Moonshiner

Posted on Tue Aug 23rd, 2022 @ 11:21pm by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Lieutenant JG Corvin Hartjin
Edited on on Tue Aug 23rd, 2022 @ 11:21pm

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Armory
Timeline: Mission Day 3 at 1030
3756 words - 7.5 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

It had been hectic on the ship as of late with the short lived epidemic of the Phage, the again short lived rebellion of the Kazon and their capture.of Lieutenant Petrov, and the failed assault by the Vidiians and the subsequent claiming of their ship and enslavement of their crew. It had been eventful to say the least. Corvin had fought against the Vidiian intruders and their mongrel monstrosities, it had been a good day being able to piece so many of the impudent aliens and he was looking forward to what would be happening with the Kazon that had dared to harm a son of Terra, why he was positively giddy at what the future might hold.

Though for the present his attention was held by a captured Vidiian rifle he had carefully and painstakingly stripped down, currently examining its inner workings. Likely because of his background as a pit fighter, he found weapons to be truly fascinating and loved to learn how they worked or what they could do. Currently he was finding the Vidiian rifle to be rather fascinating given that it possessed functions not typically found in comparable weapons such possessing a function similar to a medical scanner. He was running a calibration scan on the emitter focusing matrix when he heard the doors opening, he paused in his work to look and see who had just entered.

Madeline found herself calmed considerably after the past few days aboard the Lovarr. Her temporary assignment to the Kazon vessel to carry out Yana’s orders had provided her with a most effective and pleasant outlet for the hate and rage she had been harboring toward the animals after they took and tortured a Terran man. The fact that it had been Andrei had only served as extra incentive to see them suffer. Her work was nearly done and she found she needed a change of scenery for a few hours so she had returned to the Vengeance and in the name of continuing to avoid Christoph and his “conversation”, she had decided to go to the armory. Walking through the door, Madeline’s eyes easily fell on CPO Corvin Hartjin.

“Chief.” She greeted him pleasantly and even gave a smile. “Just here to make sure everything is still in order after our foray onto the Lovarr.”

Corvin stood as he looked to Madeline and nodded, A little surprised to see her here but it also wasn't something out of the ordinary, though she did seem a little on edge the smile pleasant if a bit thin, seeming forced though he supposed he'd have been a bit on edge too with recent events. "Tip top Lieutenant, took a fresh inventory, there are a couple of phaser rifles that will need to have their emitters rebuilt but nothing my teams and I can't handle."

"Show me." She instructed and moved closer to him, not really indicating this was something optional. Madeline was not known to be the most congenial of officers, but her ability spoke volumes and there had been praise given to her recently even from those who had been less than pleased in the position of seniority that she had been put in over them as assistant chief. Not that there had been much assistant to the name. At this point due to injury or sickness, Cassiel and Ivers had nearly split the job of Chief of Security evenly between them.

"Of course ma'am, right this way." He indicated while carefully setting the piece of his pet project down as he led her back to the work stations where the three rifles had been placed and disassembled, the emitter housings set to the side with the damaged components sitting aside as he stepped aside to let her inspect them. "On rifles one and two, the emitter crystals fractured and caused feedback that fused other portions of the focusing chamber, rifle three too a substantial blunt strike the shattered the focusing crystal and several of the stabilizers will require recalibration but we are currently machining the new housings and shaping new focusing lenses."

Madeline's eyes drifted to the abandoned Vidiian rifle as she followed after Corvin and then they began to drift down the back of the man's body as he walked. He was attractive enough, though physically smaller than she was; his muscles were compact and strong. She didn't mind the steel grey of his hair either though it was quite premature for a man of his age, though his hard life before enlistment probably had much to do with that. Some sort of pit fighter for the Klingons if she was remembering correctly.

She moved to stand beside him, her body almost brushing against his but not quite. "Do you know the names of the crewmen who were holding these rifles?" She asked and picked up one of the fractured crystals to hold up to the light and look at it closer.

