Bounty Hunter? -- out here?

Posted on Thu Sep 17th, 2020 @ 3:54am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Andromeda Galaxy
Timeline: MD200 - This is a backpost to show history
4890 words - 9.8 OF Standard Post Measure

“Bounty Hunter—out here?”MD200 - This is a backpost to show history - There will be something coming soon :)

Location: Senior Staff Briefing Room

Crew: Commander P Lalor, Acting Executive Officer, Dr. Ian Monz, CMO, Lt Cdr Ephraim Parish, CEO, Lt. Cmdr Liselle Qwyyn, CFO, Alice (by Sharr), Micheal Robertson, Bounty Hunter.


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Commander Phoenix Lalor summoned the senior staff. She had the report on the investigation. All Senior Staff had been cleared and she needed to make it known and what they were going to do next.

Moments following the summons, the briefing room doors hushed aside to permit the ship's considerably reclusive chief medical officer. Ian had tended to show up when he was least expected, or more importantly, least within the line of fire. The several months that had transpired since the accident, the empathic doctor had adamantly rejected groupings and preferred solitary tasks or the occasional pairing. Or at least one very specific pairing hadn't daunted the man's sensitive mind.

Without any formality for command, Ian offered a glance towards Phoenix has he took his spot at the table, a PADD grasped firmly in hand. Had it not been for recent events Ian would ave likely comm'd into the whole ordeal than show himself, but explosions in or around sickbay tended to be the best way to draw out the doctor without an engineer being attached.

Ephraim sauntered in seconds later, smiling brightly at the rooms occupants. "Ma'am, Doctor" he greeted a little less formally that he ought to have. He allowed his gaze to linger on the doctor as he crossed the distance and took a seat beside him, smiling again as he dropped his PADD on the table.

Silently the doctor smirked, unable to admonish the engineer's infectious energy as he sat beside Ian. With only a brief nod towards the blond-haired man, Ian tapped mindlessly at the device to hold back the surge of thoughts that rippled beneath his skin.

When Liselle entered the room she went straight to Ephraim's chair. Phoenix had been right before, she owed the man an apology for her outburst several days before in the mess hall. She put her fingers lightly on his shoulder to get his attention. "Do you think we can talk after this?" she asked. A smile drew across her lips and she put a hand over her heart. "Don't worry, no unreasonable demands from Engineering this time. I swear."

Ephraim sighed happily, "Of course we can," he smiled in return, "you needn't ask, I'm always around" and he meant it. That simple request melted away a majority of the irritation that he'd held for the Commander, "If you wait around, we can grab a coffee."

Noticing, as he walked in, that he was far from the first to arrive Udal cursed under his breath in Orion. Nodding to the others already seated around the table he tugged his uniform tunic down and then sat, placing his padd down on the table in front of him. As he looked over at Liselle he smiled, "Good morning." he said just loud enough for her to hear him.

===Main Shuttlebay===

Taran was in the hangar getting his flight suit on when his PaDD beeped at him. Raising an eyebrow he picked it up. Looking at hit he growled. He hated meetings. He had his flight patrol to do and more flight patrol reports to go through from the rest of the pilots. However, he doubted that would be enough to get out of going to the meeting.

He looked down at himself. He was not about to go through the trouble of getting out of the flight suit to go to a meeting to come back to get back into it to fly his patrol. With a shrug he walked into his office got a cup of coffee and took it and his PaDD with him and headed to the briefing room.

===Senior Officer Conference Room===

Walking into the room he nodded to everyone before taking his seat and taking a drink of his coffee. He hoped the meeting would be a short one.

Once everyone was seated, Phoenix, doubt in her mind, activated ALICE and turned to face the Crew. "I will keep this brief, we all have work to do and a way home to find. Lieutenant Garrick has finished his investigation into the senior staff and will be continuing to investigate the remainder of the crew. The Morgue as you know has been blown up and Engineering is working on repairing it." She paused and glanced at ALICE. "ALICE here has been assisting with the investigation and has managed to pull up surveillance on the Morgue prior to the explosion."

