Finding the Truth

Posted on Wed Nov 1st, 2023 @ 8:09am by Commander Raiden Kosugi & Captain David Hawkins & Lieutenant Josey Wales

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Security
Timeline: Backpost
3390 words - 6.8 OF Standard Post Measure

After Josey and Raiden departed Owen's Cell, They went to see what information they could learn from Esra and entered his Cell to begin the interrogation.

Esra calmly opened his eyes, his head lifting up from having it lowered in a state of meditation. "Greetings, sirs." he spoke quietly. "It is my turn for questioning now."

Raiden took a look at Josey then back towards Esra. This man was certainly different than Owen. "Yes, it is definitely your turn. You had asked for us to be here separate from Owen, in regards that you had something for us to see?"

"Yes, beneath my skin, just below my armpit is something that will need you or your chief of security to acquire. You should be able to locate it easily enough, using a knife or a surgical tool."

Josey pulled out his tricorder. " Lift your arm please." Josey waited for Esra to comply which didn't take long at all. Josey scanned the area indicated. " Hmm... It appears that there is some type of Bio- fluid sack there which would be very easy to overlook during an exam. Commander could you grab the emergency medkit just outside the room please? " He looked at Esra. " You seem to be much more reasonable then Mr. Owens in the next cell. "

He glanced up as Raiden came back in with the Medkit. The task taking not more then several seconds. " Would you care to explain to us what this is that we'll be looking at and what you're doing traveling around with the likes of Mr. Owens. Aside from being members of the same cult. Him I can understand being a member of a fanatical death cult, you're a bit harder to figure out. You don't seem the type that would go in for something like this. So what's your story? "

"I abhor what they were doing and I didn't meet up with Owen until the last moment. He and I wouldn't associate with unless it is unavoidable. What had been hidden there is who I truly am. I am a part of Starfleet intelligence having been sent undercover to track down those bastards and find out where their home base was. I say was, due to it no longer existing now."

Esra leaned back in his chair his hands still shackled together. Thankfully his cuffs had been repositioned in a more comfortable position, to the front. "I have not participated in the taking of the blood of the victims. I've been instead working on tracking down the moles that have somehow gotten into the system of Starfleet and making way for ships to be captured, and innocents sacrificed. I also have taken out would be assassins who had marked others as sacrificial lambs. Those who were shuttling those selected, to a pick up point they and the passengers did not make the rendezvous point. The passengers were unconscious except for me, and the pilot. Upon that isolinear chip would be information corroborating what I have done. My real name is Lieutenant Matthew Gordon, of Intelligence. Since you do not have a chief of intelligence onboard you both are who I would be revealing myself to. With the exception of, if your captain were here, he would be informed as well. Perhaps you should give him a call?"

Raiden listened to Esra's, make that Matthew's tale. He wanted to know something. "How is it you and Owen ended up being in the same place on the Gladiator? To where you were being shot at by Tia?"

"I have been tracking those who were part of a small group, Owen being a part of the unit. He had been a part of a ship before the USS T'sul where both he and Tia had served. Yes, I know who Tia is. And she is in no way part of the conspiracy. Owen had been part of another ship's crew the USS Agnon. That ship unfortunately had its problems. Owen had been transferred to the USS Tsul along with others who had been transplanted there. He had been there for almost two years which is where he met Tia. I had met him a few months prior before the explosion of the T'sul engineering. being approached by the Unholy Trinity people while he was on shoreleave. He was part of my in with the Trinity. We did go our separate ways, him back to the T'sul, me well maneuvering further in, in order to sabotage their machinations. Our paths connected when he was on the Gladiator and I came onto the ship as part of refugees from another ship that had been disabled."

Matthew licked his lips, his mouth feeling dry and parched. "May I have some water please." he asked.

Raiden went and got the water for Matthew, the man gratefully drinking it.

"Any questions you may have or shall I continue with my debriefing?" Matthew asked.

"Once we have established your identity as Lieutenant Gordon we shall remove the restraints. Would you like for us to summon the captain here before you continue your briefing or would you like to continue on with your briefing. One way or another the truth will come out and we'll be able to determine what to do with you at that point. If you are who you say you are then I apologize for the treatment in advance, but as you also know we have a job to do first and clarify the facts. I'm sure you understand that, would you care for something to eat with a cold beverage? Can't give you something hot until we establish your identity."

"Hold on while I get the Captain on the comms" Raiden stepping to one side. Out of the room.

"Captain Hawkins. Do you wish to be a part of the debriefing of the man who is called Esra Borden? Just in case you have any questions of your own?" Raiden waiting for an answer before he goes back into the interview room.

There was a short pause of silence before David piped up. "Sure. Let me know when to be there, and I'll make my way there," the captain spoke up over comms.

"Now would be a good time, Captain. Had started, but felt you needed to be here for this one."

"Copy that. Do me a favor and replicate some water and a sandwich. I haven't eaten. Heading your way now, Hawkins out." With that, the captain's voice chirped out.

