Crime Scene

Posted on Thu Mar 30th, 2023 @ 11:50am by Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason & Lieutenant Helena Issacks & Ensign Davna

829 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Pressure
Location: Captain Mahone's Cabin, Haumea Colony
Timeline: MD 01 : 0535 Hrs

Gunnar materialized at the door, medical kit in hand. A call for both medical and security at the Captain's quarters had had more than justified emergency medical transport, though he expected something serious, but not life threatening, or the transport would have gone the other way.

"Where's the Captain and how badly is he hurt?" he asked Davna the moment transport was complete.

"I don't know," Davna stated hurriedly, pointing at the out of commission door. "Lieutenant Issacks has a team re-connecting the-" at that moment, the door swished open effortlessly, revealing the bloodied scene on the other side. "Ohmigodohmigodohmigodohmigodpleasedontbedead."

"Captain?" Gunnar called urgently as he ran in, looking about for evidence of a patient. Seeing no one, he set the medical tricorder to scan for life signs, but quickly ascertained that there were none beyond those of Davna, the security team, and himself. "He's not here. Nor are Lugh, Haechi and Noodle." The pets, especially the dogs, being gone made the scene all the worse. Kneeling by the blood on the floor, he readjusted the tricorder to focus readings. "Some of this is the Captain's blood. There's other blood too, but I can't get anything clear on the DNA."

"Probably best if someone specializing in forensics takes the samples," he said to Davna as he stood back up. "For what it's worth, there's no canine or feline blood I can detect." He wasn't sure whether to count that as a good thing. The malamutes were extremely friendly, but he found it hard to believe they'd stand by if Luka was being harmed. Which meant whoever had attacked him must have dealt with the animals somehow. "I'm going to look around outside."

"I'll look for them," Davna stated to a fleeting Gunnar, but was already on her commbadge to see if she could badger the Marine CO with the same news.

"I'll come with you," he said, and frowned looking around the scene. "There's nothing I can do here."

Outside, the first sight Gunnar would be greeted with was Helena, who was directing a gold-uniformed member of her team to do a similar sweep. It seemed to only be the pair of them that had answered the call so early in the morning, though Helena attributed that to wanting to keep this under wraps. The fewer hands in this pot, the better.

She caught sight of the medical officer, frowning. "The backyard fence looks like a pair of elephants barreled through it, but whatever broke it down was trying to leave. Is he in there? I didn't catch scans of anyone living other than you two."

"Because there's no one else here." The reply was tight, words given in something like a clipped profession tone, though the undercurrent of worry was hard to miss. "Nothing but a blood - some of his, other traces I can't place with just a tricorder. The pets are missing. Davna and I going to look for them, so you can send your team in."

The hesitation from Helena was momentary. "Ensign," she stated behind her, "Call whichever forensics specialist is on duty currently." Then she directed herself back to Gunnar. "We'll have to make sure we do a sweep of the colony and surrounding area. While I don't think it's likely an attack would result in a hospital visit... you wouldn't have happened to have seen anything odd in the past few hours, would you have?"

Gunnar shook his head. "If I'd seen anyone come in covered in blood, I'd have mentioned it."

Helena's brow rose, but she shrugged. "That checks that off. We can get our general sensor sweep done now at least. If there's a life sign out there, we'll find it. Makes me kind of wish we had one of those dogs. Tch." She let out a breath. "I'll leave you to the pet finding, but if you find out you need help, let me know. Never know what kind of evidence a pet will have on it."

"Thank you. When we find them, I intend to do a thorough exam." There was an emphasis on 'when', as if the medical officer would not admit the thought of 'if', or of finding them in any condition but alive. "And I'll inform your forensics team so they can sample fur and claws for any evidence of who did this."

"Appreciated. Likewise, if we hear something about the animals, you'll be one of the first to know." If this was anyone but the Captain, Helena would be staunchly as by the book as possible, but she knew the pair were close. Which meant Gunnar was likely one of the only people who knew how to settle the animals down. She sure didn't. "I won't keep you longer."

"Thank you," Gunnar said simply, eager to check the area around the smashed fence for paw prints. If the dogs were out there, they'd probably gone that way, and he was going to find them.

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