Intervention

Posted on Sat Nov 11, 2017 @ 5:53pm by Ensign Jessica Mayhew & Civilian Aleczandra Naqiis-Ryan & Captain Maritza Soran & Lieutenant Annora Tessaro & Lieutenant JG Noelle Bennett M.D.

2,512 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Rumours
Location: Security Office
Timeline: MD 7 1500

::ON::

Ensign Jessica Mayhew stood up as Caden entered the security offices, pushing back behind her ear a bit of her blonde hair that had gotten loose from her regulation ponytail

“Sir,” Jessica greeted the XO, “I have Zandra in Commander Ryan’s office, as you asked.” She shifted a bit nervously. “Sir, she is a minor, and regulations state that she needs a representative present if we are to question her. Normally that would be her father, but…” The fact was, Caleb Ryan was currently being arraigned in front of a joint tribunal. “We should contact the magistrate to assign her counsel in the interim. Especially since she seems...confused. I found her in her quarters. She said she’d been asleep.” That caused Jessica to give a confused look. She had just seen the girl walk out of sickbay.

Cade nodded and rubbed his temple. He had forgotten that Ryan was one of the officers tied up in that sham of a trial. He had also been hoping not to get more people involved in this than there already were. Oh, well. In for a penny, in for a pound. "Fine. Let's get her counsel. As quickly as possible. Also, get Counselor Bennett down here for a psych eval. If Noelle can't make it then find someone who can. Who's acting Chief of Security?"

“That would be Assistant Chief Lieutenant Tessaro,” Jessica replied. She worried her lower lip, considering something. She leaned over the desk and picked up a padd.

“I don’t know if this is related,” she said. “I don’t see how it could be. Very early this morning we got an alert on weapons fire in an out of the way shuttle bay on Deck 1126, Bay 35. The security team sent to investigate found no one, but there was definitely residual energy from a Cardassian-model disruptor and very faint, trace readings of phaser fire. And there was a lot of blood. The tests came back an hour ago. Two different blood traces. I thought the sample must have been contaminated, because it didn’t make sense. Both samples had Human markings. One of the samples also had Trill biometrics. It matched Zandra’s profile in Starfleet’s database. That’s what was confusing, and why I thought it had to have been contaminated.” She showed Cade the DNA profiles. “But I spoke to the evidence recovery techs, and none of them reported anything but SOP in processing the scene.”

Jessica took a breath and swiped to another screen on the padd. “The second sample came back with a match later this morning, on the Promenade. I’m sure you heard about the two dead Human bodies that were beamed directly onto The Dilithium Chamber’s awning during the brunch rush? One of the blood samples matched one of the victim’s.” She showed Cade the picture of a dead Human woman, a beautiful blonde. “We don’t have ID on her yet,” Jessica admitted. “For some reason she isn’t in the system. But she matches the description we were given by the server at The Box of Delights as the last person seen with Ferengi Attache Nazl before he was murdered.”

Jessica looked up at Cade for the XO’s thoughts on the matter. “We’re still going over transporter and sensor logs to see from where they were beamed, but it’s a busy station, with a lot of transporter traffic. It could have been from off station.”

Cade studied the report on the padd, frowning and shaking his head. "What the hell is she involved with? She's just a kid." Then his inner voice reminded him that she wasn't really "just a kid." He sighed and handed the device back to Jessica. "We'll ask her what she knows about those incidents, although I imagine she'll tell us she slept through all that, too." He paused for a beat and added, "I don't suppose you know who any of Aleczandra's friends are? Who she hangs out with? Any recurring faces?"

Jessica shrugged. “Sorry, sir, no. I only know her from when she stops by to see the Commander. She seems like a good kid. She’s never been in any trouble that has been reported to Security, other than the Ferengi incident. I’ve been stopping by to check up on her since Commander Ryan...well, since he was abducted. She seems rather put together and mature for a teenager, taking her father’s situation in stride. Certainly better than I probably would have at her age. Dr. Bennet in Counseling knows her better. I think her and Ryan were stationed together somewhere before coming to DS5.”

"You say she's taking things in stride. Does she ever seem like her mind is somewhere else? Or that maybe there's something different about her personality?" He wasn't yet sure what kind of answer he was looking for, but he was trying to go about it carefully.

