Sub Rosa

Sub Rosa 1 - Preliminary

A selection of posts from the Boudicca crew on the spy mystery, an ongoing subplot yet to come to a conclusion

Stardate: 2407.01.27

(Starbase Geneva, Temporary Quarters, Lt(jg) Susan Rivers and Admiral Ohlsson, 1400)

"Come in!"

Susan continued to pack as the doors to her quarters opened, but when she saw who had entered, she dropped the top she was folding onto the open bag and came to attention.

Admiral Ohlsson waved his hand impatiently. "No need for that, Susan. Not just between ourselves. Sit down." He took a seat himself and stretched out his long legs. "I could do with a coffee, though. My assistant limits me to two a day, dragon that she is."

Susan grinned and got his coffee and one for herself then sat down.

"I'm sorry about the court-martial," Ohlsson said. "But it had to be real to give you the right cover, you know?"

Susan shrugged. "I know," she said. "It has to be not just believable but verifiable, right?"

"Right. And of course when this is all over your rank will be fully restored, no stain on your record." He grinned. "Well, apart from what was already there, that is."

Susan acknowledged that with a wry smile. Anyone who knew her and her temper would have little difficulty believing in her court-martial and subsequent demotion for gross insubordination. She also noted that Ohlsson had not specifically said once this assignment was over, but had been rather more vague.

"As you know," Ohlsson continued, "For some time now we've suspected that a ring of infiltrators has been passing information to Doenitz somehow. Your job will be to find and identify the members of that ring. If you can infiltrate it, so much the better."

Susan raised an eyebrow. "You think they'd try to recruit me? Even though my feelings about Doenitz must be well-known?"

"Ah, but that's the beauty of it. A Starfleet Captain, stripped of her command and demoted over a relatively minor misdemeanor, might be expected to harbour a lot of resentment, even a grudge, don't you think? You must admit, Susan, you'd be a tempting target. Especially if they were to offer you a command in return for your... co-operation."

She nodded slowly. "I suppose so."

"We know they've turned at least one officer that way before." He handed her a PADD. "For your eyes only. Your code-name will be Vixen, and you should use that in all your communications with me, which should take place on the channel detailed here only. Your access code is also detailed on this PADD. Your assignment, Susan, will be as TAC/ASC on the Boudicca. There's one there already but the Boudicca is a tactical ship just starting a covert mission in Federation space, so I doubt anyone will question it."

Susan stared at him. "The Boudicca? But I know so many people there! People I've served with, trusted, come to think of as friends!"

"Name me one ship in this fleet where you *don't* know someone," Ohlsson retorted. "Susan, when I recruited you to my section a year ago, you knew none of the assignments would be easy. This one is harder than most because of your personal relationships with some of the people under suspicion, but you can't let your guard down with anyone except Captain Sevant."

Susan snorted. "I'm glad *one* at least of my former friends and colleagues is regarded as above suspicion!"

Ohlsson regarded her soberly. "I wouldn't exactly say 'above suspicion' but he was the one to voice his concerns to me over a certain piece of information ending up in the wrong hands and to request a covert investigation. So he alone knows why you'll be there. But no one else is to know, understand? I don't care how long you've known them, how good a friend they are, if they've saved your life or you've slept with them. No one at all."

Susan looked down at the PADD again and sighed. "Very well," she agreed.

Ohlsson handed her a second PADD. "This one just contains your reporting instructions as per normal."

He swallowed the last of his coffee and stood up to leave. "Good luck, Susan. I have a feeling you're going to need it, on more than one level. It won't be easy working under people you once commanded. And this job... dangerous as well as difficult."

He turned towards the door, then looked back. "By the way, what exactly *did* you say to Admiral Weston to provoke him into court-martialling you?" he asked.

Susan told him, and Ohlsson gave a sudden bark of laughter.

"You hit a raw nerve there all right," he said.

He was still laughing as he walked down the corridor to the turbolift.

Stardate: 2407.02.02

(USS Boudicca, Transporter Room 1, Lt(jg) Susan Rivers, 0845)

As she materialised, Susan recognised the operative and saw with a certain amount of wry amusement, well hidden behind an impassive expression, that he recognised her too.

