Subject: Murder One part 4/4 (for alt.startrek.creative)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 01 Aug 94 10:19:58 EDT

"Now, class," said Keiko O'Brien, "we'll look at the Federation-Klingon
Alliance. The incident which helped to cement this alliance was the
destruction of a Federation starship. The Enterprise was responding to a
distress call from Norendra III, a Klingon colony under Romulan attack.
What happened was -" The clock chimed, signifying the end of the class.
"Saved by the bell," she said with a smile. "See you all tomorrow.
Remember, your elementary calculus test is on Monday, so start studying!"
 When the children had left, boisterously and otherwise, she looked up to
see her husband standing in the doorway. "Hi love," he said.
 "Hi, honey. What brings you here?"
 "Our holosuite romp will have to be postponed," O'Brien said sadly.
 "Oh no. Why?"
 "Well..." O'Brien told her of Bashir's discovery and Sisko's edict.
 "How long will the suites be closed?"
 "As long as it takes for me to flush this thing out of the system," said
O'Brien. "It could take several days."
 "You know," said Keiko seductively, "we don't need a boring old holosuite
to do all this."
 "True, true," said O'Brien, a glint in his eye. "What did you have in
mind?"
 "Well," said his wife, "we could leave Molly in day care for a few more
hours, go back to our quarters and have you boldly go where no man has gone
before..."

 For once true to his word, Quark brought the recordings over to Odo's
office and quietly let him know that the system had been turned off. It
would be dismantled within a day or two.
 "Good," said Odo, "because I'll check."
 Now was the task of watching the recording of the time in question.
Ignoring the goings-on in the various holosuites, Odo concentrated on the
corridor and who passed through. There was quite a lot of traffic; more, in
fact, than Odo would have believed possible. He knew that the holosuites
were popular, but not that popular.
 He frowned as he saw Quark and Jarvis walk up to Holosuite G, talking
between themselves about such useless trivia as time limits. He saw Quark
punch in a code and Jarvis enter. Quark paused for a moment, no doubt with
lustful thoughts running through his Ferengi head, then he headed back to
the stairs and the bar.
 Odo put the recording into fast-forward, seeing the people zip along like
bugs running from a cloud of insecticide. Nobody stopped by Holosuite G and
Odo's attention began to wander.
 Hold it.
 "Computer," snapped Odo, "freeze!"
 The computer obediently stopped the playback, freezing the corridor and
everyone in it in time. "Back up one minute real-time."
 The recording flowed into reverse, clearly showing someone walking
backwards, stopping by Holosuite G to tamper with the controls, then
walking backwards to the stairs and down to the bar.
 "Resume normal playback."
 Time resumed its normal course, and the person walked up to Holosuite G,
looked around furtively, then punched a series of codes into the control
terminal.
 Odo paused the recording again, then backed up slowly until the person's
face was in full view. "Enlarge and enhance."
 The person's face filled the screen. It was a worried face. It was a face
worried that its owner might be caught doing whatever he was doing.
 "Identify."
 The computer buzzed for a moment, then answered, "Crewman Peter Riley,
Medical Section."
 Odo tapped his combadge. "Odo to Bashir."
 "Bashir here, Odo."
 "Doctor, we have a main suspect. He is in your section; Crewman Peter
Riley. Keep him busy until I get there." His voice was clipped and harsh.
 "Understood. Bashir out."

 Bashir's mind reeled. Riley? The man had come aboard the station only a
few months ago, a volunteer from Earth. He got his thoughts in order and
turned from his desk, prepared to give Riley some menial task that would
occupy him until Odo arrived.
 That's when he saw Riley, standing in the doorway to his office.
 His face was pale and frightened.
 He heard, thought Bashir. He knows.
 "Crewman - Peter -" Bashir started to say.
 Riley did not stay to listen. He ran for his life. Bashir tried to grab
him but the desk got in the way. By the time he ran out into the main room,
Riley was gone, leaving two other medtechs looking at each other in
confusion. "He ran out, doctor!" cried Jones. "He looked liked was
panicking."
 "I'd panic too, if I were him," muttered Bashir as he tapped his combadge.
"Bashir to Odo. He's gone; he heard our earlier conversation and ran for
it."
 "Don't worry, doctor," said Odo confidently. "I'll get him."

