Capt. Shayne: Laundry List
Quinn
((A Cave, Somewhere in the Federation, USS Arrow))
MacKenna: In fact, you'll often find you get more information by being nice and friendly than causing pain.
Shayne had yet to be convinced that this wasn’t simply some form of well-acted ruse, designed to bring them to a point of complacence. No torturer was this incompetant. It just wasn’t tolerated. If you had the desire, means and skills to inflict incomprehensible suffering, you didn’t then follow up with conversation- any advantage your adversary could take would prove to be your undoing to some degree, and for those who’d suffered, there was often nothing left for them to lose. If this wasn’t fake, then it was fortunate for this young man that it was Shayne and MacKenna were his first “victims”; he might live long enough to find a different line of work.
Shayne: She’s not wrong. We could try this again.
Voice: Well… you’d talk to me that way?
If their tormentor was this gullible, Shayne and MacKenna could talk him into circles for hours on end, long enough for them to determine necessary information to aid in their escape.
MacKenna: Well, what is it that you want?
Voice: First they want to know about this engine- Proton or something.
The captain had figured that, but the mention of first made Shayne think that they were dealing with something or someone more unique than simple technology thieves and fencing brokers.
Shayne: I’m not surprised. We can talk about that. A little, to start. What else do you want to know?
The mention of “you” was intentional- Shayne was putting their wayward friend on the spot, and it might give the pair of them the angle they were looking for.
Voice: They, uh…
More note flipping. Shayne turned to MacKenna again with an expression that couldn’t come close to actually conveying the insanity he felt boiling in him.
MacKenna: Response
Voice: Ah! Here. Okay. They also want information on a date. Looks like… 239706.2…0?
The stardate was immediately recognizable to the captain.
Shayne: That’s the date we found the Arrow adrift. What the hell could you want with that?
MacKenna: Response
Tag/TBC…
Captain Randal Shayne
Commanding Officer
NCC 69829
G239202RS0