ALICE turned and an image appeared of the hall outside the morgue and... a blur. To put it nicely it was a blur. Nothing more, then the explosion. Phoenix looked at the group assembled. "This blur is very strange as I am sure you can guess. We are currently having ALICE run scans on the image to see if she can get anything more. But it looks like the person used an image cloaker of some sort."

Liselle leaned forward in her chair, her hands flat on the table and her eyes squinting to make out the image on the screen. "What in the world could this person possible want with the morgue of all places?" she asked. She raised a brow as was the habit of her previous host, Juntis. "Is there evidence on Faye's body that we missed?"

After waiting for the reply about the evidence Udal spoke up. "During my time as a bodyguard I have had some experience dealing with personal cloaks. I can take a look at any telemetry from the time period you are referencing and see if I recognize anything that might help. Some of those things have very faint, but also very distinct sensor ghosts that wouldn't be caught by someone not trained to look for them." he said, wanting to help out as much as possible. His job normally didn't much apply to the internal running of the ship, dealing mostly with external threats, and the very powerful weapons that dealt with them as they cropped up. He liked to keep busy, and he liked to make sure everyone knew he was there to help. He'd sometimes been pigeonholed on previous assignments, and much of that was his own fault for keeping his prior life so well hidden. He didn't want the same to be true here.

Taran raised an eyebrow. He wasn't an intelligence officer or anything of the means. However, he was a pilot and the one thing pilots did have was attention to detail as well as working out how to detect the enemy. "While I know it doesn't help with this right now. Might I suggest to deal with anything further of this nature that may come about that we can use a narrow band high level tachyon sweep around the ship at irregular intervals. Especially inside the ship itself. That will have the highest chance of being able to see through a cloak of that kind. Also I would suggest internal sensor be linked with medical sensors. If nothing else we can get a record of bio signs and then be able to compare them to the bio signs of all personnel for a match or to rule someone out."

Eph tapped away rapidly at his PADD, making sure he could get as much of the information down as possible. Taking a brief reprieve, "Has the AI," he refused to name her, that validated her presence, something he wasn't all to keen to accept - something about the being made the engineer feel very unsettled, "Ran an intensive check throughout the ships entire security systems? They've got too have activated the cloak somewhere ship side, possibly not far from either" he questioned, looking down just as quickly to add his suggestion to his notes.

Silent during the exchange, Ian stared disdainfully towards the table and averting eye contact the surrounding staff. If matters couldn't have been worse, it was his morgue that the explosion had been centred upon. Faye's body was technically in his responsible possession at the time of the accident. Every misstep that led to the explosion pointed in a single direction, one that he'd taken personal issue with since the investigation had commenced.

Having touched on the topic lightly with the Doctor prior, Eph felt the man shift subtly. Wordlessly, he moved his leg so that their ankles linked. It was the closest thing to a hug he could provide without the rest of the team noticing. A little touch he hoped would bring Ian comfort. All the while he tapped away furiously at his PADD, hoping that the endless stream of words he was inputting would provide the answers they so desperately sought.

The Artificial Intelligence watched the crew closely; Chesh was nowhere to be seen in the room, but she knew he was ever around, both of them ever watching. The crew fumbled around in different areas of the ship; she had watched the activity in the Morgue with a curiosity that made her think she felt something, either way; it was interesting to watch the crew and their senior leadership fuss about. She'd already ran an analysis on the event which had been sent to the Admiral, who had not yet bothered to log into his communications, "Explosion was of an unimpressive nature, standard Starfleet materials leaving typical blast patterns given the factors of the confined Morgue space. Scans have been inconclusive as to whoever planted those; all records show no other biological presence beyond those detailed on the roster for that evening. Sensors have not detected power fluctuations, and there have been no conclusive scans on any temporal level, Temporal Investigation logs show no time line incursion for this stardate or this location." Her explanation was direct and to the point, the Admiral had limited her programming to a single active avatar at any given time and she wanted to be elsewhere.

