Posted July 17, 2022, 6:50 p.m. by Ensign Kovan ch'Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) (Abigail G)
Posted by Ensign Rand Farquharson (Yeoman First Class) in side - sim: The Infiltrator
Posted by Commander Roman Alden (First Officer & Chief Science Officer) in side - sim: The Infiltrator
Posted by Ensign Kovan ch’Sirhc (Engineering & Communications Officer) in side - sim: The Infiltrator
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
<snip>
Morgan shook her head. “It won’t work. We don’t know LaCroix and obviously no one else on the crew does either because no one reported the wrong crew member being on board. And even if it wasn’t officially reported, Scott would have heard the gossip. And if they are so good to not leave any physical evidence, and sneak someone on board that we aren’t 100% sure that he’s an imposter, then he knows what is in the service file. And we can’t just pull him in without cause. So I suggest instead we go ask for a DNA sample. So we can definitively ‘rule him out’ from where he touched the machine to fix it. Then we have it run against Star Fleet Security Command and Federation Security. That way even if he’s altered the files here we can find out who he really is. While we do that I’ll get a good shot of his face and run a recognition program that will compare bone structure. Kovan I’d like you to monitor the ship’s systems to see what he does after I leave. Cmdr I’d like you to come with me. I’ll keep Ward and Richards with us, but out of sight, just in case, but I’d like to see how he reacts to you.”Morgan
“Alright, but I want to go with you when you get that DNA sample. I don’t trust our security officers with their own guns much less actually keeping someone safe. It’s not like he can do anything to the ship comms right after you’re done talking to him. Not with the new protections I put in place.” It was a selfish request but Kovan was paranoid to a fault and he wasn’t going to be somewhere else when something happened. Not again.
Kovan
Morgan just stared at Kovan, if she was insulted or not was hard to tell. She was one of the security officers. She got up and went into another room. “Alright so I checked with Richards and LaCroix is in his quarters at the moment. Go a meal after his shift and went straight there. Hasn’t left…through the door anyway. Ward’s headed that way now, they’ll be near by out of sight as much as they can be. I want to force his hand a bit not make him panic.” She passed Alden and Kovan a phaser. “I don’t like the idea of going armed on our own ship, but it’s prudent.” She also gave Kovan a camera. “See if you can get a solid picture of his face. I will as well, but doesn’t hurt to have extras.” She placed a second camera into the DNA collection kit she had. “Let’s go.”
Kovan grabbed hold the phaser, his grip lose and uncertain. Yes, he just insinuated that trained security officers barely knew how to operate things and was well aware that he was even more clueless. Weapons never felt right in his hands, like an artist trying to paint delicate china with a garden trowel. Kovan flexed his fingers around the handle before carefully holstering it on his hip. Now the camera. . . that was more Kovan’s style.
“Got it.” He was a better shot with a camera than a phaser anyways. Kovan followed after Morgan and Roman and stood behind them as they engaged with LaCroix.
Outside LaCroix’s quarters Morgan pressed the chime. “En LaCroix. It’s Lt. Morgan. I need to speak with you about the machine in the biology lab.”
Morgan
Roman followed Morgan and stood next to her while she rang the chime, phaser strapped to his side but hand hovering over it in case it was needed.
It took a few moments, and then the door slid open and LaCroix stepped out, letting the door close behind him. His gaze flicked between the three of them, lingering on Alden for a moment before snapping down to their phasers, then back to Morgan. “About the lab mishap? I’ve already answered your questions once. I’m not sure what else I could tell you.” He stepped defensively away from them, still facing them. It was as though he were ensuring an escape route.
~ Roman and LaCroix
Kovan’s eyes narrowed, catching the defensive move, and quickly snapped a few shots of LaCroix’s face for Morgan. This didn’t feel right.
Kovan
Behind LaCroix and down the corridor Ward was watching and he stepped quietly down the hall to another side corridor that gave him a better shot and put him closer.
Keeping his attention Morgan raised the box. “We found new evidence and I wanted to get a fresh DNA sample from you and Gallagher to rule you both out. It will only take a moment.” While she talked, she opened the kit and pulled out a swab. The whole time she was watching him and was ready to drop the kit and grab him or the phaser on her hip.
