Posted by Colonel Marco Gunther (Prison Warden) in Meeting the Head Guard

Posted by Major Kodek Vonn (Head Guard) in Meeting the Head Guard

Posted by Colonel Marco Gunther (Prison Warden) in Meeting the Head Guard
Posted by… suppressed (10) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Once everything got situated as he brought the rest of his articles from the shuttle into his office, he took a moment to look it over. He couldn’t resist the Star Fleet Marine Corps flag behind the desk and the chair he would sit at. It looked, weathered and beaten, but it was still clean and looked well cared for. If one would look closely at one of the corners, it would appear as if it had been stitched back up using the same color thread as the flag. Off to one of the sides there was a book case with several books in regards to tactics, the art of war, along with a few technical manuals he ended up saving for miscellaneous weapons. On another bookshelf held random awards, promotion warrants, coins, and some other paraphernalia . Mounted on the wall was a Klingon Bat’leth, towards the top and a black cutlass with a dark mahogany, wooden handle below that one. There were a few plants in the room as well, all Earth based giving the dull room a contrasting pop of green amongst the dull walls and red SFMC flag. There was a small table and some relaxing kind of light leather chairs off in a corner near the bookshelf. Aside from that the room was mostly empty.

He sigh and sat in his chair. “Time to get to business I suppose.” He had spent the time in between moving his things taking a look at the crew roster and prisoner manifest trying to get a sense of who exactly was aboard this vessel. The first on his list was to meet the guards. Though the Captain only mentioned the head guard was unique, the was oddly not much in his file. Suspicious definitely, but she didn’t have any qualms with the head guard to he shouldn’t either. He tapped his comm badge that he was provided with after boarding the ship.

=^= Major Vonn, report to the Warden’s Office. =^=

He walked over to the replicator and started poking around in the lists to see what the replicator could produce while waiting for his Head Guard to arrive.

Col. Gunter
Warden

A few minutes passed and the door to the office slid open, oddly without any input from the Warden himself. Through the door came a fully armored and helmeted figure the likes of which few in the Federation had ever dealt with, let alone seen: a Breen. Standing well over six feet tall, the helmeted figure walked directly into the room and stood before the desk. The visor-ed helmet emitted no sound, and the figure stood in a relaxed stance, but somehow still seemed… prepared. Prepared for what was anyone’s guess.

Kodek Vonn, Head Guard

Still looking through the lists of beverages and food items he gave a quick, unconcerned glance as the suited figure came through the door. “Hmm .. as expected, nothing quite good on these lists. Might have to import some of my own.” He waved his hand at it, obviously tired of looking through the meager choices. “Feh.” He walked back over towards his chair, keeping the head guard in his peripherals at all times if one were to know what to look for. “She mentioned you were unique, though I didn’t expect you to be Breen.” There was no racism or anything of that intention in his tone. He’d only encountered the Breen once on an expedition with the Rangers. They were aggressive and brutally efficient with incredible technology. There weren’t many of his troops that survived that day, he’d even taken a few hits himself that fight, it was a narrow victory. If it could even been called that. He swiveled his chair around and sat down in it and extended his hand forward. “Have a seat Major.”

Col. Gunther
Warden

Vonn sat down slowly but remained straight-backed with is hands flat on his thighs. The helmet never waivered, never twitched. And no sound came forth. Just the figure… sitting.

Vonn, HG

Gunther just sat there for a moment, not doing much of anything similar to the Breen before him. It was as if he was watching him, studying him, and having different ideas and gears grind out things in his head. It was probably a good two minutes or so before he said anything. “I don’t know much of your kind aside from first hand experience, but since you’re on a Federation vessel, I’m already going to assume you know Federation English at least well enough to understand.” His words were cool and calculated and his face showed no signs of emotion as if here were on guard as well. “I don’t really care how you came to be here or what you’ve done in the past. As long as we can remain professional and get the job done that’s really all it boils down to, wouldn’t you agree?”

He clasped his hands together and set them down on the desk. “You should probably already know who I am, otherwise you wouldn’t be much of a head guard, but I have a feeling that you’re quite good at what you do. Now, I’m not one to just bs around topics. You probably don’t trust me seeing as I’m new here and of course I don’t trust you seeing as I know next to to nothing about you.” He leaned back in his chair and put his hands in his lap. “I’ll go first. I’m Marco Gunther, 43, and the new Warden. Grew up on Earth and spent 23 years in the Star Fleet Marine Corps with various units. I know my way around a battlefield and more. I like to think I’m rather carefree, I don’t take crap from anyone and if one can earn my trust, you bet your ass I’d be the first to fight for them. I try to be fair in everything I do, which would include dealing with these prisoners. I’ll give you my stance on it now so you can understand my expectations. Everyone here is still a person, regardless of what they’re here for. They still deserve a basic bit of respect and value for their life. I will not tolerate any of them being treated as dogs, being mishandled, or abused. If they want to break the rules, they will accept their punishment. However, if they want to help us enforce the rules we should look upon that with good intentions.” He extended his hand forward, palm up, to indicate it was his turn to share something if he wanted. He just sat patiently, but attentive at anything and everything the head guard would follow with.