A thought nudged Taran's brain from the recesses of history he had read. As with any El Aurian he picked up stories and history of any culture he came across. "What about beings that are out of phase with us. Such as the Devidians that were encountered? If I remember correctly they lived out of phase with most other lifeforms with a positive phase variance of .004." He took a deep breath. "If I also remember sensors had to be specifically adjusted to scan for them. It was not something that would show up on a normal sweep."

Phoenix nodded to all the comments. She wanted to strangle the AI but she kept it in check. "All areas are to be explored." What else she may have said was cut off from a call from the bridge. Her now acting Chief of Operations' voice came over in his normal precise Vulcan tone. "Commander Lalor. S'arlek reporting. We have an incoming vessel, they are hailing us."

Phoenix looked at the senior staff. "Patch it through here."

"Aye Ma'am"

"Communication coming through now."

===Night Hawk===

Mike was still trying to hail the Elysium Class vessel as he continued his approach. "Starfleet vessel, I say again! This is the Night Hawk. A privately owned shuttle, under the command of Micheal Robertson! Do you read me?!"

===USS Elysium===

Phoenix looked at Parish. "Check our records" She ordered and without waiting for the rest, Phoenix hit the COMM. "Night Hawk, this is the Starfleet Vessel, USS Elysium under the command of Admiral Sharr. We are reading you. Please transmit your ID for confirmation."

"Yes, Ma'am" Ephraim said, moving his leg slightly to adopt a more serious posture, without breaking contact from Ian. He quietly entered the relevant commands into the padd that would bring in the relevant information, "Give me a couple of seconds, the processors aren't want they used to be... yet"

=/\=Understood, Elysium. Transmitting now.=/\= Micheal's voice sounded as if he was greatly relieved for some reason. =/\=Codes sent. Did you receive?=/\= As he was speaking, both his and his shuttle's identification codes started scrolling across the conference table. At the same time, a three dimensional representation of his face and shuttle appeared a few inches above the table, while his Federation and Starfleet files were displayed upon each of the main status PADDs that the senior officers all had in front of them.

Ephraim quietly relieved Ian of his PADD, "I'll give it you back in a second," he promised before quickly bringing the information the systems had on the stranger. He stayed silent for a few moments, nodding every few lines as he confirmed the matches. He tapped the comm panel at the centre of the table, placing Mike on hold so that he could speak freely.

"Everything matches up, Commander. Once with the Fleet, Damage Control Specialist at the rate of Senior Chief Petty Officer, First Class. Left in 91 to start an independent Bounty Hunting service, vanished without a trace last year" he summarized to save his colleagues time.

"I could certainly use a man with his skill set. With his experience he could help speed up repairs significantly" he had a tremendous amount of respect for his enlisted counterparts. He passed Ian his PADD, smiling in thanks, "Of course, that's a decision for you and the Admiral to make, ma'am"

Stalwart in his silence while Ephraim usurped his device, the continued unseen contact had settled his mind for a brief moment. Calculating his measured response to Phoenix's eagerness, the doctor straightened in his chair, "Convenient, a bounty hunter just happens upon us while we're in the midst of this mess. One who appears to be quite in need to making our contact as well," the doctor suggested from the carefully selected words he'd picked up in the comm. The more the clock ticked, the less confident Ian felt that there had been more afoot than the utter collection of convenient events that all begged to consider a larger mystery than they'd been led to believe.

Phoenix considered the information. "Bring him aboard." She said and hit the comm back to active, "Night Hawk, this is the Elysium. We are opening up our main shuttle bay for your shuttle. You will have to submit to a bio-scan and a security check. Once that has been done, you will be able to meet with either the executive officer or the admiral."

=/\=Understood, Elysium. I will be docking in about five minutes. See you then. Night Hawk out.=/\= The comline went dead after Micheal disconnected from his end. The sensors that were working showed that the approaching shuttle accelerated to full impulse and made its way to the main shuttlebay.

