What Happened?

Posted on Fri Mar 13th, 2015 @ 2:11pm by Commodore Kathleen O'Shea & Captain Jey Cleh

Mission: Bloodpath
Location: USS Bettina - Brig
Timeline: Right after "Rebirth"

Kathleen and Jey were both tight-lipped during their walk to the brig, each wrestling with their own thoughts and ghosts. Kathleen was beginning to have doubts about her ability to effectively...or safely...question their prisoner. Deep in thought, neither realized that the guards were not at their assigned posts outside the door until they were already in the process of walking through it.

"What the hell...where is everybody?" Kathleen asked Jey as she walked over to the holding cells.

As Kathleen looked into the cell, she saw three bodies on the deck. The two guards, and the prisoner. It was clear by the amount of blood on them, and the deck that all three were dead.

"Well...this was certainly helpful." She turned to Jey, ignoring the incredulous look on her face. "So just how exactly would you rate the effectiveness of this bases security?"

Lizzy had pulled her gun, when they first noticed the missing guards. Now as she stood there in surprise, she held it idle by her side, just in case whoever had done this was still nearby. "Not effective enough." She replied dryly, before looking back at Kathleen. "I'm thinking it might be time to go have a talk with your Romulan friend Rhian. Something tells me she had something to do with this." She said, her words definitely showing a distrust of the Romulan woman she had just recently met.

"No, this isn't her style...trust me." She looked back at the bodies. "You are going to need to get them in stasis. But we need to try to determine cause of death and any weapon or substance used."

Lizzy put her gun back in it's holster, but didn't snap the safety snap as she lowered the forcefield. She stepped in to take a closer look at the bodies, and it didn't take her long to make a quick diagnosis. "They were stabbed." She said finally, and as she was examining one of them, something on the deck caught her eye. Not having any gloves with her, she ripped a piece of her own uniform sleeve off, and used it to pick up what she'd found. It was a small hunting knife that she held up, while looking at Kathleen. "Did you happen bring a forensics team with you?"

Kathleen shook her head. "No, they are all back at the station. I actually did consider bringing a small team, but we just didn't have the room." She looked the scene over for another moment. "Seal the brig and drop the temperature down to stasis level. Maybe we can get a team here next trip. So...thoughts? You have been here a lot longer than I have."

"Don't worry about the forensics team. I can do it, but it will just take a little longer than a team would... I'll need some tools." Lizzy replied, as she set the weapon back where it was. She would have to get her med kit from the bridge of the Bettina, and a few tools from the medical bay, but she could do it. "My thoughts about this? That's easy. Someone didn't want us to learn what this woman knows... I think we should seal up this whole ship, and allow only our people aboard, unless they have a proper escort."

"Be hard to do that. This ship is pretty much the center of operations here. We will seal the brig off though." She looked up at the sensors in the room dedicated to video recording. They were all destroyed. "Somebody knew exactly what they were doing here. A bit too well."

Lizzy hesitated, looking up at Kathleen as she stood up. "You thinking it might be one of ours?" It was a simple question, but weight it held was a heavy one. If one of their own people were working against them, it would easily complicate things to a great degree.

"I think that this whole deal stinks. Something just isn't right. There are just way too many coincidences for my liking here." She looked around the room for several seconds, then closed her eyes and became completely still. When they snapped open, she immediately walked through the main door to the brig and over to an access panel about 6 feet from the door. Opening it, they both saw that the circuitry had been tampered with extensively. "It was here...this is where they breached the system."

"For that, you're gonna need an Engineer." Lizzy replied without missing a beat. She'd had enough trouble with medical technology. She wasn't about to try messing with this. "I can do the forensic work on the bodies, and the weapon, but that's my limit."

Kathleen allowed a thin smile to grace her features. "Oh I think I can probably handle that task. I've had a bit of experience with these things." She closed the access panel and walked over to a small locker built into the wall. Putting in her personal code, she opened it and removed a small device, then locked the small door once again. She then made her way back to the access panel and affixed the module to the door. Entering a series of codes, the unit started to glow, spreading a small security shield across the entire wall section surrounding the panel. "There...that should suffice for the moment."

Lizzy sighed. "Computer, seal the brig, and lower the brig temperature to just above stasis level." She ordered the computer. She would've put it at stasis levels, but she didn't want to end up in stasis during her forensic work. "Access allowed only by authorization of myself, or Commodore O'Shea."

"Command codes are required for the requested operation." Came the monotonous reply.

"Authorization Cleh, Alpha, 664." Lizzy replied.

"Command codes verified." The computer replied.

A moment later, a force field buzzed into existence on the Brig's main door, and the temperature visibly changed on the other side.

"That should help." Lizzy said, looking at Kathleen.

Kathleen was about to reply, but noticed that the portable monitor that was attached to the belt around Jey's waist was flashing several various color lights. "Captain...something appears to be going on with your equipment." She pointed at the unit.

As Lizzy was about to answer, Kathleen's commbadge sounded. "Commodore, we need you in Operations stat. We have an incoming attack. Moving to deflect now, but you need to be here."

Lizzy looked at her Tricorder, the readings indicating a problem in sickbay. Both the beds where Rosaleen, and Andrew were assigned were now showing no life signs. "Something's wrong in Sickbay!"

The two women looked at each other for only a moment, before they both took off down the corridor. Things were starting to happen, and they each had their jobs to do.

To be continued...

Commodore Kathleen O'Shea
Commanding Officer
Starbase 80

Captain Jey Cleh
Executive Officer
Chief Medical Officer
Starbase 80