ESS Excalibur
The mood was somber in the confined spaces of the ship. They had been in hyperspace for a few hours now, it would take at least twenty fur hours to cross the thousands of light years between them and Earth. In order to fit all the necessary equipment into the ship the Excalibur had been designed with a smaller than normal hyperdrive engine. Captain Hansel had never cursed that fact more often then she had in the last couple of hours.
Excalibur had received a subspace data burst from one of the monitoring satellites, placed around the Anuran system to monitor events, before being abruptly cut off. Further scans had revealed that the system was no longer there, it was just gone. Captain Hansel sat before her desk in her ready room thinking of how to explain what had happened. The report she was reading was depressingly small it only contained the last few seconds of the sensor buffer followed by a Case Omega signaling imminent destruction, hopefully the dispatched dedicated science ships would offer more answers.
It was not a good sign that none of the other half dozen satellites had gotten off a transmission, of course they were closer to the inner system then this one, and she was sure that that small fact meant something.
The Door chimed taking her away from her thoughts.
"Come in." She ordered. As the door slid open, it was none other than her second in command.
"Commander Satterfield, how may I help you?" She asks.
Douglas steps in the room carrying a PDA. As the door slid close, he noticed that the Captain was preoccupied with the latest data burst. It had been marked Captains eyes only.
"Something I need to know captain?" He asks.
"This information at the moment is classified Top Secret, The entire Anuran system has somehow been wiped off the galactic map along with all our forces with no one having any idea as to how it happened." She said. She lost the love of her life on the planet. She stared longingly at the picture of Colonel William Huntington and her on their wedding day on a restored Dakara; the home capital of the Free Jaffa Nation, one of the founding members of the Alliance.
"My god," The commander exhales in disbelief falling in a chair in front of the desk. Using him as a distraction she buried her emotions once again. She had a job to do; she could break down when it was over.
"The Lexington did a full spectrum scan on the entire system from long range but," She paused for a moment before continuing. "The scans showed a residual energy signature that is believed to be belonging to the Ori. Science ships are already in route and they should be able to tell us more after they arrive."
The Commander slams his fist on the desk in front of him in frustration. "When will the politician learn that the Ori are a threat after god knows how many years since they went quiet, we should have at least been monitoring them?"
"Commander, calm down." She ordered her friend. "They have been playing politics on the Anuran front for a long time now, hoping that we will lose as bad as it sounds." She stood up and approached the door to her office. "Not that I don't want to talk politics with you, but do you want to observe the interrogation?"
"That's a date." The commander laughs after Captain Hansel flirtingly hit his shoulder. Both of them buried their emotions over everything behind a mask in order to do their jobs.
Brig
ESS Excalibur
The brig was currently playing host to two prisoners in separate cells guarded by two marine guards each. Each Marine was armed with a H4-16 pulse rifle with orders to stun them if they attempt to escape, not that there was much chance of that with the redundant energy barrier sealing each of them inside the barren cell.
Sharon paced around her cell in agitation; she had tried punching the, what could only be called an energy barrier that was keeping her inside, not that she had any hope in getting to the guards before they stunned her. She had never seen such high-level technology, and in the hands of humans that were able to defeat the baseships of her taskforce without taking any losses. The implications of that frightened her.
With a swish the door opened and the Doctor and his medical staff came in with a device that she did not recognize. It was on an anti-grav cart and the medical staff parked it next to the console that she assumed controlled the energy barrier to her cell.
"Good morning Ms. Valerie., Mr. Conoy." Dr. Woolsey was careful not to call them by their ranks because they were of a government that was unknown to them and more so that he was still not sure if he was talking to the real personality or a programmed one.
He approached the two with a small human engineered memory penetration device.
"How the frack do you know my name?" Sharon asks as she walks closer to the energy barrier trying to keep her nerves in check as she glances at the device he is holding.
"In due time," Doctor Woolsey said as he pressed the button on the control panel connecting with the two cells. The marine's snapped to a higher lever of attention as the energy barrier deactivated only to shrink to surround both prisoners with their arms trapped by their sides.
The medical staff approached to place a memory device on the temples of both Sharon and Leoben causing the two to flinch in slight pain as Doctor Woolsey picked up a spanner tool to adjust the device to a lowest setting.