Ian didn't hesitate to lift his PADD back to Ephraim, the dour glare locking momentarily with the chief, "I have a feeling you'll need this a bit more," he said dryly before adding in a whisper, "you can just return it later."

Alice watched, she watched the shuttle enter her shuttle bay, and she watched as the senior officers buzzed around with this unexpected visitor. She'd diverted Chesh to focus on this new visitor while she focused her attention on the valiantly failing whims of the crew, her purpose was to be ahead of them and not to submit, but she played along, as her maker had ordered. Though she would have a little fun, "If there is nothing else wasting my time, Ms Lalor" with that Alice vanished, she was ignoring calls from around the ship and had also included that of the Senior Staff to her list.

"Bitch" Muttered Phoenix as the program left. Why couldn't have Magnolia deleted that darn program before she tried to kill the admiral. "Dismissed" She said to the senior staff. "Parish, Monz, you are with me."

===Night Hawk===

As Micheal continued his approach, he sat, astonished, at the amount of damage that the gigantic Elysium class vessel seemed to possess. He suddenly was not so sure that they had come looking for him, but instead, been victims of a similar situation as he had been in for the past year. He quickly pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on landing his shuttle inside the massive shuttlebay.

Once he completed his landing procedures, he locked down his computer, for security reasons. And then stood up, donning his leather duster and black stetson as he did so. Making his way to his starboard hatch, he activated the controls, and the door cycled open. He looked out through the now open hatch to see who was walking towards him and his ship.

Phoenix Stood silent with the CHENG and CMO beside her. "Mr Robertson. Welcome to the USS Elysium. I am Commander Lalor, Acting executive officer. This is our chief engineer and acting Second officer, Commander Parish and Doctor Monz our chief medical officer."

Looking at each of the three officers present, Micheal was silent for a moment, sizing each one up. Finally, he nodded. "Doctor, Commander." He greeted both with a firm handshake. He then turned his attention to Lalor. "Your first name wouldn't be Phoenix, by any chance, would it, Commander?" His eyes betrayed nothing as he asked his question.

Ephraim remained silent, but the concern and distrust stirred up by the mans actions were likely made evident by the Chief Engineer subconsciously stepping closer to the Commander.

Naturally suspicious, Michael's leading question hadn't done much to relieve Ian of that sensation. Ephraim's equal edginess beside him raised all sorts of internal alarms in the doctor, whom had seen to slipping a tricorder out to perform a routine passive medical clearance, and see if there were any indications remaining that might suggest where this man has been to just happen upon them now. Ian didn't believe in coincidence all that readily.

Micheal noticed the subtle movements of both men out the corners of his eyes. It took him a nanosecond to size them both up again. The engineer was nearly the same size as Micheal was, so he might be an issue. The doctor, however, was no threat. Knowing that there were Betazoids aboard just about every starship, the big Texan was very careful in not allowing any stray thoughts or negative emotions bubble up. He simply waited for the Commander's answer.

Phoenix didn't move or flinch. She merely studied the man. "Yes. That is one of my names" She replied coolly. "I take it my family sent the bounty on me further than the Erisian underworld. How... advanced for them to seek outside help."

There was a tense pause between the four of them. Finally, Micheal grinned and chuckled. "Well, hell. You're a smart one after all. I gotta tell ya, I appreciate that. Makes my job easier, and saves your friends here from any unnecessary pain." He cleared his throat. "Phoenix Lalor, as a legal representative of the judicial system of your homeworld, I am placing you under arrest. The charge is the kidnapping. If you surrender peacefully, things will go much better for everyone. What do ya say?"

Ephraim moved quickly to stand between the pair, tapping his badge without seemingly moving his arm "Parish to security, send a team down here immediately, It appears our friend isn't here with friendly intentions" he ordered, his gaze never leaving the bounty hunters.

