Bad News For Niro

Posted on Thu Dec 31st, 2015 @ 6:43pm by Lieutenant Raj Amani & Niro

Mission: Further Challenges
Location: The Brig

* The Brig *

Raj checked the padd he held as he descended in the turbolift. Intel had called to inform him that Six was back and regenerating and he breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully that situation was beginning to resolve. It was coincidentally related to his current destination - the brig and Niro. Finally, the doors of the lift opened and he hurried along the corridor. Several minutes later, he arrived at the main desk.

“Lt. Raj Amani, Counselor to see Niro,” he informed the duty officer.

The duty officer nodded and motioned for another officer to take the counselor down to Niro. As the two walked, the officer asked Raj, “You sure about seeing this guy? We can’t open the cell for you; you’re aware of that, right?”

“I suspected as much,” Raj answered. “I understand you’ve been taking extra precautions given the nature of his abilities. Do you intend to stay nearby while I see him?”

“Only if you want me to stay nearby,” the officer said, leading Raj through a series of turns and doors, all of which were activated by the duty officer back at the desk. After a few silent moments, they turned into a ‘cul-de-sac’: a set of four cells arrayed around a central round day room. Three of the four cells were empty. “Here he is, Lt.”

“I think so yes. If I start to sound strange or unusual, have me transported out immediately, understood?” Raj ordered.

“Yes, sir,” the officer acknowledged then withdrew.

In his cell, Niro looked out at Raj, frowning, and said, “You are not the woman I requested.”

Raj looked himself over, then laughed. “I wasn’t aware I was a woman at all,” he replied. “Hello Niro, I am Counselor Amani.”

“I have no need of a counselor,” Niro said, haughtily. “If that idiot prosecutor, Ray, sent you, go away. I am not going along with Tog’s attempt to brand me insane, either!”

“It is standard procedure to have every prisoner facing such charges assessed,” Raj answered. “Lt. Benson is simply following protocol, as am I. Besides, if you insist that you are sane and competent to stand trial, don’t you want that officially known so as not to ruin your reputation?” Raj could read his emotions easily enough and knew just what to say next.

Niro stared at Raj. “I can read you through the force field, you know. You’re eager to show me as competent so that the trial can move forward quickly. Wouldn’t you say, though, that wanting to be found sane and competent to stand trial is a bit insane?”

“Is it?” Raj sat down in one of the chairs closest to Niro’s cell. “Let’s back up a bit, shall we? Who is the woman you wanted to see?”

“Well... a woman, for one. Unless you’d like to drop the force field and get on your knees?” Niro stood, one brow quirked and a cruel smile on his lips. “For another, Seyla.”

Raj’s smile vanished in an instant and his friendly demeanor went with it. “Let me put this to you in a way that will sink in. I am the very last person you want to antagonize. My report will largely determine if you ever see the light of day again, or anything else for that matter. Now, I will ask you again. Who is it that you wanted to see besides Seyla?”

“You think highly of yourself, Counselor. Besides Seyla, I want Six, Reva, Falasin. In that order. Bring them here, drop the force field and then we can talk,” Niro said, knowing full well that none of the three would willingly come to the Brig.

“Reva and Falasin are off the table, sorry,” Raj countered. “Seyla, well, she’s a civilian so you can understand the issue with her coming in this part of the brig.”

“And Six?” Niro watched Raj carefully, like a predator watching his prey.

“Considering what you tried to do to her, do you think she wants to see you?” Raj asked. “I am honestly curious here, I’m not playing games.”

Chuckling, Niro nodded. "Perhaps the desire hasn't yet ...cropped up..., for her or for Reva, but I know they'll want to see me." His confidence, oily and slick, oozed off of him on this topic. He smugly smiled at Raj. "I'm quite certain."

“What if I told you that another Enaran has been assisting with reversing the damage you inflicted?” Raj wondered what effect that revelation would have. “So that she can get back to her normal life?”

"Do you want me to be shocked? Disappointed? Dismayed? Who did it? My brother? Damned goody-goody. He always worried about those less fortunate souls." He shook his head then went and lounged on his bed, keeping an eye on Raj. "He's not quite as good as I am, though. I've practiced twisting people's thoughts, desires and memories. Six might think she's back to her normal life, but just wait."

“No, your brother is off the station for now.” Raj shifted, getting more comfortable in the chair. “So let’s go with the assumption that what you say is possible. Why her? She is of no real use to you, Niro.”

"Where is my brother?" He sat up, focusing on Raj. For the moment, he didn't care about Six or Reva or any other female. He wanted to know about Nico and something he'd almost caught in Raj's mind worried him.

“Fleet business,” Raj answered. “Beyond that I can’t say, and if you go rooting around in my head, this interview is over and you won’t like the results.”

Niro frowned and was tempted to throw that right back at Raj: tell him about Nico or this interview was done. But he caught something that made him start to slowly smile: Raj was worried. Not about Nico, but about Six and Reva and what he, Niro, might have done to them. He twisted the mental blade a bit more. "You're right about Reva not being of any real use to me. She's just Orion. Six, though... once her desire to be with me comes 'round... Why, she has all that Borg-power and tech right at her fingertips. You should see what improvements she made to the Korenna! Things our little green engineer didn't even imagine doing! Six is of use to me."

