Post 3: Corrective Action
Posted on Sun Jan 31st, 2021 @ 7:15pm by Lieutenant Timmoz
Edited on on Sun Jan 31st, 2021 @ 10:47pm
Mission:
The Waiting Game
Location: Rango IX Detention Facility, Rango IX Moon
Timeline: Shoreleave MD22: 0815 hours; Ten years ago.
"Have you learned to make decent Lhoatat?" Lime green lips spoke. Brown eyes shifted. Timmoz stared at the interface panel of his "accommodations'" replicator.
"Please provide a synthesis matrix to continue." The computer had an androgynous voice, one of authoritarian inflection. Concise, cold, and offering no exploitable loophole in its programming subroutines. The pulsing blue light strip that indicated the computer's attention, ceased. Timmoz sighed.
"You've got enough Orions in here, you'd think you'd provide a few creature comforts." Timmoz's gaze searched the almost featureless cube he was within- five of its six sides were orange-glowing forcefields. Timmoz backed away from the central pillar that was his only computer interface. His eyes studied the three officers in black uniforms, all wearing the Rango IX Detention Facility's symbol of a sphere within a ring, with electrum plating.
"Lieutenant if you will step into the transporter zone," one of the guards stated dispassionately. "We'll transfer you to the Starfleet Liaison Office." Timmoz eyed her- his guess was a Tulian. He complied, swinging his lankiness into a circle on the ground within touch of the replicator interface. He felt the prickle of the matter-energy buffer wash over him, taking him apart molecule by molecule. The world went orange.
The world went orange. Te'imouzh Bilati felt the sterilizing prickle of the Rango IX transporter buffer checking him for hidden devices- it was like a soft pulsing up and down. Then he was allowed to materialize.
"Please state your name for the Register AI," a bored voice stated. Timmoz looked up into blinding orange light, flinching. He didn't see oranges and reds nearly as well as blues and whites. He held his hand up to shield his gaze. "You will comply in five seconds." Timmoz stumbled over his words. "You have three seconds to comply."
"Te'imouzh of the Bilat."
The computer chirped. Sixteen-year-old Timmoz didn't dare relax. This world was cold against his lime-green skin- so much that he could feel the metal collar and shoulder plates, icy, when his skin touched them. Even his piercings felt cold. His exuded breath fogged. "Where am I? Archanis?"
"You're on Rango IX," a voice stated. "But you're not a prisoner." The voice lilted amused and Timmoz wanted to snarl at its arrogance. But he played it cool and smirked his Cluros smile. "Not at the moment. Your cooperation- or lack thereof- will determine the future of that status." The voice Timmoz could not pinpoint in the blinding light, save a notion of a darker silhouette within it. "AI. Register Te'imouzh Bilati as under joint protection status. Pending full investigation." The voice continued and again the computer chirped.
"Why can't I see you?" Timmoz protested into the light, which was starting to give him a headache. "This's how you treat people who ask for help?" Timmoz anemically attempted Ka-Shaadu- baiting his opponent.
"You can't see me because my appearance is inconsequential to your reason for being here. I have it changed every few months. And you are no ordinary Asylum seeker, young man."
Timmoz swayed his lean shape, open vest, and leggings swaying with him. He itched to feel the safety of his chukaree against his leg, but they'd taken it. When they'd beamed aboard his shuttle. But those memories were jumbled and thin... life support had failed, oxygen was thin. The air was almost as cold as it was here.
"Since the incident on Mars, the Federation is much more... cautious."
Timmoz menaced a smile, "So you're part of the V'draysh'an."
"Obviously."
"You're a long way from your core worlds, V'Draysh." Timmoz taunted with a smile, "Even less close than you were before those Synthetics destroyed your world." Timmoz's eyes squinted, "Are you Intelligence? You must've felt very stupid not to see something that big coming." His eyes rounded, his smile toothily displaying the Orion double sets of canines.
"I assure you that your efforts to bait me emotionally are wasted."
"You're 'Volkan-Vanda?" Timmoz asked with a head tilted. In futility, Timmoz tried to search the hazy silhouette for pointed ears.
