Identity Crisis
Posted on Mon Apr 13th, 2015 @ 1:38pm by Captain Aidan Rackham
Mission:
The Night Cries
Location: Mortuary, Medical Complex, Pike City
Timeline: 2278.46: 0550hrs.
Rackham was still fastening all the bells and whistles which came with his new uniform when the cab poured him out in front of the squat alloy hut which purported to be Pike City's mortuary. The rain was still coming down in sheets and his uniform jacket immediately became sodden as he made the short dash across the street.
He pushed the double doors and found himself in the lobby of the morgue. The smell was the first he noticed- it smelt new. In fact all of the seating and the desks looked entirely new. It didn't seem a wild leap to think that the newly resettled colony hadn't seen its share of dead bodies yet.
A woman in a long black coat appeared in the doorway. She looked to be around thirty and carried the indescribable air of being police. "Commander Rackham?"
"The same." Rackham said, accepting her outstretched palm in greeting. "Detective Talbot?"
"Indeed." She turned away down the short corridor from which she emerged seconds before. "If you'll follow me this way."
They walked briskly down the hallway in which every tile gleamed under the fluorescent light. Rackham had seen the bodies of Starfleet officers on many an occasion but- as a general rule- he had usually been around when it happened and being led to a room which definitely contained a corpse was very unusual to him.
"Do you have any idea of the identity of the dead officer?" Rackham asked, a gnawing bad feeling growing in the pit of his stomach.
"We have a secondary identification based on evidence found in the room but we need a positive ID." She replied, holding the door at the end of the corridor open and allowing him to pass through into a small ante-room. There were a couple of well-appointed chairs and the seemingly obligatory potted tree but it was the large window which looked into the mortuary proper which caught Rackham's gaze.
There was a body lying underneath a sheet on a long stainless steel table, underneath a massive bank of fluorescent lights. Everything beyond the window seemed to glow blue. It was hugely disconcerting.
A disheveled man shoved his way through a set of double doors and shambled his way toward the pair. He was in his mid fifties at a minimum and looked like he had just fought his way out of the inside of a sandwich.
"C-c-c-c-ommander R-r-r-r-r-ackham." He stammered as he approached. "Doctor Caillat Elton. Please come through."
"You're the coroner?" Rackham asked as he followed the little man into the morgue beyond.
"Well yes and no." Doctor Elton began, seemingly finding his feet in the conversation. "We are a new colony and we don't receive much call for the mortuary facilities. That time will come but we've only been putting up buildings for seven years. Most of my time is spend in the hospital wards."
"I see." Rackham didn't really care- he just found it hard to believe that the man had a medical degree. "I'm not sure I'll be able to offer an identification- there are a number of personnel on Cestus with whom I'm unfamiliar but I'll do what I can."
Elton made a small groaning noise somewhere at the back of his throat and lifted the sheet which covered the body, slowly placing it down so that it covered the body from the shoulders up.
The nagging feeling in Rackham's stomach suddenly crashed into his head and began to pound away as though a blacksmith had set up shop behind his eyes. His legs almost gave way but he managed to catch himself before he slipped to the ground.
There on the table lay his mentor, Captain Elsa Gunning. Her face was contorted in agony although her eyes were closed, part of her cheek was missing and a tiny glint of a reflection shone through the small hole in the back of her neck but there was no mistaking her.
Her short-cropped blonde hair was almost as perfect as always and even in death she still managed to look severe. Rackham placed both hands on the table- he wanted to hold her hand but she wouldn't have approved of that kind of thing and it certainly wouldn't do her any good.
"What happened?" He asked breathlessly.
"She was s-s-s-s-shot through the back of her neck and the bullet," Elton motioned to the grizzly scene around her mouth. "exited through her face. We have yet to perform a proper autopsy."
"I'll have a Starfleet doctor perform it if you don't mind." Rackham rose to his full height and took a deep breath. He could feel Detective Talbot lingering over his shoulder.
"Commander, I w-w-will perform the-"
Rackham cut him off, fury rising in his chest. "A Starfleet doctor will perform the autopsy, Doctor. I will be taking over the investigation as per my jurisdiction."
He was already half way out the door before he turned and looked back to the table. "This is the body of Captain Elsa Gunning and I will find out what happened to her. Send everything you've got to me. I want to speak to everyone in that hotel."
Elton and Talbot looked at one another, both silently relieved that they didn't have to take responsibility for the murder of a Starfleet Captain on their 'watch'. They could faintly overhear Rackham putting in a call to the Starfleet Admin Centre, saying something about assembling the senior staff.
Commander Aidan Rackham
Executive Officer
Detective Talbot
[NPC: Rackham]
Doctor Caillat Elton
[NPC: Rackham]
