Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in side-sim: Stowaways (Tag Cochrane)

Posted by Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in side-sim: Stowaways (Tag Cochrane)

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in side-sim: Stowaways (Tag Cochrane)
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Shedda stared at the ship manifest again, and then again, and one more time while staring at the requisition forms as well. She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to figure out how this had been over looked for so long. She’d gone back into the reports and requests two years back but still couldn’t figure out what was going on. Finally there was nothing for it. She was going to have to ask Cochrane about it. She could easily put in the requisitions, that wasn’t the problem, but it just didn’t add up given that the Chef was so particular about his mess and his kitchen why his name wasn’t on there. And then by happenstance, when she was reviewing the crew manifest he wasn’t listed, and any attempt to add him was a failure, he was just deleted like she had never input the information.

=/\=Computer where is Cpt Cochrane?=/\=

Mal’athar, XO

The computer chirped and said =/\= The Commanding Officer is in the Ready Room. =/\= The XO knew by now that Cochrane was a work-a-holic, and if he wasn’t asleep, he was almost always in his office or on the bridge.

Cochrane, CO

Shedda was a work-a-holic as well. Between the two of them every shift was always covered. Shedda made it a point to get out of the office though, to be seen and interact with the crew. It was part of her job to be accessible to the crew, and she never wanted to come off as unavailable. Plus with Maava possibly coming on board, Shedda was trying to be more aware of how she spent her down time.

But right now she had this to deal with. =/\=Mal’athar to Cochrane. Captain do you have time to meet with me?=/\= She knew he often skipped meals too, =/\=A working meal perhaps?=/\= Honestly the number of times they worked over a meal was quickly outnumbering the times they were both on the bridge.

Mal’athar, XO

There was about a thirty second delay and then Alex’s voice came through =/\= Sure thing, Commander. Meet me in the mess in ten. And yeah… I missed lunch today. I don’t want to hear about it, Mom. =/\= and there was a slight chuckle and the comms went quiet.

In the privacy of her office, after the comms went quiet, Shedda got a good laugh out of it. She transferred what she was looking at to a PaDD and then logging out of her console made her way to the mess. She dreaded the Officer’s mess and avoided it whenever possible.

Eight minutes later, Captain Cochrane walked into the mess and took a table at the far back of the room. Not because it was crowded… it was, in fact, empty… but because he could look out the window and see the stars sliding past as the ship traveled at warp. No matter how many times he saw it, warp-light distortion was always beautiful to him.

Cochrane, CO

Shedda was a half a minute behind Cochrane. She paused in the door way, scanning the room, which empty, and found Cochrane at the usual table. She made her way over and sat down. “Captain.” Shedda set the PaDD down to the side. She didn’t speak right away. For once at a bit of a loss. They had a stowaway on board, Cochrane knew about it, but hadn’t felt the need to inform her about it. She was stuck between ‘it was none of her business’ and ‘the safety and health of the crew was her responsibility’ and crew meant everyone.

Mal’athar, XO

Cochrane turned from the window and stood up as the XO came in. “Commander.” he replied and, once seated, said “I sent Harv a message saying we were coming. Food should be out in a bit. What it is, I have no clue.” nd he leaned back and looked at her. “So what’s on your mind, Shedda? Something is. You’re making your ‘I want to say something but don’t know how to say it.’ face.” and he chuckled slightly.

Cochrane

Shedda shrugged and got to the point. “It’s Harv. He’s a stowaway, but you already knew that.” She stared at him a minute. “I guess my question is why wasn’t I told that? If it’s none of my business the why’s and wherefore’s I can live with that. But there is obviously something going on because every time I try to add that man to the ship manifest, it disappears as if I never attempted it.”

Mal’athar, XO

If Cochrane was surprised, he didn’t show it at all. “Fair enough. And yeah, you can’t add him. We had someone poke around about him some time back. It… didn’t go well. They left very quickly after trying to search about him. So now the ship’s computer doesn’t recognize his name, and he doesn’t show up on the ship’s locator, either. Just in case.” At the moment Harv came out of the kitchen and brought out rueben sandwiches, root beer, french fries, and Risian chowder. Alex looked at him and said “Harv, the Commander here is asking about you, and I trust her so I’m going to let her in on your situation.” Harv looked at the Commander for a long moment and then said “Fine. But only if she starts eating in here as well as the lounge. I don’t trust anyone who like replicator food over the real thing.” and he spun on his heel and walked back into the kitchen grumbling under his breath.

Shedda bit the inside of her cheek. She liked real food just fine. She stopped herself from blurting out that she just liked well prepared real food and since she couldn’t get it, she settled for the replicator. Just like coffee. But she had a feeling that wasn’t going to go over well at the moment given Alex was in league with the man. Instead she settled for mentally rolling her eyes dramatically at the man as he dramatically grumbled under his breath. He was annoying.

Cochrane watched him leave and then took a deep breath. “Okay.... first, you take a bite of that sandwich. If it isn’t the best one you’ve ever had, I’ll give you the condensed version. If it honestly the best one you’ve had, I’ll give you the full story. That way, you get to know, and Harv gets his condition. So eat up, then I’ll start talking.” and he chuckled and waited.

Cochrane

Shedda picked up the sandwich and took a bite. The sandwich was good, but not her favorite. As in if she had to pick a favorite sandwich she would not pick a Rueben. She could smell the root beer from 5 feet away; it was overly sweet but a decent contrast to the sandwich she supposed. It certainly smelled better than the fishy stuff in the bowl. Shedda suddenly realized she had, somewhere along the way, become a picky eater. Not something she should model for Maava. She took a second bite of the sandwich waiting for Alex to start talking.

Mal’athar

“I’ll let it slide. So… Harv is or was a wanted fugitive. He had multiple warrants issued for his arrest. Federation warrants, at that. Conspiracy to commit murder, assault with a deadly weapon, inter-species homicide, flight to avoid prosecution, inter-planetary flight, inter-system flight, … um… assault on law-enforcement personnel (that one I think was a trumped up charge, personally.), endangering the public, falsifying of travel documentation, and about a dozen violations of the Risian Public Health Code. Oh yes.. and murder in the first degree. It was on vid, so its certain he did it.” and he took a bite of the reuben and let the charges simmer in his XO’s mind for a bit.

Cochrane

Shedda paused with the sandwich midway to her mouth and put it down. She crossed her arms and leaned back watching Alex. Then she picked up a fry, pointed it at him, “Alright, out with the rest. Because there is no way you are harboring an outright fugitive. You are loyal to Star Fleet, but I have also seen you act on your own sense of justice, but never without cause and reason.” She was willing to give Alex that much trust. Then she paused, was this going to bite her later, ruin her chances to adopt Maava? With a sigh she dipped the fry in ketchup and popped in her mouth. It was too late now she already knew enough. “And I will only admit it is the best Rueban I’ve eaten.”

Mal’athar