A Matter of Murder

Posted on 23 Mar 2020 @ 6:21pm by Captain Mallory Thorne & Lieutenant Colonel Tage Gillis & Lieutenant Madalene Sabine & Lieutenant Alexandra Dering & Lieutenant Quinle Rahl & Commander Kristiana Petrova

1,761 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Changing Faces
Location: Banquet Hall, Deck 14
Timeline: MD 03 - 2020 hours

=/\= Begin Part II...

Everything seemed to be going...alright.

Mallory wasn't stupid enough to think that it was going "well," but it seemed to be going as close to well as she would allow herself to think. The ship's guests--all the various sorts of them--were mingling with the Odin's crew as well as with each other. No one was singing with a lampshade on their head--a phrase she heard once that she still didn't fully understand--and there hadn't been any fistfights.

There were a few noteworthy matters: Lieutenant Bran and the Union member Tavrus Savral had been quarantined in sickbay for some unusual virus that no one else seemed to have, and once Roman had showed up, he had nearly glommed onto Secretary Rau. If she didn't know better--and maybe she didn't--she would have said there was history there...but no one was telling her.

It was thus in this spirit of cautious optimism...

...that everything went straight to hell.

It started rather simply with all the lights going out. No one screamed or anything silly like that...at least until someone screamed. It was perfectly pitch-black in the way that only a craft at space without lights on could get, but life support remained. Everyone breathed fine and kept their feet on the ground. The lights simply went out. "What the hell?!" was the captain's eloquent proclamation on the matter. "Dering!"

Lexi was already moving even as the captain called to her. "On it, Captain," she called back as she moved to the computer terminal on the wall by the door and keyed in her code to give her access to the 'backend' engineering information.

Before anyone could say or do much else, the lights came back on.

Mallory immediately wished that they would go back out.

There, sprawled on the floor and bleeding from various places, was Madison, one of the aides to Secretary Rau and a member of the Seelie delegation. It didn't take a genius to figure out that those eyes were lifeless in a way no shapeshifter could just "pretend," and the reaction from Rau made it pretty clear that it was both surprise and tragedy to her as well. The tall woman burst through the crowd like a battering ram, the shriek of some sort of predatory animal ripping from her throat as she headed for her aide...

Izeli made her way to her dead comrades’ side, her eyes flaring a bright orange as she looked up to those around, “This is how you keep us safe?” The Seelie member ran her hand along the dead’s arm tension radiating though her and anger, an anger that could be felt by others near her.

Kristiana rushed forward as well, hearing the scream. Seeing the body she knelt down, reaching to check for a pulse but holding back, realizing that she wouldn't even know how to check a Seelie for one. "Everyone stand back! Except you, Rau. Can you check for signs of life?" the Russian acting chief security asked the distraught Seelie, standing back up again. "Computer! Lock down this room, authorization Petrova-two-five-zero-one, activate!" before tapping her comm badge. "Petrova to medical and security, banquet hall, stat!"

Tage Gillis had been making is way over to Rau in order to tag her, and seeing the commotion he knew it was a wholly opportune moment. You really needed to get lucky as a spy, and take advantage of crucial moments. Tage swooped in behind Rau and clasped her shoulder. The device in his ring had an extremely small needle, and did all the work. As he clasped her he started to sputter and exclaim "What is thi- I can't believe this!"

Quinle stepped forward, her medical training at the fore as she lowered to see if she could help medical but the irate delegate caught her attention. “We will take care of this.” The anger washed over her and she took a deep breath through her nose, “You will not help if you make everyone react to your emotion.” Tipping her chin up she met the orange eyes with her own dark gaze. “Let medical work and we will get to the bottom of this.”

The shifter calmed her eyes meeting the counselor’s, the anger from her softened then she nodded and leaned back.”You I will talk to later.”

Cydwenn gasped she had never seen a dead body well one this close and as she gasped her fingers instricntly loosened and her glass fell and shattered on the ground. Madalene was shock seeing it but unlike the young science officer she has had seen for share of dead bodies.

With a huff, Camilla approached the body. Her reaction of concern was obviously anger, but she checked. "She is dead," the woman growled before a long chain of cursing old Earth German poured out. "Who did this!?" she roared.

"That's what I aim to find out." Kristiana answered the Seelie delegate. "We are taking this incident very seriously, madam ambassador." she added. "Where the hell is medical!"

