In(terrogation) Truth Lies Peace

Posted on Sat Jan 22nd, 2022 @ 12:26pm by Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant Alisha Reno

2,347 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Christmas Vacation
Location: Starfleet Intelligence Landing Pad
Timeline: A few hours after “Custody Bound”

The shuttle touched down, not the gentlest landing in the history of Starfleet, but Alisha wasn't even remotely the best pilot, nor even a middling pilot in quality. She was... Passable. The Anko settled down on her landing struts and sat there for a good two minutes before the hatch finally opened in the rear, two figures exiting into the early twilight, one in a grey uniform, the other in red, but hands cuffed in front of her. The grey one's face was impassive as she guided the other figure towards the air car that sat nearly twenty meters away. Five meters out, the door opened from the inside and the blond figure in another grey uniform beckoned for them, even as a second car disgorged three additional people who began to enter the shuttle.

Alisha helped Jane into the air car before sliding in herself, closing the door behind her and looking up into the aging face of Captain Azalea Martine, SFI, Academy instructor. "Captain, ma'am, thank you for coming yourself, I-" She stopped as she saw the look on the Captain's face, unsure of how to go on given what she saw.

the Captain's face was completely impassive, the face she had for all of her students until a small, cruel smile usually replaced it upon a mistake made. But it was the complete lack of expression that threw Alisha this time, "Take the cuffs off, I think between the two of us we can handle a single helmswoman." She stated, even as Alisha reached over to remove the unlocked cuffs from Jane, having only dummy locked them. That elicited a slight grunt of amusement from the Captain, "Reno, is this her?" She got a nod in return, "Good."

Martine shifted in her seat and looked over at Jane, glancing up and down the seated pilot as the aircar lifted into the air and began to move off, "Let me be perfectly clear, Miss Sinclair, I can help you, but I need you to be perfectly, one hundred percent honest about everything. What got you in this situation?" She held up a finger to Alisha, "From Miss Sinclair, not you, Reno."

Jane had stayed silent up to this point. Alisha had told her that she, and Captain Martine, were trying to help. Jane didn’t know the Captain, but she trusted Alisha, so she played the part, sat quietly, and listened until she was directly asked something.

“A few days ago I was summoned to security by our chief’s security chief,” she began. “I was told there was a package for me. I was expecting it; some food and treats from my mum. A Christmas package, so I could have a nice holiday dinner with Alisha.” She smiled and fixed a lock of hair behind her ear. “You see, Alisha cooked me dinner for our first date, and I wanted to return the gesture. Traditional home-cooked holiday meal. Proximan near-turkey. Potatoes and veggies grown in my home soil.” She sighed and then cleared her throat and continued. “Among the goodies was a handful of bottles of Romulan Ale. Not much, I think five or six small bottles. Enough that I’d have a nice drink during shore leave. I never drink on ships, even when off duty. I might be needed at any time. But a few drinks over the course of a year when away from the ship? That seems fair, right?” She looked down, away from the Intel Captain. “Security chief Tristana tried to make it seem like the worst crime ever. I get the sense that any rule violation is treasonous with her. I tried to stand up for myself. Get her to chill a bit, or understand that it wasn’t something to worry about. Um, I may have tried to blackmail her by reminding her of her significant and multiple violations of uniform regulations. But then she and her thug stunned me! Threw me in the brig! The nerve!” She could feel herself getting worked up, so she stopped to take a deep breath. “That’s it, ma’am. Just a gift from mum that was intercepted by Debbie Downer meets Lady Mussolini.”

She laughed. Martine couldn't resist it, but her expression never changed, "What absolute, sanctimonious, bitch decided that a few bottles of Romulan Ale deserved the charge of Treason?" A shake of the head, "A few crates could be smuggling, but that rule has been on the books as a dead letter for what? The last decade? Two? Vengeful person who cares only for herself and her reputation? Evidence in the shuttle, can't make that just disappear but..." Her face transitioned to something contemplative, then saw the tensing from Alisha's seat, and raised an eyebrow barely a quarter centimeter.

