Taking Custody

Posted on Wed Nov 3rd, 2021 @ 3:14pm by Lieutenant Commander Emni t'Nai & Lieutenant Irynya & Lieutenant Timmoz

Mission: Starbase Shoreleave
Location: Starship Sojourner
Timeline: Mission Day 4 at 1400

[[Starship Sojourner]]
[[Starbase 2]]
[[In orbit of Deneva]]

The comm pinged its series of chirping sounds, cutting through the silence of the nearly abandoned Bridge. Lights were off and each console pulsed with the languid, slow blinking of Condition Gray. Sojourner was on Starbase power through all of its moorings. A series of tubes connected its various access ports while its shuttlebay doors were open to space.

A bevy of shuttlecraft and worker bees were passing by the ship like schooling fish. Some were slow, some went speedily by. Others, aglow in yellow paint, were scanning the hull as larger plates of titanium composite were being tractored into place over geometrically irregular portions of the exposed inner hull. Supply shuttles towing segmented rectangles stacked into a longer, larger rectangle moved slowly into the shuttlebay.

"Security Shuttlecraft Tormeś to Starship Sojourner, please respond." A voice said clearly through the open comm line. Her accent was distinctly of a Catalan type.

Irynya frowned, brow creasing lightly just below the gold disc on her forehead. She shot a glance behind her where Emni sat in the command chair, a PADD held lightly in her hand. She raised her eyebrows at her. "I don't have a security shuttle on the flight map," she said.

Emni looked over the top of her PADD offering the pilot a smile and a small shrug. "Might as well see what they want."

The Risian turned back to her station, tapping a quick sequence into the console before answering. "This is the Sojourner, what can we do for you Tormeś?

"Sojourner we have a request from Starfleet Security for a prisoner transfer to Pathfinder Station. As your itinerary is taking you that way, Branch Admiral Petrov is tapping you for the transfer. Transmitting confirmation of the warrant and sentence now."

Emni frowned as the message came across the comm, eyebrow raising at Irynya. She gave a small nod to pull the transmission.

Iry's frown deepened, eyes scanning the details quickly. Low level offender. 2nd degree property theft from the UFP. 18 month probation for technical work on Pathfinder Station. Nothing out of the ordinary other than the necessity to find a place for the prisoner to stay. She found herself wondering if the brig was about to get its first long term visitor. With only a quick glance back at Emni she responded. "Acknowledged Tormeś. You are cleared for approach."

"Acknowledged, Sojourner, we are in the traffic lane now. We will dock with you in... seven minutes. Please have a security detail ready to take possession. Tormeś out."

Quick fingers ran along the helm console, bringing up a manifest of who was still onboard the ship. A sigh escaped her and she turned, tucking her arm over the back of her seat. Her eyes met the XO's as she pursed her lips.

"All security personnel are either planet-side for shore leave or on the Starbase," she said. "And we, just so happen, to be the most senior crew onboard. So..."

Emni's eyebrow crept up, but a smile was on her lips. "Sounds like you drew the short straw then, Lieutenant."

The Risian nodded, an uncertain look on her features as she swung out of her seat with a quick nod. "Yes ma'am," she said in acknowledgment. "I'll be back as soon as our newcomer is settled."

---

The great rounded trapezoid that was the reinforced shield door ground open with hydraulic effort. A crisp coldness permeated a feeling of high altitude: the air was breathable but thin. The great beyond of blackness and stars yawned the entire run of the far wall. A worker bee buzzed passed, tapered like a wedge until, from behind it came a tractored piece of the Sojourner's damaged outer hull. A carbon-scored smudge gave little away; the white-silver of the piece was analogous to any number of pieces of the hull.

A force field shimmered as the nose of a shuttlecraft edged into it. And loosely, almost intimately, the craft penetrated the forcefield with a blue sizzle of energy around it. The threshold between space and the bay was just that- a force field. It's markings were not the yellows of the worker bees, but series of squared swoops of red and tan. In lettering on its side it read: SB2-60; underneath it had its name as well. It was the Tormeś.

In mid-air, the medium-sized shuttle rotated as someone announced an arrival over an echoing speaker. The shuttle presented it's aft- a segmented geometric shape that looked like it collapsed downward. It's aft was emblazoned with SB2-60.

The shuttle eased down onto the painted deck, between the red lines of a temporary park rather than a permanent ride down to the lower deckhold. But it didn't open, the aft section. Instead it lit up in a bezel of blue white and a transporter wall appeared. A Tiburonian woman stepped from the field with a splash of sprites and will o wisps. She was bald with a mottled, dry skin flatness to her flesh, and her ears evocative of Nosferatu.

While mid-stride she was studying a series of amber holographics. She looked up at the Risian. "I'm sorry," she said in that Catalan accent from before. "I was told there would be a security detail?"

