<USS Avalon> "Mysteries.......Part 1"

"Mysteries.......Part 1"
By: Commander Skyler and Ensign Melanie  Redgrave
 
Skyler was sitting on the bridge trying to  decide what  in the hell to do 
next. Captain Ketchum would be arriving soon  and she needed a report of some 
kind to give him. Knowing Commander Sierra he  would make sure that he would be 
the one to give the report to the captain,  which was not his job, but hers. 
Might as well get it over with.
 
"Ensign Redgrave report to the bridge  immediately"
 
She wasn't looking forward to this encounter for  numerous reasons. Was she 
really her sister or was it a trick of some kind? Why  didn't she remember 
having  a sister? She certainly couldn't go back and  ask her parents, they 
were 
both dead thanks to the Dominion and the Romulans.  Was Georgia keeping 
something from her? All these questions and the murder of  Captain Flubb were 
not 
helping her headache at  all. She was going to have  to breakdown and go see 
Dr. 
Cazook.
 
Melanie opened her eyes slowly and looked up at  the ceiling of her quarters 
as if she could see Skyler's face there. She knew  this was coming and she 
wasn't looking forward to it. Slowly Melanie stood up  and walked over to her 
desk where she pressed the comm button. "On my way,  Commander." Melanie 
grabbed 
her uniform jacket and her report padd and headed  out the door as quickly as 
she could, but then stopped and paused outside her  cabin. She bit the inside 
of her cheek while she beat the padd in her left hand  against her right palm. 
Then she went back into her cabin and into her bedroom. 
 
She tossed the report onto the bed and quickly  went to her closet where she 
pulled out  an old wooden box. She pulled a  chain out from under her uniform 
and used the small key that dangled from it to  unlock the box. Melanie knew 
this wasn't the time to deal with this, but she  wasn't really sure there would 
be a right time so she pulled out two padds and  shoved them into her pocket 
before relocking and replacing the box into the back  of her closest Then she 
grabbed her report and headed for the bridge. 
 
Skyler wasn't exactly sure where this  conversation was going to lead. First 
and foremost she needed an updated report  ready to present to Captain Ketchum 
upon his arrival, which would be very soon,  if he wasn't already on board. 
She wouldn't put it past him to sneak on board  just to check on things 
himself. Then there was the matter of Ensign Redgrave  being her sister. Oh 
hell, 
they would be discussing that as well. What she  wouldn't give for some pain 
medicine now.
 
The turbo lift doors hissed open and Melanie  looked around the bridge 
quickly before getting off. There she was sitting in  the command chair not 
looking 
as if she were in any better of a mood. Melanie  sighed and drew herself to 
her full height. 'Oh bloody hell just get it over  with you bloody ninny.' 
Melanie stepped out of the turbo lift and down to where  Skyler was sitting and 
cleared her throat. "Reporting as ordered, Commander." 
 
Skyler made sure she had her walls up as best  she could. It was getting 
harder and harder each time. But it was all she had to  protect herself with. 
"Ensign Redgrave, I need a full report on what you have  discovered concerning 
the 
death of Captain Flubb, and I need it  yesterday."
 
"I have a full report on what we know so far,  Commander, but I would rather 
not discuss this out in the open." Melanie made a  point of showing Skyler the 
padd she held. "It would be better if the  investigation remained as closed 
as possible." Melanie did want to keep her  findings under wraps but she also 
hoped that if they had a chance to talk about  more personal subjects they 
could at least be alone while doing it. 
 
Skyler had to agree with the Ensign on that  point. "Ensign Micaleson, you 
have the bridge, I will be in the conference room  if you need me." Ensign 
Micaleson turned and acknowledged the order. "Yes Ma'am,  understood." Skyler 
stood, seemed to stumble a bit and led the way to the  conference room with 
Ensign 
Redgrave in tow.
 
Melanie noticed Skyler's stumble and tried  really hard not to reach out to 
help her. Skyler looked tried and Melanie  wondered if she still had that 
headache she'd had the last time they'd met. She  followed the commander into 
the 
conference room and waited until she took a seat  at the long table. "Can I get 
you something for your headache, Commander?" 
 
"NO, what  I need are answers." That came  out with more force than she had 
intended but damn it all, she needed answers  and she needed them now. Why was 
everything happening at once? Just once, could  they have a trouble free 
mission? Was that asking too much?  Apparently!
 
"Very well, Commander." Melanie said coolly as  she slid her report over to 
Skyler. "I've done a sweep of the crime scene and  the autopsy." Melanie showed 
no outward sign of reaction to Skyler's outburst  she just simply gave her 
report in that very level Mary Popins tone of voice  that she'd picked up from 
her mother. "As far as what I've found out, the  subject was killed by a plasma 
based weapon, but not a federation phaser. The  burns on his chest were tear 
drop shaped. A federation phaser leaves a circular  shape." Melanie walked 
across the room and over to a replicator as she went on.  "There were three 
such 
burn marks on the subject’s chest, the fatal one being a  direct hit to the 
chest right over the heart." 
 
Melanie pressed a few buttons on the replicator  and a moment later a glass 
of clear fizzy liquid appeared. She picked it up and  carried it back to 
Skyler. "Time of death was pinned at sometime between 1700  and 1800 hours." 
Melanie 
placed the glass right in front of Skyler and smiled.  "Drink that it'll help 
with the headache." She then sat in the chair next to  Skyler and went on. 
"As far as possible suspects, I have a set of footprints and  a bit of rubber 
as 
well as life sign scans that I still need to analyze." 
 
Skyler had picked up the padd and was reading  along as Melanie was giving 
the report however she almost immediately had to  drop it. Apparently her 
defenses weren't as strong as she had thought. She had  picked up something 
from the 
padd and it didn't concern Captain Flubb. She just  looked at Melanie. She 
didn't dare pick up the glass of what ever she had placed  in front of her. She 
stood up and pushed her chair back from the table and tried  to get as far 
away as possible. "What are you trying to do to me? Who sent you  here?
You are not my sister because I don't have one?" Skyler was getting  more and 
more unsteady and was using anything handy for support.
 
Melanie sighed as she watched Skyler holding  herself up with the table. "No 
one sent me here, Skyler. I came on my own to  find my sister. To find you." 
 
TBC...

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