Theories and Suspicions

Posted on Tue May 25th, 2010 @ 3:30am by Commander Dhindara Vrel & Commander Raven Adams

1,493 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Silent Steps Of Murder
Location: Intelligence Office
Timeline: current

[Intelligence Office]

Dhindara walked up to the intelligence office and spoke to the yeoman, "I need to talk to Raven", she said, "I need some important information fast."

The man at the desk looked at her or a moment. "Uh huh. What do you need fast?"

"It has to do with the murder series", Dhindara replied. "I have a theory that I need to verify."

"A theory about murder?" he asked, pulling out a PADD.

"Yes", Dhindara said. "Is Raven in?"

The man looked at Dhindara again. "Perhaps. But I'm sure I can help you with whatever you need."

Dhindara frowned. "Look, I want to speak to her, so don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be. No spook antics, I'm not in the mood for that."

Pyotr frowned back. "Look, ma'am, I'm on duty. If you would kindly tell me the nature of your emergency, I'll let the Commander know."

"I already told you", Dhindara replied. "I'm not going to share the details with anyone but a senior officer, which doesn't include you."

"You said you had a theory and wanted to verify it. Something to do with the murders. You could ask me. I might be able to help you. Or you could give me a little more information before I bother the Commander. She's doing some research right now."

Dhindara tapped her combadge. "Vrel to Adams", she said. "I need to speak with you about a murder theory I have, your Junior Lieutenant is not cooperative..."

"Adams to Vrel. He's just doing his job, which is to take care of the matters that can wait or that are not necessarily our job and pass the rest to me." There was a hint of a smile in her voice. "I'm sure if you'd been a little less vague he would have sent you in."

After a moment Raven came through a door in the back of the room. "So, what is this theory you couldn't tell Pyotr about?"

Dhindara followed her into the room. "I've told him twice that I didn't want to discuss it with anyone who's not a senior officer", she replied. "I'd fire my assistant for this sort of thing." She shrugged. "Anyway, are you familiar with Redjack?"

Raven recalled her search of the previous night. "Oh, yes. More than I want to be."

"I have a theory", Dhindara replied. "I know that Redjac was defeated over a century ago, but I suspect that there's more than just one member of his species out there. I think we may be dealing with a cousin or something."

"It's possible. There's also evidence that Redjac didn't die," Raven replied quietly. She walked to her computer and pulled up the data on her console. "Here." She stepped back so Dhindara could read it.

Dhindara looked at the terminal. "I see. So basically my theory is possible, we might be dealing with the same or a different, similar being. I have a patient who has complained about strange nightmares, I probed into his mind some, with his permission of course, and found images that reminded me of the Whitechapel murders. They were clearly not his own memories, or from some holodeck simulation."

"Only if you're sure he's not a species that can live for centuries," Raven replied with a shrug. "If it is the entity or one of its kind, we still have to find it and get rid of it. Hard to do when it can jump from person to person."

"He's Terran", Dhindara replied. "I'm certain he's being influenced. I've checked for telepaths on the station who have the mental capacities to do this, none were near him at the time, besides me but I know I didn't do it."

"That's potentially a lot of telepaths on a station this size," Raven said. "Do you know if the entity is still inside the person you've been talking to?" And if it was, what could she recommend? It wasn't the other person's fault, after all.

"I'm planning on taking him to security when he comes for his next appointment in the morning", Dhindara replied. "I detected no trace of the entity inside him, at the time I tested him. But as of now, this is more of a theory than anything verifiable, I'm hoping Krang will be able to help me with verification in the morning."

"If the entity's not in him, it's in someone else on the station. That means there will be more murders until we find it."

Dhindara nodded. "That's what I'm suspecting", she replied. "So you're agreeing with me, that it's a distinct possibility? Question is, how do we verify the theory, and how to we neutralise it?"

"Yes, I think it's a distinct possibility," Raven confirmed. "As to how to verify it, I don't know. Not unless you happen to have a telepath walk by the entity and feel the hatred. And with a station this size, that would be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"Maybe we can find some sort of lure?" Dhindara theorised. "It lives off of fear, doesn't it? Not that I understand how that's scientifically possible, but how about we create a large dose of fear, somehow, and lure it close to try and catch it?"

"That's going to be a tall order. You'd have to create something where the fear is palpable. Something the entity can't resist. Fear alone won't be enough. You're the counselor, you should be able to think of something."

"It is possible, with the help and under the supervision of the doctor, to artificially induce fear in an individual, strong feelings of terror, even", Dhindara responded. "That should lure the being close. Question is, how do we defeat it?"

"That might work. But you'd need someone to act as bait. I wouldn't assign someone to the task as the risks are great," Raven said. "I don't think it should be you as you'll be needed to help them recover afterwards. It needs to be someone who's strong enough, mentally, to cope with the thoughts of a killer." She thought on that for a moment. "Someone who isn't bothered by blood and death... a security officer or a Marine?" she wondered out loud.

"I have killed before, mentally", Dhindara replied. "I'm used to that. I'd rather do it myself than subject someone else to it. That's better than helping them afterwards. The question is, how do we catch it, and would I be needed with my mind fully operational at the time?"

Raven shook her head. "You're too dangerous. There's no guarantee that the entity won't decide to swap bodies rather than feed off the fear. You have killed. Who's to say it can't read your mind? There are too many unknown variables. Besides, you are the only one who can help them cope with the images. You can't be the one to do it."

"You're saying the entity might want to take my body while my mind is... otherwise occupied?" Dhindara wondered. "That, yes, that would be a problem. It could try to tap into the telepathy and become more powerful that way." She frowned and sat down. "I hadn't thought about that. Problem is, I can't ask anyone else to do this, definitely not order them to."

"Of course not. But this isn't your decision to make. You need to take this to Captain Fannin and to Commander Krang," Raven suggested. "They may know of a volunteer. I'd do it. I've never killed anyone with my mind, but I am a telepath."

Dhindara nodded. "Of course, but they'd need a volunteer as well. I hesitate burdening someone else with my crazy plan..." She looked up at Raven. "Is there anything in the intel reports about anyone knowing how to trap this species?"

"The only documented time he was caught, he was tracked through forensic evidence. He refused a psycho-tricorder analysis. When cornered, he entered the Enterprise computer. The crew was given a drug that made them happy. This kept the entity from taking over any of the crew. The computer was given a high priority order to calculate pi to the last digit. That drove the entity back to its former host. Then they gave Hengist the shot, essentially trapping Redjac there," Raven told her after taking a moment to recall the information. "So, they used happiness to repel the entity rather than attract it by fear. I wonder if there's a chemical we could introduce into the environmental controls to do the same thing? You know, make everyone happy and non-violent. At least for a few hours. We could get every section of the starbase and every ship and drive Redjac into the open."

"Question is, can we kill it?" Dhindara wondered.

"I don't know," Raven replied solemnly.

OFF

Commander Dhindara Vrel
Chief Counselor
Starbase Typhon

Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase Typhon

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