Short story in homage to the TNG episode 'Chain of Command'.
A figure kneels in a cell, in a tight stress position. Bound, blindfolded, convulsed with intense pain. She is hauled to her feet by unseen hands. She's carried head-first fast down a corridor by four men, like a battering ram into another cell. A fifth man appears.
Screams ring out down the empty corridor. Blows rain down on her. The blindfold is torn off.
She is thrust into a bath and held under the freezing water. As the bubbles of her desperate breath subside, her eyes glaze and a single smoke-swirl of crimson blood rises up from her parted lips.
"Who are you?"
"Captain, we are receiving a communication from Cardassia." Lieutenant Uhura addressed the Captain of the Enterprise.
"On screen Lieutenant."
"Audio only Captain." Kirk nodded and Uhura opened up the channel.
"This is Gul Madrid, we have captured one of your Officers on Celtris III and charged them with terrorism and espionage. They were attempting to plant evidence of biological weapons on the border world. This is unacceptable and punishment will be severe. We have been in talks with the Federation regarding Minos Korva for months now and for the Federation to act in this way is seen as an act of war. Starfleet will pay, she will pay."
"Communication has been cut Captain." Uhura stated.
"Spock, what do we know, who the hell in Starfleet would be on Celtris III?" Kirk rose from his chair and addressed the Vulcan.
"That I do not know Captain, Gul Madred is the Cardassian leader of the 'True Way', a group determined to overthrow the Detapa Council and re-establish Dominion rule over Cardassia Prime."
"Why would Starfleet put someone on that planet?" Kirk repeated his question.
"That is unclear, but Gul Madred is known for his interrogation skills, he uses a number of torture methods, including sensory deprivation, sensory bombardment, forced nakedness, stress positions, dehydration, starvation, physical pain, and cultural humiliation. He will use all of these to try to gain knowledge of the Federation's plans for Minos Korva." Kirk couldn't help but close his eyes and shudder at the thought of anybody being subjected to such heinous tactics.
"Chekov, scan the area, let me know what you can find." Kirk strode around the Bridge, rubbing his hand over his face. His mind was racing.
"Yes Captain."
"Sulu, keep us in orbit, we're not going anywhere until we find out what's going on."
"Captain." Sulu confirmed.
Kirk made his way over to Spock who had risen from his station. In low voices they discussed their current situation, the risk, the possible outcomes.
"If there is a Starfleet Officer down there we cannot in good conscience leave them there to die." Kirk exclaimed.
"The Federation have been in diplomatic talks with Cardassia for some time now Captain, it would be unwise to take action that may disrupt the progress." Spock countered.
"There is one of ours down there Spock!"
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few Captain, or the one." Kirk looked at his First Officer, contemplating all that had been said between them.
"Thank you Mr Spock." Kirk advised the Vulcan that he was to speak to the Council regarding their current situation before taking any further action.
When Kirk returned to the bridge he straightened his uniform and sat in the Captain's chair.
"The word, Sir?" Sulu asked.
"The word...is no. I am therefore going anyway." Kirk answered.
"You can count on our help, Sir."
"Thank you, Mr Sulu, I'll need it."
Lisbeth bursts out from under the water. Gasping in a draft of air.
"Progress Spock?" It had been sixteen hours since the security team had entered the secure facility unnoticed.
"The team has not been detected Captain, they should be in location."
"Thank you Mr Spock." Kirk opened a comm link to the medical bay. "Bones! Prepare for incoming casualties."
"Yes Captain."
Another hour in a stress position.
"Report Doctor McCoy." Kirk was all professionalism, a stoic face looked sternly at the CMO.
"I've placed her in an induced coma, her physical injuries are extensive. Broken bones, lacerations, burns. You see these marks here? There from a form of electrocution, her brain activity is showing as normal thank God. I don't need to tell you Jim of the long term effects of what this woman's been through psychologically. Some of her physical injuries are weeks if not months old." McCoy looked down at the woman, her brunette hair had been washed and combed back neatly from her face, and residual reddish marks covered her face, chest, arms and body from all the cuts and burns he had healed. She looked peaceful. "Who left her there Jim?" He asked the Captain.
"The team mentioned there were numerous cells, all empty, she might not have been the only one. I think this goes way above our pay grade Bones. When I spoke to the Council they acted ignorant but it was as if they already knew she was there, denied everything of course. I don't know what to make of it. When will she be able to talk?"
"I can't answer that yet, who knows what state she'll be in when she wakes!" Bones answered.
"Let me know as soon as you can, I don't know how long we have until someone realises she not on that planet anymore and she's here." McCoy nodded and went back to his PADD.
Lisbeth, kneeling, blindfolded, in a tight stress position.
"She's awake Doctor." McCoy had made the decision to bring the woman out of her induced coma, looking up from his desk at the Nurse in his doorway, he was on his feet and past the Nurse in a second. As he approached her bed he was stunned by her appearance. She was sat upright, her face was without emotion.
"I'm Doctor McCoy, the ship's CMO. You're on the USS Enterprise, you're safe now." She simply looked forward.
"Can you tell me your name?" Silence. "Your name Officer?"
"Dubecki."
"Rank Officer?" McCoy continued.
"Commander."
"Service Number?"
