i-Xann t'Danna was woken from her
sleep by the sounds of footsteps in the corridor outside her cell. The past
two weeks in the brig had been pure hell for her, despite the overtly civilized
treatment she had, to her great astonishment, received in Federation custody.
While she was physically unhurt by her captors, her PADD, tricorder and other
computer equipment had been taken away, and the only way she, as a cryptographer
with a strong addiction to technology, could deal with the increasingly unbearable
boredom, was to force herself to sleep away the hours and the days before her
expected execution...
Tyran entered the brig with Lieutenant O'Neal. This wasn't the task he had had
in mind after returning from couple of billion years in the past, but here he
was, assigned to interrogate the Romulan that had shown up on the planet surface.
Admiral Pike had every confidence in Tyran's ability to interrogate prisoners,
after he had successfully interrogated a Kelvan on the USS Knight.
O'Neal dismissed the brig officer and joined Tyran outside of the Romulan's
cell. O'Neal lowered the forcefield and Tyran stepped in and sat on the small
ledge opposite the Romulan. O'Neal took up a position that would block the Romulan's
escape.
"Name?" asked Tyran. The Romulan remained silent. "Name?"
Still nothing. "Nahi?" Tyran repeated in Rihannsu, the Romulan language.
O'Neal and the Romulan both raised an eyebrow as neither had thought Tyran could
speak Rihannsu.
"Ta krenn, Rihanha! Auethn!" (Look here, Romulan! Answer the question!)
She still sat there, not paying any attention. "Vah-udt?" (What Rank?)
"Arh'hna hraim-uri'nahi" (I want to know your name).
Tyran sighed, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere. He got up and he and O'Neal
walked outside the cell and raised the forcefield once again. Tyran indicated
for O'Neal to step outside.
"I didn't know you could speak Romulan sir," said O'Neal.
"Not many people do, Lieutenant. I had to learn the language at the academy.
Anyway, what do you think we should do with this Romulan now, Lieutenant? She
isn't cracking."
"I'm not sure, Commander. Maybe we could give her some sort of drug to
make her talk?"
"We are NOT Cardassians!" shouted Tyran.
"Sorry sir, I... I..."
"Never mind, Lieutenant. Let's look in the library, see if we can find
anyone on the records matching her description."
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After five hours, they had found nothing.
"I don't understand," said O'Neal. "I thought Intelligence on
the Romulans was now so good, we had information on all of their agents!"
"That's a common misconception. Starfleet likes to make everyone think
so, so that the Romulans will be more cautious with espionage in our space,
but in reality we still have very little information on them."
"So, this was..."
"A big waste of time," sighed Tyran.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tyran sat back down in front of the Romulan and began again.
"Nahi? Vah-udt? Faikaru?" Nothing still.... "Nahi? Vah-udt? Faikaru?"
Tyran repeated.
t'Danna sat on her bunk staring with interest at the Bajoran Starfleet officer
in Security uniform interrogating her. Amongst her boredom and frustration at
being away from a computer interface for so long, she could not help wondering
whether it would be the officer now in front of her to execute her when these
Lloann'nar ("Feds") were through with the interrogations.
The prospect of imminent death did not bother her any more. What she could not
stand any longer was the isolation from the computer technology.
As Tyran rose to leave, the blonde Romulan finally broke the silence. "Captain
i-Xann t'Danna, cryptographer, Tal Shiar Scientific Division..."
At the sound of her voice, the Bajoran turned around and sat back down. "What
was your mission on the planet?" Tyran's gaze on her was now intense as
he was visibly filled with anticipation of more information.
"My orders were to assassinate Admiral Jeffrey Pike, but I could not carry
out the assignment for personal reasons." Her own gaze remained steady
and defiant as she now studied the Bajoran officer with open curiosity.
"Do you expect us to believe that Tal Shiar would send a computer nerd
to assassinate a highly guarded flag officer of the Federation? That would be
a suicidal mission! Now, what were your real orders?"
"Look, Commander...." i-Xann's eyebrows rose. "There were no
other orders. I became expendable and this *was* to be a suicide mission."
"All right, Captain t'Danna--" Now it was the Lt. Commander's turn
to raise his eyebrows in exasperation. "--we have conducted an extensive
search of the Federation databanks and found no reference to you or any other
officer of Tal Shiar Scientific. What do you have to say to that?"
"I don't know," sighed i-Xann, unable to conceal her exhaustion and
extreme boredom any longer. "Your database on us must be out of date...
Now look, I have told you what you wanted to know! Now do me a favor and execute
me as soon as possible, like I know you are going to anyway! I cannot stand
this torture of not having computer access for so long..."