 Riley dashed down corridor after corridor, his legs pumping, his heart
racing, and his mind utterly blank. He only heard a few words of what
Bashir and Odo were saying to each other, but it was enough. And when he
saw Bashir's face, he knew that it was all over.
 Fighting to bring his panic under control, Riley deliberately slowed down
until he could think again. Where to go? For a moment, he thought of
commandeering the Achilles. What better way to escape than by using the
ship of the object of his revenge? But no, he realized, the ship was
probably locked down and inaccessible.
 Then he skidded to a halt as he remembered his escape hatch. When he had
first arrived on the station, he created a computer program to facilitate a
fast departure should it become necessary. He had never even tested it, for
testing this program would set off every security alarm on the station.
 As he saw Odo round the corner and make a beeline for him, he realized
that his options were at best very limited.
 Odo saw Riley and shifted his form, making his body longer, his arms
longer, his reach longer. He reached out for the suspected killer and
prepared to grab him.
 Riley tapped his combadge and shouted into it, "Computer! Run program
Riley five nine!"
 He vanished in a haze of transporter energy and Odo plunged through the
space where he had been, an instant too late.

 "Transporter activity!" cried Dax. "Level seventeen, section 32-A!"
 "Sisko to Odo," snapped the station commander.
 "Odo here. Riley must have rigged a transporter; he was snatched away
right before I could grab him."
 "The Mekong is powering up," reported Kira.
 "Abort launch procedure," Sisko ordered.
 Kira's hands flew over the controls, to no avail. "Nothing, sir. He's
locked out the security controls. Tractor beams are also off-line."
 "Major," said Sisko, "take the Rio Grande and go get him."
 Kira nodded. "Dax, you're with me." The two women dashed up to the
transporter platform. "Ensign, transport us directly to the Rio Grande. Get
Odo there as well."
 Ensign Matt Ainsworth, O'Brien's chief assistant, worked at the console
until the Cardassian transporter beamed the people to the runabout.

 The Mekong zoomed away from Deep Space Nine, with Peter Riley at the
controls.
 Everything had fallen apart. How, thought Riley, could they have found
out? He had been so careful to cover his tracks. He had even wiped the
holosuite programming log so as to erase any record of his ever being
there.
 Within seconds of takeoff, he knew where he was going.
 Through the wormhole, to the Gamma Quadrant. Seventy thousand light-years
from the station and the Federation, he could find a planet to hide on. He
could shift identities, become another person. They would never find him.
 Then his instruments showed another runabout lifting off from the
station's launch platforms.

 "He's heading for the wormhole," Dax reported from the pilot seat.
 "Same place I would go," muttered Kira, her expression thunderous. No one
- no one - got away with murder on her station. Dammit, she was there as
the Bajoran government's liaison to the Federation, and she would not let
her home look bad by letting a killer slip away through its fingers.
 "We'll get him," said Odo, answering Kira's thoughts.

 The wormhole roared into existence around the Mekong. Although he knew
that it was there, Riley had never actually been through it, his duties
keeping him on the station. A first time for everything, he thought.
 Spectral energy flared around the little ship, seemingly threatening to
tear it apart and scatter its molecules across space and time for daring to
probe the secrets of the hyperspatial expressway to the other side of the
galaxy.
 The vista exploded into a glaring white light, and then he was through, on
the other side.
 Riley kicked the Mekong into warp drive and took off.

 The Rio Grade emerged from the wormhole barely thirty seconds after the
Mekong.
 "Where is he?" asked Kira.
 "Sensors are indicating a warp trail bearing two seven mark nine,"
reported Dax. "Less than a minute old. It must be the Mekong."
 "Follow him," snapped Kira. "Maximum warp."

 Riley was alerted by the sensors and pushed the Mekong even faster.

