Lt A.Dewitt- In Vino Veritas
Emma Banin
((Alpha Trionus Prison Facility ~ Warden's office))
Shayne: Yes, very informative. Thank you. However, we found a number of small issues, some structural, some electrical. Nothing to worry about- it’s bound to happen when we’re dealing with temperature variations this extreme- but I’ve ordered a small team of engineers to beam down to effect certain repairs.
Tram: How kind. It seems Tompkins has been lacking in his duties. I shall make note of this.
Ayemet was unsure that Tram would be taken in by the reason. He was a man who seemed adroit at the subtleties of communications and the nuance of words. She maintained a smile on her face, looking at Tram and giving a playful shrug of her shoulders as if by means of an apology. She didn’t want to imply any more importance than the Captain’s remarks warranted. Indeed part of the effectiveness of them would be if she passed them off as if this was a common occurrence.
A.Dewitt: I am so sorry for the interruption Mr Tram. Our Captain likes to make sure that all boxes are ticked.
Tram: What are we without our boxes to be checked?
She smiled again and let Tram refill her glass trying to maintain the carefully constructed air of affability to her attitude. Still if the Captain had stepped in, for whatever reason, she would not be helping any situation if she simply ignored his interjection.
A.Dewitt: Captain this really is excellent wine. You should try a glass.
Tram: I see that the Vulcan has completed his tour. The lovely Lieutenant and I were exchanging a few shared observations.
Shayne must have a reason. She might well disagree with it, but it was ultimately her duty as an officer to defer to judgement, to play her part, and she couldn’t let her annoyance and disappointment get in the way of doing that.
A.Dewitt: Mr Tram is being far too modest. I was about to share my experience at the lab with him.
Shayne: You were?
Matthews: You were?
Ayemet felt a pang of guilt, hidden from those around her but there nonetheless. The Captain’s intervention was not personal, at least that is what she told herself, but she still felt that her subterfuge had been for naught. Subterfuge, yes that is what it was, wasn’t it? Did a part of her want revenge for what they did to her, what they took from her? She couldn’t deny it, she wouldn’t deny it, but it was more than that. It was an opportunity to prove she could be useful beyond the bounds of a counsellor’s office, but in reality all she had done is waste time.
Her pain was personal and deep and if the situation had presented itself she wasn’t entirely sure she could have gone through with it, the Captain had saved her from that particular dilemma, and yet she felt an emptiness, a missed chance at understanding.
Tram: Does this surprise you Ensign...?
Shayne: Captain, thank you. Alas, our needs are more immediate than yours, Mr. Tram.
Ayemet nodded listening carefully to the explanation. She knew that time was a factor in everything they did here, but to her thinking Tram was much more likely to cooperate if he felt listened to by those who recognised his brilliance. His self assured belief in what he was doing would not stand by as Starfleet swooped in and prevented his work.
A.Dewitt: Mr Tram as you can see time is an issue for our Captain. I really am very eager to see if we can correlate our experiences . Is there any compromise that might be acceptable to you?
Tram: Is there something in particular I can assist you gentlemen with? I am eager to return to my conversation with the Lieutenant, I fear I am woefully overqualified to handle electrical concerns. If you need I can summon Tompkins, he would be more than happy to assist with any incessantly mundane inquiry you could possibly entertain.
Shayne: In a moment, perhaps. It brings to mind, however, a question- what duties are not below you, Mr. Tram?
A.Dewitt: Captain..
She was cut off by Tram who seemed irritated more than anything else. She had known professors from her Academy days whose whole life was academia, the search for knowledge was a worthy aim in of itself. Whenever someone had had the temerity to question whether their work was useful to society in general or what their family life was like they had been more insulted at having to spend precious seconds given any kind of response, let alone an actual explanation than the implied insult to their morals or family values.
Tram: My duties are more overseeing the residents of the facility.
A.Dewitt: The err ‘residents’. Have you learned anything from them?
It was an honest question. The Sheliak who experimented and tortured her, they must have had a reason. Could Tram provide an answer, and if he could did that justify the use of experiments and torture? Would that not be merely doing exactly what the Sheliak had done to her? Did she care?
Shayne: Response
Tram: The communication is...simplistic. The Sheliak speak in a bastardized version of Federation standard. Beyond basic life care, I am not in the business of playing dutiful host. Previous attempts at motive have stalled. It seems they view us as nothing more than an inconvenient infestation requiring cleansing as they expand on their empire. Rather straightforward and simplistic. A similar sentiment held by the Changelings.
Shayne: The fact that you’ve made any kind of progress understanding their language is… remarkable.
Remarkable was something of an understatement but Ayemet understood that as ever the Captain was , what was that human expression? Playing his cards close to his chest. More subtle than her blundering conversation with the warden.
A.Dewitt: Mr Tram :pause: How did you achieve that?
Tram: Response
Ayemet swallowed the small amount of bile that rose from her stomach to her mouth. She maintained her emotional barriers but inwardly, in that part of her that she kept to herself she felt a terror. It was the casualness with which Tram had mentioned it. As if it was nothing; just like the Sheliak had treated her.
She smiled a warm smile of understanding for the outside world and , again locking her true feelings away for those who could read or sense beyond that. She was grateful when Shayne spoke first, a reprieve from having to construct an answer that wasn’t full of the anger that she felt.
Shayne: And these… examinations… they were voluntary?
Tram/Matthews: Response
A.Dewitt: How long did it take to establish?
Matthews/Shayne/Tram: Response
She had committed to play her part, and even if it ultimately proved to be an unfruitful exercise to stop playing the part would jeopardise not just herself but the captain and lieutenant. That’s what she told herself. That was her inner voice justifying her silence over the way Tram so casually treated the inmates.
But there was another voice one that spoke of pain and months of torture. That spoke of being treated as if she wasn’t even an animal, merely a thing to be probed and examined and mentally ripped apart all in the name of those that chose to do so, not because she deserved it, but merely because they could. Because she was powerless.
A.Dewitt: Do they understand what you are doing?
Matthews/Shayne/Tram: Response
A.Dewitt: Mr Tram would it be possible to visit one of your :pause: subjects?
Matthews/Shayne/Tram: Response
TAG/TBC
Lieutenant Ayemet Dewitt
Ship Counselor
USS Khitomer
NCC 62400
A239810JA2Q