She shifted in her seat again and watched Alisha very closely, then glanced back to Jane and back to Alisha, then asked the question again, "Reno? Is this her?" The emphasis changing slightly.

Alisha tensed even more, but after a few moments nodded again, "Yes, ma'am, this is her. This is my girlfriend. Look, I know what you told us at the Academy, especially for those of us that go undercover, how we shouldn't be in a relationship, but dammit, ma'am, I am not a goddamned automaton!" She looked exasperated.

Jane stayed quiet, but smiled at Alisha.

Azalea never took her eyes off of Alisha, but shook her head slowly, "You're not, Alisha, nor should you be." she confirmed, "Automatons don't care what happen to them or others and I know that's not the case." She puffed her cheeks out, then blew her breath out just as slowly, "All right. I see why you wanted me in on this, not just anyone." She pursed her lips, "Right, from here on, call me Izzy." She saw Alisha's eyebrows rise suddenly, "What? You don't think I'm going to make you say 'Azalea' or 'Azzy', do you? And calling me Martine or Captain or Ma'am is just too damned formal."

Making a wavering movement with her hand, Izzy smiled, "I'm not going to mince words here, you two. Sure, this is going to be an 'official' investigation, but let me tell you right this minute what that investigation will end up determining: There is a potential smuggling ring operating out of Proxima and all relevant information is being forwarded to officers there to trace and track. Due to the cooperation from Jane here, the charge of treason is being dropped, with Alisha here being responsible for ensuring you remain cooperative. A commendation will be sent along with a formal report I'll have someone gin up, thanking this Tristana for her diligence in uncovering this potential ring and for her cooperation with SFI. I'll send someone to go talk to your mother, Jane, quietly, very quietly, just to ask her to be more careful about what she sends you in the mail."

Jane grinned, and pulled Alisha into a tight hug. “Thank you! Thank you!” She had been nervous about how this was going. Resisting overzealous security wasn’t new to her but this had been going too far.

She almost hugged Captain Martine — Izzy, apparently — but stopped herself and took a breath. “Thank you. Um, is there anything else? I can’t imagine that we come to you for help and suddenly all of our problems go away. Life isn’t like that. It should be! But it isn’t.”

"And why not?" Azalea asked with a slightly smile, "We're the mysterious officers of Intelligence, we can do anything." Then she shrugged, "All right, there is a price to this, but it's from Alisha, not you, Jane."

Alisha nodded, sitting up straighter, her hands clamping onto Jane's in her lap, "You know I'll do anything, ma'-" She got cut off by a pointed finger, "Izzy." She amended, "What do you need me to do?"

"At some point while you two are here on Earth, I want you to come and address my newest class of candidates. Are there several Intelligence officers on Earth? Sure, but how many bonafide undercover officers are there here? You are all too valuable to keep just sitting around waiting." Izzy shook her head slightly, "By the way, you're both officially stuck here for at least three days while we do our 'investigation'. Do you have somewhere you'd like to go that's out of the general eye?"

There was no hesitation as Alisha turned in her seat to look at Jane, "How would you like to meet three of the most important people in my life?" She asked, "My parents and the person that's almost like a sister to me?"

"I'd love that," Jane said, smiling again. "Before we return, we can comm my mum too. By then she'll have had her talking-to. This close, the comms will be stable enough for a longer talk."

“Absolutely, you can either do that from my house, or from a secure comm here at the Academy.” Alisha said jubilantly, then blushed, “If that’s all right with you ma’-, Izzy?”

“Whichever you’d like, Jane.” Azalea confirmed, then tossed a PADD over to Jane and knocked on the window to the drivers seat, “I presume you can fly a Type 11? The driver will take you to a landing pad with one you can use for a couple days, I have to keep yours here… For appearance’s sake.”

