"Fargo" Part Two

Posted on 25 Oct 2023 @ 11:27am by Lieutenant JG Zara Ghemora

1,775 words; about a 9 minute read

Previously...

"It's alright, commander. We will get things moving as quickly as we can, but we must take things one step at a time," Ghemora said in an attempt to calm the engineer before turning to her investigative partner to ask, "Turok, do you want to get started on initial scans? Maybe Commander Lugo can show you how one might reach that particular section," she hinted as she turned back to the Ferengi. There was a small, silent look exchanged between the three before the Vulcan nodded, leaving the Security officer only to ask, "This crewman that found the deceased, where are they? I will need to interview them."

Commander Lugo spoke up, "Kid was shaken up after, so I excused him back to his quarters. Told him he should go directly there and wait for someone to come and question him. Not the first time I've gone through these post-accident procedures." Ghemora gave the Ferengi a nod of acknowledgment before the engineer sent a note to her PADD as to where she could find the crewman. With their separate duties in order, Turok and the Cardassian shared a glance before splitting off to handle their individual, initial assignments...

Now...

[ON]

There were few ships as small as a Defiant-class, so it didn't take Ghemora long to locate the crewman's quarters and press the call button to await his invitation. It took the crewman a few moments longer to answer than she'd expected, but upon the doors whooshing open, it didn't take a psychologist to see how distressed the young man was. "Crewman Hess?" she asked but was met with a lingering, distant stare before the crewman nodded and hummed to the affirmative and stepped aside to let the Security officer in.

Once the doors had closed behind her and Ghemora had gone about locking them as well as putting a privacy field in effect, she appraised the young man as he wrapped his arms around him after retreating to a chair at a small table at the edge of the room. Following him over after a moment to take the other chair across from him, the Cardassian tried to soften her features as much as she could as she introduced herself, "I'm Lieutenant Ghemora, and I was asked by Captain Yanagita to conduct the investigation into the death of your fellow crewman. Are you okay to talk about it?"

There was a definite pause as the young crewman studied the Cardassian's ridged eyes before he finally nodded and affirmed, "Yes, sir."

"There's no need for that, crewman. Relax. You can just call me Ghemora. No need for formality at this time," she was quick to state, which drew another, shorter look from the crewman before he nodded, relaxing his shoulders slightly despite the way his arms were cradling his clearly disturbed demeanor. Pulling up a recording program on her PADD and setting it on the table between them, the Security officer asked softly, "Can you tell me what happened? Start at the beginning."

Frowning deeply, Samuel's jaw clenched as he took a deep breath before being able to momentarily focus his gaze on the Cardassian. "I…We'd detected a variance in one of the cooling system conduits, so Chief Lugo had assigned my team to check it out. I was sent into the tubes to do a visual examination of the conduit, but, after opening the next to last hatch on my way to it, I found…It was…" The crewman's voice and gaze fell away as he seemed unable to get the words out.

Ghemora finished them for him, "...You found the deceased. Probably the first time you'd encountered someone you knew like that, huh? It's not an easy thing to witness, for anyone in Starfleet. It's okay, Sam. Please, continue."

Struggling to organize his thoughts and find the words, Ghemora gave him the time he needed for him to return his attention to her, "Yeah… It's not something you expect to find in the Jefferies tubes. I've been through them numerous times, but… Once the hatch slid open, and I saw…it I froze. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of my lungs. I felt like I wanted to scream, but couldn't find the ability to. I don't know how long I stared at it, but the moment I was able to move, I turned around and crawled out as fast as I could. Once I got back to a corridor, I immediately called Chief Lugo and reported what I'd found to him."

So far that seemed to check out with the small amount of notes that she'd already been given on the incident in question, but she knew there was potentially more as she asked, "I know this might be hard, but can you remember anything that seemed out of place? Anything that you may have noticed when you were heading through the tubes before you found the…deceased? It's okay if you don't."

Taking several breaths as his gaze panned away for a long moment, Sam's frown deepened several times before he let out a heavy sigh, "I don't…No. I don't think. Everything seemed just as it always was until…you know."

"And what about the deceased or the area they were in? Anything you may have noticed that seemed abnormal now that you've had time to calm down?" Ghemora pressed gently.

