Operation Arrakis: Interrogation
by Alison Sky

They sat in the interrogation room, staring across the table at each other. 
Anyone who walked in the room would have thought that they were in the 
midst of a staring contest.

Alison Sky crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. In the year and 
half since she had last seen Sci, her feelings towards the man had not 
changed. In fact, they had festered.

He had been the one who sent her to what could have been her death. She had 
warned Sci that putting her and Kirney in the same team would be dangerous. 
But he hadn't listened to her.

And she now wore a prosthetic hand in memory of that day.

Sci sat in what Alison thought of as his "anger" posture. His back was 
ramrod straight, his fingers interlaced, his body perfectly still. His eyes 
narrowed as he took her in, but his face was as expressionless as ever. He 
looked like he was trying to figure out if it was really her. And how it 
was possible.

Finally, after several minutes of silence, he asked, "How?"

She rolled her eyes a bit. "Does it even matter?"

"Yes. We were led to believe you were dead. And yet now here you are, 
sitting here as if nothing had happened. I think I'm owed a few 
explanations."

"You may think that, but I don't have to explain anything to you now." She 
smirked. "I'm not your officer anymore."

"You're wrong there, Lieutenant." Sci said coolly. "You never left my 
command."

"First off, I believe death is one of the requirements for leaving a 
command. Second off, it's not Lieutenant. It's Agent."

"Lieutenant. That's your rank here, though you were given it after your 
death." Sci leaned forward. "Agent. You're working for Cracken."

"More like forced into his employ, but yes." She worked her jaw, reminded 
of her circumstances.

"Why?"

"Classified."

Sci watched her. "I'm your superior officer. I'm more than cleared for 
classified information."

"Not in regards to me."

Another moment of silent observation. "You've got a choice here, Alison. 
You can tell me now, or I will go into my office, get Cracken on the comm, 
and get all the information anyway."

She worked her jaw again. "I was never supposed to return to Terra. You 
tell Cracken that I'm here, and the Rogues and Wraiths will be in no small 
amount of trouble. They might not be willing to work with you anymore. 
Might disappoint the little fangirls under your command."

"You know me, Cracken, the Rogues, and the Wraiths better than that." He 
leaned back. "So what's your choice?"

She gave him a measuring glance. "If I told you, you won't believe me 
anyway. So it doesn't matter, now does it?"

"Amazing how little you understand me, Lieutenant. Why wouldn't I trust 
you?"

She tilted her head a moment, then nodded. "I'm not from Terra."

He shrugged. "Neither are the Lorrdains. You don't have to be born here to 
be a Terran. But go on."

Her turn to shrug. "I will not betray my vows to anyone, Sci. I have my 
honor, if nothing else. You want the information, you'll have to go to 
Cracken for it."

"Some honor," he snorted, and her hands convulsed into fists. "You let me-
not to mention the rest of the group-believe you were dead for over a year. 
A simple message letting us know, and we wouldn't be in this scenario. But 
your honor apparently didn't extend to telling your friends that we hadn't 
killed you."

He pushed his chair away from the table before she could respond. "I will 
be calling General Cracken, but you're going to need to be there for part 
of this. So, feel free to wait. I'll send for you when we're ready."

He walked toward the door, but before he left, he stopped. He didn't turn 
around, but his voice changed. It wasn't the hard-edged voice she 
remembered, the one which had sent her off to her near-death. It was the 
voice from before, from laughing with the Rogues, Wraiths, and the Terrans, 
in the cabin in New Hampshire. But it was twisted. It was a voice of 
emotion, pain fighting with joy, and it said three words.

"Welcome home, Alison."