Out of every one hundred men...

Posted on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 @ 3:51am by Lieutenant Aleksander Voroshilov & Master Chief Petty Officer Hans-Peter König

Mission: Getting To Know You
Location: Outside the Holodeck

Chief König had been doing some thinking.

Hans-Peter had found the demands on the ship's senior NCO convenient. It was minutia that neither he nor any Starfleet professional would have found even mildly interesting but it was minutia that kept him well away from the diplomatic powder keg. Knowing that diplomacy was not even kind of a strength of his, he felt it wise to stay far away from the delegations.

Diplomacy was very painfully breaking down. To be honest, diplomacy had broken down long before Astraea had become involved but there was an appearance of an agreement that the parties had to play nice until they got home. König was a cynic. He never really believed that it was going to stay peaceful forever. Still, that problem mostly belonged to the Skipper and her security staff. If he focused on keeping Astraea's rivets fastened, that's the only problem the Skipper would have to worry about.

Then König read the initial analyses of the crime scene and he had started thinking. SOD was fond of dropping the line that they specialized in "unconventional warfare" and nothing about this smelled conventional. He found himself thinking about the most unconventional officer aboard Astraea.

Having discovered that Lt Voroshilov was utilizing the holodeck, König patiently positioned himself outside the holodeck's hatch, leaning on his trademark cane.

Aleksi stopped for a minute, appreciating the coolness of the corridor. Grabbing the front of his guayabera shirt, pulling it away to get some air flow he turned to the man waiting for him, “You know, the last time I saw my mother she told me the devil would always be watching me,” A smile was on his face, looking Koenig square in the eye, “I never did think she meant it literally.”

König returned the gaze but not the smile. He definitely wanted Aleksi's attention but wasn't actually keen on having a conversation with him right here, "I've been working on keeping a supply of warm bodies flowing to Lieutenant Aenera. They've been coming back with rumors that you have been making terrible gin in your quarters. Perhaps you should introduce me to this hobby of yours."

Aleksi's eyes narrowed slightly, less at the gin comment and more at the tone. Dad wanted to have a sit down and it was going to be a hell of a lecture. Shrugging, he walked past the chief assuming he'd follow him, "Why not, I could always another opinion, even if it's from a Kraut as sour as you."

König did follow, a step to the right and a step behind. Old habit. Aside from the soft tapping of the cane, the Chief made no noise until they arrived at the Lieutenant's quarters.

Walking in first, Aleksi went straight to his makeshift bar. A change of clothes would have to wait, a cold drink would be his top priority. He didn't offer the man a seat, figuring he'd just plant himself anywhere he wished, "What do I owe the visit to? I doubt it was the gin, you seem more like a scotch guy."

König remained standing. He was feeling on edge and realized that deciding to not sit would give that away but that didn't matter. "Bourbon, actually," König responded, "The Americans never did figure out beer but I do prefer their whiskey. How many toys has R'Mular set up in here?" Hans-Peter sincerely hoped that the answer would be strictly less than one.

"I scan at least once a day. It's become an unfortunate habit, like making my bed," Aleksi's concern spiked immediately, not liking the question or what it implied. Handing over an ice cold Tom Collins he sat in his normal brooding chair, "So none as far as I know. Sit, you're making me nervous, and that's a tough thing for anyone to do."

He had finally reached a point where König had to start articulating his thoughts. He wasn't quite sure how he wanted to do that. He took a sip of the Tom Collins. Not bad. Not that he would admit that to the Lieutenant. König found his way to closest seat that was facing Aleksi.

"Interesting developments on the ship," König opened, holding Aleksi's gaze for his entire statement, "Security's been given a nice little puzzle. I wonder if they'll figure it out?"

"As far as I'm concerned giving the yellow shirts anything more complicated than a two by two Rubiks Cube would confuse them beyond end," Aleksi held the gaze, rather unsurprised the chief would come to him with such, concerns, "Though I wonder if you have some idea on what the solution is?"

König sipped the Tom Collins again. "It was a sloppy kill and eliminating the evidence was obviously a rush-job. So I doubt you planned it ahead," König let the not-so-subtle accusation hang a moment, "At least, I would hope that I taught you better than that. My guess would be self-defense. Which begs the question: 'why bother covering it up at all'?"

