Posted by Lieutenant Issac Forgrave (Chief of Security) in Main Sim [Deck 25]: Twists and Turns

Posted by Kvasir (Story Teller) in Main Sim [Deck 25]: Twists and Turns

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Captain) in Main Sim [Deck 25]: Twists and Turns
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

—[SNIP]—

The state room appeared much as she would expect it to: pristine and in order. It was a larger living quarters than most were given aboard the Viking, save for perhaps herself—and that was a prideful hope. The main door opened to a welcoming space that was, like the rest of the quarters, rather spartan in furnishings; as unexpected as Hab’rabi’s arrival was, they hadn’t had time to paint the bland Starfleet canvas with color to his liking… whatever that might have been. A star-streaked window stood opposite Rende, the universe slipping by at warp and ignorant of their plight. A couch and table crouched beneath the window, orderly and unobtrusive beneath her examining eye. Likewise the dining area to her left appeared largely undisturbed, save for perhaps a casual hand as Hab’rabi settled in. To the right sat the bathroom, dark and covetous of any secrets it might have held.

A gentle whisper of noise drew Rende’s attention to the small table just inside the doorway, not more than six inches from her hand. There a single Vulcan lily was potted, mute and dour colors meant to greet the guest without being overly distracting… much like the rest of the decor. What was curious was that the lily was not quite fresh, showed signs of withering along its petals. Several had already dropped to the polished surface of the table, huddled together against the chill of death. But again, they had been given little warning of Hab’rabi’s arrival. A wilting flower seemed such a trivial thing in her mind when compared to the vexation running rampant aboard the Viking.

Though, in all fairness, it did seem a little too warm in here. Had someone forgotten to adjust the environmental controls?
—Jas—

~ Lt Semenza, CMO

Rende stepped out into the corridor and to a supply locker and took out a tricorder and re-entered the room. “Computer have the environmental controls been tampered with in this room?”

“Negative,” the computer replied dryly. “A malfunction in environmental control has occurred due to an overload in EPS relays.”

She stopped and stared at the Vulcan lily, and it was likely that it might have been missed, but intuition told her now. She’d also heard something coming from this area and she scanned the table and plant with her tricorder and leaned in closer, but not too close, to see what might be causing the noise. Disturbed soil, anything poking out from around the pot, disturbed dust where it had been moved.

Moving along to the table she scanned the palm print on the table left by Hab’rabi. She also scanned the room in general for any energy discharges or residual trails, also going over where Sacco had been standing, slowly. Forgrave’s team would be there soon, but no need to wait.

Rende, CO

The source of the sound had been the hush of petals, edges crisp in the warm air, at the base of the vase. While not parched and scalding, the room was uncomfortably warm. Rende’s tricorder showed as much, and the fact that the lily was dehydrated and dying. Nothing within the vase jumped out as unusual, nor did anything about the table. Just another botanical casualty of the Viking’s current plight. Likewise, Hab’rabi’s print where he’d leaned on the piece of furniture appeared benign to her scans—skin cells, sweat, and other biochemical compounds of a carbon-based lifeform. That print, however, tugged her eye back to the lily and the pot.

It was only by the faint glow of the tricorder that Rende managed to see it, there scrawled in the pollen cast off by the lily’s final moments. To the casual eye it appeared nothing more than the working of perhaps an idle hand, something the body did when the mind was occupied elsewhere. The tricorder, being biased and infinitely more diligent, highlighted a pattern of DNA amidst the dust and flecks of pollen. A symbol, perhaps? It could have been a letter or a word or a stick giraffe, Rende couldn’t be certain.

The only energy discharges in the vicinity had come from the phaser Sacco had used to render Hab’rabi inert. The tricorder showed the air thick with the stuff, and the faint smell of ozone burned in her nostrils. Not surprising, considering how… thorough Sacco had been—or whatever had used Sacco to do the deed. Ever faithful and eager to please, the tricorder chirped to alert Rende of what she might already suspect: the pollen of a Vulcan lily beneath the nail of Hab’rabi’s middle finger.
—Jas—

~ Lt Semenza, CMO

The frozen tranquility of the scene was broken by footsteps; and a drawling “Ma’am” as Forgrave arrived to the guest quarters. “Apologies fer my tardiness; wanted ta see Commander Sigmundsson ta the brig personally. An’ seems like the excitement is over fer now, for whatever that may be worth.”

