Posted by Civilian Mthunzi Nkosenye (FedSec Special Agent) in TMODJ - Too Many Cooks (Tag Karlson)

Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Police Commissioner) in TMODJ - Too Many Cooks (Tag Karlson)

Posted by Civilian Mthunzi Nkosenye (FedSec Special Agent) in TMODJ - Too Many Cooks (Tag Karlson)
Posted by… suppressed (25) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The door to the Oed Government Tower slid open and in stepped an extremely tall human male. Jet black skin and an air of authority caused pause in a few of the personnel. He looked around for a moment and then approached the reception desk. “Good morning. which of you are Police, please?” he asked in a voice rich with a difficult to place accent. “The Desk Sargent looked up (way up) and said “That would me, sir. How may I be of assistance? “I wish to see Police Commissioner Joseph Karlson.” “Do you have an appointment, sir?” the Sargent asked. “No, I am afraid I do not. I can wait, if necessary.” The Sargent shrugged and said “Scan your ID, please. I will see when the Commissioner will be available.” The man reached forward and set a metallic bracelet on the ID reader, and the Sargent cursed under his breath. “One minute, please. You can have a seat over there.” and he pointed to a row of chairs on the far wall. The man inclined his head towards the Sargent. “My thanks.” and he went and took a seat.

The Sargent took a deep breath and then put in his earpiece so the call would confidential. He dialed the Commissioner’s office and said “Hey. Yeah. tell Commissioner Karlson he has a visitor… FedSec is here to see him.”

FedSec Special Investigator Nkosenye

It only took three minutes to get a response. The sergeant informed Nkosenye that the Commissioner was in a meeting but he was free to go up to the 46th floor and wait there, he would be available in 20 or so minutes.

“Thank you very much.” Nkosenye said and took the indicated lift up.

The 46th floor near the lifts was mostly conference rooms and offices of various Police Command staff such as the Deputy Commissioner, The Chief Constable, various Chief Superintendents, and Deputy offices. The waiting area for the commissioner’s office had several sofas and lounge chairs with a coffee table on one end, the other had the raised desk of his three Secretaries and principal assistants. One of those three offered Nkosenye a drink while he would wait.

Nkosenye shook his head and instead stood, looking out the window over the city.

Exactly 20 minutes after the response from the Commissioner’s office the door opened and half a dozen senior staff exited. Most were in the dark blue uniforms of Oed police but two wore civilian suits with Badges attached to their belts. They all left chatting not paying close attention to the FedSec Officer. The primary secretary stood up, put their head through the door, and exchanged some words before turning around and looking at Mthunzi “The Commissioner will see you now.

“Thank you.” he said and moved to the office.

The office was spacious, one side had several bookcases with several actual paper books and each case had a display shelf with several holopics of the Commissioner with various known people, the last four Governors, Cabinets, and Starfleet Security Chiefs as well as Several Federation Presidents. A more recent addition was a picture taken from a public dinner with the Klingon ambassador from the house of Durok. There was a larger slightly raised area with sofas, chairs, and tables for more informal conversations. On the lounge side there was a door marked for a bathroom, on the bookcase side there was another door with a keypad next to it with no markings. On the opposite end to the door was the Commissioner’s Desk with two guest chairs, the large wooden desk was decorated with several photo frames facing the Commissioner’s side, a computer console that seemed to retract into the desk on command, and central on the desk a small orb to project holographic images.

Joseph Karlson stood to the side of the table and was holding a porcelain coffee pot, pouring into a small cup of the same make, he looked up briefly and smiled at the FedSec Officer “Coffee?” He offered.

Commissioner Karlson

“That would be lovely, thank you Commissioner.” Nkosenye said, his voice a rumble of far-off thunder. He stood and waited, and then sat down after the Commissioner had. “I am sorry to barge in on you like this, Commissioner.” he said, and then took a sip of the coffee. “Mmm… very good.” He took a breath and said “I am Federation Security Special Investigator Mthunzi Nkosenye, Commissioner. I have been assigned to investigate a case here on Oed… but I was informed this morning that there is a matter of diplomatic importance occurring. Can you please tell me what is going on?”

