<USS Avalon> "A Dead Body and a Busy Mind."

"A Dead Body and a Busy Mind." 
By: Ensn Melanie Redgrave. 
 
The computer was downloading and identifying the  life sign scans from Melanie
’s tri-corder. The piece of rubber that had been  found on the floor was 
being analyzed in the electrothermal atomizer. Photos and  holoimages were 
being 
projected all over the room. A fine spay of alginate was  setting on the carpet 
of the ready room sealing and high lighting the footprints  and marks left in 
the fibers. The rest of the samples taken were tagged and  stored around the 
lab. The body of the captain was laid out on a metal table in  the back 
waiting to be autopsied. 
 
Melanie wasn’t fond of this part of the job.  There was just something creepy 
about being alone in a cold room with a dead  person, but what needs to be 
done needs to be done. After getting the standard  red scrubs on Melanie walked 
into the exam room and up to the body of Captain  Flubb. 
 
“Computer began vocal recording.” Melanie called  out as she opened her 
tri-corder. “This is the forensic autopsy of Captain  Joseph Flubb aboard the 
USS 
Avalon. Stardate 0408.31. Time 2041 hours. Examiner,  Ensign Melanie Redgrave, 
assistant forensic officer.” 
 
Melanie began running the wand of the tri-corder  over the captain’s body. 
She needed to determine a time of death and one of the  easiest ways to do that 
was to get a body temp since the body’s temperature  drops two degrees the 
first hour after death and then one and half degrees for  each additional hour. 
 
“The normal body temp for a Antican is  eighty-seven degrees Fahrenheit. The 
subject’s body’s temp is certainly   eighty-two degrees. Time of death 
would 
have been between 1700 and 1800 hours.” 
 
After putting the tri-corder in a port on the  side of the bed, Melanie 
carefully pulled the blanket that was covering the  captain’s body down to 
his 
waist. She pulled an over head illumed magnifier down  and placed it just over 
the 
burn marks on the Captain’s chest. She then pulled  down a mounted scanner 
and turned it on as she looked through the magnifier. She  talked about the 
burns and how they appeared on the skin, their color, texture,  shape, width, 
and 
depth. 
 
She took blood samples, skin samples, hair  samples. She looked under his 
finger nails, checked his stomach contents, she  scanned his lungs, heart, 
brain, 
liver, colon, muscular tissue, and bone mass  down to the cellular level. 
Melanie was nothing if not efficient. She recorder  everyone she found not only 
in the tri-corder but vocally. She knew that  recording everything vocally the 
way she did was an old practice but she found  it helped her in the long run 
when she needed to review facts or file reports.  It also off set the 
loneliness one could feel in this line of work. 
 
In all the autopsy took nearly two hours to  complete. By the time she was 
done Melanie’s feet hurt, her shoulders were sore,  and her voice scratchy. 
She 
copied all her information twice, secured it in  different files with 
different passwords, recovered the body, and got help in  putting it into 
it’s ice 
box. She then threw all her stuff into her locker and  headed for her quarters. 
She wanted a hot shower, a clean uniform, and a cup of  tea before meeting with 
Commander Skyler. 
 
The thought of facing Skyler again set a shiver  of both eagerness and dread 
down her spine. Professionally Melanie wasn’t  thinking twice about being 
around Skyler. She was the acting captain and her  commanding officer even 
without 
the added position withstanding. Melanie would  report to her, give her her 
findings, inform her of what lay ahead in the  investigation, and that would be 
that. Personally however Melanie wasn’t ready  to face Skyler again. Skyler 
had read her mind, she knew who she was, she didn’t  believe that what she 
had 
seen was the truth. How could she not remember having  a sister? Skyler would 
have been twelve when Melanie was born. Sure she was born  after her, their, 
father had been killed by the Dominion but she’d still be born  before her, 
their mother had taken off for that conference.  
 
Melanie stood in the shower her mind a crowded  mess. She’d have to deal with 
her and Skyler on a personal level later but it  was so hard to push those 
thoughts from her head. She had so many  questions.  What was Skyler like? What 
had their parents been like? She  already saw that she has Skyler’s eyes, but 
what about the color of her hair?  Where did the three freckles on her hip 
come from? Or the birthmark on her left  ankle?
 
‘Murder before family issues’, Melanie told  herself as she got dressed. 
She’
d get the answers to her questions after she had  Georgia run the DNA tests, 
but she couldn’t have that done until they found out  who killed Captain 
Flubb. “Dirty bloody bastards.” She muttered in her smooth  British accent 
as she 
prepared her tea. “First they kill the bloody Captain and  now they’re 
cutting into my life. How utterly rude! I bet they’re American or  more 
likely 
French.”  
 
Melanie tried to relax as she drank her tea. She  didn’t want to go to Skyler 
in a mass of knots and tension, so after she feed  Charlie she sat quietly 
for a while. Until her solace was interrupted by Skyler  demanding her presence 
in her office. “Well here goes nothing.”

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