No Further Forward

Posted on Tue Oct 17th, 2017 @ 2:10pm by Lieutenant Commander Jordan Gunning & Lieutenant Sydney Palmieri M.D., Ph.D. & Dahleya

Mission: The Band (Episode 1)
Location: Main Bridge - USS Virgil

The main bridge of the USS Virgil was abuzz with activity as the crew prepared for the ship's first launch. Commander Gunning peeled a piece of protective coating off one of the consoles which flanked his chair as the call came through to the viewscreen. "Gunning here."

"Commander." The scrawny, concerned face on the screen was unmistakably that of the Virgil's 'handler', Commander Cunningham of Starfleet Intelligence. "Mission critical update being transmitted to you. Seems we've had another hit on a bank in the Davinian system. Same M.O. - plenty of mess, very little missing."

Gunning dragged his hand across his face. This didn't feel right. Davin was more than a week's travel from Asterisia, even if you were really gunning it. How had a crew managed to do the two jobs? "Acknowledged." He said into the comm and found that it had already been terminated while his eyes had been shut. Cunningham wasn't much of a talker and most of his incredibly detailed reportage was saved for the written word.

He opened the file on his PADD and skimmed through sixteen pages before he got to the pertinent information. Bank robbed. Deposit boxes were blown. Early inventory suggested that only a few items of value had been taken. The bank hadn't been as well defended as the first - it was more of a 'regional branch'. "Coincidence?" He said aloud to no-one in particular, aware that the non-essential crew had scattered from the bridge when the call came through, as per their orders.

Dahleya leaned against the back of Gunning's chair and read the PADD over his shoulder. She had no doubt that she was violating some protocol, but that wasn't her concern. "Well, they're fast, I'll give them that. But if that's all they stole they either don't make sound financial decisions, or they're not in it for the money." She stood up straighter, giving the chair a small bump as she did so, and started to pace on the bridge. Even though the Virgil's bridge was small for Starfleet standards, Dahleya was actually enjoying the size. Her ship was far more cramped, even with it just being her. She stretched her arms out as she thought and walked. "Two banks, light years apart, with very little to show for it. That's a lot of risk for no gain. So what they took had to have been valuable to someone, even if they couldn't have fenced it. Someone else must have wanted something, and paid someone else to do the dirty work."

Sydney sat in contemplation in an auxiliary seat on the bridge, listening to the conversation around her. So far, the conclusion she had heard seemed logical, although there were no crew search understanding what they were dealing with.

"Doctor - how did you get on with those personnel reports? Anyone flag up red?"

Sydney shrugged. "Not everyone was a stellar citizen, to be sure, but I wasn't able to find anything but relatively minor infractions, really petty stuff, to be honest. My findings certainly support the notion that someone else much more criminally sophisticated maybe pulling the strings here," she replied, offering a nod to Dahleya.

Gunning sighed. "Dahleya, get your security team to go through the two staff lists, look for any familial link. I want to know if any of them have even shared a drink before. Anything we can get to link these together." It didn't sit with Gunning that two robberies, no matter how far apart, could be so similar. "Why hit banks and not take anything?"

Dahleya shrugged. "We'll look through the staff lists, but I don't know how much we'll find. Does your little report say whose deposit boxes were broken into? Maybe the connection isn't the staff, but the clients? It may not be about what they took, so much as who they were looking to steal from."

"They're still taking inventory. It looks like they hit most of the boxes but the initial count looks like they've not taken a lot, just spread it about. If you have time to process the clients then go ahead - it might turn something up."

"I'm just throwing this out there," Sydney began, "but is it possible these jobs are meant to distract us from something more important? I mean, not much is taken, but every box has been hit, suggesting whomever is responsible wants to create the maximum amount of chaos without actually taking anything of any apparent value. Of course, I realize that doesn't rule out the possibility that something has been taken which is more valuable than we know right now, but I also feel we can't rule out the these break-ins themselves are not the main attraction, but simply a distraction for something bigger. What that is, I don't know. It's just a possibility."

"It could always be practice," Dahleya added with a shrug. "I've picked up some people before that did some minor jobs with a similar MO to better prepare them for the big job. The only problem was they tipped their hand about what they were going after by telling authorities what to look for. One of them got caught trying to do the real job, and the other went into hiding." The Denobulan smiled. "Well, he tried to go into hiding at least. We should check and see if there were any other similarities between the two banks. Did they have similar layouts or security systems? If so, that could be our link."

"I'll upload the plans to you, I like your thinking. In the mean time, let's get ready to launch. Roth, have us ready to go within the hour. Looks like we have places to be."