STAR TREK: A Long Road (Voyager Fix It Quest)

The room was deathly quiet. The windows were open, out to the night air, and a breeze blew in, rustling the curtains. The Baneans preferred open windows and large balconies - a byproduct of their avian biology. The corpse had been removed...what was left of it...and the warning markers that the Banean security forces used to indicate what and where everything had been at the scene of the crime were all that was left of their presence, save for one Benaran, who stood beside Lieutenant Tuvok, looking over the scene with the same grim air.

The Banerans had evolved from avians rather than simians, but they shared much of the bilateral symmetry of most galactic sentients, though they were hexapodid - six limbs, two legs, two arms, and two wings which were, even now clasped behind his back like a sleek cape. His beak was set in the expression that Tuvok had begun to recognize as a deep frown among these people, his ear tufts turned down and his crested ridge frilling up slightly.

"This is the place," he said, reaching up to adjust the collar of his security forces uniform.

"I see," Tuvok said, quietly, his hands clasped behind his back. He stepped into the chamber. "Dr. Ren was in here, correct Detective Bray?"

"With your officer, yes," the security officer said. "At 1921 hours, local time, he arrived with Lindel."

"Dr. Ren's wife," Tuvok said.

"Just so." Bray's beak clicked. "I believe your officer was here to secure Dr. Ren's expertise?"

"Dr. Ren was your foremost astrophysicist and has charted dozens of wormholes," Tuvok said. "What happened next?"

"According to Lindel and the staff, Dr. Ren and Mr. Paris had a heated argument. The whole city knew about him and Lindel."

"The affair?" Tuvok asked. "Mr. Paris told us it was an agreed upon situation with Dr. Ren."

"Minds change sometimes," Bray said, his voice dripping with contempt as he shook his head. "Dr. Ren may be less enlightened than he thought."

Tuvok did not comment. He instead looked out the window, at the gleaming moon that hung overhead, at the large parkland that stretched out to the horizon. Anyone could be looking in at him out there. He saw a few glittering stars winking out - the telltale sign of a Baneran out for a late night flight. He frowned as a droplet of rain slapped into the balcony, then reached out and closed the window just as the first bit of rain started to come down, pattering against the glass as distant thunder rumbled.

"So, the argument was about Lindel," Tuvok said.

"And then, at 1924 exactly, Dr. Ren's med alert went off," Bray said. "He'd taken a particle gun to the chest, upper left shoulder, close range. Enough damage to vaporize half of his body in a second, there was no chance of survival. According to our files on your hand weapons, it is the same effect as a phaser set to kill."

"Indeed," Tuvok said. "Your people have direct energy weapons as well."

"...yes," Bray said, quietly. "But your officer had a partially drained phaser in his transporter buffer, and moreover...he had motive."

"This love affair?" Tuvok asked.

"No, self defense. Dr. Ren was a V'thrakan, an ethnic group with talons the size of your thumb," Bray said, lifting his scaled hand and crooking his finger, to indicate precisely how and why Tom Paris might have feared for his life. "Our current theory is that Ensign Paris and Dr. Ren's conversation...got...so heated that Dr. Ren advanced, Ensign Paris pulled, fired...forgot his phaser was on kill..."

"Interesting," Tuvok said, frowning. "And yet...you will not release him."

"No, he's...still being held on murder, second degree," Bray said. "He tried to beam up to your ship after killing the man."

"That he did," Tuvok said. "Our communication from Mr. Paris was partially jammed."

"That's security protocol," Bray explained. "The med alert and weapon fire triggered the local scramblers."

"Prudent," Tuvok said, his voice dry as the balcony outside began to gleam with moisture. The rain was coming down harder now.

"The Technocracy has survived this long by being prudent, Lieutenant," Bray said, his voice grim.

Tuvok stepped outside into the rain a short time later, into the grounds outside of Dr. Ren's home. He looked at the rain coming down, then reached down to his transporter buffer. He tugged out the raincoat he had beamed into his buffer, swung it around his shoulders and, after a moment, took out a hat. He placed it on his head, then sighed slowly, running the facts over in his head. Internally, his mind roiled with blazing emotions: Anger at the fact Tom Paris could have been so unthinkably stupid as to try polyamory with a species they had just made first contact with, frustration at the seemingly cursory examination the Technocracy had preformed, a deep longing ache for his wife and children.

He stepped into the rain and felt those emotions settling under the cold, comforting gridwork of logic.

Janeway gave me this case, he thought. The Technocracy, local power, close ties with the Vidiian Emergency. We're both keeping our distance. But their telescopic arrays had the best observational starcharts in the sector - and any information we could get would be appreciated. Finding Dr. Ren seemed like a serious stroke of good fortune...

He stood at the corner of the mansion that Dr. Ren had lived in, looking at the city before him, then turned back to the ground as rain pattered down.

Now that fortune is dead. And we have thirteen hours before the most xenophobic judge on the planet tries and sentences Mr. Paris. He frowned as the thunder rumbled. With the local government listening in and various unknown powers within it more than eager to hand us over to the Vidiians...I will have limited support.

Tuvok nodded to himself, curtly.

---
CURRENT CLUES: "Dr. Ren was killed at 1924 hours by a phaser to the shoulder", "Tom Paris was speaking with him at 1921-1924 hours", "Tom Paris and Lindel Ren were in an affair", "People talked about the affair - but Ren approved of it", "Tom Paris had a partially drained phaser", "Tom Paris attempted to beam out after Dr. Ren died"
CURRENT TRUTHS: "It was a dark and stormy night..."
CURRENT MOMENTUM: 0

What do you first, Gumshoe? This is what you do FIRST, because you have a limited amount of time - 13 hours!!!
[ ] You have better tools than just looking around. Scan the scene for additional clues. (1 hour)
[ ] Let us talk to the widow. What does she think about this? (30 minutes)
[ ] Interview Tom - surely he had to have seen something (30 minutes)
[ ] Write In

Also...
[ ] Risk beaming down a partner - the Technocracy may be less than pleased with you, but having someone to watch your back is a good idea.
-[ ] Write In Who
[ ] Better stick it out alone...for now...