USS PATRIOT: Transporter Room * ESPERION: Rashas Wreckage (“Investigations”)

From: V. Rahul Chandra (vrccan_at_gmail.com)
Date: Thu Feb 22 2007 - 20:59:53 PST


 

 

========

“Investigations”

Con’t from Naomi’s “Puff of Smoke”

========

Location: USS PATRIOT

Stardate: 2422 [2.7] 0222.2138

Scene: Transporter Room

 

“Alright,” Daniel said, walking through the threshold and into the
transporter room as the doors slid apart in response to his presence.  “I’m
here – let’s do this.”

 

He’d been expecting to find Kel waiting for him as the marine was already a
few minutes later for the rendezvous, but he was greeted by an empty
transporter room, minus himself and the operator.

 

“Has Ens…errr…Lieutenant McClellan been by here recently?” Daniel asked the
operator.

 

The man shook his head. “Not recently sir,” he said, before going back to
his monitoring.  A few moments later, the doors parted again and Kel came
walking in, slightly out of breath.

 

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, before looking at the rifle Daniel had slung over
his shoulder.  “Wow, you really fixed that up fast.  I was sure you’d have
to take a different one back down to the planet.”

 

Daniel grinned.  “When you’re as obsessive about using the same rifle as I
am, you learn how to fix things pretty quickly.”

 

“I guess so,” Kel said.  “So we all ready to go?”

 

“Yeah,” Daniel said.  “Let’s get this over with.  Where are we going first?”

 

“I thought we’d start with the wreckage from the Rashas compound,” Kel
commented, checking his tricorder and phaser.

 

“Sounds like a plan.”

 

 

============

Time Index: 15 minutes later

Location: ESPERION

Scene: Rashas Compound Wreckage

 

“Sometimes I have trouble fathoming why a person would want to be the cause
of such evil,” Daniel muttered, idly shifting a piece of the remaining
wreckage with the tip of his rifle.  Starfleet humanitarian crews had been
working round the clock ever since the explosion to try and clear the
wreckage away and save any lives they could and as such the pile was
significantly less dense than it had been previously.

 

“It’s not the first time we’ve come across it,” Kel said, getting up from
where he’d been leaning and examining one of the pieces of wreckage.  He
tossed the piece aside disgustedly, before turning and walking back over to
Daniel.

 

“No it isn’t,” Daniel agreed, looking around him with an expression that
suggested he wasn’t amused with the situation they were currently in.  “Just
how exactly are we supposed to go about doing the job the Captain
suggested?”

 

“I’m not sure,” Kel said with a shrug of his shoulders.  “It seems like a
wild goose chase to me to be honest.  This whole situation is so complicated
that I doubt we’ll ever figure out exactly what happened.”

 

They were silent for a few moments before Daniel perked up.  “You think the
reason we’re out here instead of doing the negotiating with Kenta’s team is
because we’re the two most undiplomatic officers around?”

 

Kel snorted.  “Speak for yourself marine,” he said.

 

Daniel laughed.  “I was just kidding,” he assured the Strategic Operations
Officer, before an actual idea occurred to him.  “Do you remember that
report that Catherine gave Mav, about the balloons that were used?”

 

“Yeah,” Kel said, unsure as to where Daniel was going with this.  “You told
me about it after Mav briefed you on it.”

 

“Well, maybe there’s a way to track down where those balloons came from,”
Daniel suggested.

 

Kel frowned for a moment in thought, before shaking his head. “I don’t think
there is,” he said.  “We’d have to figure out where large purchases of those
things were made in proximity to the timeframe of the explosion, and
considering the capital city is occupied…” he didn’t have to finish that
sentence, Daniel got the drift easily enough.

 

“I guess that’s a dead end then,” Daniel said, frowning in thought.
“Unless…” he turned to Kel.  “Give me your tricorder.”

 

Kel gave him a weird look, but dutifully handed Daniel the device.  Daniel
used it to quickly scan the area around the wreckage and the air, his
expression quickly becoming one of triumph as he did so.

 

“Where is everyone?” he asked, looking back at Kel after about five minutes
of silent scanning.

 

“Well…Kenta and Cal are supposedly leading the moderation between the
Government, the people, Jurveus and Half-Tail’s group,” Kel said, ticking
them off on his fingers as he spoke. “Helice and Mav are still on the ship
and so is Cindy, although she’s in sickbay.  As for Catherine, she’s with
that priest, also on the ship.”

 

Daniel quickly thought through things, before tapping his comm. badge.
“Clarkson to Jade,” he said, for the moment ignoring the confused look on
Kel’s face.

 

[[Jade here.]]

 

“Cath, I need a favour,” Daniel said.  “How long are the standard surface
scans that ops does of each planet kept in the computer memory before being
purged?”

 

There was some silence on the line, while Catherine considered her husband’s
question.  [[Unless they’ve changed things since I was in operations, until
the final log on each mission is recorded,]] she said.

 

“Good, that’s what I was hoping for,” Daniel said.  “Can you do me a favour
and get all the surface scans done from 24 hours before the Rashas explosion
up to the time of the explosion together and then look them over for me?”

 

[[No problem.  What am I looking for?]]

 

“A combination of white phosphorus and helium in the same location,” Daniel
said, showing his tricorder readings to Kel as an explanation.  “And also a
location that moves through time from some location all the way to the
Rashas compound.  I’ll be very surprised if you find something like that
moving along two paths.  Let me know where it originates once you find it.”

 

[[Will do, I’ll call you in a few minutes with the results,]] Catherine
said, before closing the comm. link.

 

“Not bad,” Kel said, impressed.  “But the assassin probably didn’t walk
around with the balloons filled with the stuff.”

 

“No,” Daniel agreed. “But if he didn’t, then that means he filled them at
the party.  That means that either cylinders filled with the stuff were
delivered beforehand, or alternatively that he came in with them.  Either
way, knowing where they came from should help lead us to the guy that bought
them.”

 

“You realize this means we’re probably going to have to sneak back into
Belial City,” Kel said.  “As that’s probably where the supplies came from.”

 

Daniel shrugged.  “All in a day’s work,” he said, hefting his rifle and
grinning.  “Besides, the escape was too easy.  I’m looking forward to a
little challenge.”

 

========

NRPG: Just moving things along again!

 

 

 
==========
V. Rahul Chandra <vrccan_at_gmail.com>
 
Playing...
 
Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gorman, MD
Chief Medical Officer/2nd Officer
GATEWAY STATION, GS-2
 
&
 
Captain Daniel Clarkson, MD
Executive Officer - Marine Contingent
USS PATRIOT, NCC 5781-A
 
&
 
Lieutenant Sevlock
Junior ACT Instructor
Starfleet Academy, EARTH
 

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