"Welcome aboard, Cap- uhh... Lt Rivers."

"Thanks, Hobek. I'm to report to Captain Sevant."

Still staring, he nodded. "He's... Umm, he's in y- his Ready Room, sir."

"Thank you," Susan said. "Could you make sure my bags are taken to my quarters?"

"Yes, Ca- *Lieutenant*."

She thanked him with a nod and left to report in to her former FO and new CO.

(USS Boudicca, Ready Room, Lt(jg) Susan Rivers, 0855)

Apparently oblivious to the stares of those on the Bridge who recognised her, Susan approached the Ready Room and sounded the doorchime. She felt as if their eyes were boring into her back, and flushed slightly. It would be, she realised, even harder than she had thought.

"Enter!"

She walked in and came to attention before the desk and the man sitting behind it.

"Lt Susan Rivers reporting for duty, Sir!"

She handed him the PADD containing her reporting instructions and waited for his reply.

Sub Rosa 2 - Ongoing Investigations

Stardate: 2407.02.03

(USS Boudicca - Unknown location - 'Emanon' - 1645)

The operative designated Emanon frowned. He had been pestered for most of the battle by requests for information and reports and whilst doing his best to slow down the stream of information sent to the Bridge and later the Battle Bridge, had been unable to really interfere in case someone noticed. He had had to try very hard not to show his true feelings when the Starbird had been destroyed early on. He smiled grimly to himself. A simple change to the orders transmitted to the Captain of that vessel and the result had been most satisfactory.

He had hoped to do more but had not dared. After that disaster, he knew all transmissions would most likely be monitored more carefully.

Tapping his console, he brought up the log of messages transmitted and altered the one sent to the Starbird so it reflected the original orders he was supposed to transmit. Simple, when you had his skills. And only if someone had actually thought to check in the thick of battle, which they had not, would the change have been detected. He knew this for a fact, since he would have known immediately. He had too many checks in place to be caught out that way.

Emanon was under no illusions of the penalty for treason in time of war. Though it was hardly treason to obey the rightful leader of the Federation, he doubted that these rebels would see it the same way.

He'd heard that LoDona and Ohlsson had sent someone here to look for him and the others. He permitted himself another grim smile. None of them, except for him, knew more than one or two others, so he was confident that even if some idiot further down the chain were to be caught out, his position was safe. And they all had their orders as to who to throw suspicion on in the event of being caught. Each one had something that could be held over them to ensure obedience. And he held the key to it all.

Besides, even if things went so badly wrong that the finger of suspicion were to be pointed in his direction, who would believe that he, of all people, could be a traitor. Perhaps his former CO, but no one else.

All the same, he decided not to take risks. If any of his cabal were to fall under suspicion, they would be eliminated before they could incriminate anyone else. He would inform his second in command of the changes to be made to their plans.

Stardate: 2406.02.10

(USS Boudicca, FO's Quarters, FO, Commander Susan Rivers - Day 4 0150)

Susan re-read the reports for the last time. One final check before putting her plan into action. There were several people who could have sent the messages that had been tracked, and although all traces of them had been removed from the Boudicca's files, the timing of the intercepts was pretty specific. She had settled on Hanwary as her first subject partly because of the lack of information about him. And his regular transferrance between ships and bases. For an NCO, he had a long list of previous assignments.

She checked the duty roster again. Crewman Kinton Hanwary was most definitely on duty for another six hours and his room-mate, Crewman Jerral Revan, was just starting a staggered shift in engineering. Light duties only of course, but he had volunteered to supervise the graveyard shift. So she should have ample time for her purposes.

(USS Boudicca, Crew Quarters belonging to Warrant Officer Jerral Revan and Warrant Officer Kinton Hanwary, FO, Commander Susan Rivers, 0200)

She tried the door-chime first, just to be sure, before keying in an override that would gain her access to their quarters. No answer, so she entered as silently as she could, stopping just inside the door to listen. Silence.

