When it Rains, it Pours

Posted on Tue Sep 11th, 2012 @ 9:29am by Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Lieutenant Commander Kh'ali & Lieutenant Commander William Harding M.D. & Ensign Aure'l & Chief Petty Officer Ganesh

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Archadia

Despite the Doctor’s competence in landing without so much as a hard thud, Oralia was more than delighted to step off the shuttle onto solid ground. She did so just as a small craft took off from the airfield and just as a phalanx of Archadian soldiers, led by a Sentinel, approached. Before they reached her, her commbadge went off: =^=Commander, Lt. Darwin here. Something has happened at the Palace and we’re under lockdown.=^=

The news, coupled with the stern frown the Sentinel wore, was disturbing. “Sentinel, well-met,” Oralia greeted the Archadian official, “What has happened?”

“The Queen has been murdered,” she answered, eliciting a shocked gasp from Oralia.

“Commander Kh’ali is there; they were to sign the Agreement! Was anyone else injured?” Oz figured that the murder of a queen had to have involved a skirmish, something involving Archadian guards, at least.

But the Sentinel shook her head, “No, no one else was harmed. Your people are the last to have seen the Queen alive and were found standing over her dead body.” The implication was clear. “They are in custody and will remain so until it is proven they were uninvolved.”

“They would have had nothing to do with murdering your Queen,” the Starfleet officer asserted. Even if that had been a plan, Oz was rather certain she would have been let in on the plan. “I’m here for a differ... oh,” she realized that her search for Jonas Levin was, most likely, now also a search for the Queen’s killer.

As she pondered the situation, her commbadge chirped again: =^=Commander Zeferino, Ganesh here. The Trill delegation is arriving in two point three hours. They expect us to have Ian Bren prepared for his joining ritual and to beam him over as soon as they are within range.=^=

When it rains... it pours, Oralia thought. She smiled at the Sentinel and gestured to the low building nearby, “I need to deal with this. It should take just a moment or two. Excuse me.” She headed for the building, aware that there was a Starfleet console in there. The shuttle was being moved off the landing pad and Doctor Harding was following her. As was the Sentinel and her unit.

Once in the building, Oz accessed the console and contacted Ganesh, currently her least favorite Bolian. “The Trill delegation, can’t they wait?”

“They’re demanding access to Bren immediately. They wish to assess Ian Leyva - as they’re still calling him - to make certain that Bren is ‘safe’ with Ian as a host. Once they have him over there, and checked out, they want him to do the joining ritual.”

“Assuming they don’t remove Bren from him,” Oz muttered, knowing that such a removal would kill Ian at this point. “Fine, transport him over, a detail of four with him. He is not to be left alone, not even in a medical setting. Understood?”

The Chief nodded then added, “Three volunteers need to go, too. Ian wants Ensigns E’tarna, Mills, and Haskell, to go.”

Was the Trill ship even big enough to hold that much of an entourage? Rubbing her forehead, Oz nodded. “Fine, E’tarna is one of ours. The other two are Science people; get with Commander Leroy, confirm you can pull those people off their duties. Oh, and Norval Tigan - contact him, too.”

“Also, Ganesh, our delegation down here is being detained under suspicion of murder. Please notify the Admiral, Li Hawke and Leroy; I’m going to talk with the Captain and Prime Minister, see if they will allow our people to go over the scene. Also, contact Intel, they have people on the planet, Nick Marcinko and Lieutenant Valkris, I think. Darwin and Gilroy are in the Palace under lockdown and I need some bodies to continue the search for Jonas Levin.”

“Who was murdered?” Ganesh’s eyes had grown large.

“The Queen.” Nodding slightly at Ganesh’s disbelief, Oralia closed the commlink and turned back to the Sentinel.

“I should be on that ship as well, Oz. I have no doubt they will want to question me regarding the death of Natalia and the transfer of the host.” Harding slipped his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. “So that gives me two hours to assist you as much as I can.”

“Good, because, if at all possible, I hope to get you in to examine the body, Doctor,” Oralia said, low enough that the approaching Sentinel hopefully didn’t hear her.

“There’s a transport outside, we’ll take you to the Command Center.”

* * *Inside the Palace* * *

“We have Levin’s DNA information. Let’s see if we’re allowed to roam a little bit,” Darwin spoke softly to Aure’l. “And, perhaps we could swing by and rescue Gilroy from that octogenarian,” he smirked.

“I would suggest roaming until we are told otherwise. What is your expression? It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission?” Aure’l turned to seek out Gilroy in the crowd. “I will rescue him, given our location, I will be more successful.”

“Okay. I’ll meet you over towards the checkpoint,” he gestured in the appropriate direction. Much as he wanted to stay and have a bird’s-eye view of Aure’l ‘rescuing’ Gilroy, he had a task to get on with. He looked at the tricorder in his hand and shook his head as he and Aure’l went separate ways.

