The game is a foot...and a body.

Posted on Fri Feb 9, 2018 @ 2:07pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr.

1,079 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Divide et Impera ~ Chapter 2: Heralding the Chase
Location: Arashi's office

He had arrived at the office and sat down after replicating himself a hot cup of java. He was investigating the death of one Lieutenant Grayson and it had him angry because they slipped past security somehow. "Computer access personnel logs of Lieutenant Grayson. " He said "Also have any personnel that would repair ship systems report to me later. I need to question them about possible tampering with the replicators."

“Acknowledged.” the ship’s coomputer’s soothing, calm female voice responded, After a moment however, the computer responded again. “Unable to access personnel logs of Lieutenant Grayson. Log files have been deleted.” That should not have been possible.

"Shit...whoever did this to Grayson is covering his tracks well. Computer, has there been any access at all to personnel files and if so list any times that may have been suspicious." He was getting angry. "Whoever could have possibly deleted those files excluding command staff, I want their names even if this deletion was accidental." Arashi was curious and angry at the same time. He had a murder to investigate but he was already hitting a wall. He was going to cover every angle if he could but he did not want to hit walls everytime.

A soft chime acknowledged his request, and for several long moments the system was silent other than the soft whir of the system processor as it complied the results to his query. Finally a second chime indicated the search was complete and a short list of names appeared on the screen:

Commander Nicole Anderson, M.D.
Commander Alec Hunter
Captain Rhea Kennit
LT. Cassandra Sanders

"But these are command staff personnel. Something isn't right here. List access times and possible links to the crime of the murder of Lieutenant Grayson. Someone did not want him to be investigated for something and I am going to find out what it is" Arashi said He pressed his commbadge and called some of his security officers and gave them orders to not let anyone into the crime scene except for the captain and Nicole for now. He did not understand what was going on but he was going to find out.

The requested information appeared on the screen. Access times and id information listed, with three data access registers which took place the day before the murder, but had no personnel id associated with the logged system access. That data had been erased. As he processed that, the chime at his office door sounded.

He heard the chime and proceeded to answer. "Enter." He said and the doors opened.

As the doors opened, Nicole walked in looking decidedly tired. "Autopsy report is complete," she said, holding up a padd. "Lieutenant Grayson died of 'caisson disease."

"So how did it happen? I mean it couldn't have been easy to kill him the way the perpetrator did." He asked as he read the PADD.

"Given we haven't had issues with explosive decompression, I'm curious how it happened as well," Nicole said. "But in short, a buildup of nitrogen gas bubbles in his blood stream resulted in enough embolisms to kill him. What's disturbing is how it was administered."

She scrolled down in her report. "The food from his replicator was laced with sodium nitrate. That, in and of itself, is in no way harmful, but when combined with ammonium chloride would produce an unhealthy amount of nitrogen gas. The gas developed faster than his body could absorb it, and he slowly, and very uncomfortably, died."

"I see. Well we have another problem here. The personnel file of Lieutenant Grayson has been deleted. The command staff has the only access and the computer says that the only access was before the murder, specifically the day before. Either command staff had a grudge with the lieutenant, which I doubt, or someone who has experience with covering his tracks deleted the file and made it look like a command level access. There was no personnel ID attached to the time stamps that I looked at though as they have been deleted, so I am not sure if this person is Starfleet at all."

"Sounds like a reasonable theory," Nicole said. "Although, I can't say I like the idea of another spy on board, assuming it's not one we've already got."

"I don't like this any more than you do. Something is going on here and it is beginning to look like something way above my pay grade. Whoever this is, he is not some regular Starfleet officer with a grudge. I just can't put my finger on what it is but someone can shed some light on this...I hope." He said his voice laced with anger. He brought himself under control and looked at the PADD again,

"Deep breath, Mister Tanaka," Nicole said, her voice suddenly stern. "The last thing we need is our lead investigator getting too emotionally involved. Take it from me: people kill people. It happens every day, for dozens of reasons, very few of them complex. You'll help this better by seeking clarity and simplicity."

"I just hope that I am helping even if it is a little bit." Arashi said. "We need to find whoever did this and stop them because if we don't what is to say that this isn't going to happen again."

"Agreed," Nicole said. "May I suggest interviewing some of Grayson's coworkers? If the computer can't give you his logs or timeline, then perhaps they can. If we can piece together his actions, that might help us see whom he was with."

"Roger that. I will have the computer send the engineering staff an alert to come and see me. I will see if there is anyone that has been acting suspicious and go from there like you suggested." He said and told the computer to do exactly that. "Thanks doc for keeping me straight on this. I am a bit nervous as to what we will find but I hope that we can at least help Grayson find some justice."

"My pleasure, Lieutenant," Nicole said, standing up. "I'm sure with Lt. Casey backing up your investigation, we'll get to this in no time. I've given a copy of my findings to the Captain as well. I'll keep you posted on anything else I find." She nodded once more and walked out, going back to Sickbay and her duties.


Joint Post

Lt. j.g. Arashi Tanaka
Security

Lt. Nicole Anderson
CMO

 

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