Debriefing

Posted on 06 Jan 2020 @ 2:06am by Lieutenant Commander Camila Di Pasquale & Captain Harvey Geisler & Ensign Quinn Mackie

3,489 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Epilogue
Location: Interrogation
Timeline: March 30, 2389 || 0900 hours

Through the other side of the one-way window was Ensign Quinn Mackie. He wasn't bound and secured for he was not a prisoner aboard the Black Hawk. No one appreciated the irony that Mackie himself was a prisoner for the last several months. Just thinking about it soured Harvey's stomach. The Ensign was just a kid, and no matter how much the Dolmoqour had control of his body, this event would have severe repercussions for Quinn. He hadn't performed any task worthy of commendation, nor performed admirably in the face of adversity.

If anything, the ensign was an unwilling collaborator. That collaboration had cost the lives of eighty-four crewmen over the course of three months. Harvey, along with the nearby Lieutenant Di Pasquale and Guardian Commander Varke, now hoped that collaboration had worked two ways. If the stories Petty Officer Gomez told him yesterday before she died, then this interview would validate to the Guardians that the Dolmoqour had indeed breeched the barrier, and the threat was already outside in the Gamma Quadrant.

"I'll take the lead," Harvey stated plainly to the group assembled. "Any questions before we enter?"

Camila stood off to one side checking to make sure the force field was in place and that Mackie seemed ill at ease on the monitor. "I'm monitoring his signs, so if he tries to lie or obfuscate, I'll let you know," she told the Captain.

"If he tries to lie, I"ll know," Varke said. "I've dealt with the possessed enough to know when one is lying. Their lips move."

"Formerly possessed," Captain Geisler corrected. Already he was beginning to regret agreeing to let Varke participate in this endeavor, but it was a necessary evil.

"We don't know the extent of the Dolmoqour's control or what they do to a person," Varke countered. "Until proven otherwise, anyone possessed by them could still be an agent."

"If that's the case, Commander Varke," Camila said. "You're in a room with two of them, one of whom is armed. Now let the Captain conduct the interrogation, please, or I'll have to ask you to leave." Of course, only Harvey could do that, but she decided a bluff was enough.

"You, too?" Varke said with a look of disgust.

"We defend our own," Harvey remarked. "That's what Starfleet, the Federation... what we're all about. Standing united through progress, innovation and teamwork. Not in fear of the unknown."

"Then let us begin the questioning," Varke said.

Inside the interrogation room, Quinn was seated at the small metal table. He wasn't restrained to the chair or table, but he felt like he should have been. Between being under guard in sickbay, and having a security officer near his side even while going to the bathroom, Quinn felt as though he was still a prisoner despite being able to control his own body for the first time in months.

His ears heard the door open. A quick glance upward informed him that Captain Geisler would be present during this, and so was a Triosian. Quinn ignored the Triosian for now, but quickly rose to stand at attention.

"At ease, Ensign," Harvey stated, pulling out one of the chairs from the table to sit across from Ensign Mackie. He waited for Quinn to sit down before continuing. "Ensign, this is Commander Varke, representative of The Guardians. He'll have some questions for you as we proceed today."

"O... Okay," Quinn stammered, fidgeting in his seat. He did not know Varke, but he had heard stories of the Triosians from the Dolmoqour in his head.

Varke chose to remain standing and stared down at the human. "How long and when did you first come into contact with the Dolmoqour, Ensign?" he asked.

Quinn blinked, thinking the first question was going to come from the Captain. He quickly recollected himself and answered, "Stardate 65845.7. I was assigned, along with Lieutenant Commander Djinx, to inspect the Vasco da Gama docked at Deep Space 15. We were searching for records on the probe and what happened aboard the ship. The Dolmoqour's previous host, Ensign Akagi, was found dead in a science lab. The parasite grabbed onto my clothes and..." Quinn sighed, recalling the horrible experience. "And... it-it crawled into my ear as soon as I was alone."

"What were the Dolmoqour's goals other than getting out of the system?" Varke asked as he made a note on a borrowed PADD.

"Conquest," Quinn simply replied. "It's a big galaxy, and even with how slowly the Dolmoqour reproduce, they didn't want to wait a couple centuries to have enough Dolmoqour to make a play."

"How many Dolmoqour escaped Penduli V?" Varke asked. "Before the Black Hawk came there, that is."

Quinn had to shrug. "I really don't know," he replied. "I know that my Dolmoqour was born outside the zone about five years ago."

"How many are outside the Zone?" Harvey asked, jumping in with a question of his own.