While the Sojourner wasn't a particularly large ship it still took a few minutes to traverse the distance from the bride to the main shuttle bay. Irynya stepped into the space just as the Tormeś pressed through the forcefield into the shuttle bay. Irynya stood at the ready next to the landing pad, arms loose at her sides though she wanted to fidget. Her last work on any kind of security detail had been in hands on testing at the Academy. She was just glad she remembered where to find a phaser before got to the large double doors that led out to the large open space spanning decks 4 and 5.

She met the Tiburonian woman's look with a little bit of fire. "I am the security detail," she remarked, a quick gesture to the holstered phaser on her hip as if that somehow made it obvious. "You're delivering an unscheduled prisoner detail while we're docked during shore leave. Most of our crew is elsewhere," she remarked then with a shrug. "So you've got me."

The Tiburonian's hesitation was short and she regrouped at the sight of a red-shirted officer toting a phaser. "We're happy to help in the interim, Ma'am," she said. "The prisoner is a low level offender. Mostly petty theft of Federation property. I don't imagine he's a threat to you. If you'll please give me your thumbscan so we can officiate the transfer?" The deputy held out her PADD.

Irynya nodded, mollified by the other woman's response. Eyes scanned the PADD quickly before placing her thumb at the center of the indicated space. A quick blink of a light on the screen indicated that her print had been captured and she removed her thumb. "Let's get him to the brig then," she remarked with a small smile to the Tiburonian.

The Tiburonian withdrew her PADD and rested it in hand at her hip. "Yes Ma'am." She tapped her commbadge. "Rhan to Enriques. Set a transporter window to receive, for two bio-signs." A transporter window again dropped like a dropping blind in front of the shuttle's access hatch. "Just this way please, Ma'am." She gestured. The Deputy led the way, disappearing through the semi-reflective wall of transporter light.

Irynya's eyebrows crept up at the other woman's gesture, but she nodded, the action appearing more confident then she felt. With a quick glance through the shuttle bay before moving she shrugged and followed behind.

The shuttle was a small space, heavily modified. A man stood at an easel-style console near the starboard wall, with a narrow walkway between himself and an enclosed space made of reinforced bulkhead. A hatch, with a bezel in blue and a shimmer of forcefield light, dominated the enclosure front. "Good Afternoon, Ma'am. You're taking custody?" The man, who looked to be of a mix of Latino and Pacific Islander, stepped out from the console, a phaser on his hip.

The Risian nodded, "I am," she said simply. "Anything I should know before I do?"

Enriques shook his head, "No Ma'am." He swung around the console in the tight space and tapped a security code into the forcefield access. He thumbed and held a key, "Detainee will step back and be taken into custody. Stand clear please." The console beeped a green light. He looked back at the woman in red, "We are ready Ma'am. When you are."

Irynya glanced at the man quickly and then with a half shrugging nod she assented, a patter of nervous energy kicking up as she did so. "Ready,"

Enriques acknowledged her with a nod, while the Tiburonian swung to Irynya's rear and side for support. She withdrew her phaser and set it to heavy stun. "His species is known to be able to shrug off stun settings..." she murmured. "Ready here, Enriques."

Again Enriques nodded. He tapped the forcefield off- it snapped with a flash of diminishing blue and the bezel went dark. The doors snapped open fast. Inside the room was a bright cool white, almost garish in its glow. The room was featureless. Standing in the center was a tall, slender man.

Green skin, dusky lime in shade. A black vest with undone straps looked like a cross between utility vest and something of leather. Under it were the lean, angular lines of a chest. His arms too were wiry, turned wrists out and cuffed together. The runs of his veins through green, occasionally blue-green subtle skin variations cast against the black of his vest and his pants. But what drew the attention- aside from his height- was a ball of frizzy hair.

Timmoz smirked. His smirk grew into a smile, toothily amused. "Got room for one more at the CONN?" Timmoz swayed like a lithe panther into the door arch and then stepped down. The waft of his Orion scent percolated like a lazy smoke: oaky, truffle-like, earthy... like sex itself.

Irynya's jaw dropped, taking long seconds to make sure that it was, in fact, Timmoz standing in front of her. She scanned him quickly as if ticking down a check list, taking in his unfairly scant attire and the familiar, earthy, scent of him in one fell swoop, finally landing on the cuffs at his wrists. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she looked from the Tiburonian Deputy to Enriques, noticing quickly that the woman had already lowered her phaser. Both were grinning. Not a prisoner then. She turned back to the tall man in front of her and a grin broke out across her face.

"Oh my goodness, Timmoz!" she finally managed, closing the space between the two of them quickly and wrapping her arms around his neck in a fierce hug.