She didn't want to risk turning on the lights, so she had brought at flashlight, which she switched on and swept around the room. The powerful beam lit up the various items of furniture, and one or two wallposters of the kind typically found in a certain type of batchelor quarters. She smirked, slipped on a pair of latex gloves, and began her search.

Revan's possessions were, as she had thought they would be, harmless enough. A few family holopics, a couple of bottles of beer presumably brought from Ten Forward, and some slightly garish off-duty clothes. His reading-matter of choice was, apparently, ship's weapon's manuals and publications, with (surprsingly enough) the occasional pulp mystery. His desk was piled with PADDs filled with status reports and duty schedules, all neatly arranged in various piles and stacks.

By contrast, Hanwary's part of the room seemed devoid of personality, almost as if he was trying not to be noticed. There was nothing of interest to be found, no books, no ornaments, not even one holopic of family or friends. A faint odour of stale clothes hit her as she opened his closet, and she wrinkled her nose. The contents seemed to consist almost exclusively of uniform, with one or two nondescript off-duty items. There was no rule that said anyone had to have personal possessions, of course, but all the same somehow it didn't ring true. It was as if the man had no personality of his own. Either that, or he wanted to keep it private even from his room-mate. Then she found the box, pushed to the back of the closet. Opening it, she found some dolls and stuffed animals. Children's toys. She frowned. What would a grown man with no family want with a box of children's toys?

She turned to the bed and stripped it fastidiously, avoiding touching the bedding as much as she could even through her gloves. Surely he could change his sheets sometimes!

Nothing.

Squatting down, she ran her hand under the bed and was rewarded with a thick envelope, unsealed. It was worn enough to assure her the contents were regularly viewed, although even before she opened it she was sure that it never made an appearance unless Hanwary was alone.

When she saw the pictures it contained, she was sure of it.

During the course of her career, Susan had seen a lot of things that were deeply unpleasant and distressing, but apart from the facilities they had recently destroyed, nothing she had seen until now turned her stomach like this. No wonder he concealed them! She bit her lip as she looked at the pictures, a cold knot of anger and disgust growing bigger inside her with each holopic she looked at. She tried to concentrate only on the faces of the children after the first few even though the expressions in their eyes would haunt her for a long time to come, but then she saw a face she knew. The child, a human girl whose name escaped Susan for the moment, had been a friend of Loren and Shun on the starbase. She sat back on her heels, remembering. Every time Susan and her wards had returned to the starbase, the first person Loren looked for was... ~Janine, that was her name.~ Then one time when they returned it was to discover that the family had abruptly left, the parents taking up posts on a remote colony. She thought she could recall later hearing something about the girl dying under tragic circumstances long before they reached their destination. Then she remembered. Janine had been found dead, having hanged herself. She had been only 12 years old.

Susan swore viciously. The satisfaction of being proved right, that the cryptologist did indeed have an unsavoury secret to hide, sat sourly with the knowledge of what that secret was.

She was aware that the proper course of events would be to go to Stolev and the Captain, tell them what she'd found, and let them deal with him, turning him over to the proper authorities at the end of this mission. However, that didn't necessarily suit her purpose. She was reasonably certain that Hanwary was indeed the one who had been sending out the information, but nothing she had learned of him so far led her to believe he was capable of working alone. He had the skills to send out the transmission hidden in other, more normal and above-board communications, but she found it hard to believe that by himself he would have had access to the data that had been sent. No, there must be someone else more senior involved, possibly more than one other person. Hanwary had probably been blackmailed into co-operating. Once confronted with his disgusting secret he'd probably caved almost immediately. She hoped she would have the same effect on him, and that he would tell her who his controller was.

She glanced at her chrono. She would have time to make some copies and replace everything as it was. Then it would be time to consider how to deal with Hanwary.

The last thing she did before leaving with the copies of the evidence was to use a specific code to erase all traces of her having been in Hanwary's quarters even from the computer-record.

(USS Boudicca, Personal Quarters, FO, Commander Susan Rivers, 0330)

The first thing she did on reaching her own quarters was to take a very, very long shower. Even then she still felt unclean.

