An Insight

Posted on Mon Feb 7th, 2011 @ 9:28am by Captain Alexander Gunning & James Wilson LLB PI [P: Ratchford]

Mission: Ten Little Diplomats
Location: James Wilson P.I.'s Office
Timeline: MD04 - 1200

[ON]

The Captain of Starbase 332 meandered through the main thoroughfare of the station, seemingly without a care in the world. This was despite being flanked by two burly security officers who had been assigned to him by Tieran with the constant threat of a Broken Spear attack.

He eventually reached a dank, dark little door, placed at the very end of the walkway. It stood as though the air of dinginess had been created artificially. The gleaming bulkheads lying to the immediate left and right of the door suggested something almost miserly and Dickensian about the office he was about to step into.

"Wait here." Gunning told the officers as he stepped through the door marked 'James Wilson - Private Investigator'.

On the other side of the door he found a quaint little office arrangement with old-fashioned chairs which looked like they had been plundered from a Constellation class starship. A petite blonde woman looked up at him from across a desk which was scarcely embellished with anything more than a potted-plant.

"You here to see Mister Wilson?" She asked him with a mixture of warm invitation and terse indignation.

"Yes. Is he in?" The Captain replied.

"Yeah, but you'll need an appointment," she answered coldly, "Mister Wilson is a very busy man."

"I'm sure he is. However, I have a very important request to make. Do you think he could spare a moment for the Station Commander?"

"Oh, well, uhh, I, let me just check." She said, visually flustered as she realised who she was speaking to. Alex mused that she had perhaps not had much to do with Starfleet personnel during her time on the station.

"Mrs Price, you know that I have currently solved all those pathetic cases you put before me this morning and that I am not indeed busy," came the voice of a man, carrying an English accent and clearly sounding bored and disinterested more than anything else. The voice came through an open doorway into a private section of the office, furnished in much the same manner as the original section, though this room seemed to include an old pull-down bed up against one wall, and carried within it many, many more odd bits of 'this and that'.

The occupant of the room was looking rather more shabby than he usually would have, not having been able to find any case yet that he hadn't solved in less than a day, if that. The stack of padds on the desk his feet were resting on carried a number of such easy cases - those which he had solved this morning, without even having to leave the office.

"How many more times must I tell you, not to turn away paid cases with your secretary excuses?" His tone, if not his words, made it clear he wasn't actually having a go at his secretary, but was merely voicing his frustration with her continuance to follow the old creed of her last job - 'if anyone asks for the boss, he's busy.'

The man now diverted his attention lazily to the station commander. "Captain Gunning, welcome to my humble office. How may I be of assistance?"

Gunning took one more glance around the outer area of the office before looking back to the shambling man who had addressed him. "I might have a job for you. Can we speak in private?"

James looked at Mrs Price, who abruptly decided that it was time for her coffee break, and stood to gather a couple of her things before heading out towards the promenade. The two sections of the office had a dividing door, but it was broken, and James hadn't bothered to put in a request for a service crew to come and fix it yet.

"You know, I can get this moved up the job list for you if you want?" Gunning offered, prodding the door which responded by becoming even more limp on its one remaining hinge.

James responded in the way most suitable to how bothered he was about the door situation. He picked up an apple from his desk, took a huge chunk out of it, and started chewing, whilst looking at the Captain, waiting for him to continue.

"Anyway, the reason for my visit is of great importance, Mister Wilson." The Captain said, placing his hand on the back of one of the myriad chairs in the little office. "I'm missing a Cardassian attaché. He apparently went missing en route to the station. However, I have reason to believe that he might be connected to the speight of politically motivated assassinations on the station."

"Assassinations?" James asked, taking another bite out of his apple. "This wouldn't have anything to do with those diplomats the station staff have been saying are elsewhere, or staying within their quarters, would it?" It never hurt to pry a little for more information.

"Come now, Mister Wilson. I'm quite sure you know more about this than you're letting on. I need this man found and probed for information. It could be nothing or he could provide us with a lead to catch this killer."

James finished his mouthful of apple before responding, seemingly thinking. He'd already formulated his response, it was just a matter of re-arranging the original order of it to make it sound less impolite and condescending - something he seemed to be forcing himself to do more and more often of late. "Clearly Captain Gunning, you believe there to be some significant link between this attaché and the recent events, or you would not be down here in person to discuss it with me. Yet at the same time, you do not ask this of your own Starfleet security investigators..." He left the statement open for the captain's response.

"To leave it to my Security Personnel would suggest to the Cardassians that I doubt the integrity of their diplomatic corps. At the moment, that's something Starfleet can't afford."

"Even if it is true?" The question was rhetorical, and carried with it a hint of humour. Clearly, James was well aware of the intricacies of interstellar diplomacy and politics - the fact he also found it hilariously ridiculous all of the hoops anyone in a position of power had to jump through was also evident.

"Very well Captain, I shall take up this contract of yours," he said after a pause, swinging his feet off the desk and sitting up with a rapidity that his previous lax posture had not suggested he possessed. Leaning forward, his fingers interlaced and his elbows on the table, he was now all business - even if the eccentricity was still there.

"Your Cardassian attache is the root of your reason for being here, but it is not the direct source. I shall need complete logs of the activities of the assassinated diplomats since their departure for this station, as accurate as you can get them. I shall also need your security staff to grant me free access to any secure areas where I believe a significant event involving the diplomats may have occurred, and I shall also need access to their bodies and worldly possessions." James spoke so quickly and stopped so abruptly that even the silence that permeated the room after the conclusion of his sentence seemed surprised.

"You've got it." The Captain said, surprised at his own ability to be forthcoming in such situations. He didn't really have any choice now. He'd agreed to the demands of the P.I. Nothing to do now but turn on his heel. "I need it quickly." He said forcefully as he left the room.

[OFF]