Robotics Investigations Part 1

Posted on Fri Aug 14th, 2020 @ 9:13pm by Commander Alexis Agrax (*) & Commander Christopher Mitchell

Mission: Cosmos
Location: Starbase 621, Main Promenade
Timeline: 2396
1660 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

“In astrology, this constellation bears the sign of earth, those born under it are believed to be adventurous. They're supposed to be a good match with those born under the constellations resembling a porcupine, antelope and pheasant. But they don't match well with those born under the ocelot, lance and pistol constellations. I am sure you will find a good match with someone under those stars Commander.” The stallholder carried on and on as Alexis stood there trying to take a statement from the woman about what has happened to the Commodore. Alexis just nodded and finally held up her hand making an excuse to leave and wander off in another direction to see if anyone else was having much luck in questioning or cleaning up. It had been hours and no one was any wiser if it had been a one off event or if it had been related to the last time they had been there.

“Any luck Sir?” Alexis wondered seeing her new Executive Officer stood looking around the area they had secured earlier.

"Well, as a Capricorn I am very skilled at navigating both the material and emotional planes..." Chris remarked with a hint of a grin. He shook his head and waved his hand casually. "Sorry, I couldn't help it." He motioned to the remains of the robot that was being packed up by the Security team. "Supposedly it's listed on the signs as a prototype, but I haven't been able to find this display's owner. The unit was registered in the name of 'Corvinius'. No second name. Minimal details. Nobody claims to have seen anyone setting-up." He looked over at her. "Thoughts?"

Alexis narrowed her eyes as she realised he had heard what the stallholder was saying to her. She could have rolled her eyes at him or just stared blankly for a moment before she carried on. She chose the latter and pursed her lips pulling the information up on her own PaDD. "Corvinius?" Alexis wondered frowning a little more if it was possible. "Sounds like a C movie villain." She stated with a shrug in his direction.

"Does sound human-like. But not really a given name. At least not anywhere I ever heard of." Christopher leaned back against the counter. "Could be an alias? But why?" He looked at the remains of the robot. Had it malfunctioned on purpose? Or by accident?

Alexis could not help but agree that it sounded human at the very least and possibly old fashioned. "Sounds like one of those old fashioned names like Christopher or Bartholomew," Alexis said innocently as she crouched to look at the robot and started to look at the least damaged part. "No idea there seems to be so many aliases' going around at the moment."

He allowed a little snort at her remark about his name. "No kidding. There are way too many unanswered questions floating around: that robot suddenly goes wrong when you have the Commodore and three taskforce commanding officers in one room?" Christopher shook his head. "Convenient, huh?"

"I never believe in convenient Commander," Alexis said standing up. "I want it sent to Commander Sloan and her team to inspect it properly." She declared thinking that was the best option. They had space and time to look at the robot in more detail and more importantly, it would be secured properly.

"Good. Someone takes a pop at my commanding officer, targeted or not, they can expect trouble," he said. "So help me out here, what do we know?"

Alexis looked around trying to see if anyone was watching them first off as she was getting the feeling that all of this was linked and that it could only be done by someone who knew Starfleet. "We have a base that had a bombing, we have a robot who's owner disappeared off and then an owner with an alias. Not much really but I can see the starting line."

"And none of it coincidental," he replied. "But we're still short of suspects. Just names without faces or details. So maybe we need to ruffle some feathers, shake some clues loose. Maybe some of the other attendees or presenters here at the conference know more?"

"So where would you like to ruffle feathers first. Everyone from this hall has been released now but I am sure that we can arrange for interviews." Alexis was looking through the list of attendees and presenters. They had luckily been in one of the small halls and it had been less crowded at the time.

"We could start with the organisers," Christopher said after a moment. "Get as much information as they can give us. Since the owner is a bit of a dead-end, we might have some luck back-tracking the robot - where it came from, who transported it, that sort of thing. Maybe we can trace its origin. The organisers should have records and the station operations team should have access to the cargo manifests of inbound ships."

