Selai and I start another long silent walk: this time towards the brig. God, I’m a nervous wreck. I was acting all big but how the hell am I supposed to interrogate these kids? Shit! What am I supposed to do?

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Selai looking at me confused. I look to her and try to give a confident smile. She instantly chuckles. “That’s not convincing at all.” The smile melts into annoyance. “Haha, calm down. You’re fine. You just looked really worried a second ago.”

“OK, fine. I’m a little nervous. They didn’t teach us interrogation in the Academy. I have no clue what I’m supposed to say!” I throw my head back and let out a loud groan. “This is gonna be awful.”

I feel a limp slap on my arm and bring my head back up to see Selai holding her glove. “Look at me, Clark. You’re an amazing captain. There’s nothing to be worried about.” Her smile is genuine but still mischievous.

I laugh in turn and look back at her. “Yeah, I don’t think I’d call myself an amazing captain yet. I mean, did you hear that speech earlier?” We both have a good laugh at my expense and continue to make fun of my terrible first impression with the civilians. It kills part of my soul but it also kills the rest of the time on our walk.

Standing in front of the door to the brig, my guts suddenly remember they’re supposed to be upside down right now. I swallow hard and look over to my partner. She nods with a confident smile. “You got this, Cap’n. I’ll be right beside you.” Looking at the top of the door, I let out one last deep breath and step forward.

Inside the brig is surprisingly normal. I was expecting some dismal grey metal room. This looks like a normal office room. The room was small, the walls and floor were the typical white and beige, and a small desk sat in the middle with a door behind it. At the desk was a bored looking security officer clicking around on the computer. He barely raised his gaze to us before returning to his “task.” A few clicks later and he scoots his chair back and looks to us. “What can I do for you, Captain? First Officer?”

I glance to Selai behind me and shrug. “Uh, I guess we’re here to see the prisoners. The ones that attacked Simon earlier.” He sighs and hangs his head. Scooting back in to the desk, he makes a few more clicks and, after some scrolling, turns his gaze to the two of us.

“God, who’d attack Simon? He’s so ki- well, not necessarily kind but… More inoffensive I suppose.” I nod in agreement. “Anyways, the kids are back in an interrogation room. Simon wanted to talk to them but I guess that’s why you’re here. Just head through the door and go down the hall. They’re in room 3. Just turn left and it’s on your right.”

“Alright, thanks!” I turn around to Selai and shrug with a smile. “Let’s go interrogate some teenagers.” It was only after I said that that I realized that’s not necessarily something to smile at. Eh, oh well. I wave forward and walk on towards the door in the back. The hall seems to be a thinner version of one of the main halls. On the right hand side are interrogation rooms with large one way windows looking in. On the left, the doors are more frequent and have small slits on them. Assuming those are the cells, I keep my gaze to the right, peering through the windows, looking for the kids. Sure enough, in the third room down, three kids sat handcuffed in metal chairs behind a metal table. Now this is more what I was expecting.

Selai comes up behind me as I examine the kids. “Well? You ready to go in?”

“Hold on, I just want to get a good look at these three before we do anything.” All of them seem to be around sixteen and all of them are caucasian, but that’s about where the physical similarities stopped. On the left is a boy thin enough to be knocked over by a stiff breeze. He has short blonde hair and these blue eyes wrought with fear. Good, he should be scared. He seems antsy. His leg is bouncing up and down as he fidgets with his hands. Beside him is a girl with long red hair and a face burning with enough anger to melt her cuffs. Finally, on the right, a big guy sat looking confused and worried. With brown eyes and hair, he wouldn’t stand out much if it weren’t for his bulky form… and also the fact he was in holding. “Alright, you ready for this?” Turning to Selai, she gives me a determined smile and confident nod. “Let’s go then.” With a strong swallow and one last sigh: I walk into the interrogation room.

As we enter, three sets of eyes all instantly shoot to us. The blonde boy sits up in his seat and begins to fidget even more. The red haired girl takes the typical angsty response and turns her head away from us as dramatically as she can. The big guy just kinda stares. It’s only now that I realized I haven’t thought of what to say. Well, shit. I attempt to make up for my lack of preparation with a facade of bravado. I puff up my chest and stride into the room and stand on the opposite side of the metal table. I stand silently, trying to look as intimidating and powerful as I possibly can. After staring down each one for a moment, I slam down on the metal table with both hands. The resulting, cacophonous bang is loud enough to make even the cold, redheaded girl jump and I hear a surprised yelp from Selai behind me. I probably should’ve warned her I was gonna do that. Figuring that I need to speak eventually in this interrogation, I open my mouth for the first time.

“Do you three know who I am?”

“The idiot that gave the awful speech?” The girl holds her angry gaze on me. The big guy to her left chuckles in response. I turn my head back to Selai with an annoyed expression which only grows angrier when I see her trying, poorly, to hide a smirk. I’ll get back at you later.

“No… Well, technically yes. But more importantly: I’m the Captain. And this here,” gesturing back to my companion, “is the First Officer. The fact that we’re here means that you three are in a whole load of trouble.” The two boys’ eyes explode open yet the girl just rolls hers. “Let’s start with something simple, what’re your names?”

I straighten up and gesture towards the blonde boy who inhales sharply in concern. “O-oh, I’m Connor! This is Samantha.” He points to the girl next to him with his cuffed hands before gesturing to the bear of a teenager next to her. “That’s Tyler at the en- Ow!”

