He felt metal against his cheek. He felt the restraints that bound his wrists. The memories started flooding back. The interrogation. The pain. The torture. Lying there with his face on the table, Lieutenant Jace Morgan opened his eyes. He was in a brightly lit room, and a Starfleet officer sat across the table in a neatly pressed uniform. He recognized the man.

“Commander Drake?” Was he going crazy? He had memories of agony in a dark room. They were raw and fresh like they’d just happened. But now he was sitting in a  bright room across from the Staff Judge Advocate of the USS Polaris. Commander Robert Drake was an ivory tower ideologue conducting an investigation of them for what they did on Nasera. His recent memories and his present reality didn’t align. “What is this?”

“Justice.”

“Where am I?”

“Right where you belong.”

“What have you done to me?”

“Nothing. Yet.”

“No… no… I… I remember…” Lieutenant Morgan stuttered as he reached for his memories. His brain was foggy. He was exhausted. But then he remembered. He saw flashes of the nightmare he’d just endured. The fire ants. The smelting pot. The indescribable pain. “I was tortured.”

“What are you talking about?” Commander Drake asked incredulously. “You’ve been in my custody ever since you were arrested for breaking into a civilian news agency.” A completely inappropriate act for a Starfleet officer to commit. Just like what the team had done on Nasera.

“You’re lying! I remember!” Lieutenant Morgan shouted angrily as he recalled more of what he’d been through. If he’d been in the JAG’s custody this whole time, then the JAG was involved in his ordeal and had crossed serious lines. “The same lines you accused us of crossing on Nasera…”

“No, Lieutenant Morgan, you’re mistaken,” Commander Drake shook his head. “I assure you that you’ve been treated humanely ever since your arrest. Far more than can be said for that Vorta in your captivity… If you ask me, it sounds like your mind is trying to cope with your guilt and is forcing you to relive your crimes through the eyes of your victims. You would not be the first war criminals I’ve seen go through this.”

Was he going crazy? It sure felt that way.

“I’m told confession can provide a real sense of relief,” Commander Drake suggested. “It can be the first step in a journey of rehabilitation. I cannot condone what you did, but I’m here to help you with your recovery…” This was all calculated, the earlier torture and the current scene, supplemented with a thick cocktail coursing through his veins. It was all meant to weaken his inhibitions and detach him from reality. “So where shall we begin? What happened with the Vorta on Nasera? Or what you and the rest of Lewis’ goons are doing here on Earth?”

No! He wasn’t going there with the JAG, Lieutenant Morgan told himself. Not now. Not ever. He was loyal to his team. He and his team had done what needed to be done, and he would stand by them.

“Ok fine, I’ll pick,” Commander Drake continued. “Let’s start with Nasera. We ran a tox panel on the Vorta. Do you have any idea what you, Commander Lewis and Dr. Hall put him through?” 

Lieutenant Morgan said nothing. Even before his arrest, he was already feeling guilty over what they had done. Did the ends justify the means? Now, with the psychoactives and the memories, he started to doubt those choices even more.

“Let me tell you…” Commander Drake savagely pressed on his distress. “He felt fire. Like lying on a bed of hot nails. Like being dumped in a pit of lava…”

The JAG officer kept on going, but Lieutenant Morgan couldn’t hear it. Drake’s words forced him into a flashback, not that of torturing the Vorta but rather that of being tortured himself. Those memories felt so real. But were they? Commander Drake was a JAG officer, not a sadist. Maybe it was as the JAG officer had said. Maybe it was all in his head. Maybe this was his guilt coming home to roost.

“It was a war crime, plain and simple,” Commander Drake drew to a close as Lieutenant Morgan came back to the present moment. “But here’s the thing, Lieutenant. I’m not after you. I want Commander Lewis and Admiral Reyes. Tell me what they’re up to, and you won’t spend a single night in prison.”

Prison. That’s right. That’s where he’d end up for his crimes. And they were crimes. He knew that. He’d participated in the torture of a restrained prisoner, and he’d stood idle while his commanding officer executed that Vorta in their custody. Maybe all those memories he was seeing in his head  were actually just manifestations of his guilt.

“They’re looking for someone,” Lieutenant Morgan admitted. “A rear admiral.”

“Yes, Rear Admiral Aria Edir,” Commander Drake nodded. This was not news. “I’ve already been told that. You’re going to have to give me something more.”

“Admiral Reyes and Commander Lewis are convinced there’s a conspiracy within Starfleet,” Lieutenant Morgan shared. “They believe Command actively suppressed news of the Dominion invasion last month and that they nabbed Edir to prevent her from leaking the truth.”

“Who is this ‘they’ that you refer to?” asked Commander Drake as he leaned towards the Lieutenant. This was important. Did they know who the conspiracy involved? Or were they just chasing ghosts in empty hallways?

“We have no idea.”

“I see,” nodded the JAG as he leaned back in his chair. “What else are they planning to do?”

“I have no idea,” Lieutenant Morgan frowned. Then he locked eyes with the JAG, pleading that he listen: “But Commander Drake, please believe me… Something is very wrong. This is the thing you should be worried about. Not what we did on Nasera to save lives.”

“One wrong does not void another. I’m sure I can find time for both.”