Bad Cop. Worse Cop.

Posted on 24 Nov 2016 @ 4:25am by Lieutenant Commander Joey Geisler & Captain Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale

2,756 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Security
Timeline: MD 11 || 0100 hours

Joey stood just outside the interrogation room mentally preparing herself to go inside and get the answers they needed to get their people back. She'd seen first hand that Harvey knew the man on the other side of the door, but she had no idea how. The more she thought about it, the more questions were raised, and there was only one person that could answer them. Sadly, that would have to wait until later. Right now... this required her immediate attention. The longer she waited, the less likely they were to get all their people back. That wasn't okay with her.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Things had gone south so fast once they got to the Karemma owned restaurant, but at least no one had been injured... or killed. That was something to be thankful for, and she was. What she wasn't happy about was that she didn't have the chance to get the replicator back like she'd planned to. There was no time. Alas... there mark had been left in a big way, and it didn't come in the form of a food replicator from a runabout, or the scans the Teplan woman had gotten of the same craft. No... this mark was enormous, and currently in the hands of the Confederation. It was none other than the Cochrane.

The Lieutenant shook her head with a frown and forced that line of thinking away. She needed to focus, and that's exactly what she planned to do.

Camila came down the corridor a few minutes later and approached Joey. "So, did the away team manage to learn anything and who is the prisoner?" she asked. The acting XO looked tired, but capable of going on as long as she needed to. It wouldn't be the first time for a double or even a triple shift and she doubted if it would be the last time.

Joey glanced to Camila as she approached. She was just as tired as her fellow officer, but then battling countless individuals, then running for your life had that kind of effect on a person. The acting Chief was used to being up for days on end. "Our team learned a bit. I can't speak for the others, though," she stated, glancing to the door. "Our guest is former Confederation. From what I gather, he earned himself a bad monkey and took a boot to the ass."

Camila arched an eyebrow and couldn't help but chuckle at Joey's wording despite the seriousness of the situation. "How did you end up with him?"

"Long story short... there's a bounty on the Captain's head, and he thought he'd be able to collect on it. A couple others decided they were going to try to claim it, too. I started to unleash hell on them, the others followed suit, we grabbed our friend here and got the hell out of dodge," the brunette officer replied, summarizing a bit more than she'd planned to. Not only was she tired, but there was a nice bruise where she'd taken the hit along with her lips being busted in a few places. "Needless to say, I'm ready to get moving again, but we can't do that until he talks."

"A bounty...on Captain Geisler's head..." Camila began. "We haven't even been in this..wherever we are...long enough to warrant a bounty on anyone's head. How did he attempt to justify it?" The question she asked brought more questions to mind, but seeing the busted lip on her acting Security Chief, she went into a room near the interrogation room and returned with a portable medkit.

"First, let's get you patched up," she said as she opened it and pulled out a dermal regenerator and activated it. "We don't want the prisoner seeing you injured and it'll help. Just give me a second and it'll be taken care of."

"That's the first thing I plan on asking him once we're inside," Joey stated, raising a hand when Camila brought the dermal regenerator out, then she shook her head. "That's exactly what I want... him to see me like this. It will prove that we 'pink skinned' aliens can take a beating and keep moving forward. I'll have it taken care of when there's time later. We really don't have that right now. He holds the answers to our next course."

"I would say something about stubborn Security personnel, but I'm one, too," Camila said as she deactivated the dermal regenerator and put it back in the kit. "What approach do you plan on taking with him?"

"Bad cop. Worse cop. He doesn't deserve having a good cop for the hell he put us through," the taller woman replied. "I'll have a full report for you before day's end, though. Shall we?" Though, she planned to walk into the room first.

"Which one do you want?" Camila asked her. "I'm guessing worse cop, but I don't want to assume what my Chief of Security has planned before I hear it."

Joey shrugged her shoulders. "The same thing a bad cop does, but worse." Rather than explain further, she opened the door and walked inside, looking at the Karemma sitting at the table. "I asked you once, and I'm only going to ask you one more time. Why is there a bounty on his head, and don't you dare act like you don't know who I'm talking about."