"Sloan and her scientist are already on their way to collect it," Alexis announced with a flourish as she sent the request and got a response back. "I am pretty sure this base must have a mad scientist who would just love taking it apart to investigate. "I know a Lieutenant in the operations team here from our last stay. We can go talk to him, he probably needs rescuing from some situation he had gotten into anyway." Alexis added with a shrug.

"Great. Let's go meet your Lieutenant then." Christopher motioned for her to lead on.

Alexis grinned and moved through the grounds until they got to where she knew the man would be at that time of day. He was a creature of habit and it was a usual day for the base now. "Hello, Lieutenant Kyle Griffin." She said by way of greeting almost sneaking upon him in the Base's operations control room.

The tall, dark-haired Ops Lieutenant flashed a winning grin as he saw her approach.

"Commander Beautiful. Just couldn't keep away, could you?" he remarked, his strong English accent shone almost as much as his smile. "After some more of that Kesatian Ale? Cause, you know it'll cost you..." he added with a wink.

"Maybe later we can catch up," Alexis said with a roll of her eyes. "This is Commander Mitchell, my new Executive Officer." She said pointedly introducing the man who had followed her into the control room.

"Right you are, sir." Kyle gave a nod and slight wave.

"Lieutenant. We're looking into the incident down on the promenade, involving the Commodore." Christopher explained, trying to work out if the young man was always this casual around others.

"Yeah. Nasty business. Hope they let me take a look at those cybernetics, though. Real cutting-edge stuff, that." He blinked. "Oh - sorry about your Commodore. Is she okay?" he looked at Alexis for confirmation.

"I think she has been better but she along with the three Captains will be okay. Sickbay has fixed them up pretty well. But we are thing the Commodore does not visit the base anymore as she gets caught up in trouble every time she comes here." Alexis said with an easy smile for the man. They had been friends for a while . "You need to talk to Sloan to get your hands on the cybernetics." She hinted.

"I'll make sure I get to play around with them," Kyle nodded. "I always do."

"We were hoping you could help us track their origins, actually," Christopher interjected. "Where they came from, who shipped them."

Kyle's brow furrowed just for a moment, then he snapped his fingers and tapped into the computer console nearby. "In theory I shouldn't be able to do this, but since the attack on the station some of the security protocols have been tightened-up. That means with a little keyword searching and thrilling computer wizardry..." He pointed to another screen near the two of them. "You should have a list of any ship that had cybernetic components in their cargo manifest on arrival."

Alexis pulled her PaDD from her pocket and touched it to the console downloading it to investigate somewhere else. Somewhere far away from Kyle being so casual. It was one of the things that endeared her to the man but not everyone appreciated it as a quality. "See I told you he was the man to go to." Alexis praised looking at Kyle trying to hint that he needed to be normal.

"So it would seem," Christopher nodded.

Kyle just grinned, leaning against his workstation with his arms folded.

"Any time, Commander. Next time give me a heads-up and we can hit up that bar you like."

Alexis just grinned and nodded. "We will catch up later. We have to investigate right now." Alexis said wishing the man was not being his usual charming self. It was funny and infuriating as she was trying to make a good impression on her new Executive Officer. Most people did not even give her a chance when looking at her file - former Executive Officer, divorced, bounced around the fleet for last few years.

"Yes, we do. Thank you, Lieutenant Griffin." Christopher cast a look at Alexis. "We should run over these findings."

"Yes Sir," Alexis replied quickly leading the way back out the Operations control room ignoring what she knew would be Kyle watching her retreating back. The man was a menace, with no sense of self-preservation.

As they left earshot, Christopher glanced at Alexis. "He's different. I wouldn't have expected you to be interested in a guy like that."

The Security Officer knew that question would be coming but not quite as quickly as that. "Not exactly a conversation for now is it, Sir." Alexis commented glancing back with a sneaky smile at the man.

"Absolutely right," he agreed, continuing on their way. "But later..." he added softly.