Dead On

Posted on Thu Mar 11th, 2021 @ 2:02am by Captain RS Harrison & Lieutenant Victoria Mason

Mission: Welcome Aboard
Location: USS Montana
Timeline: Current

The evacuation was going smoothly but still no word from Bailey. Where could he be?

“Lieutenant Mason,” Marcus asked.

Mason looked up from her console where she was checking out crewmen. S’Relle had been assigned to another Transporter Room Three. Things were going pretty smooth really. All to Starfleet standards.

“Anything on Bailey?”

Mason kept moving on the crewman she was checking, “No ma’am. But I haven’t specifically looked.”

Marcus quickly checked her PADD. “Bailey, Bailey,” she thought to herself. “What is with you? Where did you go?”

Marcus had decided she better look for Bailey. Clearly he couldn't follow orders. He seemed more like dead weight than a proper Medical Officer but perhaps she was a bit harsh. Maybe this Acting Captain business had her taking everything up a notch?

Mason caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Mason seemed to be doing something different after this last crewperson check. “Was it the Chameloid?!” Marcus looked for a Phaser and tried not to take her eyes off of Mason and whoever that Shipyard crewman was who was getting checked out.

“The sensors in the Chameloid’s quarters just went down for the cleaning, ma’am, but something is in there.” Mason paused with a dramatic stare at Marcus.

“And I’m not sure what it is,” she almost whispered.

Marcus froze for a minute. “How many Security Officers were left on board. How many hours were left on this evacuation?”

Man they could’ve been to Vulcan by now. With the time this was taking.

Someone better check on Bailey. She thought. Marcus immediately grabbed her PADD to look for on-board crew members.

To her luck there was one. A young man no more than 25. Named James Smith.

"Ensign smith? Commander Marcus here can you meet me at Lieutenant Sumr’s quarters?

Smith immediately replied. "I'm on my way right now, ma’am."

"Thank you, Smith. Meet me with your Phaser drawn. We don't know what we may find" Emmalyn chimed.

Smith immediately ran to the armory. He hadn't been Starfleet long. Yet he knew when and what posed danger.

He quickly scanned the weaponry and grabbed a Phaser. What the Hell, he grabbed three. They may need two each and now he had four.

Smith followed orders. Within moments he saw Marcus standing by the door. She caught a glimpse of the man. Wavy blonde hair. Piercing blue eyes. He was actually kinda cute Marcus thought.

"Thank you for getting here so quickly Ensign. Neither Sumr nor Bailey have reported. I'm afraid something has happened so we're gonna go see alright? "

"All right, Commander, " Smith replied.

Suddenly the door swished open. Upon entrance not much could be seen. It was rather dark. Smith quickly searched for a light source. "Ah here it is" he thought.

Suddenly the room was bathed in light. Everything could be seen. Including something Marcus wished she hadn't seen.

It was Bailey. How was he dead?

There were feathers everywhere.

“Fur?” Smith asked.

Feathers and Fur Marcus noticed. And blood. And Bailey, ugh.

Marcus gagged as Smith rolled his body over to reveal some scorched thing impaled by Bailey’s Phaser.

“We need to move the bodies, but the rest can stay,” Marcus said before she stopped herself. Then Smith before he touched anything else.

“Wait!”

Smith froze.

“We need Security to investigate this. I’ll stay here. Go relieve S'Relle in Transporter Room One. Be sure she briefs you on the protocols before you take over.”

"Yes, ma’am." Smith replied as he sped off for Transporter Room One.

A murder investigation. In the history of Starfleet Marcus wondered if this might be the most drama that ever happened in orbit around Mars. Brand new ship. A spy. A murder. A Baryon sweep. No Captain. Crew replacements.

“This is going to be fun” she thought to herself. “And Smith is a cutie.”

Mason would be here in a bit. Until then, Marcus thought she’d wait outside but decided to get a Tricorder and scan the area just in case.

As Mason got the call she froze. "I'm on my way." Said Mason. It did not take her long to get there. As she approached there was a guard on the door. As she approached she was stopped which was understandable, they were all new here and did not know one another too well. "I'm Lt Mason chief of security. Please allow me entry." she said in a somewhat stern voice, and the guard stepped aside so she could enter.

The scene was horrible. "We have to move this scene before the sweep starts." was the first thing she said. "I suggest we take a halo-graphic picture of the room so we can examine it later and just gather as much DMA evidence as possible and mark where it was found in the holographic depiction" ordered Mason.