Samantha whacked his arm with a hissed “Shut up, idiot!” Clearly she thought playing the quiet game would go better for her. I suppose I should try pressing this Connor kid more. He seems more reasonable.

“Alright, Connor.” I turn my body to face him a bit more to emphasize that I’m addressing him and ignoring Samantha. “I hope you understand the amount of trouble you three have gotten into. You attacked the head of security of a Union starship. At best you three are looking at an assault charge. If his condition gets worse though: you could be looking at a full blown murder charge. Now why don’t you tell me, what the hell were you three thinking?” As I spoke, my voice grew sterner and my expression morphs into that of an angry parent.

“We were trying to save him! We felt bad for Cain, so we were trying to free his soul.” What? Who the fuck is Cain? My face twists in complete befuddlement. My jaw hanging open as if it’d help me figure out what this kid had just said.

Thankfully, Selai was able to speak for me. “Who is Cain and why do you feel bad for him? And what do you mean you were trying to ‘free his soul?’” Her voice had a caring tone that instantly soothed the mood of the room, turning it from feeling like an interrogation to an attempt to understand their reasoning. It was a good idea to bring her in here.

“Cain? The cyborg? We didn’t know that he’d be onboard the ship so when we saw him we agreed that we should try and release his soul cause it’s trapped in that metal.” He looks so sincere… What the hell are they talking about? Killing someone just cause they’re a cyborg?

“Hold on.” I rub my eyes with my right hand and lean forward on the table with my left. “Are you telling me that you tried to kill Simon because he’s a cyborg? Because you thought his ‘soul’ was trapped?” I look across the group who share a glance with each other before all nodding in agreement. “So the three of you just admitted to attempted murder of a Corps officer…” I’m speechless. What is going on? They just outright said they tried to kill Simon! “Who’s idea was it to do this?”

It seems that Connor is smart enough not to sell one of his compatriots out. Luckily for us, Tyler isn’t. The big guy pointed to the fuming girl beside him with a proud smile and said “Oh! That was Samantha’s idea! She’s so smart!” I look to the giant in surprise and turn back to my First Officer who looks just as shocked. We both shrug and I return my gaze towards the only person who’d yet to speak.

“Well then, Samantha, why don’t you enlighten the two of us as to why you attacked one of my men?”

She rolls her eyes again and turns her head away while crossing her arms. “I’m not gonna tell you a thi-” I cut her off with another loud bang on the table. Once again, I make everyone in the room jump a foot in the air, her eyes go as wide as the moon as she turns her attention back to me.

“I’m not gonna deal with your edgy teen shit anymore. I have a member of my crew in med bay because you three decided to jump him. Now, you’re gonna tell me why you tried to kill someone on my ship or you’re gonna be seeing nothing but the inside of one of those cells for the next twenty years!” Everyone in the room stares at me in surprise and fear. To be honest I kind of scared myself with that. I didn’t know I could get this angry.

My words seemed to finally pierce through to Samantha as she opened her mouth to respond. “We did it to help him! We wanted to send his soul back to God since it’s been made impure by that technology! He’s a mistake in God’s eyes and we wanted to make it right and free him!” So this is definitely a religious thing. They think killing him will please God? All of this just because he’s not fully human?

“Th-that’s no excuse to kill someone!” The passion flaming in Selai’s eyes is strong enough to cast a soft orange glow in front of her. “Just because you think that doesn’t give you the right to take a life!”

“Selai…” She snaps her attention to me. “Come outside with me for a second.” I keep a straight face to emphasize the severity of our situation and walk past her and out of the door. I hear a strong exhale of frustration from behind me and a moment later she joins me in the hall.

“What?! Those three tried to kill Simon and you’re pulling out?” She’s furious. She has a right to be. But this whole situation just got a lot more complicated.

“Selai, this just got ten times more difficult for us. It was bad enough that they’re teenagers but now we’ve added religious motivation to the list. Is it wrong that they tried to kill someone? Yes. But arguing that to them is a lost cause. The fact that they were willing to kill someone over this means that we have almost no chance of changing their minds… If you trust me as your captain, let me take it from here. I know you’re angry. I am too. But we’ve just jumped on to thin ice and we need to tread very carefully.”

The heat of her anger cools and she looks into my eyes with an understanding irritation. “Fine, but promise me that they’re not gonna get away with this.”

“I’m not going to let that happen. Now, let’s get back in there.” We nod to each other and step back into the grey room. “You three are going to stay in the brig until we decide what to do with you. You’ve admitted to trying to kill someone. Regardless of your reasons, that is a serious crime. We’re going to speak with your parents about this next. I hope some time alone in your cells will help you realize the severity of what you’ve done.”

As I turn to leave, Samantha speaks up one last time. “Good! Our parents will be proud of us! They know the depths of his sin! We’re the good guys here. You’re just harboring a tortured soul! I hope he dies of his injuries!” I ignore her and walk out the door without another word.

Selai and I walk wordlessly out of the bridge. After passing back into the hall, I bow my head and shut my eyes tight. In response to my deep sigh, Selai breaks the tension. “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

I start chuckling and soon she joins in. “Haha, yep. I think we’re fucked.” I raise my head, opening my eyes to look at her. We both smile wide cause that’s all we can think to do.