The Mason Case "
By: Teilani Dane, Chief Medical Officer, [PC]
Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Dr. Alyssa Caitlin Northrop, Acting Chief Intel Officer, [PST]

Stardate: 58205.25 1605

Hunter closed the file on his console. He had just finished reading all the reports from both Counselor Zoei and Dr. Dane regarding the prisoner, Mason. Both where fine officers and neither were prone to exaggerate such serious matters.

The Counselor and the Doctor had urged Hunter to use his authority to grant Mason temporary asylum. It was time to meet him. Captain Hunter to Dr. Northrop, please meet me in my ready room.

Alyssa had just been about to contact her counterpart back on Qul Tuq to see if there was any information available on the ships the Federation was sending to Pacifica when her comm badge chirped. "Northrop here, Captain. I'll be there in a moment, Sir."

She tapped off the channel and shut her Terminal. Atwood had left the office a total mess. It was going to take her about a year to get it in any semblance of order. How the man had ever been effective was beyond her comprehension. Anyway, that was a job for later. Northrop stood and left the otherwise empty Intelligence Offices and headed for Hunter's Ready Room. As was the norm, it didn't take all that long to arrive there. A moment after the chime was pressed, the door slid open and she entered the room.

Hunter turned his console around so Northrop could see the file. "This is Lt. Matthew Mason. A prisoner who was bound for Rura Penthe. He didn't make it because he intervened in a confrontation between a Cardassian,Zoei and Dane. He saved their life and suffered a concussion that left him comatose for a month."

Hunter leaned back. "According to the logs, Atwood interviewed him and I've not been able to locate the file."

"Mason has asked to speak with me. I would like you to accompany me to Sickbay."

"And I suppose he wants asylum? Despite the fact that he's a Prisoner of War?" Alyssa didn't buy it. This guy was simply trying to save his own skin. Despite the Alliance between the Federation and the Cardassian Union....there was really no love lost between the two groups. It didn't surprise her to find out that a Federation Starfleet Officer had killed a Cardassian to save himself. "I suppose you want me to be the voice of skepticism through all this? As for the record of Mason's interview.....it could be buried under the pile of PADDs and other crap that Lieutenant Atwood left on his desk. For the record, Sir...it's going to take me a while to dig the desk out and organize everything. The location of Jimmy Hoffa could be on one of those PADDs and we'd never know it."

Hunter arched his brow, "Jimmy...Hoffa? Who?"

Northrop thought about explaining....but at the same time she didn't really want to get into it all that much. "Um.....he was a Union Boss in the Early 20th century that vanished and was never found."

She left it at that and let the conversation move on.

"Of course, anyway..." continued Hunter, "The Counselor and the Doctor have requested assylum on his behalf."

"Well then....I suppose we ought to at least talk to the man. Though as it stands now...I still think he's trying to save his own skin." She shrugged, "At least you'll know that he's sincere if he manages to convince me."

"Alright then, let's see what Mr. Mason has to say," said Hunter standing.

"Yes Sir." The brunette shot to her feet seeing that the Captain was already getting up. She followed him to the door as the two headed for Sickbay.

Hunter stopped at the door, "After you."

"Ah...and Officer and a Gentleman." She smiled...and stepped through the door out onto the bridge. It was only a quick few feet to the Turbolift.....and then down into the ship towards Sickbay.

=Sickbay=

Hunter and Northrop entered sickbay and sought out Dr. Dane. "Hello Doctor," greeted Hunter.

"Hello Captain, Miss Northropp." Teilani responded. She closed a tricorder and stuck it in her overcoat pocket. "How may I help you?"

"We've come to talk to Mason, what is his condition?"

Teilani looked from Hunter to Alyssa. "He is fine, actually better then I expected. You can talk to him for 20 minutes. He still needs his rest."

Hunter nodded in acknowledgment.

Mason watched as the captain entered sickbay. He had an intel officer with him. Mason figured, it was time to be questioned. He had been previously assured that he would not be tortured but the stories he had heard about the Maquis were very bad. He hoped they were all lies.

They went over his bed, "You are Matt Mason?" asked Hunter.

"Yes sir," he said.

"I'm Captain Hunter, this is Chief Warrant Officer, Northrop." he said gesturing.

Mason nodded.

"I understand I owe you a debt of gratitude for the safety of Dr. Dane and Zoei?" said Hunter studying his reaction.

"You do not owe me anything sir, I would not have been able to live with myself if I had not intervened."

"I'm here also because they have requested asylum on your behalf. Is this something you wish to pursue?"

"I wish to join the Maquis sir," he said.

Hunter crossed his arms and looked sternly at Mason. "Northrop here and I think you are just trying to save your ass," he said looking for Mason to justify himself.

"You know, from day one of this war, we have been told by our commanding officers that the Maquis were barbarians, that the tortured their prisoners, yet I have yet to be tortured by any of the Maquis." Mason looked at Hunter, "You *are* probably saving my ass, even if you throw me in Rura Penthe, you would be saving me from more of their lies."