Col. Gunther
Warden

There was a few moment of silence as the Head Guard simply sat… unmoving. Finally, an electronically synthesized voice issued forth from the helmet, but the figure remained stock still as if carved from rock. “Major Kodek Vonn. Head Guard. And I am fluent in Federation Standard. I also speak Earth English, tlhlngan Hol, Vulcan, Romulan, Andorian, and Ferengi. If you do not care how I came to be here or what I have done in my past, then you are an extremely poor choice for Warden. Anyone who comes to this ship should be vetted and cross-checked by the Prison Administration prior to boarding; and should only be allowed to work within the Prison after being approved by both Warden… you… and the Head Guard… me. For instance…” and he paused.

“You are retired Star Fleet Marine Lt. Col. Marco Gunther, forty-three years three months old from Earth. You were indicated by local law enforcement multiple times for petty crimes while a minor; mostly assault and physical confrontations. You enrolled at Star Fleet Academy at the behest of your parents (now both deceased), but dropped out after one year. You enlisted in the Marines soon after. You were assigned to the Infantry, a role you seemed to be adept at. You were promoted multiple times and received multiple awards and citations, including the Medal of Valor for actions against the Jem Hadar. You served with the Marine Rangers until you retired. You then worked as a unnoticeable but reliable mercenary for a brief time before being hired at the maximum security prison facility on Mars. There you garnered a reputation with the Prison Administration as a capable and effective employee. Your reputation with the prison populations was one of being fair. You worked there for several years before being contacted by Star Fleet three weeks ago where they offered you the position of Warden on the Swift.” and he paused a moment.

“You considered the offer for three days before accepting. You have never been married. You have no children. No known physical, emotional, or mental addictions or abnormalities save for a prosthetic right hand. You have no outstanding debts to creditors legitimate or otherwise. You do not now nor have you ever been the private owner of a space craft. You are trained in the majority of weapons used in the Federation Marine Corps arsenal, and are adept at hand-to-hand combat as trained by the Marines.” The electronic voice stopped short, and Vonn resumed his still silence.

Vonn, HG

Strangely, the human Warden showed no change of emotion or surprise as he listed off his history. As expected of a Head Guard. He definitely does his homework. I’m impressed, though it’s almost like he didn’t expect me to do my own. He just started into the green of the Breen’s visor for a moment before he replied without skipping a beat.

“Kodek Vonn, Breen. Age and familial relations unknown. Judging by the scales and ticks on your environmental suit of armor, you’re part of one of the bounty hunter guilds. There aren’t many Breen that wear that specific type of armor. It wasn’t in any official reports, but I encountered them one other time while under Rory’s Reapers to protect a corporate facility. If you’re like them you have an uncanny affiliation with all weapons. Bladed or powered alike. Close quarter combat with anyone that wears that uniform would be a death sentence unless heavily experienced and in power armor of their own. Unknown allegiance to the Breen Confederacy. Arrested on charges for the facilitation of illegal arms trafficking and distribution. Even with my contacts it’s unknown how or why you were assigned the rank of Major and assigned to this facility. Intelligence had been watching you for a while, but for what reason I couldn’t find out. It’s more of a hunch than factual background, but considering most Breen don’t typically do this type of work, you were either tracking someone under guise or you’re avoiding something or someone. Either way, it’s not a stupid decision to be here.

The Colonel still sat there unamused for a moment before glancing back at the replicator then pointed at it with his thumb, “Want a drink?”

Col. Gunther
Warden

The Breen didn’t move or give any indication of an emotional reaction. There was a brief pause and then the voice said “I am neither tracking nor hiding. There are other reasons that one such as I would be here. For instance, this is my job.” and there was another pause. “No to the drink.” The new Warden wasn’t aware, but no one on board the Swift had ever seen the Head Guard eat or drink. Or sleep, for that matter. No one even knew what a Breen looked like under their armored suits, or even if the suits were necessary physiologically or simply a cultural affectation. “As to my ‘allegiances’, those are my own. You can rest assured, however, that the Confederacy has no say or responsibility for me or my actions.”

Vonn, HG

His lips pressed against each other and flattened out in somewhat of a disappointed expression. “I suppose I’ll have one from the limited edition menu.” He got up and pushed his chair back and walked over to the replicator. “Job or not, you’d have to agree this isn’t typical work for a respected bounty hunter or warrior. Tea. Sweet. With ice.” He picked up the cup and took a refreshing sip of the drink. “You sure you don’t want anything?”

He walked back to the table and sat down, setting the drink off to the left, Vonn’s right. “I know you’re more than capable for this ‘job’. With that, there’s no doubt. I’ll be up front and honest about it. I just don’t want to have to constantly watch my back. I’m sure even you’ve heard that old Romulan saying. Though I prefer the old Human saying, “I’ll watch your back, if you’ve got mine.” He shrugged towards the beginning of his next sentence, “Who knows, it might just start off professionally, but I’d like to learn more about ya Vonn. I took a look in your record earlier while I was setting up the office everything you’ve accomplished so far since you’ve been here is pretty impeccable. Not one incident, nothing out of place, tools from the workshop, and cutlery from the mess hall all accounted for. Seems like we’ve only got one issue right now and that’s a missing prisoner which has never happened in the history of this ship. Can I ask you a question first? How well do you trust the rest of the guards? Do you believe they’re as competent as you?