"There, that didn't hurt." Woolsey jokingly said while walking behind the Lie detector and pressed a few buttons on the console. The one he was using now was based off the old Tok'Ra Zatarc detector but was more optimized to work on humans and especially enhanced humans; it was the product of years of research. The target would not even know it was working unless the operator chose to let him know.
"What are you going to do to us?" Leoben asked, making a remarkable effort to keep calm in something so far outside his understanding. He tried to break free but as before it was useless, the more he struggled the more the energy barrier tightened its hold onto him.
Lt. Commander Brady Smith the Chief Security Officer walked into the brig, he was going to be serving as the interrogator.
"Everything is ready Lieutenant Commander."
"Thank you Doctor Woolsey." The CSO thanked the CMO.
"I will be in the observation room, holler if you need me." Dr. Woolsey said as he ordered all his medical staff out of the room and to stand guard with the Marines if anything should happens.
Doctor Woolsey on the other hand went inside the observation room. Protocol required a Doctor to watch interrogations to make sure no ethical lines were crossed.
Captain Hansel Weizhorton and Commander Douglas Satterfield step out of the transport chamber preceded by a flash of light, the crew stepped aside and saluted to their commanding officers. They walked into the observation room after returning them.
"Doctor Woolsey." Both officers acknowledged.
"Captain, Commander, We are about to proceed with the interrogation." Doctor Woolsey commented. They nodded and turned to watch through the see through wall.
In the Brig, Lt. Commander Smith turned the detector on, verifying the CMO had calibrated it correctly before activating the interface between it and the memory penetration device on Sharon Valerie. Sharon twitched slightly in pain as she tried to fight the feeling the device was causing.
"What are you doing?" She asks the CSO sounding nervous.
"I'm going to ask you a question one at a time and then you are going to answer it." Lt. Commander Smith stated to the women. "This device here will tell me if you are lying and the one on your temple will for the moment only, passively record the memories my questions bring up, if you lie that will change"
"Go frack yourself." Sharon cursed not believing a word.
"First question, what is frack?" He asks while looking at the readout console.
"Frack you, if I ever get out of this, I will kill you." Sharon threatens the man.
"Answer the question." Brady taps the console to modulate the device to the next level of penetration of her memory.
Sharon winces in pain as if her temple is on fire though the pain was nowhere near that bad. "I will not answer your fracking question."
"No matter, you just answered me." He said as he watched the graphic images on his monitor hidden from her view. He should have guessed as to what it was.
"Where is your home world?" Lt. Commander Smith asked the simple question to the woman.
Smith watched in fascination as the monitor switched between multiple places, some kind of ship and what looked like a tech three level planet. It almost looked as if her mind was fighting over which answer to give.
He stopped digging for the answer to that question when her life signs starting jumping all over the place. He remembered the briefing the doctor had giving them, he was guessing he was seeing evidence of tampering in her mind. He would talk to the doctor about the possibilities after the interrogation was over.
Deciding to change tracks for the moment he switched his attention to the man in the cell next to hers who was watching everything with a mad gleam in his eyes.
Deciding to continue where he left off he continued where he left off. "Where is your home world?"
Leoben giggled. "You will never get the coordinates to my home world."
The console lit up red detector started to dig deeper into his mind. The monitor on his console and in the observation room relayed memories what appeared to be his death and resurrection in a new body, it sickened them to see rows of what appeared to be cloning vats filled with who they now knew to be Ensign Valerie along with others they would have to look up later. The commander had to turn his head away, tears appearing in his eyes, it was one thing to think you know what was happening and it was quite another to see proof.
"Amazing, they incorporated Asgard cloning technique into their own." Doctor Woolsey said amazed, oblivious to the commander's emotions. "I wonder how?"
"Lt. Commander. I want you to set the memory penetration device to its full potential." Captain Hansel ordered the CSO over the earpiece. "I would like to know how many of them are in this galaxy."
"That might cause damage to their neurological systems." Doctor Woolsey stated, as he was not against it.
"You said it yourself Doctor, they incorporated a primitive form of Asgard cloning techniques into their own. I would like to know how they got that information and besides you yourself said how their brains were wired it would be easier to transfer memories, I am trusting that this is not so much different as when they change bodies. I will be in my office if you need me." Captain Weizehorton replied as she headed out of the observation room turning right to the transport chamber.
She winced as she heard a scream from Leoben. She hoped she made the right decision. The chances of neurological burnout were low and aside from some pain she and the alliance needed the information those two contained. She really hoped it was worth it.
To be Continue