Jessica frowned. “Well, I’ve not known her for too long,” she admitted. “Sometimes she seems to...zone out, but that’s a teenager thing, right? Not listening to you. Sorry if that isn’t more helpful, sir,” she apologized.

"No, it's fine," he replied.

A few minutes later, Noelle entered the security office, still not entirely sure she understood why she had been summoned, even though the message has been straightforward. Nodding in greeting as each person met her eyes, she asked, "I was given the basics, but would someone mind giving me a brief overview before I go speak with her?"

The good news was, their missing people had been found. The bad news, they were on trial for supposed crimes committed against the Cardassians during the Dominion War. From what information she could gather, it was tied to that strange portal they had stumbled upon. Thankfully Annora technically wasn't around during that time, otherwise she might have been swept up in the trial as well.

Despite all the craziness, life had to more or less continued as normal on the station. That included investigating the possibility that Commander Ryan's daughter was the main suspect in a recent murder. Arriving just behind the Doctor, Annora waited for the update from those in charge before getting involved herself.

Jessica took a breath, looking at Commander Aldrex for permission before she spoke. “Aleczandra Ryan apparently assaulted Dr. Amia Telamon about an hour ago,” she said. “Also, her DNA showed up at a crime scene we investigated early this morning. We got reports of weapons fire, and there was blood on the scene, including hers. There were no bodies, but two bodies matching other DNA on the scene were privately transported onto the exterior awning of The Dilithium Chamber this morning. One of those bodies matches the description of the woman reportedly last seen with Ferengi diplomatic attache Nazl before his murder. Zandra is in Commander’s Ryan’s office at the moment. We can’t speak with her unless she has counsel or a legal guardian present.”

Jessica looked to Lt. Tessaro. “Should I more her to an interrogation room, sir?” she asked.

Noelle absorbed the information and struggled to keep her face impassive with so many emotions swirling inside of her. There was so much to get her head around, but one thing was clear, the price of keeping Zandra's secret had become too high and the symbiont's adjustment or lack thereof was a lot more complicated than they realized.

Shisharal Rann, the closest thing Aleczandra had to a legal guardian with her father being held by the Lissepians, arrived in a rush, slightly out of breath. "I'm sorry I'm late. This is Senpar Kohn. He'll be Miss Ryan's legal counsel." The child welfare officer indicated a Ktarian male in civilian clothing. "Shall we proceed?"

Jessica looked to Commander Aldrex and Lieutenant Tessaro before turning to the advocate. “Ms. Ryan is in Interrogation 3,” she said. “This way.” The blonde turned to lead them down the corridor to the interrogation room.

Noelle offered respectful nods to the advocate and attorney before watching them enter the interrogation room. She was eager to get to Zandra, but she also knew it would be an opportunity for her to get a sense of her mental state before they actually interacted. She didn't mind admitting it was hard to make sense of all of this, and the more time she had to sort it out, the better.

Aleczandra lifted her head from the table to look at them when the door opened. She pushed back her rainbow-colored hair. “Been long enough,” the teen complained. “What’s going on? Has something happened at the tribunal? Is my dad okay?”

“Keep me informed,” Caden told Jessica. As much as he wanted to stay here and help Aleczandra, his place was in Ops.

"We haven't heard anything," Rann told the young woman. "As far as we're aware, things are still in progress. Unfortunately, something else serious has happened, and we can't wait for him."

"I wouldn't worry too much about your father. We have observers keeping an eye on the proceedings, as well as skilled legal experts representing the accused. We will make sure to inform you of any significant developments."

While the current events were certainly taking precedence, Annora felt it important to address Aleczandra's fears about her dad. It was Ensign Mayhew's case, so she was going to let her take lead.

Jessica sat down at the table with a padd. “How are you feeling, Zandra?” she asked.

Aleczandra shrugged with typical closed-off teenage attitude, crossing her arms. “Tired,” she said, glancing at everyone in the room. She’d blacked out again, and had a headache. She took a sip of water from the glass that had been left for her. “What’s going on?”

“We have some questions for you, Zandra,” Jessica said.

“About what?”

Jessica tapped on her padd and then held it out to show Aleczandra. “Do you know these two persons?” They were pictures of a male and female Human taken from official files.

