The Last Of Us

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 2:44am by Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Ensign Emmanuelle Larose & Sasha Vieers (Deceased) & Mauricio Arnaldo
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:35pm

Mission: Death in Paradise

A Mission Post by 1st Lieutenant Mauricio Arnaldo & Ensign Sasha Vieers & Lieutenant John Sandoval & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick & Ensign Emmanuelle Larose
Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Paradise Station
Timeline: After “Murder She Wrote” and “Making it Back”

ON:

Lieutenant John Sandoval and Ensign Emmanuelle Larose walked the open areas of Paradise Station in search of the last two officers who remained off-ship. John’s job was to keep his eye say open for a Terran and a Risian, while Emmanuelle (her uniform jacket still off, bundled around a piece of evidence John ordered she bring to the ship) watched for station security. Unfortunately, John’s cane and pristine uniform, as well as Emmanuelle’s bright purple shirt and neon yellow hair) made them stand out like sore thumbs.

“Where are they?” John asked rhetorically.

“Their last known position is close by,” Emmanuelle said.

John looked far and wide for any sign of the two remaining officers. Neither John nor Emmanuelle were particularly tall, so they had a hard time looking over the crowd. John saw a bench and had Emmanuelle help him stand on it.

“Do you see them?” she asked.

“No,” John replied. “Wait! Maybe.” He started waving at the two people he was increasingly certain were Vecon Fick and Mauricio Arnaldo.

Fick had just stepped out of the door of the 'Parlour' with Mauricio. He was glad to be free of the hotel room, or whatever it was that they called that. He was tired and felt like he needed a shower. He was definitely looking forward to getting back to Pandora. It was the waving arm that caught Fick's attention. He looked right at John and Emmanuelle. "Shit..." he said under his breath. "Starfleet, ten o'clock..." Fick said to Mauricio and then he smiled at the approaching people. "Heya guys!"

Emmanuelle helped John off the bench and towards the two officers. "Lieutenant Fick, Lieutenant Arnaldo," John said, nodding to them. "New orders. There's been an incident aboard the Station. All Starfleet personnel must report back to Pandora immediately."

Fick raised his eyebrows and looked alarmed. "An incident? On the station? I mean, yeah of course... but what happened?" Fick glanced back at Mauricio. "We were actually just headed back to the ship. We can all go together if you want?" he suggested.

“Yes, let’s,” John agreed. “The four of us are the last still here. But there’s been a murder, and station security believes someone on Pandora’s crew did it. They’re ordering us all off the station.”

“Transport cube is just over here,” said Emmanuelle. “Venez, mes hommes.”

Fick's eyes widened in surprise and he looked at John. "A murder? Jeeze... and they think one of us did it?" He furrowed his eyebrows. "That's terrible. Who was killed?" he asked as he followed along.

“A station security officer,” John explained as they walked. “Pandora security will want to take statements from you about what you were both doing last night. But the priority is to get out. Station security wants us gone, and the murderer returned to them.”

"Wow... that's messed up!" Fick said and shook his head. "And they think one of our people did it? That's even more messed up. I can't think of anyone that would do something like that..." Of course he said that and then Rochester came to mind. He'd killed Nyx in the bubbleverse, what would stop him from killing someone on a station? Although, the bubbleverse had been sort of a special kind of one time thing, not that that experience didn't have the potential to change people forever.

“You can never really know people, can you, Lieutenant?” John mused as they walked. “Lieutenant Arnaldo, how are you holding up?”

Mauricio had been hanging back, just slightly behind Fick, pretending to be interested in looking around the station. He had kept the Kroll face mask in his back pocket and despite Fick’s criticism that it was unnecessary, fear was taking over. He started to panic that Sandoval would ask questions about his injury, that the Diplomat would see right through his cover story. Before replying to the question, he suddenly pulled on the mask.

“Oh hey!” Mauricio cried, as if he had only just heard the question. “What’s going on? This place is amazing, right?”

The marine had been quiet before, so much so that John barely registered he was there. Emmanuelle was too busy keeping an eye out for guards that she didn't notice his injuries. But the instant the man spoke up, both heads turned to him. "Lieutenant? What the hell do you have on your face? We're trying to keep a low profile and a Ferengi mask doesn't scream subtle. Take that off, now." He was shorter than the marine, but he stared him down as best as he could, with a look that screamed 'That's an order'.

