Chapter 4
Michelle entered the cave with a person whose face was shrouded. He moved away from her to confront the Doctor… he spoke through a voice box that was implanted in the side of his neck… it was an eerily metallic sounding voice… "Doctor… I am Hayenga. Please excuse my appearance. Unfortunately, as a guest of the Carrionites some years ago, my face… was mutilated… my vocal cords cut."
"Abducting us was not necessary."
"I'm sorry. But after speaking with Michelle Forbes, I decided that it was."
"Then she has done us both a disservice. For I am committed to peace."
"I am not at all interested in peace. And I am not convinced you are, either."
And now Michelle moved forward… "Doctor, I did not come here to undermine the mission…"
And the Doctor was livid with her… he was diplomatically controlled, but there was a cutting edge in his voice… "Ensign, whatever your motives, you have already done enough damage to these negotiations. With your permission, Hayenga, I will have her transmat back to my ship."
"I came here to convince these people to listen to you… I didn't want this to end in bloodshed…"
The Doctor was quickly losing patience. "There will be no bloodshed…"
"You don't know all the facts, Sir."
The Doctor turned to face her… "Perhaps you could share them with me."
She wilted from his stare… found herself in personal conflict, confused loyalties, secret orders… there was much she could not tell him.
Hayenga answered before she had a chance to. "Michelle Forbes is attempting to protect the interests of two worlds, Doctor. She finds herself uncomfortably caught between them."
"If you wish her to remain, I will agree, but she is not helping matters by fostering distrust between us…"
"I believe her concerns are justified."
"I can assure you…"
Hayenga interrupted. "All is not what it seems to be, Doctor. Perhaps someone is using you to get to me… perhaps you are a victim of this deception as well, I do not know."
"Deception?"
"Your mission was to seek out the Blowfish terrorists who destroyed the Alliance settlement on Solonian Four…"
"Yes…"
"As I have informed Michelle Forbes – it was not the Blowfish."
The team entered the TARDIS in mid-conversation… the Doctor pointedly was not participating, moved slowly toward his study.
"…he admits responsibility for dozens of attacks on Carrionite targets. Why should we believe him about Solonian Four?" asked Nita.
"He has no reason to lie," replied Michelle.
"He fears our reprisal."
"He didn't seem fearful or deceptive," said Carolyn.
"If they didn't attack Solonian Four, who did? And why would anyone want to falsely implicate the Blowfish?"
"Perhaps someone wanted to draw us into this conflict…"
"But what would anyone have to gain by that…?" asked Michelle.
The Doctor interrupted. "Ensign. May I see you in my study?"
"Yes Doctor." She followed him.
The Doctor entered his study, jaw tight, controlled… turned on a dime the moment they entered… eye to eye with Michelle. "You do not leave this ship without authorization."
"Doctor, I'm sorry, but…"
"This is not a discussion. You're restricted to your quarters for the remainder of the mission."
A beat as she stared at him incredulously…
"You may go."
She left.
Michelle lay on her bed staring at the ceiling, tight… trying to find some answers… feeling humiliated… there was a knock on the door… she ignored it. Again. "What?"
The door opened. Carolyn entered. "Heard you'd been grounded."
"I really don't feel like talking right now."
"Sure you do."
Michelle was exasperated. "How come every time I tell you something you tell me I really mean the exact opposite?"
"You're one of those people who's got their poles reversed… you take a little unscrambling, but I've had a lot of practice."
Michelle sighed.
Carolyn sat down. "So what do you feel like talking about?"
"Nothing you can help me with."
"Never know until you try."
"I got myself into this. I'm just trying to figure a way out. That's all. Without anyone getting killed this time." And that was real. That was from pain. "Seems like everybody's always just pulling my strings… that I've got no control."
"That's how life feels sometimes…"
"You?"
"I had to leave my homeworld."
Michelle realized she was talking to someone who understood her, decided to confide in Carolyn… at least part of the way… "I'm in trouble."
Carolyn looked at her silently… gave her room to continue…
"There's more going on here than anyone on this ship knows… it's more than I know how to deal with. And I don't know who to trust…"
"Including yourself."
"Especially myself."
"I was in serious trouble once. More than I could handle alone."
"What kind of trouble?"
"Not important now. Not yet. What is important is that I'd still be caught up in it to this day… if I hadn't trusted one man…"
The Doctor sat at his desk studying his monitor… there was a knock on the door… "Come in."
The door opened and Carolyn led Michelle in. The Doctor reacted.
"Ensign Michelle has some things to talk to you about."
"Ensign Michelle has been confined to her quarters."
"She can go right back to her quarters when she's done."
"Carolyn, I don't know why you are involved in this, but…"
"She's my friend." And she gave the Doctor an even look and left.
The Doctor mused a beat, looked at Michelle, decided to proceed. "I have found that Carolyn is very selective about whom she calls a friend. Sit down."
They sat.
"Doctor, when I'm finished telling you what I have to tell you… I'm probably gonna wind up back in the stockade. And if that's how it has to be…" she shrugged, so be it. "I just can't do this anymore."
"What is it you can't do anymore, Ensign?"
"Admiral Potts came to me in prison… told me he'd arrange to get me out if I'd accept a mission…"
"That part I know."
"No sir. Not this mission. One for him and only him. You were being sent to talk, to negotiate… the Admiral knew that was hopeless… My job was to give Hayenga an incentive…"
"What kind of incentive…?"
"One that you couldn't offer. That Earthfleet couldn't offer. Hayenga was to end the terrorism against the Alliance. Return with his people to the camps. In return he would get… Weapons. Ships. Things that could really make a difference against the Carrionites in the future."
A silence. The Doctor tried to digest this. "I find that… almost impossible to believe. To suggest that Admiral Potts would consider sending weapons to terrorists…"
"If you ask him, he will deny it. But it's true. I didn't leave the ship without authorization… I received it last night from the Admiral."
"You have been in contact with Admiral Potts during this mission?"
"Yes sir. The subspace log can confirm that part of it at least."
A beat. The Doctor rose… trying to make some sense of this… "Arming these people would be a violation of all that the Alliance stands for. You cannot be blind to that…"
"No sir. I'm not. But this was something… I had to do. When I was seven years old… I was given a piece of sugar candy and led by a Carrionite into a room. My father was sitting inside. And he looked at me with eyes I'd never seen… And then the Carrionite began to ask him questions… and during the next two hours as I was forced to watch, my fater was tortured until he died. I remember feeling so… ashamed… as my father begged for mercy… I was ashamed of him for being so weak. I was ashamed of being Blowfish. Later I began to understand how misguided those feelings were. And yet somehow they have remained a part of me. I do not want to be ashamed of my heritage any longer. I serve the Alliance. But I am Blowfish. An Earthfleet admiral presented me with an opportunity to help my people in their fight against the Carrionites. I had to accept it."
The Doctor studied her… "Have you made this offer to Hayenga?"
"No. After he told me the Blowfish had not attacked Solonian Four… nothing made sense anymore. I decided to wait until I could figure out what was going on…"
The Doctor rose… "That was a wise choice, Ensign. It probably saved you from another court martial." A silent beat. "Have you briefed Admiral Potts since our return from the surface?"
"No sir. Doctor, I don't know who to trust anymore…"
"Then why did you come to me?"
"Your friend… She has a way of getting to you, you know?"
The Doctor nodded. "It seems we find ourselves with… something in common." A thoughtful beat. "Do you think Hayenga would cooperate with us to determine the truth here?"
"I think I can persuade him."
"Good. Our orders were to find him, bring him back to the camps… any way we could… perhaps that is exactly what we should do."
"And then what?"
"And then watch what happens."