A portion of the station had been locked down, all to keep the interrogation chamber on this side of the deck secure. Certain concerns had been raised in regards to Recruit Alferova given the current status of her brother and the contents of a recent message she'd relayed, about strange ships armed with inhuman weaponry that could punch right through traditional armor used on the Insurgent. This presented an issue, any Commissar knew that when one member of the family developed treasonous or even near-treasonous ideals to the cause, it was very likely to pass on to other relatives, like an endemic infection of disillusion. In this case, it was the close connection of two siblings, one that had been openly branded a deserter, and the other had recently enlisted to a Battle-group detachment.
Krsnik had been briefed on this much or had taken the time to acquire pertinent information for himself before-hand, he'd seen a a requisition report from Recruit Alferova's brother in the past, he found it a nuisance then and he found his time being wasted on some girl with a stutter a nuisance in the present. His personal opinions had to be set aside for the moment, there was no scope for failure, being thorough was the only option, he knew from the moment that he'd walked through the doors of the interrogation chamber that if she showed signs that warranted suspicion, he couldn't let her leave the room regardless of his inhibitions.
"I trust you know why you have been brought here, Recruit." Would be his first choice of words, wanting to see if at the very least the Recruit was somewhat perceptive of the circumstances surrounding them. Taking a seat that allowed to face her, being fully geared out she wouldn't have the ability to take much recognition of what kind of person had been sent to question her, whether he was young, old, or even what his origins and accent might have seemed like were very obscure. The chamber itself was rather confined, illuminated sufficiently, but not very well, there wasn't much to look at except the person before her and there didn't seem to be any windows for external observation or even cameras for that matter. He had clearly been total freedom as to how to handle her, that much was obvious.
"Knowing Humanity - We will be duty, bloody and unavoidable."
Hands, legs, back, every part of the body ached badly. At least, Katharine found out, that she was not shot, but the trip in the uncomfortable hold of the freighter was making itself felt. She did not remember exactly when and how she was captured, but she clearly remembered the picture of how she was met in the hangar by a detachment of special coalition forces. She was almost ready to board her ship and fly away, as a group of people approached and one of them immediately stunned recruit with non-lethal weapon. It was not painful, but she immediately lost control of her own body. Weakening, she fell to the floor of the hangar, feeling like she was being taken by her feet and dragged somewhere. Katharine woke up only in the cargohold of another ship. At least, it seemed to her that it was a cargohold. On her head was a bafg that prevented her from looking around. After a couple of minutes of panic, she felt asleep and woke up only in this cell. In general, even the design of the room was different from the standard interior of her homeland. The walls were painted red with a couple of foreign ornaments and this already allowed her to assume that she was in Cayman system.
Kartharine, a fresh student from military academy, almost a girl, looked around. She was rather pale and most likely scared. She was sure that commissars are ordinary people, not steel-clad... Creatures, as she couldn't say, who was talking with her. However, even this voice seemed to be enough to scare recruit even more. She couldn't say how exactly she was supposed to answer this question. Probably, it was because of her brother? She remembered the letter, he left for her, in which he asked her to never talk about him with her brothers in arms. It seems, that he expected something like this and it was her mistake to disobey this request. Anyway, Katharine found, what she was looking for. There is only one easy step - get out of this place. Oh, not so easy. Anyway...
"Ne mogu znat, tovarisch Komissar! (//I can't know, comrade Comissar) I can guess, that it is connected with my brother one way or anothe, though?.."
She just hoped, that she will not be shot on sight for these words. Recruit rubbed her forehead with right arm and looked at the Krsnik again, as is she was trying to look into his eyes.
His helmet defied traditional design, foregoing a visor for a camera array, both of which were illuminated bright red and seemed to be constantly streaming with various figures, whether it was just data or orders was unclear. But what was clear seemed to be the fact that he wasn't dealing with someone of strong mental fortitude. If he so much as yelled funnily he was quite certain he'd prompt her to have a panic attack.
"Where is your personal communicator?" He was firm in the delivery of his question, expecting an answer and having no need to make the potential consequences of non-cooperation known to her. It was important for him to establish her latest contacts and most recent conversations, if he could find anything questionable, he'd have a basis to work off of for the remainder of the interrogation. He didn't rule out the potential need of torture should no other way to obtain information present itself.
There had to be a reason for the current suspicion surrounding her. If there wasn't then this was a sheer waste of his time. Regardless, catching a potential traitor personally would be a great boost to his reputation among the Coalition, something he sought to constantly work on given what he had in mind for the future.
"Knowing Humanity - We will be duty, bloody and unavoidable."
"Ne mogu znat, tovarisch Komissar! I guess, that the soldiers of People's Revolution took it."
It was close. Very close. Good thing, that Katharine took the advice of her new friend and deleted the communication link right after his answer, so there nothing left on personal communicator, except of communication links with her brothers in arms. A couple of sweat drops appeared on her forehead and she hurried up to remove them.At least now, she was able to control situation.