Col. Gunther
Warden

Vonn did not hesitate in his response. “No. They are not as competent as I am. Not a deprecation of their ability, they are simply not trained as I am. And I do not trust anyone, Warden. But with that being stated, I am quite sure that Prisoner Statin was removed by an outside agency. When I arrived, we had no Warden. Therefore it feel to me to implement… policy… that would discourage corruption and graft within the guards. Therefore, all guards are vetted by me personally before being assigned. Once they arrive, they are allowed no outside contact for the duration of their rotation. Each rotation is five earth months in duration. We have not had a change in staff since Statin’s arrival, nor have there been any visitors to the ship or prison who have had dealings with her. She has no contact with anyone outside of this ship. We have pheromone filters in place to keep her physiological abilities to manipulate males in check. Those are checked every shift by medical to ensure they are working within normal parameters. All cells are monitored by closed-circuit surveillance. That was tampered with, but no one accessed the control room. She is not on the ship, therefore she must have been extracted by another vessel. She is, after all, a valuable asset to a criminal organization. And I am quite certain there is a bounty on her in any number of systems. But as I told the Captain. Statin is a psychopath. If she had escaped on her own, there would be blood. There is none. And she has med no attempts to even test the parameters of our security. An escape attempt for someone with her technical knowledge without first testing responses would be… more risk-positive behavior than she would have ever exhibited in the past.”

Vonn, HG

“Excellent precautions, and I concur with your deductions. It would have had to been an outside agency, however, what kind of agencies have ties to security? With these perfect lapses in the security tapes, and sensor logs, they would have to have been aboard this whole time or have some sort of sophisticated system to be able to breach ours without leaving a trace. The only one with that kind of knowledge that I know of was the one in our custody.” He thought for a moment. Something of this nature wouldn’t be done sloppily, so all the guards would most likely be accounted for in order to maintain their cover until the next rotation if there was indeed a defector aboard. “For our guards, have any of them been aboard previously in a rotation?” His thought was that someone might have had prior knowledge of how the patrols worked. Granted they were restricted for communication while they were aboard, but nothings to say they couldn’t talk or give information away once they were no longer on the ship.

“If no one accessed the control rooms, perhaps it might have been a Trojan Horse of sorts. I’ll have the Captain investigate their Engineering team. They would have access to the systems and the ability to implant a virus in to the core to activate at a certain time. One thing I learned in communications is that there’s always a trace of something if you can look hard enough.” He put his thumb up to his lip for a second and scratched it. “It wouldn’t explain how she was physically moved. As you mentioned before, there would definitely be bloodshed if she did it herself. Find the pattern in the guards. Have you heard of the wolf in sheep’s clothing? It doesn’t matter how careful we are in our checks when vetting the guards, it’s still possible for something to slip in. I’m suspending the rotations until we secure our prisoner. No one leaves the ship. If Starfleet can’t handle tracking and securing the prisoner that might fall on to us.” In his opinion, trust had to start somewhere so he wanted to be the first to extend the branch to see how it goes. “Aside from myself, I grant you authorization to leave the ship if needed. You can’t really shine if you’re stuck in these walls with a prisoner on the loose.” He smirked slightly as somewhat of his first show of emotion. He know that the bounty hunter was capable of incredible things and were extremely adept at tracking these sorts of people. He didn’t want to waste that talent for him to be stuck in the prison.

Col. Gunther
Warden

“My job is not to recover missing prisoners, Warden. I am assigned to the Swift as the Head Guard.” and he paused. “However, Statin presents a threat to many. If you wish, and if it is approved by the Captain, I will attempt to track Statin and bring her back into custody. Before you or the Captain agrees to this, I think all of us should discuss the… ramifications… of such a decision,”

Vonn, Head Guard

“I’d agree. Normally I could go on and explain about the ramifications of being a flight risk along with abandoning a post in regards to you charges, but as I mentioned, I want to trust you Vonn. It’s easier to work with someone if you can trust them instead of constantly watching for the dagger behind you. Think about it as a provisional thing if you must, while you evaluate me as a person. If it doesn’t work, you can go your way and I’ll go mine, I’ll just administer stuff from my desk and you can handle the rest as head guard. Though it’s up to you if you’re interested in learning more about me. You can always make you decision once we get our prisoner back, sound good?” He stood up out of his chair and held out his cybernetic hand towards Vonn, he knew their environmental suits hand a great deal of strength in them and didn’t want to offer a pathetic handshake to someone who had potential in his eyes.

Col. Gunther
Warden

Vonn finally moved, and he stood up and took the Warden by the forearm instead of a handshake. “I will not stab you in the back, Warden. But if you fail to do your job, I will have you removed… just as I expect you to do to me should I fail in my duties. That is not a threat or an offer of allegiance. It is simply reality.” and he let go of the Warden’s arm. “I will continue my investigation. Let me know when the you and the Captain wish to speak of your plan of action.”

Vonn, Head Guard