Raj made a few notes on his padd, knowing he could get the video footage once he was done. “I see.” The man’s complete disregard for Six herself was startling. “A means to an end then. Is that what motivated this little side trip? I understand you couldn’t have planned to whisk them off to 2360 of course, but what had you planned to do once you had them off the station?”

"Six was a bonus; I had no idea she'd be there." He looked a touch wistful. "Darwin... I was going to sell him on a slave market. Julisa," he smiled, "We were friends at one point, sort of. Lovers, definitely. She's the only female whose head I didn't play with. I could have altered her memories and kept her. My crew, though, they'd probably have convinced me to sell her on that same market so that we could be home free."

“I see.” Raj considered that briefly. Niro had admitted calculated planning, complete disregard for the lives of the people he’d taken, the desire to use Six for her abilities, among other things, he suspected, and no remorse whatsoever. Add to that, his claim that he’d implanted some mental time bombs in two Fleet officers and it all added up to one very chilling picture. He almost hoped that for Niro’s sake, he was insane so he’d have some sort of excuse. If he was not, then the sentence for willfully doing all he did was a dizzying thought. He didn’t dwell on Niro’s claim regarding his past with Julisa. One thing did interest him where she was concerned, however.

“Why did you leave Julisa undisturbed?”

Niro scowled and abruptly pushed himself off the bed. He paced like a caged tiger, bothered by Raj's question. Finally, he smirked and said, "She's old. When we were on a mission together, she was helping me get my brother out of a bad situation. It wasn't exactly something she was trained to do, but she didn't shy away from it. That and just her...," he shrugged, "everything, I didn't need to change her." He didn't mention that she was resistant to his manipulations, something he'd discovered when he'd lured her to Arcadia.

Raj glanced at his padd, noting that Lt. Bajun and Niro were about the same age. It interested him that Niro considered her ‘old’. It was also fascinating that Niro, in so many words, had just said she met his vision of a perfect woman that didn’t need changing. It appeared that for Niro, the thrill came in remaking his chosen target. The thought chilled Raj to the core.

“Let’s move on to Cadet Ziyad. One of the charges you face is that of his attempted murder. Tell me about that.”

"What? Help you and that jackass, Benson, put me in prison? Piss off!", Niro snapped.

Raj had to hide a smile. He was right about one thing - Ray was something of a jackass but he was a jackass who was very good at his job. “I’m just curious what might have motivated it that’s all.” If he was honest, Raj was already tired of Niro, a surprising development since he normally had near infinite patience. His padd beeped and he opened the new message as he waited for Niro to answer.

"If I had motivation to kill Eli, perhaps it was just his amazingly annoying attitude. Or that he likes boys. Unnatural as that is," said the pot, calling the kettle black, "Maybe I just like inflicting mental pain on others - think of the pain Chance would have been in." Niro smiled.

Raj made another note on his padd, then decided it was time to take the gloves off. The padd beeped once more, confirming the earlier message. “I just received a message that concerns you, Niro.”

"Telling you to let me go?" He laughed.

“You wish,” Raj replied. His close proximity to Niro was making him feel increasingly slimy. “Official communiqué from Enara Prime.” He paused, purposely drawing out the tension of the moment.

Niro stared at him, waiting. "And? Or would you like me to read it in your head?"

There was no way Raj was going to let Niro deny him the satisfaction of delivering this news aloud. Besides, he wanted it preserved in the video record.

“According to this, the Enaran government has officially washed its hands of you. They are not requesting your return, nor are they going to assist in your defense. They have made it very clear that they condemn such actions by one of their citizens against members of the Federation and have offered to provide any background information concerning you as may be needed to prosecute your case.”

Turning away from Raj, Niro roared with rage, snatched up the closest thing that wasn’t nailed down and pitched it against the force field, making the field spark and the device crackle. Breathing hard from his rage, he growled, “Get out, you little shit.”

Raj resisted the urge to snap back and rose. “Gladly. I have all I need. As for your visitation requests, don’t hold your breath, Niro.” Raj knew that would get to Niro far more than any insult. “Six would rather see you rot down here than speak to you ever again. Enjoy your stay.” He smiled at Niro, then turned and began the walk back to the main desk.

Left alone, Niro raged in the cell, stomping on the remains of the padd he’d just destroyed. His blue-streak curses followed Raj down the hall.

Niro’s bellows were still clearly audible when Raj reached the brig officer. “Someone’s not having a good day,” he said.

“He hasn’t had many good days since he’s been here,” the officer said. “Perhaps one of the doctors will prescribe a mood stabilizer for him. We can have it inserted into his replicator rations.”

“Already on my list, actually,” Raj answered. “I’m also recommending something to temporarily block his telepathy, for the well-being of the brig staff. It will be down within the hour.”

“Thanks. We need that; some of the officers are skittish about being near him.” The officer entered a code to open a gate. “Anything else you need from him? We could gas him to put him to sleep if you need blood samples.”

“Not at the moment. I would advise, however, leaving him alone for a while. I just delivered the news that his government sent a big fat ‘screw you’ notice to him so he won’t be too pleasant to be around,” Raj answered.

“Duly noted, doc.” The officer stopped. “The duty officer will let you out the rest of the way.”

“Thank you.” Raj continued on, already entering the orders regarding Niro on his padd.

**************
Lt. Raj Amani
Reaching the End Of His Patience

Niro
Reaching the End of His Sanity