Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Undisclosed location- CIO vs. Operative - Who is the better agent? When the past doesn’t match the present…or the future
Celia opened her eyes and immediately knew things for her were about to get extremely uncomfortable. The room was dark and she felt groggy. The last thing she remembered with the CIO hauling her off the floor by her neck…her shirt....her collar? Normally she had a crystal clear memory for events like this. It helped to be instantly awake when one was an intelligence operative. Right now she felt disoriented.

Taking a second she surveyed the room. It appeared to be barren of any decoration. There seemed to be no real lights: Just black and darkened shadows. She could be in a closet, in a holding cell, or some other secluded place. The one thing she knew was that she was not in the brig. “So is this where we break out the thumbs screws because I know the protocol as well as you?” It was normal for even the most experienced agent to feel trepidation in situations like this. Normally being caught by your own side or that of a Federation member meant you were probably going to have a walk in the park with the interrogation. Civilized people did not do the creative things others did. The wild card was the kid. Universally people became less rational when one involved children but since this mission was about a child, it was hard to exclude that element. Celia never held too much concern about kids. They simply grew up to be adults one day but not all people held this pragmatic view.

Celia Decker, intelligence officer

There was a slight creaking and one of the room’s shadows seemed to shift, a large black mass moving forward barely a foot from her. There was a slight click and a small ball of light, floating maybe six feet above the floor between Celia and the now visible form of Peter, gave a dim light. Enough to show his emotionless wooden expression “Have you ever heard the story of how the Cardassians tortured Admiral Picard back when he was Captain of the Enterprise , this was the Enterprise of my youth, Enterprise D. Galaxy-class, gods what a class of starship” His expression seemed to shift as he spoke, in fact his entire posture seemed to change from rigid man of the uniform to a more relaxed person, he had on a slight smile, a wry smile as if he knew a joke that no one else did “This happened the year before I joined the Academy but the story became somewhat of a legend during the Dominion War, a story of Human resilience, Cardassian brutality and most importantly how ineffective torture really is”

He leaned forward “The man was drugged, tortured, humiliated for some classic Cardassian scheme. No one really knows the details of what happened but I’ve read the after-action reports and let me tell, it was not pretty yet he held on, ‘there are four lights’ became a rallying cry” He leaned back “No this isn’t where I bring out my thumbscrews, I won’t even have to hit you. I’m afraid that if I did you might not wake up” He raised his left hand and made a fist, showing just how large his hands truly were. “We’re just going to play a little game of chicken or better yet a game of faith and duty. Do you believe enough in your cause to die for it” His smile widened showing teeth, a predatory smile “Because I believe enough in my cause, in my duty to kill for it” He said cheerfully “But that’s a bit heavy as a start for a conversation don’t you think?” He asked rhetorically “Instead I’ll ask you this, you’ve clearly been briefed on me or at least my presence on the ship, you have some training in tradecraft although perhaps not very extensive but enough for the layman. What do you know about me?”

CIO