Some Days You Just Can't Get Rid of a Bomb

Posted on Mon Aug 15th, 2022 @ 3:17am by Lieutenant Christoph Ivers & Lieutenant Sovas Nyseth

Mission: S1 Episode 3: Phage
Location: Various
Timeline: Mission Day 4 at 1720
3753 words - 7.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Discrepancies in supplies weren’t usually a large issue. Something misplaced here or in a different container there, but when said supplies were potentially missing torpedoes, it was a slightly more pressing issue. Christoph made his way down to the Operations Offices to have a chat with the newly awakened Lieutenant Nyseth. He couldn’t say he was overly pleased when he had found out what had happened with Madeline in the cargo bay, but if it was some sort of medical issue Christoph would probably give the man a pass.

More or less.

He rubbed the back of his neck and gave a sigh as he paused outside the office doors. His body was still a bit sore, but he was well enough to resume his position as Chief of Security from Madeline. She had been a bit disappointed, but he would make it up to her later. Pushing the thought of her away for the moment, he entered the office and looked around.

“Lieutenant Nyseth?”

Sovas was seated hear the window of his office looking outside of the ship as he had Vulcan incense that helped lessen the effects of Pon Farr and the more extremes of the urges while the meditation music was playing, which stopped when someone had entered his office. Let out a deep breath he moved to stand, currently dressed in just his tank top and uniform pants he stepped out into the office proper to see a human man he wasn't familiar with, though from some of the fading bruises he suspected who this might have been.

"I'm," He paused as he felt a prickling of heightened irritation forming in his mind, closing his eyes a moment before he forced a smile. "I'm Lieutenant Nyseth, though please just call me Sovas."

"What can I do for you Lieutenant...?"

“Ivers.” Christoph replied pleasantly enough and gave a charming smile, offering his hand to the other man in greeting. “Glad to see you finally on your feet, Sovas. I’m sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but there is something important I wanted to bring to your attention.”

"By all means, interrupt away Lieutenant, though I don't think it's ever good to receive a visit from the Chief of Security." He chuckled a little, motioning for the other man to take a seat. "Would you like something to drink?" While he had been raised to be a half feral savage when it came to survival, the tutors his father hired had always made certain that he knew the value of hospitality, whether genuine or as a tool to achieve one's goals.

“Sure. Chilled green tea with honey.” Christoph replied and moved to sit down, pulling out the PADD he had brought with him and waited for Sovas to settle at the desk. He watched the other man with interest and wondered if he had finally settled whatever had caused him to act out.

To Christoph, he would see that there was a certain tenseness about the man and the way he moved, though outwardly he appeared to be composed and even keeled as he returned a moment later with his drink and having gotten a cup of Irish Breakfast tea with cream for himself. "So what do you have that requires my attention?"

“Thanks.” He said and picked up his glass to take a sip of the tea. It was one of his favorites. Setting it down, he gave a sigh and looked at the hybrid sitting across from him. “My staff was performing our own routine inventory of our supplies and numbers don’t match up. We seem to be missing three torpedoes. Now, it’s possible there was a miscount… or something fucky is going on.”

Sovas' brow immediately furrowed as he set his cup down and brought up the count of the torpedoes on his console, letting out a slow breath as he ran through the records, eventually looking back to Christoph. "According to the Operations count records, all torpedoes are...."

He stopped, tilting his head to the side as he began to cross check the Operations records, pulling out a PaDD and sliding it over to his companion. "Please pull up the Security inventory records for me."

Instead, Christoph simply handed Sovas the PADD he already had in his hand that displayed the records. He then sat back and picked up his tea to drink it while he watched Sovas with interest. “Anything interesting?” He asked after a few moments more.

Sovas blinked a moment before taking the PaDD as he looked over the Security records and then back to his own. "Yes, it appears that the Operations records were altered to conceal the missing torpedoes, give me a moment..."

While his father had raised him to be a warrior, had impressed upon him the importance of strength and survival, the hybrid had always found data and data systems intensely fascinating and it had been under the tutelage of his father's Ferengi slave-accountant that he had learned the intricacies of such systems, that just because the data showed one thing didn't mean there wasn't something more hidden beneath.

