Smooth Criminal

[Bellatrix]

"Not my ships. Not my base." She said simply as she led Trinity into a small room. It had a single dentist's chair in the center with one light hanging low over it bathing the chair in white, but leaving the corners of the room dark with shadow."

Bellatrix shoved her forward, "Please have a seat if you will. I don't fight Dominus' battles. I can't. I only have the one irreplaceable starship, and a handful of troopers. Like you I am a victim of circumstance. I can appreciate your predicament. You ask what you are payment for? Nothing. Well, nothing by yourself anyway. As much as it pains me I am in the employ of Dominus. I am a mercenary saving up my money in a foreign land in hopes of buying back my home. So, nothing, and everything Ms. Talon."

[Trinity Talon]

"Not really an answer." Trinity replied as she sat down. "So what are you going to do? Torture me? Try to make me tell you something I might simply tell you if you simply asked?" she sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm a Ryder... it's not like my family doesn't have resources. I also think you're trying to save something of great value besides power, otherwise a woman like you wouldn't just work as a stooge to someone like Dominus. Seriously, I've known at least three versions of you, you'll be my fourth. None of them were the kind of women to just act as mercs. You say you want to buy back your home, there ARE ways of doing that, you already said that you killed a version of my grandfather, which is another version of Dominus. What does he have that we don't?"

[Bellatrix]

"You are good. I don't usually like to hear myself talk like this." She sighed and, "I guess you won't shut up until I tell you my life's story.

"I entered the Terran Imperial Starfleet at the age of 16. Young for my age, but I rose quickly through the ranks. At 21 my captain acted in cowardice. I killed him and took command. And no, before you ask I didn't feel any remorse. I am a sociopath.

"By the time I was 30 I was a Commodore," she smiled, "yes, I killed my way to the top. Better than sleeping yourself to the top no?

"At any rate, eight years later Emperor Spock died. He had no heir, nor even established a line succession. This caused a vacuum. I rallied other officers. Your grandfather and grandmother were at my side the whole time. My closest lieutenants if you will.

"After 15 years of civil war, and billions dead, I took the throne. It was there I learned of the Ajem'dasis. I read everything on the old Ajem Masters. Even the ancient ones known as the Sith. Needless to say Nicholas didn't follow my lead.

"Two years ago your grandfather decided, the he wanted to be Emperor. I believe that this betrayal was instigated by Julie. It's not like Nicholas to try to stab me in the back.

"Ever since I have been fighting to take back my Empire. But, Julie controls the fleet. And, unfortunately I made the mistake of ruling with too tight of a fist."

[Trinity Talon]

"Well that doesn't sound like an impossible mission." Trinity replied as she thought for a moment. "So this alternate version of Julie Lei controls your fleet in your home reality... I could tell you how we got our's to weaken. Is there an agency called 'Bloodstone' still in operation in your reality?" she gestured with her hand. "We sent a small strike team to take them out, we used their resources to undermine the Imperium, retook Canada and eventually it spread. Although there was another option... we have a Julie Lei clone that I recall my grandfather saying was a last resort, basically use it to declare an end to hostilities, the real Julie would pop out of hiding, and we'd end her and the clone. We also had a few people in mind to rule in her stead that were more amiable to us. Hence why Earth and the Imperium is headed up by Kaikoa Lei... one of her sons that actually helped me get my husband back home." she closed and opened her hand. "Tight grip never works, it's too focused, but an open hand... look how much more space it takes up. You may be a sociopath... but that's a product of your surrounding. This dialogue... it proves you're not just a mindless killing machine. Hey, I XO a bunch of Marines that the Navy officers call 'mindless killing machines' but they're human beings just like us, with minds and hearts and ideas and tactics... sure some are a bit meat headed... but even the dumbest Private can have a flash of genius now and again." she cocked her head slightly. "You want your empire back, I want to get back to my family and my unit. We both hate Dominus. Enemy of my enemy is my friend they say..."

[Bellatrix]

She smiled, "I eliminated Bloodstone personally long ago. I'm sure I do have a few loyal subjects , but they will never defy Julie. Not, with just my one ship. And, I can't get my ship to Earth to confront her. I oversaw the sensor nets myself. Not to mention the Palace security protocols. No, unfortunately the only way to depose my wayward deposer is with brute force."

