Suspicious Lookin' Bitch
Posted on Sun Nov 9th, 2025 @ 1:09am by Captain Remy Johansen & Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus & Lieutenant Xalanth & Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD
2,103 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Peril at the Unification Accords
Location: Interrogation Facilities, Deck 5
Timeline: MD 08, 1815 Hours
Valik hated how bright and sterile the Starfleet brig cells were. It helped to pretend that it was some form of psychological manipulation, to stress out the brig occupants so they'd comply. In reality, the Federation probably just liked unnecessarily bright rooms. Ever since he had been processed, the Romulan had been sitting on the provided cot and hadn't moved. Someone from Sickbay had come by to make sure he hadn't been injured in his arrest, then it was just him and the brig officer for who knows how long.
Movement. His eyes flicked to the brig officer, who was talking to someone out of view. While quieter, Valik recognized the voice. The red lizard. His instincts tingled, but he kept it in check.
Xalanth nodded to the brig officer as he finished their conversation and stepped inside
Once Xalanth came into view, Valik held his eye contact and remained seated. "According to Starfleet regulations, I am allowed legal representation," he said, his voice even. "My counsel's name is M'Veira. I will not speak to you until she is present."
"You will receive legal representation," Xalanth said as he pressed the button and lowered the force field. "Come on." He gestured with his head indicating he wanted the romulan to move.
Cautiously, Valik stood and approached the threshold. It wasn't like he had much choice in the matter.
Captain Johansen was informed about the scuffle inside the conference center and was eager to see who security had brought brack. She'd left the command center her crew's capable hands and making her way down to the security suite on Deck 8 to get a good look at the individual that Xalanth had brought in for questioning and to check in with Xalanth and Osirin before interrogations began.
Osirin was pacing back and forth. Vulcans place a premium on logic, over emotions. Akadians don't hold those same values. They are however good at masking emotions and appearing cool. That was doubly true for Osirin. He was good at wearing a mask of calm and serenity. At lead he was usually.
But he was wearing his agitation on his sleeve as Terrans would say.
He turned toward the doors as they slid open. "I'm really not comfortable with this situation ma'am."
Remy's took a breath, showing no other reaction to the officer's bluntness upon her entering the main office.
"Not comfortable?" Remy asked repeating the officer's words back to him. "What do you mean? Would you like me to call one of the other officers in to work with Lieutenant Xalanth on the questioning?"
"I didn't say that," Osirin replied. "I don't have a problem with the interrogation itself, but I'm not an interrogator, so I know why I've been called here."
He tapped the side of his head, "You want me here so I can probe his mind. See if he's telling the truth. That goes against what I've... We don't do those things on Akadia."
He let out a long breath. "Normally. It's not just being impolite, it's much more then that. But. But I've already violated that earlier. Back at the party that went to hell. I, I think he's a dangerous man, or maybe just a nervous one. Either way. We need to find out."
"I might be uncomfortable, that doesn't mean I won't do it."
"Oh, I wouldn't," Remy said shaking her head. "Starfleet's official policy frowns on using telepathy in interrogations, but I'll admit, it's not a well-kept secret that it gets used."
"Valik is a Romulan. Most Romulans have been conditioned to not trust the Federation - especially Starfleet. Just be yourself. Don't feel like you even need to ask a lot of questions, but if something comes to mind... you might surprise yourself. But really, I just thought you might have better luck making him feel comfortable than I might, or anyone else actually."
The Akadian nodded, "Thank you," he said, "I wasn't sure I could have used telepathy, now I don't have to."
"Just... get him talking, Sub-Commander," Remy replied. "It's best that whatever we find out be on camera anyway."
"I think I can manage that," Osirin replied.
"I thought you might." Remy gave the officer a reassuring smile. It had been interesting having the exchange officer on board. He walked an interesting line between refreshing honesty, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
The corridor outside the Astrea's Detention and Interrogation Facilities smelled of sterilizer and metal. M'Veira stood beneath the overhead lights as two security officers scanned her identification chip for the third time, their scanning devices chirping in skeptic tones.
"Romulan Free State credentials, cross-registered with the Federation Council of Advocates," one of them read aloud, his voice flat. He stood nearly six-and-a-half feet tall with large meaty hands as he turned over her ID. "Verification pending."
"Yes," she said evenly, her chin lifting only a fraction. "It was pending eight minutes ago as well. Perhaps the system is struggling with the concept of dual legitimacy."
The shorter and younger officer--human, young, eager not to offend--shifted uneasily. "We have to be thorough, ma'am. After earlier events and all--"
Her artificial eyes glowed a vivid sky blue as she turned toward him. "I was under the impression that thoroughness required efficiency, not repetition."
The young man flushed. The other officer finished scanning her small leather satchel, removing two data PADDs and a folded data-slate. "And these?"
"Legal briefs," she said. "One concerning asylum. The other concerning the unlawful detainment of my client. You'll forgive me if I don't offer either for casual perusal."
There was a pause. Then the terminal beeped twice--the sound of clearance being granted.
The officer handed back her identification chip. "You're cleared, Counselor M'Veira."
