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 Commander Shedda Mal’athar (Executive Officer) in side-sim: Stowaways (Tag Cochrane)
Posted by… suppressed (8) 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

“Thats what I meant. His peanut butter and honey sandwich on toast is where you’ll lose your mind. Anyway…” and he took a drink.

“So Harv....Char’les Harv is not his real name, thats been scrubbed… is and was a chef. And not just any chef. He was the Head Chef of the Pinnacle Resort on Risa. You know it?” he asked.

“Anyway, he started there as a sous chef and truly came into his own there as well. He created recipes for desserts, entrees, soups, breads… anything and everything for all types of species. The reputation of the formal dining room at the Pinnacle grew and it became known as the place to eat on Risa. Reservations booked years in advance. He was that good. After a few years as Assistant, the Chef retired and named Harv to take over. He spent five years as the head chef, he was good to his staff, and considered all of them his friends. They all worked long hours and very hard, but apparently they cared for each other and became a kind of informal family. So when one of his Risan pastry bakers came in with bruises and a black eye, Harv was concerned. He asked her what had happened and, at first, she refused to tell him. Finally, after a few days, she broke down in his office crying. She told him that she had been violated… more than once… by an Orion Syndicate Underboss, and that he threatened to kill her family if she said anything. Men like that do not make idle threats, as I am sure you are aware. Apparently Chef Harv went into a rage and almost destroyed everything in his office before his staff could restrain him and calm him down. He brought all of the staff together and told them that one of their own had been violated and that they were going to do something about it. All of them, to a man, agreed. And they hatched a plan.” He paused long enough to take a bite and chew slowly, watching to see his XO’s reaction as the story unfolded.

“They hosted a huge banquet, the resort invited all of the notable people on Risa to attend a gala… including the Underboss. Course after course flew from the kitchen, each one more amazing than the next. There were live vid streams just about the food. As the main course was being served, Chef Harv and his staff came out to a standing ovation and began walking around the table, shaking hands and having their pictures taken with celebrities and figures of note.” Cochrane stopped talking and looked at the closed kitchen door with a look partly of fascination… and part reservation. “Harv neared the Underboss, he pulled a filet knife from out of his sleeve and slid it between the man’s ribs and into his heart… he killed him almost instantly. I watched the vid… and I have to say his face was perhaps the most cold I have ever seen on any beings face in my life.” and he shook his head and cleared the memory from his mind. “He left the blade in place to avoid blood spill and just… walked to the next person, shook their hand, and then walked out the door.” and he shook his head and smiled in amazement at the memory of watching Harv just up and leave without a look back. “Well, a few moments later, the Underboss fell face forward into his plate, and all hell broke loose. By the time the authorities arrived all of the kitchen staff had disappeared, every last one, and none were apprehended for several days. Those that were all claimed responsibility for the murder, but the knife and the vid proved who committed the act. When it came out why he did it, a huge swell of support from the public erupted and it really put the authorities on Risa in a difficult position. On the one hand, he did murder a man in a cold blood. On the other… he murdered a sexual predator with his hands in who knows how many criminal activities. So they compromised and gave everyone but Harv light sentences if any. Harv, though… he was wanted… and not just by law enforcement. An enormous bounty had been placed on him - five thousand strips of latinum for his head. And Harv knew that until he was either dead or so far out of their reach as to be no longer of interest, he was in danger… as were his friends. A few months later, he was seen boarding a freighter from Denev VI to Bajor. As the freighter cleared the shipping lanes and prepared to go to warp, it exploded in full view of several other vessels. An investigation stated that a fault in the warp core caused a breach of the forming bubble and it caused ‘catastrophic structural failure’. There were no survivors… officially. The truth was Harv had enlisted the help of some of the family of his staff at the resort, those he trusted implicitly. And some of them were connected to a.. let’s call him an ‘acquaintance’… of mine from some years back. It was through them that he had arranged to be ‘killed’. He was actually beamed aboard one of the witnessing vessels, a civilian Federation ship called the Majestic. The Majestic took Harv to a station, and he spent the next three months bouncing from ship to ship, station to station; never staying in one place more than a day or so at the longest. Finally, he was brought aboard a Star Fleet vessel as a civilian passenger under an assumed name. From there he traveled to Event Horizon, and from there to here. My ‘acquaintance’ and I had arraigned for him to become the chef in the Officer’s Mess. And it was here he has remained for the better part of almost three years.”

He looked at Mal’athar. “So that is the background. Now you have a choice to make, Commander. This is a blatant violation of Star Fleet rules and regulations. He is a fugitive, and if he is discovered on board I can almost guarantee that we will both wind up in a penal colony. So… you can choose to report this to FedSec and save yourself that potentiality. Or you can contact Command dirrectly and notify them and I’m sure you’ll get a promotion and a center chair of your own. You might even get the Manhattan. Or… you can do as I did. Look at the event as a terrible act done for a much greater good, and go on about your business as this ship’s Executive officer and take Mr. Harv’s history to the grave.. as I intend to. He’s a good person who did a terrible thing for the right reason. Lawful? No. But justified?” and he shrugged. I for one do not lose any sleep knowing what happened to that particular individual. And I firmly believe that the only victim was the young woman Harv acted for. And while you decide… Im going to finish my sandwich.” and he fell silent and began eating in earnest.

Cochrane