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Starfleet Security officer with a young Human sensor officer
who looked clearly disturbed. As she approached, the Security
officer ended her questioning, nodded to Ashleigh and made to
walk away.
Ashleigh returned the gesture half-heartedly then turned her at-
tention to the young officer.
‘So,’ she began, looking briefly down at a PADD, ‘Ensign Jona-
than Matthews, stationed aboard Jupiter Station as a junior
sensor officer, a new start. Is that all correct Ensign?’
‘Yes ma’am.’
‘Why don’t you take me through it then?’
Matthews nodded enthusiastically and began to speak quickly.
‘At 0600 Zulu I began the routine weekly scan of the Mothballed
shipyard. I checked out the U.S.S. Superfluous, a type 10 shut-
tlecraft. At about 0615 my sensors showed organic materials
aboard this ship. I checked the logs and it hadn’t shown up
before. I reported into command who gave me authorisation to
investigate.’
Ashleigh nodded and took notes. ‘And then what happened?’
Matthews’ speech stuttered slightly and he avoided eye contact.
‘What is wrong Ensign?’
He shook his head from side to side as through trying to shake
something out of his skull.
‘I beamed aboard and tracked the organic signature to this
cargobay. That’s when…’ He trailed off and looked down at the
ground, going decidedly pale.
‘When you found the body?’ Ashleigh offered. The Ensign nod-
ded in response. ‘Did you touch or move the body at all?’
‘No ma’am.’
‘You didn’t even check for a pulse?’
‘No ma’am.’
‘Why not Ensign?’
‘It was clear that he was dead. My tricorder showed no signs of
life and well… the smell.’ He trailed off again his skin turning a
distinct shade of green. Ashleigh decided to change the topic.
‘There are a lot of crates and supplies in there. Anything valu-
able?’
‘No not really Ma’am. Mostly just old uniforms, out-dated
ground weapons, surplus medical supplies, things like that.’
‘So of no value to anyone outside the Federation then?’ Ash-
leigh asked.
‘Definitely not.’
‘Very well. That will do for now. Fill out a statement with a secu-
rity officer over there. If we need to contact you again we will do
so via Jupiter station.’
Ashleigh turned to walk away as the Wnsign promptly threw up
over the floor. She smiled inwardly and didn’t turn back, instead
proceeding back through the doors to the cargobay. The unfor-
tunate victim was being locked into a stasis chamber for trans-
port and Gloria was overseeing the collection of trace fibres.
‘Anything?’
‘Nope. Whoever it was covered their tracks very well. But we
might find something when we get him back to the ship. How’d
it go with Mr Spew?’
‘Oh you heard that did you?’ Ashleigh grinned. ‘Never seen a
dead body before clearly. I guess the smell in here is a bit rank
but surely the temperature would have preserved the body.’
Ashleigh offered. Doctor Turner looked up.
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