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph waved a dismissive hand “I don’t have anything specific on for the next hour” he said, taking a small sip from his cup. He nodded as Nkosenye introduced himself although he was already informed who the man was, people weren’t granted entry to his office without a background check. “Of course, bad business” He said with a frown then tapped something on his computer. A moment later a holographic image of Dash Jones popped up “This is Dash Jones, Aid to the Federation Ambassador here for the meeting with the Vren” The display showed several pictures of the Man during his stay on Oed and other photos from other events “He was murdered between two and three this morning” The display showed photos from the murder scene of the deceased Dash “There are potential complications due to his involvement with the Vren Delegation turning this murder into an interstellar incident” He explained “Further complications arose because the Victim was in a romantic relationship with the Starfleet Commander who under Oed law is the Lieutenant Governor as well” The older man shook his head “Of course this means that those involved with the investigation are my Police force, Starfleet Security, the Colonial Customs and Defence Authority, and of course the Colonial Intelligence Agency” Things used to be simpler back when Starfleet Security and the Police were at each other necks regarding investigations, back then he would just call his counterpart and hash things out, now things weren’t as simple, at least the CCDA and CIA were both easy to work with.

Commissioner Karlson

Nkosenye frowned. “That is… many hands in the pot, as my mother would say.” He looked at the holo for some time and then said “You will most likely receive a dispatch from the Federation Security Council ‘requesting’ that Federation Security take over the case. The victim was a Federation Diplomatic Corps staff member, therefore not Star Fleet personnel nor was he a resident of Oed V.” He turned his dark eyes to Karlson. “That is not how I prefer to do things, Commissioner. This is your house. While the victim does technically fall into FedSec jurisdiction, I do not have any desire to come into your house and make a mess.” He looked back at the holo. “I will offer you my assistance, however… along with a strong suggestion that you accept it. I do not wish to play games with you or the colonial government. Especially after the statement issued by your Governor and Lieutenant Governor recently.” He took a breath and sighed heavily. “I do wish, however, to bring this man a measure of justice. And I find the timing of this… incident… to be far more than coincidental to my original case to not have them be related.”

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph simply smiled as Nkosenye talked and once he finished he just laughed, it wasn’t a long laugh but sounded genuinely amused “Son, the Security Council won’t make that call” He started “Biggest reason is the statement made by the Government plus it’ll only take a handful of interviews with FNN and a few subspace calls to Earth to get them to back of and they know that, you and yours won’t be able to bully yourselves into this investigation” He tapped on his console with his left hand and used his right to reach into a drawer and removed a PaDD and handed it to the Special Investigator “This is an invitation draft for your Agency to send someone, you can forward it to your bosses and tell them you’ve been invited to join the investigative effort” He emphasized ‘Invited’ and ‘join’ then finished his typing and looked at the screen “If there was anything specific about this murder that required a specialist team be sent over I’d welcome them with open arms but this isn’t some serial murderer nor high-class assassination” His smile had faded as he continued to speak “Now if you want to be involved beyond a courtesy level you are free to convince me, do so without trying to strongarm me” He looked past the spectacles on the bridge of his nose “I don’t do juristictional nonsense, if you have insight tell me and I’ll put you at the tip of the sword, if not don’t waste my time” Joseph spoke plainly, he could read the FedSec Investigator, the man was no nonsense to the core and could appreciate bluntness.

Commissioner Karlson

Nkosenye looked at Karlson for a long time in silence, then simply set his hands in his lap. “Commissioner, I appreciate your invitation. However… I too will not be bullied or strongarmed. I said I didn’t wish to play games with you. That was out of respect… not authority. And you are more than welcome to go on FNN and say whatever you want. I don’t care. Publicity and public opinion do not concern me. Facts do. And the fact that you would rather sit there and play politics instead of accepting a sincere and polite offer of assistance tells me that the Oed V Police should might not be trusted with this investigation.” The entire time he spoke, his voice was steady and unemotional. “It is well within my purview to assume control of the murder investigation, Commissioner. As I stated previously, the victim was a Federation Ambassadorial staff member with consular status. Which means everything you find regarding communications, travel, records… anything concerning Mr. Jones and the like will not only be privileged… it will be diplomatically sensitive . Hence, you have no authority or legal right to even see them, let alone review them. And even if you do, it would not be admissible in court as evidence. And doing so will be seen as a violation of Federation diplomatic law. The current standings between Oed V and the Federation cuts both ways, Commissioner. The Federation does not want this incident to become… ‘more’. But the respect demanded from the Federation should be reciprocated by Oed V, yes? Otherwise, you are simply petulant children demanding your way with no responsibility to others. Now… allow me to start again. I do not want to step over you. I do not want to pull jurisdictional regulations. I. Want. To. Help. And you will need my help if you wish to find out anything about Mr. Jones, his activities, his communications, his interactions. Unless you would prefer to deal with the Federation Diplomatic Corps Headquarters on Earth. And so far their record of approving access to agents of colonial governments for the purpose of investigating their staff is zero. They send all such requests to FedSec. So you can either deal with me and let me assist- not run the investigation- … or you can have a team of FedSec investigators here who will allow you to maybe fetch them coffee while they screw up everything. The choice is yours. I have a case here I can work on and you can deal with the ramifications of not letting me help you. Either way, I will be working here for the foreseeable future. We can get along… or we can not. The choice is entirely yours.”