Micheal didn't say a word. In fact, his only reaction to the sudden call for security, was to slowly cross his arms across his powerful chest and grin. He seemed as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Told you so," Ian muttered beneath his breath so that both Ephraim and Phoenix could hear him.

Phoenix had to stop the snort of laughter escaping her. Phoenix rolled her eyes. "I say you are barking up the wrong tree." She waved a hand elegantly. "Aside from the fact that should we never get home, said bounty will be worthless, my family would never pay an outsider to do the job." She smiled. "You are a human male, not an Erisian Male. Should we return to the Alpha Quadrant, and you succeed in taking me back, a highly unlikely event in any case as while I am on this ship, they would kill you on the spot rather than pay a non Erisian money for doing their dirty work. Tell me, do you prefer being drawn and quartered or just beheaded?" Phoenix rolled a shoulder. "And as for the kidnapping, exactly who did I kidnap? My Sister I am guessing." She gave an exaggerated sigh. "I have legal custody of my sister as per the Federation Courts until she turns 18. Which is in 4 years. Then she has the freedom to chose for her self. My family's legal counsel was present for the hearings and they lost. I have the documentation in my office, if you would like to see the paperwork."

Micheal simply shrugged non-committal. "I don't care what kind of paperwork you have. All that concerns me is that the bounty is legal and binding. And to answer your question, no harm will come to me from your government. Special dispensation has been granted in your case."

A grin appeared behind the guest, then the rest of the AI Security System appeared, rubbing itself against the unknown individual, mimicking the actions of a normal cat, With a calm and collected composure it sat by the foot of the overly confident Texan.

Micheal glanced down at the cat. As he didn't feel any threat from it, he decided to ignore it. "Along with your security, you might want to call your Admiral down here as well."

Ian watched the AI materialize around the new arrival, shaking his head. "Oh for hell's sake, all this over a custody issue," he looked between Ephraim and Phoenix, disregarding the lumbering-hunter before them. "Do you ever feel that the galaxy looks upon us as this colossal joke between stars and wonders, hey what torture can I offer them today," Ian now glared to Michael. "Just tell me you're not here to blow a hole in sickbay too."

Phoenix merely smiled as Ian finally lost it. "Only every darn day Doctor." She said with an impish smile. "ALICE. Please summon the Admiral. Inform him of our guest and his... request." She turned to Ian. "I am sure he will not blow up medical doctor. Despite his words, he is just as stuck as we are. Collecting the bounty will do him no good if we cannot and do not get home."

"The Admiral is currently busy, Commander" Alice materialised nearby as the cat crawled up onto her shoulders, "Security will be here momentarily, however, we can restrain this individual if necessary, the shuttle has already been impounded and Chesh has already deadlocked their computer as a precaution, dampening fields are in place and forcefields are on standby. Awaiting further instructions"

Micheal looked over at the hologram. "I'd be careful what you stick your electronic fingers in, Hon. My ship may have started in the Milky Way Galaxy, but she's a hybrid now. Mary? Are you online?"

A blue-coloured hologram next to Micheal. It was the image of a little girl as well, her shoulder length hair full of tight curls. She was dressed in a dress one might find a Victorian Era girl wearing. "Yes, Mike. I am fully functioning. The Elysium's AI, though powerful, has not breached my systems. I merely allowed it to think that it did. However, it was correct about one thing. The ship, physically, is locked down. As I cannot access their systems currently, there is nothing I can do about that. I am sorry."

Micheal nodded. "That's okay. Just focus on keeping the computer safe from them." The blue AI nodded and then vanished.

-Wasn't he always busy these days?- Phoenix thought sourly. But her face betrayed none of her thoughts. "Oh well. Mr Roberston, I guess you should consider yourself our guest. And as the Admiral has authorised me as executive officer, my word goes. Your arrest warrant is voided. You are welcome to remain on the Elysium, as we are not cruel to strand people in such predicaments. We shall of course need to have security escort you for the time being." she glanced at ALICE.

