Bema sat at a small table, his head in his hands. The shabby little room was bathed in the golden light of evening. They had been at this for hours, with no progress. The Vaadwaur, Lieutenant Gulrork, had revealed nothing but his name and his rank. Scott was in the other room with him now, his muffled voice sounded stern, but calm. Vail was also seated at the table, leaning back in her chair picking at a ration bar. Tom was beside her with his head down on the table, his long arms stretched across it. Dathasa was sitting by the open window, digging her knife into the wooden sill in frustration. All of a sudden she was on her feet, cursing. “This is bullshit.” she said, turning to face the group, “We haven’t gotten anywhere. Just let me go in there and do my thing. I’ll have him talking in no time.” She paced the length of the small kitchen. 

“No,” Bema said, lifting his head out of his hands to look at her, “We can’t do that. We can’t just barge in there and start torturing him, even if he is the enemy.” He sighed heavily and dropped his hands to his lap, leaning back into his chair. 

“You can’t”, Dathasa said with a sneer, “I, on the other hand, absolutely can.”

“It won’t work.” Vail interjected, wincing as she leaned forward, “It never does. And then he’ll die, and we won’t be able to ask him anything.”

Tom picked his head up off the table. “I think she’s right.” He said with a growl, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder at Dathasa. “Violence is the quickest way to get any information he has. Anything else is a waste of time.”

“See? He gets it.” Dathasa replied, giving Tom a nod.

Scott came back into the room, closing the door behind him. He sank into the last chair at the table with a deep sigh. “Still nothing.” He picked up one of the foil wrapped emergency rations and pulled the package open, looking down at it with disdain. “I’d even take replicated food, at this point.” 

“Captain.” Dathasa said, stepping towards the table, “Let me go in there. I’ll stick my knife in a few choice places, and he’ll sing like a bird.” 

“Out of the question.” Scott said flatly. “Starfleet does not condone…”

“Starfleet!?” Dathasa cut him off, her voice dripping with anger, “I don’t care what Starfleet would do, Captain. With all due respect, we do not have time for your bureaucratic Federation bullshit. Not for nothing, but it’s my friends being rounded up and taken to who knows where, not yours.” 

“I am fully aware of what is at stake, Dathasa.” Scott said sternly. “Be that as it may, I will NOT allow you to kill this prisoner.” 

“I wouldn’t kill him.” She said pointedly, “but asking politely for his help doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere fast, and we need to know what is going on, Captain. Soon.” 

Scott however remained resolute. “No.” he said finally, standing up from the table. He crossed the room to the back door, and stepped out into the darkening evening air. Bema stood up and followed him out, sitting down beside him on the steps leading up to the door. They sat in silence for a moment, watching the Vaadwaur ships dip down and then back up in the distance. 

“You know she has a point.” Bema said after a while. 

Scott let out a deep sigh, and turned to face his old friend. “I know, but we can’t become them. It was the same thing with the Dominion.” 

“We did some dark shit during the war, Scott.” Bema said softly. “Stuff that still haunts me, but we managed to hold on to our values. This is just another war, man, and war is ugly.” He leaned back onto the steps, looking up into the sky which was now a deep indigo. Stars were beginning to shine through. “We won’t be able to keep our hands clean for long.”

“I am determined to keep them clean for as long as possible.” Scott replied, putting his elbows on his knees. “The things we did during the war haunt me too, Bema. I don’t want to be that person anymore.”

“I have a feeling that choice will be made for you before long.” Bema said, putting a hand on Scott’s shoulder. 

“It won’t be a choice then, it will be a lack of options.” Scott said softly. The pair fell back into silence, each lost in their own thoughts. 

“Fuck this, I’m tired of waiting!” Came Dathasa’s voice from inside the building, then the stomping of boots, then a slamming door. Scott and Bema leapt to their feet and bolted past Vail and Tom, who were both on their feet at that point, to the door of the room where Gulrork was being held, but it would not open. They heard her address him, and then, they heard him cry out in pain.  

“Dathasha, open this door!” Scott shouted to her, but his voice was drowned out by another pained yell from inside. Scott knelt down to the access panel,  pulled off the cover, and began frantically working to override the door’s lock. Sweat was running down his face into his eyes as he worked, but after several minutes filled with the sounds of torture, he sank back to the floor and dropped his hands. “I can’t get it open,”he said,  “It’s too complicated. Damn it, why did Garion decide to go camping!?” He stood, and beat the door with his fists again, “Come on, open the door!” but there was no answer. The room on the other side of the door had gone quiet, and Scott collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs, his head falling into his hands, feeling utterly defeated. Vail moved around the table to his side, placing a hand gently on his back. 

Minutes went by in tense silence before the door opened again. Dathasa emerged, wiping the blade of her knife. Tom’s eyes burned with intensity, and he took a step towards her, but Scott raised his hand, and Tom stopped. Scott rose from his seat, lifting his head to meet Dathasa’s eyes with his. The muscles in his cheeks twitched as he clenched and unclenched his jaw, apparently calming himself before speaking. Keeping his voice level, he asked, “And?”

Dathasa was wearing a very self satisfied expression when she answered. “He was very cooperative with me, Captain. Did you not find him easy to talk to?”

“You’ve got some nerve.” Tom growled. “We should arrest you right now.” 

Dathasa smiled at him and waved her hand dismissively. “You won’t arrest me, big fella.” she said smoothly, “Your boss won’t let you because now, you need what I have; information.”

“She’s right, Tom” Scott said, “Which brings me back to you.” he said, rounding back on Dathasa. “What did you learn?”

“It’s as bad as we thought.” She said, “They have a ship in orbit, and it’s pretty big. They are here to fill quotas for labour camps.” 

“How many people are they taking?” asked Bema.

“Don’t know. But they’re about half done.” Dathasa replied. 

“There isn’t much time then.” Scott said, “We need to get in touch with the Erikson and save those people.”

“Captain,” Vail interjected, “The Erikson is good, but she’s small. I doubt we will be able to take on a ship by ourselves.”

“Not by yourselves.” Dathasa broke in. “I’ll help. And I’ll bet there are a few folks in the city who will help too.”

“Alright, let’s go find some reinforcements.” said Scott, getting to his feet. He jerked his head towards the door, “Is he in any state to travel?” 

“No,” Dathasa replied, “But he isn’t in danger of dying either. You don’t want to know.” she added quickly, looking at Scott’s disapproving scowl. “C’mon, It’s only getting darker. Let’s go while we can.” The crew got their things together, and headed out into the street. They picked their way through the darkness back towards the underground, hoping to find some help.