"Best guess?" Quinn inhaled deeply as he tried to think. "About a hundred, I think. Most of them are still on Finnea Prime, though a few were planted on Deep Space 15. That's how... uh... that's how Yuki and Akagi were turned."

"A hundred?!" Varke exploded. "How did so many escape Finnea?" He glared at the Captain. "More of your muddling ships coming through the barrier and now look! Over a hundred still free and reproducing!"

"Slow down, Commander," Harvey pressed, turning to face the Triosian. "In order for them to get to Finnea, they would have had to get past you and the barrier. This is all the more reason why the Guardians can't keep a lid on the Great Conflict. Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it."

Varke glared at the human Captain, then turned back to Mackie. "What was your part other than sabotage and murder, Ensign? Who did you convert? What lives did you ruin?"

Quinn's lip began to quiver. He hadn't responded, yet he was becoming visibly overwhelmed with both sorrow and rage. "I-I-I had no part! My body, my memories, my friendships... all of them exploited by a parasite I couldn't fight!"

"I-I-I," Varked mocked him. "It was your body that did those actions, Ensign! Who did you kill? Who did you convert? What did you sabotage to allow more Dolmoqour to be freed?"

"I killed no one!" Quinn loudly protested. "I fought that damn thing, with all that I had! Every time I tried to save someone, the Dolmoqour... it..." Tears began to well in Quinn's eyes as flashes of horrible events replayed in his vision, including a dying T'pyr whom Quinn played a part in. "It targeted them..."

"Who did it target, Ensign?," Varke asked as he loomed over the human. "Tell me!"

Quinn sank into his chair, defeated by the Triosian. "K-K-Kelly. Ensign Khan. She was the only one I converted before yesterday."

"Hold up," Harvey stated, seeing that the bad cop had gone too far. "Varke, he's cooperating. Let's ease up a bit."

The Triosian looked like he was ready to throttle Quinn, but stepped back at the human Captain's comments. "You Federation people are soft," he accused Harvey before turning his attention back to Quinn. "What plans were you part of as one of the Possessed?"

Harvey's eyes met Quinn's. He could tell the Ensign was still shaken, and was waiting for a confirmation that it was safe to proceed. The Captain certainly did not agree with Varke's attitude or approach, and as much as he wanted to defend the Ensign, Harvey knew that the ship was still at the mercy of the Guardians. Asking the question in a different way, the Captain inquired, "When you were possessed, what did the Dolmoqour do?"

"My parasite took orders from Lieutenant Carmichael," Quinn said softly. "He was infected shortly after the probe was found. For the last several months, my... my hands were used to plant subroutines in every basic system, slowly crafting a code to be used to imitate a command override when we found the Dolmoqour homeworld."

Quinn looked up at Varke. "Charles' parasite wasn't born inside the Zone either. In fact, I was told that the Dolmoqour outside the Zone were in much in the dark about the Great Conflict as most everyone. So, for a while, the Dolmoqour goals mirrored Starfleet's... find the homeworld and learn about the Zone."

"What of the Boreriri and the other Triosian you found at Kalisa Prime?" Varke asked, taking a step back from the Ensign since his Captain coddled him. "What did they tell you?"

"We weren't allowed to have access to them," Quinn stated. "Security kept all access to them away. Only Charles communicated with them."

"The Boreriri are telepathic," Varke said. "Are you saying you never received any telepathic orders from him?"

"Orders and communication are two different things," Quinn argued. "I received orders, yes. But the Boreriri never spoke separately with my Dolmoqour."

"Stop obfuscating with semantics!" Varke barked angrily. "What orders did you receive? Are there any infected left that you know about?"

Quinn's tears ceased. His sadness had been replaced with frustration and bewilderment. What would it take to convince this Triosian that he was telling the truth? "I was beamed down yesterday, brought aboard over a hundred Dolmoqour. Those were distributed among the infected Away Team throughout the ship. The Bridge, Engineering, Security, Flight Deck. The Dolmoqour wanted the ship and the entire crew."

"Their plan didn't work out all that well and you need to thank your Captain for that," Varke said with disdain. "Not to mention thanking him for sparring you what I'd do to you on one of my ships. That aside, what have you learned about the Dolmoqour outside of the Zone, other than the rumor you told me about them wanting to find their homeworld. Where have they gone? Where are they going?"

Harvey shifted in his chair, leaning forward to hear what the Ensign had to say. As much as he didn't like this interview, Harvey considered himself thankful for maintaining his ground and keeping Quinn on the ship and not alone.