The two security deputies chuckled. Timmoz raised his arms awkwardly around Irynya's hug and with a shrill beep, Enriques removed his cuffs. Meanwhile, the Tiburonian tucked her phaser away. "Ghos Igni Truus, Irynya," Timmoz words huffed against her ear. When he was free, his lanky arms wrapped her and pulled her to her tiptoes. "I was hoping to troll the Security detail again, but it looks like your new First Officer had other ideas."

The Risian pulled back, brow creasing in consternation though her grin never faltered. "You left me on a brand new ship with no warning!" she scolded, a mixture of frustration and amusement in her voice as her hands dropped to her hips. She scanned him again as if doing so would somehow explain to her where he had been for the last nearly two months. "Where did you go? Are you even allowed to tell me? And how are you back now?" She was almost bouncing, the flurry of questions that wanted to storm out of her barely held at bay as she waited for answers to the first volley.

She looked around after a moment and remembered where they were. "We should probably let them have their shuttle back," she said, nodding in the direction of the two security officers.

The Tiburonian had, meanwhile, summoned up a transport window. Timmoz chuckled, ever-smiling, at the string of questions, the expositions. "We'll get to it. It's a long story, and it doesn't have a satisfying ending," he said, almost like a purr. "Thank you, Chiefs," he said with a nod and a small bow. "But to make this formal... permission to come aboard?" He asked Irynya.

If it was possible the Risian's grin widened further, cheeks pulling taut with her excitement. "Granted Lieutenant," she said dropping into department head mode for just long enough to answer before bouncing up onto her toes and winking at him. She waved him out of the transporter window and down the steps to the shuttle bay floor, following behind. It was only then that she realized she might not be a department head anymore. Old habits reasserted themselves and she dropped into step next to the Orion, hands behind her back. "I'm still, technically, on traffic control duty on the Bridge right now," she said regretfully. "But I can walk you wherever you'd like to go first?"

Timmoz smiled into one of his lean green cheeks. The cold crispness of the shuttlebay had never been his favorite aspect of being on a Federation starship- nor its abysmally plain aesthetics. He looked about the bay in a moment of distraction. His brows briefly scowled at his nose before he flicked attention back to the Risian. "I won't get in your way. I'm still marked as inactive in the system until someone on the command staff put me on the roster," he said with cool bemusement. "Walk me to the Bridge and I'll find my way down to the Quartermaster," he said with an ease air, gesturing at the trapezoid doors. "I need to... reacclimate. I've been in a dozen different transports and facilities for the last month and a half."

Timmoz swayed towards the door, eager for a modicum of heat. "Catch me up. What's new in your life?" He asked with a glance at her.

Iry took that information in, nodding and walking them through the doors out into the corridor. She turned them right opting for the longer path to the Bridge. His question gave her more pause than it should have, lips pressing together thoughtfully.

"There's far more to say than our walk has time for," she responded, a modicum of uncertainty entering her voice. "The highlights? I'm quartered with three men. Not sure whether the Quartermaster thought that was funny or assumed that the ones he picked weren't in any danger..." She trailed off, pregnant meaning in her statement. "Either way he was wrong. I've been seeing one of them, like... officially.. for about 3 weeks now. Found out I'm claustrophobic. And adopted one of my other roommates as family. And that's just the off-duty stuff."

She shot a sidelong look at the tall verdigris figure as they walked, curious about his reaction to that information before she continued.

The verdant one listened, his response a quick raise of his eyebrow to perch under his curls. At the first junction, he paused and let Irynya lead the way. This ship was far smaller- and a lot newer- than the Adelphi. He didn't know his way around but after the weeks of feeling exactly the same thing, Timmoz had accepted he was going to be uncomfortable for awhile. Why fight it?

"Why not see all three?" He asked with a surreptitious teasing of his eyebrow again. "What was so interesting about the one?"

The Risian shot her companion a mischievous grin before turning left at the junction they were approaching. "Well, one of them is Sheldon Parsons, so..." she trailed off knowing full well that Timmoz would understand that she was no where near in line with Sheldon's predilections.

Timmoz smirked with inner wickedness. "And how is Sheldon..." His smirk widened into the coy wolf that had strutted halls like these before, "... And Dravor?"

"Sheldon is... himself..." she said with a grin. "I don't get to see Dravor as much, but he seems good as well. Whether the two of them are well together... my guess is no, but I haven't tried to orchestrate anything either." She paused, eyebrows rising suggestively as they stopped in front of a turbolift. She pursed her lips slightly, pausing to let Timmoz enter first.

The Orion sidled inside and leaned against the far wall, its cold plasticized metal and padding rounding his back. He glanced at the dome and truss top of the turbolift, giving a half shake of his head, "Did Ithenites build this ship?" He rolled his shoulders, "The ceilings feel shorter..."