Reluctantly, she decided she needed a witness in her dealings with Hanwary. But it would have to be the right person. Someone who would not baulk at whatever means were necessary to get the information out of him. Someone who could scare the living daylights out of the runt. Someone she could trust beyond doubt.

She considered her options carefully, but in the end she always came back to the same two names. Sasha and Sevant. Sasha had, after all, broken the murderer of the Sevant family on the Nimitz, and Sevant... trusting him was like trusting herself. In the end she decided to go with Sasha. For one thing, it would in a way go towards making up for not trusting him when she first came aboard, but more than that, if this were to end up in a court-martial, no slippery lawyer-type could question that things had not been dealt with through the proper channels if the TAC/SC was involved.

She tapped her commbadge.

"Rivers to Stolev. I know it's late but I need to talk to you, Sasha," she said. "Somewhere secure."

(USS Boudicca - Personal Quarters - FO Commander Rivers & TAC/SC/2O Lt. Cmdr. Stolev - Day 4 - 0345)

The whistle of his comm badge jerked Sasha abruptly out of a deep sleep. He had tossed and turned for some time after trying to go to bed early last night. He had been trying, without success, to banish all thoughts, worries, and concerns about Eva to the back of his mind. Once he finally decided to relax, and let his mind drift, he suddenly had felt her presence, almost as if she were in bed beside him, and had ironically fallen asleep to vivid thoughts of holding her in her arms.

Sasha sat up and blinked a few times, trying to remember where he was. He looked over at the other pillow, but Eva was of course not there. It had seemed so real! He rubbed his eyes, grabbed his badge from the nightstand, and squeezed it.

-/\- Rivers to Stolev. I know it's late but I need to talk to you, Sasha, -/\- she said. =/\= Somewhere secure. =^=

Sasha yawned and looked at the chronometer before replying. "I think the sight of us walking into my office in the middle of the night might set the rumor mill flying. Your quarters, or mine?" They were in fact only a few meters down the corridor from each other.

"Mine," Susan replied briefly. She had made sure her quarters were surveillance free and had a small program running to monitor this. It honestly didn't occur to her that anyone who happened to see the 2O make his way to the FO's quarters in the wee small hours, while his wife was off the ship, might actually create more rumours than seeing them both heading for the Seucurity offices, nor that such an observer might assume that their meeting thus was of a personal, rather than ship-related, nature.

Susan spent the short time waiting for Sasha to arrive laying the pictures she had copied on her desk and making herself a coffee. She needed a clear mind.

When Sasha arrived, she nodded to him. "Thank you for coming," she said wryly. "I know it's late but I don't think this can wait. Help yourself if you want anything from the replicator."

"Thanks," replied Sasha, dialing up a strong cup of coffee. "By the way, I didn't see anyone else in the corridor when I came here, so I think we're safe from the rumor mill, at least for now." He took the cup from the replicator and went over to sit in one of the chairs opposite the desk. "So what is it that can't wait?"

Susan let him sit down before replying, "I think I've found one of our spies."

She told him of her suspicions of Hanwary, how she had searched his quarters, and what she had found. She picked up the pictures from her desk and handed them to him.

"Enough of a reason for blackmail, wouldn't you say?" she asked dryly. "Frankly I'd like nothing better than to shove the nasty little pervert out of the nearest airlock but unfortunately we need him. For now."

She paused. "I want you to help me interrogate him. Make it official enough to stand up if it ever comes to an official court martial - and believe me, Sasha, I want this -" here she used a word which would have shocked most of her friends, whatever background they came from " - to pay for what he's done to all those kids AND for the crimes he's committed here. But I want to scare the s*** out of him and get whatever information we can out of him first. And I need your help to do that. He has to believe that nothing - not even Starfleet regulations - stands between him and a very unpleasant ending unless he co-operates."

Sasha thumbed through the pictures, feeling at once shocked and disgusted by them. "I don't think that'll be too difficult," he replied, setting down the offending contraband. "People involved in this don't survive long in prison, no matter what planet. Once we show him these, and remind him of that, I'm sure he'll be quite cooperative."