"About a dozen have started scouting the quadrant," Quinn answered. "As far as I know, Charles, myself, and I think Commander Yuki are... were the only ones in Starfleet."

"Commander Yuki lives then?" Harvey interrupted. The Vasco da Gama's XO had eluded capture all this time, and hadn't been seen since spotted on Finnea Prime.

Quinn shook his head. "I can't say for certain, but I'm positive the Selubassari would have killed her and put the Dolmoqour into a new host. In fact, the Dolmoqour may try to assume control of Deep Space 15. Quietly, of course, to make sure they can have the best eyes on the sector and the Zone."

"This makes me wonder how far back this really goes, Captain," Camila added. "Could they also have been the ones behind the Consortium?"

Harvey raised his eyebrows. He hadn't considered the possibility, but now he couldn't stop thinking about it. "It's entirely possible. We never found out how deep that rabbit hole went either."

"That doesn't matter for now," Varke said as he turned his attention back to Quinn. "What plans do you know of that was shared with you other than this so-called conquest of the galaxy with so few Dolmoqour?"

"Just conquest," Quinn replied. "All the Dolmoqour not from Penduli V were prepared to play the slow game, take a couple decades or so to infiltrate higher places, create breeding grounds, et cetera. Since the Zone hadn't advanced enough through technology, and what's outside the Zone so far advanced, it was taking time to figure out the best places for each host."

"Did the Dolmoqour ever infect the Guardians?" Varke asked.

Quinn nodded. "A little more than a month ago, when this ship was hit by a quantum filament and the crew spread out over time, one of the timezones saw the Black Hawk boarded by Guardians. They were attempting to blow up the ship, but they were beamed to the brig where they simply committed suicide. One of them was infected, and made the brig officer, Petty Officer Gomez, a host."

"Miss Gomez," Harvey interjected, "was freed and then killed shortly after I returned aboard."

Camila's face fell when the Captain spoke of Gomez. The Dolmoqour in her made her shoot the other officer and she knew she would let the guilt eat her alive.

Varke nodded as much as his physiology allowed. "How did you...the Dolmoqour plan on getting out of the Zone? This ship is in no shape for that."

"The Dolmoqour did plan on getting it out of the Zone," Quinn replied. "Helmsman Kelly Khan was converted, and had been running escape scenarios. However, once the battle began, because no one counted on the Guardians showing up, it became clear that the Black Hawk was going to be abandoned. Every shuttle, runabout, even the fighters would have been filled with possessed crew and went straight for the barrier. They would have escaped and been sorted back into society with no one the wiser."

Camila shivered at the thought and how many more people would have died and stayed silent as the interrogation continued. She had no place to say anything about Quinn or anyone that had been possessed.

"Did any Dolmoqour not in hosts get hidden anywhere on this ship?" Varke asked.

Quinn shook his head. "The ship was being abandoned. What good would a hidden Dolmoqour do except to be vaporized with the ship when it detonated?"

The Security Chief shivered when she remembered helping to activate the self destruct of the ship.

"Do you remember anything the Dolmoqour, I don't know, thought that wasn't directed at controlling you, or was it urges to do it against your will?" Varke asked.

Quinn nodded, sobering up fully now. "There was a lot of talk about what to do once the Black Hawk was out of the zone. The plan was to infect the entire crew, killing enough to make it look like the Black Hawk had barely escaped, but was successful in its mission. Over seven hundred infected, plus another thousand or so in cold storage. The goal was to infect top Starfleet brass in the Gamma Quadrant, and leave it to them to spread it to Starfleet Command, the Klingon Empire, maybe even the Cardassian Union. Meanwhile, the rest would work their way up to ship Captains and other key locations, slowly reproducing and influencing."

Varke nodded and frowned, then looked at the Captain. "I turn him over to you for questioning, Captain," he said, wanting to know what Starfleet interrogation was like and what the human would ask.

Quinn wasn't sure if he should be relieved or terrified that Varke was ending his pressure, at least for now. He looked to Harvey for the next question.

Harvey stared at the Ensign for a few moments. A lot of information had been dumped in the last few minutes, and Harvey did his best to assemble a timeline in his mind. If Quinn had been infected back on the Vasco da Gama, then that meant that he'd served as an unwilling host for the last four or five months. There would have to be a lot of further interviews to verify details, all of which made nearly impossible since Carmichael had been killed. "Can you verify who all aboard this ship was infected prior to our arrival at Penduli V?"

