Mon Ami & Mi Amigo

Posted on Wed Jun 24th, 2020 @ 2:56am by Lieutenant Nicholas Boucher & Mauricio Arnaldo
Edited on on Fri Jul 10th, 2020 @ 5:42pm

Mission: Death in Paradise
Location: Marine Country

ON:

Nick's head had finally cleared up from the previous night's festivities. He had already given his statement to Lt. Griffin. That had been less than fun considering his hungover condition, but he knew he'd done nothing wrong and had just gone over the details of the night as best he could.

He had heard, though, that one of the few people he'd met on the ship had perhaps a rougher night than he. Scuttlebutt was that Lt. Arnaldo had been thrown out of a bar. Nick had seen a bit of a kindred spirit in the Marine, as he, himself, had been through the ringer when he'd served.

He arrived at the Lieutenant's bunk room and chimed.

Mauricio was just returning from the other direction, having endured a period of treatment at rest in Sickbay. He was walking around with a tremendous sense of relief, having remembered what happened the night before and being able to clear his conscious. So lost in his thoughts was Mauricio that he almost ran into Boucher as he approached.

"Oh, mi amigo. I'm so sorry!" Mauricio cried as he nearly collided with the Lieutenant. "I didn't see you."

Nick almost jumped as Arnaldo almost bumped into him. He shook his head smiling.

"No worries, mon ami," he replied. "I was just coming by to check in. I heard you had one hell of a night."

“That is an understatement.” Mauricio remarked, with a nod. “I don’t think I’ll be spending any more liberty on Paradise. One night was enough.”

"That sounds fairly ominous," Nick replied. "What happened?"

Mauricio gave a deep sigh. “Went out with the other grunts to Paradise, ended up getting a little too drunk and blacked out. When I heard about the murder in the morning, I had a deep fear I had done something stupid and couldn’t remember. Thankfully my memory was jogged a little while ago and I can say with confidence I’m innocent.”

"Merde," Nick replied, incredulously. "Glad to hear that last bit though. What do you think of the investigation though? You know you're innocent, but does Lt. Griffin?"

“I told the Doc, I assumed she’d pass it on?” The Marine shrugged, in that usual way that the grunts left the paperwork to the officers. “Do you think I should tell him personally? What if he doesn’t believe me?”

"I don't know if it's a matter of belief, so much as it's a matter of proof," Nick stated. "If it still looks bad, he may have to keep you on as a suspect." Nick rubbed his chin. "Do you remember anything that could exonerate you? Or at least pin the blame on a more likely suspect?"

“Just my honest reaction to remembering.” Mauricio said, “One of the Betazoids was there too. Jameson? She could sense I was telling the truth. Unfortunately I don’t have any real proof to go on. I don’t really care who did it, as long as they know I didn’t do it.”

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that's very fair. A Betazoid, I imagine, would be pretty useful in this kind of situation."

He rubbed the back of his head. "I've only been here a few days, I don't really know the crew. Anyone strike you as likely to do something like this? I can't say I've ever suspected anyone I've ever served with of being capable of murder."

Mauricio leaned against the wall a little, giving a frown. “Par for the course down here. Putting down bad guys, I mean. I can only imagine who ever did do it, had a reason. People don’t just go around murdering for no reason. Just need to figure out why someone wants to kill a Guard.”

"I hear that," Nick agreed. "Engage with extreme prejudice. I remember the drill. I suppose you may have hit the nail on the head there, though- What was the motive here? Simple murder, or something worse?"

"Something worse." Mauricio shrugged, "I hear they were plotting something else. My Sarge Donaghy said someone tried to break into our comms station, almost caught em too."

"Wow," Nick replied. "So this runs a lot deeper. Seems my mission to help get the ship back to Federation space is getting tricker by the day." He sighed. "I don't envy Chief Griffin, having to unravel all this. I'm more a fan of 'point me in the right direction and tell me who to shoot', ya know?"

Mauricio let out a laugh, "Me too, my friend. Me too. Can't wait until they catch the demonio who did this."

"Yeah, no kidding," Nick agreed. He smiled as he continued. "Well, keep safe, mon ami and try and stay out of trouble. Easier said than done sometimes, but you're one of the few people I've talked to on this ship. It'd be a shame if I had to try and make a new friend to fill my quota."

"Uh.. thank you?" Mauricio replied with a smirk, "You too."

The Marine watched the Lieutenant depart with a wry smile, intrigued by the possibility that he may have just made a new friend. Things were already starting to look up for Mauricio.

OFF