Seleya
Private Freighter Vessel

"Well, I can't say I'm sorry to be rid of him." Travis said.

At Hoshi astonished look, he hastened to add. "I know how that sounds, Hoshi, but you didn't know this guy."

"He certainly wasn't the most likable person." Malcolm said. "Nor the most mentally stable."

"Ran around the ship naked half time, usually with a phase pistol in his hand." Travis insisted. "Threatened to kill me one time because I ate the last of the peanut butter."

Malcolm smirked. "I don't know if it's possible to be a sociopath, a sadist and a Vulcan but…"

"If it isn't, then he did a real good impersonation of one." Travis finished.

Hoshi held up her hands to forestall any further explanation. "Alright, alright. He was a bad guy. I get it."

"No. You don't." Malcolm said, frowning grimly. "And probably best you never got the chance to figure it out. I wasn't looking forward to having both of you on the ship at one time. Tolaris didn't have the best history with women."

"Why? What?" Hoshi asked. That would have been really good to know before now.

Travis answered "I'm not really clear on the details but he was wanted on a couple of worlds…"

"Around a dozen, actually." Malcolm said.

"He killed that prostitute at Lishki's Station." Travis nodded at Malcolm. "That was real mess."

"Would have killed that Orion woman that time, if we hadn't had to leave in a hurry just then." Malcolm pointed out.

"Right." Travis said. "I still don't know how we got out of that one."

"Okay, wait a minute!" Hoshi exclaimed. "If he was that bad, why'd you even keep him around?"

Malcolm and Travis looked at each other, as if the answer was obvious.

"He was very good with a phase pistol." Travis said.

Hoshi stared for a moment…

"So? So what?" She said.

Travis glanced back at Malcolm again before continuing.

"Hoshi…like I said, we get into a lot of trouble sometimes…"

"Dealing with a crazy Vulcan every day is easier than being dead." Malcolm said.

Travis shrugged. "You take what you can get out here. A lot of times…some sadistic, murderer is the best you can do."

T'Pol dropped the cold compress into the sink alongside the other one. They'd both since lost their chill and weren't doing much good any longer. And certainly it didn't help the interrogation having to tend to her wounds during the course of it.

Her nose was slightly swollen, however. And, strangely, she found herself unusually self-conscious about that.

She turned her attention back to the Human on the floor. Upon whom she rested one foot comfortably to reiterate the point that he should not attempt to stand up.

"Yes, older model cyber-organic composites obtained through Orion brokers." She answered. "The surgery was performed on Ansalon IV by a Denobulan I became acquainted with during the war. It was a simple matter of replacing the temporary implants I received in the Imperial Detention Center on Vulcan following the Earth annexation...

"Okay, right." Tucker said. "But they were brown? Before, I mean."

"Hazel brown, actually." She said. "And now it is my turn again. It was clear to me that you recognized me when we encountered one another aboard the Hannibal. Under what circumstances did you become aware of me prior to that incident?"

"I read about you in a file." Tucker said.

T'Pol waited until she was certain he did not intend to elaborate, then shifted her foot slightly on his chest to remind him it was still there.

"You must expound on your answer, Commander Tucker." She said.

He ignored her. "You said a Denobulan did the surgery. What was his name?"

"That would constitute a separate question, and so you must wait until your next turn to submit it."

"I answered your question, it's already my turn."

"Hardly. I asked for the circumstances that led to your awareness of me prior to our first encounter. You answered only that you had read of me in a file. That does not answer the question fully."

"It was a file. You were in it. I read it. I dunno what else I'm supposed to say about that." Tucker shrugged.

"What manner of file was it? Who compiled this file? How did you gain access to this file? Where you given the file for some purpose? What was the intent behind gathering information concerning me into a file? There are many areas here that require explanation."

"Look, you can't keep asking questions that have all these other questions hidden in there and then tell me I can't ask follow up questions. That's not fair."

"I have not. Rather, you continue to minimize your answers even as I answer you fully. That is not equitable. If you continue in this manner, Commander Tucker, it may become expedient for me to turn this interrogation over to Malcolm. He will not be as agreeable in his methods."

"And now you're threatening me." Tucker said, throwing up his hands.

Or, as much as he could throw his hands up while sticking halfway out of a cramped ventilation shaft with a Vulcan foot planted so close to his throat.

T'Pol was beginning to struggle with frustration. This man had proven quite adept at derailing, obfuscating and generally prolonging the interrogation. And while she could follow through with her bluff and order Malcolm to force answers out of the man…that would certainly tempt Malcolm to significant bitterness and resentment. He still harbored some sense of honor from his days as a Starfleet officer and she was certain he would disagree with such an order.

He would undoubtedly follow it, of course. But she simply could not afford to alienate him.

"Commander Tucker, I will appeal to you once more to utilize logic and reason." She said. "You are captive and eventually you will give us all the information that we require of you. To continue to resist is not logical."

"And as soon as I do, I'm dead. So holding out seems pretty damned logical to me."

T'Pol quirked an eyebrow at the man, tilting her head. So he was concerned they would murder him.

That presented something of an opportunity, then.