Susan nodded. "Good. Now all we have to do is pick the best time. He's working the graveyard shift - I suggest maybe choosing a time that'll wake him up in the middle of his rest period? Catch him off-guard and keep him that way?"

Sasha rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, pulling him off his shift would work just as well, and perhaps better. In his quarters, who knows what he might have there. But if we accost him in a public area of the ship, while he's concentrating on something else, he'd be more likely to be rattled and less likely to have a nasty surprise for us. Especially if he thinks we're all asleep and unconcerned with him."

Susan thought for a moment, eyes narrowed. Then she smiled unpleasantly. "I have a pretty good idea what he has in his quarters," she reminded Sasha. "But I agree, it works better your way. Less chance of him trying to pull a weapon on us with more people around," she agreed slowly. "So what say we go get him now?"

"Sounds good to me. Computer, locate Warrant Officer Hanwary."

[Warrant Officer Hanwary is in Jefferies Tube 32.]

"Display location on monitor."

The monitor on the wall blinked to life, showing a schematic of one of the engineering decks, with a flashing light in one of the Jeffries tubes showing Hanwary's location.

Sasha looked at the schematic for a few seconds. "Ah, this will be perfect. I think we ought to wait for him here," he said, pointing at the nearest access point to Hanwary's location. "This is the only way out of the tube that he's in. I can't say I'm interested in confronting a paedophile and potential saboteur in a confined space."

"Works for me," Susan agreed, standing up and checking her hand-phaser. Shall we go?"

Sasha stood up, checked his own phaser, and nodded. ~This fellow might ought to consider himself lucky to even make it to a prison,~ he thought wryly as he followed Susan out the door and down the corridor.

(USS Boudicca, Crew Quarters belonging to Warrant Officer Jerral Revan and Warrant Officer Kinton Hanwary, Warrant Officer Kinton Hanwary, 0700)

Hanwary was sweating profusely as he made it back into his quarters and leant against the closed door. That b***h of a Bajoran and that b*****d of a Russian had scared him so thoroughly that he'd almost soiled himself. Then he smiled to himself slyly. They hadn't believed what he'd told them that Parker was his contact but they would, once they saw the proof. But there was only one person who could help him give them that proof. His real contact, who could get Emanon to help set Parker up. Hanwary didn't know who Emanon was, only what his contact had told him. What Hanwary had heard had made him more scared of Emanon even than of Rivers and Stolev put together but he was sure that Emanon would be pleased to hear that he hadn't given them any real names. Emanon might even be able to get him out of here!

But he couldn't contact Emanon direct. He had no idea who Emanon might be. So he did the only thing he could do. He contacted Robespierre.

(USS Boudicca, Unknown location, Robespierre, 0704)

The agent known as Robespierre frowned thoughtfully as Hanwary spoke. When Hanwary finished, there was silence for a while, then Robespierre spoke.

"I'll talk to Emanon. The matter will be arranged."

As Hanwary demanded to know when it would be arranged, Robespierre's frown grew deeper. "It'll be arranged. That's all you have to know."

Robespierre cut the connection, then contacted Emanon.

"We have a problem," Robespierre said.

(USS Boudicca, Unknown location, Emanon, 0707)

Emanon listened to Robespierre's report with a thin unpleasant smile.

"It would seem that Mr Hanwary did not heed the warnings given to him," Emanon said. "I will personally make sure that the PADD is delivered to him. It will not be too hard to put Parker in the frame, at least enough to give us some breathing space. You will contact Hanwary again and tell him that the PADD containing the evidence against Parker will be delivered to him in his quarters one hour before he is due to meet with Rivers and Stolev again. Tell him that will give him enough time to read through it in case they question him on the contents."

=/\=Very good. What about Hanwary? Are we going to get him off the ship? I don't trust him not to give him my name if they press him any more!=/\=

"You needn't worry about Mr Hanwary's lack of discretion. He'll learn from me personally the unwisdom of giving names, even false names."

