Reassembling the Unorthodox

Posted on Sat 8th Jun, 2019 @ 11:48pm by Lieutenant Damion Ildaran & Captain Andrus Grax & Lieutenant Adam Keller

1,847 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: A Diplomatic Affair
Location: Deck 15 - Intelligence Department, Briefing Room
Timeline: MD: 02 - 1420 hours

Andrus Grax, the newly installed director of intelligence for the Triangle Region, sat at the head of the table in the departmental briefing room, resting his face in his hand. The 'interrogation' that had just happened had, by all accounts, gone completely off-script and he was left with no real clue what had happened. He knew that the suspect had been returned to the security of the interrogation room and that Lieutenant Perry's team were back keeping a close eye on her, but aside from that, he was keen to hear what his team had discovered.

The doors slid open and Jason Fisher, now changed back into his Starfleet uniform, entered.

Grax looked up, but didn't say anything.

"They'll be here in a minute," Fisher reported, moving round the table and taking a seat to Grax's right.

Grax just nodded.

Damion Ildaran entered a moment later, looking tired. He brought a lidded coffee cup with him and took a long swallow from it once he sat down. "This has been one hell of a day," he said. "I've never had an interview go like this."

"I think we can all safely say that," Fisher responded without a hint of sarcasm.

Adam walked in directly behind Ildaran. He took the first empty seat and sat down. "Hey." He managed as he rubbed his face with his hands. "I think I need a vacation." Adam's day had been quite full with the interrogation and then the tram accident. On top of that, he'd spent several hours in the infirmary with Teagan. But he knew his duties were important and he wouldn't miss a shift unless ordered to.

"You do," Damion said. "I was amazed you even came in to work today, after working the tram accident all day yesterday. You and your team did good work, getting those girls out."

"Thanks." Adam nodded. "I was only part of the team but it was crazy for a while. Even harder because my sister was one of the victims. But they all got out safe. That's the key thing."

“Okay,” said Grax, finally addressing the room of assembled intelligence and security personnel. “I think it’s safe to say that that did not go how any of us planned.” It was an understatement, but one that he felt the need to say by way of preamble. “And, physically at least, we’re back where we started.” He took a sip from the coffee cup that was sitting on the conference room table in front of him. “So,” he continued, replacing the cup and spreading his hands towards the other officers around the table, inviting comment, “Please tell me that we learnt something useful.”

Damion sighed. "We learned that Zelda Alegari has at least three separate personalities. That's not an official diagnosis, because we've not had a counselor assess her, but she gave me during our conversation in the interview room and in Orchids and Jazz three different names and had a distinctly different personality to go with each name--wildly different personalities. Their names are Zelda Alegari, Destiny, and Tanith Endrade. Tanith showed up just as we entered the restaurant and is quite the take-charge kind of woman--which is what makes me think she is probably the captain of the ship.

"I also learned that at least Tanith has no memory of the poison ring we found her wearing when we apprehended her. Neither of the other two personalities I talked to seemed at all disturbed by a missing piece of jewelry. If this really is a case of multiple personality--or dissociative identity disorder--and if these are the only three personalities our suspect has, then something's badly wrong if none of them remember the ring. One of these three ought to remember but doesn't. If there are more personalities, one of them might be the primary memory holder or just another personality created to take on the trauma of getting that ring."

"Another thing--she never mentioned an Aenar, which is also troubling because the lady who ate supper at Orchids and Jazz before we captured her seemed frightened of that bloke. If he did what I think he did, I'd be frightened of him, too."

"No," Adam interrupted. "One of them was definitely panicked over something." He shook his head. "I don't know what you were talking about but for a moment, I was worried she would try something." He looked at Damion. "I sent my wife out of the club." He sat forward. Zelda was confused about everything. She doesn't know why she's in custody... hell, I'm not even sure she knows she's got other identities." He continued. "I don't think we'll get anything from her... the flirty one, Destiny... She knows more than she's letting on but she's more confused than scared. I don't know what it is but she knows something." He tapped a finger in the table as if pointing at something. "There's got to be another personality that binds them all and keeps Zelda in the dark for plausible deniability... or something."

"Probably Tanith, the one I ate lunch with," Damion said. "That woman likes to have all her ducks in a row, make all the decisions, coordinate everything. She became frightened when I told her about the ring. She didn't remember it. I had to tell her which hand and which finger it was on. If she really is the one who remembers everything but doesn't remember the ring--that worries me--a lot."

