EXETERRPG: (2, 1950) CO, Captain Trip Williams, FO, Commander Ailynn Bracken, CEO/2O, Lt. Commander Keira Merek, CTO/3O Lt. SG Ravok Shara, Chief Counselor, Lt. JG Victoria Corsica

[Will Banowsky]

Mission: Murder on the Exeter Express
Day: 2
Stardate: 2445.12.02

(USS Exeter - Ready Room - CO, Captain Trip Williams, FO, Commander Ailynn
Bracken, CEO/2O, Lt. Commander Keira Merek, CTO/3O Lt. SG Ravok Shara,
Chief Counselor, Lt. JG Victoria Corsica - 1950)

Trip waited for his command staff as well as his chief counselor to arrive,
as each one did he motioned for them to move over to the area with the
couch and armchair. One by one they were all seated. Trip grabbed his desk
chair and moved it over into that area.

“Computer lock door, authorization Williams.Alpha.Three.Tango.Fandango.
Deactivate any recording devices in the ready room, authorization
Williams.Alpha.Four.Mamba.Jamba. Sound proof ready room authorization
Williams.Alpha.Two.Salsa.Merengue.”

[Acknowledged]

Trip then looked at the assembled officers.

“Well before we start, while I appreciate the expediency and the urgency
that many of you took in getting here, I need to make one thing absolutely
clear, if you are going to set foot on my bridge, you better do so in
proper uniform attire. If I wasn’t afraid to ask Foxglove to be in proper
uniform when she stepped onto my bridge or into my ready room, and she
could literally kill me in my sleep, then I’m not afraid to ask the same of
all of you. Is that clear.” He said, looking directly at Ravok’s t-shirt.

" Understood Sir, Won't happen again." Ravok responded simply, he was in
the wrong and knew it.

Victoria watched everyone feeling out of place. She was not part of the
command crew nor was an active member of the on going investigation in the
Murder of Tyko. But she figured she was called here for a reason only time
will tell.

~Fandango? Mamba? Jamba? I thought those code words were supposed to be
greek letters or phonetics….who knew?~ Keira thought to herself.

“And Ravok, dance like a romulan, really. Let’s not have another repeat of
my bachelor party shall we.” Trip said with a chuckle.

" Thanks to present company I'm unable to remember what you are talking
about. " Ravok said, shooting commander Bracken a look.

Ailynn sighed, and coughed strategically. “Seriously...laws of the stag, do
you boys not know anything? What goes on tour stays on tour. Besides, the
third bar was not my fault...How was I supposed to know that the bar
staff…” She stopped talking and turned to Kiera. “Nothing happened. Quiet
night, we just went to a quiet bar and played Canasta with the locals, a
couple of beers, tops.”  Ailynn finished somewhat whimsically.

Keira raised one eyebrow curiously looking at the FO, then her SO, but
remained, silent. This was talk for another time.

Trip then collected himself and then shifted his tone to be more serious.
“Thanks to Ravok’s discovery, I was able to petition Starfleet JAG to open
up Lt. Commander Tyko’s encrypted logs to help get us a better sense of
anything that might be happening. To say that we hit a gold mine of
information and worry would be an understatement. Unfortunately I am not
allowed to let any of you listen to the logs, and can only relay what is
pertinent to the investigation. I must stress that, while what I tell you
will give us direction on what to look for, what I tell you is classified
and is not to be discussed outside this room. Is that clear?”

"Of course." Keira replied simply.

Ailynn nodded, “Understood”

" Perfectly clear." Ravok acknowledged

"Crystal clear, sir." Victoria responded to the Captain as the weight of
the situation started to settle on her.

Trip nodded, “Our good friend Commander Tyko was apparently hunting a
sociopath from a parallel universe who had hopped into ours. He had been on
their trail for the last few months. This visitor, for lack of a better
term, had intimate knowledge of a lot of Starfleet’s secrets, so the guess
is whatever parallel universe they came from, it was similar to ours.
Commander Tyko never got a good look at this visitor before they stole a
classified device that dated back to a mission of the USS Spectre back in
2406. The device was a transporter enhancer, that rather than transport
matter from one place to another, transported once consciousness,
personality, knowledge, memory, and being, into another's body, and
switching it with that of the transport locations mind. Essentially
allowing for a body swap.”

Every fibre of Ailynn’s being was visibly disgusted. “Prophets...that’s...I
have no words.”

Corsica's stomach turned, as she started to understand the details behind
the crime that had happened. Victoria fashioned herself a pacifist,
avoiding violence whenever she could. Dealing with a person who actively
sought out other people to harm was a concept she found disturbing.