(USS Boudicca, Crew Quarters belonging to Warrant Officer Jerral Revan and Warrant Officer Kinton Hanwary, Warrant Officer Kinton Hanwary and Emanon, 0900)

The chime of the doorbell made Hanwary jump, then he realised it must be Robespierre with the PADD. He opened it.

"You'll have to hurry, my room-mate's due back soo-" he began, then fell silent. It was not Robespierre standing there, but someone else altogether.

The person standing there forced their way in past Hanwary. As the door shut, the person said, "I'm Emanon. This is the PADD you need. There's enough on here to back up your accusation of Parker. Once you've handed that over, we'll get you off the ship."

The sound of the voice, devoid of expression and emotion, grated on Hanwary's ears but he almost snatched the PADD from Emanon and began reading it avidly.

As he read, Emanon moved around behind Hanwary as though looking around the room and reaching into a pocket pulled out a pair of latex gloves and put them on before taking out a wire garotte. With one quick movement the wire was around Hanwary's neck and pulled tight. Death followed quickly and Emanon let Hanwary's body slip to the floor. He checked to make sure there were no signs of life, then to make sure he pulled out a knife and slit Hanwary's throat. Blood leaked slowly from the wound, showing that the heart had stopped beating. Emanon nodded in satisfaction, then began to ransack the room, trying to make it look as if it had been hastily searched. The PADD was carefully wiped of fingerprints and then wedged at the back of a half-open drawer, as if it had been overlooked in the searcher's haste. Finally Emanon began to erase his presence from the computer record, and replace it with someone else's.

=/\=The room-mate's on his way back. You'll have to hurry! He'll be there in a few minutes!=/\=

Emanon swore and hastily left the room. So hastily that he could not be sure that the change to the computer record had been made the way it was intended. Fortunately the corridor was empty and no one witnessed the hasty retreat.

(USS Boudicca, Crew Quarters belonging to Warrant Officer Jerral Revan and Warrant Officer Kinton Hanwary - Warrant Officer Jerral Revan - 0910)

Jerral limped back to his quarters, his cane making an angry clunk as he hobbled down the hall. He had conveniently forgotten how annoying the crew on the Gamma shift really was, especially when he had to supervise them. He swore as soon as he was returned to active duty, he was going to loose himself in the bowels of the ship and not come out for a good week.

He walked up to his door and slammed the door panel with the tip of his cane.

[Please identify yourself either with a finger print scan or voice print]

"Listen you stupid computer I'm tired and I hurt and I want to go to sleep so open my d**n door and let me in" Jerral snapped at the computer.

[Voice print verified] The computer said as Jerral glared, the door sliding open.

Jerral walked in two paces then stopped dead. Dead was a fitting word, as he saw his room mate lying in a puddle of what Jerral could only assume was his own blood.

"Son of a B****" Jerral muttered as he walked back outside the quarters. Leaning against the wall next to the door, Jerral spoke up.

"Computer, Lock my quarters, do not let anyone in except for myself

or senior staff with out security over ride."

[Done]

Tapping his comm badge he spoke up again. "Warrant officer Jerral Revan to Commander Stolev and Commander Rivers. If I could have the pleasure of your company in my quarters, I have something the both of you need to see right away, Sirs" Jerral said. "And with all due respect, I need to insist on this request."

(USS Boudicca - Quarters of WO Revan and WO Hanwary - TAC/SC/2O Lt. Cmdr. Aleksander Stolev - Day 4 - 0931)

"I've already made a few observations which will hopefully speed up your analysis. The knife wound in the neck was inflicted post-mortem. Cause of death was likely strangulation, judging by the marks on the neck. The assailant stood behind him; there are footprints in the carpet behind the body. There's a PADD wedged into the back of one of the drawers, but I couldn't read the display without touching it, and I didn't want to contaminate it. Also, the computer terminal was recently utilized to modify some data."

Dr. Post looked around the room then looked back at Stolev. "Thank you Commander," she said as she began her examination.

