Why Have You Brought a Body to My Doorstep?
Posted on Fri Aug 28th, 2026 @ 3:40pm by Ensign Iozhara & Lieutenant Commander Xalanth & Lieutenant JG Jezra Siv MD
2,553 words; about a 13 minute read
Mission:
Elegy For the Unseen
Location: Morgue, Deck 12
Timeline: Following "This Silly Little Wafer, Part II"
It wasn't unusual for Jezra to eat lunch at weird hours. For once, they actually had time to spare, so they ventured to the mess hall to get some social interaction. They had just sat down with some junior officers and had only taken a couple bites of their food when their communicator chirped.
[Ensign Kartakl to Doctor Siv--we've just been alerted to the discovery of humanoid remains in Cargo Bay One. A medical team has been dispatched under Doctor Beckett's orders. Please report to the morgue at your earliest convenience.] The voice of the Tellarite medical technician always seemed as if he was slightly irritated, but that was just the Tellarite way.
The call made Jezra pause, and the junior officers gained a note of discomfort. Guess lunch would have to wait. Apologising to the group, she got up and quickly discarded her tray, keeping ahold of at least half the sandwich to scarf down as she left the mess hall with haste.
When Siv arrived to the morgue, the first thing they were greeted with was the smell. Maybe lunch was premature. She wrinkled her nose as she approached the medical team handling the body. "Alright, what's the rundown?"
The morgue was a room that felt very still to Iozhara. It existed in one of the quietest parts of Deck 12 and most crewmembers outside of medical personnel never saw it. Where Sickbay was plush, warm, and functional, the morgue was all cold overhead lighting and stainless work surfaces.
The medical team that had been dispatched to retrieve the body had arrived just before Doctor Siv and, using a narrow confinement beam, had transferred the semi-desiccated remains to the adjacent examination table.
Iozhara stood beside it reviewing the preliminary scans that had accompanied the corpse. The data was sparse. Even the computer's age estimates were unavailable. The tissue degradation seemed to be causing more than a slight problem. Still, none of it explained how a mummified body had appeared aboard a starship that had tight security.
She heard Jezra enter the morgue and looked up just as Kartakl, the Tellarite technician passed a data PADD to her. He grunted and began programming the antigrav stretcher to be moved out of the way and against the far wall.
"Good afternoon, Doctor," Iozhara said to the CMO, her delicate smile out of place in a morgue. "The remains were transferred from Cargo Bay One less than five minutes ago. According to the report, it was discovered by some of the ship's children but it's unclear just how much the body was disturbed by them."
She took a breath and continued, passing the PADD to Jezra.
"No sex has been determined yet because of the extensive dehydration. Preliminary visual assessment suggests late twenty-third century based on the Starfleet uniform. Security also believes the container may be composed of the same anomalous material that was recovered yesterday."
Jezra's first thought was on the children who had found the remains. She made a mental note to have counseling check in on them. "Well, the remains seem relatively intact, at least." The doctor slid a pair of gloves over her hands; sterile field aside, she was not about to be touching any decaying bodies with bare hands.
The door slid open as the ship's security chief stepped in. "Doctor." He said, nodding his head as he stood outside the examination bay.
Looking over their shoulder, Jezra nodded to Xalanth before looking back to Iozhara. "I'd start with a level three autopsy scan. That should give us something to work with so we can identify more."
"Right away, Doctor."
Iozhara accepted the PADD back from Jezra and turned toward the imaging suite built into the centre examination table. The deceased lay beneath the overhead scanner exactly as it had arrived, hands drawn inward--seemingly from years of desiccation, the old science-blue uniform faded almost to grey. Time had taken moisture from the body but had left behind a hundred questions.
Two technicians entered from the adjoining laboratory carrying instrument trays. Kartakl had already returned from stowing the antigrav stretcher, and another medic, a young Bolian crewman named Ensign Merix, took position at the imaging console opposite him.
"Level-three autopsy scan," Iozhara said, her voice tiny and quiet in the cool and hollow room. "Full skeletal density, preserved soft tissue mapping, foreign material analysis. Slow resolution and set the emitter to point-three-one."
Kartakl grunted his acknowledgment while Merix rested her fingers over the controls. "Scanner standing by."
