Star Trek: Starbase 777 - security-office

The security office too lit up with a notification from the medical wards. A missing person's case from 2407 of a woman called Morowa Rina popped up. Morowa Rina was a Trill woman married to a Vulcan man, who left behind four children between the ages of seven and sixteen when she disappeared into the night at age thirty-five.

Now what in the world is going on here…turning to whatever console was closest, our illustrious ACOS Patroclus Maxson read over the missing person report. To say it was concerning was perhaps an understatement, but regardless, the man had a job to do now, “I need two patrol officers down in the wards, now.”

Further information in the report revealed that Morowa's husband, Talek, had immediately filed it when he noticed in the morning that his wife had been unable to make it home after a night out with friends. The trail went cold pretty much immediately, and none of her friends had even seen her that night. Quite soon, the case was closed until further notice, though her eldest two children, sixteen and twelve at the time, gave their own genetic profiles to be able to establish one for their mother, in case she was ever found.

5

After..a LOT of running around and going through turbolifts, Kirio, now only half scarecrow'd (still wearing their makeup and hat, but having discarded their costume in favor of a proper uniform), moved to report for duty! "Okay, what's — uh.." They halted to read over the report. "That's... Somebody from the circus is somebody who was missing?"

Maxson raised an eyebrow toward Kirio upon noticing the makeup and hat. Ah, yes, Halloween. He hadn’t…quite gotten there, yet. Regardless, the commander stood from the console he was at, “It seems like it…Lieutenant, I’ll gather from the…decor that you had went down there earlier. Was there anything suspicious, outside of this injury?” (edited)

"I— well.." Kirio paused, then shook their head. "I heard a scream. I'll guess from context clues that it was Ms. Rina, here, but the other staff was really secretive and said they could handle it. It wasn't anything warranting further investigation from what I saw. But now..." Oh man.

“But now, yes…now, we take a look,” He started to make his way out from the office, before he turned back to Kirio, “You’re with me, Lieutenant.”

"You've got it!" Kirio hopped to it. They held on tight to their PADD and their scarecrow hat and followed along.

Back to base. Maxson wasn’t too happy with the entire situation, but then again, was he ever really properly happy? …vaguely, but nevertheless the gruff man made his way to a console in a huff, “Information on the husband, married life, the whole nine yards…”

Erra entered behind Maxson, assuming her position at another console. "Not exactly a wild goose chase, this is one of the more unique scenarios I've ever been in. Dear God... The way he described his processes... It still gives me the creeps."

Essen was soon behind her mother and stood behind her as Erra took her position at the console. "I didn't like it either, the contracts have him legally cleared. But back to Mathra." Essen said, moreso to herself than anyone else.

"Yessir." Kirio peeeeked over Maxson's shoulder, looking for information. "I'll send that blank contract off to our officers on the more legal side of things, so they can take a look at it."

Erra turned around to Maxson and Kirio. "Perhaps we can find more information on the husband as well? Any testimonials, responses to the missing person report? If he had anything to say about Mathra that could tie up some loose ends. I know it's a shot in the dark, but could it lead somewhere with Mathra?"

“Yes, I want the JAG Corps on this asap.” He nodded toward Kirio and started delving into the missing person report.

As mentioned before, the missing person report was made by Talek, Morowa's former husband, and a genetic profile was established by the two eldest children, the only ones who were over the age of ten at the time of her disappearance. They had lived in the middle of ShiKahr city, and the disappearance was deemed a tragedy, with local authorities unable to do anything but offer their sincerest condolences to the family after over two weeks of non-stop searching. Currently, the children were twenty-three, nineteen, sixteen, and fourteen, and Talek had, upon closer investigation, remarried three years after Rina's disappearance. All but the eldest of the children were currently living with Talek's parents, and none of them lived with Talek himself. (edited)

4

3

Essen got up and looked over Maxson's shoulder to see what he had found with the missing person report. Her eyes widened as she saw the new information she hadn't previously been exposed to. "Mom," Essen said quietly. "You might want to see this."

Erra got up to see what Essen was talking about - and upon looking at the missing person report Maxson had on his console, Erra's eyes widened. "Goodness..." Erra uttered.

“…well,” He hummed, his fingers steepled. He pressed his two index fingers against his lips in thought, “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” He began to follow what Erra had suggested, trying to find some testimonies from when the original report was filled.

"Agreed, sir," Erra said. "Is there anything Essen and I can look for in the meantime in addition to what we've just found? Accounts from any other witnesses, friends, news reports, police reports? Something that can give us more insight into her husband and especially her children?" (edited)

Essen hopped to a nearby console and sat at it. "I'll see what the console reads back on all of that, mom, but that missing person report was pretty thorough," Essen said. "Unless we find out more about Talek himself and the kids, I'll see what I can find." As she proceeded to search. (edited)

Testimonies of the time of the disappearance involved Talek himself, who said that Rina had left the house to go out for dinner and drinks with some friends, while he looked after the children. She never came back, and in the morning, home was called because she didn't show up to work either, not letting anybody know anything. Talek immediately called local law enforcement. Friends of Rina's all said they had indeed gone out for dinner that night, but Rina had declined the offer weeks ago, and while they insisted she'd have been welcome if she did show up, nobody had actually seen her. Curiously, the sixteen year old asked to give a statement as well. She confirmed that her mother had gone out that evening, leaving her keys behind. She'd kissed all of them on the forehead, and gone to dinner with friends, something she, in the words of the child, "had had to fight for", as Talek would only "let her go" when she had promised to help look after her younger siblings. That was the last anyone had ever seen of her. While a dark skinned Trill woman with piercing grey eyes was by no means a common sight on Vulcan, she blended in with the crowds very easily, and she was never seen again.