"Commander I believe you are correct. You can see here that the wound was inflicted in a smooth stroke -- the wound is smooth. If Mr Hanwary throat was slit while he was still alive there would be much more blood and the wound would be uneven due to a struggle. You can also see here some bruising around the wound," she said as she pointed to the marks on his neck and the wound. "I will know more after further investigation. But I can tell you one thing: Mr. Hanwary knew the killer. There are no defensive wounds on his hands.

"I can also tell that the killer is left handed. I can tell by the angle of the wound. It goes from right to Left. If the person was right handed the wound would have gone from left to right." Sara demonstrated on one of the security officers that was standing near by.

Stolev turned at the sound of another voice. "Unless there is anything further, I’ll be in Sickbay," said Dr. Ari, the Cardassian ACMO. "When you are ready, the body can be placed in stasis in Sickbay, I would recommend this be done sooner rather than later to preserve the body’s current condition," he said, taking a step towards the door and listening to anyone wanting to speak to him.

Post looked at the Cardassian Doctor. "Doctor I will have the body transferred to sickbay as soon as I have gathered all the physical evidence off the body and not any sooner."

Stolev raised an eyebrow at this exchange. ~She may be a brilliant forensic scientist but her interpersonal skills leave something to be desired.~ He watched her turn back to the body and begin to examine it further, then caught Rivers looking at him meaningfully out of the corner of his eye. He moved discretely away from Dr. Post and over towards Rivers, so that they could converse unobtrusively while still monitoring the investigation.

Rivers gave Stolev a wry grin and said in a low tone, "You know, Tiberius Caesar, Jack the Ripper, the Boston Strangler, Osama Bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and various other well-known killers and psychopaths from history have been left-handed. As well, of course, as people rather better known for their artistic abilities such as Michaelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. And this whole set-up indicates an intelligent mind at work. The kind of mind that can come up with a plan like this at short notice. I'm pretty certain this is a direct result of Hanwary contacting his controller. It's too much of a coincidence otherwise."

Stolev nodded. "I agree," he said. It had been obvious to him the moment he had walked into the room that this was not a random act of violence. Too many aspects were obviously premeditated. He looked back at Dr. Post and knew that he'd have to remind her of this fact, and thus the possibility that any gathered evidence could conceivably been planted to obfuscate the investigation. She wouldn't be happy about it, but that was her problem.

Post finished her examination, then motioned to the medical team to remove the body and signaled to sickbay that they could retrieve the body for autopsy. Rivers then stepped forwards. "Sara, I'd like a preliminary report in writing as soon as possible. No need to wait for the tes results; you can give me a more detailed report later once you have those. I'd also like a copy of the autopsy report as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'd better go and report to the Captain. Sasha, can you get someone to look through the crew records and pull out all the known left-handed and ambidextrous crewmembers and officers? It's not much to go on but it's all we have at the moment. And let me know what you find on that PADD and the computer records for these quarters."

"Aye, sir," replied Stolev. He watched her leave, then turned back to Post. "I'm sure you've made this observation as well, Doctor, but it's quite obvious to me that this was a premeditated crime, and not a random act of violence. Be sure to treat your evidence with a healthy dose of skepticism regarding its validity. I have to get back to the bridge. Send a copy of those reports to me as well. And I'll have a crew roster report for you within the hour." He then turned and walked out of the quarters, tapping his badge as he went. "Stolev to security. Skelton, I want you to go through the ship's roster and assemble a list of anyone on board who is left handed or ambidexterous. Forward the list to Dr. Post."

(USS Boudicca, Outside The Quarters of WO Revan and WO Hanwary, Ensign (Jg) Louis Church – 09.37)

Behaviour reflects Personality. It’s a tenet that Church has followed and believes in. It applies to all manner of situations especially murder. Not that Church knew it was murder, the low tones of the officers, the way they stood near to the room indicated that a serious event had occurred. When the Cardassian doctor had nodded assent to view the corpse Church lifted the white covers.

It was written that “Singularity is almost invariably a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult it is to bring it home.” Church totally agreed with this. If a murdered victim was killed in a simple, straightforward way then it was almost impossible to profile the killer. The stranger the killing, the easier it is.

