He's Dead Jim...

Posted on Sun Jan 8th, 2023 @ 2:53pm by Captain Akeno Misaki & Commander Mashiro Munetani "Shiro" & Lieutenant Commander Raelyn Mckenzie & Lieutenant Commander Mark Johnson & Lieutenant Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok

Mission: When on Risa...
Location: Risa Resort

Luna was apprehensive as she approached the suite. [Come on, Luna. You're a Klingon for Kahless's sake!] Luna growled to herself as she and Raelyn reached the suite. "I'm sorry, but you're not allowed in here," a man barred their way. "Listen, buddy, we've been given permission to investigate this murder...and I'm NOT going to be deterred," Luna had a good four inches on the staff member, who was shaking in his boots.

"Whoa, hold up, hold up," someone called out.

The two of them turned and were just in time to catch those two officers from Starbase 12- Mashiro and Hiromi, if Luna was remembering their names correctly- as they hurried over to intervene.

"You're on the Wayfarer with that Akeno girl, right?" the brown-haired one- actually, come to think of it, was she Mashiro or Hiromi?- began. "And you said you have security clearance to be conducting an investigation?"

"Yes...we do. Ca...Akeno, got the hotel to give us jurisdiction to investigate discreetly," Luna held (Mashiro? Hiromi? yesh! can't tell one from the other!) eyes.

The Brown-haired girl glanced over at her colleague, and then over at the staff member.

"Let her through," she motioned. "She says she's got the security clearance, and I take her word for it."

"Hiromi," the other girl- most likely Mashiro, by logical deduction- was quick to butt in. "Don't you think it might not be the wisest idea to be letting a total stranger join in on the investigation?"

"The way I see it, Shiro, we're on the same team here, so we're just pooling our resources," Hiromi pointed out.

"Don't call me Shiro," Mashiro hissed, before turning her attention back towards Luna. "Well, seeing as Hiromi here trusts you well enough, we took the liberty of reviewing the guest list and cross-referencing it with the Halland's crew manifest; our victim's name is Lieutenant Ryan Kennedy, an infiltration specialist; he was listed in his personnel file as being "on assignment," so whatever he was here for, it likely wasn't a holiday..."

"Unfortunately, the nature of his assignment was classified; we got in touch with Admiral Sutok and asked if he could speak with the Halland's Chief of Intelligence for further information, but that might take us another 48 hours until we hear back from him," Hiromi added.

Luna maintained her composure...but her mental jaw was on the floor. "[Admiral Sutok!? Dang, who are these girls!?]" Luna thought, nodding her thanks, and slipping into the room. Luna's blood boiled, and words the translator couldn't catch spilled from her mouth.

Hiromi stole a glance at Mashiro. "Think we should monitor her, just in case?" she whispered.

"Probably a safe bet," Mashiro quipped as the two of them followed Luna inside.

---

At first glance, the crime scene showed no signs of disarray; the victim's personal belongings were still packed away in the closet, the toiletries on the vanity were still neatly organized, and, aside from poor Lieutenant Kennedy laying face-down on the bed with a knife sticking out of his neck, the room looked nearly move-in-ready.

"Well, looks like we found our murder weapon," Hiromi joked as the three of them moved over to the assess the body.

"Hiromi, this isn't the most appropriate time for jokes," Mashiro reminded her as she pulled out a small baggie of vinyl gloves, courtesy of the resort staff.

"Remember now," she began, handing Luna a pair of gloves. "Proper Starfleet investigative procedures; search the premises for any fingerprints, transporter residue, or signs of forced entry; if anything looks remotely out of place, let me know before you disturb it."

Luna nodded as she accepted the gloves, before entering the room, swallowing multiple Klingon curses at the cowardly way the man had been killed. "We know one thing, the one we seek is a low down yellowbellied coward that had a smooth foreheaded Mother!" Luna snarled softly, unable to completely hide her anger.

"Begs the question, though," Hiromi remarked as she leaned over the body. "Why kill a Starfleet Officer and then leave the murder weapon for someone to find?"

"Why else?" Mashiro deduced. "As a threat."

Hiromi blinked. "Come again?"

"One doesn't simply kill a Starfleet Officer in cold blood and just leave the murder weapon sticking out of the body," Mashiro explained. "Whomever orchestrated this hit knew full well what they were doing, and left the murder weapon behind to send a message to Starfleet: If they can kill Lieutenant Kennedy here, then they can-- and likely will-- kill again."

"Well, that certainly ups the stakes..." Hiromi muttered.

Raelyn hadn't really said anything up until now. This was primarily because she was staying alert and paying attention to her surroundings. "It sure does. I have a hunch that if the killer was trying to send a message to Starfleet, that it might relate to the vic's intelligence background?"

"I'd concur with that assessment," Mashiro nodded in agreement. "Given he was still on active assignment when he was killed, it's quite possible our victim might've been getting too close to something that wasn't meant to be found."

Mark joined the group at the crime scene. He tried to close in to the dead body without touching most of the stuff in the room. Contaminating a crime scene is the worst thing he could do.

