Star Trek: Starbase 777

The kitchen was pristine, cookware hanging from little hooks in the walls, a knife block with varying types of knives proudly displayed on a sleek marble countertop. Chef's hats were hung neatly on the wall near the entry. Most of the cookie sheets and trays were likely tucked away in the cupboards near the floor, one of which was slightly ajar. Everything looked brand new, like no one had been cooking recently, or had ever used the kitchen at all. There were two things labeled with a yellow evidence number. #4 and #9 on the counter, accompanied by the quiet ringing of a bell.

Rakim entered the kitchen and proceeded to move over, once he spotted it, to the evidence item labelled #4, his interest peaked by this discovery as he listened to the bell. Listened and kept his eyes open..as he did his best to keep himself aware of his surroundings while he moved close and closer to the evidence number.

"We're here!" he announced loudly, making sure that the man who entered this room before him knew that there were people in his proximity. The ringing peaked his interest, and while Rakim investigated clue number four, Syrax made his way to the one labelled number nine...

There was a black brush, almost like a makeup brush, and a little pot of black powder on the counter. The evidence card #4 sat on it. #9, on the other hand, was the knife block itself.

"We have." Rakim, as he proceeded to pull out a handkerchief, wrapped the handkerchief around the brush and dipped it in the powder. He then experimentally proceeded to dust the area around where the brush was situated. "Hmmm, this is novel." He'd mused as he'd started to experimentally do this.

No sign of fingerprints nearby. Though the fingerprint duster was the evidence itself, so that was probably out.

"Huh. A uh... knife block." Allan tilted his head and looked at the knife block, were all the knives in their places? He was tempted to take one out, but that was probably sort of dangerous. "My family has like, three of these. I always tell my mom it's too many, but she insists that sometimes they break. I've never seen them break." And yet he was always tempted as a kid to try to. To break one.

Having identified it as...a finger print duster, Rakim idly wondered why the finger print duster was there. Was it something of a clue on its own or did this happen to be something that hinted at finger prints being somewhere. Or...did it happen to be a red herring? All of these things Rakim wondered as he looked up and back at the others and proceeded to say. "I think I've found a finger print duster.."

He decided to study the knife block - without touching it because, well, evidence - a bit closer, perhaps wanting to see if there was any sort of blood on it, or if the block or the knives had some sort of ornamentation or anything on them. Saren's knives had Lareth sigils and crests on them - perhaps that was the case here, too!

No sign of crests, sigils, or even blood for that matter.

Eiheu walked into the kitchen, and the moment she saw the knife block, she moved immediately towards it and picked up one of the knifes at random. "Look! A weapon! I knew it!" She suddenly realised that it was a very bad idea to be touching random weapons at a crime scene. She could get incriminated! Eiheu dropped the knife immediately, and hoped that she didn't get her fingerprints all over it.

1

Thol followed Eiheu into the room and looked around. It was clear that there were many people already finding clues so the pair seemed to be a bit behind. There was nothing that could be done there though. “Yeah you were right.” He walked back towards the hats and aprons and began to search around for a few moments before he reached his hand into an apron and pulled something out and smiled. It appeared to be a small notebook used for keeping recipes but it would also work well for tracking clues. The moment that he opened the book Thol began to write down everything he was overhearing.

Rakim looked over at the Romulan who walked in and then proceeded to facepalm. "..Well it'd appear that we now have a weapon with finger prints on it." He chuckled as he picked up the finger print duster stuff and started to look around the room for something that seemed worthy of being dusted for prints. The El-Aurian careful to keep it held within a handkerchief covered hand, fingers not permitted to touch it, just in case.

"Whoa-" Allan barely had time to react as he leaned back when he saw Eiheu's hand reach towards the knife block, laughing nervously and stepping back as he watched her drop it, glad that at least he hadn't been accidentally cut or had the knife dropped on him. "It uh, can be a weapon, yeah... considering the kitchen, though, it might not be, might be a uh... red bearing? Herring. Maybe."

3

1

"Just your nice, clean knife block, with no--" he immediately jerked his whole body back as soon as one of the knives was grabbed, fully prepared to full-on fucking fight and defend, but-- oh. Nevermind. Syrax blinked, shoulders lowering down with an exhale: "Fuck! Genuinely thought there that you were about to take a swing at me," he let out a chuckle, before looking at Allan: "Oh? Well, throwing evidence would be a bad idea. Oh, Rakim? Can we take a closer look at the brush?"

3

Thol walked back over to the larger group with his head still in the book. He wanted a record of everything in case it was needed for later. Every minor detail could be a murderer hiding evidence after all. He needed to be suspicious of everything and everyone. “That or it’s Occam’s Razor. The simplest solution is almost always the best one. General rule in life.”