Alyssa nodded at Hunter and then moved a little just to get more comfortable. Inwardly she smirked, knowing that her normal methods of getting the information she needed wouldn't be usable here. At least not in this uniform. In the short amount of time she'd known Atwood, she had found that there was little she couldn't imagine him doing. The fact that the report on this man was missing from the computer lent his story a little credence. It was time to do a little probing. "Mr. Mason.....you said that Mr. Atwood got violent with you. What exactly happened....and can anyone verify your condition? Perhaps one of Dr. Dane's medical staff? Surely you must have still been carrying any damage done to your person when you were brought aboard the Zion."

"Assuming that you have recordings of the interview you should be able to watch as he applied pressure to certain pain points on me, you would be able to see him choke me until I was almost unconscious. You can see him using that Klingon pain thing on me. It did not look like much of a weapon but it sure hurt." Mason stopped, why were they asking questions they should already have the answers to, "Wait a second, you don't have the recordings, he destroyed them didn't he?"

"I wouldn't know. All of that would be in the computer back on Qul Tuq. Rest assured that it will be checked out."

Mason did not believe her for a second. She knew.

Northrop nodded.....now it was time to get a little more into the heart of the situation. She leaned forward and put her hands, palm down, on the table. "A little while ago you told Captain Hunter here that you wanted to join the Maquis to get away from the 'lies' your Starfleet Commanders were telling you. Up till the time you arrived in our custody....you had no way of knowing if they were indeed lies. So you expect me to believe that in the short time between your capture and your interrogation on Qul Tuq that you decided to abandon everything you knew to join a group of rebels? Simply because you thought that you were being lied to?"

Mason thought of his wife and daughter, but decided he did not want to tell them about his family just yet, he did not completly trust them, yet. He looked at the intel officer and smiled, "We are told, and even shown visual evidence that you Maquis are ruthless butchers. We haved seen terrible pictures of what you had supposedly done to innocent people, yet since my capture, I have not once been tortured by a Maquis person. I have, on the other hand been tortured by my own Federation comerades and their allies. I have watched with incridible shock as a Cardassian, who was supposed to be my ally, clearly was about to violate one of your crew, for no other reason than the fact that he could." He looked the intel lady right in the eyes, "You tell me, how much convincing would you need if our circumstances were reversed."

"Well...not long ago our circumstances were reversed. And look at what uniform I'm wearing. Of course....the fact that several of the Federations oldest member worlds pulled out didn't throw up any warning flags for you?"

Mason looked at Northrop; he nearly laughed. "Our situations were not reversed. You were not facing the reality that what you have believed was false. You were not hunted and tortured by the very people you thought were your friends." said Mason, "Spare me the insults chief warrant officer, I believed what my commander told me."

Leaning back against another piece of equipment, "I find it hard to believe that someone would become a traitor to their government simply because of a little propaganda." Crossing her arms across her chest, "Myself...I became a member of the Maquis because of that Starfleet did to my family....and the countless other atrocities they've committed in the name of preserving a treaty. And you sit there and tell us that you want to change sides because you were lied to? Excuse while I say that that's hardly a convincing reason."

Mason shook his head, intel officers were all the same, paranoid, distrustful and above the law. He was certain that if the Captain left she would use the same tactics on him that Atwood did. "I have committed no atocities and up until recently I beleived that the Federation was defending themselves and other innocent worlds from the Maquis butchers. I have, been shown plenty examples of Maquis barbarism." Mason paused taking deep breaths, it was becoming a litte harder to breath. "Now I am faced with the possibility, that just maybe, those images were all lies and I have been on the wrong side in this war." I should have listened to Mara, he thought, I should have left with her. This nightmare would not be happening. "Dispite what you might think," he said, "I am not a barbarian, I am not capable of committing atrocities. I was a Starfleet Officer, I did what my Commander ordered, but I do have a clean conscience."

She smirked, "Just following orders, hmm? Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah...the Neuremberg Trials after World War II."

"You know," said Mason, "you have a remarkable skill for only listening to the things you want to hear." He glared at her, "I was ordered to defend the federation and my ship, I was not ordered to exterminate an entire culture. I could not and would not participate in that kind of activity."

Hunter cleared his throat and said, "that's fine Mason." Hunter gave Alyssa a quick sideways nod, gesturing for her to follow him. They walked away from Mason's bed.

"If he's telling the truth, I would hate to subject him to a situation where he might change his mind about the Maquis." Hunter rubbed his chin and reflected on Mason's testimony. "Here's what I what we're going to do," said Hunter, "find ensign Tapert. She has some sort of A.I. entity, perhaps they can recover Atwood's logs. Hunter glanced over his shoulder at Mason. "I will go talk to the counselor, the three of us will interview Mason later this afternoon. Zoei will be able to tell if he's lying."

Keeping her voice low, "Yes Sir...I understand....but....I'm not buying his story sir. And you know as well as I do that 'just following orders' hasn't been a legitimate excuse for hundreds of years. He was on a front line ship....how could he have not known what the Federation and Cardassians were doing?"

Hunter looked back at Mason, "Ok, we'll know soon enough," he said. He turned back to Northrop and nodded, "See if you can find those recordings." he said, "...dismissed." Hunter smiled as he watched her exit sickbay. She was tenacious.

Returning to Mason's bed Hunter updated him. "We're going to reconduct a formal interview into the matter of your request for asylumm."

Mason looked at Hunter and nodded.

"Alright, we'll be back later." said Hunter dismissing himself.

He turned and walked to the farside of Sickbay to visit Dr. Dane.