<USS Avalon> "Wrapping Herself in Work."

"Wrapping Herself in Work."
Ensn Melanie Redgrave
 
The turbo lift doors closed in front of her with  a hiss, closing her off 
from the bridge, from the conference room, from Skyler.  She left without a 
word, 
she just looked at Skyler, at her sister for the  briefest of moments after 
Georgia had left, and then Melanie had followed suit.  She needed to clear her 
head, organize her thoughts, she needed something that  she knew was solid, so 
Melanie headed back to the lab. Evidence didn’t lie, it  didn’t keep 
secrets, with the help of science and tech it told a story. Rock  hard facts 
and time 
tested procedures, that’s what Melanie needed. She didn’t  want to think 
about the past hour, about what had happened in the conference  room, all she 
wanted to do was focus her mind on evidence, on her work. 
 
With each step towards the forensics lab Melanie  took the more tunneled her 
train of thought became. She went over what they knew  so far which wasn’t 
much. The weapon was a phaser but it wasn’t a federation  phaser. The shooter 
didn
’t seem to be a good shot since it took three blasts to  finally hit the area 
in the chest that would kill. There were two sets of foot  prints that didn’t 
have an entrance or exit trail. And then there was the small  piece of rubber 
that she’d founded next to the largest of the stationary foot  prints. 
Hopefully when she finally made it back into the lab the other guys  would have 
more. 
 
She was looking forward to meeting the rest of  the team. She’d looked over 
some of the stats and although they were small  compared to the departments she 
was use to they were really damn good. The lab  was busy when Melanie walked 
in and the rush, the thrill, of what they were  doing washed over her. Melanie 
took a deep breath and then walked over to her  table. She smiled at the 
sight of several padds, but she turned on her own  computer to check her own 
work 
first. She sank onto her stool and raised an eye  brow at the information she 
read on the screen. All but two of the life sign  scans had been IDed. Why hadn
’t the other two? Options, one they were so far  down the chain it would take 
longer to find their records, or two they weren’t  long term members of the 
Avalon’s population. 
 
After copying the list of IDed life scans  Melanie picked up one of the padds 
and began to look over it. One of the others,  she wasn’t sure who did 
chemical analysis, had tested the bit of rubber she’d  found. “Used in 
making soft 
soled shoes. Most often found in cheaply made,  cheaply sold, shoes.” She 
read 
out loud. “So there’s a pair of size tens out  there with a bit missing.” 
 
It wasn’t uncommon for Melanie to talk out loud  while she was working. It 
was a habit that normally threw people off the first  time they caught her, but 
in time the people she’d worked with got use to it,  hopefully her new team 
would as well. 
 
“Computer display forensic photographs C2, C3,  C4, and C5.” Four pictures 
of the two sets of prints flickered onto the large  screen in front of 
Melanie’
s desk. Melanie sat there staring at the pictures,  outlining each curve of 
the print, every indentation of the tread with her eyes.  She sat there stone 
still for nearly ten minutes before she suddenly reached  down and took of her 
left boot.  She held up the boot bottom side up and  held it so it was lined up 
side by side with the enlarged picture of the left  shoe of the biggest 
prints. The treads didn‘t match. “Well they’re clearly not  Star Fleet 
issue 
uniform boots. Computer access the replication catalog, as well  as any out 
source 
shopping links and ID the pattern of tread on photo number  C5.” 
 
“Processing.” 
 
“Good while your doing that I’m going back to  the ready room.” Melanie 
turned off her computer screen, grabbed her kit and  four holo-emitters, and 
then 
headed back to the ready room. As the turbo lift  sped towards the bridge 
Melanie hoped that Skyler was busy. She didn’t feel like  answering any 
questions 
about anything. 
 
Melanie stepped out of the turbo lift and walked  right past everyone on the 
bridge without a word. She stepped over to the ready  room door sliced the 
crime scene seal on the door and then walked in. She didn’t  take a breath 
until 
the door whooshed closed behind her.  
 
“Computer activate visual recording.” Melanie  waited until she heard the 
beep and then moved into the room. “Holo-recreation  of Flubb case. Ensign 
Melanie Redgrave processing. Star Date 0409.11.” 
 
As quickly as she could Melanie placed the four  holo-emitters in the corners 
of the room and then opened up her kit. She took  out a padd and a laser pen 
and then walked over to where the two foot prints  were outlined clearly 
thanks to the alginate spray she’d put down. “Computer  place an image of 
Captain 
Flubb in the desk chair in a sitting-working  position.”
 
The image of Captain Flubb appeared and Melanie  stepped forward and placed 
herself on top of the foot prints. She raised her  right hand and pointed the 
laser pen at the area of the Captain’s chest were the  wounds had been. “
Computer keep image in position but using the information from  the autopsy 
over 
lap the phaser wounds.” The tip of the light didn’t match where  the wounds 
were, it was to low. 
 
“Ok so the shooter was taller then me.” Melanie  stepped back and then 
walked over to the desk  She stood behind the desk  chair and the Captain’s 
image 
and stared at the foot prints. 
 
“Computer place a blank humanoid image on top  of,” She looked at the grid 
on her padd, “grid section 23 from ready room gird  2B and label it as 
HI1.” 
Melanie watched as a faceless, detail less, figure  appeared on top of the foot 
prints. She walked over and looked at it, mostly at  it’s feet. “Computer 
increase size of feet of HI1 to match the size and width of  the foot print in 
forensic photograph C5.” Melanie watched as the holographic  dummy’s feet 
grew. “Now increase body size and mass using medical standards to  match the 
feet.”
 
 
Again Melanie watched the figure change. The  image became taller and more 
broad shouldered, but it was still a pretty vague  start. “Computer add a non 
federation plasma based phaser in the right hand of  HI1 and raise the arm to a 
natural shooting position.” The computer made the  adjustments as Melanie 
walked back over to the desk. She stood right next to the  image of Flubb and 
crouched down so she could get a clear view. “Computer fire a  green blast of 
light from the phaser and hold.” 
 
The shots still didn’t match. When Melanie had  held the laser pen against 
the wound marks the light had been below the wound  marks, now they were off 
center and to the left. Melanie walked around the desk  to the other side of 
Flubb and then over to the humanoid hologram. She was sure  she’d gotten the 
dimensions right, sure they weren’t be perfect and being off a  few 
centimeters 
here or there wouldn’t make much of a difference since they  didn’t know 
the 
weapon type yet, but the end of the light was more then a few  centimeters off. 
 
Melanie stared at the scene before her for a few  moments and then reached 
for her padd once again. She tapped a few commands into  it and then stepped 
back into a corner. She watched as the holographic humanoid  disappeared and 
then 
she watched as the image of Flubb came to life. She watched  as Flubb did 
paper work and then as the hologram reappeared as if it had beamed  in. The 
look 
on Flubb’s face matched the shocked look on his corpse, but when  the 
hologram 
fired it’s weapon the marks didn’t match the wounds from Flubb’s  real 
shooting. Melanie growled as she replayed the scene again. What was she  
missing?

Other related posts: