Ilyssa Jo Horntvedt-Siegel's Story

"We both know that's no answer to the question," Ilyssa said. "And we know that no answer is just about as good as one, too. And your friends, well, who's to say that one of them might not be a bit more forthcoming, huh?" After all, they did have the other three Moluks detained too, as well as the person purportedly from Hataf, though Ilyssa had received a note about that one. She'd look through the file more thoroughly in a bit. Though this one, whatever his real name was, seemed to be clearly in charge. He emanated that kind of air.

In the switchboard room, the operator carefully transcribed and recorded every word coming through the line. "Identifier acknowledged. I'll relay the call to the Bureau."

Moments later, another voice answered, older and calm. "Operations, identifier Yoder. What message do you have?"

Ladon shrugged.

"Every one of them was hand picked, if we can resist the Confessors we can resist whatever you throw at them." Ladon said, leaning forward.

"I presume it all hinges on just how far they're willing to go." He added, grinning. "Every one of us have suffered at the hands of aschen torture." Ladon added.

On the phone Marlene grimaced as she typed in the identifier into her own IIA database. She shook her head and then spoke up.

"It's come to my attention that there is a certain individual in custody at Fort Veritas." Marlene said, while pulling up a dossier of Ladon Sidiim.

"It is imperative, and a matter of national security for this nation that I be allowed to interrogate the prisoner, in exchange I will share any intelligence that I've obtained with your government freely. I will reveal nothing further until I've been given a mutually satisfactory response. I will be arriving by the end of the day, local time. Do not let him escape, believe nothing he says." Marlene insisted, for the first time grave concern was evident in her voice.

"What prisoner exactly are you talking about?" Nujood - the Bureau's operations division deputy director - sounded almost bored as she spoke, but of course it was an affected reaction. They could never risk giving away too much, especially to the Aschen. "You know IIA has no reciprocal agreement with us. We do not grant access to detainees of Terra without very good reason and you haven't given anything except vague assurances. Why should we believe you?" Nujood had learned long ago not to trust an Aschen - and especially not Marlene Angel.

Inside the interrogation room, Ilyssa shook her head. "I'm not planning on torturing anyone, here. You know as well as I do that torture just results in unreliable information, if anything at all. We don't do things the way the Aschen do."

“He’s an ethnic Moluk.” Marlene said, without giving away his name, She kept watching the information scroll on her monitor with a frown. She held the telephone receiver tightly to her ear, while she considered her next words.

“Under normal circumstances, I would be inclined to agree with you. But you and I both know that the current Imperial administration has maintained a tacit state of peace and cooperation with your government, an I would hope that it could continue, now I am not implying any sort of hostilities to come out of this, what I will tell you is the individual you have in custody is in possession of intelligence vital to the security, and stability of this government.”

Marlene was almost annoyed.

“I’m trying to play nice here, I could have just sent a strike team after him.” She said with that same annoyed, almost unhinged tone she was known for.

“I’ll tell you what you want to know, but I want access to the prisoner, otherwise no deal, and he’ll tell you nothing, the caliber of individuals your organization is dealing with is beyond your capabilities, or have you not studied Aschen history?” Marlene added.

Back in the interrogation room, Ladon offered a simple shrug.

“I’m not going to tell you anything, we can keep arguing in circles, or you can take me to my cell, or hole, or wherever it is you people take their prisoners. My time will come eventually, nothing you, or I can do will change that.”

"But you see, that's where you're mistaken," Ilyssa said, almost apologetically. "You already have." She stood to go, taking her empty coffee cup and the accordion file with her. She needed to send this up the chain immediately. Terra was - as was more often the case than not - under threat.

Meanwhile, Nujood listened to Marlene's patronizing demands with the patience of a saint, mentally cataloguing everything the Aschen woman said. "Insulting my agents' capabilities is a hell of a way to 'play nice,'" Nujood replied icily. "I am more than confident in our capabilities to extract necessary intelligence from detainees of interest, as I am in your agency's ability to carry out its work, and I would expect that as a professional courtesy you would extend the same respect to us. Particularly when asking for a favor." Her tone softened slightly for what she had to say next, but remained businesslike and distant. "However, I'm of course willing to discuss a possible exchange of information. If - and only if - you can make a good faith proffer of verifiable information, then we may share what we have learned from any such detainee. Starting with the identity of the person you believe to be in our custody, and how you came to believe that this individual is in fact in our custody."

Marlene made a face before rubbing the bridge of her nose. "The man you have in custody is named Ladon Sidiim, he's got a criminal record about as long as the Great Seto Bridge, he escaped from Whispering Mountain Prison about twenty years ago, and has since disappeared before we started linking him with various arms deals across the Terran Sector."

Marlene paused for a moment. "We intercepted a Naquadria enhanced fusion warhead we believed was bound for his group, shortly therafter our intelligence apparatus placed him on Terra operating under a front. He was recruiting Molecay militants from the Aschen diaspora there.."

Marlene heaved a slight sigh. "He is by all intents and purposes one of the most dangerous men alive, and truth be told he belongs back in Imperial custody, where he belongs. But here we are. As for how I found out about him, you'd think the Old woman trained you guys better than that, I'm a precog, I see everything." Marlene chuckled.

