Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Back on the Atlantis…Gravel and Hely Syko…when the past does not match the present or the future on USS Atlantis

Posted by Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Back on the Atlantis…Gravel and Hely Syko…when the past does not match the present or the future on USS Atlantis

Posted by Lieutenant Cara Esmé Mardusk (Counselor / Education Specialist) in Back on the Atlantis…Gravel and Hely Syko…when the past does not match the present or the future on USS Atlantis
Posted by… suppressed (15) by the Post Ghost! 👻
OOC: I created a “counterpart” of sorts for each person. This is yours. I have no real drive in this thread other than for you to take it where you choose. I will follow your lead. ~ Kate

IC: Hely had already sized up her Federation companion. The man looked like a mountain however he was not the corn fed giant from a farm world. The man would not be in charge of security unless he has an intellect that matched his brawn. What interested her more than his size was his skin tone. Everyone in the group probably could have hailed from the same race but his deep green skin meant his heritage had to be different. The Union’s citizenry came from a myriad of home worlds. This Lieutenant Commander Mardusk was the most interesting person of the group and Hely was intrigued to meet him. Moving foward, hearing her name called, Hely approached the man. “I am Sarvan Hely Syko of the Civilian Protectorate.” Making a fist she brought it to her chest in what could be interpreted as a salute.

Mardusk grunted slightly and inclined his head towards her. “Lieutenant Commander Gravel Mardusk. Star Fleet Security Chief.”

After the initial introductions, Hely followed Mardusk onto the shuttle and rode in silence to the alien ship whose designation was the Atlantis. She wondered where the man would take her. None of these officers would believe they came in peace after what the Elders did to their ship. This just meant they would have to work twice as hard to gain their trust. From there, the future of the Federation would be up for grabs if they were brave enough. Leaving the shuttle, she looked at her designated companion and said simply, “where to?”

Hely Syko Head of the Civilian Protectorate

Bump

“Follow me.” Mardusk said flatly. He led her out of the shuttle Bay and through a long, circuitous route that stuck firmly to non-restricted areas until they came to the Security Suite. As they moved through the ship, Security officers were plainly visible. What wasn’t plainly visible were the off-duty security officers that Mardusk had called up to do undercover surveillance.

Walking in to the Security office, Mardusk nodded at the Lieutenant who stood at the central security console. As they entered, the Lieutenant looked up and said simply “Commander.” Mardusk nodded back and said “We good?” and the Lieutenant, a Bajoran woman, said “Aye, Chief. Everything is good to go. Our-” and she cast a daggered look at Syko, “- have behaved themselves… so far ” Mardusk looked at Syko and then back at the Lieutenant. “L-T, remember your briefing. You’re at an eight. Need you to be closer to four.” The woman took a breath and said “Right. Sorry, Chief.” She looked at Syko and said simply “Ma’am.” Mardusk chuckled to himself and then said “C’mon. We can talk in my office.”

Hely remained quiet and observant as she watched the interactions between Mardusk and his crew. The greeting was not unexpected. First Greetings had two routes usually: Warmth or suspicion. She clearly was paired with someone that was the latter although it was not an unjustified response. Individuals feared what they did not know.

They entered the office, decorated with bits and things of the current Security Chief’s past and Mardusk gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk. Taking a seat himself, he looked at the designated representative of the organization that had caused him so much grief over the past weeks and months. He took a deep breath and set his palms flat on the desk in front of him. He was quiet a moment, and then said “So tell me, what do you think about this?”

Mardusk, CoS

“Sterile halls, mimimal conversation, your troops at the ready and every move I make being recorded for later scrutiny,” she asked in a neutral but slightly sarcastic tone. “I would characterize my feelings as not unexpected.” Settling back in her seat, Hely relaxed comfortably. “You are trying to demonstrate a show of force with all your troops and how well they obey orders. I however am a single person. Even if I chose to try and make trouble, I have zero expectation I would get very far. First off because my Chancellor has ordered me to come and play nice but the second is I do not have a death wish. Is that what you meant by what I thought about all this,” she gestured around.

Hely Syko Head of security

Mardusk looked at her for a moment… and then chuckled and shook his head. “No, that actually isn’t what I meant.” He leaned back and looked at her without blinking. “What I meant was… what do you about this”?” and he gestured back and forth between him and his guest. “The meeting between the Federation and the Union. What do you think about what transpired here at that first interaction.”