"Son of a Cardassian whore," He cursed while continuing to dig into the altered records before turning the console around so that Christoph could take a look. "It appears while the cats are away, the mice will play. During the time I was indisposed, Crewman Gamnon had been assigned the task of keeping an accurate count of our supplies, torpedoes amongst them, he fudged the records in Operations but seems he didn't have an inside man in Security to help cover up his caper, was unable to access the system to alter the records, or he's just an incompetent moron, my money's on the last one."

"A miracle he hasn't atomized us yet if he's this sloppy covering his tracks."

“Mm.” Christoph hummed in agreement. Now there was annoyance in his eyes, but otherwise his expression was mostly neutral besides that. He tapped his fingers on the side of the glass and looked to Sovas. “He’s one of yours. What are we going to do about it?” Neither of them had been in their jobs for long, but that wouldn’t exactly matter in the eyes of their superiors Christoph wagered.

"Yes," He replied while considering the situation and records on his console, this wasn't something that could be ignored and he was not keen on spending time in an agonizer booth of another person's failings. "The simplest solution would be to quietly recover the stolen torpedoes and if we were in the Alpha Quadrant I would say space Gamnon, but with Terran lives being something in short supply I think an alternative solution would be necessary for him."

"Reassignment to Waste Management overseeing the slaves there, fix the records so that they don't show any discrepancy...unless we wanted to involve the chain of command." He looked to the human and though he felt annoyance it wasn't directed at him and the entity seemed to be feeding off the simmering anger that Sovas was feeling towards his underling.

“The punishment would be up to you but if this were my man, he would be spending at least two days in the agonizer.” Christoph said pointedly. “The torpedoes have to be on the ship somewhere. Or one of the Kazon ships I suppose.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “Did you try scanning for them yet?”

"Oh, he'll spend time in the agonizer and I will make certain that he understands the consequences of incompetence." Sovas snorted as he pulled up the internal sensors, letting it run through as he hoped the they hadn't made their way onto the Kazon ship. "I think with the Kazon we may have found a race more greedy and cowardly than the Ferengi,"

It was idle banter since he was having to wait for the sensors to scan the ship, while it was only a handful of minutes it felt like an eternity until it made a ping and he looked over the results. "There's a shielded container in one of the auxiliary store rooms that's preventing the sensors from scanning what's inside and without making a scan of the Kazon ships, that is our best lead as to where they are."

“Well then, up for a little field trip, Sovas? I sure am.” Christoph said and immediately stood while rolling his neck. If they were on the Kazon ships, that would be a rather interesting turn of events that truthfully might have been beneficial, but surely someone would have noticed. No, the chances were good they were on the ship and Gamnon’s sloppy maneuvers would earn him quite the punishment.

"Yes, give me a moment." The half-Vulcan moved to get dressed, he found the silence of the entity more disconcerting more than when it seemed to be tormenting him as he looked to Christoph and motioned for him to lead the way. "You look well for a man that the rumor mill said was beaten to within an inch of his life."

Christoph did lead, but also made sure to keep Sovas within his peripheral vision. He didn’t know this man and he had already shown tendencies of random and unprovoked violence. “Funny, you don’t strike me as someone who puts stock in the rumor mill, Sovas.” He said and looked over his shoulder, quirking a brow at the other man and almost looking disappointed.

"Oh I don't, but they do churn out some amusing little nuggets from time to time." He replied while making sure that he let the man keep him in sight since he seemed to be needing that at the moment before shrugging. "Though I suppose I'm likely making the rounds myself given my behavior in the cargo bay with Lieutenant Cassiel and Lieutenant Petrov...not my finest moment."

"A disgraceful fact, I assure you." Sovas let out a slow breath as he felt the whispering of that anger and biological urging stirring within him. He took a moment to focus himself in the moment as he pressed the call button for their ride and he wrestled with sharing his suspicions with Christoph. It was a matter that he would likely need to be made aware of but also he wasn't certain that would be prudent since he didn't know the man.

His expression soured a little as he weighed his options. He was responsible for the safety of the crew and ship, if Sovas did go into plak tow, he would prove a threat to the ship. It was a matter of practicality and necessity. "Are you familiar with Pon Farr, Lieutenant?"

