Working on Mysteries

Posted on Sat Nov 9th, 2024 @ 12:54am by Commander Kevin Lance

Mission: Starbase 364
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Current

on:
{Emergency Bridge, Deck 2}

Kevin sat in stood at the tactical table on the Norris emergency bridge, considering the images before him. His PADD lay on the table projecting a holographic recreation of his beloved big board that had once dominated his office when he was the Chief Tactical Officer aboard the USS Independence. He loved how it allowed him to see all of the evidence of a problem that he was considering and allow his subconscious to make connections that would otherwise be concealed.

Today, however, no epiphany was forthcoming. The evidence was not yielding a logical conclusion.

First was the results from the autopsy performed on Captain Rashard of the USS Gato. The man’s birth records and medical information showed that he was fully human but the body that lay in the morgue was Orion. Various identification files for Captain Rashard had been altered aboard Starbase 364 that prevented the security systems from altering on the contradiction and Kevin suspected that they would find similar alterations aboard the Gato.

Kevin had reconstructed the Captain’s and his ship’s timeline and as best he could calculate, the real Captain Rashard had been replaced by the Orion over a year ago, about the same time as the Norris was assigned to Starbase 364. All of the alleged crimes against other Star Fleet Personnel had been committed in the time since which lent additional credence to the theory. Ironically, Gato had been one of the first ships to go missing and it was a perverse coincidence that Mira was the Captain tasked with finding him.

There was much less information about why the Orions were trying to abduct Mira. The points of commonality between Mira and the other women who had disappeared didn’t reveal anything meaningful. All female, natives of Federation member worlds, kidnapped by Orion pirates. It was wholly unsatisfying.

=/\= “Commander Lance. The crew has been recalled and we are ready to launch.” =/\=

“Inform the Captain. I will meet her on the Bridge,” he replied.

Answers would need to wait.

:off

Commander Kevin Lance
Executive Officer
USS Chuck Norris