Another Message (part 1)

Posted on Thu Jan 29th, 2015 @ 9:23am by 1st Lieutenant Kara Melo & Colonel Damon Raine & Captain Cameron Bourne & Sergeant Amarylis Beckinsale & Private 1st Class Trent Kushner

875 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Deadly Diplomacy
Location: Alexandra Vance's Quarters

[[Bridge]]

"Alert! Fire on Deck three, section 13." The computer blared to the personnel on the bridge.

"Activate the fire suppression system," Sam ordered. There was no reason for the fire. She quickly looked up the location. Alexandra Vance's quarters. She tapped the comm panel. "York to Bourne. Cam, get a team to Vance's quarters. Someone started a fire there. I suspect an intruder."

Damon nodded to Samantha. "I'll head down there as well."

"Thank you, querido," she replied softly.

[Marine barracks]

Cam quickly tapped his combadge, "we're on it Ma'am" he responded before activating the barracks intercom, "Alpha squad, double time it to Deck 3 section 13. Full hazmat protocol"

"On my way," Kara replied, running to the nearest locker to grab her gear and suit up. She was surprised at the request, but an order was an oder. There had to be a good reason to call out the marines in full hazmat gear.

Two minutes later she was running to the turbolift and up to Deck 3, ignoring the odd looks she got from the Fleeties. They were clearly not used to seeing Marines running around the ship -- which was true as they usually ran around their own deck instead.

Trent didn't have to travel far as he was in the gym when the first hits rocked the ship. He simply locked the free weights he was using back in place and ran to his locker for a fresh shirt. As always he made a mental checklist of all his gear in case they were needed to go dirt-side or board another ship.

He had found it surprising, then, that a call went out for his squad to investigate an issue inside the ship since that was almost exclusively the domain of Starship security. ~Must be bad~ He thought to himself as he fitted himself in the specialized hazmat gear.

The quartermaster jogged over to Trent and handed him a Marine Carbine from the weapons locker. "Get some." The marine said with a stern nod.

Trent took the weapon and checked the power cell. Satisfied he nodded back to the man. "Oorah." He simply said and ran off to fall almost into step with Segeant Melo.

Amarylis had heard the commotion over the comm and instantly recognized the coordinates. She wasn't far from her gear and would grab it on the way to Alexandra's quarters.

Kara ran down the corridor and stopped outside the room, surprised to see that it belonged to the former Executive Officer, Alexandra Vance. The fire was still smoldering but by all appearances it was now out. At least she wasn't going to be on fire brigade. She'd done it a time or two, but never on a starship as they had their own fire-suppression system.

Trent tapped Kara's shoulder to let her know that the rest of the squad was in position behind her and ready to breach.

Amarylis rushed down the corridor seeing the team prepared to breach Alexandra's quarters. She rushed up behind Trent. "Hey, what's going on?" she asked worriedly.

"There's been a fire in Vance's quarters" Cam said, walking up behind the group, "we've been ordered to investigate. Masks on, than perform a standard breach"

Kara nodded and slipped on her mask. "I'll go in first. Kushner, Beckinsale, you're with me."

She stepped into the room and to the right, careful not to disturb any evidence. She carefully checked the room to make sure there would be no surprises. The fire itself was suspicious. The fact that the Marines needed to investigate let her know there was more going on than just a fire and she had to be alert. If there was anything out of the ordinary, she would find it.

The air in the room was filled with smoke, ash and still burning embers. A few pieces of the now unrecognizable furniture still burned but only with small flames. Only those whom were familiar with the room prior to the inferno would be able to re-visualize the layout and make any semblance of the melted objects.

Trent entered the room with his weapon raised. The light attached to the carbine pierced the haze and flames, illuminating the ground and casting evil shadows on the charred remains of the room.

Amarylis entered slowly behind Trent looking about the room. She instantly felt her gut twist as the arson has removed the only memory he had of her friend. The fire engulfing what remained of Alexandra Vance, now like her.....ashes.

"Any idea who did this?" Kara asked. And why the Marines were called out and not the Fleeties. She began a slow inspection of the room, looking for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary.

"I've got a hell of a good hunch." Amarylis said in disgust as she moved to Vance's bedroom.

Kara followed her to act as backup.

"This is odd." Amarylis said walking towards the remains of Vance's bed retrieving a charred teddy bear from it. "This isn't Alexandra's." She turned to Kara and held the bear to her.

(To be continued...)

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Colonel Damon Raine
Strategic Operations

Captain Cameron Bourne
Marine CO

Gunnery Sergeant Kara Melo
Alpha Platoon Leader

PFC Trent Kushner
Marine

Sergeant Amarylis Beckinsale
Marine

 

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