The Swift And The Condemned

Posted on Fri Apr 5th, 2013 @ 7:33am by Suresh & Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift M.D., PhD

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: The Brig

* * * The Brig * * *

Down in his cell, Suresh was pacing like a caged tiger. His mind was in a whirl and he felt the spell left by T’lucia beginning to wear off, leaving him as jumpy as it always had with Li. He had thought he was over that little addiction but now his body craved it again like a dying man craves water on Vulcan. And with it came the rage, the urge to lash out. He’d demanded to see Li but so far, she hadn’t shown up.

If she didn’t come soon, Suresh wasn’t sure he could keep it together. He stopped in the middle of the cell and buried his face in his hands, growling deep. He didn’t care how he looked, what blew his mind was that none of the security officers on duty had seen her. It was as if she only existed for him and that made it far worse. He stood still as stone, his face covered as he fought inwardly for control.

First appointment of the day for Robin was the criminal Suresh. He was supposed to determine the man’s sanity regarding the trial that was potentially coming, so he’d gotten up and dressed and was there right on time ready to do his part. After checking in with the security staff he had a chair brought in and placed directly in front of the cell. There were very few times when a prisoner of this sort was allowed to be alone with a visitor, but because this was a counseling session, the security staff were required to leave. Once gone, Robin introduced himself.

“Good morning, Mr. Suresh. I am Lieutenant Commander Robin Swift, the chief counselor aboard this station.” He said as he sat. “Do you know why I am here?”

It took a few seconds for the words to settle in Suresh’s head but finally he turned slightly to face Robin. He looked utterly exhausted and more than a little unsettled as well. He nodded however.

“Yes. Tog said you would be here to see me.” Suresh’s normally expressive voice lacked any emotion at the moment.

“Okay, then. Before we start I am compelled to tell you that an audio and visual account of this interview is being recorded. They are protected by doctor-patient confidentiality and not accessible by anyone else except by the highest of court orders. But because this is such a high profile case I may need to refer back to something we went over and notes just don’t do the trick.” He smiled, trying to break the ice a bit. “I would like to start with your criminal charges. Do you understand what you are being charged with, and why?”

“Yes.” Suresh moved over to sit heavily on his bunk after looking past Robin, checking to see if anyone else was around. “I do, but they don’t understand.”

“And what is it that they don’t understand?”

“Why I did it. Though I suppose that means little now.I’m not safe here Counselor. I will never be safe anywhere. I love Li beyond all reason. We were meant to be but ...things...decreed otherwise and now those things have produced other things that will likely see the end of me.”

Robin was puzzled now. “I’ll get to the safety issue in a moment, but can you expound upon these things you’re speaking of? Who or what are they?”

“Her husband of course. Commander Sakkath. If it were not for him, I would have no issues, I’d have Li, we’d be...anywhere but here.” Suresh’s gaze was haunted as he finally looked directly at Robin. “I almost had her you know. I could’ve stayed in that alternate universe and she wanted to stay there too, until that cursed Vulcan took hold of her thoughts again.”

“So, if I understand you right, you believe that Commander Sakkath wants to harm you in some way?” Robin asked.

“No, not directly. He has this hold over Li that keeps her from me. I don’t understand it, Counselor. When we were over there, she was different. She looked out for me, she allowed me to be close to her, to touch her. When we returned, and she was back home with him, she has once again become distant and cold. I wonder sometimes if she can’t say what she wants to say to me because she’s afraid he will know.”

“Well, I don’t know details about their relationship, but I will only comment on this much of it: she is Betazoid, he is Vulcan. They are able to share quite a bit more than those of us without some sort of psychic abilities, so she may seem different around him because of that. However,” Robin said, going back to his original question, “you failed to answer my question fully. What makes you think Commander Sakkath is going to harm you? You said ‘not directly’. What does that mean?”

“Because I have met their daughter.” Suresh left it at that as if it explained everything.

Robin’s brow creased as he quickly scanned the station manifest. “I’m sorry, but you said that you met their daughter? Station records indicate that they do not have any offspring. Can you tell me when this happened and what was said?”

“About an hour ago. She came to wipe my mind. She wanted revenge for distressing her parents all these years. She doesn’t understand either, Counselor. Tell me, have you ever loved someone?”

Robin’s mind quickly flitted to memories of Stephen but dismissed them as quickly as they had arrived. “Don’t change the subject, Suresh,” he said. “Did you summon security personnel when this girl arrived?”

They were here and couldn’t see her. Only me because she vanished.” Suresh shrugged. “Doesn’t matter really, does it? I cannot have what I need and my attempts to get it have landed me here. I made a mistake. I should have removed Sakkath instead of going after the Admiral. A tactical error in judgment is what you Fleeties would call it.”

Robin made a mental note to check the security logs to see if anyone did, in fact, appear or if there was any other evidence of a visitor. He also made notes that Suresh admitted to plotting something against the Admiral. “Earlier you had mentioned that you were not safe here. Are you referring to this woman that came to see you, or is there something else?”

“Yes, but it won’t matter where I go. I begged Tog to find a way to keep me here you know. I can’t be too far from Li.” A sudden thought hit Suresh and he leaned forward a bit. “Do you think you could help with that?”

