Invisible Killer On The Loose
Posted on Oct 28, 2017 @ 2:37am by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on Oct 28, 2017 @ 2:37am
Mission: Fear Itself
“Invisible Killer on the Loose”
(contd from Jerome’s ‘Crossing Over’)
Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.17] 1027.1739
Scene: Brig, Deck 40, Drive Section
Jasmine let out a sigh as her gaze met that of the blond man’s, seated opposite her in the cell. This was not going to be an easy interrogation as Silsby was one of her deputies and deep down, knew he was innocent. However, there were these things called procedures that she and anyone in her position had to follow. So treating Virgo as a person of interest – not a suspect – in the case, and interrogating him was a procedure she couldn’t ignore.
Virgo asked, his voice devoid of emotions and in a flat tone, “Will I be charged with something?”
Yu shook her head, speaking in a calm, yet professional tone, “No. I just want to ask you some questions regarding your presence at the crime scene, where Dr. Andersson was murdered.”
“Murdered?” The aSec looked incredulously at her. “You think I did it and that’s why I’m here?”
“Lieutenant Silsby,” Jasmine said in a calm voice. “You’re a person of interest because you were the last person seen with her as shown from the security logs.” Prior to this interrogation, Yu spent some time, quickly perusing those logs from Main Sickbay that were recorded an hour before, during and after Sofia’s death. What she observed, puzzled her. No sign of the intruder anywhere – it was like the killer was invisible, where not even the sensors picked him, her or it up.
“And those logs would show that I wasn’t the one who did it.” There was a hint of agitation in his voice. Of course, she couldn’t blame him for his frustration.
“Look, Lieutenant, if you just cooperate and answer all my questions, then this whole interrogation will go smoothly for you,” said the Asian woman in a cool tone.
“Fine. Do your worst.” He released a sigh of resignation, leaning back against the wall and grumbled.
“Lieutenant, what were you doing at Sickbay?”
“Banged up nose from that whole incident with the quantum distortion field,” Virgo began. “So I went to sickbay to have it fixed and Dr. Andersson was the medical officer on duty at the time.”
“What happened, while you were there?”
The blond haired man replied, “Well, she patched me up. We talked. I flirted and asked her out but she turned me down…again.” He watched Yu raise her eyebrow. “Come on, chief. It’s not a crime to ask a beautiful lady, who happened to be an officer here, out on a date, is it?”
“Of course not.” She gave him a reassuring look.
“Anyway, I’d hoped, one day she’d change her mind, but…” His voice trailed, giving the security chief a sad look. “Looks like I’ll never get another chance again because she’s dead now.”
“Was she alive, when you left?”
Virgo nodded. “Alive and beautiful as ever.”
Yu took a quick glance at her tricorder, displaying his bio-readings. So far, everything looked good as she expected. His heart rate and all other readings were normal, meaning he was telling the truth and not leaving out any details. “During your time with Dr. Andersson, did you see, hear or feel anything out of the ordinary like the presence of someone who shouldn’t be there?”
“Don’t the logs show there was no one there at the scene of the crime besides Sofia, obviously?”
“Just answer the question, Mr. Silsby,” Yu insisted politely.
“No, I didn’t see, hear or feel anything weird,” Silsby replied, sighing. “Sickbay was quiet at the time, not really unusual for a late night shift.”
“Are you sure that’s all you remember?” Jasmine pressed on.
“Yes that’s all I saw. Nothing unusual, when I was there.” He heaved out a sigh of exasperation.
[[Security alert, deck 8 science centre. Ensign Schad is gone.]] Crichton’s voice blared through her comm. badge. At the news of the science officer’s death, Jasmine’s heart skipped a beat, all of a sudden, her mouth becoming dry. Surely, this wasn’t happening. Two senior officers murdered in one night. She wondered if this was the work of a serial killer.
“Yu here. On my way.”
