Carrot Instead of Stick--But How?

Posted on Thu 10th Sep, 2020 @ 2:37am by Commander Paul Graves PsyD & Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Captain Andrus Grax & Lieutenant Adam Keller

977 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Resolution
Location: Observation Room 1, Intelligence Department
Timeline: MD-3

In the Intelligence Department break room, Damion gave Ischemia Addams a polite nod as she looked over a basket of fruit. He walked past her to the replicator.

"One large mug of basil tea, hot, with three lumps of beet sugar," Damion ordered. The device hummed, and a cream-colored mug of steaming tea appeared in the build tray a moment later. Damion picked it up, took a swallow, and smiled. Just the way he liked it. There were advantages to knowing how to tinker with replicators.

He carried the mug into the room where the officers who'd observed the first part of the interview with Zelda Alegari had gathered. He greeted them all, took another swallow from his mug, and walked over to Andrus Grax. "What do you think?" he asked.

Adam sat in his chair, still silent. His mind fighting to concentrate on the case in hand. The truth was, he was finding it difficult. Jasmine was off on a mission and he hadn't heard from her or any members of the team. Most figured they were fine, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. He had a job to do, however, and he needed to concentrate. He wasn't sure how he felt about the interrogation, but he knew that the different personalities were being honest...mostly. Again, something nagged at him and he couldn't pick up on what it was.

Andrus Grax sipped thoughtfully from the steaming mug of raktajino that Jason Fisher had just brought him. Of all the addictions that he'd fought and beaten over the years, caffeine was one that he had yet to master. "I feel like we're close," he finally summarised. "But there's still something... almost like a missing piece in a puzzle. I still think one of her personalities knows something else that she hasn't told us yet. Whether that's deliberate or not, I can't tell - but there is something else there, I'm sure of it." He paused again, taking another sip of his coffee. "I don't know about you," he continued, looking up at Ildaran for the first time, "But I get the feeling that we're not going to elicit it by continuing on as we have been. We need to change tack."

Damion considered that for a moment. "You could well be right," he said. "Morrigan's nae like the others. She's much tougher; you can hear it in her voice, see it in the lack of expression on her face. Whatever she's lived through has been--pretty horrific, I suspect. What do you have in mind?"

Muffet Langston finished selecting a doughnut from the selection on the table, and offered, "I think we've used enough stick... maybe it's time to dangle some carrots?"

Grax looked across at the Arachne officer, (whose appearance, he was surprised to discover, no longer alarmed him.) “I wonder what we’ve got to dangle?” he asked, partly to Langston and partly to himself.

"That's what I've been wondering," Damion said with a nod toward Muffet. "What can we offer her? What would she want that we could offer? Safety from the blokes who've messed with her? I'm too cynical to offer anyone safety with a straight face--especially safety from whoever created that ring--unless I know he's dead. Growing up taught me there is no guarantee of safety." He paused.

"Money to start a new life with, perhaps? If we offered that to every victim we came across, we'd beggar ourselves. Refuge? We could offer her that, but witness protection for the rest of your life seems not the best bargain to me, though Morrigan might accept it. The thing is, her information truly will be priceless, if it leads us to the ring's creator."

Muffet made a thoughtful noise as she bit into her doughnut. She chewed and swallowed before saying, "I really don't know. Maybe we should turn this whole thing over to SFCIS? Didn't I hear we had one of their agents show up recently? And... I mean... it is a criminal investigation."

"It's worth a thought," Damion said to her. He looked at Grax. "We can make people disappear for good, but we don't really have arresting authority."

"I have to make some calls," Chlamydia Addams murmured to her sister. "Don't let them start the next round without me." Without making a fuss, she slipped out of the room.

Ischemia didn't appear to be listening, but she heard everything being discussed. None of it surprised her, though some of it dismayed her. She had certainly hoped for better for Zelda and the others.

"Well, some of us have arrest authority," Muffet demurred. "The Provost's office was responsible for the subject's initial arrest and continuing incarceration. But that jurisdiction is limited to the base, and only covers civilians on-base in a limited capacity. SFCIS would have jurisdiction Federation wide, but not outside the borders, officially. Maybe we need the UFP Marshall's office?"

With the lull in the conversation, Andrus Grax's attention suddenly snapped back to the room. Momentarily, his gaze had followed Chlamydia out the door. He had half an idea where she had gone and why, but it wasn't the right time to share that information with the rest of the room.

"I know it's not strictly above board," he began circumspectly, "But I think we see what Doctor Addams' plan is before we commit to anything else. Yes, this is a criminal investigation, but there's also a bigger picture here. We may be able to help this woman and get the information that we need." He looked at Langston, trying to get a read on where she was at. She was the only Arachne he'd ever met, but so far, rating her was proving highly problematic. "We definitely won't get it if we bring the Marshals in."

 

RSS Feed