Duty Log ~ Lt Calhoun, MCPO Caine & PO2 Drax ~ "Like Tryna Get A Hold Of Smoke And Water"

Posted on Wed Mar 25th, 2015 @ 9:38pm by Lieutenant Nya Calhoun & Master Chief Petty Officer Rik Caine & Petty Officer 2nd Class Drax

2,024 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill

"You need to read "Imrol Kessek: Unlocking Criminal Law, fifth edition," Drax commented across the table to his colleague, and friend, Nya. His head was buried in a PADD as he read over the details contained within and muttered. He tapped notes frantrically into another PADD precariously perched against his thigh and the edge of the crowded table. Peering around a stack of PADDs in front of him, filled with legal texts from the information Cecil had been able to send up from the planet, Drax cleared his throat loudly. "I said..."

"Yes, I heard you... You're looking for an argument though and we don't have time for anything that isn't going to help." The matter-of-fact tone of Nya's comment could be heard from behind another stack of PADDs. "We need to find something more, anything more in this mass of data". She added with a sigh.

Although Drax couldn't see her face he imagined her tutting and rolling her eyes which pleased him greatly. "I am not looking to argue! You are!" He protested as his legs, not quite touching the floor, swung back and forth with glee.

"I am not!"

"Are"

"Am. Not"

"Are. So"

"Look I don't want to..." there was a small anguished groan from behind the mountain of PADDs as Nya slapped her hand down in frustration. "Look. Drax. Please, please can we just focus and I promise we can have the biggest debate on your favourite topic after the mission is done. Ok?" She asked, almost pleading with the Tellerite.

"Promise? I want argument clinic," the Tellerite indicated hopefully.

"I regret every showing you that damn video," Nya retorted as she rubbed her eyes and looked back to the PADDs. "This is crazy, we're getting nowhere fast following our last chat with Cecil. Wonder how he's getting on with the list of possible Regents and Porters." She sighed again before continuing, "who... was that author?" She asked slowly as she raised her head from resting on her arm focusing in on something on the page that caught her eye.

Drax knew when to stop arguing, it was hard for him as he loved it but the tone in Nya's voice spoke volumes and although he couldn't see her over the stacks of PADDs he knew this was a moment and she was on to something. He paused, composed himself, had a brief internal argument to satisfy the need, and then spoke slowly and concisely. "Imrol Kessek."

"Ha!" Nya exclaimed as she slammed her hand down on the desk with a little too much excitement and vigour. She winced a little and cleared her throat.

"You hurt your hand didn't you? I bet you hurt yourself doing that. You always hurt yourself. Just last week you walked into that door..."

"Why'd I ever let you talk me into taking this…?" Nya sighed as she looked to the almost gleeful face of her pig-nosed friend. "Yes, yes I did. Congratulations! You won!" She said with a sarcastic tone. "Can we get on? Good. Right. What was I saying?" She paused and clapped her hands together as the idea came back as easily as flicking on a light switch. "Imrol Kessek appears in five separate news stories in just as many months - apparently he's some form of political activist as well as a legal scholar. I bet Rik can track him down and get some verification for some of these ideas."

"So," said Drax slowly unhappy that he'd won the argument so easily. "What do you think he can verify beyond what we already know?"

Nya crumpled her nose a little; she'd rushed ahead and found a solution to a problem not yet made. "Ok... Let's start at the beginning. What do we actually know?"

"We know that Commodore Ivanova is the queen for these people, based on a previous relationship as the royal lineage goes down the female side. We know she doesn't want to be and this ambassador, or porter, is making things difficult as she elected herself... But we covered that, Cecil is looking into options for the new regent and porter." Drax added, somewhat deflated.

"Relationships..." Nya mused out loud as she clicked her tongue in thought. "Complicated mess sometimes... You know I often wonder how the culture of arranged mar..." She cut herself off as her eyes brightened considerably, the deep purple hue glinting under the office lights. "She was forced," Nya said slowly.

"Aha!" Drax exclaimed as he caught onto his friend's trail of thought. "I read here in Kessek's book, thought it was unusual at the time. Under Atlantean statute, forcing any woman into a pair bond or marriage without express consent is considered rape in this culture. Punishable... By death."

"We need to know why... Do we have any non-legal, socio-cultural or biological texts in this mess?" Nya asked knowing her friend would have an answer.

"Here," Drax said passing over a PADD.

Nya reached over and took the PADD. Huffing some hair out of her eyes she begun to tap away and search for what she was after. After a moment, where the only sound that could be heard was the tapping on the screen, she exclaimed with excitement. "Here! According to Atlantean biology the act of pair-bonding can only be truly achieved when both parties are fully consenting... Bond pairs are totally in tune... It seems to be a deep connection that can only be broken by death or infidelity... Wow... The act of pair-bonding can often lead to a sense of completeness, endorphin induced euphoria and a sense of wellbeing and security." Nya tapped her chin, imagining for a second what that kind of life would be like.

