The Chase

Posted on Thu Apr 26th, 2012 @ 6:03pm by James Wilson LLB PI [P: Ratchford]

Mission: The Mystery Men of Mira
Location: Civilian Quarters

[ON]


As most of the senior staff where away, the security staff where on high alert and his skills weren't needed at the moment. Jack had started to browse through anything odd in the last few weeks. Hoping to get acquainted with something to keep his skills active and prove he was needed.

One of the odd things he had spotted was a small power surge for about 30 seconds.He had ran a few test and it gave him a 10% chance that it was a communication sent from one of the civilian decks. Now the computer was stating it was a power surge, quite normal under the circumstances, but something told him this wasn't a normal surge the dynamics where off it was way too focussed and he had then remembered something from the whole DMZ problem with the maquis.

'If you have something to hide, then hide it in plain sight.' he muttered too himself while searching on the deck where the surge had came from. Before he had left he had checked the civilian population. A name had popped up of somebody who knew how to run an investigation and Jack had asked a security officer to 'escort' this man Wilson too him.

-----Civilian Quarters-----

Jack was sitting in a chair in one the quarters which wasn't occupied. He had pinpointed the surge too this deck and was waiting on Wilson.

Wilson, for his part, appeared as the doors slid open to admit him, his arm clasped tightly in the grip of a security officer of a stature slightly taller than the civilian man, with a stern, almost chiselled face. The detective shook his arm with frustration to break it out of the officer's grasp, before stepping into the room with a fowl glance at the officer who had brought him here.

Turning his attention to the interior of the room, his eyes quickly took in the basic details, including the occupant of one of the room's chairs. "You know," he said conversationally, as if he hadn't just been dragged here by a Starfleet Security officer. "I don't normally agree to come on dates like this. In fact, I didn't agree to come on this one, either."

"Yeah, that's why I asked Lurch to bring you here, Mister Wilson." Jack stood up and looked at Wilson." Jack Blanc, Station Security.I need your insight sooner or later. And as to making your potential clientle not suspicious. You being arrested wouldn't raise suspicion, n'est-ce pas?" Jack sported a smile.

"Pas ncessaire," Wilson said fluently, with a wave of his hand. "I have no clients who would oppose to me consulting for Starfleet, nor would it matter if I did." He knew that by now, anyone who had need to know of it would likely already be aware of the ongoing retainer he received from Captain Gunning whenever the station commander needed something investigated 'off the books'. Just like anyone who cared what he did with his time would also know that he was in this room now with a Starfleet non-com. It made no difference to him either way. "May I enquire as to the reason for my being dragged here?" he continued. "I trust it is not for ah... personal reasons, oui?" He had afterall just been surreptitiously dragged by a burly man to be shut alone in a set of presently otherwise vacant quarters with another man, whose motives weren't yet known to him.


"I am not the average beat cop, my job on this station here is as an investigator. I spotted something which seemed odd to me and it happened on this deck, in one of the quarters. I think somebody used a device to send a complicated signal masking it with a power surge. We know the klingons, cardassians and a whole lot of other races have types of these devices for covert ops teams. " Jack walked to the replicator and ordered a cup of coffee.

"Now as I do not have the patience to start with a deck search with 20 security officers stomping through clues and evidence I need somebody who besides being outside starfleet rules and regulations also sees things which some people miss at first glance." Jack took a sip of his coffee. "Now I believe the CO of a station would put a man of your abilities on a retainer if not I would gladly do so myself."

"So long as you have deep pockets," the detected said casually, keeping the information regarding Captain Gunning's retainer to himself for now. It would be interesting to see if the man new about it, and if not... well, it would mean merely more money for the PI. The detective clasped his hands behind himself as he stared at the floor. "By details you people miss at first glance, I presume that one would be the marks on the carpet? The modern equivalent of footprints in the sand that have been disturbed by your own?" Wilson himself had stayed on the very periphery of the room for that very reason; every carpet, no matter what type, became disturbed or in some cases even scuffed by even the softest of bare feet stepping upon it.

Blanc had made a few pictures before anybody entered he was testing the man. If he was good enough as his profile had said he would have noticed the obvious in Jack's opinion.


The detective strode around the edge of the room some more, before crouching down in front of one of the chairs to more closely inspect the marks on the carpet. "There were two people," he said, as if it were common knowledge to everyone. "A size nine and a size five, British measurements. They knew the layout of the room - they were direct. "They set up a case, most likely containing your transmitter, over near that panel, near the power transfer lines," he pointed towards the access panels near the replicator systems; even if the pair hadn't known the room's layout, it would have been logical that power feeds were always present near a replicator. His determination that they had known their way around was based upon the depression of the markings by the door; those of their culprits were shallow; they hadn't paused upon entry to look around.

"Check underneath the chair."jack had stood up from his chair and handed Wilson some gloves and an evidence bag. " Haven't touched it, but spotted it on entry. Have pictures of the whole room before entry, so I could judge your skills. Last few years I've been assigned on the war crimes tribunal so bit rusty with the plain and obvious." Jack checked the replicator with a tricorder, before he would open it. "Didn't spot the power feed had been tampered with."

Wilson withheld a grimace as he mentally tacked up his respect for this man one notch. He had hoped to be able to take the electrical cord - which he had slipped into his pocket when he had crouched down to inspect the carpet - with him in order to be able to carry out his own investigation without Starfleet meddling with their regulations and reports and orders. He withdrew the cord from his pocket, still pinched in one of the numerous sterile napkins he kept on himself for just such purposes. Taking one of the offered gloves, he held the cord up towards the light and gazed intently at it.

"Unused," he declared. "Most likely fell out of the case the transmitter was being carried in. Highly common manufacture, I doubt we'd be able to trace the transmitter from this." Quietly, he resolved to study it for any particulates or chemicals which might at least ascertain where the cord had been, if not who had made it.

"Might find some bio matter or check it's composition. If we find where the material was made we could place it. Not an engineer, but I remember we once traced a small sliver of metal to cardassia to ID a victim of a first unofficial encounter between the Klingons and Cardassians. Not exactly the same, but hope springs eternal, non?" Jack looked at his tricoder reading.

"My thoughts exactly," Wilson said, pocketing the wire as he began to move towards the door. "I'll let you know what I find."

"Before you leave this room with that wire. Seeing that it's evidence you'll have to sign it off. If you don't I have a lovely brig set up till you do,Mister Wilson." jack sported a mocking grin holding a padd. "With you holding a a law degree I need the paper work and evidence to match in case of an arrest and the inevitability of a lawyer fouling up the works."

"You forget, Master Chief," the PI responded. "I'm not a member of your investigative team, nor am I a member of Starfleet. As such, it would be legally inadvisable for you to detain me for not following your internal procedures." By now he was at the open doorway, looking back and smiling. "Besides Mister Blanc, I can assure you that I am very good at disappearing if I know someone is looking for me. And even if you did get me into one of your lovely little cells, it won't be long before your security chief gets a call to release me. Cheerio." With a brief wave, he was out into the corridor and had vanished.

Jack shook his head and then checked his tricorder and walked towards the exit. 'Well, let's hope he'll come up with something.' Blanc muttered to himself.


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MCPO Jack blanc
Security Investigator
SB332
NPC by O'Connell

James Wilson
Private Detective
NPC by Prax