Nodding a silent salute to the present he moved around the bed analyzing visually what he was seeing.

"Shall I" he asked the superior officers before wearing a pair of gloves his size and starting to search the body for further information even if the death's cause was quite evident.

"Well..." he started "...our lieutenant didn't die of natural causes for sure...a single stab right at his neck. He died almost instantly so I don't think any of the neighbors heard anything. He probably didn't even noticed till it was too late." he stares at Hiromi for a second "I don't know if we are allowed or if we have the chance to use some equipment in the area or on a starship but I might take a blood sample to see if he had been drugged or whatever." he watched the corpse once again "it's position might suggest he knew whoever killed him. Or he was sleeping so deeply that he didn't notice anyone entering the room and stabbing him...probably under some sleeping pills or some sort of drugs."

"What I wouldn't give for a toxicology test right now..." Mashiro lamented as she pulled out a cotton swab and handed it to Mark. "We may be able to swab his blood or saliva and then scan that with a tricorder, but it's certainly not the most reliable way of determining the presence of drugs in a victim's system..."

Luna walked around the room, listening to the conversation, but also looking for any clue she could find. "There's papers missing," Luna had been checking a briefcase and noticed there were indescrepencies in how the files were arranged. "Files six through eleven have been removed. Anyone see them?" Luna started scanning around, noting that the place was a little TOO clean, but not finding any files.

"Shiro, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Hiromi remarked.

"Whatever was on those files is probably what our killer didn't want coming to light..." Mashiro surmised.

The door of the room opened and Akeno walked through, fashionable late of course. She was holding a PADD and looking at it as she walked. "Lieutenant Ryan Kennedy" Akeno said as she walked. "Assigned to the Starship Halland as an infiltration specialist, his current assignment is special undercover operations on Risa..." she paused and looked up. She looked down at the body. "Well, it was..."

"We've cased the room and happened to notice that there are some papers missing from the victim's briefcase," Mashiro reported, gesticulating towards Luna. "Files six through eleven, to be precise; Intelligence should have backups of those documents archived, but it could take them a while to declassify that information."

"Papers?" Akeno asked confused. "You mean this dude was old fashioned? He didn't use PADDS or a computer?" she asked curiously. "Its the twenty fourth century, surely Intelligence records are safer on a secured PADD or console these days..."

"Fair point," Mashiro noted. "Given sensitive nature of his line of work, Lieutenant Kennedy would have had to have a good reason as to why he couldn't use a PADD."

"Hmmm... I sense a twist, Hiromi pondered.

Mashiro shifted her attention back to Luna. "Do the documents contained within that briefcase possibly contain any clues relating to his assignment?" she asked.

All Luna could do was shrug as this was not her area of expertise.

Akeno smiled nervously. "This feels all too much 'Dixon Hill'" she stated. "Pass me those files Luna, let me have a look at them"

Luna carefully picked up just the files, leaving the packet they had been in undisturbed, and handing them to Akeno. "Dixon Hill, Akeno? What's that?" Luna cocked her head curiously.

"It's a classic holonovel series. You play as a classic detective solving murders and crimes etc" Akeno replied. She shuffled through the files. "There's some very sensitive stuff in these files. Although having them out on paper is unusual..." she said as she sat down on the bed and began to skim through them.

"Ah ha!" Akeno exclaimed. "Here are his mission orders... well part of them anyways. It seems he was here to track down a dangerous known pirate leader who's responsible for pirate activities across the Neutral Zone" Akeno explained. "The rest seems missing, but I can only assume he was discovered..."

"We need to be extra careful now" Akeno told them all. "Mark, ensure that no one touches the body until Starfleet Security arrive. Raelyn, stay here and keep the area secure. Luna, I want you and Hiromi to talk to the hotel staff, go over any video footage from the security cameras" Akeno told them.

"On it," Hiromi nodded, motioning for Luna to meet up with her downstairs.

While Luna was subconsciously intimidated by both Mashiro and Hiromi, she was a Klingon, and Starfleet, so she wasn't gonna let anything keep her from helping bring the son of a Smooth Foreheaded Mother in. Luna acknowledged Hiromi's wave, and after shedding her gloves, followed her downstairs. Something was making her nervous, but she wasn't quite sure what it was.

"Shiro-chan. You have command level access being the XO of Starbase Twelve. Let's find a quiet spot and go through these files" she added giving Mashiro a serious look.

"My room's probably the most secure location that we can discuss this away from prying ears," Mashiro recommended. "Unless, of course, you had somewhere else in mind...?"

"Lead the way" Akeno said gesturing to the door.

Raelyn nodded in response to Akeno's order. She began to move towards the doorway to where she could post up.

Mark acknowledged the Captain's orer and, while waiting for Starfleet Security to arrive, kept analyzing the body without compromising its state and disposition.

Posting by

Captain Akeno Misaki
Commanding Officer

Commander Mashiro Munetani
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Raelyn Mckenzie
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Mark Johnson
Chief Medical Officer

Lieutenant JG Luna Eclipse of the House of Martok
Flight Control Officer