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph picked up his cup as Nkosenye started his talk giving no reaction beyond a raised eyebrow at polite He listened and did not interrupt. When the man finished Joseph put the cup down and shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face “There’s a difference between saber rattling and taking the first shot.” He started “Let me clear some things up, my earlier statement about the Federation Security Council wasn’t a threat it was a response to your friendly warning.” He frowned for a moment “I believe the main communications issue we are having is that you think this is a contest between two people standing on equal ground, you being a FedSec Special Investigator, a member of an interstellar investigative body directly under the Federation Security council and me the head of a local colonial police force of fewer than ten thousand staff on a planet so far from main Federation space that it barely counts. And you’d be right maybe six years ago when I was not Commissioner for a year.” He didn’t expand on that thought immediately

He continued swiftly “Let’s go over your well-reasoned points and counter” He was not being sarcastic, they were good well-reasoned points “You don’t care about the news, good you shouldn’t it makes you a better Investigator. The Director of FedSec does so do the members of every Federation Council. Getting access to an Ambassadors aids’ information is a problem you are right again, this time there’s a two-pronged solution, Oed’s Governor has connections within the Diplomatic services that can help get such information unsealed and my connections in both Paris and San Fransisco as well as legal precedent to unseal such documents, that’s not counting my clearance level which clears me to read such documents through certain channels, although it might take a few days to get that as opposed to your few minutes. So an inconvenience but not something to halt the investigation permanently” That wasn’t really going to happen “Or of course I call some of the Deputy Directors within FedSec whom I trained forty years ago, or the members of the Federation Security Council with whom I have a working relationship or just call Paris.” Joseph completely stopped speaking for a moment but raised a finger to halt Nkosenye from speaking.

“I apologize that was unwarranted” He took his cup again and swallowed the rest “Let me be frank, I’m not worried about being stonewalled by FedSec, there isn’t much a single Special Investigator can do to me that I can’t overcome with calling in a few favours. You can stay apolitical all you want but this is a political and jurisdictional nightmare that I excel at. You want in you’re in. You want to join the lead, show that it’s worth it, and don’t threaten to have information that could help the investigation kept from us out of, as you’d put it, childish petulance” He said with a serious expression “You don’t know Oed and you don’t know Arcadia, she’s a different beast closer to somewhere like M’talas or Farius Prime than any other Federation World. You may have traveled the quadrant investigating any number of crimes but here we have them all in one place.”

Commissioner Karlson

Nkosenye sighed in disappointment. “You may not be worried about being stonewalled by FedSec now… but you should be. That is not a threat in any way, sir. It is a warning. As you said, this is a jurisdictional and political nightmare. And I am well aware of your connections. Your name was brought up repeatedly in my briefing on the case that brought me here. But I am aware, and you may not be yet, that those connections are not going to be able to be as open and forthcoming as they may have been in the past… or even as much as they want to be. The Vren, Commissioner, have made this entire situation a potential diplomatic disaster. A disaster, mind you, that would effect far more than just Oed V. If this matter isn’t handled carefully and with meticulous precision and efficiency; there are roughly ten billion sentient life forms that could perish because someone killed a single individual. If the fallout from this investigation isn’t mitigated at every opportunity- a process you will need far more assistance with than just making some calls and at a level far higher than the colony-… then we are looking at the potential of the Federation rescinding it’s offer of assistance and the Vren civilization being destroyed.” He looked at Karlson and took a drink. “And I am aware that the Vren have, as of now, not been tied to this case or my other case… but the timing and nature of these incidents and the Vren arrival is too significant to ignore.” He took another sip. “And as to your Governor. He has connections to the Diplomatic Corps, yes. But far more enemies than allies. Your Lieutenant Governor has connections as well, but her relationship with the deceased precludes her from being involved in any capacity other than witness… and a suspect.” and he sipped his coffee.

