Star Trek: Starbase 777

Maxson brushed aside some of the fabric of the tent entrance as he stepped in. He scanned the big top with low-set eyebrows, “Have we seen the owner of this circus, Lieutenant?”

"I haven't seen them personally, no. And I don't have a name." Kirio ducked under, swiping off their hat to fold up and shove with their PADD. May as well be more professionalish.

To either side of them were tall walls that made up the stands, which could be entered from the front near the ring. From somewhere above them, a deep voice spoke up, which Kirio could recognise as one of the Oni from before. "There isn't one owner," it said, the voice's owner unseen at the moment. "Lord Janus is the closest thing, but he's just the face of the whole ordeal. We all pitch in."

Maxson furrowed his eyebrows. He was not in the mood for disembodied voices after getting choked by a computer, “Starfleet Security. We’re here to investigate a missing persons case. If he’s the closest thing, we’d like to speak with him.”

"Be my guest. If you can find him, that is. Janus, he wanders." This guy seemed to be... incredibly nonchalant about a missing person's case going on in his circus.

Oh he was really not in the mood for this. Maxson let out a sharp huff from his nose of annoyance, “Mind stepping out and answering a few questions for us?”

A snort could be heard, and then the thundering footsteps of a large, broad strongman came down the stairs, appearing before the investigators. He had an inch or two on Patroclus, even, and crossed his arms as he spoke. "Ask away, sir," he said, and he sounded... strangely, he sounded amused.

Slightly narrowed eyes slide up to meet the strongman’s own. Maxson had his arms folded behind his back in typical Starfleet fashion, and his jaw was still set in a grimace, “How long have you been working at the Circus of Solace, sir?”

"Me? Must have been about ten years now. I was in one of the original shows, never saw a reason to leave." A casual answer, though from it, little could be gleaned. An estimation of his age couldn't even be made, due to the mask.

“Ten years,” He hummed. The missing woman, Morowa, had gone missing seven years ago, so it stands to reason this guy would’ve at least been…around, yeah? “As I said, we’re investigating a missing persons case. Do you recognize the name Morowa Rina at all?”

"Morowa... Rina? Can't say it rings any bells. Why?" For what it was worth, the Oni really did seem like he'd never heard that name before.

"We got an alert that she was here. And she's been missing for seven years, so. Kind of a big deal?" Kirio piped up. "Do you have any employee records we can access?"

Rozamal lightly stood in the stands watching the discussion, looking like an old master in a movie with his crane planted on the ground and both hands on the top. Then you realize he’s a giant dinosaur dressed as Kermit the Frog and things sort of fall apart, still he stood off to the side and watched.

1

Four walked in and noticed the security officer, and the scarecrow from earlier. Although, it made sense to assume that the scarecrow was starfleet due to their adjacency to Lt. Cdr. Maxson. Four had seen them on the away mission. He was quite helpful during that course of events. Four noticed the giant frog person and bowed their head towards them. Before they continued to listen to make sure of what exactly was going on.

"Alert, why would you- oh, wait, you have Mathra. Yeah, I'd say it's been about seven years since we picked her up. Showed up on the doorstep one day, right as we were about to leave Vulcan. We'd played shows there for a month straight, we were kind of a hit back then." He sounded almost wistful, reminiscing about the good old days.

"Picked her up?" he chimed in, marking his appearance. Syrax then continued, while walking closer to the Security group, disposition friendly and, if anything, curious. "Is that a case with most of the people who come to work here, or you have like a recruitment program thingy going on as well?"

The Oni hummed. "Well, I wouldn't say recruitment program. But over the years enough people have showed up asking to join that we've managed to put together quite a cast, and sometimes someone knows someone who knows someone, and we get new performers that way. It's that way a lot in showbusiness, I'm afraid."

"Ohmygod—" Okay, yes, they were in the middle of an investigation, but a giant person in a slasher costume (even if maskless) appearing out of nowhere still startled them a little. Anyway! "Do you have any more information about this Lord Janus figure?"

Four was a little concerned about the circus group being a hit, and for a month? That was a lot of hitting. Did everyone used to engage in the hitting? If so...what did that mean in regards to the missing person? Did one person hit too hard and kept them in the act until now? That certainly seemed like it would be going overboard. Four wouldn't discount it though. They were sure the security team would get to the bottom of this. Four was more so standing and waiting to defend anyone from any potential hits. They were most likely quite good at them if all the performers had been doing them for over seven years.

"Gods, I don't even know. I just know him as Lord Janus. He's the ringleader of the whole deal, stage presence is unmatched. He's been here for as long as I have, and we only ever talked about circus business then too." The Oni shrugged. "You do know you can just ask Mathra what the deal is, right? Or- well. In any case, you have her separated from us, it's not like we can influence any of her answers now," he pointed out.

"Well, she's not exactly in a state to answer anything right now. She's in recovery." No need to give information beyond that. "I think we should go find this guy," he added as an aside to Maxson and the other person who popped in.

The Oni stepped aside easily, as if he were glad to not be asked questions anymore. "Be my guest," he said, before disappearing up the stairs and into the unlit stands far quieter than he'd come down them.

"Well..." he looked around the place, a bit lost in the unfamiliar vastness. "Might as well go and find the mysterious mystery that even these fellows don't know much about, which is, you know. Kind of a concerning issue in a workplace, normally?"

"I—" oh, ok. "Goodbye, then... Um, yeah, that sounds like a plan. I don't know what's going on here, but it's something weird." Kirio shrugged.

Four looked to Maxson as they waited for their next order. They hadn't totally realized that them being out of starfleet attire may cause an issue on anyone recognizing them. Either way, they waited for their next instruction. They weren't about to speak up just yet.

"Let's go, then!" Kirio, now feeling somewhat out of place since they weren't in uniform, headed off. Woohoo.

The commander glanced down at Four and nodded toward the direction Kirio was going, “Come on,” Strange individual, Four…

Four nodded and followed along behind their Lt. Cdr. "Yes Lieutenant Commnader," Four replied as they stuck close to their fellow officers. Their attention fully focused on their protection.

Rozamal followed the rest of the group, just kind of being along for the ride.