“So,” said Grax, keen to summarise as much for his benefit as anyone else’s, “we’re got three personalities in the same person: the one who seems most likely to be responsible for the ring doesn’t remember it and the other two don’t seem to care.” He massaged his temples with his forefingers. “Am I on track so far?”

"The other two aren't aware of it at all, as far as I can tell," Damion said. "If they knew, they might care very much." He looked back at Grax. "The personality called Tanith has asked to handle the ring. She feels that, if she were able to hold it, that might help her to remember. I'm somewhat amenable to the idea; it's not as if she could contaminate the evidence; it was her ring. But I do have concerns. There's a reason she doesn't remember that ring. Either the memory of having it put on her was so traumatic that she blocked it out and may have even formed another personality to handle that trauma--or maybe our fake Aras Nelet really is an Aenar and did something to her telepathically to make her forget the ring. There may be other explanations, too. If we allow her to handle the ring, I request that a counselor be present in case she needs help."

"Well that can certainly be arranged," Grax said placidly. "Counselor Graves is another part-Betazoid," he added. He turned to Keller "Considering the interesting time both you and I had trying to read her various personalities, that can only be an added advantage for us."

Adam nodded silently in agreement.

There was a pause in the conversation for a moment.

"There is another potential issue," Jason Fisher spoke up.

"Go on," Grax said, almost sounding reluctant to unearth more problems.

"While Lieutenant Ildaran was accompanying Ms Alegari..." he paused, thought for a moment, and then continued, "I'm sorry," he said, matter-of-factly, "I'm just going with the one name for now..." He quickly resumed. "While Lieutenant Ildaran was accompanying Ms Alegari in Orchids and Jazz, this lady showed up." He touched a couple of controls in front of him and a holographic image of a lapine woman was displayed from the centre of the conference table. "The man she was with addressed her as 'Margarite'," he continued, "but both were trying a little bit too hard not to act suspiciously. And when she was so eager to sit up in the loft, I decided to run a facial recognition algorithm just in case. This," he pointed at the hologram suspended above the table, "Is Special Agent Daisy Pantoufle from the Starfleet Criminal Investigative Service."

"I remember her; she was difficult to not notice. Very chatty she was with her dinner companion," Damion said. He looked at the image of Special Agent Pantoufle again. "She's with SCIS? Hardly seems the type. Odd coincidence, her showing up at precisely the same time as Miss Alegari and I were both there." He shrugged. "But there's no way she could have known that we would be in Orchids and Jazz at that time, so I can only presume they had an eye on someone else."

"Wait, that could explain the fight or flight emotions I got." Adam snapped his fingers. "Maybe someone else panicked when this Pantoufle came in." He shrugged. "It makes sense. Tanith got upset by the mention of the ring right about the same time. But who was up in the loft with us? I thought it was only security and intel staff."

"I have to admit, my attention was primarily on Tanith," Damion said. "I was so startled when the third personality appeared that I had to find my bearings again and revise how I was going to interact with her. And I agree about expecting only Security and Intel staff in the loft. That's why the special agent's appearance startled me. I didn't know her, and I wondered why the waitstaff would send regular customers up to the loft." He shrugged. "But no harm, no foul. We got Miss Alegari out of there safely, with none of the customers endangered."

"So what's the next step?" Adam asked. "Do we let her check out the ring?"

"I personally want to, but I also feel cautious about that," Damion said. "And on the subject of Pantoufle--To my way of thinking, it's possible the person we should concentrate attention on is the bloke with her. Do you notice, she's so memorable, we're paying no attention to him--perhaps by design. Any idea who he is?"

"Let's find out," Grax said. "Fisher, follow that one up - see if he has any connection to SCIS too. If we can find a way of having a conversation with one or both of them, formally or otherwise, that would be helpful too. We need to know whether their sudden arrival was merely a coincidence or not."

Fisher nodded.

"Keller and Ildaran," Grax continued, "Let's set up a way for Ms. Alegari to check out the ring. Get hold of Counsellor Graves, and make sure to get him in the room as well."

"Which task do you want, Adam--ring or counselor?" Damion asked.

Adam shook his head and moved his mouth like he was going to speak. He opened his arms, hands outstretched and gave a shrug. "I'll take the counselor. I don't think I want anything to do with this ring." He smirked.

"As if I do?" Damion teased. "Deal. I'll go get the ring; you talk to Graves."

 

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