Cmdr. Clifton / speaking to Silva / no tags

[Steve Bruin]

   *** Starbase / Main Promenade ***

   After speaking with Delia, Clifton headed away from the room in order to give what he had learned some thought.  Casually strolling through the civilian sector, he tried putting things together in his head, much like pieces of a puzzle.  Someone had ordered top level, classified intel to be handed over to Silva, she had headed toward a rendezvous with someone in order to sell it.  The vessel they had scanned was Visigoth, yet that did not necessarily mean that those aboard were the same.  In this region of the Federation it might well serve someone who wished to travel anonymously to use a Visigoth ship that had been obtained by either theft or illicit purchase.

   Now there was the possibility of this Vice Admiral Novar being involved, it made sense that it took someone of considerable power to order that data to be just handed over to Silva and Novar would have such authority.   It seemed that Silva and the Admiral were enjoying a steamy relationship, no surprise there, but it was possible that Silva was being used as a mule.  Maybe all that data (whoever it was intended for) was just being carried by Silva in the same way a coureur would transport something illegal, if she got caught then were political friends could most likely see to it that her punishment was minor.  Of course even though they were lovers there might not be a huge amount of trust between the two of them.  After all, he himself had enjoyed countless romantic encounters with females whom he knew were anything but trustworthy.  Having a chat with Silva seemed to most logical course of action, so he headed down to the detention area.

      *** Level 14 / Security detention area ***

   Clifton was led into a barren room where Silva had been taken, at the moment she was seated at a metal table and had yet to be allowed any contact with the base staff or outside the base itself.  As he walked into the room and took a seat opposite her, she glared at him with dark eyes that could have pierced armor.

Clifton: Taking a casual seat and acting as if nothing was wrong : Well, Senator, I trust you're finding the cell to your liking.

   Silva just glared back at him and cut her eyes as if she were about to explode.

Silva: I have not been allowed to contact an attorney!  I have not been given access to a comm panel and I demand my immediate release!

Clifton: You madam are in a position to demand nothing.  I myself witnessed you attempting to transfer classified data to an alien vessel.

Silva: Data which I was legally given and allowed to transport off this base, now unless you want your career to end right here, right now, I suggest you release me.

Clifton: I'm afraid there's a bit of a problem with that, you may well have obtained that data by legitimate orders, but were you ever authorized to give it to anyone else?  

   For a brief moment he saw her confidence waver, not to any great extent but just a shift in her glance for a few seconds.

Silva: I have no worries about that.

Clifton: You don't?  You may be a Federation Senator, but you were in possession of classified data and I doubt you had orders to just hand it off to the first person who asked for it.  By the way, who was in that ship you were going to make contact with?

   Silva shrugged her shoulders.

Silva: How should I know, I merely saw them on my sensors and was going to contact them and ask if they needed assistance.  It was a fairly hazardous region of space, you know.  Before I could even ask if they needed help, you beamed in and arrested me on falsified charges.

   Clifton nodded knowingly.

Clifton: Yeah, it was a dangerous area to be in.  I suppose you were just traveling through that area with no concern for your safety?

Silva: I was concerned, but I was in a very reliable shuttle and there weren't any other ships out there.

   Clifton adjusted his chair and considered how well her answers matched up to the situation she was in.  It was apparent that she had been schooled in what to say in the event that she was caught, so it was time to throw her a curve ball.

Clifton:  So why bother with a shuttle at all?  You could have contacted Odyssey and asked for passage to wherever you were heading, by the way ... where were you headed in the long run?

Silva: I never contacted your ship because I knew there would be a lot of questions.  You military types are all alike, especially that Captain of yours.  MacTavish, wasn't that her name?

Clifton:  Yeah, I'm sure Captain MacTavish would have had a few questions.  By the way, speaking of senior officers, I understand Admiral Novar is meeting with a few officers right now.  You two know each other, don't you?  I mean, he told them you were good friends.

   For the first time her composure shook, she recovered quickly but it was apparent that she was not expecting this.  Of course Clifton was lying, he knew that Admiral Novar had not been confronted yet, but Silva had no way of knowing that.

To be continued ....

Cmdr. Clifton

PNPC Silva

simmed by steve