Nkosenye, FedSec

Bump

Joseph waved a dismissive hand “Bah, humbug!” He quoted the old book “Look let me give you my point of view on this, my reasoning for being hesitant at having FedSec getting involved” He said taking a moment to refill his coffee and doing the same to Nkosenye’s already mostly full cup “My first reason is simply that so far this doesn’t require specialists. Hostage rescue negotiations, Serial murders, and other similar high-threat crimes are in your wheelhouse, or at least FedSecs. Now I have former profilers on staff but if we’d have to deal with a serial killer again your people would be brought in to run the show” He said as an example “The second reason is that you don’t know Oed or its people, the locals don’t trust outsiders, especially not members of other Government agencies. Starfleet only just recently went from being public enemy number one, having a Federal officer taking over an investigation would throw a wrench into an already volatile situation for no reason. The third and most important of those is you personally.” He raised a forestalling hand “These aren’t points of contention, this is a long-standing argument I’ve had with any and all outside agencies that want to get involved here without spending the time to build relationships and infrastructure” The last part seemed to be something that annoyed him.

“So let’s start anew, drop this pointless debate on whoever has the biggest phaser banks.” His raised eyebrow indicated who he thought would win that debate but of course, that was still up for debate “Beyond resources FedSec could bring I’m assuming you’re here because you have something to offer” He looked at his wrist “Two minutes and thirty seven seconds ago I asked for your insight into this matter, what do you specifically bring to the table. You ignored that to make your arguments for how you could take over, I understand why but I no longer intend to argue the point” He said simply “So again, you think you can help, great, how so?”

Commissioner Karlson

The large Zulu looked at Karlson over the rim of his cup with his dark brown eyes as he took a sip and then set the cup aside and folded his hands in his lap. He was silent a moment and then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly… as a parent dealing with a gifted if problematic child. “Commissioner… never once have I said I was or wanted to take over anything. In fact, I was most emphatic in my desire to not do so. I also do not wish to see you and your case become the tangled mess it quite easily and quickly can be without someone keeping the larger organizations out of your way. Oh. And while I realize you have connections and clearances that could make Section Thirty One jealous… those will take time. Subspace calls, meetings, waiting while people who are more adept at negotiating trade treaties than conducting a proper investigation make calls and ask favors of others to get you what you want or need. Hours… perhaps days… of wasted time. Time that could be bypassed by letting me help you… as I have said, repeatedly, that I wish to do. But I will not pander nor grovel for the… ‘opportunity’… to assist. Again. I have a case already. I can work that and if my case ties into Mr. Jones’ murder… as I have a very strong feeling it will… I will simply do my job and not concern myself with interrupting your work. I can and will simply take what I need and be on my way. Or, and I would much prefer this avenue, you and I can decide that the current d!<k measuring contest is a draw and we go find ourselves a killer and hopefully avert a planetary extinction event.” Mthunzi picked up the cup again and took a sip. “It really is very good coffee.”

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph nodded, he frowned for a moment when section 31 was mentioned although not clear as to why “It’s imported, I’ll have a bag sent if you’d like” He said with a smile and tapped his panel a few times, the holographic display showed what had been gathered so far, notes from interviewing the Ambassador and their spouse, the Lieutenant Governor and the crime scene and autopsy reports “This is from the task force database, I’ll have access created for you, I’m expecting additional information to be added from Starfleet Security.” He picked up a data slate and pushed it across the desk “This is the contact details for myself and Detective Chief Inspector Pangolin who is the lead for this case on my end” He leaned back in his chair “It’s early days, Pangolin is going to meet with the CSU team to get their report in a few hours, I’ll be suggesting to the Starfleet Security Chief that he take part, feel free to join, different perspectives are good”

Nkosenye reached over and set a silver and black wristband against the slate and the wristband chirped once. “Thank you very much.” he said.

Joseph manipulated the holographic image to show the evidence collected at the scene “The most notable thing we gathered was this Tendril apparently from a Flaxian. The cause of death was asphyxiation from a lethal dosage of anatoxin-a” He frowned at that if only for a moment as he changed the focus to the autopsy report “There was also a toxin added post mortem that has yet to be identified, that’ll come frome intelligence or Starfleet”

Commissioner Karlson

Nkosenye read through the information carefully but quickly, and then his eyes stopped when he came to the unknown toxin. A deep scowl crossed his face and he tapped his wristband and a holographic interface appeared. He input a few commands and then he set the wristband device against the previous data slate. “Star Fleet has already identified the toxin.” and he pulled up the file. “It’s Vren.” he said with a deep breath and exhale.

