Disarray, Disorder, and Discomfort
Posted on Wed Apr 26th, 2023 @ 8:05am by Lieutenant Colonel Shaun Bradley & Ensign Davna
1,221 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Pressure
Location: Captain Mahone's Office
The scream of the Marine Albatross ripping back into the skies and towards Camp Vimy Ridge echoed across the sleepy colony. To anyone who looked out a window, it would have looked as though the Marine Commander had decided the best course of action was to show off his little ships. He was happy with that train of thought if he was honest, it kept people from asking questions. Still, the pair walked in silence through the Starfleet Headquarters and towards the Commanding Officer's desk. Shaun had questions, he had a lot of questions.
Finally reaching the entrance to the Office, the Lieutenant Colonel paused, stepped aside to gesture to the Ensign. With the Captain out, he wasn't going to be able to simply stroll into the room.
Similarly, Davna's demeanor had boiled down to a quiet worry. Maybe they would get lucky and the Captain was playing a really intricate game of hide and seek. The tiny Daucin had settled itself on her shoulder, curiously burbling as she pressed her hand to the biometric scanner. The door swished open with little effort, revealing the faded surfboard that had fallen from it's display spot and in front of the doorway.
"Oh no." Beyond the board, which Davna was hasty to remove, was the mess of a scene beyond. PaDDs and old books were strewn about. While nothing looked damage on the outset, Davna noticed most of his little trinkets were not in their original places, instead all over the floor. She bounced on the balls of her feet a few times, but was already analyzing how she was going to go about and clean the mess.
Using the tricorder he'd borrowed from the transport, Shaun swept the room. "No signs of weapons fire or injury. Whoever came in here was looking for something though," he said, more aloud and to himself than anything else. He stepped carefully, with a catlike grace that few saw him do. He pushed out the Captain's chair and took a close look at the space there, scanning with both eyes and the tricorder. "I don't know the Captain's office well enough to know if anything was taken. But it is clear to me that someone was in here looking for something specific. Please have security pull the access logs."
Davna turned to right the surfboard, mostly to keep herself occupied as to not fret about the Captain. "I'll make sure to take inventory of everything to see if something is missing," she confirmed, hand on her badge to relay the request to security. She went to put her small friend down on the desk, stopping herself just shy of what the Daucin would have considered 'safe hopping distance.' "... Though, should we wait for security to comb through all this first? Is this considered a crime scene?"
After a small mental reminder to enroll herself in some forensic study once they found the Captain, Davna shook her head. "He left before I did last night. That was the only thing that seemed off."
"I'd avoid touching too much," Shaun noted, "but you spend a decent amount of time in this office, so to have you touch things shouldn't set it off." He paused, and regarded the Orion, for a second, "Unless of course you are the kidnapper." The tone was half serious, enough to cause someone who'd have actually done it to let those emotions boil to the surface and Shaun to decipher them. But he didn't really mean it, and suspected the Ensign would not have been foolish enough to kick the hornet's nest of Marine if she had done away with the Captain. "But a forensics team will be best to happen next. Get them to sweep this room and get a feeling for if anything not apparent to us has happened. And I would find the animals, they may show more of what has happened here."
Another pause, as he thought about the current situation. "And while you are at it, order a blanket of communications. Hide it behind an ion storm or some other subspace phenomenon. It's easy enough to spoof the civilian sensors to seeing what we tell them is there. Unless someone is... shit." His mind tell to the bar tender at the Silver Tongue. A problem for another moment. "Sorry, unless someone is watching exactly when it happens, it won't be noticed. Please also find the owner of the brewery, I have some questions for him."
"He's next on my list of people to hunt down," Davna stated blandly, ignoring the jested accusation. She knew where she was the night before. No one else needed to know that. "Lieutenant Arnason has a search out for the animals in question, with Lieutenant Issacks keeping an eye out in case anything or any animal shows up. But, if they're on the colony, word is going to get out one way or another. Captain Mahone isn't known to be straying far from the pups, and Noodle - oh no one even knows about Noodle. I'll have to go on a hunt for him myself."
As she listed off items, she had her hand up, counting how much she would have to accomplish. "Hiding communications should be easy enough, but someone is going to need to be here to answer questions. Because they will come. Probably faster than we want it to."
"We'll cross that bridge soon as we are ready. Until then an off-planet comms blanket gives us a small bit of breathing room to hide everything behind that," Shaun's face darkened a little as he though over next steps. "I'll gather the senior staff, get a briefing-debrief combination meeting going. Following that I'll inform Admiral Minawara, and get the civilian leadership on board. I have heard good things about Ms. t'Leiya. Your thoughts Ensign?"
"Ms. t'Leiya?" Davna blinked in unison with her small Daucin friend. "Just one. You might have a time pulling her from the legal mess that the Brays have found themselves in the middle of since the - ah - 'medieval fiasco,' she paused only to let the minor joke sink in, "But I can't imagine she's going to be loud if she discovers the news before everyone else." The Orion could only imagine what would occur if the civilian council heard wind of a disappearing Starfleet official.
"Then I'll ask her for the moment to assist. We are going to have a pile of questions from the Civilians, I'll need a direction to push them. As far as that goes, a lawyer might be our best case to keep things going as smoothly as we can manage." Shaun looked to the Captain's chair for a moment, and then offered a sigh. "Let's get forensics in here now, get this cleaned up and get everything else in order. I need some time to get ducks in a row. Ensign, is there anything else you need from me?"
Davna shook her head, looking ready to turn and hunt someone down. She stopped, casting a guilty-looking stare over to Shaun. "... Sir, if we find those pets... how do you feel about taking care of dogs?"
With a pause, Shaun turned to the Ensign, his face sunk a little. Somewhere his wife was laughing, and he could only sigh. "Why?"
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