"I will not kill you if it is not necessary to do so, Commander." She said. "Therefore, it behooves you to ensure that it is not necessary."

"And how I am supposed to do that?" Tucker challenged. "I tell you what you want to know, then you have no reason to keep a Starfleet officer around and risk all the trouble that comes with that. I'd guess they're already looking for me pretty hard and when they find me, they'll go right through you to get to me. I'm not an idiot. As soon as you get what you want, I take a dive out the nearest airlock."

"Then you must present me with something that makes it profitable to keep you alive." T'Pol said. "Profitable enough to risk a potential conflict with Starfleet."

While Travis and Hoshi continued to chat, Malcolm had since become aware just how long it had been since he'd left T'Pol in sickbay. Over an hour at least.

That seemed a long time to deal with a nose bleed.

He began to wonder, and really, to suspect, that she might be struggling with some sort of emotional issue. Or whatever the Vulcan equivalent of that might be. A logical issue maybe? She had, after all, just been forced to physically take the life of one of her own crewmen, no matter that he wasn't a very 'agreeable' sort to begin with and had just attacked her.

Regardless, while the possibility that the captain was in some crisis was certainly troubling, especially considering it was taking her the better part of an hour to work through it…assuming that was the problem back there…Well, he really wasn't qualified to deal with that sort of thing. Mostly, he just shot people and blew things up. And manned the tactical station and ship's weapon system. And disposed of the occasional body.

Dealing with that sort of thing just wasn't his job. That seemed something more for Travis, maybe.

Or Hoshi? She was supposed to be their comm officer. Maybe that indicated she was good with people…and she spoke so many different languages…maybe she was good at dealing with Vulcans as well then?

Or…well…

Bloody hell. He was going to have to go back there and check on the captain. There wasn't any getting around that. If she was having some kind of crisis, he couldn't very well let either of these two stumble in on it. That would be disastrous for morale…

Slipping away without having to make up some excuse to do so, that was easy enough. The two seemed to be hitting it off, rather. Neither so much as noticed him step out down the corridor.

A little disappointing, that. But maybe he'd just been a bit too long without any sort of female companionship. He should be relieved that Travis had a bird to keep him occupied a bit. It would certainly cut down on his habit of chatting up every subject unrelated to the ship and their duties, as he so insisted on doing.

He wasn't exactly jealous or anything of the sort. But he had to admit it was strangely…disquieting…for some odd reason…

And there were voices coming from sickbay. T'Pol and…

The Starfleet officer.

Malcolm drew his phase pistol. He'd managed to escape from the airlock somehow after all. As he'd damned well knew he would, if left alone long enough. And now he was threatening the captain, having caught her already wounded and undoubtedly weakened from her struggle with Tolaris…

Or…

Well, wait. What's all this?

"I do not understand." T'Pol was saying. "If the woman presented an obstacle to your obeying the orders of your superiors, I would assume a Starfleet officer would respond in a violent manner."

The captain was, Malcolm could hardly believe his eyes, sitting comfortably on the medical bed. And the Starfleet officer, Tucker, in a chair right in front of her. With his feet propped up on the very same bed.

They were chatting. Like old pals.

"Well. I felt sort of bad." Tucker was saying. "I mean, I sneak through the window to retrieve this communicator that got left behind…and suddenly there's this woman all over me thinking I've come for some kind of…romantic rendezvous or something."

"I also do not understand why she would have come to this conclusion." T'Pol said, curiously. "Did you not imply that you met her only an hour prior and had little interaction?"

"Well, yeah, but we flirted a bit." Tucker said. "So I guess I can see how she might have thought what she did. But it still took me by surprise."

"And so, for this reason, you did not report accurately concerning your failure to retrieve the communicator."

"No way!" Tucker laughed. "There was no way I was going to tell anyone what had happened. I barely got out of that in one piece!"

"She was exceptional aggressive?"

"Oh, you could definitely say that."

"This then is the point I have difficulty understanding." T'Pol said. "It would seem your emotional responses to the incident led to your failure to retrieve the communicator. I would assume that the fellow Humans on your crew would understand this…"

"Well, sure. But they'd never admit they understood it and sure as hell would never let me live it down. So I just told the captain I couldn't pick the lock and left it at that."

T'Pol considered.

"Then I confess I do not understand why it was necessary to submit a false report of the incident. The intricacies of Human behavior undoubtedly…"

"Uh…captain?" Malcolm ventured.

They both turned to him, apparently unaware he'd been standing there staring at them the whole while.

Hadn't he just left this same situation a moment ago?

"Malcolm." T'Pol said. "I have new orders for Travis."

She turned slightly and picked up a PADD from the bed beside her, offering it to him.

Despite the fact that it required him to nearly reach over the…prisoner…to accept it.

"Coordinates for our next job. Inform him to set a course and proceed there immediately at maximum sustainable warp."

Malcolm accepted the PADD in confusion, still eyeing the Starfleet officer suspiciously in case he…tried something.

"We…uh…have a client, captain?"

"Indeed." T'Pol said. "Commander Tucker has employed us, for three times our standard percentage of all profits."