"Not off the top of my head but it should be in the assignment records." He replied while picking up the PADD docked at one of the workstations as he pulled it up, accessing the logs. "Rifle one was assigned to Crewman Yost, rifle two Crewman First Class d'Armiger, and rifle three crewman Hasser,"

He was quite aware of her body, sneaking glances at her well toned form, fit and athletic and she was certainly quite easy on the eyes though he was also mindful of the situation since everyone in Security suspected that there was something going between Ivers and Madeline. "Hasser was sent to sick bay after suffering several contusions and a hairline fracture of his right forearm."

"Mm..." She hummed an acknowledgement as she looked up at the crystal for another long moment and then finally put it down. Her dark eyes shifted to his and she caught him looking at her in a less than innocent way. Now, she turned to face him, her head tilting forward just the slightest bit so she could look down into his eyes and pin his gaze there. There were no words, she didn't need them. It was impossible to read her thoughts, but there was a dark intensity to her gaze though it did not seem hostile.

His gaze shifted from admiring her body to matching her gaze, trying to gauge the Lieutenant's mood but then again it was very Terran to take someone in as he held his ground even if it might be more prudent to back off. "Any other questions about the rifles Lieutenant?" He questioned her respectfully.

"No, though did I see you were taking apart one of the Vidiian weapons out there?" Madeline asked curiously and canted her head back toward where they had come from, but her eyes never left Corvin's face as she did so. "Anything interesting?"

"Ah, yes, something of a pet project." His expression brightened a bit as they discussed his work. "I enjoy learning about new kit, Terran or alien, you could call it a hobby of mine."

"I would say that Vidiian weapons are actually the perfect slavers tool as the stun settings are quite efficient at subduing a target, I think it could even knock out a Klingon for a significant period of time on its most basic setting and it also integrates a fairly sophisticated medical scanner, while it's limited to just that specific function it would be quite handy in rooting hidden targets."

“Care to show me?” She finally stepped back to give him room as a slight smirk appeared on her face. She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and blinked her eyes slowly at him.

"Of course," He smirked back while letting his eyes take her in appreciatively before moving back to the table as he carefully set about reassembling the rifle before picking it up as he turned so that she could see the scanner read out that opened from the side of the side of the rifle as he turned it on and pointed it towards one of the nearby walls as it showed two humanoid life signs and gave a medical breakdown. "I haven't had a chance to see through how much material it can reliably detect life forms but I think it has potential."

Madeline leaned in to look at the scanner a bit closer, placing a hand over Corvin's and guiding him to tilt the rifle at a slightly better angle for her eyeline. Her hands were warm on top of his and as she drew closer, he could pick up the mildly spicy, sweet scent of her body. "Interesting. You should definitely do some tests on that and also let medical see what this thing does. They don't have much use for the rifle part, but maybe the scanner could be helpful to them."

"Mmm, yeah I was going to talk with you and Ivers about it first before hard charging over to Medical with a rifle." He chuckled softly, turning his attention to Madeline as felt the warmth of her hands on his. She would be able to feel his prominent knuckles, the roughness and strength in them.

He found her scent to be quite pleasant, both demurely sensual though promising some much more as he stood with her and cycled through some of the medical functions of the scanner. His own scent pleasantly woody and earthy.

"While the rest of the functions are rather standard, I do think there is some inspiration we can take to improve our own equipment."

Corvin returned the smile, missing the warmth of her touch but he gave her a nod as he turned off the display before setting the rifle down. "That's most appreciated Lieutenant and when I have the chance I'll take it over to medical to have them look it over."

"So do you think the punishment of the mud jumpers will really keep them in line? I think they all deserve to be sliced to death with a thousand cuts and salt rubbed in their wounds." He looked to Madeline, the term mud jumpers becoming a derogatory term for the Kazon since it was their way to jump from world to world, pillaging and taking what they needed to survive.

This time they had chosen quite poorly.

Corvin spoke in such a common way; she supposed it had its charm about it. At his question Madeline smiled so very pleasantly. It was easy, warm, and unnerving in its sincerity given what she had done on the Lovarr.

"Oh yes." Her eyes found Corvin's again and he could see something strange there that was impossible to pin down. "Yes, I do. If for some reason it doesn't, well, then the rest of them will die."