* * *At the Command Center* * *

“No, now,” Oralia had her hands on her hips and a grim frown on her face as she traded glares with the Captain of the Queen’s Guard. “You have detained at least nine of the ‘base’s officers and, by right, I demand to speak with them now.”

“Six--”

“Nine. There was a male escort with Kh’ali and a male officer, Darwin, and a female, Aure’l, in the Palace as well,” Oz reminded the Captain.

“Then the other three will be found and removed from the general population in the Palace,” the Captain ground out, irritated with the human’s insistence and persistence. Finally, in an effort to dissuade the woman from continuing her demands, the Captain smiled slightly and said, “The event is formal wear. To enter the Palace, you’ll need appropriate attire.”

Blinking, Oz was a touch shocked. Did the Captain really expect her to remove her uniform and don some formal gown? How did Kh’ali handle these annoying Archadians? She glanced at Doctor Harding, knowing that his time was running short. “I’ll agree, but Doctor Harding will be going in as is - he’ll need to consult with the Queen’s physician and have access to the Queen.”

Critically, the Captain eyed the older man and nodded, “Fine. He would not do well in formal male attire, anyway.”

“I think I’ve just been insulted Oz.” He smiled down at her, an amused grin on his face. “However, at this point, I am relieved to have been so. I’ve seen what they make men wear down here.” He turned to the Captain, his expression growing more stern now. “I am short on time, so you need to get me there now.”

The Captain nodded at him and gestured for one of her subordinates to take Oralia to a changing room. “This way, Doctor,” she led the man towards a door into the Palace.

“Call if you need me,” he said to Oz, then turned and followed the escort away.

* * *Palace Dungeon* * *

The Captain’s requirement that Oralia change clothing was more than annoying. It was unnecessary. Oralia had been led into the dungeon, a surprisingly dark, dank place, through an outside side door. In the dim lighting of the place, the beads on the green gown she’d been given reflected the lamplight. Down several sets of stairs and a maze of corridors, she was led until, finally, she was left alone in front of a cell that looked more like something out of Earth’s ancient history: rough hewn stone walls and iron-like bars closed her off from the cage’s inhabitant: a pacing Kh’ali. “What the hell happened?”

“Oz! I am so glad to see you.” Kh’ali looked nothing like her usual pleasant self, now she was all Klingon. “A load of crap is what’s happened. The Captain seems determined to be lazy and pin this on us when it’s impossible. We were tracked from the time we transported in till the second we walked in the door, which would have recorded us as well. It was only a minute or two till palace security arrived and when I checked for a pulse she was still warm but it has been long enough to leave all that blood.”

“I haven’t been allowed into the Chamber to view the scene,” Oralia grumbled. “I was told your party was the last to see the Queen alive. You’re saying she was dead before you entered the room. This isn’t adding up, Kh’ali. That and the Captain’s... weirdness. If the roles were reversed, I’d want Starfleet tech in there, analyzing everything.”

“She was already dead and had been long enough to form a big puddle of blood around her. I was just checking for a pulse when they arrived, and there was none.”

“Did anything else happen? Before you went into the room?”

“The security officer that pressed the button to open the door got shocked. Nothing serious but enough to get a reaction,” Kh’ali answered. “As for our timetable, we beamed down from the station, came straight here, went through security and down the hall to her reception room. The escort entered the access code and then left. She pressed the button to open the door and we stepped into the room to find her on the floor.”

“Any chance you caught the name of the escort?” Oz was puzzled; she’d already been told there were only two ways into or out of the room and one of those ways had been barred from the inside. Why would the escort only enter the code then leave? Why was the officer who touched the button shocked? “They’re holding Darwin and Gilroy in there and I really need to get them out. And get you and the others out of here. This dungeon looks more like a holovid set than an actual place.”

Kh’ali looked around and shrugged. “It reminds me of my great grandfather’s place.” A faint smile crossed her face, then vanished. “He didn’t say his name, but he was at the checkpoint and we would all recognize him if we saw him again.”

“Okay, I’ll get on finding him. In the meantime, the Admiral and Li Hawke have been made aware of this situation. Ganesh is also contacting Commander Leroy to request he send a team down to be on call for if we can get into the Queen’s chamber.” Oralia paced in front of the bars of Kh’ali’s cell. “The Trill delegation is arriving in just another hour or two for Ian Bren’s joining ritual.”

“When it rains, it pours,” Khali commented, unknowingly echoing Oz’s own thought.

*************************
Lt. Commander Oralia Zeferino
Lt. Michael Darwin
Ensign Aure’l
Dr. William Harding
Lt. Commander Kh’ali
CPO Ganesh