The silhouette chuckled with that same enraging amusement. Timmoz felt like a vole under scrutiny, before it was used for experimentation, "No. But my emotions are inhibited through a positronic filter. When I need them to be."
"So you're part machine," Timmoz sneered with a slid of his double canines in thought against his bottom lip. He wet the flesh with a dash of green tongue. "With technology, you don't let your own people have anymore. V'draysh arrogance."
"Tell me about the Bilat Cell of Sirrud, Te'imouzh. Your Kaheedi? Is... Vaina? Your Tahedrin, Jasso? Qashs, Tezred, and Nimruc. But you don't look like Jasso. I've seen Jasso."
"Nimrruc is not blood to my blood." Timmoz protested, his head was really starting to throb from the light. "He's Naqqash."
"A technicality," the silhouette returned, "But I will update our records." The silhouette moved. "Please, continue. Your Kaheedi and your Tahedrin?"
"Jasso is my Tahedrin. My Kaheedi is dead to me," Timmoz sneered rather than say her name. The pitted knot in his stomach tensed: he balled and relaxed his hands multiple times.
"A bold assertion," the silhouette said, "Is she dead only to you, or dead to the world?"
Timmoz ground his teeth, "Does it matter?"
"Well, it does to us, Te'imouzh. Your mother is a dangerous woman to anyone who crosses her."
"You should be afraid, V'Draysh," Timmoz countered.
"So should you, it seems. And I believe you are." Timmoz did not answer to the man's attempt to build that particular bridge. "This will be one of many conversations I suspect over the weeks and months, but I believe we will make positive progress. In time."
"And why do you think that?" Timmoz replied, his jaw set.
"Because you haven't used your suicide tooth, young man. I believe it's your second bicuspid? Or first molar? What is the Syndic using these days? Blood-based neurotoxins, or ingested Prions?" Timmoz was about to open his mouth- but the words of the man stuck in his throat. He could feel the tooth, as if it were suddenly sensitive, in his mouth. He could bite down on it. He could. He should even.
But then, Vaina would win. And Arra-Nysa's sacrifice would've been for nothing. Timmoz double blinked, "Prions."
"Those are illegal in all sectors of space, young man. But... I'm sure they'd be quite effective. We will talk again soon." Timmoz blinked into the bright orange, the silhouette was getting hazy, "AI. Transport one to Cubicle 51-Enkita."
Timmoz shivered. The wool of his Starfleet uniform was not enough to keep out the dry penetrating cold of Rango IX's subterranean enclaves. His eyes searched the smooth as silk walls, seemingly drilled into solid metal and refined. There was literally nothing to hold on to, nothing to truly study. He remembered walls like them well. The only thing in the room was a desk and two stools. He shivered at that too, but it had nothing to do with the cold.
"You let your hair grow," a voice said, "I hardly recognized you, Te'imouzh."
Timmoz pivoted to stare at.... frustratingly... a featureless hologram. He smirked into one cheek, "It's just Timmoz now."
"Oh?" The silhouette hologram walked without sound toward him, its arms curiously behind its back. "Why choose a diminutive of your adult name, if I may ask?"
Timmoz blinked, eyes searching the blank spaces where a being's eyes should be. He smiled slyly, "Well I am a diminished person, Director. I'm an Orion without a Caj."
"Is that like a rebel without a cause?" The hologram mused. Timmoz squinted one eye at that.
"Human humor..." Timmoz grunted with a headshake, "I've gotten a lot of it lately." He folded his arms across his chest with his easy smile, "But the sex is good." The Orion blinked. His thoughts drifted to that Human. Would he see him again? How permanent was this? "So who are you this time?" Timmoz smiled more toothily, sniffing, "Jailer, savior?"
"Corrector. Briefer and Debriefer." The hologram gestured at the chairs, "Please Lieutenant, sit down. I would like for us to have an exchange of information."
Timmoz eyed the chairs. After a moment of hesitant reluctance- that touch of teenage rebellion at his surroundings- he complied. He sighed and smiled as the hologram crossed and mimicked sitting. The Orion chuckled, "Are you actually sitting down somewhere, or is this just for my benefit?"