Rende turned and gave Forgrave a nod as he entered. “No need to apologize, Lt. It seems there is no end to the excitement. I’m relieved to hear that Sigmundsson didn’t give you any problems.”

As he spoke, his sharp, darting eyes took in the room and it’s contents; taking note of just how ordinary it all looked. No pools of blood, insane scribbles on the wall, or manifestos. Can’t all be easy… Noting the tricorder already out in Captain Rende’s hand, he asked “Anything of note you’ve found? And how’s Hab’rabi? And Sacco?”

-Forgrave, CoS

“NE Sacco was part of the detail assigned to the room. Watch the video feed of the events. It is quite disturbing. Shot Hab’rabi four times, point blank, unprovoked. The doctor has taken him to sickbay. Sacco is on his way there to be evaluated and locked in quarantine as well. Your officers have his confiscated phaser. As for the room…” She passed the tricorder over, “It’s far too hot in here, there is some kind of issue with this lily. A Vulcan Lily should not die in this kind of heat. And there is some kind of pattern, the tricorder says DNA, etched into the soil. There was pollen matching the lily under Hab’rabi’s nail. So he obviously did something. There’s a palm print on the table, and plenty of energy particles in the air from the phaser. I haven’t checked the bathroom yet.”

Issac winced at the description of NE Sacco’s actions; and he decided that he wasn’t looking forward to reviewing the footage. Nodding in thanks, he accepted the tricorder, turning to look at the lily as it was mentioned. “Hmmm; it is uncomfortable in here, ain’t it… Maybe somethin’ else in the environment killed the lily? Humidity, maybe? I’m no botanist; not by any stretch.” He leaned closer, taking a long look at the flower and the table it rested on; taking it all in, and carefully scanning it with the tricorder; as well as taking environmental readings. As it gently beeped, Issac pulled out his PaDD, keying up the aforementioned video feed.

A familiar voice cut in over the com system. =^=Woods to Captain Rende.=^= He sounded a little tense, but more focused and intense.

Lt Woods, CSO/aXO

Rende stepped back out of the way, “I took basic courses in investigation but it’s not a skill set I practice often. So by all means, Lt,” and she waved at the room at large. She reached up and tapped her combadge. =/\=Rende here Lt. Go ahead.=/\=

Rende, CO

=^=I’ve got an update for you, but I need to have a word in person if at all possible for part of it, Captain.=^= He paused for a second. =^=I’m having the high gravity areas of the ship evacuated of all non-essential personnel for now. High gravity doesn’t seem like much, but it can rack up injuries quick. Especially if people had more than twenty percent their body weight on them to begin with.=^= Carrying heavy stuff, a heavy pack or tool kit, things like that.

=^=Isolinear systems are fine. Gelpacks are still having issues, but I have one of our computer specialists on the way to get a handle on that and see if we can’t get that sorted quickly. The rest… should be in person, ma’am.=^=

Lt Woods, CSO/aXO

=/\=I will be there as quickly as I can get through the check points.=/\=

Rende stepped back over toward Forgrave. “I’m needed in engineering, Lt. Keep me apprised.” And she left the stateroom in Forgrave’s capable hands and headed for engineering.

Rende, CO

“Will do Ma’am; hopefully we’ll find some answers.” He waved the rest of his small squad further into the room, and quickly outlined what he wanted. “Right y’all, I want every fraggin’ speck in this room accounted for. Scan everything, twice, and take notes. You an’ you, clear the bathrooms. An you, check the environmental controls for the room; see if everything checks out. Try not ta make any assumptions; somethin’ happened here.” An’ hopefully there’s evidence.

As the squad went to work, Issac took a deep breath, bracing himself before hitting ‘play’ on the PaDD. It was hard to watch; ‘Brutal’ didn’t quite cover it. It was damn near an execution; but for all that.... it felt almost sterile. He played the video back a few times, trying to pay attention to the body language. What stood out to Issac was the lack of violence - there hadn’t been a fight, or raised words, or anything. Just… ZOT ZOT ZOT as the phaser was fired, then… nothing. No follow up kick to the head; no effort to kill the man or wound him further once he was down. He could absolutely believe that Sacco hadn’t been in control of himself; though he wasn’t ruling anything out yet. But supposing that was indeed the case, maybe the.... passenger hadn’t wanted to kill Hab’rabi? Or had lost control before he could be finished off? Issac shook his head, jotting his thoughts down in a small notepad.

