Vandals

Posted on Thu Mar 10th, 2011 @ 4:07pm by Commander Dietrich Reinhart & Lieutenant JG Kili Dell

Mission: Shore Leave - Archa IV
Location: Deck 27, Cmdr. Reinhart's Quarters
Timeline: MD-01, 0630 Hrs

::ON::

The shower was hot, thank god. Despite the advances of technology and lack of size minimization requirements, senior officers and VIPs were allowed the luxuries of a water shower. Of course it was not for everyone on board, the water processing facilities for a 50,000 person station were absolutely incredible, and the demand should everyone have a hot-water shower would be even worse. A whole fusion reactor would be required to power the heating system alone. But Dietrich did not need to worry about that, because he was allowed a stream of 39*(C) water flowing at a rate measurable in multiple gallons per hour. A fresh towel, a clean shave, a brush through his short hair, and a fresh uniform and he was ready for a day on the bridge.

The Station XO stuffed yesterday's uniform, his pajamas and the morning's towel into a bag and threw the whole thing over his shoulder. It'd be a quick morning walk to the Laundry office before taking his time, heading up to the bridge by way of the breakfast cafe on deck 5. He turned off the lights and grabbed his Comm Badge on the way out the door. The door slid open with a hydraulic hiss, and Dietrich immediately knew that it would be a long, bad day.

On the opposite wall from the Commander's hatch was an enormous graffiti phrase: "Reinhart is a Fracking D***(censored)". A helpful reminder that he was not the nicest man on the station, of course. And a pleasant surprise for the Chief Petty Officer walking by with a bright smile and a courteous greeting. "Good morning, Commander Fracking D***" He said, rounding the corner with a muted voice.

Dietrich's blood boiled in his skin, his face's tan complexion was overtaken by the deepening, furious red. "Executive Officer to Station Security, report to Deck 27, XO's quarters immediately." Because it was the start of a bad day for him, it would be a bad day for everyone else until the culprit was caught.

"Yes, Sir. On my way," the trill's voice came briskly through the communication link. She hadn't had a very decent sleep herself, considering the fact that she had been sifting through logs until well after midnight. She did her best to regain attentiveness, grabbing a warm raktajino from the nearest replicator and downing it one gulp. She shivered at the taste, but it did help her wake up, so she was grateful for that.

It took her roughly ten minutes to find her way to the quarters in question, stopping next to a rather angry looking human. "Ensign Kili Dell, Sir. What seems to be the pro..." she started to say, then her eyes finally registered where he was staring and she realized she knew exactly what the problem was, "Oh... I see. I'll do my best to discover all responsible parties and make sure they're punished, Sir."

"You do not need to punish them right away, Ensign," Reinhart said, only briefly looking at her. "I just need you to find out who did it." His eyes traced the spray-painted lines. There were plenty of Junior Officers and enlisted aboard the Starbase that would not appreciate his strict ways. Not every crewmember respected Dietrich. He was a little harsh with the Operations department's reviews last week. And he did manage to annoy the Starbase Promenade association's advisory committee. But life was not much fun if you weren't angering other people. "How soon can you start your investigation?"

The trill quirked one of her eyebrows up, but decided that there was no need to inform the executive officer just how high on her priority list this misdemeanor would end up. She stepped closer to the spray painted wall, trailing her eyes along the written lines. Albeit she knew that a tricorder would work better, she always preferred to examine things personally first. "I believe I can take care of this rather quickly, Commander," she answered, pulling her tricorder from its holster at her hip and turning it on. The scans were about as promising as her visual observation. Quite a long time had passed since the words had been sprayed on the wall. There wasn't a clean trace left on the wall.

"I doubt I'll be much help though," she continued, replacing the tricorder back in its place as she turned around to face the human, making eye contact with him. "One too many people have touched the surface, so any chance of recovering a trace to identify a specific culprit would be negligible. Now, if you have any thoughts on the matter as to who might have done this, I can certainly see about speaking with them and hopefully discerning who it was that did this act of vandalism."

Reinhart sighed, his eyes dropped to the floor. "I guess that list can be as short as the station is long." There were 50,000 people aboard Three-Three-Two, and probably a few rotten eggs per square hundred meters of deck space. "Unless you hear about something, Kili, forgot about it. I'll just notify ops to clean up the mess."

She frowned slightly. Clearly, the commander wasn't very happy with the development and it's not like she was too excited to be unable to complete her first case, as minor as it may be. "I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help, Commander, but sadly, it's a public area that isn't monitored very closely and it's been at least several hours since the act took place. There's pretty much no forensic evidence to speak of. If you'd like I can have one of my officers posted nearby to make sure this thing doesn't repeat itself," she said, lifting a hand to run her fingers through her hair.

"No, that's fine." He should know that there were plenty of people who disliked him. One just got lucky while he was sleeping. Dietrich smiled as best as he could, feigning some sort of confidence in the young security officer. "Please, Ensign. Carry on with your duties. Thank you for at least stopping by to take a look."

The trill gave a short nod of her head. "Yes, Sir," she responded before returning her tricorder to its holster at her hip and turning about, heading off to her office while doing her best to not yawn and show just how tired she was. The previous day had taken its toll on her, and from the looks of it this one was going to be no different.

As the young officer took her leave, Commander Reinhart looked back at the wall and gritted his teeth. I'll find out who did this. And there will be hell to pay. The red collar threw his laundry bag back over his shoulder, locked his quarters door and headed out.

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This post is brought to you by:

Cmdr. Dietrich Reinhart
Executive Officer
Starbase 332
Commander, Air Group
SVW-17

&

Ensign Kili Dell
Chief of Station Security
Starbase 332