She accepted it with a small nod, sliding it back into her satchel. "At last. I was beginning to wonder if the Federation planned to charge me with practicing patience without a license."
The younger officer attempted a smile; the older and taller one didn't even bother.
When the doors to the interrogation room opened, M'Veira didn't hesitate. Her boots made deep clacking noises against the hard, black deck plating as she entered, her chin-length black hair brushing against the stiff collar of her suit. The light caught her eyes again--two small, bright, spectral moons that made the interior guards avert their gaze.
She paused just inside the threshold, noting the surveillance node in the corner. Seated in the next room at a small rectangular table with rounded corners was her client, Valik.
Two male figures were conversing quietly on the opposite side of the room--one was of a Reptilian species that M'Veira knew to be Dragonian. The other was a shorter man with an intense look. They both stopped and looked at her.
"I am M'Veira," she announced sternly. "My client is Valik tr'Rheni. Please shut off all surveillance to that room so I may confer with my client."
"Of course, ma'am " the shorter man replied, "we'll be just outside, in case you, in case anyone needs us."
She slowly inclined her head to the man. "Thank you."
The doors behind them shut, leaving the stern presence of the newly arrived attorney alone with the still mysterious detainee.
When the door opened, Valik looked up. While subtle to those who didn't know what to look for, he felt relief when he saw M'Veira enter. "You made it," he said.
M'Veira sat her satchel down on the table and took the chair opposite him. It creaked slightly as she slid forward. The room was neither cold nor warm--just the exact temperature where the truth prefers to remove its clothing and walk around naked.
"I made it," she said quietly, and looked at him for a long moment. "And if you listen to me carefully, you will be walking out of this room within the hour."
Removing a data PADD and a small recording device from her satchel, M'Veira placed both between them. "Now," she instructed, "tell me everything. Walk me through it and leave nothing out."
With a nod, Valik explained everything that happened at the reception. Where he was when the Ambassador collapsed. How he found a quiet corner to call her. The tension with security and how they confiscated both the communicator and the hypospray. "One of their physicians scanned me for injuries, then I was in the holding cell until now. I have only given them my name and yours. I know I probably didn't handle it well, but I think you of all people know how this could affect my situation."
"Well," M'Veira said, pursing her lips in consideration of Valik's missteps. "If you had complied, you would most likely be enjoying the Argentia City nightlife right now." She keyed a few points into her data PADD that dragged on into several long moments.
Satisfied with her notetaking, the Romulan attorney carefully replaced the PADD on the table and fixed Valik with a resolute look, her artificial eyes pale and all-seeing. "We can explain the hypospray. The doses are too low to be used to incapacitate someone, and their scans will indicate as much. The communicator is immaterial--we all carry communication devices to some extent."
M'Veira slid her chair back, its legs scraping roughly on the dark deck plating. She gracefully stood and ambled over to a deactivated surveillance camera in the back corner, her hands clasped tightly behind her back, posture upright.
"They need not know of your work with the RCD."
Valik nodded again. He didn't know if any background checks were performed during his detainment, but he had to assume the worst. There was a nonzero possibility that the Romulan Colonial Defense would come up, so he was glad that M'Veira declared it irrelevant. "My actions were the result of trained instinct, not non-compliance. It does not excuse what happened, but hopefully explains it."
"We need them to believe, firmly, that you were startled, confused, constrained by circumstance--not by intent. Forget the 'trained instinct'. That could sow more suspicion. The fact you were trained and served in the RCD is all they need to know."
M'Veira brushed a flyaway hair behind her ear, turning to meet the eyes of her detained client. "The communicator will be a dead-end for them. They very well may decrypt it but since it was to me, it's therefore privileged and none of their concern." Smoothing out a wrinkle in her knee-length black skirt, she added, "Your very presence in proximity to the Ambassador will be harder to explain away."
"I was invited to seek a sponsor, remember?" Valik said. While they spoke, he was reiterating their defense in his head, that he had been spooked by circumstance. It wasn't a lie, because he knew he was fucked when the moment the Ambassador dropped, but the details could be... well, flexible. If there was one thing he was good at, it was bending the truth.
"You were in the wrong place at the wrong moment," M'Veira said dismissively. "Convincing them of this will be our approach."
The Romulan solicitor placed a foot on the seat of the chair, her knee bent and her knee-length skirt now hiked-up higher than what would normally be considered acceptable. She reached two fingers into a tiny slit in her black stockings and removed a tiny, thin slip, placing it on the table.
"There. If they attempt to claim otherwise, our entire communication is there," she threw Valik a look. "A Romulan attorney practicing on Federation worlds must protect herself." M'Veira brought her leg back to the floor and smoothed-over the stocking and her skirt.
Smiling tightly and professionally, she announced, "Now, let's have these Starfleet gentlemen ask a few questions."
Captain Remira Johansen
Commanding Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant Xalanth
Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea
Sub-Lieutenant Osirin Acainus
Mission Advisor
USS Astrea
Lieutenant J.G. Jezra Siv (as Valik)
Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Dorsainvil (as Solicitor M'Veira)
Assistant Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea
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