 "Can we clip him with the phasers?" said Kira.
 "Not at warp speed," replied Dax. "Someone will have to go over there and
get him."
 "I'll go," volunteered Odo.
 "We don't know what effect an in-warp transport will have on your unique
molecular system," said Dax.
 "All right then, I'll go," said Kira. She grabbed a phaser and stepped
over to the runabout's transporter pad. "Just make sure our warp velocities
are matched exactly. I don't want to be smeared all over this sector."
 "Amen to that," muttered Dax as she carefully adjusted their speed. She
looked back at Kira. "We're coordinated. Get ready."
 "Energize," said Major Kira Nerys.

 Riley's ears pricked up at the distinctive sound of a Federation
transporter. He spun around to see a Bajoran woman - the station's first
officer - materializing on the Mekong's flight deck. She was pointing a
phaser at him.
 Kira fired.
 Nothing happened.
 With horror, she realized that in the rush, they had all forgotten about
the automatic weapons deactivation program. Her phaser was useless.
 Roaring in anger, Riley grabbed his phaser - and Kira kicked it out of his
hand, following up with a solid right cross to the jaw.
 Stunned, Riley fell backwards against the control panel, altering the
settings.
 The Mekong went into a wild spin.

 "Evasive maneuvers!" cried Dax as she wrenched the Rio Grande to one side
to avoid being hit by the out-of-control Mekong.
 "What's going on over there?" asked Odo anxiously. "Can you send me over?"
 "Not with the Mekong acting like that," said Dax. "You wouldn't have a
chance."

 Riley recovered quickly and attacked Kira, punching her in the stomach and
causing her to stagger back. She had taken all sorts of unarmed combat
classes, first in the Bajoran underground and then on the station, but
hand-to-hand combat was rather difficult in the close quarters of a
runabout.
 They each stepped back, waiting for the other to move. Kira took a split
second to glance at Riley's eyes. They were blank, his mind overloaded by
the panic of the chase and the stress of what was obviously the last
battle.
 That was when Riley made his move. He rushed forward, kicking her shin and
grabbing her arms, leaving her unable to hit or kick him. They grunted as
Kira tried to break out of his hold. Riley actually smiled a little.
 She tossed her head back, then violently forward, crashing her forehead
into the bridge of his nose. The interior of Riley's skull exploded in
agony, and he reeled back, momentarily oblivious to everything except the
pain.
 Kira hit him in the gut and put everything into a roundhouse kick to the
jaw. Her boot smashed into his lower face, knocking two of his teeth across
the cabin. For a moment, she thought that he was going to come at her
again, then his eyes rolled up into his head. Almost in slow motion, Riley
fell to his knees and collapsed face down, unconscious.
 Gasping for breath, Kira lunged for the console and brought the ship under
control. She then touched the communications panel as she felt over her
body for broken bones (of which there were none) and bruises (of which
there were plenty). "Mekong to Rio Grande."
 "This is the Rio Grande," said Dax. "Are you all right, Nerys?"
 "I'm fine, Jadzia," replied Kira. "A little banged up, but I'm fine. Riley
isn't going anywhere."
 "Good," Dax breathed in relief. "Let's go home."
 The two ships turned around and headed for the wormhole and the station.

 Station Log, Stardate 46784.1:
 Crewman Riley will be turned over to the Bajoran Provisional Government
for trial in the murder of Deborah Jarvis. The Achilles will for the moment
be impounded as evidence. We've also found out a few things about Riley's
past.

