The First Autopsy
Posted on Sat Jun 20th, 2026 @ 2:29am by Lieutenant Maya Canak & Cassandra Frost & Lieutenant Commander Viessa Kenobi & Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Houlihan
Edited on on Wed Jun 24th, 2026 @ 5:35am
2,244 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Sins of History
Location: Autopsy Suite - Deck 9 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD002 1600 hrs
The surgery suite was locked so that no one but authorized personnel could enter the observation area during the autopsy to protect the privacy of the family. In spite of Starfleet and the captain's effort to keep this quiet for now, news had already spread about the death, which could hinder the investigation.
Maya nodded to the other two to indicate she was ready to begin. "Computer, begin recording." She paused for a moment. "Autopsy of Peter Lashley, twelve years of age. Present are Lieutenant Maya Canak, Chief Medical officer and ME, Lieutenant Commander Viessa Kenobi, Forensic Pathologist, and Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Houlihan, Head Nurse."
She looked around at the others. "Ready?"
Margaret nodded. "Ready."
Viessa stood on the opposite side of the table, hands already gloved, her expression composed in the way only long practice could make possible. There was nothing casual in her posture now, no easy warmth, no dry little aside to soften the room. That part of her had been folded away and placed somewhere safe, for later.
Peter Lashley lay between them.
Twelve years old.
She had heard Maya say it for the recording, had known it before she entered the suite, had seen it in the file, but the words still settled heavily in the air. They always did. Centuries did not make that easier. Experience only taught you not to flinch where others could see.
Viessa glanced once towards Margaret, then back to Maya. Her voice, when it came, was quiet but steady.
"Ready."
She let the word sit there for a heartbeat before she looked down at the boy on the table. Not at the body. Not at the evidence. At Peter. That mattered. It always mattered.
"For the record," she added, her tone professional but gentle, "external visual examination may begin. I would recommend we proceed slowly and document everything before any invasive work is undertaken."
Her eyes moved over the child with forensic care, but there was no coldness in it. She had learned long ago that detachment was useful, but indifference was dangerous. The dead could not speak for themselves. That was their responsibility now.
"We owe him patience," Viessa said, softer this time, though still clearly enough for the recording to catch. Then she drew in a controlled breath and looked back to Maya. "And we owe his family the truth."
"Yes. Truth. And justice." Maya sighed. "Computer, begin diagnostic." She'd let that run while they did the visual exam, then moved on the more invasive procedures. Both would be important for documentary purposes.
Maya paused, ran her eyes over the head and upper body, then gently followed with her fingers. "Head has multiple contusions. Mostly healed," she began. "The body shows signs of malnutrition and dehydration. Skin is dry and subject is excessively thin." She gently probed the arms and chest. "Sign of bones that were broken and not properly treated. The left arm has clear signs of a former fracture. There are also old bruises on the face, chest, and arms. Wrists have old ligature marks."
Viessa kept her eyes on Peter while Maya spoke, her expression held steady by effort rather than ease. There was no part of this that became easier with age. Not really. You just learned where to put it until there was somewhere private enough to let it hurt.
At the mention of the ligature marks, her gaze shifted to the boy’s wrists. She did not reach in straight away. Maya was leading the examination, and Viessa respected that. Instead, she leaned slightly closer, enough to see without crowding her.
“Poor little thing,” she said under her breath. It was not really meant for the report, though the recorder would catch it all the same.
Her jaw tightened, then loosened again as she made herself breathe.
“I agree,” she said, quieter now, but properly for the record. “It doesn’t look isolated. There’s a pattern here.”
She stepped back enough to give Maya room and moved to the imaging controls at the side of the suite. The internal scan needed to happen before they disturbed anything further. It would preserve a clean record of Peter as he had been found, map the old fractures, show any hidden tissue damage, and give them something solid to return to once the autopsy became more invasive.
Viessa keyed in the forensic imaging protocol, then paused with her hand above the final control.
“Full-body internal imaging is ready,” she said, keeping her voice gentle but professional. “Skeletal, vascular and soft tissue layers. No invasive contact yet.”
She looked back to Maya, giving her the room to approve the step rather than assuming it.
“I think it’ll give us the clearest baseline before we go any further.”
As long as it was just observation, Maya didn't mind if they did a visual before or after the internal. Neither would disturb the body any more than it already had been. Documenting child abuse was never pleasant and she generally liked to get the more distasteful part of the autopsy done first.
She nodded to Viessa to go ahead. Then, glancing up at the observation room, she nodded to Cassandra before returning her focus to the table.
— Observation room —
Standing by the window, Cassie was watching the medical staff work. This was never the easy part, seeing a child laid out on a surgical table waiting to be cut open so their cause of death could be determined. When she was running solo, she never had to see this part of her investigations, but now she was back in the fleet, she couldn’t avoid it.
[Surgery]
When the scan was complete, Maya nodded to Margaret and Viessa, indicating they would continue the visual observation.
There were more marks on the body. Old bruises. Multiple signs of physical and sexual abuse. Severe malnutrition affecting his natural growth.
And then, as they turned the body over, they noticed a small tattoo on his lower back. "Computer, take a closeup of the tattoo." Maya turned to Viessa and Margaret. "It almost looks like a treble clef, but there's definitely some symbolism to it. Do either of you recognize it?"
"I have no idea," Margaret said after shed studied the tattoo for a moment. Then she stepped back to be out of the way.
