Kazack felt the eyes of the prisoner boring into him, analysing him, making him know that one mistake would result in death.
Funny, I'm the one who's supposed to be interrogating him he thought as he made sure to stare back at the prisoner with all the venom of his glare.
"Tell me what I need to know, and you can be free" Kazack told the man.
"Bull, I will never be free, even if I give you the information" The man replied.
Kazack sighed inwardly, he had told Lieutenant Gorma it would be a bad idea, but would he listen?
"Listen grunt," Kazack snapped angrily, "I am in control here, I am giving you an easy way out, very simple, tell me who the Captain of the Flare was during the action in the Belgaroth System, and I will let you walk out of here, no strings attached."
"If you don't tell me, then you will tell the torturers in the VEI I am sure, so you have a choice, Tell me or tell them.
"Either way I will be executed, what's the poin-- hey!"
Kazack quickly injected the dose of truth serum into the Petty Officer's arm. Instantly, as had happened with Mallie, the women he had interrogated before, the man's eyes became glazed over.
"Who was the Captain of the Flare" Kazack asked urgently, the truth serum occasiaonly caused short term memory loss, so it was vital not to use it for more then a minute or so. Kazack needed the info now.
" It was---- Noooo!! if I tell you they will find out, Tena....!!! No!!"
The prisoner's body began to shake and convulse uncontrollably.
Sick with revulsion, Kazack leaned forward and plunged a dose of neutralising agent into the man's arm.
Suddenly he realised, Tena, there was an NR Crewman who they had captured during the action with the Flare, which had unfortunately escaped, by that name. He turned to one of the motionless guards standing by the door.
"Please go and fetch the prisoner known as Tena from the holding cell" Kazack ordered the guards, who wordlessly complied.
Kazack then leaned down and wispered into the prisoner's ear.
"I can't torture you," He said, the contempt in his voice suprising even him, "But even those of the strongest will fail to resist when those they care about suffer before their very eyes" Kazack said. The man's eyes widened as he realised what Kazack had in mind.
"No! if you hurt her... I will kill you, I don't know how or when but I will I Swear"
"You won't, but if you give me the information you need, she won't need to suffer.
Suddenly the guards reentered the room, escorting a blonde woman who would have been quite pretty had she been smiling, but right now, A smile was a long way from the young woman's thoughts. "Edgar!" she shouted, only be restrained by the guards.
"Here are the strings," Kazack said. "If you talk, she and you will be granted a small plot of farming land on a barren mudslide... Their you can live peacefully." "But if you refuse, your girlfriend is going to suffer... painfully" "I could start... by breaking one finger at a time" Kazack said, shocking even himself with the coldness in his voice.
"If it so happens that you don't talk after they, we will simply kill you both, we think we know who we are looking for... We just need confirmation from you" "Who was the Captain of the Flare."
"It was..." The man began and Kazack grabbed Tena's finger and gently pressed upwards, not quite enough to break bones.
"It was Garan Oal" Replied Edgar finally.
Kazack released Tena's finger, as the prisoner slumped, exhausted, physically and mentally defeated.
For the next five minutes, Kazack asked the questions and Edgar answered. Then he rose, threw the couple one last look, this time of pity, and gave orders for them to be transferred to a VE colony.
What's happening to me... Since when did I have such a contempt for living beings...
Kazack sat for an hour that night... staring at the ceiling wondering...
OOC: Just a personal CD to get me up and running while I wait for the Fearless's next story.