Almost unaware of Tyran's astonishment at her demand, the blonde Romulan closed
her eyes and lay back down onto her bunk, ignoring his continued presence in
the cell.
i-Xann forced herself to think of the programming logarithms she had been working
on prior to beaming down to the planet, and was soon fast asleep.
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i-Xann was woken up again by the sound of the cell's forcefield being lowered
and two sets of footsteps nearing her bunk. She could not tell how many hours
they had let her sleep this time. Still in a daze, she slowly sat up and saw
the Bajoran commander and the human lieutenant in the Security uniform, standing
in front of her with their phasers drawn.
"Captain t'Danna," said the Bajoran. "Come with us..."
*Finally!* thought the blonde Romulan as she slowly got up from her bunk and
somewhat wobbly took her first steps out of the cell. *They are going to execute
me, and I won't feel this pain any longer...*
The officers took her to the turbolift, and the human lieutenant tapped on the
panel as the doors closed. The turbolift moved, and t'Danna rose an eyebrow
as she quietly wondered to herself where her execution was going to take place.
After what was only about 30 seconds, but seemed like an eternity to i-Xann,
the turbolift stopped and the lieutenant motioned her with his phaser to step
out into the corridor. The Bajoran followed in step with her, covering t'Danna
with his phaser as well.
After a very brief walk, they came to a door, and the lieutenant, whom the Bajoran
commander addressed as O'Neal, tapped the panel. The door swooshed open, and
both of the officers motioned her to go in. Slowly, i-Xann stepped through and
discovered... that this was a holodeck!
The scene surrounding her was beautiful! She found herself standing in the forest
clearing on Ch'Rihan (Romulus)! On the horizon she could see the mountains to
her right-hand side and the ornamental tops of the Senate and other ancient
and modern buildings...
"Beautiful planet, isn't it?" A voice coming from behind suddenly
startled her. With her Vulcanoid eyebrows risen, the Romulan cryptographer turned
around... and came face to face with Admiral Jeffrey Pike.
"So, I hear you were sent to assassinate me, Captain t'Danna. You know
what? I have always wanted to meet an assassin," continued the Admiral
with a curious smile.
"Well, I am sorry to disappoint you, Admiral," nodded t'Danna in a
respectful Romulan manner, "but I am a cryptographer, not an assassin,
and it is partly due to my refusal to kill that I have been sent on this mission..."
"Yes, I heard so." The Admiral was looking her up and down with open
curiosity. "I also heard that your superiors at Tal Shiar want you dead..."
t'Danna nodded.
"Well, frankly, Captain," said the Admiral while taking a long look
at the mountain scenery surrounding them, "with your capture, there are
normally only two options for us to consider: we could have you tried for espionage
and imprisoned at the New Zealand penal colony on Earth for the rest of your
life; or we could contact the Romulan Ambassador to the Federation and negotiate
your return to the Romulan Empire. And, considering your current situation,
neither option would lead to a satisfactory outcome for you...."
"I was under the impression that I was to be executed," her Vulcanoid
eyebrows rose. "If so, I hope that happens forthwith..."
"No," the human shook his head. "The United Federation of Planets
does not have the death penalty. Not even for alien assassins..."
"Then, what are you going to do to me?" Despair filled t'Danna's mind
as she imagined spending the next 200 odd years at a penal colony on Earth,
without any access to a computer interface whatsoever.
"Well, it is up to you, actually, Captain t'Danna." He was now looking
straight at her. "You can spend the rest of your life at our penal facility
in New Zealand," he paused deliberately, waiting for her reaction. "...Or,
you can give us everything you have on the Tal Shiar, including their latest
technological inventions, join Starfleet Intelligence and serve on this ship.
You will now be returned to the brig where you can think about my proposal.
Commander Tyran," Admiral Pike turned slightly, made the exit appear in
the middle of the projection, and stepped back out into the corridor, "you
can take the Romulan back to the brig for the moment. Give her about 24 hours,
and then bring her around to my office."
"Aye, sir!" The Bajoran, Lt. Commander Tyran and his human colleague,
Lieutenant O'Neal motioned their phasers at i-Xann again, signaling her to come
out of the holodeck and follow them back to the turbolift.
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Once back in her cell, t'Danna lay on the bunk for hours with her eyes closed,
unable to sleep. She couldn't stop thinking of her colleagues and friends at
Tal Shiar Scientific, of her late lover i-Mick tr'Entta and of what would happen
to her friend Major i-Sush t'Venn once the infamous Colonel tr'Kama became General...
There was nothing she could do to help any of her friends at the Scientific
Division, in fact she did not know whether the Scientific Division would even
be intact for very much longer. Certainly not after tr'Kama would have been
through with it...
By the time the two Security officers returned for her the next morning, she
had made up her mind.
"I will need my PADD," said t'Danna with her eyebrows risen. "There
are some cryptographic codes there I'd like to show you..."