5

4

Kirio let out a slightly shaky breath. Okay. Okay. "Well." They stood up a little straighter. "I think we should split up into a smaller group. Ms. Mathra is only fresh out of surgery, after all, we shouldn't overwhelm her."

"Hoooooly shhh--shnikes," Essen saved herself from swearing.

"I agree, lieutenant," Erra replied to Kirio. She was not going to make the same mistake in treating them as background noise. They deserved better treatment than that. "I'll defer to Commander Maxson on who goes where but I agree."

Kirio thought for a long moment. They thought of being trapped between a rock and a hard place. They thought of wires twisting around their limbs and holding them in place. They thought of staying put for the sake of their friends. They thought of green-tinged blood on a circuit-covered floor. "I could go either way," they said.

1

Maxson raised an eyebrow as he read over it, letting out a low hum. Well…this certainly began to put things into perspective. He leaned back in his chair, hands clasped in front of him, “Lieutenant Mizax, Commander Erra, head down to the medical wards. As for the rest of us, we pour over contracts, we find the names of the other employees, we close cases…if we can,” He stood, and turned to Kirio and Erra, “The detective can take the lead on this.” (edited)

Kirio nodded. "You got it, boss."

Erra nodded to Maxson. "Aye, sir, right away, sir." Before she looked to Essen. "Let me know if anything comes up? Stay safe. I love you." Before she turned to Kirio, and presented them with a kind smile. "You've got the lead, lieutenant."

"I mean I sure do hope she is gonna be safe in a Security office of all places," Syrax, who was always definitely here, pondered with wonder in his tone. "Ready to assist however needed, Lieutenant Commander!"

"Yeah, I will if something comes up. I love you too," Essen said to Erra, before she sat back down at a console, awaiting further instruction.

“Ah, Lieutenant tr’Morvar,” The ACOS nodded toward Syrax, “If you would go along with Mizax and Erra?”

"Let's remember we're supposed to be professional while we're on duty," Kirio waved an idle hand. "Family stuff stays behind when we're wearing our uniforms." Let's go gang! If Syrax agrees to go that is.

Having remembered what Janus said, once more in the presence of not only the ACOS but the detective, Erra's finger pointed upwards as she did indeed need to remember. "Right, " Erra replied to Kirio. "You're right. Thank you for the reminder, lieutenant." She did mean that genuinely.

"Oh? Yeah, of course," he nodded, soon finding a nice spot by one of Kirio's shoulder to unobtrusively hover by. The notion of talking with someone about... issues, was a slightly intimidating one. Slightly being the key word in that sentence. "Lead the way, detective!"

Essen also forgot. But for her it was much more typical. Thankfully the digression wasn't as severe this time and not in front of Lord Janus. "Yeah, thanks," Essen added to Kirio, giving them a kind smile. Then she turned back to her console. "Alright, sir, what are we tackling first?" Essen asked Maxson. "Or is it a free-for-all, anything we can find?" (edited)

Any further investigation into the statements would, invariably and easily, uncover the following: Talek had an arrest record, after he had gotten belligerent with law enforcement when the search was turning up fruitless. He had struck a detective, who needed medical attention for it, and spent several months in and out of anger management therapies and in-patient recovery centres. When he returned to the world, his children refused to return to his household, despite Talek's best efforts in demanding it from a judge. After three years of trying, he remarried. Rina's children were alive and well, as far as could be determined. The oldest was a teacher, and the second child was studying physics. The other two were still in secondary school, and the grandparents seemed to be upstanding citizens, who had taken out a temporary restraining order against Talek during the time he was in and out of mental health programs.

2

Essen was not expecting the shit to hit the fan when she looked further. It was all-too familiar for her; spontaneously, Essen's eyes popped open and her jaw dropped as she froze for a solid fifteen seconds before she rubbed her eyes - nope, it was still the same information. Talek really was a monster. "Sir," Essen managed to say, directed at Maxson. "You're going to want to see this. Talek has a criminal history including assault. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, he has a whole arrest record. The children evidently didn't take kindly to that, that explains them being separate from him. His parents even filed a restraining order against him while he was receiving mental rehabilitation." Before she looked right at Maxson. "We may have a massive clue as to why Mathra had her memory erased. If he did anything to her..." Which prompted Essen to search for any incidents that involved Mathra and Talek, specifically together. Since the investigation started, every piece of evidence that Essen could remember didn't showcase Mathra and Talek interacting with each other directly - what happened when the two of them were together? (edited)

Unfortunately, there was no record of any incidents between Talek and Rina, but that meant nothing, of course. It would have helped, but the only concrete evidence there was was that Talek had a history of aggression, and that he was cut off from most of his family. A decision needed to be reached with just this information, in addition to everything to do with the circus, and with what Mathra was telling the others.

Another dud. "Rats," Essen said in place of a swear word with the ACOS present. There was nothing to prosecute Talek on that he already hadn't endured prosecution for. At least, nothing documented. Still, a dud when she searched further. "So we don't know if he did anything to her or not. Maybe that's what--" As Essen reached a hypothesis. "Maybe that's what she wanted to forget...!" Essen turned around to Maxson. "Sir, even with the evidence we've found, our options are limited. And we can't go bringing Mathra's memory back without her permission, from the fact that there's a contract that she signed, she's explicitly stated she doesn't want to remember it. Trying to access her contract would be a breach of privacy and make the Federation liable on that account. But just letting this go... there's no easy way to bring an end to this predicament. Forgive my candor, sir -- it's going to be difficult to find a solution that isn't ethically wrong." A pause, then... "Your orders?" (edited)

Well... that was the answer they were looking for. If Mathra didn't want them to dig any further, then Kirio wouldn't have called up to tell the team up here to leave the case open. It sounded like Mathra had made her decision. "Well, sir, you have your answer," Essen said.