Raiden had the sandwich and water ready when the captain made it to security. He quietly handed what Hawkins had requested and gave him a quick briefing to catch him up on what has taken place so far. "Now, it will be your turn captain."

"My turn?" David asked as he took a moment to take a bite of his sandwich. It was quite good and he complimented the 'chef'. He swallowed the bite and looked up. "What do you feel I can do or say that you can't do or say differently?"

"I thought that you would like to ask questions other than that then I suppose you can listen in then." Raiden replied, "Shall we go in?"

Once David was done eating, he wiped his face and nodded. "Compliments to the chef. Thanks, Commander. I owe ya."

Esra aka Matthew was quietly waiting for Raiden to come back in for the rest of the debriefing. He gave a nod to the Captain. "Captain Hawkins" he said, "You can now do some verification as to who I am. Your codes for accessing secure files Captain would be appreciated and the same for you, Lieutenant Wales" Esra remarked.

He then stated a code 'MuAlpha13Gamma'
This brought up verification as to who he was.

"Yeah..." David blinked before leaning up on the farthest wall and shook his head before taking a gulp of his water. "So I have been called down here, for the little verification that my offers are more than qualified and have the access required. Not impressed thus far."

Matthew looked at Captain Hawkins in a calm manner. "I am not here to try to impress you at all. Just doing a debrief, sir and to see if Starfleet wishes me to come back into the fold or go back out there."

"Or be placed on trial for assisting deaths of hundreds," the captain spouted out but shrugged. "But what do I know. Let's see what you have going on there."

Esra gave a grave nod as to what Captain Hawkins had said. "What you say is true, I could be or will be, finding myself on trial with questions being asked, and also my existence being denied. Hence there will in no way be anything compromised. I was asked to be on this mission, I accepted the task as I had two reasons to accept. One would be to stop the zealots from continuing, the other it is a personal matter where they were concerned. They took my wife, and took my life in some aspect. I did not partake in the taking of lives or even the gathering of the blood. However, there is the adage of guilt by association. "

Josey shook his head not looking to pleased about the matter that was unfolding. " Esra, 've got plenty of respect for what Intelligence does to protect the federation. But with my clearance as security chief, I could have validated that code. After you were separated from everyone else, you could have safely told us this information without fear of blowing your cover. The Federation doesn't send six starships with security and marine forces to capture this many people without a damn good reason. our ships came under attack from other vessels and the defenders fought like zealots and many were killed. So why the delay in identifying yourself? " Josey asked.

"First off, I got hit with heavy stun which knocked me unconscious. Second, I was not alone when Owen and I were in the same room. Thirdly, you Lieutenant Wales, the commander and the captain would be the only ones I was to reveal myself to. Even Owen doesn't know my real name. For security reasons, I couldn't reveal until it was just you or the other two or all three of you. I am sure you understand the necessity of this sort of thing when it comes to security protocols."

" Which I did state. " Said Josey. After you were by yourself. The Captain would have been informed and i could have confirmed your identity through Starfleet Intelligence and see if they had new orders for you or if they were sending someone to pick you up. And yes I am very well aware of security protocols and the necessity for them. I also realize that it may have been a temporary oversight due to being undercover for an extended period of time as well. "

"I didn't trust your people to be honest, Lieutenant Wales. Sorry, when undercover, and it had been awhile; I found that I couldn't trust very many, hence my keeping quiet until the three of you are here. You two, I hadn't known anything about but, Captain Hawkins here he has a reputation of being a straight shooter and someone who isn't easily taken advantage of especially when it comes to the zealots, the followers of that cult of the so called Goddess." Matthew aka Esra stated.

He looked Hawkins straight in the eyes, Matthews/Esra did. "I am sorry I wasn't able to do much where the crew of the Gladiator was concerned. I did what I could to send a few off the ship in escape pods.The zealots, that were herding them to who knows where, I killed them. I could only save a small handful of crew, I wanted to do more, i tried, I just couldn't save those who had been taken by the others. I am not looking for accolades nor recognition. If I end up going on trial and lose my freedom so be it. I will be just happy that I was able to help some escape." his voice was gruff with emotion and remorse at not being able to do more than what he had.

Josey looked at Esra with a less then pleased look upon his face, " So let me get this straight. We rescue your butt and bring you back to a federation starship and provide medical treatment to you. You say you can trust Captain Hawkins because of his reputation, but you can't trust us because you don't know us, is that right? It's not like we're rookies fresh out of the academy with unknown motives. " Josey pointed to Raiden. " Commander Raiden is the Executive Officer of this ship and I am the Chief Security. Do you think for one moment that Captain Hawkins would put either one of us in those positions if HE didn't trust us? " Josey asked Ezra directly. " So what your saying is that you trust the Captains reputation, but not his judgement or opinions in who he can trust. And here I thought that everyone in Starfleet were all on the same team. I was on the ground assault team leading a undercover commando team into the cult headquarters to disable the defenses so our troops could storm the compound, while Commander Raiden and five other ships took on the cults ships so that the troops could do they're job and free our captured crewmates. So while we were fighting and dying to protect federation citizens from a genocide machine that could have killed on god knows how many, my question is where were you? And what were you doing to help? "