"I've found people don't like being towered over. Particularly people as tall as yourself. I'm not here to intimidate you. But yes. I am seated since you asked. Now it's your turn to answer a question."
Timmoz acknowledged this with a nod. "As the Humans might say..." the Orion's brow perked and lowered, "Shoot."
"How are you, Te'imouzh? You look different. I'm surprised to see two pips on your chest... how do you feel about that?"
Timmoz rose his thumb and pointer finger to barely desk level, "That's... two... questions," Timmoz teased; he reached to rub the silvery pips on his chest, "It wasn't something I wanted or needed. And I think it was a mistake. I'm not a leader."
The hologram silhouette chuckled. "You have a certain... charisma... and ability to act in ways that would pause a Federation officer. But I concur... your Captain probably should have cleared that with Starfleet first. I realize the situation was unusual. But I imagine we will be watching more closely."
Timmoz raised a brow, "I always promised I would be your villain when you had to keep your hands clean." He looked around the ghost of the past with present eyes. "Is that why I'm here? Time to pay up?" He leaned forward, "Orions don't like keeping debts, Director. It's a karmic imbalance. You're risking my soul here."
"No, not yet," the hologram said without even a flicker or blink, "My apologies to any detriment we are posing to your eternal spirit. But our needs are largely secular."
Timmoz's grin blossomed, "I think I just realized why I'm so fond of Counselor Karim. You talk exactly like him."
"Let's begin," the shadow director stated, his proxy bending to look down. Timmoz could only guess his proxy was reacting to a real-life action- perhaps looking at a PADD. "You mentioned you're having intimate relations with a crewmember or crewmembers."
Timmoz's eyes squinted, "Please don't tell me you pulled me across Federation space to hear about my sex life?" When the hologram did not react, Timmoz studied its silence. he sighed and rubbed his neck, "Yes. The ship's worst kept secret."
"You were assigned on missions together? Recently?"
Timmoz's eyes dropped to the satin finish of the metal table, "I don't see what you're getting at."
"Yes, you do."
Timmoz pursed his lips and shrugged, "Do I?"
"Yes. You lie much, much better than you used to, Te'imouzh. But you're no Cardassian. Those emotions boil under the surface and change light absorption qualities in your skin. Did you know that?"
"Yes. He was on a separate Away Team, but we ended up encountering one another."
The Hologram nodded its silhouette head. "The Adelphi's logs say you were the lead on the Runabout team meant to make contact with an alien complex. That complex turned out to be Vidiian. They were using the planet and the Ocampa colonists as a honeypot. Correct?"
"Yes."
"And they captured the other team, sent to inquire about the Ocampa, within the native population?"
"Yes." Timmoz nodded. "It's in the logs."
"How did you feel, Timmoz?" The Hologram asked. Timmoz folded his arms tightly. He flickered a smile. "Tell me. I'm not here to so much damn or judge you, I am here to help." Timmoz stared at the hologram. He scratched his cheek with a casual up and down of his thumbnail. "You used some very unorthodox strategies to secure the release of your teammates. I'd like to know about what isn't in the official logs." The hologram glanced down again, "We know about the fire... we know you gained entry through the use of Vidiian technology. Both of which put a significant risk of injury or death on your crew. And we know about the explosive."
"Then you know everything," Timmoz said with a testy edge to his smile.
"How did you get the information about the complex, Te'imouzh? How did you know where to beam the warhead so it wouldn't damage the holding cells?"
Timmoz's looked down at his fingers. "Captives."
"Did you torture those men, Te'imouzh?"
"No," Timmoz snapped with a hiss, dark eyes flicking to the hologram. "That's not who I am anymore. I never was and I never wanted to be."
"But you thought about it," the Hologram countered, "We have the transporter logs. You held a Vidiian in transporter buffer stasis for forty-five seconds."
Timmoz set his jaw, "Yes. I thought about it. I made the threat."
The hologram sighed, "Te'imouzh...." it rubbed its featureless face, "Starfleet, even with everything we have been through, does not torture. How close were you to hitting that button?"
Timmoz blinked. "I couldn't do it. I wanted to..." he shook his head, "Damned Vand Qamli had taken two of my team and had the rest of them ready to be carved up for parts."