"The whole ship is smaller," she remarked before adding, "Deck one," to the space in front of her once the door swished shut. The hum of the lift kicked in promptly whisking them off through the ship.

"The other two roommates are both... special...They're also both human, and both young. I'm not entirely sure either would be open to the idea of sharing, at least not without a lot of work and coaxing," she smirked at him as she said it before adding, "There's something about Kennedy that... feels different... It's hard to explain, but it's a new feeling even for me." She shrugged then. "Meet me for drinks later and I'll tell you more?"

"Drinks, alright," he agreed. He was willing to defer the details--for now. But he was curious. Risians were liberal and liberated people, but they lacked Orion ennui. Still, if this Kennedy was special somehow...

She glanced at him with a touch of playfulness, looking him up and down quickly as if confirming he was in fact still there. A question registered on her expression at the same time. "Wait..." she said, curiosity in her tone... "If you're back... is Nico here too? Speaking of relationships..."

"He came aboard earlier, with your new personnel transfers," Timmoz put his hands behind his butt and leaned against them. "I had to reactivate my commission. He's been on Vega..." Timmoz blinked and casually rubbed a crust from the corner of his eye before he leaned on his hand again.

Irynya eyed him, watching his body language for clues. She knew that things had been... off... during the luau, but she hadn't been sure how off. Now she wondered if off actually meant not together.

"We're better. We didn't part well on Risa." He glanced at Irynya, "If anyone ever said interspecies relationships were easy, they should get a disruptor on a low setting to their genitals." He shook his head, dripping patient irreverence, "Humans are..." He tsked with a click, "Complicated."

Iry's laugh echoed through the turbolift, a surprised, full throated sound that transformed her features. "Complicated doesn't even begin to describe it," she quipped.

The turbolift halted and with a swish's whisper, the doors opened. Timmoz pushed off the wall, Shortly after he's stepped onto the Bridge, he folded his arms over his vest and bare chest. He leaned to the side toward Irynya, "What do the V'draysh have against color?" He whispered conspiratorially.

"If I ever figure that out you'll be the first to know," she whispered back before turning her attention to the woman rising from the center chair.

"Lieutenant," Irynya said warmly. "It seems our prisoner was an old friend."

Emni's responding smile was open, welcoming. "So it seems," she remarked, though her eyes were on the tall Orion. "Welcome aboard Mr. Timmoz," she said, a complicated depth of emotion echoing in her voice.

Timmoz put his hands back behind his back again. He smiled with his own mix of amusements, studying the Romulan woman in this strange costume change. "If they're going to torture you with that abysmal back support," Timmoz chin jutted to the center chair, "They could have at least made you a Lieutenant Commander." he glanced at Irynya and back. "I have to ask, Doctor. Why the change?"

Emni's expression faltered, although only slightly. "Necessity," she said levelly, "I was made 2XO and then our XO was severely injured and... here I am. We have seen an unfortunate rash of more senior crew departing under less than ideal circumstances. I suppose, by now, it just fits to stay the course. It has certainly leant me some interesting experiences in the last few weeks."

A part of the Romulan woman's mind relaxed into the familiarity of the Orion pilot's structured mental space. Whatever he had been through his standard defenses were intact. That knowledge was somehow a relief.

And yet... something in him, while so structured, was like a caged animal staring out from the bars. Something was different Something was almost... stormy. It was akin to seeing a ghost out of the corner of one's eye: couldn't have been...

"I gather you need to be placed back on the roster," Emni continued, changing the subject. "Now is as good a time as any."

Timmoz looked down at himself- leather pants that left little to the imagination, boots with reinforced toes, a vest, open. He blinked his eyes once at the dissonance, and enjoyed the novelty. "Mm, why not. Computer. Recognize voice print Timmoz Bilati, Lieutenant. Service number SC-90B-1776K-887."

Gaze shifting between the two officers, she spoke to the open air. "Computer, adjust active duty roster for Flight Control. Reinstate, Lieutenant Timmoz. Command access Emni Delta Five Five Rho."

The computer chirped it's compliance adding, "Please confirm role for reinstatement."

Emni looked from Irynya to Timmoz and back, catching the small nod of ascent from the Risian and the slightly larger flood of relief emanating from the other woman.

"Confirm, Chief Flight Controller," she said, "and return Lieutenant Junior Grade Irynya to Assistant Chief Flight Controller."

The computer chirped again adding, "Assignments confirmed."

Timmoz refolded his arms over himself and straightened his back with a shoulder roll. He glanced at Irynya and smiled into a cheek. "Don't go too far. I haven't played with these new holographic systems. And I understand there's an LCARS upgrade for these newer ships."

A Post By:

Lieutenant Emni t'Nai
Acting Executive Officer

Lieutenant Timmoz
Chief Flight Controller

Lieutenant JG Irynya
Assistant Chief Flight Controller