"I..," the crewman started as he looked away again trying to remember. When his gaze returned to the Security officer, his eyes were wide with a look that the Cardassian knew well, "I can only remember the look on his face. It was… It looked so twisted, like he'd died in pain or something, but…"

As Sam's words fell away again, Ghemora noticed the strain in the crewman as a ping of thought briefly flashed across his features, prompting her to say, "But what, Sam?"

Taking another deep breath before relaxing his arms that were wrapped over his chest just slightly, "It was his uniform, sir. It seemed…too...clean? While starships are kept clean, there's no way you can crawl around in the tubes without coming out with your uniform being wrinkled and disheveled. The…His uniform looked like what you'd seen someone wearing during a formal inspection; Not like that of someone who'd been crawling around in Jefferies tubes."

Nodding and making a note of that on her PADD despite the audio recording taking place, Ghemora gave the man a moment of peace before continuing, "Besides his uniform and the way he looked, was there anything else? Anything you might have thought was odd but dismissed? Anything that was more just a 'huh?' moment than something you might actually be concerned about?"

Crewman Hess took quite a long pause to go over what his memory would allow him to recall. While a Cardassian would have been able to easily recall almost every minute detail, Ghemora had come to realize it wasn't that simple for other species, so she saw no reason to press, thus interrupting the young man's silent ponderance. Finally shaking his head at her, he answered, "No, sir. I'm sorry. There's nothing else I can think of."

Reaching out to lay a hand on his forearm and give it a gentle squeeze, Ghemora nodded, "It's okay, Sam. There's no reason for you to be sorry. You just stumbled upon something that no one can react well to. I understand your chief has dismissed you from duty for the day, correct? Take some time for yourself and process what you experienced. If you want to talk to someone, I'm sure the ship's Counsellor is already been made available to you if you need them. If you think of anything else, you can contact me directly. If you don't feel comfortable speaking over comms, I'll come to you wherever you are, okay?"

Frowning but nodding in acceptance, Sam answered, "Thank you, sir. I will…if I do. I just…"

"You need some time. It's okay. Maybe not right away, but you might remember something. If you do, reach out. We all just want to find out what happened to your crewmate and make sure something like this never happens again, okay?" Standing up from the seat and collecting her PADD, Ghemora took half a step closer to the young man to give his shoulder a squeeze. "It'll be okay, Sam. We're going to do all we can to figure out what happened, and if you need someone to talk to, you can contact the Counsellor or even me. If you need anything at all, don't be afraid to ask. Are you good for now?"

The crewman looked up, holding his breath a moment before finally nodding and releasing the air from his lungs. "Yes, sir. I'll be okay. I'll just take some time. I don't want Chief Lugo…"

Ghemora was quick to cut him off, "Don't worry about Commander Lugo. I will make sure that you are given whatever allowances you need. The health and safety of the crew; evervy member, is more important than anything else. There are plenty of other engineers to do any work that needs to be done. You focus on what you need to do to process what you've experienced. Okay?"

The assertion seemed to be just what Crewman Hess needed as his posture relaxed more into the chair in which he was sitting. Looking up to Ghemora he nodded before saying, "Thank you, Ghemora. …If I remember anything else, I'll let you know. I think I just need…some time." The Cardassian could tell that the shock was starting to drain from him, which was a boon, but he'd still need more time before he could be of any further use.

Excusing herself and exiting the crewman's quarters, Ghemora walked a few paces down the corridor before tapping her commbadge and requesting Lieutenant Turok. "Ghemora or Turok. How is your investigation going? I got all I think I could out of Crewman Hess at the moment."

The Vulcan's dry, monotone voice came back, "Confounding, lieutenant. Could you come back to Main Engineering to discuss my findings?"

The answer caused a bit of surprise in the Cardassian as her eyebrow raised. "...On my way, Lieutenant," she replied before closing the commlink and heading back to meet with her partner…

[TBC]

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LTJG Zara Ghemora
Temporary Security Officer
USS Fargo

Crewman First Class Samuel Hess
Engineering Crewman
USS Fargo
[NPC]

Lieutenant Turok
Deputy Science Officer
USS Fargo
[NPC]

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