Virgo asked, sporting a rather sour expression, “Are we done because I was here, when Ensign Schad’s murder happened?”
“Yes we are,” Yu replied quickly. “You may leave now.”
“Good to know.” He sighed with relief, following his superior out of the room. Yet his mood didn’t improve.
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Scene: Science Centre, Deck 8
Yu, along with a security detail, arrived at the science lab, carrying phaser rifles. Ever since Andersson’s murder and enforcement of a quarantine, both Jasmine and Kass ordered all their personnel on duty to be armed and keep a look out for the assailant, no one had seen, which was going to make the task of finding the killer challenging. Jasmine would rather face an enemy she could see than an invisible one.
Turning to her team, the Asian woman ordered, “Team advance. Sweep the area thoroughly and make sure everything is clear.” In compliance with her orders, the small group of men and women moved out to all corners of the place.
Jasmine approached the ExO, a frozen expression as she eyed the still form of the Aamazzarite, lying in a heap on the floor, all life drained out of him. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and reopened them. She didn’t know the young scientist well but from their few conversations, Yu found him to be a pleasant, intelligent and a hardworking man. Yu barely got to know Sofia Anderssen – her only interaction was the doctor conducting the Asian’s physical as per regulations for newly assigned officers. She felt a lump down her throat and a knot forming in her stomach. A very sad night, when two young persons with their whole life ahead of them and so much to offer, had their lives cut short in such an unimaginably brutal manner. But Jasmine chose to set aside her emotions and focus on the task at hand – catching the killer and preventing another from meeting the same fate.
“Lieutenant.” Jake turned to the security chief.
“My team is sweeping the area for any signs of the intruder,” Jasmine informed. “But sir, I don’t believe they will find the culprit.”
An Edoan male first called out, “All clear on my side.” The other team members followed, confirming Jasmine’s belief that the murderer was long gone. At the same time, she glanced behind, when the doors parted to allow Jos and a small medical team into the room. The Andorian doctor brought out his medical tricorder and began scanning Schad’s body.
Crichton inquired, “How did it go with Silsby?”
Jasmine sighed. “He didn’t see anything. I treated him like I would with any person of interest and made sure my line of questioning was thorough. His bio-readings were normal, though I sensed a huge amount of frustration on his part. I can’t say I blame him.”
“We both know he is innocent,” Jake said. “But I’m sure Mr. Silsby will understand we were all just following protocol and it was nothing personal against him.”
“I know.” Yu nodded. If Jasmine was honest with herself, she didn’t like questioning Virgo like that after all he was part of her staff. But Silsby wasn’t a regular Starfleet officer who went through rigorous training at the Academy, followed by junior level postings. So it was possible he might not have understood like a typical officer that his interrogation was just her following protocol and might harbour some resentment. While her relationship with him was okay, it wasn’t as good as the one with Lt. Procter. Mackenzie might be considered uptight by others but she and Jasmine understood each other well, having similar backgrounds.
Aerdan came up to them and informed, his antennae wilting slightly, “I finished conducting a medical scan on Ensign Schad.”
“What did you find?” Crichton inquired.
The CMO answered, taking on a professional tone, “I can confirm the cause of death to be the same as the other victims. Like Dr. Andersson, Greer and Pumbular, Ensign Schad also died due to excessively high levels of neurotransmitters above normal.”
Jasmine furrowed her brow. “I don’t understand.”
“Lieutenant Yu,” Aerdan began, “Moments before their deaths, they were placed in a fight-or-flight situation, which lead to the release of hormones throughout their bodies. Whatever they faced, was too stressful, enough to overload their systems with enormous amounts of these hormones, thus leading to cardiac arrest.”
“Are you suggesting they were frightened to death, doctor?” Jasmine questioned, her eyes widening in disbelief.
The Andorian nodded. “Yes.”
“Thank you, Dr. Jos,” Crichton said.
“I will have the body transferred to sickbay for a post-mortem examination,” said Jos before turning away from the ExO and Sec/Tac.