"Dead? Did she say dead?" Cydwenn asked to really no one in particular.

Amelia had rushed forward immediately, although the crush of bodies made it difficult. She caught her boss's eye and got his nod of permission--Warner's secondary specialty in forensic medicine made her ideal for this unfortunate task, so she pushed her way through the crowd.

When she saw what was wrong, Elynda immediately flicked her gaze over the room in an effort to locate all of her retinue. Most were across the room. A couple, her immediate aide and herself, were closer, thoughh not close ernough to have, say, stabbed the person. But the problem was that, with the lights out, anyone could have moved quickly, done the deed, then moved away. Everyone in the room was suspect, she reasoned, even her. Though she knew for a fact that she hasd not murdered the lady. Could she be so sure of her staff though? But, her paranoid side reasoned in return, it could even have been one of the Seelie themselves, displeased with this affair and trying to start a conflict to end it before it even began. Come to think of it, some in the Union weren't terribly pleased by this decision either. And that brought up other issues.

Catching each set of eyes belonging to her group, she held them for a moment before catching the next. Her look was clear. Don't bloody move. Stay exactly where you are. They did not need to attract any more suspicion than would already be pointed at them by making any move that could be seen as guilty, whether that view was misperception or not.

"There's no obvious signs of what killed her," Amelia said, doing a quick visual inspection of the body. She didn't have her med-kit on her, but she already knew that some information was clear--such as time of death. "I'll need to do an autopsy as soon as you clear the body to leave the room." She looked up at Commander Petrova.

"That ... is up to the ambassador." Kristiana looked up at Carmilla. "Madam ambassador, do we have your permission for an autopsy? It is the best and fastest way to figure out what happened to your aide." Nothing about this sat right with the Russian woman. No outward signs of injury, means that the cause of death had to be something internal. Poison? No, that would act too slowly. A nerve agent? But how would it have been delivered?

Camilla was grinding her teeth. Her first instinct was to say NO, but... They were all trapped here by this. She wasn't yet going to risk another war by being rash, so she would play along...for now. "Yes," she said through gritted teeth. "I give permission."

"Alright. Thank you madam ambassador." Kristiana gave a nod to Amelia. "Computer, clear El-Tee-Jay-Gee Amelia Warner and the body for immediate beam-out." Kristiana sighed, rubbing her temples a bit. "Think, think think, what next. Lock down area, get medical to the body. Right. Computer? Has anyone left this room within the last five minutes?"

As Amelia and the body vanished, the computer replied, "Negative. No one has departed the banquet hall on deck fourteen in the past five minutes."

Kristiana harumphed. "Alright. Computer, log the identity of everyone in this room, trace their movements from this moment on, then release the lockdown." she sighed. "Madam ambassador. You have my permission to attend the autopsy, should you desire to, to ensure it is done in agreement with your people's beliefs. Keep in mind though that the medical practitioner has the final word, and I ask you that should you choose to attend the autopsy, you follow the medical practitioner's requests."

"Identities and movements logged. Lockdown released," the computer continued without emotion.

Rau inclined her head with a taut motion. "Understood. Commander."

A not from Kris. "For what it's worth, my sincere apologies and condolences, madam ambassador. We will do our absolute best to get to the bottom of this."

Well, this was a pretty rotten turn.

Mallory stayed quiet for the immediate moment while Kristiana--as acting chief of security--took over the initial reactions. Once the body was confirmed dead and taken to sickbay, she stepped forward. "Commander, you'll have all the resources you'll need at your disposal," she said in a low voice to Kris before turning to Secretary Rau. "I confirm what my second has said and we will get to the bottom of this. You have my assurance."

The shifter looked very distrustful, but Mal could hardly blame her. The taller woman just nodded once.

"Dering, Sabine," Mal called, gesturing to the CEO Dering and her COps. "Find out what caused that blackout. It was obviously connected and finding out how it was done might be of use." She nodded at them and then turned to the crowd. "The party is concluded," she said wryly. "Please return to your quarters or your duty stations for the time being. We will want to speak with some of you later."

As people began to disperse, she turned back to Kris. "Let's keep an extra watch on our diplomatic guests. Just in case." She turned and caught the counselor's eye, walking over. "And people are going to be upset, so you'll be on call. We may need your insights if the autopsy doesn't give any obvious clues."

With that, everyone dismissed and went back about their business...for the moment.

Helluva way to end a party.

=/\= End Log =/\=

 

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