No Assumptions

Posted on Sun Feb 2nd, 2025 @ 11:19pm by Lieutenant JG Nayisa Wrea

Mission: Character Development
Location: USS Athena :: Sickbay
Timeline: Pandora Protocols MD6 - 0500
1152 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

While it was unlikely that her Trill best friend was waiting for her, Nayisa still felt guilty for taking so long to finally pass through the sickbay doors. Dismissing the medical staff's inevitable offer of assistance with a wave of her hand, the silver-haired woman silently approached the bed that Zade was occupying. The injuries had been tended to, but there was still a faintly pale complexion to her skin, a side effect of blood loss. Subtle movement of her chest helped ease the anxiety that had been with the intelligence officer ever since the news of incoming injured came through the intel suite.

The three or so hours of sleep didn't do much for Nayisa, as evidenced by the fatigue circling her eyes. The death toll across four ships was up to twelve now, with nearly double that in injured officers, and the burning question of how was at the forefront of the investigation that began about thirteen hours ago. Quietly bringing over a chair so as not to disturb Didrea, she took a seat, elbows pressed into her thighs.

A soft light bathed the floor of the hospital room in a warm glow. The recovery rooms in Birjiaam Hospital on Trill were set up to house two patients, and it was by chance that Nayisa had been placed in the same room with this particular Trill. The forcefield keeping her leg still so it could heal provided a background hum that complimented the quiet beeps of equipment attached to the other young woman in the room. A curious conversation with a nurse revealed that the poor thing was the sole survivor of a rather brutal homicide, and if authorities hadn't found her when they did she likely wouldn't have made it.

The sight of this Trill, connected to medical equipment working to keep her alive, sent a pang of grief through Nayisa. It made the broken leg she sustained as a result of her own stupidity seem rather insignificant. She didn't know this woman, and yet something in her wanted to be there to support her when --or if-- she woke up.

The memory lingered in her mind as she watched the monitor above the bed, the small indicators slowly moving in time with vitals in recovery. There were explosions across the wreckage, some uncomfortably close to security teams and others in sections with nobody around. How did they do it? The why was a bit clearer, these explosions were meant to be diversions, forcing the security teams to re-prioritize as sections of the wreckage collapsed. Despite her rule of 'no assumptions,' it was obvious that the pirates had worked together to pull this off.

But how?

The raid posed several questions, presenting puzzle pieces that didn't quite seem to fit together. Pirates weren't known to collaborate with each other, and they certainly didn't have the brains to sneak through a squadron's defense perimeter. And yet. Nayisa sighed and rubbed her face with her hands in an effort to try and brush away the obscurity that hid the truth. Their suspect, the one pulling the strings attached to these pirates, still remained a mystery. Was it another pirate, perhaps one with more experience? A pirate who had specifically dealt with Starfleet before? Ex-Starfleet? Someone else?

No assumptions.

Yet again, Nayisa mulled over the known information in her brain, her eyes drifting to Didrea's closed ones. What did she see? There were three of the 24 teams that only had one report submitted, including the one led by the security chief. Those teams shared a similar fate, where the other two in the team were either killed or critically injured. It made verifying the report nightmarish because the traumatised mind could be playing tricks on the only eyewitness able to produce a statement for that team. Despite her efforts to distance herself from the impact of nearly losing her best friend, Nayisa felt as if she needed Didrea's account of the events.

Something from Mason's report chewed at the silver-haired woman's gut. One of the raiders Mason, Zade, and Iska had chased said something that implied he knew Zade personally. Mason's recollection of the exact phrase was as uncertain as his recollection of the explosion itself, but one thing was clear, the raider addressed Didrea by name, which threaded an extra element of concern into the investigation. Going off of Mason's description of the raider, there wasn't anything Nayisa could recall from past conversations with her friend that provided any useful insight. No past encounters, no lengthy conversations with any pirates to suggest a name had been passed along, nothing. She even managed to pull together various reports from the last couple of years involving raiders, and hours of sifting through it with nearly a dozen different search algorithms yielded no matches either. Unfortunately, the identity of this raider didn't matter, because without verification, Mason's report would likely be dismissed from the investigation.

No assumptions.

The verdict of the two-year homicide investigation. Nayisa was in Didrea's dorm room at Starfleet Academy, studying for midterms, when the message came through and pulled their attention away from their PADDs. She watched her friend read the message, the Trill's expression falling into what she could only describe as enraged denial and grief. Scooting closer, Nayisa read the message as well, her eyes widening slightly as the words 'INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO CONTINUE INVESTIGATION' burned into the screen. Surprise gave way to sympathy when Nayisa turned to see tears welling up in her friend's eyes. The impact of the message was clear, the investigator couldn't find anything to suggest that Didrea's sister or father, who were assumed kidnapped from the scene of the homicide, were still alive. The midterms forgotten, Nayisa scooted over and pulled her friend into a hug, muttering sympathetic apologies as the Trill broke down into her shoulder.

Sitting up, Nayisa ran a hand through her hair, her shoulders tense from the effort to fit the events together. She could feel the sticky burn of an insomniac's migraine starting to itch at the back of her head, a reminder of how much time she had put into this investigation. All she could do for Didrea was her duty, to find the answers that revealed the truth. The reports from the other teams were sufficient, and there was enough consistency between them that it provided a solid account of events so Intelligence could dig deeper. The answers she sought laid beyond the obvious. Standing, Nayisa put the chair back where she found it before returning to Zade's side, gently putting a hand on hers for a few seconds. She then left sickbay to continue working on the investigation, but with the additional assistance of caffeine. The answers would come, it was just a matter of time.

No assumptions.