Mardusk, CoS

Hely let out a small chuckle. Gravel had probably interviewed enough people in his career to see it was genuine and a tension breaking laugh. “It is different than the way we typically handle First Meetings. Normally we send out diplomats. They open negotiations. Treaties are signed. I don’t typically meet someone like you until we begin to merge our forces. While we are a vast burecratic machine, it would be impossible to have our security forces controlling every single planet. This is why we would meet and figure out how to best train your forces to implement the aspects of the treaties. Since we are light years from that step, it is kinda nice to just talk.”

Hely Psycho Security

Gravel shook his head again and sighed. “Let’s save the diplomacy for those who like to play those kind of games.” He fixed her with a hard stare, albeit not an aggressive one. “I want to know what you, personally, think of what your people did here. Did to my crew. What they said and what they tried.” He paused a moment and then said “And I want to know what you think of me killing your boy Rogan and tossing him into space.” he added flatly.

Mardusk, CoS

Hely had her assumptions but no hard facts. That was one of the reasons she had been sent to meet with the head of security for the Atlantis. “I don’t know what they did here and until now we did not have confirmation of any deaths until now.” With all his years of interrogation, the look and posture of Hely would read as an honest and open response. This changed however as the weight of what he said sunk in. Hely’s expression left the neutral posture and slowly morphed into one of confusion and concern. Mardusk had made many claims in the last few sentences. She had little reason to think they were false or misleading but the answer she was about to give probably would not satisfy him.

“You put out a lot of statements and questions. The only one I can respond to presently is the death of Rogan. He,” she let her voice drift off, “was a charismatic sociopath devoted only to his fanatical interpretation of our holy laws. Elders are not above the law but they do not answer to people such as myself. They only answer to the Rectoress so my contact with him was mostly by reputation. He was easy on the eyes and by all accounts if he was in a good mood, he was friendly affable and generous; however, his penchant for viciousness, arrogance, and cruelty ran just as deeply.” Hely paused for a moment choosing her words carefully. She did not want to set this man off with a word choice. “Our holy mission is accepted and embraced by all those living in the Galactic Union but that does not mean we don’t have radicals or those that misstep in our goal against the Darkness.”

Settling back in her seat, she looked at Mardusk with earnest. “Maybe you could enlighten me on the events that occurred on your ship. Whether you believe it or not, we were unaware of the four Elders coming here. Our method of travel is not instanteous. We learned of their departure within a day however it took us a week to prepare to come here and four weeks to travel to,” she paused trying to think of where the hell they actually were in the universe, “here.” Hely did not waste time trying to find the name of this place. It was inconsequential to the main mission. “In fact we only had a general direction before we picked up the distress call from the Beacon of Light which was the ship the Elders took to come here. The only confirmation of life was that of Patron Novar since she sent the distress call. We know little of what occurred on this ship. That is why we are now on your ship and I can assume Chancellor Vell is getting your Captain’s version of the events. I however would prefer to know yours. As a security officer it is better to have more than one account before making a decision about how events unfold.”

Hely Syko

Mardusk listened to her speak and remained respectfully silent while she did. When she finished, he watched her for a moment and then nodded once. He looked down at the desk and tapped large green fingers against the interface. A moment later, a PaDD sitting on the desk lit up. Mardusk inclined his head at it. “There. Read for yourself. That’s my official report.”

The report was professional, thorough, and meticulous. It followed the timeline of everything that transpired from the time the ship was picked up on sensors to the results of the wholly preposterous court martials. Statements, vid clips, still holos, medical records of the injured, and summary evaluations of the children Rogan tried to use as ransom in the Promenade. Every moment, every I teraction, and every statement spoken was meticulously filed and linked to in the truly hefty- and remarkably detailed- report .

Mardusk, CoS

Hely picked up the report and tapped the first page. She, like Mardusk, had spent years learning the art of interrogation. She kept the same neutral expression as she glanced over the undecipherable script. For the moment, it was as incomprehensible as a child’s scribble. The writing was nothing like she had ever seen. This was not an uncommon event in meeting a new civilization however most of the time, the society was so excited to join the Union, copies of the written language along with translators, filled in the gaps one would expect to occur. This Federation did not follow the same pattern of First Meetings. Tapping her finger on the screen, she paused on the images and played the vid clips. Since they spoke the same language, at least this would give her a clue as to what the security chief was trying to share.

