Meeting the new face

Posted on 28 Feb 2020 @ 9:41pm by Cor Ive & Commander Kristiana Petrova

1,509 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Changing Faces
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Sometime after "Odin's New Guest"

The auburn haired Russian woman wandered into sickbay, looking around for a moment for her target. Once spotted she made her way over, though making sure she approached carefully, in a non-threatening manner. She didn't know what state of health or mental state their latest passenger was, and she knew enough not to potentially spook him as she approached. As she neared she remained silent, watching him, to see if he was awake and whether he noticed her.

Cor looked at the new woman, the pale blue irises, the only color in his otherwise black eyes, seeming to glow as he did so. The look on his face was that of curiosity but also of wariness.

"Hello. My name is Kristiana Petrova. Can you understand me?" she spoke calmly, showing her hands to indicate she was unarmed.

"The UT has done wonders translating." Cor said, smirking slightly. "Cor Ive."

"That's good to hear." Kris put on what she considered a calming smile. It didn't feel natural for her. "Can I call you Cor? Or Ive? How are you feeling?"

"Cor, please. Ive only with rank in front of it, as is proper." The way Cor spoke would make it known he values service and duty first. "And I'm feeling a lot better now, thank you."

"Cor it is, then. And you can call me Kris. I'm two-ex-oh on the Odin, third in command." Kristiana replied, pulling up a chair to sit next to his bed, continuing to speak. "How's the memory? Do you remember how you came to be adrift in a life pod?"

"That's what we call a personal craft on Rok X, thank you." Cor said, "I remember it vividly, thanks to comm channels. Traitorous High Admiral commandeered the Command Dreadnought and crashed it into the planet." Cor sighed, "I need to try and contact the High Command to see if anyone survived not sit laid up here!" He almost shouted, moving to sit up.

"My apologies, personal craft." She narrowed her eyes slightly as he tried to sit up but didn't move to stop him. "I'm sorry, I can't let you access our communication systems." she added, watching him carefully, ready to attempt to restrain him if needed.

"Please, your comm systems wouldn't be able to get through." Cor said, "Besides, the comms in my ship have my personal code attached, so they'll know it's me."He went to stand, and almost fell to his knees, catching himself on the biobed.

With a swift movement honed by decades of physical and combat exercise Kris leapt forward to catch him, letting him use her body as support as she helped him up again, carefully and slowly. "I can't let you do that either, my apologies. Security reasons. As a military man I'm sure you understand." she mused. "I'm here to ascertain the risk you might pose to our ship and crew." she had decided to come clear with him, feeling for his plight and figuring that a military man of some rank like him would appreciate the directness.

"Threat? In my current state I'm not a threat to a bug. And I have no working weapons. If that's what you came here for, sorry to disappoint." Cor said, sitting back on the bed.

"Tell me about yourself." as she sat back down again as well, still watching him closely. "You're a military man. What position? And what was this about a traitorous Admiral and a dreadnought? Are you at war?"

"No. Not at war." Cor said, "throughout our recent history, there have been dissenters against the rulers, but it was mostly peaceful protests. Then Tor'arn, the High Admiral of the Command Fleet, took and commandeered the Dreadnought, crashing it into several ships and the surface as I was launching to go on a vacation." Cor shook his head, "hell of a way to start my vacation."

"I see." Kris considered, remaining silent for a moment before continuing. "Hell of a way, indeed. Your story sounds almost unbelievable and far fetched." Beat. "Which makes me want to believe it, because if you wanted to fool to us you'd come up with a more believable story, and the debris field we found your craft at least fits with your story. How'd you escape the Dreadnought?"

"Experimental Gravitational Warp Drive." Cor said, "they asked me to test it and push it to the max on my vacation. I guess when you're the top Scientific Complex guard you're never off duty."

"So you're a scientist. I see." Kristiana stated. "We found you in a debris field, unconscious. I don't know if the debris matched your ship's technology or not." She leaned back, contemplating for a moment. "Tell you what, I'll clear you for the low security portions of the ship. Living quarters, sickbay, lounge, that kind of thing. You're restricted from high clearance areas like the bridge, engineering, security, things like that. I'll add that you're allowed in the science bays and cargo bays under armed escort. But I'm going to leave it up to the captain whether we can allow you to use your ship's comms." she sat back, gauging his reaction.

"I'm not a scientist. I guarded the Complex. The second highest posting on the ground. And Considering the ship is my property, I will use my ship's comms. It's not a matter of 'if' but of 'when'" Cor said, staring Kris down.

Kristiana's unreadable expression turned into a cold smile. "Alright, scratch any and all access to the cargo bays. Now, was there anything else?"

"I will find ways in to where my ship is. You cannot hold my property from me." Cor said firmly, crossing his arms.

"I have the authority to put you in a holding cell under armed guard. So, yes I can. That piece of wreckage in our cargo bay might be your ship, but it's held in our cargo bay, on our deck, on our ship, protected by our security team. The more you show a willingness to cooperate, the sooner we'll relax our restrictions." Kristiana's voice was entirely calm as she spoke. "Now if you're done attempting to intimidate me, I might consider giving you restricted access to the cargo bays again."

Cor scowled, "let me speak to your commander. Now."

"Anything you need to discuss with her you can discuss with me. I am part of the command team on this ship." Her voice was ever calm. "Now, are you going to cooperate?"

"I said let me speak to her. Now, either do that or let me have access to my ship to contact the Rokori High Command!" Cor shouted.

Kristiana tapped her comm badge. "Security to sickbay, now." as she rose to her feet, ready to restrain Cor should he make any movement against her.

Cor didn't move, just sitting there with his arms crossed, staring her down. Even in his weakened state he wasn't helpless however, if it came to blows, he'd likely not win.

It wasn't more than a moment before two men, wearing security yellow, rushed into sickbay, type II phasers holstered - for now. "Ma'am?" one of them asked Kristiana, who still stood over Cor's sickbay bed, eyes narrowed, a scowl on her face. "Now, I'm going to give you one final chance to acquiesce, or you will find yourself cooling off in a holding cell until you are feeling more cooperative. And maybe you can earn yourself access to your ship, if you're ready to play nice and stop trying to intimidate the crew of this ship. So, what will it be?" Her voice no longer calm, it had gained a cold edge.

"You cannot hold my ship!" Cor said, one hand moving up to rest on the rank insignia on the left side of his collar. He didn't know if it would work, but the high pitched feedback loop that could be triggered from it disabled some races temporarily, and he was ready to try it if he had to.

"Let me speak to your commander."

The moment Cor's hand moved, three trained security personnel - including one who prided herself in spending much of her free time doing combat training - instantly fell upon him to restrain him.

In his weakened state, Cor couldn't put up much of a fight, and submitted rather quickly. "I would cite several treaties you're violating, but you probably have no clue what they are, so I doubt that would help."

"Take that badge off his collar and escort him to a holding cell. Careful though, he's recovering from injury." Kristiana ignored Cor's comment.

"Ma'am." one of the security team gave a nod, reaching up to remove the comm badge, the two men helping Cor to his feet.

"We will keep this badge safe until you're ready to cooperate." the Russian woman intoned in Cor's general direction. "For what it's worth, I'd much rather this went peacefully."

Cor scowled at her, going with the two security officers. "You can't hold my property from me."

 

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