A Second Gruesome Discovery

Posted on Sun 31st Dec, 2017 @ 4:03pm by Commander Mikaela Locke & Lieutenant JG Kellian Michaels
Edited on on Tue 23rd Jul, 2019 @ 5:02pm

895 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: A Phaser as Deadly as a Candlestick
Location: Deck 589 - Holosuite 2, 'The Angry Targ'
Timeline: MD 04: 0926

"Shit."

Mikaela Locke articulated what most of them were thinking. Addams, judging by the look on her face, had much more welcoming words for the situation.

Upon hearing the news of a second murder, the senior staff had descended on the scene en masse. When they arrived they discovered that security had already done a good job of clearing the Klingon-owned club, 'The Angry Targ', (which Mikaela imagined was no easy feat,) and had cordoned it off, keeping out not only curious passers-by, but also the prying eyes of the station's resident reporters.

Upstairs in the club were three holosuites - one of which was now a murder scene.

Lieutenant Langston's CSI team were already on the scene when Locke and the other assembled officers had arrived and they continued working around the room even as she stood just inside the holosuite doorway.

The sight before her was horrific. Mikaela was far from squeamish, but even she was struggling to maintain her composure. If the previous murder had seemed to be premeditated and subtle - this seemed anything from. The victim was a Ferengi and three massive stab wounds had opened up his midsection, and a d'k tahg still protruded from one of them.

Doctor Addams stood to the side, waiting for the CSI team to finish their imaging studies. Her dark eyes were covering every centimeter of the holosuite and she had a thoughtful look on her face. "Well," she commented dryly, "someone certainly knows how to party. I strongly doubt this incident is directly connected to the previous one. Speaking of which, has anyone identified the previous corpus delectabilia?"

"What else do you know, Lieutenant?" Mikaela called across to Langston.

Langston crossed to the group of senior officers and nodded politely, her eight eyes focusing on Locke. "Commander," she said, then, "Doctor. We're almost done with the imaging studies, and you'll have access to the victim in just a minute. We have determined that there was a holoprogram running at the time of the incident."

"Blood spatter distortions?" Addams asked, sounding gleeful.

"Indeed," Langston answered, her left subordinate eye trio shifting to the doctor before returning to Commander Locke. "Holosuites use force-fields to create scenery," she explained, folding her upper pair of arms across her chest. "When the program ends, those force-fields collapse. Anything physically present which has been flung across them drops directly down to the gravity plating."

Mikaela arched an eyebrow in the direction of the Arachna lieutenant. “Yes, surprisingly, I’m familiar with holodeck technology,” she said with a heavy layer of sarcasm, “Can you tell me anything more helpful? What program was running, for example? Or, better still,” she added after a moment, “Who the hell is he?”

"Langston, who was the initial security officer on the scene? I need to talk to that person," Kellian said.

"Provost Officer Second Class Mortmanus, sir," Langston told Kellian, before drawing a PADD out of a pocket. "He's waiting outside in the bar. Commander Locke, the program which was last run in this suite was 'Sunday in the Park with George,' which is based upon Georges Seurat's painting 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.' An odd choice for a Klingon bar, but I have reason to believe neither the victim nor the perpetrator were regular customers nor Klingon."

"Yeah, if I'd come across this, I'd need to be in the bar, too," Kellian muttered under his breath. "The victim clearly isn't Klingon," he said to Langston. "What makes you believe that the perpetrator wasn't?"

Langston pointed to the corpse with her left mid-foot. "They left the knife," she observed.

"Good point," Kellian said. He frowned. "We might soon have a furious Klingon on our hands, once someone discovers his d'k tahg has been stolen. Langston, would you transmit to me a close-up of the weapon, front and back sides? The emblem near the base of the blade should tell us what House the owner belongs to."

Mikaela smiled to herself at the Arachna officer’s astuteness. “So,” she thought out loud, “Someone comes to a Klingon-owned club to kill a Ferengi with a Klingon knife... Clearly we’re meant to believe this was a struggle or dispute of some kind - rather than a premeditated murder. I presume someone is talking to the club-owner? They may not have seen the killer, but there should be records as to who rented the holosuite - might give us and ID on the victim?”

"I'm sure Mr. Mortmanus has already spoken with the owner or is speaking with him or her now," Kellian said. "I'm going to have a word with him. I'll let you know if anything interesting develops."

"Do that," Mikaela nodded. She turned back to Doctor Addams and Lieutenant Langston, "In the meantime, let's finish up here and get this body to sickbay for a proper autopsy. Update me as soon as you know anything more."

Without waiting for a formal acknowledgement from either of them, she turned and headed back downstairs. If there was a backdoor out of the club, she wished she could use it now, as facing the crowd of the curious assembled outside was the last thing she wanted. She shook her head as she reiterated the same thought from earlier.

Shit.

 

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