The Karemma didn't even turn to look at the woman, though he almost didn't recognize it from her sudden change in tone. Back at Razmena, she seemed shocked and confused. Here, she sounded in control. He couldn't let her have that. "I have to thank for you bringing me here. This ship seems impressive. No wonder the Confederation want it so badly."

Camila came in behind her with the medkit still in her hands and listened to what Joey had to say. "I have the medkit in case he passes out, Lieutenant," she said with a smirk.

"I have a feeling we might need it," the taller woman said, her eyes fixed on the Karemma sitting in front of her. "You either answer the questions you're asked, or I'll make you. Why is there a bounty on our Captain's head?"

"Because the Consortium wants your captain," replied the Karemma, locking his gaze with hers. "Really, they want this ship. If I could afford it, I'd hire half the quadrant to subdue this ship myself and make a handy profit on the Black Market."

Camila opened the medkit and began to sort through the instruments. "Let's see...we have a laser scalpel, a dermal decomposer...yes. I think that would make him talk a bit more," she said as she pulled out the dermal stimulator that she had called a decomposer and handed it to Joey.

The Lieutenant took the device and laid it on the table, smiling a sadistic smile at him. "I guess we're lucky you're currently our prisoner, then, aren't we? All alone on the very ship the Confederation wants to get their hands on... no way to contact anyone who might care whether you live or die. Considering you got the boot, though, I can't imagine anyone would miss you. Where is the nearest base of operations? The exact location."

Kr'ozzu was a bit nervous now with the tool on the table and the bruised woman in front of him. "Considering I got the boot, I'm surprised you're spending this much time with me. And I do have friends. They'll come."

Camila reached into the medkit and pulled out a tricorder and activated it before she aimed it at the Karemma. "This can tell me if you're lying or not," she said. "Every time you tell a lie, you will be hurt. Your friends aren't here now, but we are and we don't like what you've done so far. You're going to start telling us the truth or my friend here is going to get very angry, very fast."

"You are strangers in a foreign land," Kr'ozzu mocked the golden-haired female. Her black and gray clothes matched those that the ship's Captain wore in the wanted image (except for the yellow trim on the cuffs and the collar). He could only assume she had some sort of unique... allegiance to him. "How could the Captain's consort possibly know how a Karemma behaves under lies and truths? No. You are bluffing."

Camila let the tricorder get a reading on the Karemma before she looked up at him and laughed. "And you're way off base. The woman about to pound your head into the table is actually the Captain's girlfriend. I'm just here to watch you suffer for your crimes."

Joey picked the device up off of the table and moved around it to stand behind their guest. She thumbed the device on and leaned down until her lips were just a hair away from his ear. "Answer my question, or I'm going to take great pleasure in disfiguring every inch of you. If you think I'm kidding... how about we start with this little finger right here..." With a sadistic smile, she grabbed his pinky and brought the device toward it.

He tried to pull his pinkie out of her grip, but it was too strong. He was momentarily caught up in the revelation that the brunette belonged to the Captain. "Unhand me! You have no right!"

"Unhand you? With pleasure," Joey said with a smile. "Camila... the laser scalpel should unhand him nicely. Since he doesn't want to talk, we'll just remove pieces of him until he's ready." She turned her gaze back down to the Karemma. "Unless... you want to start talking."

Camila reached into the medkit and pulled the laser scalpel out with her other hand while still aiming the tricorder at him. She activated it and let the Karemma get a good look at it. "Are you right handed or left handed?"

Kr'ozzu turned to face the golden-haired woman, his eyes much wider now. "Wha... You're not... not actually going to do this, are you? I demand to speak to your captain!"

"You're in no position to make any demands," Camila said as she looked at Joey. "I think he may be willing to talk."

"Why would I allow you to speak to him when not that long ago, you were willing to kill me just to get him to talk?" Joey asked with a smile. "Are you going to start talking, or am I going to have to prove to you just how you pissed me off by doing that?"

He looked at the tool in the brown-haired woman's hand, then at the so called laser scapel in the golden haired woman's. If he wasn't frightened before, then he had at least a reason to worry now. "They want the ship!" he exclaimed. "They want the ship!"