Iozhara reached up and wrapped both hands around the overhead imaging assembly. It descended with almost no sound, stopping less than a metre above the remains. A series of pinpoint emitters suddenly came to life beneath the elongated housing, each one giving off a deep emerald glow.
"Begin," the Barzan nurse said to Merix.
The scanner began to slowly work and a single green line appeared beneath the emitter array. It began at the tips of the corpse's feet and moved slowly--so slowly that it was almost impossible to see it moving. Though it began to make progress upward.
With the scan running, Jezra turned their attention back to Xalanth. "Was there anything else with the remains to indicate a possible cause of death? Tools, weapons, ...?"
"Nothing, just the body shoved into the box. i think the uniform is one of the 2366's era uniforms, Science Division and the hair may have been dyed," answered the red lizard. "I have Fulvia going through the list of missing Starfleet personnel."
Jezra nodded to the, well, lack of information. "I'll be sure to notify if we find anything that might be useful for identification. I'd also have the kids who found the remains visit sickbay for a quick checkup, especially if any of them touched the remains. You can get all kinds of nasty stuff from a corpse."
"The only kid to touch it fainted. I've had her taken to sickbay. I'll have the councillors give the kids' heads a look up as well." Replied the red lizard.
A brief note of concern crossed her features before she nodded. "Good." She glanced briefly back toward the table, where Iozhara and the others were working, before looking back to Xalanth. "You can stay if you want, but I doubt we'll need security backup at this time. Not unless we end up with a walking zombie situation."
"I have half a dozen things i need to do so i'll take my leave. Call me if you find anything." Xalanth said politely before heading for the door.
The green line of the scan had reached the shoulders now, advancing ever upward. Beside the examination table, the diagnostic display showed in crystal-clear three-dimensions the interior of the desiccated corpse: bones and fragments of preserved connective tissue.
Merix leaned closer to her console. "Signal stability holding at nine-eight-point-seven percent."
"Keep it there," Iozhara replied, her eyes remaining glued to the display.
The reconstructed cervical vertebrae appeared one after another on the screen, rotating slowly as the computer assembled them into a complete model. C7. C6. C5.
Then the image stopped and a small amber indicator flashed.
"Hold on..." Iozhara enlarged the model on her screen and the image sharpened even more until each vertebral process nearly popped out of the small display.
C4... C3...
"Merix, freeze that section."
The Bolian touched the controls. The scanner overhead paused, the green line now stationary on the remains.
Kartakl let out a low grunt. "That's no calcification."
"No," Iozhara said softly.
Iozhara finally ripped her eyes from the diagnostic display, turning toward Jezra. Xalanth had just reached the door.
"Doctor, Commander--I think you should come see this."
Xalanth made an about-turn and was back at the observation window in seconds. " What is it?"
Curious as well, Jezra's attention shifted to Iozhara. She returned to the examination table on the other side of the observation window, which granted her a better view of the screen. "Huh... that's not supposed to be there." Knowing Xalanth was waiting for an answer, they added, "there appears to be something lodged between the neck vertebrae. A piece of metal, maybe?" The display showed that it was on the side of the neck, so they approached and probed the decayed skin to see if they could feel it. A frown pursed her lips, "hmm, it's in there quite well. I can barely feel it. Can we get any better resolution on it with scans?"
Iozhara studied the display for another moment, watching the tiny shape remain perfectly fixed between the vertebrae.
"Computer," she inquired, "can you identify the foreign object on the scan?"
[Unknown foreign object.]
She looked toward Merix. "Increase the imaging resolution to point-one-two and narrow the scan field to the cervical spine."
Merix nodded. "Point-one-two. Got it."
Above the examination table, the emitter came to life once more and the emerald green glow deepened over the throat, chin, and mouth, of the corpse.
"Resweeping the section," Merix said.
The green line retreated a short distance and then climbed as far as mouth before powering down.
"Let's see it," Iozhara said softly, waiting for the newer scan to arrive on her screen. When it did, all it confirmed was the object being the point of something--and it looked rather sharp.
Kartakl, the Tellarite technician, folded his arms across his chest and huffed. After a moment, he opened a nearby cabinet and retrieved something. When he returned, he almost shoved it rudely into Jezra's hands.
"A variable-phase microdissector," he said roughly. "Designed for archaeology. Should do in a pinch... sir."
