Posted by Lieutenant Todd Nyman (Chief Counselor) in There are no Rules of Acquisition for this

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Lazol (aCo) in There are no Rules of Acquisition for this

Posted by Lieutenant Todd Nyman (Chief Counselor) in There are no Rules of Acquisition for this
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Following Starfleet protocols… what a colossal waste of time! But ‘rules were rules’ and there were exactly two members of the crew who could get in his way. The Chief Medical officer, and the Chief Counselor. Either could relieve him of command and while it wasn’t likely to happen, he needed to be on their good side so here he was, gifts in hand ready to say all the right things and make peace before any conflict ever happened. He threw on a smarmy smile and rang the chime outside of the CNS’s door.

~Lazol, aCo~

In the longer stretches between appointments the counselor was often found doing chores around his office. He found these tasks easier in his natural form: light cleaning, dusting his collection of pottery and ceramic statuettes, maintaining Maslow’s terrarium, those sorts of things.

Being a simple turtle, Maslow would have been content just with a food bowl refill that day. He didn’t understand why Todd had to interrupt his swimming to scarp the algae from his pool. Therefore made his displeasure known by nipping at the scraper and any one of Todd’s tentacles that got to close.

When the chime came it took a little over a minute for Lieutenant Nyman shift and his uniform before he finally came to the door.

“Oh, Commander Lazol. What can I do for you?”

|Lt. Nyman, Chief Counselor|

Being completely unaware of Nyman’s true form, he entered the room clutching two ornately decorated boxes that were in and of themselves more valuable than most on this ship would have seen before. They were of an exotically blue natural wood impregnated with bio-luminescent pigments which glittered and dazzled at their touch. The boxes however were only part of the display as when the larger of the two was opened, a ceramic Promellian disk containing the records of the first battle with the Menthars, likely a ceremonial trinket of it’s time but now rather rare and valuable. The second smaller box contained a hair pin made from gold tipped with the resin from a folnar jewel plant resting on an emerald green velvet cloth.

“My dear Lieutenant I wanted to present you with a few....small, tokens of my gratitude for what you do for this great crew. I also wanted to talk with you, a few little things to discuss of course, all routine if I’m not mistaken?” Lazol said, his voice cracking with greed and avarice as he spoke in a high greasy tone.

~Lazol, aCo~

Nyman’s eyes grew wide at the sight of each gift and was obviously captivated by them. Enough to ignore the tingling unease surrounding what Lazol’s motives might be.

He handled the ceremonial disk delicately, carefully turning it to observe its markings. Its condition was remarkable, and he almost felt bad handling it. The counselor set it down carefully on his desk, intending to find a proper place to display it later.

Next he picked up the hairpin, rolled it between his fingers and watched how the fine, unblemished gold shined and the resin caught the light. A very handsome piece, with a practical purpose as well.

“Very nice,” he commented plainly, slowly pacing towards the other side of the desk. “Very much appreciated, Commander, and very generous of you. I am, after all, only trying to be a productive member of the crew.”

Unlike those who grew up in the Federation, to him objects still had value. They represented the results of one’s labor. It took work to create such objects. It took work to obtain them. Through his own hard work, Nyman was now in an important enough position to receive them as gifts. Or perhaps bribes, he wasn’t quite sure yet.

“Do you have something specific in mind that you wish to discuss?” he inquired with a sideways smile.

|Lt. Nyman, Chief Counselor|

A bribe, a gift, who was to say? Lazol slinked into the room with a distasteful aura about him, the good counselor would probably find it difficult to tell if it were from the Ferengi’s intentions or if that was his ‘norm’ so to speak. “I know that it is standard Starfleet protocol to be cleared for duty by both Medical and the Counselor, I was hoping that if you had just a short time to spare, you would clear me for duty?” He asked, his tone over emphasizing the syllables most likely to flatter the young man before him. “Think nothing of them” He said as he waved a wrinkled hand towards the gifts, “Just a show of gratitude is all…”

~Lazol, aCo~

The counselor listen as he folded and pinned his hair back.

“Well, Commander,” he said, “I do appreciate you wanting to get to your duties as soon as possible. I’d be happy to clear you-“

Nyman paused, picked up a PaDD and was half-watching Lazol as he pulled up the required paperwork.

“I only need a few things, no more than 10 minutes of your time. Just to make sure there are no gaps in the paperwork. Let’s see, how about we start with… preexisting conditions. Any changes I should jot down for the record?”

|Lt. Nyman, Chief Counselor|

“Of course of course, anything for the official record?” He asked, his voice oily and shrill. “Well I’m getting to be an old man it would seem, my memory isn’t as sharp as it once was but I’m still as capable as ever!” He said continuing to talk as he moved to sit down before the invitation came. The paperwork would reveal a carefully catered list of conditions and maladies from his history dealing with anomalies and his older age, nothing immediately that would indicate anything other than he was what he said he was.

~Lazol, aCo~

“Understandable, it’ll happen to all of us eventually,” he acknowledged. As far as he could tell, Lazol was doing well for someone of his age and occupation. Maybe a little too well.

“Now, excuse my curiosity but… it does say you’ve been aboard the Leviathan before. What brings you back to it?”

|Lt. Nyman, Chief Counselor|

Lazol’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the question that was put before him before a thin smile appeared on his face. “I will not excuse that curiosity my good man because it is that very thing that brought me my fortunes and my way here not once but twice.” He reached out and grabbed at Todd’s ear “You have the lobes for profit, and believe it or not is only a small part of why I’m here.” He said with a shrill tone, his voice lingering on ‘why’ as he spoke. He had worked his lies over in his head countless times because after all, Rule of Acquisition #60 states “Keep your lies consistent”. He looked at the good counselor and said, “I started to hunt for these anomalies and built up quite a fortune doing so, to the point where I had a small fleet of ships at my disposal, enough even to get noticed by the ARU. Admiral Janssen reached out and… persuaded me to board the Leviathan as part of an exchange program of sorts. My goals were simple, to use the resources of the ARU and their advanced capabilities to further my own means. In return I offered my extensive knowledge and some ships as well to help contain them. I served as Chief Science Officer for a time before returning to my own business. Now why am I back?” He said as that smile broadened, “Because believe it or not I rather enjoy working with the ARU. Starfleet is far less likely to backstab or sell out their own, and I wanted to feel that sense of security one more time. I know that my business will go to shambles in my absence, that much is certain, but I’m wealthy enough to never work again so instead of hunting on my own, I wanted to be back here, and as it turns out Janssen needed my help…”

~Lazol, aCo~