Baby’s First Agonizer

Posted on Thu Jul 6th, 2023 @ 4:07am by Caeda & Lieutenant Dr. Daniel Brasken & Lieutenant Commander Yana Petrova & Lieutenant JG Corvin Hartjin
Edited on on Sun Aug 6th, 2023 @ 3:45am

Mission: S1 Episode 5: Ex Post Facto
Location: Cargo Bay
Timeline: Date 2371-08-20 at 0030
2226 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Yana Petrova paced slowly and gracefully, cat-like, in a dimly lit room in the Banean Central Government Building. She had watched her son take command of the search effort for his woman, but all of it seemed a bit surreal to her. She wondered how could these birds be so stupid, and knew they could never conceive of the pain which was about to be visited upon them.

Starting with this one. She turned to the Banean man who had been enclosed in the agonizer chamber in the center of the room. He had no idea what this machine did, but he was soon going to find out.

“Just a bit longer, Doctor.” She said evenly, her silvery eyes soaking in the fear in his; bathing in it. She smiled. “You know we will do whatever is required to you to get Lieutenant Cassiel back, right?”

“I don’t know anything!” The Banean man insisted. He was middle aged, full of life with a crown of brown, pink tinted feathers with black tips and tufts of blonde hair and intelligent black eyes.. It was likely that this man was considered quite handsome by the standards of his people.

“I just do the procedures I am told, that’s all!”

“Hmm. We’ll see when the rest of the team arrives, won’t we?” She asked rhetorically, turning her back to him and reading something on a PADD. What was taking them so long?

Corvin strode into the room where Yana and their prisoner were waiting, a part of him filled with a perverse joy at seeing the alien trapped within. Had he been the one left waiting alone with the Banean, his patience would have certainly run out, which would have led to the Terran man dragging the Banean out of the booth so he could set about torturing the alien man until he was left so broken, he’d give them everything and beg for death. One that the Terran man wouldn’t grant. “Apologies Commander, I had to see some security concerns before joining you.”

His attention turned to the alien, taking a step closer to the booth and looking the creature over, eyes narrowed as he spoke in a low, dangerous tone. “What possessed such pathetic creatures as you and your people to believe you could get away with laying your filthy alien hands on a Terran woman? Did you think there wouldn’t be repercussions?”

“She murdered our people!” The alien protested. “We only followed the letter of our laws. Please, I don’t know where she is!”

“There he is with the same old story, Lieutenant.” Yana said, looking over at Corvin with a pursing of her attractive lips.

Daniel stepped into the room after the gentle swishing sound of the doors opening announced his presence. He wasn’t far behind Corvin and was able to hear the exchange that went on between them and spoke after Yana. “Only followed the letter of your laws? Then you should be able to understand why we are doing what we are doing.”

The doctor gave a nod of proper acknowledgement to Yana and Corvin as he stepped up to his control panel. Generally speaking he wasn’t a fan of these booths. While effective and impressive technically speaking, he found them more akin to a blunt instrument than his preferred subtle style. Still though, without a professional around, interrogators occasionally had the bad taste to go overboard and subjects were lost before knowledge was obtained.

Corvin wanted to retort with something much more vulgar to the alien but he kept in mind that not only was he representing the Security department, more importantly he was a representation of Lyra and her decision to make him her second, so his actions would reflect on her. “Laws. I find it amusing that aliens speak of such things as if they understand what justice really is, like an animal mimicking human behavior.”

“We have no respect for your laws; we have no respect for your lives.” Yana said, approaching the booth and looking up at the creature with a beautiful and calm smile. “So we do not recognize the legitimacy of your punishments. Where is Lyra Cassiel?”

“I don’t know!” He repeated, his voice now projecting through a strange avian sounding warble. He looked from one Terran to the next, growing increasingly concerned. “I’m not the man you are looking for!”

“Would one of you like to do the honors?” Commander Petrova said dryly to the other officers as she gestured toward the small console in front of the agonizer. “Pain is the only penance we came for, and answers your only way out, creature.”

“Pain and torment are old friends, ones I learned in a past life.” Corvin began as he stepped up to the controls for the agonizer and began to run the pre-power up checks, a process he’d familiarized himself with after taking over his position. He did a ‘dry’ test run before sending power to the booth as the light inside of it bathed the alien man in a threatening yellow-orange glow. There was a subtle hum that filled the air and the Banean man would feel his body awash in an electric sensation that came just before a strike of lightning before a storm.

“The trick I learned was to never let your subject get comfortable, to feel as if the worse is over with.” For the Banean man, there would come a series of sudden, painful jabs across his skin, some seemingly going deeper than others. Though he would know when the pain was coming by the charging of the dynamos but never where the pain would be applied. Was it cruel? Perhaps but what this alien had done deserved far, far worse in Corvin’s opinion. He continued with his pinpoint jolts of pain, some causing the alien’s body to have automatic reactions such as kicking out or flailing his arms when the energy from the booth interacted with his nerves.

Daniel did his best to hide his expression of boredom with the proceedings. If he was being honest with himself he felt that the Terran obsession with their superiority was laughable and things like this were more about their ego than anything else. Still though, that was treasonous thoughts and he had to admit that the Terran way was effective at this point, if not correct. Tapping the console in front of him, he sent an analysis over to the display on the controls for the booth to identify the more effective areas to target. "These areas should produce better results without as much collateral damage."