Jezra studied the foreign object. Part of a knife, perhaps? It was too cleanly shaped to be shrapnel from something. The presence of something in her hands diverted their attention toward Kartakl. It was an ongoing battle to remind themself that Tellarites were... a bit more blunt than one may expect. "Thank you," she replied, her tone neutral as she shifted back to the corpse. She configured the microdissector before testing the output on the decayed skin. Wanting to preserve the body as much as possible, they made some slight adjustments before trying again, making an incision that would be wide enough to remove the object. She took her time to avoid unnecessary damage. "I'll need foreceps, clamps, and the heavy duty gloves, please. In case the foreign object slips."
Iozhara knelt until she was at eye-level with the surface of the examination table. Four large metallic drawers now faced her. She touched her finger to the third one on the right-hand side and it opened with a tiny whirr. Inside, an unopened package containing surgical instruments rested. She grabbed them and stood, placing them on the tray in front of Jezra. Tearing at the first micro-pocket, she removed a set of clamps. The second micro-pocket was then opened and she retrieved a set of number-six forceps.
Kartakl had taken the time to retrieve a pair of violet-coloured gloves, holding them out so Jezra could put them on with ease.
Once done, Jezra set the microdissector aside before taking a pair of clamps and gently opening the incision. She then paused to put on the gloves, which were thicker but provided more than adequate protection from most accidental slices, pokes, and stabs. She took the foreceps, taking a second to get used to the grip with the gloves, before turning the imaging display toward her. "Computer, enable continuous scanning. Use the prior scan's configurations." The command brought back the green light, only it covered the entire neck instead of sweeping the area. On the screen, Jezra watched the tip of the foreceps intrude into the neck, and they used the display to make sure the object was securely grabbed.
A breath. Then she carefully pulled it out.
Or, rather, tried to.
It wasn't that surprising that it was lodged in there. It had at least a little time for things to stick, then dry out, leaving a crusty and brittle scaffolding behind. Adjusting her stance and her grip to give herself a little more leverage, Jezra tried again. This time, a quiet but uncomfortable sound of dried out tissue crackling broke the silence. "Maybe I should have waited on lunch..." she muttered to herself. But, the object was loose. Bit by bit, the forceps came out until the object came with it.
The metal shard was odd-looking. Though it clearly even through all the rust had once had a razor-sharp point it held several offshoots that clearly had been other points and possibly more before it had snapped. "Doesn't look like a knife blade." Xalanth added though he was starting to run the shape through the database.
"The tip of a hypodermic needle?" Iozhara offered.
"Or some other tool." Xalanth added as he began trying to think of what it would look like in his mind.
"It seems too wide at the one end to be a needle," Jezra commented, carefully setting the object into an appropriately-sized clear container. This at least kept its condition intact. With the container sealed, they checked the display to make sure there wasn't anything left behind before removing her gloves. "At least, not a medical-grade one. Could it be the end of a poison dart or something?" She asked Xalanth.
Xalanth was moving his right hand, clearly trying to mimic the best way to hold a blade he was putting together in his head. Tapping on the computer screen, a long list of weapons was brought up. "I'm thinking it's some kind of poison dart that you'd attach to a blade so the wound becomes infected. Very popular with street gangs out on the frontier..." He stopped before swiping back to one of the images.
"I think we have our match," He said, flicking the image to the two doctors. "A Turkana IV gang blade with a poison tip added on. The shape looks like a match."
Iozhara's eyes darted from the screen with the image of the weapon to the Dragonian's. "How can you be sure, Commander?"
Xalanth moved his hand and brought up two floating holograms for the doctors to see. One of the weapons info they had on the blade and what they had pulled from the corpse. Moving the two holograms over each other, the lizard smiled as they matched with the computer bringing up a 99.% match reading.
The Tellarite medical technician grunted in what could only be considered agreement, his face invading Jezra's personal space as he craned his neck forward for a closer look at the comparison.
"I've never been one to argue with mathematics," Kartakl wheezed.
Lt. Commander Xalanth
Chief Security Officer
USS Astrea
Lieutenant J.G. Jezra Siv
Chief Medical Officer
USS Astrea
Ensign Iozhara
Nurse
USS Astrea
(NPC of JB Dorsainvil)
Crewman Kartakl Koraro
Medical Technician
USS Astrea
(NPC of JB Dorsainvil)
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