LtCmdr Jovenan – It’s finally the time to start the investigation, other teams have already blown up stuff
Jovenan
((Office Building, Afalqi Project Launch Complex, Meranuge IV))
Everyone was innocent until proven guilty. That didn’t in itself mean that one couldn’t be suspicious of someone based on little evidence. The criminal investigators and police all across the galaxy sometimes operated with nothing but a hunch at first, finding and evaluating material to support either someone’s involvement in the crime or to verify their innocence. Finding someone in the office of the prime suspect, throwing objects at the investigators and refusing to hand over objects would have been a pretty good reason to look into their affairs more closely. However, as Jovenan watched the cleaner to panic over the Artemis crew asking her questions, she figured that this was not very likely member of the ship hijacking gang they were talking to.
Jovenan: Lieutenant, Doctor, a word. ::steps aside, whispers:: I don’t think this is going anywhere, do you?
Lt Storm glanced at the woman. Even the tactical officer had removed her hand from the phaser. They had managed to get the woman out of her shell for a moment, but now she had withdrawn in there again, and Jovenan judged that the worst she could to them was bruising them by throwing a book. Escalating the situation to a one-sided firefight was hardly the correct move here.
Storm: No. I don’t get the impression that she was involved.
Jaran: Not involved, but maybe she could know something? Or had a relationship of some sort with him. Why else would she be here all alone right now? But you’re probably right.
Bergmen: And can concur. (beat) Just… I was checking UT feedback and found one mistranslation. Not Quwa Am, it is Quw and aaM. Different word. In Gidieni, you would translate it as Keepers of Secret. Not sure what they are, still. ::shrugs::
“Keepers of Secrets”. That sounded ominous, like a criminal organisation or a cult, but then again, many institutions and groups had names that made them sound more interesting than they were. It could be an intelligence agency, which like the Obsidian Order, used an edgy name to sound cool and threatening. Or maybe it sounded more mundane in the Da’al languages. Either way, the cleaner had been afraid to be found by them, so that could indicate what kind of people Mr Havun was involved with, but it could also be a demonstration of Ms Ta’Mora’s own fears or imagination. Police, intelligence service, criminal gang, archivists coming to retrieve classified documents, cult, creatures from folk beliefs coming to take her to the underworld… it could just as well be the name of Mr Havun’s roleplaying group.
Jovenan: Right. Let’s not waste much more time. Lieutenants, could you try to access Mister Havun’s communications, logs, diaries, any such documents? Check everything, try to restore deleted files, break through secured folders, so on. Remember our priorities. The Doctor and I will talk with Ms Ta’Mora here, see if she knows anything. At least what Mister Havun is like as a person, they were probably colleagues. We’ll join you when we oO get rid of her Oo have made sure she’s not hiding anything. Got it?
Storm: We can certainly try.
Jaran: ::putting on a non-serious tough voice:: I’ll make her talk.
Jovenan smiled a little. Let’s just hope Ms Ta’Mora didn’t hear that and let her imagination run wilder than before.
Bergmen: As you say, ma'am.
Jovenan: Good. Let’s go.
Storm: Understood. ::Turning to Ollie.:: I know you’re good with computers or at least forms, right Ollie?
Jaran: Better than am. That’s why I’m talking to a person.
Lt Storm looked like she was trying to hold a smirk in, while Jovenan allowed her smile to just come to surface. Lt Bergmen was undoubtedly the most competent of them to try and find the hidden files on a computer, if such existed, while Lt Storm’s tactical eye could help in pruning out the suspicious ones from the plethora of unimportant technical and administrative communiqués. And while Jovenan believed that Doctor Jaran could be of use with the computer, she also thought that the two of them would have much easier time with Ms Ta’Mora, seeing that the scientist and the Doctor were hardly the most intimidating people in the world.
Bergmen: Good luck. At least computers don't lie.
((OOC: Like others, splitting Bergmen and Storm here.))
The two lieutenants ventured into the mountain of miscellaneous objects, while Jovenan and the Doctor turned towards the cleaner. The woman, in her practical custodian uniform, hadn’t calmed down since her latest reaction to them asking about the object she was tightly holding in her hands. She was far more afraid of them than they were of her.
Jaran: Ok, Ta’Mora. I think you know we’re safe by now, right?
The Da’al nodded. It was a good sign. Much of the fear and guardedness still remaining might just be a physical reaction to the shock – it would take time for her to calm down, even if she knew that there was nothing to be afraid of.
Jovenan: Good. We didn’t mean to scare you. We were coming to have a look in this office and were just as surprised to see you here.
The Doctor gestured towards the object Ms Ta’Mora was holding.
Jaran: Would you mind if I took a look at that? I promise I’ll give it back. ::looking at Jovenan:: Promise.
Jovenan: ::looks at Jaran:: Of course. ::turns to Ta’Mora, smiles:: Promise.
After some hesitation, Ms Ta’Mora relented and handed the device over to them. When the Doctor accepted it, Jovenan tried to smile encouragingly to the Da’al woman. Her caution hadn’t vanished entirely, but at least she trusted them enough not to try fight them off any more. Jovenan was also proud that the Doctor could come across to the cleaner who had just moments ago held the object with white knuckles.
Jaran: What do you make of this, Commander? I’m not much with the engineering. Is it related to the Afalqi?
Jovenan turned to see what the Doctor was holding in their hands. The tubes and connectors and other technical components formed a curious little device, not unlike in design to any random piece of equipment the Starfleet engineers had in their storages but still nothing Jovenan had seen before. She looked briefly towards Lt Bergmen, wondering if the Ops officer might know better, but she turned back to the object. They could still ask Ms Ta’Mora and let the two others get to the bottom of their actual investigation.
Jovenan: I don’t know. Looks like a part of a ship component, so probably something from the Afalqi, but I can’t tell what it does.
Jaran: Response
Ta’Mora: I made it.
Jovenan: You? ::pause:: Sorry, that was very rude of me. I didn’t realise you were an engineer.
She looked at the Doctor, almost pleading for them to salvage the situation. Undermining the capabilities of a frightened person with possibly valuable information was hardly the tactic the diplomacy professors at the Academy would have approved of, so she hoped that if the not-cleaner had taken ill of it, she didn’t direct it at the other officer.
Jaran: Response
Ta’Mora: I am a component engineering graduate. I applied here, but I didn’t get the place I looked for. The next time I try to get a job, I get to say I worked on this project, even if just as a cleaner. Havun knew of that and asked me to design that for him.
Jovenan furrowed her eyebrows a little, but raised them back up so that she didn’t look like she doubted Ms Ta’Mora’s story or was angry at her. The story was no implausible, but it still had several holes to it. Why didn’t the Chief Engineer make it himself, or ask some of the people working there as assigned engineers? In order to support the recent graduate? Surely for a major government project, such work would have required a lot of paperwork first, in relation to confidentiality and the safety of the workers and the final product. At least Ms Ta’Mora was talking now, despite being still visibly nervous of them. Jovenan didn’t know how far further they could push her.
Jovenan: I see. And you feared that if the authorities find about your involvement in his other projects, you’d get in trouble?
Jaran/Ta’Mora: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11