The brig that was on board the Saratoga was rather large compared to other ships, it was split up into two different sections that contained a good number of cells in each section. Five interrogation rooms were attached to the brig, there was also a large office where security officers could keep an eye on the prisoners that they may have. Lately, the brig hadn’t been used much, that is until now.

They had been sitting in the brig for the last couple of days, just sitting with no one coming to interrogate them. Jiru was still sour at Hiru and his stupid plan backfiring looked at Hiru, “I am surprised they haven’t come to interrogate us yet.” She replied with a malicious tone in her voice.

Hiru was laying down on the very uncomfortable bed, though it was not made for your comfort. Turning his head towards where Jiru was sitting, “I am sure it’s coming.” Hiru replied before turning his head back up to the ceiling.

Jiru was about to speak up when Tasi stood up, walking as close as possible to the opening of the cell without touching the forcefield that was in place. “We wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for your carelessness,” Tasi replied just what Jiru had been thinking.

Hiru sat up from the bed he was laying on to look at Tasi, “how is this my fault?” Hiru asked, looking at her in annoyance.

“Are you that stupid?” Jiru chimed in, getting pissed off at his ignorance.

Tasi threw her hands up in the air at Hiru, “did you ever think about disabling the other ship that was clearly on their side, or did you think that they wouldn’t have picked up our transporter signal?” Tasi asked in almost a yell as she was getting pissed that they were even in this predicament.

Taren and Tolev just sat in their cell listening to the three of them go back and forth with each other. They had decided that they were doing a good enough job laying into their careless leader that they would stay out of it for the time being.

“I thought they were with the Star Empire,” Hiru replied.

“How stupid can you be Hiru,” Tasi began looking at him. “Seriously, they were firing on us, what makes you think they were with the Star Navy if they were firing on us?” Tasi added throwing her hands up in the air at his stupidity. She began to question his ability to lead them as their Captain.

Taren finally spoke up after remaining quiet, “Tasi does have a point there.” He replied, looking at Hiru.

Hiru threw his hands up in the air, “I thought they were making it look like they were on their side,” Hiru had admitted.

Jiru couldn’t help but laugh at his stupidity at the whole situation, “well it sure paid well for you to think.” She exclaimed as she continued to laugh. They continued to argue amongst each other not realizing that Dazra was in the office watching them.

She had purposely left them sitting in the brig for the last couple of days without any interrogations in hopes they would start turning on each other. She couldn’t believe her plan was working, so she decided to give it a few more minutes before she would start talking to them one by one.

While Dazra continued to watch the interaction between the prisoners her computer beeped. Raising an eyebrow she turned on the computer screen to see the Captain on the other end. “What can I do for you, Captain?” Dazra asked, looking at her, though she probably knew why she was contacting her.

“How are the interrogations coming?” Azras asked, looking at Dazra.

Dazra looked at the Captain with a smile, “my plan has been working so I am about to start the interrogations next.” Dazra said as she went on to explain what she was doing, “I am hoping one of them will turn on their leader and give me all the information I need to know.” Dazra finished speaking as she looked at Azras.

Azras thought it was a bit unusual, though she wasn’t going to start questioning now as things seemed to be going in the right direction. Dazra was known to have some very interesting interrogation techniques, though none of them ever crossed the line. “Keep me informed of your progress,” Azras said before she ended the communication.

A security officer had walked into the office, “can you bring Tasi to interrogation room one.” She ordered as she looked at him, she had learned each of their names as they were doing their intake as they had been wanted by Starfleet for other crimes, other than one of them which was the younger Orion.

“Aye sir,” came the reply as he walked out of the room.

Turning back around towards the screens, she watched as the security officer walked into the brig. He had walked up to where Tasi was located and began to move her towards the interrogation room. Dazra had planned to have her sit in there for a while before she went in, in hopes that she would talk.

A few moments went by before she got up from the chair she was sitting in and made her way into the room. Tasi was sitting in the chair just twiddling her thumbs as she waited, Dazra sat down in the chair opposite of her and began to look at a padd without saying a word.

Tasi looked at Dazra as the silence continued to fill the air, “I could have just stayed in my cell than sit here in silence.” Tasi replied, looking at the Trill woman sitting across from her.