Morgan
LaCroix wasn’t so easy to fool. Glancing down the hall behind himself he saw Ward. It takes at least two security officers to ask for DNA? No. Not unless they were planning for trouble. To apprehend someone.
“The security is in the interest of my safety. It’s not meant to worry you,” Roman said, trying to keep him calm. It didn’t work. LaCroix pulled one of the smaller hand phasers of the era out, and started shooting. First at Morgan and Alden, then down the hall as he ran, heading for the jeffries tubes. LaCroix was guilty and he knew he was caught. Now it was time to get away.
It was nearly immediately after the first shot that Roman grunted in pain and dropped.
~ Roman
Ward ducked and then returned fire. He took off after LaCroix, Roberts close on their heels. Morgan hit the comm button =O=Security Emergency! Lock down deck 6. Morgan alpha-9421. Shots fired, Cmdr Alden’s been hit.=O= The sound of hatches and doors locking, emergency bulk heads closing and Jefferies tube access closing, and turbolift and access ladders getting cut off created resounding claps of thunder through the corridors. Quarters were automatically locked and the ship went to red alert. Morgan took off down the corridor after LaCroix. Getting a solid watch on him, she took aim and fired.
Kovan was left to help Alden
Morgan
“Alden!” Kovan tossed the camera aside and lunged to catch the XO before he hit the ground. He was mostly successful, grabbing hold of the XO on his way down and preventing the man from smacking his head. Kovan grunted as he shifted his hold and footing to gently bring the XO into an upright position against the wall. “That [unintelligible word]!” Kovan pushed Roman’s clothing away from the phaser wound and began to assess the damage. “I wonder how much they paid for that assassin because they clearly found him from the bargain bin.” That or they far overpaid the man.
Kovan
Roman winced as Kovan pulled him gently up against the wall. The wound was to his upper right abdomen, just under the last rib. LaCroix must have been unprepared, because the phaser had to be on stun, or at least a lower power setting. If it hadn’t been, Roman would probably be dead. Instead he had third degree phaser burns around the wound, which was bleeding but not too much. His breathing was shallow and a little rapid and his face had his telltale signs of pain, even as he was trying to hide it, the tightness around his eyes, the way he bit the inside of his lip. His right shoulder had been grazed by a second shot on the way down, but that wasn’t bad at all. Light second and first degree phaser burns and that was it. “Right… the bargain bin assassin,” Roman said sarcastically between pained breaths, “that perfectly faked records and nearly succeeded in his job twice on a Starfleet vessel.” He took a quick deep breath. “I have to help catch him.” Trying to pull himself up proved a mistake, ending in another grunt of pain that ended his attempts to speak.
Burns were bad. But phasers never caused much bleeding was good. Kovan felt for Roman’s pulse at his neck and kept watch for signs of shock. He took Roman’s sass as a good sign. If the XO could talk then he wasn’t actively dying. Which was good. “Anyone could fake records with the right connections or know how. Also, he failed to kill you twice and Rand once. That’s three failed assassinations and we still figured out his records were wrong. The man should really quit the assassin business before he’s laughed out of it.”
Roman’s pulse felt rapid, the rhythm a bit off but without a medical tricorder it would be hard to tell what was going on. But the stress of the injury and events was not good for his already hurt heart. Roman wasn’t complaining of chest pain, nor was he pressing an arm to his chest, so he was probably okay, for now. “He’d have gotten her if Morgan weren’t so good at her job.” Roman said, shaking his head. “And you can’t count this as an attempt on me, it was a final try by a desperate man who knew he was caught.” There were breaths between his words, but at least he was still talking.
“And quit moving! You’re not going anywhere until medical gets here. You wouldn’t do anything that would extend your stay in medical now would you?” Kovan knew the XO didn’t like sickbay but phaser burns were easy to heal so long as he stayed put and didn’t put any more stress on his body.
Medical? No, no way, not again. He was NOT getting stuck in medical for another month. And that was all his mind would let him think, that it would mess up his heart and they’d put him under again and then he couldn’t be there for Rand. That they’d make him stay. Roman wouldn’t realize it, but it was funny that would be a self-fulfilling prophesy if he wasn’t careful. Roman gave a little scoff. “Stay in medical? Why? I don’t need medical. I’m alright, just hurts a bit.” He made a harder effort to hide his pain but shifting his position against the wall caused an unintentional wince. “I’ll be alright in a few minutes.”
