Post 17 - The Kodak and Gless Detective Agency

Posted on Mon Feb 15th, 2021 @ 5:02pm by Captain Björn Kodak & Debbie Gless

Mission: The Waiting Game
Location: Isle Delfino, Risa
Timeline: Shoreleave Day 2: 2045 Hours

[Pianta Villas]
[Isle Delfino, Risa]
[Shoreleave Day 2: 2045 Hours]

The shoreline had quieted somewhat with the downing of the sun. Without the high-pitched calls of sea birds and the din of soft music coming from Delfino Plaza during the day, the beach had become quite peaceful. The nighttime waves softly broke upon the shore, lending their white-noise to accompany the crackling fire Björn had lit within his beachside villa's fireplace. While Risa was perfectly temperate -- affording pleasant evening weather -- the Chameloid had desired the cheery ambiance of a fire and had adjusted the temperature down to accommodate such. Sitting at the terminal gracing a desk in the primary living space, the Starfleet Captain carefully studied the screen's readout as the waves quietly crashed outside.

Nearby, Debbie Gless was sitting on the floor, back against the white-leather couch while propping her elbows up on the coffee table she'd pulled closer towards her body. Studying a PADD in one hand, the other drew a slice of pizza from a closeby box, her mouth closing around the Italian treat. Biting off a fourth of the slice in one go, the woman munch munch munched on pepperoni, pineapple, and extra, extra cheese while studying the text on her PADD's screen. With a sudden "huh," Debbie looked up from the device and set her pizza down onto a plate.

"Well this is interesting," she said, breaking the silence that had pervaded the room for the last twenty or so minutes. She and Björn had made an evening out of looking into a certain young gentleman's background. Everything had seemed to check out based on their initial research but Debbie, it seemed, must have just found something important.

"Oh?" Björn asked, standing from the desk and stretching for a moment before coming to sit on the couch near Debbie. He bent to retrieve a pizza slice of his own, taking a bite and then nodding for her to go on.

"Well, there's plenty of evidence to back up his claim of being a Federation biologist assigned to Risa," Debbie gestured down to the PADD, "but what's interesting is his time on Bajor."

"Why interesting, Deb?" Björn asked, looking down at her device. The main text was much too small to read from where he was seated but he could make out some dates in a larger and bolded font. Whatever Debbie was looking at, it was from a few years prior.

"The typical stuff is all here," she began again. "Reason for assignment, notes on his performance, etc. What isn't here is why he left. From what I can tell, the project he was working on was still going strong at the time. This says he simply resigned from the project and left the planet, all within the span of a couple days."

Björn thought on that for a moment, chowing down another big hunk from his pizza slice. Setting it aside then, the Chameloid rose and moved towards the fireplace, above which hung the glowing wireframe lines of a holographic whiteboard. Written across its top were the words 'Andrew Callum Munro.' Accompanying the title was an archive photo of Andrew in business-casual garb, below which were several different sets of scribed notes, hand-drawn in mid-air. Björn turned back towards Debbie and asked, "What years was he on Bajor again?"

She scanned the PADD again and looked up once more, "His records have him there from 2391-2395. Looks like he was stationed on Terah’la island."

Björn quickly used his right index finger to draw the words 'Biologist on Bajor' followed by the dates Debbie had provided. Under that, he scrawled 'Why did he leave?' before looking back to his super sleuth partner once again, his hand raising to stroke his beard in thought. "I'm not a scientist but don't project teams often change mid-stream? Sometimes resources are just needed elsewhere. That," he shrugged, "or the project starts winding down and just doesn't require as many people."

"Nah," Debbie shook her head, her large, gaudy earrings swaying from side to side with the motion. The adornments were golden hoops the size of saucers today. Thanks to the woman's long neck, they had plenty of room to move even in her seated position. "According to this, he was a pivotal player on the project. They were in the midst of reintroducing a species of cat to the island and carefully monitoring environmental impacts along the way," she explained, reading from her PADD. "There was plenty of work there for at least another couple of years," she said, reaching to her side and taking a swig from a bottle of dark rum before offering it up to Björn.

He stepped forward and took the bottle, appreciative of the offer. With a quick swig, the Chameloid felt the liquid slide down his innards and warm his belly. Banana rum, he thought to himself with a smile. Debbie knew him well, indeed. And as was usual when drinking with her, the rum was most definitely the "real" stuff. "Alright," he said, handing the bottle back, "so if the project wasn't winding down," he counted on one finger, "and he was intrinsic to the work," he counted off another, "there must have been some reason to suddenly depart."

"Family emergency? Some other personal reason?" the woman helpfully asked. Such things weren't out of the question. "Maybe Andrew dated someone on Bajor and, if they broke up, had to leave because it was too painful to stay? I don't even go to the same systems as my exes," Dabbie narrowed her eyes hawkishly before letting loose a stream of chuckles. Her cheeks were red with rum as she worked to calm her giggles. "Might be a stretch but it'd explain why he'd suddenly jump ship. And," she added, "it's not something official records would really capture."