"That's a good question, though the effort has been good enough to send both medical and security into a tail spin," Aleksi betrayed nothing, letting the Chief run with his conspiracy theory, "Why would anyone bother covering up an obvious case of self-defense? If you're implying that I killed him you must know I'd never be that sloppy."

The Chief didn't expect Aleksi to admit to anything. He was also expecting the Lieutenant to pump him for information. That wasn't terribly telling. If he was the killer, he'd want to know where the suspicions lie so he could protect the cover-up. If he wasn't the killer, he'd gladly listen to any theory in the off-chance that the truth was buried somewhere in the Chief's paranoia.

"I can think of two reasons why you'd want to cover it up," König continued, "One, you realize--probably better than any of us--how cranky our guests are. The Counselor might have started it but if you admit to being responsible for ending it, that could have dangerous implications for the ship. That's probably not the way you should have played it but I imagine that is the way you might have played it."

"It wouldn’t be wise to have a man already assumed to have a violent streak kill a diplomat," Aleksi sipped the drink, watching the Chief at work. He often told people the last group of folks you could fool were Senior NCOs. They were used to dealing with the E-4 mafia, the sneakiest of people, "What would be the other reason you'd hide it?"

König looked Aleksi dead in the eye, "You're in the middle of a battle of wits and it's important that OPFOR doesn't know something about what happened. I'm not sure what or with whom and I'm pretty sure I don't want to know. I would hope it's Prizio and his band of merry men. Their wit is about as sharp as a tabletop. I'm afraid that you're squaring off against the TLF," König paused to emphasize what he was truly afraid of, "By yourself."

"I love that you think my reasons would be as pure as taking on an identified terrorist group. Actually, I sympathize with the TLF, I'm sure Vicente will fail at it, but it'll be interesting to watch someone bring liberté, égalité, fraternité to that world," Aleksi sipped his drink, "Can I offer you a third theory, one that might pique your interest?"

"'Pure' is a bit of a stretch. You'd fuck with them just because it entertains you." König settled back in the seat, "Go ahead, LT, pique my interest."

"I mean, you're right about me in that regard," And it isn't terribly far from truth, "What if you stumbled on a scene, a woman who suffered a horrible tragedy in the middle of it? You knowing the Federation government is willing to throw away the lives of its nameless citizens for the sake of diplomatic expediency. What if this expediency meant access to enough dilithium to fuel 100 years of exploration," He figured the best way to go about it was the truth, something that the Chief would either take on its face or as a bold face lie, "What would you do? What would I do?"

"One woman who is consequential to the Federation's diplomatic interests only because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time?" König restated what he thought Aleksi was saying, "I'd probably come to the conclusion that what the Federation didn't know and couldn't figure out wouldn't hurt them."

“I'd come to that conclusion as well” Leaning back he watched the German, amusement in his eyes. The scene was never really supposed to make sense, just a mess that would be nearly impossible to figure out. He always found that sort of thing worked best, plus it add to the entertainment factor. He was happy to hear there was similar sentiments from the man sitting across from him. Still, he’d refuse to admit to anything, mostly out of principle, “That’s if I did what you're implying.”

König shrugged, "I suppose we'll never know." He sipped the cocktail again. His curiosity had been satisfied and he knew he was better off preserving his deniability. There was, however, concern König wanted to make sure he addressed.

"A word of advice, Lieutenant. 'Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn't even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle'," König didn't bother to finish the quote. He knew that Aleksi knew it. "I suppose you fancy yourself as the one," and you probably are but I'm not going to pump your ego, "But don't forget that, in the real world, lone wolves tend to get everybody killed. If you are driving machinations by yourself, don't get in over your head."

"That's the only way I operate," Aleksi had hoped König would pull back, for both their sakes. He didn't want to make deceiving the crew a normal habit, at least not without telling some people, but it had been an extraordinary circumstance. Still, with the Chief he felt he could be more honest than with most, "But I'll keep you in the loop for my next set of shenanigans. After all, with the devil here I'm never truly alone, am I?"

König knocked back the rest of the cocktail. He wordlessly stood and left Aleksi's quarters.

=^=

Lt Aleksander Voroshilov
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Astraea, NCC-80819

&

MCPO Hans-Peter König
Chief of Boat
USS Astraea, NCC-80819