Who dun it?

Posted on Thu Feb 29th, 2024 @ 9:46am by Commander Jennifer Baldric & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Ensign Kitiuas Thenis & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: Character Development
Location: Promenade
Timeline: Current-ish

Commander Jennifer Baldric strode along the promenade towards the bomb site, ignoring the security that tried to stop her.

"My people are in there!" She pushed past them and kept marching, heading straight up to Captain Kira as soon as she saw the Bajoran commanding officer.

"What happened?" Baldric demanded of the redhead.

"Who the hell are you?" Kira squared off against this newcomer who just waltzed into the crimes scene.

"Commander Jennifer Baldric, I'm..." She paused for a second "taking over command of the Sunfire shortly" she stammered, cursing the blush that rose from the collar of her uniform.

Kira looked confused but continued on. "Bomb blast of unknown origin, three dead, 10 injured so far. Damage control and fire suppression teams are working." Kira looked around the wrecked bar.

"Do you want help with the investigation? Three of my people have been injured, we need to ensure whoever did this is brought to justice" Baldric offered, her voice kind.

"Gather your senior staff, and meet in the board room in an hour" Kira turned and got back to work.

*One hour later*

Given that Dean and Bonnie had been a bit busy, they had at the least gotten back just in time for hearing the rumors of what had transpired while they were gone. He wouldn't have wanted things to have been different and been here for the initial 'attack' for anything. Dean was there now at least. Looking at the empty room, waiting for everyone else to get there.

Commander Baldric arrived next, followed by Dr Wilson and the still healing Ronson. There was a smattering of DS9 officers, Bajoran and Starfleet alike but all looking weary. The war had been harsh here and they had been stretched since.

Aurora followed the others in, it had been a long tiring day so far helping the explosion survivors. She took a seat grateful to be off her feet.

A few minutes later Thriss entered the room after changing into his Starfleet Uniform just a few minutes ago. Before that he was busy assessing the damage to Quarks. The Andorian quietly took the next available seat at the table.

Captain Kira arrived last, taking her place at the head of the table. Without even pausing she launched into the reason why they were all there.

"Someone tried to murder Quark, and then blew up the bar to cover themselves. Several people were killed and many wounded. We need to find who did this." She folded her hands on the table on front of her.

"Does anyone have any insights or was a witness?"

Standing off to the side, 6 foot 5 inches and wearing a Starfleet Security Ops uniform, Hunter Davison spoke, "Knowing Quark, that could be a very long list."

“I’m guessing Quark isn’t very popular with some of his customers?” Aurora asked curiously.

A wry smile tweaked Kira's mouth at the words "Quark always has a few disgruntled customers, or suppliers. But no one has tried to kill him before, not like this anyway. This seems to be a much more...precise attack" She cast her eyes around the room.

Hunter counted in his head the number of individuals that would have a beef with Quark, but lost count somewhere around thirteen as Ronson interrupted his thoughts.

Ronson looked up, still recovering but wanting to help. "There was a woman, striking she was, with firey red hair and a body that turned heads. She was humanoid, but I couldn't see her face well. She shot Quark, put the bomb on the bar and beamed out. That's all I remember" he said simply.

"That's something." Hunter commented, "Since the video feed cut out and there was no evidence of someone entering or exiting the bar from the outside. There has to be a transporter log."

"There's not going to be a transporter log if it was routed to bypass the Stations own transporters. Which site to site, usually does, when it's authorized. There are suppose to be subroutines in place so even ship to station are logged. Doesn't mean they can't be vented." Dean gave a shrug a little. "Also it's particularly easy to have this be a gimic. Just to get at something else. I'd check any other substantial wares or digntaries on the station."

"Sounds like you're volunteering, I'll make sure you have the appropriate access to all the necessary systems and subroutines" Kira replied without missing a beat and making some notes on her padd. "And you are?" She looked at Dean directly.

"Me? Commander Dean House. The Chief Tactical Officer of the USS Sunfire, and yes. I am certainly going to look into those logs, because ego aside. They are playing major games. The explosion was a distraction. I don't believe that they were after Mr. Quark. Regardless of the slimy pig he is."

"So Commander House is going to go through the transporter logs, Commander Baldric is going to head up the investigation, and Lt Commander Kla'ren is going to head up repairs. Everyone else, join a team, your input would be gratefully received." Kira concluded. "My staff will continue to do what they can to assist in all areas. But to be honest we really need your help to solve this quickly."

"If no-one has any questions, let's get to it" Kira rose and left the room, leaving Commander Baldric to oversea her people.

"Right guys, let's break into teams and focus on the assigned tasks. Ronson, do you feel up to making a statement?" She asked carefully, acutely aware that the Yeoman was still recovering. Ronson nodded and moved over to stand near Baldric as the rest of the team filed out of the room.

[Surgical recovery ward. DS9]

Kit awoke instantly her body ached all over and she was seeing flashes of bright colorful light in her eyes. She knew right away she was no longer in the Jefferies access tube, and also no longer in her fire protective suit. She heard the sounds of machinery and softly spoken voices. Her chest hurt in a most uncomfortable way. "Hello?" she croaked, wondering if this was where the Thousand Gods resided and if she had committed an offense to them.

A Bajoran nurse looked over and quickly was a Lot sides. "Easy there, you have us a run for your money for a bit there" she checked the monitor above Kit's bed and adjusted a few things. "Are you feeling any major pain?"

Kit could still feel the pain in her chest, in and around where she normally wore her commbadge. However, this was not what she was think about, every nerve and thought screamed at her to flee.

The nurse sent an urgent glance towards one of the doctors, who took one look at the wildly fluctuating biosigns and grabbed a hypo from his pocket, loading it and setting the dosage with practiced ease. "That should help your pain levels" he said kindly.

Ensign Thenis every instinct screamed for her to flee. Her flight or fight response was highly elevated due to her overwhelming Nosocomephobia (fear of hospitals). She needed to get out of there, no matter what. How does one explain the fear she was experiencing. Her vital signs remained high as she tried to stand up and flee, unable to even express her fear.

"You have to stay still, you'll undo all the healing we've done so far" the doctor said in a firm but friendly voice. "I don't want to have to sedate you again but I will I'd you give me no alternative" he looked around and tried to catch the eyes on the stations counsellor.

TBC