The Finale

Posted on Wed Apr 5, 2017 @ 10:50pm by Commodore Michael Aravan & Captain Madelina Weisz & Lieutenant Colonel S'er'in'e & Major Kasia S'er'in'e & Lieutenant Xylia Lischka

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD 5 || 0900 Hours

The others had been paged to the Ready Room ten minutes before and once everyone, including the largest Caitian that the Captain had ever seen was seated, he cleared his throat and took a sip of coffee. "We're clear of Orion space now, but the cleanup is still underway. Now that we've achieved our objective, the Federation is going to step in with its diplomats and we have a few changes to discuss."

He looked at Commander Weisz who was still dressed in civilian clothes and went to the coffee stand to pick up a sugar container before he came back. "With the success of the mission, Commander," he said as he opened it. "Would you like these back?" Inside were the three gold pips she had removed several days earlier.

Maddy looked to her pips inside the sugar bowl and smirked. What she'd done probably wasn't the smartest, but it was very effective. "Absolutely," she said as she reached inside to take them out. "I can't promise that will never happen again, but if there is a next time, I'll clue you in first, Captain."

When she reached for the bowl, Michael pulled it back and poured himself a second cup of coffee. "You're right," he said as he dumped the pips into the cup and stirred them around. "You should do that." He winked and took a drink of the coffee with a satisfied sound. "Not bad. Commander Blend Coffee because rank doth have its privileges."

Maddy watched him, not even phased by the Captain's actions. She rose to her feet and gave a stretch. "I'm due a vacation. Maybe I'll make it an extended one this time. Yes... I think that's exactly what I'll do," she said, turning on her heel and making her way to the door. "Hit the spa... maybe do a little tanning... nails done... This will be perfect."

"Belay that, Commander," Michael said as he reached behind the coffee and pulled out a small black box to hand to her. "Put those on and park your behind back in your normal seat."

The red haired Commander turned once again and moved back to Michael to accept the little black box. "Get my hopes up and dash them again in under thirty seconds. That's a new record for you, Captain."

"I aim to please," Michael said before he turned his attention to Lieutenant Lischka. "Which means, Lieutenant, you'll be back to being the Assistant Chief of Security and Tactical. I want to thank you for everything you done, including going above the call of duty by acting as the ship's Executive Officer. I've put a commendation in your record for such."

"I will gladly go back to my normal role, Captain," Xylia said all too quickly. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the last twenty-four hours as the Acting Executive Officer, but with that came a lot of responsibility that she just wasn't ready for long-term despite taking Command courses. That didn't mean she would never step up again if she needed to. "Thank you. It means a lot to me that you and Commander Weisz trusted me enough to do the job."

"You did an excellent job, Lieutenant and I'm proud to have you on my ship," the Captain said before he looked at the huge Caitian waiting patiently.

"I'm aware what you went through, Colonel S'er'in'e," Michael started, pronouncing his name correctly after having mangled it the day before when the Marine got reinstated. "However, I was wondering if you have any knowledge of the upper echelon of the slave market controllers who may have been around while you were there or if any names were dropped.

S'er'in'e felt his ears perk up when he heard the attention drawn to him. Listened to the question posed. "I am afraid not. New slaves were brought in every week, some I did not recognize. My badge was taken from me so much of what I heard l didn't understand. One guard understood me clearly however. Any information that could have been helpful would have been in his office."

"Which, I'm assuming, wasn't checked in the aftermath of rescuing everyone?" Michael asked. "Was there anyone that you feel you would recognize if they were showed to you?"

"Unlikely, we were assigned handlers they would 'tend' to us each day. The more they sold the larger the stock assigned to them. It minimized contact between slaves and others." Though he knew questions such as these were expected it grew obvious that these were uncomfortable question. He tried to keep himself in check especially with the Commander present and the assistant chief.

Michael nodded and repressed a sigh. S'er'in'e had been through a very traumatic experience and he was surprised that the Marine had chosen to go back to active duty so soon. Still, he had asked the truly hard questions the day before, but he still had a few more to ask. He activated the LCARS display on the ready room table and brought up a list of known Syndicate people, ranging from Raimus who was now being transported to Starfleet Headquarters for interrogation. The next was a beautiful green skinned Orion woman with a haughty expression with the name Melani D'ian next to her. The next was a young Orion woman who looked feral with only the name Irina beside of her image. The last was a heavily built Orion male with the name Hassan the Undying under him. "Have you seen any of these people while there?"

"There were many females present, it is hard to focus on one particular given the conditions I was in for the duration I was in them." He looked at the pictures again. "There was one with similar markings to him present at many of the auctions." Pointing to Hassan.

The Captain made a note of it. "He's in the employ of D'ran and a known assassin," he said before he looked at Major Petrova. "Did you or your people see anyone who resembled these people there?"

Kasia shook her head once she looked over the images. Sadly, she didn't recognize any of the faces in front of her. "No, Captain, but that doesn't necessarily mean they weren't there. Our situation was a deadly one considering they were trying to kill us and keep us from getting to the prisoners. I honestly don't recall looking at many of their faces."

"It's going to take a while for the Intel Analyst team to crack any information that was pulled from the computers," Michael said. "I guess we can't get them all. Does anyone have anything else to add?"

Xylia's eyes fell on one of the pictures, and she found herself moving in for a closer look. It belonged to Melani D'ian. "Has anyone ever noticed it before? Her facial expression... eye color..." Shock registered on her features as her brows furrowed. "Captain... permission to be dismissed? There's something I need to do, and it's important."