“So if I got this right, Commander,” Jasmine said. “The murderer used fear to kill the victims.”
Jake nodded. “Yes, we know now, fear was used to kill. Now the question is how does the murderer induce fear in the victims? That’s something to investigate, however first, we will need to figure out a way to track and catch this person, if it is really a person and prevent another murder.”
“Yes sir. I will have one of my staff peruse the security logs in the science centre. I’ve already requested logs from the Starbase, regarding Greer’s murder. ” Yu already had one of her officers sift through the ship’s entry and exit logs to check if there was someone who came onboard but who wasn’t supposed to. That search revealed nothing unusual – all persons who came aboard were either part of the crew or authorized visitors and they had iron clad alibis as to their whereabouts.
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Scene: Engineering Lab
So now the killer was an unseen enemy, using fear to murder his, her or its victims. But how? Was it due to physical appearance, scary enough to frighten someone to death? It was possible but as Starfleet officers, they were all trained to deal with all kinds of monsters. But then again, maybe this one was different and far worse than anything known or expected. Or perhaps the killer could be manipulating the victims’ fears but that would mean access to intimate details of the individuals in question to obtain such personal information. Anyway, those questions would be for another to answer, her priority was finding a way to track and stop the culprit, thereby prevent future murders.
Thinking back to all the victims, Jasmine couldn’t figure out a pattern. Every murdered victim was found at different locations and not connected to each other, well until Arak and the connection between him and Sofia were that they were officers serving on the Phoenix. Was it the music box? But that didn’t make sense as Sofia for instance didn’t come in contact with it? If there was a pattern in the killings, then that could help her in determining the culprit’s next target. But then, what if there wasn’t a pattern and the victims were chosen at random – that would make things more complicated.
Now she was here in an Engineering lab, a place she rarely ventured into, unless there was a security situation. Jasmine wanted to speak with the CEO about finding a way to track the killer and so came down to gather information about their work. With her in the room were Commander Malin-Argo and Lieutenant Von, who just arrived moments ago. Malin-Argo had finished reporting their findings to the other two officers, regarding the sudden formation of a quantum field in Main Engineering, the possibility that a portal to another plane of existence might have opened around the time Von and Chaucer were studying the music box and so on, using scientific and engineering concepts that went over the security chief’s head.
Yu was lost for words. “So if I heard this right, the murderer could have maybe originated from another realm or dimension and existed on a plane different from our own.” She sighed, feeling a bit frustrated - an old fashioned serial killer would have been preferable, at least they could be seen or at least made to.
“It is a possibility we are exploring.” The CEO nodded.
“Maybe that could be why the killer wasn’t found in any of the security logs, both here on the ship and on the Starbase,” Yu said. “There didn’t seem to be any illegal break-ins into sickbay and the science centre. We don’t know how the killer moves around without being detected by sensors.”
“Yes,” Von agreed. “If the murderer is a being that exists on another plane of existence, then it is likely we would be unable to detect its movements, using conventional means, only possibly appearing in our realm to kill.”
Jasmine asked, “Is there a way to track it?” Yes, best to refer to the murderer as an ‘it’, she thought sardonically as the being’s gender was unknown.
“Assuming our theory about an inter-dimensional portal is correct,” the Grazerite replied, glancing at the Betazoid. “It could be possible to build such a device.”
“How long do you think that will take?” Yu questioned.
“It’s hard to tell.” Cantor gave her a solemn look, sensing the anxiety in the young woman. Malin-Argo nodded in agreement with the Ops chief.
Jasmine nodded. “Okay. If you could please let me know when you made any progress or even completed building the tracker, that’d be great.” Both men gave her a nod of agreement but it was Cantor who spoke.
“We will, Jasmine.”
“Thank you,” Yu said. “Anyway I’ll leave you to your work.” She turned around and left the room.
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~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for
Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX