what your talking about." The female ferengi replied with all the arrogance of her races stereotype. " All my dealings at starbase 123 are completely legal."

"So you think dealing in slaves is legal? You think the Magna Romans will like that you've been encroaching on your territory? Maybe I should let them know what's been happening under their noses." Miaxi's hands were flat on the table, her eyes narrowed. "You're a lousy briber. One sliver of latinum? There's cheap, and then there's you. You call yourself a Ferengi. Making money on the misery of others." she sounded disgusted.

If the intimidation had been meant to work on the captain she made no sigh simply leaning back in her chair with a look of annoyance on her face. " Please federation spare me your holyier than us attitude. The sliver of latinum is far more than all the males I have to work with are worth. You should have seen the horde of latinum your admiral paid me for this shipment."

Miaxi sat down, her hands in her lap. "Two women, working together. How much did she pay you?"

" Enough latinum so that I can die a happy old woman many centuries from now long after your gone." She mocked.

Miaxi gave a low whistle. "You must have traded something pretty special for all that latinum." she said. "Or else you've got... what's that Ferengi term? Oh yes, the lobes for business."

" Oh, your friend pay well. Corrupt Starfleet always do. Where she's getting this number of slaves i have no idea." The fernegi mocked. " Why the negus just doesn't legalize slavery is beyoned me, but what do you expect from a male." She said glaring over at Xalanth.

"It's hard to say. Men can be so tiresome." Miaxi gave her a small smile. "She's actually paying you to take the slaves off her hands? That's odd."

" Please my dear i get paid one quarter upfront and the rest when we deliver the cargo." The captain replied rolling her eyes slightly as she did so.

"This is why I am not in business. I would go bankrupt very quickly." Miaxi said depreciatingly. "You're not taking all of them to the Magna Romans? I bet you're cleverer than that."

" Oh please, we only left five with them. Despite the purity rhetoric, the magna roman males all want a side bit. I guess their women aren't good enough." She said mockingly her eyes glaring over at Xalanth.

The lizard was realizing she was trying to piss him off. Thankfully he didn't show simply staring at her with a blank look.

"Every man wants something he can't have. Some of those Magna Romans are just lucky enough to be able to afford to get what most can't." Miaxi said airily. "So if you only left five with them, where are the others?" she really hoped Xalanth realized she was putting on a show to get information out of the Ferengi.

" How should I know? I deliver the merchandise to the contact on planet. After that there not my problem anymore. If only i could have dropped the last one off here. Trust this red idiot to pull me in." She said glaring at Xalanth.

"I know. And I have to listen to him. Can you imagine? But I really need to know the names of your contact - or contacts. Can you help a girl out?" Miaxi asked. "You can just write them down here, you don't even have to say them aloud. It can stay between us." she slid the PaDD across the table to her, making sure the report she had written was hidden. She felt dreadful talking about Xalanth like that - she was going to have to find some way to make it up to him.

" And why would I do that? " The ferengi said scoffing. " If I did the people I work for would do far worse than your federation ever could. "

"We could protect you. They'd never even know it was you who gave them up." Miaxi said seriously.

The laughter was chilling that emerged from her lips. " Please my dear if I told you I wouldn't make it to next week."

Xalanth had been tapping his fingers as he made a mental note as to something she'd said. Hopefully Miaxi had seen it as well.

"Hmm.. Very well." Miaxi shrugged. She pulled the PaDD back and took it, standing up. "Looks like we're done here, Xalanth." she added, turning around and throwing him a little wink.

The lizard nodded as he followed her out of the room. " Well, she's something. You'd think they'd be more sympathetic given how they were treated by male ferengi.. Still, did you notice what she didn't mention? "

"She said one. She didn't know how many we pulled out. Maybe she didn't realize we had a woman too." Miaxi said, finally releasing the excitement she had been holding in. It had been an effort. "I'm sorry I badmouthed you like that. I was trying to build rapport. She's a right piece of work."

" It's quite alright Miaxi. I've heard worse from the terran prime thugs back in San Francisco. Still, i think we need to have a word with our mysterious guest. I think she's the key to all this."

"I agree." Miaxi was incredibly grateful there was a guard on the doors. "For safety's sake, I want to be vague about where we've gotten our information. "

" Indeed. " The lizard said leading the way. This was proving a hard nut to crack.

OFF:

Lt. Xalanth
Chief of Security
Starbase 400


Lt. jg Miaxi Etaalu
Assistant Chief of Security
Starbase 400

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