Viessa leaned in slightly as the tattoo came into view, her brow drawing together. Maya was right, there was something almost musical about it, but the shape felt too deliberate to be decoration. The lower curl had that hooked, almost blade-like sweep she had seen in Orion markings before, and the line work was too clean to be some childish symbol or random flourish.
“I don’t recognise the exact mark,” she said, keeping her voice low for the room and the recording, “but it looks Orion.”
She glanced once towards the observation window, knowing Cassandra was watching from above, then looked back at the close-up on the monitor.
“That hook in the lower curve,” she added. “That’s what makes me think so. I wouldn’t take it further than that yet, but it’s enough of a thread to pull.”
Maya let out a slow breath. "Orion. Duly noted." Then she continued. "The child shows signs of physical and sexual assault over an extended period of time," she said for the record. "As well as a tattoo that may be Orion."
She, too, glanced at Cassandra, then back at the body. "Any other physical marks to note for the record?"
Looking down, the sight of that tattoo sent a shiver down Cassie’s spine. She’d recognise that anywhere. It was from the lowest point in her life. The one that got away and ruined her reputation. Hearing her own heart beat in her ears, Cassandra tapped the intercom while she was still calm enough, “doctor, I’d like a full resolution scan of that tattoo at your earliest convenience. I believe I know where it’s from, but I need to confirm. Please continue” she said before quickly turning and walking out of the observation room without waiting for a response.
Maya looked up in time to see Cassandra leave. She would get her the image, and maybe have a talk with her. Later. Right now, she had an autopsy to finish.
Viessa felt it before Cassandra spoke.
Not clearly, not in words, but enough. A hard spike of recognition from the observation room, sharp enough to cut through the careful clinical distance Viessa had built around herself. Fear, anger, something old and ugly dragged up too fast.
She did not look up until Cassandra’s voice came through the intercom.
The request was reasonable. The exit was not.
Viessa watched her leave through the glass, her expression tightening for only a second before she made herself look back at Peter. Whatever Cassandra had just recognised, whatever ghost had put its hand around her throat, it could wait a little longer. Peter could not.
“We’ll get the scan,” Viessa said quietly, for the room more than the recorder. “Full resolution, clean angle, no compression.”
She glanced over the body again, keeping herself in the work because that was where she was useful.
“No other obvious markings from this position,” she added, her voice steady but softer now. “Beyond those already noted. I’d suggest we finish the visual record, then take the tattoo capture before we move on.”
A beat passed.
“And someone should check on Cassandra when this is done,” Viessa said, not unkindly. “But not before.”
"Yes," Maya agreed, looking up at the empty observation room. She would definitely check on Cassandra. Then, for the computer, she said, "Moving on to the internal autopsy."
"Computer scans detail what appears to be years of abuse. Organ damage is significant. Bone fractures were not repaired properly." She didn't go into detail as the scans would be included in their report.
Maya looked to Viessa with a raised eyebrow, silently asking her if she had anything to add to the verbal commentary.
Viessa did not add to Maya’s summary. There was nothing useful in repeating what the scan had already made clear.
Instead, she checked the evidence log at the side console, her movements careful and quiet. The tattoo image had saved cleanly, the scan data was attached, and the chain of custody had been sealed under the autopsy file.
“Tattoo capture and full-body scan are logged,” she said, keeping it simple. “No gaps in the record.”
She looked back at Peter, then lowered her voice a little.
“That should give Cassandra what she needs when she is ready to look at it.”
Not before, Viessa thought, but she did not say that part aloud.
She stepped back from the console and gave Maya the room to finish it properly.
While modern autopsies no longer required the removal and dissection of organs, Maya still liked to get tissue and fluid samples for analysis. Sometimes you could learn more from how the organs looked--and smelled. "I'd like to get a quick look inside and take some samples before we finish," she told the others.
"Margaret, I'll need an olfactometer. One with a small rod." So she could get the best readings.
When Margaret brought her the tool, Maya made a careful incision to have a look at the organs while she extracted the samples for testing. She inserted the olfactometer and was glad she did when the initial stench made her hold her breath for a moment. It was a disturbing combination of pungent and sweet.
She shook her head and proceeded to collect what she needed. When they were done, Maya put the last sample in a container and set it on the tray for the lab.
"Computer, autopsy of Peter Lashley is complete. All key evidence has been recorded. Findings are pending final lab results. Until otherwise stated by Captain Marc Kidd, all information is restricted to senior medical and command personnel only."
"Recording and data is now restricted," the computer intoned.
Maya let out a long, slow breath and gently caressed Peter's head with her hand. The poor boy never had a chance to be a child.
After a moment, she said a quiet prayer her grandfather taught her, straightened, and turned to Margaret. "Help me prepare him to be sent back to his family for burial. Then take the samples to the lab."
Margaret had nothing to say and simply nodded.
Maya thanked Viessa and Margaret for their help. Then she dumped her surgical gear in the replicator and headed for the observation lounge. After this, she needed to go for a long ride. But she'd settle for watching the stars in the observation lounge.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Commander Viessa Kenobi
Forensic Pathologist, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Lieutenant Maya Canak
Chief Medical Officer/Medical Examiner, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Senior Chief Petty Officer Margaret Houlihan
Head Nurse, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Cassandra Frost
Chief Security/Tactical Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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