She was aware of Coalition's methods to gain all needed information. Moreover, it wasn't something classified, as it was a great measure to keep the citiziens of Coalition aware about the consequences of betrayal.
After a brief scan of her vital signs, the sensors within his suit detected a rise in her heart-beat as she answered the question, taking note of the sudden outburst of perspiration in a climate-controlled room as well. She was scared, horrified of what might happen even and most definitely lying to him about something, at least now he knew it was time to ramp up the pressure and to begin the process of breaking her down mentally.
"Is the temperature set too high or is that just your fear getting the better of you? You know I will do everything I have to do to get what I need out of you, so why not make this whole ordeal easier on yourself?" Standing up, he'd circle the room, taking one slow lap with his arms behind his back, he was most certainly not going to make this a pleasant process for her, that was clear from the moment he walked in and in the Commissariat's decision to send him instead of standard personnel.
Opening the door leading into the room, he'd signal for one of the men to bring her confiscated personal items to him, wanting to go over her communicator just for the sake of being thorough, though he was certain that she was at the minimum smart enough to wipe data that would project her as guilty if found. "I know you're hiding something. Whatever it is, I'll find it."
He meant that with all seriousness, the only thing which would momentarily break the tension in the room would be the door opening, with one of the Soldiers outside handing Krsnik a small plastic bag containing whatever the Recruit had on her person at the time of being captured, with this, he'd seat himself back down to go through her things, doing so in front of her and in full view.
"Knowing Humanity - We will be duty, bloody and unavoidable."
"I... I..." Katharine took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. Now it was clear enough for her, that Comissar already knows, that she has something to hide. And if she wants to make her way out of this room alive, she has to comply. The only two thing he doesn't know, it's her intentions to leave the Coalition space and her contact with the representative of the Council. If she gives out all other information, than she might have a chance to success.
Each action of Comissar was like additional weight on the shoulders of recruit. Obviously Katharine couldn't deal with this pressue. Breathing in again, she finally said: "Tovarish Comissar, I was trying to hide my intentions to get in touch with my brother Anton Alferov, who is the recognized traitor of the People's Revol... Revolution."
Her voice seemed to be really trembling, as the leaf on the tree, during the leaf fall. She closed her eyes and leaned back on her chair, trying to escape from horrible reality, she was dealing with.
Among the personal belongings of the recruit there was nothing supernatural. Personal communicator, several hard drives, a small notebook, a photo and food tickets. However, when Comissar pulled out this photocard, her pulse accelerated. Clearly, it was very hard for her to keep herself under the control.
Krsnik let out a disgusted 'hmph' at her admittance of wanting to get in touch with her brother, a known deserter. He began to piece together everything he knew on the situation, her initial communication, her attempt to leave with her fighter on an unscheduled departure and now the fact that she wanted to get in touch with her brother, it seemed to him that if the Recruit had simply been allowed to leave, she would have most likely not returned, she was exhibiting a similar mentality to that of any deserter. All it took was one glance into her eyes to tell she didn't want to be here and did indeed wish she was gone, a whisper in the void.
"An unscheduled departure to get in touch with your cowardly brother, most likely so that you could be just like him, a mockery of everything the Coalition stands for. You wanted to run didn't you? You wanted to flee, it's almost as if there's no blood in your body. Did you think you could just get into your fighter and run? That we would just let you go? Your brother was mistake number one, there won't be a second." His hand shot out across the desk, grabbing her by the throat and raising her up along with him as he stood to pace his way around the table, drawing nearer and lifting her higher, it was like having ones neck squeezed between an iron vice, she'd most likely feel her windpipe struggling to retain its shape, fighting for air against the external force, nearly forcing her to black out, for the sake of keeping her awake he would loosen his grip just a little.
"Tell me, where did you hope you could run to? If you try to lie to me or refuse to answer, I'll mangle every bone in your body and then make you watch as I shatter your Brother's spine over my knee." She could try calling his bluff, but one thing the recruits in the Coalition were certain of, was that Krsnik never bluffed.
"Knowing Humanity - We will be duty, bloody and unavoidable."
Recruit was dragged back to the reality by the Comissar's hand. Instinctively, she clung to his arm, trying to free her throat and make at least one sip of air. The feeling of the steel grip of the Krsnik, the lack of oxygen, pain and mental breakdown didn't let Katharine to find out what to do. Catching the last words of him, she wheezed: "My... My intention to run away was a... Momentary weakness, tovarish k... Komissar. As for my brother..."
She felt as the sparkle of life is starting to blow out in her. Katharine released the hand of Krsnik and said with weakening voice: "He was... He was the only one, who cared for me, when I was left on streets... I... I didn't like what he did, but I just wanted to know, if he is alive or..."
Recruit didn't manage to end the sentence. Passing out, she mumbled something else and fully relaxed, getting lifted by Comissar, just like a weak-willed doll.