Kovan hated to admit it, but he and Roman were alike in a lot of ways. Both stubborn to a fault and unwilling to let on when they were in pain. So Kovan saw right through the XO’s words. “You’ll need someone to at least look at your wounds.” Kovan said in answer, “And no one is alright in a few minutes after taking a hit from a phaser. So sit back and relax because you’re not going anywhere. Morgan and security won’t let that failure of an assassin get away.”
LaCroix raced down the corridor making for the bend in the hall in order to get out of Morgan’s line of sight. He was deceptively athletic, maybe not the fastest runner but with great endurance that kept him going at an even quick pace. But he was unlucky. Morgan’s aim was good and she had a solid line of sight. Her shot hit him in the midback, around his left side. His pace dropped quickly to a slow walk. It was impressive he didn’t drop too.
~ Roman | LaCroix
Roberts had followed and then cut down a side corridor that bisected the deck to come out in front of LaCroix and cut him off. He heard the whine of the phaser when Morgan fired and when he appeared his weapon was trained on LaCroix.
Morgan watched him slow to a walk and her thumb dialed yo the setting on her phaser, she was not chasing this guy. “Drop your phaser and get down on the ground LaCroix, or I will shoot you again.” She aimed for the hand that held his phaser. She was an excellent shot and she was more than capable of hitting his hand and making him drop it. A quiet hand signal had Ward aiming for the guy’s back and Richards for his leg all both set to heavy stun. Morgan crossed the width of the corridor at a diagonal, placing LaCroix between the three of them, like a triangle. But unbelievably the man kept walking…
All three officers fired.
Morgan (Angry and Trigger Happy)
Kovan
LaCroix stopped when he saw Roberts in front of him. He was cornered, and under orders not to get caught… He was not going to drop his phaser. He raised his phaser to fire but there wasn’t time to get more than an ill-aimed shot off before all three officers fired on him, leaving him out cold on the floor, alive, but in need of medical attention.
~ Roman (avoiding sickbay at ALL costs) | LaCroix (caught)
The three security officers might have enjoyed that moment more than they should have, but they would never say so. Roberts was on him instantly and kicked the phaser away, just in case. Morgan used her foot to roll the man to his stomach and a solid thud was heard as hee knee dropped into his lower back, he weight pinning him to the floor. “Ward, go get the DNA kit and tell Alden we caught him.” She grabbed his arms and not so politely pulled them back and placed the cuffs on him.
She got up and hit the nearest comm =O= This is Morgan, release deck 6. We’ve caught the assassin. Send medical teams. Morgan zulu alpha-6882.=O=
Ward appeared next to Kovan and Alden. “We got him Cmdr, took four hits before he went down.” He grabbed the dropped DNA kit as the sound of locks releasing and emergency bulkheads retracting was heard. Then there was a flurry of activity.
Morgan got her DNA sample and Ward and Richards lifted LaCroix under his arms and dragged him toward a turbolift.
Randy and Elbbirt we’re the first off and went directly for Alden, a couple medics in tow with a stretcher. Then it Great and Temple. The normally gruff but caring Tellarite doctor was huffing and snorting like a wild boar on a rampage. He lifted LaCroix’s head by the hair. “Lucky for you,” he spat, “you’re unconscious. This treatment is gonna hurt.” He looked at Morgan, “I can treat him in the brig.” He released the hair and proceeded them back into the turbolift. Morgan checked the cell completely before they left him alone. He was not going to off himself or escape before his trial.
“Roman?!” That was Randy, who was obviously worried, as he knelt down next to him. Elbbirt was quieter, calmer, it wasn’t his first crisis. “Son you don’t know how to stay out of trouble so you?” He pulled out his tricorder while Randy opened the medkit. “How are you feeling? Did you hit your head?”
Randy looked at Kovan, “What did you do after he got shot?” It was a calm question, not accusing. Randy was interested in whatever Kovan had done in the way of first aid.
Morgan | Elbbirt and Randy | Grat
“Caught him before he could hit the ground, then set him upright against the wall. I checked the phaser wounds and his pulse. He was able to carry on conversation with me and give sarcastic remarks.” Kovan reported to Randy as he moved back to give the medical professionals room to tend to the XO.
Kovan
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