Corvin quirked an eyebrow at the smile she gave and while there was a certain pleasantness to it, he also could see how it might come off as unnerving given the events on the Lovarr. "Wish I could have been there to watch, there's nothing quite so relaxing as purging the alien and showing others their true place beneath the Terran boot."

"Oh I'm sure there are recordings." She gave a simple shrug and any look of pleasantness or amusement faded away. Leaning against the desk, she crossed her arms over her chest. "Anything else you'd like to show me, Chief?" Her voice hinted that she might not necessarily be talking about just the weapons in the armory, but it was hard to tell.

"Well if you're willing to overlook a few regulation niceties, I might be willing to share some of my homebrew alcohol, something I picked up from a smuggler that had ended up in the fighting pits." He offered up, watching her and holding her gaze as he gave an easy smile.

“Oh so you are going to be the moonshine guy, are you?” Maddie laughed at that, shaking her head and grinning to herself. “Well, best it is from our department really. We’ll get the best deals… right?”

"Of course Security will get first run at new batches and a top shelf discount, Marines get the leavings." He chuckled, though it was clear if he was being serious or not about that last part. "I'd also place it a couple rungs over straight moonshine, I try to make sure it's palatable and isn't straight rot gut."

“Well, I guess we will have to see, won’t we?” She sighed and stretched. Her body was very tired from the hard days they had all experienced over these past couple of weeks. “My biggest question is where do you hide it? It’s usually a larger operation.”

"So I managed to work out a deal for some space in one of the auxiliary cargo areas and set up my still there, had a friend from engineering help me set it up and I've been making my Homebrew since before we go dropped in this alien infested Quadrant, the best thing that could have happened to it really.

“Well aren’t you a clever one.” Madeline gave a charming smile as she regarded him a moment. “I could be convinced to play the part of quality control, I suppose.” Truthfully it was a good sign that the man could work with others to secure that kind of area. It wasn’t an easy thing to do without making oneself vulnerable or owing large favors.

"Growing up in a Cardassian slave camp with Reformist parents meant so had to get clever real quick to deal with the other Terran since my parents didn't believe in committing violence against others," He motioned for her to follow to take her to his brewing area after returning replacing the Vidiian rifle in one of the lockers and sealing it up.

"As for my brew, I've been working on making it smooth and with a good flavor, I think I've mostly gotten it down but that might change since I'll have to start sourcing from local resources."

“Well, you’ll be very popular among the crew if your alcohol is any good.” She pointed out and allowed him to lead her, her eyes falling on watching his body as they strolled along. “Just don’t let it go to your head. That’s how you end up getting into trouble.”

"Oh I know what I am Lieutenant," He chuckled softly while a sly little smirk formed on his lip. "I'm a pit fighter and I like where I'm at, my position is secure and I get to bust heads, murder alien scum, and play with high energy munitions, why would I want to change that for a delusion of grandeur that'll just end in a terribly unfortunate manner?"

He moved with a confident and powerful stride, though there was nothing regal or refined about him. Though he was now an Imperial NCO, he was still that same pit fighter who had been underestimated and jeered at but he was a fighter, a survivor and it showed in the way he moved.

"It sounds like you lack ambition." Madeline noted. She had been accused of that herself by those who didn't really know her... but really, who did on this ship? Who did in her life? "Some would say that makes you weak."

"Oh I don't lack for ambition, but why do I need to achieve more when I have achieved what I set out to do and that was to find a position in which I have ample opportunity to slaughter the enemies of the Empire, my rank gives me power and prestige, and any who think I am weak are more than willing to test me and my resolve." He replied easily while moving through the ship. "I felt that those who rail about others lack of ambition are the ones who truly lack the ambition to seize what they want, they have no idea of what is truly motivating them, my ultimate ambition is to outlive any who would want me dead so that when I am lying on my deathbed I can look down at my feet and laugh at them before I shuffle off the mortal coil."

