Archive : MD27 : Tales of Cordell
Tales of Cordell
Summary: The JAG interviews Lieutenant Mickelson, CMC, about the boarding action.
Date: MD27
Related Logs: Anything with the Paradigm or Cordell
Players:
Mina..NPC..

The office of the Judge Advocate General Corps aboard the Kharon isn't as spartan as one might expect. A pair of desks can be found perpendicular to each other near the far wall, seating provided in front of each. A small fake tree can be found here that caps the end of a long series of bookshelves inset to the gray walls. Lawbooks concerning the Colonial Code of Military Justice run the length of the top shelves while various and selected works from Colonial Civil Law can be found from all the colonies. Degrees and other plaques adorn the wall as required by the CCMJ, testifying to the JAG Corps officers credentials.
-=[ Condition Level: 3 - All Clear ]=---------

Mina is seated behind her desk, the images on the computer screen creating ghostly images on the woman's face. Her brows are drawn as she scrolls through scene after scene of occurrences of which she has earlier been apprised. It appears she's made herself at home here with a small plant and a bowl of Junior Mints on her desk.

There's a brisk rap on the hatch, preceded and followed by heavy bootfalls on the deck plating. Privilege of rank is that you don't have to ask permission for things, and Mickelson lumbers in without so much as a 'please' or 'thank you'. "Evening, Lieutenant. You called?" He grunts, more than talks, and he could probably do chinups with his pinky fingers.

Mina standing abruptly, she closes the lid to the computer, moving around the edge of the desk, "Thank you, Lieutenant for coming so quickly. I'm sure you've been asked numerous times what occurred on the Cordell. But there are a couple of specifics I would like you to clarify."

Mickelson nods to Mina. His voice is deep when it finds his throat once more. "Its no problem, Lieutenant. I've already had to speak with the old man on it and I kinda expected you to want to see me." He clears his throat, coughing once. "So what can I do for you?"

Mina seats herself on the edge of the desk, facing the large man, respect for the man and his duties in her posture as she leans nearer, everything in her face reflecting her focus upon him. "Specifically, I have four names which are most confusing to me and if you could help me sort them out, since you saw them first, I would be most appreciative." She draws a steno pad from the desks surface and reads, "Grendel Dynateres. What was his condition when you first encountered him?"

Mickelson grunts at the name. It looks like he is going to have to dig for each one. He looks to the ceiling overhead for a moment. "Okay, yeah." He cracks his neck and moves to take a chair. "The quiet guy. We were moving towards Engineering. I was with Fire Team Alpha and was in the lead. We came around a T intersection on the port side while Bravo was flanking around starboard. We encountered him as we moved through a hatchway around.. geez.. probably section twenty-eight." Near the aft end. "He caught us in a chokepoint. He opened up on us with a-" He pauses for a moment, face tightening on one side as he thinks about the next part. "-I think it was a Koch Arms TR-13. Automatic fire. It was a miracle he didn't hit anyone. We threw a flashbang at him and he opened up again, blind as a bat, as we approached. One of my Marines put a couple rounds into his chest, I think. Not sure if he was wounded before we got there." He shrugs. "I'm not really a medic so I can't say for sure."

Mina writes this down, watching the Lt's face intently. "So he appeared to be protecting something or someone and was prepared to take it to the end until you took him out."

Mickelson grunts. Just the sound alone may give Mina the impression that he does this often. "Its been my experience that people don't fight like that unless they know they're screw anyway. If he was protecting someone or something, I'm not sure what it was. But he didn't want us past. First guess? He was protecting Engineering. But hell if I know why.. we were already aboard the ship in force. The lady we found was fiddlin' with the FTL, I was told. Not like she was gonna try'n vent us all." He hopes.

Mina nods and continues, "Blithe McAdams, Female, 29. Tauron. She was captured in engineering under the influence of morpha. Do you recall if she said anything? Or did she speak anyone's name? What was she doing when you came upon her? Was she aware of her surroundings? Did she feel the need to plead for her life, unknowing you were there to protect her? To rescue her?" As the Lt. responds, "Do you think he was protecting her?"

"That's her name? Blithe? Shit, that's my grandmother's name." Mickelson chuckles, shaking his head. "Yeah, she said a lot. We couldn't get 'er to shut up. Most of it was between sobs and screaming, though. She was totally out of it. High as a frakkin' kite. When we performed our entry to Engineering she jumped and screamed at me. Called me the Boogeyman." He lifts his brow as if to indicate that yes, Blithe was in fact, crazy. "So yeah, she plead for her life. Thought we were gonna kill 'er. Which may have been some confusion as to where we were from. I don't think she knew who we were until we got her in cuffs and started moving her back towards the Raptor. She seemed to calm down a little then, but she was still bawlin' something awful."

Mina lowers the pad, looking at him, "Do you think she could have been brainwashed? Bent to the will of her captors?"