“Mi amigo, you’re the one causing a scene.” Mauricio replied casually. “Me? I’m blending in.” They just happened to be passed by two people, both of whom were wearing similar Kroll masks. “See? No one cares. But Fick and I were on our way back to the ship anyway, so relax.” The Marine went to wrap his arm around Fick and start walking back towards the transport cubes.

John and Emmanuelle walked a bit behind them. He leaned in to whisper to his attaché. "Did you get a look at him before the mask went on?" he asked. She shook her head. "Okay, not a problem. I don't want to cause a scene out here. After what happened with Ensign Rochester, let's play this quietly and not push him to do anything brash. Ship security will make him take off the mask to verify his identity, and if they don't, we'll help force it. Once we've all given statements to security, report to Lieutenant Griffin. He'll need all the help he can get. Just come back to me before your afternoon assignment. We can't afford to cancel that." Emmanuelle quietly nodded.

The four made it to the transport cube station and called one. "So, Mr. Arnaldo. Do anything fun last night?"

"Just the usual, blowing off some steam," Mauricio replied. He stood in the corner of the transport cube, leaning against the glass wall. The mask was hot and uncomfortable, especially against his swollen and sore nose, but he daren't take it off now. "Why are we leaving so suddenly, Lieutenant? Are we heading back to Carnwennan Station already?"

John looked at the marine, annoyed that he hadn't paid attention the first time. Is this what's happened to the Corps since I left? he thought. "There's been a murder. Starfleet's been implicated. Pandora crew aren't welcome on the station anymore. The ship isn't going anywhere yet though. Not until this matter's been resolved. So keep up with the hobbling purple-shirt and don't draw attention to yourself."

Fick looked up at Mauricio. "Take that damn thing off..." he insisted with a frown. "Didn't we talk about this back at the hotel? They're gonna want you to remove it anyway." He swatted Mauricio. He wasn't really tall enough to snatch the mask off and he knew how much Mauricio probably was hurting under it, but it was frustrating to him, nonetheless.

But Mauricio was not listening. A murder. A murder. A murder. It kept going round and around in his head as he felt all of the breath evacuate his body. The headache he had been trying to ignore started to pound on his temples, he could feel heat rushing through to his face. He kept remembering snippets from the night before.... Shouting at the guards in the club. Fighting with someone outside. The bright colours of the Light Show as he lay on the ground.

‘What if I killed someone?’ He kept thinking. Over and over again. He was capable of it, he was trained for it. And he was so out of control of his normal senses last night, he just might have been unable to stop himself from going too far. If only he could remember what happened last night.

He was a vacant shell, sinking into himself. And as the panic began to reach fever pitch, he hadn’t noticed that he’d stopped breathing for those past minutes. Suddenly the Marine crashed to the floor of the transport, completely unconscious.

By this time, the four of them were inside a transport on their way to the docking ring. Pandora was moments away. “Damn it!” exclaimed John, seeing the marine collapse. “Alright. So we have a collapsed marine and the only people who can carry him to the airlock are two of the smallest people on the ship and a cripple. And calling people to come get us will attract attention.” He tapped his combadge. “Sandoval to Pandora. Can you get a Transporter lock on us?”

Fick gasped and rushed to Mauricio. He knelt down and pulled the mask off the marine's face. "Hey, buddy... come on. Don't do this to me now. We're almost back..." he gently patted Mauricio's face where it was the least bruised.

After a pause, there came a reply from an Ops officer, =/\= Pandora here. We have your location. Katya's not going to like it but we can beam you out. =/\=

“Let’s make it a bit easier on them then,” John answered. “Lock onto Mr. Arnaldo and beam him to sickbay. The rest of us are fit to walk. Easier for the Captain to argue that one man was injured and needed rapid evac.”

=/\= Aye sir =/\= Came the reply.

With that, Mauricio was beamed away. Two minutes later, the transport cube arrived at the stop closest to Pandora. The three exited and walked towards the airlock as fast as they reasonably could. Once finally save aboard the ship, John breathed a sigh of relief.

OFF