“You presume right, Izzy,” Jane said with a smirk. “The former racer can indeed fly an 11. But please be gentle with Ankō. She’s special.” She looked out the window and saw her baby sitting there. I didn’t even get to fly her here.

"She's just going to sit there, taking a rest." Martine opened the door and started to exit, then turned back, "Have fun, ladies, and if you'd like to, Jane, feel free to join Alisha in my class." She flashed a sly smile, "Wear the grey for a day, see how you like the feel of it, just for fun." She closed the door as she left the vehicle and it suddenly lurched into motion.

Alisha shook her head slightly, "Who was that? What happened to Captain Martine?" Her eyes were wide in wonderment at the sudden change in her former teacher, "I swear, she was never that... Nice."

"Well, maybe something has changed with her?" Jane suggested. "Or maybe it's just how she sees you has changed."

"I suppose..." Alisha watched the window as the air car left their shuttle behind, "You think you know everything about someone and then they go and throw you for a loop."

"Well, anyway, let's find that shuttle," Jane said. "You didn't let me fly the inbound shuttle. I know that technically wasn't your fault but you're the one who's here and gets to see me grumpy about it." She smiled and winked at Alisha. "Do you know if the rules require us to stay on the planet? Or is it in the system?"

"I think we're supposed to stay here on planet." Alisha mused, "But it wasn't explicitly stated. Why, what do you have in mind?"

Jane sighed. "We'll stay on the planet. We just won't always stay in direct contact with its surface." She winked at Alisha as the air car came to a stop in front of a landing pad containing one shiny Type-11 shuttle. "I always loved these ones. They're big, but they handle like they're small."

Alisha got out first and glanced around, the pad being deserted with just the shuttle there, "Well then, perhaps you should take your girlfriend for a fun ride?" She asked with a slight smile, "The more fun, the better."

"Damn right I should," Jane said as she followed Alisha out. The car sped away, leaving the two alone. Jane opened the access shuttle's hatched and climbed inside the sterile, unmarked environment. "Tsk tsk. No style. I thought spies were supposed to have style."

"Style?" Alisha laughed, "We are straight forward and to the point, what is needed to get the job done." A sly smile crossed her face, "It's up to the secret agent types like me and my fellow undercover officers to really come up with the make-believe."

Jane sat down in the pilot's seat. She brought up the shuttle's registry. "Seriously? 'Shuttle 19535'? No." She reprogrammed the registry and transponder to read Earthbound. "I can't do much more than that without being ostentatious. Strap yourself in, luv."

Slipping into the copilot's seat, Alisha quickly fastened the entire harness and wiggled in the seat to settle in before tightening them. This would be a fun ride, no doubt, and she definitely didn't want to be unprepared, "You know why we just use numbers, right? Professionalism! It lets us literally project the act of being neutral, like I had to back on the ship. It's intended so that people don't get paranoid about us, doesn't work well, does it?"

“Nope,” Jane agreed, smirking as she did up her own harness and keyed in the engine startup and hatch-closing commands. Then she opened a comm channel. “Shuttlecraft Earthbound, requesting launch clearance.”

A confused voice responded. “Earthbound? There’s no such shuttle. Confirm registration.”

“It’s what I’m seeing on my console, Control.” Technically not a lie. Which was the best kind of lie. “Can I launch or not?”

They heard a sigh. “Clearance granted. Vector two-one-two, fifty meters elevation, and maintain course for one hundred kilometres.”

With a grin, Jane lifted the shuttle off the ground and aimed the nose roughly West-Northwest. “Poor bastard’s getting written up, isn’t he? For specifying direction, altitude, and distance, but not speed limit?” She winked at Alisha and then gunned the engine, speeding away towards their three day holiday.

---

Mission Post By:

Lieutenant (JG) Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Myogi

and

Lieutenant (JG) Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Myogi

 

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