The hologram seemed frozen. "What held you back." It asked, "Memories?"
Timmoz nodded, "Especially... Pandlin.... poor, guileless, clueless Pandlin..." His mind flashed to the image of the slack-jawed Nyberrite, who had no idea what was about to happen until the transporter buffer fell over him. Timmoz winced with his eyes.
The hologram stared, "Well you've grown... but memories fade and the lessons dim. You're walking a dangerous line, Te'imouzh." The hologram seemingly shifted devices around in its area. "So you used the information to beam a Runabout warhead to the shield generator of the complex... which disabled the dampening field and did serious damage to some of the complex's surface buildings."
"Yes," Timmoz replied.
"That that allowed Adelphi and your team to move in and rescue the hostages?"
"Yes."
"Unorthodox... but you showed restraint. And you saved Starfleet lives."
"I lost two of my team. And now two Vidiians are wearing their organs... and skin." Timmoz's eyes narrowed.
"A piece of advice, Te'imouzh? The Delta Quadrant is not a place to hold down a personal vendetta... how do you put it? Qo'bol Kanli?" Timmoz blinked at the silhouette suggestion, shifting in his chair like he was being chastised. "It's too big. You'll never see them again."
"Is there anything more, Director?" Timmoz changed the subject, raising his chin and toppling his hands on his head. He sniffed as his Orion pungency, its rich peatiness, wafted. He'd been denied his diffusers since being taken into custody on Peliar Zel.
"Yes we have word..." the Director said, "This is a debriefing and a briefing after all. An exchange of information." The Hologram stooped to read. "Your... blood-sister... Arra Nysa... has risen some in the ranks of the Sirrud Bilati cell."
"She's still Syndic?" Timmoz asked, deflated.
"Oh yes..." the Hologram lamented. "We were able to recapture your brother after the jailbreak from this system a few weeks ago. But we suspect he made contact with the cell and subsequently found himself demoted and cut off from the core. He was turned over to us by a Farian bounty hunter. So now we have him in here on joint charges. We'll be shipping him to Farius Prime in a few weeks. Once the extradition request is in order."
"I see..." Timmoz trailed. He impulsively asked, "Is Vaina still alive?"
"Yes," the hologram said with ennui, "As dangerous as ever. We suspect she has a hand in some kind of recent operation near Canamar."
"And Jasso?"
"Still the polished businessman with the cloak," the silhouette-director reported. "Playing his game of Kotra I suspect. Be careful. He was recently on Risa."
"He likes Risa," Timmoz mused darkly, "He likes their females."
"Well, one other item. Your Captain? Björn Kodak?" Timmoz nodded. "Be careful. He is a Chameloid."
Timmoz was taken back enough to open and close his mouth, "Yes? He's... a decent man?"
"He may be in danger," the hologram sat back, "Over the last year, a total of seven Chameloids have been found dead of unknown reasons. That's a large number for a supposedly rare and mythical people. And they have all been taken down by..." He gestured at Timmoz. The Orion cautiously paused.
"... Remats?"
"Remats."
Timmoz stood up with sudden nervous energy. Did she know about him? "Vaina?"
The hologram shook its head, "Very unlikely. But point of fact, we do not know. But we do think it's possible the Syndic had an agent on Adelphi. Probably a sleeper agent of some kind. With your return to the Quadrant, they could be anywhere now. And with the bulk of your crew reassigned, who knows where they are. We may have to live with that mystery. However. Keep your eyes open."
"So they may not even know..." Timmoz searched the cold air before him. He exhaled fog.
"Unfortunately my only advice for now is, keep your head down but your eyes open." The hologram paused. "But I think we can consider this session concluded." The hologram mimicked a stand. "I will see to you getting transport to Risa to join your crew. As usual, these conversations are classified under your refugee status." The hologram pointed and raised a hand with a dark chuckle, "Don't... torture people, Te'imouzh. That's not who we are. And it's not who you want to be. Follow your better instincts."
The hologram faded, leaving Timmoz in that round and featureless room.
A Post By:
Lieutenant Timmoz
Chief Helmsman/Second Officer
