A Change of Focus (part 3)

Posted on Sat Dec 3rd, 2016 @ 1:39pm by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Yui Hirasawa & Lieutenant Commander Damion Wolfe & Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Lieutenant Illise Hale & Lieutenant JG Victoria Drani M.D. & Logan

1,209 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Shadow Dance
Location: Calypso
Timeline: Day 3, morning

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

Arnon could feel Victoria seething, and felt compassion for her. Arnon wanted Victoria to feel professionally fulfilled, to feel useful. This was vital to the emotional and psychological well being of most species. Professionally, Victoria was a highly intelligent and talented physician, healer, and medical scientist. Given enough rein, she would produce impressive results. Arnon would make sure that he was assigned to work with her in this next phase of the investigation and would do his best to make sure that she had the opportunity to shine. And he'd try to cheer her up personally as soon as possible. A walk in the Arboretum perhaps? That was their first date. Dancing? That was their second. Both options seemed good to him. He'd choose later. Ah, and they still needed to find time to get together with the kids! Carlos mentioned that he'd crossed paths with Victoria's younger sister Jae at the Academy. Rhiannon had graduated by then, but he felt they would all get along. But these were things for later. For now, back to the briefing.

[NEW]

"What are our assignments, Commodore?" Arnon asked.

Illise didn't like the sinking feeling that she was getting deep in her stomach. With the princess's disappearance so shortly followed by her father's death during the negotiation, the situation certainly looked bad. While she didn't believe that the Federation was responsible, it was her job to remain unbiased. This would be no easy task. She liked these people and hoped for their acceptance into the Federation, but knew that the damage from even the accusation would be hard to control. As she listened to what the others said, questions began running through her scientist's mind. She was brought back to the discussion at hand when Arnon spoke.

"If it will help, I would like to assist in the analysis of the blood sample." Illise offered, looking from York to Arnon. "It is possible that the poison may be a derivative of a normally harmless compound, altered or combined with a local chemical to create a poison that would be toxic to a Jenerfan. Identifying the compounds used will point us in the direction of it's origin."

Sam nodded. "An excellent idea." She turned to Drani. "I was not informed of the nature of the meeting when I was called down to the planet. Keelan -- King Keelan -- would not let us do an autopsy, which concerns me. There are far too many irregularities with the events on the planet. Lieutenant Wolfe has the readings of the crime scene. Security and Intel will be working on those while you and Lieutenant Hale examine the blood sample. That's only the first step, however."

She looked around the room at the rest of her senior staff. "I am not going to let this interfere with the investigation into the war or supposed war with the Qunari. I would like science, medical, and the Marines to do a thorough examination of the burned-out Qunari villages. Scans show there are three not far from the Jenefran border. Logan will continue to search for Princess Kali. Security and Engineering are to focus on the death of King Mrowen. You're in the best position to search the palace and look at the video evidence, if there is any. I want to know as much as I can about the last two nights. Any other comments or suggestions?"

"The Princess wasn't kidnapped, she escaped." Logan said out loud before looking around, than stopped at Sam. "I'm sorry. Was I supposed to raise my hand?" He cleared his throat a bit before looking at the notes in his PADD. "Umm... From what we found, in the garden, there is a passage. This passage seems to be one that would only be known by people who are aware of it so the theory is that the princess used this to escape. Also, she was being followed. There were tracks. What seemed to be tactical boots in the dirt behind her prints. Moving in a tactical formation. From my research, the boots seem to be Jenefran in origin. She was being tracked by her own people. Good scenario: Recovery team. Bad scenario: Hit squad. I'll know more once I get outside the city and continue to follow her trail, but it seems to point to the Qunari having nothing to do with her disappearance. To add to that, after looking into it, it seems only two people could order out a group like that to recover the Princess. The King, who it seems is now dead, and the Vizier."

"Thank you, Mr. Logan," Sam said. That was in line with what she suspected herself. "Keep me informed of your findings."

Yui sat there deep in thought, for her it was unusual for her to be sitting thinking in silence to herself. She snapped her fingers halting the conversation. "I think..." she began nervously. "I might know how they made the poison..." she stood up and walked over to the Wolfe and held out her hands as if surrendering herself. "I believe, that I am at fault"

She looked down at the floor for a few seconds and then up at Wolfe. "When I was on the surface, my shuttle was left unattended for several hours while myself and Leroy investigated their Air Guard. I believe that someone could have got aboard and used our technology to do this. I did notice things out of place when I returned, but I thought it was just the flight down" she explained.

Damion looked over to Yui and rolled his eyes slightly, letting a sigh escape his lips. "The standard protocol when visiting an alien planet on a shuttle is to either 'A' leave an officer with the shuttle at all times or 'B' ensure the craft is safely locked and secured until you return." He looked away from Yui, than towards Sam. "If she is right and one of the Jenefran's used the shuttles equipment to replicate the poison, there is a change of a record of the replication occurring in the system. I would recommend putting Ensign Shirol on it. She would definitely be able to find the log." He than returned his gaze back to Yui, but it wasn't pleasant. He was unhappy and displeased with her over what she just admitted. "This is unacceptable, Lieutenant. The moment you noticed something out of place, you should have reported it right away. The fact that you left an opened shuttle, with its full functions still operational and unattended, is a blatant disregard of protocol. A number of important things could have been stolen while your back was turned. Records, The on board weapons, other Federation technology, and including the shuttle itself. When this briefing is over, make your way to the Security Officers and be thankful its not the brig."

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Victoria Drani
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant Arnon Barak
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant JG Illise Hale
Chief Science Officer

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Logan
Assistant Chief Intelligence Officer

Lieutenant Yui Hirasawa
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant Damion Wolfe
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

 

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