*** Morgue * USS Quasar ***
It was almost a day since the Quasar had docked at Padassa,
taking her place at the end of one of the four arms of the
station that radiated from a central hub. They had been
directed to Khaelfa hwi...Dock one.. beside the Klingon ship
IKV Tuer.
The station had other ships docked there too.
A Quorum ship, the USS Valiant and IKV Hakask all shared
the opposite arm, Khealfa sei...Dock three... whilst USS
Qashqai had the luxery of Khealfa kre...Dock two... to
herself.
USS Magellan and Akira were on constant patrol as were two
Klingon ships, a forbidding yet reassuring security
presence.
Rangi had seen Qashqai from a distance as Quasar had made
her approach and felt happy to be nearer to Shane despite
the serious nature of their mission.
On arrival, Bren had left almost immediately for a meeting
with the Rear Admiral and Rangi had spoken briefly to him
herself, a purely 'formal' duty conversation concerning the
dead Starfleet members found on the station.
Captain Nicols had willingly agreed to Rangis request that
the Quasars morgue and a section of the sickbay be given
over for her sole use in performing the autopsies.
She understood that Rangi would work alone because of the
need for high level clearance and thats where she was now,
pushing a body into the shining cleanliness of a morgue
chamber, the fifth time she had done so that day.
The drawer sealed itself and Rangi turned away releasing a
long breath. She would examine one more body and then stop
for the day.
The examination of the dead bodies was, in a way, a routine
examination but, apart from finding out the cause of their
deaths, Rangi had to identify them too. That was where the
need for her high clearance level came in, for they were
Starfleet agents whose whereabouts and true identities were
secret from all but a few.
Their DNA profiles would prove who they were and once she
had ascertained the reason for their death, she could clear
them to be repatriated.
Somewhere between leaving the morgue and their return to
their grieving families, each individual would be given a
ficticious cause of death circumstance.
In times of war it was often 'killed in action' but other
avenues were always open, an accident, an illness, something
that would explain their death but never reveal what the
nature of their work had been.
Noone would ever know they had died here on Padassa at the
hands of Romulans.
There were seventeen bodies to examine, eight of those were
Vulcan but the one Rangi chose next was someone already
known to her. It was the man she had been imprisoned with
but more than that, he had been a friend.
She consulted the medpadd in her hand and opened a new
section before returning to the morgue drawers and opening
one marked A 12, stood for a moment looking down at the face
of Liev Varis and she wondered if Bren might ask to see him.
It was always comforting to think that a loved one had died
peacefully and in death indeed 'looked' peaceful but it was
far from that case in this instance.
Liev had been ill treated for some time.
She had known this as soon as she had seen him in the cell
but then she had only been able to guess at his true
condition.Now she found the full story of his imprisonment
written in the remains of his body.
She had verified his identity from his DNA and then listed
all other findings, speaking in a quiet and calm voice which
the computer transcribed onto the medical record.
She listed the two broken ribs partially healed, the tear in
his left kidney, trauma to his left shoulder, a hairline
fracture in his cheekbone and mutiple bruising of varying
age all of which she attributed to a severe beating from a
heavy blunt instrument.
Malnutrition had had a large part to play in his death but
there was also brain damage, mulifocal injuries which she
noted in detail.
These had been caused initially by the device implanted at
the base of his skull.
He had told her that the Romulans had used the device as a
sort of socket which had joined to a machine of some kind
that could extract memories. How this worked she was not
sure and noted that as in the other cases, the device itself
would need further examination.
It was a chilling thought that all the agents had been
subjected to this treatment and who knew what information
had been obtained?
Repeated exposure would presumably have revealed more and
more information as the bodies defences became weakened and
mental control diminished.
Countless others could have been compromised ,along with
missions both completed and ongoing but that side of the
affair was for others to determine.
More than an hour and a half passed before she could finally
say : " Post mortem completed at 17.05 ships time stardate
24.09.08 point 19..Major Varis remains are cleared for
release. End report."
The computer beeped compliance as Rangi returned Lievs body
to the A12 drawer.
She would be meeting Shane in the evening and although it
was something she looked forward too, her mood was sombre
after the days work.
She paused and looked again at Lievs face, with its
yellowing skin pulled tight across the bones and teeth
revealed between parted lips.It was such a contrast to the
man she had known before and she felt a great weight of
sadness at the fact that he had died in such a way.
The drawer sealed itself with a quiet 'hiss' and Rangi
walked to the door, turned and glanced around the room,
checking that it was left neat and orderly.
Satisfied that it was, she headed for her quarters where she
would shower and get ready for the evening.
*** End Log ***
Commander Rangi Summers
Med. Adv 1st Task Force
CMO SB Unity