"And I'm assuming you're transmitting Sidiim's picture and biometrics now, to verify the identity of the individual you believe to be in our custody," Nujood said, keeping a neutral tone this time. Already, she'd dispatched the information along encrypted channels to the Molecay regional expert, along with a request for Ilyssa Horntvedt-Siegel's immediate presence for debrief. And even as she sent off her own requests, Ilyssa's cable came in, the hashes converting into readable phrases, all of which communicated an imminent threat. As the old woman had always instituted a strict rule against ever communicating in clear and plain language, to avoid intercepted messages, Ilyssa's note appeared on the surface to be nothing more than a routine message about building maintenance, even once decrypted. But Nujood recognized the elaborate code. If the person Marlene was describing was the same person that Ilyssa had been asked to interrogate, then his group seemed to be planning a false flag attack against an Aschen target with the intent to frame the TNG as the perpetrator - instigating another war. One that the TNG was not equipped to fight.

Nujood straightened in her seat, eyes narrowing. "If you can see everything, Marlene Angel, then you'd already know the plan this Ladon Sidiim has hatched. It sounds to me like you've yet to uncover that information. Fortunately, our agents have already put quite a lot of it together." There was a certain schadenfreude in beating the Aschen to something, particularly when this specific Aschen kept insulting the Bureau. Nujood just wished it'd been significantly lower stakes. A poker game, or a football match. Not a burgeoning terror plot aimed to start a war - a genocide. "And no, I doubt that either of our governments will be pleased." Neither would the old woman.

Marlene smirked over the phone. “Maybe i already do, maybe I know everything that Mr Sidiim has planned, or will ever plan. Maybe if you’ve read my file.” Marlene’s eyes shimmered blue for a moment, as she extended her will out into the ether, and on the screens within Nujood’s office Marlene’s face would appear, but if wasn’t an actual image of her, but rather her mental projection onto the screens. A diagnostic would reveal the devices functioning perfectly.

“You’ll come to find I am capable of a great many things.” Marlene said, this time through the video screen, but her voice also echoed on the phone line. “It would be in the best interest of everyone involved in this matter that we collaborate, the Molecay terrorists are as dangerous, as they are unpredictable, If Ladon is in your custody that means he wanted to be there, or he made a mistake somewhere down the line, maybe he was desperate, we’ve been putting a lot of pressure on his organization.. His comrades will try to free him.”

Marlene’s eyes remained an unsettling blue as she tried to peer through the snow.

“I would like to meet with you, and the operative in charge of Mr. Sidiim’s custody over a meal, and we will discuss our next steps. I can arrive within the next few hours, a solar flare is interfering with the Bifrost system, and I have a few personal matters to attend.” The image of Marlene faded from the screens, and only her voice remained on the other end of the phone line, while she massaged her temples, these things took a lot of work on her end.

When Marlene's face appeared on the screen mounted on the wall of the office, Nujood's gaze went immediately to the image, but with credit to her years of training, did not visibly react to the sudden intrusion. "I'll arrange the necessary clearances for your visit this evening," she said, keeping her tone even. "Your meeting will be with me; we do not expose our agents to external agencies. I'm sure you understand the need for protocol. I'll be sure to fully debrief the relevant individuals beforehand. And I hope that this meeting will indeed be a collaborative one - I too appreciate cooperation whenever we can secure it, and would like to think of you as a colleague in this work."

Already, the messages from Ilyssa seemed to carry new meaning. Nujood had only met Ilyssa a few times - the old woman had always managed operations with a fully decentralized structure, the better to protect their agents and assets. But from what Nujood recalled of the woman, Ilyssa was fiercely sharp, independent, and above all, trustworthy. If Ilyssa said there was a serious, imminent threat implicating possible war, then Nujood was inclined to believe it.

Marlene slightly chuckled to herself. Yes, protocol, a holdover from the old woman it seemed, she understood quite well, no sense compromising identities. Marlene was satisfied to at least get this far, and quickly tapped a few keys on her computron terminal, forwarding an email she had been writing to the Minister of Law.

There was a political battle on the horizon, and Ladon had Intel on Moluk terror cells operating within the Empire.

"One more thing, I'm going to want to see him. He has information on operating terror cells in the Empire. If our exchange goes well, I would like to extract that information. I can arrange for an Aurora chair to be delivered to Fort Veritas as well as someone to train your people on how to use it. We're going to need it if we're going to root them out." Marlene said over the phone line.

"I'll take it under advisement," Nujood said, not budging. "Access to such a high-level asset would have to go through the agency director, as you know." And the minister of foreign affairs, and the minister of justice, but she didn't add that. Not yet, anyway. Marlene likely already knew, and in any case, Nujood had no desire whatsoever to jump into the middle of a diplomatic battle between Langara and Terra. She had operations to oversee, and now, it seemed, Ilyssa was urgently awaiting her attention too. "In the meantime, I'll pass on your message to our agent, and I'll be sure to communicate its urgency. We do understand exigency in these matters."

Marlene quietly rolled her eyes and disconnected the transmission, placing her telephone reciever on the hook and turning to her intercom.

"Ready my transport, I'm leaving for Terra."