Rebecca pushed Trinity onto the chair. "As far as Dominus goes... Well, you are correct I do despise him. But, he isn't my enemy. He's a... He's a pet cobra. Extremely dangerous, but not too difficult to manipulate."

She sat down next to Trinity on a small rolling stool. "They say torture is never effective. The victim just tells you what you want to hear. I tend to agree." She reached out her left hand and a hypospray flew neatly into it. "You know what this is? No, I suppose not," she said as if to answer herself. "Narlin truth serum. Very effective. Burns like hell going in, and they like the added dramatics of a hypodermic syringe. Interesting creatures to be sure. The juxtaposition of modern and old world. I guess they and I have that in common.

"While, torture is not an effective intelligence technique , it is effective is a deterrent. I personally like hanging, drawing, and quartering. It's literally midieval," she chuckled at her little perverse joke, and pressed the hypo into Trinity's neck. "Oh, in case you were wondering. This isn't torture. The pain is just a side-effect of the drug. The Narlins often use a pain blocker. But, I guess I like the dramatics as well."

[Trinity Talon]

"You know..." Trinity winced from the pain. "You could just ask nicely. But I'm still not giving up the intel on the black hole weapon." she said, sweat already beading on her forehead. "We already eliminated the creator of the weapon from history." she made an eeping sound. "No one should have known that... damn... that shit works fast. Two days after we arrived, the scientist that created it... Carly... she wiped his mind. He's in a sanitarium, he won't have any breakthroughs in weapons development ever. We had to make sure." she gripped the arm rests. "You want brute force... you need Marines."

[Bellatrix]

"This is asking nicely," Bellatrix replied. She focused the ijulna on Trinity. The trick wouldn't normally work on Trinity, but with the combined effects of trauma, and the truth serum would make it harder for her to resist. "You can stop now. I do not want your help. Let's focus on helping you okay? Once we're done I can get you moved into accommodations with the Narlin royals. Now, who are we talking about, and tell me when did you arrive here?"

[Trinity Talon]

"Nearly four years ago, just before I was born. Mom was barely pregnant with me when we came to this timeline. In effect, changing the outcome of the Battle of Trill changed our future into yet another alternate timeline, but to ensure that our's didn't come to pass, we made... modifications." Trinity replied. "Dr. Thomas Bartell. He's currently got the IQ of a 12 year old. Maybe in another 30 or 40 years he may luck onto the research he was heading toward, but all trace of his weapon is gone. I erased the data and the backups myself. Carly carried out the mind wipe." she sighed. "It's not a proud moment, but in less than five years time he would have created the prototype, it was detonated near a dead Andorian outpost. Second was detonated near Praxis. Third... Mars. They thought they could control it, it couldnt' be controlled. It was like..." she winced as she fought to keep the details out. "It was like a tear in a pair of nylons, you think you can stop it with clear nail polish except it cracks and grows even bigger until... there's nothing left. Earth was sucked in, the Imperium retaliated and Terra Alpha was hit.. like I said, it's not a weapon anyone should use. Your dimensional rifts are far more dangerous, but again... if you want to retake your empire by force, you need Marines. You need a dedicated fighting force and you need black ops teams. That's the only thing Julie Lei will understand, doesn't matter how good your security and sensors are. They'll find a way. That's what we do. We find a way through." she looked Bellatrix in the eye. "And you need Augments."

[Bellatrix]

"Perhaps I do, but not from you. And those sensors are protecting her not me. Though, I admit I did make a miscalculation in not seeing the threat in my own house. Can you describe the weapon? How it functions?"

[Trinity Talon]

"Collapses a star, sucks in everything. And I mean everything. It was meant as a last resort, the Imperium was hitting us weekly, we had very little tech that actually worked anymore, they would EMP attack us when they could." Trinity replied. "Still, is it worth losing everything over? There is one... thing we considered that worked more safely than the black hole thing. Move the moon, the tides would send the planet into chaos. Only takes a fleet. Move it just enough so the tides change. Wash the east coast into the Atlantic. We couldn't do it because the Imperium basically scuttled all but four of our ships. Huntington, the ship we came on was the only one that was big enough and ark enough to get as many of us back in time as we could. And don't even ask where that ship is, no one knows anymore. It's a ghost, it transports and moves and cloaks and phases. Still, four Erebus and five or six other larger ships like Galaxy or Sovereign would be enough to destablize Earth. Guess how many Erebus class we have?"