"You told us that much when there was a weapon pressed to my back," the brunette said, removing one of the weapons he'd seen do some pretty destructive things back in his restaurant. She sat down next to him and tapped the barrel of the Desert Eagle against her temple. The safety was on, but he didn't need to know that. "Where is their base? You see... they took some friends of ours... as well as their ship... we want them back. This is not open for negotiation. You answer, or not only will you lose the hand, but I'll make you regret the day you decided to mess with us."

"They have a lot of bases!" Kr'ozzu shouted, trying to pull his finger out of her grasp. "I've been stuck on Razmena for a year! What makes you think I know where your friends were taken?"

Camila set the tricorder down out of the Karemma's reach and adjusted the setting on the laser scalpel to surface only. With a smile, she reached out and took the alien's other hand and brought the scalpel down towards his left wrist. "Start giving us coordinates or you'll start running out of body parts," she said as she looked into the man's eyes to show him how serious she was. "If you don't give us the answers we want in two blinks of an eye, you'll be called Lefty for the rest of your life."

"Okay, that's enough!" Kr'ozzu demanded. "In my left pocket is a copy of the announcement on a chip. It was only issued about ten or twelve hours ago. The Confederation don't put a lot of details in it, but it's bound to have a destination embedded into the data."

Yanking the man to his feet, Joey reached inside his pocket to retrieve the chip. "You sit tight," she said, forcing him back down onto his chair. "If this is worth it, I might let you live. If there's nothing useful on it, I'll be back." After holstering her weapon once more, she moved toward the door, but stopped to look back at him. "Don't get any ideas. There are two armed guards outside the door who won't hesitate to kill you if you try anything."

Kr'ozzu heaved a sigh of relief when she let go. Watching the brown-haired woman head for the exit, his eyes glanced over towards the golden haired woman who still had his hand. Perhaps he could break it free? "You wear the same clothes your Captain did on the recording. What else was I to think besides that you could be his mate?"

Camila released his hand and stepped back, but kept the laser scalpel in her hand and adjusted the setting higher. "You can assume anything you want, but one thing you should never do is underestimate me or the people I serve on this ship," she told him. "We were attacked from the moment we got here and you want to assume that I was the Captain's mate because I wear a similar uniform? That's not very bright. What made you think you and your people wouldn't earn a very powerful enemy?"

"My people," Kr'ozzu scoffed. "My people cast me out. We might not be completely honorable, but treachery is not tolerated. I was lucky to escape with my life. As far as bright... it's a matter of opinion. In both Dosi and Karemma cultures, a mate will wear clothing or items that belongs to the superior."

"In my society, we're all equal," Camila told him. "Your people cast you out, which doesn't speak much for you. Were you actually thinking that you could buy your way back in with my Captain?" She shook her head. "Once a traitor, always a traitor. You'd never be trusted."

"Trust is unimportant," Kr'ozzu countered. "Life on the frontier is a death sentence enough. Besides, you're not just strangers in a foreign land. We know enough about the next five sectors in any direction. You are not from around here. That bounty is the largest I have ever seen. You're not just wanted. You're the epitome of supply and demand. So, what is it? What is it you have... that they want?"

Camila gave him an enigmatic smile. "We're the great unknown," she said. "People fear what they don't know and they're right to fear us, Karemma. I'm going to give you a piece of free information: If you see us coming, turn and run."

Joey walked back into the interrogation room with a PADD in hand. She cast a glance to the Karemma before moving over to the acting XO to show her the screen. "The chip produced a contact and coordinates."

"Excellent work," Camila told her. "Get that information to the Captain while I head back to the bridge. There's still a problem with the virus and I need to put my attention there while he deals with Operations."

The Karemma smiled at the golden haired woman. "See, I was telling the truth all along." He then smiled, and chuckled, considering how the two women just interacted. This culture certainly was very different than anything he was used to.

"Will do," Joey said, moving over to the Karemma man and helping him to his feet. "Be that as it may, you're going to the brig until it's decided what your fate is. Let's go." Without waiting for him to say he was ready, she escorted him from the interrogation room and to a cell where he'd remain under guard.

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