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A New Alliance	By : Kehlan Category: M through R > Predator Views: 2899 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Predator movie series, nor do I own Star Trek, nor any of the characters from either of them. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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The interrogation room doors snapped shut, blessedly silencing Price's pleading cries. N'Sal leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes, allowing the coolness of the panel to soothe away the ghostly pain that lingered there, but try as she might, she could not stop the convulsive trembling in her limbs. A slight sound caught her attention and she looked up to see a pair of security guards approaching her. "Ma'am? Are you hurt?"
'In more ways than you can conceive' the Romulan thought bitterly. "Just a headache" she lied. "It will pass"
The closer of the two guards, a Petty Officer by his rank insignia, stepped back to give her a little space. "Yes ma'am. If I can be of assistance, please feel free to ask"
"I.... could use some water... if there's a replicator at the guard station?"
Gesturing to his colleague to remain at his post, the Petty Officer moved towards the corridor that would lead to the nearest station. "If you'd follow me, ma'am" he invited.
"Thank you" she nodded slightly and followed him obediently. The layout of the security suite was not complicated, a single corridor led from the interrogation rooms to a checkpoint, and hence on to the cells. There was no chance of N'Sal getting lost. Her escort was purely for courtesy and of course, for security reasons.
He paused at the checkpoint. "Your ID, Commander?" For a moment there was no answer and he was about to ask again when the Romulan reached out and placed her palm on the reader. It was rare anyone addressed her by the honorary rank on her uniform and she had almost forgotten it was there. The amber light on the reader flashed, flickering momentarily on red before going back to amber and settling on green. N'Sal scowled at the machine, feeling bizarrely insulted by its indecision as the force-field went down.
The two security officers on duty at the checkpoint stared curiously at N'Sal as the Petty Officer escorted her through the force-field before approaching the replicator and ordering a glass of cold water.
Aware of their stares, the red haired Romulan muttered something grumpily under her breath as she settled down on the bench outside the cell block and accepted the glass. The icy water was soothing, revitalising. She was more dehydrated from the shock of Krang's bluff than she had realised. She hesitated. It HAD to have been a bluff. How could she work with someone capable of that? Drinking the last of the water, she somewhat shakily handed the glass back to her escort.  "Thanks... you know, you ought to get that scanner looked at. If it gives a false negative it could do the opposite."
"Yes Ma'am." There was nothing the security staff could say. Engineering were aware of the problem, but it was so rare that the brig was used that it had not been a priority.
Slightly uncomfortable with the deference, N'Sal let her eyes roam the empty cells. One bore signs of occupation - Price's presumably and one more was still active and occupied. There might have been more but the crew members involved in the altercation in Ten Forward had been confined to quarters awaiting Captain’s Mast. A Terran male wearing a slightly crumpled lieutenant’s uniform sat quietly on the bench in the single occupied cell, as far into the corner as he could get. She raised an eyebrow. He did not 'feel' like a drunk and disorderly... and even less like a hardened criminal. "What's his story?" she asked the Petty Officer, gesturing with her head.
The guard scowled in the direction of the prisoner. "That’s Lieutenant Goyard." He almost spat the name, "He's the one who sabotaged the shuttle bay."
This was Goyard? The Romulan frowned and rose to her feet. "Open it."
He hesitated but obeyed.  Goyard looked up warily as N'Sal stepped over the threshold. "Mind if I join you?"
Politely he stood up. Despite his circumstances he retained his impeccable manners. It would be rude to remain seated in the presence of a lady. She inclined her head in acknowledgement, made herself comfortable cross legged on the end of the bunk and waited for the Frenchman to sit. After a moment he did so, seating himself as far away from her as possible. He studied her carefully, taking in the honorary rank markings and the FedKIN patch on her sleeve. She was an investigator then. "You are here to question me, Madame?"
"I'd like to hear your side of the story"
"There is nothing to tell" he said sadly, "I go to the Ten Forward after my shift. They are talking of the aliens, the visitors." He hesitated. In his stressed state it was hard to remember the words in English. "They are very angry and I worry. I tell them that mutiny is not to be considered and I go back to my quarters." He sighed. "The next day I am arrested and accused of murder"
"Do you have... any enemies.... anyone who might wish to see you blamed?”
"Non Madame.” He shook his head miserably, looking down at his hands.
"Look at me please, Lieutenant." For a moment he did not move, then slowly he obeyed, raising his dark brown eyes to meet hers. "Did you re-programme the computer to open the cargo bay doors?"
He looked horrified, "Non Madame, of course not!"
"Have you ever killed... in the course of your duties, in self defence or for any other reason?"
"Non" he repeated, shaking his head. "Only in training simulations." He had still been at the academy when the Dominion War had ended; he had never been in a situation where killing had been necessary.
"Holograms don't count" she told him gently. "Are you covering for someone else who may have had something to do with the deaths?"
Again he shook his head. He didn’t really know anyone on board the ship. With the admittedly self imposed language barrier he had struggled to make friends since his arrival on board. Besides, he would not help a traitor, he just did not know how to prove that.
"Verbally, please Lieutenant Goyard... and with eye contact"
He shrank back slightly at the reprimand but eventually found the words to speak, "Madame, I am a citizen of the Federation. I took an oath of loyalty to the Starfleet. I do not betray that oath"
N'Sal nodded and leaned slightly closer so that her face filled his field of vision and he could not doubt her sincerity. "I believe you" she promised.
He stared at her in confusion. "Why Madame? Pourquoi… Why do you believe me when all the evidence says that I am guilty?”
"Because I have looked into the eyes of killers and their eyes do not look like yours." N'Sal was a mercenary, a hired gun. She had been in prison more than once before accepting the job at FedKIN, had mixed with both guilty and innocent. She had more than once done at least some of the things Goyard was accused of and just for a moment she allowed him to see something of her world, of her character in her eyes; she allowed him to see everything she did not see in him.
“So tell me” she asked after a moment, “What contact have you had with Jonathan Price? Is he a friend?”
Shaken by what he had seen in her eyes, yet feeling oddly safe and secure in the knowledge that she would do her best to help him, he considered her question. Was Price a friend? “We are on different shifts so I do not know him well” he said thoughtfully, “But he has always been pleasant to me. We had coffee together in my quarters about a week ago.” At N’Sal’s sharp look he added hastily, “I have some real French coffee and a cafetiere, he said he would like to taste it.”
“So you invited him back to your quarters to try it” N’Sal summarised. “Tell me, when did you first notice your ID was missing?”
“About a…” He stopped, a look of anger and betrayal crossing his face. He’d last used his ID when signing off just before joining Price for coffee. He’d left it on the desk in his quarters, he was certain of it. The next morning he had been unable to find it and had simply assumed that he had mislaid it.
“Don’t tell me” the Romulan sighed, “It was right after your meeting with Price?” At Goyard’s nod she sighed again. A few more pieces of the puzzle had just slotted together and the picture they formed was even uglier than any of the investigators had imagined it could be.
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A New Alliance