Games Of Morality (Part 1)

Posted on Thu Jan 18th, 2024 @ 8:26pm by Captain Banri Edasaki & Lieutenant Commander Lurath, Son of Grogori

1,998 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Search
Location: USS Bismarck Brig

The doors of the brig on the USS Bismarck swished open and a tall broad shouldered man strode in. He wasn't wearing any sort of uniform. He seemed rather pleased with himself as he made his way towards the single cell and stood in front of the forcefield.

"Good morning Captain!" he said with a smirk addressing the Starfleet officer who was currently detained behind the forcefield.

"What do you want now?" the woman asked as she sat with her arms crossed. She frowned at the sight of the man. Captain Banri Edasaki sat clearly displeased. Her light brown hair swept back and held in place by a yellow headband and she was still wearing her Starfleet Uniform with red shoulders, the only part missing was her comm badge.

"Tut tut Captain. You should know better than to talk to me like that," he warned waggling a single finger at him.

"I don't have time for your bullshit John. You took this ship to red alert earlier. What exactly are you doing with my ship? Where are my crew? You've had me locked down here for weeks now!" Banri demanded.

John sighed. "You never change do you. I've told you before; your crew were beamed down to an M Class Planet and we're 'borrowing' your ship to make as much noise as we can until someone listens."

"So you say. Now tell me, why should I care? Starfleet will catch you!" Banri stated. "And I'll make sure you get a long time in a penal colony for this!"

John ignored her. "Listen. We've got a guest for you. Its all part of my big plan to stop all this nonsense with the Cardassians." He began to pace up and down along the forcefield. "You see, we're not monsters Captain. We just want to live peacefully here. But your 'Federation' signed that treaty with the Cardassians. You basically signed everything we ever worked for, everything we ever lived for over to them! You took away our home! The future's of our children! We want to go home, don't you understand?"

He didn't allow her any time to answer. "So now we have this ship and we will return it, along with you and our new 'guest' once we have sorted all this mess out. I'm not a bad man Captain, just desperate to return home and make a safer place for my children to grow and thrive in."

He waved over towards three other Maquis who were standing by the door. "Bring him in!" he commanded as he drew his phaser from his belt. "You'll have plenty of time to chat..."

The two of the three stepped out while the third watched with a phaser drawn. After a few second the tother two re-entered the room, dragging an unconscious body in their arms. The one Maquis with the phaser walked over to the brig and deactivated the force field, allowing the other two to toss the body into the brig with the Captain of the Bismarck. Slowly the body began to move with a light groan, revealing it to be a Cardassian.

Banri stood up. "What the hell?!" she exclaimed. "You've gone too far this time!" she yelled at John just as the forcefield flickered back up.

"Oh I don't think so." John said as he turned and strode out of the room.

Banri clenched her fists before taking a deep breath. She then crouched down next to the Cardassian and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you ok?" she asked softly.

The Cardassian let out a groan of pain as he slowly rolled over on his back. "There seems to be a mix-up." He slowly placed his hand on the side of his head before adding. "I asked for the room without the Starfleet Officer in it. I think I need to file a complaint with the manager."

Banri couldn't help but smile a little. This was the first Cardassian she has seen with such a sense of humour. "You should see the room service..." she added.

"Right now, Captain. I am fortunate I can still see the ceiling." He groaned again before slowly sitting up and looking to her. "Captain Banri Edasaki, I presume?"

Banri raised an eyebrow. "Nice to make your acquaintance. Although, I didn't catch your name?" she replied.

"Oh?! Our captors didn't tell you? How rude of them." The Cardassian slowly rose to his feet, holding his side slightly before continuing in a soft tone. "Then, allow me to introduce myself, Captain. I am Gul Jalak Rin. Your fellow prisoner."

"Well Gul Jalak Rin, welcome aboard the USS Bismarck," Banri said with a slight sigh. "I'd love to give you a tour... But it seems we're kind of stuck on the wrong side of the forcefield right now."

"Perhaps later, Captain." He replied as he turned to face the force field. "Tell me... how much do you know about your brig?"

"Its a fairly standard design," Banri started. "Standard Level Eight forcefield embedded into the hatch. Secondary security protocols embedded into the walls supported by auxiliary security sensors and locks on the main brig door in case of power failure." She explained. "I've spent a while in here, trust me if there was a way out I would have found it by now."

"Doesn't hurt to try." The Cardassian said as he turned to face her, a smirk on his face, as he placed his hand on the diamond shape in front of his uniform. As he pressed down on it a high pitched screech was heard which shorted out a monitor or two and dimmed the lights.