“This visitor then switched bodies with Tyko’s partner and vaporized their
original body, leaving no trace. They then fled, finding their way to
Starbase Freedom. Commander Tyko cornered the visitor, who then switched
bodies one last time with an unknown person, while at the same time
poisoning the body she left. Whoever they switched with, Tyko believed it
to be a member of our crew based off of the last words of whoever was
switched before they died. That is the real reason why he boarded the
Exeter. He was on the hunt.”

Ravok rubbed his face. The situation was unbelievable to him. " Any chance
of good news ?"

“The good news is that before joining us, the good commander destroyed the
device. Meaning that our visitor is stuck in whatever body she switched to.
Anyways, Commander Tyko knew he was being targeted. He was poisoned by
whatever chemicals were taken from the lounge, but he knew it would not be
lethal. However, based on his last log he was aware that his days were
numbered. In fact he was recording his final log when died. Whoever our
visitor switched into appeared in his quarters as he was getting ready for
bed, which is why he was naked. They gave him a kiss and with a distorted
voice said he had been given some fast acting paralyzing nanites. They
would paralyze him, then dissolve in 15 minutes. They then left, and two
men entered shortly after. One broke his neck, the other bashed in his
skull. They were following orders. They then used a device mimicking the
commander’s voice and made the call to security, then left. Mention was
made to internal sensors in the commander’s room being off. The commander
also left his door unlocked, hoping the visitor would come to him and kept
his log running so that maybe something would get caught. I’m guessing.
Anyways, that is what we’re dealing with right now. Three perps, two males,
one of unknown gender. Whoever the third is, they are insanely intelligent
and dangerous.”

So much slotted into place in Ailynn’s mind, but it was all of it,
overshadowed by two seemingly simple things. She knew her shock ran through
her brain, but immediately upon realising it, switched her thoughts from
Tyko, and the nanites, to Caity, from shock, and deepest worry, to longing,
edged with the regret of necessary separation.

"Tyko's final mistake was fatal. He let his enemy know where he was." Keira
said more of her father's teachings leaking out.

Ailynn’s voice was barely more than a whisper at first, the majority of her
brain was deep in thought, she knew that Trip knew her every mannerism to
almost it’s deepest level. She was worried. It was one of the things that
made them such an effective team. She wasn’t sure how well the other
Command staff was beginning to pick up on her swing of moods, or
subtleties. “Primary perp may well be Female. Nix’s taste seems to have
been one for the ladies. On top of that; every behavioural analysis study
ever performed since their inception have cited one thing. Amongst Human,
and Bajoran murders, a female is disproportionately more likely to kill by
poison, experts cite the tidiness and remote nature of the killing. Other
races skew the data.”

"They could just be made to look human or Bajoran, they may have been
surgically altered." Keira offered.

“We are dealing with an exceptionally well prepared and organised killer.
No signs of blitz attack, beautiful counter-forensics, uses and disposes of
subordinates with ruthless efficiency. Ladies and gentlemen, I may be wrong
about the sex, but we are dealing with a pure, pure sociopath, and there’s
a reasonable chance that they are nearly as intelligent as I am.”

"Correct me if I'm wrong but intelligence might not be the deciding factor
in this, skill might be. Our killer certainly has skills that no one of us
singly possess. Their mindset is certainly better suited to the tasks they
hope to accomplish with the skill sets they have." Keira agreed.

Ravok turned to Bracken. " Intelligent. Yes, but not smarter " He said to
her and looked at the others. " We have a significant advantage. At present
we know more than they think we do. "

Victoria continued to listen not only to what was spoken, but how it was
said, and even more deeply with her empathic abilities. Keeping her
abilities passive only reading the emotions of those that were gathered. It
was clear that she was being thrust into the middle of a sensitive and
difficult situation.

“While they are all valid points, the ring leader, or visitor, has probably
not surgically altered themself. They are in a different body, one of our
crew, so we think, they probably haven’t had time to change their look or a
need. As for sex, the visitor may have orginally been a woman, but that
doesn’t mean that the body of the person they switched into is female. So
we can’t rule anyone out. Everyone is a suspect now, even everyone in this
room.”

“That’s a good point.” Ailynn said. “I’d overlooked that.” She admitted.

Ravok knew Trip was right. " Well, that makes everything so much more
daunting"

“So before next steps, we need to figure out if everyone here is who they
say they are. This device is a bodyswap, so the visitor wouldn't have the
knowledge or memories of their host body. So if you are who you say you
are, you would know the secrets which others have shared with you.”

Keira's eyes quickly glanced around the room, but she said nothing.

" Good Idea." Ravok chimed in.

"There was a 20th century film known as The Thing, where stranded
researches in Antarctica, trying to find a shapeshifting alien, tested
their blood to see if one of them had been switched. I propose doing a
Thing test, by revealing the secrets that we have shared with one of the
other people in this room. It may be painful, but it is the easiest way.
Now I prefer you volunteer to this test, but I will order it if I have to.
Any objections?”