The first few clips were of the children encased in the pods when Rogan took them hostage. The children described the events in much the same manner except for one child who had been encased, released, and re-encased. She wore a stiff expression as he choked back sobs about not being able to move or get out of it. The parents were far more descriptive about the encounter and how it affected them. Hely let the vid clip play and then paused moving forward. She looked uncomfortable and took a deep breath before speaking.

“What was deployed was called a TAC-POD or Tactical Autonomous Containment Pod. The TAC-POD locks on target and deploys in less than a second to preserve life in even the deadliest environments. The primary use is for the preservation of life from things like fire, flood, natural disasters and such. They are in all emergency kits and when someone is encased in one they basically go into a state of hibernation. It allows for rescue teams to find them in natural disasters, days after the event without the normal necessities such as food, air, or water.” Hely paused again. This was the application for the pod in the vid clip. It was a standard civilian device however both she and he knew that most things developed for civilians often had another application. Not admitting this to him was a kin to lying.

“TAC-POD’s also were developed by the military and security forces. While the application does the same thing meaning hibernation, we do use it to subdue criminals, terrorists, or anything that is a threat. The Civilian version is equipt with an internal release. The military version is not. The civilian version is opened with a universal release. The military version has a code that needs to be input to open. If you will grant me a moment of trust,” she said and then slowly moved to the waist of her pants. Pulling out a small ball bearing size ball, she put it on the table. “I can show you how it works?” Hely did not make it a challenge or try to push Mardusk one way or the other. From the video, she knew that he knew how it obviously worked. She was asking if he wanted a demonstration.

Hely Psycho

Mardusk scowled slightly but took a breath and said “Okay. Let’s see it.” and he stood up and walked around the desk.

Mardusk, CoS

Hely got up and walked in front of him so there was mere inches between them. As a woman she was tall at almost six feet but Mardusk was still taller. Tilting her head up, she said in a confident tone, “May I and by may I, I mean your officers are not going to shoot me over this right?”

Reaching into her belt she pulled out a small ball about the size of a ball bearing and placed it into her palm. “When you are ready, take the TAC-Pod and throw it down on the ground next to you. It will deploy. This is a training pod so the timing for it is one minute. The first thirty seconds will show you what it is like to be conscious in the pod. Then the next thirty seconds you will go into stasis. It can be unnerving but I am sure you have experienced worse before being the head of your field.”

Turning around, she stood with her back to his chest. Taking on of his tree trunk like arms, she placed it around her waist. “This pod is designed to be a trainer so there is room for two individuals. If you want it to end in the first thirty seconds squeeze my waist. You will not be awake for the stasis section. Whenever you are ready.”

When the ball was deployed, the encasement happened in the blink of an eye. Just like the armor, the encasement started at their feet and swallowed them into inky blackness. From somewhere inside the capsule, a mask covered their nose and throat. It would feel much like an oxygen mask one might have applied during a medical procedure. The space in the capsule was very snug, with the walls touching but not pressing into the outline of the body. Instead of hard metal though, it felt soft and squishy almost like a foam. Inside it was pitch black with no lights. It was complete sensory deprivation and only someone calm and thinking would not immediately panic.

After the thirty seconds, instantly those inside drifted off as if in a deep sleep. This part of the demonstration felt like it was only a single second, a mere eye blink in duration but was a full thirty seconds. As soon as one opened their eyes, the casing was moving away and freeing them. The only part that would be clear in their recollection was the thirty seconds before the stasis kicked in. In fact, if one had not been told of the stasis part, they might assume the entire demonstration was just the sensory deprivation.

Hely Syko

bump

Gravel’s combadge chirped, breaking though his meeting. =/\=Cara ta Cmdr Mardusk. My Galactic Guest has invited me ta their ship. What are the captain’s orders about disembarkin’ and their shuttles dockin’ onboard the Atlantis?=/\=

This message told the security chief more than just the basic information. It also told him that as far as Cara was aware, the captain was not informed about this sudden request to be taken off the ship, and that a vessel from the GU was going to attempt to board the Atlantis.

Lt. Mardusk, counselor

Mardusk glared daggers at Syko and then slowly and deliberately tapped his badge. =/\= No Atlantis crew leaves this ship without prior approval from the Captain and myself, Lieutenant. And no ship is allowed to dock without proper clearance. And then that ship is subject to inspection before anyone is allowed on or off. Please tell your guest that those rules have no exceptions. If they wish to further discuss it… they can come see me. Mardusk out. =/\=

Gravel glared at Syko and said “Maybe you might wanna call your folks and tell them that they don’t make the rules here, hmmm?”

Mardusk, CoS