Aleczandra peered at the pictures. Why did they look so familiar? She couldn’t place them, though. “No, I don’t know them,” she half lied. “Wait…” She looked at the woman again. “I think I’ve seen her here in the Security offices. Her picture, I mean, not actually her. Isn’t she the person of interest you’re looking for in the Ferengi murder?” She avoided saying Nazl’s name.

“Yes,” Jessica nodded, placing the padd on the table in front of Zandra so the girl could still see them. She swiped across the screen, bringing up another picture. “She and the man were transported atop the awning above the Dilithium Chamber this morning during the morning rush.” The two bodies lay sprawled across the awning, pale and bloody.

Zandra paled a bit herself. “I...what does that have to do with me?”

“We had a report of weapons fire in one of the more secluded docking bays on the station very early this morning,” Jessica explained. “On arriving at the scene, Security officers found no one, but there was blood. Theirs.” Jessica indicated the picture. “And yours.”

Zandra blinked in shock. Oh, hell. What have I done now? she thought to herself, suddenly cold.

“Where were you this morning around four?”

Zandra stared at Jessica. I thought you were my friend, bitch! she wanted to scream. She bought herself some time by brushing back her rainbow hair and taking another drink.

“At home in bed, where any sensible honors student would be on a school night,” Zandra said.

Jessica nodded and made a note on another padd. “So how do you explain your blood and DNA being at the crime scene?” Jessica flipped the screen on the first padd again to show the scene.

“I don’t know,” Zandra said. “Maybe your test was wrong? Contaminated? Maybe someone planted it there. I give blood regularly.”

Jessica nodded and glanced up at the others to see if they had any further questions.

"Are you charging my client with anything?" the lawyer, Kohn, asked. "Or questioning her in connection with anything specific? People can bleed all over the place, and modern forensics can pull a DNA sample of a nanite’s testicles. You can probably find the DNA of half the station in that cargo area."

“No charges yet, Advocate,” Jessica said. “We’re still finding out the facts. I am merely trying to find if there is any connection between Aleczandra and the victims transported outside the Dilithium Chamber.”

“Well, I told you, I don’t know them,” Aleczandra said.

“Can anyone confirm your whereabouts?” Jessica asked her.

Zandra arched an eyebrow. “I sleep alone, if that is what you’re asking.”

Jessica shook her head.

“My dad should be able to. And aren’t there security cameras in the corridors outside crew quarters?”

Jessica nodded.

“Then you should be able to see if I ever left my quarters.”

“We will check them,” Jessica confirmed.

“So can I go then?”

Jessica glanced at Lt. Tessaro and the lawyer. “I don’t have any further questions,” she said.

Kohn nodded curtly. "Then my client will depart. And if you have further questions, I trust you'd rather contact myself or Miss Rann in the first instance than open yourself to a suit for harassing a minor by calling her in first." He indicated for Aleczandra to leave with him.

Aleczandra glanced up at Jessica and then rose from the table, following the advocate out of the door.

Jessica sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Sorry,” she apologized. “I guess I bungled that up. I’ll go download the security footage.”

Noelle had known Zandra long enough to know there more going on than she possibly knew or was saying, and the uneasy feeling in her stomach had not gone away ever since she first suspected things with the girl's symbiont had gone horribly wrong. With Caleb under his own stress, Noelle felt an obligation to support his daughter however she could. As Kohn and Zandra left the interrogation room, she stopped them. "Zandra, I know it's been awhile since we last talked, and I know you've been busy, but I think, under the circumstances, we should meet. Come with me to my office?"

Aleczandra sighed and looked at Kohn before looking back to Noelle. “Okay,” she said.

Annora shook her head. "Don't worry about Kohn. Miss Ryan is old enough to be held responsible for the crime, if indeed she's guilty. Either way, she's a person of interest and should remain on the station."

Jessica nodded. “With her father still being held by the Lissepians, I don’t think she’ll be going anywhere.”

::OFF::

Shisharal Rann
Child Welfare Officer
NPC Soran

Senpar Kohn
Attourney
NPC Soran

Lt jg. Annora Tessaro
Assistant Chief of Security

Aleczandra Ryan
Civilian
NPC Caleb Ryan

Ens. Jessica Mayhew
Security Officer
NPC Caleb Ryan

Ltjg. Noelle Bennett, M.D.
Chief Counselor

 

RSS Feed