None of them knew quite what to expect next, but by this point they had all figured out they were going to be interrogated. They were each held by a restraining field to a very crude chair of Suundel design, and the room they were in reminded the Captain of an interrogation room from one of his detective holonovels: dark, cold, unkempt, a single light hanging from the ceiling. On each side of the only door stood two enormous Suundel guards, clothed in gray, almost making them blend in with the walls; they stared at the opposite wall like unblinking robots, not responding to any complaints or taunts from the three prisoners. "Hey, you, with the big stick," the Captain would say, "can you come over here and release these restraining fields? Huh? Be a pal?" And yet they wouldn't bat an eye. When the door finally opened, however, they both jumped into defensive postures until one of the Suundel officers entering the room said something tersely, and they responded by leaving the room and shutting the door behind them.
The Captain spoke up, hoping at some point something might get through. "So which one of you ugly guys is going to interrogate me? Can't any of you understand me? I'm getting a little tired of this and I'd like to get out of here and back to my ship. When will I be released?"
At first, no one could believe what they were hearing, and they looked around as much as the restraining fields would let them to see who else was in the room; when the finally realized who was speaking, all three of their jaws dropped simultaneously, for one of the officers had said, in English, "You are as ugly to us as we must be to you, Captain. I will have the pleasure of interrogating you, and there are no plans to return you to your ship."
"Oh, so you do speak English," said the Captain sardonically. He turned to Jorge. "If only we'd known that earlier." He turned back to the officer. "What's your name and how did you learn English?"
"You, Captain Shawn Thornburg of the Federation Starship Tomcat, are not in a position to ask questions. You will learn my name in due time, but until then, you will only be answering questions."
"What if I don't want to answer them?"
The officer simply smiled and motioned to a white-clad guard who was carrying something like a briefcase, which he promptly opened. The officer reached into the case and withdrew a tool that looked like a corkscrew, but with a number of technological devices attached to it. He approached Catherine's chair and slowly held the device up to her neck. "Then, my dear Captain, your Catherine will not be in the best of sorts."
"Touch one hair on her head and I'll—"
"What, Captain? Break free from that restraining field and rip my head off? I hold the rank of Grand Master Assassin, which means I can kill you in 20 different ways with just one hand, and subdue you in just as many ways with the touch of a finger. It would be pointless."
"What makes you think you know anything about human anatomy, let alone enough to do all that?"
"You underestimate me, Captain. You will answer my questions or she will die slowly," he threatened as he walked away.
The Captain looked over at Catherine, who was holding a brave face despite the threat of death. Jorge was looking frightened, but keeping his composure. The Captain decided to keep quiet until the Suundel officer spoke. At the very least, he could deny the interrogator the pleasure of seeing his victims squirm.
"Very good, Captain. Let's begin. Where are the defectors?"
The Captain looked at him blankly and thought, "Defectors? Klaan and his fellow officers are escapees, not defectors. Could he mean someone else?"
"Where are the defectors?" he asked in a slightly raised tone.
"I do not know of whom you speak."
"Klaanlwidmic and his cohorts!" he yelled.
"I don't know where they are. The last contact I had with them was when we intercepted them in the Aurora system," he lied. He knew exactly where they must have been at that moment, but it was entirely possible they weren't on the December anymore.
"Do not lie to me. Where are they?" He played with the torture device while he spoke, which unsettled the Captain.
"I'm serious. I don't know."
The officer darted over to Catherine and touched the torture device to her throat, coaxing a small gasp from her mouth. "I've been more than fair with my question, Captain. It's only fair that you return the favor." He pushed a button on the side of the device and the Captain heard it powering up, ready to unleash whatever terror it was designed for. Shawn glanced over at Jorge, whose eyes were wide with helplessness, and just as he was about to yell out "Okay, I'll tell you!" the door burst open and the sound of alarms and yelling guards poured in from the hallway, forcing the interrogator to stop his nefarious activity and shift his attention.
A young guard darted into the room and yelled something to the officers, who responded by vacating the room promptly. Only the Grand Master of Assassins remained, device in hand. He walked slowly to the door, then turned and snickered, "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." He pulled the door shut behind him, completely blocking out the alarms and leaving the three prisoners in complete silence.
Jorge spoke first. "What just happened?"
"A miracle, it would seem. Let's just try to get free now. We only have a small window of opportunity, and we can't waste it," ordered the Captain.
"Just how exactly are we going to get free of restraining fields, Shawn?" questioned Catherine, cynically.