Looking up from her padd, “oh you can talk.” Dazra said as she sat the padd down on the table, “Tasi tell me what was the plan and whose bright idea was it?” She asked, looking at the middle-aged Orion woman.

Silence had once again filled the room as Tasi refused to answer her questions, letting out a soft chuckle. “I guess the cat has got your tongue again, what a shame,” Dazra said as she picked up the padd again, beginning to read again. After a few more minutes of silence before Dazra set the padd down again, leaning forward. “That’s alright, if you don’t want to answer my questions then I am pretty sure the others will. I am sure they will say that you were the mastermind of this whole operation,” Dazra had said.

Tasi continued to sit there not saying a word, Dazra stood up from her chair and walked out of the interrogation room looking at the security officer that was standing just outside of the doors. “Take her back to her cell and bring me Jiru,” Dazra ordered as the officer nodded as Dazra walked off back to the security office.

Once Tasi was secure in her cell the security officer walked up to where Jiru was located. He escorted her out towards the interrogation room. Hiru turned towards Tasi, “what did you say?” Hiru asked, looking at the woman who sat down.

Tasi looked at Hiru, “I didn’t say anything.” She replied, looking at him.

“Right, you probably told them everything they needed to know!” Hiru exclaimed, this had caused Dazra to smile as she purposely kept her a bit longer than she would the others.

“I didn’t tell them anything!” Tasi yelled back in annoyance.

The two of them had continued to argue back and forth for a while before Dazra decided to go visit Jiru. Dazra would continue to interrogate the others, though she wasn’t getting anywhere with them which she expected.

The arguing had continued between the prisoners as Hiru began to sweat, though she wasn’t going to grab him just yet. There was one young officer she had a feeling would turn on them in an instant, she would just have to put a bit more pressure on him as he was the next one to be brought into the interrogation room for questioning.

She had walked in a few minutes later and taken a seat, she could tell he was scared. “Why don’t we just cut down to the chase, I know everything.” She replied even though it was a lie, she wanted him to sweat. “The others told me how you were the mastermind behind this whole thing,” Dazra said, looking at him with a serious look on her face.

Tolev was about to say something in response when Dazra held up her hand for a moment as she wasn’t finished speaking. “You seem to be the smarter one of the group, so I don’t believe that you were the leader in all this.” Dazra added, “If you don’t want to go down for this then I suggest you tell me everything you know.” She finally finished talking, she could tell he was scared.

Her tactic seemed to have worked as Tolev began to talk, “if I tell you all that I know will you protect me from them?” Tolev asked, looking at Dazra.

Dazra looked at him for a moment, “though you will have to answer for your part in all this, I will keep you safe from any repercussions from them.” She replied as she could tell he didn’t want to go along with this but was forced to.

Tolev sat there for a few minutes looking down at his feet before looking back up at Dazra. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything as I can’t go along with this anymore,” Tolev replied as he adjusted in his seat.

Dazra smiled as she looked at him, she tapped a button on the console next to her to start the recording. “You may begin,” she replied as she looked at him, reassuring him that it would all be alright.

Taking a deep breath he began to speak, “Hiru is the leader in all this,” he said looking at her. “We were hired by someone in the Star Empire, our orders were to try to sabotage your efforts in assisting those on Rhijun.” Tolev began to explain before pausing for a few moments. “The goal was to show them that their only hope of protection would be to return, that they would be the only ones who could protect them in the end,” Tolev said as he looked down for a moment trying to catch his thoughts.

“His plan started to go south as soon as we arrived,” Tolev said.

“How so?” Dazra asked, looking at him as she sat there listening to what he had to say.

“We never realized how large of a ship the Saratoga was, or that there would be another Romulan ship assisting you.” Tolev replied before he continued, “though Hiru at first thought they were on our side by making it look like they were on yours.” He said before looking down for a few moments.

Dazra placed a hand on him for a brief moment, “keep going.” She replied, looking at him.

“Once we were on the ground, the plan was to move towards the refineries destroying more of them before working our way into the settlement.” He replied, “though he was a bit arrogant thinking that his plan was foolproof, that no one would know we were there until it was too late.” Tolev said, taking a small pause, “when we reached our destination only to be met by your security teams.” He replied with a sigh.

“Is there anything else that we should know about?” She asked, wondering if there was more to the story.