Ailynn shook her head. “No objection.”

"None." Keira stated.

Corsica nodded her head, understanding the task at hand but she hadn't
trusted to many with secrets mostly because she didn't have that many to
share.

" Understood." Ravok exclaimed. He didn't have much in the way of secrets.
He was generally open about his life.

“Ravok, back when we were in the fighter wing, you and I had a conversation
in the lounge. It talked about our family history. You admitted to me one
of your most shameful moments involving recreation. What was it, and why
did it involve me?”

Ravok took a deep breath and lowered his head, his hand gripping his
commbadge.

" When I was 12 I made a holodeck program of the battle of Cheron and I
altered the outcome in favor of a Romulan victory. I played the character
of Sub Commander Sirgut Shara ,My grandfather's brother. In the program we
captured enemy ships and took their captains hostage and executed them in
the process. I thought the program would help me feel more Romulan and for
a while it did. I however stopped using the program when I was 15 and I
finally deleted it on mars because I discovered one of the officers I would
execute was…" He looked at Trip, he hated having to retell this to his
friend. His hand gripped his commbadge tighter.

" One of the officers I would execute was an ancestor of Captain Williams
here. Our families were at war in 2160. Yet now I still feel the shame of
what my ancestor had done. A shame I will carry all my life." He stood up
and walked to the replicator and got himself a water and drank it. He was
visibly shaken up by admitting that to everyone in the room.

“Ravok is clear. So who wants to go next? While I would argue my knowing
Ravok’s secret should prove I am who I am, fair is fair. Lynn, you know me
best, you know most of my secrets. Ask away.”

Ailynn sat back in her chair and sighed, nodding. She then smiled gently
and shook her head. “Trip. You have a scar on your left hand, about 2cm in
length. What caused you to end up with that scar.”

"First year at the academy. You and I made a blood pact. You have a
matching scar."

Ailynn nodded, and held out her hand to the person on her left, to show
that she, indeed, also had a similar sized scar.

Keira looked and indeed she as well had a 2 cm scar. Keira nodded. ~ The
scar only proves the body is correct, and not a clone, or other similar
construct.~

"Ailynn, why did you get a month of detention in high school?"

Ailynn laughed. “You would remember that one. Start of every Biology
lesson, I was...15 I think. The teacher never rubbed the questions off the
board from the previous lesson. I strolled in and started pointing out all
the errors that Mrs Turner had made in the worked answers. It was a degree
level access question on biochemical systems. My parting shot was “Are you
sure you have any qualification to teach this subject?” Ailynn blushed and
laughed. “Mum went mental at me.”

Ravok laughed at Bracken's story. It made him feel better.

"That tracks." Trip said shifting his gaze to Keira. "Keira, what was the
inscription on the antique pistol you gave me as a gift?"

"I never gave you an antique pistol. I gave you a hand made bowie knife
made from hull of the God of War, a rechristened Captain's yacht you used
in your first battle. It was scrap by the time you came back, because it
was sabotaged. The investigation of which is how we started to become
friends ourselves, instead of the friend of my boyfriend." Keira answered.
"The inscription on that is in latin. Translated to 'standard is: If you
want peace, prepare for war."

“It is a knife, and the God of War wasn’t sabotaged, it was just old, had
too much new junk placed into, and was used for a purpose it was never
designed for. We pushed it to the limit and it pushed back.”

Trip then looked around the room again, speaking softly he said. “I’m
satisfied that everyone is who they say they are, except Lt. Corsica.”

Corsica jumped a little as all eyes were now on her.

“Lieutenant, you and I once had a lengthy conversation about whether
Betazoids just really liked chocolate or if there was a genetic
predisposition and wiring to do so. We then shared our favorite desserts
with chocolate. At the next senior staff meeting after that, I made a batch
of this dessert, to which, in front of the entire senior staff you
exclaimed, excitedly and a bit embarrassingly, that it was your favorite of
all time. What was this dessert?”

"No offense to your grandmother's secret recipe. Gideon's half pound
chocolate chip cookies are superior. You can't change my mind on that.
Especially with a tall glass of milk." She answered in a teasingly yet warm
manner. As She clearly remembered that dinner in which the CO and herself
had a long discussion on the finer points on the proper methodologies of
how to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

“That was in fact the dessert in question, and let's agree to disagree on
which cookie is superior.” Trip paused. “Ok, now that I ma at least more
confident that everyone is who they say they are. So with that being said.
It’s time for next steps.”

(reply none)
(posted by Will, Mark, Todd, Rob, and Matt L.)

NRPG: To Be Continued.
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