Esra closed his eyes for a moment hearing the torrent from Josey then he opened his eyes and stated calmly. "Lieutenant I was not trying to insult you nor Captain Hawkins or Commander Kosugi. I was just trying to say I didn't know either of the two of you and yes Captain Hawkins is a fine Captain. As for your statement, Lieutenant Wales, I was working to liberate those who had been captured and were on that planet, I wasn't whereover you were. I liberated some and that is how I ended up on the shuttle and found myself on the Gladiator, where Owen saw me and also Miss Smithy. "

Raiden held up his hand in order to quell the storm that was happening, and barked out, "Gentlemen, back it down a notch. Emotions are running high here, Esra has given a bit of information, which needs to be checked out, isn't that right, Lieutenant Wales?" he glanced towards Hawkins out of the corner of his eye before turning his attention back to Josey and Esra.

The captain watched the back and forth to notice that Wales and Hawkins both were on the same page by not fully believing or trusting what Esra was saying. But as far as he could tell, it was still up in the air, no matter what it came to. So he sighed and agreed with his executive officer.

"As far as I see it, you have not offered up a solid case for yourself. Who is your handler, and have they been contacted? And before you even speak, if you say its classified, or you can't tell us, Lieutenant Wales will simply get all information he needs for his report, and transfer you to the station's security department for processing. From there, you can sit till you are transferred or your background has been proven. The proper authorities can be contacted, and if you have a handler, they can deal with clearing you, and releasing you.

"But what we have seen, thus far, you are to be held accountable to the evidence against you," David looked over at Wales and nodded to him. "Thoughts, Lieutenant?"

Josey just gazed coolly at Esra. " I reckon so Sir. " he stated. " We haven't been able to fully vet him as of yet, So until we do I would have to lock him up in maximum security, Can't have our crew exposed to a possibly dangerous cult member. Of course that means four armed security on station at all times and a around the clock suicide watch, we can have him cheating the hangman if he's found guilty now can we?"

Esra's eyes went from Wales to Hawkins to Kosugi then he said. "Sirs, if I can get in a word edgewise I'll give you the answer. My handler is Commander Tatiana Dragos. I was unable to contact her as of yet and I am sure she is wondering just where the hell I am at. You've got the clearance, you've got the code. I don't intend on utilizing a hollow tooth filled with poison. I do not have such a thing. I am certain that I have been examined to make sure there wasn't anything like that at all. I have all of my teeth." his gaze was steady as he matched their gazes. "contact her, then it can be decided if i am going to go into the brig or have all of that happen as you had stated." he reached up and scratched at his jaw, the stubble having gotten even longer, it was getting to where it could end up being a beard if he didn't shave soon and it was starting to itch.

Raiden looked at both Josey and David. "Looks like he's not pulling the, its classified card. Shall we get things moving forward and put this last part to rest?"

There was a slight pause as the captain looked at the man one last time, scanning him with his eyes before he nodded. "Go ahead and verify the handler and other information he has shared. Add it all to your report, and then hand him and his information over to Station security. They can hold him until he is picked up," David ordered as he looked among the three. "Until then..."

"Until then looks like this business is at an end. " Raiden answered then looked towards Josey. "What do you think? Lieutenant Wales?"

" It would have helped a lot if we had just started things out that way. " Josey growled. " Instead of I don't know if I can trust you or you don't have the clearance gimmick. " He turned and looked at Ezra. " They'll be by in a bit to see what you want for lunch. " He turned his attention to David and Raiden. " Captain, Commander. If you gentlemen will excuse me, I have some real work to get back to. I don't have time to waste playing games. Will there be anything else that I'm needed for here? " He asked his commanding officers.

Esra leaned back in to his seat, they were done with their business at hand. He was good with them sending him on his way. Its just how things work out when it comes to the intelligence side of things.

Raiden shook his head. "I'm done here as well." He paused and looked once more at Esra, " I hope you will find a way out of the situation you are facing. Either way, as what Lieutenant Wales as well as Captain Hawkins had said, maybe you should have trusted us more than what you had. I get it though, I get it. And on that note time to leave."

After the three officers stepped out of the room, David looked at his new security chief. "I fully agree with you. I wasn't kidding when I said keep him fully locked up. Transport him in old time shackles for all I care. But nothing he has said has been proven. So no more being fooled. Whatever you want to do, I fully approve."

Josey grinned. " Aye Sir!! It shall be as you instructed. If you'll excuse me Sir I'm off to replicate a straight jacket and leg irons. " He said with a laugh. Starfleet Intelligence can figure out what they want to do with him. He's either one of them as he says, or he's in for a world of hurt and a whole lot of interrogation and mental abuse. Either way he is out of our hair and not our problem after we transport him off the ship. "