Tolev had looked at the time, his eyes had gone big and his face turned a white color as he realized what time it was. “Oh no!” Tolev replied, which caused Dazra to get a bit nervous at that reaction. “The IRW Audex, a Valdore-class warbird will be here really doon to carry out their plan.” Tolev replied looking at her, “I am unaware of what that would be as we were not even told. We were supposed to be long gone before they arrived,” Tolev said, looking at her.

Dazra almost looked just as pale for a moment before she composed herself, “Is that all?” Dazra asked.

Tolev nodded, “that is everything I know.” He replied as he sat there.

Dazra began to stand up from her chair, “thank you I will have you moved to the other side of the brig as promised.” She replied before she walked out of the interrogation room. She had given the security officer the order to move him to the other brig before she headed to the office to send a message to T’Prel and the away team. She explained the situation on what she discovered and ordered all security personnel from both the settlement and the city on high alert. After sending the message she started to make a beeline for the bridge.

She had practically rushed onto the bridge as she looked at the Captain, “can we talk in your ready room?” Dazra asked which caused Azras to have a concerned look on her face as she knew that it was urgent.

“Of course,” she replied as they headed directly into the ready room.

Over the next few minutes, Dazra explained everything that she was told by Tolev. “The IRW Audax will be here any minute, I have already sent a message down to T’Prel letting her know the situation and to have security on high alert.” Dazra finished speaking as she looked at the Captain.

Azras was about to speak when all of a sudden the red alert klaxon began to sound throughout the ship. “Captain to the bridge,” came Odan’s voice over the communications channel.

The two looked at each other for a moment, “well it looks like they are here,” Azras replied before they headed out onto the bridge.

“Report,” Azras replied.

“A Valdore-class warbird just dropped out of warp,” Odan replied before he continued, “they are not responding to our hails and their weapons are hot,” Odan replied from his console just as Dazra walked around to hers.

Azras looked at Ritru, “send a message to the Aldore, let them know not to engage.” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” she said as she sent the message.

Once the message was sent, “open a channel to the Romulan ship.” Azras ordered looking over at Ritru.

“This is Captain Azras Dex of the Federation starship USS Saratoga, Rhijan is under our protection please identify yourself,” Azras said as there was a long bit of silence as they waited for a response.

After a few moments, the viewscreen came to life to show a much older Romulan man on the other end. Ritru happened to look over just as he appeared and her face went pure white as if she had seen a ghost.

“I am Commander Jiras of the IRW Audax,” he began as he noticed Ritru sitting at her console. He didn’t say anything at the moment but instead turned his attention back to the Captain.

“I would like to request a meeting between us,” Jiras said as he looked at Azras.

Raising an eyebrow she looked over at Ritru, giving her the signal to mute the screen. “Sir, they took their weapons offline and are standing down at the moment.” Dazra said as she looked at her, “I would proceed with caution sir.” Dazra said, looking at the Captain.

“Stand down to yellow alert,” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” Dazra replied as the ship stood down.

Azras looked back to Ritru, she gave the signal and the viewscreen came back to life. “Apologies Commander, we accept your request and will meet you in the transporter room shortly,” Azras replied as she looked at him.

“I look forward to meeting with you Captain,” Jiras said before the viewscreen went back to that of space.

Taking a deep breath before looking back at Dazra, “I would like you and a few security officers to meet me down in transporter room one.” Azras ordered.

“Aye sir,” Dazra answered and walked off the bridge.

“Ritru and Mezril I would like you to meet me in the diplomatic conference room,” Azras ordered, looking at Ritru than at Mezril who happened to be on the bridge at the time.

“Aye sir,” they both replied.

“Odan keep me apprised of any changes,” Azras ordered.

“Understood sir,” Odan replied.

She finally turned to Deza, “you have the bridge.” Azras said as she headed towards the turbolift.

“Aye sir,” Deza replied before getting up from her seat and sitting down in the Captain’s chair.

She took a deep breath as she stood there for a moment, she knew this meeting wasn’t going to lead anywhere. She knew she would need to entertain the idea, she just had a bad feeling about this whole situation. She was thankful for Dazra’s quick thinking about warning those on the planet so they wouldn’t be caught off guard. Once she entered the turbolift she gave her destination as the doors closed shut behind her and began to move towards its destination.