Rakim turned so the brush and the finger print dust stuff could be better observed by Syrax. "Looks like stuff for dusting for fingerprints, wondering if the evidence relating to it might be what can be found by it." He'd mused as he looked at the other and watched them for any odd reaction. "Feel free to take a closer look, though I am intending to go looking for something to dust for fingerprints though.."

"We can just uhh, remember the knife block, I guess, if there's nothing... unusual about it.." he said, clearly still just a little on edge from the sudden shock of all that. "Yeah, dropping it's bad enough, I can't imagine throwing.. ooh, a fingerprint - does it show you the fingerprints or erase them? I feel like there's ones for both, right?"

"This one would show fingerprints, using the dust." The El-Aurian responded then before he then proceeded to add. "I suspect there are ones for both but if there are and I know what ones erase them it might be in my best interest to ah..not tell you at present." He chuckled softly.

Thol walked over towards Rakim and looked up at them for a moment. He had an idea about where to dust even though he was in no way an expert on such things. At least he had an idea though “Maybe try some of the larger knifes around the room? It’s possible the murderer looked at a few options if they had the time.

"That or, it could be evidence itself?.." he shook his head then, suddenly sheepish: "Ah, I am thinking out loud though, sorry! But it was marked as evidence, so... Perhaps noting down what we had found here is the best course of action for now. Technically, we can always come back here, right?"

The fingerprint duster continued to ding like a bell.

He waved around the book he was writing things down in when Syrax mentioned taking down notes. It appeared that he was already a step ahead of them. Thol’s first reaction to all of this had been to take notes for whatever he could. Perhaps that was due to his scientific training or maybe it was his nature. “Already on it.”

Allan gasped dramatically when Rakim said that he didn't think it was in his best interest to tell him what he knew. "Wha- wow, okay, you don't trust me? This is - honestly, I don't know your name, and you may not know mine, but truly, I'm hurt," he said, holding the frown for a slight moment before smiling and laughing as he looked back around the room. "Maybe there's something hidden? Like, in the cabinets or the oven or something?"

"No need to apolo-...wait. " He'd then proceeded to look over the duster looking for the source of the dinging as..he moved to the ajar cupboard. "Also...thats open." He had muttered as he approached the thing that happened to be ajar and continued to look over the brush in a handkerchief covered hand in a manner that might have been at home accompanied by the comment 'Oh no its beeping'. A comment he had decided to..not mention given what they were doing. When the other had gasped dramatically the now distracted El-Aurian turned toward them and then said. "I know your name I think though I don't believe we've met." He chuckled a bit as he watched them carefully. "..And I think I spotted a cupboard door that was ajar...that and this finger print bush is being odd."

"You do? Huh, okay, damn, I guess... I guess I'm.. well," he was distracted as he then looked over at the chef's hats and gasped again. "Wait, shit, maybe something hidden in the - do you think this is like that old Earth movie? Uhh, Ratatoonie? You know what I'm talking about?" He asked as he picked up one of the chef's hats and looked inside.

5

4

Upon closer inspection, the cupboard seemed to go back a bit more than it should. The crawlspace seemed big enough to squeeze through, though..

He also looked at the ringing brush - and then his brown gaze shifted back to the knife block, which also was ringing. "Maybe the ringing indicates the evidence. Because that would make sense, yeah?" he shimmied closer to Rakim, bending his enormous ass height to also look at the opening... ooh! "Ratatouille!" he exclaimed helpfully to Allan, because if Syrax was smart about something, it was Earth movie references! "Speaking of crawling creatures, does anyone that is not two meters tall want to crawl in there for funsies? Usually people do that in escape rooms."

3

Thol continued to look around the room for one last time when he spotted a critical part of the chef’s uniforms: gloves. If the group was searching for fingerprints it would be best not to add any more. He decided to speak up before the group moved on. “Wait everyone stop! Put on gloves before we go and touch anything else.” He walked over and put on a pair that fit pretty well.

"Yes! Yes, that's it. Great movie," he said as he somewhat disappointedly did not find a rat in the chef's hats. "Uhh, I'm not that much shorter, but..." he looked back at Rakim, "if someone crawled through here they'd put their hands on the floor of it, right? Maybe dust there?"

Rakim inspected the beeping brush for a bit utterly distracted even as he proceeded to comment. "I think I do...what is this beeping." Before he then glanced to Syrax and softly proceeded to add. "Oh yeah, that does make sense." And then headed over to the cupboard with the door ajar. "Oh and uh, I know of your name through Vara'l by the way.." When the vista presented by the inspection of the cupboard then started to be discussed..and the subject of gloves arose, Rakim realised what he happened to hold...and dusted the handle of the cupboard for prints. "On it...doing the door and gonna do the floor of it near the door too." He then proceeded to do just that.

"You are that much shorter though! By a head, see?" he gestured with a hand, visualizing his and Allan's height difference - to his credit, Syrax was thinking in Vulcanoid height standards.

3

There were fingerprints on the floor and the handle of the crawlspace, leading inside.

