Kirk scuffed the floor of the kitchen with his boot and sighed. He didn't understand why they were wasting time here instead of asking around the ship to see if the crew knew anything. "It was three months ago. Anything useful is gone." When Spock didn't respond he repeated himself.
"I am not looking for physical evidence." His First Officer replied. "I am looking for potential witnesses."
"Potential witnesses." He deadpanned. "It was dark and she was alone. Besides, nobody comes down here."
"I come here to make plomeek soup."
"Great, that means you can interrogate yourself. Who else?"
Spock looked pointedly at Lt. O'Malley's distillery.
The Enterprise had one administration office and only one administration clerk. This made hunting down the deranged bureaucrat fairly simple. Kirk steeled himself with a few deep breaths then forced himself to follow Spock into the office.
It was more cave than work place. Dimly lit, with stacks of paper three feet tall scattered around and Kirk swore he saw something crawling around on the floor. No wonder O'Malley was such a harpy. Working here would be enough to drive anyone crazy. She was sitting at her desk now, glaring daggers at them. He wondered how often she got to escape the room.
His sympathy disappeared when her sarcastic Irish brogue filled the room. "Well if it isn't Captain Spiffy and the Emotional Zombie. What can I do for you?"
Spock's eyebrow went up. "Your tone and attitude borders on insubordination, Lieutenant."
"Oh no, not insubordination." She mockingly shook her hands. "Not to be rude, but I'm busy. So if this is an intervention or a discussion about my attitude, then we'll have to reschedule."
Kirk fumed. Crummy work life or not, nobody spoke to him or his First Officer that way. "Now you listen to me, Lieutenant…"
"I will handle this." Spock interrupted.
"But she…" Kirk scowled. "Fine. You handle it."
"Thank you. Lt. O'Malley, as a superior officer I am ordering you to cooperate with this investigation."
"This about the kid who got raped?" Kirk wondered how she knew about that.
"Yes."
"Go ahead."
"The attack happened in the kitchen roughly three months back. Did you notice anything unusual around then?"
"Nope."
"Do you know of anyone else who uses the kitchen on a regular basis?"
"Nope."
"Do you have any other knowledge that is relevant?"
"Nope. But!" She sat up straight and leaned forward. "her ex-boyfriend might. Ensign Adam Durrell. Works in Engineerin'."
Kirk narrowed his eyes. "How do you know about an ex-boyfriend? You don't even know who was raped."
She gave a derisive snort. "Please. I know everythin'."
"How?"
"Infiltration is a hobby of mine. Are we done?"
"I have nothing more. Good day, Lieutenant." Spock inclined his head and led Kirk out of the office. "That was interesting."
"That's one way to put it."
Ensign Durrell was cooperative and answered all their questions. Not only was he able to provide the names of all of Mifune's friends, but he volunteered to provide a DNA sample to remove any suspicion from himself. Twenty minutes after they sent him down to Sickbay, Dr. McCoy contacted them to tell them he was not the father of the baby.
Interrogating Mifune's close friends revealed nothing of interest. A few months ago she had started acting withdrawn and randomly breaking into tears. Any attempts to find out what was wrong were met with silence.
After hearing that for the fifth time, Kirk slumped down in a bench in the Rec Room and wondered how a teenager could be raped, impregnated, and hide it for three months. "Are we really that unobservant?" He wondered aloud.
"I have noticed that humans tend to ignore what they do not wish to acknowledge." Spock said. Despite the lack of new information he was writing everything they had been told in a notebook. Laying down his pen he folded his hands and narrowed his eyes in thought. "Ensign Mifune is very young."
"Starfleet likes its child geniuses." Kirk said bitterly. "She's eighteen. I checked."
Spock stared at the notebook. "It is highly unlikely she would socialize with just these five women. More than likely she would also know others her own age."
Kirk brightened up. "How many kids do we have on board this ship?"
There were eight people under twenty-one onboard the Enterprise. As it turned out, they all knew each other.
"Da. I know Ensign Mifune. Ve talk sometimes." Chekov nodded. "She goes to Bon-Bon's parties."
"Bon-Bon?" Spock arched an eyebrow.
"Sorry. Uh…Ensign Ramirez. Bonita. She throws parties."
"And what happens at these parties?"
"Uh…" Chekov swallowed and blushed. "Ve…talk." There was a moment of silence and he looked nervously between the two commanding officers. "Ve talk about…adult things?"
Kirk glared. His patience was wearing thin and he did not wanted to beat someone, not question teenagers on their late night shenanigans. "Ensign, I'm trying to find out who raped a member of my crew. Yeah, raped. And until McCoy figures out exactly what date the baby was conceived, we don't have much to go on. So if you know something that could help this go faster I suggest you start talking."
Chekov opened and closed his mouth a few times. "Raped?" He squeaked out.
"That's what I said, isn't it?" Kirk gritted his teeth.
"Captain, may I speak to you for a moment?" Spock stood up.
"Hang on, I get the feeling I've finally gotten through. It was rape. They have that in Russia, right?"
Chekov looked at Spock, clearly frightened and unsure of what to say or do.
"Captain, as head of this investigation, I would like to speak with you now. Ensign, stay here." Reluctantly, Kirk stood up and followed his First Officer out of the Rec Room. The hallway was mostly empty and they were able to speak in hushed voices without drawing too much attention. "Captain, you are intimidating him."
"I'm not intimidating him, I'm trying…" Kirk lowered his voice when a passing Lieutenant looked over at him. "I'm trying to find out if he knows anything useful."
"You agreed to follow my lead during this investigation."
"You're taking too long. All we've done so far is talk to her friends. We haven't found out anything."
Spock looked as annoyed as only a Vulcan could. "I assure you, Captain, I am devoting all my energies to finding Ensign Mifune's rapist. But as you pointed out we have little information and anything might be useful." He looked straight into Kirk's eyes. "But if I am to head this investigation then I will be conducting all further interviews from now on."
It took Kirk a few moments to work up the courage to nod. "Fine."
"Captain, if you don't mind my saying so, you seem even more emotional than usual."
"It's nothing."
"Your tone indicates otherwise."
Kirk hesitated and looked away. "I'm the captain. I'm supposed to take care of my crew."
Spock arched an eyebrow. "You cannot expect to protect every member of the crew from every conceivable danger. You had no way of knowing she would be hurt."
"That doesn't make me feel better."
"It wasn't meant to. It was meant to point out how illogical your feelings are."
Kirk rubbed his hand over his face in exasperation. "Lets just finish up here." They re-entered the Rec Room where Chekov hadn't moved so much as a muscle, and began again. It turned out that the 'adult things' that went on at Bon-Bon's parties were heavy death metal music, head banging, and making out. It reminded Kirk of his college days at the Academy.
"But Ensign Mifune hasn't been to a party in months. She just stopped coming. Ve don't know why."
"Thank you, Ensign. You are dismissed." Chekov quickly got up and left the Rec Room.
Spock looked at his notebook again and was about to speak when Kirk's communicator beeped. "Dr. McCoy to Kirk. We've got some new information."
Fin.
Author's notes: I'm not too happy with this chapter, there's not enough action and the only real drama is when Kirk gets all emotional and scary. Mayhap I am not cut out to write crime dramas. Oh wells.
Star Trek and all its characters are not mine. The only profit I make is psychological validation when people leave reviews.
The character of Lt. Margaret 'Meg' O'Malley may be used by other authors. The only stipulations are that she is not promoted or given any redeeming values, and I get credit.