"AF28 282 310."
"Date of birth Commander?" McCoy flashed a light in her ocean blue eyes as he asked the question. He indicated to one of the Nurses to comm the Captain.
"03.02.2227." She hadn't moved, continuing to look forward even as the Doctor checked her over. The Captain entered the med bay at that moment and made his way over to McCoy.
"Are you in pain?" No answer. McCoy clicked his fingers, trying to illicit any kind of response.
"Would you like some water?" No answer. "Name Officer?"
"Dubecki." She replied. Kirk had been watching in earnest the conversation between Doctor and patient. McCoy pulled him to one side.
"Well, she's highly trained, she's not deviating from the Code of Conduct. I'm running her data through the system now, which should shed some light on the issue." Kirk returned his attention onto the woman while McCoy checked on some blood work.
"I'm Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise. You're safe now, we won't let anything happen to you." She seemed to be looking right through him, he held his right hand up with his four fingers outstretched. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He asked.
Before he could blink she had lunged herself forward, her hands around his neck. Throwing both of them to the ground she wrapped her legs around his neck and began to choke him out. McCoy was beside them at once, hypospray in hand. Lisbeth crumpled on the floor unconscious, Kirk rolled himself off her gasping for air.
"Jim, damn it what did you say? Hold still, let me see that neck!" McCoy ran a regenerator over Kirk's neck and gave him something for the pain. "Better?" Kirk ran a hand over the bruised area.
"Thanks." The nurses had put the woman back in her bed, she looked almost peaceful again.
"What the hell did you say?" McCoy repeated.
"I asked her how many fingers I was holding up, she seemed to be looking right through me. I was trying to get her attention, catch her off guard. Why did she react like that?"
"Damned if I should know, but in future let's stick to Name, Rank and Service Number until we know more." Kirk just nodded. He stared at the woman in front of him, she was beautiful, but she was a killer.
Lisbeth, kneeling, blindfolded, in a tight stress position.
"We were bound, hooded and thrown in separate cells. They beat us. Deprived us of sleep. All you had to do was give up the name of one of the others. Just one name. For a glass of water. A sandwich. To avoid another punch."
"Sir, Commander Dubecki was found on that planet, you're telling me you deny all knowledge of this?" Kirk was outraged.
"I repeat Captain Kirk, Starfleet denies any knowledge of a mission to Celtris III."
"You aware Sir, by refusing acknowledgement you committed Commander Dubecki to torture and removed her rights as a prisoner of war?"
"Starfleet are refusing nothing. There was no mission." The communication was cut, Kirk sat back in his chair and ran his hands over his face.
"From this point on, you will enjoy no privilege of rank, no privileges of person. From now on, I will refer to you only as human. You have no identity!"
"Good morning Commander." McCoy placed his coffee on the table beside Lisbeth's bed, the smell made its way to her senses and she couldn't help but close her eyes and savour the experience. McCoy noticed the small change in her features. "Smells good huh? Fancy a cup?" He continued innocently. She turned her head to look at him, from what she could determine it had been five days since she had been in the med bay. There had been nothing to indicate that it was a ruse, despite her training her gut feeling was telling her she truly was on a Federation Starship.
"Starfleet authorisation alpha six four." Her throat scratched against the words, unused to uttering anything other than Name, Rank and Service Number until now.
"Security code 045." McCoy responded.
"Thank you Doctor McCoy." She smiled at him.
"You fancy that coffee now Commander?"
"Yes Doctor. Thank you."
"Your file is redacted Commander, my name is Leonard, Leonard McCoy. What's your name?"
"Lisbeth, Lisbeth Dubecki."
"Wasted energy, Commander. You might come to wish you hadn't expended it in such a futile effort."
"Torture is expressly forbidden under the terms of the Seldonis IX Convention, governing the treatment of prisoners of war!"
It had been two months since her rescue, she had been assigned quarters while the Enterprise was making its way to Deep Space Seven. She had been having regular conversations with Doctor McCoy. She sat opposite him in his office, McCoy had taken to pouring himself a drink.
"They push you until they find it. Till they find the point at which you break. Because they have to know. You have to know. And one by one, everybody broke. Except me. I never broke. I've been in situations, places where I was afraid. Where if you made a mistake, one tiny mistake, at any moment. But I never made a mistake. And that made me feel special. I thought: I'm different. Bullet-proof. You can't break me. I don't have a breaking point." She looked at McCoy, a single tear fell down her cheek. It was the only real emotion he'd ever seen from her.
"Shall we begin again? How many lights are there?"
"What lights?"
Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy stood with Lisbeth in one of the cargo bays.
"Sir, permission to go ashore." Lisbeth saluted Kirk.
"Permission granted Commander." Kirk saluted in return. Lisbeth placed her arm to her side and nodded at the Captain. An unspoken gratitude in her eyes. As McCoy and Lisbeth walked to the shuttle craft she turned and stopped.
"What I didn't put in the report was that at the end he gave me a choice, between a life of comfort or more torture. All I had to do was to say that I could see five lights when, in fact, there were only four."
"You didn't say it?" McCoy asked.
"No! No. But I was going to. I would have told him anything. Anything at all! But more than that, I believed that I could see five lights."
Reviews welcome. LLAP ;-) XOXO