EXETERRPG: (2, 20:00) 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]

NRPG: No one is to know IC about the fact that our assailant body swapped
unless they were told IC or they OOC asked me for permission to know it IC
and explain to me why it makes sense for their character to know such
classified piece of intel.

RPG:

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 - 2000)

Trip looked at the assembled officers and sighed.

“Okay, so we know that at least one person is not who they say they are.
And we know we have three assailants. What we don’t know is if those other
two people have also been swapped with someone else. Perhaps mercenaries
hired by the visitor to protect them. Either that or we have two rogue
Starfleet Officers.”

“Body swaps, Rogue Officers…” Ailynn sighed. “...the frak is going on?” she
said, mostly to herself, expressing her irritability at the entire
situation. She however fell immediately silent as Trip continued speaking.

“Lieutenant Corsica, you’re the head counselor here and an empath. Without
violating any professional rules of ethics, have you encountered any crew
members over the last three days who just haven’t seemed like themselves.
Behaving oddly, out of character, things of that nature”

Victoria took a moment to ponder, emotions had been high the last two days,
rumors were everywhere. To keep her own sanity Corsica had kept to herself
and her work. Keeping wild emotions away from her privy.

“You don’t have to answer right away, you can take some time to process.”

She answered softly reserved, "No I haven't but if I haven't been close
enough to any of those involved it would be more difficult for me to pick
up on anything."

“Lieutenant Ravok, your briefings have indicated that you and Ensign
Hammerfield are attempting to lure out one of the suspects. Keep going on
that task. Let me know how it pans out."

" Ensign Hammerfield is currently setting up. Ensign T'kel is assisting
Sir. We are hoping to have successful results in a few hours." Ravok
replied.

“Also keep me apprised of Ensign More’s investigation. Feel free to lend
him a hand if you think you need it.”

Ravok nodded " Aye Sir."

“Commander Merek, while I can’t release the logs to you, by order of
Starfleet JAG, I may have pulled small snippets of audio from the logs, the
voices of the assailants. Not full phrases. Just disconnected words here
and there. The male assailants did not use anything to disguise their
voice, see what you can do by running a voice analysis and figure out who
they are. Bring in Ensign Sleeford and Lieutenant Cortez on this one.”

"Does this mean Lt. Cortez is off the hook?" Keira probed.

"Yes and no. Lt. Cortez is not a person of interest insofar as we believe
her to be who she says she is. But we don't know if she is who she says she
is. Figure that out and yeah she's clean."

"In the spirit of how we've done so here, I have a few ways of doing that."
Keira answered.

“I also have the distorted audio of the visitor, Commander Bracken, get
with Lt. Williams on this one, have him plug into his AI, Aunty Colerdige
or whatever she is called. See if you can’t undistort the audio and give us
a better chance of at least identifying whether the visitor is inhabiting a
male or female body.”

Ailynn nodded, this was not her field. She was an exceptional physical
Practitioner of Medicine, but she would always be amongst the first to
admit that she was far from the most technical. “On it.” She replied
simply. It didn’t need more, however a moment later, she added more. “I
need you to pick a selection of common words, but if you can, a couple of
less common ones if they exist in the recording you have, sometimes the way
that people use a less familiar word is just as indicative.”

“I’d also like you to reach out to your mom. They used fast acting
paralyzing nanites that dissolve. See if this tech exists in our universe,
who has access to it, and who is smart enough to make it.”

“Concur.” She nodded. “I’ll set up a secure line with her straight after
this.” She didn’t add any more to this, she fell into reflective silence as
Trip continued speaking.

“Lastly, as I mentioned when talking about Lt. Cortez, I have all of you
working with different personnel who may be the visitor. We don’t know. See
if you can’t try and figure out if they really are who they say they are,
without revealing anything about the body swap. This is a matter of utmost
secrecy. If this gets out, I will consider it a major security breach,
there will be a full investigation, and if I find out that any of you
leaked it, your further service on the Exeter will no longer be required.
Is that understood?”


"Aye." Keira said succinctly, knowing full well the gravity of what she was
just told.

" Yes sir." Ravok said.

“Aye Skip.” Ailynn nodded, answering Trip after Ravok had. Her mind was
already halfway onto her next two tasks, the first being an extremely
secure communique with the Fleet Surgeon General.

Corsica nodded, "Understood."

“Now then, any questions?”

Keira shook her head in the negative.

" In light of everything we have just learned. I ask that we for the sake
of the people on ship , move to a heightened alert status. Essential
movement around the ship only. We know that Commander Tyko Nix was
specifically targeted and why, but the assailants are unaware of the
knowledge we have. This action would not only serve to protect the people
on this vessel but also keep the assailants in the dark on the intelligence
you have collected Sir." Ravok said.

“As to your request Lieutenant Ravok, it is denied. By moving to a
heightened alert status it may indicate to the assailants that we are
closing in and that we might have gained knowledge that puts them more in
the crosshairs. I’d rather them be complacent as they are more likely to
make a mistake that way. We will remain at yellow alert, with no heightened
security provisions. Once the assailants have been identified, we can
revisit that request. Until then, I’d rather not tip any of our pitches to
our friends. A rat is more likely to feel threatened if they are cornered.
I'm more worried that our personnel are at risk if we make the assailants
feel threatened and as if the walls are closing in, than perhaps they would
be if they feel they are free to move. Right now we know they targeted
Commander Tyko, specifically because he was getting too close. Who is to
say that following that modus operandi, they might not do the same if they
feel threatened again. I feel that our people are safer with them being as
much in the dark as possible, since the only violent actions we have on
record from the visitor is when they were close to being stopped and
discovered.”

" Understood." Ravok said begrudgingly.

Ailynn drew a breath. “Agreed, one thing stands” she spoke, looking at all
of them, “whether by their action, or by their instigation and planning,
whatever shape or sex they are, the main perp can be considered
exceptionally dangerous. It can be assumed that they can and or will kill
again. Regardless of apparent advantages you may think you or we have,
If...no...when we find this culprit, do not...under any
circumstances...tackle them yourself.” She paused. “I don’t like doing
surgery on friends.”

“Makes sense. No one is allowed to engage the perpetrators without a phaser
and at least two tactical officers present. You are also cleared to stun
the perpetrators as they are to be considered a flight risk. However you
can only do so after first announcing who you are, that you have them
cornered, what they are being accused of, a formal declaration of arrest,
and that they are to stand down. After that, if they run, fire away.”

" Understood " Ravok simply responded.

Ailynn nodded, “Agreed. Understood.”

Victoria listened as she had learned to do for so much of her life. Being a
counselor and diplomat required her to read the room and pick out what was
needed to ascertain a certain outcome.  So far she agreed with what had
been discussed. It seemed prudent to play it safe and not tip our hand. But
there was still something that was bugging her. "Please Captain, can you
clarify something for me. You want me to go visit with the crew and see if
I can pick up on something to smoke out one of the people involved? I don't
mean to be rude just want it to be clear on what's expected of me."

"No smoking out Lieutenant. I just want you to be observant. You aren't
bait if that is what you're afraid of. But since you have a expert level
grasp on, for lack of a better term, the human condition, if you keep your
eyes and ears open, who knows. Maybe you'll find something."

Corsica nodded in agreement to the Captain's comments. It seemed she would
be of more use if she got out a bit more, interacted with the crew more.

"Alright then, you all have your orders." Trip then looked at Ailynn, and
with a nod indicated that he wanted her to stay behind after the briefing.
"Be thorough, be discreet. Dismissed."

(Reply none)

(Posted by Will, Mark, Todd, Rob, and Matt)
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