“So you’d like to die an old man in his bed?” Maddie asked curiously, her pace relaxed and leisurely. “Not generally I hear something men say, though I don’t know why. It just means you won the game of life more than most people. Sure if you hadn’t done anything but die I could see it being a problem, but…”

"I was once a slave to aliens who once fought for their amusement, I have spilled blood for the Empire earning honor and accolades for facing down the Klingon warrior that slew my commander on Sartax IX in single combat with his broken bat'leth, commendations of bravery, I have lived an honest Terran life as even a slave to the aliens I bowed but never broken under their yoke or in the jeering of crowds hungry to see my blood." He replied as they eventually reached the storage area as he moved to unlock it, careful to conceal the code he was using.

"I've still plenty of life left in me and I intend to give every moment I have to the glory of our Empire and to our people, to showing the galaxy who the true rulers are."

"A true servant of the Empire, then." Maddie watched him almost lazily as he secreted his code from her. Now that she knew where this was, it wouldn't exactly be difficult for her to break in and do whatever she wanted, but there was no inclination or desire for such a thing. Shifting where she stood, her mind began to wander to nowhere in particular. Corvin was a good hound. He could be useful.

The door slid open a moment later before he welcomed her in, the air had the distinct scent of alcohol to it but it was unpleasantly strong or overwhelming, it just would be hard to ignore as he moved towards the back of the storage area to reveal his rather professional and well put together still as he moved over to a container and retrieved two cups and began to look though the bottles. "We can do straight or the "whisky" I've been working on, your choice Lieutenant."

"Whichever you are more proud of, Chief." Madeline replied and hopped up on one of the cargo containers, taking a seat and crossing her long legs. Even in the uniform pants they showed off quite nicely. "Not too much though, duty and all that." She waved a hand as if such things were a bother even though they most certainly were not to her.

"Of course, just a sample." He turned back to her with a bottle of his "whisky" and made a soft purr of appreciation at her perched on the container as he took a moment to give her another appreciative once over while pouring them a couple of fingers before he walked the cup over to her. "A couple of fingers are always nice,"

He offered it up and it did at least smell like whisky if a bit more potent.

Madeline reached out to take the cup from him and as she did so, her fingers brushed over his. Her eyes moved up and held his for a moment but didn't linger for long. Instead she looked down into the cup and swirled it around a bit. "Smells strong. What did you make this out of?"

"Believe me this is much milder than my first brews which I'm certain could have been used to clean plasma injectors." He chuckled softly while sipping his cup. "Medical alcohol, grains and other ingredients to get it more in line with whisky."

She chuckled and shook her head slightly. "Probably best not to poison the crew." Once he had taken a sip of the drink, she did the same though kept it small. It immediately burned into her tongue and down her throat as she swallowed.

"Well," she began with an amused expression, "not sure I can taste much other than burn."

"Its still a work in progress, I typically test it on the slaves which is how I've managed to get it here, but I'm dedicated to providing some fine alcohol to the crew," He chuckled at her expression and gave her another once over as she was quite easily handling the whisky. "Right now the burn keeps them from getting out of hand with it, nurse a bottle instead of drowning themselves."

Madeline looked down into the cup and swirled it around again, taking another sip. It didn’t really get any better. “Well, I can’t say much for the flavor but it would definitely do a great job getting someone drunk if that was their goal.”

"It would be, working on toning it all down, studying some of the archives about the whisky making process to try and figure it out." He admitted while draining the rest of his cup, making a slight face at the intensity of the burn before he looked back at her. "Though I might have to branch out and seek some assistance with that since science and engineering aren't my strongest areas."

"Seems like a weird choice to start making alcohol, then, but more power to you." She slid off the box she was sitting on and set the cup down. Now she was getting bored and considered returning to the Lovarr. "I look forward to trying it again when you've made more improvements."

"I'll let you know once I've tweaked the recipe, Lieutenant." He nodded, picking up her cup to deal with it as he looked back to her. "Though the desire to make alcohol is because I developed an interest in the distilling process."

"Fair enough, Chief." She stepped up to him then, not quite touching him but close enough he could feel the warmth of her body against his. "Good luck in your endeavor." For just a moment, Madeline lingered looking into his eyes with her intense gaze but abruptly turned on her heel and left the area to return to more amusing pastimes.

Corvin took a moment to watch after her as she left, there was a truly remarkable woman and he found himself considering her and how she wasn't able to be clearly read while he set about cleaning up.

OFF