"..We need the one person with that camera.." Rakim used then as he noted the finger prints..and idly kicked himself for not having brought something like that himself. "Got fingerprints here, on the handle and on the floor leading inside."

"Um, hm... oh, do you see anything inside there? Could it be a secret tunnel?" he asked, his cadence getting a bit weird as he said those last two words, almost sing-songy... "We could also just throw something in there to check how far back it goes. Because it looks like someone, um, crawled inside there?.."

2

"Looks like a crawl space, I suspect it is a secret tunnel aye...or a crawl space at the very least." He mused then as he looked to Syrax and proceeded to say. "I think it might be best to get images of the finger prints and the like before then, just in case tossing something obliterates them or something." The El-Aurian had already resolved to dust for prints wherever he was asked to dust...and waited now to be asked to dust somewhere as he listened.

"Ohhh, that makes sense..." he'd said to Rakim, watching him dust the areas and then gasped again when Syrax demonstrated how much shorter he was. "Woww, okay, okay, so like - I'll have you know, I'm a full 181 centimeters, okay, and that's, um..." he sighed, looking up at Syrax who... was a head taller. "I mean, you're right, but- just means I can fit the secret tunnel better, I guess." He looked back at Rakim. "I can take pictures if we need?" He asked, taking his PADD from the inside of his pocket. "How would we match it up to someone though..?"

Secret tunnel indeed! It seemed to go back at least a few feet.

3

He replied with a snicker, watching attentively as Allan took out the PADD: "Sure, sure. Pictures could be good, and if there is anything weird inside, you could signal us? Meanwhile we'll make sure that we're not like, uh. Getting murdered here... as for the match-up, perhaps we don't have to even do that? Uh, nevermind, that does not make sense. Just document anything you can find!"

"Okayyy, okay, yeah, I'll go, I'll go..." he said, taking pictures of the fingerprints that Rakim had uncovered before squatting down to look inside. "If I get murdered though, like, you have to tell everyone that my ass looked good. That's on you. But like, you also have to say it like you didn't stare too much. Or do." He laughed, perhaps stalling just to avoid getting murdered, but figured he had to go in the tunnel, he supposed. "Anyways. Secret tunnel time," he said and then he did it! Went into the tunnel! (edited)

3

On the floor of the crawlspace was evidence card #8, accompanied by a small wooden box. Engraved on it were little drawings of a knife and a chef’s hat, and there were switches on the side of the box to input three numbers.

3

1

"Oh, fuck, this is like Ratatouille.." he muttered, looking at the box and the... switches? Oh, and drawings, too. "It's asking me for numbers, but like, I dunno if it's a bomb or something... do I just put the clue numbers?" He asked the folks behind him as he looked forwards, looking to see if the tunnel went on further.

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3

Didn't go much further, no. He's more than welcome to take the box with him, though.

"You found a rat?! Wait, oh," there was a note of disappointment at the realization that Allan, indeed, did not find a rat. Instead he inclined his head to the side: "You can try, uh, what was it... four and nine?.. But we can also go back to the hallway 'cuz I think I heard people there gathering."

3

"Nah, well- there might be a rat in the box instead of a bomb.." he said, grinning as he realized that there was actually a not-zero chance of there being a rat involved. "Yeah, I'll get out, hold on," he scooted backwards and got out of the cupboard, "it's also like, not even a tunnel, kinda disappointed. But hey, maybe we'll get a rat chef in here," he shook the box as he stood up next to Syrax, trying to listen if it had anything inside. Like a rat.

...That sounds like glass. Oops.

1

"A glass rat.." was clearly Allan's conclusion here, he whispered as he set the box carefully in his hands, thankfully he hadn't shaken it too hard - after all, he didn't want to scramble the potential-rat's brains too hard... "do you think we should put the numbers in now or later?"

"Oh fuck, if there is a rat, then we might need to open that box soon... even if it's a glass one..." nevermind that said theoretical Schrodinger's rat would be holographic and Not Real. "Let's go to the show and tell and flaunt our little box, then! We could do numbers there, because maybe there are potentially more numbers to be put in from other people, or something." He then gathered the little kitchen group to escort them out to the #┊-hallway , let's-a go!

3

"God, you're so smart.." Allan said with a grin, looking up at Syrax for... a little bit of a moment, really, before looking back at the exit to the hallway. "Yeah, that sounds great, let's fuckin' go," and he followed the group right out to the #┊-hallway also!

Rakim followed everyone else right out into the #┊-hallway and stepped out and joined the back of the group.

Allan walked back into the kitchen and looked at the chef's hats that he'd checked for rats and the knife block, counting how many of each there were. Maybe there would be more than 9 knives and that would necessitate two numbers? Or more than 9 chef's hats... but why would someone need that many chef's hats?

13 knives in the block, 5 chef hats.

Fuck yeah! There were more than 9 knives! Five whole chefs though, wow. He headed back to the #┊-hallway with this information in mind.