Beg, Steal or Borrow – Unexpected Company
by Arrival Alexandria Marshall & Commander Rakka
Post Details
OOC: I've altered an earlier bit, specifying that Rakka picks Swift because she has a bit of medical background... I thought it would make sense considering the autopsy. :)
IC:
**************
The corpse continued to float in space, it had been in orbit around the starbase for some time, and now, it was on a direct course for one of the viewports.
**************
Rakka woke with a start from one of her usual unsettling nightmares involving the walking dead and other such happy characters. She crawled out of the dark, unadorned corner she was accustomed to sleeping in and stood in front of the window to stretch and shake off the last unpleasant threads of her dream.
**************
With a thump, the corpse landed face first into the window. It had suffered all the tell-tale signs of a Cardassian being exposed to the vacume of space
Rakka jumped back from the window with a cry, stumbling and falling back onto her rear. For a moment she swore it was the face of her dead brother, soaked in his own blood as he always was in her dreams, but after blinking several times saw the corpse for what it was, just before it drifted out of her view.
"What the... what the hell?" she breathed.
Quickly she dressed and tore out into the corridor. She had gotten all the way to the lift before she realized she didn't know where she was going. How was she going to retrieve the body?
She considered that it could probably be transported, being that she knew the approximate location, but, though she wasn't any great science buff, she at least knew that taking a body out of the vacuum of space and putting it into a pressurized room would most likely to cause it to implode. She snorted at the unpleasant thought... although, being what space had done to the body already, she could not imagine it looking much more unpleasant.
Quickly she decided the best way to go about this was to take a runabout, bring the corpse in via tractor beam, and reenter the bay with it, letting the room repressurize at a slow enough rate to save what she could of the body. She could, however, use some help.
She tapped her comm badge. =/= "Rakka to Ensign Swift," =/= she said, choosing an officer of hers she knew had at least a bit of a medical background, and one who would be on the early shift anyway.
Ensign Jessica Swift shot up. She hated early shift, and she had been up since ten hundred Hrs. "Ensign Swift here."
=/= "Hope you're up for something interesting. I've just had a corpse drift by my window and I'm wanting to fetch it in as short a time as possible. Would you take a brief runabout trip with me?" =/=
"My god!" She shot up. "I'm heading to one of the shuttlebay's now."
The two officers met up in the bay, and it didn't take long for Rakka to commandeer a small vessel for 'security business', clear away all nonessential personnel, and give express instructions as to what was to happen on their return.
Rakka took the pilot's seat and steered the runabout toward the outer edge of the docking ring, trying to picture which tiny window among thousands that her quarters would be, and how far a corpse might have drifted in that time.
"Want to know the interesting part?" she asked, as if she and the Ensign had been in conversation all along. "It looked to be Cardassian."
Ens. Swift's eyebrows raised. "Computer, establish a containment field in the aft compartment, and remove the artificial atmosphere from the compartment." Her hands ran across the console. "I've got it Commander."
***
Ens. Swift continued to examine the body within an envirosuit. The specialty work of investigating crime was her thesis in the academy. She then spoke. "This is Ensign Jessica Swift, preparing for a post-mortem examination of a subject found outside Deep Space Five. John Doe Number 411-Alpha. Sex; Male."
Rakka, in a similar suit, stood close by, but not enough to interfere. She had a strong stomach and was quite morbidly fascinated by the autopsy process.
Jess began to examine her tricorder. "Body Temperature is indeterminate, as the vacuum of space would have preserved the body indefinitely. Tox screen is negative for any form of sedatives or toxins. Subject however was drunk at time of mortem. However I am unable to determine what he was drinking. The lack of oxygen within the subject has completely mummified the remains." She began to examine the clothes. "My guess is that he was drunk, way over the legal limit for a Cardassian, and he did not know which door lead to the bathroom, and which door lead to his early demise."
Rakka grunted at this theory, finding it doubtful that anyone, even in an intoxicated state, could possibly fling themselves out of an airlock 'by accident'. Such areas of the ship were peripheral for a reason and not easily accessible by any random civilian, partially because of such dangers. "There's got to be something else," she muttered.
"We're not going to get much here Commander. Space is the ultimate place to dispose of a dead body. I can tell you that this man was Cardassian, male, drunk at the time of death, no defensive wounds, no signs that he was killed before he was dumped, DNA has been irradiated making a genetic comparison unlikely. However...." She opened his mouth and began to examine the teeth. "Dental records can identify him, and the Cardassians are meticulous record keepers. Everything else is completely sterile. I think this was an accident, but if it is murder, whoever did it knew how to kill someone. There is an old Cardassian saying; 'There are ways to die, and there are ways to die.'"