The Marine shrugs. "Hell anythings possible, sir. I once did a boarding op and it was a travelling brothel. Some of the women on there had been drugged and abused, psychologically, so bad that they fought us so they could stay. It was crazy." he fidgets in his chair with the memory. "But that's something you'd have to talk to medical or fleet about, now. I just capture people and shoot when I'm told."

Mina listens, a slight warmth cresting her cheeks as he explains the floating brothel. Softly, she clears her throat continuing, "Other than," She reads, "High as a frakkin' kite, were there any physical wounds you could see? Beatings? An indication she'd been kept enslaved? Cuff marks on her wrists, manacled by her captors?

Mickelson leans back, looking at the ceiling once more. "I'll be honest, she was fully clothed. She looked pretty beat up but nothing serious. Coulda just been how dirty she was." His eyes fall back on Mina. "I didn't cuff her so I don't know about any marks on her wrists. I can ask the Marine who handled her escort and detainment and get back to you, though."

Mina continues her notations. At the Lieutenant's bid, her eyes lift and she nods, "I would appreciate it, sir." Flipping the paper, she reads, "Rufus 'Roland' Olson, Male, 41. Leonesian. Navigation Specialist. He was lightly wounded during boarding action, though he was able to confirm the identity of the raiding party as 'Paradigm'. On deeper interrogation, however, he refused to answer further questions and asked for a lawyer." Lowering the pad she asks, "Lieutenant, was he working undercover? Was he one of your men sent to infiltrate the operation?"

"If he was working for the government, his tail shouldn't have been shooting at my guys. Bravo team was a little less surgical than Alpha when they took him down. They lobbed a frag grenade at him. Jumped down a corridor before it went off and took a few hits off ricochets." Mickelson clears his throat. "If he was someone's guy, that's a question for Fleet. I haven't looked too hard into it."

Mina marks the possibility and to contact Fleet Command. Something about that particular man has her in its grip with a sense of unease, as though he's not who he says he is. "And lastly," She quotes, "Bernie D., Male, early thirties. No record at all. Currently in a coma. Recovered off the bridge of the Cordell. Shot at close range numerous times by the Paradigm crew. Where exactly on the bridge did you find him? Was the gun in his hand, the shots perhaps self-inflicted as though also protecting the ships contents to the loss of his own life?"

"Yeah. That guy. Your friend Blithe identified him from a photo we showed her in the brig." Mickelson crosses an ankle over his knee. "We found him laying on a plotting table in a pool of blood. He had a sidearm in his hand with a full mag. Poor bastard never even got a round off. But those wounds? No I think the raiding party shot him. That bridge was a warzone. We found.. I think.. five bodies up there excluding him. Most weren't identifiable. The area near the entrance hatchway was just littered with spent shell casings."

Mina intently watches the Lt, his throat clearing an indicator that he knows, but is unable to say anything in regards to Olson. As he crosses his ankle, there is an ease of relation towards the story told. "In your opinion, could they have just tried to take out as many witnesses as they could?"

The man nods his head a few times. "Typically with piracy and boarding ops like this other crew performed, witnesses are bad. I've heard of raiding crew just trying to vent entire ships to space." Mickelson shrugs his shoulders. "I'd say that if they left survivors, it was on accident. And judging by all the drugs we found? I don't blame these guys for not wanting to leave survivors."

"Lieutenant, returning to Olson, I would ask that if you know of any intimation he was working for Fleet that you tell me. The faster we can get to the bottom of this, the better it will be for all of us." She leans nearer, green eyes searching his carefully. Hell. For all she knows she reminds him of his 12 year old daughter back on his home planet.

The Marine CO shakes his head. "A government agent knows the proceedure for encountering Marines while under cover. At least, I would hope. That doesn't involve trying to kill them after surviving an attack by smugglers. And if it does, good Lords, the Colonial government needs to rethink its tactics. If Bravo moved on him and attempted to take him out, I believe that he was intending to kill my men and women." The man's tone darkens. "And I swear to Gods, if bein' a government agent gets him out of crimes like that, I'll find his ass myself and hang him from a treebranch by his loins."

Mina straightens at the vehemence of his tone, assured the Lt. has no further information. Standing from the edge of the desk, she resolves, "Thank you, Lieutenant for your candid and most helpful remarks. I assure you I will be discrete during my investigation. And should you think of anything further, please let me know? Or if you can suggest others I should speak with, it would be appreciated."

Mickelson nods to her, standing from the chair. "Hey no problem. I'll speak with the detaining Marine and get back to you either later this evening or tomorrow." He straightens his duty browns, adjusting his gunbelt in the process. "Talkin' to others? Hell if I know. Good luck with the investigation, Lieutenant." He dips his head and turns for the door.

Mina says, "Thank you, Lieutenant for your time."

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License