The Ensign nodded, and then answered, "Myself and Lieutenant Carmichael were infected prior to crossing into the Zone. Lieutenant T'pyr was infected after Carmichael's Dolmoqour... reproduced. This was when the Black Hawk's crew was spread out over time. Petty Officer Gomez was infected during that time as well, following a Guardian boarding party. My parasite reproduced a short time later, and Kel... Ensign Khan was then infected. It was just us five when we arrived at Penduli."

"Gomez was vaporized after being freed," Harvey stated, the memory of the action still fresh in his mind. "Carmichael was freed moments before death, as his parasite was preparing to commit suicide, but we have yet to find T'pyr.'

Quinn lowered his head in shame. "I know where she is. Her body is in Cabin Zero-Four-Two-Seven on Deck Four. It was a vacant room. She... Lieutenant T'pyr was killed by the Dolmoqour and her parasite transferred to Lieutenant Beckett. That parasite died on the Flight Deck."

Harvey remained still for a few moments, allowing Quinn to attempt to deal with his grief. "Thank you, Ensign. I know this interview has been difficult. We are going to need time to confirm all of this information. For now, I'm going to need you to wait here for a few minutes." Without waiting for a response, Harvey rose from his chair and gestured for both Lieutenant Di Pasquale and Commander Varke to follow him outside.

Camila called for Security personnel to go to quarters Zero-Four-Two-Seven on her combadge and gave Quinn a look that said she felt sorry for him. She felt sorry for herself, too, but that was something she had to work out in any way she could. She headed after the Captain while Varke gave the human Ensign one last dirty look before exiting.

As soon as they were outside and the door closed, Harvey turned to face both Varke and Di Pasquale. “Well, that was more than I expected.”

Varke turned to Harvey. "I would ask for him to be extradited, but he's clearly broken and the Dolmoqour have ways of making people do what they want. Still, I expect his punishment to be harsh."

"With all due respect, Commander Varke," Camila said. "The Federation believes in rehabilitation and his real punishment will be living with what he was forced to do."

Varke sneered and looked at Harvey. "Well?"

Harvey glared at the Triosian. “Well what? Lieutenant Di Pasquale is correct, we don’t extradite. Besides, our time in the cosmos has proven that the Dolmoqour aren’t the only species that can possess another. It is our duty to rehabilitate and help the Ensign move past this ordeal.”

"Feh, keep him," Varke said. "However, know if any of the Dolmoqour survived your purge, it'll be on your heads."

"That has nothing to do with the Guardians," Camila said. "We do our part and you do yours, Sir."

The Triosian looked at the human woman. "Soft. You are all soft."

Harvey grunted, finding offense at the word. Still, he bit his tongue to keep from pushing this situation downhill. “Anything else you have need of, Commander?” He asked Varke.

"No," Varke grunted, clearly displeased with the turn of events. "Except it would be nice if you provided me with the frequencies you used to jam our mines and platforms."

The Captain raised an eyebrow. “Shouldn’t we make sure you’re not carrying one of those Dolmoqour first?”

"Then get a disc gun and shoot me," Varke said as he stared at the Captain.

Harvey kept his eyebrow high, staring down the Triosian. “What... exactly do you plan on doing with it? The ability to pass through the minefield?”

"No," Varke said. "We will use it so others cannot do it again."

“So others can’t do what again?” Harvey repeated.

"Get in to release them!" Varke shouted.

"Calm down, Commander," Camila said. "You should learn to relax."

"I'll relax when they're all exterminated," Varke vowed.

Harvey frowned. “We had no plans to release them, nor do we will ever attempt to do so. I can’t however surrender the technology. To do so would to become accessory to genocide. I will not have that on my conscience.”

"What?" Varke said in disbelief. "Who do you think put the mines and platforms there?!"

“Your ancestors,” the Captain simply replied. “Apparently they didn’t trust you either since they didn’t give you the key. But let me ask you this. Say you eradicate the Scruna and the Dolmoqour on Penduli V? What then? There still Dolmoqour outside the planet, and outside the zone. You won’t find them all.”

Varke looked like he wanted to attack the Captain, but saw the Security woman reaching for the weapon at her side before he forced himself calm. "Just remember, this isn't your Federation, Captain Geisler."

“How could I forget?” Harvey replied, his sarcasm obscured by a grin.

"If and when your people come back here, just keep it in mind," Varke said before he turned to the Chief. "Get me back to my ship."

"Captain?" Camila asked politely.

Harvey simply nodded to the Lieutenant. The sooner Varke was off his ship, the better. “Have a pleasant day, Commander.”

With that, Camila led Varke away and hoped it would be the last time she saw him.

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