Behaviour reflects Personality.

What Church saw under the covers was a human with what seemed like a cut throat from a blade or other sharp object.

~ The investigators would be on their own in this one~, he thought, ~ Shame I could have ……..~

He spotted something strange about the wound. There were markings under it as if …

~ Bugna Mueii! Two weapons were used~

Church was so wrapped up in the implications of such actions that he failed to hear security forcing people away.

“We’d better get out of here before the who deck smells of a decomposing corpse, however, Counsellor, if you want to see more, you are welcome to join me for the autopsy I’ll be conducting within the hour.”, he asked smiling slightly but genuine in his offer.

“Beware a smiling Cardassian” was always a saying around Starfleet even now. Despite that Church felt it was genuine and with what he saw with the body he had to find the details. Perhaps he could be some help after all. He recovered the face.

“It’s been a while since my last autopsy so yes I will come”

“Very well.”, he sad now making a space to get him and the team through and up to the Medical Centre.

(USS Boudicca, Sickbay, Ensign (Jg) Louis Church – 09.46)

“Computer, place a level one status field around the corpse.”, the doctor said and the field appeared around the biobed.

They were in a back room, reserved for operations and other activities best not shown in public view.

Jorsad prepared for the work ahead and he had an assistant nurse to help him, it would take time for a complete autopsy.

“Do you need me Doctor or can I just observe ?”

(USS Boudicca, Sickbay, Ensign (Jg) Counsellor Church – 09.47)

“Counsellor, could you see if there are any fragments of the weapon or other evidence in the wound?” the Doctor asked.

Church scanned the wound with a medical tricorder – there was no sign of anything physical left of the wound but the wound itself was specific.

“Depth of penetration is shallow, minimal bruising and no sign of rocking or irregular v shapes. This is not a stab wound. The blade of the knife is serrated possibly double –edged though the measurements the Nurse is receiving will verify the more detailed aspects of the knife.”

Church then moved on to the second wound.

“Cyanosis in the victim relates to asphyxia due to ligature strangulation. Deep markings indicate either a wire or related material”

The tricorder picked up small moon shaped crescents on the victim’s skin.

“It looks like the victim tried to grab the ligature. Again a more detailed analysis will come from the recorded data.”

Church stepped back to let the doctor continue. As the doctor was passed a laser scalpel Church thought about what the two wound meant. This was highly unusual. Why would the person bring a knife to a garrotte party? The detailed information gathered would give an indication of the type of knife used which could narrow the search down The doctor would be able to analyse the information better than Church. He had medical knowledge but nothing too specific, he left that to the experts. Church was half listening to the rest of the autopsy when his senses were awoken by a different voice breaking in.

"What are doing with that corpse?", the Cardassian spun around to see to who had spoken

“An autopsy on this murder victim.”, he replied,

“Would you care to take over, sir?”, he asked with a laser bone saw in his hand.

"Another pair of eyes will always help" interjected Church, "will you assist/"

(USS Boudicca - Sickbay - Capt Sevant 0949)

"Hanwary has been murdered, Sir," she said bluntly. "It looks like strangulation but his throat was also cut, although apparently after death. No doubt Dr Ari will be able to tell us more after the autopsy. Dr Post is going to give me a preliminary report on her findings as soon as she can; I'll make sure that Stolev is in on that meeting too."

Sevant's eyes narrowed. "Continue."

"His quarters appear to have been hastily searched, but there was a PADD jammed at the back of one of the drawers which was apparently overlooked in the searcher's haste. That PADD was not there when I searched his quarters, Sir. I am positive about that. I was most thorough and had plenty of time. Either it contains information he put together after Stolev and I interrogated him, or it was left behind deliberately by whoever killed him. Right now I have no idea which."

"Find out which. Find the killer Commander, post-haste."

Sub Rosa 3 - The Beginning of the End, or the End of the Beginning?

• (posted by Liz Geuken, Aaron Scifres, Jeremy Trout, Patrick Dennett, Warren Simkins)

To be continued