DNA Don't Lie

Posted on Fri Sep 14th, 2012 @ 6:57pm by Commander Oralia Zeferino & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Lieutenant Commander Gilroy & Ensign Aure'l

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Archadia

Thinking no eyes were on him, Gilroy raised one knee at a time, shook his ass and finally just grabbed the sides of his pants below the hip and yanked downward. Behind him, a laugh erupted and he jumped. “Shut it, Lieutenant!”, he growled, threateningly.

“Oh boy, Gilly, I am so glad Oralia didn’t let me go with Kh’ali. Otherwise I’d be doing that buttcrack wedgie dance with you,” Darwin cracked up at Gilroy’s expense. It earned him a glowering glare; later, Gilroy would trounce Darwin on the sparring mat and feel much better.

Aure’l simply watched the two bicker and shook her head. “Time is getting short, Lt. Gilroy.” The fact that he was struggling with his tight trousers seemed to have no affect on her.

“Yeah, Ensign, I’m aware, but these pants... the replicator must have been on the fritz,” he grumbled, still trying to unwedge the pants. “Dar, did you get any readings on the DNA?”

“No,” Darwin had dropped his snickering and replaced it with professionalism. “If Levin was ever here, he wasn’t in the main reception hall. The guards won’t let me past the checkpoint, though. Females only, they said.” He pointedly looked at Aure’l.

So did Gilroy. “Ensign, your turn.”

Darwin held the tricorder out to her.

“Gladly. A moment.” Aure’l moved into one of the side rooms without another word. Several minutes later, she emerged in Archadian dress and made her way back to Gilroy and Darwin. “Give me ten minutes.”

Once she walked away, with both Darwin and Gilroy following her progress till the door shut, Gilroy turned to look at the doors to the side rooms. “Kah’less, please let there be a replicator in there,” he headed through one of the doors, the same one Aure’l had gone into and quickly retreated, “So sorry, ladies! My fault! I didn’t see a thing!”

He shot a glare at Darwin, as if it was Darwin’s fault that that had been a ladies’ bathroom. He tried the next door and disappeared into the room beyond. Darwin, waiting outside, heard Gilroy utter something then, a few minutes later, Gilroy came back out, this time in uniform.

“Did the replicator get the pant size correct?”

“Nothing’s crawling up my ass anymore.”

“Good deal.”

* * *

Aure’l left the two Security officers and went back through the main lobby. She’d hidden the tricorder in the folds of her skirt and as her hair covered her pointed ears, she blended in reasonably well. Not wanting to appear rushed, she paused here and there, mingling, before passing on to the checkpoint.

Blending in as she did, she wasn’t stopped by the guards at the checkpoint. Frankly, they were all stunned and acknowledged that their duties were now pointless: the Queen was already dead. No further harm could come from anyone in the Palace, particularly not a lithe, lovely female in traditional formal garb. One even nodded, soberly, at her as she passed.

Going the other way at that moment, was a far louder, far more annoyed brunette. This one, shorter than the usual Archadian, was also in traditional garb and looked good in it. Several of the guards’ eyes followed her - not because of how the gown hung on her, but because she was debating with their Captain, demanding access to the Queen’s chambers for Starfleet personnel. “You’re accusing six of Starfleet’s best of colluding to murder your Queen! We have the right to access that room and examine it for evidence that exonerates them.”

“Ms. Zeferino, your people have no rights here,” the Captain was unusually calm and, almost, seemed disinterested in having anyone examine the chambers. The pair kept walking, and vociferously debating.

Aure’l shot a glance at Oz and kept on walking, merely nodding as they passed. Once they moved on, she pulled out the tricorder and began her scans, first of the door to the Queen’s reception room, then moving on down the corridor. Logic told her that he would move away, not towards the party. She continued to move away, checking walls and floor as she went, occasionally turning to see if she was being observed. Fortunately, the palace staff seemed otherwise engaged. She reached the end of the corridor and turned the corner. Just beyond was an exit to the back gardens. She continued her scans and as she reached the door, a beep came from the tricorder. Perfect match. Fishing her comm badge from her cleavage, she called Gilroy.

“I found him, or at least the trace of him, on a door leading to the gardens.”

=^=Excellent. Stay there..., oh, there’s Oz!=^= Abruptly, the transmission ended, closed by Gilroy.

Over in the reception room, Gilroy and Darwin spied Oralia at the same time. Both grinned - if she was here, then perhaps they could leave and be on Levin’s trail. “Commander,” Gilroy caught her attention and strode towards her. He glared at the Captain of the Guard then disregarded the woman, “Ensign Aure’l has found traces of Levin on a door to the gardens.”

Tossing a glance at the Captain, Oralia turned back towards the checkpoint, “Let’s go, Gilroy. Darwin....” She stopped and looked at the two. “One of you started out in Archadian clothes. Now neither of you are and I am,” she shook her head and muttered, “Something wrong with this picture.” Then she started moving again.

Gilroy and Darwin followed her and the Captain angrily trotted to catch up to Zeferino; Gilroy and Darwin stayed between her and Oralia. “You are not authorized to move about as you wish, Ms. Zeferino!”

“Stop calling me that, Captain,” Oz shot back then saw Aure’l down the hallway. “We’re going right there. And we might have a lead on the real killer.”

Aure’l motioned to them, then hurried off around the corner. She stood waiting, not touching the door as she suspected the Captain would be along with them. The fact that she couldn’t trace the steps that made it impossible for Kh’ali’s team to have committed the murder was completely illogical. They were tracked from the moment they landed. It was only then that the spark of an idea rose in her mind.

Coming around the corner, Oralia quietly said, “Gil,” and jerked a thumb back at the Captain. Both he and Darwin stopped, and caught the Captain behind them. Despite the Captain’s demands that they let her pass, the two started debating whether they could, or should. It was a routine they’d done before.

And it worked to let Oralia get close to Aure’l and ask, “Report, Ensign.”

Aure’l handed over the tricorder. “You can see the scan here Commander, and the comparison. It detected traces on the door handle. I have not touched it as I am certain,” she looked past Oz to the Captain, “that Palace Security will want the evidence intact as they wouldn’t want Starfleet thinking there was something amiss with their investigation.” She spoke loud enough for the Captain to overhear her.

“That might be too logical, Ensign,” Oralia said quietly. Something was definitely amiss here, and she was starting to see conspiracies in the air. “Get that scan sent to the ship.” While the Ensign turned to do that, Oz looked up and saw the Captain barreling towards her. The woman was only walking, but... with her size and the expression on her face, the effect was scary.

Not wanting to be between the Captain and the door, Oralia stepped to the side, expecting the Captain to stop between her and Ensign Aure’l. But the Captain didn’t stop. She hit the door’s handle and yanked on it. Oralia watched, eyes going wide, knowing that the Captain had just ruined any evidence that had been there. Before she could recover from that, the Captain snatched the tricorder from Aure’l and threw it onto the stone steps outside the door. The equipment shattered from the impact.

“Are you insane?” Oralia snapped at the Captain then, as the larger woman came at her stepped back and, doing something she’d never do in a fight she intended to win, looked at Darwin and Gilroy. “Find Levin!”

The Captain was already committed to grabbing the Commander when the two Lieutenants hurried past her, grabbed their Ensign between them and dashed out the garden door. The Commander surprised her with a quick jab to her solar plexus; she couldn’t draw a breath to shout for her own officers, but she did latch onto the Commander and the pair went down in a tangle.

________________________
Lieutenant Gilroy
Assed

Lieutenant Darwin
Just ass’n for it

Ensign Aure’l
Vulcan Take Out

Commander Zeferino
Sacrificial Lamb