"I have no idea. Suggestions?"
Before anyone could respond, however, the door opened, letting in all of the alarms and yells; they all expected to see the interrogator returning with his device, ready to finish what he was about to start, but instead of the interrogator, in walked the young guard who had burst in earlier. He didn't say anything, but ran over to the wall and punched a code into the control box for the restraining field. Suddenly they were all able to move freely, and when the guard motioned for them to follow, they obliged happily. Once they were in the hallway, they saw another guard standing outside the door, gun in attack position; he didn't fire, but simply joined their ranks, aiming his gun at Shawn's back. "I see what they're doing," thought Shawn, "They're making it look like some kind of prisoner transport so no one else gets suspicious, even in the confusion. But who are they?"
They ran steadily through the hallways until they reached a small door at the end of a dark corridor. The lead guard opened the door and darted through, followed closely by his four followers, and immediately everyone took off in a flat-out sprint down a shallow hill into the open door of a waiting jeep-like hover transport.
In one swift operation, they were all out of the large building and on their way through the military complex, huddled in a covered storage container in the back of the transport. Over the next few miles, the ride became extremely uncomfortable, as all three escapees had to curl up into a fetal position to fit into the container. Shawn wanted to say something, but he didn't want to jeopardize their escape. He figured the passengers of the vehicle would open the case when it was safe, and just as he was reaching his most uncomfortable, that's exactly what happened. With a sigh of relief, the three escapees sat up in the back of the vehicle and looked out the front window, for it was the only one. Despite the rough terrain that appeared before them, their ride continued to be smooth, thanks to the anti-grav units keeping the vehicle afloat. Captain Thornburg wanted to see who else could speak English. "Thank you for rescuing us."
The Suundel who opened the case simply stared at them. Captain Thornburg figured no one understood him. "Great," he thought, "back to the communication barrier."
Catherine asked, "What do we do now, Shawn? I don't even understand what's going on right now."
"We wait, dear. Either we need to learn the Suundel language really fast, or hope they have someone else who can speak English. I want some answers, but our first priority is getting off of this planet and taking the rest of the prisoners with us, however we do that. We're obviously going to the hideout or headquarters of whatever group staged this escape."
Jorge said, "What I want to know, Captain, is how in the world that interrogator could speak English. Of all the people in all the places in the galaxy, you know? There's absolutely no way he should have been able to speak English. There's just no way."
"You're right, Ensign. It's a mystery I mean to solve. I—" But he was cut off by yells from the Suundel in the vehicle.
Out of the front window he could see a large cave opening flanked on each side by groups of Suundel guards, but no one in the vehicle seemed to have any worries. The driver simply made a gesture out of the window, and the guards made the same gesture in return. Once they entered the cave opening, the vehicle's lights came on, and all anyone could see was the little bit of wall and floor they lit in front of them. They continued like this for about ten minutes, but then, all at once, they were in an enormous, well-lit cavern. The vehicle stopped and the passengers left, bidding the three humans to come with them; they obliged quickly, and found themselves standing in front of a small alien-looking hut right by the entrance. As they looked around the cavern, they saw that some parts of the rock walls were formed naturally, but others had been chiseled away hastily, with no concern for aesthetics. This shelter had obviously been carved in a hurry. The entire cavern probably measured about 100 meters high and 200 meters across, making it extremely spacious. But before they could look any more, the three Suundel guards grabbed the arms of each of the humans and led them into the hut.
The inside of the hut looked like a large version of the interrogation room they had all just come from, but there were ten cot-like beds spread out along the wall and a number of crates piled in one corner. There was only one window, and it was on the door. "This must be a temporary shelter for just such an occasion," Shawn thought. Two of the Suundel guards left the hut, but the third walked over to the supplies in the corner and opened one of the crates. Amazingly, he pulled out a Starfleet ration and showed it to the humans. Shawn, Catherine, and Jorge ran over to the crates and grabbed a ration each. "Where did you get these?" Shawn asked, not expecting an answer. The Suundel simply dropped the ration he had picked up and headed for the door, closing it behind him. The three escapees simply stood over the crates, eating their rations, extremely thankful for the first food they'd had since the beginning of this entire ordeal.
The Captain's only thought was of the other prisoners still in the military installation. Once that interrogator realized he was missing three prisoners, he would surely begin torturing the rest of the prisoners without hesitation. He was still without a clue about all of these events, but he had a feeling that soon—very soon—he would know the whole story.