His instinct certainly felt on-track. The more he played it back in his mind, the more his investigative mind would begin to piece together a very plausible—and very worrisome—scenario. Sacco’s change in behavior the moment Hab’rabi had noted the Viking dropping out of warp, cutting his ship loose, and then moving on seemed just too coincidental. At least, when considered alongside the working theory that crewmen were being possessed, or otherwise influenced. Sacco had been too calm for it to have been duress. There was something in the way Sacco had glared at Hab’rabi before he attacked: a smoldering ire, or perhaps a cold and righteous fury. It was a rare thing he’d only seen in his particular line of work, a razor mind of lethality only found in cold-blooded killers and cornered animals.

It also niggled at Forgrave that the security feed hadn’t captured their brief-but-heated conversation. Whatever had transpired between the two, Sacco had not been happy with Hab’rabi; the alien lord hadn’t exactly been fearful, more resigned by the time the security guard had drawn his phaser. He had expected to be attacked, but why? If only Isaac could piece together the rest of the conversation out somehow, get a better sense of Sacco’s motives. Or Hab’rabi’s.

The attack was much as he thought: a deliberate, almost surgical strike. Sacco had known where to attack in order to disable the bigger man, drop him to the floor in a single blow. But why debilitate him, then fire repeatedly into his head? Maximum stun may have been designed to cause no lasting harm at-range, three blasts to the skull point blank would have been fatal to most other humanoids. The shots weren’t random, either; no, they had been deliberate—further speaking to a familiarity Sacco shouldn’t have had. It had certainly worked at making sure Hab’rabi wouldn’t be getting back up anytime soon, but there was something else to it that Isaac couldn’t quite put his finger on at the moment.

Turning, he looked once more at the table, moving his head around to catch the disturbed pollen in the light. He knew the tricorder had far better imaging and processing power than the MK1 eyeball, but it was more about the thought process than seeing every speck. As he crouched next to the table, he played the video feed back again, focusing on the table and the lily, scanning it patiently to see when exactly it wilted; if it had been a slow process or a result of something else. Pollen had gotten under Hab’rabi’s nails somehow, according to Rende’s previous scans. But when did that happen? Were the patterns idle, or did they carry some unknown meaning?

While the unusually-high temperature on the deck hadn’t helped matters, the tricorder showed an unusual level of desiccation. There, almost buried in the scan, was a strange entropic energy he hadn’t seen before. It was dissipating quickly, but it was definitely present and concentrated towards a singular point. The touch of death, as it were, though maybe that was just his imagination attempting to make sense of what he was seeing. That same energy was present in the flecks of pollen dusting the table, and with just enough of a difference to note that it had been affected after the flower.

And there in the pollen, Forgrave would see the glyph etched in the dust and pollen as if by an idle hand. It was difficult to make out visually, but the tricorder filled in the gaps with brush strokes of Hab’rabi’s DNA; it wasn’t anything he was readily familiar with but maybe the computer’s extensive database could offer thoughts. The more Isaac considered the design, the more it spoke to him as anything but casual. There were no other hints of wayward strokes, no randomness to the lines or curves. While it was certainly done hastily it was not done haphazardly. Could Hab’rabi have been trying to leave a message for someone? But whom, and what?

A short time later, an alarmed voice cried out from Forgrave’s comm badge. =^=”Intruder alert! Security to Deck Thirty-Four, Section Seventeen Delta! Hurry!=^=

=^=Baker here,=^= came the reply. =^=I’m on my way.=^=
—Jas—

“Void’s Teeth! Last fraggin’ thing we need right now…” Forgrave stood rapidly, taking care not to disturb the table or its contents. “You two! Stay here; finish documenting everythin’ and keep this room secure. Yogesh, with me - intruder on thirty-four; block seventeen delta! Let’s move!”

-Forgrave, CoS

[OOC: Nice interpretation! Apologies for not thinking to link it previously, but here is what happened on Deck 34 in case you didn’t see it.]
—Jas—