 "His real name is Jason Elwood," said Dax. "Several years ago on Earth, he
had the misfortune to be one of Jarvis' lovers for a while. By the time it
was over, she was gone and so was most of his money."
 "What happened then?" asked Sisko.
 "When his wife found out that not only had her husband been unfaithful to
her but that they were ruined, she took their daughter and vanished." Dax
shifted her position in Sisko's office. "Elwood searched for them, but with
no success. He assembled a set of birth documents for someone who was born
at roughly the same time he was but who died in infancy. He became Peter
Riley and enlisted in Starfleet to get away from Earth, away from the
memory."
 "And then his bad memory showed up here," said Kira, her injuries expertly
healed by Dr. Bashir. At least he didn't make some sort of pass at me this
time, she thought thankfully.
 "Exactly," said Dax. "It looks like his decision to kill her was a snap
one, but he had probably been thinking about it for some time. Revenge
fantasies and all that."
 "How did he know about reprogramming the holosuite?" asked O'Brien. "That
and the program he ran so that he could get off the station without anyone
being able to stop him."
 "He was a hot-shot programmer back on Earth," answered Dax. "He knew
computers inside and out."
 "In any case," said Sisko as he rose, "my congratulations to you all on a
job well done. The Bajoran government will be sending a ship to pick up
Riley. Dismissed."
 His staff all left, leaving Sisko to contemplate one last task.

 "You know what happened to Jarvis?" he asked his son later that afternoon.
 "Yeah," said Jake sadly. "I heard Major Kira caught the killer."
 "Well," said Sisko, "a lot of people caught him."
 "But not all of them beamed over while in warp and beat him up."
 Sisko blinked. "Where did you hear that?"
 "From Nog."
 "I should have known."
 "Besides," said Jake, "she's old news. There's this girl who arrived on a
Corellian freighter. She says she's going to be here for several weeks, and
she's really pretty..."
 Sisko smiled and listened to his son.

 O'Brien came home and lunged at the food dispenser, ordering a tall, cool
glass of grapefruit juice. Keiko thought he was nuts; she hated the
tartness, but he loved it.
 "Miles?" his wife's voice came from the bedroom.
 "In here, love."
 She emerged into the living room with a smile on her face and a gleam in
her eye. "Honey, I have something to tell you."
 "What's that?" O'Brien asked as he sank into his favorite easy chair, took
off his boots, and closed his eyes.
 "I'm pregnant."
 He opened his eyes again. "You're what?"
 "I'm pregnant."
 His mind hadn't yet caught up to the rest of him. "How?"
 She laughed, a delightful tinkling laugh. "What do you think we've been
doing for the past few days?"
 Her husband leapt up out of his chair, spilling the juice and totally
ignoring it. "Are you certain?"
 She nodded, "I went to see Dr. Bashir this afternoon."
 O'Brien smiled. "So that's why you handed your afternoon classes over to
Barbara Langer." Unable to contain himself any longer, he laughed out loud,
grabbed his wife around the waist and whirled her around.

 Quark leaned on the bar, despondent. Not only had he lost a lot of latinum
thanks to the Jarvis murder (why couldn't Riley have killed her after she
paid me, he thought) but all of his holosuite programming had been examined
line by line of code just in case Riley had left a few time bombs behind.
Nothing of Riley's had been found, but one or two of Quark's private
programs had been noticed and erased, especially the delicious one
featuring a much softer and more naked Kira Nerys.
 When Kira had heard about that, it had taken a threat from Odo to keep her
from storming down to the bar and separating a very important part of
Quark's anatomy from the rest of his body. At least, Quark's last
girlfriend had thought it very important.
 The Kira program could however be reconstructed, thought Quark with a
spark of hope. He did have the basic specs on a disk carefully hidden in
his office.
 The monitoring system had been dismantled, and that was also a heavy cross
to bear. Odo had been right, of course; the system had indeed been used to
blackmail some of the more noxious people who used the holosuites for
supposedly private meetings.
 Still, Odo had kept his promise not to interfere with the Denebian jewel
deal, and that would net him a small fortune in latinum.
 So at the end of it all, life was still good.
 "Quark!" shouted Captain Krinoth. "Where the flarg is that prune juice?!
Or do I have to come over there and convince you?"
 Quark winced. Even thought Odo would toss the Klingon in jail for assault,
it wasn't really worth the prospect of being dismembered.
 Back to business as usual.
 "Coming, sir," said the Ferengi at his most obsequious, grabbing several
glasses of high-octane prune juice from the dispenser and scuttling over.

 THE END