"Clever," she said dubiously. "Well, run those dental records. I want to know who this guy was, why he was wandering past an airlock while intoxicated, and most importantly, who was the last person to see him alive. I need to get back to my office--keep me up to date. If you need more staff for any of this, just let me know."
by Arrival Alexandria Marshall & Commander Rakka
Post Details
| Title | Unexpected Company | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Arrival Alexandria Marshall & Commander Rakka | |
| Posted | Wed Feb 04, 2009 @ 6:04am | |
| Location | Rakka's Quarters | |
| Timeline | SD7 - 0430 (Backpost) |
IC:
**************
The corpse continued to float in space, it had been in orbit around the starbase for some time, and now, it was on a direct course for one of the viewports.
**************
Rakka woke with a start from one of her usual unsettling nightmares involving the walking dead and other such happy characters. She crawled out of the dark, unadorned corner she was accustomed to sleeping in and stood in front of the window to stretch and shake off the last unpleasant threads of her dream.
**************
With a thump, the corpse landed face first into the window. It had suffered all the tell-tale signs of a Cardassian being exposed to the vacume of space
Rakka jumped back from the window with a cry, stumbling and falling back onto her rear. For a moment she swore it was the face of her dead brother, soaked in his own blood as he always was in her dreams, but after blinking several times saw the corpse for what it was, just before it drifted out of her view.
"What the... what the hell?" she breathed.
Quickly she dressed and tore out into the corridor. She had gotten all the way to the lift before she realized she didn't know where she was going. How was she going to retrieve the body?
She considered that it could probably be transported, being that she knew the approximate location, but, though she wasn't any great science buff, she at least knew that taking a body out of the vacuum of space and putting it into a pressurized room would most likely to cause it to implode. She snorted at the unpleasant thought... although, being what space had done to the body already, she could not imagine it looking much more unpleasant.
Quickly she decided the best way to go about this was to take a runabout, bring the corpse in via tractor beam, and reenter the bay with it, letting the room repressurize at a slow enough rate to save what she could of the body. She could, however, use some help.
She tapped her comm badge. =/= "Rakka to Ensign Swift," =/= she said, choosing an officer of hers she knew had at least a bit of a medical background, and one who would be on the early shift anyway.
Ensign Jessica Swift shot up. She hated early shift, and she had been up since ten hundred Hrs. "Ensign Swift here."
=/= "Hope you're up for something interesting. I've just had a corpse drift by my window and I'm wanting to fetch it in as short a time as possible. Would you take a brief runabout trip with me?" =/=
"My god!" She shot up. "I'm heading to one of the shuttlebay's now."
The two officers met up in the bay, and it didn't take long for Rakka to commandeer a small vessel for 'security business', clear away all nonessential personnel, and give express instructions as to what was to happen on their return.
Rakka took the pilot's seat and steered the runabout toward the outer edge of the docking ring, trying to picture which tiny window among thousands that her quarters would be, and how far a corpse might have drifted in that time.
"Want to know the interesting part?" she asked, as if she and the Ensign had been in conversation all along. "It looked to be Cardassian."
Ens. Swift's eyebrows raised. "Computer, establish a containment field in the aft compartment, and remove the artificial atmosphere from the compartment." Her hands ran across the console. "I've got it Commander."
***
Ens. Swift continued to examine the body within an envirosuit. The specialty work of investigating crime was her thesis in the academy. She then spoke. "This is Ensign Jessica Swift, preparing for a post-mortem examination of a subject found outside Deep Space Five. John Doe Number 411-Alpha. Sex; Male."
Rakka, in a similar suit, stood close by, but not enough to interfere. She had a strong stomach and was quite morbidly fascinated by the autopsy process.
Jess began to examine her tricorder. "Body Temperature is indeterminate, as the vacuum of space would have preserved the body indefinitely. Tox screen is negative for any form of sedatives or toxins. Subject however was drunk at time of mortem. However I am unable to determine what he was drinking. The lack of oxygen within the subject has completely mummified the remains." She began to examine the clothes. "My guess is that he was drunk, way over the legal limit for a Cardassian, and he did not know which door lead to the bathroom, and which door lead to his early demise."
Rakka grunted at this theory, finding it doubtful that anyone, even in an intoxicated state, could possibly fling themselves out of an airlock 'by accident'. Such areas of the ship were peripheral for a reason and not easily accessible by any random civilian, partially because of such dangers. "There's got to be something else," she muttered.
"We're not going to get much here Commander. Space is the ultimate place to dispose of a dead body. I can tell you that this man was Cardassian, male, drunk at the time of death, no defensive wounds, no signs that he was killed before he was dumped, DNA has been irradiated making a genetic comparison unlikely. However...." She opened his mouth and began to examine the teeth. "Dental records can identify him, and the Cardassians are meticulous record keepers. Everything else is completely sterile. I think this was an accident, but if it is murder, whoever did it knew how to kill someone. There is an old Cardassian saying; 'There are ways to die, and there are ways to die.'"
"Clever," she said dubiously. "Well, run those dental records. I want to know who this guy was, why he was wandering past an airlock while intoxicated, and most importantly, who was the last person to see him alive. I need to get back to my office--keep me up to date. If you need more staff for any of this, just let me know."