Toar Goes on Tour
Posted on Fri Nov 24th, 2023 @ 7:33pm by Lieutenant JG Toareth Rouen (née Darqa)
1,556 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Prelude: Getting Ready to Depart
Location: REDACTED
Timeline: REDACTED
The dark room flooded with only the light from the hallway as the door opened. Toareth carried, with her, a pouch filled with her favorite tools. She approached the wheeled cart off to the side and set her pouch down. Untying it, she unrolled it revealing shiny objects, surgical objects, deadly objects in the wrong hands.
Toareth moved the cart toward the center of the room. The wheels of the cart squeaked as they rotated.
Also, illuminated by the limited light was a singular steel chair and upon this chair, more like tied and restrained to it, was a pointy-eared freak bruised and battered from his ordeal. Smears of verdant stained his skin and clothes.
“If you will but listen, you will see...you have the wrong impression,” he said.
Toareth pulled a scalpel from her pouch. It flittered in the light as she rolled it over in her hand.
“I am, in fact, Vulcan. Not a Romulan spy as you may believe.”
“Is that so?” she said. Toareth finally turned her eyes to him. “So far your story of...”
“I was the wrong person, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.” He raised an eyebrow. “Obviously.”
“Good one,” she pointed at him with the scalpel and gave a fiendish smile.
“What do you want from me!?!”
Toareth stepped forward and sat upon his knees, looking him in the eye. “What I want from you, Romulan, is...oh...as you may or may not know, I am El-Aurian. People call us a race of listeners. Because we...listen. Right now you have my complete attention. What I want is names. Names of other Romulans you were in contact with. Names of ships. Names of places. I want to listen to anything that pops into that little brain of yours. Even the lies. Especially the lies. There is always truth hidden within lies.”
The Romulan only peered at her, not wanting to but appearing to accept his fate. Still, he had to try with, “You are Starfleet. You have rules. Against this, you have…”
“Correction.” She waved the scalpel in his face. “Yes, we are Starfleet, but I am working for someone who...well...who works a little outside of official view you might say. And here, we have only one rule; Get Results.” She started to lightly trace the location of the Romulan heart over his chest with her scalpel. “And over here is what we would call your spleen. Over here is...”
“You are not getting anything from me. My people will…”
“Your people don’t know you are here. Well they do...know...that you are on Earth that is. But you have been on comms blackout for more than a year now, worming your way into our way of life here. So, they don’t know the situation you find yourself in. It might even be years before they even suspect you’ve died.”
The Romulan did his best to steel his expression but a flitter in his eyes proved to Toareth that she was right. “Besides, is not death preferred to what they will do to you when they find out you were captured and then sent home?”
Death, yes. But Toareth knew just as he did, that the manner of death she had in mind was certainly not preferred.
“I can do my work and keep you alive for a long time. Believe me when I say that, over the past couple of years, I have grown quite experienced working on Romulans. I will say that I am impressed. So far, not one of you has talked.”
The Romulan only peered at her hatefully.
----------
“Did you enjoy yourself,” said Lynch.
Toareth stepped into the small office and fell into a chair. “Hardly. I had just exposed his stomach when he bit down on the poison tooth.”
“I thought you extracted that tooth.”
“I did.” Toareth sat back and relaxed with a sigh of unfulfillment. “The Romulans must be hiding the capsules in other teeth now. More capsules maybe. And I thought he was biting down at the tooth I extracted. Either he forgot which one it was or...”
“Did you get anything?” Lynch asked.
“Same as the others. They won’t talk. If the Romulans are working toward something...”
“Well it seems your ability to extract information is reaching a standstill.”
“Kick me out then,” Toareth spoke up immediately. “I am tired of being under your thumb.”
“No one who has ever served in our section is ever truly out.”
“So I have surmised. And what section is that if you will?” She knew he would not. She had her suspicions but also knew Lynch would leave it at that.
“Your work during the course of the Dominion War has been exemplary.” Toareth looked away as he continued. “What you helped to uncover kept that war from dragging on. However,” and Lynch turned his attention to a PADD on his desk, “There is a posting I think you would be interested in. Consider this a break from all this.”
This grabbed Toareth’s attention. “What kind of posting? A base, ship...?”
“Ship. The U.S.S. Britannic.”
Toareth slouched. She really did not want to work within the confines of another ship. Too small and too much possibility for word to spread. And she already knew what Lynch meant by ‘would be interested in.’ It meant she was already going. With that knowledge, she showed little interest in going. “Did you find Rene?”
Lynch shook his head.
“And it that the truth,” she asked.
“The chaos of the war left many people scattered about on many ships, outposts, stations, planets, all throughout the quadrant, Federation Space and not. He did not show up on any KIA/MIA listings so there is a great chance he is still alive.”
Toareth nodded, understanding the chaos of war. She just did not expect to have a loved one out there and out of contact. “I want my record expunged,” she said.
“Done. Months ago.”
“What?” Toareth exclaimed as she stood. “Months ago? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did not think it prudent that...”
“You just want to keep me on a leash is that right?”
“Toareth! Listen...”
“And what about my unofficial record? You keeping that stored in case I...”
“Toareth! Listen!”
Toareth stared at him steely and then slowly reclaimed her seat.
“Augmentation is a very serious crime; hard to make vanish...”
“I was only seeking...”
“Augmentation is augmentation. Thankfully someone spoke and you were stopped. And you should be thanking me by the way. If it was not for me, you would still be in that penal colony in New Zealand. But the medical prowess you otherwise displayed aboard the Canyon, Stardancer, and over the course of this war illustrated to me that you have what it takes.”
“To torture people for information,” she added to his thought.
Lynch did not even try to deny her addition. “And now we need that mettle of yours to see what the Dominion may be planning if anything at all. Do you still have it?”
“Have what?”
“Your mettle!?!”
Toareth slammed her hands down on the arms of her chair. “You try watching your people die, your planet destroyed by an unknown assailant, completely unprovoked, only to venture about space for a few decades, nearly die in an anomalous energy ribbon, everyone you grew to know...oh...ow...” and her words were cut short as she slammed a palm against her forehead.”
“Another migraine?” Lynch did not await response. “Good. Now I can tell you about your new posting...and your past. Now listen. I hear you are good at that. 2336-2340: Starfleet Academy, Studying Intelligence. Later changed your focus to Medical. 2340-2342: Starfleet HQ/Academy. You started out as a cadet and was later promoted to…discharged…because you would not take the Hippocratic Oath. Everything true so far. 2342-2344: U.S.S. Enterprise-Charlie, Civilian Physician Darqa served for a time...Wait…Enterprise? Cool! I always wanted to meet someone who served aboard that…oh…wait. Looks like you were on shore-leave when the Enterprise was destroyed. Lucky you. Also lucky that there is no one who served on that ship today to deny you were there. To deal with the loss of your comrades, you came back to Earth from 2344 to 2369 where you took some personal time. No real details needed there. You also underwent counselling to help you deal with your loss. That trauma resulted in your infrequent migraines.” He finished that though by pointing to her as Toareth continued reeling. “2369, you returned to the Academy to brush up on modern medicine. You took the Hippocratic Oath." Lynch frowned. "Pity. Since this is your first official tenureship at the Academy, you are given the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. I just need to fudge a few Academy credits here and there. And you are now Assistant Chief Medical Officer aboard the U.S.S. Britannic.” He looked up from the PADD to Toareth. “Congratulations."
Toareth was rubbing away the pain over and behind her right eye and gave him a singular congratulatory laugh in awe of the manipulation he was capable of.
“All I have to do it press this button and...oops...already pressed it,” he laughed.
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