MSNPC Gilora Jemet: "All Time High" (No Tags)
Michael Meir-Wright
Ja’Gara Ward
Anjunaar City
Tilanna V
0668 Hours Local Time
Stardate 239302.02
Approximately 11 days after Theo's housewarming party.
:: It has been said that in order to police a city, one must know the city; from the gleaming spires of the financial and commerce districts, to the catwalks and service accesses of industrial quarters and to the back alleys and hidden corner of the most nefarious of suburbs. In the seventeen years since Gilora Jemet had been evacuated from the ruins of Cardassia Prime to Tilanni V following the Dominion’s final rampage across the planet, she had come to know her adoptive home as intimately as she had her birthworld before the fire.
Therefore it was with a sense of familiarity and weariness that she piloted the armoured patrol skimmer from the Anjunaar City Police Department Headquarters in the Finance District to Ja’Gara Ward, one of the more impoverished areas of the sprawling megatropolis, weaving expertly in and out of the traffic that made up the air lanes. She often commented that she could probably make the trip blindfolded such was her knowledge of the place.
She set the skimmer down at the top of the boardwalk that lay some fifteen hundred meters above the long abandonned surface. The air here was thinner, but still breathable without the aid of oxygen tanks thanks to the O2 factories that kept pumping out the gas. Light clouds of fog, common at such altitudes, drifted about giving the vista- such as it was – a hazy appearance, like something out of the ancient Earth detective movies Gilora had watched when she first come here as an eleven year old girl. The skimmer came to a surprisingly graceful halt and, opening the canopy, she exited the vehicle as the first rays of dawn began to break through the thick forest of run down buildings. From out of the fog came a shape that Gilora recognised as her subordinate, Associate Inspector Daahjan- a relentlessly cheerful Tiburonian.
Daahjan: :: falling into step alongside Jemet :: “Good morning ma’am.”
Jemet: “That remains to be seen.” :: she took a pair of protective gloves out of her pocket and slid them over her hands, ignoring the crisp chill to the air. :: “What have we got?”
Daahjan: “Terran male, estimated age about fifty years. It came through on the tip line anonymous call about an ago.”
:: As they made their way through the fog, Gilora recalled having worked on a murder case on this very boardwalk about three years before. Tellarite found stabbed after a bar fight. She had found the killer- a Chalnoth- before ‘errors’ showed up in the evidence. They had said “comprised” and she had said “tampered with”. Corruption was common on Tilanna V. She had grown increasingly jaded with how little the ACPD seemed accomplish when half of the constabulary were taking bribes or being blackmailed by the dozens of gangs that in reality controlled this cesspit on the Klingon-Federation Border. Some days, she had found herself wishing that the Klingons would invade. Life would hard, but at least murderers would get their due.
More figures began to appear in the murky fog and they coalesced into a crime scene. It didn’t take her to find her victim. Being nailed to a wall with a particularly vicious looking Naausican spear would easily draw one’s attention. Which, Gilora betted, was the effect the killer was going for. The man’s head was slumped down on to his chest but she could see that he had been terrified when the life had been forced from him. ::
Jemet: “Witnesses?” :: she already knew the answer and had long since stopped hoping that there would be any. Not in this part of the city, a veritable hive of villainy and backroom deals. Daahjan shook his head. :: “Stupid question.” :: sighing :: “Okay, time of death?”
Daahjan: “About four hours ago. Riggoris Mortis has begun but has not taken full effect.” :: beat :: “There’s also this.”
:: He knelt down next to an evidence bag and passed to her. Holding up before her eyes, she recognised the contents as being a rather outdated hypospanner, the type commonly used aboard Federation starships about sixty years ago. She looked at Daahjan for answers. ::
Daahjan: “It was found stuffed up his arm. Maybe he was trying to hide it?”
Jemet: :: looking back at the bag :: “Well he certainly wouldn’t be using it unless there is evidence he injected himself with its contents before he died.”
Daahjan: “He didn’t. I ran a scan.” :: beat :: “I also ran a scan of its contents.” :: grimacing :: “It contains a doseage of All Time High.”
Jemet: :: bitterly :: “ATH.” :: beat :: “Again.”
:: ATH- also known as All Time High – was a new narcotic that had appeared about a month ago on Tilanna V. Nobody knew where it had come from or who the suppliers were and all investigations in to it had predictably stalled, no doubt due to corruption again. This was the sixth death connected to the drug that she knew about and there were likely more than she did not have knowledge of. She had read toxicology reports that had labelled the drug the most dangerously addictive substance in the quadrant. ::
Jemet: :: she slipped the evidence bag into her coat pocket and looked at the body once again :: “Who is he?”
Daahjan: :: reading from a PADD :: “DNA scans show he is a tribble breeder by the name of Boris Malinov. Last seen at the opening of a tribble convention on Starbase 118. Starfleet Security put out a notification that is wanted in connection with some poisonings at the convention. He’d been on Tilanni V for about three weeks.”
Jemet: :: looking between Malinov’s body and Daahjan :: “So how does a wanted man on the run from Starfleet end up impaled against a wall in the shadiest part of the city, six light years from where he was last seen with a hypospray of All Time High shoved up one of his sleeves?”
:: She looked to Daahjan with a quizzical, intrigued look upon her face. There were a lot of answers here- but whether she could get the answers was another matter. As she took another look at Malinov’s corpse, her mind was already made up. ::
Senior Inspector Gilora Jemet
Homicide Division
Anjunaar City P.D
as simmed by:
Executive Officer