Shaking his head, Robin replied, “I have no bearing on where you wind up being incarcerated. But I am curious, before your trip to the alternate universe, had you seen this woman you claim is Sakkath and Li’s daughter? Or did you have any other run-ins with people that no one else saw?”

So far, Robin had enough already to say that Suresh was definitely disturbed, if not just from the visions of this woman he spoke of, from other statements he’d made so far. But what Robin needed to find out was whether or not Suresh was having these problems when he tried to kidnap Li and kill the Admiral.

“No.” He raised his hand to run it through his hair and now, the ‘Isha’ scar on his forearm was visible to Robin.

“Hmmm,” Robin said as he noticed the scar and made note of it in his PADD. “Can you tell me how you came across that injury on your arm there?”

Suresh looked at the scar on his arm for some time, not speaking. Finally, he cleared his throat, but his voice was husky with emotion. “Isha. Li was undercover down below the equator and that is who she was supposed to be. That’s how I met her you see. When the assignment was over, I think when she became the station XO, which I discovered later, she faked Isha’s death with a bottle of poisoned wine. I thought I’d lost her forever. There was a while there that I wanted to die Counselor. I wanted to keep her close so I broke a whiskey glass that night and carved her name into my arm. I didn’t need this so I wouldn’t forget her, that isn’t possible, but I wanted it here and visible.”

Robin took notes of all that he heard, despite the audio/visual recordings. Extremely unhealthy attachment to Li Hawke with obvious fantasies for taking her as his own, by force if necessary--to include the existing kidnapping event; paranoid schizophrenia based on his visions of a female, whom he stated was the daughter of Commander Sakkath and Captain Hawke (and does not exist), and was not seen by anyone else in the room; generalized paranoia regarding his own safety, despite the best efforts of all security staff on the base who are, in essence, seeing to his every need while incarcerated. He looked back through the notes that the base had for Suresh and found a recommended psychiatric evaluation from medical staff after a disturbance in one of the bars, something over a bottle of wine.

“Suresh,” Robin said, wanting to know more, “can you tell me what happened the night in which you were sent to sickbay and a psych eval was suggested for you? Something about some wine?”

“That was shortly after Isha’s death. I went to the Nexus Club for the evening, hoping to take my mind off things, you know? While I was there, someone who had reason to know of the circumstances of her death thought it would be amusing to send over a bottle of wine. I obviously did not find it funny and I broke down. They carried me off and I ended up at main Sickbay. It’s something of a blur in my mind I’m afraid, between the Nexus Club and realizing I was in Sickbay, but I was calmer. I refused the evaluation and went home.” Suresh frowned slightly. ‘Is it important?”

“As a psychiatrist, and you being someone who resides on this base, it is important to me since I care about everyone’s mental health.” Robin was telling the truth, despite the fact that Suresh had tried to kill and kidnap, amongst other things. “You may not be on this base much longer, but I have a responsibility to help you if I can. It’s obvious that the ‘death’ of Isha seemed to trigger a great many responses in your mind. Then your finding out that Isha was actually Captain Hawke seemed to push you a bit further, since the woman you had fallen in love with wasn’t actually dead and she wasn’t actually who you thought she was. I can see how this could mess with a man’s mind, Suresh. However, I feel that I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t tell you that refusing that initial evaluation was very poor judgment on your part. It may have saved you from things getting this far had you come to me or one of my staff at that point.” Robin adjusted himself in the uncomfortable chair, his legs starting to go numb from the hardness of it. The chair wasn’t really made for comfort. “I am not on this base solely for Starfleet personnel, anyone is welcome to use our services. I am certain that I could have helped you in some way.”

“Thank you for the offer.” Suresh considered it for a moment, then shook his head. “Too late to worry about that now though.” He shrugged once more. “There is one thing you can do for me.”

“And what is that?”

“I have a request in to see the XO. It’s important. There are some things she needs to know. Could you ask her to come?” In fact, what Suresh wanted Li to know would amount to a bomb drop in certain quarters but it was his last parting shot and it would be a good one.

“I’ve been told that you already have several requests in for her audience,” Robin replied, knowing that many times a prisoner might try to use medical staff to get someone of importance to show up quicker than if they’d gone through the appropriate channels. “Before I would even say anything to her, especially that what you have to tell her is important, you would have to tell me what it was so that I may judge its importance for myself. Otherwise, no deal.”

“I can’t. I’m sorry, but it involves an issue with a specific department that she likely won’t want being made public.”

“Then I am sorry, but I can’t help you. You’ll have to wait until she arrives from your prior requests.” He looked back through his notes. “I believe that we are finished now, Mr. Suresh. If I have any further questions I will return. Thank you for your time.” He stood, replacing the hard plastic chair to the far corner of the room.

Suresh simply sat, watching him as he departed. Much as he wasn’t thrilled with a counselor, at least it had been a person here, with him. Now that he was gone, whatever protection might have come from his presence was also gone.

*****************
Suresh
Jumping At Shadows

Lt. Commander Robin Swift
In The Company of Loonies