“That’s the Vulcan mating thing, right?” Christoph asked. The term was familiar, but given it was alien, it wasn’t exactly something he had ever taken a keen interest in learning about past necessary knowledge for exams. The type of knowledge that one’s brain usually dumped off immediately as useless. He stepped onto the turbolift with Sovas and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Deck ten.”

"Yes," He confirmed while giving the other man space in the lift as it began to move. "I believe something happened related to my coma that has caused me to pre-maturely enter my Pon Farr, it is marked by periods of heightened aggression, I've been attempting to handle it on my own for the time being but I am also going to be visiting Sickbay to have a full check up run again to make sure they didn't miss anything that could be causing this."

"Well, that's unfortunate." Christoph said and quirked a brow at Sovas. "If its a problem why don't you just bed one of the slaves and be done with it? That's part of their function after all."

"Being pig headed about it." Sovas looked up to the deck indicator as his mind drifted to the past and the first time that he'd experienced Pon Farr.

"This is what I get for breeding with a alien slave," His father had growled while looking at Sovas with a mixture of disgust and disappointment in his eyes. While some half-Vulcan's never underwent Pon Farr because of their Terran blood, it seemed that Sovas was burdened with that particular genetic curse. He was trembling with the effects of the blood fever while his mother sat nearby looking down at the floor, his father stalking the interior of his study wearing a cinched robe the same color as the wine in the glass in his hand. This was where the man retreated from the world, his sanctum sanctorum where he was shielded away from his enemies and he could truly indulge himself.

"Our son will not submit himself to this genetic weakness, he will not rut like a mindless beast just because his body demands it," Thane Nyseth growled at the Vulcan woman as she bowed her head to him.

"Your wisdom is unmatched master and our son must be a strong Terran," She had meeked replied while the silver collar glinted in the light as Thane took a drink from his wine, eyes narrowing as he considered the younger man who looked as if he might merely collapse from how badly he was trembling.

"Yes my wisdom." He purred as his features took on that familiar expression of casual cruelty he often wore with Sovas when the boy had displeased him, though the son was intent on appearing as strong as he could since he knew he would be judged for it. To be weak was to be prey. To be strong was to be the predator and the one who survived.

"You will not rut like a beast or a bed slave. You will purge yourself of your blood fever by facing off in the arena against one of the gladiators, either you will prove that you are strong enough to survive or you will die."

His fathers words seemed to echo in his mind as Sovas blinked and cleared his throat, trembling a little as he worked to slow his breathing and clenching his hands behind his back. "Though my father is not nobility from Earth, he is a very powerful magistrate on Mars and it was made very clear to me during my first Pon Farr that a proper Terran does not rut like a beast but I must purge the weakness of my alien blood to prove I am worthy of being Terran."

Christoph could see the wheels turning in the man’s mind and the distant look of someone caught up in a memory. That used to happen to him, but not as often anymore. He patiently waited for Sovas to come out of it, but had kept a wary eye on him. If he couldn’t get it together, he was going to have to be put down which would have been a shame since he didn’t really seem like he was a bad guy.

“Forgive me, but if that is the case your father was wildly out of touch with reality.” Christoph couldn’t help but chuckle. “Especially for people in the fleet. There’s a lot of sex. All the time. It’s normal and nobody would think twice about it.”

"My father is wildly out of touch with reality." Sovas confirmed as he looked to Christoph, frowning a bit and shaking his head. "Though to be fair this was also a man who would drop me into the wilderness with minimal supplies and force me to survive until he returned when I was growing up."

"So you know, fun father-son camping trips." The half-Vulcan let out a deep breath and shrugged as if that was something everyone had to deal with growing up and wasn't an insane notion.

“Sounds like a good time.” The lift came to a stop and they stepped out together, this time Christoph motioned for Sovas to lead the way since he was more familiar with the storage areas than he himself was. “So, is your plan to stop being stubborn then and just fix it?”

"I plan on working to remedy the situation, work has just kept me...busy." He replied while leading them towards the storage room, while it wasn't necessarily untrue, he found himself reluctant to go back in because of his father's voice telling him that it was weak and he should handle it himself but in the way he was taught. Was it irrational? Yes, but Sovas had found that one didn't always do that rational thing even if it was in their own best interest, even someone who had been raised to survive at all costs.

