“If you didn’t do anything, why’d you run?” asked Lieutenant Commander Kehlani Koh as she stared at Redrick Teral, the younger of the two brothers who’d planted Borg malware within the fusion reactor. He was fast, far faster than his emaciated frame suggested, but she was faster. After a chase through narrow back alleys and busy thoroughfares, she’d apprehended him, just as they had his brother back at their house.

“After what happened to Gerrik, Huran and Sarai, wouldn’t you?” Redrick replied defiantly. He’d seen those three, dead in the dirt, gunned down by Starfleet outside the reactor facility during the protests that’d followed.

“That’s not our way,” Lieutenant Commander Koh agreed. “That never should have happened.” They knew now that it was a false flag operation, that the shooter wasn’t one of their own, but they were keeping that close to the chest until they knew who was involved. Instead, she flipped it at him. “And it wouldn’t have happened if not for you and your brother.”

He looked confused.

“If you and your brother hadn’t done what you did, you’d have been enjoying boundless energy rather than what happened,” Lieutenant Commander Koh asserted. “There wouldn’t have been a protest, and your colleagues wouldn’t be dead.”

Now he looked defensive. How dare she turn this on him?

“We have it all on tape,” Commander Robert Drake jumped in. “If not for the Herculean efforts of our brave officers to stop it, instead of three dead, there’d be thousands.” Captain Feng was still recovering from the plasma burns she’d suffered as she ripped the live conduit from the power distribution unit with her bare hands, but it sure as hell beat what would have happened if the runaway reactor had lost containment. “Terrorism is not a petty crime, and for that, I can put you away for a very long time.”

“Unless you help us,” Lieutenant Commander Koh added, her tone gentle not because she was gentle, but simply because she was playing the part. “You see, I don’t believe you’re actually suicidal, nor that you meant to hurt anyone.”

“No,” Redrick shook his head. “We didn’t mean to.”

“You didn’t mean to what?” Commander Drake prompted, seeking an admission of guilt as he knew the tapes would be inadmissible due to the techniques Lieutenant Commander Rhodes had used to reconstruct them.

“We didn’t mean it to hurt anyone,” Redrick replied, his eyes desperate for them to believe him. “My brother and I, we thought it’d just make the reactor shut down.”

“What made you think that?” Lieutenant Commander Koh asked.

“That’s what he told us.”

“He?” Commander Drake furled his brow. Once he’d seen the kids sitting there in the brig, he knew instantly that they were not the criminal masterminds at the root of this. “He who?”

Suddenly, Redrick grew very quiet. He’d said too much.

“Mister Teral, make no illusions here. Your brother is in the other room, giving us all the details we need,” Commander Drake cautioned. “The game is already up. We’re simply asking you to corroborate what he said.” In reality, it was a lie. Devork, the older brother, had spat vitriolically at them, refusing to provide a thing.

“I don’t believe you. My brother knows about Starfleet! He’d never…”

“It’s funny how quickly one’s tune can change when they realize they’ll spend their life behind bars,” Commander Drake interrupted without batting an eye. “Because that’s what awaits you both unless you cooperate. A Federation magistrate, not some colonial judge, will put you away for a long, long time, in a place far, far away.” There was a scary look in the JAG’s eyes, almost as if he relished the prospect. “You’ll be lucky if you see Duraxis again before forty.” Of course, it was all a bluff. The legal system would look past such a draconian sentence on account of the kid’s age, but what did Redrick know of that?

“I… I… I just…” Redrick fumbled. He wanted to be strong, but if his brother had given up, what purpose was staying quiet? His brother knew best. “Can I… can I speak with my brother?”

“No you may not,” Commander Drake replied firmly. “Not until this matter is resolved. Or, if you don’t cooperate, maybe not for years. Or decades even.”

Redrick Teral looked lost, and now it was Lieutenant Commander Koh’s turn to make a heartfelt appeal. “Look, I’ve been in your shoes,” she explained as she stared deeply into his panicked eyes. “I know what it’s to fend for yourself, when life is hard and you can’t escape. But it gets better. Or it can. I’m proof of that. But it all starts with being honest with us.”

Redrick looked like he was debating his options.

“You didn’t mean for this to happen,” Lieutenant Commander Koh offered. “He lied to you and your brother. He used you both, and he almost got everyone you cared about killed… your brother, your mother, and every other living soul on Duraxis. Don’t throw your life away for him.”

“Fine… fine…” Redrick conceded. “It was Voral.”

They knew the name, and to hear the opposition leader was responsible was a shocking development. Still, neither reacted in the slightest. If they had, it would have betrayed their bluff. Both were too seasoned for that. Instead, Lieutenant Commander Koh just continued on with her line of questioning. “And what’d he say about what he was asking you to do?”

“He said that if we did this, you’d be forced to leave.”