Mosaic - Jeri Taylor [76]
"Was in Federation territory. We have annexed it."
"I'm not sure I understand how you can annex what is not yours."
"It's quite simple. You take it." His eyes were not so kind now, she noted, and had become lidded, like a snake's. "Now, once more-what were you doing there?"
"My name is Kathryn Janeway. I'm a Starfleet ensign and a member of the United Federation of Planets."
Camet was waving off her words with a gesture of disdain and tedium. "Please, my dear, don't posture with me. If I choose, you will tell me what you were doing on our moon. You will tell me anything I ask, you will betray your mother, your father, your friends, and beg to betray others if I will just stop hurting you. That would be just before you went insane." He eyed her briefly to see how she responded to this statement. Kathryn did her best to be perfectly neutral.
"But I don't want to do that. You're quite young, quite lovely. And you seem intelligent. So I hope you'll see the wisdom of cooperation. After all, if you had a legitimate purpose on the moon, I have no quarrel with you. I understand that the Federation was unaware of our recent annexation."
Kathryn considered his statement. It sounded utterly reasonable-a tactic, she knew, of a skilled interrogator. On the other hand, she knew her heroic stand was, as he said, impossible to maintain, and she remembered the admiral's admonition as they were captured. Best to keep this Gul talking. "We are on a scientific expedition, studying massive compact halo objects. We established a sensor array on that moon two mons hs ago and we were returning to collect data."
"Ah. A mission of scientific endeavor."
"Exactly."
The door opened and another Cardassian man entered with a satchel. Gul Camet instructed him to treat her injury, and the man began to clean the wound; his touch was gentle and experienced. "In that case, Ensign Kathryn Janeway of the United Federation of Planets, why were there extremely sophisticated surveillance devices installed in that array?"
Kathryn wished that she knew nothing about the other mission of the Icarus, so that her innocence would be real, not feigned. "There weren't. You must be mistaking elements of our sensors."
"I most certainly am not. And it leads me to believe that this "scientific' expedition of yours is really a military operation for gathering intelligence."
"Forgive me, Gul Camet, but your statement has a touch of paranoia to it." He smiled, but it was without mirth. "You may be right. We are a society which has always distrusted outsiders. Unfortunately, that has always proven a necessity." He gestured toward the physician, who had finished cleaning and dressing her head injury. "Please show the ensign one of our implants."
The physician reached into his satchel and lifted out a round, flat device that was smaller than a communicator and constructed of what looked like a skinlike polymer. Gul Camet took it and held it out, inspecting it. "It's a remarkable device. Implanted anywhere in your body, it can receive commands from me which produce a level of pain which can only be called astonishing."
Kathryn slowed her breathing, trying not to show her fear. "How foolish," she said. "You must realize that one will say anything under torture. It's a ridiculous method of getting information."
"Of course it is. That is not the purpose of our techniques.", is the purpose?"
"Power. Control. The satisfaction of completely breaking the will of another being."
Kathryn felt an icy chill. She knew he was telling the truth, that once he began to inflict pain there would be no stopping it, there would be no confession, no outpouring of information that would make him stop. She was doomed.
"I regret that you have chosen to be so uncooperative. I would have preferred to treat you as our guest, with comfortable quarters and abundant food." He shrugged, a delicate gesture that bespoke