Quickly, the took a hold over her shoulders and pulled her in close, gripping onto her tightly before whispering softly. "Do not be afraid, Captain. This will only buy us a little time, but it will be enough to prevent them from overhearing our conversation. My name is not Gul Jalak Rin. It is actually Zodrac Kosh and I have been working with Starfleet Intelligence since the fall of the Bajoran Occupation." He turned to hear the muffled yelling at the door leading into the Brig. They were about to come in so he was running out of time. "Your personal Authorization Code is Edasaki-Epsilon-2-2-6-Theta-Charlie and you went out of your way to keep and maintain a tea set that was handed own in your family. The same tea set your grandmother taught you how to pour tea from two days before your grandfather passed."

The emergency lights kicked in which prompted him to shove Banri away and stare intently at her as the doors to the brig opened and several Maquis officers came in with weapons drawn. Slowly, the Cardassian put his hands up and smirked before saying. "Can't blame a man for trying, Gentlemen. I am a Cardassian after all."

"We just wanted to see if we really did capture a stupid spoon-head," one of the men said with a smirk. The other nudged him with his arm before stepping around him.

"Listen you. Why were you on that Federation Starship? What was your mission?" He demanded. "The Cardassians are helping Starfleet aren't they? That was your 'top secret' mission wasn't it?"

"What?!?!" He replied with a confused looked on his face. "We're not helping Starfleet. We'd sooner step on their throats then help them fix a mess they caused." The Cardassian tilted his head slightly, looking around the Maquis officer and to Captain Edasaki. "No offense."

Banri crossed her arms. "None taken." she said keeping a very straight face.

"Listen, the boss got information that you were on that Starship." The man replied. The doors once again swished open and John once again walked in.

"Are you two giving out guests some trouble?" he asked with a rather stern tone. He gave them both looks as if to show his discontent with their actions. "Attend to your posts."

The men left, and John turned once again to face the pair in the brig. "Not all of my people are as understanding as I am..." he began.

The Cardassian rolled his eyes and leaned his head back. "Here we go. Here comes... The Speech." He let out a slight groan and looked back over to Edasaki as he continued. "This is the part when the person who captures you tries to convince you that they aren't as bad as you think you think forgetting that they just probably attacked a lot of innocent people just to capture you in the first place." He shook his head and smirked. "I mean... how can you give it to a Cardassian. We practically perfected that speech."

Banri smirked. "Its like an old Earth English Spy movie..." she couldn't help but smirk more as she looked over at John. "Oh, I guess you wouldn't know about those being a Cardassian and all..." she added.

"Be grateful you've never seen a Cardassian Spy Movie. It's so long due to everyone trying to undermine everyone else you have to bring a PADD to keep up." He replied with a laugh.

"Sounds like my kind of movie," Banri replied.

John cleared his throat. "I'm not here to lecture you," he said. "But, Im thought a proper introduction was in order. Since you were... 'out of it' when you arrived," he told the Cardassian.

"Oh... he wants an introduction." The Cardassian said, a brow raised, as he turned to face the Maquis and said. "Well... My name is Jalak Rin... Gul Jalak Rin, if you please, and this is Captain Banri Edasaki of the... well..." He gestured all around him. "Of the Bismarck. This ship, to which, I have yet to see the rest of." He turned to Banri, a smile on his face, as he added. "And I am sure it is a lovely ship, by the way."

John smiled. "Oh I know exactly who you are Gul Jalak Rin, and the Captain and I are already... very familiar..." he grinned. Banri turned her head away in disgust. "But the question is, do you know who I am and what I am here to achieve with the 'borrowed' starship?"

He turned back to face John and immediately shouted. "I.. don't... CARE!" The Cardassian shouted as he approached the force field, stopping inches before touching it. "You're Maquis scum. Do you want to know how I know? Because only Maquis scum would kill innocent women and children, Cardassian women and children, only to justify it a few minutes later in some big grandiose speech!"

Banri stayed quiet. She knew that the situation throughout the badlands was bad, but she had never suspected that so many people were actually dying every day. She lowered her gaze looking down at the floor. As a Starfleet officer all life, regardless of who they are or what they are is precious.

"Now, let me tell you something Mister... John Casey." He said as he took a step away from the force field, a devious smile on his face, as he lowered his voice slightly. "You think that you taking a ship like this and slaughtering my people will go unanswered? You clearly forgot who you have been playing your little game of morality with. For every one of ours you kill, five of yours will be killed in return. For every ship taken, one of your colonies lost. Hell, we'd sooner take a Trilithium warhead to a star just to wipe out a group of planets you might hiding on and CALL IT A DAY!" The Cardassian let out a deep and frustrated sigh as he looked deep into John's eyes before adding in a dark tone. "For you this may be a suicide mission to make a political statement... but for a Cardassian.. this is just another weekend."

To be continued...

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