"Pointy!" Drax shouted to snap her out of it. "Well if the connection has to be that deep and remains that strong it is understandable that forcing the issue, or even attempting to would result in a criminal offence. Kyym certainly has the actus reus for attempted rape, she's forced the Commodore into a pair-bonding scenario which I'm fairly certain the Commodore doesn't want. We just need Rik to find us the evidence for Kyym's mens rea if we really want to use this against her and it will need to be solid."

"Well, we don't know they follow the similar formula for criminal cases but it wouldn't hurt." She said, scribbling down some notes. "Technically divorce doesn't exist... The Atlanteans just select a new mate it seems... Is Ivanova seeing someone? In theory if she was they'd be King... Wouldn't be able to select another mate unless she was walking away from whoever," Nya mused more to herself than to add to the discussion. "However, if she was... Trying to end that against the will of the parties is in the same offence category as rape and considered a threat to Atlantean way of life... Might be useful." She said noting it down.

"Rumour has it she had a thing with that Cardassian I think? You know, the chief engineer the Atlanteans tried to lock away? But someone did mention something about someone else so no idea," Drax mused.

"What is the deal regarding that?" Nya asked slowly, searching through a stack of PADDs. "I ran a search and the only reference I can find with regards Cardassians is that a group of them turned up near… Civonia… wanting mineral rights."

"Well… if we can't find any statute to back up the allegations, you know what we're dealing with here, right?" Drax said darkly.

Nya nodded to herself, "kidnapping, extortion and blackmail of Federation citizens. That would be enough to cause an interstellar incident by Federation standards… is there a correlating Atlantean law as these people aren’t subject to our rules."

"I'm not sure…" Drax said, furrowing his brow, unhappy he didn’t have the answer to hand.

"We need to get this stuff to Caine, see if he can follow it up and get the evidence we need and get him to confirm the Atlantean position on the law of kidnap and extortion." Nya said.

"We should also talk to the Diplomat... May be handy if we're going to accuse the most senior political figure on the planet of attempted rape, kidnap, extortion, blackmail and treason..." Drax quipped.

"Good point..." Nya said, dropping her voice a little. Was this really going to be her first case on the Vindicator?

Cecil had passed along the necessary algorithm for a secure comm link to be established with Rik Caine, down on the planet surface. Tapping on the console the connection was established.

"Caine here, we're so far behind the eight ball - please tell me you got some good news?" The gum-shoe said with frustration in his voice.

"We think we might have... But it's going to take some work... Up for it?" Nya asked. She didn't really know the man on the other end of the comm apart from he used strange words and expressions and had trusted her with this assignment when he'd come looking for a lawyer. Naturally, she'd read his personnel file shortly after. He was good at what he did and that put her at ease. She didn't like unpredictability or surprises. She'd blamed her part-Vulcan heritage for that.

"Fire away," Caine said after a moment. He was becoming increasingly more annoyed down on the planet, unable to do anything of use. Archer and Barnes had gone to follow the lead and hopefully find the Commodore and after the run-in with Kyym he felt uneasy about the whole situation down on the planet.

"We need you to find someone, he's a legal expert and if the reports are to be believed then he's also a political dissident. We need to have our theories and suppositions confirmed. Sending the data packet now.

The undetectable data stream arrived on Caine's mini-PADD within moments and he smiled. He knew the connection was Amelia's doing and that Cecil had been able to use it earlier.

"That's like finding a needle in a haystack down here, any clues?" He asked shaking his head and wondering how much time they really had before this imploded around them. He was pacing a remote part of one of the walled gardens, there had been no one about which ensured absolute privacy. He'd made sure of that before taking the call. Rik wasn't about to be caught out by the Atlanteans - especially when this new information sounded like a solid lead.

"You're resourceful, Calhoun out," she felt bad terminating the link as she had, but it was important to keep the transmissions short to prevent suspicion. She leaned back in her chair and tapped the table.

"What's on your mind?" Drax asked.

"Well, the proof to justify our entire case rests on the Master Chief being able to find one man down there... Get him to talk... And to keep them both alive long enough to present the case... It's a risky play," Nya admitted.

"True enough... You read his file though... What he did on Vikaris VI to get a result?"

"Not sure if that will be enough..." She retorted.

"We can only hope," Drax wanted to argue but thought better of it. Swinging his legs around he almost jumped off his chair and waddled over to where his friend sat. "It will be fine, this case will be fine," he reassured her, slapping his hand on her shoulder.

"Ow!" Nya called out as he slapped a little too hard. "I bloody well hope so, for the sake of my shoulder if nothing else!" She rubbed where he had slapped and got up, towering above the man by her side. "You write up the notes, I'll go brief the diplomat," she instructed picking up a PADD and heading out the office.

=/\= End Log =/\=

Lieutenant Nya Calhoun (NPC played by rik)
Judge Advocate
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Master Chief Petty Officer Rik Caine
Security Investigator/Chief of the Boat
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

Petty Officer 2nd Class Drax (NPC played by rik)
Paralegal
USS Vindicator, NCC-78213-E

 

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