Christoph raised his hands and shoulders in a shrug. "Up to you there, Sovas, but if you don't get a hold of yourself nice and quick, I'll be cleaning up the problem much faster." It was a threat, yes, but it was also a simple and frank truth. His job. "Not something I'd really like to do though, mind you."

"Understandable, you can't have a rabid beast running amok on the ship, just as you can't have it running amok in a population. It doesn't end well." Sovas nodded to the man, not really taking it personally because if he didn't do something he was going to die one way or another.

He was about to say something more when they rounded the corner to head down to the store room when Gamnon stepped out. He was about to lock it up when he paused and looked down the corridor at them, his eyes going wide, blinking before he bolted away like a scared rabbit.

"Where... where does he actually think he's going to go?" Christoph asked, his eyebrows raising in genuine amusement as he watched Gamnon scurry off. He wasn't inclined to give chase to the man, he genuinely wanted to know.

"Maybe he realized it was beef stroganoff night in the mess and he just couldn't pass up the chance to get a plate?" Sovas offered, just staring after the man as he ran away, moving towards the console on the wall to active the feeling man's agonizer, causing him to scream out in the most terrible pain as his body seized up and he fell to the deck, writhing in agony as his body slowly curled in on itself.

"Maybe." Christoph agreed and showed no reaction in the slightest to the man's screams. In fact he just sighed and shook his head. "Let's go check for the torpedoes. He can sit there for a few minutes, don't you think?"

"I think so," Sovas agreed while setting up a wave pattern to the agonizer before stepped away to unlocked the store room, the rooms lighting was dim as the half-Vulcan retrieved a tricorder from a nearby container on the wall, beginning to scan for the shielded container, moving towards the back of the room before shutting the tricorder and looking at the large hazardous storage container in front of them.

"Well he at least had a good idea on how to hide them, no one is going to go looking inside of this." He commented while pulling up the manifest to see what was supposedly stored within. "Trilithium resin, a good way to keep anyone from nosing around since it's highly toxic to humans, though this would only be used for overflow and Engineering hasn't made any requests for overflow storage."

"Mm." Christoph hummed in thought as he listened to Sovas, keeping well away from the container himself. "Not good enough though. I do have to wonder what he thought he was doing with them? Putting them away so he could try to sell him on the possible occasion we actually approach someone to trade?"

Sovas opened the container to reveal the three torpedoes, locked in transport cages as they rested in the darkness while both men looked in on them. "As with everything else with this plan? That sounds as irresponsible and monumentally stupid a move that could be made and seems par for the course with him."

"Do you need to inspect them? I was going to lock the container until they could be returned back to the armory." The half-Vulcan looked to Christoph as the screams of Gamnon took on a higher pitch as he writhed within the grasp of the agonizer.

"We'll inspect them in the armory." Gamnon's screams were completely ignored. Christoph crossed his arms over his broad chest and just shook his head. "We have a bay there to run diagnostics on torpedoes in safety. I'd rather not blow up the ship by doing it here."

"I think we all would appreciate not blowing up the ship, the air outside is a bit thin." The half-Vulcan smirked as he shut the container up, locking it down before he sent the passcode he'd used to Christoph. "Locked up and I sent you the passcode used."

"Thanks." Lowering his arms, Christoph cocked his head toward the door. "Do you want some help dealing with Gamnon? Brig? Agonizers?"

"He'll need to spend more time in the agonizers, corrective education on the shortsightedness of his side hustle." Sovas turned his attention towards the door, quiet as he considered the situation. "I can handle getting him to his new home for the next few days and I'll leave the decision of brig time up to you since technically his theft is a security matter."

"We'll see how I feel." He offered up noncommittally and waved a hand. "We may have better things to do than babysit a moron wasting oxygen if he doesn't shape up after the agonizer." Christoph smiled then and relaxed. "Well, thank you for your swift response and help on that little conundrum, Sovas."

"My pleasure Lieutenant, I'm sorry that it even had to come to this though I do agree that babysitting a mouth breather would be a waste of resources." He offered with a brief smile as the crewman outside was begging for it to stop already. "That doesn't bode well for him, though if you will excuse me, I have a crewman to escort to the agonizers."

"Have fun." Christoph bid with a grin and moved to leave with the Vulcan and then go their separate ways. He needed to get back to work now and hopefully fit in a visit with Madeline soon. He missed her.


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