Security - Keith R. A. DeCandido [20]
That prompted a thought. She tried to call up a record, but the comm unit was only a comm unit, not multipurpose like any decent Starfleet station would be. Going back out into the squad room, she sought out Officer Giacoia.
The diminutive officer was nowhere to be found, but she did see the woman who’d greeted her—Kim?—standing with a little kid who bore an obvious resemblance.
These people are taking their children to their work in law enforcement, and we’re supposed to trust them to solve this?
“Can I help you, Lieutenant?” the officer asked.
“I need a computer terminal. I just thought of something from Starfleet records that might help.”
“Are you with Starfleet?” the kid asked.
Smiling down at the boy, Corsi said, “Yes, I am.”
“You’re an engineer, right?”
God, what a revolting concept. Corsi hated engineers. “No, I’m with security. We wear the same colors as them.”
“So you’re like my mom?”
No, I’m more professional. But Corsi wasn’t impolitic enough to say that out loud.
The mom in question said, “That’s enough, Tomo.” The boy clammed up, and Kim looked at Corsi. “I apologize for my son, Lieutenant. I’m heading home anyhow, so why don’t you use my terminal? It’s the one across from Christine’s.”
Nodding, Corsi said, “Thanks.”
Leaving mother and son behind, Corsi went back into the detectives’ room. Vale was right where Corsi left her.
“I just thought of something, and I want to check it out. About a hundred years ago, there was this thing called Redjac—”
“I know what you mean,” Vale said without looking up from her reading. Corsi walked over to the younger woman’s desk to see that Vale was reading the reports from Berengaria Enforcement on the second set of murders. “I read up on that right after we found Getreu’s body. The thing is, even if it is that Redjac thing, we still need to find the person Redjac’s possessing to do these killings,” she looked up, “and did I just casually talk about people being possessed?”
Corsi shrugged. It wasn’t even close to the weirdest thing she’d seen in Starfleet. “We should contact the Roosevelt, see if—”
“I did that as soon as you guys made orbit. I heard back from your operations officer after I left the meeting with you and Lieutenant Waldheim yesterday. She told me that, accounting for a hundred years of drift, Redjac wouldn’t be anywhere near any inhabited planets, and the chances of it encountering a ship in interstellar space are infinitesimal.”
“But it’s still possible that we’re dealing with Redjac.”
It was Vale’s turn to shrug. “Maybe. But it doesn’t really fit the MO—Redjac always used blades. And even if it is him, like I said, it doesn’t really change anything useful, like what we do to find him.”
Corsi had to grudgingly admit that the officer had a point. Still and all, she requested access to the Roosevelt’s computer. She wanted to refamiliarize herself with the Starfleet mission that discovered Redjac on Argelius a century ago.
Chapter
9
U.S.S. da Vinci
in search operations between Stations Kel-Artis and Deep Space 9
NOW
T ev awoke from his nap, feeling very refreshed. The fact that his bunk was located in a Kharzh’ullan passenger shuttle didn’t seem to matter all that much.
“Mr. Tev is expressing a valid concern. Giving me something to think about. A little bluntness is a good way to do that.”
A Kharzh’ullan was sitting in the seat opposite Tev’s bunk. “How long until we reach the base station?” Tev asked.
The Kharzh’ullan checked the chronometer on his wrist. “I never was good at math. Should be soon. Half an hour, perhaps.”
“Good.”
“What I’m trying to say, in the nicest possible manner, Tev, is that I’d like to work on this solo.”
Something went wrong. Tev realized that the shuttle wasn’t decelerating, even though at half an hour from their destination, the slowdown should have commenced. The shuttle was bringing them down the elevator that took one from the massive orbital ring around Kharzh’ulla to the planet