"At least not employment histories," Björn replied. "I wonder... Computer," he intoned, looking up, "cross-reference 'Andrew Callum Munro' and 'Bajor' within Starfleet and Federation protected databases. Authorization Delta Omicron Mu one-seven-nine," the Chameloid commanded, reaching for a PADD of his own. The terminal on the desk ran the search and translated its results to Björn's hand-held display.

The man spent several long moments reading before suddenly bursting into laughter -- laughter so strong that it doubled him over, thrusting the PADD out towards Debbie. She leaned forward to take it from Björn and, just as he had, broke into literal guffaws at its contents.

"He slept with a Vedek?!" she exclaimed, barely able to breathe. It took her a moment but she caught her breath in short order. "Here we're thinking he's some kind of spy," the giggles threatened again, "and he's really just loose with the horny priests?!" Debbie could hardly hold herself back at this point, probably because she'd had so much more rum than Björn had. With a toss, she sent the PADD back her friend's way.

Björn caught the device and scanned it again, nodding. "It's all right here. Another Vedek walked in on them and...get this," the Chameloid's eyes danced in the firelight, "they apparently asked him to join in?!" He grabbed the bottle of rum and took another deep swig, allowing his body to sag to the floor to rest next to Debbie's. He was shaking with laughter.

"No!!!" Deb exclaimed, reaching for the bottle and taking a big drink herself. "Let me guess...Pious Priest #2 said 'No' and reported the whole thing?"

Björn nodded quickly. "That's exactly what happened. According to a complaint filed with the Federation Embassy on Bajor, the Vedek Assembly demanded that Andrew not only be fired, but be arrested for soliciting a holy man out of his morality. Guess the Vedek in question spun a bit of a yarn about being an innocent victim," the Chameloid continued reading.

"So the Ministry of Justice picked him up and charged him?" Debbie asked, her mind working hard despite the rum. Such records were not typically part of normal, civilian searches -- hence Björn having to pull rank and use official Starfleet resources.

"Actually, no," Björn shook his head slowly. "They threatened to but the Federation Ambassador to Bajor proposed a plea bargain of sorts. Andrew could escape a criminal trial -- which would be wildly embarrassing for Bajor and the Federation both -- as long as he agreed to resign from the project and leave the planet." With each word he continued to read on the PADD, the more his good humor flowed away. "That actually really pisses me off," Björn growled finally. "Priest says yes to sex, gets caught betraying his vows, and then eschews all personal responsibility. While Andrew had to high-tail it off Bajor, the Vedek went on living his pious life without consequence."

"And this is a surprise why?" Debbie asked, suddenly all-serious. "Don't even get me started on the hypocrisy of organized religion's worst role models. Shame they give the rest such a bad name sometimes," she huffed, taking another sip of the rum and then handing the bottle back to Björn.

"Fair point, Deb," Björn nodded before deactivating the holographic display with one hand and swigging from the rum with the other. "Well, I suppose that settles it then. According to all the data we have available at least, Andrew is who he says he is. Starfleet Intelligence ruled him out," he referred to the conversation he'd had with them earlier in the day, "as some kind of spy hellbent on prying Starfleet secrets from lovey-dovey, lonely Captains. And based on everything else we've found today," he shrugged, "he's as forthright but fallible as the rest of us."

"Which means..." Deb's eyes grew wide, moving herself up and off the floor, "that you have a green light, my friend. I mean, you're no Vedek," she smirked, "but he seems pretty interested in you. Don't think that I didn't see you two in the buff. Nice buns, by the way," the woman snorted.

"Debbie," Björn's eyes widened, his own cheeks reddening with intense embarrassment. "You could all really see that? I thought for sure the angle was all wrong," he said sheepishly.

"It was," she nodded in confirmation. "Unless you were standing on your tippy toes," Debbie chuckled, using Björn's shoulder to help her stand. The woman kind of swayed for a moment, catching her balance before handing the bottle back down. "You keep that," she ordered with a smile. "I need to head back before going out later. And you need to give Andrew a call. Do not wait, mister," Debbie gestured down at Björn, her loose, jelly-bracelets clinking around her wrist. "You got me?"

"Yes mother," Björn laughed, nodding. "And thank you for the rum...and, you know, spending a whole day helping me look into all this. Couldn't have done it without you, Deb."

"We do these things for each other. Now go, go, go," she shooed the Chameloid before about-facing and exiting the villa, still a bit unsteady on her feet.

Chuckling to himself, Björn started tidying up, clearing the various pizza boxes, plates, napkins, cups, packages of cookies, and every other parcel that'd been part of their day-long deep dive into Andrew. When he was satisfied that the room looked presentable, Björn sat down at the computer terminal and began recording a message.

"Hello handsome," he began, "I've been thinking about you a lot. Brunch tomorrow? Or maybe dinner...you might be working," Björn shrugged, smiling warmly. "I'm pretty...open," he flashed a grin to accompany the double-entendre. "Let me know." With a tap, the message was sent and now all Björn could do was wait.


=/\= A joint-post by... =/\=

Captain Björn Kodak
Currently Unassigned

and

Debbie Gless (NPC of Kodak)
Currently Unassigned