Micheal chuckled softly in response. "Sorry, Darlin'. Neither you nor your invisible Admiral have that power. Only the high court of your home world can do that. But, I will agree, for the time being, we are at a stalemate. I would be glad to accept your hospitality while I am here."

"Alice, I believe we have some guest quarters available for use, please assign this gentleman one until we can figure this out. And I am not meaning the brig."

"The security team outside will ensure that our guest arrives safely. We will, however, confiscate all weaponry and, given his individuals record, we urge caution."

Not amused in the least, Ian waived off the feline presence and the guest, "I'm pretty certain restraints would only enliven," the doctor paused, skimming back to his tricorder's readout, "Mister Robertson is it," he didn't quite care if it was or not. "If it'll make ALICE content to have her way with him, I'm not going to provide a medical override."

Micheal grimaced slightly. "Ah. Now we get to the sticky area. As I am a lawfully bonded bounty hunter, recognized by the Federation Judicial Council, you have no authority to relieve me of my weapons. I will, however, meet you halfway. I will place my weapons, save one, back in my ship, which you have physically secured, and then give you my word as a law officer, that I will behave myself while I am aboard."

Oh she didn't trust that at all but Phoenix was not stupid either to call him on it. "Very well." She said though she made sure her gaze did not leave the man's face. "ALICE, make sure security is aware of this situation if you please and get Jacobs to arrange a meeting for our guest with Admiral Sharr."

“Yes Commander” The AI paused, “He is on his way,”

"Once you have secured your weaponry Mr Robertson, Security will escort you to temporary quarters." As she spoke the doors to the shuttlebay opened behind her.

Phoenix frowned and turned to find Admiral Sharr walking towards them. Leaving the group she briskly crossed to give him the update. Then after a minute of quiet conversation, the Admiral moved past her to face the bounty hunter

“This is Micheal Robertson, Sir. A Bounty hunter” Ian supplied as Phoenix moved to stand beside the Admiral.

"I see, a bounty hunter." The Admiral looked him up and down and kept a small wry smile on his face, "Welcome aboard the Elysium, we'll need to confiscate all of your weaponry. Don't worry, they'll be kept secure and available to you upon your departure from the ship. I believe that Alice should have assigned you some guest quarters where you will be able to..." the Admiral looked at him again, keeping the smile "freshen up a little. You will have standard guest access so you can replicate refreshments and clothing as you require and you'll be permitted access to all civilian areas only. Do not stray into any restricted zones, the security teams do not look favourably to people being in places they shouldn't. Once you've settled I'll be intrigued to hear your story of how you found us in the Andromeda Galaxy."

Sharr turned to his officers, "Is there anything else I need to know?"

Ian's head craned around Ephraim, catching sight of the elusive admiral. Any apprehension or ill emotion faded from the medic's face, genuinely inclined to sedate and question the man at length. Rather, Ian's brow furrowed, "Nothing that relates to him," he spoke, "you on the other hand, sir, is another matter you should take up with your chief medical officer at your earliest convenience. Privately," the doctor added firmly.

"No." Was Sharr's only response to that, in a tone that left no doubt it wasn't a matter to be pressed, "If that is everything, I have important matters to attend, like getting us home"

Sharr said nothing else and left with his entourage, Alice vanished too, unimpressed at what happened but as she left she instructed Phoenix to check her schedule, a meeting has been planned between her and the Admiral.

Concern washed across the doctor's face, muttering beneath his breath and eyeing Ephraim and Phoenix.

Watching the Admiral saunter away, Micheal was reminded why he left Starfleet. Admirals were all the same, thinking they were gods. Unfortunately, for the time being, Micheal knew that he had no choice but to comply. His gaze turned back to Phoenix, as the security team arrived. "This isn't over, Commander. Not by a long shot." He the turned back to the security team. "Which one of you is going to sign for my weapons?"

The response he got was the three officers exchanging looks and then without a word they turned and walked off, leaving him to the security officers present.