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph nodded slowly, he didn’t seem surprised “That was one of the working theories Pangolin had” He frowned “Do we have any information on its purpose?” He asked.

Commissioner Karlson

Nkosenye shrugged slightly. “Purpose with regards to Mr. Jones? No.” and he scowled again. “And it doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me, either. Why would the Vren use an anatoxin-a derived from a known source when their natural toxin does many of the same things… and would be much harder to identify? And the Vren toxin is on the skin, not in his system. So it didn’t take effect. And from my briefing on the Vren, their toxin is even more potent than the Nostoc that killed Jones. So why leave that trace? It is quite literally the only thing in the entire scene trying the Vren to the murder.” He glared at the holo and then looked at Karlson. “Have we accounted for the Vren contingent’s whereabouts at the time of death?”

Nkosenye. FedSec

Joseph nodded “It was added post-mortem which makes it annoying” He said with a sigh “If it was added to implicate the Vren it was lazy and careless, there are better ways to frame them. IF it wasn’t added by someone hoping for that it’s just odd, why not use the poison first-hand” The older man shook his head “No we haven’t gotten a clear count on the Vren yet, I have people on it but it’ll take time to confirm every member during that time, night time murders are a bother. I have as close to confirmation as I could get that the Lieutenant Governor is not a suspect which is pain of my back, the Federation Ambassador is in the clear as well” He added as a near afterthought.

Commissioner Karlson

“And what does your intuition tell you about this incident being connected to recent attempt to bug the Lieutenant Governor’s apartment?” Nkosenye asked. “And yes, that is what I was here for originally.”

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph leaned back in his chair to consider “I won’t discount it, this wouldn’t be the first time someone has attempted to bug the housing of a Cabinet member on Oed, previously it has been criminal organizations or at one time I believe a terrorist group. Have you had time to learn anything about it?”

Commissioner Karlson

“The file I have is your current file.” Nkosenye said. “Before I did anything on Oed V, I wanted to speak with you.” he was quiet a moment and then said “Where would someone even get Vren neurotoxin? I know Oed has a black market, but that would a steep order for anyone, yes?”

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph shook his head as a sardonic smile touched his lips “That’s the question” He sighed “AS far as I’m aware almost nothing Vren is accessible by the Oed underground, we’ve not had to deal with any of their weaponry or technology for years.” He tapped his desk as he considered “This smells more and more like tradecraft with every new information. The internal security at his apartment was likely disabled beforehand although I’m still waiting on Starfleet Security to confirm it, the building is theirs so that narrows it down.” He sighed again “If you have any connections with Starfleet Intelligence we might need them, I’ve burned too many bridges there the past decade tossing their black sites of my colony and running off their undercover operations in the past. I’ll see if the CIA has anything more on that front” He finally stopped tapping his finger “Vren neurotoxin is a pure grade one product, they are Xenophobic at a Romulan level and this isn’t like smuggling Romulan Ale through the Ferengi, you’d need criminal contacts in Vren space with means and wants to do business although it may have become easier with their recent disasters.”

Commissioner Karlson

Nkosenye contemplated that for a long moment and then said “Traffic to Vren space is monitored. I pulled the past six months… other than an odd stray over the border twice with ships in distress, nothing. So unless they are very good at not being noticed… and have the contacts within the Vren… and have the ability to enter a Star Fleet facility unknown and unseen… and leave the same way… they would have to be a criminal mastermind the likes of which no one in law enforcement has ever dealt with.” and he looked directly at Karlson. “Or someone very much wants us to believe the Vren are involved… or at least want to deflect our attention that way. And that list, I am sure, would be a much more realistic group.”

Nkosenye, FedSec

Joseph nodded “It is one avenue to find the perpetrator, find the origin of the toxin and it could lead us to them. Of course we’ll still have to consider the Vren to be prime suspects alongside the Lieutenant Governor” He said with a distasteful frown “Right now the best leads we have the Flaxian tendril and this neurotoxin. However the cause of death, the Anatoxin may provide more answers, the thing is that adding the Vren toxin seems foolish and badly thought out, unless they assumed that we’d jump at the chance to implicate the Vren.”

Commissioner Karlson