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Michael asked Xylia when he saw the look on her face.

"Melani D'ian... I have a feeling she's whom we offered asylum to. Permission to be dismissed?" Xylia asked a second time.

The Captain blinked. "What gives you this feeling, Lieutenant?" he asked, unwilling to let her go just yet. He had based a lot of things in his career on feelings, but he had been called upon to explain those feelings just as many times.

"There are physical similarities there, Captain. They're, at the very least, related. The longer I stay here attempting to explain things, the more time she has to concoct a better story," she said, trying to keep her frustration reigned in.

"Physical similarities or relations doesn't mean that Vashkele is actually Melani D'ian," Michael said before he looked at Maddy. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I think you should let her go. If anyone can find out the truth about what's going on, it will be Lieutenant Lischka," Commander Weisz stated. "We won't know anything for sure if she's not allowed to leave."

"Very well," Michael said with a nod. "Go, Lieutenant, but get some Security personnel to meet you. If this is D'ian and you spook her, she may try to hurt you or take prisoners. You don't get to be the head of the Orion Syndicate by being a nice person."

"Yes, Captain," Xylia said, tapping her combadge on the way out to have a couple officers meet her.

Michael looked at the two Marines. "Major, Colonel, you two are free to go as well," he said. "Commander Weisz, you stay here, please."

"Thank you, Captain," the Major said as she rose to her feet and excused herself.

S'er'in'e rose. "Captain." The bowed his head to Commander Weisz. "Commander." He waited for the Major to leave first before following her.

Maddy looked toward Michael and shifted a bit to get more comfortable. "What's on your mind?"

"Communication," Michael said as he finished his coffee and set the cup down. "I understand now why you did what you did, but I'd like to think that a civilian shouldn't disrupt the chain of command as much as it did. Not to mention a little warning would go a long way, Commander. I was ready to request a new Executive Officer when you threw your pips down."

"I explained that to you, Michael. If you had known about it ahead of time, it wouldn't have looked as real," she said, rising to her feet. This conversation had the potential to get heated, and she felt the need to be standing for it. "I assure you from this point forward, you will be kept in the loop about everything. You have my word on that. I know I made you angry, and I'm truly sorry for doing that."

"Put your pips on, Maddy," Michael said. "There's work to be done if I'm right and I need my angry redheaded Executive Officer beside of me on the right side of the table."

Maddy tried to secure her pips to the collar of the red T-shirt was wearing. "What do you need me to do first?"

Michael watched the pips fall to the floor and gave a chuckle despite the situation. "The first order of business would be to get in a uniform. After that, sort through the reports and send me the ones that need signed off on."

He turned and went to the stand that he stored his coffee supplies in and opened it to reveal a large mass of gold plated latinum bars. "The third thing would be to help me decide how to divide these up evenly among the crew."

Maddy retrieved her pips and looked at the mass of latinum bars. She blinked once... twice... then a third time. "Where the hell did that come from, and how much is there exactly?"

"It was the bounty on Raimus' head," Michael said. "That's what the quick stop at K7 was for. Lieutenant Cheshire had told me about it when she came aboard and since we had him....I decided to collect. There's a hundred and eighty bars left. I decided to give twenty bars to every department head. I'll split my share with you."

Maddy shook her head. "No, you won't I didn't do much, and you have a wife and those two adorable little ones to see to," she said, wondering if he'd look at her odd for saying something like that. "You keep it."

"I'm the Captain, Maddy," he said. "They pay me more than you do and Spencer is retired Starfleet with a fund of her own. Last chance to take the offer. Maybe buy drinks for some handsome young officer?"

"I can already afford to buy Tom all the drinks he wants and then some," Maddy said with a smile. "Put it into a trust for Ava and Mikey... tell them it's from Aunt Maddy."

"Then I'll do that," Michael said before he raised an eyebrow. "Barnes, is it?" he asked with a chuckle. "I never would have guessed."

"Why is that?" Maddy asked. Just thinking about their Ops Chief gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. She'd had some serious bad luck with men in the past, but being with him felt different. It felt right. "He's absolutely the best thing that's happened to me lately."

"Because everyone knows that you're the Red Queen, Maddy," he said. "Spice is life and if it isn't fire, it's going to get burned by you. Still, I'm glad you're happy."

"I am happy. Very happy, in fact. So happy, I'm considering asking him to move in with me," she said, waiting for Mikey to stare at her.

Michael reached out and patted her shoulder. "As long as you're happy, Maddy," he said. "You know I have a relaxed policy about officers getting involved as long as it doesn't get in the way of duty. Did you stay with him when you took your unexpected leave of absence?"

"I did. It was quite enjoyable, too," she replied. "I'd really like for this to go longterm, but given my track record with men, I'll find some way to screw it up. I hope I don't, but it just seems to be the way things go for me."

"Then don't screw it up," he advised. "I have enough faith in you as my Exec, and I have faith in you as a person."

"Thanks, Michael. I don't plan to mess it up," Maddy stated with a smile. "I'll do everything I can to make sure he's as happy as can be."

"For now, though, go get a uniform. I'm going to need you in your official capacity soon," Michael said.

"I'll be in my office shortly," she said, rising to her feet to head out just as his combadge chirped followed by the voice of his former Acting Executive Officer.

=^=Captain... your presence is requested in sickbay.=^=

What now? Michael wondered as he tapped his combadge. =^=I'm on my way.=^= With that, the Captain headed out to begin his day.