Corvin looked to the information the doctor had shared, shifting the pain induction to the indicated areas as he let the torture program run, only adjusting the intensity levels to be greater or lesser.

"AhhHH!" The Banean writhed in the enclosed space, his body jerking and knocking up against the walls around him. He wasn't used to pain, and certainly not like this. He immediately soiled himself, the area under his feet becoming wet. "S-STOP! PL-PLE-AHH!"

Corvin let the agonizer continue to run for a few moments more before finally turning the intensity of the field down so that it was a mildly irritating itch that just couldn't be scratched as he looked to the Banean. "This stops when you tell us what we need to know."

"Where is Lieutenant Lyra Cassiel? We have evidence from your own people that contradicts your story, tell us the truth or we see how much more you can stand."

"They are lying, then!" The doctor protested strongly, "I swear I don't know anything about any of it. All I did was implant the memory engram and made sure it was successful, that's all!" He shifted and grabbed at himself, trying to relieve the strange feeling the agonizer was giving him.

Yana, placed a thin finger on her lip. The Banean procedure had been explained to them the day before and had given the entire group quite a lot of offense. But now she wondered if there might be more to that than it seems.

“It’s fairly clear to us that your government has nothing to gain from stealing Lyra from her room.” Yana said with a thoughtful voice that didn’t match the intensity of the situation. “But we suspected that the next line of questioning was with you, the man responsible for executing her punishment. Maybe you know who did take her. Maybe you know who would benefit from stealing a Terran officer with altered memories.”

She walked toward him, catlike, her youthful appearance hiding her years of experience.

“Think. If you can’t help us, you might as well die for what you’ve done.”

"No don't kill me! I swear to all the gods I don't know anything about what happened to her. Please!" The Banean pleaded frantically with a voice sounding more and more like bird squawks the more desperate he found himself. He really didn't know anything, but he also wasn't sure how to convince these savage Terrans of that fact. He didn't want to feel that pain again.

"Commander, a moment?" Daniel beckoned the investigating officer over.

Yana had been listening to the man scream and enjoying every moment of it secretly. Besides a thin smile crossing her beautiful face, there was no outward sign that it was like music to her ears, but inside she was electrified. Between her legs, also, were the telltale signs of extreme arousal. It had been too long since she had heard an alien squeal. When Brasken asked for her attention, she approached him, her silvery eyes meeting his.

“What is it, Doctor.”

Brasken spoke in low tones so that only Yana could hear him for the moment. "Assuming they actually are ignorant of the larger scheme, we could still use this one. They mentioned implanting a memory engram a moment ago, and they would likely know more about reversing the process and make the Lieutenant's recovery time significantly less." New technology was fascinating but time-consuming to learn and implement, no reason to make Daniel's life more difficult.

Corvin glanced over at the doctor and Commander as they quietly conversed over whatever it was that they felt needed to be a private conversation. He instead focused his attention on the Banean in the Agonizer pod, turning the level up so the mild discomfort would feel like there was something crawling over and under his skin, never letting the alien get too comfortable or thinking that they had forgotten about him.

Corvin certainly hadn't as he watched the alien man, before turning his attention to Yana and Daniels as he continued to wait.

“If you think that would smooth the process.” Yana said, looking a bit disappointed. She turned back to Corvin and the man in the chamber. “Good news, Banean. You get to stay alive because you have a new purpose in life: to reverse what you did to our Officer when we find her.”

"Yes, yes! I can do that. I can do that!" The man tried to give exuberant enthusiasm through the discomfort and pain he was feeling. "There were some problems but I can fix them! Please just stop!"

Corvin increased the agonizer field as the man begged for it to stop, a deep growl escaping him as he watched the alien man writhing in renewed agony. He let the field continue the torment before reducing the level to just an itch. "A reminder, Banean, of what awaits you should you fail or betray us."

Yana watched as Corvin vented his rage at the Banean man. Her silvery eyes lingered on him and she began to put clues together in the silence of her mind. He was deeply attached to Lyra. Very deeply. Considering the plans she had made with the Lieutenant, she figured she’d better follow up on that just to be sure it only went one way.

“Dr. Brasken, this man is yours for now. Keep him secure and alive so he can do his job when the time comes.”

Daniel gave Yana a smile to indicate his acceptance and then turned to the agonizer chamber and entered a couple commands into the console before him. The machine disengaged power and unsealed with a slight hiss of the pressure keeping it sealed. The doctor walked up to the machine and took the portable shackle/agonizer from the side and proceeded to secure the man after completely opening the machine.

"Come with me..." Brasken paused almost inperceptively before the next word, "Doctor. Though so you aren't under any false expectations, they are not more capable of ending your life than I am should you cause me any problems and test my patience." He spoke loudly enough to make sure the others would be assured that he would not be gentle with him, nor that he was trying to stop what they were doing for anything but benefit to the fleet.

With that, Daniel gave a nod and motioned for Feras to follow him and turned to head to the Brig, giving a nod to the security officers at the door to follow behind as he made his way into the hall.

END